IGN has posted a full 21 minute video of gameplay in Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty. The battle features Terran vs. Protoss and gives a decent look at some of the new units and abilities.

You can see that video here.

One of the abilities I was intrigued by was that a newly built command center was able to carry 4 SCVs with it to immediately start mining at the expansion base. Another new feature shown was not only the ability to traverse terrain at different levels with certain units, but also that some parts of the terrain could be interacted with, in this case a pile of boulders blocking/protecting the entrance to an expansion site. They were also pretty quick to point out that this is still an alpha version and you can probably bet on a somewhat lengthy beta version to work out all the bugs. That being said, things are looking very good so far.

The division between American-style role-playing game fans and Japanese-style RPGers is almost as deep as the split between Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter fans. While American RPG games such as Diablo and the Elder Scrolls series have focused on more real-time action oriented combat and deep character customization, Japanese RPGs such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest have focused on character development, turn-based combat, and semi-linear storylines. For years, it has been a back and forth battle, with both American and Japanese RPGs gaining popularity amongst fans at certain periods. When Final Fantasy VII changed the face of the genre, many American gamers flocked over to the works of Square-Enix, and its contemporaries. Fast forward to a decade later. Japanese RPG developers have been going as strong as ever, and even new ones such as Mistwalker have emerged. However, the problem with the current JRPG scene is that these developers have mostly relied on the same old formulas that they have implemented since the late 90s. The failures of games such as The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery (as well as the cult status of games such as Persona, The World Ends With You, and Valkyrie Profile) have demonstrated that the public wants to see something different. Moreover, throughout the last decade, the American RPG market has been bolstered by excellent games such as Diablo, Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights, and Jade Empire. This brings me to this week’s feature, Mass Effect. Mass Effect was created by BioWare, the camp behind hits such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Baldur’s Gate, and the forthcoming Dragon Age. As in the past, BioWare has taken the RPG genre to new heights by not sticking by the genre’s norms. Square-Enix, Tri-Ace, Mistwalker, and other RPG developers, both American and Japanese, would do well to study this game (especially if they plan on doing any more work with the Unreal 3 engine).
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Majel Barret-Roddenberry, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry has passed at the age of 76.
While she had a recurring role as nurse Christine Chapel in the original series, as well as Ambassador Lwaxana Troi on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, perhaps her most vital contribution to the series was off camera. For nearly 700 episodes and 10 movies, she provided the voice of the computer on Federation ships.
Her final professional work was recording voice work for the next chapter in Star Trek, the highly anticipated new movie (Star Trek Trailer here). Her work was completed just a few weeks ago, thus bringing closure to an era and bridging the gap toward a new one.
I certainly hope there is a dedication in this new film, though it can scarcely match the dedication Majel had shown Star Trek for most of her life.

Majel Barrett on Wikipedia
Majel Barrett on IMDB

Ending Music: “Unholy Vespers”

The first of my two reviews for the recent Castlevania games. Like what you see? Be sure to check out my Staff Pick for the month. (last month too!) Make sure to check back here at Powet.tv for the other Castlevania review you won’t want to miss!

Marvel.com has released 8 new stills from the upcoming movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman returning as Wolverine, Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed, and Taylor Kitsch as Gambit. Each of these actor/characters are pictured below. The movie is scheduled to be released on May 1, 2009.

  

Marvel.com has premiered a new trailer for the upcoming animated DVD release of Hulk Vs, a compilation of two major showdowns; Hulk vs Wolverine and Hulk vs Thor. The trailer shows us a much deeper story than expected from the previous action only trailer. We even get to see a couple Weapon X characters including Sabretooth, Deadpool and Omega Red.

Thanks to BumbleBeeZ3 for the news.