Trek Villain Not Khan?

Everyone expecting to see Khan in Star Trek 2 had better back off for a second, because a new report indicates that the film might feature an entirely different villain.

While chatting with SFX, Karl Urban -- a.k.a. Dr. McCoy -- said the following about Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the film's heavy: “He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.”

Gary Mitchell?! What?! I'm not joking Lee! (That's a little aside for the Trekkies who are reading.)

Who is Gary Mitchell?

For the non-Trekkies out there, a refresher: Mitchell was a character in the very first Captain Kirk episode of Star Trek. Played by Gary Lockwood, he was a Starfleet officer and close friend of Kirk's who was -- spoilers for an almost half-century old TV episode -- endowed with god-like powers and turned bad. The segment was called "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and it's truly one of the great Star Trek stories.

But here's the thing. Roberto Orci, who co-wrote Star Trek 2, recently named several characters who would not be in the film, and Mitchell was one of them. Additionally, the character recently showed up in the IDW comic which the filmmakers have said ties into the continuity of the films. But would director J.J. Abrams be down with that if Mitchell was the real villain of his movie?

So someone would seem to be misleading us here, but who is it? I hope it is Mitchell rather than Khan, because his relationship with Kirk would make for a great foundation to their inevitable conflict. What do you guys think? Khan or Mitchell? Comment below...

Follow Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN, and subscribe to his Facebook updates.

Source : ign[dot]com

What We Want From Mario on Wii U

Nintendo and Mario go way back. In fact, everyone’s favorite plumber has a long history of defining whatever console he and his “special” mushrooms grace. It all started way back with Super Mario Bros. for NES, but held true for Nintendo’s subsequent console endeavors as well. Super Mario World for SNES. Super Mario 64 for Nintendo 64. Super Mario Sunshine for GameCube. Super Mario Galaxy for Wii. Nintendo’s console history is littered with Mario being super, so it’s no surprise Wii U is set to continue this trend.

Problem is, we couldn’t care less.

This might sound crazy considering how incredible and ground-breaking Mario’s other console adventures have proven, but Nintendo sort of dashed our dreams of an HD Mushroom Kingdom with the confirmation that Mario’s first Wii U venture, set to be shown off at this year’s E3, would be based on the New Super Mario Bros. Mii demo from last year’s show. To be fair, what we played at E3 2011 was simply an early tech demo, one that showed off a handful of New Super Mario-esque levels and let up to four people play as either Mario or Mii characters. But the thought of a full game based on this experience just doesn’t sound good enough. It’s just too easy, too safe, and not at all what we’ve come to expect from Mario’s console debuts.

It’s completely possible Super Mario Bros. Mii (or whatever the game’s final name turns out to be) will exceed our expectations. The actual game might have plenty of new features and hidden secrets to help it stand out. But regardless, as much as we adore side-scrolling Mario platformers, it’s just not what we want for Mario’s Wii U debut. What we want? Well, since you asked…

Wii U Magic

The Wii U’s launch is a huge step for Nintendo. Not only is it the company's first foray into the realm of HD graphics, it also marks the launch of a completely new controller, and thereby a new way of playing and thinking about games. Again, if anyone is in a position to show off what this new system and its tablet controller are capable of, it’s Mario.

While graphics aren’t everything, and are definitely far less important than good gameplay, it makes little sense to squander the world’s first peek at a high definition Mushroom Kingdom. The problem with New Super Mario Bros. Mii is that it doesn’t really matter whether it’s in HD or not - that franchise has looked as good as it ever needed to since the original’s DS debut six years ago. What we want is a dazzling world full of all the magical Mario staples we’ve come to know and love. Show us that graphics don’t need to be realistic to be gorgeous. Show us how the Big N does HD, and leave us salivating over the prospect of seeing other Nintendo franchises in such detail (Zelda, anyone?).

Graphics aren't everything, but it's cool when they're shiny.

The ideal Mario game on Wii U should also make good use of the tablet controller. Just like Mario Galaxy showed us that motion controls could be successfully implemented in a sprawling platformer (who knew?), Mario on Wii U needs to do the same for tablet gaming. In short, Nintendo needs to show the world why it needs this system immediately. We need to understand all the new gameplay applications this new hardware and its controller have to offer.

Huge Scope

Better hardware has more advantages than just shiny graphics - it also allows game developers to create a much grander scope in their games than was previously possible. Just like how Super Mario 64 felt huge and all-encompassing when it first came out (heck, it still feels like that in many ways), Mario for Wii U needs to have a scope like no other Mario game before it.

What does this mean, exactly? It means a large assortment of varied worlds to explore, full of stars to collect and secrets to unearth. We don’t want to see the same snow, desert and water levels that have become the norm - we want them included, but alone they’re not enough. Mario 64 had levels on slides, a level where you were either shrunken down or blown up, and even one inside a clock. We don’t think it’s asking too much to expect the same imaginative and inspired world designs in Mario’s Wii U debut. Sure, this is possible to achieve in a side-scroller (look at Super Mario Bros. 3, for crying out loud), but it would be mind-bendingly incredible if it was successfully executed in a full, three dimensional, HD platformer.

Please, Nintendo. PLEASE let us return to the castle!

And while we’re at it, bring back the damn castle. Add a few extra wings and as many painting as you can manage. It’s been too long since we’ve jumped through a painting and into a world beyond our wildest dreams.

No Miis, Please

We like Miis. We love them, even. In fact, we’ve spent more time than we care to admit making Miis that resemble Bruce Wayne or the various Beatles. (Editor’s Note: Okay, so maybe that last one just applies to me. -Audrey) But seriously, enough is enough. We’re fine with Miis showing up in sports games. We’re fine with them living in our 3DS’s. We’re even fine with Miis being used as avatars in Mario games. But they do belong in the Mushroom Kingdom. It makes absolutely no sense to shove them in and call it a day.

Just say no to Miis in Mario.

In truth, this one is more of a personal preference than anything else. It’s definitely not anything that could make or break a Mario Wii U game, but Miis feel so tacked on and out of place in the Mushroom Kingdom we thought it was worth mentioning. Also, something about seeing a Mii jumping on a Goomba is just... wrong.

Mario’s Future

For all the flack the Mario franchise gets for iterating, most Mario games actually bring a lot of "new" to the table. Take New Super Mario Bros. Wii, for example. A lot of people dismiss the game as a clone of its predecessor, but that's a mistake. It brought some truly innovative updates to the concept of multiplayer platforming and absolutely set the standard for all future examples (we’re looking at you Rayman Origins and Kirby’s Return to Dreamland). Likewise, just compare Super Mario Bros. to Super Mario World, or Mario 64 to Mario Sunshine or Mario Galaxy. They’re all quite distinct, even if many of them share common mechanics and themes (and even if Peach is always the reason behind all the madness).

We expect to see Mario's legacy of innovation continued in his future games, and especially in his console debuts. It’s why the franchise is so memorable, and part of why it’s so very, very successful. Don’t cheapen the plumber's name with an HD debut not befitting his revolutionary history. Mario deserves better. Wii U deserves better. And gamers deserve better.

What do want from Mario's Wii U debut? And are you perturbed by the idea of Miis in the Mushroom Kingdom, or is it just us? Let us know in the comments below!

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/19/what-we-want-from-mario-on-wii-u

Adventure Time Game Coming To Nintendo DS And 3DS Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

It's Adventure Time, everyone! Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d you steal our garbage?!, a game based on the oddly hysterical cartoon from Cartoon Network is coming this fall for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. Described as a “unique action-adventure experience," Adventure Time allows you to put on the shoes of both Finn and Jake and go on an adventure through the Land of Ooo to find out why the Ice King is stealing everyone's trash.

Series creator Pendleton Ward is working with the developer WayForward on the game, and WayForward are really good, so I'll bet we're in for a strange and enlightening DS game.

No word yet on whether Princess Bubblegum, Marceline the Vampire Queen and the great BMO show up in the game, but I can only assume they do.

Also: Adventure Time is totally great.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723595/adventure-time-game-coming-to-nintendo-ds-and-3ds/

Young Justice: "Earthlings" Review

Full superhero sidekick spoilers follow.

O.K. then, everyone who was worried that all the questions raised by last week's five-year time jump would go unanswered can rest easy. For the most part. If "Earthlings," this week's episode of Young Justice, is any indication, the show hasn't completely abandoned these matters.

With the bigger plot business of this season set up last week -- the whole Justice League as galactic outlaws and alien invasion is imminent thing -- we can pause to catch our breath, if only slightly, with a fleshing out of what exactly went wrong between Miss Martian and Superboy during the previous five years.

- Warner Bros./Cartoon Network

The answer: Well, technically we still don't know! But Conner does fill Adam Strange's girlfriend Alanna in -- and by extension, us -- with some vague details. It seems that Superboy was designed to not physically age past his current appearance, and as Alanna notes, a shapeshifter could be the perfect partner for such a person. But Megan apparently left Conner "no choice" but to break up with her at some point… Is it because she likes to mind-wipe folks nowadays, as she did to that poor Krolotean sucker at the end of "Earthlings"? Alien drool for the win… I guess.

Meanwhile, it's pretty cool seeing
Adam Strange come into his own as a superhero type this episode. When we met him last week, he was just a lab coat, but give a guy a jetpack and a sweet wardrobe and it'll do wonders. I'm no Adam Strange expert, but I liked what I saw here, including a typical Young Justice redesign of his costume. It actually makes sense that the guy would wear such a thing.

- Warner Bros./Cartoon Network

And then there's
Beast Boy, a fan favorite character of course who I really took to this week. Not only is he kinda funny, but it turns out he can really kick some ass when need be. The climactic action scene when he (in gorilla form) and Superboy (in Superboy form) were tearing that alien ship apart from the inside was pretty great. Also, we got a better sense of his origin and connection to the team this time out as a quick psionic flashback revealed that his mom (last seen in "Image") is no longer with us, the result of some nasty business orchestrated by Queen Bee. But before that happened, Megan was adopted into their family (either legally or in spirit; in either case, Garfield calls her "sis" and the two have obviously forged a strong bond in the intervening years since they first met).

(Though by the way, is that a violation of Garfield's privacy when she probes his mind to see what's upsetting him at the lake? Just saying…)

Ultimately, it's a relief that we got semblance of character and back story in this episode, but it all still feels outweighed by the heavy action and plotting. And we're left with a few of question marks as well -- what did Megan do to that Krolotean, and has this become a common trick for her these days? Is her darker White Martian side coming out? And what did she learn this week about the Justice League's missing 16 hours?

- Warner Bros./Cartoon Network

Some notes: Does the team's setting out to bomb the Krolotean facility's Zeta tubes equate with the planned murder of said Kroloteans? That's what bombs do, right? Kill people? Looks like Beast Boy has picked up where Wally left off, and is now in charge of collecting the team's souvenirs. Makes sense. And speaking of which, no sign (or mention) of Kid Flash, Aqualad, Roy or Artemis again. Give it time, I think. Oh, and are we getting a Bat Family episode next week?!


Source : http://tv.ign.com/articles/122/1224447p1.html