Weekly News Roundup: 06/29/2008

Action Figures

Your other action figures are without honor. Bring them some... with articulated vengeance!

• NECA has unveiled their Ninja Gaiden II action figure of master ninja Ryu Hayabusa. The figure is 7" tall and has "extensive articulation" for optimum flipping-out poses. The figure's included weapons will be shown closer to its release in September.

• Large scale action-figure maker Tonner revealed their 17" tall Lara Croft figure at Wizard World Chicago this weekend. The figure is based on Lara's appearance from Tomb Raider: Legend. The figure is loaded with her trademark shorts, top, pistols and a couple grenades. Lara is a Tonner Direct exclusive and will ship the 3rd week of July. Lara costs $124.99, which is only about $7.35 per inch!

Weekly News Roundup: 06/22/2008

Games

Giant transforming robots fighting and shooting off missiles in populated areas always ends badly for the civilians.

• A new Macross game is set to hit the PSP. Macross Ace Frontier doesn't just deal with the newest Macross anime, Macross Frontier, but the entire series' history. There will be 30 pilots, 40 Veritech crafts, and 80 missions. It's being developed by Artdink, who is responsible for the Gundam Battle games. Transforming the Veritechs is handled via the Analog Nub. The game will also have a love triangles between pilots meaning the game will retain the series' requisite drama. Check out the scans of the game from the latest issue of Famitsu. It will probably never come stateside, but is due out in Japan in the Fall so import away, Macross fans.

• If there is a Metal Gear Solid 5, it could be another prequel starring Big Boss. As for Metal Gear Online, more maps, skills, and rules will be on the way.

• New screenshots of Soul Calibur IV show off the game's robust character customization.

•  UK retailer Game Station has an exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4 watch. It's limited to 500 pieces and, unfortunately, Game Station does not ship outside of the UK.

• The new and improved covers for Okami Wii are now shipping. The covers are now double-sided and if you tried to be sneaky and get multiple covers, Capcom has filtered out the requests so everyone will get just one.

• The upcoming Xbox Live Arcade co-op game Schizoid will be available in July.

• Bungie's weekly update gives two screenshots of the Halo 3 remake of Halo's Chill Out map.

• The Tomb Raider: Underworld site is now live. The game should be out in November on every current system.

• Some publishers finally had enough of the leaks of unannounced games coming form the ESRB database. A new policy will make sure that it will not happen anymore and that the games will be entered into the ESRB database when the publishers want.

• Sega has created the Robot Girlfriend. It's 15 inches tall and a little disturbing.

Movies

• The Lost Planet movie might be written by Solid Snake himself, David Hayter.

• Quentin Tarantino's next film, Inglorious Bastards, will be split into two films.

• The Transformers sequel has dropped the "2" and is now known as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. In more Transformers news, a new Corvette Concept was spied on the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen set.

• There were some quality Blu-ray/DVD announcements this week. Silverhawks Season 1 Vol. 1 will arrive on DVD 10/14. Robot Chicken Season 3 will be on DVD on 10/07. Six James Bond films will arrive on Blu-ray on 10/21: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, and Die Another Day.

Weekly News Roundup: 06/15/2008

Games

"Man, gas on Earth is even more expensive than my ship's space-gas."

• Microsoft showed off four new RPGs for the Xbox 360 at their RPG press conference this week: Namco Bandai's Tales of Vesperia, and Square Enix's Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery, and Star Ocean 4. Tales of Vesperia, Last Remnant, and Infinite Undiscovery will see release later this year, with Star Ocean 4 arriving in 2009. The 360 is looking strong on the RPG front, when will the PS3 catch up? Folklore is good, but Final Fantasy XIII is a long ways off yet.

• The Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix beta starts June 25th. Remember to buy the awesome Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 (the Xbox 360 version) to get in it.

• Eurogamer interviewed Tetsuya Mizuguchi about his next secret project, Rez, and Space Channel 5. Unfortunately, Mizuguchi sees no need to make a new or remade Space Channel 5. The only HD Ulala we're going to get is from Sega Superstars Tennis.

• Capcom has registered Mega Man 9 with Australia's equivalent of the ESRB. Yes, finally at some point we will get Mega Man 9. Let's hope it's not merely a download title, as current rumors are indicating.

• Criterion announced that the third Burnout Paradise update, Cagney, will be available July 10th.

• Sam's Club will be having an auction for a life-size Metal Gear Solid 4 Snake statue. Expect the bidding to reach ridiculous amounts.

•  After the negative statements from Ubisoft's Rob Cooper about the PSP, an unnamed Ubisoft person has said that Ubisoft strongly supports the PSP.

Movies

• Lawrence Kasdan has been brought on as screenwriter for the Robotech movie. Kasdan has previously written the screenplays for The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, so his cred is solid.

• A couple photos from the Licensing International Expo arrived online for the G.I. Joe movie and a new Robocop. The G.I. Joe display has some weird drilling device and the Robocop movie has a release date of 2010.

• Capcom has dated the delayed Onimusha film for 2011 and a Clock Tower movie for 2009.

• The live-action Turok movie will star Adam Beach, who just got done voicing Turok in the animated Turok: Son of Stone feature. I hope he does a better job acting than the shoddy voice work from Son of Stone.

- Shawn - 06/15/08

Weekly News Roundup: 06/08/2008

Games

Darth Vader's secret apprentice isn't staying very secretive.

• Another Star Wars character has joined the Soul Calibur IV guest list, but it's not a character anyone cares about. Darth Vader's secret apprentice from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is in both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Why not include a real Star Wars character instead of one that was just made up for a single game. Namco might as well just make a Star Wars fighting game now.

• Tomonobu Itagaki is suing and leaving Tecmo. He states that Tecmo owes him an unpaid completion bonus for Dead or Alive 4. He apologized to the fans that he will not be able to make DOA5, even though he said that DOA4 was the last DOA game. Itagaki is such a key person that Tecmo's stock price dropped 10.6% after his announcement.

• Fallout 3 just got a sweeter Collector's Edition called the Survival Edition. The Survival Edition includes everything from the CE with the addition of a life-size Pip-Boy digital clock. You can't wear the clock, but it looks damn cool. Fallout 3: Survival Edition is exclusive to Amazon.com and will run you $129.99 for the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions.

• Take Two chairman Strauss Zelnick stated that the BioShock movie would likely be released alongside BioShock 3 than BioShock 2. Talk of part 3 already? I guess if you're going to franchise something you need to plan way ahead.

• EA have suspended development on the PS3 version of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. EA has not given a reason as to why.

• New screenshots for Street Fighter IV's new boss Seth are online and... he's blue? Really? One ridiculous looking boss (Gill) in the Street Fighter series was enough. So far, Seth kind of sucks.

• If you want to learn the Street Fighter IV moves early, some sneaky guy took photos of the move lists. You could also just play Street Fighter II since most of the moves are exactly the same.

• Ubisoft UK managing director Rob Cooper says the PSP is directionless and that Sony needs to re-think their strategy for the system, despite the system's stronger sales. Maybe, but Ubisoft should probably focus on making better games than attacking a system.

• Sony has cancelled both The Getaway and Eight Days due to a redistribution of resources and budget.

Comics

• Comic Book Resources has a look at the Street Fighter Tribute art book. The 320-page book will have a limited edition hardcover available at the San Diego Comic-con, or you can also pre-order it at UdonEntertainment.com.

- Shawn - 06/08/08

Weekly News Roundup: 06/01/2008

Games

What these seven Dans lack in physical ability, they make up in sheer ego.

• The Street Fighter website is now live. It has all the Street Fighter IV art, info, and trailers all in one place along with Faith No More's "Epic." There is some confusion as to when the game will be heading to the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. It has been rumored that Street Fighter IV might be heading to home systems this Winter, but GameStop has it listed for 2/12/08. Whenever it hits home systems it will have added characters. What characters? So far it's Dan and Fei Long. Yes, Dan fans, Dan returns! There are also scans of a new boss named Seth and Kotaku has screens of the new SFIV character Rufus, the worst Street Fighter character since SFIII's Gill.

• As if the cheesy cut-scenes weren't enough, current bad-ass American Gladiator Crush plays Natasha in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. Her real name is Gina Carano. She was an EliteXTC fighter and could easily destroy you.

• The new Soul Calibur IV trailer shows off more amazing visuals and an important new feature: destructible clothing. On one hand this is really cool. On the other hand, I don't think anyone wants to see Voldo's clothing destructed.

• Art of a devastated Washington DC from the post-apocalyptic Fallout 3 was used in a real terrorist video. Creepy.

• BioShock for the PS3 will nave new features and enhancements that 2K says players that have already played through the title, will want to again. BioShock arrives on the PS3 in October.

• Once upon a time Samus and Link were going to be in the Wii version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but Nintendo didn't approve. That sucks, because that game would have sold even more had they been. Go Nintendo has footage of the space bounty hunter in Marvel's ultimate game.

• Bionic Commando: Rearmed ran into a few snags and missed its May release date, but "pure liquid awesome" is worth waiting for.

• The new trailer for Resident Evil 5 is now online and reveals the new character that will help Chris Redfield kill zombies in Africa. And the character looks like a saucy African lady. Take that mass-media fools saying that the game is racist.

• The titles that might be de-listed on Xbox LIVE are listed at MyGen, then put in alphabetical order by 1up. No one knows for sure which titles really will be de-listed yet.

• The German ratings board has listed Galaga Legions for Xbox 360.

• The other best game that no one played will be getting a sequel. Beyond Good and Evil 2 debuted at Ubisoft's UbiDays with a slick trailer.

• According to an ad in the Lego Indiana Jones instruction manual, Star Wars: The Clone Wars games will be heading to the DS and Wii.

Movies / TV

• The Venture Brothers Season 3 starts tonight, but if you can't catch it on TV, watch it on adultswim.com.

• If Terminator stuff wasn't cool enough, former Garbage singer Shirley Manson will be joining the cast of Terminator: The Sara Conner Chronicles as a CEO of a high-tech company in season 2. Meanwhile, the show's very brief first season will be on Blu-ray and DVD on 8/19.

• Transformers will finally be on Blu-ray on September 2nd with a new video encoding optimized for Blu-ray and new special features.

• As for Transformers 2, it seems that Jazz may be back, at least for a little bit.

• If George Lucas gets his way then Shia LaBeouf will be the future of Indiana Jones.

• The Final Countdown and other Blue Underground titles are officially coming to Blu-ray.

- Shawn - 06/01/08