Pokemon Battle Revolution is due June 25 on Nintendo Wii and it will be the first online multiplayer title for the system. Already released in Japan, it supports the dreaded “friend code” system that makes pairing with friends and keeping track in game much more difficult than in the firmware available for Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.

That may change now. GameSpy, who not only are a video game news site, but also a middleware developer for online games, have been charged with turning the Wii’s online capabilities into a full functional network. They developed the software that governs existing DS WiFi titles, but promise something more robust for the console. Full press release after the jump, but I’ll spoil it for you right here with the important parts

• Friends Lists
• Ranked Matches
• Matchmaking

Of course, all of those have been in place since Mario Kart DS became the first Nintendo online title, but the promise of keeping a list using the console’s identity rather than each game’s is enough to give us hope for the future. Launching 7 months after the Wii’s debut and a year and half after the Nintendo WiFi service launched on DS, they’ve had plenty of time to get this right.

Still no word if this GameSpy middleware is being sent to 3rd party developers.

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Update 2011-01-09: This game never happened but a new Sailor Moon game will be released on the Nintendo DS this spring.

Not letting the fact that the show’s been off the air for over 10 years stop it Sailor Moon seems to have a game planned for release on the Wii. Asian import store YesAsia has this product description up for a Sailor Moon game published by Namco set to be released in December 2007. While this isn’t a certain confirmation that a game will be released YesAsia is a reputable online store I’ve dealt with a number of times so this should be taken more seriously than your run of the mill bogus Totaka rumour.

Who knows what kind of game play such a title could have in store or how it will use the Wii’s functionality but rest assured Powet.tv will be the place to get news on this title as it becomes available.

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Stormwatch PHD #5
written by Christos Gage, art by Doug Mahnke

About two weeks ago, I was in the shop picking up my books, and one of the guys from the small mob that lives there pointed out that the book I was picking up was by Christos Gage. He and I briefly chatted on Gage’s excellent track record, starting off with his fantastic Deadshot mini, his recent Batman work, and before that, how he was writing episodes for Law & Order: SVU (the best of the Law & Orders, really). We dug issues 1-3 out of the back-issue bins, but I’m still missing 4, which now leaves a gaping hole in my soul.

The premise is that the Stormwatch: Post-Human Division (AKA superhero division) features a team of (mostly) humans tasked with taking down super-powered bad guys. The team does have one guy that’s half evil alien, and there’s also the chick who used to have heat powers, but lost them. The rest of the team is just badass humans, mostly with a law enforcement background. Christos Gage does some of his best work here, bringing out his strength of writing cops from Law & Order and melding those skills into a comic story, creating a fantastic book that reads more like a cop drama than you’d expect.

And Doug Mahnke’s no slouch on the art either. He’s constantly called to go back and forth between scenes of a super-villain mayhem slaughter, training scenes in a gym, and then scenes of a lab where a woman’s body has been splattered everywhere. His art matches his most work on the Frankenstein mini, but if you have a sharp memory, you’ll recognize the name as the original artist of The Mask. All in all, you’ve got a quality creative team putting together a really great book. Get onboard while it’s still on the ground floor.

In our ongoing coverage of Captain America’s alleged passing, two new developments have recently come to light. First, Joe Quesada (editor-in-chief of Marvel) sent a Cap’s shield over to Stephen Colbert for safekeeping, and we’ve got the video from the show to prove it. Secondly, there’s a strange new Punisher image that Marvel put out for circulation. See it side-by-side with the cover to Punisher: War Journal issue 7, and the video from The Colbert Report, after the jump.
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The third (and final?) Hellboy Animated movie hasn’t been officially greenlit yet, but big man Tad Stones (what a manly name! – Er, I mean, the supervising director and co-writer on the previous two movies) decided to start talking about it on the Hellboy Animated blog. The blog post is largely about the process of deciding on and planning the story when it comes to creating these movies. Over the course of the discussion he gives us this delightful quote: “If Sword of Storms was the folklore side of Hellboy, Blood and Iron the vampire/Hammer Films side then The Phantom Claw is the mad scientist/weird technology aspect of Hellboy stories.”

He also shares the name The Phantom Claw, and he discusses Mike Mignola’s suggestion to use Lobster Johnson (see image to the left) in the movie. I’m guessing “The Phantom Claw” refers to him. (Please note: Lobster Johnson is not an actual lobster, nor does he have actual claws.)

EDIT: Its also worth noting that the second Hellboy installment, Blood and Iron, will air on Cartoon Network this Saturday at 7 PM EST.

If this game had been released over here, it would have been known as Secret of Mana 2. However translation problems, as well as the decreasing support for the Super Nintendo, kept this game from being released over here. However, I have it on good authority that an English translation may be floating around on the net. Because I don’t want the game companies coming down on us, that’s all I’ll say.

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Ever since Symphony of the Night, the Castlevania series has taken a heavy inspiration from Nintendo’s Metroid, particularly the portable entries. Even though they are all cut from similar cloth, the exploration-heavy format manages to keep itself fresh throughout each entry. The first DS entry in the series is no different. Springing from the events in 2003’s Aria of Sorrow, the game stars Soma Cruz, who must take down a cult out to resurrect Dracula. Once again players make use of the soul stealing system, which allows them to gain new attacks by stealing them from enemies. After beating a boss, players must quickly draw a arcane symbol in order to seal its power. If this isn’t done in time, then players must battle the enemy again. While this mechanic seems added in as an afterthought, it’s a fairly decent application of the DS’s touch screen capabilities. By now Castlevania fans will have made their way through this game’s sequel, Portrait of Ruin, so this review is dedicated to newer Castlevania players. This game is another solid entry in a solid franchise, but I long for the day when the series brings back the level-based format of the previous games.

Hold your horses, I’m not talking about your favorite Monday night show. I’m talking about this game coming out for Wii. This is a title from Suda-51, who did last gen’s Killer 7.

Now if anyone can explain just what the heck happened there, I’ll be impressed.