Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 11, 2011 in Comic Books
DC’s upcoming relaunch announcements started with the Justice League and now have ended with the revelation that Grant Morrison will be writing the new #1 for Action Comics, the series that Superman originally appeared in 70 or so years ago. Morrison has written some damn good comics in the past — his run on New X-Men is one of the series’ best and he’s also responsible for the almost universally well-received All-Star Superman — so it’s pretty reasonable to assume that he’ll give Supes the re-debut he deserves. The issue is also being touted in its solicitation as the “cornerstone of the new DC universe,” so it may mean far more than just a fresh start for the Man of Steel: it could be what gives everybody else a fresh start, too. Good luck, Grant.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 11, 2011 in Videogames
1996’s Duke Nukem 3D was one of the most 90s video games ever made, a prime example of what was wrong with games in their teenage years. Its misogyny, crude humor, and over-the-top hero guaranteed success with its target audience, though, so it sold (and sold well). The next game in the series, Duke Nukem Forever, was announced in 1997, and suffered from what is likely the most protracted development in gaming history as its studio shuffled between owners, its technology became outdated, and its fanbase grew up. The game eventually became synonymous with “vaporware.” Now, fourteen years later, Gearbox Software has salvaged the wreckage of the game and put the finishing touches on it and released it, officially making Duke Nukem Forever vaporware no longer. So how is it? According to the reviews released so far, pretty much exactly how you’d expect a game delayed for a decade and a half to be — mediocre to awful, depending on the reviewer. After fourteen years waiting for a game, you probably deserve more than what Duke Nukem Forever finally gives you; but then again, if you were really looking forward to Duke Nukem Forever, I’m not sure you deserve anything at all. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 10, 2011 in Pulp Fiction
Yes, the headline only makes sense as a pun if you pronounce “noire” with two syllables instead of its more correct one-weird-syllable method. But listen, it doesn’t matter. You can get LA Noire: The Collected Stories, the tie-in novel to bestselling video game LA Noire, for zero dollars this week. Amazon.com, BN.com, and iTunes are all offering the ebook for nothing and for the portable reading device of your choosing. So get on it, copper! That’s the only way you’ll catch that dame. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 10, 2011 in Pulp Fiction
Legendary “weird fiction” writer H.P. Lovecraft spawned a mythos that continues to thrive well after his death, and its nihilistic, uncaring universe is populated with aliens, extradimensional beings, and regular old earthbound monsters. The funny part about most of these creatures, though, is that few words are usually used to describe how they actually look. That hasn’t stopped artists from trying, though. My first introduction to Lovecraft was my copy of Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials I got as a kid, wherein the titular Wayne Barlowe drew his closest approximation of what Lovecraft’s Elder Things — the aliens from “At the Mountains of Madness” — looked like. Michael Bukowski continues in Barlowe’s grand tradition by drawing pretty much every one of Lovecraft’s numerous horrors, using creative license to fill in the blanks that Lovecraft’s proclivity for dramatic obfuscation left behind. Read more…
After last year’s teaser, a lot of gamers have been dying to see more of Bioware’s upcoming MMORPG, Stars Wars: The Old Republic. This year, they showed off a bit more by releasing the entire intro cinematic, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. It’s the company’s first MMORPG, and from what little I’ve seen of the gameplay, Bioware might have a product that can really compete with Blizzard’s powerhouse. It seems that I’m not the only one who feels that way either, as Razer has recent announced entire line of Star Wars: The Old Republic gaming peripherals. As Michael mentioned to me, they’re not quite as cool looking as their recent Tron Legacy tie-ins, but I still think they look pretty sharp. While they haven’t announced a solid release date, Bioware states the game should ship sometime later this year.
Feast your eyes on these awesome Miyazaki-inspired Lego models. They’re not quite as epic as the Minecraft maps we showed you last month, but designer Iain Heath did a fantastic job recreating a bit of Ghibli’s magic. They were originally displayed at last year’s BrickCon Exhibition in Seattle. Personally, I love his Totoro, and I really dig the little Japanese garden he built for the exhibit. For more images, check out his full gallery on Flickr.
With all the exciting announcements from this week’s E3 press conferences, it’s nice to finally be able to take a break from gaming news. Thankfully, Paramount has released it’s latest TV spot for the upcoming film Captain America: The First Avenger. Like the other trailers, this TV spot features quite a bit of action shots, and includes a brief confrontation between Steve Rodgers and Red Skull. The film looks fantastic, but I’m not sure if it’ll be able to top X-Men Origins or Thor in terms of box office performance. Then again, I should note that both of those films were better than I expected going in. Anyone else looking forward to it?
Pretty much everyone had been waiting on pins and needles for Nintendo to unveil its upcoming successor to the Wii. At yesterday’s press conference, they finally gave us our first good look at Project Cafe, dubbed the Wii U — another name that has left many of us scratching our heads. Unlike Sony, Nintendo remained silent about many of the specs surrounding the new console, choosing to simply post the details on their official site. However, what they did share seemed really impressive. A tablet controller with the ability to transfer content seamlessly from the the tablet to the screen, and a graphics engine that finally rivals that of other current generation consoles.
No, no– it’s not about Batman raping hicks. Or hicks raping Batman. It’s a French fan-made film about a Batman getting on in his years but still suiting up for one last fight…against Wolverine.
Yeah. I said Wolverine.
Seriously, who cares about Superman versus Batman? Watch the epicness after the jump– the important part starts up at about 4, 4:30. Before that is introspection in French, which is apparently a requirement of all French cinema. Read more…
There’s no hiding the fact that Sony has been dealing with quite a bit of bad press as of late. As many of you may already be aware, the company has been suffering from numerous attempts to hack their servers and subsequent fallout. Many outlets have been quick to criticize the company for their inability to react in what they’ve deemed a timely manner, while others have applauded Sony’s attempts to rectify the situation for both developers and consumers alike. Did Sony’s E3 conference do anything to restore our faith in their brand? Or, was it just another in a long line of missteps?
