Criminal #6
written by Ed Brubaker, art by Sean Phillips

Captain America #26 comes out this week, following up on his almighty death from last issue. Last week was the closing (of sorts) to the year-long “Rise & Fall of the Shi’ar Empire” in Uncanny X-Men. Daredevil dares to be a devil. Or so I presume. What do all of those books have in common with Criminal? Writer Ed Brubaker.

This guy is in the absolute top tier of comic writers today, and while he’s banging out some popular hits on the mainstream Marvel titles, what’s slipped under too many radars is that he’s been writing one hell of a book in Criminal. The first five issues were a single storyarc, and they were simply fantastic. The story started about a heist that went bad, and then it went worse, and then it went even worse. I cannot recommend these issues enough, and if you haven’t read them, you can buy them now for real cheap in trade paperback.

This week, we begin a new storyarc with a new main character. Phillips and Brubaker are starting (almost) over from scratch, so if you skipped the first 5, then forget it, it’s fine – you have a second chance to start fresh with this book. Here’s the promo text:

Twenty years ago, Tracy Lawless traded the crime-ridden streets of the city for a life in the military, and it’s a decision he’s rarely regretted. But now he’s walking out of the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq and back into the world he grew up in, to find out who killed his brother Rick, and why. But truth is one of the few things uglier than family history, and the only thing Tracy has in his favor as he unravels the twisted strands of the criminal life his brother led, is that no one knows who the hell he is. And what they don’t know, just might kill them

Remember the days of oldschool games, when you just got *the game*; the regular edition as an only option, and none of these fancy frills and extra features or crazy box art and different colors – just the game?

Yeah, that doesn’t happen anymore.

Seems Rockstar announced that Grand Theft Auto 4 will also be getting a gussied-up version of the game as well. GTA: IV Special Edition will come in a safety deposit box-like cover, with a special art book and production art all bundled in, along with a CD sampler of music from the game and a Rockstar keychain. Aaaaand, dun dun dun….a duffle bag. Pre-ordering for the special edition has already commensed, at a retail value of $89.99

Grand Theft Auto 4 releases this October 16th in North America & October 19th in Europe for both PS3 and Xbox 360.

I seriously doubted they could get the game out before fall, and was betting we’d see a November release.
Now the long awaited 3rd installement in the Metroid Prime series has a release date: August 20th. Which means I better get a Wii by August 19th.

Also on August 20th, Nintendo will publish a sequel to Brain Age on DS, and many more DS and Wii titles are on the way beyond that. Sadly the list has many licensed games from movies or cartoons, but on the bright side there are only 3 Megaman games!

Keep reading for the full release list!
[Read the rest of this entry…]

In 1994, when it was still two separate from Square, Enix released this action RPG for the Super Nintendo. Although This game is the second part of a trilogy that includes Soulblazer and Terranigma (only released in Europe), you don’t have to play Soulblazer at all in order to enjoy this game. (In fact, the only link between the two is the appearance of a Soulblazer boss in a hidden level of the game.) Playing as Will, you and your friends travel the world during the age of exploration. You’ll visit real life locales such as Angkor Wat, The Great Pyramid of Egypt, and The Great Wall of China in your quest to stop a comet from approaching Earth. You’ll gain two allies, both with different abilities, whom you can change into when needed. This game stands along side Zelda and Secret of Mana as one of the best action RPGS available on the Super Nintendo. Hopefully we can expect a virtual console release sometime in the near future.

As we’ve seen from Fable, Peter Molyneux has a habit of overestimating his ambitions. However, when he does pull through, some pretty amazing things happen. Case in point, The Movies. One-half sim game and one-half movie development kit, you are tasked with building a movie studio from the ground up. Build sets, create scripts, and keep your stars happy so you can keep producing academy-award winning hits. Starting in the 1920s, you unlock new sets and technologies each decade. Like any good sim, cost management is a must. Pay attention to the news ticker to see what movies will be in demand. Build research facilities to discover new technologies, makeover centers to keep your stars satisfied with their image, and even rehab for users that develop eating or drinking disorders. When making movies, you can edit each scene, add in subtitles, and even record voice overs. You can even take your creations online, and share them with the world. (By the way, check out my film making debut here) It’s a shame this game didn’t take off as well as it could have, but for those who love making their own content, or if you fantasied about being a big name film maker, grab this up.

Minimum Requirements
Operating System: Windows 98SE or greater (including Vista)
8X speed CD-Rom drive for instillation
Storage: 2.4 GB or Greater Available hard disk space plus 500 MB for Windows swap file
Video: 3D Hardware accelerator card – 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 32 MB
Memory: 256 MB RAM
Sound: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 16-bit sound card
Processor: Pentium III or Athlon 800MHz equivalent or faster
Minimum requirements may not guarantee optimal performance

Also check out the “Stunts and Effects” expansion pack, also available for $20.

Yesterday we told you about the viral marketing thats being used to promote The Dark Knight and today its hit its first critical point by revealing the first image of Heath Ledger as The Joker.

This image defines creepy. It is unlike any Joker we’ve ever seen in any Batman movie, show, or comic. Pale skin, scarred face, smile painted on like a child with a crayon. Its so radically different, its likely to cause some fans to grumble about the change, but throwing the self proclaimed Clown Prince Of Crime into the fray of the gritty world of the current Batman just wouldn’t work. This image tells me one thing: This guy is meant to scare, not to cause laughs. This may well be the super psychotic Joker we rarely see in comics who is only funny to himself.

The worst kept secret in RTS is now common knowledge.

Moments ago at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in South Korea, the veteran PC developers announced StarCraft 2 as their next game. IGN is liveblogging the event. Official images and video are expected soon.

Its good to know Blizzard was only teasing. Some kind of update should be rolling onto Blizzard’s site soon. This news is perfectly timed as the next Powet Game Night will be the original StarCraft!

Sony has teamed up with veteran gaming monopoly Konami, and vested its efforts into releasing digital distributions of Konami’s video game music library. Song from Castlevania to Silent Hill, and from Contra to Gradius, will all be digitally released by Sony’s BGM Entertainment.

“Music has been at the foundation of Konami’s games for decades, and now consumers will be able to enjoy these classic tunes on their own”, quotes Konami’s music manager of Digital Entertainment Michael Rajna. Music will be availible for purchase from places such as iTunes and Rhapsody, as well as for mobile-phone download.

Seems like a bit of a stretch to me for Sony and Konami alike, seeing as how most of these VG tunes can be downloaded for free either by fansites or from torrent downloads. I suppose only sales will tell whether or not it’s an actual money-making venture. Konami’s music has been a keynote of it’s games for over two decades, and something like this is only just now being released? Kinda slow on the uptake if you ask me, but that’s just my humble opinion.