Today brings us a few bits of news on the X3 DVD release.

• The X3 DVD site has launched here.
• DVD to launch October 3rd
• Brett Ratner is working on a special edition to come out shortly after regular edition.
• Apparently Wal-mart will have an exclusive disc packed with the regular version that includes a 50 minute diary from Ratner on the making of the movie that Europe will be getting standard with their regular edition.

Marvel updated their site yesterday with a brand new Civil War trailer. It’s available HERE and it’s the perfect lead in for issue #4, which hits stands today. And while the idea of a video trailer existing for print media seems a bit off, the results remain badass.

Jon Favreau posted this somewhat crazed-looking image of him sitting with Peter Billingsley (Iron Man’s executive producer) at a table loaded with crazy huge guns onto his MySpace page. Obviously, this are at least related to the Iron Man movie, if not actual props. In fact, I kind of hope they are props, because man, who let them have all those giant guns?

No, it’s not old news–it’s a week old rumor confirmed!  Game Informer did some peeking around Nintendo’s Offical Japanese Wii site and found some interesting info.  They list over 100 titles in development for the console including ‘Animal Crossing’, ‘Kirby’ and a “Gun Shooting Game” from Sega.  It also lists two new first party titles called “Forever Blue” and “Eye Shield 21”.

Popcultureshock.com is the only place I saw it, so we’re mirroring it here: Preview pages for Civil War #4, pages 1 through 3. Er, and the cover. But I bet you could’ve figured that out without my help. Here’s a link to their previews page, and here’s our mirrored pages:

In related news, Christos Gage – who wrote the fantastic Deadshot mini for DC a couple years ago – will be writing an upcoming Civil War one-shot, Casualties of War: Iron Man/Captain America. As he describes it during his Newsarama interview, “This is the first time since it all started that they’ve met one on one, out of respect for their many years as friends and allies, to talk it out. We’ll reference incidents from Marvel history to show why each man feels as strongly as he does, and each will have to defend his position as he tries to convince the other to rethink his own.” It’s supposed to take place earlier in the series than issue 4. (Obviously.)

Gage’s previous work includes episodes of Law & Order: SVU and tomorrow’s new Union Jack mini, spinning out of his appearance in Captain America. Though the issue arrives in stores tomorrow, but SilverBulletComics got a preview copy and sicced their reviewers on it. Overall it seemed to get pretty good reviews, despite the scathing pair of two-bullet reviews. I’ll have to see for myself tomorrow if the magic he worked on Deadshot will hold up in the world of Marvel.

The Walking Dead #31
Written by Robert Kirkman, art by Charlie Adlard

It’s no mystery why Robert Kirkman’s star has risen so quickly. Just a little while ago, his only two books were this and Invincible, and if you’re new and your name’s only going to be on two things, you better be sure they’re of this kind of quality. Invincible’s a story for another week though, as tomorrow we’re getting a new issue of The Walking Dead.

The quick ‘n dirty setup – Rick is a cop (now, a former cop) who wakes up in a hospital, only to find that just about everyone’s been turned into zombies. He quickly fought his way to his wife and son, and joined up with a whole crew of survivors. Things are constantly going to hell in their little handbasket, and while they’re not losing people left and right any more, the stakes are still just as high.

Currently, Rick’s been captured by a small town of survivors that have set up a Colosseum-type environment where they have people fighting the zombies for sport. It’s really quite grisly, and Adlard’s black and white art is the perfect moodsetter every single time.

I just checked out the 5 page preview at PopCultureShock, and I’m more excited than ever to see what comes next. A 6 page preview would’ve been far less effective, I’m thinking. If you check it out, you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, I mostly checked it out to be sure, and now I can say it with confidence – Kirkman isn’t just writing a fantastic, well-crafted story, he’s also successfully bringing you up to speed within the first pages, and doing it all perfectly organically within the story.

Do yourself a favor – Get your shop to start setting you aside a copy of this book. It’s one of my absolute favorite comic books, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be enjoying it just as much as I am.

For days I’ve been wondering how much in Canadian money the Wii would go for. Speculating with friends and coworkers I assumed it would be in the whereabouts of 300$ as we always seem to get the short end of the exchange rate. Well I got tired and wondering and visited Nintendo of Canada’s website. Right there for everyone to see since September 14th was the announcement that the Wii console would launch in Canada on November 19th for 280$.

With a very appealing 1.10% exchange rate when compared to the US this is great news for Canadian gamers who are far too used to in excess of a 50% markup for some products such as comics.

One of the most enduring subgenres of gaming is the Strategy-RPG, or SRPG as I’ll refer to it for the purposes of this write-up. Combining turn-based RPG conventions with grib-based strategy, these games are like a marriage of chess, Command and conquer, and Final Fantasy. From Shining Force on the Sega genesis to Final Fantasy Tatics, this subset of RPGS are easy to pick up and play, yet difficult to master. This week’s $20 GOTY and lost classics will take a look at two entries in this genre.

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