Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered - Standalone release - is it worth it?

Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered

Seek and ye shall find, the internets latest 'worst kept secret' should have the older console fanboys either drooling or raging depending on their moral stance with regards to remastered editions of games and paid-for DLC. If the latest information surrounding the remastered standalone edition of Call of Duty Modern Warfare is anything to go by Activision appears to have changed its mind about releasing a standalone edition of Modern Warfare, its seminal modern combat FPS.

The FPS game that kicked off the series into modern era combat is due to get a standalone release  on June 27th. Already available since November 2016 as part of the 'legacy Edition on PS4 and XBox One' which includes Infinite Warfare, multiplayer for Modern Warfare was somewhat of a ghost town as many older players who had first cut their teeth on the original didn't want to have to purchase infinite Warfare at a premium price just to access the remastered version of the game.

Charlie Intel got a leaked pack shot from US retailer Target (see below) although it doesn't include the variety Map Pack that launched in March. This might be high on the list of your summer purchases if you're one of the 'older generation' of gamers who prefers not to have to suffer the indignity of getting no scoped by a 12 year old with a  dayglo pink tiger camo M85 sniper rifle.

At the time of writing, neither GAME or Amazon UK have this product listed so the European release is still in the realm of the unknown but at least it appears to be coming. The biggest issue of course is the fact that content that came free in the original 10 years ago now comes as a microtransactional add-on in the remastered edition, something that won't sit well with the community. Add to that a $39.99 price point for the US it would inevitably mean a £39.99 UK price equivalent which seems way too high when many retailers are selling the Legacy Edition at a similar price - could even be the reason other retailers are lukewarm about the standalone, I don't know.

I guess time will tell if this works or not, personally speaking I think the pricing should be closer to $9.99 with all the content included to push the impulse purchase, the series more than made its coin a decade ago despite the retail disappointment of Infinite Warfare last year. The other thing to consider is the sheer amount of stock already in the sales channel at retail for older games in the franchise as well as stocks of Infinite Warfare and Legacy Edition stock.

Uncertainty in the economy and the sheer number of new releases also means that players are keeping a close eye on what they are spending their money on and summer is a time when people want to spend their money on vacations and non-gaming essentials.

The next in the release in the franchise -  Call of Duty: WWII is set for a Nov 3rd launch and takes the series back to its World War 2 roots.

Remastered Comparisons

Below screens shows the detail upgrade in the remastered edition from older PS3 compared to PS4 or Xbox360 Vs XBox One. Surface detail and resolution gets a massive boost but is it enough to pay top dollar for?

Gaming is all about new experiences, something new, something fresh, not necessarily 're-freshed'. I loved the original when it came out and while I love gawking at these images I can't quite bring myself to want to drop the cash on this for the same experience I had a decade ago just with better visuals.

Although Target doesn't currently have it listed for sale, the 27th June seems like a firm date according to my Activision source.

The Art of Mort Künstler

The Art of Mort Künstler

Known to fans and collectors of his art as "the premier historical artist in America' Mort Künstler is Americas most collected Civil War artist. After studying art at Brooklyn College, U.C.L.A. and Pratt Institute, he became a successful illustrator in New York where he received assignments from book and magazine publishers. Künstlers work can be seen adorning the cover of many of the pulp magazine and story magazines of the 60's, publications such as 'Male', 'Stag' and 'Adventure'. Geared towards a male readership, the covers often depicted a tense or dramatic illustrated scene to give a sense of narrative to the magazines content, guns, girls, peril and plenty of drama.

 Künstlers body of work is immense, a traditionally trained artist he masters the oil medium beautifully and his composition always provides the viewer with plenty to look at. Attention to detail is also excellent in his paintings for both the physical form and technical assets such as vehicles, weapons and buildings.

Collections of Künstler's work are published as limited-edition prints, and his artistic output places him at the forefront of contemporary historical realism. NASA made him their official artist for the space shuttle Columbia. He's illustrated a number of movie posters for adventure films, such as The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). Künstler also created the illustration for the 1976 MAD Magazine cover which parodied the movie Jaws and comic art depicting women's liberation.

Among the eight books featuring his work, is the 1986 coffee-table book The American Spirit: The Paintings of Mort Künstler, which contains nearly 200 images and commentary written by historian Henry Steele Commager. An updated edition of The American Spirit was published in 1994

 

 Mort at work in his studio " I feel like I'm opening a window on a little part of history. What I try to do is create an image that will make you feel like you were there. I try to make it as accurate and as dramatic as possible."

 

Check out an in depth profile of the artist and his work here at the King James Galleries

Visit his official website here

Why you'll never be a YouTube Millionaire

I haven't taken the plunge into YouTube, for the simple reason I don't think I could manage to record and edit a consistent offering on a weekly basis, you're either geared up for that dedication or you aren't. In addition to that though I think YouTube has become an overly saturated market in the subject I'd probably cover, video gaming - and the amount of work required to put into it compared to the financial returns just don't add up, well, not these days anyhow.

Passive income through content creation when you hit that sweet spot can be very rewarding but the immense pressure to deliver consistently 'entertaining' videos is a tough thing to master if you're going to be financially dependent on it.

YouTube, like Instagram if you nail it just right can be a great form of passive income, passive in the sense you do all the groundwork first to set up the content, promote it and then leave it there to gather views and likes in the hope that the content you created was entertaining enough to be shared and discussed or liked en mass.

However, for the last few months YouTube has come under fire for what many people are calling a lack in quality control and transparency because brand ads were appearing alongside objectionable, and even terrorist-backed videos. Recently Google moved to stem the problem when it increased the filter system by which advertisers can avoid appearing on channels not in tune with their demographic or brand positioning. There are now five exclusions, including "sexually suggestive," "sensational and shocking," and "profanity and rough language," Google has also increased the number of people employed to flag actual content across its network as well as recently announcing its new steps to combat terrorism ideology and the promotion of terrorism or hate across its format.

YouTubers that have seen their revenues decline can appeal or flag if the recent filter system has had an adverse effect on either removing their videos or flagging them unnecessarily for content discrepancies. The backlash from top brands like Starbucks, Audi,HSBC,Toyota,General Motors,Verizon, PepsiCo and Tesco along with over 30 others pulling their ads from Youtube has meant the available ad revenue paid out to content creators has declined massively. YouTube could lose $750 million in revenue this year over advertisers halting business, according to analyst firm Nomura Instinet.

Ad revenue from YouTube comes from three different types of sources, CPM's from ads, Sponsored Videos an Ad Placement. CPM is the cost to an advertiser or brand for 1,000 views of an ad.  Social Blade Analytics estimates that the CPM range varies from $0.60 - $7.00. Once you factor in all the different variables such as type of ad, country, number of subscribers,audience retention and click rate - and then calculated the 45% cut that Google takes as well as the 45% cut any MCN (multi Channel Network) will take for that ad, a CPM of around $3-$4 will net that YouTuber in the region of $1000 per 1 million views on a channel with 1 million subscribers.The average profit per 1,000 views is around $1.40. Channels looking to make bank need to be worth at least $14 for YouTube to consider placing advertisements on their content. $14 isn’t throwaway money, but it’s probably not enough to convince someone to make YouTube-ing their full-time pursuit. In Feb of this year YouTube made another change to its partner policy - creators won’t be able to turn on monetization until they hit 10,000 views on their channel in 12 months and have 1000 subscribers minimum. Many content creators think this will see many of the smaller channels move away since the pressure to gain views and subs is too difficult in a saturated market. YouTube is the big gun when it comes to the most influential social media for consumers who make purchases. YouTube influences 64% of purchases made which is the higher compared to other social media channels like Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Effectively if you were able to create content that helped people make a decision to play or buy then getting the views should be relatively easy to do providing your content is well structured, entertaining, unbiased and informative.

Youtuber: Zoella bought a $1.5 Million house in Hove, Sussex with her Youtube earnings.

YouTuber 'GenerikB' who has over one million subscribers described the reduction in ad revenue similar to your boss coming up to you at work and saying" You're doing a great job kid but we're gonna cut your salary by 50% "

GenerikB goes on to say that 300 views on YouTube for him is the equivalent of a $1 sub per month on Patreon. The decline in ad revenue for Youtubers is causing content creators on YouTube to seek that lost income from other sources but have also stated that programs like Patreon are much more user friendly in content creation because of the discord integration in the format. YouTubers find it hard to dedicate time to filter through the spam and general malevolence in the comments section of their channel which can be like looking for a needle in a haystack when trying to respond to dedicated subscribers and followers directly.

However, the problem with Patreon is the the notion that viewers tend to think that larger YouTubers are already financially well off and don't need the extra dollars per month - it's almost like its looked down upon for the 'celebrity' content creators to ask for dedicated contributions from their audience every month, the flipside to that is that brands will only advertise on YouTube if your subscriber numbers have the audience reach and you have audience retention. One beautyVlogger, who despite having a healthy subscriber audience (160,000) was barely scraping by so had to work a day job at Starbucks to sustain her cost of living - she eventually had to resign her day job at Starbucks because fans has memorized her work schedule. The last thing you need as a content creator is someone pointing at you at work and asking" why are waiting tables, I thought you were a famous Vlogger?"

Too many people seem to think that all Vloggers and content creators are making huge amounts of cash when the stark reality is that if you're mid size in terms of followers and subscribers you're in a very large and competitive group of many other Vloggers and creators fighting for the same ad or sponsorship dollar.

Patreon it would appear is good for low size or mid tier sized vlogs and content creators to dial in to their audience on a more personal level to help build growth, the reduction in spam and clutter allows these smaller sites to grow at a decent rate providing content creation is regular and consistent, but understanding the viewer perception and psychology of "you've got enough followers I no longer need to pay you now" is a difficult dilemma to fully understand. This blog is my own personal rant, sure I have adsense on here to squeeze a buck or two but it's not going to pay a utility bill because I simply don't get the huge influx of traffic, I'm certainly not a celebrity and my twitter only has 500 followers (incidentally, thanks if you've got this far and are actually reading this, I appreciate you stopping by).

Time will tell if advertisers come back to YouTube, with over 30+ top flight brands all yanking ads its got to be a bitter pill to swallow for Google and shows that YouTube needs to tighten up its act in terms of quality control, I mean, come on - do extremists really watch their favorite hate preacher on YouTube expecting a 30 second ad for Johnson & Johnson baby wipes to pop up?

The Art Behind Grand Theft Auto V

Back in 2013 Rockstar delivered the sprawling open world video game masterpiece that is Grand Theft Auto V. To date the game has sold in excess of 80 Million copies.
The single-player mode lets players control three characters: Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips and Franklin Clinton—criminals whose stories interconnect as they complete missions. Some missions are completed with only one character and others feature two or three. The games killer visuals and incredible narrative single player define it's place in video game culture as one of the most beautifully crafted video game experiences you could possibly get. Add to that a robust multiplayer game and sublime soundtrack featuring artists from all walks of music genres from Hip Hop to Country you have a game that sets an almost impossible benchmark to beat.

No video game is complete it seems without the visual branding that defines the design and identity of the game. GTA V delivered a worldwide marketing campaign with some truly spectacular art that appeared across print and online adverts, magazine front covers as well as in the games various loading screens.
The games developer,Rockstar has a team of dedicated artists that work on defining the look of its games very carefully, stylistically the game art delivers an insight into the games characters and locations, it helps people embrace the brand and visual identity of the game.

Art from Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories - Note the signature broad line work and cell shaded colours.

Two particular artists of the Rockstar team deserve particular credit for defining the core style of GTAV's branding, Stephen Bliss and Anthony Mcbain. Bliss was a Senior Artist at Rockstar from 2001 through to 2016 helping to establish the highly recognizable illustrative style that defined the GTA franchise. Bliss was also responsible for the art you may have seen on titles such as L.A Noire and Red Dead Redemption.
Anthony McBain is an artist and musician who lives in Brooklyn NY, He is the Director of Illustration at Rockstar Games leading a team of artists and illustrators to create and explore the visual development of the art that appears in game and across its marketing.

Bliss left Rockstar Games in 2016 to rediscover his roots as a commercial and fine artist. He also launched a solo art show at Monorex gallery in Los Angeles. British born, he's lived in Brooklyn for the last 20 years and honed his creative skill in illustration and design at Brighton University. Much of his work is inspired by the marvel and DC comics he grew up with as well as Manga and the music he grew up to." Punk rock hit the UK and was a huge influence on me, life changing, with the DIY aesthetic of political cut and paste flyers and the brilliance of Jamie Reid I became passionate about art and graphic design. Being in a band was obligatory and I designed posters for our gigs and imaginary album covers. I became aware of expressing myself through design."

His work is dark, edgy but distinctive with its broad and heavy line work that gives it a cartoon almost cell shaded look.His style combines pop, graphic and retro influences which collectively establish his distinctive style.

Stephen Bliss' large Debbie Harry Mural painted as part of the Space 52 Mural Project, Miami Art Basel 2015.

In September 2016 Stephen launched his first solo art show titled 'I, Frankenstein', the show featured 25 of Bliss’ dynamic paintings on posters torn from New York walls.

Describing his exhibition and his attraction to the ripped poster style he says " Initially the art was purely abstract, I wanted to reflect the beauty that I saw everyday in the streets of NYC: there was so much accidental abstract art being formed on the walls created by people ripping down strips of advertising posters and leaving exposed layers of graphics and colors underneath. There were also tons of outsider art paste ups, insane scribbled messages, sprayed tags and stickers plastered over each other, layer on layer, ripped and decaying, the sun bleaching colors, the rain softening the wheat paste so parts of the posters would fall off. It was like a random unconscious artistic eco-system of illegal posting, art and vandalism."

Read Stephens awesome interview on Unrated here


My Top 5 GTA V Art picks 

1. 'Pest Control'

I love the composition and storytelling nature of this piece, in the game you rob a jewelry store disguised as Pest Control workers. The technical accuracy on the AK weapon as well as the detail in the folds on the coveralls is amazing and so lifelike. Even the nature of the detail on the van door with the cutaway shapes demonstrates that Rockstar absolutely nails the detailing in its artwork.
 

2. 'Stop & Frisk'

The female cop has a Michelle Rodriguez look about her but I love the totally unphased look of the blonde girl peeking over her sunglasses as she's arrested. The background tells you all you need to know about the high flying nature of the locale and the two stripe cop isn't afraid to engage the local criminals.
 

3. 'Vinewood'

Michael armed with an AR15 assault rifle against the backdrop of Vinewood, the fictional 'Hollywood' of GTAV. It speaks volumes, in the game he isn't afraid to go head to head with anybody as long as he gets paid and the job gets done, a great piece, again the technical detail on the weapon and clothing as well as the smaller things like trigger awareness are superb.

4. 'Tracey & Jimmy'

This one I like simply from the laughs, the hey 'get lost, i'm busy". A total wastoid human being with absolutely no moral compass or manners Jimmy gives the finger.

5. 'Preparation'

This I like from the story aspect, it's two guys prepping for a heist, the planning board in the background, the weapons, overall the composition is superb and tells the viewer everything they need to know.I love the way two light sources help frame the characters and create the shapes on Michael's Jacket and Franklin's shirt.
 

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Farewell Bright Knight - The Death of Batman

Farwell Bright Knight - The Death of Batman

late last week we lost one of my childhood heroes, Adam West, the actor who played Batman in the classic 1960's TV show.
West was 88 years old and died from luekemia. Batman the tv show seemed almost like a constant, no matter what time of day or when you turned on the tv you could literally stumble across it somewhere in the tv schedules.

As flawed at it was funny, the tongue in cheek comedy delivered with such serious command from West made it all the more beautiful. I still own the toy Batmobile from Corgi, albeit a little worse for wear it was one of my favorite toys as a kid. Batman was the first real superhero for me, growing up in the 70's the tv was peppered with childhood heroes we could all lose ourselves in for a while, shows like The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Batman or The Six Million Dollar Man. The Amazing Spiderman movie didn't come along until 1977 so it was Batman that had established my love for the character.

West lived in Sun Valley, and if you saw Rusty Blazenhoffs post on Boing Boing recently which was originally posted back in 2014 you'll have learnt that West was quite the joker ( pun intended) - a flip through the Sun Valley, Idaho Phone Book saw several entries that West had engineered into the listings.
At Comicon events and entertainment trade shows and panels he was the down to earth, kind and warm guy everyone had time for by the truck load. Held in such high regard for decades despite Batmans relatively short run he will always be remembered a true class act.

 Batman the tv show never took itself too seriously, the incredible coloured sets and costumes provided a visual splendour unlike anything on tv at the time. The choreographed fight scenes were the stuff of Wild West saloon fights more than crippling rib breaking affairs but anyone I talk to always remembers it so fondly, in a warm slow head nod kind of way. Adam West, Batman - you will be fondly missed sir but never forgotten.

PREDATOR Just Turned 30 Years Old!

You know you feel old when one of your all time movie favorites nudges 30. Arnold Schwarzenegger's rumble in the jungle with the mandibled ugly motherf****r did just that on June 12th 2017.
Directed by John McTiernan and released on June 12 1987, Predator is perhaps one of the finest sci-fi movies ever made, Written by relatively newbies at the time, brothers Jim Thomas and John Thomas. The two would later go on to write other action movies such as Predator's lesser sequel, Predator 2 and the Kurt Russell movie Executive Decision which famously killed off Steven Segal relatively early on in the movie (he gets sucked out of a plane hatch) and later in 2001 they also wrote the military chase thriller Behind Enemy Lines starring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman.

Arnie had wrapped Raw Deal, his mob themed actioner in 1986 when he was approached with the screenplay for Predator, which at the time was originally called 'Hunter'. Like his previous movies, Predator was pitched as a major A list part and would see Arnie take on the role as the leader of an elite special forces team on a mission to rescue hostages from guerrilla territory in Val Verde in Central America's Northern Triangle.

The movie saw the heavily armed special forces elite become the hunted as the Predator picked off the elite warrior team one by one.

Predator the movie wasn't all plain sailing, the film had to face a lot of challenges to get made and become the blockbuster hit it went on to become.The Predator creature was actually the thing that nearly sank the entire movie, the design of the original Alien creature was totally different to the Stan Winston masterpiece we've all come to know and associate with the franchise. The original Predator creature concept had a long neck and beak like appearance with spindly long legs, a far cry from the mandible, dreadlock styled  alien warrior -hunter killing machine we know now.
Initially the suit was going to worn by martial arts expert Jean Claude van Damme, who at the time was a relative unknown within Hollywood. Steve Johnson Effects supervisor at Boss films got the brief for the 'alien creature, "What they needed was a character with backward bent reptilian legs, extended arms and a head that was out here," Johnson said. "They wanted to shoot on the muddy slopes of Mexico in the real jungles. It was virtually physically impossible to do. I told them it wouldn't work."Van Damme got his body cast but didn't realize that the red version of the suit was for the effects guys to work from, thinking it was actually the look of the Alien Van Damme ranted and had misgivings about the integrity of the role he had been offered. Van Damme promptly left the film reportedly from when a stunt man had broken his leg doing a kicking stunt Van Damme had refused to do due to the risk of injury .

Director John McTiernan wasn't so sure about the red alien suit design either, "it looked like shit, we had to stop shooting the movie anyway because we ran out of money, I sent the rushes in and told the studio, you really don't want to continue making this."
The shoot had already been a difficult experience for everyone, the heat was insane, the location was dense jungle, McTiernan had lost a lot of weight because he refused to eat the  local food and it seemed the movie would soon grind to a halt or worse still collapse entirely.

However, the money drying up was actually the break the movie needed and one that provided the breathing space for the movie to carry on. Producer Lawrence Gordon secured more funding to continue the project many weeks later but not before Arnie had recommended to McTiernan to give Stan Winston a call, the special effects guru he'd worked on with Terminator in 1984. "Inspiration for the Predator design came from a piece of artwork in Joel Silver's office, a painting of a Rastafarian warrior. "I saw that and I thought it was a great starting concept for the Predator," Winston said. "I stared drawing and designing this alien character with quills that in silhouette would look like dreadlocks. It was on a flight to Japan with James Cameron that Winston got some additional input from Cameron. ' I've always wanted to see something with mandibles". Winston made good note of it and sketched out several designs before the plane landed.

The 200lb suit would be worn by van Damme replacement and  7ft tall actor (yes, 7 fee tall!) Kevin Peter Hall with the newly minted tribal looking design that Stan Winston ahd turned into a killer suit, McTiernan was able to shoot for 4 more weeks and finish the movie. Hall had suited up before on the bigfoot TV show "Harry and the Hendersons" but the film shoots location and heat were challenges even the 7tf tall Hall hadn't banked on. Hall would reprise the Predator role in Predator 2. Unfortunately it was to be his last Predator role on film, Hall died in 1991 after contracting HIV, he was 35 years old.

The invisibility effect of the predator in the movie was achieved by having someone wearing a bright red suit (because it was the farthest opposite of the green of the jungle and the blue of the sky) the size of the Predator. The red was removed with chroma key techniques, leaving an empty area. The take was then repeated without the actors using a 30% wider lens on the camera. When the two takes were combined optically, the jungle from the second take filled in the empty area. Because the second take was filmed with a wider lens, a vague outline of the alien could be seen with the background scenery bending around its shape

The budget for Predator came in at $18 Million and went on to bank $98.2 million at the global box office, compare that to the last Predator movie 'Predators" budgeted at $40 Million it went on the bank $127 Million globally.

Predators cast was made up of a variety of larger than life characters, ex real life Navy Seal Jesse Ventura 'The sexual Tyranasaurus Rex' tobacco chewing minigun toting mercenary didn't need much tuition in handling firearms.

Carl Weathers, ex Oakland Raiders linebacker had appeared in a number of movies in the 70's and 80's including Force 10 from Navarone. Silver had recruited  him in passing one day (as legend has it) by promising Weathers he could be in a 'big movie' he was doing.

Shane Black had written the script for Ron Silvers, Lethal Weapon starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover which had released in March of 1987. Ironically enough Black is currently directing his own Predator movie and was recruited to help polish the script on the 1987 version more by trickery than anything else. The producers convinced him to take a part of the movie and told him, 'While you're down there running around with guns and stuff you may as well work on the script for us".

Sonny Landham who played Billy in Predator is descendant of the Cherokee and Seminole native tribes, a former porn actor who went mainstream and starred in a string of movies including Warriors, Action Jackson and Southern Comfort. A behind the scenes documentary revealed that Sonny had a bodyguard on the set of Predator who was tasked in keeping Sonny out of trouble off set when the crew wasn't shooting. Landham was involved in a car accident in 2016 and ended up losing both his legs as a result of the injuries he sustained when his car left the road. He has a Go Fund Me page set up to help him here

Arnold Schwarzenegger already had Conan The Destroyer,Terminator, Commando and Raw Deal movies under his belt by the time Predator came around and was already a household name when it came to summer blockbusters.Arnie was establishing his Hollywood clout and box office draw and by now making the most of his appeal, now officially a US citizen (since 1983) he was embracing the American dream. During the 1980's and early 90's Arnie pretty much defined the blockbuster movie, a larger than life star, actor and ambassador for physical fitness he is also a successful businessman, investor and 7 times winner of the Mr Olympia body building competition. It wasn't until Terminator 2 came along until he had really cemented his stellar pay cheque heyday. Arnie also managed to forge a successful political career when he served as the Governor of California from 2003 to 2011 before returning to acting and starring in movies such as Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Sabotage, The Expendables 3, not to mention a more varied role in the Zombie movie 'Maggie'.

Bill Duke who played razor snapping dry shaver Mac is an American actor who's other notable appearances have been in the tv shows Lost and Battlestar Gallactica, he also starred in Commando with Arnie and little known fact -  directed the Whoopee Goldberg film Sister Act 2.

Richard Chaves who played poncho is not stranger to military life, from 1969-70 Chaves joined the army. He served 3 years with a tour of duty in Vietnam. His television roles include guest starring roles in Star Trek: Voyager, Walker, Texas Ranger, F.B.I. The Untold Stories, LA Law, Babylon 5, MacGyver, Trials of Rosie O'Neill, Miami Vice, Hill St. Blues. Film roles aren't as prolific but his TV work is extensive.

So there you have it, Predator at 30 years old, pretty crazy to think that with Star Wars just turning 40 many more of the big blockbuster movies are also putting some years under their belt.
I was at art college in 1987 and saw Predator three times, even now when I watch it with my son on TV the film never really seems to age.

End.