My backyard. It kind of looks like this anyway, but now it has extra branches. And a scattered litter box.

Bank down the street. I don't think the ATM works anymore.

The chairs tried to escape. And now I have some random tupperware container.

Poor tree.

This truck, parked on the lawn for pete's sake, had a couch in the back. How much more redneck can

you get? I'm glad the tree fell on it.

It's a sign for an insurance company. So that's good news for them, right?

The remains of a traffic light, scattered like so much trash.

I was proud to discover that our windchimes made it through the storm, just

slightly worse for the wear.

Yeah, so Ike was a major pain in the ass and I don't relish living through that again. But things could

have been worse, for example:

This was a squirrel's tail, or I guess it still is, but I don't think there is a squirrel anymore. I think the wind gusts separated this little guy from his tail. And that makes me feel better about my lack of 'lectricity. At least I didn't lose a part of me.

I’ve had a long hard week, and I wanted to kick back and relax and watch The Onion Movie. Since we have become new media junkies here at the Morris house, I thought I would give Movielink, a pay per view online video rental service available through a link in the Windows Media Center dashboard, a try. They had the movie I wanted available for $3.99. The Onion Movie would be downloaded directly to my PC where I could view it at my leisure as long as I finished it within 24 hours of starting it.  I signed up for an account (simple enough) then downloaded Movielink’s software for storing and viewing my online rental. Then I had to download an update for the rebranded Blockbuster version of the Movielink software. Then I had to visit Movielink’s website to manually start the download of my selection. It had been about thirty minutes since I decided to spend my evening watching The Onion Movie. The Movielink dashboard froze up while I was checking out and I had to go through the check out process again. I discovered that I paid for the rental of The Onion Movie twice when I checked my purchase history at the service’s website. Forty minutes had passed since I decided I wanted to spend my evening watching The Onion Movie. Then, I noticed that I had to wait 90-120 minutes to actually watch the film I had rented. Whoops. I guess I should have read the fine print in the terms and conditions I agreed to when I signed up. At this point, I had given up on watching The Onion Movie because it was getting late. The film had started playing in the meantime, so I got to see approximately ten seconds of The Onion Movie before the Movielink dashboard stopped the playback and the download resumed. I decided that I should probably click on the big HELP tab at the top and proceeded to engage in a live chat with a customer service representative named “Neil C.” I told him about the double charge and he promptly fixed it, but when I told him I didn’t really understand why the rental wouldn’t play, I spent another ten minutes troubleshooting Movielink’s software per Neil’s instructions. I told Neil that I just wanted to cancel the transaction because it was too much trouble. His response was that I was out of luck and that Movielink doesn’t issue refunds because they aren’t responsible for their software or download times. I told him to keep the $3.99. I guess I’ll just watch The Onion Movie for free when it’s added to Netflix’s Watch Instantly service.

Approximate total time interacting with Movielink’s software and staff: 50 minutes.

Approximate running time of The Onion Movie: 80 minutes.

It took about 10 minutes to write this blog.

Hey y'all! It's Nate from HorrorHound Magazine.

Hey y'all! It's Aaron, also from HorrorHound Magazine.

Andy and Erica

The NOTLP Booth. Our usual corner.

The hall as viewed from the NOTLP corner.

The gothiest of goths. Or a shadow person.

We love Sue and Greg - our friends from the Great White North. They're pretty great, eh?

Freddy bought himself a new toy for the weekend. We actually got some decent audio from this little portable thingamahoo.

Ken, Alyssa (The Big Red Podcast), Chiz and Andy reviewing some Swedish kiddie porn. Or something like that.

Derek Mears - the newest Jason Voorhees - at the Friday the 13th teaser and Q&A session. Mr. Mears is pretty fuckin' funny. Loved him. And he's got a great "pooper" as Freddy put it.

Erica and Alexander Hamilton. Not the president, you silly, the freak show performer. Duh.

Me and Freddy.

Andy at the lavish suite party. He's totally not completely tanked in this photo.

Child abuse. Or an example of down home family values.

Crazy dude at a horror convention! Weird. 

Uncle Randy from the Drunken Zombie podcast. He's the coolest.

The gang interviewing Belinda Balaski from The Howling.

Chiseck presenting a card given to us by our lovely Canadian friends. Did I mention that we love them?

Amy, Erica and....Hector 1, 2 or 3?

Holy shit! It's NOTLP superfan Bill!

Bill is apparently an even bigger fan of Erica's beer "coozies".

That's all the pics I took. I hope you enjoyed. To everyone that came out and joined us...thanks! And if you weren't there, you were sorely missed. We'll see you at the March '09 HHW in Indy, ok?

Someone trying to create a successful video game has a difficult task ahead of them.  They must constantly be mindful of the balance between innovation and gameplay.  You can make a finely crafted game that simply rehashes old themes and styles seen hundreds of times before, and people will accuse you of being just out to make money.  You can innovate too much, and people won’t be able to relate to or appreciate your game.  Now, this isn’t to say that heavily leaning in one direction or the other and not be successful.  Gears of War, for instance, is a textbook example of a game focused on gameplay.  Controls are tight, and it’s pretty.  It’s also about as common as a MySpace spam profile.  It did well, and I imagine it’s because gameplay is the safer of the two sides to lean to.

That brings us to Alone in the Dark, Atari’s attempt at resurrecting the beloved franchise.  If you haven’t played the old ones, please check them out.  The series was the true beginning of the Survival Horror franchice, and the first real attempt at making a game designed to scare its player.  This modern version takes a more action approach than its predecessors, creating an End of Days meets Prince of Darkness scenario involving an amnesiac Edward Carnby, a downright apocalyptic Central Park, and a plot to raise Lucifer himself.  There are numerous points and experiences in the game that seem custom made to feel epic, raising your hackles and bringing you to the edge of your seat.  I found myself saying “holy crap” at some of the things I was seeing throughout the game.  The plot, while hackneyed in spots, stays for the most part compelling, and should have little trouble keeping all but the most jaded horror fan at least interested enough to continue on.  Additionally, the DVD ‘chapter skip’ function, in which you can effortlessly move back and forth to individual points in a particular stage, adds not only as relief from frustrating points, but also a method to share with friends.  If I want someone to see a particularly neat moment, I need only go back to near that exact moment and relive it, instead of keeping multiple saves or playing through tedious extra parts just to get to that scene.

The game is not without its flaws though, and those flaws are glaring.  The control scheme is frustrating at best, with numerous incongruous actions tied to the same button (for instance; running, interacting with the environment, picking up items, and turning on your flashlight are all tied to the A button).  You can switch from first to third person at will, but movement in third person is clunky and difficult to do precisely.  I really think, with the general public as familiar as they are with a dual analog stick controller, that the old Resident Evil-style ‘tank controls’ need to be done away with.  So many innovations in this game revolve around you feeling like you are truly in Edward’s shoes (the viewable inventory and wounds system, hotwiring cars, most interactive set pieces), and to add in this type of control set hurts what the other steps have created.  Some of the physics are also broken, most notably in the few mandatory driving segments.  Several times during my game, the car would careen off, flipping into the air after hitting some invisible obstacle.  Sufficient weight wasn’t given to cars and other objects, making them like cardboard set pieces.  The game feels, as a whole, unpolished.  A few more trips to QA could have made this game a blockbuster.  As it is, it feels like a very expansive demo.

A simple trip to MetaCritic shows that this game has become a divided issue among game reviewers.  I think the question that divides them is how much credit you are willing to give the developers for trying new directions.  As it stands, the problems are frustrating, but only that.  I have not seen anything that was gamebreaking.  This may still turn off many gamers, and that is their prerogative.  It is, in fact an unpolished experience, with several flaws that can take away from your enjoyment of the experience.  On the other hand, it tries several interesting new things in the game, adding to immersion and making it feel exciting.  At worst, the game is a failed experiment in breaking new ground.  At least, it is a warning letter to other developers; “We may have missed the mark, but we and others will build on this.  There is never a time to rest comfortably.  We must always redefine what we are doing to make it.”