My Obligatory Top 10 Best Games of 2013 List

     As a wanna be writer I figure there must be some unwritten, but fully understood, rule that we must make a list of things every end-of-the-year that we then label "the best."
     These are ones that stood out for me.  A note beforehand- there are plenty of games I have not played due to being a more-than-full-time patient care worker in the medical field, and I also had school and other hobbies on top of that.  But I still managed an absurd amount of gaming.
     Most of these I've written about previously, or have drafts mostly finished and on the way, so I'll keep this short.

     That being said, here it goes...

1.  The Last of Us
     Honestly, this's probably going to be on many, many lists.  It is a gaming experience on a personal level.  Hitting us with a small, but powerful story of two people in a story that is undeniably moving in a struggle for morality and meaning in a world gone wrong.

2.  Bioshock Infinite
     This one caught me a bit off.  I have some issues with the story, how some parts don't work when you think about them- but the ideas, that's where they get me.  The Infinite universes opens up endless opportunity for stories with the same characters in an infinite number of ways.  Genius, and one I hope they can follow up on with ingenuity.

3.  Tearaway
     A masterwork of tiny paper proportions.  This was a game the PS Vita needed a while ago, and one I hope gets the Vita sales it rightfully deserves.

4.  Tomb Raider
     A simple reboot done well.  They've taken an old character and gave her a much needed overhaul.   Not amazing, mind you, but memorable nonetheless.

5.  Brother: A Tale of Two Sons
     This is the first game I've played that not just had me play the story but experience it through gameplay mechanics.  A brilliant way of game development I hope other companies look at.

6.  Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
     This game, while just DLC, was a game in itself.  An homage to the absurd neon 1980's, and made all the better because of it.

7.  Guacamelee
     Who would've thought a game about an undead Luchadore could be so wonderful.  A lovely art style and great platforming fun.

8.  Marvel Lego Super Heroes
     Lego Marvel has 2 parts.  The first is the main storyline and levels, this piece of the game is not what I like.  The second part- a massive New York City open world of Lego.  They've, in my opinion, made the most accurate and best marvel game yet with this open world portion.

9.  Batman: Arkham Origins (and Blackgate)
     Sure, it was full of glitches and bugs that hampered any progress across all systems.  After waiting for patches I've finished both Origins and Blackgate- both were well done.  Once again, nothing phenomenal, but something I did in fact enjoy, regardless of most everyone hating it.

10.  Skyrim.
     Ha!  So what if this game is years old, it has unlimited quests and a huge world.  How many other games are immersive enough to keep people going for this long?


     Two others that I really wanted to add were Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.  There's something about unreliable narrator stories and games that appeal to me.  When they are handled well they can open avenues of storytelling that traditional methods lack.
     Borderlands 2 I must've put in roughly a thousand hours of playtime with all the various content being released for it.  The only reason it isn't on the list is because it's pretty much ALL extra content, and not the main game, that I've spent playing.

First Guardians of the Galaxy Official Pic Tweeted by James Gunn

     We finally get a first glimpse of the Guardians.  Not bad, not bad at all.

>Very early #GotG still released by Disney today. pic.twitter.com/lWxR39TQHT
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) December 31, 2013

     From left to right in the pic: Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Bradley Cooper (voice of Rocket Raccoon), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), and Vin Diesel (voice of Groot). 

Batman: Arkham Origins: New Years Eve Teaser 2: Story DLC

     After last week's Batman Arkham Origins teaser, teasing a New Years Eve announcement, we get a follow up teaser image.  Once again teasing something coming soon.  Wb is being quite coy with this, as we know we'll be getting story focused DLC like Arkham City's expansion Harley Quinn's Revenge.  Which acted as a sort of prologue to the main campaign.

     So far all we know is that it appears (the invitation to Wayne Manor) to take place in the mansion.  That would explain the oddly placed and inaccessible elevator to the mansion currently plaguing my thoughts in the Batcave.  Maybe we'll get some more Alfred, more playtime as Bruce Wayne, or something entirely different.
     We won't truly know until WB releases an official statement- it could even be... ugh... more challenge maps.  I'm sick of challenge maps.

     Although... with this teaser invite- this might be a long shot- but could we be getting an early view of my personal favorite Bat-villain Mr. Freeze?  In the old Batman: The Animated Series episode Heart of Ice GothCorp CEO Ferris Boyle is set to receive a Humanitarian Award.  But, as he essentially murdered Nora Fries and caused Victor Fries to become Mr. Freeze, after stealing Fries' cryogenic technology, Boyle becomes a target of Freeze's.

     This was the episode that cemented Mr. Freeze as the great tragic figure in Batman's rogues gallery.  (Thank you Paul Dini!)
     If this is what is slated, I will be unbelievably joyed.  But it seems highly doubtful, and mere hopeful speculation.

     Source [ Arkham Origins Facebook ]

Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land Review

     For the most part WayForward has kept me on as a happy customer, but this game somehow managed to have all the right pieces- just none of them seem to fit together quite right.

     What could've been a wonderful homage to the games of yesteryear, winds up falling short.  The show itself has the foundations built on 80's gaming and inventive usage of tons of old school referential humor- but none of them are utilized in the game.  They don't even use any of the series regulars like High Five Ghost or Muscle Man.  Even the simple inclusion of cameos beyond Benson's 20 seconds in the opener would have been an improvement.
     There aren't even any voice acting snippets outside of the duo's "OOOOOOooooooohhh...".  Where's all the quotes?  Where's all the fan service that should be standard with a game based on a television show?  None of the things that make the show great are present in the game.  It missing the humor, the hilarious situations, and

     As it is M&RAi8BL begins with gorgeous 16-bit graphics in a predictable platformer, and adds in some side-scrolling shooting, and top-down shooting like one of my old favorites Zombie's Ate My Neighbors! and swiftly goes downhill from there.
     For the platforming- you can swith between the two major slackers Mordecai and Rigby with a button press.  Rigby will be largely ignored when you don't need to squeeze through small areas because Mordecai gets a very useful double-jump- making him an obvious choice for nearly all situations.
     In the side-scrolling shooter you play as a space ship version of Mordecai.  It sounds great, but handles just a tad too awkwardly.
     During the top-down shooting you get to play as Rigby.  But shooting here is strangely off, it's a lot of strafing, but any changes to the direction of fire seems choppy and can lag that 1 second needed to result in one more cheap death.
     On the whole the controls are both good (platforming) and aggravating (shooting).

     Which brings me to my biggest issue, and possibly the games biggest flaw- a largely artificial difficulty level.  Padding the very short length of the game by making a generically cheap difficulty isn't a good way to make a game.
     There are 4 worlds, with 4 levels and a boss to end the area.  The levels aren't particularly long, and have plenty of dead ends.  Really there isn't a whole lot here- so it seems they ramped up the difficulty to add some game play time.
     Challenge is one thing, cheapness is a another- and this game is rife with cheap challenges.  Dying repeatedly due to off-screen enemies or terrible hit boxes (seriously, there's roughly a 50% chance you'll die jumping on an enemy head- if you aren't exactly centered, you die) doesn't help this game at all.  It is very irritating, and becomes much more so as the game progresses because you only have a single hit point.  Replaying levels after an enemy collision problem right at the end puts this game into a state of frustrating repetitiveness no one can enjoy.  It feels like a constant stream of unfair deaths.

     Even the collectibles section is disappointing- you collect golden VHS tapes and fanny packs.  The tapes open a let-down of an art gallery, and a cheat codes section- and the only code I know of is for infinite lives (big surprise it's the Konami code)- fairly useless once I've beaten a game I know I'll never want to play again.
     And as for the fanny packs...   I still don't have a clue what they were for- it was never explained anywhere in game, and I didn't care enough to find out.

     This game is mediocre at best, and that is coming from a huge fan of the Regular Show.  WayForward has squandered this license- they've created what amounts to an uninspired and greatly missed opportunity.  It looks and sounds good (the music is quite good), and it has ideas that might have been better applied, but all the ingenuity the show has is lost on the game.
     Instead of buying this, just go watch the show, at least you'll be entertained.

     Perhaps in time we'll get a game based on the Regular Show that will do it justice- updating all the nostalgic joy of the 8-bit era without the parts no one liked.  Someone needs to properly tap into the show's creativity and give us a game the Regular Show rightfully deserves.

Thundercats Nintendo DS Review

     Thunder-CRAAAAAAAP,  HOOO-rrendous!!!

     I happened to pick this up at a Gamestop, in the new Nintendo DS section- somehow left unpurchased for at least a year.  In retrospect, that fact alone should've tipped me off to how bad this game is.  All my 80's childhood nostalia from the original show, adding to my enjoyment of the more recent rebooted cartoon series from 2011 wasn't enough to make playing this worth it.

     First off- this should rightly be called ThunderCat, not Cats, as you play solely as Lion-O.  As the leader of the ThunderCats, you do gain the ability to call in assists from other team members- Panthro, Tygra, Cheetara, and the tiny team of WilyKat & WilyKit- by collecting summons tokens.  You can only carry three of these which leads to use it or lose it play.

     The controls are ultra simple.  Simple enough that they neglected to use the X and Y buttons.  We are left with really a D-Pad, a jump button, and an attack button.  Which all of them seem to have just enough delay to result in death for the extremely unclear platforming sections.  It would also be worth mentioning that the unresponsive nature also compounds the problem of animations having to finish- consequently leaving you not just open to attack, but usually leaving you to be hit 3 or 4 times back to back without a dodge or block button.  One could also point out that every swing of the sword pushes you forward, causing you to miss swing because you have to adjust your footing, which is very inconvenient during a boss fights short "weak point" openings.
      Every fight is purely an exercise in frustration.  It is an awful irritation when you get enemies surrounding you and have to wait for even your most menial attack finish it's animation only to result in you getting shot from both sides, and then hit by melee attackers on top of that.  You are left defenseless in a game of melee.  Every level comes down to constant mobbing from an endless stream of color-swapped enemies that will inevitably strike you because the controls are so bad.

     Using the ThunderCats' fabled Sword of Omens feels like you are swinging a useless cardboard tube.  It's weak, it's preposterously slow, and it's range isn't even the whole length of the blade.  This makes the boss fights unbelievably tedious- you need to get close enough for your sword to hit, but this puts you in a position to take multiple hits from their attacks, which have far more range and speed than anything in your own arsenal.  Each one of the bosses is a damage sponge and takes at least twice as long as they rightfully should to defeat.

     Saves occur apparently randomly, not necessarily at the end of the levels like the game says, as I was sent back whole levels after death a couple times, and checkpoints are nonexistent.  So you're essentially playing a lottery with when and where you'll pick up after a death or save.  In reality, playing a level once in this game is bad enough, being forced to play it again because a faulty auto-save is certainly a cherry on top of a shit sundae.

     This is one of the most pitiful 2D beat-'em-up, side-scrolling platformers I have ever played.  In light of the classics like the TMNT or X-men arcades, this is a shameful thing to fail in the modern gaming era.  With a plethora of decent games in this style, how did anyone think this could pass muster?
     What a disgusting cash grab- this is one of the laziest productions of a game I have seen ever.  Muddy colored backgrounds, terrible speech compression (after hearing Lion-O's only line of dialogue, "ThunderCats, HOOOO!" for the 1,000 time on the first level, mute became my favorite button.), and the gameplay itself is a plain chore to plow through.

     ThunderCats is an embarrassment- there are tons of games from our 16 bit yesteryear that are infinitely better than this.  Everything that could've been retro homage to the show felt ruined in every way possible.  Really, this game makes Aliens: Colonial Marines look like a work of art.  Why they didn't make a game like WayForward's Thor: God of Thunder for DS is beyond me.  Just watch the Toonami cartoon and avoid this game, even if you could get the game for free, it isn't worth the time to play- and the ghost of Jaga is crying somewhere in the beyond because of it.

Wonder Woman: Gal Gadot, Linda Carter, and Amy Adams Speak

     There has been a hell of a back lash and many internet arguments raging about the Gal Gadot casting choice as the DC Comics icon Wonder Woman for the Zack Snyder's Man of Steel sequel, Batman vs Superman.  Gadot has finally spoken about the role:

It’s been said that you’re too skinny for the part. Wonder Woman is large-breasted, is that going to change?

Hmm. I represent the Wonder Woman of the new world. Breasts… anyone can buy for 9,000 shekels and everything is fine. By the way, Wonder Woman is amazonian, and historically accurate amazonian women actually had only one breast. So, if I’d really go “by the book”…it’d be problematic.

So you’re not going to gain a little weight and start eating carbs before filming begins?

It’s the physical preparations that I’m starting now. A very serious training regimen – Kung Fu, kickboxing, swords, jujutsu, Brazilian…1,000 and 1 things…I’ll gain body mass.

     First off- as for the accuracy of the portrayal we are looking for is comic book, not historical.  We do mean "by the book," the COMIC BOOK, not Herodotus' Histories.
     But since she mentioned it- it can be argued that it was a short-lived tradition because it could irrevocably damage the things they wanted to benefit in martial prowess- their throwing/shooting arms.  Besides, as an art and history student I don't recall a single Amazonian piece that is missing either breast.  Whether it be sculpture or painting, not a single one.  Here's the wiki link to Amazons, I suggest you peruse it and make your own judgement and further studies.  So could Herodotus have been relating things that were incorrect?  It is possible.  I figure there was truth in it- but only some, as many ancient renown fighters only gained glory by face to face combat.  Even Paris of Illium was considered a coward for long range combat.
     We didn't judge Marvel's Thor harshly because he didn't have red hair and have his magical belt and gauntlets.  We judged Thor based on how well they handled the Marvel version of the character.
     (On a side note, I have to admit her response is quite clever, and possibly meant as a distraction.)

     A Wonder Woman of the new world?  Well, maybe you will be, but you still need to look the part.
     Body types do mean something in these films.  I'm not talking about breast size.  I couldn't care less about that.  This is about a fighter's physique.  There's a reason no one would think of casting DJ Qualls in the role of Batman.  No one would consider hiring a hundred pound actor for Superman.  If Snyder is trying to keep with his own, new versions of these characters- grounded in reality, more gritty and realistic, then she needs to look the part of a hand-to-hand combat warrior.  Think of Lucy Lawless as Xena: Warrior Princess.  Would she have had the same impact if she was a twig?  Not even close.

     Think about it- would anyone hire Mackenzie Crook as Batman?  No.  He would, however, make a wonderful Scarecrow.  Why is that?  It's the image.  It's because appearance is important, they are archetypal for some roles- most notably in globally recognizable iconic ones at that.  Nobody is going to believe a scrawny Batman will get the job done now.  Michael Keaton worked well back in the late 80's, but now?  He wouldn't work.  If we require the males to be buff and ripped to look their respective roles, so should the ladies.

     Sure, many people cite the Heath Ledger case for character casting decisions, but he had acting chops before hand.  Most notably Brokeback Mountain.   But do you remember how quickly the Adrianne Palicki Wonder Woman show got shut down?  It had 100% to do with not nailing the image properly.  How about casting Jennifer Garner as Elektra?  Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan in Green Lantern?  Or the Schumacher Batman films.  Poorly handled on top of terrible casting.  (I admit Jim Carrey could've been great if they handled him like they handled the BBC Sherlock's Moriarty.)

     There's been the Christian Bale bulking up argument.  Plenty of males bulk up for films- Chris Evans for Captain America, Tom Hardy in Warrior, even Ben Affleck in The Town- but I have never seen a film with a woman do it properly.  The closest thing I can think of would be Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2.  For that role she actually ends up very ripped, but she looks far slimmer than she did in the first Terminator.  She toned up, not bulked up.  It's tough to judge when a "model/actress" says they'll gain body mass, what their idea is.  How many models think a mere couple of pounds equals mass?

     Recently, Hollywood has an odd notion that all these "strong" women should be played by waspy thin actresses.  That we can believe a stick person can dole out massive damage.  As an alternative to thin heroine in movies- the only one I can think of is Jaime Alexander as Sif in Thor.  She was well cast, but sidelined in the films.  With a bit of bulking up she could've nailed the look of comics' portrayal of Wonder Woman nearly perfectly.  I am glad they didn't though- Wonder Woman is of Greek descent, and it is a chance for Hollywood to give a major superhero role to a non-white individual.
     (I also just recalled- Gina Carano in Haywire.  Mediocre acting at best, but at least I could believe she could beat the living sh!t out of everyone.  She could even play the role of WW.  And sadly, her acting is on par with Gadot's.)

     Which leads me to- why is she training in a bunch of NON-GRECIAN fighting techniques?  Wonder Woman is Greek fighter- trained and raised on a hidden Greek island- which means she would not be using a bunch of flashy looking moves from Eastern cultures.  She would get in and take the enemy down as fast as possible.
     And all those types of training do not add mass!  I work out on a daily basis, and have consulted my professional female body building friends, and none of them believe it is possible to gain weight through sheer martial arts training.  There needs to be a weight training portion specifically.  Hell- as a 5' 11", 150lb male, it took me quite a long while to even make it to 150.  Much longer than the mere month or two that she has before filming begins.

     In an MTV article with Amy Adams (Lois Lane from Man of Steel):

     Though she said she was "not familiar with [Gadot's] body shape," she could sympathize with being the subject of fan critiques. Her strategy: let it go.

"I don't buy into that," she said. "Not that I [don't] believe that it's happening, but I'm certainly not a classically drawn woman as they exist in comic books, so I had to embrace that I just had a baby, I still hadn't gotten my waist back. Lois is not about proportions, Lois is about her intellect and her savvy reporting skills and her empathy for Clark, and so I just didn't think about it."

"She is going to be yoked, man. He is going to make her a beast," Adams said. 

     Lois Lane is one thing, she is a reporter, leaving open a multitude of choices of appearance, Wonder Woman is a whole different problem.  I've said it a bunch- she can't look like she'd shatter if patted on the back.  None of the ladies in Sucker Punch were "beasts."  They didn't really seem like they could destroy everything in their paths.  Only Faora from Man of Steel could really be counted here.  And Antje Traue was bulkier before anyways.  Besides, did she really "bulk" for that role?  You can't tell because she's covered in Kryptonian armor.

     Even if she does get the looks down, and bulked up properly- will she be able to act the part?  Be convincing enough for a rabid fan base?  Her Fast & Furious roles say not even close.  If she manages to gain the mass and look the part- many fans will forgive shoddy acting.
     Our fandom criticisms may be harsh, but we want the best possible performances, the best we can get.  As an entertainer, Gadot (along with director Zack Snyder) should want to listen to what we say- if only to keep us wanting their productions.

     Over at MetroUK, former Wonder Woman Linda Carter herself had something to say about the role:

What is the enduring appeal of Wonder Woman? There’s an identification factor. She’s not your average superhero. It’s not so much about her super powers as it is about her ethic. I always thought of her as a figure who stands for what’s right. We all know what’s wrong with the world today, so maybe we need her right now.

     Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, is a blunt force- full of beauty and power.  A regal presence filled with grace and a little bit of attitude.  I really hope they can pull this off.  If miss Gadot can become the ripped beast of a princess and live up to the acting critisism, she'll have us as fans for life.
     If she can look like that photoshop pic above, I'll be on board.  Until we start seeing pics I unfortunately remain highly skeptical.  Of the "mass gaining" and of her current acting abilities.  Here's another chance to prove us fans wrong.

     Sorry to go on such a rant here.

     Source [ Batman News ]



     Here's a couple more posts I did about this topic 
          [ Gadot Cast as WW ]  
          [ Wb needs WW Film ]



     I would also recommend this great article on Wonder Woman's various costumes over the years [ The Mary Sue ]


     It would be worth mentioning some other Wonder Woman picture references, considering the pic above was probably made from Jeffach's Photoshop work, particularly this one.  You should check out his Deviant Art gallery, plenty of good WW pics.  [ Gallery ]

     Another great DeviantArtist with great WW pics is Nebezial.  [ Gallery ]

     Then there is the incomparable Adam Hughes.  [ Gallery ]

Some of Nebezial's Wonder Woman Sketches

Charlie the Cockatiel Sketch

     The only thing I've made recently that I feel all right with posting here in the way of art is this little sketch of my tiny bird buddie, Charlie the Cockatiel.  I have others as well, of Izzy with more color (she's brightly colored)- but those are for another time.

     Well, Charlie here likes to peep questions at me like, "Brooooot?"  He also likes to sing If You're Happy and You Know It with Izzy.

     On repeat.

     Ad nauseam.

     It's the only song they know.

     He occasionally enjoys playing Playstation Vita as well.

A Merry-ish Christmas for 2013

Yep, that's my ugly mug on the job.

     Once again we've arrived at Christmas Day 2013.  Another decent year despite numerous life setbacks.  It's a time I like to equate with visiting family at gatherings I haven't been able to attend for years due to working in the medical field.  A time of reflection on the wonderful things we have, and that's not including material gifts.  It's about goodwill and common decency.
     And maybe watching movies like Scrooged, Gremlins, and A Christmas Story.  It's about enjoying the old Rankin-Bass claymation specials- Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  It's about being good for goodness' sake.  It's to be a child in heart, and an adult in deed.

     This year however, something was off.  No loss of family or anything  Nothing I could place a finger on.  Just an aura of stress.  Recently I've been having a ton of anxiety over the return to school- I finished a degree earlier this year and will be returning to further my education, but because of my specific circumstances, I'm needing appealing a bunch of things to make the transfer to another school feasible.  Unfortunately, it's a bad time for that, as everyone was preparing for the holidays.  Such being the case, all the classes I wanted to sign up for a month ago are now full, and the remaining class choices are slim indeed.
     All the stories I wanted to write, I never finished.  The comics and art I wished to make, also never completed.  There was always "work" to do, and excuses to be made.  This year I think I'm going to say screw it and follow my dreams of actually finishing my projects regardless of the endless obstacles.  Hell, I might even begin a Kickstarter Project so I can finish a book I started to write in high school about Mars.  At least it's a way to foster the creative drive I want to fulfill in a tough economic time.

     Then to add just a bit more to my plate, every year I try to make Christmas/Holiday cards entirely by hand.  (Here's a link to a some)  I personally prefer receiving things people make, don't get me wrong here, I'm highly appreciative of ANY gifts I receive, it's just that in these days I fully understand many others struggle to provide even small presents.  Even if it's a childish crayon picture I still enjoy them.

     This year however, I was way off my game, and despite having 50+ ideas, I just couldn't seem to get any of them to look right.  None of the watercolors looked OK.  None of the drawings or sketches worked how I wanted them to.  I even had a problem with a tube of oil paint somehow mixed in with all my gouaches- so when I went to use it, I ruined the picture.  Man, this year I feel like an absolute failure in the creativity area.  It's like all the talent and ability I had abandoned me for the holidays.  (The pic to the right is one of my work spaces and a load of supplies.)

     The only card I "finished" was a joke card.  I colored Gustave Dore's Nativity scene and made a joke comment about Jesus being clearly not Joseph's.

     So all I have thus far is a sketchbook of a hundred ideas, and a folder on my computer with 30 partially finished cards.  Last year I had a slew of Scratch-&-Sniff cards worked out with candy cane, gingerbread, and Christmas Tree scents, but the print shop screwed me on cost- so that was set aside, and this year I couldn't find a new printer.  This year I also had a couple lenticular cards based on ideas from 2007, but only recently found a print shop I can afford, so these will have to wait until next year as well.  Same goes with my "Elegant Snowflake" card, which is a watermarked snowflake design on a small card with only (Hold up to light.) showing in black ink, so when you hold it up, the card appears.

     Anyway, sorry to be a downer, I just wanted to share the fact I burned myself up completely this year- both artistically, and at the job, until I was dead tired.  I feel like I haven't done well enough for family and friends.  Today in particular I helped a lonely person feel welcome, made a patient with a nasty hip fracture laugh, promised another I wouldn't send them to nursing home for their present, and helped some visitors smuggle in a bunch of Christmas contraband.  Not much mind you, but it's the least I could do to spread at least a little bit of Christmas joy.  What I'm trying to get across here is that it just doesn't feel like I've done anything, like I haven't contributed properly, and want people to know I tried.

     Merry Christmas good readers.

Batman Arkham Teaser: Save the Date: DLC or Sequel Announcement New Years Eve

     The Official Facebook Page for Batman Arkham has posted a cryptic image recently, and I am very curious as to what they are hinting at.

     While I would like to hope for the official announcment of the Arkham City sequel everyone already knows Rocksteady is working on, and more than likely for the next gen systems, but it'll probably be the story expanding narrative focused DLC we were promised with the Arkham Origins Season Pass ("All New Story").  If it were to somehow be for the next Rocksteady Arkham game, I believe it would coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Batman in 2014.
     Although, from the post credits scene from Origins, I would guess a Suicide Squad type DLC.

     Either way, I'm looking forward to what it will be.

Sherlock Season 3 Mini-episode: Many Happy Returns

     With only a couple weeks until the new episode airs, we get a nice short episode titled Many Happy Returns to bridge the gap between Sherlock seasons 2 and 3.



     I really like how they gave Anderson a bit of what appears to be guilt and loss in his obsessive search to locate Sherlock.  He was such an unlikable character, it's refreshing to see him so distraught and, well, human.

     Sherlock airs Jan 1, 2014 on BBC, and Jan 19th on PBS for us in the US.