‘Starfox Command’ is Nintendo’s fifth Starfox game (if you count ‘Starfox Adventures’) and their first Starfox game for the DS. I’ve been a long time ‘Starfox’ fan, ever since the original was released back in 1993 (wow, it’s been 13 years already?). I’ve always been a fan of non-simulation shooters and since I’ve been craving a new game for my DS, so ‘Starfox Command’ was an instant buy for me. I jumped on this title the day it was released, but was I too quick to throw my thirty bucks at it so eagerly?

Starting Out:
The game starts out just as you’d expect, you’ve got your basic start menu for single-player, download play (multiplayer modes which I’ll cover later in the review), wi-fi play (again, I’ll cover later) and your options menu, all complete with dramatic Starfox music! You’ll probably want to hit up the options menu first, considering that the game starts out with non-inverted controls and if you’re anything like me, you’d normally expect them inverted in a flight game. You can also adjust your sound settings with the ability to change the characters voices. You have “normal”, “recorded” and “machine”. Normal goes back to the classic “Starfox” sounding voices, if you never played the original, they’re basically the same gibberish, “Microsoft Sam” sounding voices like in ‘Animal Crossing’. “Recorded” is actually really cool because it asks you a bunch of questions, getting a range of sound from your own voice and cutting it up and mixing your phrases into fake words, giving the characters the tone of your or a friend’s voice. “Machine” is just the old-school beeps and bloops during text. Also in the options menu, you can set up your nickname for Multiplayer and Wi-Fi modes.
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Toronto’s Comic Book Expo started on Friday and runs through today, but already there’s been a decent amount of news handed out. Of course the biggest news, hands down, is the story of the new Alpha Flight book, to be titled Omega Flight.

Newsarama posted the image on the right of the new team. Who are they? Here we go, from left to right – Talisman (daughter of original Alpha Flight’s Shaman), one of the Spider-Women (based on story appearances in Ms. Marvel, it may be Julia Carpenter, but based on physical appearances, it looks more like Mattie Franklin), Guardian (long time Alpha Flighter), USAgent (Captain America is confirmed as not being on the team), and Beta Ray Bill (unless Thor’s been taking some Mutant Growth Hormone).

The book is to be written by Michael Avon Oeming, and drawn by Scott Kolins. Read a full interview of the two creators on Silver Bullet Comics.

And a brief rundown of the other news that’s been delivered –

• Geoff Johns will be writing an All-Star Batgirl book with JG Jones on art. Because, apparently, Batman’s female knockoff is DC’s next biggest star after the big 3.
• Dan Slott “will be doing something other than She-Hulk next year”. I think they meant ‘in addition to’, and not ‘other than’. Otherwise that breaks my big giant heart.
• Geoff Johns (again?) is writing Action Comics issues with Richard Donner (original Superman movie director). They’ve completed two issues, and their fourth issue will be done in 3-D. Does that mean it’ll come with the glasses? Who knows.
• Despite the fact that he wasn’t in the earlier image, The Sentry is reported to be a member of The Mighty Avengers.

That’s the high points, but if you want more of the little details, you can read the main articles from Newsarama here & here, and the one at Comics Continuum here.

Sacrilegious as it may seem, I actually like the Colbert Report more than The Daily Show now. I’m not putting down Jon Stewart, I like TDS as much as I ever have. I just like the Report better.

So what better way to spread the truthiness than with the webs time honored tradition of image generators?

First up, You’re On Notice! This one allows you to customize up to 10 list items to add to Stephen’s “On Notice” board. Go ahead and fill it up with jerks from usenet, bands you hate, and that guy who porked your girlfriend (or boyfriend).

If for some reason you think there is something more dangerous than Bears, try The ThreatDown Generator. Here you can not only add a headline, but also an image of the threat you’re downing.

It goes without saying that true fans also haunt the Colbert Nation, a site that far surpasses the official one.

Details about the most anticipated guitar simulation game of the year have slowly rolled out all summer since the initial showing at E3, but we’ve neglected to post about them until now when we’ve got a lot of new info.
First up, at the Harmonix Myspace Blog they’ve debuted the box art for the individual DVD case, the guitar bundle, and the guitar itself. Ohh, stickers!
Courtesy Logan from our forum, here’s the list of songs current confirmed for GHII

Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box
Primus – John the Fisherman
Stone Temple Pilots – Trippin’ On a Hole in a Paper Heart
Anthrax – Madhouse
Motley Crue – Shout at the Devil
The Police – Message in a Bottle
The Pretenders – Tattooed Love Boys
Cheap Trick – Surrender
Spinal Tap – Tonight I’m Going to Rock You Tonight
Heart – Crazy For You
Allman Brothers Band – Jessica
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Freebird
Avenged Sevenfold – Beast and the Harlot
Dick Dale – Misirlou
Lamb of God – Laid to Rest
Alice in Chains – Them Bones
Reverent Horton Heat – Psychobilly Freakout
Black Sabbath – War Pigs
KISS – Strutter
Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name Of
Butthole Surfers – Who Was in My Room Last Night?
Van Halen – You Really God Me
Guns ‘n Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
The Rolling Stones – Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
Rush – YYZ

In addition, Voivod announced they’ve been contacted for inclusion on GHII, but haven’t mentioned what song yet.

Guitar Hero II is slated for a November 7, 2006 release.

Continue on for gameplay movies…

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Like the lower price-point game consoles you can get at Gamestop, Star Trek (the original series) is getting refurbished.

You can read the entire article here, at StarTrek.com (from yesterday), but the rundown is that the original episodes are going to be re-mastered, namely in the special effects department, but also in the music. Among the things to be re-done are the show’s opening, backgrounds from on-planet moments, exterior shots of the vessel, and viewscreen shots. Expect a lotta CGI work to go down.

Oddly, instead of heading directly to DVD, it’s going to air on TV first, with the first episode dropping on September 16th. Didn’t anybody tell these guys all the cool kids are on DVD sets? And besides, what channel is it going to be on? All news reports are telling me to check my local listings, but my local listings don’t go out that far. Will it be on CBS? UPN? I’m assuming it won’t be on G4 or SpikeTV. Or at least, it won’t be for a good 10 years.

Interestingly, there was a fan doing work on this already, who put in a bid for this project. Obviously, without the vast resources of a visual effects company, he couldn’t compete, but on the upside, a clip of what he made is available on YouTube. You can find it under the title Trek Refurbished.

It’s an interesting look at what we might be seeing when this hits. His site can be found at TrekEnhanced.com, where the most interesting draw right now is his talk about this new development, where he discusses his bid, and how he actually pitched this three years ago in 2003.

At last, we have our first full body glimpse of Optimus Prime. hop2hop over on the 2005boards has posted a couple images he took from the Magic Clothing Trade Show in Las Vegas, NV. This poster was at a licensee booth. I have mirrored the image below after the jump for spoiler purposes.
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Behind the toys has posted a gallery of the upcoming Classics Megatron which mostly shows off how it transforms. Get a good look at this figure here!

While Civil War’s main titles take the month off, the peripheral tie-ins chug on dilligently, making sure we don’t forget the big-important-event still exists.

This week, Young Avengers & Runaways #2 is a decent read, warranting a B-/C-. Super bonus points earned for bringing in the fantastic Marvel Boy. Sweetness. And Cable & Deadpool #31 kind of… just… exists I guess, getting a C-/D. Find out why after the jump, and impress everyone at the watercooler tomorrow with your geekery.

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