The crack editorial team here assembled in the Powet Watchtower this week to dish out the Final Word on Superman Returns.
After the jump, you can read four reviews, and four differing views on the same movie.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Today we saw the first Blu-Ray discs hit store shelves. On a trip to Best Buy I saw a number of them for sale at prices that weren’t totally unreasonable. The boxes looked cool which is pretty much all anyone would be able to tell you right now. Poked around looking for the players… which were nowhere to be found. I don’t think there are any in Canada. Why are we selling unplayable discs again?

Sony and Pioneer, the major supporters of Blu-Ray technology, have decided to postpone releasing their players. Sony’s Blu-Ray player is currently slated to be sold on October 25th 2006 according to their BDP-S1 product page. I wouldn’t be surprised if that date was pushed back again by the way things are going for them. Pioneer has also delayed the release of their BDP-HD1 player until September according to this article though no date could be uncovered on Pioneer’s website by this reporter. Having the 2 major supporters delay their own players within weeks of the pending release is not the best way to support a format consumers are already apprehensive to get on board with.

Samsung’s BD-P1000 is now available and retails for a shocking 1000$ US. With Pioneer’s player currently slated to sell for an astronomical price of 1500$ US and coming out only a month before the already expensive 600$ PlayStation 3 not to mention 2 months after Samsung’s 1000$ player the logic in this move is not obvious. Sony’s player will be selling at 1000$ and will be released, assuming all products follow their current release schedule, at the same time as the 600$ Blu-Ray compatible PlayStation 3. Why would anyone with an ounce of sense invest in their bare bones player? If we are to believe that this player will be in any way superior to a game system by the same company wouldn’t that just give people another reason not to invest in what is already considered by most to be a far too expensive game system?

I guess these guys just won’t be happy unless Blu-Ray really does go the way of Beta as everyone seems to be worried about.

After all this is said and done HD-DVD players have been available for over 2 months now and are selling at half the price of the competition at a mere 500$. This can be considered cheap only in the same way that the X-Box 360 is considered cheap when it’s price is compared to the price of the PlayStation 3. Of course people aren’t buying either player. I know I for one would get on board with this kind of technology if there were only one available but I just can’t afford to take a risk at such a price point and I think most HDTV owners share this sentiment. I’m fearfull that with everyone waiting there will be no clear winner in the format wars and that both will die leaving us with sub par 480p DVDs. It already happened with laser disc and there wasn’t even any competition for them.

Is there something these guys aren’t telling us? Is this all an elaborate ploy to avoid selling players at a loss while making fat cash off disc sales? Don’t they realise this makes everyone uncertain about the future of this technology? That when they can’t even put 100% behind their product no right minded consumer is going to be able to?

Maybe they’re just not trying anymore or maybe Sony’s trying to make sure the PS3 isn’t their worst mistake of 2006. That will be a tough one to top.

Diamond Select Toys are continuing their line of busts in commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Age of Apocalypse storyline from Marvel Comics. They have chosen Weapon X as next in the line followed by Phoenix and Psylocke. I was hoping more of these busts would be based upon Joe Madureira’s character designs, but it seems Art Asylum doesn’t agree. Weapon X is, however, based on art by Chris Bachalo, another artist that I am a fan of. Although, I’m not so sure how representative this bust is of his art though.

  

Before Grand Theft Auto became their major cash cow, Rockstar gave players another action franchise early on in the current console generation. At the time it first came out, Max Payne stood out from other games of it’s type with 2 major innovations; Matrix-like bullet time and a film noir plotline. The former slowed everything to a crawl in order to give players a bit of strategy in planning out their next move while the latter used graphic novel-styled cinema sequences to move the story along.

2 years and dozens of copycats later, Rockstar released a sequel. It didn’t push the boundaries as the first game did, but it gave gamers more of what they loved about the original Max Payne. The bullet time was improved slightly, and the plot was just as riveting as the first. It’s only bad point is it’s short length. The game can be completed in a weekend. Luckily for PC gamers, tons of downloadable content extend this game’s replay value a lot. Hopefully Rockstar will give us a sequel that will be a bit bigger. Until then, action game fans looking for a good plotline can’t go wrong here.

Botcon.com has revealed yet another addition to the convention exclusive set of pre-beast wars figures. This time Rhinox gets to strut his stuff as a repainted Cybertron Landmine.

From the site:

Here is the very first look at RHINOX in his pre-beast form
from the 2006 BotCon Figure Set! A Maximal who knows much
about his Autobot Ancestors, Rhinox values the ideals they fought
for and wears their sigil on his chest as a constant reminder of this.
His color scheme is based on the Anniversary Rhinox seen recently
at retail.

 

Waspinator has been added to the ever growing list of Beast Wars cast members getting a revamp for BotCon 2006.
Waspinator appears to be a revamp of a Machine Wars Skywarp, with details and coloring based of the recent 10th Anniversary Waspinator figure. These shots are provided by ebay seller SPX Toys by way of TFW2005.

Just in cased you missed them, look at Cheetor, Dinobot, Optimus Primal, and Rattrap.

Diamond Select Toys announced another exclusive for the 2006 San Diego Comic Con. This time around, they have announced a bust of Storm from her days during the Chris Claremonts run on the X-Men featuring most prominently, her mohawk. The bust will be limited to 750 pieces and if last year’s Black Queen bust is any indication, this bust will sell out fast.

 

Look! Another Will Ferrell movie!