Games News

Mega-game facility with indoor go-karts cruises into Dallas-Fort Worth

A deluxe new entertainment facility with a whole cadre of games is coming to the Dallas area. Called Andretti Indoor Karting and Games, it's an entertainment concept with a whole range of activities including high-speed electric super karts, bowling, VR gaming, arcade games, and a ropes course, plus a unique dining component.

According to a release, it'll open in The Colony, adjacent to Nebraska Furniture Mart in the growing Grandscape development, in March 2020.

Named after the legendary racing family, Andretti Indoor Karting and Games was founded in 2001 in Orlando, Florida. They currently have four locations: one in Orlando, Florida, two in Georgia in Marietta and Roswell, and one in San Antonio, Texas.

The company is in expansion mode, and will be opening more centers across the United States in the near future, including one in Katy, Texas in spring 2020.

Their locations feature varying entertainment options all under one roof including high-speed super-karts, multi-level tracks, state of the art arcade, cutting edge virtual reality attractions, challenging ropes obstacle courses, unique two-level laser tag arenas, boutique bowling, and custom high-tech mini-golf.

Each location also offers eateries with chef-designed menus, full bar, in-house catering, and 10,000+ square feet of event and meeting space.

The facility is pay as you go; there's no general admission fee.

Attractions

Multi-Level Race Track: Electric go-karts on a half-mile multi-level track with straightaways, downward spirals, and multiple hairpin turns.

Laser Tag: A two-story black light laser tag arena features the latest technology from Delta Strike, the leader in the laser tag equipment industry.

Arcade Games: More than 90 of the latest and greatest video, redemption, and prize games.

RacerXClub Simulators: Drive a racecar on the world's most famous tracks, for casual gamers seeking an immersive VR experience or avid competitors on the iRacing circuit.

Ropes Course with Zip Line: Indoor ropes course towers several feet above the arcade, with a curved rail zip line and multiple obstacles for both beginners and advanced.

Hologate VR: Four-player virtual reality attraction delivers full sensory immersion experience using advanced graphic technology on a 90fps headset hat. Spectators will feel like they are part of the experience as they take in the action on the monitors above the open air playing space.

Hyperdeck VR: Four-person virtual reality experience is a theme park level attraction pushing the limits of motion in VR with zero motion sickness. It employs 360 degrees of wind machines, heat, and full motion platform that lifts and lowers players to correspond with the action of the story. Players are transported to parallel universes where their fate might be unexpectedly altered by participation from other spectators.

Duck Pin Bowling: Eight uniquely designed black-lit lanes, with dedicated service from the bar and dining menu.

Dining

Food program overseen by corporate chef Richard Pacilio features several options including a Food Truck Plaza, sit-down dining, a dessert bar, and multiple bars.

Food Truck Plaza is indoors and features three different "food trucks":

Fusion Bowl featuring Asian cuisine including bowls hot off the wok, cold bowls and spring rolls.
Mama Andretti’s featuring Italian cuisine including salads and brick oven pizzas and calzones.
Let’s Roll Diner featuring American cuisine including wings, burgers, sandwiches and chicken tenders.

The Main Bar, Sky Bar and Sky Bar Patio area features the full restaurant menu including Shareables, Salads, Asian Bowls, Burgers, Sandwiches, Brick Oven Pizzas & Calzones, Chef-Crafted Entrees and Desserts:

Starters include pretzels, nachos, spinach-artichoke dip, quesadillas, and potato skins
Handhelds, the new word for sandwiches, include Philly cheesesteak, pulled pork on a hoagie, chicken club, buffalo chicken wrap, and tacos
Burgers including a veggie Beyond Burger and a Big Tex with BBQ sauce
Entrees that include sirloin steak medallions, smoked pork ribs, salmon, chicken-fried steak, fajitas, Cajun pasta, pizzas, and calzones

Located at 5752 Grandscape Blvd., #100, in The Colony, the facility will also have two full bars, lounge areas, and a semi-covered patio on the second floor where guests can relax and witness the sights and action of the outside plaza below.

Hiring fairs will take place in January & February at Fairfield by Marriott in The Colony, and at Courtyard by Marriott Plano/The Colony.

The karts are electric.

Photo courtesy of Andretti

The karts are electric.

families

Movie Review

Podcaster lets creepy noises get under her skin in Undertone

Photo courtsy of A24

Nina Kiri in Undertone.

While the horror genre is still capable of producing some innovative filmmaking, most of the output tends to fall back on jump scares and other tropes to deliver their terror. So when a film like the new Undertone tries something different, it should be applauded for the effort, even if it’s not as successful in its execution.

Evy (Nina Kiri) is a podcaster who co-hosts a show called Undertone, which focuses on paranormal videos and sounds they find on the internet. Her co-host, Justin (Adam DiMarco), lives in London, so - for kind of contrived reasons - in order to make the time difference between them work, Evy records at around 3 am her time. Evy - who lives at home with her bedridden, dying mother - is the skeptic of the two, consistently debunking clips that Justin presents to her.

Her doubts are tested when Justin brings in a series of 10 audio clips that purport to be about a boyfriend recording his girlfriend as she talks in her sleep. The audio begins in a lighthearted manner and quickly turns creepy and then sinister as unexplained things start happening. Evy senses that what she’s hearing is bleeding into her own world, especially when inexplicable actions take place in her mother’s bedroom.

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Ian Tuason, the film is effective early on when it introduces the story concept. Making great use of sound design, Tuason essentially puts the audience inside Evy’s head, where every little sound is heightened. Setting the podcast sessions in the middle of the night ups the anxiety level for both her and the audience.

However, as the film goes along it gets a little tedious watching Evy listen to the audio, even as Tuason attempts to keep the film dynamic by moving the camera around her. The premise of the story - progressively going through 10 clips - and Tuason’s framing of shots that focus as much on the background as they do on Evy seem to promise more interesting results than actually transpire.

What ultimately holds the film down more than anything is its lack of different viewpoints. The only other person who’s actually seen is Evy’s mother, who is unable to speak. Evy speaks to Justin, another friend, and a doctor over the course of the story, and while each broadens our understanding of Evy somewhat, none of them make her a truly three-dimensional person. Getting a little more information about her history might have helped the story work better.

Kiri does her level best to vary her acting in the various podcast scenes, and even when they start to get repetitive, she remains compelling and watchable. It’s difficult to judge the other actors based on audio alone, but knowing that DiMarco also starred in season 2 of The White Lotus helps to visualize him and his acting style.

Undertone does well in creating a spine-chilling mood, but it needed something beyond that to become a truly great horror movie. Tuason shows some promise as a filmmaker, especially in the way he uses the camera to create tension, but a more complete story will serve him better the next time around.

---

Undertone is now playing in theaters,

movies film