Bills? Bah! Why pay bills when there are so many awesome action figures and collectibles to buy? Here's the latest Weekly Want:
Funko will be offering a flocked version of their Pop! Vinyl Guardians of the Galaxy Rocket Raccoon figure as an SDCC 2014 exclusive. This puts the already excellent looking figure over the top. (Side note: flocked toys always make me think of Moss Man.)
The Steam Community Discussion forums have been abuzz with a myriad of cheat codes for Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games' popular new indie platformer. Of the 300 plus codes, the most attention grabbing is undoubtedly "Butt Mode." When activated, select parts of the game's text are replaced with the word "butt." The resulting giggles can be heard far and wide.
While the Beast's Fury Kickstarter was a success, stretch goals such as the attention grabbing inclusion of characters like Benny: The Dog of Hype (voiced by Maximilian) and Ego: The Cyber Raptor (voiced by Egoraptor) were unfortunately unfulfilled. In the midst of their post-campaign update, the developers promised to put in the additional work to finish the characters all the same. Maximilian and Egoraptor are also fully on board!
I've always had a serious love for The Powerpuff Girls. With its name and cutesy protagonists, the show's tone might've easily been misconstrued, but anyone that gave it a shot was met with great comedy, memorable characters, quality voice acting, and fantastic action that used the simplistic animation style to its fullest potential. It was the sort of show with broad appeal, where a whole family or group of friends with varying tastes could watch and get something out of it. I had a blast with every episode I took in, and I've always looked back on the series fondly.
Naturally, when I saw the recent announcement of a new Powerpuff Girls cartoon for 2016, I got pretty excited. The original run ended almost 10 years ago. While the occasional Powerpuff material (i.e. t-shirt homages, local cars with PPG artwork slapped all over them, and even footage of Christian Bale singing the freaking theme song) life has thrown my way since then has always been wonderful, it was never truly enough. The launch of the current IDW Powerpuff Girls comic series almost hit the spot, but hey, I'm a man that dreams big. If anything was to truly satisfy me, an all new television series would be it. I am immensely pleased to be getting exactly that!
Rovio recently announced that their next Angry Birds crossover will be none other than Angry Birds Transformers. My favorite robots in disguise may be a pretty big deal culturally, but I can't say this is something I ever expected to see. Still, I figure if they're going to do it, they may as well do it right! If the initial promo image for the game is anything to go by, it looks like they just may be.
Courtesy of a recent Variety.com article, we know the next Transformers cartoon series will be a follow up to Prime titled Transformers: Robots in Disguise. Hmm, that sounds familiar.
Maybe its use of famous nostalgic imagery and music is helping pull the wool over my eyes, but I really want to believe the passion displayed by DICE in E3 2014's Star Wars: Battlefront trailer is real:
As far back as Arkham Asylum, one of the biggest fan requests has been a drivable Batmobile. I can certainly understand the desire; the Batmobile is one of the most iconic fictional vehicles out there. However, I never really missed it. Batman is plenty mobile on his own, and if I'm being honest, I actually felt a bit hesitant when I heard it would finally be included in the upcoming Arkham Knight.
While I trust that Rocksteady knows what they're doing with Batman after Asylum and City, I suppose I worried about this being a case of something being shoehorned in just because they felt they had to. After seeing the new Batmobile gameplay trailer from E3 2014 however, it looks like the famous vehicle has been incorporated quite nicely:
I don't think there's any denying that Pac-Man is one of gaming's biggest icons. In the pantheon of video game mascots, he's right up there. And yet, after E3 2014's Nintendo developer roundtable brought us the news that Pac-Man is joining the cast of the upcoming Wii U and 3DS Super Smash Bros., there was plenty of hate amongst the vast sea of responses. Examples include "This is so dumb. I'm officially upset" and "Ugh, Nintendo is taking the easy way out with these characters." Shrug.
Since its announcement last December, there's been plenty of buzz surrounding Hyrule Warriors. While many have felt that a Dynasty Warriors style Zelda game has potential, much of the hype has been somewhat tentative. After the game's E3 2014 trailer came out guns blazing, the response has taken a much more positive tone overall. If you missed it, check out the trailer below:
Nintendo's E3 2014 Digital Event also brought us the announcement of Mario Maker, a game which allows players to create and play their own custom Mario courses with either 8-bit or New Super Mario Bros. graphics. While the first comment I noticed about it on Twitter was negative (something like "yeah, that'd be fun...for five minutes), I think the game is a solid idea. When I was first saw the trailer unfold, my first thought was how much fun Youtube gamers might be able to have with it. On a more personal level, I was more drawn to the game given it's ties to Mario Paint.
Nintendo's E3 2014 Digital Event also included a trailer for Bayonetta 2. The first installment was well regarded for its stylized and over the top action. It appears that the sequel will be every bit as crazy as you might expect. Check it out:
After covering Super Smash Bros., Nintendo's E3 2014 Digital Event moved on to showcase several new games. First up was Yoshi's Woolly World, a platformer for the Wii U. The world is yarn based, immediately bringing Kirby's Epic Yarn to mind. The rest of the gameplay elements also bring back memories of Yoshi's Story for N64. The trailer below gives a good taste of what the game has to offer:
Naturally, Nintendo's E3 2014 Digital Event opened up with the highly anticipated 3DS and Wii U Super Smash Bros. The first reveal was a doozy: the Mii Fighter. Yes, you can use any of your Miis as a playable character in the game! If for some reason you absolutely hate characters like King Dedede or Fox, you can personally punch them right in the face.
With movies starring Batman, The X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-Man routinely lighting up the box office, it's no secret that comic books have a major stronghold in the motion picture industry. While many of our favorite superheroes have also graced the small screen, current shows like Arrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the upcoming Daredevil, Agent Carter, and Gotham have the presence of comic characters on TV rapidly catching up to their ubiquitous nature in movies. The source material might not be as widely recognizable, but I'm incredibly pleased that the Powers television series will be joining in on this new wave of comic-based TV shows.
It's already been stated that Batman: Arkham Knight will have a map around five times the size of Arkham City's. While my initial response was in worrying they'd use that to amp up the collection of Riddler trophies to even more ridiculous levels, seeing Batman glide from great heights down to street level only to immediately hop into the Batmobile in E3 2014's Batmobile Battle Mode gameplay trailer has completely won me over.
Hello Games' ambitious No Man's Sky is looking better than ever after its E3 2014 gameplay trailer. The game's procedurally generated worlds feature colorful scenery, attention-grabbing alien life, and engaging interstellar battles. If you have any interest in the likes of sci-fi and space exploration, this game should be right up your alley. If you missed it at Sony's presentation, you can take a look at the new trailer below:
The recent Mortal Kombat X teaser had many assuming stage interactables ala Injustice would be a major part of the gameplay. There seemed to be a big focus on Scorpion and Sub-Zero using the environment around them to beat each other down for the umpteenth time. Sony's presentation at E3 2014 featured our first glimpse of actual gameplay, and interactables do indeed seem to be a big part of the game moving forward. Here's what we've seen thus far:
If the announce trailer for Dead Island 2 at E3 2014 is any indication of how the game might turn out, it looks as if it might actually be fun. Zombies have become so common in games that it's increasingly easy to throw the "just another zombie game" dismissal around. My sole experience with the first Dead Island was in watching my cousin play a bit, and I admit that's basically what I thought upon first glance. I'm not in the best place to judge, but the tone of this early teaser for the sequel looks quite a bit different.
Despite the first game failing to hook me, I'll probably be interested in giving Dead Island 2 a spin if the game itself does carry the sense of levity and chaos found in the E3 trailer. Of course, games like Dead Rising have proven that the combination of zombies and humor can be a great success. Everything from being oblivious as zombie shenanigans go on in the background to the upbeat soundtrack (Pigeon John's "The Bomb) might even indicate that the amazing Shaun of the Dead may have been an influence here. I would definitely be OK with that.
Despite how wonderful it would be for Castle Geek-Skull, I'm not attending E3 2014. Fortunately, the internet usually allows a fairly solid vicarious experience for those of us who are stuck at home during such events. When I first checked my e-mail on this fine day, a message from Amazon.com titled "Video Games E3 Coverage" was right on top of the list. I don't know what I expected, but I figured I'd click through and see if they actually had any interesting coverage on hand.
