Here’s the official teaser posters for Men in Black 3, featuring what appears to be Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones or Josh Brolin, with letter art. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m not exactly a Men in Black fan, so maybe I’m a bit biased, but I’m not really sure why they decided to go with these images. It doesn’t help that I can’t even tell which Agent K is being depicted — previous drafts of the script had Agent J going back in time to team up with a young Agent K played by Brolin. Since they decided to start production on the film without a completed script, there have been numerous re-writes, and although Brolin and Jones are set to make an appearance, nobody is really sure how the plot will play out. Maybe it’s a good thing that I’ve found the image so ambiguous.
As those of us who spend our evenings glued to our laptops can tell you, nothing’s worse than accidentally knocking over your coffee in the dark. I’ve made the mistake more than once, so I’ve been looking for a solution that doesn’t involve leaving the lights on, and I think I might have just found it. Check out these awesome little Pac-Man Ghost lamps. Not only are the conveniently small, just four inches tall and just bright enough to light up my desk, but they speak to the retro-gamer — those of us who grew up on rolls of quarters and joysticks. Best yet, I can take it anywhere I take my laptop. The Ghost is powered via USB, so all I have to do it is find a port to plug it and I’m good to go. It’s also incredibly cheap, ThinkGeek currently has them on sale for just $10. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 29, 2011 in Videogames
When it comes to Western games, Japan has always seemed a bit stand-offish. I never really understood why, but every time the question was posed, Japanese developers would often cite everything from cultural differences and attention to detail, to their love for story-driven narratives. For as long as I can remember, Japanese gamers would echo those sentiments, often avoiding foreign games like the plague. That was, until recently.
I admit, Simon &Schuster’s Trek novels are one my many guilty pleasures. They’re not quite as terrible as my obsession with Koei’s Dynasty Warriors, or Japanese television dramas, but I wouldn’t strike up a conversation on the topic. Still, there are those of us who crave all things Star Trek, and with the next film over a year away, we’ll need something to ease that pain. Enter Rise Like Lions, the latest novel by seasoned-Trek author David Mack. This latest novel takes place in the infamous Mirror Universe.
I’m sure at some point you’ve all thought about having your very own robot — I know I have. The closest I ever came was helping a friend build a remote-controlled “battlebot,” only to see it laid to waste by some other kid’s metal monstrosity. It’s been well over a decade since then, and technology has certainly progressed. Designers Peter Seid and Phu Nguyen sought to take advantage of these advancements by developing a unique interface that transforms our everyday smartphones into robots capable of learning, growing, and expanding their functionality through a series of apps. They call it Romo, the smartphone robot.
I’m not sure why I would want a Luke Skywalker with a scarred up face and missing hand, but if I did, Hot Toys would have me covered. Recently they unveiled the latest addition to their DX series of collectible figures, the 1/6th scale Luke Skywalk in Bespin outfit two-pack. Like all Hot Toys products, it’s sure to cost you a hand, or a leg (see what I did there,) but at least you’ll be able to faithfully recreate the greatest moment of Empire Strikes Back, and no, I don’t mean the scene where Han gets dropped into a vat of Carbonite after completely blowing Leia off.
It looks as though Star Trek 2, as it’s still tentatively titled, finally has a firm release date. Unfortunately for us, it’s over a year away. While I had been holding out hope, I’m not really surprised, seeing as they’ve taken so long to get under way. On the bright side, the film will be shot in 3D, so those of you who aren’t already over that fad, or who’ve recently purchased one of those over-priced 3DTVs are in for a treat. (Protip: Black Friday deals are great, but Cyber Monday is where its at. I recommend scouring Amazon for one if you’re interested.) Some other juicy details leaked out this weekend. Abrams confirmed the rumor that he’s been in talks with Benicio Del Toro for a role in the new film, and announced that composer Michael Giacchino will be returning for the sequel. The script is “finished,” but is currently going through its third draft of revisions. Star Trek 2 will hit theaters May 17, 2013.
Just like Darth Vader’s cameo in a series cell phone ads, Yoda recently starred in a Japanese commercial for Nissin’s Cup Noodles — speaking English, no less. Of course, they had to subtitle him, but it would seem the Jedi master wants Japan to recover from its recent tragedies as much as anyone else; the commercial ends with him wishing the force be with the entire nation, kind of a sweet little gesture on Lucas’ part. I wasn’t aware you could use the force to boil water, though. Also, the line “Boil Japan.” looks a bit strange out of context. Oh well, it’s still kind of cool.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 23, 2011 in Videogames
I don’t know how many of you play Street Fighter or Tekken, but I’m sure you’re probably aware of how over-the-top some of these characters look already. Now, thanks to the ability to customize the character with costumes and props, they’ve taken it even further. A batch of recently released screenshots gives us a glimpse of just how zany things can get. Why anyone would ever want to dress a bear like a female luchador is beyond me, but guess what? You can. I just hope, given Capcom’s penchant for microtransactions, we’re not stuck footing any additional fees for the “privilege” of playing dress up. That’d be annoying.
With filming just weeks away, new rumors are starting to surface regarding J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek sequel. Early rumors claimed the film would focus more on crew itself rather than pitting them against as single adversary, while others seemed to suggest that the Kirk and company could match wits with a classic villain like Harry Mudd or Trelane. Sources recently claimed that Abrams had approached Benicio Del Toro to fill that void, but we’ve yet to hear anything further regarding his involvement, if it’s indeed happening. This latest rumor, however, seems to suggest that we might even see the return of the Klingons.
Here’s the recently released trailer for the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special set to air Christmas Day. The episode, titled The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, is an obvious homage to C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. The story is once again set during World War II, and while I’m starting to grow tired of that particular period of history, it certainly fits the Narnia gag. They haven’t said much about the plot, but from the trailer, it looks as though he’ll accompany a family of children, and who I can only assume is their widowed mother, on an adventure that takes them into a world that very much resembles the frozen forests Narnia. Both Amy and Rory are notably absent from the trailer, and there’s still no word on if they’ll be making any more appearances next season.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 21, 2011 in Videogames
I love a good soundtrack as much as the next guy, but these days I’ll be hard-pressed to purchase an actual compact disc, let alone a four-disc set. That said, here’s one I don’t mine shelling the cash for. Jeremy Soule’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 4-Disc original soundtrack contains all the audio from the game, almost all of which, I imagine, feature live recordings. The opening theme even used a thirty man choir to capture that Nordic-feel, while using a runic language they actually made up just for the game. There are some really beautiful pieces contained within, and I wouldn’t hesitate to call it Soule’s best work to date. It really says something when I haven’t grown sick of hearing any of the music — something that no other Elder Scrolls title has managed to date. The full four-disc set only retails for $29.99 via Jeremy Soule’s directsong online store, and all copies purchased before December 23rd will come personally autographed by Soule himself.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 21, 2011 in Television
HBO recently released a production trailer for their upcoming second season of Game of Thrones. I believe the new season will cover the events of the second novel in the on-going series of novels A Song of Fire and Ice, entitled A Clash of Kings. The trailer shows off some of the new faces will be seeing throughout the season, as well as the return of several fan favorite who managed to live through last season — there might be a spoiler or two for those who haven’t read the book or seen the show, but nothing that should ruin it for you. If you haven’t seen the first season, it’s currently available for pre-order via Amazon and won’t hit stores until January 10th. If you’d rather just read, or listen to the book itself, both the audiobook and original novel are currently available at your local retailers, or can also be purchased via Amazon or iTunes.
Get ready for the most adorable video ever. Believe it or not, this is an actual product — an inflatable, talking Dalek that a kid can actually drive around. Honestly, who needs Power Wheels when you can ride around threatening to exterminate people? Don’t bother trying to answer, it’s rhetorical. If I had a kid, this would be purchased immediately, despite the fact that you need a European power outlet or adapter to charge the sucker. I probably won’t have a niece or nephew old enough to drive one of these around for a few more years, I’m actually a little giddy at the thought. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever see an adult-sized model, but if anyone wants to build one for Halloween next year, that would be really cool. If you do, take pictures or shoot a video for us please. If, on the other hand, you want to pick one of these up, you can actually import one, just keep in mind my note about the power adapter. The Ride-in Dalek retails for a hefty $299.99 and ThinkGeek will toss in an optional adapter for an additional $20. Read more…
Tired of waiting for Lego to officially license your favorite films like Star Trek or Back to the Future? Me too. I had my hopes up when Lego started releasing those awesome Star Wars kits a few years back, but nothing ever came of it. Fortunately for us, the guys at Ichiban Toys have decided to release few custom kits to fill the void. There’s just a catch or two — the sets are incredibly small and extremely expensive for what you get. Don’t get me wrong, they look awesome, but judging by the size of some of these kits, $15 for a Klingon Bird of Prey that only usesaround fifty small pieces can seem a bit steep. That said, they’re all official Lego pieces, so anyone with access to the right ones could probably build it themselves after giving it a close enough look.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 16, 2011 in Videogames
Oh Bethesda, I had such high hopes. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the game to death. I’ve been having an blast venturing across the winter wonderland that is Skyrim, and slaying the occasional Dragon that seemingly pops out of nowhere, but it’s been five years, so I just have to ask — why haven’t they fixed their horse physics? You’d think that at some point someone might stop and say “Hey, this is something people might care about.” Obviously it wasn’t high on their to-do list, but that’s okay. I can overlook it, after all, it’s still hilarious and makes for great videos. Don’t you think?
Seeing as the next Doctor Who Christmas special is just a month away, now’s a great time to get into the spirit of things with this ridiculously cool Snow-lek shirt. I never really thought of building a Dalek snowman, but after seeing this, I kind of want to try. Of course, I’m sure nobody else will get the reference unless they’re fans, but I guess that’d be the point of doing it in the first place. The shirt, designed by artist Malcassairo, is currently being sold at TeeFury, and like every other design they print, will only be available for the next 24 hours. Their shirts are usually decent quality, and should only cost you $10 + shipping, but if you’d rather pass, there’s always a chance the shirt could pop up on a site like RedBubble, though it would be significantly more expensive to order it from there. If you’d rather just see more of Malcassairo’s work, a larger portfolio is available at their Deviant Art page.
Here’s the latest trailer for the upcoming Star Trek: the Next Generation – The Next Level Blu-ray sampler set to be released on January 31st. The trailer starts with the teaser footage released a few months back, and the new content starts around a minute and seventeen seconds in, detailing the restoration process, and showing clips from the episodes included on the disc. You’ll probably notice that the episodes are still in 4:3 format, rather than 16:9, but that’s actually intended. They haven’t really said why, but there could really be any number of reasons, such as unintended crew or equipment being present in the shots, etc. That said, the show is still being completely recomposited from scratch using the original negatives and transferred to 1080p, so it’ll still look amazing. Once again, the sampler will retail for $21.99 and should include five full episodes. It’s been confirmed that the rest of 178 episodes will eventually follow.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 15, 2011 in Television
Earlier today, NBC decided to tout their new mid-season lineup. Rather than the awkward sound of crickets or the occasional tumbleweed associated with such an announcement from the fourth-place network, my twitter-feed exploded with the hash tag #savegreendale. I immediately re-examined the press release only to discover that, sure enough, Community was nowhere to be found. As you can imagine, I freaked out. It’s only natural, after all, it’s one of the few NBC sitcoms I still enjoy on a regular basis. Thankfully, it turns out the show isn’t cancelled, per se. It’s just “on the bubble,” so they’re just thinking about it. So, what can you do to save it? Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 14, 2011 in Videogames
So, Skyrim hit stores last week and I’ve been glued to it ever since. So far, I’m about twelve hours in and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of the game in terms of content. There’s just so much to do; so much to explore. I haven’t really seen enough of the world to know if it’s as repetitive and drab as any of Bethesda’s other titles in recent years, though from what I’ve seen so far, I don’t expect it to be. Almost every experience I’ve had, from fighting Dragons, to exploring different types of ruins, has been a relatively fresh experience. That said, it hasn’t been without its fair share of glitches.
I have to hand it to Atlus. Just when you think they’re ready to move on, they find a way to surprise us. After they announced the Persona 4 anime, and fighting game, I seriously thought that would be the last we saw of the series. It wasn’t long before they announced a port of the original for Sony’s Playstation Vita, which will launch stateside next year. Now, they’re even discussing plans for a stage adaptation of the game to debut next March. The show’s being produced by Marvelous AQL, who some of you might recognize from games like Harvest Moon, and Rune Factory. They also happen to be involved in musical theater, television series, and other forms of media, so they’ve had experience with this sort of thing in the past. In fact, they recently produced a popular musical based on the anime Prince of Tennis.
Sony likes to joke that their PS3 can do everything. Clearly, they’ve never seen a Sonic Screwdriver. I always thought the Doctor seemed a little too quick to pull one out, but after sitting through this hilarious short, maybe I should give him more credit. After all, if he were to just “sonic” everything in sight, Doctor Who would become the least climatic show on television. You may as well just watch paint dry. Still, the video makes a good point, even if they never really intended to — Sonic Screwdrivers are awesome, and science needs to make them happen, ASAP. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 10, 2011 in Comic Books
Marvel has a special treat in store for any true believers looking to pick up the first issue of the upcoming series Avenging Spider-Man. For the first time ever, you’ll be able to purchase a physical copy of the issue and receive a digital copy absolutely free. Fans will be able to access the free issue through either the Marvel online store, or via their official app for your iOS or Android device. Hopefully this will be the start of a new trend but for some reason I have a feeling that this will only be a one-time offer. Still, if you’ve never given digital copies a shot, this is a great opportunity. Personally I find the format to be rather organized and clutter-free, but nothing really beats thumbing through those pages. On the other hand, it can also be a great opportunity for collectors who want to keep their first issue pristine without having to worry about missing the story.
Not to long ago, From Software announced they were developing a PS3 game based on the latest entry in the Mobile Suit Gundam saga, Gundam Unicorn. Seeing as the series of OVAs are still in production, the game will only cover the first three episodes to date, and should include most, if not all, of the mobile suits depicted in them. According to a recent issues of Famitsu, developers have been working to increase the speed of the gameplay while trying to take into account the heavy feeling associated with piloting a mobile suit. I’m not really sure how the two will mesh, so I hope they can find some middle ground. They also mentioned that Sunrise — the studio responsible for the anime, seemed rather impressed with the level of detail they’ve captured with the in-game models. Read more…
