Some Changes to the Formula on a Few Fronts...

  Yeah, yeah - it's been a while since I posted here, but that's because (duh!), I'm posting HERE these days. I'm keeping this old site up for a bit, as I still need to complete a MAJOR reworking of posts on the newer DAF site.
Hopefully you're clicking that link above and getting what you need there. Additionally, I've just started writing for GamerFit Nation as of last week, so my workload has kicked up a bit (a good thing). Between that and some dips and bumps in the road, the last month has been a bit nuts in terms of other stuff. I'm going to be needing a new computer at the home office (both my older ones have more or less kicked their respective buckets), a better phone (nothing wrong with my old one, but it'll be easier to communicate with the folks at GF) and it looks like a tablet of some sort is in the "buy me!" stage thanks to a few upcoming games I'll need to snap up.

All that stuff is going to dent my finances pretty hard (bleh), as I prefer buying outright over owning some bank and overpaying through interest down the road. But I'll keep you in suspense here because you can read about some of that stuff where you SHOULD, ha!. Okay, back to updating the other site and whipping out some posts on a lousy and rainy Saturday...

And Today's Moral Is...

Just because Bin Laden is kaput* doesn't mean THIS game SUDDENLY gets any better with age. Still, I bet it rises in value a bit on eBay from those sellers that have actually played it and know what it is (that mix of crude capitalism and cathartic revenge fantasies always seems to find its niche, huh?)...

*(Amusingly enough, I was looking for an empty poster tube and found a target poster with his mug on it sent out by Encore to promote the game. I'd give it away, but like the game, it's something that's quite a bizarre part of my collection. I'll send a scan of a photo to anyone who wants one...)

News: Disney Buys Marvel (*yawn*) And Why You Should Just Go About Your Regularly Scheduled Lives...

I was taking a few days off for some personal stuff, but given all the "Hulk Smash!" *rage* I've seen and heard about this, I'm back today for this one post. I'll resume regular updates on Wednesday.



First of all, folks: Disney more likely than not isn't going to interfere in any MAJOR print successes Marvel is currently having. Why mess with censoring any part of the publishing arm that's financially successful (and lose massive sales in the process)? If things get to that point, the sales figures will show and Disney will have to let Marvel continue to create the books their way. Unless of course, this is some sort of cosmic justice at work toward Marvel's mistreatment of Jack Kirby and other artists in the "distant" past many of today's comics fans have little to no idea about. Update: although given some of the artwork I've been seeing online since the announcement, a lot of folks are probably giving Disney some ideas the artists who drew up these pieces might regret...

What will happen with the comics? Who really knows? Perhaps we'll see a new Disney comics line geared toward a younger user base joining Marvel's current lineup. Or maybe some interestingly wacky one-shot Disney/Marvel crossovers will come from Marvel writer/artist teams who happen to be longtime fans of the House that Mouse Built. Either way, both companies would be completely insane NOT to capitalize on each others' strengths and wealth of popular licensed characters by working on a unique property or three. That's just a smart business and creative decision, whether you understand it or not. You'll get this by the end of this post. Besides, doesn't anyone know who Carl Barks was? Geez.

By the way: "Sold" doesn't mean "slavery," period*. In the end, it's both Disney and Marvel who will decide what they want to do with their properties and YOU the fans who'll decide with their wallets if whatever projects that come out of this deal are worth your hard earned money. If I'm somehow wrong here and Disney pushes Marvel around enough by trying to force some sort of family-friendly agenda onto the more mature books, you'll see creative folks hoofing it out the doors double time in short order. With stories to tell, NDA's or not...

Second, the movies: Some will get made, some won't get made as soon as you want them to and some may not get made at all. Who cares, really? Are you absolutely going to miss another crappy Punisher or Fantastic Four movie or cry a river into your bunched-up Underoos that Thor won't get a second chance at life? His first outing stank, by the way.

(No, that's not Tim Conway grinning at you in that pic on the right...)

Nope, I didn't think so. Given that there's a substantial enough segment of Marvel's hardcore fan base that dislikes the filmed versions of their comics for any number of reasons, that crowd should feel a bit more secure knowing so much money isn't being lost on more properties. Most of which go into theaters for too brief a time period and then straight to video in about what, six months? Besides, the hundreds of millions of dollars they save on NOT making and marketing every hot (or not so hot) property into a movie can go toward making better games based on the comics rather than games based on highly altered versions of the source material (that too often end up not being anywhere near as fun as reading the books they were derived from in the first place *whew!*).

Third, to those whining endlessly about the "Death of Marvel Comics!" and/or hanging off ledges threatening to leap off regarding any potential Marvel/Disney character crossovers or Marvel going 'Kiddy' all of a sudden. Either jump now (please, thank you!) or take your marble and go home. You're obviously not old enough to remember Spider-Man literally hanging out on The Electric Company on PBS from 1974 to 1977, Marvel's own Spidey Super Stories comics and hell, pretty much every Marvel animated series that was watered down GREATLY from the source material and made for your little brothers and sisters (or YOU, if you go back that far).

Oh, and two more words to the fools going off the deep end about the Disney thing and any possible collaborations ending up as junk:

KINGDOM. HEARTS. *Boom!* goes the dynamite, as no one says. Like it or not, Square Enix and Disney teamed up and produced two successfully spectacular PlayStation 2 games, a Game Boy Advance game and seven other current or upcoming titles using many characters from both companies in a really fun crossover series where everyone's personalities and differing visual styles remained intact. Now, I'm not at all suggesting or speculating there's going to be a Disney/Marvel game down the road. I'm simply pointing out the fact that the needless fears about Marvel going down the toilet thanks to this buyout are unfounded at best and insanity deluxe at worst.

Hell, someone HAS to be the voice of reason here, right?

Excelsior!

*That sentence above might be seen as controversial to some (puh-leeze). However, after hearing some of the ridiculous end of the world bile spewed about both Marvel and Disney from folks acting as if they'd been"betrayed" by both companies over a simple business survival decision (as if there weren't other, more pressing things in the REAL world to get fussy over), a little reality check is in order. Oh, and please stop threatening not to buy any more Marvel stuff or go near a Disney anything "ever again." If either company suffers any sort of huge "boycott loss" because you're too crazed to wait and see what's going to change, if ANYTHING in the future... well, you're probably a lot dumber that you think THEY are.

At the end of the day... it's comics and cartoons, people - grow up and enjoy life.

Fairytale Fights Headed to PAX. (and You Can Win $100 by Playing It!)

Battle it out for big bucks! Playlogic is giving this year's PAX attendees a chance to play their upcoming PS3/Xbox 360 and PC game, Fairytale Fights AND win a cool $100 gift card in the process. The outrageously hysterical (and hilariously bloody) Unreal 3-engine powered Mature-rated hack 'n slash/platformer hybrid (*whew!*) will be on display at the show (Booth #28) during the show, which takes place in Seattle, Washington and runs from September 4-6, 2009. As if you didn't know THAT info already...

Playlogic will hold a drawing at 2pm each day of the show for the gift cards, so be sure to drop by, play (and enjoy) the game they've been working hard on (as noted here, it's a total blast) and cross your fingers (although, NOT while trying to play the game - that would be dumb). You just might walk away with a a nice little prize... Good luck!

Phantom EFX + PAX = Darkest of Days Free For All

Phantom EFX is bringing its upcoming Xbox 360 and PC time-traveling FPS, Darkest of Days to this year's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), which is being held from September 4-6, 2009. The single-player story driven shooter, which is looking pretty darn cool, features the debut of 8monkey Labs' Marmoset game engine, which can display massive battles with hundreds of active AI participants, destructible environments and in the PC version, full NVDIA PhysX support. Go try the PC demo out, if you don't believe me - it's pretty smokin'...

The company's CEO, Aaron Schurman and some of the 8monkey Labs dev team will be there (Booth #878, by the way) with demo stations for both versions and plan to trick their booth out "like a giant bunker, complete with sand bags and a REAL, FULL SIZED CANNON." Eek - Destroy All Fanboys, indeed. To add to that bit of visual punch, expect to see booth beefcake dressed up as soldiers from the game's different time periods all available for some photo op action. There will also be plenty of giveaways such as Darkest of Days T-shirts, posters, mouse pads, NVIDIA graphics cards and even a chance to win full retail box copies of the game once it ships.

“PAX has rapidly grown into one of the most highly anticipated, respected and well-received trade shows in the industry, and we’re pumped that Darkest of Days will be having such a strong presence there this year,” said Aaron Schurman, CEO of Phantom EFX. “Our booth is going to be ridiculously awesome, and everyone will get a chance to get some quality playing time with DoD.”

Darkest of Days launches on September 8, 2009 for both the Xbox 360 and PC - We'll have more info on the game shortly.

Astro Boy Game Taps Kristen Bell For Voice Cast

Never have friends over when you're trying to work. As I was typing the original version of the above headline, I hear a loud voice from behind me "ASTRO BOY TAPS KRISTEN BELL...?!!" then a big hearty horse laugh. Let's just say someone got a big boot to the ass and ended up on the other side of my front door. Besides, eleven games arrived between this morning and afternoon, so I've a LOT of work to do. *Ahem* - now where was I? Oh yeah: Astro Boy news.

D3Publisher has locked down the main voice talent for its upcoming release, Astro Boy: The Video Game with Kristen Bell as Cora and Freddie Highmore as Astro Boy. The game, based on the upcoming Astro Boy CG movie (itself based on Osamu Tezuka's original characters and concepts) will hit stores on October 20, 2009 for the Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP and Nintendo DS/DSi three days before the film's release. What to expect in this latest High Voltage Software (The Conduit)-developed game? Well, short and to the point was the press release, Butt Machine Guns and all.

("Butt Machine Guns?!" you say? Hey, I grew up watching Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. You gotta love Tezuka's imagination, that's for sure!)

In ASTRO BOY: THE VIDEO GAME, players take control of Astro Boy, a young boy robot with incredible powers and use his entire arsenal of iconic weapons and abilities – Super Strength, Finger Lasers, Arm Cannon, Drill Attack and Butt Machine Guns - to battle hordes of robot enemies and colossal bosses.

Here's the game's cover art:

an assortment of colorful screenshots:

and the E3 trailer (in case you haven't seen it yet).

We'll have more Astro Boy: The Video Game updates as they arrive - stay tuned.

Sony Announces New Slim PS3, Price Cut, Hell Doesn't Freeze Over...

I should'a gone to Cologne, part deux:

SCEA seems ridiculously awful at keeping secrets, what with PSP GO! images being leaked out before E3 and such, but I say it's all good for their bottom line in the end. No matter which side of the console fence you're on, you've got to admit that the final announcement of the new 120GB PS3 Slim (and yup, that's the official logo for the model above) at $299 as well as the price cut on older (and fatter) 80 and 160GB models starting September 1, 2009 is only great news for those consumers waiting for that price drop to finally hit.

I'd add the epic-length press release on the Playstation website here, however it's far too lengthy for even my cut 'n paste antics (notice the link?) and hell, I don't want to seem like a total Sony fanboy (even though I've been all for the company's smart 10-year plan since the PSOne days). On the other hand, I'll be a good blogger and post all the images of the new PS3 Slim below.

My thoughts: Nice and portable. Looks like a fancy laptop mixed with a Trapper Keeper, though. Lacks some features found on launch systems, but has some nifty new ones. Will sell like hotcakes to folks looking for a good Blu-Ray player and a great game console (especially now that a bunch of current and future first-party games are looking mighty sweet).

Should be an innnteresting holiday season, that's for damn sure.

Spiderweb Software Announces Avernum VI

Spiderweb Software has released the first set of screenshots from its upcoming RPG, Avernum VI, the final installment in the long running Avernum saga. The game is in its final phases of development and should be available in November for Macintosh users, while us PC folks will have to wait 'til early 2010 to get our hands on this epic.

While we're waiting (booo!), we can drown our sorrows in Spiderweb's massive, award-winning five-part Geneforge Saga, which is now available on one CD for PC and Mac (Yes!). If your consider yourself a true RPG fan yet have never previously played one of Spiderweb's games, you're in for a real treat. Expect plenty of customization options, simple but lovely sprites on detailed isometric maps, far more original characters and stories than the usual JRPG or me-too PC/console mega-hits and dozens of hours of challenge.

The best part (if all that wasn't great enough): you won't have to upgrade your system in order to enjoy these games!

Here's a look at the world of Avernum VI in these screenshots:

Head on over to Spiderweb's site to check out their other fine RPGs - as an admiring fan of their hard work for a few years now, I can say you won't be sorry you dropped by! Hell, even if for some reason you don't like their games, you can't possibly say "no" to the killer recipes on the site!

Risen Box Art, Voice Cast Unearthed

Did someone ask "Hey, where's the Risen cover art? Well, here you go - in tasty Xbox 360 and PC flavors! Very nice indeed. Looks like Deep Silver's big RPG is also getting some major talent in terms of vocal performances. I'm wiped out from spending all day at the Konami event, so here's the beefy part of the press release all set for your reading pleasure:

Deep Silver Inc., a publisher of interactive entertainment software and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Media, today confirms the A-list voice talent featuring in forthcoming RPG Risen.

One of the busiest actors today, Andy Serkis takes the role of The Inquisitor. Serkis, who has had a long and varied acting career, is best known for his CG character representations Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong in the movie of the same name. Veteran British actor, John Rhys Davies, who has starred in countless blockbuster movies such as Indiana Jones and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, performs as Don Esteban. Movie actress Lena Headey, who played Sarah Connor in Terminator TV spin-off Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles take the role of Patty.

"The quality of the voice casting reflects the quality of the game" stated Paul Nicholls, Sales and Marketing Director, Koch Media UK "with such an amazing lineup of talent from movies and TV, there is a voice everyone will recognize; we will attract a new generation of RPG players to the genre."

Serkis, Rhys-Davies and Headey are joined by a lineup of some of the most recognizable British TV actors; Fincher is played by Torchwood actor Burn Gorman, Larkrise to Candleford star Brendan Coyle takes the role of Commandant Carlos, Damian O'Hare who starred in medical drama The Royal plays Olf. I'm Alan Partridge regular and Star Stories narrator Simon Greenall plays Luis. Oscar is played by Grange Hill actor Donald McCorkindale while fellow Grange Hill actor and Secret Diaries of a Call Girl star Stuart Organ plays Brogar. The Archers actresss, Louiza Patikas represents Sara and Timothy Watson who has starred in countless TV dramas from Eastenders to Casualty takes the role of Romanov.

All the actors were cast and recorded by award winning London agency Side, with voice direction carried out by Andrew S. Walsh.

In addition, here's a batch of great new screens from the game:

Risen is set to hit retail on October 2, 2009 for the PC and Xbox 360. We'll have more updates on the game as they come in.