Monthly Archives: March 2015
Batman Eternal #51 Reveals the Series’ True Villain
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Batman Eternal #51!
It turns out that the big twist in Batman Eternal #50 last week was a red herring after all. No sooner did the series reveal that it was D-List villain Cluemaster pulling the strings of Gotham's many heroes and villains than it delivered another swerve. The true mastermind behind Gotham's descent into madness is none other than Lincoln March. Or as he prefers to be called, Thomas Wayne, Jr.
The twist came in the final pages of the issue, after Cluemaster gloated about outsmarting Batman and playing on the fact that the Caped Crusader would never suspect such a small-time criminal of being capable of such a plot. Just as Cluemaster was about to shoot Batman in the head, March emerged from the shadows and slit the villain's throat. Cluemaster's dying words were, "No... not according to plan..." To which March replied, "Your plan, maybe."
Samsung Gear VR Headed to Select Store Shelves
The Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition is hitting stores shelves for the first time on Friday, March 27th at a select number of Best Buy locations.
Powered by Oculus, the Gear VR is a head-mounted virtual reality headset that uses your phone as a screen, with games and other apps available from the Oculus VR app store.
The model making its retail debut at Best Buy is compatible only with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone and will cost $200. Samsung is also working on a version compatible with the upcoming Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.
Samsung first began selling the Gear VR Innovator Edition online in December last year, but this upcoming debut is the first time people will be able to walk into a store, demo the Innovator Edition, and purchase it on the spot.
Vikings Renewed for Season 4
Five episodes into Season 3, History's period drama Vikings has been picked up for a fourth season.
"Vikings has raided the hearts of both audiences and critics, establishing itself as one of the most compelling, visually stunning dramas on television," said History EVP and GM Dick Hoogstra.
Deadline reports that production on Season 4 will begin this spring in Ireland.
Vikings is currently averaging 4.3 million total viewers (2.2 million adults 25-54) and is ranked No. 1 for cable on Thursday nights in all key demos.
Codemasters Confirms F1 2015 Release
F1 2015 will launch on the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from June 12 2015.
Unlike previous releases, the latest instalment of the racing franchise will arrive much earlier in the F1 season, boasting an all-new handling system and game engine.
“F1 2015 marks an exciting new chapter for Codemasters and Formula One; it’s a shift in direction for the game series, on new formats and our brand new game engine, with the game set to be released earlier in the season, launching this June,” said game director for Codemasters, Paul Jeal.
So what's new for F1 2015? In addition to the "spectacular visual fidelity", Codemasters' believes this is the best game yet for physics-based handling.
This Week in the Nintendo eShop
After a few weeks of brand new retail releases from Nintendo, March is going out like a lamb, with the marquee titles being a neat little arcade-style game from WayForward's James Montagna on Wii U and a new Lego Ninjago game on 3DS. Virtual Console also continues its steady trickle with the GBA game Namco Museum on Wii U.
Dot Arcade ($4.99)
Dot Arcade is the result of WayForward's James Montagna messing around with an 8-by-8 light dot grid and coming up with a fun retro, high-score wrapper for it all. Dot Arcade includes three games: Mr. Snake (where you eat things), Dodge Club (where you dodge things), and Rally Driver (where you race things).
Play Remastered Half-Life 2 for Free
The Valve-approved fan-created mod, dubbed Half-Life 2: Update, will be releasing on Steam tomorrow, completely free of charge.
The 7GB add-on serves up a number of visual enhancements, including improved lighting effects and more detailed environmental textures. A number of bugs that plagued the original PC release have been fixed as well.
Earlier this month at GDC, Valve announced it was experimenting with Half-Life in virtual reality. Whether or not the beloved first-person shooter franchise will ever make its way to VR remains to be seen, but the prospect of such an experience sounds awfully promising.
Xbox Games With Gold in April Includes Child of Light
Microsoft has revealed all the titles Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners will have access to as part of its Games with Gold program in April.
As promised last month, the company is celebrating more than 100 million games downloaded by offering twice as many free games as usual, so Xbox One owners get two and Xbox 360 owners get four. The games on offer are:
Xbox One
- Pool Nation FX ($9.99 ERP): Available all month on Xbox One
- Child of Light ($14.99 ERP): Available all month on Xbox One
Spider-Man Miles Morales to Join All-New Avengers!
It looks like Spider-Man Miles Morales is joining the Avengers after this summer's Secret Wars comic book event. If things are indeed as they appear, that means Miles will make the jump from the Ultimate Marvel Universe to the main Marvel Universe, or at least whatever constitutes the "main Marvel Universe" after Secret Wars ends.
The full cover to Marvel's Free Comic Book Day offering -- leaked on 4chan late yesterday -- shows Miles as part of the All-New, All-Different Avengers that will form after Secret Wars. The team also features Iron Man (is that Tony Stark or someone "all-new"?), Captain America (Sam Wilson), Vision, Nova (Sam Alexander), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and the female Thor. Details on how this team forms and why are unknown, but we expect to find out during Secret Wars -- an event that sees the Ultimate Marvel U and the main Marvel U smashing together.
Konami Releases New Statement on Hideo Kojima
Konami has released a statement seeking to address the ongoing confusion surrounding Hideo Kojima's position at the company.
Taking the to Japanese Metal Gear Twitter account (via Kotaku), the company avoided addressing the the exact status of Kojima's employment while asserting the removal of his name was part of an ongoing rebranding to put Konami's name front and center.
New Mortal Kombat X Trailer Confirms Liu Kang is Back
A new Mortal Kombat X trailer has been released, revealing Liu Kang is indeed back as a playable character.
The trailer, exclusive to a Russian outlet for the moment, can be seen below and shows that both Liu Kang and Kung Lao are working for Shinnok since their souls fell into the Netherrealm at the conclusion of the 2011 reboot of the franchise.
What's also interesting is the brief appearance by Bo' Rai Cho at the beginning. We haven't heard rumours that he'll be a playable character up until now, though this certainly seems to suggest that may be about to change.
A whole slew of new Mortal Kombat X information was revealed last week during a NetherRealm Studios live stream. The fighting game will feature a new Kustom Kombat mode, similar to Test Your Might, and players will not want to rage quit matches. Lastly, there might be another five rumored fighters on the Mortal Kombat X roster.