by A.J. Focht

Last weekend was San Diego Comic Con, the premier nerd convention of the year. Both major comic companies were present as well as several movie studios, prominent actors, and nerd icons of all kinds. Everyone was eager to show off their newest projects.

New clips for The Dark Knight Rises were previewed at Comic Con. The first was a teaser of Morgan Freeman showing off a new vehicle, The Bat. The second clip establishes the movie takes place eight years after The Dark Knight in a conversation between Officer Blake and Commissioner Gordon. The Dark Knight Rises premiers in theaters July 20.

Batman is one of the most popular heroes in the world with one of the most iconic cars ever. This year at SDCC, each of the classic Batmobiles were on display. The Batmobiles were all lined up and a new documentary about the cars was previewed at the con. The Batmobile is a documentary that features Batmobiles throughout time and the Batmen that drove them.

A few weeks ago, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was rumored to be in talks for a DC movie. The Rock has now confirmed via Twitter that he is indeed in talks for a Lobo movie. While he is in talks, the Lobo movie might not be planned for a while.

The Man of Steel had a panel at Comic Con, helping shed some light on the rumors surrounding the project. A short clip was shown to the audience and it was met with positive reviews. There’s a new teaser poster on their Facebook page as well.

Iron Man 3 had a major presence at Comic Con. During the Iron Man 3 panel, Kevin Feage, Shane Black, Robert Downey Jr., and Don Cheadle were present to talk about the upcoming movie. They discussed both rumors and the movie story, without giving much of anything away. All of the Iron Man armor from the past movies, as well as the armor from the upcoming movie was on display as well. Men might not be the only ones putting on armor in Iron Man 3 however, the new rumor is Gwyneth Paltrow may be dawning the rescue armor this go around.

Marvel revealed the titles to their upcoming sequels at Comic Con, and it looks like Bucky is coming back since the title of the Captain America sequel is Captain America: Winter Soldier. Bucky was the original Winter Soldier so it seems likely he’s returning as a villain. While Bucky isn’t confirmed beyond the title, Falcon will make an appearance in the film. Anthony Mackie will be playing the part. Winter Soldier is scheduled to release April 14, 2014.

The Thor sequel is entitled, Thor: The Dark World. A few things are known about Thor at the moment. The movie will explore Thor and Jane’s relationship. Loki will not be the main villain in the film, and the current rumor mill points all signs to the Enchantress. With a new director on board, it’s set for theatres sometime in 2013.

Marvel officially confirmed they are filming Galactic Guardians after Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: Winter Soldier. They also revealed the cast of the Galactic Guardians team will include: Drax the Destoryer, Gamora, Groot, Star-Lord, and everyone’s favorite, Rocket Raccoon. Galactic Guardians is slated to start in theaters on August 1, 2014.

That’s the first half of Ur W33K 1N G33K’s Comic Con coverage. Check back in for the rest of the news from the convention.

by A.J. Focht

What is Warner Bros. and DC Comics next big movie? New reports suggest Barry Sonnenfeld is working on DC Comics’ title The Metal Men, which was first introduced in 1962 and has been played with sporadically by DC since then. The Mental Men group consists of six artificially intelligent robots created by Dr. William Magus. Each was made out of a specific metal with powers to match. Gold, the leader can stretch; Iron possesses super strength; Lead can make shields; Mercury could melt to pass through small spaces; and Platinum, who believed she was human and would flirt with her creator, could stretch and flatten. There was also the insecure Tin whose powers are unknown. They popped up throughout Infinite Crisis and had a twelve issue run in Wednesday Comics in 2009. The Metal Men have also made appearances in Batman Brave and the Bold and Justice League: New Frontier. The Metal Men wasn’t on anyone’s radar for DC’s next movie, but it could have potential.

Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel will involve a lot more than Superman just saving Metropolis. New information has leaked onto the internet, and it looks like a good portion of the movie will take place during the war on Krypton. This help makes sense of the elaborate costumes we saw last month that included suits for Jor-El and other Kryptonians. Not much else is known about the film, but the producers will have a presence at San Diego Comic Con where they’ll be debuting footage.

Kick-Ass 2 has signed Chloe Mortez back as Hit-Girl. The film hasn’t begun production but we now have confirmation that three of the core cast members are returning: Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse being the others. Kick-Ass 2 will involve the heroes’ identities being learned. Hit-Girl will be identified, causing her a whole new set of problems.

Disney and Marvel has already announced the animated Avengers Assemble series hoping to play off The Avengers success. The animated projects don’t stop there. Marvel is also developing an Iron Man animated series. A Hulk series is in talks as well. All of the animated series will appear as part of the Marvel Universe on Disney XD.

Graphic novel and comic guru Alan Moore is best known for his work on titles such as: V for Vendetta, Batman: The Killing Joke, and Watchmen. Now it looks like Moore is moving onto film as he announced he is working on a short film series currently titled Show Pieces. The project started as a single ten-minute movie, but has since evolved into a ‘multi-layered, multi-episode narrative,’ though little more is known about it.

Seth Grahame-Smith has been tasked with scribing the sequel to Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice 2 wants to just make a sequel for money; they want to make sure it is done right. To do this, Grahame-Smith says he plans on using the character Beetlejuice sparingly, and not overdue him, pointing out Beetlejuice was only in about half an hour of the first movie. The one other thing he noted is it is a real sequel. The amount of time that has passed since the first movie is how much has passed in the story.

A new Mortal Kombat movie is in the making. Little is known about the project except for a short synopsis:

“The live-action reboot will follow a lowly unlucky supermarket employee who discovers that he has out of this world powers and must decide between good and evil, even though the evil side has helped him discover his true potential and who he really is.” – via Nerdbastards

Kevin Tancharoen is signed on to direct the film written by Oren Uziel. The story sounds a bit vague, but this reboot can’t be any worse than the first two movies.

by Bob Suicide

If you haven’t finished the game stop reading now…unless you’re like me and you don’t mind a spoiler here and there. Although, with the amount of news surrounding the Mass Effect 3 ending, I can’t imagine the size of the rock you’d have to live under to avoid spoiling it. But, if you haven’t seen the new DLC, don’t worry I’m not going to give anything away. It’s a free download. So, I recommend taking a peek if you’ve finished ME3. Even if you hate it, you can just delete it from your hard drive. A word of warning though, just like the original ending, you can’t delete it from your brain.

In case you missed it, here is my review of the original ending to ME 3*:

Unfortunately, the new download doesn’t change the ending in any major way, it merely adds more dialogue to it in the hopes that it will “explain” it more. Herein lies the problem: sure the ending sucked and the cut scene was pretty lame, but the real issue isn’t the “unanswered questions” – it’s the game play and the overall storyline.

As a stand-alone vignette, the ending cut scene was “fine.” I don’t care that Shepard died. I don’t care that I didn’t get to see what happened to Joker and EDI. I don’t even worry about what the universe is going to do now that the mass relays are destroyed. They’ll figure it out. There are TONS of franchises out there than have open-ended endings that allow the viewer to imagine the real conclusion to the story. And, not all of them are as bad as the ending to The Sopranos. Remember how Milo and Otis just walked off into the wild blue yonder. Well half of you imagined them making it back to the farm and the other half imagined aliens beaming down and a mutant bear attacking…both are fine endings. And, therein lies the joy of a properly structured open-ended ending.

The problem lies in the whole structure of the final mission. It’s a complete departure from the complex character interaction and unique choice model found throughout the rest of the series.

For some reason, I really thought the download would include a change in the final mission’s gameplay. I’m not sure if I read that somewhere, it’s more likely that I just imagined that all my prayers would be answered. ‘Cause, honestly, that’s the only way it would fix it for me. That’s where they dropped the ball.

But, the lack of a change in gameplay highlights just what we’ve come to expect from what was recently voted the worst company in the US by Consumerist readers. I wholeheartedly support placing the blame on the shoulders of game publishers EA. Honestly, you can blame them for anything bad that happens this year. It makes life SO much easier.

This is EA’s fix. It’s like putting a Band Aid on a gangrenous wound.

You still lost the leg.

You’ll never get those hours of game play back. You’re still left with the feeling that the choices you made didn’t matter and all of the wonderful gaming experience built up by 1 and 2 was dashed in a second by some star child’s really shitty logic. Logic, which includes pears of exposition like, “You wouldn’t know them.” Thanks.

But, at the end of the day, the download is better than the original ending. Something is better than nothing. And, Canadian developers BioWare should be lauded for their ability to listen and respond to the fans in a way that no other company has dared to do. Dragon Age 2 aside, they’ve been at the forefront of game development; churning out some of top games and revolutionizing the gaming experience. Combining that with the unique desire to please their fanbase – a desire typically only found on Kickstarter these days – makes this a company I want to love and support.

They’ve provided a compromise and they did it for free. BioWare has opened a door and hopefully, other developers will dare to walk through it. For the amount of testing and surveying that goes on before launch, hopefully BioWare has set a precedent for continued feedback after launch.

So, in the hopes for this new future, I’ll take what I can get. I’ll love this new download for what it is and what I hope it’ll be: a game-changing (pun-intended) step toward a new dynamic between developer and gamer. I’ll appreciate that complaints were heard and an unprecedented attempt to change was made. I’ll love my fellow gamers for speaking up and taking a passionate stand about the level of quality we expect and deserve!

After all, if we can combine all organic and synthetic life, we can certainly find a way to get along.

*If you don’t want to take my word re the ME3 ending, take Hitlers:

[..]

by Bob Suicide

E3 came and went with none of the real excitement that we’re used to. No new consoles, most of the major franchises were absent, nothing to really look forward to. Don’t get me wrong, there were several games that looked promising. But, with many of these announcements, looks can be deceiving…

I know I sound cynical and, to be honest, I really AM cynical. But it’s not my fault. I blame the marketing departments of every game I’ve ever been excited about but ultimately let down by when it fails to meet the advertised expectations. Now, I know that’s a pretty long list of people to shake my fist at, but stick with me, I promise this will make sense.

I’m tired of the bait-and-switch that occurs between the premiere teaser trailer announcement and the actual delivery of the game. I’m tried of getting excited about a game that looks awesome but which turns out to be a mindless button masher with terrible graphics or something that’s been rushed through to retail that has terrible development bugs.

For example, let’s look at Dead Island, which was developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. It’s not to say it wasn’t a good game, but it retains little of what’s depicted in the teaser video short beyond the fact that there is an island and the people on it happen to be dead — and zombies. What Techland created was a great game open-world, action-rpg that answered gamers’ first-person prayers when Dead Rising couldn’t. But, Deep Silver’s Dead Island announcement trailer was moving, gritty, and harrowing; a vignette into the human drama of a no-win situation.

And, while Deep Silver said the trailer was supposed to capture the game’s “solemn tone and setting,” I definitely didn’t get any sense of the gravity of the situation that was evident in the trailer while playing the game. But, I’m sure everyone was feeling that deep solemnity when they found porno-zombie Nenja Samejon.

With Dead Island I basically got excited over a game that doesn’t exist. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the game they made, but I’m still waiting for a game I’ll never get.

While the Deep Silver trailer was a major marketing success – inspiring people to deconstruct, reconstruct, post and repost it, resulting in a large amount of media buzz –– it ultimately did just as much to alienate a core base of gamers like me who felt cheated. Some even went so far as to call it “false advertising.” And, at this point, I’m not inclined to disagree.

So, when I see an announcement like Beyond: Two Souls, I’m tentatively excited. I loved Quantic Dream’s earlier Heavy Rain. It was a wonderful new and innovative gaming experience. I yelled and raged for a sequel until my voice was hoarse. And, from the looks of the trailer, Beyond: Two Souls appears to be the kind of quality gaming experience that I’ve come to know, obsess about, and expect from the Parisian developers.

But, rather disappointingly, the announcement trailer didn’t show any real action on the part of the main character. It didn’t show any emotionally moving moments that were so important in Heavy Rain and in Deep Silver’s Dead Island trailer, and it didn’t show any important dialogue to properly showcase the actor’s abilities (unless you count the eff word).

Does this mean the more emotionally-charged aspects of the game are not worth displaying because they’re not on-par? ‘Cause it’s evident from the Deep Silver trailer that emotionally agonizing is marketing gold. Why wouldn’t Quantic Dream founder and Beyond: Two Souls creator David Cage use any of that in the E3 preview? He said the game was “about death…separation…[and] mourning.” Set it to melancholy music and you’ve got the Dead Island announcement trailer –– but with the gamplay to back it up!

So, is this another bait-and-switch? I don’t want to get my hopes up – I’ve been burned before.

[..]

by A.J. Focht

Critics across the UK have taken a swing at the web swinger. Amazing Spider-Man is meeting mixed reviews across the pond. While some are calling it good, but not up to the standards of The Avengers, others are saying it was boring and underwhelming. The first review out of Belgium raved about how great Andrew Garfield was as Peter Parker. The others don’t quite agree, many saying he’s lost the classic Peter Parker sarcasm and wit.

A new television spot for The Dark Knight Rises has been released. There are some new clips in the trailer, but the high point is definitely the footage featuring the BatJet. The Dark Knight Rises is the last big superhero movie release of the summer. It hits theaters on July 20, but presale tickets are available now.

Early last week, gossip about Josh Hartnet being cast as Matt Murdock in the Daredevil reboot swarmed the internet. Director David Slade quickly squashed these rumors. He tweeted that not only was Hartnet not taking the part, but that they aren’t at the casting phase for the movie. During his tweets, he also announced that there are no intentions for the movie to be in 3D.

Nerds everywhere can relax. Paramount Pictures has pulled the plug on Michael Bay’s Ninja Turtles. It looks like there will be no alien turtles from space, nor worries that the turtles won’t be teenagers. Although, another source says the movie has only been pushed back ten weeks.

Can the Time Lord live forever? Matt Smith hopes so. In a recent interview, he said he’d be interested in playing the part of the Eleventh Doctor forever, or as long as possible. No one knows when the Doctor number twelve’s time will come, but Smith hopes to stay in the TARDIS until the end of time.

During recent interviews, Chris Pine and Alex Kurtzman talked more about the upcoming Star Trek 2. Kurtzman spoke about the villain in the film, assuring fans that he was a scary badass that threatens to steal the show. Where the first Star Trek was about the crew’s relationships, Star Trek 2 will focus on the villain and how the crew has to work together to defeat him. It was also confirmed the film is being shot in IMAX.

If you can’t wait for Star Trek 2 for your fix of Enterprise-bourne action, you can look forward to the new Star Trek: The Next Generation comic. Entitled Hive, it will debut in September 2012 and will feature Picard and his crew fighting against the Borg who have assimilated the entire galaxy.

by A.J. Focht

The Avengers has steadily been slipping in the box office, but Marvel has one last trick up their sleeves to try and capture the box office crown from James Cameron. It intends to rerelease The Avengers Director’s Cut at the end of the summer with over 30 minutes of new footage. Avengers is currently $200 million short of Avatar’s record, and the release of the director’s cut might be enough to help The Avengers close the gap.

With three weeks until the Amazing Spider-Man swings into theaters, Sony has released three new television spot trailers. There isn’t much new footage to be seen. In fact, these trailers are more like teaser trailers compared to the most recent previews. The Amazing Spider-Man premiers on July 3rd on IMAX 3D, 3D, and 2D.

Avi Arad and Mathew Tolmach, the producers of the upcoming Venom movie, intend to tie Venom into the Amazing Spider-Man. Aspiring to go even further, they hope to take steps to crossover the Spider-Man properties owned by Sony and the movie properties owned by Disney, such as The Avengers. Despite the movie rights being owned by different companies, Tolmach said he hopes all of the movie worlds can live together in peace one day. Chronicle director, Josh Trank, is currently rumored to be directing the Venom project.

The leaks from the Iron Man 3 set of pictures of the Iron Patriot suit are causing even more rumors online this week. The newest theory is that we are not seeing Iron Patriot, but a patriotic painted version of the War Machine suit. For everyone already getting in a huff about the Caucasian actor in the pictures that was clearly not Don Cheadle who plays the War Machine pilot Rhodey, the claim is that he was the stunt double. For now this is just further speculation on what the red, white, and blue Iron Man suit was.

There may be a new addition to the cast of Thor 2. Josh Dallas, who played Fandral in Thor, can’t return for the sequel due to commitments on Once Upon a Time. Marvel Studios is now looking to fill the part with Chuck actor, Zachary Levi. Thor 2 is currently scheduled for release in 2013.

Superman’s suits from Man of Steel have finally been revealed. There are multiple different suits shown, but only one that looks like the traditional Superman suit. Two of the other suits are assumed to be worn by Jor-El and Faora. Man of Steel is set to release June 14, 2013.

Another new trailer has been released for the television series Arrow. The trailer explores Arrow’s (he officially doesn’t call himself Green Arrow in the show) vendetta and the forces working against him. The most interesting thing is a shot that lasts less than a second that resembles Deathstrokes mask. Could the trailer be hinting at the series main villain?

To celebrate the success of the New 52, DC comics is releasing #0 issues for all of the New 52 still running this September. Each comic is getting a #0 issue for their one year anniversary. The comics picked up in May are also getting #0 issues, as well as a few new comics. Of the new comics, the most intriguing is Talon which starts on issue #0.

World War Z has finished shooting, but now they are talking rewrites. Damon Lindelof has been called in to try and save the movie. The new shooting is set to take place in September and October so the clock is ticking.

Speaking of Lindelof, in a recent interview with Trekmovie.com, Damon Lindelof talked about Star Trek 2 and the future of the series. He announced plans for the film to be shot in IMAX 3D. Lindelof also mentioned that the production team is already thinking about a third movie in the series.

Wreck-It Ralph is an upcoming Disney animated movie about a video game villain. While you have to wait until November 2nd to catch the film in theaters, you can play the game now. To help make everyone familiar with Ralph, the studio has released a playable 8-bit game.

Stephen King’s novel It has been picked up by Warner Bros. The studio has decided two split It into two movies to capture the entire story. Although, I doubt they are intending to bring Tim Curry back to reprise to roll of Pennywise from the ‘90s miniseries.

by A.J. Focht

Microsoft kicked off the major E3 conferences on Monday morning. They started the show off with a bang, introducing the next game in the Xbox flagship series Halo 4. It focuses once again on Master Chief and is full of your favorite past enemies as well as an exciting new threat. Following the Halo 4 debut, was news of the next game in the Splinter Cell series, Blacklist. A handful of other sequels were featured, including: Resident Evil 6, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Gears of War: Judgment, and a new addition to the Tomb Raider series. There were a few new titles showcased as well, the most impressive of which was the new South Park game where the player creates a character and joins the gang in an episode.

Microsoft also showed off the new Microsoft Smart Glass, which is an application that will work with Windows 8, and Windows Phones and tablets. The smart glass can link with the Xbox to enhance the in game experience. Smart Glass has multiple applications, among other things, it allows the wireless device to double as a controller or an interface to look up outside information on the game without having to exit it.

Two game developers had large press conferences that were streamed live, EA Games and Ubisoft. EA showed several expected follow-ups including: FIFA 13, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and a new Sim City. E3 also announced they acquired the rights to future UFC games. Ubisoft took things in a different direction. They introduced one new IP called Watch Dogs. They also touched on Assassin’s Creed III and future games for the Wii U.

Sony had several announcements at this year’s E3. The electronics giant displayed the latest addition to the PS3 lineup, Beyond Two Souls, the enticing tale of a girl who speaks to ghosts. They also introduced another new IP called All-Stars Battle Royale, Sony’s version of Super Smash Bros. All-Stars will feature characters such as Kratos, Sweet Tooth, Sly Cooper, and Big Daddy. After talking about the future of the Vita and the new Play Station Plus subscription service that will offer members discounts and other perks, Sony closed with their two most keenly awaited titles: God of War Ascension and The Last of Us.

Nintendo held two separate press conferences. The main one was used to show off the Nintendo Wii U. There are several new game properties making their way to the device such as Pikmin 3 and New Super Mario Bros U. The new Nintendo IP for the Wii U is Nintendo Land, a theme park based game that offers mini-games based on your favorite Nintendo characters. A few third party games were revealed as well including Mass Effect 3 and Ninja Gaiden 3.

The second conference Nintendo held was focused on the 3DS. There were many games featured, starting with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. Many new games for classic Nintendo titles were displayed as well, including: Luigi’s Mansion 2, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Paper Mario Sticker Star, and more information about Pokemon Black and White 2 was also divulged.

Many other games were showed off during the conference as well. One of the most talked about games at E3 has been Injustice: Gods Among Us, which pits DC heroes against each other in an all-out fighting game. Bethesda also released the first teaser trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online.