JohnWoo
Latest
John Woo's Stranglehold in action
By way of Fraggerock, we bring you this video of Stranglehold from the Games Convention in Leipzig. The game, naturally, is wall to wall action. The video shows off the game's many weapons, stylish moves, and some very destructible environments. Players are rewarded for playing stylishly. Play well enough and you'll earn death dealing special moves, or, as I call them, "Instant Doves." If you weren't excited about this game before, this video just might convert you.
Chow Yun-Fat, John Woo push Stranglehold back
Ring Out! Loser, Strangehold. Punishment: delay from 2006 release until first quarter 2007! That's another launch title for the PS3 getting knocked back a step, but at least it wasn't an exclusive. There hasn't been any comment by Midway other than the arbitrary release date change. Should we be concerned about another title being pushed farther from the PS3's launch? Especially one that garnered a lot of praise at E3? Maybe. It's not an exclusive launch title, but it was still slated primarily for the PS3. The number of launch titles are dwindling... a few more and yes, it will be a concern. What's the point of a system without any great games? Sounds familiar... Oops! Backwards compatibility. Sure, the games won't be next-gen, but they're no less awesome. At least there will be something to play other than Blu-ray movies when it first comes out, worst case scenario.What's Strangehold, you ask? Ever see the John Woo movie series, "Hard Boiled"? It's like that. Sort of a follow-up to the movies with John Woo starring in the game and Chow Yun-Fat also starring as a fellow aptly named "Inspector Tequila". Hopefully there will be a bar brawl with such promising names.
Stranglehold: can you taste the cinema?
Anything that has John Woo's name on it should automatically come with a warning label. You're almost guaranteed to walk away with a bruised noggin... if you walk away at all. Enter Stranglehold: his brand new PS3-powered videogame sequel to none other than the oh-so-action-packed Hard Boiled. IGN got the chance to chat it up with Jason Kaehler, who is the Art Director on the game. They talked about how much effort is going into just creating the detailed characters you will see in the title. For example, instead of relying on sketches and concept art alone, Midway actually had a casting call where hundreds of extras came in to have their likeness captured via photographs. So next time you see a call for "Gritty, rugged, mean-looking bad asses," keep your options open because you could find yourself immortalized in the next interactive cinematic videogame. Check out the article for more (and some new screens too).
John Woo's Hard-Boiled sequel
Everyone knows that Max Payne's gameplay ripped off...er...paid homage to the cinematic genius of John Woo. Ten-thousand slow-motion perforations later, it's only Hollywod—make that Hong Kong—justice that Woo would return the favor in Stranglehold. This up-coming Midway release is the video game-only sequel to Hard-boiled, perhaps the most spectacular of the action auteur's celluloid Glock-fests. Hopefully, Woo's participation will ensure an equally satisfying bullet ballet on the 360.I used to buy Woo movies in Japanese-sub-titled Mandarin. Couldn't understand a word and didn't care because watching Chow Yun-Fat get shot 54 times before he fell down made gun-less MacGyver look lame. Midway makes things easier now-a-days with easily-to-comprehend media events. Gamespot has details and video.According to the press release, Woo played an active role in developing this title. No word if his directorial influence extends to in-game advertising. Stranglehold will be be one of the first games affected by Midway's Mephistophelian marketing deal with ad agency Double Fusion. Both partners promise that the product placements will be "organic and credible." Given the ballistic subject matter, look for Eddie Eagle to show up before gamers complete stage one.
