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

Michael Jackson can do no wrong in fawning biopic Michael

Photo by Glen Wilson

Jaafar Jackson in Michael

Among the complicated figures in pop culture history, Michael Jackson has to be at or near the top. On one hand, he’s responsible for some of the most enduring music of all time, thrilling generations with his voice and dance moves. But his later years were marred by accusations of child sexual abuse and erratic behavior, including his premature death at the age of 50.

So the new biopic Michael is a tough one to judge from a critical standpoint, not least because director Antoine Fuqua and writer John Logan have elided - perhaps temporarily - the thornier parts of Michael’s history. Instead, this film focuses on the 20-year period in which Michael (played as an adult by Michael’s nephew Jaafar Jackson) goes from the prepubescent lead singer of the Jackson 5 to one of the biggest music superstars of all time.

That choice puts an overly sympathetic tint to Michael’s story, as he spends most of that time under the thumb of his domineering father, Joseph (Colman Domingo). Joseph has a vision for Michael and his brothers, and he pushes them hard in a quest to become rich and famous. Even when they achieve that goal, though, Joseph refuses to let up, holding onto Michael even when it’s clear he should go out on his own.

As a reminder of the enormous impact Michael Jackson had on the music industry and world at large, the film is successful. Fuqua and Logan include plenty of music, naturally, but they seem to be most interested in depicting Michael as a human being. They lay it on thick, whether it’s showing him spending time among his family members away from the stage, hanging out with bodyguard Bill Bray (KeiLyn Durrel Jones), or visiting sick kids in hospitals. The message that Michael is a harmless, good person couldn’t be clearer.

The film hints at but doesn’t really explore Michael’s oddities. His obsession with kids literature and movies, especially Peter Pan, are seen as inoffensive quirks, as is his menagerie of animals, including a creepy CGI version of Bubbles the chimp. His arrested development seems to be partially blamed on his parents treating him like a child well into his adulthood, and the resulting fallout is not (yet) addressed.

Many viewers will be most interested in the music sequences, and - save for some repetitive shots of fans fainting at the mere presence of Michael - they are handled well. Whether it’s at home, in the studio, on the set of the “Thriller” video, or at live performances, the film manages to fully get across just what a phenomenon Michael was at his peak. The staging and editing of each scene is dynamic, complementing Michael’s other-worldly abilities well.

If there is one reason to see the film, it is the performance of Jaafar Jackson. Whether he’s capable of doing any other kind of role is undetermined, but his portrayal of his uncle is compelling, as he demonstrates singing, dancing, and acting skills in equal measure. He’s aided by an equally great performance by Domingo, who - with the help of facial prosthetics - overcomes the trope of the bad father. Nia Long and Larenz Tate are also good in smaller roles, but Miles Teller is an odd presence as Michael’s manager.

There are reports that legal complications prevented the filmmakers from using previously-shot scenes delving into accusations against Michael, and there are rumors that a second film will be made about the last 20 years of his life. But that speculation can’t absolve Michael of showing all the positive aspects of Michael Jackson’s life and not even touching any of the negative ones.

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Michael opens in theaters on April 24.

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