If you haven’t read on numerous other sites such as Bites & Bytes before, then you need your eyes checked. However, we’re reporting it here as well. (mainly because I feel ashamed in having not reported on this sooner as toys isn’t my usual domain)

It seems that NECA will be producing its own line of Castlevania action figures, starting with releases of traditional Simon Belmont (not Chronicles version), as well as Alucard from Symphony of the Night. This will just be the Series 1 releases, which leads the reader to believe that there will be other series releases as well. Castlevania fans haven’t seen anything of this calibur since a few homemade figures were once featured at the Castlevania Dungeon. (which have mysteriously vanished….weird o.O) More news will be brought up about this as I run into it.

[EDIT – Crazy: Just wanted to mirror the two pictures that surfaced in this post. See below]

 

Whilst feeding my current fangirl kick with copious amounts of Voltron goodness from the old 1980’s series, I happened across some news in Wikipedia mentioning a new Live-Action Voltron movie in the works, as well as an interactive Voltron series being produced. Now, I know well enough Wikipedia can’t be relied upon as being 100% correct on all it’s news, or even 75% more often than not. However, when I stumbled upon a supposed teaser trailer for a new animated Voltron, I began to wonder.

You can check out the video HERE.

Kickstar Productions also has it listed on their website as “In Production”. Does this mean we’ll actually recieve a new animated series that will wash the bad taste out of the mouths of those who watched “Voltron: 3rd Dimension” and cried? Only time will tell.

A third Mortal Kombat movie has been “in the works” for quite some time now, and has had numerous delays and setbacks, and even more rumors thrown about. It’s seems, however, that the boys at IGN have recieved some honest reports as to the current status of the franchise movie production, as well as what changes are being made.

” It seems you can forget about seeing Mortal Kombat III. Instead, the whole franchise will reportedly be getting the reboot treatment, a la Casino Royale and Batman Begins.” It appears that the previous script that had been planned out for the movie has been scrapped, and new drafts are being re-written, along with advisement from franchise head Ed Boon.

The whole article can be read here.

Before this, the 3rd movie held promise by stating that it was only going to skip over the horribly concocted second movie, Annihilation. However, this little bit of news makes it seem as though they will skip both movies, and start from scratch. It does interest me that they are still trying to get Christopher Lambert and Robin Shou, actors from the original movie, to reprise their respective roles. As for how they handle “revamping” the movie plans is anyone’s guess, and it will be interesting to see what the storyline will involve should this come to pass.

It was annouced today on Nausicaa.net and Ghibliworld.com, that world famous animation genius Hayao Miyazaki has announced his newest creation, “Gake no ue no Ponyo” (Ponyo On A Cliff)”. After what seems like a long stint of making wonderful classics such as Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Castle in the Sky, Miyazaki tried to retire, but finds it “unbearable”.

In this newest piece, Miyazaki has written a story which revolves around a 5 year old boy Sosuke and the Princess goldfish Ponyo who wants to become human. He’s also choosen to model the character of Sosuke after his own grandson, Goro. The film will be done in a freehand pastel-like drawing scheme, and will feature the majority of the film with a sea background, which will prove to be an interesting task for the director to animate. The film itself is scheduled for release in 2008.

For those metalhead fans out there, it seems as if the Wizard of Blizzard shall be hitting the road this summer for the newest rendition of “Ozzfest” on a pro-bono note. Tickets for this year’s Ozzfest, which are usually over $40 a pop, will be free for the 25-city tour as a “thank you” to fans for this, the 12th year of the annual roadshow.

“It’s not saying that I’m now Mother Teresa or that Ozzy is a saint, but you know what? He’s been doing this a long time and his audience has been really good to him,” Sharon Osbourne said. “So if he goes out one summer of his life and he doesn’t get paid, big deal.”

The tour starts on July 7th, with stops in Los Angeles, New York City, Denver, Dallas, and many other large cities. Sponsors have signed up to help generate the “free-ness” of the ticket cost. While other bands are slated to appear on the tour as well, no names have yet been released….but who really cares? It’s free! Read the whole article on Yahoo News.

Just when we’d all lost alot of hope for humanity after the idiocy in Boston recently, something like this comes along and slightly redeems things. Damn them for jerking our chains. Damn them!

As any avid Castlevania fan can tell you, one of the true highlights of the series was Symphony of the Night. However, many fans believe that Dracula X for the Super Nintendo was Symphony’s prequel, without realizing that the Japanese-Only released title “Akumajou Dracula: Chi no Rondo” (Rondo of Blood) for the PC Engine Duo was the true beginning chapter for one of the most reknowned Castlevania titles to date. True enthusiasts have dreamt of the day when Rondo of Blood would finally make the transition to American shores. (as many believed Dracula X to be a bastardized version of Rondo to begin with)

After over 10 years, it seems as though we’re finally getting that wish.

Konami is releasing “Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP, slated to hit the markets this coming fall. One of the extras about waiting as long as we all have for a port to make the transition is that, not only will we be able to play the original 2D version of Rondo, but the game will also be sporting a redone 2.5D version of the game as well.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Not too long ago, news hit the Castlevania fan community that Paul S. Anderson would be directing a live-action adaption of one of the longest running gaming series to date. And, we all wept. Or at least I did. However, it looks like there might be an alternative in the works – a Castlevania animated movie.

It seems that Project 51 Productions Ltd. has aquired worldwide animated rights from Konami Entertainment to the Castlevania franchise. Representing Project 51 in the deal were Rick Privman and Yumiko Miyano from JEA and Eric Gardner from Panacea Entertainment. Their announced first project is an animated movie based on Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse; with Award winning comic book writer Warren Ellis writing the script and Eisner Award winning artist James Jean slated to be the art director. To enlighten the casual gamer, Dracula’s Curse was the third and last of the NES Castlevania games released in 1990, and has been argued by fans as being the best of the original trilogy, if not the series. Set 100 years before the original game, it follows the quest of Trevor Belmont to defeat Count Dracula before his curse spreads throughout the land of Warakiya, Transylvania.

No planned release dates have been announced as of yet, but the project seems to hold some promise despite being in the early stages of production. A production blog has been set up to track details of the flick as it developes – http://www.castlevaniadraculascurse.com/

With the turn of the new year having come and gone, Midway games has alot to celebrate. Its newest title of one of the greatest fighting franchise in gaming history, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon has achieved many award-winning goals like it’s predecessors before it. In reaching the mark 1 million copies sold just last week, and a port to the Wii system by April of this year to join its releases on the PS2 and Xbox systems, the Mortal Kombat name has certainly a lot to boast about.

[Read the rest of this entry…]