The next exciting chapter of College Humor's
Street Fighter: The Later Years saga went online today. It was getting near the
end of the month and I was getting worried that College Humor wouldn't post it
until next month. They came through, but it was cutting it close. We see some great humor and revelations this
episode: Guile swears more than a drunken sailor; Ken attempts his new special
move; Chun Li loves wild animal sex! And
wait, is that really Honda?
Damn, I love this series. I'll be practicing my Ha-Do-Can't
and No-Can-Do-Ken until the next one.
Even with her tough
exterior the Baroness still knows her place in Cobra's chore hierarchy.
With the rumors of other actors that may or may not be in the cast, the
G.I. Joe movie has now seen its first official casting.
Sienna Miller will play the Baroness, the "film's female lead." Now, the
Baroness is great and all, but she's the female lead? If she's a lead then the
Baroness may not even be the evil wench we all know. The G.I. Joe
movie has already seen a lot of changes and sounds less and less like
G.I. Joe all the time.
Previously shown in front of Beowulf, the
new Cloverfield trailer is now online. Damn, this film looks
awesome.
Ain't it Cool News announced one crazy ass news item:
Christian Bale was cast to be John Conner in the next Terminator
flick titled Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.
Chinese doctors are warning film patrons of Ang Lee's film Lust, Caution
to
not to try the sexual positions at home since they can only be performed
by the very flexible. We totally have to see this movie.
TV
Battlestar Galactica: Razor aired on Sci-fi last night and
according to a trailer at the end of it, the fourth season of
Battlestar Galactica will begin in March 2008, moved up from April as
previously reported by various media outlets. Although, that writer's strike
is still probably going to delay the second half of the season. And unlike the
theater screening of Razor there wasn't a single ad for Mass Effect, which was actually rather puzzling.
Games
Metroid fan Red_3183 posted photos of his completed, large, and freakin'
amazing
custom Samus action figure. Some toy company needs to pay him and
mass-produce these things immediately. His Ridley action figure should be just
as cool whenever it's finished.
In anticipation of the sequel
the original NiGHTS into Dreams will be ported to the PS2 in
February (in Japan). The game will have updated polygon graphics and 16:9
support. That widescreen support is nice, but do the visuals really need a
polygon "upgrade?" Just look at Sega Classics Collection with its uglier
polygon upgrade of many classic game. Hopefully the disc will have the
original sprites as an option and it will come to the US.
No More Heroes has one of the best
promo products ever.
No More Heroes toilet paper. It's looks cool and can clean
up a big mess.
A display in a store at Akihabara in Japan uses
Blu-ray porn to promote the PS3. Or it uses the PS3 to promote Blu-ray
porn. Either way it's win-win.
The
box art for Burnout Paradise has changed from a smashed-up
car to a grossly stylized depiction of a car with maximum white space and
minimal color. I hope this is just someone's attempt at a cruel joke. The
Burnout games are about crashing, not crappy mural art.
Since the PLAYSTATION 3 is balls-awesome at
folding proteins for the curing of cancer, another protein-based program has
emerged on the... grid. Called PS3GRID, this program does full-atom molecular
simulations that are somehow for the good of all mankind. I'll take their word
for it, but setting it up sounds like a complicated venture. If you are
interested in joining
PS3GRID hit them up on their web page.
Fatal Inertia, the anti-gravity racing game tat was supposed to be
a PS3 launch title but was released on the Xbox 360 in September will finally
be heading to the PS3 sometime in 2008.
2KGames sent out an email telling BioShock fans who reported a
broken Big Daddy figure by November 12th that the old figure will not need
to be sent in. They get a new figure, the printed version of the art book, and
get to keep their battle-damaged Big Daddy. Man, I knew I should have reported
mine broken even though it wasn't.
I'm not sure how many people actually cared about the Doritos
Xbox Live contest but it does have a winner:
Doritos Dash of Destruction. The game is about a T-rex running through town
chasing a truck filled with Doritos. Sounds a lot like chasing the chuck wagon
to me. The game in all its absurdity will be made into a full Xbox Live title
to be released next year.
- Shawn - 11/25/07
Weekly News Roundup: 11/18/2007
Movies
Blade Runner's
visionary world shows us many things that should be in our own, like
hokey-masked geisha dancers.
The Blade Runner Ultimate Edition movie set will be out next
month as well as the
Blade Runner Trilogy: 25th Anniversary Soundtrack Collection. The 3-CD set
contains the remastered original soundtrack, previously unreleased music from
the film, and a brand new music composed by Vangelis in honor of the film. Why
is it called "Blade Runner Trilogy," though? Because there are 3 CDs? That's
kind of lame, but it will certainly be worth getting for fans.
If the rumors are true then the
Kane and Lynch movie will have two big stars in the leading
roles: Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton.
The
live-action Dragonball movie will begin shooting soon.
Justin Chatwin will be playing Goku and James Marsters will be Piccolo. So, is
Piccolo actually going to be green? Stephen Chow is producing with James Wong
directing. It could just be me, but live-action Dragonball just
seems like a bad idea. Maybe Stephen Chow can bring in some of his film
talents to make it decent.
Games
R-Type Tactics might actually be coming to the
US, re-titled as
R-Type Command. If the rumor proves true the PSP strategy shooter
will be available in March 2008.
The game No More Heroes has a new
sexy promotional site,
PlaySylvia, which features cosplay girls dressed-up as the assassin Sylvia
Christel. Each week has a new girl and new "blog parts." Tantalizing.
After three months of an inexplicable absence, the
final episode of Tomb Raider Re\Visioned by Jim Lee and
Christos N. Gage is on GameTap.
Seriously, why the hell did it take so long? Oh, and you might see Lara Croft
with a phallic object between her breasts. GameTap also revealed
some details on the second season of Re\Visioned. Season two
will be set in the golden age of Activision with art and stories by Paul
Jenkins, Mark Waid, and John Ostrander.
Atlus is now publishing games on the Xbox 360. They will be bringing the two
tactical RPGs
Operation Darkness and
Spectral Force 3 to the 360 in 2008.
The Nintendo DS has broken 20 million sold in Japan. That means
1 in 6 Japanese civilians owns a DS and that Nintendo will soon take over
the country.
GamaSutra has an
interview with Todd McFarlane regarding the Halo figures, Halo controller
art, and other McFarlane Toys figures. He also talks about an upcoming MMO
with baseball guy Curt Shilling and R.A. Salvatore. Well, there's no
reason the world needs another MMO, no matter who is involved, but the rest of the interview is a decent
read.
Saitek, a maker of generally good computer accessories, has been
acquired by Mad Catz, a maker of generally not good accessories. Either
the Mad Catz name will get better or there will just be more crappy
third-party peripherals.
"I'm
surprised you were able to squeeze something this big in there. Well,
maybe I'm not that surprised."
The details of the
Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition have been revealed. Both the
PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will have Steelbook cases, a DVD with making of
featurettes, music, and art, and the first four episodes of the Devil May Cry
anime. At $79.99 this will be $10 more than normal special editions, but with all that content you can't go
wrong. Plus, this is the first time a PS3 game has gotten the classy Steelbook
treatment.
Xbox 360 sales in Japan sky-rocketed 475% this past week. This is no doubt
due to last week's release of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
which helped increase the number of 360s sold to 17,363. Man, if Ace
Combat 6 can sell Xbox 360s to the Japanese then the game has got to
be awesome.
Banpresto, the makers of the awesome Super Robot
Wars strategy games and the T&A RPG Magna Carta will be merged into Bandai
Namco Games April 1, 2008. The
Banpresto name won't be lost forever, though as they will continue to make arcade
prize machines.
GameSniped has complied a list of the
top ten rarest and most expensive games in existence. The cheapest is
$2000. The most expensive is $10,000, but is sometimes seen on eBay for
$20,000.
Capcom suffered a small leak of
old art from the upcoming Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.
The Capcom blogs turned it around and explained everything that has changed
and is changing since the art is old and very early from the game's
development. They also give a good look into how they fix up the animations.
The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion. Read it. Even if you have never played
the game (like me), it's great becasue you learn about the word "kill," the
Muff Diver game, getting brains sucked out, and other ways of meeting
Nintendo's standards.
The
Atari 2600 has been inducted into the Strong National Museum of Play's toy
"Hall of Fame." Great job! Its entrance to the great hall was accompanied by
Raggedy Andy and the kite. Wait, the kite wasn't in there yet?
Konami launched the
official Contra 4 site. Hold on to your balls or they'll be
exploded right off.
Infinity Ward had a special message on Call of Duty 4 aimed at
those that lost their jobs when EA Chicago closed; "EA Chicago: Infinity Wad
is Hiring. jobs@infinityward.com."
If you're a fan of Cave Story then you definitely want to check
out
some of the concepts and screens from early on in the development of the
game.
Actor
Daniel Craig has confessed that he is a gamer. He has to hide it from
his girlfriend Producer Satsuki Mitchell. If she "sees the box then its all
over." He likes Halo 3 and "big, fat storylines." I knew there was
something
different about that guy.
The
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time film may have found its
director with Mike Newell. Newell's last film was Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire.
It looks like
Mark Wahlberg has signed on to play Max Payne in the big-screen
adaptation of the game. I guess if he can do Max's "I really need to take a
dump" scrunch face then it should work out okay.
This Maxim "Girls of Tekken" photo is
an excellent example of a scene that should probably be in the Tekken
movie.
Some
potential details on the Tekken movie have been revealed by
IESB.net. They got hold of some audition sides that profile many of the
characters in the movie and reveal a few changes. Jin is a druggie, King is
the current Tekken champion, Steve Fox is the announcer, Bryan Fury is an
illegal cyborg, Heihachi Mishima may have a soft spot, and Kazuya raped Jin's
mom (Jun?) resulting in Jin's birth. Marshall Law is a bad-ass fighter and who the hell is Bonner? I hope he
doesn't pronounce his name "boner." One character also dies before the end of
the movie.
A CG animated Resident Evil film is in the works. Capcom has
teamed with Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan to bring
Biohazard: Degeneration out sometime in 2008.
A
Spyro the Dragon CG animated film will also be produced.
This one would be more for the kids and I'm guessing there will be a new Spyro game to coincide with
the movie.
Are you an X-Files fan looking for some good news? Well here you
go: Twentieth Century Fox sent out a press release stating that there will be
a
second X-Files flick out on July 25, 2008.
Fans of films that are remakes of films that shouldn't be remade in the first
place will be a bit disappointed to know that the future doesn't look so good
for the
Escape from New York remake.
Talks broke down between the Writer's Guild of America and studios and
networks so WGA members will
go on strike at 12:01 A.M. Monday. Attention studios and networks: The
DigitalMonkeyBox staff have several ideas for movies and television shows
you may be interested in.
Games
It's only a matter of time before the PLAYSTATION
3 gains self-awareness takes over the planet with an army of PS3 driven war
machines. See, the PLAYSTATION 3 has been curing cancer and unlocking
mysteries of black holes, but doing those things are old hat to the Cell
processor. Now
the PS3 is driving the Axion Racing SUV over the rough terrain of the
DARPA Challenge.
The return of Bionic Commando met with much
criticism from fans. The dreads, massive bionic arm, and prison story didn't
sit too well. Producer Ben Judd told Kotaku that
in three months fans will be happy. What the does that mean? No one knows.
The expansion for Command & Conquer 3,
Kane's Wrath, is adding a couple of new actors to its
already impressive sci-fi name line-up. Natasha Henstridge (Species)
and Carl Lumbly (Justice League) will provide their acting talents to
the RTS epic.
The PlayStation 2 is still selling strong and Sony may release
a
new PS2 slim model in 2008 for $99. This newer PS2 would have a built-in
power supply making it cheaper to manufacture. I'm just surprised that it took
this long for the PS2 to go down to $99. Regardless, the PS2 is not dying off
any time soon.
Someone actually spent the time to make a Pac-Man text adventure called
Pac-Txt.
Metal Gear Solid 4 has been
delayed until Spring of 2008 because Konami wants "to make further
improvements to the quality of the game and provide even greater enjoyment for
more customers worldwide." Well sure, that sounds about right.
FUNimation is claiming that
their Dragon Ball Z contract with Atari has ended. Atari
says it hasn't and will keep making games. Sounds like someone is going to
eventually receive a kamehameha in the face.
The Doritos sponsored Xbox contest is almost done and yes,
people made real games featuring Doritos chips. The five finalists are
available to
play at UnlockXbox. Or you can
read reviews of the games at 1up.
Glu Mobile has introduced a new heroine with one of the worst possible
character names ever:
Phoenix Shadowalker. Are they serious? Yes, that's her actual name. Glu
thinks she is going to "out-sauce Lara Croft." Out-sauce? Did Lara
go spelunking for some ancient Egyptian hot sauce recently?
