Most Recent: Etcetera

Daily Scoop: February 2, 2011 – I love t-shirts

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Nicole Kline

It’s no secret that I have a pretty serious t-shirt addiction. I had a lot of t-shirts before my first PAX, and now, four PAXes later, I’ve got another 50 – and that’s just the free ones. E3 wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I still got a handful of shirts there, too. No matter what the vessel, this addiction has been getting fed pretty regularly.

Anyway, writing this Daily Scoop has done nothing to curb it – if anything, it’s made it horribly difficult to stop myself from buying these shirts every day. This one from Tee Fury is certainly not helping:

I mean, really. Just look at that. I feel like some days, these daily t-shirt sites are singing songs to me, asking me to show them what love is.

That’s all for now. Oh wait, it’s not. Go read my review of Dead Space 2!

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Ico novel, Castle of the Mist, finally coming to America

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Ico fans rejoice: Miyuki Miyabe’s Ico novel, Castle of the Mist, is at last being translated into English and is coming to America July 19th, according to Anime News Network (although the publisher’s website actually says on or around August 16th). According to the blurb, “Based on the video game filmmaker Guillemo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) called a ‘masterpiece,’ Japan’s leading fantasist Miyuki Miyabe has crafted a tale of magic, loss, and love that will never be forgotten.” Miyabe is known in America for her novel Brave Story, which was made into an animated film, manga series, and several video games.

Wow. Just. Seriously. I am nearly speechless. Two years ago I read – and re-read – and re-read again – the first two chapters of this novel. I found a fanslation somewhere on the Internet and inhaled it over and over, eager for more Ico. Like the game, it’s charming and haunting, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the story. For those of you who haven’t played the game yet, you’re in luck – the game will be re-released in HD and full 3D with Shadow of the Colossus on March 31. I’ve been having sweet dreams of sitting with Yorda on the couch, with that delightful music playing in the background. In the meantime, I’m still playing LittleBigPlanet 2 as Ico, and I’ve been listening to the soundtrack. I’m trying to be patient. Really.

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Daily Scoop: February 1, 2011 – When it rains, it pours

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Nicole Kline

So it’s been slim pickings lately, but today…TODAY!!…it’s really exploding. There’s a lot going on! Not to mention it’s finally February, which means it’s one step closer to saying goodbye to this bipolar winter. Woo!

Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 for the Wii. It’s just $9.99 today from $19.99, so if you don’t have a copy, you don’t really have any excuse not to pick this up. My excuses are that I’m broke and already have a billion games I need to play. But really, are those such good excuses?

In the t-shirt world, we have a lot going on. Today’s Tee Fury t-shirt is one of those “Coexist” shirts, but each letter is from something famous in science fiction or fantasy. I don’t know if those two things will ever have equal footing, though. It reminds me of Thinkgeek’s Coexist shirt, which uses letters in fonts from several different major console brand names.

But the proverbial cake is taken by shirt.w00t.com today, because seriously, there’s so much awesome I might just be forced to buy this. It is pure brilliance.

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Kevin Tancharoen talks Mortal Kombat: Rebirth

Posted on January 31, 2011 by John Scalzo

Director Kevin Tancharoen recently sat down with Gamasutra and revealed that his awesome Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short film caught the public’s attention by accident.

“I am not the most technically savvy YouTube person. What came out wasn’t the final product in my mind. I wasn’t done yet,” he told the industry blog. “It was still in its rough phase, but I couldn’t send a 2GB file over email, so my friend said I could create a private page on YouTube and sent it to him to review. It turns out it wasn’t that private.”

The interview also confirms that the web series will be spread out over nine episodes, instead of the previously announced ten, and that they will be between seven and ten minutes long (totalling a feature length running time of 63-90 minutes). All of the actors from Rebirth are currently in negotations to reprise their roles including Michael Jai White (Jax), Jeri Ryan (Sonya Blade) and Ian Anthony Dale (Scorpion).

Tancharoen is not alone in building the Rebirth universe as Mortal Kombat creator Ed Book is working very closely with the director. “We’re working together hand in hand, Tancharoen said. “I’ve got to admit, I had a little fanboy geek moment when I met him. I flashed back to when I was 12 or 13 and played the first game and was obsessed with it. He was very, very happy with the short. He knows it took liberties with the universe of Mortal Kombat, but was okay with that. It blows my mind.”

Filming on Mortal Kombat: Rebirth will begin in February with a “Spring” release planned on digital download services.

Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Mega Man Gigamix Vol. 1 manga coming to North America 5/4/2011

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Hitoshi Ariga, whose last Mega Man manga just released in English after ten years, will be returning to the universe of the blue bomber to bring an all new series. Published by Udon, the first volume of the all new Mega Man Gigamix will see North American shelves on May 4, 2011, promising to be “the greatest Mega Man story ever!” The full series will feature every robot master and nearly every character from the original eight Mega Man games, coming in at over 600 pages total. The first volume features Mega Man heading out into space and facing the robot masters from Mega Man 3.

I’ve always been a huge fan of the lore behind the Mega Man games, especially in the more story-driven series like Mega Man X and Legends. You can find more information on the upcoming Mega Man Gigamix on Udon’s blog.

Posted in Etcetera, News |

Heavy Rain movie announced

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

David Milch, creator and producer of shows like “NYPD Blue” and “Deadwood”, has signed on to adapt Heavy Rain into a film. Bob Shay and Michael Lynne, who purchased the film rights last May, are set to produce under their Unique Features company, through a deal with Warner Bros. Shay commented “David Milch’s incredible ability to transform intense and complex storylines into gripping, popular drama makes him the perfect partner for us to have on Heavy Rain.” Milch will begin writing the script soon after his team finishes up working on the first season of “Luck,” a new HBO series.

Heavy Rain was notable last year for telling a more mature story than most games are used to, without relying on gratuitous elements like killing 1,000 henchmen over the course of ten hours. From the beginning, creator David Cage stated his aim was to make the rest of the entertainment world take games more seriously. Having big names on the project for the film version, you could argue Cage did just that. Unfortunately, Prince of Persia also had great talent attached to it and was still poorly received. Heavy Rain was one of the most experimental big-budget games over the last few years, so let’s hope this one doesn’t get messed up.

Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3 | Tagged

Call of Duty: Black Ops – Zombies Soundtrack available now

Posted on January 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

Say what you want about Call of Duty: Black Ops, but the game has a great soundtrack. So great that Activision has released a soundtrack of songs from the Zombies Mode on Amazon, iTunes,the Zune Marketplace and other digital retailers.

Titled Call of Duty: Black Ops – Zombies Soundtrack, the album includes 17 tracks of undead-themed tunes. Each track can be downloaded separately for 99 cents each with the whole album priced at $11.99.

Thirty-second samples of each track are available at Amazon.

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New Resistance novel coming; Resistance 2 spoilers unavoidable

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Nicole Kline

In case you hadn’t already had the ending of Resistance 2 spoiled for you in every single description of Resistance 3, I’m going to spoil it for you right now. Nathan Hale is dead. Now that it’s out of the way, I can tell you about Resistance: A Hole in the Sky, which fills in the gaps in the story between the end of the second game and the beginning of the third game. The book, written by William C. Dietz (who you may remember from Resistance: The Gathering Storm), will detail what Joseph Capelli was up to before the start of the third game’s story, and it will be released this summer, giving you plenty of time to read it before the game launches.

Speaking of the game, according to the PlayStation Blog, Insomniac Games is hard at work on both Resistance 3 and Ratchet and Clank All 4 One. There’s an upcoming media demo in London followed by GDC in San Francisco. There will also be screenshots, gameplay video, and…get this…some hands-on time for the press. I’ll be jealously covering it from the East Coast.

Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3 | Tagged ,