Weekly News Roundup: 10/05/2008

Games

Just think of how useful and entertaining a monkey-robot-butler would be.

• Free Radical has posted a few pieces of its concept art for TimeSplitters 4, making the game official. There's a Need for Speed-style Cat Racing Underground, a monkey-robot-butler, and a nun wielding a divine chainsaw against zombie hordes. Let's hope that Haze hasn't ruined their ability to make a quality game.

• Nintendo revealed the new Nintendo DSi at the Tokyo Game Show. The new system includes a bigger screen, an extremely crappy 0.3 megapixel camera, AAC music playback, and will eventually have a download store. It does remove the GBA slot, so no more GBA on DS gaming should you get one. It will be in Japan later this year for around $180, but won't make it to the US until next year. The first two downloadable titles will be Brain Age 1 and 2.

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will get a downloadable pack that includes a new campaign stage and four character skins. You'll get to play as Luke Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi, along with the unfortunate choices of Ki-Adi-Mundi and Kit Fisto. What, no Aayla Secura?

• GT by CITROËN is a concept car designed by Gran Turismo makers Polyphony and Citroën. The sweet ride is drivable in the new update for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time will be playable on the DS and the Wii at the same time. Miis will even be playable in the DS version.

• A second expansion for Metal Gear Online in incoming. The expansion will have three new maps and playable characters of Liquid Ocelot and Mei Ling. Hopefully Konami will release this on the PSN store instead of screwing over their own servers again.

• The original Klonoa: Door to Phantomile will be getting a remake on the Wii. Klonoa will arrive in Japan on December 4th.

• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, an old NES Fire Emblem game, is being re-made for the DS. The remake will include two new scenarios, six difficulty levels and Vs. Wi-Fi play with voice chat.

• Dead Space will be giving PS3 and Xbox 360 players console-specific suits. PS3 gets a black Obsidian Suit with purple-ish hues and the 360 gets the dirty white Elite Suit.

• The Command & Conquer FPS, Tiberium, has been cancelled due to quality issues.

• Episode 2 of Penny Arcade: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness has been announced for $15 and will be out this Fall.

• Here's the Halo Wars: Field Trip to Harvest trailer. It has a new holo-chick named Serena.

• It's a new Metal Slug 7 trailer. The music for it is perfect.

• Club Nintendo will finally be arriving in the US later this year. Japanese gamers have had this little club with cool prizes for a long, long time already.

• Metal Gear Solid 4's Ryan Payton has joined one of Microsoft's Halo teams.

• The Collectors Edition of Fable II received a few cuts in it collectibles. It will no longer come with the Hobbe figure, box, and Fate cards.

Movies

• Akira will be on Blu-ray on 2/24.

• Here's the live-action Dragon Ball trailer. It looks awesomely questionable.

• Brett Ratner is indeed making the God of War movie. If you don't like it then David Jaffe is here to defend it.

• The Capcom blogs have posted some money-shots of the soon-to-be-released Bionic Commando figure.

- Shawn - 10/05/08

Halo Helmet Heads

We all know McFarlane Toys will be continuing their relentless assault of Halo merchandise all next year (yes, this is another Halo post). One of the new items are Halo Helmets of which Spawn.com posted photos of today. I'm the kind of person that doesn't go for busts because character just looks incomplete to me. You're missing the legs and usually the arms. Sure, there are plenty of cool busts out there, but they're not for me. These Halo helmets kind of fit into that same area. I have no desire to get separate helmets and display them. While the helmets can be placed on the 12-inch Halo figures, I don't really have a desire for those either. Besides, with the multitude of colors of the helmets you know there has got to be a similarly-colored Spartan figure coming down the line. If not then the orange and teal Spartan fans won't have a body for their pretty heads. Each of these four, three-packs will be in stores February 2009. All the helmets are pictured below and if you just want to see what a helmet looks like on its display stand, click the below link. For the full photos go to Spawn.com.

Now, if these were new delicious Halo candies like Skittles, I'd be all over them.

See what a Halo Helmet on display looks like...

- Shawn - 10/03/08

Halo Points Reduced in Series 3

Is a point reduction enough to dissuade you from extra plastic Halo goodness?

If you collect McFarlane Toys' rad-to-the-max Halo 3 figures, then you may have noticed something a bit off when scanning the card backs of the just-released series 3 figures; the Halo Points have been reduced. See, in the the first two series, Master Chief and all the Spartans are worth 10 Halo Points each, while the Covenant and Cortana figures are worth 20 - 35 points each. For series 3, McFarlane Toys has apparently decided that their prized Halo Points prizes would just be too easy to nab if a few figures had more than 10 points, because now every figure in series 3 is worth a mere 10 points. I don't often go into rants around here, but this is disappointing for any fan or collector that was planning to get the premium Halo items.

When comparing similar (in some cases practically the same) figures from the three series, you can easily see the unfortunate reductions. The Human Flood is the more unique figure of series 3, so I'm comparing that to Cortana and the Grunts of series 1 and the Drone of series 2. Therefore, the Human Flood should have a robust 35 points. The Brute Chieftain and Brute Stalker, of series 1 and 2 respectively, each have 20 solid points; so then should the Brute War Chieftain. The Jackal Sniper of series 1 has 20 points and, likewise, the Jackal Major deserves a 10-pointer for each of his screwy sideways eyes (that's 20 points). Finally, the Arbiter from series 2 had a respectable 20 points and the Elite Combat should probably have the same amount. Now, I'm a little more willing to accept the 10 points on the Elite Combat since Elites could almost become the next Spartans. Armor color variations have begun and it would make sense for them to be only 10 points. By my easy-to-do calculations, and excluding the Elite Combat, McFarlane Toys just melee'd fans and collectors who bought these figures out of 45 Halo points. That's almost one tenth of a gold Master Chief.

Obviously, by reducing the points per figure, McFarlane Toys wants those that desire their precious prizes to spend as much money as they possibly can. Aren't collectors already spending enough on these? I was expecting the afore-mentioned figures to be worth the similar point values and was sorely disappointed when I saw that they were all only 10 points each. I am assuming that other collectors feel the same way. As well they should. This make me a wary of how many points will actually be on the larger pieces that are coming later this year and next year, the Hunter and Mongoose in particular. Maybe by then the Halo prizes won't be available anymore; McFarlane Toys has yet to provide the important details of the program yet. Anyway, as I previously laid out in my Halo Points Prizes post, it looks like if you were aiming to get all the Halo Points prizes, you very well could be spending over $2000. That stings.

- Shawn - 09/30/08

Direct link: Halo Points Reduced in Series 3

McFarlane Toys' Halo 2009 Preview

McFarlane Toys' listed their Halo 2009 plans a couple weeks back and now they have posted photos at Spawn.com of the first figures to initiate our 2009 Halo binge. The photos include the big deluxe figure of the Hunter, the first wave of Equipment Edition figures (including more potential exclusives), and the red and blue Heroic Collection Spartans and Lone Wolves. We saw the blue Hayabusa, Security Spartans and Lone Wolves at the San Diego Comic-con, but the rest are all new. It looks like I was partially right about the steel Spartan Security. It will be a GameStop exclusive, however, it will be exclusive GameStop UK and Target Australia, making the third overseas exclusive. These figures will be in stores January and February 2009.

Update: McFarlane Toys was late in posting images of the Active Camo Arbiter, but he's here now and has an invisible Bubble Shield. Bubble Shields can be active-camo-ed? So stealthy!

At 8 inches tall, the Hunter will tower over all other Halo figures and it should have more than a mere 10 Halo points.	"Sorry I'm late guys, but I couldn't find my invisible Plasma Sword and Bubble Shield."

Continue for more photos...

- Shawn - 09/29/08

Weekly News Roundup: 09/28/2008

Games

Overall, it's pretty good, but I doubt any Street Fighter cover art can beat Zangief's time in the spotlight on Street Fighter Alpha 3's cover.

• The cover art for Street Fighter IV has been revealed and it continues the use of the watercolor art style. The US gets Chun Li as the featured character (a move obviously made because of the movie) while the UK gets a constipated Ryu. If you haven't seen it, Capcom-Unity has posted the SFIV anime for Chun Li that was revealed at this year's San Diego comic-con. Gamasutra also has an interview with Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinoro Ono. In it, he discusses Street Fighter III, Rufus, the essence of SFIV, and other things Street Fighter IV.

• Another pre-order bonus for Gears of War 2 will be at Best Buy, and this could possibly be the coolest one yet. The bonus is a RC Centaur Tank. There is no clear info as to whether this is an in-game item or an actual physical remote-controlled tank, but it's great either way.

• TrueSwords has made the a real version of the awesome Covenant Energy Sword without the future alien energy part. The sword is 27 inches long and the blades are iridescent, giving it a shimmering look in light. There is not an official Bungie/Halo endorsement for the limited sword, so get it before they get sued or it sells out.

• Watch the first episode of There Will Be Brawl, a dark and gritty story of life in the Mushroom Kingdom and Nintendo's prized characters. Keep an ear out for the Sonic Boom theme and the surprise character at the end. At 12 minutes, a  few scenes feel a little long, but it's good stuff.

• Microsoft said it didn't want any more faithful arcade ports on XBLA and did not approve DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label for release. However, it seems that the game might see a disc release this December in Japan on the Xbox 360. Let's all hope it's region-free.

• The Burnout Paradise Trophy update for the PS3 went live this week, but unfortunately, despite promises, the Trophies are not retroactive. That really sucks, Burnout fans.

• The most surprising created stage for LittleBigPlanet so far is easily Tetris inside LittleBigPlanet. The blocks even disappear!

• Concept art for the cancelled Halo MMO has popped up at Kotaku. Some screens even show off art for female Spartans. I have zero interest in MMOs so I don't really see this as a missed opportunity, but I'm sure many people think it would have been cool. Some of the art seems too medieval for a Halo game.

• An episodic Watchmen game will be released next year in time with the film and act as a prequel. The game will appear on PSN, XBLA, and PC, meaning it's download only, kids.

• Here's a new King of Fighters XII trailer.

• The PlayStation Network Cards will finally be at major retailers this holiday season. Look for them at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, and Barnes & Noble.

• Bungie has released a trailer for a new Halo 3 campaign expansion. This might deal with the ODST given that one of the lines is "Prepare to drop."

Movies

• The Digital Bits has the Blu-ray and DVD cover art for The Dark Knight, as well as a pic of the limited edition Blu-ray set that comes with a Batpod. Get it on 12/9.

- Shawn - 09/28/08

First Art of Megatron in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

If you don't want to spoil what Megatron looks like in the second Transformers movie move along, however, you'll probably see it before the movie anyways with all the toys and the huge marketing push this thing is going to get. The first images of Megatron as a tank were leaked online and according to the Hasbro Licensing Summit this is indeed what Megatron will look like. Megatron comes back as a Cybertronian tank. It certainly goes along with Megatron's few tank modes in past toy lines and kind of has a little H.R. Giger look to him. It's pretty cool except for Megatron's face which is visible in the front tank crotch area. Vehicle modes don't need faces. For other characters, the Hasbro Summit also confirmed that Sideswipe is the Chevy Corvette Concept and that Ravage will be in the film.

Megatron in his super freaky bad-ass ultra turbo tank mode.

Continue for more Megatron as a tank images...

- Shawn - 09/24/08

Weekly News Roundup: 09/21/2008

Games

Mega Man will be able to shoot bees from his arm. Bees!

• Mega Man 9 releases this week. Wii Ware gets it 9/22, PSN on 9/25, and XBLA has to wait until 10/1. Proto Man will be available as downloadable for $1.99 (or the equivalent of) the week of October 6th. Proto Man will have the slide and shield. I'm guessing the game could be just a little bit easier with his abilities. Capcom-Unity has posted new screenshots of Mega Man 9 that show off five of the eight bosses and the weapons received from defeating them.

• LittleBigPlanet arrives on 10/21 and there will be two free downloadable items on PSN for only one week: a spacesuit costume for SackBoy and an "I was There Week One" T-Shirt. You can't pass up SackBoy in space. As Kratos and Nariko will be making special appearances in LittleBigPlanet, SackBoy himself will be showing up in Pain as a downloadable character. Head to PS3Trophies.org for the full list of LittleBigPlanet Trophies.

• Here are the first comparison shots of the anime and CG used in the two versions of Tale of Hearts.

• Two new characters for Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion have been revealed; a chick with pink hair and dude with horrible hair.

• Rock Band 2 will be getting around 20 FREE songs in the Fall, which is soon.

• Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom will be arriving on the Wii in Japan. Just the Wii? It should go to the PS3 and/or Xbox 360 as well.

• The release date for Wipeout HD was announced as September 25th.

• SNK may be bringing Metal Slug to the HD era. They are thinking of doing the same to Metal Slug as they are doing with King of Fighters XII, which is absolutely gorgeous.

• Check out all these modern games re-imagined as Atari games.

• Three former team members from Retro Studios that are responsible for the awesome Metroid Prime series, have formed a new development company called Armature Studio. They have an exclusive publishing deal with EA to make multiplatform games.

•  Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories will be on the PS2 December 2nd. This is a remake of the previous GBA only game with updated 3D graphics.

• Tricia Helfer is voicing The Black Cat in Spiderman: Web of Shadows.

Movies

• Avi Arad, the man behind the Marvel movies, has optioned the rights for a Mass Effect movie.

- Shawn - 09/21/08

Mega Man 9 NES Box of Awesome

This is the coolest thing I've seen this year. When the first official trailer for Mega Man 9 debuted, I though it would be great if Capcom actually released the game on a NES cartridge. Well, Capcom did. Kind of. They made an NES-style box that contains a Mega Man 9 cartridge. Since making a real NES cart would be way too much of a hassle, they have a CD with some game info, artwork, and screenshots. A few of these were sent to their "friends of the press." Well, since I'm just a small guy in the world of gaming press, I'm pretty sure I won't get one. However, they will be selling a very limited number on the Capcom store. How limited? Only 200. Only 200? Surely Capcom sees how much love that Mega Man 9 is receiving and will produce more than a mere 200 of these. They will come with a voucher code for the PSN or XBLA version of the game, which is cool, but if they only have so many codes just sell the box and cartridge without it. Please make more of these Capcom, the gaming world begs you.

This would look amazing next to my NES Mega Man games.

See the back of the box...

- Shawn - 09/16/08

Weekly News Roundup: 09/14/2008

Games

Midway could still do a big reveal for the rest of the fatalities in Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe.

• The final characters for Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe were leaked by Xbox360Achievments.org when they posted the game's achievements. Midway has confirmed the characters, but I'm sure this is not how they wanted the final four revealed. They probably had a huge final reveal event planned. Ah, the internet strikes again. The four characters are Baraka, Shao Khan, Lex Luthor, and Darkseid. Midway has yet to show us what the characters will look like in the game, so at least that's something, right Midway?

• The team behind Pac-Man Championship Edition and Galaga Legions will be working on more follow-ups to Namco's "masterpiece games."

•  Here are the first photos of Mad Catz' Street Fighter IV sticks. Supposedly they're really good.

• Watch and listen to Ken Levine's keynote speech from PAX '08. It's a hilarious look into his own life growing up, and maybe yours.

• If the main character in Heavy Rain dies, you can still continue playing the game.

• Eternal Sonata is coming to the PS3 October 21st. About time the PS3 gets another J-RPG.

• The next free update for Burnout Paradise will be out September 18th. This is a big one. It's got motorcycles, night driving, weather, and new challenges.

• Robert Delaware, the man who revealed that Microsoft fully knew it was putting defective Xbox 360s out in stores, was fired from Microsoft. He knew the risks and is prepared for the forthcoming legal battles. Good luck, dude.

• The real F.E.A.R. sequel, Project Origin, has now been re-named F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. With all of Sierra's recent game cancellations, they parted with the license so now we won't have real and fake F.E.A.R. sequels.

• Hideo Kojima is critical of big advertising and how it gets people excited for a game before they even play it, whether the game is good or not.

• To help the hard-of-hearing and deaf, Ubisoft will be including subtitles in all of its internally developed titles.

• The PS3 version of BioShock has a mandatory 4.9 Gig install. It's worth it though, since it's BioShock.

• Red Faction: Guerrilla is another game getting a Collector's Edition. This will come with an art book, bonus Blu-ray or DVD, and a 5-inch tall mining walker figure made by Gentle Giant.

• With the Large Hadron Collider powered on, Reddit sent CERN a crowbar and a Half-Life strategy guide addressed to the one and only Gordan Freeman.

Movies

• TFW2005 has received some kind of confirmation for the Constructicons and Devastator in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. So who sent it in? I won't belive it myself until I see some real pictures.

• Fox is considering doing a young X-Men movie, a Deadpool spin-off, and a reboot of Daredevil.

• It seems that Rambo V is ready to beign production.

Science

• Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the Earth yet?

- Shawn - 09/14/08

McFarlane Toys' 2009 Halo Plans

McFarlane Toys is going to give you armies of Halo figures in every scale, but they'll mostly be Spartans.

If you thought McFarlane Toys was already releasing a ton of Halo figures this year, just wait until you see their plans for 2009. It's mind-boggling how much is coming out next year. Let's get started. There will be two waves of new Equipment Edition figures. These will have a figure with an extra piece of equipment; something that is used with the X button in the game, like a bubble shield. The smaller Heroic Collection figures will have a wave of regular Halo figures and two waves of Halo Wars figures. A deluxe Hunter action figure will make its debut and will be in scale with the 5-inch figures at 8-inches tall. The 12-inch figures will see two waves Spartan figures with two released at a time. There will even be a series of Spartan helmets that fit on any of the 12" figures. These helmets will come three in a pack and will have two waves. It looks like that when the two waves of Equipment Edition figures are done, they will be replaced with Medal Edition figures. These seem to have a Medal for some of the achievements from Halo 3. Finally is a Mongoose boxed set that will have an in-scale Mongoose for the 5-inch figures. This is the first full-sized vehicle from and I can only hope that this leads to an in-scale Warthog.

There is just so much (too much) Halo stuff coming out next year. They have not revealed any photos, but rest assured they will be coming. The full list has been copied and pasted after the link and keep in mind that these are just their plans through May. Who knows what else they'll reveal for the latter months.

Click here for the full list of McFarlane Toys' 2009 Halo releases.

- Shawn - 09/11/08

McFarlane Toys Announces Halo Wars Figures

The Halo Wars aren't all fought an won by Spartans. Now's the time for the Marine Infantry to shine.

As if McFarlane Toys' Halo 3 figures aren't successful enough at both retail and diminishing our bank accounts, they are preparing an additional assault of Halo merchandise. Today, Spawn.com announced the Halo Wars line that will kick off in Spring 2009. The figures will be approximately 2.5 inches tall with articulation at the waist, which more or less makes them figuines. Apparently the Halo ActionClix and Halo Interactive Board Game figurines weren't enough tiny soldiers for Bungie. The first series of figures includes four sets with three figures each. Set one is a UNSC set of three Spartan soldiers with Assault Rifles. UNSC set two includes a Spartan soldier with an Assault Rifle, one with two Magnums, and a Marine Infantry with Assault Rifle. A third UNSC set will include two more Spartans (one with an Assault Rifle, one with dual Plasma Pistols) and a Marine Infantry with Assault Rifle. Finally, the fourth set brings the Covenant into play with two Elites with Plasma Rifles, and a grunt with Needler.

With all the focus on Spartans in the first series, I have a feeling that the Covenant pack could be difficult to find. Fans are going to want to build their Covenant armies. According to the press release, the characters will be in different colors. Hopefully this means that all the Spartans won't be "Master Chief green" so there's a little variety. The four prototype photos only show the regular Spartan armor, so the alternate Spartan armors from the regular 5-inch figures may be a ways off yet.

The Halo mini-figure department may be already clogged with ActionClix and board game figures, but since these are McFarlane made I'm sure they will sell just fine. Each set will set you back around $10 and I would expect them to also have Halo Points on the packages if the Halo Point promo is still running yet. I'll be patiently awaiting the inevitable announcements of in-scale vehicles and retailer exclusives.

Click onward to check out photos of the Spartan clay sculpts.

- Shawn - 09/09/08

Weekly News Roundup: 09/07/2008

Games

With the Koei-Tecmo merger, can we expect DOA characters in Dynasty Warriors games in the future? The above scene from the movie may have been foreshadowing the possibility.

• Tecmo has rejected Square-Enix's offer and is instead going to join up with Koei. Square Enix wanted to know why their offer was rejected, but was promptly ignored by Tecmo. Koei over Square-Enix? It's not like Tecmo has made bad decisions before. Tecmo has also settled on their overtime lawsuit.

• Even though Tomonobu Itagaki left Team Ninja, the developer still has three games it will soon reveal at the Tokyo Game Show.

• Kotaku has an interview with composer Simon Vikund on how the music for Bionic Commando: Rearmed is so awesome.

• Extended Play Download Days on Xbox Live is in full effect until the end of October. Get DLC for Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey, Beautiful Katamari, Forza Motorsport 2, Oblivion, and Guitar Hero 3 at reduced prices.

• In Japan, Soul Calibur IV is getting downloadable Japanese school girl outfits. That's fantastic.

• Gamasutra has an in-depth interview with Rod Fergusson, franchise senior developer of Gears of War 2. In the interview he says that the Xbox 360 is reaching its graphical limits.

• The PS3 version of Fallout 3 will not have Trophy support at launch. Trophies might come a little later.

• Disgaea's Prinnys are getting their own game titled (and roughly translated as) Prinny: Is it Okay if I'm the Main Character?

• Peter Moneluex rated his own Fable II giving it a 9/10. James Silva, creator of the awesome upcoming XBLA game The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, is the first to follow Molynuex's lead and reviews his own game, giving it a hilariously harsh 1/10.

• Lumines Supernova is heading to the PSN in Japan this Fall with a new feature that lets players create their own music.

• If you're on the fence about which version of Mirror's Edge to buy, the PS3 version will have exclusive downloadable content. Now we just have to wait and see what it is.

• Otomedius Gorgeous for the Xbox 360 has been delayed to make the game more gorgeous until an unspecified date.

• The homoerotic shooter Cho Anki will be available on the North American Wii Virtual Console September 8th, you know, if you're into that sort of thing.

Movies

• The third Mortal Kombat movie is still in the financial planning stages, but it looks like it will be more of an independent film with a smaller budget. It's possible that some of the original cast members could return. As long as the movie is better than Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, although achieving that won't be difficult.

• The director of the Max Payne movie is angry at the MPAA for being lenient with the Dark Knight by giving it a PG-13 rating and not performing the same courtesy to Max Payne.

• Check out the fifth piece of concept art from the Halo movie.

• Udon's first series of Street Fighter comics will be released on DVD with sound effects and voice-overs. This could be cool or very bad.

• LittleBigPlanet SackBoys are now available for pre-order at NCS. Unfortunately they're plush and not burlap. They are still cute, though.

- Shawn - 09/07/08

Resistance 2 Collector's Edition with Chimera Figure

The Collector's Edition for Resistance 2 was announced today and it includes a substantial amount of goodness for the $79.99 price tag. The limited edition contains the special cover art (selected by fans), behind-the-scenes DVD, tiny hard bound art book, an in-game goodie (HVAP Wraith weapon skin), and the over-sized box that are all fairly requisite among the super-extra-special-limited-expensive-collector's-editions of today's games. Pre-ordering the game from GameStop will also grant you access into the public multiplayer beta in early October. This collector's edition also includes a sweet Chimeran Hybrid action figure made by DC Limited, an off-shoot of sorts of DC Direct responsible for the World of Warcraft figures. The figure is very cool but suffers from what most DC figures suffer from: limited articulation and poseability. It looks like our angry Chimeran friend will be stuck in a certain stance, but I'm a sucker for limited action figures with games. I'd get it even if it had no articulation, like the Big Daddy figure from the BioShock limited edition. The Chimeran Hybrid stands 5 inches tall, which means it could be in scale (or close enough) with the Halo 3 figures so I could have the Halo / Resistance crossover that I've always been dreaming of... for the past twenty minutes. Resistance 2 hits November 4th.

Why so blue Chimeran Hybrid? You're limited goodness.

- Shawn - 09/02/08

Direct link: Resistance 2 Collector's Edition with Chimera Figure

Weekly News Roundup: 08/31/2008

Games

Bosses the size of Alpha Azieru will be a needed change to the stale Dynasty Warriors formula.

• Dynasty Warriors: Gundam is getting a sequel. The biggest addition is a story mode for Char's Counterattack film. The bosses this time around will be the massive mobile Armors including Big Zam (Mobile Suit Gundam), the Alpha Azieru (Char's Counterattack), and the Psyco Gundam (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam). The game will be out for the PS3, PS2, and Xbox 360 this Winter in Japan. A North American announcement can't be too far behind.

• This new gameplay trailer for Tomb Raider: Underworld shows what could be the second biggest selling point of the game (you know what the first is): kicking tigers in the face. I hope there's an achievement / trophy for that.

• At PAX 2008 the team at Rooster Teeth Productions revealed the first footage of a Red Vs. Blue anime. It's funny stuff and looks like will let the Rooster Teeth crew do things they couldn't in the regular series.

• The bike update for Burnout Paradise is in the final phase of testing. Criterion aims to release it simultaneously on the PS3 and Xbox 360, unlike the previous updates. Soon we'll be rockin' motorcycles in Paradise City.

• LittleBigPlanet will have its own copyright system so you can copyright anything you create.

• Director Guillermo del Toro only considers two games masterpieces: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. This man knows his games.

• Five new Fallout 3 gameplay videos. Yes, five.

• With Tecmo in trouble, Square-Enix is looking to buy a major portion of the shares of the company.

• If you're interested in how online matches will work in Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, read this great article about HD Remix and networking over at Capcom Unity.

• What is Halo 3 Mythic? No one knows just yet, but it could be coming soon. But, here's footage of the new Halo 3 map, Assembly.

• It's blasphemy that Golden Axe: Beast Rider won't have co-op, but this new trailer actually makes that game look good.

• A producer on PlayStation Home, Martjin Van der Meulen, stated that it is a 100% guarantee that Home will be out this year.

• Tekken 6 in the arcade will get an update with Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion in December. So, where's that PS3 version of Tekken 6?

• View your photos in the first stage of the original Wolfenstein with Wolfenflikr3-D.

Movies

• A new video shows Autobots from Transformers 2 rolling out. The vehicles are Optimus Prime, Bumblebee,  Ironhide, and the Corvette Concept, along with the ugly little cars known as the Chevy Beat and Chevy Trax. Who are the unfortunate Autobots that got stuck with those car modes?

• Check out the fourth piece of concept art from the Halo movie.

• Here is the first image of Iron Man from Japanese animation studio Madhouse. They will be making four, twelve-episode Marvel anime series.

- Shawn - 08/31/08

Halo 3 Bonus Figures... Bonus Figures?

McFarlane Toys collected the extra plastic power-up and has some bonus Halo 3 figures coming in October. Bonus Figures? Yes, this set of five figures are outside the regular Campaign and Multiplayer figure assortments. This bonus assortment consists of two Elite Combat figures (one blue with yellow trim and the other red with silver), an Active Camo Brute Stalker, an Active Camo ODST, and a silver CQB Spartan. Since this is a bonus round of figures, these will only be available at Toys R Us and Wal-Mart. This is fantastic news for someone who has never seen any of either retailers' exclusive figures. Since this is an entire assortment of exclusives maybe I'll actually have a better chance of seeing them on retail shelves. Yeah, I doubt it, too. Click the continue link to see the figures or head to Spawn.com for all the new photos.

"Dude, look at how fancy we are."	"I don't even want to fight. I could dirty-up my armor."

Continue for more pics...

- Shawn - 08/29/08

Death Smiles on Xbox 360

Cave's Gothic-Lolita side-scrolling shooter, Death Smiles, is coming to the Xbox 360 according to the latest issue of Famitsu (via Kotaku). Yes, yet another sublime shooter is heading to the shooter-friendly 360. I've been told I should play this, so hopefully I'll be able to wait out for a region-free or North American release. Unfortunately, neither option will probably happen. Cave needs to start releasing games on the region free PS3 to help out all us shooter fans that don't want to mod our Xbox consoles. It just amazes me that the Xbox 360 is doing so poorly in Japan, yet there are many quality shooters for it. The developers would surely make more money if they made the discs region free with all the shooter fans in the U.S. and Europe. There must be some deal that Microsoft struck with shooter developers so the 360 gets all the good bullet-hell shooters. Someday we'll get out shooters. Someday. Death Smiles will be out in Japan in Spring 2009. 

Here's hoping that Death smiles upon us all someday.

- Shawn - 08/27/08

Direct link: Death Smile on Xbox 360

Death Note II: The Last Name in Theaters

Save the dates, Death Note fans, Death Note II: The Last Name will be in theaters October 15th and 16th at 7:30 pm (your time). Viz Pictures and NCM Fathom are once again presenting the second live-action Death Note feature in a limited theatrical release. Tickets will be available first to Shonen Jump newsletter subscribers on August 29th. If you're like me then you don't subscribe to the newsletter, so tickets for the general public will be up on September 5th. All your meaty ticket information will be at www.FathomEvents.com.

The first live-action Death Note film was released in very limited release for two nights back in May. I was able to catch it and figured that the second movie would also make its way into theaters and now we have an official date. At the screening I attended of first film, people were noticeably surprised and disappointed that it was dubbed, especially when the promo stuff said it would be subtitled. So just keep in mind that it will be dubbed when you're going to this one. This screening will also have a behind-the-scenes featurette following the feature, which wasn't too impressive for the first film, but maybe they'll have a better one this time. Live-action-CGI Ryuk was balls-awesome in the first film and I'm sure Rem will be just as great. I, for one, can't wait to see this.

Ryuk, Light, and Rem discuss the forgotten artistry of apples in the mist.

Continue for the press release...

- Shawn - 08/25/08