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Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 22, 2013 in Videogames 
Were you aware that the first PlayStation console launched in the West in 1995? Yep, besides the December 1994 Japanese release date, it’s been 18 years since Sony fully entered the console market after Nintendo’s tragic betrayal. Sony Europe made this great video that shows several people growing up with PlayStation products throughout the years. While it’s a little unusual that this guy has lived in the same room for 18 years, I guess it’s still plausible now that the economy has forced recent graduates to delay moving out of their parents’ home. Read more…
Tags: Playstation Vita, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, Sony
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 22, 2013 in Cinema 
Evil Dead reboot director Fede Alvarez has said that Sam Raimi is trying to make a sequel to Army of Darkness, the third film in the original trilogy starring Bruce Campbell. While that is tantalizing, it’s far from official. However, at Wizard World Nashville Comic Con, Campbell came out with his own confirmation. Though he joked at first about nothing happening for over 22 years and how Ash might have to fight deadites with a walker and cane, he finally responded “Alright sir, the answer is yes” to the question of whether Army of Darkness 2 would happen. Read more…
Tags: bruce campbell, Evil Dead, zombies
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 17, 2013 in Anime 
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has been running in manga form since 1986, but until last year, only its third part (Stardust Crusaders) had ever been adapted into an accessible anime, and even that was split into two parts across seven years. A movie was released of the first part (Phantom Blood) in 2007, but a new anime adaptation began in late 2012 that fully adapted parts one and two (Battle Tendency). However, it stopped before beginning the third and most popular part, merely teasing a future animation with the above image. But now the latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, which serialized the earlier parts of the manga, has announced that production has been green-lit for a new adaptation of Stardust Crusaders. Read more…
Tags: Shonen Jump
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 17, 2013 in Cinema 
Blade Runner isn’t just a fantastic sci-fi film (particularly if you watch Ridley Scott’s final cut), it’s a neo-noir detective story. YouTube user Chet Diamond decided to cut a new trailer to emphasize its noir style, putting it in black-and-white and focusing on certain dialogue. It’s actually cut more modern than an actual noir film’s trailer would be, but it’s still an interesting take on the film that makes me want to watch it all over again. Now if only someone would give The Big Lebowski a noir trailer, seeing as it’s basically a noir film in disguise. Read more…
Tags: Blade Runner, Ridley Scott
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 16, 2013 in Videogames 
One of the reasons I’ve held off on buying a 3DS XL is that the colors so far have disappointed me. The recent limited Pokemon X & Y designs look better, but I was holding out for another Zelda-styled model to match my 3DS and Wii U systems. With The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds being released soon, Nintendo has realized that a tie-in would be a good idea and has announced the sexy Zelda 3DS XL you see above. Unfortunately, it has only been announced for Europe so far. Nintendo has seen fit to give Europe some exclusives in recent years, so it’s possible that this system may never come to America, but I remain hopeful that it may pop up as a Black Friday deal. Those living in Europe can buy this limited system on November 22, alongside the release of A Link Between Worlds. (A digital copy of that game is included if you pick this one up.) Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Legend of Zelda, Nintendo
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 16, 2013 in Animation, Comic Books 
Zack Snyder (Man of Steel) and Bruce Timm (Superman: The Animated Series) teamed up to create this fantastic short highlighting how Superman has changed and also stayed the same throughout the past 75 years. Watch as Superman jumps off the pages of his debut comic and journeys through various eras: the Fleischer Studios cartoons, The Adventures of Superman (George Reeves), the Super Family, the Super Friends, his motion picture debut (Christopher Reeve), the Death of Superman, Superman: The Animated Series, Smallville, the New 52, and eventually Man of Steel, with even more events and references thrown in along the way. The best part is the way the art style shifts to reflect how Superman was portrayed at that time, not just in terms of costume or face design, but art styles too; the Fleischer cartoon style looks totally different from Bruce Timm’s animated series. Check it out, read this list of annotations, and then watch it again! Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Superman, Warner Brothers, Zack Snyder
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 15, 2013 in Comic Books, Videogames 
Despite being a prequel and switching developers away from Rocksteady, Batman: Arkham Origins is actually shaping up to be an awesome entry in the Arkham series of videogames. One major cause for concern was Mark Hamill retiring from the role of the Joker, but Troy Baker sounded pretty good in recent trailers. If you want to completely erase your concerns, watch this clip from New York Comic-Con of Baker reading aloud a monologue from Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, one of the best Joker-focused comics. Baker sounds right on the money, sounding natural and evoking Hamill’s performance. I’d say we have a worthy successor of voice actors here. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Batman: Arkham Origins, DC Comics, PS3, Warner Brothers, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 15, 2013 in Videogames 
After Square Enix announced and released Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX (which includes the first game KH: Final Mix, its interquel KH: Re:Chain of Memories, and HD cutscenes of the second interquel KH: 358/2 Days), fans asked one major question: why wasn’t the sequel KHII included? While fans are split on whether they prefer the first or second games, they’re the only two numbered entries, with KHIII still on the horizon for PS4 and Xbox One. Now that the first HD collection is out globally, Square Enix has announced the sequel they hinted at in that collection’s credits: Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX! Read more…
Tags: Disney, Kingdom Hearts, PS3, square enix
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 10, 2013 in Comic Books, Tech 
I think we can all agree that the Iron Man suit is pretty cool. But we’re still somewhat far away from being able to make them ourselves, right? Apparently not, because the US Army has commissioned a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (which I’m going to abbreviate to “TALOS” because it sounds cool). It’s basically a flightless version of Tony Stark’s suit, possessing features like super strength and night vision. An onboard computer instantly responds to problems, enhances awareness, monitors vitals, and provides life support. And of course, it will protect you from bullets, with full-body ballistic protection that lets the user “walk through a stream of bullets.” Yes please! Read more…
Tags: Iron Man
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 10, 2013 in Cinema 
Against better judgment, Ridley Scott wants to make a sequel to Blade Runner. The man has made some fantastic films, but his work of late hasn’t been quite as good (see: Prometheus). What’s even worse? Harrison Ford has considered returning to the role of Rick Deckard. During promotion for Ender’s Game, IGN asked Harrison Ford about the potential sequel. Ford revealed that not only was he interested in playing the human/replicant/whatever-you-think, but he has talked with Ridley Scott about it. Read more…
Tags: Blade Runner, Harrison Ford, Ridley Scott, Science Fiction
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 9, 2013 in Science 
Congratulations, science! Nuclear fusion has always had an issue managing to create more energy than was put into it. You need to compress two lighter nuclei into one heavy nucleus, a change in mass that creates a lot of energy, but requires a lot of energy to make happen. But the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the US has managed to compress hydrogen to the point of nuclear fusion at 3.3 million Kelvin (5.9 million degrees Fahrenheit). And for the first time, the energy released in the reaction exceeded the amount of fuel that went into powering the world’s most powerful laser rig and its 192 beams. Read more…
Tags: nuclear fusion
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 9, 2013 in Cinema 
I’m still hopeful for Pacific Rim 2 to be officially green-lit, considering how much fun the original film was. But in the meantime, Pacific Rim is coming out on DVD and Blu-ray on October 15. Among the bonus features is this gag reel, showing actors flubbing lines, cracking jokes, and just generally clowning around. It looks like it was a lot of fun to be on Guillermo del Toro’s set, and it’s also interesting to see which parts of scenes were green-screened in. Plus, Ron Perlman is awesome as usual. Watch for yourself below if you can’t wait until next week! Read more…
Tags: guillermo del toro, Pacific Rim, Robots
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 8, 2013 in Videogames 
Yacht Club Games’ first release, Shovel Knight, is due out later this year. The game is coming out on PC, 3DS, and Wii U (all digital releases), and Nintendo is showing up at Indiecade, so there’s a new trailer to build up more hype for the game in a crowded holiday season. If you haven’t gotten a good look at the game before, watch the trailer and marvel at the NES+ style pixel art and fun, old-school gameplay. If you’re a fan of retro indie games, this one should be on your list! Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Indie Games, Wii U
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 8, 2013 in Television 
If there was to be a Breaking Bad game, you’d probably imagine some Grand Theft Auto-style criminal venture. But people love putting the just-finished television series into other types of games. Vulture imagined the show as a text adventure in the style of Zork, published by Infocom in 1980. (The header picture is unrelated to the game, but funny.) While Walt is not likely to be eaten by a grue, it’s a funny take on some memorable scenes, though it would have been even cooler if you could play the game. Check out the examples below!
Source: Vulture
Tags: Zork
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 3, 2013 in Anime, Videogames 
Nintendo already announced that Charizard (and fellow Kanto starters Blastoise and Venusaur) would have new Mega Evolutions in Pokemon X & Y. But did you know that Charizard would get two Mega Evolutions? Like Mewtwo’s new Mega Evolutions, there will be a different item each in X & Y, with the one we saw before going by the name Mega Charizard Y. That new one up above is Mega Charizard X, which just debuted in Japan in Pokemon Origins, an anime special based on the original Pokemon games. Unlike the Fire/Flying Charizard, its type is (finally) Fire/Dragon. Even though it’s not a flying type, it seems that it gets the benefit of the doubt and can keep flying due to the fact that it starts the battle flying as regular Charizard. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Nintendo, Pokémon
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 3, 2013 in Cinema, Comic Books 
I’m still having a bit of a hard time believing that Ant-Man is actually becoming a movie (set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe). I admittedly haven’t ever read any Ant-Man comics, but I know the concept of the character and some story beats through the years, and it seems like a weird choice to follow up The Avengers: Age of Ultron from a mass-market perspective. But god dammit, I’m happy that something comparatively smaller and weirder can be made into a big movie in this day and age! And because Edgar Wright is directing it, it has my attention. Wright even tweeted this picture to show that, yes, his long-in-production movie is finally filming, making this the first picture from the set. Read more…
Tags: ant-man, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 2, 2013 in Videogames 
During the latest Nintendo Direct, Nintendo revealed a new Kirby game coming to 3DS in 2014. The visuals look colorful and bright, and the core gameplay is typical Kirby. What’s most interesting about this installment is the two different levels of platforming. One track is closer to the camera, while the other is farther away in the background. Kirby can hop between the two, presumably to avoid obstacles or look for secrets. A few other games have done this, but not many, so it’s still novel. Plus, it seems like a good way to use the 3D capabilities of the system, which range from unnecessary visual enhancement (most 3DS games) to actual gameplay help (Super Mario 3D Land). Hopefully it’s more of the latter! Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Kirby, Nintendo, Nintendo Direct
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 2, 2013 in Cinema 
Benedict Cumberbatch is hot right now, and with good reason: he’s a fantastic actor, he’s got a great voice, he’s appearing in great productions like Sherlock, and his name is so charmingly British. I’ve been waiting to hear how he would sound as Smaug in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second Hobbit film due out on December 13. Sure, the Hobbit films seem really padded out and the CGI isn’t as endearing as the camera tricks Peter Jackson used in The Lord of the Rings. But Benedict Cumberbatch is a sly dragon, and that’s all I need. I hope the actual shots of Smaug are limited, but knowing how much additional content needed to be put in to make The Hobbit into three three-hour films, I have a feeling he’ll practically be dancing in front of the camera. Read more…
Tags: Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 1, 2013 in Dr. Who, Television 
The Weeping Angels were once scary monsters, debuting in one of the new Doctor Who series’ stand-out episodes, “Blink.” Since then, what might have been a great one-shot monster has been used two more times, culminating in a ridiculous episode where the Statue of Liberty turns out to be a Weeping Angel. Perhaps wisely, Stephen Moffat has chosen to step away from the monsters, saying “I’m probably done to be honest on what you can do with the Weeping Angels. But other writers have to have a go…” Read more…
Tags: Doctor Who
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 1, 2013 in Cinema, Star Trek 
J.J. Abrams often gets mocked for how much lens flare he put into Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. But while comments about the lens flares in his reboot movie didn’t make him stop using them in the recent sequel, he says that he was actually being more conscious of how they affected the film. In fact, he claims that he actually reduced the lens flare! Read more…
Tags: J.J. Abrams, Star Trek Into Darkness
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 26, 2013 in Tech, Videogames 
Let’s say you were excited about SteamOS, the living room-focused OS meant to make it easier to play PC games on HDTVs. If you were thinking of buying a new PC to hook up to your HDTV, why not consider a Steam Machine? These boxes running SteamOS are the second of Valve’s three big announcements this week. Valve is working with multiple manufacturers to bring Steam Machines with varying specs to retail in 2014. But before those are released, Valve is testing a high-performance prototype machine, and you could be one of the 300 people to test it for free, if you’re eligible. Read more…
Tags: Steam, Valve
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 26, 2013 in Comic Books, Television 
With the success of Arrow, the upcoming Flash series, and the continuing popularity of the Batman franchise, it was only a matter of time before some sort of Batman TV series was made. The only wrinkle is that like 2002’s Birds of Prey, this series will have no Batman. Yes, Warner Bros. is making Gotham, a police procedural centered on a younger Commissioner Jim Gordon before he meets Batman. And despite WB making it, Fox has won a bidding war for the series, committing to the series without even asking for a pilot. Gotham is being created by Bruno Heller, who has also created The Mentalist for CBS. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Fox, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 25, 2013 in Comic Books, Videogames 
Okay, the costume you see above isn’t literally Adam West. The Batman in Batman: Arkham Origins is still being voiced by Roger Craig Smith, and the costume won’t change that. But it’s definitely Adam West’s Batman outfit from the ’60s live-action TV show. And though this Batman is bigger and more ripped than Adam West was, I think it’s cool how the outfit makes him look slightly pudgy and soft, just like the TV series. But if this alternate costume doesn’t tickle your fancy, how about Azrael’s Batman outfit from the Knightfall storyline? It looks positively demonic, and perhaps almost too badass for my first playthrough of a game that’s supposed to be about Batman’s early days. If you’re liking these outfits, you may want to consider buying Batman: Arkham Origins on PS3, as they’ll be exclusive to that console. You also get five challenge maps, but aside from people with an unhealthy obsession for this game’s combat like me, the main thing I’d be worried about missing out on is these awesome costumes. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Batman: Arkham Origins, PS3, Warner Brothers, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 25, 2013 in Anime 
Dragon Ball Z has always had some crazy hairstyles. Many anime since have had even more ridiculous hair, but DBZ was a pioneer, with its blonde Super Saiyan transformation primarily marked by a change in hairstyle. So now, 17 years after the show went off the air (yes, there have been sequel series, movies, and rereleases since), you can finally buy official DBZ hair wax for making your own hair stick up. They come in three levels, marked by how Goku’s hair looks: 3 (Goku’s regular hair), 5 (Goku using Kaio-ken), and the strongest hold, 7 (Super Saiyan Goku). Best of all, the hair wax comes in Dragon Balls! This seems to be a Japan-only product, but it would be awesome to see this released in America whenever the movie DBZ: Battle of Gods is released. Read more…
Tags: Dragonball
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