A PC hit makes contact on consoles, Lego Dimensions adds more major IP, and a great mix of excellent classics and intruiging new movies round out this week’s new releases!
September may be coming to an end, but Laser Time is still going strong! This week, we had a cross-over-tastic episode of Laser Time, a Disney Princess Battle Royal, and a Patreon-exclusive Godzilla 1984 Commentary! Fortunately, this week’s releases will give us plenty more to talk about, as there’s some great new games and Blu-rays to gab about! As we approach the holiday season, keep in mind if you have an Amazon Prime subscription, you’ll save 20% on new or pre-order physical games we link to (read: not digital codes). Why wait for a deep discount when you get one at launch?! Anywho, here’s this week’s best new games and movies!
Just like how the original XCOM made console gamers wait awhile, XCOM 2 has touched down on new-gen consoles, bringing a controller-based UI and the convenience of couch-based gameplay with the trade-off of slightly lessened performance and the complete lack of fan-made mods. As the worst kind of gamer who waited for the original XCOM to hit consoles, I’m ready to follow-up my hours of PC play (not quite enough to complete the game) with an extended tour of duty on Xbox One. We streamed XCOM 2 on console and ended up a with a few KIA Laser Time hosts, but you can expect more conversation on the topic come Vidjagame Apocalypse this Friday. And don’t forget, commander… you’ll save 20% on the console retail release price with an Amazon Prime subscription!
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: XBOX ONE
Are you ready for some football?! No, sorry, the other kind. If you don’t hear from Laser Time’s Europe-based listeners on shows this week, there’s good reason. EA’s footy franchise is back, ya wankers! With the World Cup 2018 qualifiers still raging on, many countries can still hold out hope they’ll make it to the big dance, so if you want to see, say, The Republic of Ireland look dominant in digital form with hope they’ll clinch a spot in the real deal, FIFA 17’s metric ton of teams, leagues, and realistic soccer gameplay should keep you intruigued as the wild world of football continues to kick along.
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: XBOX ONE, XBOX 360, PLAYSTATION 3
Yes, you probably are well aware of Lego Dimensions’ upcoming release if you’re a Laser Time listener or YouTube viewer. When TT Games offered to bring by some of the then-unreleased LD minifigs and gab about the myriad classic franchises that will get immortalized over the new few months, we had to capture all of the interview discussion and minifig footage we could. We’ve streamed some of the older packs and had some fun and MAY do it again with the new content, but it’s good to know that there’s still some substantial collections, like this hum-dinger of a Ghostbusters 2016 pack that adds a mini-campaign longer than stuff we’ve previously streamed.
ALSO AVAILABLE: Adventure Time, Mission Impossible
Dude, Shout Factory! Just in case you thought it was okay to abandon physical media altogether, Shout Factory has quietly launched a Shout Select series (I’m guessing to distinguish it from its MST3K lineand consistent horror/sci-fi releases?) and it’s pretty fucking outstanding. Sort of like the Criterion Collection for our generation, and without all the black and white subtitles. In addition to all-new, pristine high-def transfers for incredible, underrated masterpieces like Midnight Run and UHF, Shout’s still producing oodles of amazing supplemental features long after these films’ respective studios have abandoned the practice entirely. Of course the Bill and Ted’s Most Excellent Collection is no exception. You’ve got two of the greatest comedies the 1980s have to offer, but also FOUR new feature-length commentaries with the cast and crew, as well as some all-new behind-the-scenes docs featuring everybody involved, including Keanu Reeves, who has always been surprisingly cool with the series, forever promising to come aboard a third Bill & Ted movie. Now, we always recommend using our Amazon links because that helps us out tremendously when enough people do it. And of course, if you want to get just the discs, Amazon’s your cheapest option. However, if you’re like me and realized you’ve gone your whole life without a George Carlin action figure, you can get an ULTRA-COLLECTORS EDITION bundle over on Shout’s site with an exclusive Rufus figure from NECA Toys! – CHRIS
If you’re a fan of movies like Shaun of the Dead, Cabin in the Woods, Gremlins, etc., you’re rightfully wondering why Hollywood doesn’t make more Horror Comedies every October. The truth is it’s not all that easy to mix the two successfully, but when it works, you get unforgettable stuff like An American Werewolf in London, quite possibly one of the best synthesis of these two disparate genres in recorded history. It’s a comedy about two guys backpacking through Europe, but then a gore-soaked terror once a werewolf rips them both to shreds (courtesy of the legendary special effects maestro, Rick Baker.) As the years go on, An American Werewolf in London has almost edged out The Blues Brothers as my favorite John Landis film because there are almost too many highlights to mention. Come for the intensely graphic werewolf transformation scenes, stay to see mutant Nazis murdering an innocent family… as well as Miss Piggy in the flesh! – CHRIS
I’m fairly certain the tagline for the movie was made far before a script was penned or any contracts were signed. I mean, “it takes a little Hart and a big Johnson” is probably the best ad copy I’ve ever read, and it makes me a bit angry that I’ve still yet to watch this mismatched cop comedy featuring two of the most reliable hitmakers in Hollywood. I’ve enjoyed watching Kevin Hart bounce off the likes of Will Ferrell (Get Hard), Ice Cube (Ride Along), heck, even Josh Gad (The Wedding Ringer). Meanwhile, The Rock is at his best when he’s playing a boastful lawman, from his early days cameoing in Reno 911: Miami all the way up to stuff like The Other Guys and his continued dominance in the Fast and Furious franchise. So now that CI is more readily available on disc, you can bet I’ll have this movie on my police (movie) radar.
While Central Intelligence was a movie I meant to see in theaters but plan on remedying, Warcraft is a flick I went to see at the cinema (picked by the other party), but wish I had never watched. Not that Warcraft is outright awful, but as a person who can count his hours of Warcraft experience with one hand and still have room to pick both nostrils, I found the entire thing pretty listless and boring, like a half-assed Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. To wit, I can’t remember a single character, and only a few scenes remain faintly in my memory like some worn-off fire spell. Uh, at least Ben Foster camped it the hell up as a warlock! Anywho, if you live and die Warcraft, you’ve probably already purchased this Blu-ray, and are on a raid so you probably aren’t even reading this.
UPCOMING VIDEO GAME PRE-ORDERS!
SPECIAL ALERT! IF YOU HAVE AMAZON PRIME, YOU GET 20% OFF MOST PRE-ORDERS! KEEP THAT IN MIND WHEN BUYING THROUGH US!
Kingdom Hearts III
Gears of War 4
Call of Duty Infinite Warfare PS4 Legacy Edition
Dishonored 2: Limited Edition
Watch Dogs 2: Gold Edition
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Special Edition
Pokemon Sun and Moon Steelbook Dual Pack
Mafia III
Isn’t new Ghostbusters (or GHOSTBUSTERS: ANSWER THE CALL as it now appears to be known) out this week? Or is that just digital?