It was less than a month ago that we shared the announcement that Icon Heroes had gotten the license to do a 6 inch line of mini-statues based on the original Thundercats series characters, vehicles, and playsets. The image above is the newly revealed Lion-O ‘static action’ figure, or staction for short. According to ActionFigurePics, “if all goes as planned, Lion-O will first be released as an exclusive at San Diego Comic-Con through Action Figure Xpress. Icon Heroes plans to follow this with a regular edition Lion-O in August, with Jackalman, Jaga, and even a Thunderclaw with Lion-O down the line!” Very cool news!

March 10, 2000 is widely regarded as the peak of the “dot com boom” with the Nasdaq hitting an all time high. This is an interesting historical foot note as its the day tech giant Microsoft announced they were getting into home video game business.

Going back a long time, its kind of interesting to look at how the game business evolved, or more accurately grew up. Atari and the NES were for kids. 16 bit era added a layer of complexity to keep older kids interested. In the mid 90s, Sony’s Playstation kept teenagers playing with more mature games. As the Atari and NES kids grew up it would take a big evolutionary leap to keep games in their lives and into the dorm rooms. Thats what I think of the original Xbox: the first console built for dorm rooms.
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Remember loyal readers, tonight, Saturday, June 12, 2010, we will be hosting our first Powet Game Night in quite some time.

The featured game will be Castle Crashers! So get your knights and minions ready because we are going to have most of the staff joining in for the evening to crash some castles. Festivities will begin about 7:00 PM EST and go until the last knight is standing. All are welcome to come and go as they please.

Remember to add your gamertag in this thread so we can get you in on the fun.

This turn-based strategy RPG is easily one of the most underrated Nintendo DS games of last year. In fact, I’d almost go as far to say that it was one of last year’s big sleepers. It introduces a unique style of play that sets it apart from other games on the DS, as well as other games in its genre. I would be hesitant to even call it a strategy RPG, as it takes a lot of pages from other genres, such as real time strategy, shooter, and even some tower defense games for good measure. It’s Episode 4 in developer Sting’s Department Heaven series, which also includes the Game Boy Advance titles Yggadra Union and Rivera, although there isn’t much of a relation between them, and one does not have to have played the other two to enjoy KITN.
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Thanks to Bentheo on our forums for sharing this link.

Entertainment Tonight recently filed this behind the scenes fluff from the set of Marvel’s Thor movie. In it Chris Hemsworth talks more about being on the Australian version of Dancing With The Stars more than being the god of thunder, but hey, thats the ET audience.

Still we get some look at the sets and a few characters in costume. I’m still no closer to knowing how this will all end up looking or feeling, but for those curious its worth 4 minutes to watch the youtube video before ET runs in an takes it down.

Director Michael Bay and Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura granted an interview to USA Today to do some damage control over the Revenge Of The Fallen as they actively film the tentatively titled “Transformers 3.”

They make note of the writer’s strike that led to on set improvisation and the “dorky comedy” Bay hopes to keep out of the next installment. Bay also comes down on the villain from TF2: The Fallen who he called a “shit character.” The Twins will be back, but in a much more minor role. Finally, going out of their way to please fans, they announce Shockwave will be the primary villain of the next Transformers movie.

Making note of Shockwave’s cartoon history as the ruler of Cybertron after the Autobots and Decepticons left, it likely that the next movie will deal with the Transformers returning to their home planet, as Bay promises this movie will be the final act of his trilogy with a definitive end. The plot will also involve the secret history of the US and Soviet space race of the 20th century, implying Transformers tech was either behind it or the end prize.

Reversing his previous declaration, Bay does mention the movie will be released in 3D.

Transformers 3 will be released next summer.
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USA Today of all places is getting us our first real look of Rock Band 3’s Keytar. Looks like putting it in your lap will be the easiest way to play, and the color coded portions of the keyboard will let the novice easily pound away like they’re Ben Folds without actually being super precise. Meanwhile its clear that the hardest level of the game has been beefed up to allow more challenge to those guys who’ve been playing Rock Band 15 hours a week for the past 3 years.

Hit the jump for a peek at a few of the songs to be included in the game. Spoiler Alert: “Rainbow In The Dark” made the cut! This one’s for you, Dio.

Source USA Today (Thanks Ernie!)

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En route to see Ashes Divide at the Viper Room, noble reader and fan RJK snapped this photo of a billboard. Four familiar icons, one unfamiliar, and one giant number “3”

The billboard is just a mile away from LAX, it appears Harmonix is gearing up to make the big announcement of the next Rock Band. The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) starts next week in Los Angeles. We already have heard early reports that we’ll see keyboards added to the mix, and this ad pretty much removes all doubt.