Monthly Archives: February 2015
Hot Comics to Buy This Week: 2/17/2015
We all want the best of the best, so let us point out the hottest comics and collectibles released each week. We spotlight our favorite comics that we know are money-well-spent, new books that look cool, and any toys we can't wait to play with.
Check out our picks, then take to the comments to let us know what looks good to you!
Written by Frank Barbiere & Drawn by Marco Checchetto | Marvel Comics
Deck-Building Action Game Hand of Fate Out Today
Defiant Development's deck-building / action-adventure hybrid, Hand of Fate, is now available on PC for $20 USD. It will also be available digitally on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One today at 4pm PT, for the same price.
Hand of Fate begins with you building a deck of cards, which includes equipment, enemies, encounters, loot, and surprises. Certain cards will force you to make choices that impact the game, while others force you into combat. When these cards are played, Hand of Fate transforms into a third-person action game with combat similar to Batman: Arkham Asylum's.
The Kickstarter-funded game launches with a story mode, as well as an endless mode, which has you compete with a never ending deck for the top spot on the leaderboard. Hand of Fate features 465 different cards, 1000 lines of dialogue, twenty-four different types of enemies, and thirteen boss battles.
FAA Drone Regulations May Leave Amazon Earthbound
Proposed Federal Aviation Administration regulations for drone operation may spell the premature end of Amazon.com's drone delivery service.
Amazon's Prime Air service, set to launch this year, will have a hard time balancing speedy delivery times with the proposed regulations. Most significant in the draft are stipulations that "the unmanned aircraft must remain" within visual line-of-sight, or VLOS, of the operator or visual observer.
Additionally, drones may not operate over persons not directly involved with operation of the device, and drones must stay "close enough to the operator for the operator to be capable of seeing the aircraft" without the aid of any device other than corrective lenses. In other words, binoculars, device-mounted cameras, and other vision enhancing aids can't be used to guide the craft.
World of Warcraft Patch to Add Colorblind Options
The upcoming patch for World of Warcraft will add new UI settings to help colorblind players.
According to ColorVisionTesting.com, between 5 and 8 percent of men and 0.5 percent of women worldwide are born colorblind, depending on the study cited. The vast majority (99 percent) of colorblind cases involve a lack of sensitivity to red or green, which is poses a problem in a lot of games.
Game developers have begun to take notice of the problem, and many popular games like the Battlefield series and This War of Mine already have colorblind settings. The AbleGamers charity even named the latter one of the most accessible games of 2014.
Podcast: Join the Digigods Oscar Pool!
From their secluded home-theater compound, film critics Wade Major and Mark Keizer mix insightful commentary with irreverent banter, covering the latest DVD and Blu-ray news and new releases of the week, including studio, independent, television and special-interest titles.
Digigods Podcast, 02/17/15 (MP3) -- 34.4 MB
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When Minions and Dinosaurs Collide
The Minions and the dinosaurs joined forces at Toy Fair this week -- with an assist from LEGO Chris Pratt -- to show off the upcoming toys, collectibles and products that are getting a big push from Universal in the coming months.
The Despicable Me characters are getting their own spin-off film in July, which will result in over 740 licenses worldwide. That’s a lot of bananas, and includes Thinkway Toys’ action figures, a plush line, playsets, Hasbro games like Life and Operation, and Mega Bloks construction sets. Jurassic World, meanwhile, is getting figures from Hasbro -- with the new dino the Indominus Rex being the centerpiece there -- LEGO sets, a LEGO video game, and lots more.
How This Police Training Simulator Uses Kinect
MILO Range is a Kinect-centric training simulation for cops.
The simulation program, powered by Kinect, aims to provide a pseudo-realistic training ground for police officers, armed forces, and other public safety jobs.
According to the range’s website, the program can detect and respond to a myriad of verbal and non-verbal actions, such as baton swings, punches, strikes and kicks, defensive and offensive positioning, poses and gestures, and speech and verbal commands.
As showcased in the videos, the MILO Range also utilises firearm training through the use of plastic guns, complete with recoil and a reloadable magazine.
15 New Marvel Comics Coming in May
Marvel released their full solicitations for May 2015 today. It's a pretty big month for the publisher, as they'll be kicking off their yearlong Secret Wars event and many new projects that spin out of the new status quo. In case you missed Marvel's recent announcements, we have the full breakdown of these new series and what they have to offer.
New Series:
- A-Force #1
- Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars
- Inferno #1
- Inhumans: Attilan Rising #1
- Master of Kung Fu #1
The Most Adorable Marvel and DC Characters Ever
Stepping onto the showroom floor at Toy Fair this year, it was very clear how big Funko has become. The maker of those cute little Pop! Vinyl figures has just blown up, and their booth at Toy Fair is a clear indication of that this week -- it’s bigger than ever before, full of so many must-have products, and also now features a separate area called Vinyl Sugar that is a new subsection of Funko.
So Many Pop! Vinyls: Arrow, Flash, Doctor Who, More
Vinyl Sugar has a so-freaking-adorable line that is appropriately called Dorbz -- just look at those X-Men! -- but then there’s also the Vinyl Idolz, which would seem to be aiming for a slightly different demo. Who doesn’t want Jeff Spicoli on their desk, or Young Frankenstein? I mean, come on! As with the Pop! Vinyls, these figures cover a ton of licenses: Marvel, DC, Shaun of the Dead, Seinfeld, Back to the Future, Fast Times, Napoleon Dynamite, Ghosbusters, Walking Dead, and so on.
2K Reveals Hall of Pain DLC for WWE 2K15
A new piece of DLC has come to WWE 2K15.
The Hall of Pain pack, which is out today, is a story-driven campaign that highlights the rise of The World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry between 2011 and 2013.
In terms of what matches players will be able to take part in, there’s The Big Show match from Vengeance in 2011 where the ring implodes, and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against Randy Orton at Night of Champions, also in 2011.
Other matches include Kane, The Great Khali, Daniel Bryan, Ryback, and The Usos.
The Hall of Pain DLC joins the previously released One More Match pack in which players were given the chance to experience the rivalry between Christian and Randy Orton in 2011. For more of that, be sure to follow the link.