Hasbro’s San Diego Comic-Con exclusives have gone up for order on HasbroToyShop.com. Get them now, while they are still in stock!

Hasbro’s exclusives include:
Transformers Soundwave with Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Ravage and Ratbat
GI Joe: Rise of Cobra: 12″ Baroness
GI Joe: Rise of Cobra: Destro 2-pack
Marvel Universe 70th Anniversary Box Set
Wolverine Mighty Mugg with retractable claws
Metallic Finish Optimus Prime Might Mugg
My Little Pony 2009 Collector’s Exclusive Pony
Star Wars Smiling Pilot Luke Skywalker with Helmet and Ladder
Littlest Pet Shop Comic-Con Kitty

There are some 10% coupons for HasbroToyShop here.

San Diego Comic Con was this past weekend and lots of news poured out of the convention. Here is the first of several link round ups trying to recap on most of what went on. This article concentrates on movie announcements and panels. After the jump you’ll find plenty of links for Jonah Hex, Iron Man 2, Sherlock Holmes, Wanted 2 and much much more!
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Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

Created in 1994 for the PC, Diablo was meant to be a compliment to Blizzard’s popular Warcraft series, which had come out a few years prior and was deemed a success. Diablo, meant to be much darker and more gothic than Warcraft, also had a much different change in gameplay. Instead of the strategy of starting off on one side or the other and amassing a huge amount of warriors and weaponry to bash your enemies with, Diablo took to the Dungeon Crawler type of gameplay that was popular with games like DOOM, and added an RPG-type of flare to it like Final Fantasy.

The world of Diablo is deeply rooted in the heaven vs. hell archetype of story telling. Diablo, Lord of Terror, is one of the 3 Prime Evils, which are the highest level of demon in existence, and he and his brothers are in a huge war against the forces of light in a bid to destroy them and take everything over. Humans are the middle ground and both sides try to win them over through either benevolence or violence. Some powerful human mages on the side of good and backed by heavenly forces were able to capture the Prime Evils after they’d been defeated and banished to Sanctuary (aka: pseudo-Earth) and seal them in powerful Soulstones in order to bind them forever. (Apparently high-level demons can’t have their souls destroyed easily and can always resurrect if given the chance) With the souls of the Prime Evils locked away, the Soulstones were scattered and hidden away, with Diablo’s being buried in a catacomb beneath a church that later became the central point for the town of Tristrim. However after a few centuries the Soulstone weakened and Diablo was able to exert influence over the people of Tristrim, which led to massive slaughter and the kidnapping of the King’s son. So begins the game of Diablo.
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Skies of Arcadia was one of the few RPGs on the Dreamcast. Although its plot about three youths teaming up to fight an evil empire was as old school as it gets, the game’s sky-pirate theme made the game unique. Players take the role of Vyse, a member of the blue rogues, a group of sky pirates. While searching for treasure alongside his best friend Aika, Vyse meets a mysterious woman with strange powers. From there, Vyse gets involved in the empire’s plot to take over the world by reviving ancient weapons. The battle system is turn-based, similar to other RPGs. Each character has a weapon with a crystal that can change color in order to battle against different enemies. The game also features ship battles, in which Vyse and his crew take to the skies to battle against giant monsters and enemy ships. You can select from different types of cannons and attacks as you try to sink your opponent. You’ll recruit a crew of pirates, each with their own special abilities. A big part of the game involves exploration, and you can gain fame and fortune by making discoveries. The graphics are bright and colorful, and the music is good as well. As you are battling bosses, the music actually changes on the fly depending on how you are doing in battle. A few years after the Dreamcast version was released, a Gamecube game was released, featuring shorter load times, less random encounters, more sidequests, and new boss battles. It goes without saying that it is backwardly compatible on the Wii, so this is definitely the version to go with. Skies of Arcadia may not reinvent the wheel, but it is a solid classic-style console RPG.

Today marked the start of the pop culture mecca known as San Diego Comic-Con. To celebrate, Google swapped their logo with a rendition done by comic artist legend Jim Lee. Lee posted a link to a larger version on his twitter account @jimlee00. (see larger image after the jump)

Further, the Google blog announced new skins for iGoogle home pages featuring comic art by many known artists. Many of these skins are not just ‘superhero’ comic themed either, though there is plenty of that to go around, too. There happens to be a theme for ‘American Born Chinese’, a wonderful graphic novel I recommended back during the holiday season.

As SDCC progresses, we’ll be posting some round-ups to help everyone stay on the same page of all the great news sure to come from the convention. Stay tuned!
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Back in May, I reported on how the Castlevania movie had been basically doomed to production hell and thus pretty much sacked in terms of going anywhere, making it for all intents and purposes a dead film.

Apparently the HP of the film hadn’t been completely taken out, though. BloodyDisgusting comes back to report that the movie is back on, with yet another director slated to take over the script and reigns of the flick. James Wan, who helped co-create the SAW series, has taken the helm to hopefully head the film back in the right direction. And why not? It’s better than Sylvian “Stomp the Yard” White or Paul “I rape VG movies almost as bad though not as frequently as Uwe Boll” Anderson. That’s a matter of opinion, of course.

Despite my overwhelming cynicism towards a Castlevania movie ever turning out decent and not like Helsing, my interest is piqued simply for the fact Wan actually references staples of the series beyond the words “Belmont” and “Dracula”.

A review of the insanely expensive Limited Edition Terminator 2 Judgement Day Blu-Ray Complete Collector’s Set Endoskull.