Category Archives: Video Games
I Am The Man Who Arranges the Blocks…
I’ve been holding on to this video for some time now, waiting for the right moment when my blog had a few readers who could really enjoy this fantastic song. This is quite possibly my absolute favorite video on Youtube. It’s a song about the history of Russia and the Soviet Union, set to the tune of that nation’s greatest export: Tetris.
Not only is it a history lesson, but it’s a brilliant song to boot!
I Want to Be a Panda
Or more specifically, a Pandaren.
Blizzard, the company that makes World of Warcraft, has registered the trademark for the name ‘Mists of Pandaria’. Thank you, MMO Champion, for this bit of exciting, squee-worthy news.
I’m not going to get into all the glorious details of World of Warcraft. Hopefully most of you readers already know what the game is. I’ve had two periods in my life where I played, both for a few months at a time. And both times I stopped playing because nobody was around to play with, and because the more complicated, time-consuming quests were stacking up. I haven’t played for probably two years now, unless you count that brief week in early 2010 when I got a free week of playtime.
Basically, I love World of Warcraft. It is everything I could ever want in a video game. Maybe I’ll explain why in a post someday. But as of right now, I’m a recovering addict. I don’t want to pay the $15 a month to play, and I know if I did start playing again, it would consume all of my free time. I’ve avoided the siren call of all the new expansions and playable races (goblins!). It’s just not for me right now.
But I will rejoin World of Warcraft in a heartbeat if they expand into the world of Pandarens.
Artist's Rendering
The primary ‘war’ in World of Warcraft is between humans and orcs, but there are dozens of mythical races in the game like elves, zombies, dwarves, gnomes, centaurs, dragons, etc. A lot of these races are just anthropomorphic animals, like the bovine Tauren, the walrus-people and the werewolves. Tops among these are the Pandarens, essentially sentient, walking, talking pandas who love alcohol. They are utterly brilliant! Not only do they look adorable, but they’re lovable, drunken samurai warriors! That could have been a cartoon show in the 80s! They just look like so much fun, especially in the larger World of Warcraft. But for the longest time they have only ever been something of an urban legend.
Pandarens first appeared in the expansion pack to Warcraft III. You could hire a Pandaren mercenary during the Versus games, and the Pandaren Brewmaster Chen Stormstout would join your group of adventurers if you played the orc campaign. He was a blast. I even own the Chen Stormstout action figure!
In-game rendering of Chen Stormstout
But then when World of Warcraft came out, there were no signs of the Pandarens in the entire game world. Chen got mentioned a tiny little bit, but no Pandarens to talk to, to get quests from and certainly not to play. They were utterly absent. There were rumors flying around that since the Pandarens combined Japanese samurai with Chinese panda bears, that the Asian countries were upset. And they’re a huge market for World of Warcraft. Maybe it’s true, but who knows for sure.
World of Warcraft has had several expansions since it first came out. They’ve added at least two new playable races to reach side, as well as three whole new islands/continents.
If the next expansion brings about Pandaria, their home island, or playable Pandarens, I will gladly fall off the World of Warcraft wagon.
Also, here’s everything you could ever want to know about Pandarens.
A Batman for all Seasons
Regular readers of my blog will know that I’ve already pre-ordered Batman: Arkham City at Best Buy in order to get Robin. That’s set in stone. Ain’t nothing changing that. But everybody else has the option now of different pre-order variants in order to get different Batman costumes. These are freakin’ amazing! My God! It’s like a geek drool collection machine! Hopefully these will be available as DLC someday.
It also means that at some point, somewhere in the world, there was a group of people who spent the day deciding what alternate Batman costumes they should include in this game. Those people are the luckiest human beings on the face of the Earth.
So who are we looking at here and how do you get them? Well this picture comes courtesy of arkhamcity.co.uk, and they break it down for us. Some of these pre-order options may change, since I think it’s only the England options have been announced.
From left:
1. Batman Beyond: A popular cartoon show set in the future after Bruce Wayne has retired. A young man named Terry McGuinness discovers Batman’s secret and teams up with the aging Bruce to become a new Batman for a new, futuristic Gotham City. I didn’t watch this cartoon much, but it was alright. Though I absolutely hate a later retcon at the end of Justice League Unlimited that altered the story so that Terry was actually a pseudo-clone of Bruce instead of just a regular guy who becomes Batman, that someone had taken Bruce Wayne’s DNA and injected it into Terry’s sperm so that when he and Terry’s mom had a kid, the dad-half came from Bruce. That’s just DUMB! I will not be bothering with this outfit.
How to get it: Pre-order the game from gamestop.co.uk or MightyApe.
2. The Dark Knight Returns: A beefier Batman from Frank Miller’s classic tale from the 1980s. Again set in a future Gotham City, but this time the aging Bruce Wayne decides to put the costume back on in order to reclaim the beast that resides within his soul – and rescue Gotham City. This was one of the comics that changed Batman from the silly 1960s Adam West variation into the gritty dark knight! And I’m all the happier for it. This would be an awesome costume to play the game in.
How to get it: Pre-order the Collector’s Edition of the game.
3. Earth One: My bad. I thought this was the current Bruce Wayne costume, when in actuality it’s a costume based on the Batman: Earth One series…that hasn’t been released. Superman: Earth One came out, and it altered a few things in the classic origin and made Clark Kent more of a Twilight-esque brooding young man. It sold really well. I have no idea what they plan to do with Bruce Wayne. I’m pretty sure there’s only ever been a single preview image release…which this costume is based on. Lame. But it looks kind of cool.
How to get it: Pre-order at MightyApe.
4. 1970s Batman: Back in the day, before Frank Miller and the ‘Dark Knight’, Batman was the Caped Crusader. He was a member of the Dynamic Duo with Robin. Those names are still used, I suppose, but back then they stood for an entirely different Batman. Back then he wore a light gray suit with a bright blue cape and cowl. That was back when Robin dressed in green shorts and pixie boots. So there, everybody! Batman didn’t dress for the shadows either! It’s an alright costume, and would probably look really funny in Arkham City.
How to get it: Pre-order from Toys R Us.
5. Batman: The Animated Series: Oh my dear and holy Lord. That is amazing! I hope somebody got a promotion for both coming up with the idea and pulling it off so well! I have no idea how it will look in gameplay, but it looks like sheer geek gold in that picture. If you don’t know about Batman: The Animated Series from the 90s then shame on you!
How to get it: Pre-order from MightyApe.
6. Arkham City Batman: That’s just what Batman normally looks like in the game. Not an alternate costume.
How to get it: Just buy the game, fools!
Slinging with Style!
Oh to be a geeky fanboy, and then to have people indulge me. There’s a new Spider-Man video game coming out, and the gamemakers will include The Slingers as alternate costumes! I just have to pre-order Spider-Man: Edge of Time from Gamestop. So consider me a customer!
Ricochet, Hornet, Prodigy and Dusk!
The Slingers are pretty much as obscure as half the characters on my list of favorite comic book characters. So if you read that list, I’ll try to put this into context. Having the Slingers as alternate costumes would be similar to having the Mimic as an alternate costume in an X-Men video game. it’s that sort of geeky thrill that I love!
Quick explanation: Back in the late 90s, there was a story across the four different Spider-Man comic books where Spidey was framed for murder. So Peter Parker, for various reasons, created four new superhero identities so that he could investigate the frame-up without being chased by the police. I was reading only Amazing Spider-Man at the time, so I read the Dusk issues – that’s the character in all black. Eventually he proved his innocence and put all these costumes into storage.
Soon after, however, Marvel launched a new series about four college-age kids who came into possession of the costumes and used them to become amateur superheroes. They didn’t have a team name, but the comic was called The Slingers. It was 12 issues or so before being cancelled, and it was a nice follow-up to the equally short-lived Green Goblin series with Phil Urich. Since then, the Slingers have popped up here and there in random issues and, much like with Mimic and Green Goblin from my list, it’s fun to track down those issues and find out what these guys are up to in comics.
So as a geek, I’m thrilled that they will get to appear in the new game!
Sweet Ass Robin Picture
In my ongoing effort to become THE source for Robin news on the Internet, here’s an early concept picture of Robin from the upcoming Batman: Arkham City game. Some other website found it, and I’m borrowing it from them to show all of you. I still like the look for the game, and I’d love this color scheme. Thanks comicbookmovie.com!
I'm digging the colors.
Meanwhile, Senior Concept Artist Kan Mutfic had this to say somewhere on the Interwebs:
“We wanted to create a Robin that players would identify as a contemporary character and move away from the traditional “Boy Wonder” image that most people know. Our vision of Robin is the one of a troubled young individual that is calm and introverted at times but very dangerous and aggressive if provoked. The shaved head is inspired by cage fighters, because we thought that Robin might be doing that in his spare time to keep him on his toes. Still, we kept all the classic trademarks of Robin’s appearance, such as the red and yellow colors of his outfit, the cape and the mask.
We really hope that people will discover our Robin as one of their new favorite characters in the Batman universe. He is back and he means business.”
All of that sounds pretty badass to me! I can’t wait for Robin!
Henchman-4-Hire 