ID software, the fathers of the first person shooter, had three major franchises in the genre; Wolfenstein 3-d, Doom, and Quake. There was also a fourth series that, while it wasn’t was well known as the other three, managed to provide some unique twists on the FPS genre all on its own. Even though it was developed by Raven Software, it maintained the innovation that had been present in ID’s other franchises. The Serpent Riders Trilogy, better known as Heretic, Hexen, and Hexen 2, followed the player’s quest the save the world from three ancient demons. While most shooters of the time placed players in a science fiction setting, Heretic and its sequels placed gamers in a fantasy realm. This was a first at the time, and it was an experience which few FPS games have managed to replicate. Even today, you’ll be hard pressed to find a first person shooter game willing to deviate from the norm this drastically.
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A lot of news with the League, I’ll start with the people…
Firstly, my big awesome idea of putting Welling in tights isn’t going to fly. Will it be Routh? How many Supermen do we need?
Next, Jessica Biel was apparently offered and then passed the role of Wonder Woman. As much as I’d like to see her in this outfit, I don’t think she’s right for the role. We got one shot, the gal they cast should be an amazon. A relative unknown, Victoria Hill has been tested for the role, and may just get it.
UGO got a leak of the supposed script for Justice League, and it sounds like a mixture of the comics Tower Of Babel and some of the OMAC/Brother Eye stuff. Basically elaborating on Batman’s files on how to take down the other leaguers, and them falling in the wrong hands, and being used to turn them against each other. They imply a shocking ending thats on par with “Luke, I am your father.”

The script could be a fake, the casting is still far from finished, but with so much chatter on the blogs, the early buzz is starting to become genuine hype. I hope they can deliver, because as I’ve said with all adaptations: I’d rather have NO movie than a BAD one.

While we still don’t have an exact date yet, the latest issue of the Transformers Collector’s Club newsletter apparently notes that the 2008 convention will be in the April/May timeframe. Here is a quote from the 2005 boards:

“We are working on BotCon ’08. I can’t tell you much so far, but I can tell you that it will be in the Spring this year, sometime around the end of April, first of May. Details will be released on BotCon.com as soon as they are available.

-Brian”

A list of events for play in the upcoming Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Gamesfor the Wii has been revealed. The DS version is reportedly delayed until the beginning of next year.

• Fencing – Individual epée
• Archery
• Shooting – Skeet
• Gymnastics – Trampoline
• Gymnastics – Vault
• Field – High Jump
• Field – Pole Vault
• Field – Long Jump
• Field – Triple Jump
• Field – Javelin Throw
• Field – Hammer Throw
• Rowing – Single Sculls
• Table Tennis – Singles
• Aquatics – 100m Freestyle
• Aquatics – 4x100m Freestyle
• Track – 110m and 400m Hurdles
• Track – 4x100m Relay
• Track -100m and 400m

via Joystiq.

And according to our friends over at 4CR the roster has also been revealed:

Nintendo	Sega
Mario	Sonic
Luigi	Tails
Wario	Knuckles
Waluigi	Shadow
Yoshi	Amy
Bowser	Vector
Daisy	Blaze the Cat
Peach	Dr. Eggman

Apparently not too long ago, some guy on the IGN boards started a rumor about a Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics fighting game in the works, citing an “inside source” as his feed. People dismissed it as false, and moved on about their business.

Now it seems the rumor is getting more hype. TRMK.org, one of the more prominent and informed MK sites on the net, has a recent article that analyzes the rumor a bit more.

As incredulous as this rumor has sounded ever since it first made the rounds more than ten years ago, TRMK has confirmed from our own sources that the next Mortal Kombat game for the current generation of consoles – Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 – will indeed be a “Versus” style game.

While we were unable to confirm the DC Comics angle proposed by the IGN Boards message, we do know that the game will feature another well-known established intellectual property. It seems unlikely that the DC Comics license will appear along side a franchise known for its gruesome fatalities; however, the MK Team did state that they were intent on “reinventing everything from the ground up” in order to “wipe the slate clean”. Therefore, the idea that the game will not feature fatalities in the traditional Mortal Kombat style is not as far fetched as it initially sounds.

The original rumor on the IGN boards had been picked up by a user of MKOnline forums, which enticed the guys of TRMK.org to do their own digging, and it seems they got a little more than just hearsay. It seems everyone from the staff of the fansites to the fans themselves are skeptical, and with good reason. Mortal Kombat became famous for it’s gruesome Fatalities and gobs of bloodshed and violence, and has not deviated from that road since it’s conception. With DC, despite being darker, leaning more towards the anti-violence side of things, it just seem farfetched to believe this 100%.

Not alot of DC fans would be too keen on seeing Batman having his spine ripped out, or Green Lantern having his head eaten off. On the other side, MK fans would not want to see Scorpion *not* impaling someone with his spear, or Sub-Zero *not* freezing his enemy and smashing them to bits. But, I guess we’ll see.

Fileplanet has taken it upon themselves to offer up the demo release for Clive Barker’s survival horror game, Jericho. The actual game itself won’t release until November 2nd, but at least those of us who have been eying this little gem will get a taste of the gameplay.

For those who aren’t familiar with the title, the game takes place in an apocalyptic setting that seems to be a hybrid of Silent Hill and Gears of War. Your a member of the Jericho Squad, that’s been sent to cull the uprising of the “Firstborn” – grotesque and twisted creatures from the Abyss who were banished from earth by God after he feared his creations. The members of Jericho Squad are sent in with heavy artillery, as well as each one packing their own special supernatural talent, making freak killing that much more fun.

Check out the link HERE

If it’s Clive Barker, is has to be good.

TFW2005 reported a couple days ago on a few pictures that popped up on a Japanese toy board. The pictures appear to be of two packaging samples with the figures inside. One package is a two-pack featuring Classics Jetfire and Classics Grimlock. The other package is another two-pack featuring Classics Optimus Prime and Classics Ultra Magnus. Both feature Classics packaging with a pop-up display of each character in robot mode. I have attached the pictures because I’m sure my description is severely lacking, but they speak for themselves.

This will be a great chance for people who missed out on figures, particularly the Target exclusive Ultra Magnus, that was available only with Classics Skywarp.

 

A review of the ricockulous pre-order incentive that comes with the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie.

$0 gets you nothing, apparently.