by A.J. Focht

Step aside Doctor Strange, Marvel announced their next big secret project is Guardians of the Galaxy. Marvel is expected to make it official this week at Comic Con. The Guardians of the Galaxy are an interstellar team that protects the galaxy. Originally sources were saying the release date would by May 15, 2014. But most recent reports say the release was pushed back a few months to August 1, 2014.

Marvel may have announced Guardians of the Galaxy, but that doesn’t mean they have given up on Ant-Man. Rumor is that Edgar Wright has directed a test reel that will be previewed at Comic Con. Next week, we’ll know if this is true or not, and we’ll know more about where the Ant-Man project really stands.

New concept art for Iron-Man 3 suggests that the Extremis storyline will be a major part of the movie. Extremis was a storyline in which Iron-Man makes himself into the weapon by fusing the suit into himself. Iron-Man 3 is scheduled for release May 3, 2013. Disney and Marvel have released the title previews for all their upcoming sequels, Hulk didn’t make the cut.

Just over a year ago, DC Comics announced their major comic reboot, The New 52. Now it is Marvel’s turn as they launch Marvel NOW – but don’t call it a reboot. Marvel is avidly fighting off the word, even though they will be launching several comic titles at #1 starting in October, often several each week. The main comic heroes are also going to be getting new costumes. So far Marvel has announced three comics: Uncanny Avengers, All New X-Men, and Avengers. But remember, it’s not a reboot. Marvel will also bring Jean Grey back via time travel.

Entertainment Weekly has released their Comic Con preview, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey took the cover. There were also several new preview pictures in the magazine. The film is released on December 14th this year.

The long awaited Ghostbusters sequel is still in the works. Ghostbusters 3 once again has a new writing staff. The project has been in process for quite a while now, and this is the third time I’ve heard about a new writing team, so who knows where the project really stands.

The writing and directing genius behind The Fifth Element Luc Besson is stepping back into the science fiction arena. Besson is working on an adventure about a time travelling secret agent. The internet is labeling the project as a cross between James Bond and Doctor Who which sounds about right.

While Community creator Dan Harmon won’t be on board next season, the full cast is confirmed as returning. The thirteen episode Community season is set to start on October 13.

Titan Magazine and Skybound have announced the launch of The Walking Dead, The Official Magazine. The publication will be based off the comic series, graphic novels, and the AMC television series. The first issues comes out on October 23rd, and will feature 100 pages of Walking Dead news, access, and scoops.

by Damon Martin

On Wednesday, scientists in Geneva, Switzerland revealed they’d found the elusive Higgs boson particle.Two different groups of physicists at CERN, who independently carry out research at the world’s largest hadron collider announced their findings during a press conference on Wednesday, which appears to confirm the existence of the particle which was first theorized nearly 50 years ago.

CERN physicist John Ellis put forth a simple analogy to explain why the Higgs boson is so important. He explained it’s like looking at the universe as if it were a giant snow field. In the universe, particles zip around at the speed of light with nothing to slow them down, kind of like a skier would do on a field of snow. But as physicists have theorized for the last 48 years, moments after the Big Bang occurred a ‘Higgs field’ was created as well that served as a way to slow down these separate particles giving them mass that allowed them to combine into atoms and eventually the building blocks of our world. Going back to the snowfield analogy, if skiers can skip along the top of the snow without slowing down there are also people that would have snowshoes on that would move through the snow but at a much slower speed. Then there are people that just have boots on that move even slower in the snow. The snow in this case is the Higgs field slowing down different particles so they can gain mass and combine into matter. Now if you drill down a snowfield into each individual snowflake, that’s what the Higgs-boson particles would be. An individual particle that forms as a whole to give mass to objects.

Evidence of the Higgs boson particle was found by physicists working on two separate teams, ATLAS and CMS, who worked completely independently of each other to study the results found from experiments conducted in the hadron collider. Thought their studies were done autonomously, their results were shockingly similar. Both teams announced discoveries that were drilled down to comparable levels of accuracy.

In the scientific world the rate at which they are certain of their discovery is on something called a sigma scale. On the low end of the sigma scale, a one or a two is seen as inconclusive data, a three counts as an official ‘observation’, and a five sigma is the signal of an official discovery. A five sigma amounts to less than one in million chance that scientists are wrong. The ATLAS team at CERN announced their findings at a 5 sigma, while the CMS team came back with a 4.9 sigma, slightly less but still overwhelming evidence in support of the Higgs-boson discovery.

In the room on Wednesday was 83-year old physicist Peter Higgs, who first theorized the Higgs-boson particle back in 1964. He celebrated the new along with his fellow scientists. “I am astounded at the amazing speed with which these results have emerged. They are a testament to the expertise of the researchers and the elaborate technologies in place,” said Higgs. “I never expected this to happen in my lifetime and shall be asking my family to put some champagne in the fridge.”

The discovery of the Higgs-boson particle by the teams working at CERN will likely seal the deal that Higgs himself will receive a long-awaited Nobel prize.

Now that scientists have confirmed the existence of the long theorized particle, the work can really begin on determining how our universe was formed. “Now the emphasis will shift to verifying the properties of the particle that has been discovered: does it have spin zero? Does it couple to other particles proportional to their masses?,” said John Ellis, who works at CERN. “The discovery will open up a new era in particle physics, as we look for deviations from the properties expected in the Standard Model, and for other physics beyond the Standard Model that might be connected, such as the nature of dark matter.”

The Standard Model is what physicists have used for decades to theorize and explain how our universe was created. What was once theory now moves into the realm of fact. Work will continue at CERN’s collider until it is shut down later this year, so that improvements on the facility can be completed, allowing atoms to be smashed with more energy at greater rate.

by Blogbot

This year for Comic Con we’re cooking up an extra-special cosplay wardrobe, with a little help from clothing manufacturer and retailer American Apparel, pop-culture designers and event planners Bubble Punch, and our fave Sunset Strip geek emporium, Meltdown Comics.

Comic chic chicks Chubby Bunny and Yume Ninja of Bubble Punch have designed three different sexy cosplay themed outfits for our ladies to wear while they man our Comic-Con booth. Each of the outfits was made using basics available at your local American Apparel store.

Above is the second in our series of three cosplay videos. This one is a tutorial showing you how to recreate the Battle Royale outfits our ladies will be kicking ass in at Comic Con. The costumes are modeled on those featured in the Japanese film adaption of Koushun Takami’s novel, which was directed by Kinji Fukasaku.

You can view our first video, which shows you how to replicate our Stormtrooper costumes here. Stay tuned for the third and final installment.

The costumes will be debuted live at a special pre-Comic Con party to be held at Meltdown Comics on July 7th (starting at 7 PM).

To RSVP for SuicideGirls Pre-Comic Con Party visit our Facebook event page.

You can also catch our ladies in their cosplay outfits at booth #1730 of Comic Con San Diego 2012. If you’re planning on attending the convention on more than one day, be sure to come back and visit us again, since our team of sexy booth girls will be cosplaying new outfits each day!

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Cosplay With SuicideGirls At A Pre-Comic Con Party At Meltdown
SuicideGirls Team With Bubble Punch And Meltdown To Transform American Apparel Basics Into Sexy Cosplay Outfits For SG’s Comic-Con Crew
Dirty Laundry: Cosplay 4 Comic Con

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 Blogbot

This year for Comic Con we’re cooking up an extra-special cosplay wardrobe, with a little help from clothing manufacturer and retailer American Apparel, pop-culture designers and event planners Bubble Punch, and our fave Sunset Strip geek emporium, Meltdown Comics.

Comic chic chicks Chubby Bunny and Yume Ninja of Bubble Punch have designed three different sexy cosplay themed outfits for our ladies to wear while they man our Comic-Con booth. Each of the outfits was made using basics available at your local American Apparel store. The ladies at bubble punch have shot a series of “How To” videos with Milloux and Ackley Suicide, the first of which, showcasing our Stormtrooper outfits can be seen above.

Watch this space for two more videos in our “How To” Comic Con cosplay series.

The costumes will be debuted live at a special pre-Comic Con party to be held at Meltdown Comics on July 7th (starting at 7 PM).

To RSVP for SuicideGirls Pre-Comic Con Party visit our Facebook event page.

You can also catch our ladies in their cosplay outfits at booth #1730 of Comic Con San Diego 2012. If you’re planning on attending the convention on more than one day, be sure to come back and visit us again, since our team of sexy booth girls will be cosplaying new outfits each day!

Related Posts:
Cosplay With SuicideGirls At A Pre-Comic Con Party At Meltdown
SuicideGirls Team With Bubble Punch And Meltdown To Transform American Apparel Basics Into Sexy Cosplay Outfits For SG’s Comic-Con Crew
Dirty Laundry: Cosplay 4 Comic Con

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.

[..]