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Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 23, 2013 in Television 
Season three of Game of Thrones had some really impressive digital visual effects work — especially given that it’s a TV show. From the gorgeous vistas to the masses of armies clashing, I was impressed by what they pulled off. SpinVFX has posted a video showing the steps taken behind the effects. It seems they were most proud of their effects for the Wall, as they built a 700 foot wall that was a couple miles length. Now that’s impressive! No wonder that scene came off so well. Obviously, there are many spoilers in these clips (although they avoid anything major) but you probably should see season 3 first to appreciate much of these effects. Check out the video below. Read more…
Tags: Game of Thrones
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 22, 2013 in Videogames 
Dark Souls II is still polishing its ability to smash your will into the ground. The sequel to the notoriously difficult 2011 game is due out on March 14. But before then, Namco Bandai will be holding a closed beta to test the online features, which will improve upon the spotty connectivity of the first game. The beta starts on October 5, but here’s what you need to know before getting too excited. Read more…
Tags: Dark Souls, Namco Bandai
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 22, 2013 in Star Trek, Television 
In an interview about season four of Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-ray, Michael Dorn, famous for playing Worf on both that series and Deep Space Nine, related an interesting bit of news. It seems that CBS and Paramount may be interested in making a new Captain Worf-centric Star Trek series. Dorn says that he has spoken with a couple producers and even got to pitch the show. However, “business things got in the way in terms of [Star Trek Into Darkness] coming out and CBS/Paramount and their relationship with JJ Abrams. [Dorn doesn’t] think they wanted to step on his toes by putting a new series on, but it’s not dead yet.” Read more…
Tags: Star Trek
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 21, 2013 in Comic Books, Videogames 
I’ll admit to being quite nervous about how Batman: Arkham Origins would turn out. It’s not being made by Rocksteady, who made the last two critically-acclaimed games. It’s missing Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill (Batman and the Joker). It’s a prequel, not following up on the tantalizing threads left by Arkham City. And it’s adding a multiplayer mode. But the latest trailer is the trailer that made me put down money for a preorder. It looks like a Gotham I want to explore and a story I want to experience. They even took Firefly, one of Batman’s b-list villains, and made him look kind of awesome and menacing! Plus, it helps that not only does Roger Craig Smith sound like a competent young Batman, but Troy Baker is doing an excellent job at emulating Hamill’s Joker, which is no easy task. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Batman: Arkham Origins, DC Comics, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 21, 2013 in Videogames 
It’s really annoying when console producers are coy about when their new consoles will launch. It’s obvious that they’ll launch shortly before Thanksgiving, yet they dance around like the date is some treasure to be hoarded. At least Sony has finally come clean about when the PlayStation 4 will launch at its Gamescom event. Come November 15, you can buy a PlayStation 4 for $499.99. Europe and other PAL territories will have to wait just a bit longer, as the console will launch there on November 29. Time to start getting in line! Read more…
Tags: PS4, Sony
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 20, 2013 in Videogames 
When it comes to games, the Wii U is really hurting, so almost anything would help at this point. While people don’t generally buy new systems to play old games, people do generally like Street Fighter. So maybe announcing all three SNES Street Fighter II games might help! Even after current Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono said that it wouldn’t happen, Capcom announced that Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II Turbo (which also includes SFII Championship Edition), and Super Street Fighter II will be available on Wii U for $7.99 each. And there’s a deal for the US: if you buy one game, it drops the price of the other two by 50%. If you’re in Europe, if you buy two, you get the third one free. Both deals cost the same if you’re getting all three, so consider reliving the days when you couldn’t patch fighting games and your old version became obsolete! Read more…
Tags: Street Fighter, Wii U
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 20, 2013 in Videogames 
Alright, that header pun is pretty bad, but more importantly: Gamescom is starting in Germany, so you know what that means: new demos, trailers, and sizzle trailers, i.e. the kind that feature a ton of different games trying to sell you on a system. The Xbox One is slowly recovering after a disastrous reveal period, and now that Microsoft has made an about-face on pretty much every negative aspect of the system, these games are actually looking kinda good. Alright, they’re just looking good in general! New console launches are always rocky, but if you choose to upgrade now instead of waiting a year, it at least looks like you’ll have some decent game options in the meantime. Read more…
Tags: Xbox One
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 19, 2013 in Videogames 
Dead Island was an interesting game. It’s sequel, Dead Island: Riptide was pretty disappointing. So now what for Techland? They’re trying something totally different: Dead Island: Mirror’s Edge edition. Dying Light is their 2014 game that focuses on traversal and parkour while avoiding the hordes of the undead on an island. Granted, this looks way better than either of the Dead Island games and also seems to have some more interesting game mechanics. This 12 minute video gives a pretty good idea of what they’re aiming for, and it certainly got my attention. The question is, can they pull it off? I sure hope so! Read more…
Tags: Dead Island, Dying Light
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 19, 2013 in Videogames 
I was never a big fan of typing games. I’m not sure why, perhaps I associated it too much with “work” and not “fun.” However, Icarus Proudbottom Teaches Typing is a bit of a different beast. Made in one month by Holy Wow Studios for the July 2013 Something Awful GameDev Competition, the idea was to make an educational game that isn’t boring or unentertaining. They lure you in with warnings about profanity and Native American spirit animals and then next thing you know you’re putting points into your typing skilltree and typing like the gods. Trust me, this game is worth it, and you can play it right in your browser, here. Do it. Read more…
Tags: Holy Wow Studios, Indie Games
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 18, 2013 in Hobbies and Collections 
And yes, it is awesome. Pop Culture Shock Collectibles has revealed their latest bust, Skeletor, from Masters of the Universe. Did you ever know you needed this? If you’re ready to own a life-size bust of the lord of destruction, you might want to prepare your poor wallet: retail price is $675. So while that’s not something I’ll be pre-ordering anytime soon, if you’re up for the adventure, the pre-order period opens at 3pm on August 26th. Then again, there is an option for a version with LED eyes, so at night he can keep watch over you with his evil red gaze. Pleasant! Read more…
Tags: He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe, Skeletor
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 18, 2013 in Videogames 
Game Freak recently had an event in which they announced a TV special called Pokemon: The Origin. It’ll focus on the original trainer, Red, from Red and Blue, and will be a short single-episode TV event. Pretty cool right? (Don’t worry, the trailer is below the break.) Yeah, but what I found even more intriguing was the short promo video for X & Y that showed a mysterious image of Lucario and Blaziken facing off in the streets — in HD. Is this an upcoming Wii U Pokemon game? A new Pokemon Stadium game? Some fans are even theorizing that it could be a Pokemon fighting game. Time to start guessing, Poke-fans! Read more…
Tags: Pokémon
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 17, 2013 in Anime 
There’s a lot of Ghibli goodness in the pipeline. The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature film, is already out in Japan and doing well, but we’re only just now getting a subtitled trailer for the film. Tiff has uploaded the trailer we shared before, but now with subtitles. Also, Isao Takahata’s upcoming movie, Kaguya-hime no Monogatari, has gotten some new images on Japanese TV. It looks absolutely gorgeous, and I love the style that they’ve adapted here — it really contributes to the storybook feel of everything. Check out the videos for both after the break. Read more…
Tags: Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 17, 2013 in Cinema, Fandom 
This video calls itself 8-bit, but trust me, this is way closer to 16-bit than 8. Now with that out of the way, feel free to check out this cool video from CineFix that takes the world of Blade Runner and transposes it into a video game. Well, a video game with lots of dialogue. There’s not a lot of action, instead it adapts iconic scenes from the film into simple vignettes made from pixels. I’d be interested in seeing some of these scenes laid out as hi-res wallpapers, too. Check out the video below! Read more…
Tags: Blade Runner
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 16, 2013 in Videogames 
Surprise! After a test launch in Australia and New Zealand last month, the long-awaited Plants vs. Zombies 2 is now out on iOS devices. This new game is free-to-play, with in-game microtransactions, but according to Popcap, no purchases are needed to beat the game. I’ll report back to you on that factoid soon. For now though, it looks like a worthy successor and I’m liking the new art style too. The game will only on iOS right now, but will be arriving on basically every other platform ever pretty soon. Trust me. The original game was on everything. Download the game here or watch the trailer below. Read more…
Tags: Plants vs. Zombies
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 16, 2013 in Videogames 
Rockstar officially announced GTA Online (at least, in any real capacity) and the new trailer showing it off looks fantastic. It’s a persistent, online world were you can team up with friends to go on heists, race your large collection of cars, or just mess around in the world. Details are still a little sparse at the moment, but the whole mode seems to be very ambitious. And when things are so ambitious, you have to wonder if they can deliver. Still, they’re not rushing this out, at GTA Online won’t be available at GTA V’s launch, and will instead arrive October 1st. I’m still holding out hope for a PC version, so for now I’ll just watch from the sidelines. And watch this trailer. Read more…
Tags: Grand Theft Auto
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 15, 2013 in Animation, Videogames 
“Fantasia” is a name that evokes a lot of musical history and artistry. While some may argue (myself included) about the song selection in Harmonix’s Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved, it seems that the music-oriented studio is still trying to stay true to Walt Disney’s original concept of marrying music with fantastic imagery. This latest look helps contextualize what Harmonix is doing in the broader scope of the somewhat-ongoing Fantasia project. In the meantime, it has also been announced that composer Inon Zur is contributing original music for the game. Zur has done music for games like Dragon Age and Prince of Persia, so he’s a solid vet to have involved. Read more…
Tags: Disney, Music, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 15, 2013 in Comic Books, Videogames 
Telltale Games knocked it out of the park with The Walking Dead: Season One. It garnered tons of “Game of the Year” awards, which is incredible for a modestly-budgeted game with no bleeding-edge graphics from a smaller developer. Season Two is coming in Q4 2013, but before those episodes start releasing, Telltale has another comic book collaboration to start: The Wolf Among Us, a prequel to Bill Willingham’s Fables series. The episodic game will release its first episode in Q3 2013, with the overall series centering on Bigby Wolf, the reformed Big Bad Wolf who can take human form. Bigby works to keep other fairy tale creatures in line in a part of NYC known as Fabletown. Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Fables, PS3, The Wolf Among Us, Vertigo, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 14, 2013 in Anime, Videogames 
Arc System Works has released a trailer for the first anime adaptation of BlazBlue, their spiritual successor to Guilty Gear. Titled BlazBlue: Alter Memory, the trailer first recaps a bunch of anime intro footage from the games, as if you remind you that yes, they have been animating fights all along and this is a natural extension. And then, there’s the new footage, which is looking pretty sharp. The anime will supposedly adapt the tangled plot of the first game (BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger), but I’d hope that they consider continuing it into the sequels. Hideki Tachibana (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira) will direct with Seiji Mizushima (Fullmetal Alchemist, Mobile Suit Gundam 00). Read more…
Tags: BlazBlue
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 14, 2013 in Animation, Videogames 
Okay, considering how much actual animation there is, “animated” might be a bit strong. But this fan video from Dave Rapoza takes the SNES classic Super Metroid and puts it into a lightly-animated vignette. There’s some interesting grit to the drawings — actual grit, not the modern “dark = gritty” use of the word — that reminds me of Magical Game Time, while the direction suggests an alternate timeline where Samurai Jack‘s Genndy Tartakovsky helmed a Super Metroid cartoon in the mid-90s with his signature style. Rapoza says the drawings were all done in Photoshop and assembled in an editor, which explains the minimal animation. But take a look, and appreciate the great sense of atmosphere! Read more…
Tags: fan videos, Metroid, Nintendo
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 13, 2013 in Comic Books, Fandom, Television 
Arrested Development is about a dysfunctional family and the way they bounce off of each other’s mistakes and schemes. So it’s natural to extend that same metaphor to a messed up family of gods — in this case, Marvel’s Asgardians. In this fan video, Thor, Loki, and Odin are mixed with scenes and lines from Arrested Development to create a funny look at this strange royal family. Take a look! Read more…
Tags: arrested development, fan videos, Marvel, thor
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 13, 2013 in Fandom, Star Trek, Television 
Last night’s Breaking Bad Season 5.5 premiere — the second half of the final season — was a tantalizing look into where the rest of the season could go. But we’re not here to talk about that, we’re here to talk about a comedic scene that helped break the tension in the middle of the episode. There are no storyline spoilers here, so those with spoiler-conscious constitutions can safely watch, though I suppose hearing this scene out of context could spoil the surprise if you wanted to go in completely cold. Regardless, if I hadn’t seen the episode last night, I’d have been okay with watching this animated version of the scene. Read more…
Tags: fan videos, Star Trek
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 12, 2013 in Television 
Every retailer has to have their own special edition these days — game pre-orders with bonus DLC, box sets with unique covers, or promotional goodies inside. Amazon just added an image and page for their special edition Game of Thrones season 3 boxset, and it looks exactly like the posters for season 3. But it’s sculpted out! Pretty neat in concept, but to be honest, I never really liked that poster. It seemed so bland compared to the previous marketing visuals (although some of the applications of it were interesting). But, if you want to pick up this boxset, just hop on over to Amazon’s page — it’ll run you $105 and releases February 18th, 2014. Read more…
Tags: Amazon, Game of Thrones
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 12, 2013 in Anime 
Here’s another little tidbit of news coming out of Otakon: Cowboy Bebop will be back in print again in the US. FUNimation announced that they’ll be releasing the popular anime classic series digitally and on Blu-ray in 2014. Sadly, the Blu-ray probably won’t be as impressive as the Japanese box set, but it also won’t be $350. If you’re not into owning things, Daisuki has you covered. The streaming service has confirmed they have licensed Bebop for release in 2014 as well, and are anticipating it to go up just before FUNimation’s release. Good time to be a Bebop fan! Read more…
Tags: Cowboy Bebop, Daisuki, FUNImation
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 11, 2013 in Videogames 
Pokemon X & Y aren’t too far away now — October 12th is growing closer. Nintendo and Game Freak have been very careful to trickle out info at a specific pace, and it’s that time again! This time they’ve revealed several new evolutions for older Pokemon. Lucario, Blaziken, Absol, Mawile, Ampharos, and the previously revealed “Mewthree” are all getting new Mega Evolutions that unlock new moves. Yes, that new Mewtwo evolution is actually a Mega Evolution. The twist on these, though, is that they can only happen in battle while the Pokemon is holding a certain object. After battle, they return to normal. A few other new non-Mega Pokemon were revealed as well. Images of all these below, as well as a trailer! Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Pokémon
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