Far Cry 4's second DLC, Valley of the Yetis, gets a fancy new trailer to back up the curiosity inducing previous images we've seen. It looks like players will be attempting to uncover mysterious Himalayan secrets while avoiding being killed by some angry abominable snow men. It also looks to be quite entertaining.
There is no word yet if this will contain the same perma-death element that the first DLC, Escape from Durgesh Prison, did.
Valley of the Yetis DLC will be available March 10th for Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC
and on Playstation 3 & 4 on March 11th.
No individual price has been given, but the season pass is still available for $29.99.
Another great member of the Star Trek's most famous ship, the starship Enterprise has left the bridge today. Leonard Nimoy has passed away of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) caused by a decades long habit of smoking.
"Live long and Prosper"
Many mourn this loss of the half-Vulcan Mr. Spock. Nimoy has left us with an important and lasting message of peace, logic, and beauty through his last Tweet:
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP
— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 23, 2015
Hot on the tails of the news that the game will be rated "M" for mature, making Batman: Arkham Knight the first of the trilogy to receive that rating, we get the new trailer, and it looks good. Really good. Like REALLY good.
I see we get a lot more stuff hinting towards the actual story, most notably with the "City is under my protection now" and "Over my dead body" lines. It looks as if the Scarecrow is putting together a band of super villains to finally put an end to the Dark Knight reign of skull-crunching justice.
It also looks like he might succeed.
Batman: Arkham Knight will arrive on Playstation 4, X Box One, and PC June 2, 2015.
With a movie hitting this summer, July 17th, it makes sense that Marvel Comics would like a new Ant-Man series on the way for all the new fans it creates. Ant-Man has had many versions over the years ranging from diminutive hero, to a giant-sized A-hole, and more recently being a D list Avenger.
Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, is known for being an all-around terrible guy, although he does have some good qualities, as Lang mentions. He's been a long time impulsive personality- taking risks and being destructive to the point of being a wife-beater and in the comics he was the creator of Ultron. Eric O'Grady was another less-than-wonderful Ant-Man, so much so his very hilarious comic series by Robert Kirkman (of The Walking Dead fame) was titled The Irredeemable Ant-Man. A series I fully enjoyed and highly recommend. Now we get Scott Lang and in this new series, writer Nick Spencer paints Ant-Man as a troubled man simply trying to make life better for those he's let down. This is the story of a man attempting to get his life in order.
Scott Lang begins this series in a crappy apartment, interviewing for a job with Iron Man Tony Stark in the poor role of former criminal offering his expertise in security. This is an incredible interview- Spencer condensed the info dump of Lang's history into this segment in a way that is absolutely befitting of the character. He even mentions the death and return to life and its inherent problems with humor that keeps us thinking.
I think what sets this new Ant-Man issue apart from many other comics is that is focuses more on the human part of being a super human. Just as Ant-Man shrinks, so the story is taken down to small proportions. There is no world threatening villain, it is just a man with great power struggling to find work, struggling with his ex-wife, and struggling to be a good father- things real people deal with every day. The fears and hopes all of us have in our daily lives. Nick Spencer has made Ant-Man relatable and this first issue is stunning in it's presentation. Lang is so very human and charming, displaying small acts of kindness and neither wanting nor getting anything in return. The true mark of a real hero that is constantly looked down on in more ways than one.
Ramon Rosanas' art is top notch, along with Jordan Boyd's coloring and lettering by Travis Lanham. It's simple and effective and gives us plenty of clever angles to see Lang in various sizes with a brilliant use of a toy living room set and a phone to make a mini-movie theater.
Ant-Man #1 is a classic first issue for anyone to jump on board with this character's reintroduction to the Marvel universe. It shows that a fantastic single issue debut can make even the smallest hero can have a large future.
I'll leave you with my favorite part of the issue,
It's been about 2 months since Neill Blomkamp posted some extremely interesting Aliens images on his Instagram feed telling of a project that had fallen through. The series of images showed a continuation of Ripley and Hicks after the nuked LV-426 and the infested Hadley's Hope terraforming colony.
Two days ago, 20th Century Fox announced the news that they've closed a deal on an as yet untitled Alien film with Blomkamp in the large Engineer's Pilot seat. This is good because all the disappointment I had after seeing Ridley Scott return to the series with Prometheus. It should also be noted this will not be tied to the Prometheus sequel with Ridley Scott has going with Fox.
Blomkamp has shown a wonderful talent for gritty science fiction with both District 9 and Elysium, then he may prove himself once again capable with the upcoming Chappie. It'll be great to see him tackling an official Alien film. This is a tremendous opportunity for him, and a great chance to really reinvigorate the franchise.
It is currently unclear whether Sigourney Weaver, the badass extraordinaire Ellen Ripley herself, will return. It is also unknown how they'd work in the previously deceased Corp. Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn) may return. There are plenty of ways around story problems, and if Blomkamp handles them well enough, we might be able to forget some of the lesser films in the series.
In any case, the images have sold me on this project.
Oddly, no images of Newt have surfaced, which I find a little bit curious indeed.
Director Zack Snyder has finally released an image of Aquaman for the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie. I have to admit, much like the Gal Gadot Wonder Woman, it's way better than I expected. It still a little different, but for the DC Film Universe Snyder is creating it looks promising. Momoa's Aquaman is set to appear in BvS: Dawn of Justice before appearing in the follow up 2-part Justice League films.
I would also say I like this design far better than any of the comic book variants of Aquaman.
On a side note does "Unite the Seven" refer to the number of seas, or to the big seven of DC- meaning the Justice League? It bears questioning because of the "One True King" meaning someone may be vying for top dog billing on Earth... possibly against Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, and the Green Lantern.
I wonder if they toyed with the idea of giving him some scaled skin at some point? That may have been kind of awesome design addition- I mean why do all the alien characters look so damn human anyway?
Growing up I wasn't much of a Ducktales fan. The show didn't really appeal to me, for me it was always Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. I'd always preferred Chip 'n Dale over Scrooge McDuck, especially when it came to their games, and I do remember playing them both quite well. Right alongside other platformers that stand the test of time like the original Super Mario Bros. or Metroid. They each had a long-lasting impression of games being well-made, not some sloppy mess that quite a few Nintendo games wound up being.
But now, over 20 years since Ducktales first arrived on the Nintendo (NES) in 1989, Wayforward Technologies has updated the classic. So without the nostalgia factor tinting my judgement- I played through this, and it was really good. It's a great call back to the good old days of gaming when things had just the right amount of difficulty and was bound together with a dash of story and wrapped in a heap of good fun.
Wayforward has given the game an entire overhaul in terms of visuals. The sprites are outstanding, animations are smooth and clean, and the new cutscenes are tremendous. They've also redone the music, added new story elements to make it more cohesive, and in a brilliant manouevre- they added voice recordings. New ones- including many of the original cast and most notably, the original voice of Scrooge McDuck himself, Alan Young.
Mr. McDuck now gets to trek through the 5 levels in any order you like to unlock a final level where the added story elements pay off. I mean having the ability to dive into the preposterous coin vault of money hoarding Scrooge is a small dream come true, even for someone that isn't really a fan.
In the end, I believe Wayforward's Ducktales: Remastered is exactly the type of remaster that retro games of yesteryear deserve. They put in all the love and fondness from the original, keeping the spirit intact, while adding just the right amount of added things to improve upon our sometimes foggy nostalgia-fueled memories. Ducktales: Remastered is definitely worth your time if you ever liked the show or the game.
This actually makes me wonder if we'll get any more remasters with this amount of work and care...
After Monday's news that Sony had apparently abandoned The Last Guardian trademark again some people were worried. I wrote a small piece about it and figured they were possibly renaming it to avoid the long term negativity tied to the title. But, as they had previously "abandoned" it and revived it, there really wasn't much to worry about.
Still Holding On
The continually troubled development period The Last Guardian has suffered has been nerve wracking, but Sony has assured us that it is indeed progressing. Creator Fumito Ueda has said that his part of the game was done long ago, but the game is currently undergoing something in "completely new conditions." That may have been a hint towards giving the game a complete overhaul and bringing it to the Playstation 4, being a potential change from the 2009 announcement that it would be for the PS3. This is insinuated from the wonderful way Sony deflects and dodges comments when asked the console question.
Personally, I think they might have something much better in store for us.
After watching with great envy as all my iOS phone playing buddies got to enjoy The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker inspired Oceanhorn, I finally get to join in the fun. Not on my Android, but- even better- on Steam.
Cornfox & Bros. haven't just ported it to Steam either, they've overhauled the graphics and redesigned the physical controls for use with keyboard and mouse or controller. It is a real remastered edition.
"All of the game's graphical assets have been tweaked for the PC platform. We added four times more polygons, sharper textures, normal maps, detail objects and new lighting effects such as dynamic ambient occlusion, soft shadows and realtime reflections to make Oceanhorn look stunning when played in 4K resolution."
After reading all the iOS reviews, Cornfox & Bros. have also taken it upon themselves to fix or alter some unfair and confusing puzzles in the game- in an attempt to improve the original through player feedback. Heck, they've even added new items in the shops including a "Second Chance" potion that'll be useful for tough boss encounters.
Today, we get some outwardly sad news about Team Ico's long awaited project The Last Guardian. As of today Sony has let the trademark lapse and they have decided not renew it. And if I recall correctly, this happened previously in 2009.
Fortunately for us, Sony has made it very clear on numerous occasions that the game is still in the works- according to Sony Worldwide's President Shuhei Yoshida, with the added comment that it is being "re-engineered" and that they are waiting to "re-introduce" it. Could the reintroduction include a new working title? I would definitely think so. Giving the The Last Guardian a new name might be a good idea because of all the issues it has been suffering of for more than the past 6 years.
Sony must see something still in this long term investment to keep sinking time and effort into it. After years and years of perpetual delays, and an official "on hiatus," there must be something really magical in there for it to continue. We also know that Fumito Ueda is still on board in a way and still tied to his created universe. Speculation is rampant as both parties seem to be elusive and always deflect comments in secretive ways. I, for one, am eager to see what eventually becomes of this project.
