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Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 26, 2014 in Fandom, Videogames 
I wish more games got musical versions in the vein of rock operas, sort of like what The Protomen did with Mega Man. Brentalfloss, known for writing lyrics to videogame music, has used some Metroid themes to write a short rock opera of Samus going on a mission. What’s unique here, however, is Samus having a boyfriend, hence “Metroid: Fight for Love,” as though she was Batman on ABC Family. I’m not against Samus having a boyfriend, because a woman can be in love and still be bad-ass. But Samus has never struck me as someone who would “fight for love.” Still, the animation looks great for a fan-video, and Brentalfloss is talented as always (though he obviously doesn’t sing this one). And just to reiterate: more rock opera versions of videogames, no matter how campy they might be! Read more…
Tags: Metroid
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 25, 2014 in Cinema, Videogames 
Audiences were very receptive to The Social Network and Moneyball, so it makes sense to make more films that dramatize how companies operate. In that spirit, Seth Rogen and frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg will be writing and directing Console Wars, a dramatization of how Sega challenged Nintendo’s industry dominance with the help of Tom Kalinske. (Scott Rudin will produce.) With console wars still raging today, this will be a good way for today’s kids to get some perspective on what a real console war was like. But for everyone else, they’re in for a treat, because the story of Sega’s rise to power with the Genesis is actually interesting. I’ll admit that I don’t think Rogen is that funny, but he seems like a great guy who is talented, and he seems to work well with Goldberg, so it’ll be worth looking forward to whatever is done with this. Read more…
Tags: Nintendo, Sega
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 25, 2014 in Star Wars, Television 
I’m aware that Star Wars: The Clone Wars is set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, so it’s unavoidably tied to the prequels. But as this trailer for the sixth and final season shows, it’s clearly one of the best thing to come out of those movies, almost the point where I wish we could just forget the movies happened completely. Fans are lucky that this final season is coming out on March 7 on Netflix (along with all the previous episodes), but until then, this really cool trailer will have to tide them over. It seems that Star Wars: Rebels is going to have some giant shoes to fill. Read more…
Tags: Netflix, Star Wars, Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 24, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Avoid this post if you don’t want any spoilers about Captain America: The Winter Soldier! It’s possible that recent TV spots are ruining a bit plot point for the film… or perhaps it’s just some old-fashioned misdirection. Here it comes: in the TV spot, it’s briefly shown that a bomb is detonated under Nick Fury’s car, and he’s blown sky-high. Then is the line “Nick Fury’s last words were not to trust anyone.” They’re definitely implying that he’s offed, but I can’t see Marvel being willing to kill off Nick Fury. Given what we all know about comic books — he’s probably not dead. If you want to look at it from a logical perspective: Samuel L. Jackson is still signed on for several more Marvel films, so no, he’s not going anywhere. Read more…
Tags: captain america, Marvel, the winter soldier
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 24, 2014 in Television 
Yup, the canceled TV show Heroes is coming back to NBC as a new short 13 episode series called Heroes Reborn. I imagine with the explosion of super hero-themed movies and TV shows, they want back in on the action. They didn’t release anything regarding the plot or other details. They did mention that a web series will start prior to the debut, to introduce new characters. They also mentioned that previous characters could return as well, but didn’t specify beyond that. I wonder if this’ll actually do well, or flop completely. The series will start in 2015. Read more…
Tags: heroes, NBC
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 23, 2014 in Cinema 
Given the runaway success of the LEGO Movie, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised: there’s going to be a sequel. Jared Stern and Michelle Morgan have already been signed on to script it. And, of course, Warner Bros. has scheduled it already for 2017, on May 26th. This is a much bigger billing than the first film’s February opening, so it seems they’ll be getting even more support the second time around. As of yet, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directors of the first film, have not been confirmed to return. I wouldn’t want to see anyone else in the director’s chair, though. They’ve done great work so far! Read more…
Tags: Lego, The LEGO Movie
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 23, 2014 in Cinema 
This is a weird article to be writing. Deadline is reporting that Willie and Charlie Ebersol have signed on for a sequel to the film Space Jam, to write and produce, respectively. Warner Bros. is on board too, and they’ve reportedly roped LeBron James into the project as well. What kind of bizarro land have I landed in?! Hold your horses though: LeBron claims that things aren’t happening yet, but that could be the typical PR speak to cover an announcement that got out too early. This is a really strange thing to see happen, but I guess with the recent ironic love by modern kids and nostalgia from grown-ups, Warner thinks they have a potential hit there. I don’t know if it’ll work. Read more…
Tags: Looney Tunes, space jam
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 22, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
It still blows my mind that Marvel is doing Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, and freakin’ Doctor Strange, all before DC and Warner Bros. can get a standalone Wonder Woman film out the door. It’s truly a testament to the organizational skills of Marvel… along with their excellent casting department. So, you heard me mention Doctor Strange, right? It seems Marvel is now on the hunt for several directors to tackle the film, and they’ve got four that they’re listing right now: Mark Andrews (co-director of Brave), Nikolaj Arcel (director of A Royal Affair), Dean Israelite (director of Welcome to Yesterday), and Jonathan Levine (director of 50/50). Kung Fu Panda writers Jon Aibel and Glenn Berger are rumored to be scripting it, too. Not a terrible list! Read more…
Tags: Doctor Strange, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 22, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
You’ve seen the trailer, now check out several videos that look at each member of the team from Guardians of the Galaxy. If you’ve been itching to hear Bradley Cooper as Rocket Racoon, you’ve come to the right place. There’s little bits of new footage sprinkled in each video, including a bit of fighting between Gamora and Nebula (Karen Gillan). Also included below is the first poster for the movie, and it’s about as silly as can be, with a tagline like “You’re welcome.” Everyone posing like they’re on a retro sci-fi book cover along with the huge list of other Marvel films — you know, just in case you forgot. Read more…
Tags: Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 21, 2014 in Anime, Comic Books 
Here’s the full, most-official cast for Fox’s Fantastic Four. From left to right, taking on the role of Reed Richard is (rumored to be) Miles Teller, and Sue Storm (confirmed) will be played by Kate Mara. Jamie Bell, while not yet confirmed, will likely play Ben Grimm. And last but not least, just confirmed, Michael B. Jordan will play Johnny Storm. Assuming that everything works out, I’m pretty okay with this casting. I think Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch is a great bit of casting in particular. I’m a bit disappointed this cast isn’t under Marvel’s Cinematic Universe umbrella, though. If only Marvel’s other rights could return to them! Read more…
Tags: Fantastic Four
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 21, 2014 in Cinema 
You know, when you have something good, sometimes it’s okay to just keep doing it. The first poster for the upcoming Godzilla film featured the paratroopers and their red smoke trails as they dove down towards the iconic beast… and so did the trailer. And so does the second poster! It’s just such a cool bit of imagery that I’m totally fine with them using it everywhere. Now you’ve just got to make the actual scene in the film live up to everyone’s expectations, don’t you? This new poster is one I’d totally be willing to hang up in my place. Check out the full image below. Read more…
Tags: Film Poster, Godzilla
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 20, 2014 in Videogames 
Dark Souls II is going to be hard. Even if it’s a bit easier than the first Dark Souls, that’s still really, really tough. Past trailers for the series have played this up (with slogans like “Prepare to Die”), highlighting the insurmountable odds and oppressive atmosphere that saps the hope from players eager to progress. But this latest trailer is a reprieve, trying to restore some hope that you might finish the game, that your deaths along the way won’t be in vein. It’s a nice idea, but any Souls players know the truth: this is but a trap, meant to lure in fresh blood to be spilled either by the game or by other players invading the newbie’s game. God help them. Read more…
Tags: Dark Souls, Namco Bandai, PS3, Xbox 360
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 20, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Marvel premiered the first full trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and after seeing it, I’d say it’s out of this world. Puns aside, we get a nice overview of the team, learning a bit about what makes them special. There’s Starlord’s awesome looking ship, the Milano. There’s a guard listening to a Walkman. There’s Zoe Saldana. There’s a talking raccoon with a machine gun fighting alongside a tree-person. What more could you want? Admittedly, John C. Reilly falls a bit flat here with some of his “snark,” but that might just be the trailer editing’s fault. It’s looking like this first “true” entry into Marvel’s cosmic corner of its universe should be some fun, old-school fantastical sci-fi. Read more…
Tags: Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel, Science Fiction
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 19, 2014 in Videogames 
After a troubled development time, Irrational Games released BioShock Infinite in March 2013 to great sales and great reviews, cementing its place on many Game of the Year lists. The additional DLC story, Burial at Sea, is just about finished. So what’s next? Apparently nothing, as Ken Levine is closing Irrational Games so he can move on to “narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable,” likely smaller and released digitally. He’s staying with publisher 2K Games and making a new team with the mere 15 Irrational employees that aren’t getting let go. Read more…
Tags: BioShock, BioShock: Infinite
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 19, 2014 in Videogames 
Ready at Dawn is prepping The Order: 1886 for release on PS4 sometime in the future. It involves knights dedicated to fighting an enemy of humanity, battling in London with futuristic weapons. Sounds awesome, but how’s that gameplay? Two official trailers released today, and while some of the footage is apparently in-engine (and looks beautiful), there’s not really any gameplay. There’s some footage in this gameplay debut from VG24/7 (the first video below), and it seems very focused on cutscenes with quicktime events. From what reporters are saying, the game is very good at transitioning between cover-based shooting gameplay, quicktime events, and regular cutscenes. Hopefully this doesn’t turn out to be the PS4’s version of the Xbox One’s Ryse (a very pretty game with little actual gameplay), because I love the steampunk-ish setting. Read more…
Tags: PS4
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 18, 2014 in Animation, Star Wars 
Here’s the first look at Star Wars: Rebels, the new cartoon that will air on Disney XD. Fans were rightly annoyed when Star Wars: The Clone Wars was canceled in favor of this (though the remaining episodes are coming to Netflix), so what do these trailers show? In short, yep, it looks like a Star Wars cartoon. There’s not much to say that the marketing materials haven’t already covered. The show may be good, but right now, it just looks like more animated Star Wars to this casual fan. So cross your fingers that The Clone Wars wasn’t canceled in vain! Just give this a good writing team and things will be alright when it premieres in Fall 2014. Read more…
Tags: Disney, Star Wars: Rebels
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 18, 2014 in Videogames 
Harmonix is a studio that makes videogames focused on music. They’ve made some of my favorite games, like FreQuency/Amplitude, Guitar Hero (the first two), Rock Band, Rock Band Blitz, and Dance Central. Now they’re making their first PC game, a free-to-play FPS. But it’s not your standard arena shooter, of course; everything flows according to the music. Shooting and reloading on the pulsating beat of the music will help propel your team to victory. As the music shifts, the arenas can change, like sniper towers shooting up from the ground. Of course, you can just shoot whenever you want, but it seems like trying to time things with the music will produce better results. The game is still in an early alpha state, but you can sign up to test it here. I love the concept, but I hope Harmonix considers bringing it to PS4 or Xbox One, or even Mac, because right now only PC users will be able to play it. Read more…
Tags: Harmonix, Music
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 17, 2014 in Videogames 
If you’re an early adopter of the Xbox One, it’s about to pay off: the beta of Titanfall has opened up to all users. You can hop into the Xbox Live store and download it now and start falling… for Titans… or something like that. Reportedly, the PC version of the beta will open up very soon as well, although it hasn’t yet at time of this writing (but check out the front page of Origin to see it when it does!). I’ve been playing the PC beta for a day or so now, and it’s been a ton of fun, and has definitely convinced me to pick up the game when it comes out. When you first ride a Titan and take it down, you’ll be hooked too. Read more…
Tags: beta, Titanfall
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 17, 2014 in Cinema 
A while back, Nike tried to capitalize on the dreams of fans everywhere by releasing Back to the Future-inspired shoes that resembled the ones in the film. The only problem: they didn’t self-lace. Now, Nike designer Tinker Hatfield says that self-lacing shoes will be coming next year, to line up with the original film’s timeline. I wonder if they can actually live up to the hype? I imagine you’d have to have some sort of battery in them too, which limits the design in some ways. I admire the fact that they keep trying though — maybe they’ll finally make it happen. Read more…
Tags: Back to the Future
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 16, 2014 in Cinema 
The LEGO Movie blew away a lot of people, by just how freakin’ good it was! Sure, it’s a big advertisement for LEGOs, but it’s also heartfelt and really funny. It definitely fits into the “see it multiple times” category of film. I’m going to look forward to anything Chris Miller and Phil Lord direct in the future, because they’ve hit it out of the park on everything they’ve done so far. Warner Bros. has released a blooper reel that has been animated to match the dialogue, much like Pixar has been doing. It’s super cute and Will Arnett and Chris Pratt seem to play off each other really well. Check it out! Read more…
Tags: Lego, The LEGO Movie
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 16, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Marvel has been toying with the idea of film focusing on Black Widow for a while now, but we’ve never really gotten a solid answer from Marvel one way or the other. Kevin Feige recently spoke to the possibility, and while he didn’t confirm anything, he did imply it was still on the table. “The notion of exploring that even further in her own film would be great, and we have some development work with that.” Just do it already! She’s a fan-favorite character, and Scarlett Johansson is a great actress — plus, we need more female superheroes in leading roles. It’d be a shame to leave her as a perpetual sidekick in all the other Marvel films. Read more…
Tags: Black Widow, Marvel, The Avengers
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 15, 2014 in Videogames 
Mario Kart 8 is (sadly) the next big Nintendo game after Donkey Kong Country Returns: Tropical Freeze. Nintendo finally decided to slap a release date on it, and we’ll be seeing it on US shores on May 30th. They released a new trailer packed full of gameplay, but also some new faces to the Mario Kart world: the Koopalings. All seven of them! That definitely pads out the character count a bit, and adds some variety to the cast. I imagine after they returned in New Super Mario Bros. U, they were a bit more popular. Check out the trailer below. Read more…
Tags: Mario Kart, Wii U
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 15, 2014 in Videogames 
Yup, at the Nintendo Direct yesterday, Nintendo announced another new character for the next Smash Bros. installment on Wii U and 3DS: Little Mac! The boxer from Punch Out! will be a newcomer to the series, but it definitely looks like he’ll still pack a wallop. He’s a bit on the short side, though. His introduction trailer is actually really cool, and I’m glad Sakurai and the team are taking the time to do these elaborate videos for each new character. Watch the video below, check out some images, or head over to the official site for more. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Super Smash Bros., Wii U
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 14, 2014 in Star Wars, Television 
After the abrupt cancellation of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, fans wondered what would happen to the final season that never surfaced. Thankfully, Disney’s newfound love for Netflix will make it happen: the final season will debut on March 7th exclusively on Netflix. Not only that, the feature film and all previous seasons will be added to Netflix’s back catalog, along with director’s cut versions of some episodes. I suppose if you haven’t caught the series so far, now’s a great time to catch up and binge-watch everything. Not too bad, Netflix! Read more…
Tags: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
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