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!
Here’s our first look at the latest cover art for IDW’s Star Trek x Doctor Who crossover series Assimilation². This fourth issue in the eight-part seriesfeatures a cover by series artist J.K. Woodward, and depicts an Enterprise away-team along with the Doctor and Amy, as they stumble across the skeletal remains of several Borg drones, set against the visage of a Borg cube within the clutches of a Cyberman. To find out what that’s all about, we’ll have to wait until the issue hits shelves this August. Hit the jump to catch a glimpse of the issue’s variant covers by artist Francesco Francavilla!
Nintendo has decided to promote the upcoming Japanese release of Pokémon Black & White 2 with a lengthy animated short. Like the Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC trailer we posted earlier this week, the audio is in Japanese only, but the animation itself is pretty gorgeous and worth watching. Japan’s getting their hands on both sequels next month, but we’re stuck waiting till fall for own localized copies. Before you ask, no the game won’t feature any animated cut-scenes like this, but that’s alright since we’re getting to view this online free of charge. I just hope Nintendo of America takes the time to dub the short in the months leading up to our North American release later this year.
With the recent release of Blizzard’s latest cash cow, Diablo 3, BioWare hopes to rekindle gamers’ interest in their Star Wars MMORPG, The Old Republic by announcing another free pass weekend. The move is designed to bolster their subscriptions, following a sharp decline in users from 1.7 million to 1.3 in the last two months alone. Needless to say, that news alone doesn’t bode too well for the fledgling title. That said, EA has suggested in the past that the game could remain profitable with as low as 500,000 subscribers, and seem convinced that the recent declines consist primarily of casual gamers, and not their hardcore MMO base. I’m not as easily convinced — but then again, I don’t play MMORPGs either, so I’m not sure I can offer an informed opinion on the matter. That said, the numbers alone don’t lie. If you want to try The Old Republic for free this weekend, I’ve included details after the jump.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on May 16, 2012 in Television
It’s true, NBC’s Community has been picked up for a fourth season. I suppose I should just be happy the show is even coming back, especially considering NBC’s penchant for cancelling their programming at the drop of a hat, but there’s something bittersweet about the whole thing. First there’s the reduced order of thirteen episodes. While it shares that fate with 30 Rock‘s final season, both The Office and Parks & Recreation will be receiving 22 episodes this fall. This either implies the show will also be coming to an end, or that a mid-season pickup will be contingent on it doing well — which brings us to the next problem. NBC has decided to move Community to Friday nights — traditionally known as “the place television shows go to die.”
If Vader’s trip to Bespin has taught us anything, it’s that not every station in the galaxy comes designed with Stormtroopers in mind. In response to recent increase in low-hanging-corridor-related concussions, the Imperial Safety Administration has launched a new campaign in an effort to improve occupational safety amongst its troops! Featuring a design by R-evolution GFX, this awesome shirt is currently available on TeeFury for the rest of the evening for just $10 plus shipping. If by chance you miss out but still want it at a later date, or, if you just want to browse some of R-Evolution GFX’s other designs, you can find more of their shirts available via Red Bubble.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on May 15, 2012 in Videogames
Square Enix has released a preview trailer for their upcoming Final Fantasy XIII-2 Lightning Prologue DLC Requiem of the Goddess. If you’re on the fence about whether or not it’s worth your time, you’ll probably want to watch the clip and decide for yourself. On the other hand, it might be a bit spoileriffic for others — fortunately, the dialog you’ll hear during this trailer is in Japanese, without English subtitles. Other than that, the most it might spoil is an actual in-game battle sequence between Lightning and Caius, complete with cut-scenes. Personally, I think it looks pretty awesome. Let’s just hope the new chapter actually provide more answers than questions. At this point, I think fans deserve a proper ending. I’ve included some screens from the trailer after the break.
Disney XD’s upcoming TRON animated series TRON: Uprising, won’t be airing until June 7th, but for those of you who don’t want to wait, you can catch the entire first episode online. Although it’s not a live-action sequel, the animated series seems promising enough. It certainly has everything you’d expect from a TRON series, from Light Cycles and Identity Discs to spandex outfits, so its about as close as you’ll get to a sequel — at least, for the time being. They even managed to snag decent stars for the voice cast, including Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore, and Pee-wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens.
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!
The arguments over piracy are never-ending. From the legality to the methods, people will continue to argue over downloading copyrighted content till winter comes (and then some). The debate just got a boost recently, when news started making the rounds singling out Game of Thrones as the most-pirated show this year. In fact, the April 30th episode received 2.5 million downloads in the first day it was up. Erik Kain called out HBO themselves, saying “they have only themselves to blame.” In addition, HBO co-president Eric Kessler’s quote from November has been brought back up, where he stated that “cord-cutting” is a fad and that customers will flock back to cable once the economy settles. Read more…
The Minecraft money train keeps on rolling: on Wednesday, Minecraft released for the Xbox 360. Pretty cool, right? Especially for Notch and Microsoft as the game has already sold more than any other digital game on Xbox Live Arcade, in just the first 24 hours. Notch reported that the game has already become profitable, which is no surprise. It isn’t even updated to the same version as the PC game (it’s based on a year-old update of Minecraft and will be getting the other content later in updates), which just goes to show how popular Minecraft still is. 400,000 players popular, that is. Read more…
I’m not a huge Assassin’s Creed fan – I always had a hard time getting into the series. This trailer for Assassin’s Creed III, though, has me intrigued. The new animation engine for the game looks great as the main character, Connor, dashes about enemies and skewers them with ease. I’m also interested in escaping through buildings and ditching pursuers, as shown in the trailer. Can you do this with almost any house, or are they specific events? Oh, and fix some of those tree branches, Ubisoft: they’re much too straight.
Earlier today, Collider posted the latest teaser for Hasbro’s Star Trek Kre-O playsets to be released next year. No doubt, their release will be timed to help promote the release of J.J. Abram’s Star Trek 2, set to hit theaters in May 2013. While this new teaser pic is far more detailed than the concept image that had been floating around the next since February (see below), I can’t help but feel that Kirk’s chiseled jaw actually resembles a young Shatner more than Pine. Obviously that’s not suppose to be the case as the figures are wearing the sporty active wear uniforms seen in the recent film. Nevertheless, these are looking better and better and I can’t wait to see what they come up with when the sets are ready for store shelves next year.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on May 10, 2012 in Comic Books
I’ve always been a proponent of digital comics, so I’m pleased whenever a major publisher decides to embrace the new medium. Don’t get me wrong, I love mom & pop comic shops as well, but I’ll be perfectly honest — I have enough clutter as it is. I’d just rather keep my comic collection both clutter-free and portable at the same time. As if they read my mind, Marvel Comics recently launched their brand new digital comic store. I know what you’re saying, “Didn’t they already launch one of these last year?” Well, they did, but this one’s better, and here’s why:
Square Enix’s latest set of downloadable content for Final Fantasy XIII-2 is set for release on May 15th. The long awaited Lightening chapter is said to be included, along with a 16 piece costume set for your moogle, Serah’s stylish White Mage outfit, as well as Noel’s matching Black Mage set. They’ll also be releasing the Snow & Valfodr arena battle on the same day. Like with the previous arena battles, gamers will have a chance to capture and use Snow or Valfodr as in place of their usual monster slot during battles. Although the news was leaked by Playstation Taiwan along with price points for each item, the North American prices will likely differ slightly, so I didn’t bother listing them for you. That said, I imagine the prices will be on par with the previous DLC sets that’ve been released thus far.
It’s true, production on Star Trek 2 has finally wrapped, and while I think the film would have fit nicely under my tree this holiday season, we’re all stuck waiting for its May 2013 release date. I can’t imagine what kind of schedule allowed for the film to be shot in just under four months, but Abrams managed to pull it off. Ironic, considering the length of time it took to get the ball rolling on the sequel in the first place. It’s killing me that they plan to spend an entire year on post-production work, but I’m sure it’ll pay off in the end. After all, it’s not like it’ll take them the whole year just to add a few lens flares — right? Read more…
It’s a question I’ve wrestled with all day. Do I spend the extra cash to witness Whedon’s superhero extravaganza, The Avengers in 3D, iMAX or just settle for the normal 2D experience. After a bit of research, it seems apparent that the film was shot with only 2D cameras, with no iMAX or 3D cameras in sight. This means any 3D or iMAX versions of the film were converted entirely in post. Generally speaking, these conversions are never perfect, and should be treated as such — but that doesn’t mean they can’t be good either. Read more…
When Darth Maul made his debut in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, I had high hopes for the character. He certainly seemed menacing enough for a Sith, and wielding a dual-bladed lightsaber made him slightly more endearing, at least as far as a villain could go. But, those hopes were dashed the moment he met his maker at the hands of Obi-wan having only uttered five lines, at most, during the course of the film. That being the case, I found him incredibly one-dimensional — his one saving grace being his fantastic look. Hence why every collectible statue I’ve seen so far has looked amazing, and Sideshow Collectibles’ latest offering is no exception.
I’m not entirely sure I’m responsible enough to own any real firearms, but I think I could settle for LEGO replicas. Introducing LEGO Heavy Weapons: Build Working Replicas of Four of the World’s Most Impressive Guns. Its17-year-oldauthor, Jack Streat, delivers a complete guide to building 1:1 scale replicas of several well-known firearms, such as a SPAS shotgun, or Desert Eagle handgun with realistic built-in blow-back. Despite the subtitle’s claim of allowing you to build “working” replicas, I seriously doubt you’ll ever get one of these to fire live ammunition. At least, I hope so. Also, isn’t it terrifying to know there’s a 17-year-old kid out there who can design a replica AKS-74U assault rifle using LEGO bricks?
