New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nintendo 3DS Game Based on the Bay & Liebesman Film (Activision & Magic Pockets)

     Earlier today Activision announced a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie tie-in game for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Magic Pockets, who also made the Nickelodeon TMNT game for Xbox 360, the Wii, and the 3DS.

     Mad genius Baxter Stockman's mutant and robotic horrors have teamed up with the shadowy armies of the Foot Clan to terrorize New York City, and only Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello can protect its subways, sewers, rooftops and streets from their devastating campaign.

     The game is a 3rd person hack-n-slash, with the ability to grow in power and skill points.  Each turtle will have their own abilities and strengths, as well as the option to swap between any of the 4 at any time.  The only thing that really caught my eye was the mention of crafting, as we'll apparently be able to craft new weapons with materials collected throughout the levels in the Turtle's Lair.

     As much as I want to have high hopes for this game, the Nickelodeon TMNT game was quite bad.  To make matters a bit worse, this one looks like it might just be a reskin of that game.  I can't say that for certain, and I'll definitely be checking this out- but I'll be doing it with less than optimal hopes.
  
     Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be released later this summer in time for the August 8th release date of the film.

     In all seriousness- Activision needs to make a TMNT game as an open-world 4-player action-brawler or beat-em-up with a good budget.  Even keep it based on the Nickelodeon show and it would sell a billion copies.  Simple as that.

     Source [ NeoGAF ]

     For more of my Turtles posts [ TMNT ]

Empire Magazine: 20th Anniversary Issue: The Birthday Portfolio

     I've been a bit lax in the art department lately, and I stumbled across Empire Magazine's upcoming Birthday Issue.  Well, I felt the need to share a couple of the photos they've released with some actors and actresses revisiting old roles for new photos, and they look stunningly elegant.
     I'm only putting up the Sam Neill's Jurassic Park and Christian Bale's American Psycho pics.  Note the brilliant axe reflection and business cards- they're absolutely genius.  This is an issue I'll be certain to buy.

     Sources [ IMGUR ]  [ Empire Magazine ]

               

The Plan (Krillbite Studio): PC: Steam Game Review

     This will be an odd review, as it might take longer to read this post than the 5 minutes the game took to play through.  Krillbite Studio, whose main project was Among the Sleep, created The Plan as an experimental side project- a free game for people while making their main game.

"A fly ascends to the skies, pondering the pointlessness of its brief existence."

     The Plan happens to be a wonderful take on the brevity of life and how well it can be shown in such brevity- through the life of a fly.  Sure, there might be arguments over the validity of calling this a "game," but it doesn't really matter.  It's a short and controlled experience that brings you on a journey of struggle and insight about your place in the universe and what meaning we may find in what little time we get to live for.

     This game has all it needs to make a great game, pared down to the absolute minimums necessary.  A pervading and eerie atmosphere, subtly haunting music, and the smallest story about the path of life itself.  We try to ascend as much as possible in the time we are given and therein lies the transcendent reflection on the nature of life.  If a game like Shadow of the Colossus would be the video game equivalent of a Da Vinci painting, The Plan would be a sketch capturing something extremely unique in the simplest way possible.

Mister Hide Leather: Great Products

     It's been a while since I blog pimped some friends- and it's due time.

     One of my buddies has been into serious leather working for the last couple years and creates custom leather products.  He is open to making a variety of products and his works speak for themselves.  I would highly recommend checking them out at the links below.  My personal favorite item is the Blue Key Fob with silver Celtic Knot pictured to the right.  

     To check out his Official blog page [ Mister Hide ]

     His Facebook page [ Mister Hide ]

    Or to see some of his stuff without the hassle of a few extra clicks see below.

Butterfly Bracelet

Tobacco Pouch

Abstract Wide Watchband

     As you can see he's got some excellent talent and is on the lookout for new and interesting projects to make for people.  Bracelets, belts, key fobs, wallets, purses, bags, holsters, sheaths, or pretty much any leather project you might want, he'll find a way to make it.  Don't hesitate to ask for something- ask or check for what you may like.

Tuffy the Corgi and the Tower of Bones

     I've got to be honest here, I stumbled across this today and am very curious.  I enjoy some action platforming games from time to time, and I do like dogs a lot, but this game has me at a disadvantage.  It's meant to be a very difficult, as difficult as it was for creator Tim Rogers (Action Button Entertainment) to beat Super Mario Bros. 3 without being hit a single time.  Every level, straight through, without warping.  That feat will require an immense amount of skill, patience, and determination, none of which I have right now.  But that animated corgi is sooooooo tempting.

     So here's how the game works- Tuffy the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, being an overexcited canine, moves of his own accord, and you as the player can guide him in two ways- altering his direction with any button on the left side or tapping the left side of the Vita screen, or making him jump by pressing any button/tapping the right side of the screen.  The simplest of control scemes.  But here's the catch, a single hit and you die and start the entire game over.
     To make it a little bit more of a sting, the game will tell you your death count after each one, the game keep track of every one.

     Mr. Tim Rogers did put something interesting out there, a sort of challenge, to tweet him a screencap of making it to the top of the tower with all 108 bones in the game.  In addition, he's also hinted that there might be different endings if you can make it to the top of the tower with some, all or even NONE of the bones.  An intriguing ploy to give it some replayability.
     As I doubt I'll ever put in that much effort, more due to the fact my games backlog is almost in the triple digits, it's still a neat way to spend a few hours of time.

     Tuffy the Corgi and the Tower of Bones is available on the PS Vita through the PSN, and can be found under the Playstation Mobile section of the store.



     Source [ Playstation Blog ]

The Legend of Korra Game Coming This Fall From Activision & Platinum Games: Announcement Trailer

     This fall we are getting a new game in Avatar: The Last Airbender universe, led by the current Avatar Korra!  This is great news with the 3rd season's premiere airing this Friday on Nickelodeon  The Platinum Games studio making this also developed Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, The wonderful 101, and Bayonetta 2.

     Because the announcement trailer above doesn't really tell us much, IGN has a small tidbit of info:

     Korra scribe Tim Hendrick is writing the story, which takes place between The Legend of Korra’s second and third seasons. As the series' leading lady, players will use the Avatar's fire, earth, air, and water elements in combat to fight familiar enemies such as Mecha Tanks and Chi Blockers, as well as other Benders in the 3-on-3 Pro-Bending arena.

     The Legend of Korra will be a 3rd person action game in a decent cell-shaded style.  Players will get to throw the typical punches, kicks and counters to combat a variety of foes, as well as harnessing the 4 elements as the Avatar Korra.  The game is set to take place between Book 2 and Book 3 of the animated series.

     The Legend of Korra will be available for download this fall on PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.

     In addition, the Nintendo 3DS will be receiving a Legend of Korra by Webfoot Technologies that is a turn-based strategy game focusing more on tactical gameplay.

     You can vote on which cover the downloadable game will arrive with on the official show's Facebook page  [ Vote Here ]


     Source [ IGN ]

Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Trailer 2: The REAL Shredder & April O'Neil's Butt

     After re-watching the newest TMNT reboot trailer I got a little better look at things.  I wonder if this fellow is the real Shredder, because William Fichtner (Listed as Shredder) says, "we've taken your armor to the next level."  Which in my mind, means merging it with a Transformer and maybe a couple explosions for good measure.

Could this be Oroku Saki, The REAL Shredder?

     I also noticed a hilarious moment in the Russian version of the trailer Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett) crashes while driving due to staring at April O'Neil's (Megan Fox) butt.

We'd all crash if this was in the passenger seat.

     I also wonder if the Krang (Kraang in the newer show) will show up?  It would give a little more credibility to the aliens mention from the older script, and ties it into the giant fan trolling of mentioning that they are turtles- not aliens- comment.  Baxter Stockman is cast in the film, and the suit looks to be mostly mechanical so there is a chance of that happening.


     For more Turtles posts [ TMNT ]

NEW! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trailer 2 (Bay & Liebesman's ) From Poster Reveal Campaign

     After the last 24 hours of the TurtleReveal.com poster reveal antics the 2nd full triler has been released.

     Despite my reservations about Bay and Liebesman's reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it looks like it'll be very entertaining regardless.  We get tons of new footage- the Turtles in action, more Splinter, and a lot of Shredder shooting and reclaiming blades.  And, this may sound strange but Megan Fox is still the least realistic thing in the trailer.

     #TeamMichelangelo for me.

     Source [ Turtle Reveal ]

     For more of my Turtles posts [ TMNT ]

New Kaiyodo Revoltech Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nickelodeon Toy Action Figures (TMNT)

     As both an avid action figure collector and long-time TMNT fan, these new Kaiyodo Revoltech Ninja Turtle figures have wowed me.  They are highly pose-able, and being based on the Nickelodeon cartoon series, they look absolutely amazing.  I mean I really like the new Playmates toy line, but these blow those out of the water.  The only figures I can think of that even come close to these are the Playmates TMNT Classics line.

     The downside is they are rumored to be 5-6" tall and between $40-50.  The price to import these might be worth it as these are stunning.  The release date is rumored to be Sept-Oct 2014, so it's not too far away.

     Now to wait for the release of these while contemplating the effects of Bay & Liebesman's reboot of the TMNT film franchise on the Turtles' fanbase...


     Sources [ ToyReviewDaily ] [ Kotaku via TAG Hobby ]

     For more of my Turtles posts [ TMNT ]

Pavilion: Extended Gameplay Trailer

     I remember seeing things about this game back in February and it looked great.  Today they released an extended gameplay trailer that really doesn't give us a lot of what's going on.  I mean the game description itself is making people question what exactly is a "4th person game?"

     Over on the Playstation Blog, Creative Director of Visiontrick Media, Henrik Flink, has given us a little bit of insight on the puzzling question of Fourth Person Gaming- revealing to us what we might expect with Pavilion:

     The second thing, as requested, is to uncover some more information about the gameplay of Pavilion. Without going too deep spoiling specific puzzle features, we’ll try to shed some light on the overarching gameplay by presenting the three fundamental components that make up Pavilion’s puzzle design. These three things are woven together, and all three aspects need to be taken into account when solving puzzling situations.

• The first of the three components is the main character seen running around in the world of Pavilion. His behaviors and personality need to be observed, understood and aided, for you both to traverse and progress in the game.
• The second component is the environment. The layout of the surrounding world in which the main character is traveling will affect his traversal.
• The third component is the interactive objects which can be manipulated and thus affect both the environment and, indirectly, the main character.

     Apart from these three in-game components, there’s also an outside fourth component, the wielder of interactive objects that brings forth reactions from the character and changes in the environment.

     Pavilion sounds like a new breed of game, and it certainly looks like a very interesting puzzle to solve.  They've definitely engaged my curiosity, and I look forward to playing it when it releases sometime this fall.


     Source [ Playstation Blog ]