Plano-based Gearbox Software may need to make some changes to its highly anticipated Duke Nukem Forever game, set to be released this spring. In development since 1997 (seriously!) the third offering in the iconic Duke Nukem series apparently gives players an opportunity to rack up points by slapping women in an element called “Capture the Babe.”
A report by former Dallasite Stephen C. Webster says anticipation over Duke’s return has reached a fever pitch among longtime gamers. “But how will those same gamers feel about glorifying domestic violence?” Webster wonders.
Gearbox Software acquired intellectual property rights to Duke Nukem last fall in a deal with Garland-based 3D Realms. Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software, helped launch the Duke Nukem brand at 3D, before forming his own company.
Of course violence in video games is nothing new. But how much is too much? Webster quotes an interview with Pitchford in The Official XBox Magazine: “Our goal isn’t to shock people, but I think there’s some stuff that’s a bit uncomfortable. I mean, the alien’s plan is to capture our women and impregnate them to breed an alien army, so you can imagine some horrible [stuff] happens.”
A St. Paul Place-based Frontburnervian passes along news from TechCrunch that Dallas-based J. Hilburn, which was called one of the best custom clothiers in the city by D CEO, has today added an e-commerce operation (and an iPhone app).
One of my oldest friends is a cat named Darius Holbert. We met on the bus to DISD’s Alex W. Spence Talented and Gifted Academy — a school that also produced Tim Rogers and Robert Wilonsky — and then went on to graduate from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Darius is doing far more with his gifts and talents these days than me, Tim, or Robert. The dude’s making a living as a musician in Los Angeles. His current gig is playing with the reunited House of Pain of “Jump Around” fame. Go to the 4:20 mark — heh heh — of this video to see him absolutely abuse his keyboard.
If you’d like to see more of this, House of Pain is playing the South Side Music Hall tonight. The first 10 people to e-mail me at editor@peoplenewspapers.com get a free pair of tickets.
At long last, below you will find the Dwaine Caraway audio (courtesy of our friends at the Observer). It’s interesting — but not in the way many of us expected it would be. Though he is foul-mouthed, Caraway is calm and collected as he explains to cops what went down in his house that night between him and wife. It really is easy to see where the guy is coming from. He’s trapped in his game room. His wife, state Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway, has a knife. How long can he remain trapped? He has to come out eventually. And when he does, he’ll have to protect himself. Someone will get hurt. The only course of action? Call the police to help diffuse the situation. Sure, I’m with him.
Except. But.
Are we really to believe that this whole thing started, as Caraway says, because his wife was throwing out some of his aprons and he asked her not to? Why did Barbara freak out so violently? Because, as Caraway says on the tape, she might have a chemical imbalance? Or because, as he says later, she can’t handle power?
Then there are the clothes strewn about the living room floor. Caraway mentions these to cops several times. He wants them to know that his house doesn’t normally look like that. He’s been organizing his closets, he says, and that’s why the suits and so forth are all over the place. Riiight. That’s usually what I do, too, when I have people over to watch football games. I take out all my clothes and spread them around the living room so my buddies can help me tidy up my closets during commercial breaks.
Dwaine Caraway is a liar. He’s been lying throughout this whole process. I feel for him on the marital discord stuff. He’s clearly got problems on the homefront. But he wasn’t telling the cops the truth about what, exactly, went down that night.
The question remains: what is Caraway trying to cover up?
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The other day, my mom asked me if I had ever watched the Fox television show Glee. I said yes, but that I thought it was an unmitigated train wreck of poor writing and lazy storytelling. The concept had a lot of potential, but the execution is lacking — mostly in something that feels like actual heart. Other shows, like my beloved Veronica Mars and Buffy, did high school much better.
However, I will say this. Glee has managed to make Broadway musicals cool in a way that producers of big-budget Hollywood adaptations only dreamed of. And if that wretched TV show inspires one kid to join choir in a time when arts education is so consistently shortchanged, then I’m okay with it.
And that brings me to tonight’s offering: Jennifer Holliday, who originated the role of Effie White in Dreamgirls on Broadway, performs tonight at the Meyerson with the Turtle Creek Chorale and the men’s gospel chorus of First Baptist Church of Hamilton Park. The chorale and men’s chorus, choirs from very different backgrounds, have been collaborating for about 17 years, but tonight marks their first concert together of this kind. Holliday will join the guys for contemporary pop selections, but a solo rendition of “And I Am Telling You, I’m Not Going” is a sure thing, along with other hits from Dreamgirls.
Unfortunately, lower levels are sold out, but grand tier seats are still available— which makes for an excellent and affordable concert experience. Plus, I’ve been assured that the 50-year-old Holliday has “pipes that could carry down the street.” I’m inclined to believe that. Take advantage of Screen Door’s happy hour before the performance, which offers a selection of drinks like spiked lemonade and sangria and tasty apps like BBQ pork nachos for five bucks a pop.
Not inspired? Find more things to do tonight right here.
In the February issue of the “print product,” I wrote about the much-beloved Tomato pizza place in Denton, and attempts to bring it back to Fry Street, where it had stood as a pillar of the community for more than 20 years before developers came in and razed it and the surrounding buildings a few years ago.
Just heard that there are plans to bring the Tomato back to life in Sanger, a small town north of Denton where Tomato owners Becky and “Ski” Slusarski live. Here’s hoping it’s just the first step in a relaunch, that they’re wildly successful in Sanger, and that they’ll be able to open a second location back on Fry Street when that development finally stands.
A FrontBurnervian who doesn’t make good basketball bets points us to a back-and-forth on the Harvard Business Review’s site between John Antioco and Carl Icahn. Antioco, the CEO at the helm when the ship went down, and Icahn, the activist investor who bristled at Antioco’s enormous compensation, both wrote a story for the magazine about why Blockbuster sank. Then Antioco responded to Icahn in the comments online.
Antioco on his compensation:
It’s always struck me as strange that it’s okay for Carl and others to make billions on their version of truth and justice, but CEOs making a lot of money, usually on stock appreciation, is “egregious” (one of Carl’s favorite words).
And on his work ethic, which Icahn criticized:
I’m not sure what lead to his assessment, but of all the criticism I’ve received in my life (much of which was justified) I have never heard that one before. To use another one of Carl’s favorite expressions “I take umbrage at that remark”. Carl works hard (in his unique style and fashion) and so do I.
I’m sure all this witty repartee delights the hundreds of mid-level folks at Blockbuster who are now looking for work.
Dez Bryant Receives Criminal Trespass Warning at NorthPark. This was after, allegedly, the Dallas Cowboys wide receiver em-effed off-duty police working security at the mall when they told him to pull his pants up. Under the warning, Bryant could be arrested if he returns to the mall in the next 90 days. He doesn’t sound worried: “Headed to North Park tomorrow to get these Lebrons….I am not banned from North park lol,” Bryant tweeted last night. SMH.
Mayor Caraway Loses Legal Battle, Tapes to be Released. What is on the recording the police made when they came to Caraway’s home looking into a domestic disturbance? We will know soon, it looks like. This, once again, proves that what gets you in trouble is never the crime but the cover-up. You would have thought good friends like Arthur and Archie would have told Caraway that. SMDH.
Bedford’s Daystar Television Network Downsizing After Sex Scandal. But the move by the Christian network (home to Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, and others) has nothing at all — nudge nudge – to do with the revelations of adultery by founder/televangelist Rev. Marcus Lamb and threats of extortion and the resulting lawsuits and countersuits and whatnot. LOL.