Shia LaBeouf. Actor, comedian, lover, fighter and, apparently, comic book writer and artist! That’s right, Shia LaBeouf, star of Even Stevens and the Transformers film franchise, has some self published comics. He surprised crowds at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo this past weekend as he and his girlfriend appeared at a table in the artist’s alley to sell and sign copies of his three self published books.

I know what you’re all thinking. Who do I have to kill to get a copy of these books? Well no one. All three books are available at The Campaign Book each for $10 and shipping or in ebook format for just $5. The books are “Cyclical”, “Let’s Fucking Party” and “Stale N Mate”. All books are written, inked and colored by LaBeouf himself. These books are also available in a number of comic book stores. A full list of these stores can be found on the web site. To stay up to date you can also follow thecampaignbook on twitter.

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Remember back when I did that review about the Amiga and all the games I had remembered playing on it, and said that Turrican 2 was my absolute hands-down favorite because it’s music alone was what helped me find the game again after 15 years? Well, that was an understatement really, because the music of not only Turrican 2, but the entire Turrican series are some of the best of that era of gaming. Composer Chris Hülsbeck really outdid himself when he crafted the music for the Turrican series, going above and beyond what alot of games at the time were doing and cementing himself as a legend in the game music field.

Well now, 20 years after releasing his original Turrican Soundtrack Album, Hülsbeck is stepping it up a notch with a Kickstarter Project to help fund a new Turrican Soundtrack Anthology!

I’d like to create a Turrican Soundtrack Anthology Limited Edition Box Set, with nearly all of the music from the Turrican Series of Games. At least 3 CDs will contain these brand new, pristine studio recordings. Even music pieces that were featured on the 1993 Turrican Soundtrack CD will be newly recorded and arranged to update their sound. Highlights will include for the first time: the whole ‘Turrican 2 Title’, ‘Credits’ (all versions), ‘Metal Stars’, ‘Tower of Morgul’, ‘Unidirectional Flight’, ‘Concerto for Laser and Enemies’ and ‘Hall of Heroes’ – all as full length recordings/arrangements.

To fund the project, Hülsbeck has set a goal at $75,000. Those who donate get special goodies, such as signed copies of the early album release, and other signed memorabilia. So far the project has raised over 20k of the goal in just over 24 hours alone! With a June 3rd deadline, it’s not hard to believe that this dream could become a reality, but not without fan help! Please go donate and help Turrican and Hülsbeck fans relive a bit more of our childhoods!

In case the title didn’t clue you in, this independently developed game is a throwback to RogueLike RPGs of the past. Taking control of one of several classes (many of which are unlockable), you take on several quests through randomly generated dungeons. As the title implies, you’ll hack and slash monsters while looting goods. The controls are simple, as mouse clicks pretty much control everything. The game however, is not. You’ll die often. It’s fair to warn you upfront. If you think those games that Adam listed in this week’s Top 5 were hard, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Even so, this is an addictive kind of fun that only makes you want to press on even more with each defeat. It’s available for cheap on Steam, so check it out.

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Welcome to the Powet Top 5, where we explore the top (and bottom) 5 items we think are relevant to any of a variety of topics that span the imagination. Sit back, read, and respond

Difficulty in a video game is a tough thing. Make it too easy, and there’s no challenge to it. Make it too hard, and if the player gives up on the game, it’s failed them. You pretty much want to make a game as hard as possible, so long as the player likes the game enough to push through and triumph, ultimately feeling satisfied for their win. This list is about games that, for better or for worse, are just too damned hard. There’s always a certain amount of shame associated with admitting that you find a game too hard, but I have no shame in saying that I am not able to beat any of the games on this list, and if you’ve been able to conquer any of them yourself I’d love to hear about it.

I’m sure you’ve all got your own games which make you so angry you could whip a gamepad at the wall, so feel free to leave a comment with your own list. With that, here are my 5 most difficult video games.

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Apogee Software created Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold shortly after Wolfenstein 3-D was released. Using a modified version of the Wolfenstein 3-D engine, the game depicted Blake Stone, a sort of futuristic James Bond as he tries to stop Dr. Goldfire from taking over the world using a race of genetically engineered aliens. Like Wolfenstein 3-D, Blake Stone was a fun and fast paced FPS game from the genre’s early days. Unfortunately, the game had the misfortune of being released a week before ID Software’s Doom, which turned the genre on its head. Thus, Blake Stone, and its sequel Planet Strike were criminally overlooked. Thankfully, you can find both on GOG.com for cheap.

Its been quite a while since the Diamond Select Toys scooped up the Battle Beasts rights in 2009. They have released a few variations of an exclusive Crocodile Battle Beast to gain excitement and showed off some new sculpts at SDCC 2010, but thats about it. No plans or announcements had been made.

Recently, however, a countdown site went live at http://www.diamondselecttoys.com/battle-beasts.html. It has been counting down for over a month and will end tomorrow. Tomorrow also marks the beginning of C2E2.

Fortunately for us, IDW broke the news before Diamond Select’s countdown has finished. A new comic fleshing out a new story for the Battle Beasts franchise is on its way from IDW Publishing. Not only that, but they have put up a website showing off some comic art and design art for the ram-like character, Vorin. An exclusive translucent red version of Vorin will be available as a convention exclusive at C2E2. Vorin was not among the new sculpts shown at SDCC 2010.

More info after the jump!
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Matt, co-founder of 24 Caret Games, spent some time with us to talk about the concept behind Retrograde. He was then kind enough to do a demo for us. For more information on the game, you can check out their site here. Join us after the jump for more great gameplay footage.

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