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Posted by Bob Muir on May 28, 2014 in Videogames 
If you’re not going to be at this year’s E3 in Los Angeles — i.e. most of you reading this — you’ll be happy to know you can test out the next Super Smash Bros. game on Wii U at over 100 Best Buy locations across the US. Nintendo’s Smash-Fest will be running on Wednesday, June 11 from 4PM to 9PM and Saturday, June 14 from 12PM to 5PM. As a bonus, if you’re one of the first 70 people to preorder the game at the event, you’ll get a promotional gold coin. Everyone preordering also gets a $5 Best Buy certificate. So look and see if there’s a store in your area holding the event, and good luck! Read more…
Tags: Super Smash Bros., Wii U
Posted by Bob Muir on May 28, 2014 in Comic Books, Videogames 
It’s good that the disappointing Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes didn’t kill the series. After the much more enjoyable Lego Marvel Super Heroes, it’d be nice to see a Lego game that incorporates all of DC well. That’s what Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham promises when it releases this fall on pretty much every platform you’d imagine: PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, and 3DS. 150 unlockable characters must work together to stop Braniac from destroying Earth. Expect to collect lots of Lego studs along the way. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Lego
Posted by Bob Muir on May 27, 2014 in Science 
Suspended animation is usually stuck in the realm of science fiction, but some scientists are testing out a similar process. Because of the differences between what they’re doing and what we expect, they prefer to call it “emergency preservation and resuscitation.” Basically, their goal is to suspend life to keep patients alive during dangerous operations through the use of internal cooling. A patient’s blood is completely removed and replaced with a cold saline solution, slowing down metabolism and reducing oxygen needs. The body cools to about 50ºF, basically inducing hypothermia. This will supposedly help buy time for important surgery for patients suffering from a massive heart attack or a shooting. A heart-lung bypass machine restores blood circulation and oxygenation for resuscitation. Read more…
Tags: Science Fiction
Posted by Bob Muir on May 27, 2014 in Dr. Who, Television 
We all know Peter Capaldi will be playing the Twelfth Doctor when the new Doctor Who‘s eight season starts this August on BBC One. With filming having started earlier this year, it’s about time to start promoting the new season. So what do we get? The most teaser-y teaser to ever tease. We get a logo, an approximate date, some ominous music, and a couple frames of Capaldi in shadow. There is so little to actually tease, because this offers us nothing new to freak out over! At least give us a quip, an arm movement, a stare! Regardless, I’m sure this will throw some fans into a tizzy. Read more…
Tags: BBC, Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, Twelfth Doctor
Posted by Bob Muir on May 22, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Remember how ridiculous it was that we still didn’t know the name of Batman vs. Superman, the sequel to Man of Steel? WB has finally confirmed the name, and it’s not that great. Yes, the film will be called Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I kind of figured that they’d keep the temporary title in some form, but changed “vs.” to “v.” makes it sound like a court case instead of a confrontation. And while I know that the subtitle is supposed to be a reference to the Justice League sequel that will come next, “Dawn of Justice” just sounds like the empty, hollow kind of subtitle that means nothing. Why not something classy, like “World’s Finest”? Or if you want to set up Justice League, why not “Mere Set-up for a Bigger Movie”? It’ll be just like Iron Man 2! Read more…
Tags: Batman v. Superman, DC Comics, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on May 22, 2014 in Cinema, Star Wars 
One of the best parts of the original Star Wars trilogy were all the practical effects, mixed with worn elements to give the impression of a realistic, lived-in world. One of the biggest failings of the prequel trilogy was tossing that out the window in favor of clean cities and cartoon aliens, all rendered in fake-tacular CGI. Director J.J. Abrams has previously expressed his plan to use practical effects in Star Wars Episode VII (as well as shoot on film). In a video today, we got our first peak at a new alien — and he’s a puppet! Read more…
Tags: Disney, Episode VII, J.J. Abrams, Puppets, Star Wars
Posted by Bob Muir on May 21, 2014 in Videogames 
Though id Software may not have made Wolfenstein: The New Order — MachineGames made it, while id is working on Doom 4 — that doesn’t mean there isn’t any of id’s handiwork in there. Besides making the engine the game runs on, there’s a neat easter egg that brings back memories of Wolfenstein 3D, mainly because it is Wolfenstein 3D. You can play through a stage, similar to easter eggs in id’s Rage that teleported you into Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake. While I don’t think developers should make their games to cater exclusively to nostalgia, this is a nice way to remind fans of how far we’ve come. I always loved finding recreations of the first level of Castlevania in some of the latter-day Metroidvania games. Developers, consider doing this more in the future! Read more…
Tags: Bethesda, Castle Wolfenstein, id Software
Posted by Bob Muir on May 21, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Disney didn’t just buy Marvel so they could rake in the money from The Avengers. The first Disney adaptation of a Marvel IP is coming out November 7, 2014, and it’s a comic that’s rather unknown by the average person. Big Hero 6 is a Japanese superhero team that worked in Japan, at least in the comics. For this movie, Disney changed the setting to the made-up San Fransokyo, a combination of San Francisco and Tokyo. (I’m a bit iffy on that, due to the history of whitewashing in American films, but I’ll go with it.) In these images, you can see 13-year-old genius and main character Hiro Hamada (renamed from Hiro Takachiho in the comics) and his big robot bodyguard Baymax (which can synthmorph into a dragon in the comics). Baymax looks a little pudgy, but otherwise things look good. Now all we need is a trailer. Read more…
Tags: Disney, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on May 20, 2014 in Cinema 
Despite mixed reactions, the new Godzilla film did extremely well at the box office, earning $93 million domestically and $103 million internationally in its opening weekend. That’s crazy money, and the makers would be crazy to not want to make that again. So it comes with little surprise that Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures are already developing a sequel to Godzilla. Though Legendary Pictures has a new deal with Universal, this sequel will still be made with Warner Brothers. Director Gareth Edwards hasn’t been confirmed to direct the sequel yet, but given both the film’s performance and Edwards’ past musings on what he’d do with a sequel, it’s highly likely that he’ll return. So the question is whether this film will follow the first and practice restraint, or whether Edwards might look to the monster-filled Destroy All Monsters for inspiration, as he has also considered. Either way, I know a lot of people might enjoy seeing Mothra on the big screen again. Read more…
Tags: Godzilla, Kaiju, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on May 20, 2014 in Videogames 
After a lengthy delay, Watch Dogs is finally being released next Tuesday, May 27. Advertising the open-world game even more seems almost unnecessary, but this latest video takes the game’s hacking system and transposes it into the real world. Several customers go to get their phone fixed, only for the repairman to add an extra app to their phone that allows them to hack the street nearby, with disastrous consequences. I hesitate to say whether or not this is a real “prank,” since something seems off about the customers, which makes me wonder if they’re really actors. Either way, it’s a funny sketch, and I’d like to imagine it happened in real life. For that matter, I’d love to have such an app on my phone! Read more…
Tags: Ubisoft, watch dogs
Posted by Bob Muir on May 15, 2014 in Cinema 
I still haven’t had a chance to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Florida, and now they’re adding even more to it! While the park area launched with Hogsmeade in Universal’s Islands of Adventure, but with the new Diagon Alley area in the main park, there comes a new ride. Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts is based on the sequence from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. From the looks of it, guests can go into Gringotts Bank, open an account, go down into the vaults, and get caught up in the fight from the movie. I can’t tell how much of it will be built and how much of it will be on screens (like some other Universal rides), but hey, 4 minutes inside of a dark ride is pretty good these days. It seems short, but it’s much better than waiting an hour to get on for, say, 2 minutes of ride. Read more…
Tags: harry potter, Universal, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on May 15, 2014 in Cinema 
Hans Ruedi Giger, a Swiss artist responsible for much of the design of Alien, Prometheus, and many other films, has passed away at age 74, due to injuries caused by a fall. H.R. Giger was most well-known for his biomechanical art, which combined living and mechanical elements in horrifying fashion. One of his paintings, Necronom IV, was reused by the artist as the template from which Alien‘s xenomorph was designed. It’s impossible to sum up this man’s artist accomplishments beyond Alien, but a good place to start would be checking out collections of his art like Necronomicon. It’s sure to give you nightmares. Read more…
Tags: Alien, Aliens, Art, Prometheus
Posted by Bob Muir on May 14, 2014 in Videogames 
I’ll give Microsoft credit for this: they’ll stubbornly hold onto their plans, but if they’re beat over the head long enough, they will change. The Xbox One revealed a year ago required an online connection at all times and the use of a bundled Kinect camera. While the online connection was walked back within a few weeks (notably after Sony didn’t require one), but the system launched with the Kinect bundled in, making the Xbox One $100 pricier than the PS4. It seems Microsoft has finally caved on that too, because Xbox boss Phil Spencer has announced a $400 Kinect-free version, now available for preorder with a release on June 9 in every country that Xbox One has released in. Read more…
Tags: Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Posted by Bob Muir on May 14, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Fans were somewhat apprehensive that Ben Affleck of all people would be playing Batman in Zack Snyder’s Batman vs. Superman (and also Justice League, apparently). Once some fans pointed out that these complaints mirrored the drama surrounding Heath Ledger’s casting as the Joker in The Dark Knight, which turned out to be a great call, everyone calmed down and went into “wait and see” mode. Now we have the first picture, courtesy of Zack Snyder himself. It’s not a great look at Affleck, and it’s in black-and-white, but it can’t be denied that the suit looks great. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Man of Steel, Warner Brothers, Zack Snyder
Posted by Bob Muir on May 13, 2014 in Anime, Fandom 
Hollywood has been trying to make a live-action adaptation of Akira for years. Despite wanting to adapt directly from the original manga — the anime film only adapts one out of six giant volumes of the manga and uses its own conclusion — it sounds like it will be a trainwreck, with the setting changed from Neo Tokyo to Neo Manhattan, general whitewashing of characters, and the presumed loss of all the social and political commentary that formed the subtext of the original work from these changes. That’s why this fan-made trailer is so refreshing! It presents what a proper live-action take on the manga should be, and for a fan-made work, it looks fantastic. I can only hope that if Hollywood’s version ever gets off the ground, it will take notes from this trailer. Read more…
Tags: Akira
Posted by Bob Muir on May 13, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
Two weeks after I complained about DC and WB not taking full advantage of their comic adaptations, NBC put out this trailer for Constantine, a new TV series airing this fall based on the Hellblazer/Constantine comics, previously published under DC’s Vertigo imprint. And damn, this blows the trailer for Fox’s Gotham out of the water. Unlike the Keanu Reeves movie (which was enjoyable, but not actually a faithful adaptation), this looks like a real, well-made version of the original comics. Go on, watch this trailer and tell me you’re not excited to see a con man magician fight supernatural beasties as they creep into our world.
Read more…
Tags: Constantine, DC Comics, Vertigo, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on May 8, 2014 in Cinema, Television 
I can somewhat hear the surprise from some readers, but yes, Power Rangers are still a thing. Why? Because it’s fun to watch, and because Japan keeps making a new Super Sentai show every year, so there’s no shortage of material. But since Hollywood loves remaking stuff, Saban is working with Lionsgate to make a new movie based on the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, setting aside all the various themed teams that have been featured since. There have been two Power Rangers movies in the past, but this one looks like a solid reboot instead of a continuation. No further information was given, so it’s too soon to speculate, but I hope they don’t ditch the colorful robots and snappy style in favor of a dark, gritty take on the series. We’ve had too much of that these days. Read more…
Tags: power rangers
Posted by Bob Muir on May 8, 2014 in Videogames 
After dropping a few hints in Pokemon X & Y and years of fans speculation, Nintendo has announced that they are remaking Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire for 3DS, due out this November. It fits rather perfectly: X & Y just came out last fall, so it will have been a year since the newest main game release; meanwhile, Nintendo has already remade Pokemon Red & Blue (as Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen on GBA) and Pokemon Gold & Silver (as Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver on DS), the first two generations of Pokemon games, so Ruby & Sapphire are the only pre-DS games left to remake. The new remakes will be called Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire. In a nice touch, the temporary box art has red or blue bands at the top and bottom, which is reminiscent of the Japanese box art for the original games. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Nintendo, Pokémon
Posted by Bob Muir on May 7, 2014 in Videogames 
After a quick tease, Atlus has announced that Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, the third core game in the SMT franchise, has been rerleased on PS3 via the PlayStation Network. This game was the first entry in the main series to be released outside of Japan, though spin-offs like the Persona and Last Bible games had previously appeared in the US, sometimes under the brand-name Revelations. It’s also considered to be one of the best entries, as well as being the first time that many non-Japanese gamers were exposed to an RPG with a very high difficulty. If you’re an RPG fan, are tired of modern games being too easy, or just want to play an amazing game, consider buying it, since it’s only $9.99. Read more…
Tags: Atlus, PS3, shin megami tensei
Posted by Bob Muir on May 7, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
Good news for Batman fans who weren’t satiated by the Dark Knight Trilogy, the critically-acclaimed Arkham series of videogames, and the upcoming Batman vs. Superman: Fox has picked up Gotham, a police drama centered on Jim Gordon and set before Bruce Wayne became Batman. Ben McKenzie is portraying a younger Gordon, while David Mazouz is young Bruce Wayne and Sean Pertwee is Alfred Pennyworth; Jada Pinkett Smith, and Donal Logue are also supporting cast. And naturally, there are some villains involved. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Fox, Gotham
Posted by Bob Muir on May 6, 2014 in Anime, Cinema 
Rurouni Kenshin was one of my favorite anime in high school, and it became one of my top shonen manga. I still say the second of the three major story arcs, the Kyoto Arc, is one of the best in the history of shonen manga. The live-action Rurouni Kenshin movie starring Takeru Sato was pretty faithful to the original story, and now the sequel is coming out this summer — two, in fact! The second arc is getting a two-movie treatment, with the first, Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno, coming out August 1; its sequel, Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends, will finish the manga’s Kyoto Arc. Makoto Shishio, the burned villain of this arc, looks great, as do the locales and fights. Maybe after these release, we’ll get to see the third and final arc, the Jinchu Arc, that was never animated (though an OVA touched on it) on the big screen. Read more…
Tags: Rurouni Kenshin
Posted by Bob Muir on May 6, 2014 in Videogames 
Before Harmonix took music gaming by storm with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Dance Central, they were putting out other, smaller games that were no less interesting. One fan-favorite (and personal favorite) was Amplitude, a 2003 sequel to a 2001 game (FreQuency) about “mixing” electronic music by switching between various instrument tracks to fill in the song. It was a direct precursor to Guitar Hero, which would put the focus on one track with more notes (or one track per player in Rock Band), though Harmonix has revisited the core gameplay with Rock Band Unplugged on PSP and Rock Band Blitz on digital platforms. Now, there’s a chance of a full sequel! Read more…
Tags: Harmonix, Kickstarter, Music, PS3, PS4
Posted by Bob Muir on May 1, 2014 in Television 
Well, that wasn’t entirely unsurprising. The sci-fi series Almost Human, which airs on Fox, has been canceled by the network after only one season. The show featured Karl Urban as a human detective partnered with a lifelike robot played by Michael Ealy. The show never quite impressed critics, and I can attest to being disinterested, despite enjoying Urban. Part of the show’s misfortune, however, stemmed from Fox’s decision to air the episodes out of order, messing up minor continuity and how the characters reacted to each other. My girlfriend stuck with the show and was quite annoyed at how this ruined the show’s pacing. You’d think after Fox did the same thing to Firefly, they would have realized not to mess with a show’s continuity like that, but that’s Fox for you. Read more…
Tags: Robots, Science Fiction
Posted by Bob Muir on May 1, 2014 in Cinema 
It’s always a shame when the world loses another talented actor. This time it’s Bob Hoskins, who has died at age 71. Hoskins was an accomplished actor, who has appeared in many films and TV episodes. However, there were certainly some films he was more well-known for than others. Growing up, I remember watching him in the Peter Pan sequel Hook as Smee. He played Mario in the infamously bad Super Mario Bros. movie, which has gained a cult following in recent years. For me (and many others), his defining role was Eddie Valiant in the brilliant Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Thanks for all the great performances over the years, Bob. Read more…
Tags: Mario Brothers
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