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Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 14, 2014 in Television 
The latest TV show adaption of the Batman universe, Gotham, is trucking along pretty quickly: Alfred has been cast. Sean Pertwee will play him, who’s described as a “tough-as-nails former marine.” That’s an interesting angle to take, I suppose. Especially if they want to be a bit more action-oriented. Also cast was Robin Taylor as the Penguin, so we’ll definitely be seeing him. We also heard of Erin Richards as Gordon’s fiancee Barbara, Zabryna Guevera as Captain Essen, and Danny Cannon will direct the pilot episode. Now to see how it all turns out, eh? Read more…
Tags: Batman, Gotham
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 13, 2014 in Videogames 
Look at that jacket to the right. That thing is what you’ll keep your copy of Infamous: Second Son in if you pick up the Collector’s Edition. Yes, one of the features is an adorable, tiny jacket for your serious grown-up superhero game. If that jacket doesn’t entice you, maybe some of the other goodies will. The CE comes with a cool bottle opener, pins (“badges”), a collectible coin (Who is collecting these coins?), the main character’s beanie, and some exclusive DLC called “Cole’s Legacy” that deals with the character from the previous three games. It’s not the worst CE I’ve ever seen, but I think you’d certainly need to be a fan to appreciate most of that stuff. Read more…
Tags: Infamous, PS4
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 13, 2014 in Videogames 
One of the many reasons I love Nintendo games is their attention to detail. It’s not enough for Nintendo that things just work properly; they want to put little bonuses in there too. GameXplain created a YouTube video highlighting the idle animation for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, the new Wii U game that is just about to come out. (Idle animations are what game characters do if you don’t move them for a while.) Not only do three of the four playable characters have two idle animations, not only do they have additional tweaks depending on which characters are paired up with DK, but Donkey Kong has an amazingly detailed idle animation. One of his animations involves him pulling out his 3DS and playing for five seconds. That would be cool enough, but if you listen closely, you can hear him playing one of four real 3DS games, including Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, his previous game. That’s the kind of attention to detail that more developers need to implement. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Donkey Kong, Nintendo, Wii U
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 12, 2014 in Anime, Videogames 
Pokemon X & Y have been out for a few months, and the only free pokemon giveaway was a Torchic with a special evolutionary item. That means it’s about time for Nintendo to start giving out event legendaries — rare pokemon you can’t get through normal play, like the famous Mew. CoroCoro magazine reveals that the first event legendary is Diancie, a rock/fairy type pokemon that will star in the 17th (!) Pokemon movie, Cocoon of Destruction & Diancie. Nintendo hasn’t revealed how it’s giving it out yet, but hopefully players will be able to just connect their 3DS to the internet for the download, instead of having to go to Gamestop, the movie, or some other event like cavemen did. Diancie confirms a leak (spoilers!) from a few months back about pokemon hidden in the game’s code, so perhaps all those other pokemon will be made available in the next year or two. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Nintendo, Pokémon
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 12, 2014 in Comic Books 
In hindsight, it was kind of creepy to buy those big packs of branded Valentine’s Day cards and pass them out to your friends in elementary school. But let’s ignore that and look at these Batman Valentines from 1966, found by Mark Anderson. Batman and friends make horrible lovey-dovey puns, the Penguin is “hissable,” Mr. Freeze has apparently cured his wife but left her in ice, and there are naturally hearts everywhere. So print one out and give it to your sweetie this Friday — but tuck it into a better card, because you don’t want to annoy your other half too much. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 11, 2014 in Tech, Videogames 
It may have few must-play games, but the PlayStation Vita is one sexy handheld. Part of that is thanks to its OLED screen, which provides a vibrancy rarely seen on handhelds. I’m a diehard Nintendo handheld fan, but even I admit that the Vita’s screen blows the 3DS out of the water. Of course, screen makers are still working the kinks out of OLED technology, and they take up lots of energy. It’s not entirely surprising that Sony would consider replacing the OLED screen with a cheaper, more energy-efficient LCD screen. That’s what they’ve done with the new PlayStation Vita slim model, which is so far only available in Japan. But sometime in Spring 2014, the new LCD model will be made available in the US. It will retail for $200, coming bundled with an 8GB memory card and a Vita port of Borderlands 2. Read more…
Tags: Playstation Vita, Sony
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 11, 2014 in Tech, Videogames 
You can make some crazy stuff in Minecraft, like ridiculously complicated calculators and clocks. One such clock, however, was intended by its creator to be the most “useless” creation possible, one that serves no other purpose and probably won’t even finish its processes. YouTube user spumwack’s clock is set to the approximate death of the universe, 1 googol (or 10^100) years from now. It has multiple stations that keep track of 320 times the amount of the previous station. For example, the stations roughly count out 4 minutes from the start, then 23 hours, then 303 days, then 266 years, and so on until everything that ever existed in the universe has come to an end. Obviously there’s almost no way this thing could still be running as the last black hole dies, leaving a barren universe, but the video does a great job of explaining what would happen along the way. So watch it and maybe think about it from time to time. Or just be one of the many people who will have forgotten about this perpetual clock 23 hours later. Read more…
Tags: Minecraft
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 10, 2014 in Videogames 
Here’s a snappy and addictive new title for you iOS devices: Threes! It’s a surprisingly simple game by Asher Vollmer that requires you to match numbers together. Two “3” cards make a “6” card, two “6” cards make a “12” card, and it keeps building from there. Soon you’re sliding “96” together and swiping around the board in a hypnotic state. Each card is adorned by adorable faces (illustrated by Ridiculous Fishing and Hundreds artist Greg Wohlwend) to some insanely catchy music (by Jimmy Hinson). Just wait until you get the pirate card with an eyepatch. It’s worth it. Check it out here! Read more…
Tags: Apps, Indie Games, iOS
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 10, 2014 in Television 
The ball is finally rolling on Gotham, the TV series that’ll follow the adventures of Jim Gordon in his early years, before Batman came onto the scene. Ben McKenzie, best known for his roles on Southland and The O.C., will be playing Gordon as he starts his job as a rookie police officer. This series will also rejoin him with Bruno Heller, who was the showrunner on The Mentalist. The current plan is for the show to follow Gordon as he learns about the corruption of the police force, up until the point Batman puts on the cape. A young Bruce Wayne, the Penguin, the Joker, Catwoman, and more from the rogues gallery are expected to appear. Currently there’s no start date on the production, but I imagine it’ll start to gear up later this year. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Gotham
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 9, 2014 in Videogames 
A single-player DLC pack is coming out for The Last of Us soon, titled Left Behind. The short story tells of Ellie’s adventures before she meets Joel, as she encounters her friend Riley who had mysteriously disappeared a few week prior. Riley reveals something surprising to Ellie, and the two sneak of of school into the dangerous outside world. I’m hoping it turns out good, as I love the idea of playing as Ellie some more. Playing as Joel in the main game was fine, but still reminded me of the “dadification” of games a bit. This looks fantastic though! Check out the trailer and then grab the DLC on Valentine’s Day for $14.99. Read more…
Tags: the last of us
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 9, 2014 in Videogames 
You can finally play the ultimate simulator video games: Goat Simulator! Yes, you play as a goat, and yes, you buck things. Just charge into everything you find and do your best to send it flying. Carts? Ram it. A bucket? Ram it? A car? Eh, maybe not so much. But you can climb ladders, with an animation clearly inspired by the historic laddergoat. The creators said that this was just a silly experiment in their off time, but given the hugely positive reaction to their video, I imagine they might actually try to release it. I can only hope — I would love to play a goat simulator. Check out the video below! Read more…
Tags: Indie Games
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 8, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
It seems after ages in limbo, a live-action Preacher adaption will finally see the light of day. The This Is the End team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will be palling up with Sam Catlin of Breaking Bad to adapt the series for AMC. It seems the cable channel thinks they have the next big Walking Dead-ish hit on their hands — or at least some potential. Now, I’m not a big fan of Preacher, but I know a lot of you out there are. Do you think Rogen and crew can adapt it properly? I wonder how AMC will handle it — and what’ll change from page to screen. Read more…
Tags: AMC, Preacher
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 8, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Here’s a hero people weren’t exactly predicting: the Vision. And, the actor portraying him is already in the Marvel universe — Paul Bettany has been previously playing Jarvis, Tony Stark’s AI companion. As comic fans know, the Vision was created by Ultron, so that fits nicely with the plot, but I wonder if perhaps the Vision’s origin will be modified, given the actor? Maybe he’ll be a physical form for Jarvis, instead? Whedon and his pals are clearly playing with the various origin stories for everyone involved, so we’ll see how it all turns out in the end! Read more…
Tags: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 7, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Fresh off of her work in The Hobbit, Evangeline Lilly is doing well — and it looks like things might be getting better. THR is currently reporting that Lilly is in talks to star opposite of Paul Rudd in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man. Her role would not be a one-off appearance, so many fans are speculating that she’d be playing the Wasp (which would also make her a likely candidate to show up in the third Avengers film). I’m all for more female roles to balance out the Avengers! It also helps that Lilly was one of the best parts of the second Hobbit film. Let’s hope this rumor works out. Read more…
Tags: ant-man, edgar wright, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 7, 2014 in Design 
Hey look, it’s another sweet show from the Bottleneck Art Gallery in Brooklyn! “It Came From 1984” is a tribute to all the amazing movies that came out that year, from Ghostbusters to Gremlins to The Terminator. It features a variety of artists and pieces, curated by Chogrin. The gallery will have an online store where you can buy pieces, as well as visiting the gallery in person to see everything live! It opens today, Friday Feb. 7th, from 7-10pm. The gallery also has regular hours if you can’t make it to the opening. Check out a few pieces below! (Also, full disclosure, I have one piece in the show. But it’s nothing compared to the work everyone else has contributed — holy crap!) Read more…
Tags: Art Gallery, Bottleneck Gallery, Prints
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 6, 2014 in Videogames 
What’s something cool a game publisher can do when they buy another game publisher? They can put crossovers of their new IP into their own games! Square Enix has owned Eidos for a while now, and have put out several of their games, including last year’s Tomb Raider reboot. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is out next week, and now we know that you can make Lightning cosplay as Lara Croft. Similar to Final Fantasy X-2, in this game Lightning can change her clothes to gain access to new abilities. By wearing Lara’s outfit, she can use her survival axe and riot shield to fight monsters. As a side effect, it now looks like Lightning is covered in dirt. The only downside is that this will be optional DLC, available for purchase at launch, which is silly, because this should be a bonus unlockable in the game. Read more…
Tags: DLC, Final Fantasy, Lightning Returns, Tomb Raider
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 6, 2014 in Science, Tech 
China put a rover on the moon called Jade Rabbit, which is all well and good — but it’s already having technical difficulties dealing with the moon’s atmosphere. That’s kind of a big problem if you want your rover to work on the moon. As night falls on the moon, China is trying to fix Jade Rabbit, but there’s a good chance that it won’t recover. The rover has been “writing” about its experiences in the Chinese media, and his latest entry is a sort of goodbye letter. How better to present this semisweet moment than dressing up Star Trek‘s Patrick Stewart as the rover and having him read the final lines? That’s what The Daily Show did. The whole segment provides good coverage of the incident, but you can skip to 4:50 if you just want to see Stewart in gold foil and styrofoam like some old Doctor Who monster. Read more…
Tags: Captain Picard, China, Moon, Space
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 5, 2014 in Uncategorized, Videogames 
Did you know that Thief, the reboot to Eidos’s stealth-franchise, is coming out on February 25? There isn’t much buzz, which probably stems from the delays the title has had during its troubled development. But watch this latest trailer, because despite a smaller marketing budget, this game looks pretty cool. I know some longtime fans of the series seem to have concerns, but as someone who has never played any of the previous games, I’m liking what I see. It looks like a good mixture of stealth and action, and the fact that you could play through the game without killing any enemies is surely enticing to those looking to do more than just build up a body count in a game. Read more…
Tags: Eidos, PS3, PS4, square enix, thief, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 5, 2014 in Star Trek, Tech 
Star Trek has a long history of predicting modern technology years before we made it. Cell phones, video calls, tablets, there’s a lot that wasn’t conceptualized (or at least popularized) before appearing somewhere in the franchise. Naturally, technology keeps making advances, and now Buzzfeed has run down four more Star Trek ideas that are now real. I personally think our early version of the medical tricorder is the most interesting. Maybe our devices don’t quite diagnose every problem, but even videogame camera accessories (like the Xbox One’s Kinect) can make a cursory reading of your vitals, so I’d say creating a medical tricorder that can read everything about your health is plausible based on the work done so far. Read more…
Tags: Google Glass, Star Trek
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 4, 2014 in Cinema, Videogames 
Apparently thinking that the Fast and Furious franchise isn’t doing enough, Dreamworks made a movie based on EA’s Need for Speed racing franchise. But watch the latest trailer, and see if you think this is a movie that needs to be made. It looks like it offers nothing new, just the usual racing stunt action. Lead actor Aaron Paul looks poorly utilized, displaying little of the intensity that helped make Breaking Bad such a sensation. I suppose there’s a chance this might be a fun flick, but for now, I wouldn’t blame you if you saved your money come March 14. Read more…
Tags: Need for Speed
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 4, 2014 in Cinema, Videogames 
Here’s something that might have slipped through most people’s radars. Zachary Quinto, best known lately for playing Spock in the rebooted Star Trek universe, has signed on to play Agent 47 in a sequel and reboot to Hitman. The movie was an adaptation of the videogame series of the same name that has the bald, barcoded Agent 47 killing targets. The first movie grossed $100 million worldwide, but didn’t do that well critically, so the Fox is hoping that this new movie, titled Agent 47, does better. Paul Walker was supposed to take over the role from Timothy Olyphant, but he died last November, delaying the film’s shoot schedule. Quinto has proved he can act, but I’m not sure if I can see him playing this character yet. This might be one of those movies that needs the trailer to sell the casting. Read more…
Tags: Hitman
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 3, 2014 in Cinema 
Still on the fence about the upcoming remake of Robocop? I know I still am. That said, these new clips from the film definitely left me feeling a bit more confident in the whole affair — but then again, I wasn’t confident at all to start. These clips shine a bit more light on the characters and style of the movie. Michael Keaton definitely seems to be having fun here, I’ll say that much! The film will arrive later this week: February 7th. I do wonder how it’ll do in the box office… are there enough people hungry for a new Robocop? Check out all the various clips below. Read more…
Tags: Robocop
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 3, 2014 in Science 
Over a year ago, Felix Baumgartner wowed people everywhere by leaping off a balloon that had taken him to stratospheric heights. He set three world records in one jump: first, for the highest manned balloon flight, second, for highest falling distance, and third, for falling speed as he broke the sound barrier — the first human to do so outside of a vehicle. GoPro has finally released footage from the cameras attached to Baumgartner’s suit — I’m not sure why exactly it took so long for this to come out — but it’s some freaking amazing footage. Watch the entire drop below! Read more…
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 2, 2014 in Videogames 
Here’s a really neat little indie game that just came out: The Floor is Jelly. It’s a platformer with a twist — oh, I know we’ve got plenty of those, but this wraps it all up in such a delicious package it’s hard to ignore. From the wiggly, stretching physics, to the beautiful color palette and design, it exudes a warm, colorful feeling. It also helps that it has a soundtrack by Disasterpeace, one of the best game composers around right now. There’s lots of great little touches in it, such as and way the trees and bushes bounce with the ground, to the schools of fish that swirl around you when you dive underwater. You can buy it online, DRM-free, here for $8.99 for the next few days before it goes back to $9.99. Check out the trailer below! Read more…
Tags: Indie Games
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