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Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 4, 2012 in Videogames 
I can’t believe that it’s been ten years since Grand Theft Auto: Vice City came out. While some may prefer San Andreas‘s ridiculously sprawling map and length, to me Vice City was the best of the PS2 generation GTA games. And now it’s on mobile phones? Even if I saw it happen recently with GTAIII, it still blows my mind. These screenshots show off how crisp the game looks on iOS and Android, which makes me wish this was coming out to PS3 and Xbox 360 in HD. Admittedly, the games are quite out-dated when it comes to controls, game design, and polish, but at least they’d control better in an HD collection than with touch controls! Read more…
Tags: Grand Theft Auto
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 4, 2012 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Talk about blowing your load right away. So The Avengers 2 will feature Thanos, an intergalatic villain that seems natural for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to build up to. DC wants some of that superhero team-up money, so enter Justice League, a film from Warner Bros. coming in 2015. Justice League‘s Big Bad will reportedly be Darkseid, an intergalactic villain that is a horrible choice for a newly-launching franchise.
Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Justice League, Warner Brothers
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 3, 2012 in Science 
Shown above is a nice new poster that NASA has put out which gives some good insight into their plans for human spaceflight — you can see a high resolution version of the poster in Acrobat format here. As an old time member of the L5 Society I love idea that they’re thinking of using Lagrange Points as a starting point to go to places like Mars.
Tags: NASA
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 3, 2012 in Star Trek 
Let the speculation begin! Why is he wearing a cape? What’s been blown up? And when can I buy my tickets for the May 17th opening in 2013?
Tags: Star Trek Into Darkness
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 3, 2012 in Television 
Here’s a quick link to start off your week: GQ recently had an interview with the people behind the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones season 2, “Blackwater.” George R.R. Martin, who wrote the script for that episode, features in it, along with the show’s creators, Dan Weiss and David Benioff. They also speak with Neil Marshall, the director of the episode, who was contacted a few days before work on the episode started for the job. Sounds crazy! There’s a lot of unique tidbits in the full interview, and it’s nice to see a look into the process behind filming, including how they begged HBO for another $2 million just for the “Blackwater” episode. Read the full article here.
Tags: Game of Thrones
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 2, 2012 in Animation, Videogames 
What do Kratos and Nathan Drake do between battles? Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank? Maybe they just eat bagels. Or at least that’s what the guys at Robot Chicken think. They did a cool little commercial for Sony to promote Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale and I just enjoy the style of their stop-animation. It’s a pretty fun look at the characters, but all this does is make me want a game in this art style. Watch the video below. Read more…
Tags: PlayStation 3, Playstation Vita, Robot Chicken
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 2, 2012 in Comic Books 
Remember how we heard tale of a Wonder Woman show on the CW a while back? Running under the title Amazon, they were struggling to get the show made, and well, it seems they’re still trying. Currently they’re hunting for their lead actress and the listing mentions that the story is a “fish-out-of-water” tale featuring Diana as a warrior who arrives in the modern world in awe of the skyscrapers, cars, and technology. Will the CW finally get this show made? I highly doubt it given the troubles they’ve had so far, but perhaps their desire to replicate Smallville’s success will overcome the difficulties.
Tags: Warner Brothers, Wonder Woman
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 1, 2012 in Fandom 
Brotherhood Workshop is back to their old tricks again, creating excellent LEGO stop-animations featuring Lord of the Rings characters duking it out or engaging in other silliness. Their latest work is recreating the battle of Helm’s Deep for the Machinima Interactive Film Festival – except there might be a few little changes along the way. Legolas certainly does his best to help out Gimli so he can see over the wall, that’s for sure. Also keep an eye out for Chewbacca… he’s hiding in a few places in there! Read more…
Tags: Lego, Lord of the Rings
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 1, 2012 in Cinema 
Perhaps I’m a terrible person, but I may just be excited for Django Unchained a teensy bit more than actual Christmas. Quentin Tarantino’s latest film opens Christmas Day, and to me that might just be the best gift a film fan could ask for. Recently I’ve been wondering who many more films we’ll be getting out of him, given that he’s been talking about retirement. He says he wants to quit while his filmography is still good and never produce a stinker like many other directors who continue past their prime. That’s such a Tarantino thing to say (and by extension, a film fan thing to say), so I’m really not surprised by his remarks like so many other people. Till then, his work still looks solid! Watch the trailer below. Read more…
Tags: Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 30, 2012 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Christopher Nolan is finished with Batman now, and Warner Bros. is surely hunting for the best way to continue or reboot the franchise. Nolan’s open ending was intended for the viewer to imagine their own continuation, but not doubt Warner Bros. will use that to their advantage: HitFix is reporting that they’re already lining Joseph Gordon-Levitt up to play Batman in the upcoming Justice League movie. What a shocker! Read more…
Tags: Batman
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 30, 2012 in Cinema 
Are you excited for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim? I know I am. Giant robots, giant monsters, and epic battles! If you haven’t heard, in the near future, giant monsters begin emerging from the oceans, so the nations of the world begin building giant robots to combat them – obviously! It’s very Evangelion and Gundam-esque, which is why I’m so excited to see a major Hollywood picture with this theme! Now, the viral marketing has begun! Images of robots and peeks at the monsters below! Read more…
Tags: guillermo del toro, Pacific Rim
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 29, 2012 in Videogames 
Atlus is keeping it old-school with its Etrian Odyssey series. The player controls a party and traverses dunegons while fighting monsters. It’s like Wizardry, but far more modern. But some things never change, like the need to draw your own map as you go along, like people did back in the NES days. I respect that fact that some developers are keeping alive old traditions like that in an era where many games involve following an arrow down a straight corridor, in terms of how much freedom you’re granted. There’s a new game coming up, Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan, and there’s a new trailer showing off what it’s like.
Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Atlus, RPG
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 29, 2012 in Cinema, Star Wars 
File this one under “rumor,” but at least it has some evidence to justify its existence. We’ve heard about the writer for Star Wars VII (and rumors of writers for VIII and IX), but no director is yet attached, and considering the difference that directors made in the original trilogy (compare A New Hope to Empire), that could very well be the major deciding factor of how much we love or hate the new films. Now Matthew Vaughn, who directed Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class, may be directing the movie for Disney, based on several things. Read more…
Tags: Disney, Star Wars
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 28, 2012 in Videogames 
Bungie has been silent on the new game series they’re developing for Activision, possibly because all eyes are on the creator of the Halo series. We know that for now it’s called Destiny, but details have been nonexistent, at least until an advertising document leaked to IGN. Bungie has confirmed the leak by officially releasing one of the pictures (the one above) and promising more to come when they can talk about it, but for now, let’s look at the first story premise! Read more…
Tags: Halo, PS3, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 28, 2012 in Videogames 
The story of Link questing to save Princess Zelda from the clutches of Ganon is pretty established by now, to the point that some consider almost every Zelda game to be an differently-elaborated retelling of the same primal story, despite the fact that Nintendo has released an official timeline. It has been represented in various forms, but this is the first time I’ve seen it recreated across many, many Apple screens. Read more…
Tags: Fan Art, Legend of Zelda
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 27, 2012 in Videogames 
Many were surprised that Mass Effect 3 actually had a multiplayer mode worth playing, instead of what seemed like a tacked-on feature. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea (and not what I bought the game for), but it’s certainly a well-made co-op mode. When I was playing it though, I never left Bronze difficulty, the lowest of four difficulty settings. For those who aren’t pros at shooting games, it provided enough of a challenge that I wouldn’t dream of not teaming up with partners to beat the computer. And yet, there are those who can solo not only Bronze, but the next difficulty level Silver, and one of those people can do it without possessing control of his limbs. Read more…
Tags: Mass Effect 3
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 27, 2012 in Anime 
Looks like Viz is finally understanding that their digital magazine Shonen Jump Alpha was in an awkward place when it came to their content. With a two-week delay between the latest manga chapters that run in Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump, their translations were not current enough to morally deter those who read free scanlations, yet too current to be collected into a full volume. As a result, I’m sure many fans of manga such as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and many more simply glanced at Viz’s offerings, asked themselves why they’d pay for a two-week old official version, and continued reading scanlations that appear a few days after a new issue was released. It looks like Viz got the memo, because now readers can get the content instantly. Read more…
Tags: manga
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 26, 2012 in Comic Books 
I don’t think I need to say much about this sweet MODOK mug from ThinkGeek. It’s a coffee (or tea, if that’s your style) mug fashioned in the shape of Marvel Comics character MODOK, designed only for keeping your drinks warm. Or something along those lines. I’m sure there’s a million great puns here, but ThinkGeek already made them all. Perhaps it’s not the greatest geek mug ever, but you have to admit – drinking out of MODOK’s hollowed-out head is sure to be awesome and also scare your coworkers. Pick it up here!
Tags: Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 26, 2012 in Cinema 
The amount of work that goes into feature-length films these days is really incredible – you only need to look at all the names in the credits to realize that. The series of videos that the documentary team has been putting together following the making of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have been a great look into the whole creative process. This latest one focuses on post-production, and how the concept artists, audio tech, CGI artists, and all the other crew composite everything into the finished product. While it looks stressful (only 8 weeks left in the video) they also seem to be enjoying themselves. Watch the video below. Read more…
Tags: Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 25, 2012 in Hobbies and Collections 
Hot Toys continues to impress with their series of figures. The amount of work they put into making sure characters’ faces look real is astounding, and I wish I could own them all. For those of you out there (and I know you’re out there) who loved Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D., you can now pre-order him. He’ll be releasing June 2013, so there’s a bit of a wait, but it’s worth it for one of these figures, right? I bet he’ll look great with the rest of the Avengers team that’s also being released by Hot Toys. Could someone remake the whole Avengers film with these? Would it look much different from the real thing? Read more…
Tags: Marvel, Phil Coulson, The Avengers
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 25, 2012 in Videogames 
I love me some Humble Indie Bundles and Steam Sales. So whenever one pops up, it’s my duty to bring the news to you. The latest one is Steam’s Autumn Sale, and as the brown and red leaves fall around your desolate computer tower, surely the one thing you must be wanting this holiday season is games. Because not enough of those come out in November. Anyway, fill you backlog up easily with the constant Flash Sales (short sales that only go on for a few hours) or the Daily Deals. At time of writing, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is $4.99! How can you not get it at that price. See all the latest deals and sales here.
Tags: Steam, Valve
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 24, 2012 in Videogames 
Hopefully some of you know of the excellent downloadable game for 3DS, Pushmo. It was developed by Intelligent Systems, the makers of Fire Emblem and Paper, as a puzzle game with a twist, blocks can only move forward and backward, and you must clamber across them to reach the top. Now, Nintendo has released the sequel, Crashmo, which introduces gravity and a whole host of other gameplay ideas into the equation. I’ve only spent a few hours with it, but it’s already been an absolute blast. It also features the return of the level creator, so you can make your own puzzles and share them via QR codes. If you have a 3DS, make sure to check it out! Read more…
Tags: 3DS, crashmo, Nintendo, pushmo
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 24, 2012 in Television 
For everything on the internet, there is a parody version. I’m pretty sure this is basically law now, so I suppose there is no surprise in the title: a Game of Thrones parody of Seinfeld. This might be offensive to some of you, given that the sitcom is the “lowest form of television,” and it’s being combined with some of the best. But joking aside, if you ever wanted to see how Game of Thrones would fare with a laugh track, now you know. Strangely, it feels more like I stepped into an alternate universe rather than a simple edit. Read more…
Tags: Comedy, Game of Thrones
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 23, 2012 in Tech, Videogames 
With how hard Microsoft has been pushing the multimedia content for Xbox 360, perhaps this should come as no surprise to you all: The Verge is reporting they have multiple sources saying that Microsoft is creating a set-top TV box branded with the Xbox name. The concept is to be similar to the Apple TV or Roku, supporting videos and music, as well as apps and games. Granted, it wouldn’t play full-fledged console games (that would still be the next Xbox’s job) but for consumers who use their Xbox mostly for Netflix (you know who you are) this is an excellent move. Will it succeed though? I wonder if the Xbox name is too entrenched in “gaming” but perhaps that’s an unfounded concern. Will this hook people? 2013 will be an exciting year! Read more…
Tags: Xbox, Xbox 360
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