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Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 30, 2012 in Videogames 
If you’re reading this on the east coast right now, not only do you still have some sort of power in the midst of Hurricane Sandy, but you get the treat of watching the launch trailer for Assassin’s Creed III on the day the game releases! This is the game fans have been waiting for since Assasssin’s Creed II in 2009, and after two more games with Ezio than we expected, the day is finally here. The setting shifts from the Italian Renaissance and Constantinople to the American Revolution, and the new lead is the half-Native American Ratonhnhaké:ton, better known as Connor Kenway. Read more…
Tags: Assassin's Creed, PS3, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 25, 2012 in Videogames 
God bless Valve for having the sort of corporate structure that lets them do pretty much whatever they want. Take Team Fortress 2, for example. Making up a crazy hat-based economy seems strange (and kind of destroys the benefit of having distinctive, recognizable character designs, even in silhouette), but it allowed the game to go free-to-play with pretty much no negative consequences. The latest idea isn’t exactly new — a Halloween scenario, still to be announced, has been done in previous years — but another event means another delightful comic book that feels less like an advertisement and more like a free gift of hilarity. Read more…
Tags: Valve
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 25, 2012 in Star Wars 
After Star Wars hit it big, fans became really invested in what would happen to the characters in “Star Wars II,” as it was referred to when talks of a sequel were starting to make the rounds. Without an internet to pass around hearsay, the duty of cultivating rumors fell to publications like Starlog, which devoted an article in their February 1980 issue to listing all the supposed rumors. Thankfully, The Empire Strikes Back turned out differently, because some of these are pretty silly. Read more…
Tags: Star Wars, Time Travel
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 24, 2012 in Anime, Videogames 
I’ve been playing One Piece: Pirate Warriors, the anime-inspired spin-off of Koei and Omega Force’s long-running Dynasty Warriors series of beat ’em up games. It has its flaws, but for a One Piece fan since Viz started running it in Shonen Jump in 2003, it’s probably the best representation of the franchise in video game form. There are bits that feel like they’re begging for downloadable content — notably an option on the main menu that brings up an empty list of additional content — and since Namco Bandai is publishing it, they of course have some add-ons to sell you. Read more…
Tags: DLC, Namco Bandai, One Piece, PS3
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 24, 2012 in Anime 
Since October 2011, Madhouse has been animating a new adaptation of Hunter x Hunter, a manga by Yu Yu Hakusho‘s Yoshihiro Togashi. But back in 1999, there was a 62 episode adaptation by Nippon Animation. Both anime reflect the time period they were made in, but since they cover the same narrative beats so far, that means they’re ripe for comparison videos! Read more…
Tags: Hunter x Hunter
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 23, 2012 in Anime 
According to Dengeki’s 20th Annivesary Festival, a second season was announced for A Certain Scientific Railgun (To Aru Kagaku no Railgun), the spin-off of the anime A Certain Magical Index. Simply titled To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S, the new episodes will continue following Mikoto Misaka and her friends in Academy City. Read more…
Tags: A Certain Magical Index
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 23, 2012 in Videogames 
In the old days of video game translation, English localization staff often changed characters’ names to appeal more to a Western audience. While we grew up knowing Sonic the Hedgehog’s nemesis as Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Japan knew him by his original name, Dr. Eggman. (It kind of justified all the egg references in the Sonic games, such as the Death Egg in Sonic 2.) In recent years, Sega has tried to reconcile these two names, stating that “Robotnik” is his real name and “Eggman” is his nickname, so that things can stay somewhat consistent. Videogame humor site Dorkly has another theory. Read more…
Tags: Sonic the Hedgehog
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 18, 2012 in Animation, Comic Books 
Batman vs. Superman is one of those match-ups that usually bug me. One of them is an extremely intelligent, paranoid sociopath, while the other is a nigh-invincible alien who can throw anything that bothers him into the sun. Writers will try to even the odds, since Batman is as big a name as Superman, but realistically, there’s no way that Superman wouldn’t just punch Batman to death before he could execute any of his plans. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Frank Miller, Superman
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 18, 2012 in Anime, Cinema 
After months of teasing, Studio Khara has finally released a trailer with actual footage from Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo. This is the latest in the exciting Rebuild of Evangelion, the remake/reboot/possible-sequel (?) to the seminal deconstruction of mecha anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion. With the film coming out on November 17 in Japan, it’s good to know that actual footage exists, considering how long fans have been waiting for this movie! Read more…
Tags: Evangelion
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 17, 2012 in Anime 
Hellsing Ultimate, a new animated adaptation that adheres closer to the manga it is based on, has been running since 2006. There are currently nine episodes released as OVAs, but all good things must come to an end. On December 26, the tenth and final episode will be released in Japan, concluding the story. From the looks of the trailer below, it’s going to be an explosive finish, but what else would you expect from an anime about nazi vampires? Read more…
Tags: vampires
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 17, 2012 in Videogames 
Though it has its detractors, I still think Burnout Paradise was one of the most fun racing games in recent memory. The team at Criterion has since been put to work on the upcoming Need for Speed: Most Wanted, incorporating an open-world in a similar fashion to Burnout Paradise. The game is out on October 30, so that means it’s time for trailers, including this awesome offering from YouTube superstar Freddie Wong. This is the most impressive car chase ever shot with remote control cars. Read more…
Tags: Electronic Arts, PS3, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 12, 2012 in Videogames 
Capcom has been giving Street Fighter a lot of love in the past few years, between rereleases like Street Fighter III, HD updates of Street Fighter II, and of course the much newer Street Fighter IV. But one of their other major fighting game franchises, Darkstalkers, hasn’t gotten much love, beyond characters appearing in games like Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Though rumors abound of a new Darkstalkers game, for now it seems like Capcom is testing the waters with an HD rerelease of early Darkstalkers games. Read more…
Tags: Capcom, Darkstalkers, PS3, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 12, 2012 in Anime, Cinema 
Though mainstream audiences may know the series as Battle of the Planets or G-Force, depending on how old they were when it was on the air, to old-school anime fans it has always been Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, or just Gatchaman. The adventures of the five-member team was widely popular the world over and spawned an additional OVA, as well as laying the foundation for franchises like Super Sentai, which was eventually adapted into Power Rangers for America. A movie had been planned by Imagi, but the company cancelled it in 2011. Now, there’s a new film project, coming this time from Japanese producer Nikkatsu. Read more…
Tags: Superheroes
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 10, 2012 in Videogames 
Though it still doesn’t have the broad name recognition of Final Fantasy here in the US, Atlus’s Persona series has risen to prominence among gamers who have been searching for new, meaty games this generation, which has seen a dearth of quality JRPGs. While Persona 3 laid reinvented the series and proved popular, it was Persona 4 that exploded in popularity, leading to an anime and tons of spin-off material. Soon, Persona 4 will get a port for PlayStation Vita with lots of new content. Read more…
Tags: Atlus, Persona 4, Playstation Vita
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 10, 2012 in Cinema, Videogames 
Microsoft wants a Gears of War movie, and since the movie industry isn’t moving on it, they’re ready to try pushing it into production a different way. New Line Cinema has the movie rights to the franchise, but they’ve decided to focus on The Hobbit films, which are guaranteed to bring in tons of money. The studio has placed Gears of War in turnaround for another studio to pick up. The thing is, Creative Artists Agency, the reps for the film, don’t want to wait.
Since New Line doesn’t seem to care about the movie, CAA is more than happy to take the license and shop it around to other studios. The most recent version of the script was written by Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), a script which is likely to get referenced during negotiations.
I’m not sure why Microsoft isn’t pushing a Halo film harder though, considering that it would likely have a slightly broader appeal due to increased mainstream recognition and the potential to be targeted towards more than 18- to 35-year-old males with a penchant for extreme military violence. I like Gears of War, but I’m not entirely sure it needs to be realized on the big screen.
Source: Variety
Tags: Gears of War, Microsoft, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 9, 2012 in Science, Tech 
You know all those people who swear they saw a flying saucer or UFOs in the middle of the 20th century? Well, they could have actually been onto something, as the US government has just declassified documents that show that the Air Force was developing a flying saucer in 1956. “Project 1974” was intended to hover through the air at supersonic speeds. Wow! Read more…
Tags: aircraft, Aliens
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 9, 2012 in Videogames 
There are lots of indie games out there making either conscious or subconscious references to games of yore. Part of that is because of the solid, pure design some of these iconic games featured, and part of that is because of affectionate nostalgia. But it’s not often that a retro-inspired game has been in development for so long that it could practically qualify for an “retro” game itself, and not just because it looks like an NES game on steroids. Read more…
Tags: Playstation Vita, PS3, Steam, Wii, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 4, 2012 in Comic Books, Television 
Superheroes are big business in entertainment, even more so after the spectacular success of The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises this year. It’s not that surprising that we’d see a comic book character adapted into a TV series, which is what the CW is doing with Arrow, a live-action take of Green Arrow. But just as comics are becoming more accepted in the mainstream, Arrow seems to be doing its best to distance itself from its origins, as shown in this three-minute featurette. Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Superheroes
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 4, 2012 in Videogames 
Fans of Assassin’s Creed are already familiar with alternate histories, considering the series features an ongoing secret war between Assassins and Templars, fighting over artifacts from an advanced earlier civilization. This fall’s Assassin’s Creed III will continue that war, resolving the storyline of modern-day assassin Desmond Miles while exploring his genetic memories of a new assassin ancestor, the Native American Connor Kenway in colonial America. Though the base game is enticing enough, one piece of future downloadable content may be too cool to pass up: killing evil George Washington. Read more…
Tags: Assassin's Creed, PS3, Ubisoft, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 3, 2012 in Videogames 
Sony has taken its sweet time adding PS1 games to the PlayStation Vita digital store. In fact, there were no updates last week at all. Though technically every PS1 game on the PlayStation Network should be able to be played on PlayStation Vita, in practice some don’t work, and large amounts are still not listed on the Vita’s version of PSN. But this week, Sony is showing a lot of love to fans of old PS1 games. Click through for the long list! Read more…
Tags: PlayStation 3, Sony
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 3, 2012 in Videogames 
Monster Hunter may be very popular in Japan, but it hasn’t always gotten its due in the West. It has a loyal fanbase, but not every installment of the game has made it across the pond. So considering the fact that the Wii U’s Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is an upgraded version of the Wii’s Monster Hunter Tri, it’s cool that Capcom is still bringing it out in America. Cooler still? The game is getting some solid technical upgrades. Read more…
Tags: Capcom, Monster Hunter, Nintendo, Wii U
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 2, 2012 in Animation, Television 
Cartoon Network is 20 years old this year, and October 1 was filled with lots of party-themed reruns of classic series. At 6:58PM, the channel closed its celebration with a two-minute tribute to its cartoons, mixing together modern and older characters in one fun segment. Read more…
Tags: Cartoon Network
Posted by Bob Muir on Oct 2, 2012 in Videogames 
What’s this, Nintendo is giving away a game if you buy some other games? The last time I got something from Nintendo in a deal like this was the Gamecube’s The Legend of Zelda: Collector’s Edition, back before Nintendo realized how much their old games were worth. While the game on offer isn’t anywhere near as awesome as Zelda, it is somewhat rarer, since it has never been released in America before. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Donkey Kong, Nintendo
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 27, 2012 in Videogames 
The awesome thing about holding off on buying major trilogies is that you know they’ll be bundled together down the line for cheap. Less than a year after the release of Mass Effect 3, the Mass Effect games are getting that bundle. Mass Effect Trilogy will be available come November 6 on Xbox 360 and PC for only $59.99. The bigger news, however, is that this bundle is eventually coming to PS3. Read more…
Tags: BioWare, EA, Mass Effect 3, PS3, Xbox 360
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