Skyrim to Feature Vampires, Vampire-Killers
Looks like I’ll soon have to break out my old Skyrim game again for some sweet DLC. Don’t game makers know that I’m already pretty swamped when it comes to video games? Why do they have to release this amazing trailer for the upcoming Dawnguard expansion pack?
Boy howdy, that looks like fun! What my intrepid mind can piece together is that the new story mission is going to involve some kind of pack of super vampires who can transform into some kind of winged beast monster. Vampirism is already a thing in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, as it has been in most Elder Scrolls games. Basically your character can contract vampirism the same way normal people can, by being infected by a vampire. I haven’t experienced it myself with my characters, but you basically get hurt by sunlight and have a few other vampire-esque traits. Likewise, Skyrim also introduced werewolfism, which allows your character to become a werewolf and transform into a monster!
It was pretty sweet.
So I hope this new vampire transformation is equally sweet. Though I think my valiant orc warrior Tannenbum is going to join the titular Dawnguard, who seem to be the people who hunt and kill the vampires. Though that doesn’t necessarily make them good guys, mind you. I don’t know this for sure, but it seems like the DLC is going to be based around choosing either the Dawnguard or the vampires. I look forward to the excitement.
When I play these role-playing games, I really get into the storyline of my character. And for the same reason Tannenbaum never became a werewolf, I doubt I’ll have him become a super vampire. It’s just not who he is. That’s why I created a second character who could complete the Companion/werewolf storyline. Because becoming a werewolf (or vampire) is akin to picking an entirely different race. I didn’t want to get werewolf in my orc, if that makes any sense.
Either way, it looks like Tannenbaum is soon going to have to come out of retirement. And here I’d had him living in a nice mansion in Solitude, living off his great wealth and his membership in the Bard College.
Review: Mimic and the X-Men #4
What the hell is this supposed to be? Where’s my Mimic? If I’m going to buy a comic starring the Mimic, one of the greatest and coolest X-Men of all time, I expect him to be in more than 5 panels, and I expect him to get more than one line. But nooooOOOoooo! Apparently someone else has a better idea. Someone named Christos Gage seems to want to focus on Rogue for some reason. As if anybody cares about Rogue when they could be reading about the spectacular and handsome Mimic!
Mimic and the X-Men #4
Instead, Mimic seems to have something of a glass jaw when it comes to Avengers vs. X-Men.
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.
For those of you coming in late, the Mimic is one of my favorite comic book characters of all time. And recently in the pages of X-Men Legacy, writer Christos Gage has plucked Mimic out of the mothballs, dusted him off and put him in the regular cast of the comic. For the first time in 40 years, he’s a member of the X-Men again. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I’ve added X-Men: Legacy to my review list – only I prefer to refer to it as Mimic and the X-Men. Because I really only care about Mimic’s role in the comic.
And based on this issue, he doesn’t have much of a roll at all. It’s a tragedy.
New DC Superhero Fighting Game Gets Nasty
Remember when Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe came out, and everybody was whining about how the goody two-shoes DC superheroes couldn’t do the bloody fatalities? Well apparently DC Comics and NetherRealm, the makers of Mortal Kombat, heard those cries and have designed a new fighting game where the Justice League superheroes are evil, so now they can get as brutal as we gaming nerds might want!
Behold Injustice: Gods Among Us, the new fighting game announced today that is apparently only going to feature DC superheroes and villains. Which is awesome. Too often video game makers seem to think we want non-superhero characters mixed in with our fighting games. Anyone remember Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects? For your sake, I hope you don’t. Anyway, this new game is going to feature “at least as many” characters as Mortal Kombat, so that means dozens. And it’s going to feature interactive battle zones, like the Batcave and other familiar sights.
Burn baby, burn!
The roster so far includes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Harley Quinn and Solomon Grundy. I expect we’ll get more announced as we get closer to the release date sometime in 2013. Of course, I demand to see Robin in the game, but that might just be me.
This game looks pretty cool, as far as I’m concerned. I liked the last Mortal Kombat game, and this one looks very similar in play style. Granted, I mostly played Mortal Kombat for the story (and Smoke, my favorite character), but it was a fun fighting game to play with friends for a week or two. That’s exactly what I’d expect this new game to be, just a fun little fighter to spend a few weeks on and nothing more. If I still had a Blockbuster near me, it’d make for a great rental.
Wonder Woman gonna have to cut a bitch?
The trailer looks cool, with a lot of well-done animation. If this game looks as good and plays as good as Mortal Kombat, it’ll be a fine game. I’m not at all bothered by the idea of turning the DC superheroes evil in order to fit them into a fighting game, or whatever the plan is there. It’s not going to warp my fragile little geek mind if Superman now burns people to a crisp with his heat vision. It’s just a game, one that has absolutely nothing to do with anything.
Though that is one gripe. What’s the point of this game? Why make a video game with its own standalone continuity? Why not connect it to the New 52 comics? Or the Young Justice/Justice League movie style animation? But then I suppose Warner Bros. has always been absolutely ridiculous when it comes to uniting their different continuities.
Also, what’s up with the name? Injustice: Gods Among Us? That name could be applied to any video game of any genre starring any characters whatsoever. Nothing about it says ‘Justice League’ or even ‘superheroes’ to me. They should have just called it Justice League: Gods Among Us. At least then people would have some idea what it’s about.
Or why not at least ‘Injustice League’?
Cosplayers Are Awesome, Also Musical
As pictures of me dressed like Henchman 21 from The Venture Bros. can attest, I’m a cosplay enthusiast. That’s where nerds and geeks dress like their favorite characters at conventions. It’s a ton of fun. While a group at a London convention last October put together a musical tribute to cosplaying sung to the tune of Jon Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life’. It’s quite similar and done by the same people as this video from a different convention singing Pink’s ‘Raise Your Glass’. And while the earlier video is much better, the new one is still pretty kickass.
Meanwhile, I’m both freaked out and turned on by that chick in the bitchin’ Knuckles costume.
Iron Patriot in Iron Man 3!
Check out a surprise villain who is going to appear in the upcoming Iron Man 3.
He seems to have War Machine’s shoulder-mounted canon
That red, white and blue ensemble is the Iron Patriot armor, which was worn in the comics by Norman Osborn when he temporarily took over from Nick Fury as head of SHIELD. Yeah, weird story, but basically Osborn had everybody convinced he was a good guy and Iron Man was a bad guy, and so they let him have access to Iron Man’s armor. He took one suit and painted it red, white and blue, because Norman Osborn is a bastard.
Just not as flashy as gold and hot rod red
But there is no way in the 49 moons of Jupiter that Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin) is going to appear in an Iron Man movie. Nope, according to the website What Would Tyler Durden Do, who took the set pictures, that is actor James Badge Dale in the armor. Dale is playing the super-villain Coldblood, who was another armored or at least cybernetic Iron Man villain from the comics. Coldblood is hardly iconic or even memorable, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers simply give him a new origin and a new modus operandi. Would wearing the Iron Patriot armor be that new Coldblood style?
Personally, I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the armor is actually going to be Detroit Steel, a newer character who also wears red, white and blue armor. Steel is a product of Justin Hammer’s company, an attempt to build a replacement for Iron Man who is beholden to the government. Though Detroit Steel is kind of a big, bulky metal monster.
After the success of The Avengers, Disney should just write Marvel a blank check
Still, Hollywood isn’t exactly going to make that monstrosity to get Detroit Steel accurate. So maybe they’ll streamline Steel into these set photos. It’s probably not going to happen, but I want to at least be the first one to suggest it!
Detroit Steel for Iron Man 3! You heard it here first!
