The Parliament of Singapore has passed the Remote Gambling Bill that has previously been mentioned as a bill that it is so broad, that it could affect the F2P market in the country.
S. Iswaran, the Second Minister of Home Affairs, remarked that the bill would not affect video games so long as players are not able to convert in-game currency into money or merchandise. For many games, they will be safe for now, however, there are other games that still would not be allowed to operate in Singapore without a gambling license.
Games in Asia reports that Loco Soccer, an indie title from Taiwan, has a "Play for Cash" mode, where players are able to pay an entry fee for a chance to win a portion of the pot. On the same note, game portals such as King's Royalgames.com and GSN's worldwinner.com would also run into trouble, due to having similar entry fee and payout structures.
While officials may allay fears of game developers by stating that they would not be affected by this law, it is not exactly clear whether this sentiment would change in the future, nor is it very clear in the wording of the bill. If anything, it would most likely discourage game developers and publishers from setting up shop in the country, in fear of getting raided for being "reasonably suspected" of violating the law.
I guess that would be the idea, but that would probably discourage developers and publishers from even setting up shop or setting foot into the Singaporean market...	
So for the games affected by this new law they can apply for a gambling license? Free to play games with gambling licenses would be interesting (a bit funny too but yeah let's not get to that)	
ThinkGeek launched its Black Friday sale yesterday. It runs through the 30th of November. During this sale, customers can get 20% off of purchases totaling at least $40 without tax or shipping. All you have to do is use the code “BLACKMAGIC” at checkout to receive the discount. You can’t use this code with any other special offers, though, like free shipping or coupons. It also doesn’t apply to gift certificates.
I’m super psyched about this sale because I’m a little bit in love with almost everything on the ThinkGeek website. I mean, just look at their Star Wars section. There’s a lot of really cool stuff there. I really want the classic Star Wars movie posters. However, seeing as neither of my roommates have seen Star Wars (something I’m trying to change), I doubt they’d go over well in my dorm. But Star Wars was my first love, and I still really want these posters.
And, of course, ThinkGeek offers products in almost every major realm of Geekdom. Portal, Doctor Who, Firefly, Minecraft, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Hunger Games, and more are all represented. You can pretty much find something for all your geek friends. I’m definitely going to be taking advantage of the ThinkGeek Black Friday sale.
It's not been an easy ride for Homefront: The Revolution. From THQ to Crytek, to Deep Silver's newly named Dambusters Studios, it's been four years in the making and evolved dramatically in the process. Now breaking away entirely from the linearity of its predecessor, Revolution puts you in the heart of an open-world 2029 Philadelphia. One which is strictly governed by the Greater Korean Republic after a successful invasion of the USA two years before.
My demo sees me dropped amidst the chaos of Philadelphia in what Dambusters is calling the Red Zone. Packed with militia, drones, and not a single place to pick up a cheesesteak sandwich, this is a hostile environment where guerilla fighters - somewhat surprisingly - aren't really made particularly welcome. Smoke billows into the sky from ruined skyscrapers in the distance and buildings are largely destroyed. The first order of the day is to stop a militia convoy in its tracks with a handily placed barrel trap on a nearby rooftop. With a pull of a lever when the enemy vehicle is in place, I send a slew of barrels that have a suitably Michael Bay effect before jumping down to pick off the remaining survivors.
Guerilla warfare is key in Homefront: The Revolution. In comparison to your team of rebels, the enemy is ludicrously overpowered and the odds really aren't in your favour. Gameplay changes accordingly. Action takes place in speedy bursts before you quickly retreat and evade enemy fire. Feel like you're surrounded? You probably are, so you should run. I take out a few smaller drones before scarpering and avoiding the watchful beam of a giant enemy drone overhead. While the GKR has technology on its side, we're handed something a little more basic: explosives. Revolution happily arms you with Molotov cocktails, firecrackers, and a whole host of craftable diversions. Spoiler, they all go boom.
While your weapons might be crude in comparison to the occupying army, Revolution is all about customization of what you've got. With a press of the up directional button you can fully customize the weapon you're holding. Want a hologram scope or a silencer? Each individual part can be fully customized, so if you've got the bits - which you can find from scavenging across the world and unlocking new areas - then you can craft your new ideal weapon. I arm myself with a crossbow, add a laser sight and spend a good five minutes picking off soldiers from a rooftop with ease, not to mention a nice satisfying crank and reload noise.
Scattered across the world are Network Transceivers that you can hack to reveal more activities in that area. Sound a bit Far Cry? Well, it is. After a Batman-style analogue-stick-wiggling hacking minigame, your map will pop up with all kinds of new activities to perform and ways to take the map for the rebels. It's now a tried-and-tested mechanic but fits well in the city environment, and there's plenty of variation on a theme of ‘you should probably kill these soldiers.'
You don't have to walk everywhere either. I'm instructed by a fellow rebel to take a motorbike from a crate and bouncily make my way across the map. It's a zippy way to travel and Dambusters has built the city specifically with it in mind. Fences have bike-shaped gaps to slide under and, now that you mention it, are those helpfully positioned ramps I see everywhere? I didn't find any other types of vehicles in the demo, but there are multiple bike types to unlock and it feels like a nifty way to hurtle across Philadelphia.
While it runs on the CryEngine, Revolution doesn't quite have the same popping visuals as Far Cry. This is a dull city. Grey clouds loom and the city is brown and dirty. However there are other zones to explore where people live under the rule of the GKR. Dambusters isn't saying much other than the fact that its Orwellian and there's propaganda everywhere, but these new areas sound interesting.
It all feels very Far Cry with more explosions and, hey, drones instead of honey badgers, but I enjoyed what I played. The weapon customization is immediately satisfying and it feels like there's plenty of potential here. It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds, but the move to an open world experience definitely seems like a smart move for the franchise. Vive le Revolution.
A sci-fi sequel worth the 35-year wait. Vincent van Gogh gets an animated tribute. Five medical students tinker with life after death. Wes Anderson’s crime-comedy feature debut. A Stanley Tucci-directed portrait of Alberto Giacometti.
For a film in which the premise rests entirely on a shaky foundation of ambiguity, there’s sadly little room for interpretation when it comes to Blade Runner 2049’s box-office performance. A worldwide gross of $259m (of which less than $100m was taken in the States) will rank as an underperformance against its $150m production budget. There’s a grimly satisfying symmetry, though, in this failing; it’s one of myriad ways in which 2049 lives up to its epochal predecessor.
Now seen as an all-time great, Ridley Scott’s 1982 film was critically and commercially undervalued on arrival, its stature growing with each tinkered version released. A decades-later sequel for any beloved property is potentially perilous (just ask Indiana Jones), but Blade Runner 2049 fulfils its duties pretty much perfectly; staying remarkably true to the spirit of the original, it pays homage without ever feeling restricted by its legacy.
This sequel adheres to the original’s formula while treading new ground. Embedded in the noirish detective story is the weighty question of what it means to be human. That blend is perhaps what makes director Denis Villeneuve the ideal fit, given his previous form with grizzled ’tecs (Prisoners) and bittersweet sci-fi (Arrival).
At the core of 2049 is Ryan Gosling’s K. Extreme release secrecy hid the fact that – minor spoiler alert – K is a ‘skin-job’ himself, a detail that’s revealed in the film’s opening moments. A replicant without a cause, he ‘retires’ his own kind seemingly without qualm. One such job leads him to a discovery that has huge repercussions for all replicant-kind, as a mystery gradually begins to unfurl at the pace of an artificial snail.
As in the original, the artificial lifeforms are more sympathetic than their real counterparts. The most captivating relationship in the film is between a replicant and a hologram, and 2049 arguably exceeds the original for emotional investment in these themes. Gosling’s tough, terse and ultimately tender turn anchors the film, elucidating K’s plight through an abundance of hemmed-in feeling.
Harrison Ford’s Deckard returns to the fold, and his human/replicant ambiguity is mined further, but he’s very much a supporting character here, even though his presence will add resonance for long-time fans. In minimal screentime, Ford turns in one of the most affecting performances of his career. If anything disappoints, it’s the antagonists. Jared Leto overdoes it as Tyrell replacement Niander Wallace, and his right-hand-woman Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) is charismatically ruthless, but inevitably lacks the depth of Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty.
The better you know the first film, the more you’ll get out of the sequel, despite its standalone qualities and Deckard’s minimal impact on the plot. Coming in cold, you could still appreciate the jaw-dropping visuals conjured up by Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins.
In one featurette, Villeneuve describes the film’s look as “the same kind of colour palette but made by another painter”. It won’t prove to be as influential as the original’s game-changing cityscape, but it’s an incredibly realised fictional world, even more gloomily oppressive than it was 30 years earlier. From the smog-shrouded metropolis of LA, to a junkyard San Diego and a desolate, amber-hued Las Vegas, it’s an expansive, hostile world.
As Villeneuve and his cast explain, this is a future as extrapolated from the first film’s vision of 2019. Hence the analogue equipment, alternate-reality ads (Pan Am and Atari are projected in neon at various points) and a lack of touchscreen tech. As Gosling puts it, this is a world in which Steve Jobs never existed. The commitment to practical effects adds to the connection with the original – it very much feels like the same world.
And feeling at one with BR 2019 means that 2049 is like nothing else out there; it’s remarkable that so few concessions have been made to appease multiplex crowds. Big bangs, towering set-pieces and merchandising opportunities are nowhere to be seen. And the slow pace and substantial run time seem designed to put off anyone not capable of the investment required. It practically builds a wall around its own cult status.
Even on repeat viewings, the slowburn unfolding is anything but a problem. Not only can you luxuriate in the visual detail, but the film yields new treasure with each rewatch, with references, callbacks and cameos to chew over (only the unsubtle use of “more human than human” clunks). While its short-term audience has clearly been restricted, Blade Runner 2049 will age better than any production-line multiplex fodder.
The home-ent release is clearly geared to collectors, with various editions including a steelbook and a 4K UHD version with whisky glasses. The bonus content is solid, rather than exceptional. Featurettes offer the chance to gawp at some of the finer details a bit more closely, the best of the bunch being the 20-minute Designing The World Of Blade Runner, and the short ‘prologues’ fill in some backstory gaps, though they’re more intriguing than essential (and hardcore fans will have watched them already).
Perhaps the extras were always going to feel scant on a film that demands and rewards close analysis and rewatching. It will get plenty of that over the next 30 years.
Director: Denis Villeneuve; Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto; Digital HD release: January 28, 2018; DVD, BD, 3D BD, Two-disc limited editing BD, Steelbook, 4K UHD release: February 5, 2018
Not unlike Kung Fu Panda, it lets Jackie Chan (as mentor to Dave Franco’s high-school ninja) be in an action-com without endangering his life. Also, there’s a beast with deadly moves whose tummy you’re itching to tickle…
Vincent van Gogh’s life and art have been splashed on screen before, but this is a unique entwining of the two: a film whose 65,000 frames were individually oil-painted by 125 artists, lovingly imitating the Dutch dauber’s style. It’s also a sly Citizen Kane homage, posthumously exploring van Gogh’s final days via a postman’s son’s (Douglas Booth) quest to deliver his last letter.
True, this fastidious tribute lacks dramatic depth, but when the surface is so extraordinary to behold – a living, swirling gallery – it’s hard to complain.
A so-so remake of a so-so ’90s thriller. Clearly, there just wasn’t enough life in the idea to begin with. Following the formula of the Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Roberts-starring original, it sees five medical students experimenting with the afterlife, only to face the paranormal consequences.
Director Niels Arden Oplev (2009’s original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) takes a clinical approach to horror, but the result is as monotonous as the title suggests, with a lack of heart-stopping moments aside from the literal ones.
Director: Niels Arden Oplev; Starring: Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev; Digital HD release: January 22, 2018; DVD, BD release: February 5, 2018
Wes Anderson’s feature debut gives fair notice of what was to come. The casting, for a start: the lead’s played by Owen Wilson, who also co-scripted with Anderson. The pair were fellow students at the University of Texas in Austin, and Wilson would go on to feature in several more of his pal’s movies, including The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and The Darjeeling Limited.
Here, he’s Dignan, leader of a trio of inept would-be criminals – the others being Anthony (Owen’s brother Luke) and Bob (Robert Musgrave). Their farcically bumbling attempts at heists are intended to impress local crime boss Mr. Henry (James Caan).
Also indicative of Anderson-to-come is the quirky, overlapping dialogue, often bordering on the deranged; the freewheeling plot spiralling into mounting absurdity; the idiosyncratic shooting style (DP Robert Yeoman would go on to shoot almost all Anderson’s subsequent features); and the off-the-wall humour. Plus, like several Anderson movies since, Bottle Rocket garnered a mixed response: in this case the critics mostly loved it, audiences mostly didn’t.
Based on real events in 1964, Stanley Tucci’s fifth directorial effort, for which he also takes the writing credit, sees celebrated Swiss artist and sculptor Alberto Giacometti (Geoffrey Rush) invite American art critic James Lord (Armie Hammer) to sit for him.
The portrait, Giacometti’s last before his death, is supposed to take an afternoon, but two-and-a-half weeks pass in glowering silence, artistic despair and wittily cantankerous discussions about life and art. Compellingly acted and handsomely shot in blacks, ochres and greys to match Giacometti’s sepulchral creations.
Corporate cruelty, office pimping, Yuletide yearning – Billy Wilder’s romcom bites like few comedies, but there’s also beauty beside the bile. As love-wounded babes in the big-city woods, Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine were never more touching. Wilder/Iz Diamond’s script serves them with sharp wit, while the jazzy score glows with feeling.
Deliciously tart and big-hearted, the disparate tones merge with miraculous tragi-comic balance: arguably, even Wilder never bettered it. Generous, scholarly extras.
Director: Billy Wilder; Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray; BD release: December 18, 2017
Pinballing wildly between bad bachelorette comedy and misjudged cover-up caper, this Weekend at Bernie’s update feels like a killer comedown after a night of hard partying. Scarlett Johansson (the bride), Jillian Bell (manic bestie), Kate McKinnon (inexplicably Australian) plus buds Zoë Kravitz and Ilana Glazer live it up in Miami, but all struggle to squeeze laughs from a tonally confused script (a surprise, given it’s from Broad City director Lucia Aniello).
“They’re all going to laugh at you!” wails Piper Laurie, the religio-psycho mother of Sissy Spacek’s shy but telekinetic titular teen in this still-effective shocker. First-time viewers might do some tittering of their own at the soft focus and big hair of Brian De Palma’s potent Stephen King adap, but terror still reigns when Carrie unleashes hell on prom night.
A year after the mighty Get Carter, director Mike Hodges and star Michael Caine re-teamed to slightly lesser effect for this quirky Med-set thriller. Caine plays a sleazy-but-stylish dime novelist who’s ghostwriting the autobiography of a garrulous actor (Mickey Rooney) with a murky past.
Narrated in Chandler-esque fashion by Caine, it’s a laconic blend of casual violence and in-jokes that never quite hits the spot. Still, this Euro trip does conjure a modestly sexy vibe. Caine’s sadly awol from the disc’s new interviews.
Cheaper than a ticket to a shocker,” mutters one character as Bill Nighy’s Victorian copper examines the latest crime scene of the titular serial killer. He’s referring to the gruesome plays of the London music halls but it’s a typically meta line, winking at the audience while inviting us to enjoy this gory Grand Guignol.
Entertaining enough, but Juan Carlos Medina’s Jane Goldman-penned film is hampered by stilted plotting and a final twist as obvious as arterial claret. Extras are bare bones.
Japan, the 1860s. The feudal samurai system is in meltdown, especially for Ryanosuke (Yojimbo’s Tatsuya Nakadai), a psychotic ronin who kills sometimes for money but mostly for pleasure. Shooting in lustrous widescreen black and white, Kihachi Okamoto stages multiple combat scenes with intense precision.
The plot often turns obscure, but Nakadai’s wild-eyed turn compels our attention. Old sparring partner Toshirô Mifune shows up to represent the classic samurai tradition.
Despite being a weird mix of goofy comedy and psychological horror, this ’80s B-movie from director-producer team Steve Miner and Sean S. Cunningham (1980’s Friday the 13th) is more entertaining than it really has any right to be.
Already beset by divorce, his son’s disappearance and Vietnam flashbacks, a writer (William Katt) moves into a haunted house… where he faces farcical frights, a fat rubber demon and the dry wit of Cheers regular George Wendt as his helpful neighbour. A fun, chaotic shambles.
The big screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's 'other' book The Host hits cinemas this week, but how does it compare to the tween behemoth that is Twilight ?
The invasion of earth by a parasitic alien race is rudely interrupted when one human refuses to succumb to the 'Soul' possessing her.
Boy meets girl, boy falls in love, boy eventually impregnates girl with his vampire spawn forcing him to 'save her life' by turning her into one of his own during childbirth.
Boy and girl defeat the evil vampires determined to destroy their peaceful existence and live happily ever after.
General critical opinion of The Twilight Saga aside, it would seem churlish to ignore the box office success of the franchise.
Saoirse Ronan has the tough job of taking on a split personality for The Host - Melanie, the strong, volatile human host; and Wanda, the ironically more gentle alien that takes over her body.
But the important thing is that they do so whilst simultaneously looking hot and making us like both of them.
In portraying the perpetually conflicted Bella Swan, Kristen Stewart became the envy of tweens everywhere.
But, crucially, she also gave them hope. Hope that all average girls could bag themselves a beautiful boyfriend who sparkles in the sunlight.
Unfortunately, the character's only discernible personality traits are incredible self-control, a penchant for danger and the ability to whine incessantly.
They might have an unfair advantage, what with there being two of them, but whichever way you judge it both willful Melanie and kind-hearted Wanda kick Bella's ass when it comes to this competition, for their sense of self worth alone.
Max Irons (son of Jeremy, fact fans) plays Jared Howe, Melanie's lover before events (and aliens) conspired to replace his missus with somebody new.
Understandably, Jared's boyish charms have since been somewhat quashed by bitterness and anger issues. He's only human, after all.
Brooding, deadly and really, really intense, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) fits the mold of every vampire ever.
Except, of course, that he feels bad about killing people and does his best to repress the bloodlust by munching on mountain lions and avoiding people - until he meets Bella, that is, and learns to crack a smile.
In fact, they're kind of the same person - except that Jared doesn't sparkle in the sunlight, and probably never heard of Debussy.
But when he finds himself feeling the warm and fuzzies towards Wanda it doesn't please Jared at all, for obvious reasons.
for him than most. Of course, his habit of transforming into a giant, hairy canine and whispering cheesy sweet nothings in Quileute might put some people off.
Whilst Ian admittedly has more facets to his personality, there's no denying the sheer loveability of Jacob Black.
Kyle O'Shea (Boyd Holbrook) might be Ian's brother, but the two don't always see eye-to-eye - especially when it comes to Wanda.
Stubborn, and with a fierce hatred for the beings who killed his one true love, Kyle's vendetta against the Souls has no limits - which means nothing good for our heroine.
Flame-haired Victoria's (Rachelle Lefevre / Bryce Dallas Howard) quest for vengeance after the Cullens killed her mate, James, was enacted on an epic scale in which she created a coven of newborn vampires to wipe out the family and destroy Bella in the process.
Malevolence simply drips from every pore of The Seeker (Diane Kruger) - heck, even her name is creepy.
Unlike other Souls, she is prone to human traits including irritability, anger, emotional outbursts, stubbornness - which obviously makes her evil.
While The Volturi are a collective of problematic vamps, it is undoubtedly the badly bewigged Michael Sheen's Aro who presents the biggest problem to Twilight 's heroes.
A power-hungry psychopath, he's a souless monster whose fear of losing his leadership of vampire society motivates his vendetta against the Cullens.
Sheen's wonderfully creepy performance aside, he is ultimately little more than a watered-down, hackneyed horror villain - albeit one whose habit of sticking out his tongue makes the skin crawl like no other.
Every resistance needs a leader, and in this case that duty falls to Melanie's uncle, Jeb Stryder (William Hurt), an eccentric old coot who spent years constructing an elaborate hideout in caves beneath the Arizona desert in case of alien invasion.
Crazy, but sensible. Significant others in Jeb's gang include Mel's brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and requisite medicine man with a drinking problem, Doc (Scott Lawrence).
Between the Cullen clan, the Quileute wolf pack, Bella's high school classmates, her human family and her CGI baby, Twilight has a much bigger cast of characters - many more of whom we get to know properly.
Having come to know and love Twilight' s extended and extremely attractive contingent over the years, how could we not choose them? Shallow? Us? Never.
None. Nada. Not a thing. Being an advanced race the aliens have superior technology, of course, but there's not a mind reader or fire breather among them. Most disappointing.
From the usual supernatural prowess of vampires and werewolves to additional gifts including seeing the future, elemental manipulation and several different versions of mind control, Twilight is a veritable superpowerpalooza.
Aside from a bit of fisticuffs here and there, you’re much more likely to see quite a bit of crying and lots of angst-ridden dialogue.
If there’s one thing Twilight had in spades, it was crying and angst-ridden dialogue. But, it also gave good fight scene.
From the innovative filming techniques used to capture the vamps’ superhuman speed in Eclipse, to that controversial closing cop-out in Breaking Dawn Part II , Twilight delivered.
Being set in a dystopian future, one might have thought that Earth’s remaining humans would be humping left right and centre.
Concerns about the continuation of their own race aside, living in an underground cave must become unbelievably boring after a while.
Meyer’s story, though, is chaste. Longing looks, meaningful smiles, meeting of skin and a bit of enthusiastic snogging is as exciting as it gets.
Despite the questionable ‘sex is bad’ undertones in Twilight , these movies were all about sexual tension – regardless of the nonexistent chemistry between the leads.
Lots of heavy breathing, near-meeting of lips and torturous self-denial eventually gave way to passionate love making for Bella and Edward on their wedding night – with disastrous consequences that nearly killed the bride.
In the end, though, Breaking Dawn Part 2 gave us what we’d been waiting for… in tasteful soft focus, of course.
Let’s face it, having been made for an audience burgeoning on pubescence, neither of these movies were ever going to give us graphic or gratuitous rumpy pumpy. Therefore, it’s an even draw.
It might extol the virtues of tolerance, forgiveness and understanding, but The Host frequently and conveniently jumps the morality shark on several occasions in order to *spoiler warning* give the characters a happy ending.
Several of them, in fact, seem to get over their issues or be forgiven for their actions far too easily.
Where do we start? A ‘perfect’ hero who borders on possessive and controlling, a heroine who is in large part happy to be possessed and controlled, the aforementioned graphic and violent consequences of sex and – here’s the best bit – the whole thing where an adult male prone to unnecessary nudity ‘imprints’ on a child.
Ultimately, we’re talking about light entertainment, so far be it from us to take either of these fictional worlds too seriously.
But nevertheless, this is a serious competition dammit – so we’re refusing to reward either contender points for making us squirm and cringe. You read that right, people – nil points.
Erm… dunno, really. It doesn’t matter what you look like, it’s what’s inside that counts? The aliens are coming, pack up your things and head for the nearest bunker?
Sex is bad. Oh, we’ve covered that. Vampires make brilliant boyfriends? No? In that case it’s got to be that love conquers all.
Caves. Yeah. But these caves are in the Arizona desert. If promo footage is anything to go by, with cinematographer Roberto Schaefer in charge of making them look good, they’ll look darn pretty.
Forks, Washington doesn’t exactly sound like a magical place, but over five films various chaps gave that rainy corner of the States a charm of its own.
As Wanda is held captive while the humans decide what to do with her, a tense situation is made even more urgent by the claustrophobic atmosphere they provide.
If The Host were any other film, we’d liken it to a psychological thriller at this point. But it’s not, so we won’t.
On paper, The Host has all box office success boxes checked – it’s science fiction, the genre a la mode, with loads of soppy romance and already has a huge following as Meyer’s book sales can attest to. How could it not win?
The worldwide box office success of The Twilight Saga is just the tip of the sparkly iceberg. The series has its own conventions. Plural.
Fans have gone so far as to mark themselves forever with graphic representations of R-Patz and devoted fanfic has even spawned another, far worse franchise in 50 Shades Of Grey .
For fans of Meyer and braindead supernatural romance, this needn’t be a contest at all. And there’s even potential for The Host to sway Twi-haters – they are, after all, very different stories. But when it comes to this competition, the facts are clear – the original can’t be beaten.