The Daily Bleven -- May 23

So now that Starhawk has launched, I'm free to turn my pre-launch obsession to Lego Batman 2 and The Last Of Us.

I spoke briefly about Lego Batman 2 yesterday, but I just saw yet another trailer today. Apparently, this thing is going to be open-world, and that means me and the kids will likely spend even more hours uncovering secret items in every nook and cranie. Really looking forward to that.

As for The Last Of Us, I also saw a new trailer, and it has me scared for the protagonists already. The world they inhabit is effed up big time, and that should make for an awesome game. Naughty Dog appears to have another hit on their hands, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I am a huge fan of the Avatar series (Airbender, not the blue people) -- and I'm talking about the cartoon, not the terrible live action movie. I just got all caught up on The Legend Of Korra, and I have concluded that it's off to a pretty slow start. It's hard to remember if Airbender started off this slowly, but I'm far from giving up hope on Korra. There seem to be a lot of plot points lining up, and I'm sure the viewers will be in for some surprises, and more than a few familiar (if much older) faces.

The Daily Bleven -- May 22

Sony has finally released the Move-centric game Sorcery. The promise of this game is what originally made me by the PS Move...and now that it's out, I have to say that I'm not feeling the need to rush out and buy it. I hate to say this, but I'm going to have to wait for a fee reviews to roll in before I put out any cash. Remember, consumer loyalty is for suckers.

Marvel has released the first trailer for their MMO, and it looks like it should be free to play. Good thing it is.

On the other side of the battle, DC (and WB) are showing off more of their Lego Batman 2 title, and it looks awesome. Geez, these Lego games have come a long way.

Speaking of Marvel and DC, there is a lot of gay news to talk about. Marvel revealed that Northstar (a man) will be getting married to his boyfriend. DC revealed that a "major, iconic" character would be coming out of the closet. Wow. Sounds like a grab at controversy rather than a grab at attracting new readers. Have gay readers been bombarding the editorial offices asking for this? What about more Native American, Asian, Indian, or Latin heroes? As a black man, I've definitely been asking for more blacks; but i guess I'll have to make do with Luke Cage, Black Lightning, and Storm.

The Daily Bleven - Staypuft Edition: 5/22

So it is true - we are grown ass men. It is true that we are also slackers I suppose - not that anyone has ever accused of that to our faces ;)

So here it is - The Daily Bleven 5/22- Staypuft Edition:

I am not like everyone else - I suppose that I have always known this fact - but it is especially stark in contrast in a few key decisions I have made relating to video games. 

Batman: Arkham -

The first was around the Batman Arkham series of games. I simply dont like them; the mechanics are clunky to me and the idea of running away from mobs trying to get them to forget I was there as a gameplay turn-on turns me off completely. I know that people love those games and I know that they are critically acclaimed but they are trash to me. Utter garbage - the running joke with SmittyD is that I keep the copy of Arkham City I bought (just to be sure that the problem wasn't isolated to the first game) simply so that I can disrespect it as a ritual. I wont ever trade it in because that would be me putting it to productive use. I will keep it, and neglect it...

Diablo 3 -

I do not love this game. I do not love anything about it. I suppose that I do not specifically feel venomous hatred toward any particular aspect of it either. However I do find it lacking; popping loot pinata's (Thanks Tycho for the useful metaphor) just is not really that exciting. It really could be simply that the Auction House has ruined it. The fun part of that game (I suppose) has to do with character development but since I dont think any of the mechanics are particularly engaging it comes down to loot. There is no loot in the game worth a damn to be honest. All your loot really comes from the Auction house. So the gameplay becomes super grindy as you are trying to build up a large enough pool of gold to be able to buy the next useful upgrade for your needs. The wife and I have found in the game-world literally 2-3 pieces of loot (between us) that we have equipped. None of it particularly better than what was affordable on the AH at the time we equipped it but at least we did not have to leave the game to go check...

What's worse for me is the idea of the game being "harder" which really means increasing the likely hood that you are going to die from NIL to something closer to FREQUENTLY just makes me think how unappetizing it is to introduce any sort of delay or trouble into the game. It is annoying enough that I have to port back to town to empty my bags but having to go back to town because I was dead and pay some of this gold I am trying to grind to fix the stuff I am wearing seems double unappetizing.

I got Diablo3 included with my WoW annual pass and I have to say that my basic plan for the next week is to be sure I get the valor points, LFRs, and DS10's I need to keep my toons current. If I come up with some spare time I may play Diablo3 a little bit...

The Daily Bleven -- May 10

The comic Kick-Ass has a spin off coming out starring the supporting character Hit-Girl, titled...Hit-Girl. As a fan of the two Kick-Ass runs, I'm really looking forward to seeing what Millar and Romita are going to do with Mindy in her solo debut.

Speaking of Kick-Ass, the movie version is getting a sequel. I wasn't a huge fan of the first movie, but I would give it a solid 3/5 if asked. Do I think it's worthy of a sequel? Not really...

I really need to pick up the Valiant comics now that they've restarted. X-O Manowar, Harbinger, and Bloodshot are already out there, and now Archer & Armstrong are on the way. Maybe I'll make a trip to the store today.

The Nintendo DSi will be $100 starting later this month, which makes me want to buy a few spare units for the kids.

Diablo 3 is due to come out at some point soon, and it makes me sad that I'm not a PC gamer. If they brought is to console, I'd jump on in a second. I might even buy another year of XBL if it was exclusive to the XBOX. That said, it's probably better this way--I have Starhawk taking up my gaming time.

Speaking of Diablo 3, it also became the most pre-ordered PC game in Amazon history. Good for Blizzard, I guess. Like they need any encouragement from the likes of me...

The Daily Bleven -- Starhawk Launch Day Edition

This just in, all Starhawk DLC map packs will be totally free in order to prevent fracturing within the community.

I'm other news, I'm about to start playing right now.

The Daily Bleven -- May 7

The Avengers is projected to clear $200 million in the North American box office for its opening weekend. For those keeping score, that smashes the record set by the final Harry Potter movie. In related news, every day makes it harder for me to not post Avengers spoilers. I've already seen it twice, and I don't think a third viewing is out of the realm of possibilities.

Is anyone else surprised that there wasn't a terrible video game tie-in to the Avengers?

Marvel's Thunderbolts comic will be renamed Dark Avengers with issue 175. It will combine the Thunderbolts and the Dark Avengers teams, and launch into a new direction. Also of note is that the art looks really, really bad.

Tomorrow is international Starhawk day! Celebrate by buying the game, and then skipping work to play it!

I just saw the first dev diary for Sorcery, and I have to say that I like the way it's coming along. Also, it's apparently only going to be $40 at launch (May 22). If I wasn't already going to get it, I think this would push me over the edge.

The Daily Bleven -- May 3

I saw The Avengers last night, and it was friggin sweet. It was action packed, heartbreaking at one point, and really funny throughout. I won't spoil anything here, but know that there are 2 post-credit scenes, and they're both well worth your time. The Avengers was an ambitious project that really paid off, and I can only hope that this becomes the standard for how superhero movies are handled going forward. I'm going to see it again tomorrow, and I can't wait.

Elder Scrolls Online is coming at some point next year, and no one should be surprised if it's completely broken. It'll be available for PC and Mac, so chances are good that I won't care.

Geez...another slow news day for me.

The Daily Bleven -- May 2

I just saw a video preview for a game called The Unfinished Swan on the PlayStation Blog, and I'm very interested to see more. From what was shown, you start out with a blank white canvas of a world, and you fling blobs of black paint around to reveal the things around you ultimately trying to catch a swan. Seems like a nice relaxing game.

I also just saw the trailer for Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2. I won't lie, the last CoD game I played was CoD3, and I honestly don't feel like I missed out on much with the million other CoDs that came out since then. However, I do like the near-futuristic setting that the trailer for Black Ops 2 is presenting. That said, if it just has a 4 hour campaign, I'll probably skip this one, too.

The Daily Bleven -- May 1

I just watched the new trailer for Dark Knight Rises, and I have to admit that I liked the hell out of it. It immediately made me wonder who would win the box office race between it and the Avengers. But, truthfully, which ever one wins, we all win as the viewing audience. The big loser will be Warner Brothers, because they'll be tasked with finding a director to replace Nolan for future Batman movies. Good luck with that. That said, I really hope that the inclusion of Catwoman doesn't screw up the movie.

The time is upon us, and I'll be going to see a special preview of the Avengers tomorrow night. With that finally out of the way, I'll be able to focus all of my desire on Starhawk.

Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to the Hulk in the aforementioned Avengers movie, there is talk that there may be another solo Hulk movie in the works. To tell the truth, I kind of hope not. Let's just let the Hulk be an awesome part of something bigger, rather than the main attraction. At least, that's how I feel before seeing the Avengers.

A new trailer was released for Metal Gear Rising, and I don't know what to think. Kotaku said it looked like a bad acid trip, but I think it's even worse. Wait and see, I guess.

Speaking of Kotaku, they've reported that Dead Or Alive 5 will feature see through shirts. I remember my first time playing the first DOA, and turning the boob jiggle all the way up; the fact that this was even an option was amazing. In short, it was hilarious and awesome. Good to see (I guess) that Team Ninja is still spending so much time taking care of the digital boobies. Or maybe it's creepy...I can't seem to decide.

Skyrim's Dawnguard dlc will be coming out this summer. Looks like I'll have even more fun when I finally break down and buy Skyrim.

In Starhawk news, beta testers will be getting a cosmetic perk in the form of a glowing gold hand. Also, beta testers who were also Warhawk players will get the Warhawk paint set for vehicles which is exactly what it sounds like. Dylan Jobe has stated that these items will never be re-released or sold, so this is a one time good deal. No word yet on how these gifts will be distributed. Needless to say, this is pretty cool.

The Daily Bleven -- April 30

This lovely Monday has treated me with the knowledge that the new Kratos game, God Of War: Ascension will come with multiplayer. I suppose it was only a matter of time before a multiplayer component got tacked on to the series. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I definitely understand the decision from a business standpoint.

The Avengers reported making $178 million dollars overseas up to this point. I still can't friggin wait.

Speaking of things I can't wait for, STARHAWK!!!

The Daily Bleven -- Battle Scars Edition

So, I just got done reading Marvel's Battle Scars miniseries, and I liked it for the most part.

***Spoilers Begin***

So, as it turns out, I was wrong when I said that Nick Fury didn't know about his son, Marcus Johnson. Nick did know about him, and he took steps to hide him and his mother. Also, before Fury "erased" his son and his baby-mama, he was legally named Nick Fury Jr.-- for real. And that's the name that Marcus is using now.

So, Marvel really does have a Sam Jackson-style Nick Fury in 616. How do I feel about that? Well, I'm not totally sure yet, but I did enjoy the miniseries. I suppose that like all forms of entertainment, comics have to evolve and change with the times. I remember spending a lot of energy hating Marvel for Spider-Man making a deal with the devil a few years back (that story line was called One More Day...look it up), but new readers will not care, and the industry really does need to focus on the new reader more than my old ass. I, and other thirtysomething comic readers like me, just need to remember that we need to look at these new stories with new eyes, and just take the entertainment as it comes.

That said, I still haven't read 616 Spider-Man since One More Day. Not because I'm being a grumpy old fanboy, but because Spider-Man had never been more interesting before Marvel pulled that crap, and I'm voting with my money.

The Daily Bleven -- April 27

If you Google "Zerg Rush" today, a bunch of Os will eat up your search results...unless you click them all to death first. Pretty cool.

Portal 2 will be receiving free DLC on the PC that will enable played created levels on May 8.

Yeah...slow news day for me today.

The Daily Bleven -- April 26

Registration for PAX Prime should be starting up next week. Get your tickets, and I'll see you there.

Phantasy Star Online 2 will apparently be F2P! But it's only being released in Japan, and even then, only on PC. So pretty much, Sega can blow me.

In related news, PSO2 will also be playable on PS Vita and smartphones in Japan as well. And Sega can continue to blow me.

The Avengers movie ticket pre-sales have apparently just topped all other previous Marvel movies COMBINED. I added two tickets to that tally yesterday -- you're welcome, Marvel. I wonder how the Dark Knight ticket pre-sales will compare.

The Daily Bleven -- April 25; Includes Marvel Comic Spoilers

*****MARVEL COMIC SPOILER ALERT*****

USA Today, which has established itself as THE place for comic-spoiling news reports over the past few years, broke the story that Agent Coulson (from the Marvel movies) will be appearing in the comics. Also, there was a scoop about the son of Nick Fury in the 616 universe which deserves its own few paragraphs.

Bear with me as I briefly explain the history if Nick Fury from Marvel comics and movies. Back in the 1960s, Fury was created as a WWII hero who had taken something called the infinity formula which slowed his aging to a crawl. That's why he's still alive and active in current comics. He was later reinvented as a super spy in SHIELD. Some time down the line, he became the head of SHIELD. Also, he was a white guy. David Hasselhoff played him in a bad made for TV movie in the late 1990s.

Along comes 2001, and Marvel decides to launch the Ultimate Marvel Universe which will be completely separate from the mainstream Marvel Universe (commonly referred to as Marvel 616 for reasons I won't go into here). The idea was to restart well known characters in the 2000s rather than the 1960s. For example, Ultimate Peter Parker was a web designer rather than a news paper photographer. Anyway, one of the things that got changed in the Ultimate universe was that Nick Fury was now black, and looked a lot like Samuel L. Jackson. This (among other things) gave the Ultimate universe a bit more racial diversity, and the Sam Jackson Fury ended up being the choice for the movies.

Follow me so far? So, the Marvel movies are huge hits, and Marvel wants to capitalize on that in the 616 universe. It's been long established that 616 Fury has a few kids out of wedlock. At least three sons, in fact, with the latest one being a (half, obviously) black soldier named Marcus Johnson that Fury himself didn't even know existed. In the latest issue of the miniseries Battle Scars, Marcus loses an eye, and looks a lot like Samuel L. Jackson. And his main homie is going to be Agent Coulson. And he's probably going to change his name to Fury at some point in the near future. And the classic, white 616 Fury is still around. So, Marvel has successfully created a black Fury in the 616 universe to match their massively successful movies without killing off the classic white version (yet). And the fanboys completely lost their shit.

*****End of Marvel Comics spoilers*****

I just went to the comic store and bought the entire 6 issue Battle Scars series moments ago. Hopefully I'll have the time to read and review it between now and Friday.

The Daily Bleven --April 24

The PS Vita will be getting Skype video and voice calling later today along with the regularly scheduled PSN update. I don't think that's going to sell any systems for Sony, but I guess it's a nice feature for people who already have or plan to get a PS Vita.

I used to be a big reader of Top Cow comics back in the day, so when I found the Artifacts miniseries on sale, I jumped on it, because it was supposed to be a good jumping-on point for new or lapsed readers. Here's the deal: it is bad. The art isn't great, the writing is so-so, and the whole story is just a thinly veiled universe reboot. The worst part has to be the editing, though. The editor is supposed to look over a story, make sure it makes sense, and make sure it flows. Comics are a visual medium, and by all rights, you should be able to look at only the art, and get a decent idea of what's going on. Not nearly the case with Artifacts, because the artist makes nearly everyone look identical. I actually had to re-read pages once I realized that there were two separate characters talking. I don't know, maybe what came after Artifacts was great, but Artifacts itself was terrible.

A new G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer hit the web today, and it still looks good, but there is little chance that I'll see it in a theater since the last movie stank so bad. Maybe some good reviews will change my mind.

There's apparently an 8th Avengers clip online, and I have no idea how that looks because I refuse to view it. I'm all for advertising a movie, but 8 clips and 5 trailers just spoil too much in my opinion. That said, I'll be first in line to see the actual movie.

Speaking of trailers and the Avengers, there will supposedly be a new Dark Knight Rises trailer playing in front of the Avengers. Seeing as how I've only seen one other trailer for the new Batman movie, I approve watching this new one.

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For has started filming. Awesome.

James Cameron and Google execs are backing a company called Planetary Resources located in Bellevue, Washington. This company plans to start mining FRIGGIN ASTEROIDS in as little as four years. Where do I sign up?

Sony released a new trailer for Sorcery today, and that game continues to look good. On May 22nd, it looks like I'll finally have a use for the peripheral that I bought a year ago. Speaking of which, since Move is required, I wonder if Sorcery will have a major impact on Moves sold. For Sony's sake, I hope so.

The Daily Bleven -- April 23

What the crap? I go on vacation for one lousy week, and they decide to announce a new God Of War game that very week? I'd better go read up on God Of War: Ascension...

The chairman of Walt Disney Studios resigned just before the release of The Avengers, and just after the failure of John Carter. Damn the critics, I liked John Carter.

In other news, an angry 4 year old in Saudi Arabia shot and killed his father because he came home without buying the boy a PlayStation. No way they can blame this one on violent video games, because the kid doesn't have any games. Of course, the news will never report that the lack of games causes violence. Levity aside, my heart goes out to this family.

Batman: Arkham City will be getting a Harley Quinn DLC mission next week on the PSN and XBL. Harley Quinn's Revenge is supposed to take place after the events of the main game. Seeing how Arkham City ended, I can understand that she'd want a little payback.

The Daily Bleven -- April 13

The PS Vita sales in Japan continue to nosedive. So much so, that the PSP outsold it in March (PSP moved 14k units, and Vita only moved 8k). A price cut can't be far away, but will they also cut the prices of the games? And will that inevitable price drop be enough to get me to buy one?

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (the movie) has finally been officially announced. The first Sin City movie was awesome, so this is welcome news to me.

A new job listing from Valve looking for hardware designers and engineers is fanning the flames of speculation on a possible Steam console. I think it's more likely that this is just R&D for something waaaay in the future, but what if it's for an add-on to the next generation of consoles (specifically, PS Orbis and MS Durango)?

I finally preordered Starhawk. Hells yeah.

There is another Avengers clip online that I COMPLETELY REFUSE TO VIEW.

The Daily Bleven -- April 12

Sony confirmed that it's cutting 10,000 jobs! That's a lot of friggin jobs -- that's bigger than many entire companies. Kris D said that Kaz is breaking things down...I just hope he has a plan to build things back up. And, to those who are losing their jobs, I'm really sorry, and I wish you the best of luck.

Skyrim will soon have voice controls via Kinect. Why don't more games have voice controls? Didn't Sony prove the concept back in 2002 with SOCOM? How awesome would it be to build and battle in Starhawk with voice commands? Then again, the voice controls for Tom Clancy's End War sucked hard...

For their 25 year anniversary celebration, Fox is going to re-air the Married...With Children pilot. Man, I love me some Al Bundy. Hell, I think I just may BE Al Bundy.

Director Marc Webb (surely, there is a pun intended) plans to unfold the origin of Spider-Man over a few movies. Also, there will be no wrestling match for Spidey to win, get gypped of his winnings, and no robber for him to let get away to kill Uncle Ben. Sounds like in addition to decompressing the Spidey origin like Bendis did in the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, Webb (seriously?) is screwing with some of the origin itself. Not sure how I feel about that, but I'll revisit this after I see the movie.

The Daily Bleven - April 11

Apparently, Nathan Drake (of the Uncharted series) kills a lot of people, and everyone in the game press seems to bring that up as a bad thing. Listen, everyone Drake kills had it coming. These are people who have tried to kill him and his friends, but failed and had to pay the price. You know who else kills a lot of people? Master Chief (of Halo fame). That friggin guy ends entire civilizations, and no one seems to mind.

I think it's time to dust off my PlayStation Move so I can get it in order to play Sorcery. Makes me wonder why I even bought a Move before Sorcery came out. Buying a peripheral on the mere promise of there being a game in the future makes me a jackass.

Dammit! More Avengers clips to avoid!!!

The Daily Bleven - April 10

Just a peek into the stuff I was looking at when I should have been working:

Apparently, you can get some free Starhawk dlc if you watch the latest trailer on Facebook. Since I like free stuff, I'll give it a look later. Speaking of Starhawk dlc, there is also free dlc to be had if you preorder the game from GameStop. Then again, buying stuff from GameStop costs you a little bit of your soul, so the dlc isn't really free.

Marvel will be launching a new Gambit series in August. Get them while they're hot, because this new book won't last a year. I liked Gambit back in the day, but I just don't have much hope for this book.

Another friggin clip for the Avengers movie is out. I really need to stop watching these damned things before I ruin the whole movie for myself.

The PlayStation Store updated really early today. Maybe that will shut up the complainers out east...

A trailer that all of the so-called "hardcore Resident Evil fans" leaked today. Apparently, it looks too shootery to them. I'll admit that it does look pretty damned shootery, but I don't know if it looks TOO shootery.

Kaz Hirai: New President and CEO of Sony

Gaze upon the new face of Sony. In April, Kaz will be replacing Howard Stringer as the prez and MFCEO; Stringer is expected to move on to the board of directors.

This could mean great things for the future of the Playststion, since that's where Kaz made his name, and he's sure to keep a close eye on things. Here's hoping!

Buying AMY on the PSN is More Survival Horror Than Playing It

DO NOT buy 'Amy' from the PSN (or XBL) store.  You'll look at it and think to yourself how you'd like a new survival horror game, and this 'Amy' game might just fill that gap.  But this is not true.  'Amy' will take your ten dollars, just like she did mine, and she'll laugh at you for your foolishness.

I hate this game so much, I'm going to delete it from my HD as if it were a mere demo.

Brand Loyalty

Yesterday, I told Kris D. that I would not buy a PS4 based solely on the Sony name. I told him that I have just as much chance of buying an XBOX 720 (or whatever it'll be called).

I'll admit that I bought a PS3 based on the Sony name, and based on the fact that the original XBOX was kinda crappy. That said, I think I lucked onto the right choice, because I feel that the PS3 gave me everything I wanted (including a BluRay player). However, there's not going to be a new video format driving this next generation--it's all about the exclusives again, and if Microsoft can convince me that Halo is more important than the next Drake or God Of War, then the NextBox will be my lead platform.

However, if the NextBox720 doesn't have a BluRay drive, they're going to have an uphill battle to get my pennies.

What say you?