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Posted by Ben Huber on Jun 2, 2014 in Fandom, Videogames 
Smash Bros. is a great game because Nintendo has such a huge catalog of iconic characters to pull from, but not many other companies could pull off a similar feat. YouTube user crazyhalo definitely thinks Valve could do it, as they have created a video that remakes the intro film from Super Smash Bros. Melee with all of Valve’s characters. Gordon Freeman, the Heavy, Dog, every Dota character, Chell, and more are featured in this. If you’ve played Melee, this video will probably bring up a lot of memories, as it’s a pitch-perfect reproduction. Check out the video below! Read more…
Tags: Dota 2, Half-Life, Portal 2, Super Smash Bros., Team Fortress, Valve
Posted by Ben Huber on Jun 1, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
It looks like we finally know who our Thanos will be: Josh Brolin. That’s a pretty impressive secret to keep locked up, Marvel! Thanos will first show up in Guardians of the Galaxy, and then presumably in Avengers 3 as the final “big bad.” I think Brolin is a pretty good choice for this part, especially given that square jaw of his. No prosthetic needed! Marvel is doing their best to thread Thanos throughout the Marvel universe, getting him ready for his big debut, so I think it’ll get fans excited when he finally shows up. Let’s hope Brolin does a good job! Read more…
Tags: Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel, The Avengers
Posted by Ben Huber on Jun 1, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
So who have Marvel found as their replacement for Edgar Wright? It’s hard to tell. AICN was reporting the Adam McKay (the director of Anchorman) was directing it early yesterday, but then McKay claimed it wasn’t happening. Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) and Rawson Thurber (We’re The Millers) were also in the running. Whoever they pick will need to appease Paul Rudd, as a director leaving a film 8 weeks before shooting isn’t exactly a good thing. I’m sure whoever they hire will do an alright job on the film, but I still can’t help but wonder what Wright’s original vision would’ve looked like, completed. The Marvel film I was probably most excited for is now the one I’m most cynical about. What a shame! Read more…
Tags: ant-man
Posted by Ben Huber on May 31, 2014 in Animation, Cinema 
I’ll be honest, I hadn’t been paying much attention to The Book of Life until this trailer. I had heard Guillermo del Toro was producing an animated film, but hey, he’s producing a million things all the time. Anyway, del Toro is the producer, but Jorge R. Gutierrez is the director, whose previous work on El Tigre and Mad was pretty unique. Now he’s getting a shot at a CGI animated feature, and it looks really impressive. The story revolves around the Day of the Dead, a love triangle, and the main character’s attempt to get back to the world of the living. Some of the musical choices in the trailer are questionable, but I suppose that’s the marketing team making those choices. I love the visual style though, and I hope the film turns out well! It’s arriving in theaters this Halloween. Read more…
Tags: guillermo del toro, Jorge R. Gutierrez, The Book of Life
Posted by Ben Huber on May 31, 2014 in Videogames 
Nintendo has finally sold out — Mario is hawking Mercedes-Benz now. As part of Nintendo’s pledge to be more free with their precious licenses, Mario is now starring in a Mercedes-Benz commercial advertising their new GLA. Not only that, when he emerges from the car, he’s strangely handsome. There’s also free DLC coming to Mario Kart 8 (which released yesterday) which will feature the GLA as a playable vehicle. Product-placement galore! (At least it’s optional.) I wonder if we’ll see more weird product crossovers from Nintendo in the future? The ad is embedded below for your viewing pleasure. Read more…
Tags: Mario Kart
Posted by Ben Huber on May 30, 2014 in Cinema 
A few weeks ago plot details were swirling around the internet for Jurassic World, the 4th film in the Jurassic Park series. Colin Treverrow, the director, decided to squash the rumors right away and talk about the story details — and, well, the rumors were true. Skip out now if you don’t want to know the general plot ideas behind Jurassic World! Okay, so Colin confirms that World is set in a fully functioning park on Isla Nubar, 22 years after the first film. The park is running wonderfully, but in their search for bigger thrills, the park management decides it’d be a good idea to created a modified dinosaur made from the DNA of other various species to create a new, more exciting park attraction — and of course it all goes wrong from there. SlashFilm has it all in a longer interview with Colin here, if you want even more juicy details. Good on him for owning the rumors! Read more…
Tags: Dinosaurs, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World
Posted by Ben Huber on May 30, 2014 in Television 
Yes, it’s another Kickstarter, but one I never thought I’d be writing about. LeVar Burton has come to Kickstarter to being back Reading Rainbow. The plan is to make new episodes and put them online, and then also distribute them free to classrooms across the country, all in an attempt to get more kids interested in reading again. It seems pretty cool, although the pitch video is a little over-the-top. Still, I think it’s a great cause, and apparently so did everyone else: the one million dollar goal was reached in just 11 hours, and now it’s almost doubled. Yeah, that’s pretty impressive. Check out their pitch video below and then visit the Kickstarter page here. Read more…
Tags: PBS, Reading Rainbow
Posted by Bob Muir on May 29, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
Drew Goddard leaving Marvel’s Daredevil show (coming to Netflix) in order to concentrate on making The Sinister Six for Sony was a bummer when we learned it last weekend. But thankfully, Goddard’s replacement seems well-picked, and now we know who will be playing the titular role. Charlie Cox will play blind lawyer Matt Murdock who becomes the vigilante Daredevil. You may recognize Cox from his roles on Boardwalk Empire and Stardust, and now you’ll be watching 13 episodes of him on Netflix, in the first of several various superhero series that are planned. As someone who is eagerly devouring anything connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe lately, I’m pretty excited to see what Marvel can do with Netflix. Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel, Netflix
Posted by Bob Muir on May 29, 2014 in Cinema 
The confrontation with HAL 9000 in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is a tense, somewhat frightening scene. So why not have H. Jon Benjamin, voice of Sterling Archer on FX’s Archer, voice HAL instead? Late Night Basement did just that, and the results are hilarious. Watch as David freaks out while talking to the most laid-back computer system ever. This version of HAL also taunts David, which is amusing. Now I wish that I could hear Benjamin’s voice as the computer on Star Trek. Read more…
Tags: 2001: A Space Odyssey
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 Ben Huber on May 26, 2014 in Videogames 
Bigby is back, he’s brooding, and he’s angry about… stuff! I don’t want to spoil anything. Things are going poorly Fabletown, and given that this is the penultimate episode, a lot of stuff is going to be happening. This new trailer has spoilers for the previous three episodes, so only watch if you’ve played the game thus far. If you haven’t, The Wolf Among Us is a great take on the Fables comic book series that features reimaginings of your favorite fairy tale characters in a darker, grittier setting. And yes, for the uninitiated, Bigby is the big bad wolf. Check out the trailer below, but again — spoilers! Read more…
Tags: Telltale Games, The Wolf Among Us
Posted by Ben Huber on May 26, 2014 in Hobbies and Collections, Videogames 
One of the most popular characters from Mass Effect is being immortalized by Gaming Heads as an impressive new statue. This figurine of Garrus Vakarian from Mass Effect is 21 inches tall, which makes him — well, it makes him massive. He also comes with two different guns (the Incisor Sniper Rifle and the Phaeston). Limited to 500 copies worldwide, you’ll probably want to hurry if you want one: pre-orders are open now on Gaming Heads’ website. Garrus runs $349.99 and will come numbered and with a certificate of authenticity. Pretty cool! Oh, and yes, there are payment plans. More images below! Read more…
Tags: figurine, Mass Effect 3
Posted by Ben Huber on May 25, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Something is definitely going on at Marvel this weekend. Latino Review has broken a story, reporting that Drew Goddard (director of Cabin in the Woods and writer on Cloverfield and many TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has left the Daredevil series. Daredevil was part of Marvel’s deal with Netflix to debut several heroes on streaming TV series via the service, and Goddard was intended to write and direct the first episode. He’s also no longer the showrunner. Instead, THR is reporting that Steven S. DeKnight (another Buffy writer) will be taking over the project. Weird stuff is happening at Marvel… I just can’t help but wonder what. Perhaps it was just Goddard’s upcoming film, the Sinister Six, that got in the way? Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on May 25, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man was one of my most anticipated upcoming Marvel films. Everything about it seemed like a perfect match, from Wright’s directorial sensibilities to the unique take on the character he’d offer. It was great to see Marvel on board with a riskier project too, and they were behind it for the better half of a decade as Wright finished other films! But very abruptly, Wright has left Ant-Man and will no longer be directing it, due to “differences in vision.” Odd, considering Marvel had a script in hand for years. Latino Review claims that Marvel brought in two writers to rewrite the script significantly, which caused Wright to leave. Joss Whedon and Simon Pegg also tweeted out their support for Wright, so it definitely appears to the public that Marvel handled this poorly. I wonder where this will go next? Read more…
Tags: ant-man, edgar wright, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on May 24, 2014 in Videogames 
Hey! There’s a new 2DS color! I was wondering when we’d get one of those, and I suppose the upcoming release of Tomodachi Life is a perfect time for that. The new color is Sea Green, which seems like an alright name. What happened to “teal,” though? This is a bit lighter than your average teal, and with that white contrast, it looks very… beach-y! This 2DS and Tomodachi Life release June 6th, but no word on if there will be a bundle. I was honestly hoping they’d bring the mint green 3DS XL (that they paired with Tomodachi Life in Japan) over to us, but alas, it is not to be. It’ll retail for $129.99. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Nintendo, Tomodachi Life
Posted by Ben Huber on May 24, 2014 in Cinema, Star Wars 
Fresh off the success of Godzilla, Gareth Edwards is riding high. And now Disney has snatched him up to direct a spin off Star Wars film! Right now they’ve only revealed the director, the writer (Gary Whitta, of The Book of Eli and PC Gamer fame), and the release date: December 16th, 2016. Disney is definitely living up to their promise of one Star Wars film a year. The three spin off films were rumored to be about Han Solo, Yoda, and Boba Fett. I wonder which Edwards will be tackling? Oh, and if you’re worried about Godzilla 2, Legendary says they always planned for Edwards to make a film in between the first and second Godzilla films… they just weren’t expecting his middle film to be a Star Wars movie! Read more…
Tags: Gareth Edwards, Gary Whitta
Posted by Ben Huber on May 23, 2014 in Animation, Cinema 
You’ve seen the teaser images, now see the trailer for Disney’s new animated film, Big Hero 6. This is a Marvel property, but surprisingly, there’s not a single Marvel logo on it anywhere, and they’re instead opting to market it with “from the makers of Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen.” Which is certainly not a bad thing by any means — it’s just an odd choice, given that Marvel is such a strong brand right now. Still, this teaser trailer does its job, and reveals none of the story while telling you exactly what it’ll be: a humorous romp about a kid and his robot. Big Hero 6 arrives November 7th. Read more…
Tags: Big Hero 6, Disney, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on May 23, 2014 in Cinema 
Alfonso Cuarón is a popular guy — and everyone wants him to direct their next film. Warner Bros. is now trying to get Cuarón to direct two of its next films: the Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Shining prequel, The Overlook Hotel. Yes, you read that correctly: a prequel to The Shining. I’m not sure if that needs to happen. It’s not related to Doctor Sleep, Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining, so I’m not sure how exactly it’ll fit into the story. Could Alfonso do both? Possibly, if scheduling permits. Apparently he’s much further in talks for Fantastic Beasts, so that’s the most likely candidate right now, but who knows what could happen in the future! Read more…
Tags: Alfonso Cuarón, harry potter, The Shining
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
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