Fizmarble.com celebrates 1000 posts!!

Posted on by Orion Williams
Blog

Today, fizmarble.com celebrates 1000 posts.

I wanted to thank those of you who have contributed to the site with your articles, or your art, or your support, or by simply reading what we have to say and clicking “like”. Thank you all. We hope to provide you with many thousands more posts.

We’ve learned a lot in the last several months doing this fizmarble thing. Stay tuned, and if your friends like the things we like (video games, comics, movies, music, random crap) then tell them about us. See you soon.

He-Man: The Most Powerful Game (Review) In The Universe

Posted on by Orion Williams
Game Reviews, Games

image

I am quite the He-Man fan.  I enjoyed the old series as well as the new.  I love the corny, sometimes self-contradicting messages at the end of the episodes.  I had many of the toys as a youth.  Though I must confess I only had Battle Armor Skeletor and not the original.  I do however have an Orko shirt that my loving wife purchased for me knowing how much of a fan that I am.  So it should come as no surprise that when “He-Man: The Most Powerful Game In The Universe” was announced, this 33 year old shell of a man became temporarily possessed by a six year old boy.

Here are the words of a 33 year old man, tempered by the thoughts of that six year old boy. Continue reading →

Deadlight lurches onto Steam

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

We reviewed Deadlight on the Xbox Live Arcade platform in July.  But now a new audience can partake in Tequila Works’ zombie apocalypse survival simulator.

PC gamers get an updated version of the game with a new NIGHTMARE difficulty, as well as some “making of” videos.

And just a short list of tips from those of us who have “survived” Deadlight:

  • Don’t feel like you need to kill every zombie; running is your best defense.

I told you it was short.

Trailer:

Melissa’s Weekly Review – Zombies, Spies and Monsters

Posted on by Melissa Miller
Movies/TV

Several of my favorite shows returned this past week and quite a few of them are spooky because it’s October and that is when the spooky things are on TV, I’m told. I cuddled under the covers and watched just for you.

I wish I had a weekly talk show like this guy to geek out publicly about my favorite shows. At least I can do it here. Thanks, Fizzies.

Continue reading →

Developer Interview – SpikySnail(The Splatters)

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

spikysnail logo

When Xbox Live Arcade game The Splatters launched in April of 2012, my first look at the game was a launch trailer, the trailer persuaded me to download the demo, and the demo convinced me to buy the game.  I played it with my 11 year old son and we loved trying to beat our best scores and we marveled at the top scores on each of the levels.  The Splatters features some really cool “jelly physics” and some brilliant use of slow motion effects.  It also features a replay theater similar to the Trials games and allows you to see how the insane scores at the top of the leaderboard were achieved.

The Splatters also has a cute and humorous charm to it.  It’s got a wide variety of levels and several modes of play.  It also reviewed well.  Many of the larger video game review sites scored it 80/100 or above, and the Metacritic user reviews put it at a respectable 8.7 out of 10.  So then why is The Splatters developer and indie game studio SpikySnail more than a little concerned about their financial state?  Despite The Splatters being a generally well received game, it didn’t sell well enough to make all of their money problems go away.  So they labor on.  Doing that which they love most, making fun games.

Being a small team is a big job (just ask anyone at fizmarble).  SpikySnail co-founder Sagi Koren shed some light on how an indie developer gets it done.

Continue reading →

Xbox 360 Holiday Bundles get $50 price drop

Posted on by Orion Williams
Deals, Games

Let’s say you are a car guy, and you really want to race around with your buddy in Forza Horizon.  Well, this bundle doesn’t include Horizon, but it does have Forza Motorsport 4 and Skyrim and it’s 50 dollars less than you would have spent last week.

So “dental bill” be damned.  Tell the wife that “the kids” are getting an early Christmas gift.  Hopefully she doesn’t notice that you didn’t buy an extra controller.

Oh yeah, for the rest of you there are also some kinect bundles that received the 50 dollar price cut as well.  But this is really about getting Forza games.

[easyazon-image align=”none” asin=”B0096KEMUY” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51nJFBcNbsL._SL160_.jpg” width=”154″][easyazon-image align=”none” asin=”B0050SYDEQ” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rfdArdAML._SL160_.jpg” width=”115″]

Zombie Driver HD Review

Posted on by Orion Williams
Game Reviews, Games

zombie driver title

Zombie Driver HD giveaway details:  Follow @Fizmarble on twitter and Retweet our post on this review to be entered to win one of 4 Xbox avatar award codes (skull shirt) or a full version of Zombie Driver HD for XBLA.

There may be some time in the future (whether near or far, no one knows for sure) where it will be boring to face wave after wave of various types of zombies, smashing them into pieces with your car and watching their mangled torsos roll off of the hood of your car.  Now is not that time.

While many gamers people may be bothered by use of zombies in…everything, driving your car into innocents isn’t as accepted as it may have been when video games were less mainstream.  Most folks are ok with killing zombies, so we won’t likely see the end of the zombie killing simulator soon.  And that’s ok, because it means we get fun, if flawed, diversions like EXOR Studios’ Zombie Driver HD.

Continue reading →

Melissa’s Weekly Review – Nashville, Venus & Oz

Posted on by Melissa Miller
Movies/TV, Uncategorized

Just as we are getting into the swing of things with the new fall season, two American Pastimes are getting in the way. One is baseball taking over a good portion of the Fox schedule this month. The other is the past time of watching grown men argue with each other on stage while not saying anything at all. Hurray for Presidential campaign season! Sigh…

(See… they aren’t happy about it either. *sad trombone*)

But try as they might, baseball and politics can’t take over everything. So here are a few highlights from the week.  Continue reading →

Melissa’s Weekly Review.

Posted on by Melissa Miller
Movies/TV, Uncategorized

Another week of TV in the books. Not as many shows premiered as last week, but with The CW starting to roll out it’s lineup, DVR schedules are starting to get interesting. Mine may wind up going on strike soon. These boys are confused or upset about it. I can’t tell.

 

Here’s a look at some of the things that stood out for me this week… Continue reading →