Pop Gears of War into your Xbox 360 right now and you’ll be able to download the latest game play update and bug fix, but also the the new game type “Annex” which is depicted in the video above. Skip past the cut to see the full press release with the bug fixes listed.

Annex is a variation on King Of The Hill, where players struggle for control of one spot on the map. Sounds fun already, since KotH was my favorite Halo gametype, but its sweetened by adding respawns. Yes, Gears Of War finally has a gametype where you can die and respawn.

Also on this week’s 1UP Yours Podcast, Epic’s Mark Rein stated that their team has 4 new multiplayer maps ready to go, and has been trying to get Microsoft to release them free. MS thinks charging is the way to go. Ultimately they’re going to comprimise with maps going for sale to start and going free after some time has passed. I’m fine with paying or getting them free, just as long as they get here soon!
[Read the rest of this entry…]

This is not Morgan Webb. This is not Adam Sessler.

X-play is the gold standard. Its still the most popular show on G4 and was one of the most popular on its previous home TechTV. Why not? When gamers turn off their boxes, they often turn to game news in magazines and on the internet, so its only appropriate they be able to see games on TV too.

But its hardly without competition, and it many cases its surpassed. If you’re still watching X-Play religiously because you think its the only show on TV talking about games (G4’s clusterhump “Attack Of The Show” does not count), you’d be missing out on more informative, more balanced, and in some cases, funnier shows. Allow me to focus on some of X-Play’s direct competitors, shows with similar production values and connections to the industry.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

This is actually the second game in what is know in Japan as the “Rushing Beat” series. It’s the sequel to what is known over here as “Rival Turf” and the predecessor to what is known over here as the Peacekeepers. Lousy names aside, the Rushing Beat games added their own small but innovative spin to the side-scrolling brawler formula popularized in games such as Final Fight. Rival Turf featured a secret code that allowed players to rename the game’s characters and enemies while Peacekeepers would feature exploration elements. Brawl Brothers little quirk was that at the start of the game, you selected two characters to start with. The main villain Dieter would kidnap the other three, clone them, and force you to rescue them throughout the game’s 4 levels. They tried to work in some exploration elements, but players would find themselves stuck if they didn’t follow the right path. Other than that, nothing stood out in the game, but there was no glaring weakness either. Just a nice game which you can play with a friend. their is also a one on one versus mode for when players wanted a diversion from the main game.

Oh yeah, as an added bonus, the original Japanese version is hidden on the cart as well, accessible by a code (repeatedly press BAXY in that order before the Jaleco logo appears) It removes the exploration elements, changes the character names, and adds in a new Time Attack multiplayer mode. This is probably one of the nicer easter eggs hidden in the game.

In 1996, Midway released Mortal Kombat Trilogy, a “special edition” version of Mortal Kombat 3 for Playstation and Nintendo 64 which included all the characters and most of the backgrounds from all of the games up to that point. It was to serve as the final chapter of the current storyline before the series received an overhaul of sorts with MK 4. Since then, the series experienced a fair share of ups and downs, until 2002’s MK Deadly Alliance completely revitalized the series. The franchise continued right along with 2004’s MK Deception, which included a plethora of new gaming modes, including an expanded version of conquest, puzzle kombat, and what was a first for 3-d fighting games, online play. Last fall, Midway re-upped again with Armageddon, which serves as the last game of the current storyline and the last game on current generation systems.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Free Comic Book Day is in exactly one month – May 5th, 2007! (That’s the first Saturday in May.) It’s gotten bigger and bigger each year, and this year there are over 40 different books to choose from! That is, if your local shop orders them all.

Looking over the selection of books, boo to DC for just reprinting JLA #0 and issue #1 of the animated Legion book – Yet another year of DC participating in a totally half-assed way. (I guess some jeers go to IDW too for reprinting the Transformers Movie Prequel Comic #1, even if they’re actually pushing a movie here.)

Books to watch:

• Marvel – Amazing Spider-Man: Swing Shift – written by Dan Slott, art by Dan Jimenez
• Marvel – Marvel Adventures Three-In-One – featuring an Iron Man, Hulk, and Franklin Richards story (grab one to give to a kid!)
• Image – Astounding Wolf-Man #1 – new book from Robert Kirkman
• Antarctic Press – Pirates vs. Ninjas #1 – because it’s PIRATES VS. NINJAS
• Fantagraphics Books – The Unseen Peanuts – over 100 strips of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts that have NEVER been reprinted
• Rude Dude Productions – Nexus Special – Steve Rude picking up the reigns on his long dormant character
• Topshelf Productions – Owly & Korgi – Owly is a regular favorite of Free Comic Book Day fans
• Wildcard Ink – Gumby Special – because it’s Gumby!

Wanted, the movie based on the miniseries by Mark Millar, is supposed to start filming this month in Prague. (That’s in the Czech Republic, knuckleheads.) You might have heard of this, as Angelina Jolie was recently cast, and Morgan Freeman also stars in it. Obviously, neither of them are the title character – a gumpy white guy that finds out his father was a supervillain-type assassin and gets trained to fill his shoes. This is James McAvoy‘s role. It’s a fairly messed up book, burdened with one of the lamest last pages I’ve ever encountered (depending on your interpretation, it’s either Millar laughing at you for buying the book, or telling you to go out and be like the character). Oddly enough, it sounds like the film adaptation is removing most (if not all) of the superhero/supervillain aspects – perhaps the most endearing aspect of the story.

Anyway, all of that was to bring you up to speed, so you have some semblance of context for the little piece of concept art Bazelevs has treated us to. In their words, New American project of Timur Bekmambetov with the working title “Wanted@ is in progress. For right now the revisualization for the future feature is being made. CG specialists develop “art” and camera moves, objects, characters interaction, shots composing, animation – in a word, it is already seen now how the future featyre will look like. This work is being done for ‘Universal Studios”.

Ah, translations.

Madman Atomic Comics #1
written and drawn by Mike Allred

Mike Allred has an impressive comics resume, ranging from Spider-Man to the recent (and acclaimed) X-Statix, to the Bluntman and Chronic comic pages in Chasing Amy, and even to “The Golden Plates” – an adaptation of the Book of Mormon. Wait, really? Huh, really. Well, anyway, one of his most prominent works remains his creator-owned work on Madman. Having previously been published under smaller publishers, I’ve never gotten my hands on a Madman comic, despite being able to instantly recognize the character on sight. You have to admit – he makes for an intriguing visual.

As for who he is, Madman “was a hitman who was killed in a car accident, then stitched back together and brought to life by a pair of mad scientists.” I don’t know much else about the character, other than the fact that Bruce Timm admittedly used Madman as a direct inspiration for Freakazoid – “with comics open and referred to when developing the show.” And Freakazoid was pretty awesome, right? So, with a movie currently in the works, a hard-earned reputation for excellence, and a new issue #1, what better time to get acquainted with the character? The answer is NONE. So be cool like me – Gamble with a couple bucks and pick up the issue this Wednesday.

Textless preview pages after the jump…
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Coinciding with Saturday’s airing of the series 3 premiere of Doctor Who the first episode of a new animated Doctor Who series “The Infinite Quest” aired yesterday as part of Totally Doctor Who. Coming in at a mere 3 minutes and 30 seconds there’s not much to say but I’ll give you a spoiler driven synopsis anyway.

The villain Baltazar is cruising through space on his ship that he built himself, talking to a robot bird named Caw, as he arrives to Earth. The Doctor and Martha show up in the Tardis. Baltazar explains that he’s going to turn everyone on Earth into diamonds. The Doctor takes out a rusty spoon which rusts the ship away, he frees Caw from his cage with his sonic screwdriver and then he and Martha escape in the TARDIS apparently going to Copacabana beach. Baltazar is left flying around through space on Caw.

[Read the rest of this entry…]