The Nerdiest Kids

Reptil Joins The Marvel Universe In Avengers Academy

Josh "Buddhapunch" Pacheco — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:14:36 +0000

It looks like Marvel will be joining DC Comics again by bringing over a character created in an animated series into comics. DC brought over Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya and Marvel has brought over Ms. Lion (a dog) and Firestar. Originally from the kid friendly Marvel Super Hero Squad, Reptil will join the line up for the replacement book for Avengers: Initiative, Avengers: Academy. In the show the heavy spanish accented salsa making dinosaur powered hero is more of comedic relief. No clue on what role what he will be playing in the comic but it looks like he and the rest of the cast will be along the lines of “Hey, I’m an up and coming hero still trying to learn how to use my powers.”

For those that haven’t seen the cartoon Reptil has the ability to change various parts of his body to take on a trait of a dinosaur. Humberto Lopez went on a trip with his paleontologist parents and they discovered a crystalized bone of a dinosaur. The bone granted Humberto with his abilities. The dinosaur bone would be reduced to a medallion. Standard superhero origin that calls back to the pre-marvel comics this new character joins up with Avengers:Academy coming this June.

Source[Newsarama]

Hakan Joins SSF4 Line Up! Wait Who Is Hakan?

Josh "Buddhapunch" Pacheco — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:32:10 +0000

Super Street Fighter 4 has finally revealed its last character for the newly updated roster. With 10 characters added onto the original Street Fighter 4 roster the game is looking to excite fighting game enthusiast. The latest and final addition to the new line up is a brand new character that hails from Turkey that has more things in common with the cast of the Jersey Shore. Hakan is a turkish guido fully equipped with chains, orange skin, and a body built by steroids. The only thing that sets him apart is the lego helmet he wears and the use of body oil for all his move sets. All of Hakan’s special attacks involve some sort of perverted bear hug or grab. Imagine fighting the greased up deaf guy from Family Guy except instead of you trying to catch him, he’s trying to catch you and has serious roid rage. Check out some Hakan’s ultra combos and move set in the video below:

Source[Capcom Unity]

The LV. Cap: Final Fantasy XIII Review

Norman Rhodes — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:52:01 +0000

Final Fantasy XIII is one of the biggest game releases for all RPG fans. Being a fan myself, I started playing Final Fantasy back on Playstation with Final Fantasy VIII. Then I went backwards and played VII. After taking a short hiatus and getting a PS2, I played FFX and X-2 (Which BTW, is one of the most confusing storylines I’ve ever tried to follow). The thing is, I’ve been playing Final Fantasy for a while now, and with this release you would expect the game to hold true to the franchise and show the world why its one of the mainstays in the RPG market. Does Final Fantasy XIII do this, or does it make me disappointed to be a Final Fantasy fan with this game release? Find out now!

Final Fantasy XIII
Playstation 3 & Xbox 360
Developer & Publisher: Square Enix Co., Ltd
ESRB Rating: T For Teen
Price: $59.99

Pros:
Visuals - This game is absolutely STUNNING. The characters look crisp and vibrant and the environments are beautiful. This is one of those games that knows how to floor you with graphics and they do a fantastic job here.

Real Time Battle System - I actually love how they cut away from turn based battling in the Final Fantasy series. This time they’ve made it a bit MMO like, where you select an attack and it happens. On top of that, not having the random enemy occurances now and being able to see what enemies are waiting for me ahead is an awesome bonus.

Paradigm System & Crystal System - Being able to switch your style mid battle depending on the situation is pretty awesome. On top of that, the days of leveling up your character are over! I like the new system, this crystal like system that lets you upgrade your abilities with points you gain from battle. I enjoy this system because it lets you upgrade at your discretion and doesn’t leave you wondering what you’ll gain in the next level.

Cons:
Too Linear - Story in this game is pretty good, but too linear. I want the ability to do side quests and go through the main quest. This is something that this Final Fantasy lacks from other Final Fantasy games, the ability to go about town and pick up little side quests.

Repetitiveness - It gets kinda boring when all you do is run in a straight line and fight, run in a straight line and fight. Wash, rinse and repeat. That’s how this game work., Yes, you can go AROUND your enemy if they aren’t blocking the path. Why not throw in the occasional rest stop to throw people off?

No TOWNS! - I hate the fact that there are no towns in the game. This takes me back to my point about the story being too linear. If there were towns in the game, you will eventually want to go back and do those missions once the main missions have been completed like in Final Fantasy X. It’s not that hard to put towns in the game or at least it shouldn’t be that hard to put a bunch of buildings together with people walking around together. Plus, if you can make a town during a CG cutscene then you can make an active town.

Overall/Verdict
There is a great story told in this game but unfortunately, there are a lot of factors that make this game a solid rent. Not being able to explore like in other Final Fantasy games and the lack of unique battle patterns makes this game one of the FF games that you don’t need collect. If you like pretty graphics (PS3 Users) and alright gameplay, RENT IT. Otherwise, pass it.

Comic Movie News Round Up (Nolan’s Third Batman Film & Superman Reboot, Kick-Ass Sequel)

Rob "HollywoodRS" Sporer — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:01:01 +0000

Christopher Nolan spoke with The LA Times today about what is going on with the third and possibly final chapter in his Batman franchise.

Nolan really didn’t offer much from what we already know. That his brother Jonathan is getting the story together, there is no villain as of yet, they are staying away from Science and Super villains so no Mr. Freeze and that they are looking to finish their side of The Dark Knights story. Now I don’t know about you guys, but I remember Christopher Nolan stating that he wanted to make three films telling the story of Batman and I honestly think it’s a good idea.

To put it in his own words:

“My brother has come up with some pretty exciting stuff. Unlike the comics, these things don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling. And it harkens back to that priority of trying to find the reality in these fantastic stories. That’s what we do.”

With the way Hollywood likes to drag on franchises the way they do I can see the Nolan brothers getting burned out after the third film and everyone turning their backs on them. Instead we should be thankful that thus far they have been able to deliver two fantastic stories and films that helped bring confidence back into the comic movie genera.

From there he went on to say that David Goyer told him,

‘I have this thought about how you would approach Superman’ I immediately got it, loved it and thought: That is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting.”

It also seems like they want to keep both universe separate from one another; see as how the Batman movies never mentioned any other hero or villain within the DC Universe. Oh and Jonathan Nolan might want to test out his directing abilities on Man of Steel.

In other comic book movie news it seems like Mark Millar is already gearing up to pen the sequel to his hit comic Kick-Ass. With the film due out next month, April 22nd, Millar is already hoping that the next chapter of his comic will also be made into a movie. While talking about the second volume of the comic Millar said:

One of my favourite ideas in superhero comics is the exposure of the secret identity… I like the idea of doing that to somebody like Kick-Ass, who’s going to have real-world ramifications if his secret identity gets exposed. I wanted that in the first volume but there was just no room, so I shifted it all into the second volume.

Millar also gave prase to Christopher Mintz-Plasse stating that:

Red Mist surviving, becoming the super-villain was always planned, but the idea was that he was going to be a more minor character in the first film. Then we saw what Christopher Mintz-Plasse was capable of! Also, I really like the idea of somebody who people were relaxed watching on screen doing horrible things… the second movie, it’s going to get very, very dark what goes on with him…So the idea of McLovin’ and the fun Red Mist doing something horrible is genuinely quite disturbing when you see it happen. We couldn’t have got away with that with another actor. The minute we saw his performance, we were looking at each other and realised how good he was and what we could do with him in the future…

I am not going to base any opinions on Kick-Ass 2 or the second volume until I have read them.

[Source: GATW and /Film]

BTP – Rogue Reviews 3/10 Comics

Christina "RogueNurse" Weber — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:53:32 +0000

The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange #1: 48 pages, all black and white art, and 4 really good Dr. Strange stories written by 4 different people (Kieron Gillen, Peter Milligan, Ted McKeever, and Mike Carey). The first, and longest, story takes Strange to a psych institute to tangle with Mephisto. The second has him treating a man who’s been haunted by a memory for 30 years, while the third has him drunk and stumbling through a back alley where he happens to run into a demon. The final story has almost no art, but 3 pages of story and is written as a journal entry written by Strange himself. All are really great, and even if you’re not a fan of the good Doctor you should pick this up anyway because there’s no commitment after this issue. $3.99.

The Twelve – Spearhead #1: This is, obviously, a story using characters from The Twelve that was released in ‘07 and written by J. Michael Straczynski and inked by Chris Weston. Well, Weston is back, but this time he’s doing both the writing and inking without Straczynski. The story revolves around the Phantom Reporter again, but this time he’s being introduced to all the other characters when he joins up in WWII. Captain America and Human Torch also make an appearance in this issue, and it is, as The Twelve was when it was first released, very entertaining. The best part is that you didn’t have to read the original series to understand what’s going on here! $3.99.

Secret Six #19: The Six are out in the mountains of Washington State to save the grandson of a rich old bastard from a teenage cult. Black Alice is used as bait, and when she’s saved by Ragdoll she starts to see him in a whole new light. A whole new sexy light. While the shenanigans are ensuing in Washington, a bunch of mercs attack Cheshire in San Diego so they can get a hold of Catman’s son. Good, good stuff every week for only $2.99.

Justice League – Rise and Fall Special: Well…wow. Green Arrow is seriously pissed off and out for blood. After the death of his granddaughter and the loss of his son’s arm, something snapped in his brain and he’s going on a killing spree. This is really cool, actually, because I recently dropped the Green Arrow/Black Canary series and now I might just pick it back up! It’s fun to see Arrow so pissed off, too. There aren’t many heroes who you’d want to see that way, but it works surprisingly well for him because of all the crap that’s gone down in his life. $3.99.

The A-Team #1: Don’t laugh. I know you’re laughing because I’m psychic and can hear you, so knock it off. Seriously though? This is pretty dang good! I’ll admit that I was expecting nothing more than a steaming pile of crap, but kudos to Tom Waltz and Joe Carnahan for coming up with a surprisingly good story, and to Stephen Mooney for drawing the characters so well. IDW is likely releasing this new series to kick start interest in the A-Team movie that will be released in June. The team are off to catch a notorious gun runner in the far reaches of Alaska before he can cross into Russia, and guess who comes out on top? The characters are drawn to resemble those cast in the movie (Liam Neeson, Quinton Jackson, Brad Cooper, and Sharlto Copley), but the story and banter remind me of the old show when I was a kid. If you like action style comics that have lots of guns and awesomeness then you should totally get this. $3.99.

G.I. Joe Origins #13: This issue we get introduced to the origin of Ripcord! Woohoo! Lost in an African jungle and the rest of his unit gone because their plane was shot down, now he’s being hunted by drug runners. This gets the attention of the Joes and, surprise surprise, Scarlett. Good times are ahead! $3.99.

GDC 2010: Sony Playstation Move Press Conference

Rob "HollywoodRS" Sporer — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:01:52 +0000

Today, Sony officially unveiled the name of the motion controller during their GDC press conference. Entitled the Playstation Move, Sony plans on taking on the Nintendo Wii in all shapes and forms.

Launching this fall, you will be able to pick up the Playstation Move starter kit for less than $100. The starter kit will include the Playstation Eye, One Playstation Move and A game (most likely Playstation Sports from the looks of it). For those of you who don’t own a PS3 yet, don’t worry because you’ll be able to pick up the Super Move Bundle which includes a PS3 and the starter kit. However, from the looks of it, you are also going to need to fork over another $50-70 dollars to buy a second Playstation Move controller since most games will require two.

Now, Sony has stated that all their first and third party publishers are all on board with Playstation Move and are already developing titles for it. They are also starting to integrate it into existing titles like LitteBigPlanet and Socom 4, which will be released this fall. I was not impressed with the demo of either game and honestly, will be sticking to my Dual Shock 3 to play them.

Only thing is that everything they showed during this press conference looked like a rip off of everything Nintendo has done thus far with the Wii…only in HD. I mean, no offense Sony but I was expecting something that was going to make me not think you were ripping off the Wii.

Simone Drops “Wonder Woman” to Relaunch “Birds of Prey”

Christina "RogueNurse" Weber — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:04:34 +0000

I know what you’re thinking: “Rogue, this is old news. We’ve known about this for months.” Yes, yes…but did you know who’s picking up where she leaves off? DID YOU!?? No, I didn’t think so . So I’m here to tell you that J. Michael Straczynski is gonna pick up the slack on Wonder Woman, and he’s also going to be writing for Superman, both starting in July.

I’ll be honest…I’m really sad that Gail Simone will be leaving Wonder Woman because it’s been one of my favorite ongoing titles. There are two bonus’ to this, however: we’re getting Birds of Prey back with both Gail and Ed Benes (woohoo!), and Straczynski-the-Great writing Wonder Woman stories. I was devastated when I heard he was leaving Thor, but he left for good reasons (not wanting to get involved in Bendis’ love child, Siege) so I can’t hold it against him. I am, however, very happy that he’s taking over for Gail because there are precious few people I would trust to keep the current story and character base going in a way that would still be worth reading.

As for Gail relaunching Birds of Prey…HORAY!! I’m not the only one who’s excited, I’m sure. It’s especially exciting because there are so few chick comics left with their own titles (Power Girl, Wonder Woman, Gotham City Sirens…and most of the Marvel titles have been canceled) and I feel like they’re getting shafted. The new title is being released May 19th and, as I said before, Straczynski’s Wonder Woman and Superman will come out in July. All of these titles will be part of DC’s “Brightest Day.”

Do You Have Mapathy? Infinity Ward Has The Cure

Chris 'Ace' Pacheco — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:25:44 +0000

Mapathy, the state of indifference to the same old maps someone has been playing for several months. Do you have Mapathy? I’m pretty sure everyone playing Modern Warfare 2 regularly has it. Well, Infinity Ward has the cure and it’s coming to Xbox Live on March 30th. What’s this cure? The map pack that everyone has been speculating and waiting for. No word on what the actual maps are or price but, lets hope the maps are great. Keep your eyes out for more info coming soon. Check out Mapathy.com.

Modern Warfare 2 Map Pack Hits On March 30th [Team Xbox]

Blur Beta Impressions

Justin 'Pepsi' Verterano — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:55:02 +0000

This past Monday, Bizarre sent out a series of Blur Multiplayer Beta codes for gamers to test out the racing experience. Luckily, I managed to get my hands on one for redemption, and was able see what they brought to the table. Please be aware, as the beta says, this in no way represents the final product of the game. Lets take it from the top.

Menus: Everything looks and feels very stylish and pleasing to the eye. The main colors aren’t ones that overly stand out, but rather allow you to see without having to focus on a certain area.

Gameplay: The controls are very simple to pick up. You use the right trigger to accelerate your car, while using the left stick to steer. Along each track are a series of power-ups that can be used to temporarily stun or destroy your opponents. Right now, my favorite one has to be repair. When you’re trailing with smoke everywhere and find one, it helps.

Online: Pretty much the main reason this beta exists. Online is set up in a series of modes where you can have up to 20 players in a single game. The best part, absolutely no lag. I have a terrible connection at times, and to see the games’ servers perform the way they did, I was extremely pleased. When a game is over, you can simply stay in the lobby, vote for which map you want to play, and get right back into it.

Rank System: One thing I really liked when playing was seeing how Bizarre pulled off the rank system. Instead of earning points per race, you complete challenges to win over fans, allowing you to rank up.

The beta doesn’t really allow you a wide variety of cars/modifications, but it gives you a taste of what’s to come. I’m not a big fan of racing games, and rarely go out and purchase them. However, after this beta, I think I might have to. This is easily the most fun I’ve had playing a racing game in years, and I recommend putting this on your “Buy” list in the near future. I’d expect more beta codes to start floating around very soon.

Blur releases May 25 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Viacom President Announces Rock Band 3

Rob "HollywoodRS" Sporer — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:11:00 +0000

Today, Viacom President and CEO Philippe Dauman let slip during Credit Suisse Group Global Media and Communications Conference this morning that MTV Games and Harmonix will be releasing Rock Band 3 this holiday season.

Now before those of you launch out of your chairs with joy, I want you guys and girls to really think if this is a good thing. Why you may ask? Well, lets not forget a little franchise that pumps games out every year and has gotten pretty bland over the years. Also, the fact that this June MTV Game and Harmonix will be releasing Rock Band: Green Day. I honestly pray to god that they don’t go down the Guitar Hero road with how their games turn out.

Oh and they also promise that Rock Band 3 will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again.

[Source: Kotaku]