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Terminal Reality Wants Us To Stop Prematurely Judging ‘The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct’

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I’m beginning to wonder if that fan-made trailer was actually made by a fan. If they were a fan of the game, then they must feeling pretty awful right about now, because that trailer has done nothing good for Terminal Reality’s desperate efforts to make their game look good. Even a fresh batch of screens, while significantly easier on the eyes, have failed to soothe my worries for the game. In an interview with Eurogamer, Terminal Reality’s principal effects artist Glenn Gamble defended the game and asked fans to stop judging it based on early footage. More after the break.

“It’s old footage. That’s the short answer of it. Hopefully what you saw today proves testament to that. It caught us off guard. It was a fan trailer cut together from another interview I had done. Hopefully you saw the differences between the two. The game looks incredible. It was old footage. It’s what we had at the time. We’ve made big strides since then.” Gamble said while discussing the fan-made trailer that released earlier this month and managed to fool many news sites (including us) as well as Activision’s community manager.

All that makes sense. We shouldn’t judge a game based on old footage. Unfortunately, here we are, two months away from the game’s release, and it would seem that all we’re seeing is old footage, bland screenshots, and possibly the worst announcement trailer I’ve ever seen. Thankfully, Gamble has something to say about that, right?

“That’s the thing about a game. It’s constantly evolving and getting better. Time is the ultimate enemy of any game. If everybody had four years and an infinite budget every game would probably be infinitely better than they are. But eventually you run out of time and the date gets cut off and you just have to make the game at that point.” So instead of saying something like “don’t worry, you guys haven’t seen the best stuff yet!” Gamble tells us we shouldn’t expect the game to look great because they didn’t have four years and an infinite budget with which to develop their game.

By the way, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct releases at the tail end of March, after God of War: Ascension, Gears of War: Judgment, Tomb Raider, and on the same day as BioShock Infinite and Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel. Is anyone else getting the feeling Activision realizes this game doesn’t quite reach the bar set by Telltale’s Walking Dead game, so they’re burying it in the crowded March line-up?

Oh, and if you want more from the interview, head on over to Eurogamer to check it out.

Have a question? Feel free to ever-so-gently toss Adam an email, or follow him on Twitter and Bloody Disgusting.

Gamer, writer, terrible dancer, longtime toast enthusiast. Legend has it Adam was born with a controller in one hand and the Kraken's left eye in the other. Legends are often wrong.

Interviews

“Chucky” – Devon Sawa & Don Mancini Discuss That Ultra-Bloody Homage to ‘The Shining’

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Chucky

Only one episode remains in Season 3 of “Chucky,” and what a bloody road it’s been so far, especially for actor Devon Sawa. The actor has now officially died twice on screen this season, pulling double duty as President James Collins and body double Randall Jenkins.

If you thought Chucky’s ruthless eye-gouging of the President was bloody, this week’s Episode 7 traps Randall Jenkins in an elevator that feels straight out of an iconic horror classic.

Bloody Disgusting spoke with series creator Don Mancini and actor Devon Sawa about that ultra-bloody death sequence and how the actor inspires Mancini’s writing on the series. 

Mancini explains, “Devon’s a bit of a muse. Idle Hands and Final Destination is where my Devon Sawa fandom started, like a lot of people; although yours may have started with CasperI was a bit too old for that. But it’s really just about how I love writing for actors that I respect and then know. So, it’s like having worked with Devon for three years now, I’m just always thinking, ‘Oh, what would be a fun thing to throw his way that would be unexpected and different that he hasn’t done?’ That’s really what motivates me.”

For Sawa, “Chucky is an actor’s dream in that the series gives him not one but multiple roles to sink his teeth into, often within the same season. But the actor is also a huge horror fan, and Season 3: Part 2 gives him the opportunity to pay homage to a classic: Kubrick’s The Shining.

Devon Sawa trapped in elevator in "Chucky"

CHUCKY — “There Will Be Blood” Episode 307 — Pictured in this screengrab: (l-r) Devon Sawa as President James Collins, K.C. Collins as Coop — (Photo by: SYFY)

“Collectively, it’s just amazing to put on the different outfits, to do the hair differently, to get different types of dialogue, Sawa says of working on the series. “The elevator scene, it’s like being a kid again. I was up to my eyeballs in blood, and it felt very Kubrick. Everybody there was having such a good time, and we were all doing this cool horror stuff, and it felt amazing. It really was a good day.”

Sawa elaborates on being submerged in so much blood, “It was uncomfortable, cold, and sticky, and it got in my ears and my nose. But it was well worth it. I didn’t complain once. I was like, ‘This is why I do what I do, to do scenes like this, the scenes that I grew up watching on VHS cassette, and now we’re doing it in HD, and it’s all so cool.

It’s always the characters and the actors behind them that matter most to Mancini, even when he delights in coming up with inventive kills and incorporating horror references. And he’s killed Devon Sawa’s characters often. Could future seasons top the record of on-screen Sawa deaths?

“Well, I guess we did it twice in season one and once in season two, Mancini counts. “So yeah, I guess I would have to up the ante next season. I’ll really be juggling a lot of falls. But I think it’s hopefully as much about quality as quantity. I want to give him a good role that he’s going to enjoy sinking his teeth into as an actor. It’s not just about the deaths.”

Sawa adds, “Don’s never really talked about how many times could we kill you. He’s always talking about, ‘How can I make this death better,’ and that’s what I think excites him is how he can top each death. The electricity, to me blowing up to, obviously in this season, the eyes and with the elevator, which was my favorite one to shoot. So if it goes on, we’ll see if he could top the deaths.”

Devon Sawa as dead President James Collins in Chucky season three

CHUCKY — “Death Becomes Her” Episode 305 — Pictured in this screengrab: Devon Sawa as James Collins — (Photo by: SYFY)

The actor has played a handful of distinctly different characters since the series launch, each one meeting a grisly end thanks to Chucky. And Season 3 gave Sawa his favorite characters yet.

“I would say the second one was a lot of fun to shoot, the actor says of Randall Jenkins. “The President was great. I liked playing the President. He was the most grounded, I hope, of all the characters. I did like playing him a lot.” Mancini adds, “He’s grounded, but he’s also really traumatized, and I thought you did that really well, too.”

The series creator also reveals a surprise correlation between President James Collins’ character arc and a ’90s horror favorite.

I saw Devon’s role as the president in Season 3; he’s very Kennedy-esque, Mancini explains. “But then given the supernatural plot turns that happen, to me, the analogy is Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath, the character that is seeing these weird little things happening around the house that is starting to screw with his sanity and he starts to insist, ‘I’m seeing a ghost, and his spouse thinks he’s nuts. So I always like that. That’s Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneathwhich is a movie I love.”

The finale of  “Chucky” Season 3: Part 2 airs Wednesday, May 1 on USA & SYFY.

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