I don’t watch the Tyra Banks Show, simply because it’s Tyra Banks and I have no interest in anything she says, as it tends to come out sounding like the adults in Peanuts cartoons to me. However I happened to watch a little clip from the show that had a segment on “Decoding Your Man”, where a poor hapless gamer geek is verbally castrated by his girlfriend and Tyra both. Then to add insult to injury, “Gaming Goddess” Morgan Webb is brought in as the expert opinion.

Here’s the clip:

Basically, Webb disses and degrades the very genre that gave her the popularity and stardom she [unfortunately for us] now enjoys. Rather than helping the girlfriend understand why her guy plays video games like he does and come to a mutual agreement, Webb re-enforces the girlfriend’s desire to all-out change her man altogether as she sees fit. Morgan spouts a whole lot of nonsense about gaming genres and tries sounding like some kind of psychologist on the subject, and fails miserably. I had little regard for Webb to begin with, since I see her as being a poser when it comes to trying to act like some kind of gaming expert. This just knocks any respect I had for her down to 0% as she proves she’s just another bimbo who thinks she knows her stuff, but instead is just flailing her ego around.

Guys, not all women are like this. Honestly. This is a poor representation of women understanding guys, and more importantly understanding gaming. This video is just an estrogen-filled globe of stereotyping on all gamers as being “obsessed” with their games. Obviously this is not true, as the majority are casual in their gaming exploits. If more women took the time to try and get inside their guys heads and understand their man, rather than control him and mold him into their own personal plaything, then there would be alot more happy gamers out there with happy girlfriends.

Everyone knows Superman was originally created by two men – Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster – whose creation first appeared in Action Comics #1. As of last week, a judge ruled that the heirs of Jerry Siegel were to receive half the copyright of that material back. What does this mean exactly? Well, if I had to distill the story down into only two wildly oversimplified bulletpoints, then know this – DC may have just lost half the profits they make (and have made since 1999) off of Superman, and they may lose the remaining half of the copyright entirely to the Shuster estate in 5 years.

Now, things aren’t really as cut and dry as that – as in any legal case, there’s a lot of room for interpretation. And expect DC/Warner to make more than a couple appeal attempts as well.

But for now…
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A While after Age of Empires II, Ensemble game studios went to work on another RTS. Although it has similar gameplay mechanics to Age of Empires, it’s a different experience. For one, there are are only three civilizations as compared to the many civilizations from Age of Empires. Players can choose between the Greeks, the Norse, and the Egyptians. However, each civilization has it’s own set of powers, units, and structures. Each civilization has three gods, one of which you select before a match. Also, there is only one single-player campaign, although it’s huge and expansive. You follow the adventures of Atlantean general Arkantos as he attempts to regain the favor of the god Poseidon. You’ll travel through each of the three lands and meet each of the three civilizations.
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SuperHeroHype has the amazing first images of GIJOE’s masked ninja Snake Eyes in the forthcoming motion picture.

I tell ya, people bitched about Wolverine being tall and not having the yellow suit, people bitched about flames on Optimus Prime, but no one is going to bitch about this.
Ray Park is the man behind the mask, and just like his role as Toad, the Headless Horseman, and Darth Maul; expect him to do some wild shit in this costume.
GIJOE, directed by Stephen Sommers, is currently filming and will be released Summer 2009.
Here is another shot in case the one above isn’t good enough.

Every hardcore Final Fantasy fan (including me) goes on about the first six games in the series and how cool they were. However, there is a lot to be said about the later half of the series, even though there are many who didn’t take to them as well. Regardless of however some people may feel about them, few can deny thier impact on the RPG genre, and perhaps gaming itself. FFVII was a turning point for the series in terms of graphics and presentation. It’s story was so epic that it spawned several sequels and prequels. FFVIII not only managed to reach the bar set by VII, but it managed to exceed it tenfold, even outselling even several Dreamcast games when it was released. FFIX, while it contained the same graphical quality as VII and VIII, it’s story, characters, and simplistic battle system served as a clever throwback to the 8 and 16-bit Final Fantasy games. X, the first Final Fantasy game to receive a sequel, bought the series into the next generation with an emotionally gripping plotline and voice acting. FF XI took the series online for the first time. While it was a bit problematic, it retains a following that is exceeded only by World of Warcraft. FF XII is once again an offline single player experience, and it introduces several huge changes to the gameplay, but it’s an epic game all on its own, and it upholds the high standards that the Final Fantasy series is known for.
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My birthday was this past week, so in lieu of my usual $20 Game of the week and Lost Classics segments this week, I decided to give you a look at the the first half of one of the greatest console role playing game franchise of all time. That’s right, it’s my birthday, but I’m giving you the gift. See how cool I am? Well, onto our special feature.

After Dragon Quest (or Dragon Warrior as we knew it over here at the time), Final Fantasy was and still remains one of RPG gaming’s most prolific franchises. It introduced and refined several conventions that are seen in RPGs such as the turn-based battle system, character customization, ability progression, and story writing. Even so, it wasn’t until FFVII bought the series into 3-d that the series gained mainstream popularity. However, the first six games of the series still hold a special place in the hearts of many longtime FF fans.

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Although this game was one of the first role playing games to be released on the original Playstation in Japan, it would end up being the one of the last RPGs on the original PS1 in America. Arc the lad spawned several sequels and an anime series. Ironically, even though it was Sony Computer Entertainment themselves who owned the franchise, the ‘anti-2-d’ stance of its American branch was the main factor that prevented this game’s release. Working Designs (best known for its U.S.releases of Lunar) even attempted to score the U.S. publishing rights to the three games, but they were denied by Sony. However, things turned around thanks to new management at Sony and the success of other RPGs, most notable Final Fantasy VII and VIII. After several months of delays, Working Designs finally gave us the chance to play this classic. Not only that, we got all three PS1 games to boot. Arc the Lad Collection carried a $75 price tag, but being able to play this classic RPG series made the hefty price worth it.

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As seen on Anime News Network, Leonardo DiCaprio has been announced to produce Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira manga into two live-action films; one set for a 2009 release, and another that has yet to have it’s release date projected.

“Each film will cover three volumes of the renowned science-fiction manga about a governmental genetic project and a teenager’s attempt to save a fellow biker gang member.

The manga set in Neo-Tokyo, a city rebuilt after being destroyed in a mysterious explosion. Otomo directed his own animated film adaptation that premiered on July 16, 1988 — the same day that the story has the fictional Tokyo being destroyed. The first live-action film is scheduled for release in the summer of 2009 and will move the story’s setting to “‘New Manhattan,’ a city rebuilt after being destroyed 31 years ago.” “

So, it looks like not only will we be getting DiCaprio as a producer, they’re also going to try and adapt the original plot and premise to suit American ideals. Because that’ll go over well with fans of the anime movie and manga, I’m sure.

Warner Brothers originally had rights to the movie, until Executive Vice-President Greg Silverman (300, Batman Begins) had to re-acquire them from Kodansha after a large bidding war ensued. Ruairi Robinson will be making his feature directorial debut with this project, and Gary Whitta (Book of Eli) is taking the reigns of script-writing. Nothing has been mentioned about casting as of yet. Looks like we’ll all have to keep our eyes on this one, though I wouldn’t hold out much hope.