Saw Screenwriters Adapting God of War

The screenwriters behind four Saw films and Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim will rewrite the movie adaptation of the Sony video game franchise God of War.

The Hollywood Reporter says Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan have come aboard the game-to-film project to revise an earlier draft by David Self, who will also executive produce the film. The Dark Knight Rises' Charles Roven is producing along with Alex Gartner through Atlas Entertainment. Universal Pictures will distribute the movie.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Dark Knight Rises: Biggest 2D Opening of All Time?

Ready for another round of wall-to-wall packed movie theaters? New pre-release tracking predicts Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises could very likely surpass the $158.4 million opening of The Dark Knight, which had the biggest three-day domestic debut of all time when it opened.

Rises will be hitting theaters on July 20, the same debut weekend as The Dark Knight in 2008. To this day, TDK remains the top domestic opener in terms of 2D feature films. Since then, two 3D pics -- this summer's The Avengers and last year's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 -- have taken the No. 1 and No. 2 spots with $207.4 million and $169.2 million, respectively.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, TDKR's overall tracking numbers come close to The Avengers,' but the latter had an added boost of 3D ticket sales. However, Nolan's final Bat-chapter will also screen in several hundred IMAX theaters, which charge at a premium. (Over an hour of the movie was shot using IMAX cameras.) What's more, the film clocks in at 164 minutes -- 21 minutes more than The Avengers and 12 more than The Dark Knight.

Females are reportedly less interested in seeing The Dark Knight Rises than The Avengers, but Warner Bros. still has two weeks to court this demo.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Dark Knight Rises at Hot Toys

Last month we brought you a look at the Joker 2.0 figure from Hot Toys, which promises to offer the most eerily lifelike and movie-accurate take on Heath Ledger's Joker yet. Unsurprisingly, Joker isn't the only Batman icon enjoying renewed attention at the company. Today Hot Toys released new images and details for their Dark Knight Rises Batman figure.

As with Joker, this is hardly the first time Hot Toys has tackled Batman, or even this particular Batman suit. But also like Joker 2.0, the new sculpt and comprehensive assortment of accessories look to make this the version to own.

This figure is specifically inspired by Batman's look in The Dark Knight Rises, but as he's wearing essentially the same armor he first donned in The Dark Knight, the figure should cover both movies easily enough. The included accessories cover both three films. Aside from the swappable hands the figure includes a full armory of Bat gadgets - batarangs, mines, grappling gun, sticky bomb gun, and EMP gun.

Similar to Hot Toys' SDCC-exclusive Batman figure from last year, the figure includes a series of removable face plates that allow collectors to alter Batman's facial expression to suit their desired pose. In addition, the figure comes with an unmasked Bruce Wayne head that includes the same "Parallel Eyeball Rolling System" found on Joker 2.0.

Hot Toys also released a pair of images showcasing the new figure paired with their upcoming vehicles releases - the Batpod and the hovercraft known simply as "The Bat."

Sideshow Collectibles has this figure available for pre-order at a cost of $259.00, with an estimated release date of December 2012.

We expect both Joker 2.0 and the new Batman to be on display at SDCC next week. It also stands to reason that Bane and Catwoman will be receiving their debut figures soon. Until then, let us know what you think of the new Batman figure in the comments section below. Is it improved enough over the previous versions to warrant a purchase?

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and various other IGN channels. He only wishes he had enough petty cash to collect Hot Toys figures. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Disney Developing Hocus Pocus 2

Remember Hocus Pocus, that Disney movie about three witches who were brought back to life on Halloween to terrorize trick 'r treaters? Well, it sounds like the studio is now quietly developing a sequel, Hocus Pocus 2: Rise of the Elderwitch.

The original family film, directed by High School Musical's Kenny Ortega in 1993, starred Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as the three sister witches. However, Moviehole reports that this latest follow-up will be a completely different tale featuring a new cackling sorceress.

As of right now, it's uncertain whether Ortega or any of the first film's talent will be involved, but current plans are to have the film released sometime next year.

Personally, I just hope we get a reprise of this gem right here:

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Battleship Preview

Movie tie-in games are rarely any good. Too often the focus for these games is quick cash-in and not on producing an actual game. There is a small group of titles, however, that are the exception to this rule: Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, the classic Tron arcade game, Star Wars Episode I: Racer, Spiderman 2, and, of course, GoldenEye, all come to mind. This year Activision and Hasbro are hoping to add another title to this list with their new title Battleship.

Battleship is unique in that it’s not only a movie tie-in but it’s also based on the classic board game of the same name. But if you’re expecting to pick up Battleship and get a simple copy and paste of either the board game or the movie, you’ll be disappointed. You won’t be looking at a polygonal game board, and Rihanna and Liam Neeson are nowhere to be found. Instead, players are in for one of the most unique gaming experiences I’ve seen in some time, and a title that has the potential to be one of the year’s standouts.

Developer Activision’s mission with Battleship is ‘War on the shore, spectacle at sea’ and they’ve done a spectacular job achieving that, even in the early build of the game that I saw. The gameplay in Battleship is split into two distinct modes that players switch between seamlessly. First you command your ships RTS-style using a map that is reminiscent of the original board game. As in the original you are only aware of enemy ships once you’ve managed to figure out their location, which you can do by blindly moving into new positions or by using special items, like radar, that can be found and unlocked. After you’ve positioned your ships gameplay shifts to a first person shooter with missions to be accomplished. Whenever you need to move your ships you simply pull up the map and do so at will.

The nifty thing about juggling these two gameplay styles is the symbiotic relationship they have; the position of your ships and your skill in defeating the enemy's will affect and even change the nature of your on-foot missions, and while on-foot you can acquire items and upgrades for your ships, and take over checkpoints that will allow them more navigational freedom. Even mission objectives can change depending on the direction each battle has taken. To put this into board game terms: each mission is a cleared board.

Every decision made is vital because ultimately the enemy aliens of Battleship are responding directly to the player; there are no scripted events. How a player positions their ships at the start of a level will change when, where, and how many enemies they face. You can play the same mission again and again and it will be a completely different experience each time. Even the developers I watched play were surprised by their own game a few times. What’s more, while Battleship’s shooter gameplay is mostly cover-based, there is a wide array of weapons that allow for run and gun as well as non-lethal damage. This is a game that caters to the individual player’s style, while also dropping in surprises to keep you on your toes. Battleship’s Wildcard system shakes things up with weapons, ship upgrades, and more that appear as item drops in FPS mode. There’s even a ship control card that gives you direct control of your ships and twenty seconds to deal massive damage to your enemies; think of it as a Street Fighter style ultra-combo of sorts. The Wildcards operate like a shuffled deck; you know what you have available to you, but you never know when, where, or what card will show up for you to use. They can turn the tide of battle, but there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to access the ones you need when you need them.

Now eventually we have to ask, how does Battleship connect to the film? Well as I mentioned, don’t expect any Rhirhi cameos; this is an original side story set in the same universe as the film, but not a one to one translation. Activision has really given this game their all, working with both the filmmakers and Hasbro to craft a title that will satisfy moviegoers, board game lovers, and gamers. There’s a lot of polish to the title, and little details that really make it shine: When you move a ship on the map you can actually see the ship moving in real time while on-foot, and battles between ships you can observe as well; you really get the sense that this war is happening all around you. The game’s color palette is refreshing in that it not only has color, a rare thing in contemporary shooters, but it also embraces color with aliens, Hawaiian environments, and skylines that really pop while still feeling gritty and realistic. The design's aesthetic more than gets the job done, and some of the aliens, like the rolling Shredders, really stand out, giving Battleship a unique feel.

is still early in its development cycle, but based on the little I’ve seen I can only hope this one won’t fly too far under the radar; it definitely has the potential to blow up. There are a lot of fresh ideas on the table here, and that alone is worth lauding. I must admit that when I first sat down to play I wasn’t very enthused, but now it is already looking to be a must buy.

Battleship drops for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 later this year.

Source : gamezone[dot]com

The A-Z of The Dark Knight Saga

Spider-man? Nearly. X-Men? Nope. Superman? Fail. No superhero series has ever delivered the perfect movie trilogy – the third movie often proving the fatal stumbling block. Still, you’d fancy Christopher Nolan’s chances of delivering his Bat-finale with the sort of epic, IMAX-sized storytelling and action that made The Dark Knight, Inception and Memento into essential cinematic experiences. In anticipation of The Dark Knight Rises July 20 release, here’s our A-Z of Nolan’s Bat-verse…

A is for Applied Sciences

The Siberia of Wayne Enterprises: it’s where good gadgets go to die. The ideal place then for nocturnal spelunking base-jumping enthusiasts to cherry-pick rejected military grade tech such as the Tumbler, The Batpod and a certain Bat-like flying contraption. And as a bonus, it all comes in black. Having said that, given that Coleman Reece rumbled Bruce through trawling the archives, and modded Tumblers have been spotted in Bane’s arsenal, maybe the AS Division's next project should focus on internal security.

B is for Bane

“Let the games begin.” From the pits of hell, this scarred scourge has come to finish what the League Of Shadows started, and turn Gotham and its delusions of civilization into an expensive landfill. Team Nolan have refined Bane from his gimmicky comic book origins – a drug-fuelled monster of brains and brawn specifically dreamt up (a la Doomsday) to break the Bat – to a credible cinematic nemesis: a ruthless general, a relentless warrior. Although surely that mask – feeding him life-saving (and battle-enhancing) painkillers rather than Venom – couldn’t prove to be a fatal flaw?

C is for Commissioner Jim Gordon

“Commmm-ishion-errrr” Gordon is the lone good cop on an utterly-corrupt force who became a 'wartime' hero, and now finds himself about to be cut adrift in the Harvey Dent-inspired peacetime. The role of the world-weary Gordon also marked a sea change for Gary Oldman, who’d started to OD on OTT villain roles – although Gordon’s gleeful delight about piloting the Tumbler looks about as genuine as can be.

D is for Rachel Dawes

Or, to give Dawes her full and correct name, RAAAAACHEEEELLLL! Bruce Wayne’s sole friend and soul mate also turns out to be catnip to a series of doomed DAs, before undergoing an unexpected cremation care of Joker’s cruel ol’ switcheroo trick. Maggie Gyllenhaal was gifted the role in the sequel when Katie Holmes declined to reprise it in favour of starring opposite Queen Latifah in crime-caper Mad Money. Which kind of writes its own punchline.

E is for Escalation

Batman: cure or curse? One of Team Nolan’s deftest touches is to ask pertinent questions about the wisdom in having a semi-licensed vigilante in Gotham’s battle against the mob – especially when he seems to bring all the crazies out to play while justifying every angry jackass with a sporting goods discount card who wants to get padded up and get some time on that particular pitch themselves.

F is for Fox, Lucius

He’s risen from his basement exile to the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, but the cunning silver Fox still keeps a special side-interest in the Applied Sciences division. Morgan Freeman dishes up the tech porn with a mischievous twinkle in his eyebrows, but Fox is also a vital point on Bruce’s moral compass, throwing his expensive toys out of the pram when he feels his boss has tripped over the ethical line. Well, if you’ve got sage advice to offer, Morgan Freeman’s got the voice to deliver it.

G is for Gotham

Having stepped back from the brink of social collapse, the world’s greatest city – with London, Chicago, LA, and a huge Shepperton set doing sterling double-duty – is once again a thriving, bustling centre of civilization… for those on the right side of the economic divide anyway. The Bat reboot has created a real sense of Gotham’s geography – especially if you got sucked into The Dark Knight’s innovative virals – tracing routes from the Narrows to the waterfront, and from Arkham to Wayne Tower. Expect to see property prices crash come July 20. Actually, just expect properties to crash.

H is for Harvey Dent

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” In the end, the internal affairs agent turned dashing DA turned semi-charbroiled murderer didn’t get much say in the matter. With Batsy and Gordon covering up Dent’s coin-flipping murder boner, the tragic Two-Face has been cast as Gotham’s White Knight – a Kennedy-esque inspiration for Gotham’s citizen’s to sweep away the last of the mob and usher in the good times. Gotham City believes in Harvey Dent. For now.

I is for IMAX

Treating the rule book like Bane treats spinal columns, Nolan was the first feature director to shoot action sequences in proper IMAX – including TDK’s bank heist opening and truck-flipping pursuit – with Rises now expected to have over an hour of 15/70 footage. After The Dark Knight’s success, studio heads stopped treating IMAX as a naff gimmick and proceeded to leap aboard the bandwagon like it contained free Facebook shares. Yeah, of course Wrath Of The Titans needed to be seen in IMAX…

J is for Joker

Having teased us at the end of Begins, Team Nolan delivered the goods for The Dark Knight – conjuring up a shifting, complex take on the gasoline-fuelled fiend, with the match being struck by the late Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance. Inspired by the psychologically-slippery tracks laid down in Arkham Asylum and The Killing Joke – with a dash of Clockwork Orange punk thrown in for good measure – they created the perfect psychopathic foil to the ‘incorruptible’ Bat.

K is for Kyle, Selina

The purrfect princess of petty pilfering, Kyle is the feline femme fatale for whom robbing the rich is merely righteous repossession, while ethics is where David Beckham comes from. Nolan, Goyer and actress Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman is a tough-headed, tough-kicking survivor – especially with her blade-heeled boots – whose allegiances are as slippery as her outfit. But will the pretty kitty grow a conscience before her claws are clipped?

L is for League of Shadows

“We restore the balance,” insists the LOS’s chief recruiting officer and *ahem* dual-passport holder Henri Ducard, whose brutal-if-theatrical methods of combat spark a few ideas in unsuitable applicant Bruce Wayne. Dating back thousands of years, the LOS have been there to help yank the chain whenever a civilisation required a courtesy flush – Rome, medieval London and now, finally, Gotham. We respectfully suggest Mr Ra’s Al Ghul points his ’tashe in the direction of Jersey Shore.

M is for Masks

“Your real face is the one that criminals now fear,” Rachel explains to Bruce at the end of Begins, as he faces up to a lifetime of having to pretend to be a feckless billionaire (oh, the misery…). Masks and appearances have been central to Nolan’s Batman: Bruce, Scarecrow and Bane all need them for practical reasons; Two-Face’s twisted psyche is scarred into his face for all to see while the mysteriously scarred Joker wears a clown mask only to reveal that underneath lies… another clown mask. Freud would have a field day, once he’d finished with the latent daddy issues.

N is for Nolans, The

Epic emotional drama? Complex narrative trickery? A knack for an astonishing visual? The ambition to pull it all off? As Memento, The Prestige and Inception demonstrate, the Bat-flicks aren’t flukes. Even if the Dark Knight Rises is half as good as its predecessor, Chris and his writer-brother Jonathan – together with indispensable co-screenwriter David Goyer - will have pulled off a unique cinematic first: the great superhero trilogy. It’s no coincidence that the triple-headed Bat-beast is overseeing The Man Of Steel reboot.

O is for Occupy Wall Street

Of all the people making a stand at Wall Street late last year, perhaps Batman and the Gotham Police Department were the strangest: Nolan shot the climactic dust up between Bane’s army and the countering cops – featuring over 1,000 extras – on the steps of the world’s financial centre. The coincidental timing couldn’t have been more ironic given that economic injustice is one of Rises’ underlying themes – with the 99% coming for their due.

P is for Pennyworth, Alfred

A cockney butler? That’s just not good form, old chap. But if Lucius is Bruce’s brain and Rachel his conscience, then Alfred is his heart. As played by Chris Nolan’s good-luck charm Michael Caine, he’s the ex-soldier who understands what it means to make tough decisions – fresh from burning down Burmese forests hunting for a thief – but knows his ward even better: his secret burning of Rachel’s Dear John being the only tender salve for a heartbroken Bruce.

Q is for Q&A

“You... complete me.” The Dark Knight’s real centerpiece is the interrogation room, with the two opposing ideologies finally colliding in a dramatic face-off to rival Heat – a masterpiece of boiling tension and dramatic switches as Batman and the newly promoted Gordon soon discover that Joker holds all the aces, despite his captivity. As they lose control of the situation, the Commissioner’s faith in his vigilante buddy comes crashing down around him, alongside his one-sided mirror.

R is for Ra’s al Ghul

This false father figure offers Bruce an alternative path, one that offers brutal justice of a more homicidal sort. The Demon’s Head’s mass-murderous musings look to have had more of an impact on one of his other errant apprentices: Bane. But is Ra's al Ghul really immortal? Rumours of the Lazarus Pit making an appearance in some form – and the return of Liam Neeson – have been circling ever since Rises began production. Birth of the Demon anyone?

S is for Scarecrow

There’s nothing to fear but fear himself. With Bruce's personal terrors – and plans to creating some pant-streaking new ones for his enemies – at the heart of Begins, it made perfect sense for Nolan and Goyer to book an appointment with Dr Crane; the maggot-masked physician’s hallucinogens providing Begins with its most unsettling moments. Cillian Murphy’s brief cameo in The Dark Knight further helped give Gotham the feel of a cohesive universe; could he be making more unprofessional diagnosis in Rises?

T is for Tumbler

“It’s a black… tank.” Avoiding the subtle flashing neon-wang designs favoured by Burton and Schumacher, the mainstay motor of the Nolan Bat-flicks reflects the practical nature of rebooted Dark Knight: a rejected military bridging vehicle able to perform ramp-free jumps. Petrol-heads will be delighted to know that working models of the vehicle were created, capable of reaching 0-60 in 5.6 seconds – that is if you’ve got a spare $250,000. “I’ve got to get me one of those,” Gordon marvels. Not on those wages, mate.

U is for Underground

Effectively born in the bat-filled caves and secret caverns under Wayne Manor, Batman makes them his home, overseeing some rather specific interior decoration in the rebuilt Wayne Manor. Rises however sees him meet his equal in underground décor: Bane is using the Gotham tunnel networks as a discreet base from which to transport his terror, before rising to introduce himself to his new neighbours in truly explosive fashion. A bottle of wine would have been fine.

V is for Voice

One of the most divisive aspects of the Nolan reboot is Christian Bale’s Bat-rasp – a throat-shredding 120-a-day growl that screamed ‘virus’ but went viral instead. To compound the vocal vagueness, cinemagoers watching the first Rises trailer came out complaining that Tom Hardy’s sub-Caribbean bur – or blur? – was inaudible thanks to Bane’s mask. We’re eagerly awaiting the pair’s on-screen dialogue. Maybe it’ll be subtitled.

W is for Wayne, Bruce

Team Nolan’s masterstroke has been to put the focus heavily on Wayne rather than his pointy eared, sore-throated alter ego: Christian Bale is credited as playing only Bruce Wayne – the Batman is merely an extension of the billionaire philanthropist’s battle against injustice. The role finally put Christian Bale on the A-list, after years of poking around the lower reaches of the alphabet, and gave him the perfect outlet for his complex, angst-filled charisma and occasional OTT tendencies. And if Nolan really wanted to get him riled up for a scene, he could just have someone walk through his eyeline.

X is for X-Rated

The only guarantee in Hollywood is that with great success comes a not-so-great porno parody. Axel Braun’s ‘mega-budget’ parodies are one of the few ways that old-guard grot-flicks can distinguish themselves from their amateur on-line cousins (which none of us writing or reading this have ever seen, obviously). His Dark Knight XXX – following on from the cunningly titled Avengers XXX – not only features Bane, Joker and Catwoman, but chucks in John Constantine and Zatanna for good measure. Actually, that Bat costume’s pretty good.

Y is for Year One

Following the neon-nippled nightmare that was Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin, Warner Bros spent five years trying to get the franchise back off the ground before hiring Chris Nolan and David Goyer in 2003. Other proposals included a straight fifth sequel revolving around the Scarecrow and Man-Bat, a live-action Batman Beyond and a Batman Vs Superman flick to relaunch both. The most interesting possibility though was Requiem For A Dream’s Darren Aronofsky directing a doubtlessly intense and blood-splattered adaptation of Batman: Year One starring… Christian Bale.

Z is for Zimmer, Hans

The German synth maestro – along side composer James Newton Howard – created a masterpiece in restrained heroics to perfectly match the subdued complexity of Nolan’s hero, later creating a jarringly atonal suite for the Joker by scraping a razorblade along the instruments’ strings to conjure those unsettling sounds. It’s up there with his other personal highlights, the theme tune for Going For Gold.

Source : ign[dot]com

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Review

With the obvious exception of its vampires, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter gets the broad strokes of the 16th U.S. President’s life right. The movie, based on the book by Seth Grahame-Smith, chronicles the loss of Abe’s mother in his youth (which serves as the motivating factor for his subsequent vampire hunting crusade, a la the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents in the Batman legend) to his burgeoning career as a lawyer and politician to, finally, his Presidency during the Civil War. Along the way, he kills countless bloodsuckers as part of his secret war against the undead.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is this generation's Billy the Kid vs. Dracula or Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter. Unlike those 1960s low-budget cult classics, this is a summer tentpole from a major studio produced by Tim Burton and directed by Wanted’s Timur Bekmambetov. The movie’s a hybrid horror movie and straightforward biopic with the final result being neither fish nor fowl. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter isn't scary or exciting enough to truly work as a horror flick; it’s not even silly enough to laugh at. Indeed, the movie takes itself so seriously that it never seems like it’s having any fun, so it’s tough to feel much of anything but ambivalence while watching all the bloody mayhem unfold.

There are a few well-choreographed action set-pieces, the two best being a chase between Lincoln and a vampire amidst a horse stampede and the climactic railroad/burning bridge sequence. For the most part, though, all the vampire-killing sequences feel overly orchestrated and by-the-numbers. It’s like watching a video game walkthrough; it looks cool, but you’re not feeling anything except appreciation for the craftsmanship that went into making it. There are plenty of gruesome vampire kills, but none of them have any real, well, bite. (That said, Abe's axe/gun hybrid weapon is very cool.)

Looking like a young Liam Neeson (he actually played the teenage version of Neeson’s character in Kinsey), Benjamin Walker does a commendable job of anchoring the film and selling its sincerity. He’s in almost every scene and later appears under heavy makeup as the elder Lincoln, but he’s never overwhelmed by all the trappings. His performance imbues the movie with a much-needed humanity. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a far cuter Mary Todd Lincoln than the real one, and helps warm up an overall cold movie. Walker and Winstead have decent chemistry together and make you care about and believe in this absurd version of the First Couple.

Dominic Cooper plays Abe’s mentor, the “good” vampire Henry Sturgess, and his scenes with Walker are some of the best in the movie. The rest of the cast don’t fare as well. Anthony Mackie and Jimmi Simpson are serviceable as Lincoln’s pals Will Johnson and Joshua Speed, respectively, although neither character has much dimension to them. Marton Csokas hams it up as the evil Jack Barts, coming across more like a mad leprechaun than a Southern vampire, while a flat Rufus Sewell phones it in as the main vampire villain, Adam. Sadly, fan fave Alan Tudyk hardly registers as Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln’s rival politically and for Mary’s affection.

The visual effects are fine, with strategically utilized CG dust and mist obscuring some of the more potentially cartoonish touches. The makeup and wigs are hit-and-miss (Winstead’s old age makeup is terrible), and the sets, while period accurate, nevertheless make Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter feel like it was shot at Disneyland.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’s heart may be in the right place -- and any film that makes people interested in reading up on the real Lincoln must be commended -- but overall the film is, ironically, bloodless, chugging along from Great Lincoln Historical Moment to carefully choreographed action set-piece without ever generating much energy or enthusiasm.

Source : ign[dot]com

E3 2012: Brave hands-on

Movie-based video games aren’t always that great, especially when they’re based on an animated film. Disney Interactive Studios has been breaking that trend, especially when it comes to Disney-PIXAR movies. Both Cars 2 and Toy Story 3 were really good games. Now, they’re trying to continue their success with their upcoming release of Brave, based on the Disney-PIXAR film. I got some hands-on time with Brave at E3 this past week.

Brave is going to be released on all major platforms, but when I tried it out it was on Xbox 360. Brave is a third-person action game that puts you in the role of Merida. It’s your standard fare of melee and ranged attacks, with melee assigned to the face buttons and ranged attacks handled by the right analog stick—giving it a twin-stick shooter feel. With all off your attacks, you can scroll through four different elements to use with your attacks, such as fire, wind, and earth. These elements will help you against certain enemies. For instance, an enemy that is made of ice will be susceptible to fire.

The other element of the game, besides action, is puzzles. As Merida or the little, cute bear cubs, you solve puzzle segments based on logic or the elements you can equip. The ones I encountered were easy, but seeing as this game is geared toward a younger audience, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

As you progress through the game, you will be able to unlock new attack combinations, swords, bows, and outfits. You will also be able to upgrade the effectiveness or your abilities and elements. However, I didn’t see a difference in the weapons besides the obvious visual difference.

Co-op is available with a friend. The first player will play as Merida and the friend as a Will O’ the Wisp. It’s pretty much a wisp—a mystical blue cloud that can do attacks and cycle through elements just like the first player. The unfortunate part is that the camera only follows the first player, so sometimes your friends won’t be able to see where they are.

While the platforming is solid, the game doesn’t quite have the visual flair that Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 had. By no means is it bad, but it doesn’t live up to movie trailer or other Disney Interactive Studios games. As vibrant as Merida’s hair is in every piece of advertisement you see with the movie, the video game just doesn’t have that same vibrance.

Brave the Video Game also comes with Kinect of PlayStation Move functionality with an archery mini-game.

If you’re looking for a kid-friendly third-person action game, Brave is more than capable of filling need. It has fun platforming segments, puzzles, action, multiplayer, and the charm of the movie. Brave is scheduled to release on June 19, 2012 on all major platforms.

Source : gamezone[dot]com

The Simpsons: Back on the Big Screen

The Simpsons are returning to the movies for the first time since 2007's The Simpsons Movie, only this time it will be in the form of a four-and-a-half minute 3D short film.

EW reports that "The Longest Daycare" will run before Ice Age: Continental Drift when that film is released on July 13. The short was teased during the show's Season 23 finale this past Sunday, as you can see here:

"[Executive producer] Jim Brooks thought we should do an animated short -- a la the ones Pixar does before their features, a la the cartoons you used to see in the theater years ago -- as a fun thing to give our fans," executive producer Al Jean says. "We just wanted to do this as a way of saying, 'We appreciate how much people have stayed with the show and watched it for 25 years.'"

"The Longest Daycare," directed by David Silverman (helmer of The Simpsons Movie), stars Maggie as she returns to the Ayn Rand School for Tots, "where her lone friend is a butterfly." Jean adds: “They put each baby through an airport security-style testing machine to measure their future and hers says ‘Nothing Special,’ so they put her in an area that’s not great. If they put her in a good area, it wouldn’t be much of a plot." And yes, you can expect to see the one eyebrow baby too.



Source : http://www.ign.com

Is The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Cancelled?

With The Avengers movie destroying box office records left and right, it would seem odd that the current Avengers animated TV series, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, could be cancelled. But there’s increasing speculation that might be the case.

In recent interviews, Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb has been non-committal on the status of EMH, only saying they had ongoing plans for the Avengers in animation, but not whether that particular series would continue. While Earth’s Mightiest Heroes debuted after Disney bought Marvel, it’s worth noting that the show was already in the works before that deal. The speculation is that Marvel may want to end Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in order to begin a new Avengers animated series fully developed and produced by them and also in continuity with the new Marvel animated series universe established by Ultimate Spider-Man.

When I spoke to Adrian Pasdar last month (who voices Iron Man on Ultimate Spider-Man), he noted he had also voiced Iron Man on the upcoming Hulk and the Agents of Smash animated series – likely a sign those two shows (both fully produced by Marvel) will be considered part of the same universe. A universe Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is not a part of...

While acknowledging Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ fandom, Loeb’s comments to Collider in March, on the topic of serialization in the animated series, also could point to the current Avengers show not being in line with Marvel’s future plans. Said Loeb, “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes has a tremendous following. One of the things that’s very unique about that show is that it was at a time prior to my coming in. It is a very serialized show, and there are a lot of characters. What we wanted to do with Spider-Man, and going forward, was to tell stories that are individualized. Obviously, we want everybody to watch the show every week, but we also know that people’s time is often taken. So, DVR the show, but if you’re not going to do that, the idea is that you will be able to catch up. I don’t ever want anybody to sit down on Sunday mornings at 11 o’clock and suddenly feel like, “Well, I lost the last three episodes, so I don’t really know what’s going on.”” Loeb has previously indicated that the final twelve episodes of Season 2 of Earth's Mightiest Heroes feature more standalone storylines.

There are still eighteen episodes left to air for Season 2 of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. When I asked Marvel for information on the show potentially ending after that, I was told the company doesn’t officially comment on plans for future seasons of their Marvel Universe programs.

Loeb usually takes part in a Marvel television panel at San Diego Comic-Con. Assuming that is the case again this summer, no doubt the future of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will be a question many are curious to ask.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/22/is-the-avengers-earths-mightiest-heroes-cancelled

Watch the Teaser Trailer for Skyfall

Watch the brand new teaser trailer for the next James Bond movie, Skyfall, starring Daniel Craig and directed by Sam Mendes.

Thanks to 007.com!

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/21/watch-the-teaser-trailer-for-skyfall

Gaming Urban Legends - Polybius and the Haunted Pokémon Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

Urban legends are prevalent throughout all mediums of popular culture, with dozens dating back to mysterious happenings on movie sets and subliminal messaging worked into popular musical hits, but the gaming industry has somehow managed to debunk or confirm most of these legends rather quickly.

This doesn’t leave much to be shared in terms of legends or tales, but rest assured, there’s a small number of urban legends surrounding videogames that still have players questioning their validity.

The Polybius Initiative

In 1981, a small number of mysterious cabinets started making their way into arcades throughout Portland, Oregon. There wasn’t much that was known about these machines, but they gained popularity at an alarming rate before causing extreme problems and disappearing completely.

The internet wasn’t around much in 1981, which meant that most of the information on arcade cabinets came from newsletters or straight from the cabinet distributor themselves. When Polybius started making its way around the Portland suburbs, there wasn’t too much information on it. It has been said that the gameplay was of a tempest-style but could have possibly had mazes and other puzzles built-in, there’s really no way to confirm either way.



This might not seem like all that unusual of a game, but some believe that the game was meant to test experimental behavior modification through subliminal and undetectable methods. The game was said to have had weird side effects as there were reports of the game causing players to suffer from cases of amnesia, night terrors, terrible nightmares, intense stress, seizures, and suicidal tendencies due to the subliminal messaging. It also introduced extreme addiction which cased problems at arcades due to the machine’s popularity. There were more reported cases of these side effects than usual after playing this game specifically, lending some credibility to the fact that the machine might have been the cause.

As if that wasn’t weird enough, the legend states that men in black suits would come to the arcades every week and dump data off of the machine. This could have been them simply dumping high scores off of the machine, but they came back at such a rate that it seemed like they were gathering large information off of the machine for research, citing the lease agreement as a reason to come check on the machine.

The strange behavior surrounding the game started gaining more attention, but all of the machines disappeared before anything could be done; only a month after they first appeared. It isn’t clear what caused them to move so quickly, perhaps they only needed to gather a month’s worth of data or things were escalating too quickly, whatever it was, they didn’t want it found.

There isn’t really any official evidence or documentation of the machine’s existence either, we’re mostly running off of secondhand stories from unconfirmed sources but what those sources independently remember of the game stays consistent throughout.

There was a man who posted on Coinop.org back in 2007, claiming that he was involved with the creation of Polybius, but when he was interviewed at a later time, his story started to fall apart. There were several inconsistencies that didn’t fit with what had been established earlier and it just didn’t make that much sense. He attempted to dispel the rumor, saying that it was a bad version of a game that they had been working on in South America that had been recalled, but again, it didn’t fit with the rest of the story; unless its existence was all being made up in the first place.

While there are collectors out there who claim to have ROMs of Polybius, none have come forward to show any proof or release it to the public. However, in July of 2007, a version of the game and cabinet art made its way online, hosted at www. sinnesloschen.com, which is actually significant, but was most likely a fan site rather than anything connecting to the original release.

It is believed that Polybius was by Atari in collaboration with the US Government under the code name Sinneslöschen, meaning sense-deletion in German. This makes it somewhat more believable that it was either an internal name for the title or a term that was mixed in as the name of the development studio throughout the years. If it was the name of the company, it would appear in the German corporation registry or the US corporation registry through the Secretary of State, but shows up in neither.

There’s no way for any of this to really be confirmed either, as the only real proof of the cabinet’s existence is a black-and-white photograph and a recreation of the game’s title screen. That is what makes it a great urban legend though, landing it references in popular shows like The Simpsons. It is entirely possible that something like this existed though, with the rise of videogames in the early ‘80s and the Cold War raging on, the military was doing whatever they could with new technologies. If the cabinet did exist, I’m hoping that more information will emerge in the next few years.

Haunted GHOST Pokémon Black Cartridge

Now, this legend supposedly originated on 4chan, so that should be kept in mind when discussing it. The original post can’t be found, but it was republished on tinycartridge.com back in 2011, so that’s where the credibility of this legend comes from.

As the legend goes, a collector of Pokémon bootlegs was scouring a local flea market and came across a Gameboy cartridge that showed the typical Pokémon cart label, but everything was in black. When booted up, it showed the title ‘Pokémon Black Version”. This was well before the DS version and appears to be based off of the source of Pokémon Red Version.

Things seemed normal from the start, but when the player is presented with the option of choosing a starting Pokémon, there is an extra choice. Along side Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur is GHOST. Nothing seems especially out of the ordinary with GHOST, until he enters his first battle, that is. He starts at level 1, but only has one attack, Curse. (It has been noted that while Curse is a real Pokémon attack, it wasn’t introduced until the 2nd Generation, meaning that it isn’t in typical Red, Yellow, or Blue) The attack doesn’t work as it normally does though.

According to the original poster, when it is used, the screen turns back and the defending Pokémon lets out a warped and disturbing scream. When the battle returns, the enemy is gone and it is heavily implied that they have been killed. This is completely different than how the battles work normally, where the enemies only feint and can be revived later; no one dies.

What if the enemy was faster? They were too scared of GHOST to attack. This meant that it didn’t really matter if the enemy was better, they couldn’t attack and were too scared to run. Every battle was a guaranteed win.

This wasn’t the end of Curse’s effect though. Unlike the standard versions of the game, the battle commands would stay up after a battle was completed. If the player chose RUN, then things ended like they normally would. But if they chose Curse, GHOST would attack the trainer and kill them. When the player left the battle, there was a tombstone where the character had been standing prior. This definitely wasn’t normal.

Players could apparently get through the entire game using this one strategy, only capturing other Pokémon for the purpose of equipping HMs and defeating Ghost-type enemies. The person who found the cart claimed that they played through the game this way, but after they beat the Final Four and was touring the Hall of Fame, something even weirder happened.

The screen cut to black. Instead of ending, a dialogue prompt popped up with ‘many years later...’. The camera follows a much older version of your character, looking at a group of tombstones throughout Lavender Town. As the player is given control, they realize that they have no Pokémon, no items, and no restrictions on where to go. They have no direction though either. Once they make their way back to Pallet Town and to the starting point inside their house, the screen cuts to black again.

This time is different though. The sound warps and photos of Pokémon begin to flash across the screen. These are the Pokémon and rivals that the player killed using Curse. A message then appears.. “GHOST wants to fight” and enters the player into a battle against GHOST with nothing to attack or defend themselves with. GHOST attacks and kills the player. Once killed, the screen cuts to black. And it stays there. That’s the end.

Only a reset can get anything but the black screen. When booted back up, NEW GAME is the only option available. After GHOST killed the player, it erased the save. It’s not clear whether this mysterious version is real or not, as the original poster claims to have lost it in a move a few years back. Assuming that this version is real, it’s unclear where this Black Version came from. It could be a version that was modded by a fan and distributed in small numbers, but it could also have been put out in a more organized fashion by someone who was in a position to have access to the tool necessary to do this. Either way, I want nothing to do with it.

With the industry as secretive as it is, it wouldn’t surprise me to know of more games like these existing, known only of by player accounts, with no real evidence around to support it. But with the availability of the tools required to mod games, it is certainly harder to follow up on the validity of a situation like this. There are plenty more gaming urban legends out there to find and uncover. What are your favorite legends like these that people may not have heard of?


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723678/gaming-urban-legends-polybius-and-the-haunted-pokmon/