Disney has certainly experimented with the world of video games in its films before, but their upcoming Wreck-It Ralph looks to be a nostalgic romp through classic games (or their knock-off equivalents). Ralph is a riff on Donkey Kong, and his “Mario,” Fix-It Felix, has left him feeling unappreciated and stuck in the repetition of the game. So, he leaves and begins hopping from game world to game world, hoping to find a new place to fit in. The trailer unveils a truly amazing scene, though: Bowser, Dr. Robotnik, Bison, and Zangief along with other popular game “bad guys” sitting in a “bad guys anonymous” meeting. Trust me, if that doesn’t get you excited, just to see those characters interact for one scene, then I don’t know what to tell you. Wreck-It Ralph arrives in theatres November 2nd.
Hello all! This time Ben and Tim talk about Game of Thrones, Asura’s Wrath, Avengers, Danny Elfman, and more! Kinect also gets brought up as well and Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows. Tune in each week for discussion and news… or ranting and raving! Click here to subscribe to us via iTunes and listen on your iPod, iPad, or computer! Or, hit the jump and stream it directly in your browser! Read more…
It’s the week for indie projects, right before E3 and the huge companies show off their new games, we’ve seen a fair amount of cool new smaller ideas crop up. StarForge is a game coming out of the Minecraft game cyclone: build with materials in a block style. Yet, it feels wholly original and very unique, mostly in that it also features real-time land deformation and monsters that will attack your bases. Another interesting ability is that you can build all the way up into space around the planet you play on, with no loading in between. It seems like you could create some pretty crazy setups with your buddies, and diving from the outer atmosphere to ground level looks like a blast. StarForge is still only in a rough stage at the moment, but it is free-to-play, so you can download it here!
Given the popularity of zombies, I simply must bring up the recent ARMA II mod: DayZ. It’s a hardcore, permadeath online game that almost forces the player to take on a role-playing position. Set in a post-apocalyptic world in which an infection has wiped out most of the population and turned the rest into zombies, you must survive and scavenge using only your wits. Anyone can kill and steal whatever they want, leading to most players playing as roving solitary bandits. However, some people band together with friends or even strangers to survive for longer periods. However, once you die, you must start a new character back at the very beginning, with nothing. This fan-made trailer, while overly-dramatic, will give you a good idea of how the mod works. Read more…
The video game we all knew was coming has now got a trailer, thanks to the massive E3 week about to roll through. Plastic Gandalf faces off against the Balrog, Frodo carries the hilariously-oversized One Ring, and Boromir once again laments the presence of a cave troll. The use of voice clips from the movie works for a trailer, but I wonder how the characters will be voiced in-game, if they’re voiced at all? Anyway, the LEGO games have been solid so far (if a bit too numerous to count), so I’m sure this will be another great addition to the collection. LEGO Lord of the Rings will arrive in October this year, just in time for the Hobbit marketing blitz.
Set to be officially unveiled next week at E3, LucasArts has begun talking about their next big game, aimed at hardcore Star Wars fans: Star Wars 1313. It’ll be centered around criminal organizations and the grimy underbelly of Coruscant on Level 1313. You play as a bounty hunter navigating this treacherous area, and rather than deal with the the same Jedi and lightsaber business from every other Star Wars game (according to LucasArts) this will be noticeably separate from that. It’ll be a third-person “cinematic action adventure” so who knows what that means, but we’ll find out when E3 rolls around. Read more…
Don’t just take my word for it, listen to Tim Schafer and the “Bastion narrator guy” tell you – Humble Indie Bundle V is amazing. The premise is the same as always: pay what you want for four great indie games, and if you pay above the average, you get a fifth. Plus it all goes to charity! The games this time around are LIMBO, Psychonauts, Amnesia, Sword & Sworcery EP, and Bastion, the fifth unlockable game. Not only that, you get each game’s respective soundtrack (and all of them are pretty darn good). There’s really no reason not to pick this up, even if you have most of these games already. 13 days are left, so don’t wait too long.
Ready for another trip back into Skyrim? Bethesda has finally shown the first trailer for the upcoming Skyrim expansion, Dawnguard, and for Elder Scrolls fans, this looks to be a nifty new addition. Vampires look to be coming back in a big way, and according to the trailer, the Dawnguard will be who they’re up against. Also, the vampires want to get rid of the sun, which seems to be a pretty difficult task to me, given that, you know, it’s the sun. But magic can conjure up many things, so we’ll have to see this summer when it arrives on Xbox 360 first for 1600 points, then one month later on other platforms.
Tim and I have had a strange fascination with the upcoming film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It looks pretty ridiculous, but I’m in the camp that it needs to be fairly tongue-in-cheek. This red band trailer, though, looks to be pretty serious in tone. I mean, a shotgun-axe is pretty silly, but they’re handling it pretty casually. But maybe that heavy-handed seriousness will add to the hilarity. We’ll find out when Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter arrives in theaters on June 22nd.
Hideo Kojima is much like you fans: he wants to create a new Zone of the Enders game. Sadly, he hasn’t been able to yet, but he’s recently shown off his concept for another game in the series, called Enders Project. While Kojima himself is busy with other games, he’s tasked other people at Konami to handle it (Ryosuke Toriyama is creative director and Yoji Shinkawa is the designer and illustrator). They’ve built up some impressive looking models and have them running in the Fox Engine, but only time will tell if the game will be fully made. Still, given that Kojima is putting this out there, it seems he feels pretty confident that it will succeed. Read more…
Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World in Orland are still going on (till June 16th, so not much longer!), so pay attention if you’d like to see yourself frozen in carbonite. They’re set up a great attraction where they photograph your face, and then make a model out of it, so you can have your own action figure of you in the famous frozen Han Solo pose. The catch? It’s only for Star Wars Weekends, you have to make a reservation, and it’s $100 per figure (8 inches tall). Is it worth it? Depends how big of a Star Wars fan you are, but this seems like a very cool event to me. Read more…
I don’t think I need to say much more than the title already says. The incredibly important song from Game of Thrones, “The Rains of Castamere” will be featured in the second soundtrack for the show, releasing June 19th. However, it’s performed by one of my favorite bands, The National. Yeah, this is awesome, and the world is beautiful. I’m certainly still interested in the rest of the soundtrack, but this is just a perfect cherry on top. I’m glad The National has been so involved with “geeky” projects, like this and Portal 2. Mainly because we get great music out of it!
It’s nice to see some good advertising for Dark Knight Rises, especially after that terrible poster that surfaced earlier in the week. These two new TV spots aired recently, highlighting the trouble Gotham is going through and Catwoman. I’m still not totally sold on her outfit, but it certainly looks better in action than in photos. There’s also a little hint of humor as well, which is a change of tone from the previous ads as well. While the hype is nowhere near Dark Knight levels, there’s still a great sense of finality to everything we’ve seen of Rises, and I find that comforting in a way. It’ll be great to see Nolan’s Batman trilogy wrap up, I’m sure, just the way he intended. The second TV spot is after the break. Read more…
In one of the dumbest, most ridiculous moves in recent memory, Paramount is delaying the actually-good-looking-or-at-least-silly-fun G.I. Joe Retaliation to March 29, 2013. It was supposed to come out next month, on June 29th. They’re hoping to add 3D to the film for an extra bang in the foreign box office, but I can’t help but wonder if this will ruin the film’s chances. Paramount has already dropped a huge amount of money into marketing, especially that Super Bowl commercial – and what about Hasbro’s toys and all the varied tie-in products? Are those just going to sit on warehouse shelves for 9 months? Read more…
We’re back again! This time Ben and Tim chat with special guest Colette Bennett about dating sims, anime, wine tasting, and more! Ben also gives his take on the Avengers while Tim searches for a new laptop. Tune in each week for discussion and news… or ranting and raving! Click here to subscribe to us via iTunes and listen on your iPod, iPad, or computer! Or, hit the jump and stream it directly in your browser! Read more…
You gotta admit, that helmet is pretty nifty – and given Loki’s huge female fanbase, I’m going to guess that a lot of them will be looking at picking this amazing figure: Hot Toys has returned to their Avengers line with another super-detailed model, this time of Loki. Once again, the face is the star here, with an incredible attention to detail. The eyes, though, those piercing eyes! They follow me around the room, it’s slightly unnerving. Still, if you’re a Loki fan or know one, you can pre-order him now for $219.99 for when he releases in December later this year. Read more…
Here’s the latest ‘supercut’ birthed from the internet’s vast collection of video clips and collections: Abed, the geeky, reference-filled character from Community says ‘cool’ a lot. And I mean a lot. If you ever wanted to hear a word slowly turn to mush in your brain and never regain its original meaning, then this video is for you, because ‘cool’ will never be the same. Many fans are feeling that way too, as Community showrunner Dan Harmon was dropped by Sony Pictures Television. A sad event, to be sure, but at least (for now) the writers are still on board, which is also important. Hopefully the quality can still stay the same despite his absence.
In their quest to create a new hit superhero show, CW has tried a lot, but maybe they’ve found their mark: a Green Arrow show. Simply titled “Arrow,” it follows Oliver Queen as he adopts the guise of vigilante Arrow. He’s defending Starling City now (instead of Star City) and will attempt to right his family’s wrongdoings. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by all this good television recently, but this isn’t really striking me as interesting. The voiceover was very dull and the average “TV CGI” was present as well, particularly the bouncing tennis balls. That said, perhaps CW will have an excellent story to surprise us with when Arrow starts this fall.
While an Elder Scrolls MMO has already been announced, many people just want co-op Skyrim. Thankfully, as with previous Elder Scrolls games, the modding community is stepping up and creating exactly that. While it’s still buggy and imperfect, you and your buddies can hop around in your Skyrim world and explore a bit. The team promises to continue to add more features, eventually allowing most of the game to be played with your friends. It’s mighty impressive what modders can do and if I can eventually battle Alduin with my girlfriend, that’ll be a blast. Check out the video above for the latest features and download the mod on their site. Read more…
No, not literally stored on floppy drives – better than that. The Game of Thrones theme has been played on just about every instrument and object imaginable, but this is one of the most unique versions I’ve seen: floppy drives. MrSolidSnake745‘s excellent floppy drive musical renditions have been floating around the internet for quite a while, and as far as “pro floppy drive musicians” go, I’m pretty sure he’s the best. The rest of his songs are pretty well-done, and there’s something delightfully retro about hearing songs played on aging computer parts.
Community just wrapped up, and you may have missed the last three episodes that aired all in one evening, but here’s a taste of what you should be catching up on: 16-bit Community (they call it 8-bit, but I think everyone has forgotten exactly what 8-bit is). Anyway, I think this is a pretty fantastic way to cap off their third season, and I can only hope more geeky jokes show up in the fourth!
Instant kills are a common thing in games, and they’re blast when you’re the one executing them. However when you’re on the receiving end, they can be pretty frustrating. Corridor Digital combined many of the most well-known insta-kill attacks into one silly video, excellent for your weekend entertainment. Everyone from Master Chief, to the Spy, to a Combine officer hop into the battle and Corridor Digital does a great job re-creating them in live-action. Great work!
Want your own Iron Man outfit? Anthony Le did, so he did what any cosplayer would do: he made his own. With working flaps, mask, and lights – which are probably more features than the outfit for the film. Too bad you can purchase a suit like this… I’d probably just end up wearing it around the house, using it to mess up everything. Iron Man better watch out for that creeper in the background, though!
This latest featurette on Ridley Scott’s upcoming Prometheus really gives a good look at how big and detailed the sets they made really are. Especially that impressive-looking chair that Michael Fassbender settles down into – it makes me sad that there’s less and less of that happening. I hope this shows studios that traditional sets still have a place in sci-fi films. The recent R rating news also gives me some hope that Scott was given free reign with the entirety of the film, which is always good. This short video gives a glimpse into the amount of work put into Prometheus, but it might be a little spoiler-y for some people, so beware!
