It has been over TWO YEARS since I spoke about Beyond Good & Evil 2! I’d forgotten about it, and simply chalked the lack of news to it being a bad rumor.
Well creator Michel Ancel hasn’t forgotten, and according to JeuxVideo (another French site!): Beyond Good & Evil 2 en préproduction. Why hasn’t it been officially announced? Ubisoft hasn’t given it the greenlight. This cult hit from last gen didn’t make the publisher the kind of money they wanted so they’re hesitant. I think gamers are getting more savvy and a theres not reason a cult game can’t become a big hit, like Bioshock did only a year ago.

Never played the classic original? You’re in luck. GameTap has it available now, and its available on PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, and PC, so you have to be able to play it on something you’ve got there. Its an action adventure in the same mold as Zelda with great characters, puzzles, acting, gameplay variety, and art direction. Its actually better than Wind Waker.

It doesn’t matter much that the Silver PS3 has never been released in the US, or that the concept “boomerang” controller never made it to production. The Transportation Security Administration has deemed this as potentially dangerous as the original Xbox, a camcorder or… what is that, a humidifier?
General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee won’t stand for you simply leaving these senseless items in your bag. Bust ’em out and get them in a bin. But be careful, that security guard asked you to take off your shoes probably so you can’t run when he declares that the PS3 hates freedom and takes your mythical boomerang and box into custody.

I was out of town for the weekend, and imagine my surprise when I caught up with GameTrailers on Spike that the first in game footage of Gears Of War 2 had been released. No short cutscene or render, this is gameplay from the third chapter of the first act called Assault. Gears master and geek pinup Cliffy B introduces the game, which looks great.

Looks great. Can’t wait to play it. The main game of the first Gears was spectacular, and tossing in some new mechanics like using enemies as a shield and chainsaw duels will only make the new one better. Graphics looks the same, but thats hardly a complaint. Delta Squad returns in November.

Here is the theatrical trailer to the next last most current Star Wars movie. Yeah, I thought I could close that chapter of my life with Revenge Of The Shit, but the bearded bastard has decided the first string of episodes of the next Clone Wars animated series are good enough to be a movie. With the way the last 3 movies went, it would be hard for it not to be as good. I liked the pilot episode to Justice League, but I didn’t think it should be projected on a screen.
How many people here are ready to bury Star Wars and never look back? With as many bad movies as there are good ones, and more bad books, games, and action figures than I can possibly count, I’m ready to declare this franchise DEAD. It lives on like a zombie, feeding of nostalgia and blind faith in the Jedi arts. The space opera of the Skywalker clan is running on fumes. If I end up in the theater watching this, it will surely be a mistake. Disagree and flame me if you must, but try to think of one moment in the last nine years since Phantom Menace that we’ve been able to be proud and excited about Star Wars… What have you got?
Update: Youtube link died, get it at StarWars.com

Double Agent is the fourth entry in the Splinter Cell series and the first to hit the new generation consoles. Ubisoft Shanghai has taken some bold new steps with the formula, not the least of which is having series protagonist Sam Fisher juggle his loyalties to both Third Echelon and the terrorist organization which he is tasked to infiltrate. While there are some missteps in this new direction, Double Agent still manages to bring the series into the next generation with style.

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We’ve got the newest trailer from “Batman: Dark Knight”, coming this summer. This one seems to be the longest of the trailers we’ve seen thus far, and has a couple of perhaps spoilerific hints as to some of the more hush-hush details of the flick, including some prelude shots that reveal the ‘grittier’ details of Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent.

The scenes are oh-so delicious. This movie will be well worth the wait.

This is 1980s arcade run-and-gun absurdity at its finest. Back then, you didn’t need a complicated backstory, fancy unlockables, top-notch graphics, downloadable content, a promotional tie-in, or online play. You only need an itchy trigger finger, loads of quarters, 30 – 45 minutes to spare, and a friend. You take control of a mercenary (or two if playing in two player), and you are assigned the task of retaking an underground nuclear complex from a group of terrorists. You are armed with a weapon and grenades, and like in most top-down shooters, you collect power ups. One in particular, the Heavy Barrel, is split into 6 pieces which form an awesome super weapon once they are found and assembled. The gun will only remain active for 30 seconds, but its firepower can be used to easily take out some of the harder enemies, including the bosses. There really isn’t much more to it, it’s just a fun shooter in the vein of Ikari Warriors and Contra.

Only time will tell if this game will show up on Virtual Console anytime soon, as Data East went bankrupt five years ago. Many of its intellectual properties were bought out by Japanese Corporation Paon, who developed Donkey Kong Barrel Blast for Wii, DK King of Swing for Game Boy Advance, and DK Jungle Climber for Nintendo DS. They have released several Data East games for the Virtual Console already and are no doubt planning to release more, so we can only hope Heavy Barrel is one of them.

Saturday, May 3rd is here, and just like every first Saturday of May since the dawn of time, that means Free Comic Book Day is here too.

Now, I realize that to the layman this may lead you to believe that you can walk into any old comic shop, grab any old book, and walk out. Nay! This is untrue! There is a specific set of books available for this, though with some careful choosing, you can end up with some truly excellent comics. Let Powet be your guide, and keep an extra eye out for these books:

• Atomic Robo
• Hellboy/BPRD
• Owly
• Gumby
• And we’re all geeks, right? Transformers Animated

Of course if you’re a sucker for Marvel and DC, Marvel’s putting out a new X-Men book and DC’s reprinting two fantastic books of theirs – All Star Superman #1 and Tiny Titans #1. But seriously, if I don’t find a copy of Atomic Robo, my tiny little heart may start breaking.