Win a double to Auckland's Armageddon Expo!

Win a double to Auckland's Armageddon Expo!

It's coming - and here's your chance to be part of the brilliant annual event that is Armageddon Expo!

We're giving you a chance to win a double to Auckland's Armageddon expo - simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com  and in the subject line put ARMAGEDDON - it closes Weds 22nd Oct, so best be quick!

Event Backgrounder

Dates:                                    ASB Showgrounds: Friday 24^th October – Monday 27^th October

Opening Hours:                    Friday October 24^th – 6pm to 9pm

Saturday October 25^th – 10am to 6pm
                Sunday October 26^th – 10am to 6pm
                Monday October 27^th – 10am – 5pm

Website:                               http://www.armageddonexpo.com/nz/

Ticket Prices:                        SINGLE DAY ENTRY - Friday to Monday
Adult - $20.00 (presale only) - $25.00 at the door
Student (with ID) $17.00 (presale only) - $20.00 at the door
Child (5-12) $10.00 or FREE with a full paying adult
Family (2 adults & 3 child) $55.00

MULTIDAY PASSES
Special discounts apply for purchasing tickets to three or four days of the event.

THREE DAY PASS
Adult - $50.00 (presale only) - $60.00 at the door (save $10.00)
Student (with ID) $45.00 (presales only) - $50.00 at the door.

FOUR DAY PASS
Adult - $60.00 (presale only) - $70.00 at the door
Student (with ID) $55.00 (presales only) - $60.00 at the door
Child (5-12) $30.00

TICKETS ARE NOW ONSALE THROUGH WWW.ITICKET.CO.NZ 

Event Description

Dust off your light saber, clean out your turtle shell and get practicing your favourite superhero theme song because Armageddon Expo 2014 is coming to town for four huge days of pulp culture mayhem in October.

The ASB Showgrounds will be overrun with sci-fi, movie and comic fans of all ages, gamers and the just plain curious from October 24^th – 27^th, starting with a special opening night on the Friday and then three full days of action and adventure over the Labour Weekend!

Armageddon features more entertainment, mind-altering exhibits and famous people than you can handle, with comics, Anime, TV celebrities and movie stars, comic and voice artists, massive interactive gaming stands and much, much more on display.

This year’s list of celebrity guests includes a star studded selection from some of the most iconic TV series and movies headed by MacGyver himself Richard Dean Anderson, followed by the stunning and loveable Doctor Who companion Jenna Coleman, the WWE master of beef and braun ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan, along with voice artists William Salyers from the awesomely quirky The Regular Show and Greg Cipes, the voice of our favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Michaelangelo.

Comics / Sci Fi / Fantasy / Cards:

Comic Guests: These ever-popular guest panels are a standout feature at Armageddon, as well as the autograph signings and sketches from the highly talented group of International comic guests. This year, Armageddon welcomes Kevin Eastman co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Adrian Kinnaird of Earth’s End: The Best of New Zealands Comics, joined by Ant Sang from The Dharma Punks, and writer Kyle Higgins from Batman Eternal, Deathstroke, Nightwing and more.

Tournaments: Aucklands home of card tournaments for card enthusiasts to meet up and play on a grand scale – they swap, compete and challenge each other in Pokémon, Yu Gi Oh, Cardfight!! Vanguard and Magic The Gathering all under the one roof over three days.

Anime / Manga / Cartoons:

Special Yu Gi Oh Presentation: Armageddon Expo and Madman Entertainment present a special screening of Dragon Ball Z – Battle of Gods with the voice of Goku - Sean Schemmel in attendance! Sean will intro the film and take questions from fans before the screening. 

Trans-Tasman Cosplay Contest: A big deal at Armageddon, the Cosplay Contest becomes an outright Cosplay war with Australia. This is a contest for fans of all genres and of all abilities and is open to TV, movies and Anime competitors.

Cosplay Parade: For those who don’t want to compete, the Cosplay Parade is an opportunity to get on stage and show off their costumes, as well as take part in zany performances and skits.

Voice artists at Armageddon 2014 include: Greg Cipes the voice of Michelangelo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, William Salyers aka Rigby from The Regular Show, Roger Jackson voice of Mojo Jojo off Powerpuff Girls and Ghostface from Scream, Jason Spisak from Young Justice.

Screenings and Panels:

Get photos and autographs with your favourite TV and Film stars. Guests appearing include: Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver, Stargate SG1), Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who), David Nykl (Stargate Atlantis), Sarah Louise Madison (Doctor Who), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Michael Hogan (Teen Wolf, Battlestar Galactica), Jacqueline Samuda (Stargate SG1), AJ Buckley (Supernatural, CSI NY), Travis Wester (Supernatural), David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis), Suanne Braun (Stargate SG1), Peter Williams (Stargate SG1), Mira Furlan (Babylon 5, Lost), Judson Scott (Star Trek 2), Helen Slater (Supergirl, Smallville), Cliff Simon (Stargate SG1), William Kircher (The Hobbit), DJ Qualls (Supernatural, The New Guy), Barry Duffield (Spartacus).

Screenings: Join THE ZONE for a preview of the feature-length premieres of Defiance and  Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods.

Gaming / Technology

Gaming Kiosks: This year will feature a massive increase in gaming distributors with some very exciting brands showing their latest releases. Including; Little Big Planet 3, Singstar Ultimate Party, Mortal Combat X, Lego Batman 3, Call of Duty Advance Warfare and more!

Kiwi-made Games: The NZ Game Developers Association have bought some of the finest kiwi game developers together for a unique Armageddon pop-culture indie showcase and speakers panel.

Sports

Impact Pro Wrestling: New Zealand’s premier wrestling group will once again be laying the smack downs, bringing the big talk and even bigger moves to the Kiwi public at the Armageddon Expo 2014. Be prepared to witness ‘never to be tried at home’ moves so impressive, they’ll have you trying them as soon as you get home!

WWE Wrestling Hall of Famer: ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan is coming to Armageddon and will be wrestling at the event as well as signing autographs.

Fun for Everyone

The Forbidden Jungle: Upon entry to Armageddon, a secret peril awaits any who is brave enough to enter... The Forbidden Jungle! Be escorted through a hidden area of the event, where something dangerous lurks, just waiting to be disturbed.

Meet The Moe Show: Meet your favourite characters from The Moe Show at Armageddon! Moe, Fern and Frank will be there for photos and fun! The best chance to catch them will be before 2pm (Moe needs his nap time) but if they're having fun they might stay all day!

Eating Contests: Push the limits of your stomach with the Fear Factor Challenge – six rounds of eating challenges, and if you survive that, why not have a shot at the Tip Top Ice Cream eating challenge to really finish yourself off?

Kamehameha Contest: Has been a screaming success over the past years and is hugely entertaining to watch. Sit back and watch or get involved and compete against other fanatic Dragonball Z fans for the most powerful Kamehameha.

Win a double to Whiplash

Win a double to Whiplash

Andrew Neiman is an ambitious young jazz drummer, single-minded in his pursuit to rise to the top of his elite east coast music conservatory.  

Plagued by the failed writing career of his father, Andrew hungers day and night to become one of the greats. Terence Fletcher, an instructor equally known for his teaching talents as for his terrifying methods, leads the top jazz ensemble in the school. 

Fletcher discovers Andrew and transfers the aspiring drummer into his band, forever changing the young man’s life.  

Andrew’s passion to achieve perfection quickly spirals into obsession, as his ruthless teacher continues to push him to the brink of both his ability—and his sanity.    

Whiplash hits New Zealand cinemas on October 23rd.


We're giving you a chance to win a double to see Whiplash - simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com  and in the subject line put WHIPLASH and your contact details and address! Competition closes 23rd October

Alien Isolation: PS4 Review

Alien Isolation: PS4 Review

Released by SEGA
Platform: PS4

In space, no-one can hear you scream.

In the comfort of your front room, with the lights down, the PS4 console on and the TV up loud, well, that's another matter entirely.

And fortunately, given the survival- horror nature of Alien Isolation, a good thing too.

In this game, which is set after Alien but before the carnage of Aliens, you get to play Ripley's daughter, Amanda (a genius idea, quite why it's never been mined before is beyond me) who's trying to find her missing mother. Given the task of tracking her from a flight recorder from the Nostromo which was found on a nearby space-station, Amanda's given a place on a Weyland-Yutani ship heading that way. But, as ever, this goes slightly awry, and Amanda finds herself alone on the station....yet she's not alone for very long....

SEGA have gone back to the basics for this title which draws on the earliest elements of the first film for a true Alien experience that really does eclipse everything which has gone before it. It's even an 80s feel to the piece with the 20th Century Fox logo blasting out while VCR static strips cause it to wobble. Authenticity is the keyword for this game - from the atmospherics of rumbling low sounds to the slightest bash of the pipes around the space station, everything's fixed towards giving you the scares as you wait for the inevitable appearance of the Xenomorph.

The first part of this first person stealth game settles for exploration as you wander around the labyrinthine corridors, negotiating dangling sparking power lines, walking through vents and trying to restore the apparently abandoned station to life to get yourself to a place of safety. It's a practical game too, as you collect elements a la Tomb Raider / Last of Us to craft things to ensure you've got a cat's chance in hell of surviving what's ahead.

I'm not going to go too far into the story element of Alien: Isolation because half of the sheer pant-soilingly terrifying fun is seeing how it plays out - and how long you can survive. The game even has a survival mode where you're pitted one-on-one with the beastie and a clock counts to see how long you can make it as if to belie the perversity of what you have ahead of you. It's also slyly mocking you as in this level, you will die a lot as the elements conspire against you.

And this is the real hook for Alien: Isolation; the very fact that you can't off the Xenomorph. You have to try to survive, to pick your moments. While you get to wield the iconic flamethrower against the critter, it's little use as it delays the creature's attack on you; even taking it head on is a mistake as the creature's unpredictable thanks to the AI that's been employed for it. There's no set path, no fixed moves and no chance to predict exactly what it will do.

Which is what really adds to the wildly unpredictable atmosphere of the game, that ramps up the tension, the fear and the horror of what's going on. As well as the 80s feel (from a cassette saving icon to the computer screens within the space station), the vibe of horror and discomfort is ripped directly from the first film and it's disarmingly effective. This is a game that craves you play it in the dark and then practically laughs at you as you scream pathetically when the proverbial hits the fan.

However, there's also an element of frustration though as you keep dying and forces you to repeat sections again that really can be irritating after a while. And initially, it does take a while for you to work out exactly what you've got to do, which will thwart the most casual gamer.

Alien: Isolation is a thrilling ride, a tense claustrophobic cat and mouse game that really does elevate the genre to its highest echelons and proves to be a rewarding outing for fans of both the Alien franchise and gamers alike.

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Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor: PS4 Review

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor: PS4 Review

Released by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
Platform: PS4

Mordorrrrr, mordorrrrrrrrrr.

It's a common refrain from Tolkein's books, and must be said in a whisper. However, there's no reason to whisper about Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor because it's a game that really does provoke excellence on many levels.

It's back to the world of Tolkein unsurprisingly for this latest, as you take on the role of Talion, a Ranger whose life is torn apart with the death of his son and the murder of his wife in front of his very eyes. However, things get worse when as part of a sacrifice to Sauron, Talion's throat is slit and he's killed off (not the most auspicious of starts you'd have to say).

But revived with wraith-like abilities after a merging, the Ranger sets off into Mordorrrrrrr (sorry) to exact vengeance on the marauding Uruk-hai and to find out who exactly the bad guys are and to try and stop Lord Sauron.

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a Lord of the Rings game that doesn't dwell on the mystical side of Tolkein too much and simply gets into the battling and role-playing that you'd want from a title like this. Grim and gritty, the opening sequences alone are up there with what we've seen from Peter Jackson and the studios but also their own beast, giving the game an almost cinematic feel that you'd come to expect from such a series.

There's clearly an Assassin's Creed / Batman style influence here as you slink around, execute Orcs and use your stealthiest moves to level up in the early stages of the game. But what there also is in this game is a feeling of a vengeance flick as you run your sword through a gaggle of enemies to execute your vengeance on those who have wronged you.

Where the Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor really finds its feet though is the Nemesis system which it employs.

Essentially, what that's done for the gameplay within Mordor is potentially redefining. Each person you meet has their own personality, their own attributes (as well as their own names and attitudes) and is shaped by this. If you run away from an Orc during a conflict, the system kicks in and they will remember you if you meet them again - either in combat or further on in their army, it's been shaped by this interaction.

The system also serves as hierarchy for within the Orcs' armies, helping them to jostle for power, adding in delicious levels of character conflict that are played out in front of you - and are different in every permutation of the game. It's an incredible system to see in use and brings another level of gameplay to the table, which makes this a completely immersive fantasy experience - and a totally rewarding gaming one.

You'll also have to gather intel on the enemies as well which is done by investigating Orcs and unlocking info by using your Wraith touch. It's elements like this that have really raised Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor to the echelons and accolades it's been scoring. But it's also the character touches as well - from each creature uttering threats and interacting that elevate this game to a more personal level than what's gone before.

There's plenty more to explore in Mordor as you continue your quest. And while that side of the game may not be the most original, it's the Nemesis system, the stunning graphics and the true-to-the-origins elements that make Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor an RPG that's well worth your time.

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LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham - Behind the Scenes Celebrity Trailer

At this year’s New York Comic Con, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment revealed that Conan O’Brien, Stephen Amell and Kevin Smith joined the incredible cast of LEGO® Batman™ 3: Beyond Gotham. Now you can see all three stars in a brand new trailer that takes you behind the scenes of this year’s ultimate superhero adventure for the entire family.

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham will be available in New Zealand on November 27, 2014 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS Vita, Wii U, 3DS and PC.

Assassin's Creed Rogue story trailer is here

Assassin's Creed Rogue story trailer is here

A Walk Among The Tombstones: Movie Review

A Walk Among The Tombstones: Movie Review

Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, Astro
Director: Scott Frank

Mixing 70s detective ethics and visuals with a bit of the ole Neeson Taken "special skills" DNA, A Walk Among The Tombstones (from the Lawrence Block books) is a curiously dark beast.

Neeson is Matt Scudder, a former hard-drinking cop on the New York streets in the 90s who's forced to turn his life around after a street shoot-out. Years later, with Y2K hanging over the nation's conscience, he's working as an unlicensed PI when he's approached by drug dealer Kenny (Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens) to help him solve the kidnapping and murder of his wife.

But, as Scudder investigates, he discovers a murkier world within.

A Walk Among The Tombstones is very much Taken, PI - but without the action.

Taking its cue from 70s detective noir films, writer / director Scott Frank's crafted together an at times nasty piece that feels like it's a mix of this genre and Scandi-noir. In among the grime and run-down city vistas, something insidious is lurking and Frank's brought a lo-fi low key feel to this which, at times, borders on plodding and a little dull.

So, to combat that, Frank's relied on Neeson's usual brand of stoically grim countenance and innate likeability to see you through the darkly grim proceedings. Neeson's watchable throughout - from the start when he's dispatching justice to those who've robbed a bar through to the final scenes of claustrophobic tension (via a series of talky sequences), you're simply drawn to the character and his innate struggle to make his way through the murk of the world. Though, it has to be said, at times, Neeson feels like he's sleepwalking given how relatively emotionless he is on screen, and how nasty the sociopaths are that are committing these crimes.

There's also some light relief in the form of a street kid TJ (Astro) whom Scudder decides to befriend and protect and with whom he shares some laconic banter. In among the Sam Spade references and bleakness, this ray of light is a welcome, if occasionally over-used, touch.

As the urban decay and moral decline reaches a peak, there's a final act shoot-out which feels symptomatic of the potboiler that Frank's tried to stir and which doesn't quite come together as it should (with Frank freeze-framing the action at moments to fit in with a voice-over about the 12 steps programme).

However,  the slightly overlong A Walk Among The Tombstones doesn't quite hit the retro film noir highs it's going for - but it does prove to be a nostalgic reminder of what used to be.

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