May 5th, 2007 marks the sixth time the comic book industry will come together to celebrate the spirit of specialty Comic Book Shops around the world. The titles being given away this year are extremely solid and include selections from every major comic publisher, as well as a number of issues from smaller, independent artists. The sheer number of styles and genres available may make choosing individual comics incredibly difficult. Transformers the Movie Prequel # 1, Amazing Spider-Man Swing Shift, and Justice League of America # 0 are just a few of the almost 30 titles that will be available, so remember to call your local shop and ask if they will be participating in this year’s festivities.

Check out the “Free Comic Book Day” website here

Full list of “Free Comic Book Day” titles

The modern day comic book is one of the few original American art forms. They have been a mainstay of popular culture for close to 70 years, and the lifeblood of the industry is still the neighborhood specialty shop. Show support for your favorite shop by stopping in this Saturday and picking up a free book, (and buying another for yourself).

This reminder brought to you by your Friendly Neighborhood Bloggerman! ‘Nuff said!

Powet Forum member Raistlin brings us news on new Stargate figures:

It seems the Stargate franchise will continue to roll despite the imminent end to the television series. Ten years is a long time, especially for a science fiction show (that isn’t named Doctor Who, and one that’s changed networks). But with two straight to dvd movies already in production, a third spin off television show in the development stages and a MMORPG in the works, it shows this bastion of nerdliness will continue on. Following on this is diamond selects announcement of a somewhat special themed wave 4 of the excellent SG1 action figures. The theme, desert combat, featuring the original SG1 team of Jack O’Neill, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, and everyday badass Teal’c.

While since wave two had featured the desert camo Carter action figure on the back of the packaging, it was never released. Nor was there any plan to do so as of wave two’s release.

 

Also of note is the previews exclusive fifth figure that will be a part of this wave, Jonas Quin. Whether he will sport the desert combat theme or the more standard green fatigues remains to be seen. Jonas Quin replaced Jackson for the sixth season until Jacksons return in
season seven.

Now since there are very few action figure lines that don’t support some kind of build-a-figure type element, we have two such elements. The MALP (Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe) will be assembled, as well as the ground based Transporter Rings or ring platform. Add these to your Stargate and DHD (dial-home-device) and you’re ready to explore the universe. With this desert combat theme I feel confidant in proposing that a wave five should feature a Black Ops Samantha Carter to finish off that theme. And while I’m at it we need a General Hammond, Master Bra’tac, Apophis and General Landry.

The fifth and final figure in the Botcon 2007 Exclusive set was revealed today. Dreadwind will be a repaint of Classics Jetfire with a remolded head designed by fan club artist Dan Khanna. As always, I have mirrored the images below.

When I first heard that Dreadwind would be one of the exclusives, I hoped that we might get a Darkwing to go along with him. I was a big Darkwing fan when I was younger because I had the toy and he had an unusually cool transformation for the time. If you compare the two G1 characters in jet mode to the jet mode of Classics Jetfire, Darkwing is actually a much closer match. Going by robot mode, though, Dreadwind wins out since he has the cockpit on his chest, while Darkwing’s chest is the underside of the plane.

Source for image of G1 Dreadwind head: TFU.Info.

“We’re Doomed. Not that it matters.”
  

…but just barely. Shigeru Miyamoto comes in at #92 in Time Magazine’s list of the most influence people of 2006. Who can blame them for including the Father of Modern Video games? As one of the main creative forces behind the phenomenally popular Wii, Miyamoto has secured a spot on the list by making video games less threatening and more accessible to everyone, (especially to the senior set, they can’t seem to get enough of the system at assisted living communities).

Although ranked #9 by the public, the fact that a game maker was even included on the list during the newly revived, post Virginia Tech, video game “witch-hunt” really says something about the power of the medium.

Read the feature here

The image above comes from a few weeks back, when Terrence Howard (playing Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes in the movie) came by Edwards Air Force Base in California for some training. Recently, when Howard made a return trip to the base, this time he brought everyone back with him, and director Jon Favreau set up camp to do three days of filming.

The article from Edwards AFB’s actual website talks a bit about locations they used, shares some quotes from Favreau, and even has some personal quotes from the members of the Air Force:

At Edwards AFB, Mr. Stark and his sidekick, Lt. Col. Jim Rhodes, brought their comic book characters to life against a bustling backdrop of high-tech aircraft, a dry lakebed that’s a secondary landing strip for the space shuttle, and stretches of desert to be depicted in the movie as Afghanistan.

“I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, but my friends who got involved with it had a great time, so I didn’t want to miss out on this one,” he said.

The article continues with a few more quotes from various members of the Air Force who enjoyed their time working on the film, including one man who just wants his son to be able see him in a movie, another who actually did get to work on the Transformers movie, and even one guy who was just happy his Porsche got put in the film.

WARNING!!

Taking a by-memory based map of your school, and turning it into a Count-Strike level is, apperently, a very bad idea.

A highschool senior has been suspended from Clements High School in Fort Bend, Texas, after it was found out by a fellow classmate that he had created a level on his PC-version of Counter-Strike that was based around his school’s design and layout. After word got out amongst students, and more imporantly their parents, school officials took action, and removed the teen to be placed in an “alternate education campus”. Stating that the level was considered a ‘terroristic threat”, local police also became involved and searched the boy’s home, though found no evidence of criminal activity.

Duh.

This comes not long after the Virginia Tech shootings, therefore awareness for implications of school violence is back on the high. What doesn’t add up is, why hasn’t this happened before? How do you think such great maps for games such as Counter-Strike are made? People visualize a place they can create from simply memory, and use it to map out a level that’s unique and provides a challenge. Why is this any different than a person making a level out their workplaces from memory? With Columbine, it was obvious that the individuals were disturbed to begin with, but this kid seems to be a normal teen who simply likes video games, as implicated by a fellow student.

“I think he just did it for fun,” said student Maaria Faoqi. “I mean, he goes here. He probably didn’t mean anything.”

The ABC News article can be read HERE.

I give it a week tops before the anti-gaming advocates raise in arms to shout out at this.

Seems that news regarding the PSP-exclusive upcoming chapter of the Silent Hill mythos kinda slips by unnoticed recently. However, it seems a bit of new info and new additions to “Origins” has hit the web for Silent Hill enthusiasts to decend upon.

As a recap, Silent Hill Origins is a prequel to the rest of the games in the series, particularly numbers 1 and 3. Until now, only some character information has been sprinkled about, with some screenshots of over-the-shoulder gameplay, ala Resident Evil 4. Now, it seems the SH team scrapped that concept in favor of the oldschool 3rd person. In this game, you play as newcomer Travis O’Grady, whom finds himself in the misty town of Silent Hill after saving a mysterious girl from a burning house. (series fans should pick up on this right away) After which, Travis tries to investigate what happened to the little girl, only to be thrown into the chaos that permiates from deep within the town itself.

According to Game Informers, despite the smaller screen size, the game itself is no less creepy than it’s large-screen predecessors. Gameplay is simple, with some new features thrown in such as being able to charge your attacks and the ability to lock onto several targets and toggle between them.

Have we mentioned the creepy?

Silent Hill Origins is slated for release in fall of later this year.

IGN has released the first trailer for the upcoming Transformers movie tie-in game. The footage comes from the Xbox 360 version of the game and shows off Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and Barricade in motion. We see them driving, fighting, scaling buildings and we get a good glimpse of Prime transforming! The character models are very impressive and need to be seen in motion to be appreciated. Best of all the trailer is narrated by Optimus Prime himself, Peter Cullen!

Source:Transformers the Game Trailer