Monthly Archives: May 2015
Hannibal: Season 3 Featurette Shows Red Dragon Killer
Warning - A bit spoilery for those who don't want to know certain things about Hannibal: Season 3...
NBC has released a lengthy behind-the-meal look at Hannibal's upcoming third season, featuring inverviews with stars Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy, Gillian Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, and Caroline Dhavernas.
Plus, this marks viewers' first look at Hobbit star Richard Armitage as famed Red Dragon film/novel serial killer Francis Dolarhyde - aka "The Tooth Fairy."
Also, while we're all still mourning the loss of Michael Pitt as Mason Verger, this video shows glimpse of new actor Joe Anderson (The River) as the now-disfigured madman.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/Showrenity.
Schrodinger’s Cat And The Raiders Of The Lost Quark Review
Many articles could be written about the idea that the video game mascot--in the Mario/Sonic/Crash Bandicoot/Pikachu sense--is dead, and what that says about where games are as a medium, but suffice it to say, that Schrodinger's Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark tries to make a new one is at once endearing and utterly baffling. Of all the aspects of 90s gaming that are being mined for material, that's one I never expected to see make a comeback.
In the game's favor, it's a great idea for a mascot-style platformer. On the subatomic level, a particle zoo--a real term used to describe the atomic building blocks of our universe--is used literally here as a bright, colorful cartoon zoo housing quarks, gluons, and the like. One day, security breaks down, Jurassic Park-style, and the zoo's inhabitants get loose. Unable to deal with the sudden chaos, the zoo's director calls in an agent with a particular set of skills: Schrodinger's Cat. You might remember him from such popular quantum states as “being alive and dead at the same time.”
The particular set of skills the Cat has turns out to be collecting and manipulating quarks to create completely new tools to traverse the environment. The science is rather cleverly on point here. There are four different types of quarks running around: Up, Down, Construction, and Destruction; each type is assigned to a shoulder button. Pressing them in combinations of three creates a different effect, just like they create protons in reality. Three Ups create a tiny helicopter. Three Downs create a drill that breaks through floors. Three Constructions create a giant bubble shield; three Destructions create a fragile platform to stand on. The 12 possible combinations are mostly left to the player to discover. It's a fun bit of trial and error to find all the different options, which are wisely shown in a little reference guide when you pause the game. A few too many are different permutations of “this helps you go up,” but when you start running out of components, the options for a creative alternative are nice.
It's an imaginative mechanic that feels like it belongs on a current gen system. The problem is that the rest of the game is absolutely committed to being a 90s mascot platformer in every other respect, complete with the Cat himself being given obnoxious, oft-repeated catchphrases, like “Scienceariffic!” and yelling “Holy Higgs!” when he dies. Schrodinger's Cat is, ultimately, the more ThinkGeek-y cousin of Bubsy The Cat, to the point where I bet a friend that “What could possibly go wrong?” was coming. The references to famous physicists and physics terms start off as cute, but they quickly become ubiquitous, obvious, and awkwardly shoehorned into the narrative. Non-player characters serve the same function, offering hints and clues to the next objective but burying those hints neck deep in references to the Higgs Boson and combinant theory at every turn. The script is less concerned with showing and playing with the physics concepts (in the way that Psychonauts utilized psychology) and more concerned with showing off the fact that yes, the designers clearly went to college. It's exclusionary nerdery at its worst.
Even as a game, however, it is trying to serve two masters at once. Two types of levels are seen here. The best are pre-planned puzzle levels with a limited number of quarks to use, quark-stealing gluons scattered about, and the need to do some tricky platforming. Faint glimmers of greatness occur here--if you run out of the type of quark you need for the easy solution, you have to think creatively to use the quarks you do have. You have plenty of ways to get vertical in a level, but having the ability to explode a wall in just the right way to proceed and saving enough quarks to do so is a different story. The worst levels, on the other hand, are procedurally generated, awkwardly designed obstacle courses that rely far too much placing nondescript destructible walls in your way rather than creating a surmountable challenge.
Both types suffer from a severe lack of variety in environments and enemies for a platformer, and seeing the subatomic world undulating in the background doesn't cut it. It doesn't take long for the game to show you virtually everything it has to offer. The actual mechanics of running, jumping, crawling, and clawing are just fine, but the mad genius platformer where you get to test any of those skills is missing. All we get in return is a gimmick in which you can create a special net out of your available quarks to cart the ones you knock unconscious away, making the job of the zoo's staff a lot easier. It's neat the first hundred times, but it’s not nearly enough. You have to do way too much of it to feel a sense of accomplishment; you also have to do it while walking in the irksome paws of a sentient episode of The Big Bang Theory. The game turns a fresh, fascinating new mechanic using particle physics as a creative springboard into the most staid, stale platformer imaginable. If the goal was to create a game that's both alive and dead at the same time--mission accomplished.
Samurai Warriors 4 II Coming to the West
Koei Tecmo is bringing Samurai Warriors 4 II to the United States on September 29 and Europe on October 2.
Samurai Warriors 4 II features a new story mode with 13 chapters and makes Naomasa Ii a playable character for the first time in the hack-and-slash series. The action game also overhauls the battle system from Samurai Warriors 4.
In addition, Koei Tecmo is including a new mode called the Endless Castle, which has players engaging in a survival scenario or battling against the clock to advance through increasingly difficult levels.
Samurai Warriors 4 II will come out on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and PC.
Evan Campbell is a freelance news writer who streams games on his Twitch channel, talks about Nintendo weekly on the NF Show, and chats about movies and TV series on Twitter.
Romero’s Marvel Comics Series Being Developed for TV
A television adaptation of Empire of the Dead, horror icon George A. Romero's Marvel Comics series, is currently in development, production-finance company Demarest announced today at the Cannes Film Festival.
Romero will write the TV series with longtime partner Peter Grunwald. The duo will also executive produce alongside Demarest's Sam Englebardt and William D. Johnson, according to Variety.
Empire of the Dead #1. Image courtesy of Marvel.
BoJack Horseman: Season 2 Date Announced
Netflix has announced that BoJack Horseman: Season 2 will premiere July 17 on the streaming service.
The second season of the animated adult comedy series will feature 12 episodes, with all of them available at once. Will Arnett will return as BoJack, along with co-stars Aaron Paul as Todd Chavez and Alison Brie as Diane Nguyen.
Amy Sedaris and Paul F. Tompkins are coming back for the sophomore season of BoJack Horseman as well, as Princess Carolyn and Mr. Peanutbutter, respectively. Netflix is also promising lots of surprise guest stars for the upcoming season.
Fast & Furious Director Developing Bruce Lee-Inspired Series
Described as a passion project, Director Justin Lin is developing "Warrior" for Cinemax, based upon a concept from martial arts great Bruce Lee.
Warrior is described as a crime drama that follows a "gifted but morally corrupt" fighter dealing with the fallout from a failed life-long attempt at vengeance, according to Deadline. Lin will direct the potential pilot, which will be written by Jonathan Tropper, co-creator of the Cinemax series Banshee. Tropper will also be an executive producer of the series.
Lee's daughter, Shannon, discovered the handwritten notes for Warrior several years after her famous father died. Lee was only 32 at the time of his death in 1973. Shannon brought the project to Cinemax, partnered with Perfect Storm Entertainment, Lin's production company.
You Have to See This 7-Page Justice League Fight
On their official website today, DC revealed a new lineup of variant covers for the upcoming Justice League of America #1. This new series focuses on the core JLA lineup that was introduced at the beginning of the New 52, and each of these seven variant covers will spotlight a different team member. What really sets them apart is that all seven covers combine to form a massive splash image of the JLA in action.
All seven covers are drawn by Bryan Hitch, who is also writing and drawing the series itself. Check out the combined image below:
click to enlarge
There’s One Place Where You Can Buy Every Amiibo
The Nintendo World Store in New York City will sell almost the entire line-up of the next wave of Amiibo, including retailer exclusives.
According to a set of tweets from the Nintendo World Store, its midnight launch of the new line-up on Friday, May 29 will include nearly the full wave-4 set. That includes Greninja, Ness, Wario, Lucina, Robin, Charizard, and Pac-Man, and Silver Mario.
The store will limit one figure per character. Jigglypuff is the lone exception from this wave, since it will not be available until June 5 at 9 AM.
Thor’s Play Arts Figure Is So Metal
Square Enix is reimagining Marvel's Thor with quite the metal look as part of the company's Variant Play Arts Kai series.
This figure was teased during February's New York Toy Fair, but now we have full details. The Thor figure comes with a pretty large Mjolnir (almost half the size of the Asgardian God of Thunder), a lightning and swinging attachment for the hammer, three different sets of hands, and a swappable face change that shows off his fury. According to Toyark, the Play Arts version of the Marvel superhero is set to come out in September for roughly $122 USD.
Other notable features of the Thor Play Arts figure include his heavily armored look, sweeping red cape, and bulging biceps and forearms.
Marvel Battles DC Once More in This Exquisite Chess Set
Eaglemoss has produced a Marvel vs DC line of chess pieces.
There’s over one hundred pieces in total which covers pretty much all the major players and also the lesser known B-tier heroes and villains.
Prices start from $15 (£8) or $16 each or $38 (£19) for double packs. You can view a selection below or check out the US store here, or the UK store here. Certain sets also come with a collectable magazine.