2 years ago, Tecmo released what was not only one of the most anticipated games on Xbox, but an addition to one of thier most beloved franchises, Ninja Gaiden.  It had some of the finest graphics of the current console generation, a deep weapon upgrade and combat system, a large variety of enemies, and an insane difficulty level which makes even easy mode a challenge, it became an instant classic with many gamers.  Tecmo also released two ‘hurricane pack’ downloads over Xbox Live.  The first of these two downloads added new weapons, new bosses, and an adjustable camera while the second pack added a challenge mode.  Last fall, Tecmo released this update with both of the hurricane packs, a new mission mode, a new difficulty mode, new cinemas, and an unlockable version of the arcade ninja gaiden.  In short, it’s heaven for an action gamer.  You know a game is great when it’s hard as hell, but you still keep trying to play it just to get to the next part.  I have to warn you though, if you wimp out at a high difficulty, then THIS IS NOT THE GAME FOR YOU!

THE BOYS #1
written by Garth Ennis, art by Darick Robertson

This Wednesday Garth Ennis delivers unto us another dark, deviant look at superhero comics, and he’s dragged Darick Robertson into doing the art chores. They’ve done some work together on some little book called The Punisher. You might’ve heard of it.

Here, ‘The Boys’ refers specifically to our five main characters, who all share a deep, personal hate-on for superheroes. And while it’s not clear what exactly they’ll be doing to fight the heroes of their world, based on the preview available at DC’s site, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that they’re out for blood. Nothing like the comforting visual of hands without a body attached.

Ennis has a solid track record at delivering a fantastically dark take on superheroes, so if you’ve enjoyed any of his work before, this is definitely one not to miss.

Alan Moore, comic book legend responsible for a long list of classic comic work – most recently spotlighted for V For Vendetta – was actually wrangled into an interview by Wizard Entertainment. This is a strange decision by a creator normally viewed for giving mainstream American comics the cold shoulder, as Wizard is generally all about mainstream American comics. Regardless, the interview exists.

Moore speaks largely – but not solely – about his upcoming controversial work Lost Girls (art by Melinda Gebbie), which features “Alice in Wonderland’s Alice, Peter Pan’s Wendy and The Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy meeting as adults and sharing erotic experiences.” If that sounds strange and almost creepy, well, that’d be why it’s controversial. Planned release is allegedly for the 28th of this month, but as always, there’s no telling when it comes to the world of comics.

As an aside, early chapters of Lost Girls were initially published in the Taboo anthology magazine, which were reprinted in the mid 90’s as two separate volumes. The Lost Girls: Book One and Books Two listings on Amazon.com are available here and here, respectively.

Read the full (but brief) interview on WizardUniverse here.

Read Newsarama.com‘s two-part interview from May here and here.

The Lost Girls Collected listing on Amazon.com available here. (It includes a fairly detailed review/discussion in the Editorial Review section. Book not available for purchase yet.)

More detailed information available at the Wikipedia entry for Lost Girls.

Botcon.com has posted additional images of the box set of exclusive figures. The future Axalon crew is featured in a group show and as they appear in the foam packaging they will come in. You can see both of these images below.

 

As a member of the Transformers Collectors Club, I would just like to add my disappointment that I was once again not informed of an update to this site via the club email and instead had to find out by looking at another news site. What exactly am I paying for if not to be informed? Other than the toy, of course.

In addtion to Baby Mario, we found out at E3 that Yoshi would also carry a Baby Princess Peach and a Baby Donkey Kong.
But in the lower and upper left corners of the final box art we see a Baby Bowser and a Baby Wario. The different babies promise to add new gameplay mechanics to the platformer, which iteself is a sequel to an underrated classic on the SNES.
Also of note, theres a Nintendo WiFi logo. 2 player online Co-op? Versus race? Mini Games? Nintendo hasn’t said anything yet.
Yoshi’s Island 2 will be released to the Nintendo DS on November 13 in the US.

Man, I haven’t seen this many babies in years.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Last fall, we had no less than 5 classic gaming compilations from Capcom, Namco, Taito, Tecmo, and Midway. Now this is shaping up to be another good fall for fans of classic gaming. You already know about the Wii, and it’s ability to download Genesis and Turbographix 16 games, but what you may not know is that you don’t have to buy the new system in order to play some of Sega’s classics. Indeed, comming this November, the Sega Genesis Collection will be comming to PS2 and PSP with over 30 titles! Shniobi 3, Comix Zone, and Golden Axe 2? I think I’m gonna cry.

If that isn’t enough, Konami is giving Xbox 360 owners old school action via the Live Arcade. You already know that the arcade versions of Contra and Super C are comming, but early next year, Konami is also gonna hit us with the definitive Castlevania game, Symphony of the Night! This is shaping up to be a good time for those who enjoy the games of thier youth.

Rather than write a review, I thought I would do a video to show why Cybertron Primus should be higher on your Transformers Buy List than it is right now. I wasn’t excited about the figure until I opened him up, but it didn’t take long for me to be an avid fan of the mold.

Special thanks to Zac for taking the time to edit the video for me.

COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE

Comic Brian Posehn formed a metal band for a track on his new album. It pretty successfully lampoons metal song and video conventions, even throwing in references that only real metal fans would get. Scott Ian of Anthrax is on guitar, and Brian’s real life wife and dogs are even in the video. Look for another Mr. Show vet in a cameo.
Throw up the horns and watch this video NOW