Monthly Archives: July 2012

Let the games begin! Batman The Dark Knight Rises

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The final segment of the Batman trilogy hit theatres Thursday at midnight, and for those lucky enough to grab tickets in time were also in for an eight-hour Batman marathon. The Dark Knight Rises

Just another day in the life of the Batman

brought in $161 million dollars in the box office, surpassing its 2008 counterpart ‘The Dark Knight’ .

The final film follows Bruce Wayne played by Christain Bale 8 years after Batman took the fall for Harvey ‘Two-Face’ Dent’s death, leaving Gotham City in a time of peace. Some new characters are introduced in this film including: Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane. Though Bane’s face is new for this Batman trilogy, this isn’t his first appearance on the Hollywood’s big screen.  If we bring our minds back to the 1997 ‘Batman and Robin’ Bane was featured as Poison Ivy’s silent sidekick, looking more like a Mexican wrestler then the Bane we see in 2012.

Bane’s personality, appearance, and overall presence couldn’t be more different, and as the main villain of The Dark Knight Rises I thought he had amazing presence and defiantly appeared to be a force to be reckoned with.  Tom Hardy’s acting was spot on and perhaps everyone can agree Hardy’s voice was amazing as it was chilling on the almost masked Bane. However, due to the loud atmosphere of the movie it  was sometimes difficult to hear Bane’s voice through his mouth piece. For the strong silent type Bane was given a lot of lines that worked well with his character and didn’t take away from his previously silent character.

I found this film dived into more of Batman’s angst then the previous films, and I have to admit I was a little frustrated by the amount of it at parts. In the end it was necessary to the plot and for the overall “pick-up yourself up” theme, so I had to deal with it. On the subject of angst, I can’t leave out the tradition of Catwoman and Batman’s unhealthy dangerous relationship they share both on screen and on paper. Catwoman or Selina Kyle, has always shared a sexually dangerous love story with Bruce Wayne, and it was only natural that it come out in this film.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this adaptation of Catwoman, as I felt there was way more emphasis put on Selina Kyle then her alter ego.  Though I was skeptical at first at Anne Hathaway taking on this sexy role, I think she did a good job at capturing the sweet, sexy, and dangerous side of Catwoman and, of course, looked good in leather.

Overall, it was a great film that gave a worthy end to the trilogy we have all come to love. The effects were great, and the choice of villain was fitting for the type of edge the film was looking to take. Best of all it wasn’t in 3D and no one had to pay an extra five dollars for some glasses and  a slightly protruding screen.

So take a night off, gather your fellow Batman fans, nerdy girlfriends and boyfriends, and go see this movie. As a must see for this summer, it’ll be almost impossible to stay away from the theatre.

Stardust Drive Podcast Episode #6

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So here we are in the brutally hot month of July, where tensions flare and opinions never die.

Chris returns this month as the fantastic four discuss topics such as Resident Evil 6′s health regeneration system, the Resident Evil 6 demo, Assassin’s Creed and Deus Ex’s film adaptations, Gears Judgement, Sonic Adventure 2, and Magic 2013. The group also answers (in their opinions) some of the strongest topics to date, including whether or not games today lack difficulty as opposed to games made decades ago, games that took the shortest amount of time to beat, and games that took a stab at our emotions.

It’s a cluster**** of madness. Its loud, its obnoxious, there’s a ton of swearing, but there’s intellect, well-thoughtout opinion-based topics and good-old-fashioned fun that you’ll only find here on the Stardust Drive Podcast.

Enjoy!

SD Podcast Episode 6

SDCC 2012 – Marvel set for the next two to three years with films

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Marvel’s present was well-known on Saturday, when they unveiled “Phase Two” of self-produced movies. “Phase Two” is ultimately the movies that will be showcasing between Avengers and its possible sequel, where the characters will all meet back for another epic adventure in Avengers 2.

The big reveals include Thor and Captain America’s sequels: The Dark World (Thor), and The Winter Soldier (Cap). Now The Dark World got me intrigued. Will it have something to do with Thanos, as per the world shown in The Avengers, or is this a completely new world we have yet to discover? And heck to the yes! We will be seeing The Winter Soldier in Cap 2! Now if you remember kids, Bucky (Cap’s sidekick), played by Sebastian Stan, apparently died after falling from a moving train in Cap 1, but his character Bucky goes on to become Winter Soldier in the comics, changing from buddy-buddy to an arch-nemesis. So how can they go about bringing Bucky back as Winter Soldier after Cap has been cryogenically frozen for years? Maybe Bucky endured the same fate perhaps? Being frozen for so long and coming back? Either way, why else would they call him the “Winter Soldier”? Either way, I’m excited for both.

Also, Marvel confirms that their next big film to drop in 2014 will be in fact “Guardians of the Galaxy”. According to IGN.com, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige confirmed that the current lineup of the Guardians will be in the movie: Star Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Groot and Rocket Raccoon (that’s right, Rocket Raccoon). Official concept art was also provided for the confirmation of the film.

Here is the concept art for Guardians of Galaxy. Featuring from left to right: Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon and Gamora

Finally, we already knew about Iron Man 3. But new test footage of Ant-Man was shown by writer-director Edgar Wright of what the outfit looked like, and what the scene he was featured in entailed. Sadly we don’t have a video of that footage, but when we do find it, we’ll definitely post it.

Here are the confirmed posters for these upcoming films in the next two years.

With files from IGN.com

Deadpool videogame revealed at SDCC 2012 equals awesome sauce

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Oh come on. Just call him!

We’ll let the video speak for itself. It’s about time this fourth wall breaking joker got his own game. He’s become kind of a fan favorite it seems. I’ve used him as a character in both Marvel Ultimate Alliance games as well as done battle against him in Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions. The character is full of funny.

So I wasn’t surprised at the over-the-top humor seen in this teaser trailer. In fact for the first time, it feels welcoming. Take a look.

Battlefield 4 Confirmed through a pre-order for Medal of Honor: Warfighter

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The banner has since been taken down and replaced with a Battlefield 3 Premium banner.

Battlefield fans can rejoice for a 4th time, because the series did not stop on a trilogy.

In order to play the Battlefield 4 beta, you must however pre-order Medal of Honor: Warfighter, according to MP1st.com.

It’s likely we could see a release of the new Battlefield game sometime in the new year.

According to the article, this isn’t the first time that Medal of Honor has included betas to a Battlefield game. In the last Medal of Honor game that was released, a pre-order bonus included a Battlefield 3 beta.

There are different pre-order bonuses for Medal of Honor if you look through here.

Again, according to the article, Battlefield Bad Company 3 is apparently still rumored to be in development through a resume leak, so that gives two possible Battlefield titles we could be seeing in the new year.

Since the story broke, the banner has since been taken down and replaced with a Battlefield 3 Premium banner.

With files from MP1st.com

Track Listing for Muse’s 6th studio album, “The 2nd Law” revealed

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Over on muse.mu, it was revealed that Muse’s upcoming sixth studio album, The 2nd Law, would consist of 13 songs, but within those 13 songs it looks as though there will be a “Prelude”, which will be the first Muse album to have this since 2004′s Absolution. As well, the album looks like it will end in a two-part song, divided separately by name but still containing “The 2nd Law” as a pre-title.

Here is the tracklist for the album:

Supremacy

Madness

Panic Station

Prelude

Survival

Follow Me

Animals

Explorers

Big Freeze

Save Me

Liquid State

The 2nd Law: Unsustainable

The 2nd Law: Isolated System

“Survival” was recently revealed as the first single for the album, released in celebration of the London 2012 Olympics to be arriving soon. We’ll be looking forward to hearing more from Muse as the months progress.

With files from muse.mu

Ouya, the new Android operating system

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Ouya

The next, upcoming Android-based video game console, Ouya

Any of you gamers out there looking for some new competition against the big three of Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony? Well hold onto those wishes, you’re getting what you want starting early next year.

According to GameInformer, a new console known as Ouya is on the rise. Ouya is said to be built off a custom-based Android operating system.

The developers also set pricing; the one catch is that every game must have a free portion available, whether through a demo or free-to-play model. The console also supports other Android apps, such as TwitchTV, which comes included.

No games have been confirmed yet, but a number of notable developers  such as Mojang, the developer behind Minecraft, Brian Fargo of inXile Entertainment, and Jenova Chen of thatgamecompany, are praising the device, according to the article.

For more information on the Ouya, you can visit its page here.

With files from Game Informer

Deus Ex: Human Revolution getting the big-screen treatment

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Yesterday, we told you about the Assassin’s Creed live-action adaptation and how Michael Fassbender is co-producing and starring in the film.

Today, more videogame-to-film news has come up, this time from Eidos-Montreal’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution title.

According to an article in the LA Times, CBS Films have optioned rights to bring the futuristic, cyberpunk universe to life on the big screen. Its also mentioned in the article that it will be hard to create a film based off this game because of how the game offered players the opportunity to make their own choices in-game which ultimately reflected each player with different experiences.

In a statement, CBS Films Co-President Terry Press pledged to work closely with the Eidos-Montreal development studio that produced “Deus Ex: Human Revolution.” CBS Films plans to base its movie largely on the story of “Human Revolution”, which means we could see a possible trilogy if the studio decides to move ahead with the development in that way.

Human Revolution, the most recent title in the Deus Ex franchise, dropped last year in August. Developed by Eidos-Montreal and published by Square Enix, the game followed Adam Jensen, a mechanically enhanced man with augmentations who gets caught in a web of political intrigue in a world where corporations have become more powerful than governments. The game is set in the year 2027, 25 years before the original Deus Ex title (released in 2000). The original Deus Ex had one sequel, Invisible War, in 2003.

With files from LA Times

Be Afraid, North Americans…

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Gundam

A 60-foot tall, 43.7 metric ton replica of “Gundam”

Now, i’m a fan of Gundams. For those who don’t know what a Gundam is, it is a  Generation Unsubdued Nuclear Drive Assault Module……or basically a giant 60-foot robot that kicks ass. Now i’m not sure whether to be awe-struck or scared by what i’ve heard, but i’ll tell you anyways.

According to Kotaku.com, members of Japan’s LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) are in talks about the possibilities of building a real life gundam. This isn’t a joke, party members Masaaki Taira and Hideki Niwa are slated to discuss how the LDP is “seriously considering the development of Gundam.” It was estimated that a working Gundam, one-to-one size and not a simple mock-up, would cost US$725 Million for parts and materials.

Now, replicas of giant mechs are common all over Japan, what these guys want to do is try to create mecha contraptions that could be used by the country’s Self Defense Force. Whether or not giant Gundams are actually seen as being ideal in a real life battle is anyone’s guess at this point.

With files from Kotaku