Gotta love Square-Enix for their teasers.

Yesterday, a new site was launched representing the newest addition to the legendary Final Fantasy series : Dissidia. Obviously, not much is out right now in terms of information about the game, other than it’s for the PSP, and Nomura is doing the character designs. The unconfirmed info concerning the game is that it very well might not be a traditional RPG, like the rest of the series, and that it may be based off of Final Fantasy XIII. This is also meant to be a part of the “20th Anniversary” stint of special goodies being released by Square-Enix.

More details will supposedly be released at this weekend’s Square-Enix Party. No release date other that “TBA” has been given as of yet.

You can check out the teaser site HERE.

Slow news days make for great little snippet updates.

Seems the boys over at Project 51 Productions have been brainstorming quite a bit, and have some exciting news. There’s not to be just one animated Castlevania movie – but three! A trilogy of animated movies, all telling the extended take of Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse. While this might not be what some fans had in mind, as I know I can hear some saying “But why can’t they just make separate movies for each game in the series?”, I can only say this – you want it done, or do you want it done right?

It also appears that series head, Koji Igarashi, is also involved in the movie as well. Of course, he was also supposedly ‘involved’ with the Castlevania comic books too, and those only got half-hearted reviews. Again, more news as it develops on that one.

Oh, and just as a smaller note – Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP will now be released in September.

Interesting little quip – notorious movie review site, Rotten Tomatoes, has compiled a list of the near-hundred comic book based movies so far created and released, and has listed them starting from worst to best based on review scores from both critics and users, and has them all lined up neatly like ducks in a shooting range. Take that how you will.

Of course, don’t go into it thinking your opinions of a certain movie are going to be shared by all. Apperently some movies, like the appalling Catwoman, did have a few that were rated actually worse than itself, if that’s possible. What I thought was interesting was the fact that they don’t limit it to just comic books, but also comics you’d see from the Sunday News, such as Garfield and Richie Rich. Then there are the movies you didn’t even know were based on comics, such as was the case with me and Judge Dredd. Regardless, despite a usual concensus of underwhelming applause for a good number of rather decent movies, it’s an interesting trip to walk through.

Check it out – at your own risk of possible homicidal rage of course.

Well, with Venom’s debut on the big screen, it’s just as well that he get some more exposure in the comic realm as well, right? Seems a few new images in the upcoming Spider-Man/Red Sonja crossover have raised some interesting questions – who’s gonna be host to the Venom symbiote this time around?

A few images released by IGN show some penciled panels featuring a male whom sees himself as Venom in the mirror, then gets transported to a mysterious other realm, only to transform into Venom before our eyes.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Almost forget that Devil May Cry 4, the newest installment in the acclaimed Capcom series, had been shoved to the wayside in terms of development news? Well thankfully, it is not so. Seems some new news about the game has leaked out.

Newcomer Nero has gotten a little more exposure this time around, and some additional info. Nero, a member of the “Order of the Sword” whom greatly resembles the Demon Knight Sparda, whom the Order worships, is on a quest against Dante after he witnessesthe son of Sparda killing off members of the Order. Packing his doubel-barrel revolver “Blue Rose” and his motorcycle-hilted sword “Red Queen”, as well as the mysterious demonic arm known as the “Devil Bringer“, Nero would seem like a decent match for the half-breed demon Dante.

Apperently the Devil Bringer is not just for show – as shown in the new fully playable demo released – but will couple as a weapon and a mechnism used for juggling opponents during combos, earning more red orbs for the player. Devil Bringer will also be key in ascending to multiple pathways by using rappeling actions and grappling onto higher ledges. Another secret revealed by game producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi was that, indeed, Dante will be playable in DMC4. Whether or not he’ll be an enemy of Nero’s throughthe entire game or will only be opposed to Nero for a portion of ithas not yet been established. IGN has more on the article HERE.

Devil May Cry 4 is slated for a release sometime late summer/early fall of this year for PS3, as well as Xbox 360 and PC. (thank god)

As promised, a bit of new news in regards to the Castlevania action figures being produced by NECA, this time featuring close ups of not only Alucard, but also a sneak peak at the Succubus figure as well (minus the wings). Of course, from the back I can’t tell which version of the Succubus it will be – Lament of Innocence or Symphony, but either way should be sure to please. The series 4th figure – Dracula – will most likely be the next to be seen.

…and yet despite the detail being put into such figures and the news being put out about them, the boys at Figures.com *and* MovieManiacs.net can’t seem to get the spelling right for ALUCARD. Nice try guys, really.

Ok, when a person mentions the name Alice Cooper to you, what does your mind usually fill with? Monster rock, thrash, and Satanic concerts probably involving virgin sacrifice, right? Or at least something close to that.

But not….golf.

Seems Mr. Cooper has traded up his self proclaimed alcohol addiction for a new addiction, involving a 18-hole green and thwacking little white balls, after battling with alcoholism since the later 70’s and 80’s decades. Not only that, but he’s also written a book on his experiences, “Alice Cooper, Golf Monster”, which explains his apperent epiphany and change of outlook.

“Golf ended up being a good trade-off,” he says. “The thing about this book, is that when I look at the whole juxtaposition of who Alice Cooper is, the golf addiction and the music addiction, still, it’s pretty interesting how they can co-exist.”

More can be read at Billboard.com.

This very well could be a sign of the coming apocalypse, people. Alice Cooper + Golf = Fire and Brimstone raining down. It’s the only logical explination.

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.