A Life of Sci

Review - The Name of the Wind

2011-06-22T13:52:00.001-07:00

Rating: * * * * *
Release Date: Available Now
Pages: 662
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Publisher: DAW Books

Before going any further, it should be noted that The Name of the Wind was released in 2007; this review is very late to the party, as this writer has only just discovered Patrick Rothfuss.

But better late than never, right?

Fantasy novels eventually tend to fit into two categories, you either have the realistic or the mythological. The realistic fantasy novel will tell it as it is, showing you the hardships of the characters and their adventure, slowly building their story into what could later become an epic tale to share around the campfire; the mythological, on the other hand, is the more traditional fantasy story, of a gallant knight fighting off the evil dragon and winning the princess, never really suffering any sort of emotional damage in the process.

It is rare, then, that a fantasy series comes along that can seemingly combine these types of story into one single adventure. Tolkien is famous for it, George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan continued in their own unique way, and I now feel comfortable to say that Patrick Rothfuss can stand with these writers with his debut novel.

Kvothe (pronounced similarly to quothe) is a hero, a legend amongst the people of the four corners of the civilised world; he’s a talented musician, a brilliant actor, a strong warrior, and a talented thief. He’s also retired, vanished, rumoured to be dead.

Storytellers all over the four corners speak of Kvothe’s epic quests, his early days at The University, his conquests, and his misadventures, but as with all tales of adventure they are misrepresented. Direct from Kvothe’s mouth, we hear the truth.

The novel swaps between the first person narrative of Kvothe’s adventures, and the time of his telling the story. The tale is, at times, somewhat reminiscent of Harry Potter in the fact that we follow Kvothe through his childhood and into The University, where he learns what the average person calls “magic” but is referred to as “Sympathy” by the well educated and informed members of society. However, the minor similarities of ‘boy at school that teaches magic’ is really as far as it should ever be taken, as the writing style itself is not only far more in-depth and descriptive, but the storyline is broader and clearly aimed at a much more mature audience.

The first person narrative sections of the book (which probably takes up a good 85% of the novel) may be slightly off-putting to some people, but with perseverance a certain depth and history to the world becomes apparent and it is possible to look past the constant references to ‘I’ and ‘me.’

The Name of the Wind is one of the better new fantasy novels to have been released within the past few years. Many established and fantastic series’ are available, but for something new this book comes highly recommended.

An extract from the book can be read on Rothfuss’s official site [HERE]

Review - Robopocalypse

2011-06-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

Rating: * * * * *
Release Date: Available Now
Pages: 347
Author: Daniel H. Wilson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

To describe this as simply World War Z, but with Robots, would be a complete disservice to Robopocalypse, but it’s the first thing that came to mind upon flicking through its pages.

Wilson has followed a similar path to that of Max Brooks, having previously written How To Survive A Robot Uprising; however, Wilson differs in the fact that he has a Ph. D in Robotics, so he kind of knows what he’s talking about here.

Robopocalypse covers a similar formula to WWZ, with one main character simply describing events as he has seen them, or re-telling a story that has been described to him. The story follows the rise of a super-AI structure called Archos, and the battle with humanity that ensues.

As you read, you will follow characters from around the world, a Native American of the Osage tribe on the plains of North America, a husband & wife in New York, an aging Japanese engineer, and many others. Their storylines slowly intertwine, showing the events that lead up to the creation of a human resistance.

Throughout these tales, we also get to learn about the evolution of the robots, and glimpses into the mind of Archos itself, and this in itself is one of the biggest differences from the aforementioned zombie book. A zombie is a mindless drone, which never learns and never adapts; once you’ve learnt how to defeat it, you’ve pretty much won the war, you are just relying on resources and the intelligence of your armies.

An Artificial Intelligence is different; whilst humans are learning to fight back, it’s also learning and it learns faster. Through the eyes of the human survivors, we watch as Archos adapts to new environments and new strategies, creating ever more complex robots to try and squash the human resistance. Wilson’s Ph. D really pays off in these moments, as he is able to accurately describe a machine that not only sounds deadly, but sounds realistic in every way.

Robopocalypse is a fantastic start to what I sincerely hope becomes a much bigger universe, and even if it isn’t it’s still a bloody good read. Whilst I fear that Wilson will remain underappreciated, I think he deserves the same amount of attention, if not more, that Max Brooks gained for his work.

An excerpt from Robopocalypse can be read [HERE], whilst the full book itself is available from all good bookstores.

E3 2011 - Capcom Releases

2011-06-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

I originally thought Capcom were going to be holding their own Press Conference this year, much like they used to in previous years. Sadly, the only thing they appear to be doing is holding a Livestream of whatever is happening at their booth.

You can view this stream [HERE] if you wish, but all their major content reveals will be contained in this blog unless a surprise interview reveals something not covered in the trailers and gameplay.

First up, Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition is now available on Xbox Live Arcade, and will be available over Playstation Network within the next couple of days.

As is usual for the Street Fighter series, this is essentially a few extra characters, costumes, and gameplay modes for the avid Street Fighter fan.

Resident Evil: Revelations is the next major storyline installment for the Resi series, released exclusively for the 3DS.

The game is set in 2005, so before the events of Resident Evil 5, and follows Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield during a mission for the B.S.A.A. Chris is missing, and Jill has gone to try and track him down.

The games introduces Parker and Juliette, two new B.S.A.A characters, and quite possibly a new set of villains (though Hunk seemed to have featured previously, so hopefully we'll learn more about him).

No official release date for Revelations yet, but with Mercs 3D coming out within the next month or so, you'll be able to get your hands on a demo of Revelations upon purchase (or rental) of the multiplayer title.

To give you an idea of gameplay, here's some footage:

Next up comes Street Fighter X Tekken:

What more is there to say? It's a crossover title between Street Fighter and Tekken, and dependant upon which platform you get it on there'll be a few exclusive character unlocks.

At Sony's conference last night, it was revealed that SFXT will be available on Playstation Vita, and will have Cole (the lead character of inFamous) as a playable character.

We finally get to see how DMC is going to play, and would you bloody look at that...he gets his white hair, red coat, and dual wielded pistols out.

Somewhat allaying the fears of many fans, I assume, with this trailer, Ninja Theory are still erring on the edge of open hostility by not revealing too much about how, or if, this game will fit into the series so far.

It seems clear that this is an origins story of some form, but will it capture the same combat feeling and atmosphere of the previous titles?

Needless to say, it looks like a good game, well made and well designed, but whether it'll be a good Devil May Cry is up to the fanbase.

Asura's Wrath looks busy, and angry, and loud.

This is essentially a combination of, by the looks of it, the original Devil May Cry games and God of War, but with an asian theme instead of a Western theme.

It seems over the top, filled with action, and completely outrageous in storyline and theme...so what's not to love?

As long as the controls and tight and the action is fluid, this game should be a good one. We'll leave the storyline for the players to decide upon.

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition.

These names are getting longer, I swear. It's an old joke, I know, but it starts to become unfunny when you realise the truth in it all.

Filled with hundreds of unlockables, this HD-remastering of Street Fighter 3 is what everyone has come to expect of Capcom's Street Fighter series. If you don't like Street Fighter, you won't like this. If you do, you probably will. Simple really.

Three Resident Evil games in one show? I'm going all weak at the knees.

Resident Evil - Operation: Raccoon City is the first Resident Evil game, that is coming out on a main console, that isn't made by Capcom.

Being developed by Slant Six, we get to follow the actions of an Umbrella hit-squad during the events of the Raccoon City Outbreak (covered previously in RE2, RE3, and RE: Outbreak 1 & 2). Their task? To hunt down surviving R.P.D officers.

Yes, that includes Leon.

The game is shaping up to be a fantastic return to form for the Resident Evil series, but will players be ok with playing as the bad guys? And, more importantly, will it be possible to ~~kill Claire Redfield~~ play the game in a canon way?

This was a big surprise reveal at Captivate this year, and the game keeps looking better and better as we go along.

Some say it looks like a Western version of Monster Hunter, others think it takes inspiration from Breath of Fire, and even more are wondering if it can compete with Skyrim.

What do you guys think?

If you ask me, this game looks brilliant and well worth the investment. Taking inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus with the ability to climb all over the big monsters, and taking the action and customisation from Monster Hunter and a pinch from other western RPGs, this game looks set to give an interesting new take on the fantasy epic.

Finishing off with classic Capcom form, we get the hilarity and awesomeness of Dead Rising 2: Off the Record.

This is an alternate universe 'What If?' take on the evnts of Dead Rising 2.

Frank West, hero of the very first game, is asked what he would've done had he been in Fortune City at the time of the outbreak. His response? Off the Record.

This isn't just a rehash of the DR2 events, this is an entirely new game. With Frank in the mix, characters are going to react differently...and the storyline is going to go into new territory.

I, for one, can't wait to go to Uranus Zone and have some fun.

Biggest highlight?

I'm surprised, more and more, of just how good Revelations looks for a 3DS game, and the storyline seems to be taking us back to more traditional Resident Evil settings.

Operation: Raccoon City is doing the same, but giving us a much darker angle which is great.

Off the Record and Dragon's Dogma are surprise hits for me, having come out of nowhere and really hyped me up.

DMC has piqued my interest now that Dante doesn't seem to be so much of a whiny little teenager, and it was nice to see him transform into the Dante we recognise from older games.

And finally Asura's Wrath...a game that confuses yet interests me at the same time.

What about you guys?

E3 2011 - Nintendo's Press Conference

2011-06-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure you're aware by now, I'm not at E3 this year, but thanks to Spike TV I am able to watch livestreams of the major conferences and announcements.

I just watched Nintendo's conference, by far the most confusing yet highly anticipated conference so far.

So here's my thoughts on their announcements, in the order they arrived.

The conference started with a montage showing off the history of the Zelda series, from the very first game, to the very latest releases.

All of this with a live Orchestra and Choir playing and singing the music from the games.

The montage finally ended with Skyword Sword, the next Zelda game.

Miyamoto came up on stage, and away we went.

Miyamoto spoke about the evolution of the Zelda series, both visually and musically. He asked the Orchestra to play a couple of recosnigable themes from the series, and then thanked the fanbase and community for continuing to play the series over the years.

As a part of the 25th Anniversary celebration of Zelda, Miyamoto announced all sorts of goodies for Zelda fans.

First up was Link's Awakening coming to the 3DS e-shop, which should be available by tonight.

Next was Zelda: Four Swords coming as a free download to all people that own a DSi, to push the concept of friendly gaming. DSi owners are very lucky indeed.

Ocarina of Time remake is coming out in a couple of weeks on the 3DS, which I've got pre-ordered already. I'm sure many others are also in the same boat.

Miyamoto also revealed that a special Golden WiiMote would be released, with the Hyrule eagle appearing on it. CD soundtracks for the Zelda games will also be released, and Miyamoto ended the Zelda love by talking about the 25th Anniversary Celebration symphonies to be touring the world later this year.

It was also said that other goodies would be revealed at a later date.

Skyword Sword will be available this year, around the holiday season.

Satoru Iwata next came up on stage to speak of how Nintendo had created new ways to game, but had failed slightly on creating a console that catered to both "hardcore" and "casual" markets.

He spoke of the new console, but didn't reveal anything, saying that it would be covered later.

Next up came Reggie on stage talking about the lineup for the 3DS.

Super Mario 3DS offers players the first ever 3D Mario designed specifically for a handheld, and it focuses uite heavily on Mario's Raccoon Costume.

Starfox 3DS offers players the ability to play with traditional controls, or the 3DS's tilt controls.

Kid Icarus is yet another classic title built specifically for the 3DS.

Luigi's Mansion 2 is a direct sequel to the first Lugi's Mansion, offering up new mansions and new gameplay modes.

And finally Mario Kart is a new kart game built, again, specifically for the 3DS. New tracks, new abilities, etc.

Reggie also detailed the launch of the 3DS e-Shop, with Excitebike 3D being offered for free for a limited time, and Pokemon E-dex being made avialable for free.

The Pokemon E-dex brings Pokemon into the real world, asking you to fill in your e-dex through spot-pass, street-pass, and all sorts of other things.

Finally came the big reveal, the one that everybody has been waiting for.

Nintendo's reveal of the Wii's successor, the Wii U.

This is a high-definition console, 1080p, that brings a new controller with an added touchscreen built in.

The controller can be used to play the console games whilst the TV is on a completely different channel, it can be used in combination with other games, and appears to even be compatible with various Wii accesories (such as the balance board).

Finally Nintendo appears to be getting the big developers making games for it. However, what's going to make me buy the games for Wii U over my PC, or 360, or PS3?

Smash Bro's has been announced to be in development for both the 3DS and the Wii U, which was met with a lot of applause, but more information needs to be released on this before I can feel any sort of hype.

Highlight of the conference?

Very little to be honest.

Skyward Sword looks great, but they barely showed anything of it.

The new console sounds interesting, but they chose to focus entirely on the controller over the actual console...which was unimpressive and confusing as a whole.

Luigi's Mansion 2 made me happy though. The GameCube version was fantastic, so I expect the sequel to be just as good.

E3 2011 - Sony's Press Conference

2011-06-07T03:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not at E3 this year, sadly, so I wasn't awake when Sony gave their Press Conference at the end of the first day.

Thanks to Spike TV I've managed to cover Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft through their Livestream, but it was up to G4TV to keep an archived stream of the Sony conference. So much thanks to them, as I can now write this catch up blog.

The kick start to the Sony conference was a montage of everything to come, showing off the latest games, the latest gadgets, and hinting at what is to come for the NGP.

A fairly impressive, if lengthy, intro to the conference, but the games on display peaked my interest. We have the obvious Resistance 3, Killzone, inFamous 2, and God of War, along with Street Fighter, Dragon's Dogma, Operation: Raccoon City, and countless other titles flashing up on screen.

Uncharted 3 gets a fair amount of screen time.

Finally Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Entertainment America, takes to the stage.

He thanks everybody for attending, and welcomes those that are watching on TV or online.

He takes the time to personally apologise for the recent security problems, and apparently this was entirely unscripted and from the heart. He also takes the time to thank retailers, the press, and consumers for their continued support.

"You are the lifeblood of the company. Without you, there is no Playstation."

He then takes the time to address those in the world that aren't yet a part of the Playstation community, speaking of the various applications that they offer, announcing a new partnership with CinemaNow to add to the growing list.

Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra took to the stage to demo a level from Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Naughtydog have, at this moment, stolen the show by showing off another excellent setpiece from their upcoming game, showing Nathan Drake stealthing his way through a derelict ocean cruiser, eventually causing it to sink after setting off an explosion in the lower levels.

They also announce the multiplayer, which will have Beta access starting on June 28th. In addition to this, Sony, Naughtydog, and Subway have teamed together to offer (throughout October) fans the chance to get full access to the multiplayer before release of the final game.

They ended their time on stage with the latest trailer for Drake's Deception:

Is that Helen Mirren? Looks like her at least. Uncharted 3 looks set to follow the huge set pieces of Uncharted 2 with even bigger and better environments, and an excellent all-star storyline.

Marcus Smith takes to the stage to show off Resistance 3.

"It's August 1947, 4 years after the events of resistance 2. The chimera have won the war, humans face extinction."

Marcus gives us a 3 minute tour of one level from Resistance 3, showing off the new style of gameplay, new weaponry, and new enemy types. Another great looking title by Insomniac that promises support of both 3D and Playstation Move.

They also announced the Resistance 3 Sharpshooter Edition, which comes bundled with all sorts of add-ons for Playstation Move in September.

Next up, Jack announces the God of War Origins Collection, HD and 3D remakes of the PSP titles, heading over to the PS3 in the future.

In addition to the God of War remakes, there will also be the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus bundle heading to the PS3 as well.

Both collections will be launching this September, in full 3D and HD glory.

Now, to kick start Sony's push for making 3D adoption more easier for the consumer, Tretton announces the Playstation TV.

The TV not only shows 3D, but comes with the ability for 2 players to see 2 different images on screen at any time. This essentially means that multiplayer games can both be played on the same TV, without suffering a decrease in screen size, or the problem of the other player peeking at your position.

This is a 24" HD screen, that comes bundled with Resistance 3, a pair of 3D glasses, and a 6 foot HDMI cable. It will be available this fall.

The glasses are the second step in Sony's move towards consumer friendly 3D, offering up glasses that will work with multiple 3D TVs, and will also be available this fall.

The entire bundle is set to retail for $499, with the glasses going for $70 per pair.

With 8.8 Million units sold worldwide, Playstation Move has been a big success for Sony since launch, so Tretton now takes the time to make some exciting announcements.

Chris Snyder and Erick Boenisch from 2K Sports take to the stage to show off NBA2K12, introducing a new feature called "NBA on the move."

Medieval Moves is another Move exclusive title. I can't quite tell if it's on roails or not, but it looks like a family friendly fantasy game of sorts, in a similar vein to the Zelda series.

Tretton covers the exponential growth of the Move brand, covering core games such as House of the Dead, and more casual games like Dance Central.

inFamous 2 launches tomorrow in the US, with move support already in there. At a later point, Tretton mentions, there'll be user generated content being added to the game.

People will be able to add their own missions to the game, with Move adding an extra dimension to all of this.

LittleBigPlanet 2 will also be getting Move support in the future, further developing it as one of Sony's biggest franchises at the moment.

Starhawk is a new title coming from Sony's Santa Monica studios, though little else is revealed during the conference.

The trailer is purely CGI, so no idea on what the game actually plays like or what it's actually about. It seems to have a mild mixture of comedy and seriousness, which feels odd to me at the moment. The whole thing with boxes dropping from the sky and instantly converting into buildings or vehicles was quite cool though.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time gets a fairly entertaining and heavily stylised trailer, announcing a 2012 release for one of the most heavily anticipated titles on the PS3.

Dust 514 is developed by the creators of Eve Online, featuring Move support and NGP support in the future.

Set within the Eve Online universe, the shooter will have direct contact with the PC game, allowing you to play within the very same universe as the PC players. What you do in the shooter should affect what happens in the MMO.

Dust 514 is exclusive to Playstation, with a multiplayer Beta coming in the fall, and a full release next year.

Ken Levine takes to the stage to show off the latest trailer for Bioshock: Infinite.

He apologises for his remarks about Playstation Move, and tells a story on how Sony spoke to him about getting him more interested in motion controls.

So now we've got official word that Infinite will support Move, which is a bit of a shock.

Levine also notes that Irrational are working on another Bioshock game for Sony's NGP, though little was revealed about what the game will revolve around.

To further bolster support for the Irrational & Sony companionship, it's also been revealed that if you buy the PS3 version of Infinite, you'll get the very first game for free on the same disc.

Saints Row the Third will be gaining an exclusive gameplay mode on the PS3, whilst the upcoming JJ Abrahms Star Trek game will feature Move support.

Paramount will also be releasing a Playstation Move add-on that makes the controller look like one of the phasers from Star Trek. In addition to this, an exclusive prequel to the game will be available on the Playstation Network.

In the first of three exclusives from EA, Tretton announces that SSX will gain an exclusive race down the side of Japan's Mount Fuji.

The second exclusive is for Need for Speed: The Run. PS3 owners will have access to a BluRay disc with extra racing cars such as the Veron.

The fina; exclusive from EA is utilising the space on a BluRay disc by giving players of Battlefield 3 a free copy of Battlefield 1943.

Playstation Suite is a service being release by Sony that allows consumers to play Playstation software on a non-Sony device, such as the Android service.

Tags: GameTrailers.com, E3 2011: Features Announcement (Stream), PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Tags: GameTrailers.com, E3 2011: Pricing and Release Announcement (Stream), PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Tags: GameTrailers.com, E3 2011: Games Montage (Stream), PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Kazuo Hirai takes to the stage to reveal the official name and features for the NGP. It is officially called Playstation Vita, or PSV for me.

The above three videos are a showcase of the features, pricing, and a montage of the available and upcoming games.

The PSV is something I am greatly looking forward to, especially with support from Irrational and Naughtydog.

PSV seems to be getting heavy support from various 3rd party developers, which is a damn slight more than what the PSP got in the end. With Uncharted: Golden Abyss being one of several great games heading to the console, it looks like a strong competitor to Nitendo's handheld dominance.

Ruin looks like another fantastic game for the PSV, a sort of cross between Diablo and Fable, with a dash of Demons Souls with social networking and fighting people you've never met in your life.

With PS3 save connectivity, it shows off the full power and potential of the PSV. This is the sort of connectivity that Nintendo needs to include with its next console.

Modnation Racers shows off the power and ease of the PSV's touchscreens, giving players instant access to editing modes in the game. Another great looking game.

LBP Vita utilising all the technology that Kazuo spoke of earlier in the conference, with the editing tools and cross platform conectivity really coming into play with this.

Yoshinori Ono takes to the stage to announce Street Fighter X Tekken for the PSV, revealing that Cole from inFamous will be a playable fighter in the Vita version.

And that was the end of the conference, with a brief little montage and loads of people in spandex playing on drums.

Highlights of the conference?

For me Uncharted is one of the biggest things, with Naughtydog really pulling out the potential for the console and the series as a whole. The reveal of the price and release dates for PSV is great, and the third party support is fantastic.

Golden Abyss, BioShock, Modnation Racers, and LittleBigPlanet are great announcements for a great looking handheld.

Check back later for my Nintendo Press Conference blog.

E3 2011 - Ubisoft's Press Conference

2011-06-06T16:39:00.001-07:00

I'm not at E3 this year, though maybe one day I'll get to go. For now, I'm watching Spike TV's livestream of the events, and giving you my thoughts on the major announcements as they come!

First up is Rayman's next adventure, an apparent origins tale of sorts.

It looks pretty cool, retro at the same time as being modern and up to date. It has 4-player co-op/Multiplayer, and reminds me so very much of Loco Roco in the music choice and gameplay style.

A good start for Ubisoft.

The Driver series continues with Driver: San Francisco.

The trailer is pretty good, making me think that the Driver series has finally caught up with the current generation of consoles. It looks good, though it was a bit odd to see a police car hit a person and just nudge them slightly...

Surprise reveal from Ubisoft here. This looks fantastic, and is just a generally well scripted trailer.

"Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?" is probably going to be one of my favorite lines from E3 this year.

I have slight misgivings though, as trailers for Far Cry 2 made me think the game would be great, but it was a bit of a letdown when it finally came out.

Brothers in Arms: Furious Four is an over the top and somewhat hilarious take on the World War 2 genre, looking quite entertaining and different compared to most of the shooters coming out at the moment.

This is one I'll be keeping my eye on I think.

Next up came the TinTin videogame, which looks pretty cute if I'm honest.

It reminds me so much of the cartoons I used to watch as a kid, and you even get to play as Snowy. I just hope they've removed the overt racism...or explained it away somehow...

Microsoft showed off the Gunsmith ability and the main trailer for this, but Ubisoft actually got out a demo.

This game looks really good, and seems to be built on the engine used on the very last Splinter Cell, where mission objectives appear in the game world.

The tech from the trailer appears in the demo, and seems really interesting. The camo, the drone, everything.

I also love the interaction withe civilians.

They also announced Ghost Recon Online afterwards, which is a solely online version of the Ghost Recon series, and is free to play.

Trackmania 2 and the announcement of Maniaplanet came up next.

Trackmania 2 is the followup to, obviously, Trackmania. Another racing simulator, but this one seems focused largely on being entertaining and fun to play, rather than realistic in gameplay.

They also added mention of Maniaplanet, which is a whole world devoted to different types of games.

Shooters and FPS gamers will be catered for with Shootmania, whilst RPG fans will be treated to Questmania.

Ubisoft are basically expanding on their Trackmania franchise, which seems quite cool.

Rayman's Rabbids are back, and now they're even more interactive.

Another game for Kinect, it looks like it could be a fun little party game.

The walkthrough lead to perhaps the best presentation quote so far, "That was ridiculous!" said in a french accent. Brilliant stuff.

Music games are said to be near death, with guitar hero being cancelled, Rock Band selling poorly, etc, etc.

So Ubisoft announce Rocksmith. A music game that teaches you how to play the guitar, with an actual guitar.

This game has so much potential, it's absurd.

A quick mention of Fitness Evolved 2, with a little trailer that appears to be missing from YouTube at the moment. It'll be like the first game no doubt, just slightly better.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations ended the Ubisoft conference this year, with a fantastic trailer showing Ezio exploring Masyaf (the birthplace of the Assassin's Creed series), and facing off against hundreds of Templar guards.

They gave a quick gameplay demo, showing Ezio in Constantinople, destroying a whole fleet before escaping on his own ship.

Highlight of the conference for me?

It's got to be the Assassin's Creed trailer, excellent music choice and such a sad feeling coming from it all. A sad ending to a brilliant mini-trilogy.

The Rayman game looks cool to, as does Future Soldier, and Far Cry 3's trailer was well scripted.

E3 2011 - EA Press Conference

2011-06-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

Although I'm not at the event, thanks to the miracle of technology and the livestream of the important conferences by Spike TV, I'm able to give you almost full coverage of the latest announcements from E3 2011.

And so it is that I bring you the news from EA.

It'd be a pretty useless Press Conference on EA's part if they failed to show anything on Mass Effect 3, so wad'ya know? They kick start the conference with some awesome footage of Mass Effect 3 in action, giving us a look at the latest trailer for the game.

Mass Effect 3 has been given a North American release date of March 6th 2012, with the European release following 3 days later on March 9th.

Next up came EAs showing of the next Need for Speed title, The Run.

The latest addition to the long running series gives players the chance to leave their cars and head off on running missions. Gameplay looks tight, much tigether than previous games in the series, and the new gameplay feature is quite interesting.

BioWare once again steal the thunder by showing off the latest trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

It's mostly footage that has been shown before, but it's enough to build up the hype once again.

Call me cynical here, but this trailer looked great until they revealed that it was for SSX: Deadly Descent. I'm just not that hyped about a snowboarding game, no matter how much they add to it.

A crashed plane in the mountains makes me think of a survival type game, which would've been cool...but EA once again proved that it's mostly only good at doing sports games.

Fifa 12 and Madden NFL 12 shown off, showing off the much hyped physics engine that EA have made for the games.

Another set of games I'm not particularly interested in, though they do look good for what they are.

Next up came the announcement of The Sims Social, a Sims game for Facebook.

I tried my best to find an image for this, or the trailer...but it would appear people are just as enthused for this as I am. It looked a bit naff if I'm honest.

Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning was up next, and this game was a bit of a surprise for me.

I'd never heard of it, but it was announced a while back. This looks to be a fantasy game in the same veing as the Fable series, and this please me.

It looks as if it may even replace Fable as a loved fantasy hack-and-slash, given it seems to be succeeding where Fable is currently failing.

Overstrike came up next, the product of Insomniac teaming up with EA.

It looks quite funny, but no gameplay to show off I'm afraid. This was yet another surprise reveal for me, something I'll be keeping my eye on.

Battlefield 3. EA's response to the Modern Warfare series.

For people interested in these sorts of games, it looks pretty epic.

The multiplayer Beta for B3 will be open to all, and available in September of this year.

And that was all EA really had to showcase this year.

Kingdoms of Amalur, Overstrike, and obviously Mass Effect 3 were the biggest highlights of the conference. Amalur especially, as it could replace my obsession with the Fable series.

E3 2011 - Microsoft Press Conference

2011-06-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

2011's Electronic Entertainment Expo kicked off today with the Microsoft Press Conference.

Sadly I didn't get to attend, but I sat and watched the Livestream thanks to SpikeTV.

The following blog is my thoughts on what Microsoft covered.

The conference started with a live demo of Modern Warfare 3, which you can watch in full [HERE].

The set-piece they show off is fairly epic, typical Hollywood Blockbuster action stuff, with an infiltration of a submarine, the firing of missiles at enemy forces, and the destruction of Manhattan.

SpikeTV later aired another section of MW3, and it was another all out action set-piece.

They both left me with the niggling impression of being dragged along for the ride, never truly playing an important role and never doing much to change what was going on. It looks great, but a little underwhelming.

A demo of Tomb Raider was shown off next.

By far the best game (for me at least) shown during the conference, finally giving Lara Croft the game she's deserved since the rise of the PS2 and the announcement of the next generation.

Lara finally feels and looks human, and the game appears to be taking direction from the Uncharted series in making a relaistic and interesting world filled with new physics based puzzles.

The game also appears to be taking inspiration from the movie "The Descent" which was a good survival horror esque film that will be great to see in this game.

Next came Mass Effect 3 and the start of Microsoft's push for Kinect.

BioWare announced that Kinect was now compatible with ME3, giving you voice recognition (to speak to other characters), and voice commands (during combat).

All quite useful, but mostly just a bonus, given that the games have been simple enough without the use of Kinect.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier had a brilliant trailer to show off the new tech being implemented by the soldiers you get to play as. Wheteher or not it'll look as cool is questionable, but the trailer was followed by another push for Kinect.

Future Soldier has the "Gunsmith" ability, allowing you to craft weapons using their individual pieces.

Kinect allows you to flick through all of the options, and even gives you full voice control to craft weapons for specific types of combat, or even a random craft. It all looks pretty good, and even gives you the chance to test out the weapons in a target range.

Microsoft took the stage again and spoke of the latest set of features to be added to the Xbox 360. There'll be more movies added to their streaming and download service, along with TV shows, and a newly announced Live TV Streaming system.

In addition we'll be seeing the addition of a Bing application that gives users the ability to better search the Xbox database. Kinect once again adds to all of this, with voice commands (Xbox - Bing - Lego was one of the commands, giving the user a full list of Lego related games to flick through).

Following up the announcement of Live TV streaming came the announcement of UFC streaming, again with the addition of Kinect compatability. Using Live, it's possible to pick who you think will win the UFC fight, and various other options...basically taking bets and winning points for getting correct bets.

Cliffy B and Ice-T took to the stage next to show off Gears of War 3. Not much explanation is needed behind this.

We got to see Cliffy B and Ice-T play through a level in apparently the early stages of the game, as Marcus and the rest battle against a sea monster after spending the past 2 years or so on a ship-like structure in the middle of the ocean.

A cool section with a mech type vehicle was shown off, and a big boss battle was the main focus of the demo.

Next up was a trailer for Crytek's latest game, specifically for Kinect, called "Ryse."

A first-person style on-rails game set during a rebellion in Rome, you get to battle it out flailing infront of your Kinect to attack people with sword, shield, and even with headbutts and kicks.

Looked pretty cool, but the spelling behind the name is atrocious.

This one was obvious, and had been rumoured for months. Halo: Combat Evolved is getting a remake for the 10th Anniversary.

The Halo remake was followed up by the trailer for Forza Motorsports 4, where it was said that even casual gamers could get into this game. The cars certainly looked nice and shiny, and if I were into racing games I might find this appealing...so it might be worth looking out for if these types of games are your thing.

Next up, Peter Molyneux took to the stage to announce Fable: The Journey. Another Kinect focused game (no word on whether it can be played without Kinect).

The game seems to be an on-rails shooter, set within the Fable universe, with branching exploration as you travel down the road.

Theresa once again makes an appearance, though little else has been revealed.

Minecraft has been announced exclusively for the 360, with Kinect support.

No word on whether exclusivity is timed or 100%, but given the reveal of Minecraft on Sony's Xperia Play, I wouldn't be shocked to discover it to be a timed exclusive.

Another Kinect game here, this one's for the kids. Disneyland Adventures lets you explore Disneyland in full, and play various mini-games set within the worlds.

Kinect Star Wars was announced at last years E3, along with Kinect, but this is the first time we've seen it in action.

It's essentially on-rails, with a bit of free form. Needs a bit of work, but looks kind of cool.

Tim Schaeffer took to the stage to show off Kinect's next kid-friendly game, Sesame Stree: Once Upon a Monster.

It looks cuddly and cute, and kind of fun.

Kinect Fun Labs was the next announcement from Microsoft, showing off various gadgets and tech demos for the Kinect hardware.

Fun Labs lets you play around with the latest software created by developers across the world, including avatar creation, object scanning, and all sorts of extra bits of fun.

The object scanning is a cool function, allowing you to scan in plush toys, skateboards, and all sorts of other household objects. Hopefully this won't be abused too much.

Kinect Sports - Season 2, basically Wii Sports for the 360. Looks good, the on stage demo was pretty accurate.

Dance Central 2 was shown off to the crowd here, more of the same gameplay wise, but with the promise of a campaign mode and various other gameplay styles and the ability to import tracks from the first game. This is a big bonus for anybody that really liked the first game.

Microsoft ended their conference with the first trailer for Halo 4.

Said to be the first in a new trilogy, and apparently hardcore fans of the original games will notice even more nods to the fanbase in this trailer.

It all looks pretty cool if you ask me.

The highlights of this conference have to be Tomb Raider and the Fun Labs for me, with very little else being overly impressive.

Microsoft were really keen to push Kinect this year, but it would've been nicer to see more core games using Kinect, rather than watered down games being made for it (Star Wars and Fable, I'm looking at you).

I'll be covering Sony and Nintendo as well, so look out for those when they're up!

Much thanks to Kotaku for the images above, and all the various YouTube accounts that uploaded the trailers.

Review - Titanic 2

2011-03-08T02:49:00.000-08:00

On the same day...on the same course...

Metrodome were nice enough to send me a review copy of Titanic 2 quite recently, and whilst I watched it quite some time ago this review has been slow to come.

Let's face it, we know this film isn't going to be great. I approached it, as many would, as something that is light entertainment, a B-Movie that you can sit down, turn your brain off, and watch with childish glee.

The story, unsurprisingly, is about a ship named Titanic 2. It looks almost exactly like Titanic, but has a few modern technological upgrades. At the same time as we witness the launch of Titanic 2, we are introduced to James Maine (played by Bruce Davison, as the DVD box proudly proclaims) up in the North Pole researching the effects of global warming.

Whilst there, a giant piece of ice breaks off, and crashes into the ocean, sending out a Mega Tsunami filled with icebergs. Guess where it's headed?

That's right, straight for Titanic 2.

Needless to say, hilarity ensues. You can guess who is going to die, but how they do so is another matter entirely.

You can tell from the outset that this film was made on a very limited budget that they tried their hardest to use as wisely as they could, it's just a shame that it wasn't used in the right places.

Visually, this movie is unimpressive the majority of the time. The sets they've managed to piece together are believeable to an extent, but all sense of believeability is lost when the camera pans out to show us the digitally built portions of Titanic 2. This unimpressive CGI also extends to many of the death scenes, or action shots, as people look like they've been cut out of the scene in Photoshop and quickly spun away.

The lead character, Hayden Walsh (played by Shane Van Dyke), is both the writer and director for Titanic 2, which screams of ego trip to me, whilst Bruce Davison only makes minor appearances.

Perhaps the biggest highlight, for me, was the revelation that the captain of Titanic 2 was played by D.C. Douglas. That may sound odd, but he's a bit of a geek favourite of mine, having played the character of Albert Wesker in several of the Resident Evil games.

After sitting through the 82 minute runtime I felt a moment of sorrow. Titanic 2 is not a great film, and could barely be described as a good film. I remember when the trailer first hit the internet it recieved a lot of attention for how hilarious the premise seemed.

The moment of sorrow came at the realisation that Van Dyke and The Asylum (the company behind the film) really missed an opportunity when naming it. Titanic 2 is a cheesy name, something that would automatically put many people off from viewing it.

It's not good enough to be taken seriously, and it's not bad enough to be picked up for a laugh, and so it came to me; the best name for this film, a name that would grab the attention of passers by that wanted a cheap laugh, would have been Giant Ship Vs. Mega Tsunami.

With this title, The Asylum would've been able to cash in on the stoner market that so enthusiastically support Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus.

Titanic 2 was written and Directed by Shane Van Dyke, Produced by The Asylum, and Distributed by Metrodome Group

I wanna be the very best...

2011-03-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

Like no one ever was...bam-bam-buh-bum!

Pokemon Red came out sometime in the 90s when I was still at secondary school. I followed the TV show and the card game, but could never get into the videogame. This left me secluded from my friends that were obsessed with them.

Ten or more years later, and Pokemon Black & White have just been released for Nintendo's DS handheld. After much nagging, I was convinced to try out Pokemon Black, to see if I could get into them after years of improvement on what I saw as a flawed system.

This, my friends, is my journey across the Unova region, desperately trying to "catch 'em All."

The Adventure Begins

I wake from a strange dream. A large group of people watching an old man place a crown on the head of a younger man. He raises his hand, and I wake up.

Weird.

But today is the day. I notice a large gift on my bedroom table, and my friend Cheren is just entering the room.

We stand and stare at the box for a while, anticipating our friend Bianca's arrival, she's a bit ditzy and has turned up late. When she finally arrives, we all step forward and open the box.

Inside are three small Red&White balls with a black band around the middle. Our Pokeballs.

I take Tepig, a fire Pokemon, as my choice. Cheren takes Oshawott, a water Pokemon, and Bianca decides on Snivy, a grass Pokemon.

Bianca makes the decision that, to try out our new okemon, we must have a battle. I accept her challenge, and away we go.

After a few seconds of learning how to control Tepig, I have defeated Snivy and my room is in a mess. Cheren now challenges me, and I once again rise triumphant over my friends. My room is still a mess, but I'm happy to see that my Wii is still in pristine condition.

I leave my bedroom and follow my friends downstairs. My mother brushes away our apologies and says she'll clear everything up (ever dilligent housewife that she is), and we set off on our visit to Professor Juniper...the kind Professor that gifted us our first ever Pokemon.

Before I leave, I ntice that there is only one set of stairs in the house, and they lead directly into my bedroom. So, clearly, my mother is not just a dilligent housewife, but happy to sleep on either the floor or the sofa.

I shrug, and head off into the wider world. Taking my first steps into unknown territory. Outside my own house.

Before visiting Professor Juniper, I decide to take a stroll around my home town, perhaps this would be the last time I ever laid my eyes upon these idylic houses?

I quickly realise that my home town is very small. It couldn't even be called a village. There are four buildings, including my own home.

My friends parents think nothing of my walking through their door whilst their children are not home, nor of my walking up into their rooms. They appear to have parents that are just as devoted and willing to sleep on the floor or sofa of their living room.

Cheren and Bianca have both a Mother & Father, I only seem to have a Mother. Daddy, why did you leave me?

But enough of this, it's time to meet the Professor and start with my quest!

Professor Juniper introduces us to the world of Pokemon Training by giving us a lowdown on how our Pokedex will work (it's an encyclopeadia of every Pokemon we meet and catch), and then she kindly asks if we'd be willing to fill our Pokedex for her studies.

We accept, and we set out.

Route 1

"In the long grass, wild Pokemon will jump out at you and attack!" I am told, so where better to get my hands on some new Pokemon of my own?

I set out through the long grass, never to see my home or my mother again, and a wild Patrat appears, and the battle commences.

I spend the next few minutes battling Patrats and Lillipups, catching one each for myself and leveling my Tepig at the same time.

"Until we get to the city, you should go home to heal your Pokemon."

Well, there goes the slither of independance. But I carry on.

I explore, battle and slowly work my way down Route 1 to Accumula.

I briefly explore the small town, walking into the house of strangers who are perfectly fine with me rumaging through their trash cans and talking to their children. I am, after all, a Pokemon Trainer.

Professor Juniper introduces me to the PokeCenter, the place for healing my Pokemon (yay, no more running home!) and buying supplies.

I hand over my caught pokemon to the nurse behind the counter, she heals them, and hands them back to me.

"Hope to see you again!"

I stumble slightly...pardon?

The Pokecenter is free. Her wish to see me again is not based on monetary gain from each visit...she is just purely sadistic. Place yourself in this scenario:

You go out drinking, you get into a fairly nasty fight where ultimately you take a lot of damage and knock your opponent unconcious. Upon leaving the Hospital, right as rain, the nurses and doctors smile and wave whilst cheerfuly saying "Hope to see you again!"

How would you react?

I'm, understandably, scared of returning to this place.

Before I can speak with anyone about the morbid staff working at their local center, there is a commotion in the street.

A group of strangely dressed men and women stand behind an old man in a brown robe of somekind.

He preaches to the crowd about how we don't truly understand the Pokemon, that we cannot be certain that they want to be treated the way that we treat them. He asks us to think on this dilemma, and then leaves.

The crowd disperses, leaving myself and Cheren standing around facing a man with green hair.

He introduces himself as "N" and asks us if we agree with the man, if we can hear the Pokemon speaking.

I shrug him off as crazy, but then he throws his balls at me and I'm in a fight.

My Tepig destroys his Purrlion, and I leave him to lick his wounds.

It is time for me to continue on my journey, to find my first gym, and to discover more Pokemon.

But this is a tale for tomorrow. For now, I rest.

Dead Island - In Retrospect

2011-02-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

A trailer for Dead Island has been released, and those that have taken an interest have labelled it as "the best trailer of 2011" or some such variant of that statement.

But am I the only one that recognises this game from 2007?

Leipzig, Germany - 2007

Video Games | Dead Island | GC 2007 Trailer

Xbox 360 | PlayStation 3 | Nintendo Wii | PC Games

Our first glimpse at Dead Island came at the Leipzig Games Convention in 2007, with a brief 32 second video showing off lucious environments (that reminded me somewhat of Far Cry and Crysis) with an even more brief glimpse at a Zombie being held back with a crowbar.

Luckily, someone managed to get a quick word with one of the developers at the Games Convention, and here it is (it's in Polish, with subtitles):

Here we get a brief look at some gameplay, but the important information obviously comes from the mouth of the developer.

We're told that the storyline focuses on a couple that survived a plane crash into this tropical island.

There are 4 Objectives:

- Survive
- Find out what's going on
- Find your woman
- Escape the island

We are told that there will be factions that you can interact with, other survivors of this odd little outbreak. The dev describes Bandits and Military in particular, but makes mention of other groups of survivors to interact with or possibly join.

Gameplay wise, he states that it plays in First Person, but not like a typical FPS title. Weapons are rarely going to be guns, but instead could be a plank of wood ripped from a fence, or a crowbar, etc.

Little else is revealed in these two videos other than they're aiming for a 2008 release.

November 2007

Video Games | Dead Island | Multi-Layer Damage Demonstration

Xbox 360 | PlayStation 3 | Nintendo Wii | PC Games

Another video is released, this time showing off the multi-layer damage system that the developers have added to the game. Each enemy apparently has fully breakable bones, layers of muscles and skin, and they take real time damage.

Is any of this actually true? No idea, but it's what they say.

2008

So 2008 comes along, and people are getting a bit excited for this sandbox Zombie game. It's a dream come true, right?

Some screenshots are released, that a YouTube user has nicely gathered together for our viewing pleasure:

But 2008 comes, and goes...with no new footage and no game. Obviously it's been delayed.

What we can see in the screenshots, however, is that the real time damage does seem to exist. Whether or not it actually works is still left to our imagination, as we haven't seen it in action.

It is worth noting, however, that there does at least appear to be an ample supply of Zombie variants.

2009

New screenshots are released:

The Zombie variants are still there, which is good, but I'm seeing that same blonde zombie in a bikini in far too many stills. Slightly upsetting, but what can a developer really do to avoid that?

February 2011

And finally we're at today, with the original release date long forgotten by people that clearly aren't as sad as myself, and new information being revealed.

Below you can watch the new trailer, see new screenshots, and then watch the new trailer revealed in chronological order:

Video Games | | Dead Island NEW Screenshots

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Review - Fable: The Balverine Order

2011-02-07T07:38:00.000-08:00

Albion has grown into an age of Industry and Science, the creatures of legend have been pushed to the side, and the last known Hero sits on the thrown growing older by the day...

Most of the people of Albion are certain that the time of Heroism has passed, that they remain within Legend, and are even uncertain as to whether the great deeds they are said to have done were even real in the first place.

Amongst the educated, it is agreed that creatures such as Balverines are pure Myth; exagerated tales of large wolves. Anybody that thinks otherwise is ridiculed or thought to be delusional.

Peter David's Fable: The Balverine Order takes place, as you may have guessed, within Lionhead's Fable universe. Set somewhen between the ending of Fable 2, and the start of Fable 3.

We follow the joint story of Thomas, a well off son of a merchant from Millfields, and James, his servant & best friend from Bowerstone.

At a very young age, Thomas survived an attack by a Balverine that nobody else is willing to believe in. This has lead Thomas to spend his days reading as many books as he can find that detail the lives of Balverines and many other magical creatures.

One fateful day, Thomas and James set out on a quest across Albion to find the Balverine that attacked him, and get revenge.

The adventure takes our characters through familiar Fable locations, and then out into unexplored territory (something that I hope is remedied in the next Fable game), progressing much like the characters of the games. Thomas & James gain access to weapons and information at a fair pace, with new characters getting introduced and then removed from memory in a matter of pages.

This is one fatal flaw with The Balverine Order. Having a book based on an RPG that can take many hours to complete is a hard thing to pull off, and this one only just manages to pull it off.

The storyline is fairly interesting, and certainly helps flesh out the world that Lionhead have created, though details remain sparse throughout the story so it doesn't contradict a decision made in your own game (though they do decide that the current ruler of Albion is a King, and not a Queen).

I may be feeling this way after being spoiled by the likes of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, but the detail is really lacking in some much needed areas. Locations that take them days to reach are skipped over in just a few pages, with the journey gaining more focus than anything else, and we are often introduced to characters that are described simply by how threatening they look.

Leaving the lack of detail behind, The Balverine Order does have a couple of things going for it.

For starters, the way the story is told to the reader is a fascinating case of a story within a story. We are introduced to an aging King of some distant region, or land, within Albion (not to be mistaken for the King of Albion) as he takes a leisurely stroll through the royal gardens. Whilst doing so, he bumps into a mysterious man who begins to talk to the King about Heroes, Magic, and Legend. The King takes a seat, and listens to the story of Thomas & James.

At various points throughout the book, we take a small rest and head back to the storyteller & King, and hear their thoughts on whichever harrowing situation the main characters are in. The way these scenes are written are fantastic, and often make up for the lack of detail elsewhere in the book.

Secondly, we are introduced to various storyline threads that hint at the future for the game series. The Balverine appearance in Fable 3 is partially explained, and we briefly witness the future of Hero-kind for the world of Albion.

All the seeds are there for this book to spawn a much better sequel, or perhaps a reference in a future piece of DLC for Fable 3, but as it stands the book is generally only worth reading if you have taken a genuine interest in, and liking to, the world of Albion, it's inhabitants, and the stories told within it.

Review - Zombie Apocalypse

2011-02-06T14:23:00.000-08:00

A near future Britain has been hit hard by the economic downturn, unemployment has steadily risen, and the population is getting restless.

An increasingly authoritarian government has decided to celebrate the essence of British-ness by holding a party, all across London.

Much like the ill-fated Millenium Dome project, this party is designed to increase morale and bring employment levels up to a new standard.

Sadly, to complete this project, older areas of the city have to be unearthed and removed to make way for new construction...one of these areas is a church dating back to the years of the Bubonic Plague, surrounded by pits of the dead.

In digging up this ground, the British Government has unknowingly released what will soon become known as The Death, but is more commonly known as the...

So, yeah, that's the basic premise of Stephen Jones' Zombie Apocalypse.

It all sounds great on paper, and this is the main reason why I decided to buy the book when I found it going cheap in Waterstones. My love for Zombies, and my inability to find myself a copy of Mira Grant's Feed set me on a hunt for a similarly styled Zombie book.

Zombie Apocalypse came highly recommended by the staff at the store, and a quick flick through the pages lead to me to believe it was worth the price.

At this point, I'm probably giving off the impression that I was severely unimpressed by the book...but on the contrary, I found much of it to be an interesting read.

The book is written in a "mosaic" style, with various authors giving varying accounts on how the zombie apocalypse is spreading across the globe.

The interesting thing about it, and something that lead me to assosciate it with Feed, is that we don't just get to read the usual Diary entries, Police Reports, and medical Notes, we also get access to new social media. There are numerous accounts written in the style of a blog, or a twitter feed, and we even gain access to text message conversations.

The accounts start off in London, and then slowly spread out to the rest of the world; though it must be said that a good 3/4 of the book remain on British soil.

But sadly there are a few things that stop this book from being as great as it could have been.

First off, everything remains a bit haphazard as to just how these Zombies are created. Now, I know Romero gets away with that all the time in his films, but Romero never really tried to explain it. In Zombie Apocalypse, we're treated to numerous ways the virus is spread.

At first it appears as if it's fleas that are infected with the plague (and, quite possibly, something else), and these fleas remain with the corpses and keep them animated, but soon the fleas are completely forgotten and it is back to the traditional Bites, Scratches, and Blood. There are also numerous hints towards a more supernatural element to the contamination. It's all a little too confused to make it stick properly.

Secondly we have the differences in writing style. It is great that each author was able to give an individual voice to the various survivors, but at times it can feel a bit forced as characters begin to relate things to the reader that wouldn't naturally be brought into the conversation.

Some texts continue when they wouldn't, some entries give details in the wrong places, and it sometimes comes across as a bit forced, as if the writers knew they needed to reveal a specific plot point, but could think of no other way than pushing it onto the stage and letting it stand there awkwardly, out of place and in view of everybody.

And finally we get to the most depressing problem of them all.

I read this book in about three days, because I just could not put it down. It was great, it had such a serious tone. The book had managed to set up a type of Zombie that came across as truly scary at times, giving us the often ignored breed of the Intelligent Zombie. It felt very contemporary, with social commentary on everything from the current Economic Crisis, to the power & sway that Religion holds over certain countries. For hours I was enthralled by the possibility of reading a mildly more realistic Zombie book where umanity doesn't automatically win but is nearly (if not completely) wiped off of the face of the Earth.

Whilst, yes, the book had slipped in a few moments of humour it had done so without the loss of message or darkness. But then the ending came.

The final two entries in this book completely ruin the mood set up by all prior entries by introducing straight-cut comedy and lowering the apparently superior intelligence of the Zombies to that of low-level pun & innuendo.

Perhaps a better ending to the book would have been to leave the reader with small pockets of resistance, leaving us questioning whether the collection of stories was gathered by the now dominant Zombies, or the finally triumphant Human Race.

As it stands, a brilliant build up with a few flaws ultimately fails to make this book reach its full potential.

The Way of Things...

2011-01-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

An apology, and an announcement, from your lovely leader.

Hello again all, long time no update.

As you're all clearly aware by this point, my last update was in September...not very good for a blog trying to devote itself to regularly keeping its followers up to date on the world of Science Fiction & Fantasy.

I'm here to tell you that I'm back, kind of, in a really obscure and somewhat annoying way.

I am, as some of you may well be aware, on my final year of university. Whilst I do have free time, it is mostly taken up with relaxing after a stressful time of trying to gain interviews for my Major Project, and working towards getting my portfolio done and out of the way (among many other things I sha'n't bore you with).

Needless to say, I've been sidetracked and unable to find the inspiration I needed to write what I want to write for this blog.

Inspiration is slowly seeping back into my mind, and this inspiration has forced me to start up a secondary blog where I can talk about things that aren't related to Science Fiction or Fantasy.

Would you Kindly follow this link? [CLICKY]

There we go. Now that you're all dutifully following that blog, and this blog, you should begin to understand where I am and what I'm up to.

I look forward, as always, to reading your thoughts and opinions on all subject matters.

See you all again soon,
TZM

The Walking Dead - How to sell it to other audiences?

2010-09-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

For the Zombie fans out there, and the followers of the original Walking Dead comics, this is a no brainer...but how do we get others to watch the series?

So I finally sat down to watch the trailer for The Walking Dead TV series. I know, I know...I call myself Thezombiemessia, and it's taken me this long to actually watch the trailer.

For those that haven't seen it yet, here it is:

But the trailer got me thinking, and it got me talking.

My fiancee isn't much of a gore fan, let alone a Zombie fan. She doesn't dislike them, she just has to be in the right mood to sit and watch things like that...which leads to problems.

The Walking Dead, as a comic, works so well because comics are a niche market anyway...yes, it costs a lot to make them, print them, etc, but not as much as it does to make a TV series or a Film. So the niche market is able to support the comic, for as long as the writers are able to keep it interesting (or until the story comes to a natural close).

The Walking Dead, as a TV series, on the other hand has to aim itself to as wide a range of audiences as humanly possible. If it doesn't get the viewers or ratings, it doesn't get the funding, and it goes the way of shows like Firefly, John Doe, and Flash Forward. All three of those shows were great, and had so much potential...but lacked the interest from the viewing public.

So how can The Walking Dead be sold to new audiences?

It's hard to talk about The Walking Dead without mentioning the Zombies...I mean, they're in the name, they're on the front cover, and they make an appearance in every single issue, so you'd be hard pressed to attempt to sell both the comics and the TV series to a new audience without bringing them up.

But are they the only thing you should bring up? And are they the most important thing?

To anybody else that has been following the comics, it is apparent that the Zombies aren't the main focus of the series. It's best to think of the Zombies as the back drop. Sure enough, nothing in this series would be happening if it weren't for the Zombies. They are the trigger event, the catalyst behind every event in the comics (and undoubtedly the TV series).

Like any great story, there is always a setting and a cast. Unlike most comics, books, or shows that involve Zombies, it is best to think of the Zombies in The Walking Dead not as a part of the cast, but as a part of the setting.

Any Zombie fan knows that keeping mobile is the best idea in a Zombie Apocalypse...which leads to a constant change in setting. The only certainty being that Zombies will be in the next location, and the next, and the next. So whilst the locations of the series change on a semi-regular basis, the Zombies are always there.

That explains them away as the setting, but how does this fit into my overall plan for selling this series to other audiences?

If you hadn't guessed yet, I'm saying that the main focus of this series is the surviviors. The cast, the real cast, and their struggle to survive in a world that is completely different from what they knew before.

How many Zombie storylines can you think of that have more than one "fleshed out" (pun not intended) character? I can think of, maybe, 3 or 4 storylines in total...and even then the characters tend not to be that great.

The Walking Dead is different. All of the characters have been given life by the writers, even those that only appear for a few panels or pages at a time. The Walking Dead (the comic, and hopefully the actual show) is like a well written TV series from the get go (and in this day and age, a well written TV series is hard to imagine, isn't it?), with each character having their own hopes, wishes, dreams, goals, wants, etc.

With this, the characters bring life to the world around them. If you took out the Zombies, and just imagined a world that was ravaged by a virus that culled the population (think, Survivors), then you'd still be left with a heavily story driven series with built out characters.

So here we have it, a series with Zombies in it, that isn't about the Zombies. To any Zombie fan, this is still ok...Zombies still play a role, and make the series that little bit more interesting to watch, but to those like my fiancee or even those that just don't like Zombies that much, you should sell the series like this.

The characters mean something in this show, the storyline means something, and everything serves a purpose. The characters aren't there to be eaten, as they are in many other Zombie related mediums, they're there to watch, listen to, fall in love with, feel sympathy with, or even hatred and fear (yes, there are bad guys in the comics). You'll feel for the characters as they lose loved ones, you'll rejoice as they meet new survivors and join up to support eachother, you'll question motives, and you'll feel regret actions that characters take.

It's a character driven series, that has Zombies in it...not a Zombie driven series, that has food walking around pretending to have character.

If you agree with me on this, please push for others to sit down and watch the show when it hits the small screens. If it succeeds, it'll hopefully grow as the comics have done, and we may see a golden age in the horror genre. No more of this shlock horror, gore, or torture, instead we'll see comics, books, films, and shows that focus on the characters and the storyline.

Urban Exploration - Living A Life of Sci

2010-08-31T06:12:00.000-07:00

Amongst the world of the living, there is a world hidden in plain sight.

You may have noticed that I've been gone for...wow, well over a week now. Why? You may ask...well here's why.

The images you see now are of one of many abandoned Military Structures littered around where I live. I've spent some of my week away from this blog exploring this particular location, researching it, etc.

This particular structure is an old Ammunition Depot built in 1941. It was designed to look like any other country farm house/shed from the air, whilst on the ground it dealt with over 1000 tonnes of ammunition every day.

This is what it looked like in 1985:

And this is what it looks like now:

Here's some videos:

Why am I blogging about this?

Simple...how many of you guys have played the Fallout series? Or the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games? Or even a game based during the World Wars?

I'm sure you've all seen this poster:

Yeah, people need to get over the idea that Russia is the only place to go if you want to get some decent Urban Exploration going.

Wiltshire, the county where I live, is filled with these places...abandoned military complexes, mines, bunkers, etc. I've been visiting this place for the past 10 years, watching it change over the years.

As you can see from this tiny little image, the tunnel used to connect to a much larger complex. Sadly I only got to explore a little bit of that before it was bought out by a security firm and filled in.

Along with this complex, there is also an entire village underneath nearby Corsham, along with other areas nearby built into the caves of nearby Box woods.

Hey...I know where I'm going when the Zombie Apocalypse / Alien Invasion / Robot Uprising / Unforseen Type of Apocalyptic Scenario hits us, what about you?

The world is filled with places like this, some dangerous to enter, others not so much...so stop thinking Russia is the best place to go for abandoned military complexes or ruined structures, and check out your own back garden.

For more information on the above tunnel and the briefly mentioned Corsham Underground, follow these links:

Farleigh Down Tunnel

Corsham Underground City

Anyways, apologies for my absence over the past 2 weeks or so. Everything should be back to normal from next week onwards.

Have fun!

Joss Whedon's Firefly & Serenity

2010-08-17T12:25:00.001-07:00

Believeable Science Fiction: Part 3

You all thought I'd given up on this particular series, didn't you? Well, you were wrong...it's just been a long time in the making.

I realised that what I was writing was a bit...crap. A bit sparse and undefined. Hopefully, the following piece will be a bit better.

Firefly is a Science Fiction TV series, it was created by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Doll House), and originally aired in late 2002. Sadly, the series was cancelled after just 14 episodes.

The fanbase was fairly big though, and there was an outcry. Fox didn't particularly care, but Whedon did, and thus Serenity was born.

Serenity was the follow up movie, a movie that Whedon could use to tie up some of the loose ends from the TV show, and something to appease the fanbase.

But enough of the catch up, why exactly do I place Firely & Serenity in this series?

First off, the History for the Universe just makes sense. It makes more sense than the history of shows like Star Trek, because it's more realistic.

As humanity overdevelops Earth, people start reaching out for space. The pioneers of space exploration are America and China, the super-powers of Earth.

Eventually, Humanity builds ships that can move them out of our system, and towards a new one.

An undisclosed amount of time later, humanity finds a system with literally hundreds of planets and moons. Humanity terraforms many of these planets and moons, and begins the process of building new civilisations.

However, many outer worlds are left to fend for themselves, not getting much help in actually building anything, so the planets are left harsh and desert like, whilst the inner planets gain more funding and support, building rich planets with lush forestry, etc.

Eventually, a new governing body forms, called the Alliance. A combination of American governments, and Asian Governments. The Alliance looks to govern the entire system.

This breeds Civil War, creating The Independants. The crew of Serenity (the Firefly class ship that the show and movie are named after) were members of The Independants, the losing side of the Civil War.

After 'The Battle Of Serenity Valley' Malcolm Reynolds and Zoe Washbourne purchase their Firefly ship to remain permanently out of The Alliance's control.

In this universe, there are Rich and Poor, there is no Faster Than Light technology, there are no aliens (kind of), and the universe just makes sense.

So about that 'no aliens' thing?

Yeah, major spoilers ahead if you haven't watched Serenity.

The Reavers, the re-occuring enemies throughout the TV series, were thought to be aliens of somekind. By fans and by the crew of the ship. So what gives?

The major let down for Star Trek, for me, is the sheer number of alien species within one galaxy...given how rare life is supposed to be, you'd think there'd only be (at the most) about 10 or so species, so I was still ok with the idea of Reavers being aliens.

But in Serenity we find out something shocking (kind of). The Reavers are very much human...this is why they look human, this is why they use human ships, etc.

But why are they cannibals? Why are they out to kill and eat every last living thing they find?

Well, because of The Alliance of course. During terraforming, The Alliance tried a new drug in the air to see if they could make an entire planets population peaceful.

Half of the planet went so peaceful that they sat there and died in their chairs, happy as can be. The other half? They went batshit crazy and decided to attack, kill, and eat whatever they could get their hands on.

Yet more backstory to the Universe that makes it seem bealieveable.

Not only is humanity still on its own, but we're also faced with a governing body that is trying anything to make their populace peaceful and susceptible to suggestion (very much like what America and China have done in their past, don't you think?).

So after all of that, is there anything else I could add to the list? Why yes, yes there is.

Technology is one major thing about this SciFi Universe that strikes me as believeable.

Many of us have grown up accustomed to the idea that SciFi shows will have fantastic technology that we could only ever dream about...and it always appears to be readily available to anyone (even in Star Wars, the rebellion seem to be able to get their hands on a LOT of serious equipment), no matter where they stand in society.

With the Firefly universe, this isn't the case. Serenity breaks down on several occasions, and is often losing bits...it's a run down ship that only works thanks to the amazing engineer they have onboard.

The crew often encounter people that have nothing to their name...people that only have horses and live in shacks in the middle of nowhere (literally), and we also get introduced to places that have just the right amount of technology to make it acceptable.

There's a scene in "The Train Job" when Mal is thrown through a holographic window of the bar they're in. Seems reasonable, given how many times people must get thrown through that thing.

The Firefly Universe is just that little bit more advanced than ours, with a few lazer based weapons, better medical knowledge, olograms, and Space Travel...but it's not too far fetched.

The technology is only available to those that can afford it, and what technology there is isn't so fantastic as to make the show seem too distant and techy.

So now I'm brought to the characters of the series. The crew of Firefly class starship Serenity.

Do these guys make sense? Could you really meet people like this, in a Universe like this?

I'd say yes...we've got the war veterans, looking to break away from the governing body that screwed them over, trying to make a living.

We've got the Pilot and Engineer that have their own quirks and personality traits, but are also good at their job...and they never pull of a Star Trek style trick like trying to fix a problem in 2 minutes by doing...something that could really only be done in Star Trek (bounce the graviton particle beam, off the main deflector dish, that's the way we do things lad, we're making shit up as we wish).

We've got the gun nut, the guy that is swayed by money but eventually proves to the crew that he does have a conscience...and then quickly forgets about that for more money. Oh, and he loves his mum.

And we've got the passengers...the Holy man that has a bit of a secret past that hints at violence (to protect his people?), the high class prostitute that works more as a Geisha than a sex doll, and the brother and sister that are attempting to flee The Alliance.

They all work within this universe. Sure, they're a bit cliche at times...but it's hard to make a series like this without having characters that fit specific roles and types. What matters is the fact that none of these characters are perfect, but none of them are Dastardly Dan, sitting in the corner laughing manically whilst they stroke their beard.

They swear, they get dirty, they make mistakes, they fight eachother, they sometimes screw eachother over.

So...does it all work together? Does it all make sense? Well, I think you should have gathered by now that it does...it all works together as it is, and makes for a SciFi show that is a damn slight more believeable than the usual Utopian Perfection that heads to our screens, and I think it's because of this that we never got to see more than one season. A massive shame.

Here's an extra little tid-bit for you guys. You see the yellow W at the top of this picture?

That's the logo for Weyland-Yutani, the Evil Corporation from the Alien series.

Joss Whedon wrote Alien: Resurrection, and decided to reference the company in most of his shows.

The reason I like this is because I'm a big fan of Crossovers...so, somewhere out there, Aliens do exist in the Firefly Universe...and they aren't nice, and they don't care.

The Aliens want to kill you and use you to make babies, the Predators want to hunt you down and make you their trophy, and the Space Jockey race just want to hide from you...

Well...that's all from me today. I'll be back tomorrow with the regular Linkorama. See you all then, and happy reading.

Linkorama Monday 16th August

2010-08-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

Star Wars, Terminator, Epic Mickey, But Not Much Else...

Wow...really slow news day today...only three stories that are really worth showing off. Hopefully there'll be more tomorrow, until then...read on!

Star Wars: Blu-Ray Edition

This has been a long time coming. Everybody knew it would happen eventually...it's not like George Lucas hasn't cashed in on every format available to him (hey, guess what, he's also rumoured to be working on a 3D re-release of the original trilogy!), but now we have official confirmation of the Original Trilogy hitting Blu-Ray in 2011.

Each release tends to come with a nice batch of extras...but apparently this release will be coming with never before seen documentaries, outtakes, cut-scenes, etc, etc.

But we'll have to wait for more PR spiel before we can know the true extent of the extras, and which versions of the trilogy we'll be getting access to.

I find it odd though...Blu-Ray discs can hold ALOT of data...why not stick the originals, and the re-mastered versions on each disc? They've done it with the Alien Anthology (formerly known as the Quadrilogy), so why not please all the fans and do it with this lovely new set?

Well, either way, scroll down to check out one of the cut scenes from Return Of The Jedi:

[source: Den Of Geek]

Terminator Animation?

Terminator 3000 is a new Animated Series idea from Hannover and Red Bear Entertainment. The idea is that it'll carry on the storyline that Terminator: Salvation set up.

But there's a problem...Pacificor, the company that owns the rights to the Terminator franchise, didn't say yes to this project.

Another problem arises when Eric Parkinson, CEO of Hannover, reveals that he apparently owns the Animation rights to Terminator whilst the rest of the rights were sold on. It's all a bit of a mess.

"The animation rights were excluded when Hemdale sold Terminator to Carolco and when I left Hemdale, part of my settlement was that I got those rights.

"However, the way the rest of the contractual rights are written, it would be dangerous for us to do this without Pacificor’s approval.

"They have certain intellectual rights. The best way to put it is, they can’t make an animated film without me, and we might not be able to make it without them.

"We are in discussions with WME, and hope we can deal with this expeditiously."

So, basically...if Pacificor say no, then the project looks likely to crumble before it's even started.

I'll keep you guys posted.

[source: Total Film]

Epic Mickey

This is Epic Mickey, a new Wii title coming from a collaboration between Disney (obviously) and Warren Spector, the guy that helped create Deus Ex.

It may come as a bit of a shock to the system. Sure, it's Disney, and sure it's rated PEGI 7...but look at the concept art, and take a look at the storyline!

"The story centers on rival Oswald the Lucky Rabbit - Walt Disney's first cartoon character in 1927 - and his struggles with Mickey's growing popularity. Oswald becomes the first inhabitant of the Cartoon Wasteland, a twisted world created by sorcerer Yen Sid for retired Disney characters. Mickey stumbles upon the Cartoon Wasteland and inadvertently destroys Oswald's world, and is now forced to face his greatest adversaries."

So, basically, Mickey is forced to deal with both his accident and abandoned Disney creations...

Below, you can watch the first half of the intro to the game, courtesy of Empire Online.

Typically, Mickey dicks around with stuff he shouldn't be touching, and now has to live with the consequences. Typical Mickey Mouse sort of stuff then, but in a new and interesting way.

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That's all for today folks, sorry for the lack of news in today's post.

I was thinking of starting up a new format...perhaps only uploading 3 times per week? Monday, Wednesday, and Friday...leaving me with Tuesday and Thursday to upload more specific articles of somekind?

Let me know what you think!

Bioshock Infinite

2010-08-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

“Burden not Columbia with your chaff!”

So, a new Bioshock has been announced by Irrational today. Shall I bring out a checklist?

- 1900's style propaganda posters? Check.
- First Person style trailer? Check.
- Main character of trailer being thrown around like a ragdoll? Check.
- City Under the sea? Nope.

Wait...no Rapture? What could this mean?

Well, we can see that Rapture has been replaced in this game with Columbia, and it is most definitely set after 1893's Chicago World Fair.

According to the official synopsis from the site:

"Set in 1912, BioShock Infinite introduces an entirely new narrative and gameplay experience that lifts players out of the familiar confines of Rapture and rockets them to Columbia, an immense city in the sky.

Former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt has been sent to rescue Elizabeth, a young woman imprisoned in Columbia since childhood. Booker develops a relationship with Elizabeth, augmenting his abilities with hers so the pair may escape from a city that is literally falling from the sky."

1912? Well, I'll be damned...that's before Bioshock 1! Could this game be a prequel? Or, perhaps, a completely new universe (so, Bioshock in name only)?

I would like to think that Irrational would be happy to expand upon the universe they created with the first game, and maybe tell us about the rise of Ryan Industries or at the very least show us why Ryan was so paranoid.

As we can see from the above image, Columbia seems to be very proud to be American. Further on through the trailer you can see more flags, more stripes, more stars...unless this flying city is broken up into "countries" then I'd assume it's purely American.

Though, given that the synopsis says that Columbia is "literally falling from the sky" I have to wonder if there's some sort of connection with a brewing war in other countries?

I dunno, I'm just making stuff up now...

But anyway, let's take a look at some of the other stuff:

Is this a brain in a jar? It looks like it, or perhaps a heart in a jar...either way, it looks like this Big Daddy-esque creature is a load of organs floating in jars, controlling a massive machine.

Here we see a woman, presumably Elizabeth, using some powers to save the hapless hero of the trailer. Are they Plasmids? Is she just psychic? Maybe, given the possible Eugenics storyline, Columbia has discovered how to force humanity to evolve (even though that's not really possible)?

I'm certainly looking forward to this new game, all the possibilities for storyline, enemies, etc.

Irrational Games have spent a lot of time building a brand new engine for this title.

“In order to explore the floating city of Columbia, we needed an entirely new engine.

To bring Elizabeth to life, we had to build brand-new animation and AI systems. To create wide-ranging indoor and outdoor firefights at 30,000 feet, we had to rethink, rebuild and expand the BioShock arsenal. The only thing gamers can be certain of is this: the rules of the BioShock universe are about to change.”

Anyway, there's not much else I can share, so here's the trailer and a few more images from the game:

The official site can be found here: http://www.bioshockinfinite.com/main.php

[Source: Den Of Geek]

Linkorama Tuesday 10th August

2010-08-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

Rednecks, Soldiers, Zombies, And More!

A couple of good bits of news today, including an awesome trailer. I'm feeling quite creative today...what to do?

On with the news!

Tucker And Dale Vs Evil

I love the look of this. Whilst there have been attempts at making fun of the horror genre in the past, they've never been particularly great at subverting the stereotypes.

The films always make fun of what we already know and have, it's obvious and kind of funny...but this? This could lead to a whole change of view on just why Jason Vorhees is doing what he's doing. Maybe it's just the fault of the damned kids!

Green Lantern 2?

Green Lantern has finished filming, prompting Geoff Johns to post on Twitter "GREEN LANTERN IS WRAPPED!!!!" which is awesome.

But already we're seeing the signs that Green Lantern 2 is on the way. According to variety, Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter: Order Of The Phoenix) has been brought in to write the script for the second outting.

This is no surprise...with Harry Potter coming to an end, and the final Batman by Nolan coming at some point next year, warner Bros are bound to be looking for a new property to bring in the money. Green Lantern seems appropriate, considering how Superman seems to be ignored by most people at the moment.

Read more HERE.

John Carter Of Mars

John Carter Of Mars, a live action Sci-Fi adventure based on Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom novels, has been given a release date by Disney along with Tim Burton's Frankenweenie.

Whilst I seem to have gotten bored of Burton's work over recent years (honestly, it seems like he's trying to get the same acclaim as he got from Nightmare Before Christmas), I am interested in the Burroughs adaptation.

John Carter Of Mars will hit screens on the 8th June 2012, with Frankenweenie coming along on the 9th March 2012.

[Source: Total Film]

Batman 3 To Shoot In New Orleans?

Inception is out in the cinemas, making lots of money for Christopher Nolan...but now he has time to start working on the third (and supposedly final) Batman film.

Rumours are now circulating that a deal is being settled to have most of the third film shot in New Orleans, rather than Chicago (like the previous two).

Given the budgets and style that Nolan is used to for the series, I doubt this will actually cause much trouble...and I doubt Nolan will completely abandon Chicago, so I expect the film will still turn out as good as everybody hopes it will.

[Source: Den Of Geek]

The Walking Dead

They always say honesty is the best policy...and when it comes to the guys making The Walking Dead, honesty makes for a good interview:

"George really set up the rules. We have no idea if shooting a zombie in the head stops them. We just assume, “Oh yeah, shoot them in the head!” but that’s because George made those rules up. We could be in big trouble if it ever actually happens!"

It's a bit of a short interview, but if you want to delve into the minds behind The Walking Dead adaptation, then go no further than HERE.

Nemesis

I don't know about you, but I am loving these images I keep finding for Nemesis. If Tony Scott can keep this striking art style in the movie adaptation, I'll at the very least be pleased visually.

As I revealed yesterday, Tony Scott is on board to direct the Nemesis adaptation, and Mark Millar was incredibly happy about this news.

Empire managed to grabd Millar for a few extra words:

"Tony Scott is the ultimate comic book director who’s never made a comic book movie," says Millar. "For fifteen years people have been asking him to [make a comic book movie], but he’s turned it all down because the material never really excited him. The one thing you can’t say about Tony’s stuff is that it’s not family-friendly, safe fun. He’s never going to do a Fantastic Four or a Spider-Man. But the minute he saw something with Air Force One being taken down, the President being taken hostage and Japanese skyscrapers falling down, it began to look more like a Tony Scott movie."

It's nice to see comic creators that are actually happy to see their creations being adapted to the big screen. We've moved on, we've reached the stage where they can be good (Batman Begins, Iron Man, Watchmen, etc), and I am so looking forward to a film that focuses on the bad guy...

[Source: Empire]

Batman's New Costume

The above image is of Batman, as we know and love him. A costume that makes sense. But this is all to change. The new suit has been unveiled:

But why?

It's all a part of a re-design for upcoming series Batman,inc. which focuses on Batman travelling the globe, training people. At the end of the arc, we'll apparently find out just why he's doing this...if you ask me, it's either to finally try and clean up Gotham, or Batman is planning on creating a sort of global Bat agency, where each city is protected by some sort of Dark Knight.

Makes sense, doesn't it? Seems so to me.

But still, why the re-design? I never liked the bright yellow disc idea...I mean, apart from looking terrible, it's a massive giveaway, isn't it? Batman is meant to be stealthy, in the shadows...he's not Superman, he doesn't show off who he is to scare people...he comes at them from the shadows.

The little yellow disc might as well flash and scream "BATMAN IS HERE!" whilst he's at it, as if it isn't obvious enough already.

It's a silly change in costume if you ask me...but the concept for Batman, Inc. does sound good.

[Source: IGN]

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That's all for today folks, with more coming along tomorrow!

Spread the word about my blog, comment if you feel like it, and hey...you can even print it off and stick it on your walls to worship!

See you guys tomorrow.

Linkorama Monday 9th August

2010-08-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Death Of Superhero Movies, Quantum Leap, Avatar, And More!

Monday is here, the weekend is gone, and the news is flowing again. What did you guys get up to this weekend? Share your stories after the news...

Matthew Vaughn On Superhero Movies

Matthew Vaughn, director of the upcoming X-Men: First Class, has explained why he jumped on board First Class after filming Kick-Ass. It's an interesting explanation, and it really does ring true with the recent trend for spandex wearing men and women.

"I've always wanted to do a big-budget superhero film and I think we've kind of crossed the Rubicon with superhero films. I think [the opportunity to do one], it's only going to be there two or three more times.

"Then, the genre is going to be dead for a while because the audience has just been pummeled too much."

I can't help but agree. With Captain America, Thor, X-men: First Class, The Green Lantern, Thor, and many more in development or soon to come out, the market is going to be flooded with superheroes.

I think the major problem is the lack of quality in some of the previous releases...Marvel desperately need to get their hands back on the licenses for their products, otherwise the audiences are going to get confused when Hugh jackman doesn't turn up in The Avengers as Wolverine, or wondering why films like Daredevil and Spiderman can't do crossovers whilst Iron Man and The Hulk can...

It's certainly something that needs to be sorted out quickly, before the audience looses interest and the market becomes confusing.

You can read more of the interview HERE.

Some More Non-News On Cloverfield 2

So...I'm pretty sure this has been said before, but by a different guy...I think, infact, that I blogged this a couple days back. Either way, here it is again from a different dude:

"It really isn't the moment for [the sequel] to go any further than it has, but it continues to be a priority for both of us.

"J.J. is very immersed in putting together 'Super 8.' He's in pre-production and really, really passionately getting that together. And I'm passionately finishing 'Let Me In.'"

The interview comes courtesy of MTV.

Quantum Leap Movie?

I'm a pretty big Quantum Leap fan. It's cheesy Science Fiction at its best, with great actors and great storylines. So it's with mixed feelings that I spread the word that a Quantum Leap movie is supposedly in the works.

At the Quantum Leap Retrospective Panel at Comic Con this year, Scott Bakula was quoted as saying:

“The good news is that Don is working on the film script and has a big time Hollywood producer who wants to do it. It’s about time.”

He admitted that he won't be starring in the film, but with any luck “Dean and I will have a part in it somehow.”

Which feels like a massive shame to me. They're still able bodied...and could really pass it off as the same characters, just older. Sam could still be leaping, acting as the guardian angel to so many people, and Al could be helping him with an updated Ziggy.

It could pave the way for a new cast of characters, brining in more leapers and restarting the leaping programme...it could even spawn a new TV series...that'd probably be cancelled after the first season because of declining viewer ratings...

Ah well. More over at Blastr.com.

The Lizard As Spiderman's New Villain?

It would appear so...the original trilogy of films by Raimi was said to be building up to the inclusion of The Lizard as an antagonist, but the cancellation of that series and the loss of Raimi means that it all has to start again.

With the new reboot on the way, it'd appear that Sony are on the lookout for someone to play as The Lizard...and they seem to want Christoph Waltz. But this is all still filed under RUMOUR for the time being.

I'll keep my eyes and ears open, but you can head over to HERE for more on the story.

Avatar

Two pieces of Avatar "news" coming my way today.

The first piece is that the Extended Edition of Avatar is now getting an extra 9 minutes of footage, not just 7, and these added scenes will be more than just boring office clips...apparently we'll be seeing more of the Forst, an extended sex scene, and little bits to show off the struggle between the Na'vi and the RDA.

You can find out some more from James Cameron himself at JoBlo HERE.

The second piece is news about Avatar 2 and 3, though I could have sworn this piece of news was quite old...Cameron has revealed that Avatar 2 and 3 will be filmed back-to-back, though the screenplay will not be written until the studios have greenlit the project.

You can find out more from Total Film HERE.

Nemesis

Nemesis is a comic series created by Mark Millar, the guy behind Kick Ass and many others. In Nemesis, readers are confronted with a character that...well, imagine a caped version of The Joker.

Whilst not entirely original in its premise, it's still an interesting concept and one worth following. So, it's with great pleasure that I pass along the news that Tony Scott is set to direct the movie adaptation.

“The man who shot Maverick in Top Gun, Bruce in the Last Boy Scout, yelled action for Will Smith in Enemy of the State, directed Denzel in Man on Fire (one of the finest revenge movies ever made), had Tarantino rework Hackman’s dialogue in Crimson Tide and gave me Deneuve’s naughtiest performance in The Hunger is directing our movie.

“Oh, AND he did True Romance, for my money the best of all the Tarantino flicks. Tony Scott: I can’t even pretend to be cool about this.”

More information can be found HERE.

I'm.mortal.

Cillian Murphy has some experience with Science Fiction films...he's appeared in both 28 Days Later and Sunshine, along with playing Scarecrow in Batman Begins (and a brief appearance in The Dark Knight), and now he's set to play another interesting role in original title "I'm.mortal".

If you can't tell from the title, the film focuses on a world where Immortality is now an option. If you have the money.

Cillian's character is an officer in a group called the "Timekeepers." I have no idea what it is these guys do, but I assume they'll be tracking down the main character, Will.

Will starts off poor, but he gets some money...and is then accused of murder.

It's an interesting idea, though I think I would have prefered to hear that Cillian had been given the lead role...rather than the rumoured Justin Timberlake...

Read more HERE.

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So I watched Avatar over the weekend...didn't really think much of it. It looked pretty (though, in all honesty, it probably only looks fantastic on the big screen), but the storyline was ultimately bland, predictable, and mostly uninteresting.

The only bits that really interest me are the Science...which isn't explored, so I'll probably pick up The Science Of Avatar and find that more entertaining.

Cameron clearly put a lot of effort into realising the world he created, but he didn't focus on the storyline or script...which was a shame, because I realise that the film COULD have been great...instead it was just mediocre/average/Ok.

Also, did anybody else notice how heavily Anti-Atheist the film was?

Linkorama Friday 6th August

2010-08-05T03:00:00.002-07:00

The Avengers, Narnia, Del Toro, And More!

Many apologies for not uploading a Linkorama yesterday. There was a load of interesting news (some of which will be shared today), but there was a family emergency which distracted me and I lost focus.

Anyways, lets get on with the show!

The Avengers Teaser Trailer

I never thought it'd be so exciting to see such a short trailer, with just a monologue and a logo. But here it is.

"And there came a day. A day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat.

To fight the foes no single superhero could withstand.

On that day, The Avengers were born."

That's just epic.

On Stranger Tides

Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's ship from Pirate's Of The Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides, is currently sitting in Hawaii, surrounded by the cast and crew of Disney's upcoming Pirate epic.

Filming began a couple of days ago, with Johnny Depp making several appearances in full costume and introducing himself to surrounding fans in the character of Captain Jack Sparrow.

According to the press spiel over on Coming Soon's article:

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" captures the fun, adventure and humor that ignited the hit franchise --this time in Disney Digital 3D(TM). In this action-packed tale of truth, betrayal, youth and demise, Captain Jack Sparrow crosses paths with a woman from his past (Penelope Cruz), and he's not sure if it's love--or if she's a ruthless con artist who's using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the formidable pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn't know who to fear more: Blackbeard or the woman from his past.

Rush reprises his role as the vengeful Captain Hector Barbossa, and Kevin R. McNally returns as Captain Jack's longtime comrade Joshamee Gibbs. Claflin stars as a stalwart missionary, while Berges-Frisbey is transformed into a mysterious mermaid.

So...yeah, could be interesting.

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawntreader

The latest trailer for the 3rd Narnia flick is up online, showing...well, nothing particularly new, but it still looks great.

The Narnia films have been far from spectacular, but they're something easy and nice to sit and watch with friends and family. Voyage of the Dawntreader is my favorite of the books, introducing many strange news lands and people to the world, along with loads of ideas about death and rebirth at the edge of the world.

I look forward to how the film series is going to deal with the ever growing adult themes of the series, especially at the very end of The Last Battle (if they ever make it).

Saw 3D, Not The End?

Saw 1 was great. Original plot, intriguing style, easy to figure out twist, etc. Saw 2 wasn't written as a Saw film, but quickly picked up and adapted into the sequel we know and feel slightly odd about today.

And then it all went haywire. "OMG" everybody cried, "We must haz more Torture-Porn Films!" and Lionsgate whispered "Ok."

And so, six films were planned, no...eight, wait, no, just six. Or seven, yeah, lets say seven. No, eight...eight films, sounds like a good number.

And behold, the actors sayeth unto the Critics:

"we thought it was ending with 7, but the writers came up with an amazing idea for Saw 8. I'd love to see it."

The critics and cynics shouted and sneered, "Where is thy integrity!?"

To which the response came:

"We want to end near the top, with our integrity intact, and not let the characters die a slow death, so to speak. But I believe in my heart that Saw 8 will happen."

And so, it happens. The Saw series lives on. And on. And on.

[source: Empire]

Guillermo Del Toro: The Games Master

So, we all know Guillermo Del Toro is famous for his twisted visions of Dark Fantasy landscapes. We've seen it in Hellboy 1 and 2, we've experienced the dual worlds of Pan's Labyrinth, and we're looking forward to his adaptations of The Hobbit (ok, yes, not directing anymore...but he designed everything before he left), and H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains Of Madness.

But what next for our beloved madman director?

How about a deal with THQ to start creating some games? Yeah, that sounds awesome.

According to JoBlo:

"The LA Times has confirmed that del Toro is finalizing a deal with video game publisher THQ ("Red Faction") to develop a series of games that are described as "ambitious" and aimed at adults."

Which sounds great. As gamers are slowly being delivered the promise of games that focus on adult situations and adult storylines (Heavy Rain, for instance), this seems like the perfect time for a director the likes of Del Toro to sign up and start sharing his brain with the interactive world of videogames.

It all sounds too good to be true.

So that's it from me today. Come back on Monday for more!

Linkorama Wednesday 4th August

2010-08-04T03:20:00.000-07:00

Deadpool, Dead Space, Dead Scary, And More!

Illiteration, you gotta love it.

On with the news!

Robert Rodriguez For Deadpool?

Rumours have been circulating for a while now as to who will be directing the Deadpool movie. Robert Rodriguez was one of the possibilities, and we now appear to be getting word that he is in talks with Fox about the project.

Whilst this isn't official confirmation, The LA Times report:

“After a few weeks of dancing, Rodriguez and studio Fox are negotiating. There's no deal yet, and the sides need to agree on a number of key points, but it's moved beyond the casual discussion stage and into the more substantive realm of deal points.”

So it's all sounding hopeful. Rodriguez is good at action, and he's good at slightly over the top quirkiness...which is basically what Deadpool is all about.

What do you guys think?

[Source: Total Film]

Devil

The next M. Night Shyamalan film, thankfully not actually directed by Shyamalan, is an interesting horror film that centres on a group of people stuck in a lift as everything goes wrong.

The lights flicker, and somebody has been bitten and is bleeding...but who was it? As the film progresses, things get steadily more violent and creepy.

Here's the trailer:

It's looking quite interesting if you ask me, mixing the scares of being trapped in an enclosed space, with a horror/fantasy theme.

Dead Space: The Movie

Dead Space is part Event Horizon, Part Aliens, and part messed up hybrid of Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith's dreams, so it's no surprise that the license to the universe was bought up quickly for a film.

The film was announced a fair amount of time ago, but all news has quickly gone silent. Not so now, Director DJ Caruso has spoken to MTV Moviesblog about where they're at with the film.

"The cool thing about 'Dead Space' is we've had a few offers to set it up. Once I started ['I Am Number Four'] and [producer] Wyck Godfrey and all those other guys got really busy on the 'Twilight' movies because they're kicking butt over there, so we're gonna get back and talk about it [once everyone's time frees up].

We've got a really good sort of storyline, it's almost a prequel, sort of, to where the game picks up."

So, that all sounds interesting. I'm loving that they're not trying to base it on the main games, just within the same Universe. It sounds like it'd be like Downfall but...you know, better.

This could be one of the first truly great VideoGame to Movie adaptations.

[Source: MTV MovieBlogs]

Fable 3

Finally, something more substantial than screenshots and a tiny bit of gameplay. Storyline stuffs!

As you can see, the latest trailer for Fable 3 is, apparently, the opening cinematic for the full game. It's not particularly long until the game gets released to the public, so it's no surprise to be seeing this.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark

This would be the "Dead Scary" part of the title, as this film looks awesome.

A horror film by Guillermo Del Toro, the master of creepiness and fantasy, the man behind Hellboy 1&2, Pans Labyrinth, and many more. I'm very much looking forward to this one.

Behind The Scenes: Transformers 3

Here's a fairly lengthy look at a new action sequence for Transofmers 3. We get to watch Shia Lebouf and others running around destroyed streets, shooting up towards a Decepticon that isn't actually there yet.

It's all looking fairly...like a Michael Bay film, to be honest. Explosions, running, etc.

Anyway, that's it for me today.

Spread the word about the blog, and come back tomorrow for more!

Linkorama Tuesday 3rd August

2010-08-03T02:33:00.000-07:00

The Outer Limits, Oblivion, Transformers, And More!

A long weekend of rest, and I'm back and ready for some action. Sadly, today's news is a bit slow I'm afraid.

But, lets get on with it shall we?

The Outer Limits: The Movie

According to Variety, MGM are currently working on an Outer Limits movie.

Now, I'm not sure if you guys all remember this, but MGM are currently going through a bit of a financial crisis. The Hobbit has been put on hold, along with James Bond, and several others.

With this financial problem, where have MGM found the money for this? They've reportedly spent a six-figure sum on getting Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (writers for the Saw franchise) to write a script for the movie.

But lets think about this for a second...they've spent this money on getting a script made, and when the script is finished...what then? They can't make the film, because they can't afford it and have to wait for the bidding for their company is done. So it'd be another film put on the shelf until they can greenlight it.

Now lets think about how The Outer Limits could ever work as a film...the series is famous for short episodes that focus on self contained storylines. Is the film going to be a mish-mash of short stories, or one long story that eventually just gets wierder and wierder as it goes along?

I'm certain we'll find out eventually, perhaps in a year or two?

[source: Den of Geek and Empire]

Inception Shapes X-Men: First Class

The worldwide success of Christopher Nolan's Inception has had more of an impact than anybody could ever think. We all know that when a great film comes along with some new ideas, we'll witness hundreds of films copying the style.

Matrix had bullet-time...so thousands of others followed, etc, etc.

But what happens when two films have a similar idea, without ever actually knowing it?

Well, Matthew Vaughn sat down to watch Inception recently, and ended up tearing 12 pages from the First Class script.

“I saw Inception, which I loved. But my heart sank when I saw that a few of the ideas we had were up [on the screen].

“So it’s either leave it in and look as if you’re copying or change things. We completely ripped out about 12 pages of the (First Class) script and the storyboards.”

What was it that he cut? Well, from the above image you should be able to guess that it involves the spinning rooms.

there was apparently one “dream-space combat” moment in with Prof X (James McAvoy) fought alongside other mutants in spinning rooms...

Which is a massive shame...that sounds awesome. Sure, I'd say the film would probably be shoved aside as an Inception rip-off for that scene, but who cares? If it looks great, and fits within the movie, why remove it?

Ah well.

[Source: Total Film]

Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion

Before Tron: Legacy is even released, the director (Kosinski) is becoming a hot pick for studios.

Kosinski started to pitch his Graphic Novel (Oblivion) to various film studios on Monday night, with Paramount, Fox, and Universal all making bids for the storyline already. Though, given how close Kosinski has become with them, it looks like Disney may be the leading studio in this bidding war.

Oblivion's storyline is described as:

"a futuristic science fiction love story that takes place in an apocalyptic future where most people live above the clouds, far from the inhospitable place that the surface of Earth has become. An earthbound soldier who repairs drones that patrol and destroy a savage alien race discovers a beautiful woman who crashed in a craft. They take an epic adventure that changes his world view."

To be honest, it sounds a bit cheesy...but most Sci-Fi films do sound cheesy on paper. I look forward to more details.

[Source: JoBlo]

Terra Nova Delayed

Terra Nova is a new TV series being executive produced by Steven Spielberg, a Sci-Fi series all about Time Travel, the end of the world, a new start. Dinosaurs, and hidden secrets.

The series was supposed to have it's own Panel at the SDCC this year, but was cancelled. Unsurprisingly, the series has been officially pushed back from airing in early 2011, and is instead to be piloting in May 2011, with the rest of the show to appear later in the year.

I'll leave it to SFX to explain the full story:

"The story follows an ordinary family embarking on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a massive experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149 the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped, overcrowded and overpolluted. Knowing there is no way to reverse the damage to the planet, a coalition of scientists has managed to open up a fracture in the space-time continuum, creating a portal to prehistoric Earth. This doorway leads to an amazing world, one that allows for a last-ditch effort to save the human race… possibly changing the future by correcting the mistakes of the past.

The series centres on the Shannon family as they join the tenth pilgrimage of settlers to Terra Nova, the first colony of humans in this second chance for civilization. In addition to blue skies, rolling rivers and lush vegetation, Terra Nova offers new opportunities and fresh beginnings to its recent arrivals, but the Shannons have brought with them a family secret that may threaten their stay in this apparent utopia. Apparent because this vibrant world is not as idyllic as it initially appears. The areas surrounding Terra Nova are filled with dangerous dinosaurs and other prehistoric threats, as well as external forces that may be intent on destroying this new world before it begins."

Transofrmers MMO

Hasbro have revealed that NetDragon, the guys that are developing the Dungeon Keeper MMO, are working on a new Transformers MMo. Not many details have been revealed, other than it being a Transofmrers game, and being almost entirely exclusive to Asia.

The game will only be released in China, Asia, Russia, the Middle East and North Africa. At least for now anyway.

Apart from that, there's no word as to which Transformers universe it'll be set in, or whether it'll ever reach Western audiences.

I'll keep you all updated as and when the info comes my way.

[Source: Kotaku]

Anyway, that's all for today. More to come tomorrow!

Sonisphere Festival UK

2010-07-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday 29th July - Monday 2nd August

These are the days I'll be gone for, so I won't be updating this blog for the long weekend.

Instead I'm off to Sonisphere Festival to see various bands.

Here's the lineup:

I'll occasionally update my Twitter feed over the weekend, so you can follow me @Thezombiemessia if you're that way inclined.

I'll see you guys again on Tuesday, have a good weekend!

Linkorama Wednesday 28th July

2010-07-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

The Goonies, The Unknowns, Darwin, And More!

After the newsfest yesterday, everything has calmed down. Everybody is slowly getting used to the avalanche of news that was revealed at Comic Con, and getting back into the flow of things with the usual trickle of updates.

The Goonies 25th Anniversary Edition

Whilst it's no Goonies 2 (some people really want it...I can't see why), this announcement should appease many fans of this awesome family favorite.

You can pick it up on either normal DVD or Blu-Ray, it comes with a Goonies Boardgame, a reprint of the 1985 Souvenir magazine, a repring of Empire's "where are they now?" article about the cast and some of the crew, and a set of storyboard cards.

You can relive the Truffle Shuffle in November of this year.

[Source: JoBlo]

Let Me In

Let Me In is a remake of a 2008 film. Sounds odd for a film to be remade 2 years after the original film, but I've done a bit of research on this, and here's the explanation why.

Let The Right One In was a Swedish Vampire book released in 2004, and it was fairly well recieved. It has since been translated into various languages, and was adapted into the 2008 film of the same name.

However, the original film held less focus on the horror elements of the storyline, and instead held focus on the relationship between the two "child" lead characters.

The remake, re-titled Let Me In, holds more focus on the horror elements of the book, whilst attempting to retain the feel of the original film adaptation.

Whether or not this can be achieved is up to you. The trailer (above) and poster (below) are the latest promotional pieces for the film.

The Unknowns

The Unknowns is a new comic published by Femme Fatales Comics, focusing on the adventures of Alexis Davenport, an "ordinary" woman that drifts through life until she discovers that she's had her memory wiped.

Before the loss of her memory, she was the leader of an elite team called The Unknowns (big shock there). Thus starts her quest to bring the team back together, and find out why her memory was wiped in the first place.

The official site for the comic can be found HERE.

The extra news from Comic Con is that Brett Ratner has signed up to produce the movie adaptation, having purchased the film rights with his production company Rat Entertainment. The fact that he hasn't said he'll be directing means that he'll be on the lookout for some talent to take the helm for this project.

More news as it comes.

[source: Empire]

Michael Bay Blows Up More Aliens

At least, I assume he'll be blowing them up...he's got a reputation to keep, you know?

According to HeatVision at The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Bay has signed on to produce another Sci-Fi related movie. Details haven't really been released yet, as Paramount are keeping quiet about it, though it has been mentioned that alien abduuctions are involved in some way.

I'll keep you posted on any future details.

Darwin in X-Men: First Class

This is Darwin, one of the original mutants from Marvel's series X-Men (as if you haven't heard of X-Men). Darwin's super power was the ability to adapt to any situation he was placed in, much like the process of Evolution allows over great lengths of time (hence, Darwin). If he's trapped underwater he can breathe, if he's trapped in a fire he'll become heat resistant, etc.

Ok, sure, it's not really Evolution (before Creationists get a hold on this one and start using this example...), but it's a damned useful super power.

So...who's going to be playing him? Twilight fans, get ready to squeal with joy (maybe?):

Edi Gathegi appeared in two of the Twilight films, playing the above dredlocked vampire. He has now signed on to play Darwin in the upcoming X-Men: First Class.

So...which Mutant is next do you think? They still haven't announced who'll play Cyclops, so who'll take that role? I'll keep you updated as the news comes in.

[source: TotalFilm]

That's all for today guys. No news tomorrow, Friday, or Monday, as I'll be heading to Sonisphere Music Festival in Knebworth.

I'll be trying to update my Twitter account though over the weekend, so you can follow me @Thezombiemessia

A Gift From Comic Con

2010-07-27T09:15:00.001-07:00

My Friends Make Me Stop Bitching With Free Stuff

As SDCC grew closer, and then passed me by, I became quite bitter...I'm sat hear reporting on all this news that's flowing my way from the convention centre, and all those lucky people that got to go there are having loads of fun, getting lots of exclusive stuff, and generally just rubbing it in the faces of those that couldn't go.

But, I don't stay bitter long...it's not good for the skin, nor the heart. Instead, I used my friends in high places to get me free stuff, and to stop me whining.

I would like to thank those people (they know who they are, I shan't name them) for being very nice and getting me these things. Some of them are exclusive items, only available at the SDCC, so I am very grateful to you guys.

Here's images of what I got (I apologise for their size, but it's all I could do):

This bag is massive. It's the one they give people as they walk in, big enough to carry all the bits and pieces you pick up as you walk around the convention halls. It even has a snazzy little bit designed specifically for posters or other tube shaped gifts.

Closeup of the Puzzle Fighter logo on the bag below.

And here's the whole bag. This is what all the Capcom stuff came in.

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom towel, and my feet.

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom cardgame.

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom keyring. Chibi style.

Capcom comics! Darkstalkers, Bionic Commando, and Street Fighter.

Bionic Commando patches, and Puzzle Fighter patch.

Dark Void and Bionic Commando figures.

The Art of Devil May Cry 4!

A thing to advertise We Love Golf. Any idea what it is?

Neopets Puzzle Adventure, for the DS. I'm giving this to Lindsey.

Little plastic Sir Om Nom Nom figure, with his larger counterpart as a Plushie. We've called him Fred.

These 2 images are some of the best of the bunch. Exclusive to the Walking Dead panel at SDCC, this T-shirt is the I Heart Zombies promo for The Walking Dead TV show.

And there we go, that's all of my free stuff from friends. Thanks very much again to the guys that got me this stuff!

Linkorama Tuesday 27th July

2010-07-27T05:05:00.000-07:00

Sucker Punch, Daft Punk, StarCraft 2, And More!

As is typical for just after Comic Con, news is flooding in fast. It also helps that Blizzard have just released one of their most anticipated titles of all time, which happens to be a Sci-Fi title. So, here goes!

Sucker Punch Trailer

The first thing that went through my mind whilst watching this trailer was "Well...this is weird" quickly followed by "Hmmm, slow motion school-girls with Samurai swords, fighting dragons..."

It's nice to see Zack Snyder doing something original, rather than converting well known and much loved comics to film (even if 300 and Watchmen are really good films), but at the moment it does feel like he had a load of seperate ideas, and decided to turn them into a full film.

Gears Of War - A Bromantic Comedy

No, don't worry, it's not really going to be a Bromance story (unless they follow the games perfectly) but it would be fitting for the series, don't you think?

Well, news from Comic Con is that the Gears movie is still being made, but it's taking a step back, and seemingly for the better. The original version, to be directed by Len Wiseman, was reportedly going for a $100 Million budget.

The new version is going for a smaller budget, and a smaller storyline. Cliffy-B is aiming for a District 9 sort of film (low budget, big story, heavy on the CGI, etc), whilst Wiseman was aiming for a high-budget 2012 style film.

If they can pull it off, this could be an interesting film...not great, but an apocalyptic Sci-Fi action film dealing with the death of humanity could at least make for a good brain-off flick.

Daft Punk's Tron Legacy

I don't know where they got their hands on these, but Geek Tyrant have managed to grab 6 tracks of Daft Punk's Tron Legacy soundtrack. You can listen to the full 6 over on their site, with a sneak peak belw.

It all sounds fairly good, but it's all very quiet for what I'm used to from DP.

The Dream Machine

The Dream Machine is a fantasy (I think?) Point & Click adventure being made by "two Sweidhs nerds."

Interestingly, it's not being built entirely on a computer...whilst you'll obviously play it on your PC, and the interface and controls are all electronic, the actual game itself is made from cardboard and clay.

I like the approach, and I love the style, so I'll be keeping an eye on this. You can sign up for the Beta over at their site, or sit and wait patiently for the release of the first episode.

Interestingly, you can also follow their own blogspot blog, found HERE.

Starcraft 2

Starcraft 2 was launched today, with some excellent launch events being held all over the world. Kotaku have covered several of the launch events, with a gallery of images taken at the events (such as the above shot).

PC Gamer also have coverage of the Launch event in London, in their Starcraft 2 launchblog.

Korea are probably jumping for joy at this latest release (for those of you unaware, Starcraft is actually a national sport in Korea), and no doubt had some amazing launch events.

Another interesting update (again from Kotaku) is that Starcraft 2 refreshes your memory on Starcraft lore as it installs. You can view the images HERE, and catch yourself up on the backstory of the series.

Predators Sequel

It would appear that Predators has been enough of a success to get Fox asking Rodriguez "‘Let’s do some other ones. What other story ideas do you have?’"

Which has now lead to the director to reveal some details on where he wants to go with the series, and just why a sequel is being planned already.

"It was like, let’s test out the market with this one. They really wanted it to be pretty contained, pretty scaled-back.

"They didn’t want to put too many of the ideas into it that we could save for a second one. So we could see what the appetite was, because the bigger movie would actually be what comes following that.”

Expanding on the Predator universe is a great idea, in my mind, as there's so much more that can be done with the series. Especially if you keep in mind all of the books and comics that have expanded on the cannon.

But I still have a problem. Rodriguez has been quite vocal about his dislike for Predator 2, stating in the interview:

“Predators kind of sets up a new storyline, new location and world, and then you can kind of go crazy from there.

“When I wrote Predators, it was to forget that even Predator 2 was made. So (with the sequel) all you would ever have to do is watch Predator and Predators, and you would have a little complete thing.”

Which seems a bit unfair towards Predator 2 in my opinion. I think all of the films can work together as they are. Just because Predator 2 makes little reference to the first film, it doesn't mean it's a bad film...

[Source: Total Film]

Nick Cave On The Crow

The Crow remake has been in the works for quite a while, with news occasionally floating up and scaring fans of the original with things like "The Crow itself is a creature in this movie - it's not just a bird. It's got a personality and a character. Not like Godzilla exactly, but it's very different..."

We were told that Stephen Norrington had written a terrific script for the film, and an offer had been sent out for a "mjaor actor" for the role of Eric Draven.

Things seem to have changed a little bit now, according to The Wrap, Ed Pressman has pulled in Nick Cave to re-write Norrington's script (so, not that terrific then?).

Nick Cave is apparently quite famous within his circle...but I've honestly never heard of the guy, and I don't recognise any of the things he's worked on before...so I have no basis as to whether or not this is a good or bad thing. Perhaps you guys can fill me in?

Green Lantern Posters

Fresh out of Comic Con come the first posters for Warner Bros The Green lantern adaptation. I never thought I'd be so happy to see Ryan Reynolds in tight green spandex...

[Source: Empire]

So that's all for today (for Linkorama at least, just you wait and see), hope you enjoyed the news. Come back tomorrow for more!

Linkorama Monday 26th July

2010-07-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

Comic Con Coverage, Pirates, Cloverfield, And More!

I must apologise for the lack of a Linkorama on the Friday just gone...I tried to write something up, but I couldn't find anything that was particularly interesting to write about. Of course, that decision may come back and bite me, so I'll just let you know that Zack Snyder has got the rights to do the script to Frank Miller's 300 Prequel "Xerxes" and that Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Doll House) is down to direct Marvel's The Avengers. Apart from that, nothing much interesting.

Comic Con Coverage

Rather than post thousands of links myself (I know, that's the point of this blog entry, but still), I'll link you to the Comic Con coverage by JoBlo.

In this coverage, you'll find everything that was revealed at SDCC this year, and everything that they've been able to sneak out. I have to say, The Walking Dead looks fantastic.

I recognised every scene from the first issue, recreated perfectly in film. I wish I could have gone to Comic Con...

Godzilla Reboot

Coming Soon have managed to find themselves a copy of the Godzilla image released at this years Comic Con. If you're wondering what the odd little image is in the corner, it's something that caused a webcam at the Legendary Pictures booth to show a small animation of Godzilla's "Atomic Breath."

Pirates Of The Caribbean 4

I'm looking forward to this for a couple of reasons.

1. Zombies...there are Zombies. I like Zombies.

2. Just Jack. The first trilogy is over, no more having to put up with Keria Knightley or Orlando Bloom. I also like that.

But I also heard that Russel Brand is playing Jack's brother...which I'm not so happy about. We'll have to wasit and see what the balance is for this film...

Cloverfield 2

Just a little snippet for this one, but it would appear that Cloverfield 2 is most definitely on the books. TotalFilm have reported Matt Reeves as saying:

“Cloverfield 2 is on hold for now. J.J is very involved with Super 8, and I've been doing Let Me In, so we have shelved it until we can get the team from the first back together."

Which all sounds good. I'll keep you updated on all things Cloverfield as they come my way.

That's all for today folks, come back tomorrow for more!

Comic Lover? Go To Hell

2010-07-24T04:41:00.000-07:00

The Westboro Baptist Church Picket SDCC

You can read a copy of their "press release" HERE, it's quite an entertaining read. Full of wonderful lines such as:

"Comic Con is an excuse for whores to wear skimpy get-ups"

And, don't forget the most reassuring line:

"YOU’RE GOING TO HELL."

Honestly, I think we're getting used to these idiots picketing absolutely anything now, and I think there are only two sure-fire ways you can deal with idiots like this.

1 - Ignore them. By ignoring them, you deprive them of what it is they want, coverage, publicity, etc. Somewhat defeated by having blogs and articles written about them, but this leads to the second way.

2 - Ridicule them. Don't debate them...if you debate them, you treat them like equals, a form of respect they do not deserve. We've seen the likes of Louis Theroux attempt this, and we've even seen Jeremy Kyle take on the task, but it never works.

The Phelps family are so pig ignorant and sure about their ways and beliefs, that any form of argumentation or reasoning goes straight through them, and a quick rebuttal of "God hates you" sets them back on their feet, smiling at the heathens.

So...if you want ridicule, who are the best people to attack? Clearly the geeks. The sect of humanity that is used to being beaten down, trodden on, and treated like the lesser beings. So used to it, infact, that they're quite happy to fight back.

The above video has lead to a great discovery:

"Church members had intended to hold their protest for an hour, but in the face of 150 to 200 counter-protesting, costumed fans carrying signs that read everything from "Odin is God" to "God loves Gay Robin," they gave up early. By the time I arrived, the handful of Comic-Con haters were already packing up and walking away with the police presence that outnumbered them, which you can see at the 24-second mark."

I think the message is clear. The best way to deal with fundamentalists like this is ridicule. They battle so hard to be taken seriously, but to have hundreds of people literally laughing in their faces? It becomes too much.

Their arguments melt down, and they show their true selves. They either flee in terror, unsure on how to deal with people that clearly don't care about what they have to say, or they react in violence and show the people that they clearly don't deserve to be listened to.

Don't mess with the Geeks.

For more news, head over to the SDCC site and an amusing article over on MTV.com

Linkorama Thursday 22nd July

2010-07-22T06:50:00.000-07:00

Zombies, Cannibals, Dredd, And More!

The following is a written account of the news in the days leading up to the death and rebirth of the world.

World War Z

It's been well known for a while now that Max Brooks' World War Z had been picked up by Brad Pitt's company Plan B, but news has rarely surfaced about the films progress.

Thanks to MTV and the San Diego Comic Con, we can now bask in the lovely news that Brad Pitt is now confirmed to be starring in the film, and that Paramount have also optioned the rights to Max Brooks' other two books, The Zombies Survival Guide and Recorded Attacks, with Pitt also said to be starring in those.

J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Rising Stars) wrote the original script for the film, though it was later rewritten by Matthew Michael Carnahan, and will be directed by Marc Forster (Quantum Of Solace).

"I'm glad they took their time, and are trying to make the best zombie movie they can," said Brooks. "I'm so glad they stayed with the project and so glad they found the right team."

William Christenson, Editor-in-Chief of Avatar (the publishers of Recorded Attacks), also makes mention of future projects with Max Brooks.

I've been excited about the possibility of a World War Z film since I picked the book up all those years ago...but the possibility of more stuff set within that universe? I need to sit down...

The Walking Dead

We're all sitting in anticipation for more news surrounding he Walking Dead TV series...ever since Dead Set, I've been clamouring for more Zombie related TV shows. I can't get enough of Zombies, especially Zombies that are as well written as those of The Walking Dead series.

I'm certain more news will be heading our way this week during the events of the SDCC, as it's a major comicbook adaptation.

But to tide us over until a big reveal of somekind, ComicBookMovie.com managed to find a small and interesting snippet.

That's Charlie Adlard. If you're not sure who he is, that's the artist behind The Walking Dead. The news? He's got himself a cameo as a Zombie in the TV series.

"Well, I've just returned from the TV show Atlanta set of TWD. What a fantastic experience - I can tell you! Three days of seeing my creations come to life... I felt very privileged, and one day was spent as a zombie - so thanks to the makeup guys [Garret, Andy, and Jake] who made that experience a joy. They'll still be filming down there for a few more months, so I feel for them in that blazing humid heat - good luck guys! The series should air on AMC in October. My thanks to everyone who made me feel so welcome,"

Though no images have surfaced of the Zombified Adlard, I'll keep you all posted for anything that surfaces.

Chew

This is Chew. Chew is a comic by John Layman and Rob Guillory, distributed by Image (The Walking Dead), about Federal Agent Tony Chu.

Tony Chu is a 'Cibopath,' a person that pick up Psychic Impression from whatever he eats.

Tony gets himself into all sorts of cases, like Murder, and uses his unique ability to help solve the crime. So, in other words, Tony Chu has to eat the victims of his cases.

"What's the news?" I hear you asking. Well, the news is that the company behind The Walking Dead TV adaptation (AMC's Circle Of Confusion) has also nabbed themselves the rights to adapt Chew to the small screen.

Sounds pretty awesome, and would definitely be an improvement on crime drama's like CSI or Law And Order.

Deadline have all the exra details for you in their article.

Green lantern's Abin Sur

To those of you not up to date on your Green Lantern lore, Abin Sur is the alien that chooses Hal Jordan to inherit his ring of power. It is thanks to Abin Sur that The Green Lantern is able to do what he does.

This model is on display at the SDCC at the moment, and it's quite detailed don't you think?

For more images, you can head over to TotalFilm and view an entire gallery of images.

Karl Urban As Judge Dredd?

I reported earlier this month that a Judge Dredd Reboot was in the works.

Rumours were flying about everywhere as to who could play the Dredd, and it would appear that strong rumours are now suggesting that Karl Urban will take the role.

Bleeding Cool have heard the word that he will be offered the role as Judge Dredd in the upcoming reboot, though thankfully the film will be taking a darker look at the Judge Dredd series, sticking closer to the actual comics, and Dredd will never reveal his face (like he did in the awful Stalone film).

I think Karl Urban is a good choice, especially given his credentials for previous geek flicks (Lord Of The Rings, Star Trek, Xena), though I still think my recent favorite actor (Timothy Olyphant) would make an excellent Dredd.

I'll keep you all up to date as more news is revealed.

Fable 3 Shots

Once again thanks to the SDCC, we have some excellent new shots from upcoming Fable 3.

Soak them up, the game is getting closer and closer!

Scott Pilgrim Clip Online

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Thanks to MTV we now have a new clip from the upcoming Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. It's a short clip, with no actual action, but it shows a great deal of the comicbook style visuals we can expect from the full piece.

That's all from me for today guys. Come back tomorrow for more!

Linkorama Wednesday 21st July

2010-07-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

Black-outs, Riddles, Mayans, And More!

Riddle me this, riddle me that, who's afraid of a big black-out?

Starz Interested In Flash Forward?

It was quite upsetting to hear that after just one series, Flash Forward had been cancelled. The main reason was because of diminishing ratings.

But this didn't stop devoted fans from setting up a group on Facebook (it would appear nothing stops people from setting up groups on Facebook though), and starting a campaign to bring the series back.

According to TV Overmind Save FlashForward! have held black-outs infront of ABC studios across America, and have repeatedly badgered them with phonecalls to either bring it back or sell the license to another group.

And now?

"I just called Starz and the rep told me that they are agressively (sic) seeking the license for Flash Forward (sic) and that a lot of people have been calling about Flash Forward (sic)," the site reported, according to Scott, someone apparently involved with the campaign.

There are also rumours that the head of ABC is weakening, and may cave in to preasure soon enough.

Is Flash Forward really worth bringing back though? I liked it, but I honestly cannot see how much further it could go. Perhaps a one off TV movie could help finish it all off, but there are only so many black-outs that can happen before interest in the series goes the way of, dare I say it, Lost...

Star Trek 2 Rumours

A couple of conflicting reports here, but both concerning the shooting date for the sequel to the Star Trek reboot.

From TrekMovie, an interview with Bryan Burk:

TrekMovie: You have to deliver a movie to Paramount by June 2012, so when do you expect to start shooting?

Bryan Burk: We will be shooting this time next year. Starting early summer or late spring.

TrekMovie: So that puts pre-production starting around December this year or January 2011?

Bryan Burk: I would like to shoot for that, we will see.

Whilst over at Hollywood, a quick interview with Captain ike actor Bruce Greenwood:

Is there anything that you can tell us about Star Trek 2?

I just know that the plan is to film it in January, more than that, I don't know.

But you are in it right?

I hope, I hope...

We loved Captain Pike and would love to see him again...

I'm hustling for it...we'll see...

So there we go...I'm more inclined to believe Bryan Burk over anybody else at the moment, though Greenwood may very well just have heard about pre-production starting around January and gone with that.

Time will tell.

Riddler For Batman 3?

I'm getting good at finding these fake, yet entirely awesome, Batman 3 posters featuring The Riddler...

Either way, it may soon come about that I can show you an official Riddler poster for Batman 3.

Over at First Showing, they've had a reliable source within the studio hand them the studio casting grid for Batman 3 (unofficial title, obviously).

According to First Showing, The Riddler is named as the villain for the film, and interestingly actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (from Nolan's recent film Inception) is listed as being interested in the role. Interested, however, doesn't mean the role is his.

With regards to the grid document however, the site says:

A casting grid is used in the industry to keep production companies, agencies, etc. in the loop on a project's progress and the roles available for actors to potentially take. These documents are used for business planning in the industry and by no means would use internet speculation to list a character that may not even appear in the film.

Expect to see official confirmation of The Riddler soon enough, though actors to play him will remain rumour for the moment.

Mjolnir

Another shot from upcoming Marvel flick Thor has sneaked my way, and here it is for your viewing pleasure:

The image shows Thor as Donald Blake (cast out from Asgaard, Thor lives his life as a "human") trying his hands on Mjolnir, the hammer of legend.

Source: TotalFilm

But that's not all, Marvel have also released posters for both Thor and Captain America, in celebration of SDCC:

Source: Empire

Lara Croft And The Guardian Of Light

A new trailer has been made available for Lara Croft digital adventure The Guardian Of Light.

It is, by no means, a Tomb Raider game...Square Enix have apparently promised to continue making full Tomb Raider games, but for now we'll have to make do with these digitally distributed titles that come across, to me at least, as a hybrid of a 3rd person shooter, and Diablo.

The game has recieved positive reviews, so I'm mildly hyped for the title...and it could fill the time between the main titles of the series, but I'll repeat again, this is not a Tomb Raider game.

Source: JoBlo

That's all again for today, see you all tomorrow!

Linkorama Tuesday 20th July

2010-07-20T02:43:00.000-07:00

Goons, Fairytales, The Monsterpocalypse, And More!

Zombies, and Mutants, and Monsters...Oh My!

The Goon

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

How awesome is this footage?

The Goon is a slapstick-comedy based on a Dark Horse comic, set in a time filled with Zombies, nice cars, and Tommy Guns.

The trailer doesn't show much or reveal many plot details, as it's more of a teaser for the panel being held at the SDCC in just a few days time. MTV Splashpage are promising to reveal more footage after the panel has been held, so I'll keep you all updated on that one.

This film/animation/thing looks awesome.

X-Men Rumours

How thoroughly disturbing would it be if those rumours were true that Bryan Singer wanted this guy to play a young Wolverine in X-Men: First Class?

Prepare yourself:

"I wanted Taylor to do it, I really did...We talked about it a lot, he is a friend, and I really wanted to make it work. It just doesn't look like it's possible to do it."

That's right kids...Singer is a member of Team Jacob. Thankfully, he won't be appearing as a young Logan in X-Men: First Class.

As JoBlo rightfully points out, Logan was a full grown man when he first met Xavier (some people have calculated his age to be around 250 at that point), so it wouldn't make sense for a 'young' Wolverine to be running around...especially with his shirt off.

Michael Bay's Hansel & Gretel

From the Press Release:

“Hansel and Gretel in 3D” is an action packed visual FX filled version of the classic Grimm Brothers’ fairytale.

Honestly...how does Bay do it? As a commentor on the Empire article so perfectly puts it, "How do you blow shit up in a forest? It's just trees!"

Bay himself won't be directing the film, by the sounds of it, with no word on who will, but they have hired Avatar designer Joseph C. Pepe to do the monsters for the film. There weren't too many monsters in the original story, from what I remember, but they're going to be based on monsters from German Mythology.

Another Grimm Fairytale getting a modern remake, and from Michael Bay to...I expect explosions, getting out just in time, and probably a Werewolf Hunter of somekind (don't ask why, I just feel it).

Tim Burton's Monsterpocalypse

Monsterpocalypse is a boardgame published by Privateer Press, if you were wondering.

Producer Roy Lee broke the news of Tim Burton's adaptation to Slashfilm yesterday.

“I can confirm that Tim Burton is developing it to direct, he’s working closely with John August on the story. And this is the first time that Ken Ralston was brought in this early to do conceptual drawings and the visuals for the movie itself.”

Ken Ralston has worked on many films of note, including Back To The Future, and Tim urton's Alice In Wonderland, to name just a couple.

The storyline focuses on an attack on Earth by giant monster-aliens. Humanity fights back and thinks they finished them off, but it's soon discovered that they actually went underground and sent a signal into space for backup. The humans build giant robots to defend themselves, and so the giant battles begin.

It sounds...cheesy, if you ask me, but cheesy can sometimes be good. So I'll keep my eye out for this.

Sam Raimi's Wyatt Earp

Since leaving Spider-Man, Raimi has had his name attached to many rumours for future projects.

World Of Warcraft is, as far as I'm aware, still in negotiations and dealings over where exactly it can go. So we won't hear from that for a while.

Earlier in the year we heard of Raimi directing Oz, The Great And The Powerful, a semi-prequel to The Wizard Of Oz being made by Disney, a film that he'll be focusing on for the next few months.

But it would appear that Raimi has attached himself to another property for after Oz.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Raimi has "signed on the dotted line" to take on a Sci-Fi ComicBook adaptation of the Wyatt Earp story.

Wyatt Earp is a sort of Western Hero, famous for a gun battle at O.K. Corral. The adaptation puts Earp into a dystopian future, where he's hunting down outlaws in a world where Las Vegas is the only city left that is truly booming.

It sounds like it could be interesting...a mild mixture of Judge Dredd, Fallout: Las Vegas, and Mad Max.

Another film to keep your eye on.

That's all the news for today guys, hope to see you again tomorrow!

Linkorama Monday 19th July

2010-07-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Boys, Bond, Benji, And More!

You all have a good weekend? I managed to nab myself a few good deals on Saturday...but lets get on with the show shall we?

The Boys: Rated R

The Boys is a very adult comic, filled with all sorts of bodily functions gooping over other people...but that's not the only reason it's adult, it deals with a lot of similar issues to The Watchmen, and this is the reason why people were getting worried about a film adaptation.

With Adam McKay (Director of Anchorman) taking the helm, would the film live up to the standards of the comic?

“It doesn’t work unless it’s R," McKay reassured The Collider,describing the film as a “current day Watchmen."

Well, that sorts that out. It's nice to see Film Studios paying attention to the properties they base their films on.

Ghost Rider 2

Shockingly, Sony have confirmed that Ghost Rider 2 is now in the works.

They were facing a looming deadline, with the license to the film getting ready to switch back to Marvel (and thus, Disney) if they didn't use it again soon.

Whilst this would have been preferable for Marvel fans all over the world, it would have meant Sony loosing the license forever.

Nicholas Cage has confirmed he can re-take the role, despite also starring in National Treasure 3, meaning Ghost Rider 2 can get the go ahead.

Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance is likely to appear late 2011, early 2012.

Bond Is Back...Kind Of

Despite the major financial troubles with MGM, and the supposed death of the Bond series (which have apparently been greatly exaggerated), Bond fans can now look forward to a new interactive adventure.

The new game, written by Bruce Feirstein (Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, & The World Is Not Enough), will feature Daniel Craig as Bond, Judi Dench as M, and Joss Stone as the latest Bond Girl. Joss Stone is also reportedly doing the soundtrack for the game.

The game is described as an:

"explosive third-person action adventure where players will unravel an international conspiracy across exotic locales [with] full-throttle, behind-the-wheel action on land and sea, and the most high tech gadgetry known to James Bond 007, the world's most skilled secret agent."

For those not interested in the game, there is also a new book on the way, written by Jeffery Deaver.

Thanks to Kotaku and Empire for the news.

Simon Pegg On Mission: Impossible - 4

According the The Hollywood Reporter, Simon Pegg is in talks to re-appear as Benji the Technician in Mission: Impossible - 4.

After the apparent flop of Knight & Day, Cruise is interested in reprising the role of Ethan Hunt and taking a step towards creating a new life for the series. In the style of Crystal Skull, Ethan Hunt is likely to be training a new person to take his role in the future films.

The latest installment is being produced by Cruise, Paul Wagner, and JJ Abrams, with the screenplay written by Andre Nemec and Josh Appelbaum.

Zack Snyder;s Sucker Punch

Another image taken from Entertainment Weekly, the first ever shot of Zack Snyder's next film "Sucker Punch."

The above image was edited by the guys over at JoBlo, with the original writing that came with it saying to expect "dragons, zombie soldiers, steampunk sci-fi and monolithic mecca."

Which sounds interesting...

More Thor!

Another new image from upcoming Marvel epic "Thor" showing off the Hall of Asgard.

"It comes courtesy of the LA Times, and shows Odin (Anthony Hopkins) with his wilful son Thor (Chris Hemsworth) kneeling before him.

Meanwhile, evil brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Queen of Asgard Frigga (Rene Russo) and Hogun the Grim (Tadanobu Asano) all stand off to either side."

Source: Total Film

Avatar: Special Edition TV Spot

As I reported the other day, Avatar is getting a new Special Edition release...with a whole extra 8 minutes of footage. For those of you that are excited by this, or those that missed the film the first time around, here's the new trailer:

That's everything for today. Hope you all enjoyed the read, come back tomorrow for more!

Linkorama Friday 16th July

2010-07-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

Bacon, Steel, Lanterns, And More!

It's Friday again, so the usual slow down on news is to be expected. Interestingly, almost all the news is SuperHero related...

Kevin Bacon Joins X-Men: First Class

Yes, that's right, rumours have now been confirmed that Kevin Bacon is to take the villain role for X-Men: First Class.

And that's about it...still no confirmation as to which villain he is meant to play, or when this villain is to appear (is he part of the Magneto/Xavier storyline, or the actual First Class?).

There are rumours that he'll be playing Mister Sinister (pictured below), a villain tied in to the past of Cyclops, but these are just rumours for the moment.

Thanks to TotalFilm for the news.

A New Thor Image

A new image has surfaced from the upcoming Thor film. People aren't entirely sure where it comes from, with guesses being at either the latest Entertainment Weekly, or a promotional piece for San Diego Comic Con.

Either way, here it is:

Source: JoBlo

Latest Superman Rumours

Rumours broke about a week back that Chris Columbus was in negotiations about taking the helm on the Superman reboot. These rumours have since died down and spread on over to Jonathan Nolan, the brother of Batman director Chris Nolan, taking the helm for the series.

According to a "very reliable source" within the area (Warner Bro's, Studios, etc), these latest rumours are very close to the truth.

"You know, some of that is true. Jonathan Nolan is not onboard yet, but it looks like he will get the job. Jonah wants to direct, Chris wants to land him that gig, WB doesn't want to upset Chris. That said, it is far from a done deal -- but with Chris and Emma producing, the odds are with Jonah - kind of like Michael Mann producing his daughter's first feature: "How bad could things go?"".

What I find really interesting is the idea of WB not wanting to upset Chris Nolan...with Batman meaning to be only a trilogy before Nolan leaves for other films, I have to wonder if they're hoping to keep their hands on him for future projects.

I'll keep you all up to date as the news progresses.

Seth Grahame-Smith Scripting Dark Shadows

Seth Grahame-Smith, the man behind Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, has started work on scripting the movie adaptation of Dark Shadows.

Dark Shadows is a Supernatural Soap Opera that aired on ABC from 1966 to 1971, featuring Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, Ghosts, Time Travel, and many other interesting supernatural ideas. The movie adaptation is to be directed by Tim Burton, with Johnny Depp taking the role of Barnabas Collins the Vampire.

Depp is said to be a big fan of the original series, and had been wanting to play the role of Barnabas for many years. It's kind of lucky that Burton picks Depp for near enough every film he does, isn't it?

Green Lantern

Entertainment Weekly have nabbed themselves an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Green Lantern this month, with the front cover image (above) showing Ryan Reynolds (who previously appeared as Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) fully kitted up as Hal Jordan, the ring wearing superhero of the film.

I'm sure when the issue is widely available, scans will appear online soon after...so expect more updates soon.

That's all for this week, I'll keep you all updated as more news comes in.

Check back Monday for more Linkorama!

Assassin's Creed: The Comic

2010-07-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

Ubisoft Expand On The Universe Of Assassin's Creed With A Three Part Mini-Series

In early June, Ubisoft revealed a new piece of artwork for the Assassin's Creed universe. Ubisoft later tweeted:

"Oh, and before you ask, this has nothing to do with Assassin's Creed Brotherhood"

Leading many to speculate on what could be next for the series.

We've had five games released so far, with Brotherhood being the sixth installment. A tie-in book for the second game has also been published, along with a prequel movie "Assassin's Creed: Lineage" that sets up the backstory behind the first major event of AC2.

So what else can Ubisoft do to expand the franchise? Well, it's obvious isn't it...a comic series.

The trailer above is the first official release to talk about the comic, clearly focusing on the Tunguska Event (an event which is spoken of frequently within the second game) in Russia.

Whether the comic will focus on the event itself, or just use that as backstory, is unknown for the moment, but I'm sure time will tell.

With all this excitement though, everybody seems to have forgotten about the original image that sparked all of this:

It has pyramids in the background, which leads me to believe that this Russian based mini-series will only be the first of many future series'. If I'm right, we could see the entire history of the Assassin's Creed Universe told through multiple formats...a step that I welcome with open arms.

More details will be revealed at San Diego Comic Con at the "Assassin's Creed: Behind and Beyond the Brotherhood" panel on Thursday, June 22, hosted by G4TV's Morgan Webb.

[Source: Kotaku]

Linkorama Thursday 15th July

2010-07-15T05:20:00.001-07:00

Tinkerbell, Hercules, And The Cutest God You'll Ever See!

As it's getting towards the end of the week again, the news is once again slowing down. But there is still news, so I'm still in business!

Elizabeth Banks In Tink

Disney are hoping to expand on their booming Tinkerbell franchise. After years of aiming the series entirely at children, they're about to make themselves a live-action Romantic Comedy...

Yeah.

Anyway, no major details have been released on storyline, setting, anything...but it has just been revealed, thanks to Variety, that Elizabeth Banks (pictured above) is going to star in the film. As Tinkerbell herself? I don't know...nobody really knows. I guess all will be revealed soon.

Alien Anthology Blu-Ray Details

This is, perhaps, the only Blu-Ray collection I'm actually interested in...but until further details are revealed, I won't buy it just yet.

Fox have officially revealed the Alien Anthology, a six disc collection of all 4 Alien films. A film per disc, with both the original and re-release versions, along with a massive amount extras.

Disc 5 includes all the making-of bits and pieces you'd expect, and Disc 6 has a load more production galleries, etc.

For more details on what you'll find, head over to Den Of Geek and read their extensive list of extras.

Bret Ratner Making Hercules?

Originally speculated to be in the helm for the upcoming Conan film, Bret Ratner now seems to have moved over to another fantasy hero, Hercules, according to the LA Times.

Whilst nothing has been confirmed at the moment, it is said that Ratner is in talks with Avi Lerner about creating the film.

Bret Ratner is the man behind Rush Hour and X-Men: The Last Stand. Mediocre films, with Last Stand getting a large hate following from the online community.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how this one turns out...

Okamiden Collector's Edition

Okami was a cult hit when it came out in 2006. Reviewers loved it, and the majority of those that played it loved it. But it didn't sell too well.

Capcom re-released it on the Wii, and the same happened again.

Despite the minimal sales, however, Capcom have decided to release Okamiden on the Nintendo DS, where you get to play as a chibi version of Amaterasu (the wolf/god you play in Okami).

I don't know much else about the game to be honest, but all I know is that the collector's edition of this game comes with the cutest plushie of a god you will ever get your hands on:

The Collector's Edition also comes with a soundtrack, a DVD, an illustrated Storybook, and a set of Paw-Print style headphones. All of this comes in a beautifully designed box, and will retail in Japan for around ¥8000, which is around $90. I'd expect, if this gets a European release, to retail for around £60 or £70.

Thanks to Kotaku for the news.

That's all from me today. Don't forget to spread the word, and come back tomorrow for more!

Linkorama Wednesday 14th July

2010-07-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

Mirren, Tennant, Pilgrim, And More!

Ever had one of those days where you just can't get online? Yeah...today's Linkorama is late for a reason.

Helen Mirren Gets A Little Red

The more I see of Red, the more I want to see. It looks awesome, and honestly...who can deny how cool it is to see Helen Mirren as an action hero? Unexpected, but cool.

From Empire:

Based on Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner’s graphic novel and directed by Robert Schwentke (Flight Plan), the tongue-in-cheek actioner sees Mirren play ex-CIA spook Victoria. She's roped back into active service when her old colleague Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) finds himself targeted by rogue elements in the Agency.

Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich complete the reunited line-up of greying black-ops talent, while Brian Cox, Karl Urban and Richard Dreyfuss provide varying degrees of villainy.

Live Action Gargoyles?

Stick this one in the rumour bin for the time being, though given the large number of childrens' shows being turned into feature films it may turn out true.

According to Hollywood Reporter and Total Film, Disney are in discussions with the creators about turning Gargoyles into a full length, live action, feature film.

How many of you guys remember this series? I do...but I really only remember that there were Gargoyles, and they fought stuff...kinda like every other Kids TV series out through the 80's and 90's. Robots fighting stuff, skeletons fighting stuff, Conan fighting stuff...

David Tennant As The Hulk?

What would I do without rumours? Thanks to Marvel dumping Ed Norton from the role of The Hulk in all future Marvel projects, my blog has had at least one story for every day about who can take his place.

Today, Den Of Geek are reporting that David Tennant is now rumoured to be among the potentials, along with Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Nathan Fillion, and Mark Ruffalo.

As with Mr Phoenix...I'm not entirely sure Tennant would really fit the role. Fillion would be interesting...but I'm more intrigued by the rumours of him playing Ant-Man than anything else.

I guess we'll find out soon...maybe at San Diego Comic Con?

Thor, Odin, And Loki

Thanks to the LA Times, I can now show you the second official image to have been released of upcoming Marvel epic, Thor.

This shot shows Thor over to the left, Loki on the right, and Anthony Hopkins playing Odin at the very front (in case you missed it).

Annoyingly, it's also been announced that Captain America and Thor are going to be converted to 3D in Post-Production, which has created some poor results in the past (Clash Of The Titans, Alice In Wonderland, etc). Neither director seems genuinely enthused by the idea, but it seems that worries will be pushed aside during SDCC in the coming weeks.

We wait with anticipation...

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

New featurette! And Music from the game! YAY!

The featurette doesn't reveal much new, but it's still fun to watch.

I'm in lesbians with you.

What?

And if you head over to RadioMaru.com you can listen to the latest track for the upcoming game.

The track sounds awesome (I use that word a lot...hmmm, catchphrase?), the game looks brilliant, and the film looks amazing.

I. Can't. Wait.

Sorry for the delyaed upload of Linkorama. Hope you guys still liked it! More tomorrow.

Linkorama Tuesday 13th July

2010-07-13T03:53:00.000-07:00

Cox, Kick-Ass, The Hulk, And More!

Were you tricked by the Bacon yesterday? I know a few people were...go on, admit it...

Brian Cox Joins Rise of The Apes

An "individual who is familiar with the project" has told TheWrap that Brian Cox is currently in negotiations to join the cast of Rise Of The Apes.

The role would see Cox playing the "villainous owner of a primate sanctuary who runs the facility without compassion for the animals that live there."

So it's safe to say that Caeser will be doing something horrible to him nearer to the end of the film...

The Last Exorcism

The image is the exclusive UK poster for Eli Roth Produced Horror-Thriller "The Last Exorcism."

Directed by Daniel Stamm, the film follows an evangelical priest as he invites a camera crew to follow him on his final exorcism. Gruesome stuff is bound to happen (it's Eli Roth), and there's probably going to be a bit of shakey-cam work mixed in.

I wonder though, is this a spiritual successor to the exorcist series, or just another horror film that focuses on a young girl being possessed and generally being a little brat...

Kick-Ass 2, And More...

TotalFilm have been lucky enough to sit down with Kick-Ass creators Mark Millar and John Romita Jr, talking to them about the future of Kick-Ass, and their views on other comics.

Here's a sneak peak before you follow the link:

“I always had this planned as three volumes, and each is a sequel,” he explains. “It’s not like a regular comic where it’s issue nine, 10 and 11. It’s Kick-Ass 2, Issue 1 sort of thing. It’s just starting where we left off last time.”

Metroid: Other M Intro

Details are ever so slowly emerging about the Team Ninja developed Metroid follow up, Other M. The latest is the intro movie for the game, showing the birth of Samus Aran. The cinematic is quite beautiful, and this may just be the first time I've been really interested in a Metroid game.

Ed Norton Responds

After the shocking news that Marvel had, essentially, dumped Norton from The Hulk series (and thus, any future appearances in The Avengers, and any other Marvel films), everybody has been waiting with anticipation for Norton to respond to it all.

Finally, we have a response, and it's quite dignified to:

...I am so appreciative of the outpouring of support from fans of the Hulk and the Avengers that I feel it would be rude not to respond. So here goes: It seems it won't work out for me to continue playing Bruce Banner for Marvel in The Avengers. I sincerely hoped it could happen and be great for everyone, but it hasn't turned out as we all hoped.

I know this is disappointing to many people and that makes me sad. But I am very sincerely grateful to Marvel for extending the offer and even more so for giving me the chance to be a part of the Hulk's long and excellent history.

Given how out in the open the dump was, it's no surprise that Norton is attempting to avoid any further controversy by attacking Marvel. I guess it'll be years before we find out the full truth of what he really feels about it all.

According to Den Of Geek, the rumours of Joaquin Phoenix sitting in negotiations with Marvel about taking up the role are gaining in strength. I'm not so sure about whether Joaquin would really be good for the role...but we'll have to wait and see.

That's all from me for today, more tomorrow!

Linkorama Monday 12th July

2010-07-12T02:39:00.000-07:00

Daleks, Batman, Bacon, And More!

Did you all have a good weekend? Tha Hulk news sucked didn't it? Well, hopefully some of this will cheer you up!

The Only Good Dalek

The following is a preview of the first original graphic novel for the BCs Doctor Who, written by Justin Richards and Mike Collins. The title is meant to be available this September.

‘Have you ever seen a Dalek? Ever fought one? Have you any idea what they are really like? I’ve been on the front line. I’ve seen whole planets destroyed. The only good Dalek is a dead Dalek.’

‘Station 7 is the most secret establishment in the whole of Earth-Space. Even our own people don’t know it exists. It’s beyond top secret. There’s no way the Daleks can ever find it.’

Station 7 is where the Earth Forces send all the equipment captured in their unceasing war against the Daleks. It’s where Dalek technology is analysed and examined. It’s where the Doctor and Amy have just arrived. But somehow the Daleks have found out about Station 7 – and there’s something there that they want back.

With the Doctor increasingly worried about the direction the Station’s research is taking, the commander of Station 7 knows he has only one possible, desperate, defence. Because the last terrible secret of Station 7 is that they don’t only store captured Dalek technology. It’s also a prison. And the only thing that might stop a Dalek is another Dalek

You can view the preview of the comic HERE.

Clash Of The Titans 2 & Avatar 2

Sam Worthington, star of both Avatar and Clash Of The Titans, has been speaking to the press about the follow ups to both films. He talks about the direction he's hoping to take Perseus in, saying:

Can I get to play a lot more and get involved and have a lot more fucking fun than just being a young man who has to stand there and look pretty?

And apparently Avatar 2 will be coming when Cameron is ready:

I think he's in Thailand at the moment or trying to save the Gulf. But I'm sure he's going to put pen to paper soon.

The interview comes courtesy of Total Film.

Third Batman Starts Shooting In April

Just a quick note...this poster isn't, as far as I'm aware, anything official...I just think it's the best image for this piece of news.

According to Den Of Geek, the third (and supposedly final) installment to the Batman films by Christopher Nolan will begin shooting in April of next year.

No details have really been released, but there's a strong belief that The Riddler will be the main villain of the next film. It'll be a massive shame to see the end of the Nolan take on Batman...but hopefully he's set a benchmark for future titles, as we don't want the series taking the route that the original films took.

Harry Potter Sneak Peak Clip

ABC are managing to grab themselves some sneak peak clips of the upcoming Deathly Hallows, showing us some behind the scenes of major moments from the film, along with cast interviews.

The latest clip can be viewed below:

Kevin Bacon For First Class?

According to Deadline, there are reports of Kevin Bacon being in talks about playing the Villain role in upcoming X-Men prequel, First Class.

Nothing has been confirmed yet, and no details have really emerged on who the villain will be, but there you go...

A Bit Of Fun

To end today's Linkorama, I'm sharing another video I found on my news hunt today. Legend Of Zelda on paper, with bonus video!

It's awesome...

Ed Norton No Longer The Hulk

2010-07-11T03:16:00.000-07:00

As Production steps up on The Avengers, Marvel say goodbye to Norton.

On Friday, HotFlix revealed rumours of Ed Norton no longer being cast as The Hulk for the first Avengers film.

Marvel have now confirmed that Norton has not been asked back, and they will be announcing a new name cast for the role soon. HotFlix once again got the exclusive on this.

Marvel stated:

"We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H, Chris E, Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks."

Fans are understandably in a bit of an uproar over this new move, considering intentions were to have the cast continue throughout their franchises, sticking with the roles they were picked for. With the loss of Norton, it could feel a bit weird having this new person replace him.

By the sounds of it, Norton wasn't too easy to work with...or, at the very least, was unwilling to have a role that cast him alongside actors like Robert Downey Junior. I assume Norton will have something to say about this soon enough, so I'll keep everybody up to date on that.

Who do you think would be ideal to play The Hulk now? Keeping in mind that Marvel have said that they want a well known actor to take the role...

Judge Dredd Reboot

2010-07-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

Could a new Judge Dredd film be in the works?

According to Bleeding Cool this Judge Dredd poster by Tim Bradstreet has been circulating Cannes Film Festival, hinting at a new Dredd movie to be coming our way.

And thanks to Movie Moron and Sky Movies I can assure readers that this is, indeed, the truth.

I think you're all aware of just who Judge Dredd is...Sci-Fi Cop that rules over Mega City One (along with a load of other "judges"), shooting people first and generally not asking questions unless the storyline needs to progress somewhere.

They attempted to make a film before:

It was an entertaining film, but not actually all that good.

So lets just hope that this new reboot won't be so bad...oh, and it's being filmed in 3D, to jump on the bandwagon, etc.

Linkorama Friday 9th July

2010-07-09T04:19:00.000-07:00

Avatar, Tron, Superman, And More!

Final day of the week, and the news has gone a bit quiet, though some of these new bits are very interesting indeed.

Avatar: Special Edition

Liked Avatar? Bought the DVD already? Well, prepare to be screwed again...Fox have announced that a new Extended version of Avatar will be appearing in Cinemas again soon...extended by a whole 8 minutes! Amazing. It promises new action scenes, new animals, etc, etc, etc. This pushes the film 8 minutes closer to the 3 hour mark, how scary.

Thanks to Den Of Geek for the heads up on this.

Beast And Banshee For X-Men: First Class

Despite previous reports of Benjamin walker gaining the role of Beast in the upcoming X-Men prequel, it's now been confirmed that Nicholas Hoult has taken the role instead. In addition, Caleb Landry Jones has been cast as Banshee.

Hoult seems an odd choice for Beast, given how skinny he is...but you never know, we could be surprised.

New Title For Saw VII?

I really hope this is a rumour, because otherwise this is a really bad title for the final (supposedly) Saw film. Saw VII: The Traps Come Alive has apparently been confirmed by Lionsgate as the new title for the 7th installment to the series.

If it is true, then at least it's the final (supposedly) film, meaning they can't continue (maybe) creating awful titles for each film.

Chris Columbus For Superman Reboot?

Over at Superman Homepage there are rumours brewing of Chris Columbus (director of several Harry Potter films) taking the helm for the Superman Reboot. As I say, keep this as rumour for now...it's a bit too much to hope that Nolan would direct the film himself, but I'd really hope that Columbus stays as just a rumour for this film...

New Tron Legacy Screens

Shiny new images from the upcoming Tron: Legacy, thanks to Den of Geek. There are more images in the link.

That's all the news for today I'm afraid. More to follow on Monday though.

Linkorama Thursday 8th July

2010-07-08T02:45:00.001-07:00

Men In Black 3, Vampires Suck, Dragon Age 2, And More!

Not much news today I'm afraid, probably because we're getting towards the end of the week. Read on for more...

M.I.B 3 Plot Details

The guys at JoBlo have managed to get a hold of the latest inside info on Men In Black 3. Needless to say, if you want to avoid spoiling the film, then you'll want to not follow the link. I'm happy Tommy Lee Jones is back with Will Smith, but I really hope this doesn't completely ruin the series...

Chris Evans On Captain America

Over at Empire, they have an exclusive interview with Chris Evans about his role as Captain America. He chats about the new costume created for the film, along with trying out a set of shields for the film. The costume is looking really nice, and really fits with the WW2 timeframe.

Dragon Age 2

This isn't really a massive surprise, but with the huge success of Dragon Age: Origins, and the ongoing success of Mass Effect, everybody is expecting BioWare to announce Dragon Age 2 within the next day or two. Kotaku reveal this through BioWare's own Twitter feed, and EA's press release. This is good for me, as it means a drop in price for the first game!

Vampires Suck

This was inevitable...a comedy-spoof version of Twilight? Really? How original...oh, and look, we don't recognise any of the cast!

If the trailer is anything to go by, then the film will play on the usual stereotypes and all of the jokes will be things we've been hearing since the first Twilight film was released.

The only bit I found funny? Spade to the face...

EMBED-Vampires Suck - Watch more free videos

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Are they releasing the same trailer repeatedly? They say this is a new trailer for the film, but the only new bit is at the very end...I'd hazard a guess that they're slowly just going to release the film in trailer form, so nobody has to actually go to the cinema to see it...

That's all I've got today. Remember to share the blog with people that are in to SciFi, Fantasy, and Horror, and comment below!

Linkorama Wednesday 7th July

2010-07-07T02:15:00.000-07:00

Scott Pilgrim, Transformers 3, Mad Max, And More!

A fair amount of news coming my way today, some good, some bad. Read on for more!

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

I've got two bits of Scott Pilgrim news to share with you today. First piece comes from Kotaku, where they're offering two sets of the Limited Edition T-Shirts that were given away at the Scott Pilgrim Vs The World Super Fun Party. Just comment for the chance to win (I've entered, they're awesome...). The second piece of info? A new poster for the film, below:

The more I see of the film, the more I want it...

Mad Max Delayed?

According to The Australian, filming on Mad Max: Fury Road has been delayed until February. It's thought that the delay is because they'll be filming not just one film, but two...back-to-back. Doing this causes a lot more stress for cast and crew, along with storyboarding, scripting, etc. There are, oddly, also rumours that director George Miller may be working on Babe 3...I have no idea why anybody would want to continue that series, but hey-ho...

Red Riding Hood

Empire are reporting that Virginia Madsen is the latest to join the cast of upcoming Red Riding Hood, another modern re-telling of the "children's" fairytale. Madsen will be playing the mother of Red (Amanda Seyfried). Obviously, the film also has a werewolf, a witch hunter, and the grandmother is using silver knitting needles...or something. I still say The Path is the most interesting re-telling of Red Riding Hood.

"No Mr. Bond, I Want You To Die!"

I couldn't help myself...sod the formal headline, it was worth it. As we all know, MGM are going through some really big financial problems at the moment (rumoured $4bn worth of debts), which has not only put the two Hobbit films on hold, but has now brought the 23rd James Bond film into question. Originally just ut on hold, rumours are now circulating of the next film being cancelled completely.

Halo: Reach TV Advert

Here's a random shot from the set of the Halo: Reach Advert. I'm not a huge Halo fan, but the adverts that have appeared on TV over the past few years have been stunning, and really boost the idea of a good film being made for the series.

Green Hornet International Trailer

Whilst it doesn't look like it'll live up to the likes of Iron Man, or Batman, The Green Hornet does look mildly interesting. I hope the film isn't just a pure comedy though, otherwise they just won't be able to expand on the franchise.

Transformers 3 Shots

Over at JoBlo they've athered together some of the latest on-sthe-set shots from Transofmers 3. Below is a sneak peek at just a couple of those shots.

I'm wondering when we're going to get shots of the actual Transformers though...I know, I know, they're CGI robots...but still, they're the reason I'm watching the bloody thing...

Linkorama Tuesday 6th July

2010-07-06T03:15:00.000-07:00

Inception, Shyamalan, Bioshock, And More!

Welcome back to Linkorama, looking at the days SciFi, Horror, and Fantasy news and reviews. Lets have a look at what drifted my way today, shall we?

Inception Review Roundup

Whilst I sit around and wait for someone to take me to see this film, the US Press Embargo seems to have been relaxed and reviews are spilling around the internet for your reading pleasure. Den Of Geek have done a roundup of some of the reviews, and JoBlo have their own review up already. To be honest, even if the reviews were all negative, I'd still be looking forward to it...

Jeph Loeb Talks Marvel TV

Jeph Loeb has taken the role of Executive Vice President of Marvel TV, organising who's going to direct TV shows based on Marvel properties, and which properties are going to make it. Over at Comic Book Resources, Loeb discusses the future plans for Marvel TV, and the possibilities for who they can get to direct the shows, with Joss Whedon, Damon Lindelof, Al Gough, and Miles Millar getting worthy mentions. I'd like to see the return of an X-Men TV series in all honesty, and Daredevil could be well suited to a gritty crime-drama style show. What about you guys? Who would you have?

Shyamalan Hears The Bad News...Not Too Bothered

The Vulture gave M. Night Shymalan a quick phonecall the other day, and broke the bad news to him. Critics really didn't like Avatar: The Last Airbender. Shyamalan wasn't aware of this, but doesn't seem too bothered...he's already working on the first draft for the second film in the possible trilogy, and the film itself seems to be taking in a fair amount of money from the target audience and their parents. To be perfectly honest, I only ever liked Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense, even if they were predictable...

Bioshock Movie Still In The Works

It's been two days since I completed Bioshock 2, and I've been all excited about the future possibilities for the series...and now this, confirmation that Bioshock The Movie is still in the works, though everybody is all up in arms about how expensive it'll be to make it anywhere near as good as the game. In all honesty, I'd actually prefer it if the film was just set in Rapture, but telling a different story...I doubt the film would ever capture the brilliance of the first game.

Fraggle Rock: The Film...Edgy? Adult?

You Bent My Wookie held an interview with future Fraggle Rock film director Cory Edwards, who revealed that Weinstein have been holding discussions about how to make the film more adult and 'edgy.' Edwards attempts to explain what is meant by 'edgy' but doesn't quite succeed...but I'm thinking they're all talking about the fact that anybody that remembers Fraggle Rock is now in their 20s or 30s, and won't appreciate a kids film so much...I still have to wonder how a Fraggle Rock film can work though.

That's all from me today...got anything to share? Let me know in the comments! Happy surfing.

Believable Science Fiction - Part 2

2010-07-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of my Believable Science Fiction series. This entry is guest written by Rob Francis Clarke.

Battlestar Galactica

Growing up as kid watching The Next Generation and Voyager, the one thing that made my interest in Star Trek wane as I got older was just how bloody nice everyone is. A Third World War is likely to destroy all life on the planet, not encourage ... See morehumanity to all be really swell to each other and decide to get rid of all money and desire.

Battlestar Galactica is the answer to that. Humans in BSG aren’t future humans devoid of jealousy and anger. They are assholes. They get into fist fights, stab each other in the back and generally make life difficult for each other, just like us present day humans like to do. The only true enemy in the universe are even created by human hands, so the show sets itself up early as a demonstration of human flaws and mistakes.

At the same time, BSG also showcases some of the best qualities of humanity such as perseverance, dedication and kindness. The show also adds to its believability by ignoring lasers and shields and other staples of science fiction combat, preferring a more realistic – and refreshing - combination of bullets, nukes and fighters. Ignoring the obvious concession of sound, space combat in BSG looks like it’s actually happening.

Linkorama Monday 5th July

2010-07-05T03:29:00.000-07:00

Predators, Paraffin, and...Conan?

It's been a long and nice weekend, but now it's back to business. Here's the latest news to float my way over the weekend.

Predators Sequel, And Arnie

Over at Den Of Geek, they've pieced together some tantalising pieces of news from various interviews with Rodriguez and Antal, hinting at the possibility of a sequel to Predators (if it is recieved well, obviously), and possible cameos and storylines that could follow on from this. Finally finding out what happened to Dutch would be brilliant, especially if they include what happened in Conrete Jungle & Cold War...

Shyamalan's Next Project & No Cooper

Everything is reliant on the success of Avatar: The Last Airbender, apparently...which can't bode too well for Shyamalan if the reviews are anything to go by. He wants to do a trilogy, but if the film flops then Shyamalan will get on with his next project, rumoured to have Bruce Willis and Gwynyth Paltrow on board already. Bradley Cooper was also said to be onboard, but Shyamalan is uncertain on whether or not he'll have a conflicting schedule.

Paraffin

By now I'm sure you're all aware who Nimrod Antal is...he's the director for Predators, picked up by Robert Rodriguez. The Playlist managed to grab an interview with Nimrod, where he divulged some details on the project he wants to work on next, a Dystopian Thriller going by the name of Paraffin. Escaping the world to free yourself of oppression? Sounds interesting...

Conan

We've had the first shot of Conan, sure, but that was just a shot of Momoa looking buff and Conan-like...now we have an awesome shot of Momoa in full swing, and it's looking quite awesome:

Thanks to Conan: The Movie Blog for the image.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Poster

Here's the latest poster for the next two Harry Potter flicks, highlighting the fact that the film has been split in two...probably to fill in all those plotholes left by the missing bits from previous films, and to cash in on a dieing franchise...

The Borrower Arrietty

The latest trailer for Studio Ghibli's next film The Borrower Arrietty. As the title suggests, this is Ghibli's take on The Borrowers, with Arrietty being the main character. Arrietty is discovered by a young human boy, and the adventures begin.

Some People Have Too Much Time...

Everybody has their own quirks, their own interests...to outsiders, it seems like too much of a waste of time. This is one of those instances where you're going to feel like that outsider:

Just a bit of a fun video I found on my daily browse of the interwebz. The detail is amazing, but some people have too much time on their hands...

That's all for today, spread the word about my blog, leave comments, etc. See you all tomorrow.