Mind of UPSLynx for the Week of December 13th

Bobby Miller 19 Dec, 2009 at 1:33am ET Article published in Tech

It’s almost Christmas time! At least I think it is—I’m really not sure. The lack of snow and holiday bustle is kind of killing the vibe for me. No matter, because Christmas means one of my favorite Icrontic activities: Icrontic Sekrit Santas! The cleverness of our community members never ceases to amaze me, as the incoming gifts are already stellar.

NVIDIA tries to brush off AMD’s industry dominance of DirectX 11 like it ain’t no thing. We know what’s really happening here though—PR schlock.

Also, there’s a feature-length fan film based on the Legend of Zelda. The question at hand isn’t of the quality of this film, but rather the quality of the Super Mario Bros film made in the mid-nineties. Cliff Forster seems to think it sucked. Everyone else disagrees with him. A shocking new development!

Kick off your shoes, crack open a brew, and hit play, because if it’s Friday, it’s Mind of UPSLynx.

Comments

19 Dec 2009 ~ 2:01am GooD Haha nice one

You're getting better and better with each episode UPSLynx !

I liked the end when you tell us your opinion about movie based on a game, i think the same way
19 Dec 2009 ~ 2:22am Thrax Q: Game to film adaptations. Why are there so many bad ones?
A: Uwe Boll.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 2:32am UPSLynx Glad you enjoyed it, GooD!

Sledge, I'm sorry man... someone had to tell you. I hate that it was me D:
19 Dec 2009 ~ 4:18am MachineDog I want to talk about the lack of mobile support for this webcast.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 9:55am Cliff_Forster Hey, say what you all will about the Super Mario Bros. film, but the fact that it was a critical and commercial flop is the reason that you don't yet have films based on Zelda or Metroid which are both obviously ripe franchises for a filmmaker that really cares about the source material. Nintendo got out of the filmaking biz for a reason, and at least half of it was SMB the movie, and Thrax does have a point about Uwe Boll, he is not helping anybody.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 11:17am photodude All this talk about game based fan films brings memories of watching Red vs Blue the halo based weekly fan shorts....http://redvsblue.com
19 Dec 2009 ~ 11:40am UPSLynx Red vs Blue and Hero of Time are two great examples of how it can be done right in the hands of people who truly care about the source content.

Though I hate the series, they should never give the Halo film to Peter Jackson or Del Toro, let someone who is intimately familiar with the IP and passionate about the game do it. It's the only way.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 1:27pm Dunigan You should all do yourselves a favor and track down a copy of Pocket Ninja's. Then you can truly say, "I have seen the WORST movie of all time." No joke...THE WORST!!!
19 Dec 2009 ~ 1:56pm Grimnoc Without going into a million reasons as to why I'm pretty close to agreeing with you on the whole "keeping games as games and film as film" bit.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 2:45pm Cliff_Forster I think that may be the broader point, perhaps the game as a narrative is enough in some cases, but I swear, Zelda and Metroid could totally work in the right hands.

And though no game movie is a masterpiece there are those that are certainly entertaining. The Resident Evil films, Hitman, and the first Mortal Kombat film, none particularly mind blowing, but all at bare minimum entertaining to some degree. It can be done. Source material like Zelda and Metroid, so much potential, but I'm telling ya, that SMB film made Nintendo ultra protective of its IP, and with good reason.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 3:12pm chrisWhite Hmm, if Zelda could work I don't think it could work right now, we need to get some distance from this era of fantasy films before anyone really can stomach another decent fantasy movie that I would expect to be no better then the Narnia films.

I think a Halo film could still work though, if only because the lore, the story and the music has always been what's carried the series despite the mediocre start and the average game play and level design since. Del Toro would not be the man for that job though, it's just not dark or intimate enough, it would be serviceable, like the Hell Boy films but nothing shockingly good. Peter Jackson on the other hand, I feel could do an amazing job with it, if I could pick any director for the job it would come down to a tie between him and James Cameron.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 5:09pm Thrax Peter Jackson was working on Halo. Then it was canned and we got the (much) cooler District 9.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 5:14pm chrisWhite Agreed, though they were two very, very different projects, I'm glad we got District 9 but I wouldn't mind there someday being a Peter Jackson Halo movie. I think it would be one of the better games to lend itself to a film but I just get excited about anything Peter Jackson does.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 5:53pm UPSLynx Still haven't seen District 9 :/
19 Dec 2009 ~ 6:50pm GHoosdum Pocket Ninjas has nothing on Battlefield Earth.
19 Dec 2009 ~ 8:42pm chrisWhite I saw part of The Room recently, that's got to be on the worst films list. Makes Uwe Boll look pro.
20 Dec 2009 ~ 1:12am Gate28 *Crosses off "mentioned in a Mind video" off his to-do list*
20 Dec 2009 ~ 5:11am Snarkasm Dead Alive is on my "worst movies ever" list - I saw it in New Zealand, and it was so miserable, I came back to the States and hunted it down just so I could own it.

Just terrible.
21 Dec 2009 ~ 11:50am Bandrik Before I even watch the rest of it, I have to say this: OHHOLYCRAPYOUACTUALLYUSEDIT!!!

Er, I mean, I'm surprised and delighted to hear the "get some nuts!" included in a Mind of UPS Lynx. Just like I asked for. I guess Christmas dreams do come true. Thanks for the gift (of sorts), Lynx! =D
21 Dec 2009 ~ 12:01pm Bandrik Okay now a post with a few less *squee!* moments. =P

1. Love the ZeFrankians you're pulling in seamlessly. Cutting to images to make your points stronger and more graphical is a nice touch.

2. Santa Claus - whatadick. Nicely done. Bastard.

3. Love the "here I'll show you the gifffffffffff ;P" part. HAH!

4. Yep. Getting about the same snow here. Sucks. We have a dusting now, but meh. Where's my minimum of 3 inches?

5. Steve Jobs' evil little fruit LOL.

6. nVidia, suck it. Or show your goods. But till then, suck it.

7. Mario Bros movie did rock. And am I nerd for laughing out loud (literally) at the "Pocket Ninjas" clip because the male character flips to the left side of the frame when he turns around, and NOT for the bad acting? Yeah, maybe I am a nerd for that.

Though if you want a REAL bad movie, try Manos: The Hands of Fate. I couldn't even watch the MST3K version of it, it was so awful.

8. Sweet T-shirt, bud. =D

Okay that's all. Go. Get outta here. GET SOME NUTS!!
21 Dec 2009 ~ 12:27pm poofie SQUEE! <4 now that i have been properly shout outed, i'll stop pestering you.

and Super Mario Bros was a badass movie! i watched it just a couple of weeks ago, ON PURPOSE, and grinned like a fool the whole way through. the part in the elevator, when Luigi gets all the goombas to dance? makes me giggle every time i think about it. i will always love that movie, even though it's not very good.

are *all* video game movies considered bad? i mean, i'm no game or film connoisseur, but i liked Mortal Kombat.
21 Dec 2009 ~ 12:29pm Thrax All of them are bad, but some are simply less bad than others.
21 Dec 2009 ~ 1:05pm Grimnoc Yes, all of them are bad, quite bad.

I'm pretty sure a Zelda movie would be a complete disaster, almost regardless of who made it. I also don't think the answer would necessarily lie with getting a "fan" of the games to do it. In fact, if Zelda were to ever be optioned I think it would work better to get someone who didn't know anything about the Zelda games and could just be given a rough outline of the games.
21 Dec 2009 ~ 1:11pm _k The Postal movie was on par with the game, I think that is a win. When chicks make out its always a good movie.
21 Dec 2009 ~ 1:15pm Grimnoc

_k_ wrote:

The Postal movie was on par with the game, I think that is a win. When chicks make out its always a good movie.

Actually, you may be on to something here k. While Postal wasn't really good it was Uwe Boll's best work, and he doesn't really receive much credit for it.

There, I said it. I officially gave Uwe Boll some credit.
22 Dec 2009 ~ 9:23pm UPSLynx Agreed. Postal is Boll's best film. It is actually kind of funny, and matches up with the game well.

crap. he did it.

Bandrik, told you I wouldn't let you down! I was thinking about my humor style in Mind this morning, and I realized I'm REALLY taking to the mold of Ze Frank. And I am completely OK with that.
23 Dec 2009 ~ 5:34am DrLiam Thanks for posting during the holiday season. I enjoyed your video as usual.
23 Dec 2009 ~ 3:54pm Zadok Ha Ha, Pocket Ninjas... I've seen that movie way to many times. -_-
24 Dec 2009 ~ 1:34am UPSLynx

Zadok wrote:

Ha Ha, Pocket Ninjas... I've seen that movie way to many times. -_-

Knew you'd appreciate that! I miss hating that film...