Author: Ian Bonds

‘X-Men: Destiny’ Video Game Reveal Trailer

‘X-Men: Destiny’ Video Game Reveal Trailer

At New York Comic Con, Activision announced the next game to feature Marvel Mighty Mutants.  In X-Men: Destiny, your decisions will control
the fate of brand new mutants in the X-Men universe. Every choice you
make matters, from your character to your power set to your story and
ultimately your destiny. Veteran X-scribe Mike Carey (X-Men,
X-Men: Legacy, Secret Invasion, The Unwritten
) will be crafting X-Men:
Destiny
‘s narrative, and famed developer Silicon Knights (Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, Too Human) is on board
for the game’s design.  The game is set to be released in 2011.

Video Game Review: “Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions”

Video Game Review: “Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions”

I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for[[[Spider-Man]]] video games. Good, bad; I’ve played them all (own them all too).  So when they announced Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions where you’d be able to play as four different Spider-Men across four different dimensions, I was sold.  Taking Amazing, 2099, Noir and Ultimate (in the symbiote suit) and having them all working toward a common goal (save their universes, and all the other ones) is pretty daunting…what makes it more so is making each version unique and fun.  After some stellar games in the past years (the ones based on the first two movies) and some not so stellar ones (the one based on the third movie), it’s high time ol’ web-head got a title befitting his comic roots…all of them.

It seems Mysterio has found a mystical tablet that grants him unimaginable power…and of course Spidey has to show up in the nick of time and thwart his schemes…sort of.  In the fracas, he accidentally shatters the tablet, sending pieces of it across dimensions.  With the help of Madame Web and the other versions of Spider-Man, he must regain control of the fragments before they fall into the wrong hands…and rips the universe apart in the process.  There’s plenty of fan service throughout, but is that enough to make a good game?

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Video Game Review: “Mafia II”

Video Game Review: “Mafia II”

To say that, as people, we’re not fascinated by the underworld lifestyle is a misnomer.  While not all of us revel in the seedier side of the “business” world, we’re always intrigued at how the other side lives.  Be it through books, movies, television shows or yes, even video games, the life of a criminal and their dark undertakings is one that captures the imagination, and if we were less discriminating people, it would be a world we might engage in ourselves — if there were no consequences.  Thankfully, that’s the kind of safety video games offer, and as such, 2K Game’s Mafia II is one such look into this world…albeit a world gone by as the early days of the Cosa Nostra (or at least, a version of it) is delved into.  Did their gameplay make us an offer we couldn’t refuse?  Hit the jump for the full review.

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New ‘Marvel Vs Capcom 3’ Fooatge reveals Spider-Man, Wesker

New ‘Marvel Vs Capcom 3’ Fooatge reveals Spider-Man, Wesker

At the recent Tokyo Game Show, Capcom revealed two more fighters for their upcoming epic brawler, Marvel Vs Capcom 3, due out next year on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.  In addition to the previously revealed Marvel characters of Dr. Doom, Captain America, Hulk, Dormammu and Super Skrull; everyone’s favorite ret-conned web-head is back in the series.  No surprises here, actually, as Spidey’s been in every Marvel crossover fighter that Capcom has been involved in, and is arguably Marvel’s flagship hero.  Below you’ll find footage of Spidey in action, showing off his moves (which look like prettied up version of his attacks from the previous MvC games) as well as his new Ultra combos.  After the jump, you can also check out footage of the other revealed character, Wesker, from the Resident Evil game series.

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Fan-Made ‘Walking Dead’ Opening Credits Are Scary-Good

Fan-Made ‘Walking Dead’ Opening Credits Are Scary-Good

Daniel M. Kanemoto is an award winning writer/director whose diverse body of work
(from feature films to national commercial campaigns) has been featured
on television channels and film festivals around
the world.  After attending this year’s Comic-Con and being taken by Drew Struzan’s “Walking Dead” poster for the series, he was inspired to animate a spec version of the opening credits, using the original art straight from the comics by illustrators Charlie Adlard and Tony Moore.  What he completed is an amazing professional opening credits sequence that should, quite honestly, replace whatever AMC has planned for their sequence.  And while this is utterly and completely a fan-made work, it has already garnered the attention of Tony Moore who said on the Vimeo page featuring the work “this seriously blows my mind. i’ve scarcely seen
my artwork brought to life like this, and never with such style.”  Check it out for yourself, and if Robert Kirkman or Frank Darabont get wind of this…see if you guys can pull some strings to get this on the show when it airs Halloween Night at 10pm EST.  Or at least hire this guy.  Oh, and the choice of “Fresh Blood” by Eels is FANTASTIC.

THE WALKING DEAD “Opening Titles” from Daniel Kanemoto on Vimeo.

Red Dead Redemption’s “Liars & Cheats” pack dated, now with more content

Red Dead Redemption’s “Liars & Cheats” pack dated, now with more content

Rockstar Games’ western epic, Red Dead Redemption, is getting new downloadable content on September 21st.  The ‘Liars & Cheats’ pack includes new multiplayer mini games such as Liar’s Dice and Poker.  As a bonus, the Free Roam content (originally planned as a free download) will be included with this pack, expanding the game’s free roam multiplayer options.

According to Rockstar, the pack is no longer free “due to the platform
networks’ restrictions on numbers of free packs we [Rockstar Games] can give away”, but adding it to the previously announced ‘Liars & Cheats’ pack without any additional charge is awesome.  The entire pack will be $9.99 on Playstation Network or 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live.

For a list of the features available in this pack, hit the jump and get ready to expand your game on September 21st.

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‘The Walking Dead’ series has debut date and trailer

‘The Walking Dead’ series has debut date and trailer

As a zombie fan, no other comic series has appealed to my apocalyptic sensibilities more than Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead”.  After hearing the AMC would be making a television series of it (helmed by “Shawshank Redemption” director Frank Darabont) well, my little nerd heart exploded like a zombie headshot.  Now the series has a premiere date (fittingly set at 10pm on Halloween night) and a debut trailer.  if you were at the San Diego Comic Con, this is the same trailer you saw.  If not…well, salivate with brain-lust at the visuals and story herein.  Halloween can’t come fast enough.

SCARLET SPIDER costume added to SPIDER-MAN: SHATTERED DIMENSIONS

SCARLET SPIDER costume added to SPIDER-MAN: SHATTERED DIMENSIONS

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up, SPIDER-MAN: SHATTERED DIMENSIONS is the newest video game to put players in the webbed shoes of the arachnid hero.  Spanning across multiple alternate universes, Spidey has to contain the magic of a mysterious tablet that sends him through varied versions of his reality in order to restore things to what he knows as “normal”.  Through these four main dimensions, players will control uniquely skilled and powerful versions of the iconic character.  While the four dimensions have already been announced (Amazing, Noir, 2099 and Ultimate), another costume, presumably used as an alternate for one of the already announced dimensions, has been revealed via the following trailer.  This, in addition to the two pre-order exclusive costumes (Cosmic Spider-Man from GameStop and Iron Spider from Amazon) makes seven different versions so far for the game.  For more info on the title, out on September 7th, you can check out the official website at http://www.spidermandimensions.com/

Saturday Morning Cartoons: ‘The Adventures of Fatman’

Saturday Morning Cartoons: ‘The Adventures of Fatman’

In 1997, CBS television had the brilliant idea to give pop-music satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic his own Saturday Morning kids show, under the one stipulation…that it be educational.  Despite that anchor, Al managed to make one of the most endearing and fun kids shows since Pee Wee’s Playhouse.  In fact, the show was often cited as the next-best-thing to the revered show….up until the following year, when CBS canceled its entire Saturday Morning line up.  They even went as far as to strip cartoons from the programming!  Of course, The Weird Al Show was caught in the crossfire and hit the chopping block as well.

So, what does a live-action TV show have to do with the Saturday Morning Cartoons segment here at ComicMix?  Well, not ALL the content of the episodes were educational… Al managed to slip in some awesome sketches, music and…of course, cartoons!  A big animation fan, Yankovic had stop motion animation, computer graphics and traditional animation all just in the opening theme song!  In addition, there was also the occasional episode of “Fatman”, the show’s simple-minded superhero.  Al and his sidekick, Harvey the Wonder Hamster (voiced by Ren & Stimpy and Futurama star Billy West) would thwart the evil machinations of villains such as “The Slaw”.  Witness the first episode of the Pork Knight!

And, one of my favorite episodes (guaranteed to be full of at least a few references that went over the kiddies’ heads) “Fatman Vs The Eggman”

Bonus:  The awesome opening theme song animation