Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
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And in related news, Peter Tork, famous for being the guitarist for the Monkees, just died. Now, if that doesn't fit into the recent posts this evening, I don't know what does.
I knew about Reggie and I hate to see him go but he deserves some time off. I've been on the outs of WWE since before they were the WWE. As I've stated I lost interest in high school and when my uncle passed(who was a professional wrestler) it just wasn't the same... I can't stand the Patriots and I know everyone hates my team(Rams) atm so any bad news for them is good news for me. I'm really into the American Alliance of Football and support their success. Is there any chance of a similar league appearing ITTL?
BONUS: Selene, The Expanded Universe
(Authors' Note: This update consists of material sent to us by our reader jolou! I've edited it a bit for clarity and to clean up some things, but the following is his original concepts and material.)
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Superpanda (Frédéric Fau) : And welcome everyone, to this second part of our interview of Arkane President Raphael Colantonio. In this part, we’re going to talk more about Arkane's future, and maybe we could get some more information about Selene 2...?
Raphael Colantonio : *laughs* You wish!
Superpanda : So, Selene 1 as we’re going to call it has been an outstanding success from a company of your size and it did show that the French gaming ccene isn’t all about Ubisoft. What can you tell us about your personal feelings on the project?
Raphael Colantonio: Well, I've always been a fan of Sci-fi shows and movies, and one day my team came to me talking about making a new game, unheard of at that time, a Sci-Fi game. Of course, I was excited, and I gave the go-ahead. We started working on it and we decided to pitch it to Nintendo, and they were excited too. I would like to thank them because without them there wouldn’t have been a Selene. They gave us a lot of help, financially and technically. So thanks to our friends from Japan!
Superpanda : And once again it’s thanks to Nintendo's support you were able to start working on a sequel right away.
Raphael Colantonio : *laughs* We can’t hide anything from your panda's eyes, right? But yes, Nintendo loved what we showed them, and they gave us the opportunity to begin work on a sequel even before the first one was launched. By the time Selene was on the market, we already had a working script. We upgraded it since but we could start working thanks to it.
Superpanda: Well maybe you can give us something interesting, you know I'm a Selene fan!
Raphael Colantonio : Well, what can I say without having my Marketing Team killing me on the spot? *Superpanda laughs* You’re going to have way more choices and more impactful choices during your odyssey among the stars. And well, let’s say that the sun you see in the sky won’t be the same one during your trip.
-from a jeuxvideo.com interview recorded in early 2010
-
Selene has been a successful game, and Arkane president Raphael Colantonio was sure of its success before the game even released. He decided to commission a previously unknown writer of only 35 years old, having only wrote two sci-fi novels with modest success named Noémie Lefort to write the first tie-in novel.
Selene Conspiracy
Selene Conspiracy is a novel originally published in French but translated and released in English a couple of months after its late 2009 original release. You follow Captain Andrei Pavlov of the recently created United Nations Task Forces and the novel takes place from one year after Selene’s departure up to three years after its departure. The novel is exclusively on Earth and considerably expands the Selene universe. Earth has for the past fifteen years seen the United Nations take a lot more influence and power and most notably with the Selene Initiative has made itself capable of completing incredible projects. Andrei is a soldier inside one of the latest United Nations influence grabs, the UNTF, which is integrating highly capable soldiers from across the world. Andrei himself is married and has one son named Cass.
The novel is about Andrei being ordered to track down a hacker group inspired by the Anonymous. This group has already released several highly secret documents about some of the United Nations most secret initiatives and the United Nations think they could have taken possession of some of the Selene Initiative. Andrei tracks down the group from the United States to their base in on an abandoned island in Indonesia. During his hunt, he makes contact with one defector from the group who willingly helps him and who later forms a friendship with him. Andrei will also encounter the Secretary General of the United Nations, a former military general, which is according to Andrei quite the anomaly for such a diplomatic position. Ultimately, Andrei finds the base and captures the survivor from the Hacker Group. There, despite the threat from the Secretary General that he shouldn’t read the file, he reads it. It is revealed (for those who has played the original Selene it won’t be that much of a surprise) that approximately 18 years ago, a joint NASA-ESA satellite observed very disturbing alien signals, what made them sure that it was going to be an alien invasion was the fact that the scientific team was attacked by others with very unfamiliar weapons. Under interrogation it was revealed that they were sleeper agents. And so, for the past 18 years, the various great powers of the world, under the United Nations, prepared for the invasion. And as a fail-safe decided to do the Selene Initiative. Three arks were prepared, and at the time of the end of the Novel, two had been launched. Andrei tries to contact his command for instruction, but they don’t answer. Andrei hears an explosion and that’s the last thing we hear of him.
The novel ends with the description of an alien fleet coming in the direction of Earth. A description is made by an Astronaut inside a Space Station second before being destroyed by a ship. It is one looking like the one which attacked the Selene.
Selene Conspiracy was a success in France (which prompted an English translation), largely thanks to the game's success there (one of the top five best selling Sapphire games of 2008 in France) and was critically praised for its plot and characters. The sequel novel, expected to be released in mid-2010, will have a simultaneous release in French, English, and several other languages.
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SAF
SAF is a webcomic done by two French-Canadians named Louis Dufour and Augustin “Gus” Ros, two students at Montréal Arts School. The comic started as an unofficial fan project, but after it gained popularity, it drew the attention of Arkane, who loved it and gave the opportunity to the students to join Arkane Studio after their graduation.
SAF is one narrative arc done in 30 comic pages on a website. It takes place approximately five year before the original Selene, and the story is about the SAF (the Selene Appeasement Force) working day after day as the equivalent of the police and the army. The main hero is a 47 years old Canadian born Captain called Ed Trudeau who has been tasked to lead the team protecting a candidate for the General Secretary named Elis Norell who is at that time the Mayor of the European District. The main focus of this webcomic is to see how Norell became Secretary and how he was before the message, a truly dedicated, charismatic and honest member of the Selene but really is how in 30 pages they managed to truly insert the reader inside the Selene and capture its ambiance. Ed saves Norell inside a less essential part of the Selene, eats in a restaurant we only saw destroyed in the last chapters of Selene, and sleeps in the Presidium.
SAF ended with Trudeau watching Norell taking office. The two students intended to continue on from that point, but stopped to focus on their studies. They do promise to return to continuing the comic someday.
-
Superpanda (Frédéric Fau) : And welcome everyone, to this second part of our interview of Arkane President Raphael Colantonio. In this part, we’re going to talk more about Arkane's future, and maybe we could get some more information about Selene 2...?
Raphael Colantonio : *laughs* You wish!
Superpanda : So, Selene 1 as we’re going to call it has been an outstanding success from a company of your size and it did show that the French gaming ccene isn’t all about Ubisoft. What can you tell us about your personal feelings on the project?
Raphael Colantonio: Well, I've always been a fan of Sci-fi shows and movies, and one day my team came to me talking about making a new game, unheard of at that time, a Sci-Fi game. Of course, I was excited, and I gave the go-ahead. We started working on it and we decided to pitch it to Nintendo, and they were excited too. I would like to thank them because without them there wouldn’t have been a Selene. They gave us a lot of help, financially and technically. So thanks to our friends from Japan!
Superpanda : And once again it’s thanks to Nintendo's support you were able to start working on a sequel right away.
Raphael Colantonio : *laughs* We can’t hide anything from your panda's eyes, right? But yes, Nintendo loved what we showed them, and they gave us the opportunity to begin work on a sequel even before the first one was launched. By the time Selene was on the market, we already had a working script. We upgraded it since but we could start working thanks to it.
Superpanda: Well maybe you can give us something interesting, you know I'm a Selene fan!
Raphael Colantonio : Well, what can I say without having my Marketing Team killing me on the spot? *Superpanda laughs* You’re going to have way more choices and more impactful choices during your odyssey among the stars. And well, let’s say that the sun you see in the sky won’t be the same one during your trip.
-from a jeuxvideo.com interview recorded in early 2010
-
Selene has been a successful game, and Arkane president Raphael Colantonio was sure of its success before the game even released. He decided to commission a previously unknown writer of only 35 years old, having only wrote two sci-fi novels with modest success named Noémie Lefort to write the first tie-in novel.
Selene Conspiracy
Selene Conspiracy is a novel originally published in French but translated and released in English a couple of months after its late 2009 original release. You follow Captain Andrei Pavlov of the recently created United Nations Task Forces and the novel takes place from one year after Selene’s departure up to three years after its departure. The novel is exclusively on Earth and considerably expands the Selene universe. Earth has for the past fifteen years seen the United Nations take a lot more influence and power and most notably with the Selene Initiative has made itself capable of completing incredible projects. Andrei is a soldier inside one of the latest United Nations influence grabs, the UNTF, which is integrating highly capable soldiers from across the world. Andrei himself is married and has one son named Cass.
The novel is about Andrei being ordered to track down a hacker group inspired by the Anonymous. This group has already released several highly secret documents about some of the United Nations most secret initiatives and the United Nations think they could have taken possession of some of the Selene Initiative. Andrei tracks down the group from the United States to their base in on an abandoned island in Indonesia. During his hunt, he makes contact with one defector from the group who willingly helps him and who later forms a friendship with him. Andrei will also encounter the Secretary General of the United Nations, a former military general, which is according to Andrei quite the anomaly for such a diplomatic position. Ultimately, Andrei finds the base and captures the survivor from the Hacker Group. There, despite the threat from the Secretary General that he shouldn’t read the file, he reads it. It is revealed (for those who has played the original Selene it won’t be that much of a surprise) that approximately 18 years ago, a joint NASA-ESA satellite observed very disturbing alien signals, what made them sure that it was going to be an alien invasion was the fact that the scientific team was attacked by others with very unfamiliar weapons. Under interrogation it was revealed that they were sleeper agents. And so, for the past 18 years, the various great powers of the world, under the United Nations, prepared for the invasion. And as a fail-safe decided to do the Selene Initiative. Three arks were prepared, and at the time of the end of the Novel, two had been launched. Andrei tries to contact his command for instruction, but they don’t answer. Andrei hears an explosion and that’s the last thing we hear of him.
The novel ends with the description of an alien fleet coming in the direction of Earth. A description is made by an Astronaut inside a Space Station second before being destroyed by a ship. It is one looking like the one which attacked the Selene.
Selene Conspiracy was a success in France (which prompted an English translation), largely thanks to the game's success there (one of the top five best selling Sapphire games of 2008 in France) and was critically praised for its plot and characters. The sequel novel, expected to be released in mid-2010, will have a simultaneous release in French, English, and several other languages.
-
SAF
SAF is a webcomic done by two French-Canadians named Louis Dufour and Augustin “Gus” Ros, two students at Montréal Arts School. The comic started as an unofficial fan project, but after it gained popularity, it drew the attention of Arkane, who loved it and gave the opportunity to the students to join Arkane Studio after their graduation.
SAF is one narrative arc done in 30 comic pages on a website. It takes place approximately five year before the original Selene, and the story is about the SAF (the Selene Appeasement Force) working day after day as the equivalent of the police and the army. The main hero is a 47 years old Canadian born Captain called Ed Trudeau who has been tasked to lead the team protecting a candidate for the General Secretary named Elis Norell who is at that time the Mayor of the European District. The main focus of this webcomic is to see how Norell became Secretary and how he was before the message, a truly dedicated, charismatic and honest member of the Selene but really is how in 30 pages they managed to truly insert the reader inside the Selene and capture its ambiance. Ed saves Norell inside a less essential part of the Selene, eats in a restaurant we only saw destroyed in the last chapters of Selene, and sleeps in the Presidium.
SAF ended with Trudeau watching Norell taking office. The two students intended to continue on from that point, but stopped to focus on their studies. They do promise to return to continuing the comic someday.
A Disney Parks Retrospective, Part Two: From Earth to Moon and Back Again
"Discovery Mountain is the most advanced, expansive, and thrilling experience at ANY Disney Park. Whether you want to explore the lunar surface or dive deep into the depths of Earth's core, it can all be done, and can only be done at Euro Disneyland."
--Promotional Material for the 1997 Opening of Discovery Mountain
"We are very happy with how well the Euro Disneyland park is doing in Paris... but the Walt Disney Studios Park is going to be put on hold for a few years while we focus on Animal Kingdom and the second gates at Anaheim and Tokyo."
--Michael Eisner, from a 1997 interview with Entertainment Magazine
"I am not what you call a civilized man."
--Captain Nemo, from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
"Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real."
--Jules Verne
Narrator: Mankind has always been fascinated with the stars, from Aristotle to Galileo to Verne.
*The camera quickly speeds up and passes through the crowd, spinning and turning to look up at the starry night sky.*
Narrator: The outer reaches of space are beautiful, but no celestial body is more captivating than the Moon. For millenia, humanity has wondered what our only satellite is like.
*The shot cuts to a shot of a group steampunk astronauts walking in slow motion towards the camera.*
Narrator: These brave men of the Baltimore Gun Club have set out to do just that, and travel--
*The astronauts are shown getting in steampunk roller coaster cars. As they're seated, the lap bars automatically fall down and lock them in. A close-up is shown of one astronaut, who gulps nervously.*
Narrator: --from the Earth--
*The coaster pulls back. Nearby machinery whistles and shoots out steam.*
Narrator: --to the Moon.
*The room turns red with light, and the coaster launches, going from a standstill to breakneck speeds in an instant.*
Narrator: Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon. Only at Euro Disneyland.
The first and most hyped-up attraction was Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon. This ride is an intense roller coaster, much moreso than the other, similar rides at Anaheim, Florida, and Tokyo. Beginning with a zero to sixty miles per hour launch in two-and-a-half seconds, guests pull up to five G's on the ride (for reference, the launch of a rocket has astronauts hit about three G's) and go through four inversions: two loops, a corkscrew, and a cobra roll. Theming on this ride is perhaps better than anything ever seen at the Disney Parks, with a multitude of references to the novel by Jules Verne as guests fly through the stars, into asteroids and moon craters, and loop around steampunk moon bases (these bases are fully explorable by guests after the coaster ends, as a reward for surviving the ride).
The other main attraction is Journey to the Center of the Earth, Disney's first drop ride. Guests get into a bronze and steel drill machine and drop from the top of Discovery Mountain through a glass tube into the heart of a boiling volcano. They progressively travel deeper, past flooding caverns and voracious dinosaurs. At the end, after an average five drops (though there can be anywhere from three to seven), the car is shot out of the volcano and returns to the station.
The Nautilus replica holds within it two separate experiences: fine dining in the sub's Salon under the waters of the lagoon inside Discovery Mountain, and a tour of the interior of the Nautilus. The latter, named the Mysteries of the Nautilus, is a walking tour of many rooms of the iconic sub, including many props from Disney's 1954 epic adaptation of Verne's book, with guests even being able to see Captain Nemo's quarters.
Discovery Mountain is themed like a steampunk explosion. On the exterior of the structure, bronze pipes and mechanisms mar the potentially smooth golden surface. The cannon to Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon can be seen working on the outside as well, and every time it launches its guests, it shoots steam and smoke from the device, as if the coaster cars really did get launched into outer space. The interior of the building is walled with glass and gives views of a foreign planet's surface, with craters filled with lava and alien planets hung in the sky, with little steampunk astronauts out there performing a number of (sometimes humorous) tasks.
Discovery Mountain only helped out Disney in the end, even though its expense totaled over half of what it had cost to build Euro Disneyland in the first place. Guests absolutely poured in from all over the continent, with the majority of them being from the United Kingdom and Germany, not the stubborn (but slowly accepting) France, and some rides would gain clones or separate tracks that were narrated in English to account for them. But Tony Baxter's greatest achievement, Euro Disneyland, was made even better, and it was Walt Disney Imagineering's newfound confidence that would usher in a new golden age of the Disney theme park, beginning with the next grand opening: 1998's Animal Kingdom.
--Disney After Walt: How Michael Eisner Saved the Mouse Part Two, themouseterpiece.net, November 2018
--Promotional Material for the 1997 Opening of Discovery Mountain
"We are very happy with how well the Euro Disneyland park is doing in Paris... but the Walt Disney Studios Park is going to be put on hold for a few years while we focus on Animal Kingdom and the second gates at Anaheim and Tokyo."
--Michael Eisner, from a 1997 interview with Entertainment Magazine
"I am not what you call a civilized man."
--Captain Nemo, from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
"Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real."
--Jules Verne
--------------------------------
*The shot begins in a worm's eye view, looking up at crowds of people dressed in Victorian-era clothing.*
Narrator: Mankind has always been fascinated with the stars, from Aristotle to Galileo to Verne.
*The camera quickly speeds up and passes through the crowd, spinning and turning to look up at the starry night sky.*
Narrator: The outer reaches of space are beautiful, but no celestial body is more captivating than the Moon. For millenia, humanity has wondered what our only satellite is like.
*The shot cuts to a shot of a group steampunk astronauts walking in slow motion towards the camera.*
Narrator: These brave men of the Baltimore Gun Club have set out to do just that, and travel--
*The astronauts are shown getting in steampunk roller coaster cars. As they're seated, the lap bars automatically fall down and lock them in. A close-up is shown of one astronaut, who gulps nervously.*
Narrator: --from the Earth--
*The coaster pulls back. Nearby machinery whistles and shoots out steam.*
Narrator: --to the Moon.
*The room turns red with light, and the coaster launches, going from a standstill to breakneck speeds in an instant.*
Narrator: Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon. Only at Euro Disneyland.
--------------------------------
Discovery Mountain achieved lift off on June 21, 1997, and rocketed to prominence as one of the greatest theme park expansions ever. Entirely contained within one massive building, Discovery Mountain offered two brand-new attractions, a port of Discovery Bay's Nautilus restaurant and a tour of the sub itself, and access to both Videopolis and Star Tours, other attractions located in Discoveryland.
The first and most hyped-up attraction was Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon. This ride is an intense roller coaster, much moreso than the other, similar rides at Anaheim, Florida, and Tokyo. Beginning with a zero to sixty miles per hour launch in two-and-a-half seconds, guests pull up to five G's on the ride (for reference, the launch of a rocket has astronauts hit about three G's) and go through four inversions: two loops, a corkscrew, and a cobra roll. Theming on this ride is perhaps better than anything ever seen at the Disney Parks, with a multitude of references to the novel by Jules Verne as guests fly through the stars, into asteroids and moon craters, and loop around steampunk moon bases (these bases are fully explorable by guests after the coaster ends, as a reward for surviving the ride).
The other main attraction is Journey to the Center of the Earth, Disney's first drop ride. Guests get into a bronze and steel drill machine and drop from the top of Discovery Mountain through a glass tube into the heart of a boiling volcano. They progressively travel deeper, past flooding caverns and voracious dinosaurs. At the end, after an average five drops (though there can be anywhere from three to seven), the car is shot out of the volcano and returns to the station.
The Nautilus replica holds within it two separate experiences: fine dining in the sub's Salon under the waters of the lagoon inside Discovery Mountain, and a tour of the interior of the Nautilus. The latter, named the Mysteries of the Nautilus, is a walking tour of many rooms of the iconic sub, including many props from Disney's 1954 epic adaptation of Verne's book, with guests even being able to see Captain Nemo's quarters.
Discovery Mountain is themed like a steampunk explosion. On the exterior of the structure, bronze pipes and mechanisms mar the potentially smooth golden surface. The cannon to Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon can be seen working on the outside as well, and every time it launches its guests, it shoots steam and smoke from the device, as if the coaster cars really did get launched into outer space. The interior of the building is walled with glass and gives views of a foreign planet's surface, with craters filled with lava and alien planets hung in the sky, with little steampunk astronauts out there performing a number of (sometimes humorous) tasks.
Discovery Mountain only helped out Disney in the end, even though its expense totaled over half of what it had cost to build Euro Disneyland in the first place. Guests absolutely poured in from all over the continent, with the majority of them being from the United Kingdom and Germany, not the stubborn (but slowly accepting) France, and some rides would gain clones or separate tracks that were narrated in English to account for them. But Tony Baxter's greatest achievement, Euro Disneyland, was made even better, and it was Walt Disney Imagineering's newfound confidence that would usher in a new golden age of the Disney theme park, beginning with the next grand opening: 1998's Animal Kingdom.
--Disney After Walt: How Michael Eisner Saved the Mouse Part Two, themouseterpiece.net, November 2018
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I absolutely can't wait for the Animal Kingdom post. I visited Disney World at 8 y.o. in December of 1998. It has been the one and only time I have attended a Disney resort. So, it will be yet another nostalgic adventure in this nostalgia driven TL for me. Thank you, Hex.
Spring 2010 (Part 3) - Going For The Back Of Beyond
Grand Theft Auto: Back Of Beyond
Grand Theft Auto: Back Of Beyond is a portable 3-D action game in the Grand Theft Auto series, a side game of sorts to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, featuring many of the same locales, though with a slightly smaller scope. The game features the cities of Los Santos and San Fierro, as well as the massive backwoods areas between them, in which most of the game takes place (as the title implies). The gameplay and visual interface are a combination of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto II, reflecting the gameplay enhancements of the latter, though not all of GTA II's gameplay enhancements are present in Back Of Beyond. The game also compresses the size of the two cities somewhat while vastly expanding the backwoods area, adding several small towns and other areas in order to bring the rural side of San Andreas into focus. The game also features a series of "Conspiracy" side missions, more than fifty in all, in which the protagonist is tasked with finding missing persons, discovering hidden secrets, solving various mysteries, or uncovering shady government activity, in exchange for rewards in the form of weapons, vehicles, or money. The game features plenty of cars, but also a wide selection of other vehicles, including ATVs, motorbikes, boats, and even small planes, and the jetpack from San Andreas also makes a return toward the end. The game features the best graphics to date of any handheld Grand Theft Auto game, with enhanced detail and improved character animation, and the game looks about as good as the Wave version of San Andreas, and in some aspects slightly better, though in other aspects, including draw distance, the game looks slightly worse. The game's protagonist is a former meth dealer named Robbie Travers, who was run out of his town by the activities of a much more well organized gang. With the help of some old friends, Robbie is looking to take back his town and get back in the drug dealing business. The game features a drug dealing mini-game similar to the one in OTL's Chinatown Wars, in which Robbie can deliver drugs to various people or hire others to deliver drugs for him. Robbie can arm the gangsters he hires to make his deliveries, but this can backfire if one of his gangsters starts a conflict with another game. Like previous Grand Theft Auto titles, the game features numerous celebrity cameo voice acting performances, and Robbie himself is voiced by veteran actor Gil Bellows.
The game's plot begins in a small rural town in San Andreas, and it's here where Robbie will get his first few missions, working for the town's mayor (who works as a criminal on the side). Robbie is stuck in this small town because a dangerous meth dealing gang took over his home town of Allenridge, a rural exurb of Los Santos. Before Robbie can return to Allenridge (he can go there right from the beginning, but he's liable to get shot to pieces by the gang once they recognize him), he's got to build up some street cred by setting up a criminal empire in backwoods San Andreas. He can also get involved in gang wars in Los Santos and San Fierro (Los Santos and its surrounding environs are closed off by police barricade until about halfway through the game). He'll befriend a number of people, some of whom are recognizable from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (including popular ex-government agent The Truth). He'll also make numerous powerful enemies, including a corrupt Boss Hogg-esque sheriff figure and a displaced Mafioso criminal from Liberty City looking to make it big on the West Coast. On the whole, missions in Back of Beyond tend to be less complex and involved than those in previous games in the series, and often involve long drives from place to place (something that becomes one of the game's main criticisms). Robbie is portrayed as being somewhat less vicious than previous protagonists in the series, but of course the player can do anything they want with him, including killing sprees. There are many strange occurrences that take place out in the woods, and Bigfoot actually shows up during the game's final Conspiracy mission (the player is of course tasked with killing the creature). Back Of Beyond presents plenty of opportunities for the player to stray from the main plot, which is a bit shorter than the main plot of other Grand Theft Auto games, and can be beaten in a few hours by players who know what they're doing. Once Robbie returns to Allenridge and establishes his meth empire, it kicks off a chain of events that ultimately lead to a showdown with a rogue government agent seeking to corner the drug market in Los Santos and San Fierro, and who wishes to run San Andreas' rural counties like a de facto dictator using a network of interconnected gangs. After the agent's plan is exposed to his employers, he goes berserk and takes some of Robbie's friends hostage, and Robbie has to save them by shooting his way through numerous gangs on his way to the agent's forest mansion. In the end, Robbie reunites with his friends and celebrates his new reign as the crime lord of rural San Andreas.
Back Of Beyond is widely considered the best handheld GTA title to date (its reception just a smidge worse than OTL's Chinatown Wars), but isn't without its flaws, including the aforementioned long driving missions and the lack of compelling side characters compared to other games in the series. Robbie himself makes up for it by being one of the more likable series protagonists, and the game's scope is widely praised compared to other handheld titles. It was thought to be either impossible or quite difficult to pull off San Andreas on a handheld, but Back Of Beyond does it in tremendous fashion, and is released on the Supernova, iPod Play, and iPhone on May 4, 2010. The iPhone version features touchscreen minigames and better graphics than the versions for the dedicated handhelds, and is considered the superior version of the game, becoming one of the best selling mobile titles of 2010 (all three versions of the game perform quite well commercially).
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Rockstar Expected To Have A Major Presence At E3 2010
Rockstar Games is planning a "major" presentation at E3 2010, along with a large booth at the show. The main game they're expected to exhibit is Bully 2, which is launching in August and is already shaping up to be much more massive in scope than their 2006 hit about a schoolboy named Jimmy who deals with numerous cliques and schemes at Bulworth Academy. Bully 2 has been confirmed to feature a brand new protagonist and a brand new school, and is said to be Rockstar's first open world game to allow the player to choose between a male and female protagonist. Rockstar is also expected to give more details about their upcoming Crime Stories mystery game, a sequel to 2009's acclaimed Crime Stories: Literary Ghosts. While not expected to be as big a game as Bully 2, the new Crime Stories title is one of the more anticipated games of next year thanks to the critical and commercial success of the original.
The big news we're all waiting to hear, of course, is news about Grand Theft Auto III, Rockstar's follow-up to Grand Theft Auto II. The game is expected to be at the very least teased during Rockstar's presentation, but nothing has been confirmed or even mentioned by the company, and the game is likely very early in development, with 2012 being the earliest it could see release. Still, even a name drop for Grand Theft Auto III would likely be the most popular announcement of the presentation and even E3 2010 overall, so we're likely to hear some tiny bit of news to whet fans' whistles for the inevitable upcoming game. We're definitely going to get more news about the final DLC add-on pack for Grand Theft Auto II, which could be a good way to segue into the third.
Apart from that, Rockstar is likely to discuss a couple of other games, possibly a new IP or a new installment of Internationale. Rockstar's presentation is one of the most hotly anticipated of E3 this year, and fans are hoping the company won't disappoint.
-from a May 6, 2010 article at Games Over Matter
Grand Theft Auto: Back Of Beyond is a portable 3-D action game in the Grand Theft Auto series, a side game of sorts to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, featuring many of the same locales, though with a slightly smaller scope. The game features the cities of Los Santos and San Fierro, as well as the massive backwoods areas between them, in which most of the game takes place (as the title implies). The gameplay and visual interface are a combination of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto II, reflecting the gameplay enhancements of the latter, though not all of GTA II's gameplay enhancements are present in Back Of Beyond. The game also compresses the size of the two cities somewhat while vastly expanding the backwoods area, adding several small towns and other areas in order to bring the rural side of San Andreas into focus. The game also features a series of "Conspiracy" side missions, more than fifty in all, in which the protagonist is tasked with finding missing persons, discovering hidden secrets, solving various mysteries, or uncovering shady government activity, in exchange for rewards in the form of weapons, vehicles, or money. The game features plenty of cars, but also a wide selection of other vehicles, including ATVs, motorbikes, boats, and even small planes, and the jetpack from San Andreas also makes a return toward the end. The game features the best graphics to date of any handheld Grand Theft Auto game, with enhanced detail and improved character animation, and the game looks about as good as the Wave version of San Andreas, and in some aspects slightly better, though in other aspects, including draw distance, the game looks slightly worse. The game's protagonist is a former meth dealer named Robbie Travers, who was run out of his town by the activities of a much more well organized gang. With the help of some old friends, Robbie is looking to take back his town and get back in the drug dealing business. The game features a drug dealing mini-game similar to the one in OTL's Chinatown Wars, in which Robbie can deliver drugs to various people or hire others to deliver drugs for him. Robbie can arm the gangsters he hires to make his deliveries, but this can backfire if one of his gangsters starts a conflict with another game. Like previous Grand Theft Auto titles, the game features numerous celebrity cameo voice acting performances, and Robbie himself is voiced by veteran actor Gil Bellows.
The game's plot begins in a small rural town in San Andreas, and it's here where Robbie will get his first few missions, working for the town's mayor (who works as a criminal on the side). Robbie is stuck in this small town because a dangerous meth dealing gang took over his home town of Allenridge, a rural exurb of Los Santos. Before Robbie can return to Allenridge (he can go there right from the beginning, but he's liable to get shot to pieces by the gang once they recognize him), he's got to build up some street cred by setting up a criminal empire in backwoods San Andreas. He can also get involved in gang wars in Los Santos and San Fierro (Los Santos and its surrounding environs are closed off by police barricade until about halfway through the game). He'll befriend a number of people, some of whom are recognizable from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (including popular ex-government agent The Truth). He'll also make numerous powerful enemies, including a corrupt Boss Hogg-esque sheriff figure and a displaced Mafioso criminal from Liberty City looking to make it big on the West Coast. On the whole, missions in Back of Beyond tend to be less complex and involved than those in previous games in the series, and often involve long drives from place to place (something that becomes one of the game's main criticisms). Robbie is portrayed as being somewhat less vicious than previous protagonists in the series, but of course the player can do anything they want with him, including killing sprees. There are many strange occurrences that take place out in the woods, and Bigfoot actually shows up during the game's final Conspiracy mission (the player is of course tasked with killing the creature). Back Of Beyond presents plenty of opportunities for the player to stray from the main plot, which is a bit shorter than the main plot of other Grand Theft Auto games, and can be beaten in a few hours by players who know what they're doing. Once Robbie returns to Allenridge and establishes his meth empire, it kicks off a chain of events that ultimately lead to a showdown with a rogue government agent seeking to corner the drug market in Los Santos and San Fierro, and who wishes to run San Andreas' rural counties like a de facto dictator using a network of interconnected gangs. After the agent's plan is exposed to his employers, he goes berserk and takes some of Robbie's friends hostage, and Robbie has to save them by shooting his way through numerous gangs on his way to the agent's forest mansion. In the end, Robbie reunites with his friends and celebrates his new reign as the crime lord of rural San Andreas.
Back Of Beyond is widely considered the best handheld GTA title to date (its reception just a smidge worse than OTL's Chinatown Wars), but isn't without its flaws, including the aforementioned long driving missions and the lack of compelling side characters compared to other games in the series. Robbie himself makes up for it by being one of the more likable series protagonists, and the game's scope is widely praised compared to other handheld titles. It was thought to be either impossible or quite difficult to pull off San Andreas on a handheld, but Back Of Beyond does it in tremendous fashion, and is released on the Supernova, iPod Play, and iPhone on May 4, 2010. The iPhone version features touchscreen minigames and better graphics than the versions for the dedicated handhelds, and is considered the superior version of the game, becoming one of the best selling mobile titles of 2010 (all three versions of the game perform quite well commercially).
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Rockstar Expected To Have A Major Presence At E3 2010
Rockstar Games is planning a "major" presentation at E3 2010, along with a large booth at the show. The main game they're expected to exhibit is Bully 2, which is launching in August and is already shaping up to be much more massive in scope than their 2006 hit about a schoolboy named Jimmy who deals with numerous cliques and schemes at Bulworth Academy. Bully 2 has been confirmed to feature a brand new protagonist and a brand new school, and is said to be Rockstar's first open world game to allow the player to choose between a male and female protagonist. Rockstar is also expected to give more details about their upcoming Crime Stories mystery game, a sequel to 2009's acclaimed Crime Stories: Literary Ghosts. While not expected to be as big a game as Bully 2, the new Crime Stories title is one of the more anticipated games of next year thanks to the critical and commercial success of the original.
The big news we're all waiting to hear, of course, is news about Grand Theft Auto III, Rockstar's follow-up to Grand Theft Auto II. The game is expected to be at the very least teased during Rockstar's presentation, but nothing has been confirmed or even mentioned by the company, and the game is likely very early in development, with 2012 being the earliest it could see release. Still, even a name drop for Grand Theft Auto III would likely be the most popular announcement of the presentation and even E3 2010 overall, so we're likely to hear some tiny bit of news to whet fans' whistles for the inevitable upcoming game. We're definitely going to get more news about the final DLC add-on pack for Grand Theft Auto II, which could be a good way to segue into the third.
Apart from that, Rockstar is likely to discuss a couple of other games, possibly a new IP or a new installment of Internationale. Rockstar's presentation is one of the most hotly anticipated of E3 this year, and fans are hoping the company won't disappoint.
-from a May 6, 2010 article at Games Over Matter
Spring 2010 (Part 4) - Hidden Meaning
Hidden
Hidden is an action/RPG/shooter published by THQ for the Nintendo Sapphire. Originally developed for both the Sapphire and Xbox 2, the game was actually announced at E3 2006 in a small THQ presser just before the Xbox 2's launch, but spent some time in development hell before being reworked as a Sapphire exclusive. Ostensibly an open-world game, but taking place mostly in city environs (the game has a lot in common with OTL's HD Deus Ex titles such as Human Revolution and Mankind Divided), it follows the story of Agent Hart (first name not revealed until nearly the end of the game), who goes rogue after his computer hacker friend uncovers a government conspiracy, and he must use his abilities to root out their members, who could be anyone, anywhere. Agent Hart is a highly trained spy who can learn new skills and improve his abilities on the fly, and the player is given a robust skill tree to round out Hart's abilities and make him stronger, able to allocate points toward anything from extra health to new combat moves to an ability that will make him effectively invisible, the developers leave it up to the player how best to sculpt Hart to their liking. The game is a third person action shooter with first person elements (the player has the option to shoot and sneak in the first person view), and the action slows down when the player is performing a complex action, enabling them to aim and target enemies with excellent precision (this slowdown can be leveled up via the ability tree). Hart is able to perform stealth takedowns, melee strikes, and assassinations, and can also do things such as pickpocket people and even slip things into their pockets, such as explosives or evidence. He can also talk to civilians and enemies alike, and can sometimes gain information from dialogue trees or even talk his way into or out of trouble. The game shares some elements with Eye In The Sky (the stealth aspects, the young hacker girl who's best friends with the protagonist), but isn't nearly as technology oriented. Technology in the game is for the most part realistic, there aren't many James Bond-esque gadgets, and the main character doesn't use computer hacking or surveillance, instead choosing to get up close and personal. In addition, the story, while definitely serious, isn't quite so dark or violent. The game's rating is Teen, and even though there's shooting and killing, there isn't much blood and the language is kept to a mild level as well, with THQ wanting the game to be accessible to all players. The game is easily one of the best looking titles on the Sapphire, with realistic graphics and animations, and it probably wouldn't have been possible to do on the iTwin. It's also one reason THQ decided to nix the Xbox 2 port, as the port would have presented somewhat of a technical challenge, and with the Xbox 2's player base dwindling, THQ didn't believe it would be worth the effort. Hart is voiced by Keanu Reeves, and somewhat resembles him in appearance, while his young hacker friend Sara is voiced by Zosia Mamet.
The action of Hidden begins with Agent Hart, a man with few connections to others save for his contacts within the underground (who help him with his cases), working on a case with his friend Sara, who is tracking down foreign computer hackers trying to tap into a government bank. When Hart goes after the hackers, Sara begins to learn some strange things as she researches the criminals for Hart, and begins making connections to her brother's disappearance a year before. Sara helps Hart achieve his mission, before covertly meeting with him and asking him to investigate a lead into her brother's disappearance. Hart tracks down the lead and finds himself chasing after a man with incredible skills, and also gets a phone call from his agency telling him to stop his pursuit. Hart refuses to do so, eventually leading to the death of the man he's tracking, a man who has no identifying marks of any kind, and the only clue he leaves behind for Hart is a strange tattoo on his inner thigh. Hart finds Sara and tells her about the tattoo, and Sara recalls her brother meeting a man with a similar tattoo, and disappearing soon after. The discovery leads Hart to find these strange hidden sleeper agents everywhere, while his own bosses burn him and send assassins after him. Hart manages to capture one of the assassins, an old agency friend named Sidley, who Hart discovers isn't actually involved with the sleeper agents he's been chasing. Instead, a covert task force within the government has been trying to clean up a mess left over from the Cold War, of an old group of hidden agents and assassins still trying to exert control and influence over the government after the government itself has moved on. Hart was burned because he was believed to have been one of those agents, and is allowed back into his old organization, into the secret task force charged with hunting them down. What Hart discovers is essentially an internal intelligence civil war between the old organization and the new one. The old organization is led by an 86-year-old World War II veteran named Cloker, who believes the United States is still being threatened from all sides and who refuses to lay down the mission he was given, training generation after generation of sleeper agents to continue carrying it out. Sara learns that her brother was recruited into Cloker's organization, and though at first Hart believes him to be brainwashed, he ends up being a true believer and a formidable foe who even tries to recruit Sara to the organization, forcing her to put him down in a tragic scene. The game's actions eventually lead to a climax of Hart forcing his way into Cloker's compound to take him down. On the verge of death, Cloker finally sees the error of his ways and agrees to lay down his arms and end his mission, dying a soldier's death after issuing a deactivation order to his agents. All of them but one surrender to authorities, that one remaining agent leaving a hook for a sequel.
Hidden is released on May 4, 2010, and despite some unfortunate flaws (a somewhat predictable plot, repetitive missions, and a bit of an obtuse skill tree), reviews are still highly positive, praising the game's graphics, its gameplay, and its voice acting. Keanu Reeves' performance as Hart in particular is seen as being excellent, one of the best voiceover performances in a video game in recent memory, and his performance establishes Hart as one of the best new action heroes in video games. The game gets much of the same praise achieved by OTL's Deus Ex: Human Revolution, since it allows the player to mold their power-ups to their preferred playstyle. It's not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but it is seen as one of the biggest commercial and critical successes of the first half of 2010, and one of the best Sapphire exclusive titles to date, striking a blow against Apple in many of the same genres that the iTwin had been dominating in earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Xbox 2 fans clamor for a port that they'll never get, another sign that the console continues to be in trouble. In fact, between Hidden and the upcoming Rise A Knight: Majesty (which is coming to the Sapphire and iTwin, but not the Xbox 2), it's thought by some that THQ may be abandoning the Xbox 2 entirely.
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Confirmed: No Keynote For Microsoft At E3 2010
It's been rumored for weeks but now it's official: for the first time in a decade, Microsoft will not be giving a keynote speech at the upcoming E3 electronics show. Instead, the company says that it will "host a presentation on the show floor to exhibit our upcoming games, including The Covenant 4". While several third party companies, including Rockstar, Activision, and Ubisoft, are all expected to give keynote presentations before E3 begins, Microsoft won't be, and it's seen as another sign that the company may be getting ready to step down from the console race, or at least put its focus on products such as the upcoming Microsoft Phone. Attendees hoping to play The Covenant 4 at the show won't be disappointed: the game will be the centerpiece of Microsoft's floor exhibition and will likely see some of the biggest crowds of the show, but the game won't be shown before the start of E3. As in previous years, Nintendo and Apple will be presenting keynote speeches highlighting upcoming games, and at least one of them is expected to show off some form of new handheld hardware at the show.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on May 8, 2010
Hidden is an action/RPG/shooter published by THQ for the Nintendo Sapphire. Originally developed for both the Sapphire and Xbox 2, the game was actually announced at E3 2006 in a small THQ presser just before the Xbox 2's launch, but spent some time in development hell before being reworked as a Sapphire exclusive. Ostensibly an open-world game, but taking place mostly in city environs (the game has a lot in common with OTL's HD Deus Ex titles such as Human Revolution and Mankind Divided), it follows the story of Agent Hart (first name not revealed until nearly the end of the game), who goes rogue after his computer hacker friend uncovers a government conspiracy, and he must use his abilities to root out their members, who could be anyone, anywhere. Agent Hart is a highly trained spy who can learn new skills and improve his abilities on the fly, and the player is given a robust skill tree to round out Hart's abilities and make him stronger, able to allocate points toward anything from extra health to new combat moves to an ability that will make him effectively invisible, the developers leave it up to the player how best to sculpt Hart to their liking. The game is a third person action shooter with first person elements (the player has the option to shoot and sneak in the first person view), and the action slows down when the player is performing a complex action, enabling them to aim and target enemies with excellent precision (this slowdown can be leveled up via the ability tree). Hart is able to perform stealth takedowns, melee strikes, and assassinations, and can also do things such as pickpocket people and even slip things into their pockets, such as explosives or evidence. He can also talk to civilians and enemies alike, and can sometimes gain information from dialogue trees or even talk his way into or out of trouble. The game shares some elements with Eye In The Sky (the stealth aspects, the young hacker girl who's best friends with the protagonist), but isn't nearly as technology oriented. Technology in the game is for the most part realistic, there aren't many James Bond-esque gadgets, and the main character doesn't use computer hacking or surveillance, instead choosing to get up close and personal. In addition, the story, while definitely serious, isn't quite so dark or violent. The game's rating is Teen, and even though there's shooting and killing, there isn't much blood and the language is kept to a mild level as well, with THQ wanting the game to be accessible to all players. The game is easily one of the best looking titles on the Sapphire, with realistic graphics and animations, and it probably wouldn't have been possible to do on the iTwin. It's also one reason THQ decided to nix the Xbox 2 port, as the port would have presented somewhat of a technical challenge, and with the Xbox 2's player base dwindling, THQ didn't believe it would be worth the effort. Hart is voiced by Keanu Reeves, and somewhat resembles him in appearance, while his young hacker friend Sara is voiced by Zosia Mamet.
The action of Hidden begins with Agent Hart, a man with few connections to others save for his contacts within the underground (who help him with his cases), working on a case with his friend Sara, who is tracking down foreign computer hackers trying to tap into a government bank. When Hart goes after the hackers, Sara begins to learn some strange things as she researches the criminals for Hart, and begins making connections to her brother's disappearance a year before. Sara helps Hart achieve his mission, before covertly meeting with him and asking him to investigate a lead into her brother's disappearance. Hart tracks down the lead and finds himself chasing after a man with incredible skills, and also gets a phone call from his agency telling him to stop his pursuit. Hart refuses to do so, eventually leading to the death of the man he's tracking, a man who has no identifying marks of any kind, and the only clue he leaves behind for Hart is a strange tattoo on his inner thigh. Hart finds Sara and tells her about the tattoo, and Sara recalls her brother meeting a man with a similar tattoo, and disappearing soon after. The discovery leads Hart to find these strange hidden sleeper agents everywhere, while his own bosses burn him and send assassins after him. Hart manages to capture one of the assassins, an old agency friend named Sidley, who Hart discovers isn't actually involved with the sleeper agents he's been chasing. Instead, a covert task force within the government has been trying to clean up a mess left over from the Cold War, of an old group of hidden agents and assassins still trying to exert control and influence over the government after the government itself has moved on. Hart was burned because he was believed to have been one of those agents, and is allowed back into his old organization, into the secret task force charged with hunting them down. What Hart discovers is essentially an internal intelligence civil war between the old organization and the new one. The old organization is led by an 86-year-old World War II veteran named Cloker, who believes the United States is still being threatened from all sides and who refuses to lay down the mission he was given, training generation after generation of sleeper agents to continue carrying it out. Sara learns that her brother was recruited into Cloker's organization, and though at first Hart believes him to be brainwashed, he ends up being a true believer and a formidable foe who even tries to recruit Sara to the organization, forcing her to put him down in a tragic scene. The game's actions eventually lead to a climax of Hart forcing his way into Cloker's compound to take him down. On the verge of death, Cloker finally sees the error of his ways and agrees to lay down his arms and end his mission, dying a soldier's death after issuing a deactivation order to his agents. All of them but one surrender to authorities, that one remaining agent leaving a hook for a sequel.
Hidden is released on May 4, 2010, and despite some unfortunate flaws (a somewhat predictable plot, repetitive missions, and a bit of an obtuse skill tree), reviews are still highly positive, praising the game's graphics, its gameplay, and its voice acting. Keanu Reeves' performance as Hart in particular is seen as being excellent, one of the best voiceover performances in a video game in recent memory, and his performance establishes Hart as one of the best new action heroes in video games. The game gets much of the same praise achieved by OTL's Deus Ex: Human Revolution, since it allows the player to mold their power-ups to their preferred playstyle. It's not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but it is seen as one of the biggest commercial and critical successes of the first half of 2010, and one of the best Sapphire exclusive titles to date, striking a blow against Apple in many of the same genres that the iTwin had been dominating in earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Xbox 2 fans clamor for a port that they'll never get, another sign that the console continues to be in trouble. In fact, between Hidden and the upcoming Rise A Knight: Majesty (which is coming to the Sapphire and iTwin, but not the Xbox 2), it's thought by some that THQ may be abandoning the Xbox 2 entirely.
-
Confirmed: No Keynote For Microsoft At E3 2010
It's been rumored for weeks but now it's official: for the first time in a decade, Microsoft will not be giving a keynote speech at the upcoming E3 electronics show. Instead, the company says that it will "host a presentation on the show floor to exhibit our upcoming games, including The Covenant 4". While several third party companies, including Rockstar, Activision, and Ubisoft, are all expected to give keynote presentations before E3 begins, Microsoft won't be, and it's seen as another sign that the company may be getting ready to step down from the console race, or at least put its focus on products such as the upcoming Microsoft Phone. Attendees hoping to play The Covenant 4 at the show won't be disappointed: the game will be the centerpiece of Microsoft's floor exhibition and will likely see some of the biggest crowds of the show, but the game won't be shown before the start of E3. As in previous years, Nintendo and Apple will be presenting keynote speeches highlighting upcoming games, and at least one of them is expected to show off some form of new handheld hardware at the show.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on May 8, 2010
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
Oh dear. Might this be disproportionate retribution for bringing us the monstrosity of Windows 98 and Vista in both universes?
In all seriousness, if they stick around all I can hope is that they don't do anything stupid like get rid of the Start Menu like in Windows 8.
I hated Windows 8 with all of my hate. How rigid was Microsoft's internal thinking that no one actually tried to use the damn thing before releasing it? It was a nightmare!
Spring 2010 (Part 5) - Mariokart Goes Hardcore?
Mariokart Crown
Mariokart Crown is a kart racing game for the Nintendo Sapphire and the seventh game in the Mariokart series. It plays much like previous Mariokart titles, in that it features arcade-style racing, drifting, and items to use on other racers, but has a number of notable gameplay differences that distinguish it from other games in the series. Most notably, Mariokart Crown is intended to be somewhat more difficult than other games in the series. Mario Kart: Crash Course on the Wave in 2006 did this somewhat with the Super Special Circuit, but Crown adds increased difficulty to all of its circuits, even the Mushroom Cup. It shrinks down the number of new courses from 24 to 20, but those 20 courses are designed with challenge in mind, to reward skillful racing. The game also includes a 200cc option with ultra-fast racing and difficult AI. In addition, the game expands the number of simultaneous racers from 12 to 16, introduces kart parts to make stat strategy a major factor in racing, and also modifies the items to allow for slightly more skillful use (though items such as the Blue Shell remain in the game, not eliminating the luck factor entirely).
The game features five race circuits: Mushroom, Flower, Star, Special, and Crown. While the first four are available from the start of the game, Crown must be earned, first by completing Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special with first place trophies in 150cc mode, to unlock the 200cc mode, then by completing the four courses again in 200cc mode, not just with gold trophies, but with first place finishes in all tracks. Retro tracks are unlocked merely by winning their associated cup in 150cc mode, and include courses from the six previous Mariokart games. Crown merely has to be unlocked to unlock the associated Crown retro tracks.
The game's 20 new tracks include:
Mushroom Cup:
Mario Stadium: A night-time ride through a spectacular and beautiful course, similar to the OTL opening track of Mariokart 8.
Roller Park: A roller-coaster themed course complete with a big, wild drop.
Baseball Beltway: A race around a baseball diamond, with allusions to the Mario sports games.
Daisy Dreamland: A Daisy-themed course filled with clouds and set in a beautiful golden palace.
Flower Cup:
Gumdrop Speedway: A candy themed course involving a sequence where you race from gumdrop to gumdrop high in the air.
Luigi Lake: A race featuring a partially submerged speedway racing through a toxic green lake.
Peach's Harrowing Rescue: A course in which the theme is rescuing Peach from Bowser, but there's an interesting twist in the end. Lots of boost jumps on this course.
Luvbi's Forest Hideaway: A beautiful forested course in which Luvbi and her fellow Nimbis roam nearby.
Star Cup:
Deep Freeze Village: A village-themed course taking place during a blizzard.
Accel City: A city-themed course with futuristic, fast-paced racing and lots of rainbow boosts.
DK's Quake Valley: A valley themed course taking place during an earthquake, with falling boulders galore.
Ocean Blue: An ocean-themed course in which players race in tunnels beneath the waves.
Special Cup:
Sky-High Circuit: A race taking place in a massive skyscraper, with the finish line on the roof.
Wiggler's Den: An underground course with lots of tricky tunnels.
Bowser's Battlefield: A course taking place both inside Bowser's castle and outside of it.
Mushroom 500: Breaking with series tradition, Rainbow Road doesn't appear in the Special Cup. Instead, this rally course with plenty of tricky turns and a roaring crowd awaits.
Crown Cup:
Mario Metro: A city-themed rally course with traffic and more wild turns.
Wario's Wicked Ride: A brutal course with no barriers to keep you from falling off the track.
Zero Field: A course with clear allusions to F-Zero, this fast-paced course forces you to go as fast as you can even into dangerous turns.
Rainbow Road: The toughest course in the series to date, combining every possible hazard and only allowing the best racers to gain victory.
In addition to the standard Grand Prix, Time Trial, Vs., and Battle Modes, the game features a series first: an Adventure Mode, in which the player must compete themed challenges and race in all the cup circuits. Adventure Mode must also be completed to unlock the Crown Cup, and defeating the Crown Cup opens up a special epilogue in which the player returns to Adventure Mode to complete in special versions of the game's Crown Cup races. Adventure Mode features short cutscenes featuring the player's chosen racer, though the racer themselves reacts similarly no matter who it is, and doesn't have any lines. Adventure Mode takes about six hours to complete and helps to serve as somewhat of a tutorial for the game. The plot, which is about as basic as can be, involves the chosen player character attempting to win the magical Checkered Crown (which appears on the game's box art) to be crowned king (or queen) of all of kart racing. Each character has their own motivations for wanting it, though again, the Adventure Mode cutscenes are fairly generic and the mode mostly serves as added single-player content. Players can also take part in online races, and even if you don't have the Crown Cup unlocked in your own game, it's possible to play those courses online with people who do have it unlocked. It's also possible to play an online or local multiplayer mode with no items (though stage hazards are still present). The game features the best graphics to date in the Mariokart series, with an exciting musical score and remixed music for all 20 retro tracks. The game is released on May 25, 2010, and reviews are quite good, equal to if not slightly better than the reviews for Crash Course on the Wave. Some players and critics do get frustrated with the difficulty, especially the difficulty of unlocking the Crown Cup (where even a single blue shell can mean doing an entire circuit of races all over again), but it's not that huge of a step-up and the game is still relatively casual friendly, while providing a suitable challenge to series veterans. Like previous Mariokart games, it becomes a major system seller and one of the best selling software titles of its generation.
Mariokart Crown is a kart racing game for the Nintendo Sapphire and the seventh game in the Mariokart series. It plays much like previous Mariokart titles, in that it features arcade-style racing, drifting, and items to use on other racers, but has a number of notable gameplay differences that distinguish it from other games in the series. Most notably, Mariokart Crown is intended to be somewhat more difficult than other games in the series. Mario Kart: Crash Course on the Wave in 2006 did this somewhat with the Super Special Circuit, but Crown adds increased difficulty to all of its circuits, even the Mushroom Cup. It shrinks down the number of new courses from 24 to 20, but those 20 courses are designed with challenge in mind, to reward skillful racing. The game also includes a 200cc option with ultra-fast racing and difficult AI. In addition, the game expands the number of simultaneous racers from 12 to 16, introduces kart parts to make stat strategy a major factor in racing, and also modifies the items to allow for slightly more skillful use (though items such as the Blue Shell remain in the game, not eliminating the luck factor entirely).
The game features five race circuits: Mushroom, Flower, Star, Special, and Crown. While the first four are available from the start of the game, Crown must be earned, first by completing Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special with first place trophies in 150cc mode, to unlock the 200cc mode, then by completing the four courses again in 200cc mode, not just with gold trophies, but with first place finishes in all tracks. Retro tracks are unlocked merely by winning their associated cup in 150cc mode, and include courses from the six previous Mariokart games. Crown merely has to be unlocked to unlock the associated Crown retro tracks.
The game's 20 new tracks include:
Mushroom Cup:
Mario Stadium: A night-time ride through a spectacular and beautiful course, similar to the OTL opening track of Mariokart 8.
Roller Park: A roller-coaster themed course complete with a big, wild drop.
Baseball Beltway: A race around a baseball diamond, with allusions to the Mario sports games.
Daisy Dreamland: A Daisy-themed course filled with clouds and set in a beautiful golden palace.
Flower Cup:
Gumdrop Speedway: A candy themed course involving a sequence where you race from gumdrop to gumdrop high in the air.
Luigi Lake: A race featuring a partially submerged speedway racing through a toxic green lake.
Peach's Harrowing Rescue: A course in which the theme is rescuing Peach from Bowser, but there's an interesting twist in the end. Lots of boost jumps on this course.
Luvbi's Forest Hideaway: A beautiful forested course in which Luvbi and her fellow Nimbis roam nearby.
Star Cup:
Deep Freeze Village: A village-themed course taking place during a blizzard.
Accel City: A city-themed course with futuristic, fast-paced racing and lots of rainbow boosts.
DK's Quake Valley: A valley themed course taking place during an earthquake, with falling boulders galore.
Ocean Blue: An ocean-themed course in which players race in tunnels beneath the waves.
Special Cup:
Sky-High Circuit: A race taking place in a massive skyscraper, with the finish line on the roof.
Wiggler's Den: An underground course with lots of tricky tunnels.
Bowser's Battlefield: A course taking place both inside Bowser's castle and outside of it.
Mushroom 500: Breaking with series tradition, Rainbow Road doesn't appear in the Special Cup. Instead, this rally course with plenty of tricky turns and a roaring crowd awaits.
Crown Cup:
Mario Metro: A city-themed rally course with traffic and more wild turns.
Wario's Wicked Ride: A brutal course with no barriers to keep you from falling off the track.
Zero Field: A course with clear allusions to F-Zero, this fast-paced course forces you to go as fast as you can even into dangerous turns.
Rainbow Road: The toughest course in the series to date, combining every possible hazard and only allowing the best racers to gain victory.
In addition to the standard Grand Prix, Time Trial, Vs., and Battle Modes, the game features a series first: an Adventure Mode, in which the player must compete themed challenges and race in all the cup circuits. Adventure Mode must also be completed to unlock the Crown Cup, and defeating the Crown Cup opens up a special epilogue in which the player returns to Adventure Mode to complete in special versions of the game's Crown Cup races. Adventure Mode features short cutscenes featuring the player's chosen racer, though the racer themselves reacts similarly no matter who it is, and doesn't have any lines. Adventure Mode takes about six hours to complete and helps to serve as somewhat of a tutorial for the game. The plot, which is about as basic as can be, involves the chosen player character attempting to win the magical Checkered Crown (which appears on the game's box art) to be crowned king (or queen) of all of kart racing. Each character has their own motivations for wanting it, though again, the Adventure Mode cutscenes are fairly generic and the mode mostly serves as added single-player content. Players can also take part in online races, and even if you don't have the Crown Cup unlocked in your own game, it's possible to play those courses online with people who do have it unlocked. It's also possible to play an online or local multiplayer mode with no items (though stage hazards are still present). The game features the best graphics to date in the Mariokart series, with an exciting musical score and remixed music for all 20 retro tracks. The game is released on May 25, 2010, and reviews are quite good, equal to if not slightly better than the reviews for Crash Course on the Wave. Some players and critics do get frustrated with the difficulty, especially the difficulty of unlocking the Crown Cup (where even a single blue shell can mean doing an entire circuit of races all over again), but it's not that huge of a step-up and the game is still relatively casual friendly, while providing a suitable challenge to series veterans. Like previous Mariokart games, it becomes a major system seller and one of the best selling software titles of its generation.
This. All of this. Look at it. This is perfection. I have nothing else to say about this.
The 2009-10 Network Television Season/Superheroes Of Screens Big And Small
(Here's the update reviewing the 2009-10 network television season!)
ABC:
While ABC continued to get strong performances from shows like Dancing With The Stars and Lane, and even saw The Alchemist rise slightly in the ratings, most of its new shows were a swing and a miss, save for two dramas: the serialized drama The Pestilence, and the mostly-episodic corporate drama H.R.. The Pestilence is a dramatization of a deadly viral outbreak that slowly spreads throughout the United States, and follows the work of numerous CDC agents, as well as government officials (including the president, played by Carrie Fisher). It ended with a dramatic cliffhanger in which the virus spreads outside North America for the first time. Then you had H.R., which attempted to capitalize on the CBS hit Escrow from the previous year. It follows a human resources director at a major corporation who must deal with the personal and ethical dilemmas raised by their job, and scored solid critical reviews and great ratings. Overall, ABC experienced a fairly average year, bolstered by its holdovers but still in somewhat of a holding pattern.
CBS:
CBS rocketed to the status of #1 network on television, thanks to another huge year for new shows, in particular the three outstanding freshman comedies Northwest, Hating Places, and Class Warfare. Northwest, said by many to be the second coming of Friends, follows a group of 20-something Millennials living in Seattle. Hating Places follows the life of a harsh tourism critic and his eccentric friends (including arguably the show's breakout character, his ex-high school girlfriend played by Lyssa Fielding, who's now married to his best friend), while Class Warfare follows a young teacher forced to room with her much richer high school BFF. The shows all feature fairly young and energetic casts and are intended, like The Big Bang Theory (which continues to be a hit) to appeal to younger audiences. CBS also struck it big with Avenging Angels, a crime procedural also aimed at 20-something viewers, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a former crime victim turned private detective who goes after killers and sexual predators (and usually kills them). All four of the new shows landed in the top 20 in their rookie season, and CBS' new hit reality show Undercover Boss was also a massive hit.
NBC:
While Powers fell out of the top five, it's still an enormous hit in its fourth season, and looks to continue for at least two more, its riveting storylines captivating viewers and, along with Sunday Night Football, helping to propel NBC to a comfortable #2 spot. NBC also had Man In Motion, a crime procedural about a man who is rendered a paraplegic while chasing down a crime suspect but who continues to solve crimes. NBC had a solid slate of new shows and holdovers within the top 50, helping the network stay relevant as it searches for its next major hit.
FOX:
The most interesting news for FOX this year wasn't American Idol, despite its continued reign at the top of the TV ratings charts. Instead, it was the surprise success of Savage City, Joss Whedon's animated action drama that debuted on FOX's Sunday night animation block in the fall of 2009. The show became an instant ratings success, managing to retain about 95 percent of the audience of The Simpsons, good to be one of FOX's top eight shows and landing in the top 50 overall. The show has cultivated a major fandom and has carved out a healthy space for anime-esque drama on primetime TV, though no similar shows have been announced for 2010's fall lineup. It's likely that we may see at least one Savage City imitator in 2011, though whether it will air on FOX or somewhere else has yet to be seen. FOX also debuted a couple of minor hit live action comedies, and will be looking to climb back into the network conversation again in 2010-11.
-
Top 25 Rated Network Television Programs Of 2009-10:
1. American Idol (Wednesday) (FOX)
2. American Idol (Tuesday) (FOX)
3. Sunday Night Football (NBC)
4. Escrow (CBS)
5. Northwest (CBS)
6. Powers (NBC)
7. Dancing With The Stars (Monday) (ABC)
8. Dancing With The Stars (Thursday) (ABC)
9. Hating Places (CBS)
10. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
11. Undercover Boss (CBS)
12. Lane (ABC)
13. Class Warfare (CBS)
14. Standard Of Care (CBS)
15. The Showdown (NBC)
16. The Pestilence (ABC)
17. Avenging Angels (CBS)
18. The Mentalist (CBS)
19. The Alchemist (ABC)
20. Heart Of Darkness (CBS)
21. House (FOX)
22. Desperate Housewives (ABC)
23. H.R. (ABC)
24. 60 Minutes (CBS)
25. Man In Motion (NBC)
-
Savage City's first season gave Joss Whedon and his writing team a chance to establish the universe they'd created and the characters who would be driving the action of the show. The animated series takes place in the metropolis of Luna Bay, in the near future. While Luna Bay is much like the average American city, it began to change five years before the events of the series take place, after a mysterious event caused special powers to activate in certain members of the populace. These superpowered individuals became highly coveted by two rival factions seeking to take control of the city: Totema Corporation, a company that seeks to become the richest and most powerful in the world, and Crush, a faction of loosely affiliated street gangs seeking to take down Totema and rule the city on their own terms. Then you have rogue individuals seeking to take power for themselves, as well as a faction of hunters who specialize in taking down superpowered individuals at the behest of one of the two rival factions. Savage City's primary protagonist is Gunner, voiced by Nolan North, who takes jobs for the Totema Corporation as a hunter out to assassinate Crush's top superpowered fighters. Then there's Sage, voiced by Kristen Bell, who works for Crush as a hunter, but secretly has a hidden superpower, but it's not powerful enough to protect her from being killed by Totema or Crush if either of their leaders found out about it. Sage and Gunner are "sort of" love interests who both work together and clash numerous times during the first season. There's Gunner's mechanic friend Leroy (voiced by Terry Crews) who serves as Gunner's "inside man" helping him track down Crush's supers, and there's also Sinora (voiced by Letitia Wright), a high school girl who has the power to disassemble machines, who's being sought out by Totema but who wants to keep to herself so she can protect her friends. While the show has some influence from Powers, it deals much less in ethical questions and instead is largely just one giant gang war that plays out in the streets of a massive city, with plenty of destruction. As par for the course for a Whedon show, there's plenty of comedy relief, lots of powerful women, and one or two tragic deaths of well-loved characters.
The first thirteen episodes are briefly summarized here:
The Gun-Runner (November 8, 2009)
Gunner gets a tip about a massive shipment of weapons to a ganglord's mansion, but when he arrives, a ferociously powerful man with fists of flame interrupts the shipment, and Gunner finds himself in a literal hot pursuit.
Shadow Sage (November 15, 2009)
Gunner encounters a woman with the power to control the shadows themselves, but struggles to control her power. He wants to bring her in, but first he'll need her help to save a kidnap victim.
Riders Of The Storm (November 22, 2009)
A gang of motorcycle killers are bringing terror to the streets of Luna Bay. Are they affiliated with Crush, or are they secret shock troops for an increasingly desperate Totema?
Best Friends Forever (November 29, 2009)
The high school pecking order turns vicious after a group of mean girls show off their brand new superpowers, forcing Gunner to intervene.
I Spit On Your Grave (December 6, 2009)
Sage is out for revenge after a Totema hitman brutally kills her best friend. After the hitman calls in a favor to his old pal Gunner, he finds himself squarely in the furious shadowmancer's crosshairs...
We Got The Beat (December 13, 2009)
A concert gone horribly wrong forces Sinora and Jerrica to run for their lives, giving Totema's top killer a prime opportunity to find a new recruit for the company.
The Grassy Knoll (January 10, 2010)
Gunner teams up with Emily (voiced by Amy Acker), a beautiful woman with the ability to manipulate plant life. When her powers go out of control, turning a large section of Luna Bay into a literal concrete jungle, Gunner must take out a team of assassins and find Emily before they do.
If I Could Talk To The Animals (January 17, 2010)
A talking gorilla and an elite hunter make strange partners, but that's what happens when Totema assassin Ronald meets a zoo escapee who claims to know someone with immense power.
Onion (January 24, 2010)
Gunner and Sage team up to stop a new foe, while Totema's CEO makes a move to finish off Crush once and for all.
Aggrieved (January 31, 2010)
Emily tells Gunner of a mysterious disease afflicting many throughout the city, with sores popping up all over the victims' bodies. Could this be a new Totema bioweapon, or a super with a terrifying power?
Control Freak (February 7, 2010)
Just as Sage starts to get a handle on her powers, she is stalked by a mysterious man with terrifying powers of his own.
Battle Lines (February 14, 2010)
Totema's CEO sets his master plan into motion, and uses Gunner to lure Crush into a trap. After Gunner is abducted by a gang led by Sage, he is forced to take sides in a war that could tear Luna Bay apart.
New Year's Resolution (February 21, 2010)
With martial law in place and Crush splitting itself apart in an underworld civil war, the city's supers must take their fates into their own hands, with deadly consequences for at least one of them.
-
(Authors' Note: The following material was provided to us by the reader Pyro!)
MC: "So, Kevin. Captain America: Heroes United was the biggest superhero film last year..."
-Crowd cheers-
MC: "...by teaming up two of Marvel's greatest heroes: Captain America and Iron Man. Can you tell if you plan to bring ALL of the Marvel heroes together?"
Kevin Feige: "I have to tell you guys a little story. My good friend, (DC Expanded Multiverse producer) Geoff [Johns] never stopped busting my chops since Justice League hit theaters. Ever since we released Heroes United, he calls every week to ask, 'when are are you doing, Avengers, Kev? When are you doing Avengers, Kev?' Well, I can tell you now: coming May 2012, the Avengers will assemble!"
-Marvel Mediaverse Panel, Hall H, San Diego Comicon, July 24, 2010
"I would love to use Thanos, but the higher-ups don't want it to look like we're copying any of Justice League's plot. I would suggest using Kang the Conqueror as the greater scope villain. The DCEM hasn't delved deep into time travel and the character has a long history with the Avengers. He might better tie into our plans for the next two Avengers movies."
-Private correspondence between Marvel producer, Kevin Feige, and Avengers screenwriters, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (circa August 2010)
ABC:
While ABC continued to get strong performances from shows like Dancing With The Stars and Lane, and even saw The Alchemist rise slightly in the ratings, most of its new shows were a swing and a miss, save for two dramas: the serialized drama The Pestilence, and the mostly-episodic corporate drama H.R.. The Pestilence is a dramatization of a deadly viral outbreak that slowly spreads throughout the United States, and follows the work of numerous CDC agents, as well as government officials (including the president, played by Carrie Fisher). It ended with a dramatic cliffhanger in which the virus spreads outside North America for the first time. Then you had H.R., which attempted to capitalize on the CBS hit Escrow from the previous year. It follows a human resources director at a major corporation who must deal with the personal and ethical dilemmas raised by their job, and scored solid critical reviews and great ratings. Overall, ABC experienced a fairly average year, bolstered by its holdovers but still in somewhat of a holding pattern.
CBS:
CBS rocketed to the status of #1 network on television, thanks to another huge year for new shows, in particular the three outstanding freshman comedies Northwest, Hating Places, and Class Warfare. Northwest, said by many to be the second coming of Friends, follows a group of 20-something Millennials living in Seattle. Hating Places follows the life of a harsh tourism critic and his eccentric friends (including arguably the show's breakout character, his ex-high school girlfriend played by Lyssa Fielding, who's now married to his best friend), while Class Warfare follows a young teacher forced to room with her much richer high school BFF. The shows all feature fairly young and energetic casts and are intended, like The Big Bang Theory (which continues to be a hit) to appeal to younger audiences. CBS also struck it big with Avenging Angels, a crime procedural also aimed at 20-something viewers, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a former crime victim turned private detective who goes after killers and sexual predators (and usually kills them). All four of the new shows landed in the top 20 in their rookie season, and CBS' new hit reality show Undercover Boss was also a massive hit.
NBC:
While Powers fell out of the top five, it's still an enormous hit in its fourth season, and looks to continue for at least two more, its riveting storylines captivating viewers and, along with Sunday Night Football, helping to propel NBC to a comfortable #2 spot. NBC also had Man In Motion, a crime procedural about a man who is rendered a paraplegic while chasing down a crime suspect but who continues to solve crimes. NBC had a solid slate of new shows and holdovers within the top 50, helping the network stay relevant as it searches for its next major hit.
FOX:
The most interesting news for FOX this year wasn't American Idol, despite its continued reign at the top of the TV ratings charts. Instead, it was the surprise success of Savage City, Joss Whedon's animated action drama that debuted on FOX's Sunday night animation block in the fall of 2009. The show became an instant ratings success, managing to retain about 95 percent of the audience of The Simpsons, good to be one of FOX's top eight shows and landing in the top 50 overall. The show has cultivated a major fandom and has carved out a healthy space for anime-esque drama on primetime TV, though no similar shows have been announced for 2010's fall lineup. It's likely that we may see at least one Savage City imitator in 2011, though whether it will air on FOX or somewhere else has yet to be seen. FOX also debuted a couple of minor hit live action comedies, and will be looking to climb back into the network conversation again in 2010-11.
-
Top 25 Rated Network Television Programs Of 2009-10:
1. American Idol (Wednesday) (FOX)
2. American Idol (Tuesday) (FOX)
3. Sunday Night Football (NBC)
4. Escrow (CBS)
5. Northwest (CBS)
6. Powers (NBC)
7. Dancing With The Stars (Monday) (ABC)
8. Dancing With The Stars (Thursday) (ABC)
9. Hating Places (CBS)
10. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
11. Undercover Boss (CBS)
12. Lane (ABC)
13. Class Warfare (CBS)
14. Standard Of Care (CBS)
15. The Showdown (NBC)
16. The Pestilence (ABC)
17. Avenging Angels (CBS)
18. The Mentalist (CBS)
19. The Alchemist (ABC)
20. Heart Of Darkness (CBS)
21. House (FOX)
22. Desperate Housewives (ABC)
23. H.R. (ABC)
24. 60 Minutes (CBS)
25. Man In Motion (NBC)
-
Savage City's first season gave Joss Whedon and his writing team a chance to establish the universe they'd created and the characters who would be driving the action of the show. The animated series takes place in the metropolis of Luna Bay, in the near future. While Luna Bay is much like the average American city, it began to change five years before the events of the series take place, after a mysterious event caused special powers to activate in certain members of the populace. These superpowered individuals became highly coveted by two rival factions seeking to take control of the city: Totema Corporation, a company that seeks to become the richest and most powerful in the world, and Crush, a faction of loosely affiliated street gangs seeking to take down Totema and rule the city on their own terms. Then you have rogue individuals seeking to take power for themselves, as well as a faction of hunters who specialize in taking down superpowered individuals at the behest of one of the two rival factions. Savage City's primary protagonist is Gunner, voiced by Nolan North, who takes jobs for the Totema Corporation as a hunter out to assassinate Crush's top superpowered fighters. Then there's Sage, voiced by Kristen Bell, who works for Crush as a hunter, but secretly has a hidden superpower, but it's not powerful enough to protect her from being killed by Totema or Crush if either of their leaders found out about it. Sage and Gunner are "sort of" love interests who both work together and clash numerous times during the first season. There's Gunner's mechanic friend Leroy (voiced by Terry Crews) who serves as Gunner's "inside man" helping him track down Crush's supers, and there's also Sinora (voiced by Letitia Wright), a high school girl who has the power to disassemble machines, who's being sought out by Totema but who wants to keep to herself so she can protect her friends. While the show has some influence from Powers, it deals much less in ethical questions and instead is largely just one giant gang war that plays out in the streets of a massive city, with plenty of destruction. As par for the course for a Whedon show, there's plenty of comedy relief, lots of powerful women, and one or two tragic deaths of well-loved characters.
The first thirteen episodes are briefly summarized here:
The Gun-Runner (November 8, 2009)
Gunner gets a tip about a massive shipment of weapons to a ganglord's mansion, but when he arrives, a ferociously powerful man with fists of flame interrupts the shipment, and Gunner finds himself in a literal hot pursuit.
Shadow Sage (November 15, 2009)
Gunner encounters a woman with the power to control the shadows themselves, but struggles to control her power. He wants to bring her in, but first he'll need her help to save a kidnap victim.
Riders Of The Storm (November 22, 2009)
A gang of motorcycle killers are bringing terror to the streets of Luna Bay. Are they affiliated with Crush, or are they secret shock troops for an increasingly desperate Totema?
Best Friends Forever (November 29, 2009)
The high school pecking order turns vicious after a group of mean girls show off their brand new superpowers, forcing Gunner to intervene.
I Spit On Your Grave (December 6, 2009)
Sage is out for revenge after a Totema hitman brutally kills her best friend. After the hitman calls in a favor to his old pal Gunner, he finds himself squarely in the furious shadowmancer's crosshairs...
We Got The Beat (December 13, 2009)
A concert gone horribly wrong forces Sinora and Jerrica to run for their lives, giving Totema's top killer a prime opportunity to find a new recruit for the company.
The Grassy Knoll (January 10, 2010)
Gunner teams up with Emily (voiced by Amy Acker), a beautiful woman with the ability to manipulate plant life. When her powers go out of control, turning a large section of Luna Bay into a literal concrete jungle, Gunner must take out a team of assassins and find Emily before they do.
If I Could Talk To The Animals (January 17, 2010)
A talking gorilla and an elite hunter make strange partners, but that's what happens when Totema assassin Ronald meets a zoo escapee who claims to know someone with immense power.
Onion (January 24, 2010)
Gunner and Sage team up to stop a new foe, while Totema's CEO makes a move to finish off Crush once and for all.
Aggrieved (January 31, 2010)
Emily tells Gunner of a mysterious disease afflicting many throughout the city, with sores popping up all over the victims' bodies. Could this be a new Totema bioweapon, or a super with a terrifying power?
Control Freak (February 7, 2010)
Just as Sage starts to get a handle on her powers, she is stalked by a mysterious man with terrifying powers of his own.
Battle Lines (February 14, 2010)
Totema's CEO sets his master plan into motion, and uses Gunner to lure Crush into a trap. After Gunner is abducted by a gang led by Sage, he is forced to take sides in a war that could tear Luna Bay apart.
New Year's Resolution (February 21, 2010)
With martial law in place and Crush splitting itself apart in an underworld civil war, the city's supers must take their fates into their own hands, with deadly consequences for at least one of them.
-
(Authors' Note: The following material was provided to us by the reader Pyro!)
MC: "So, Kevin. Captain America: Heroes United was the biggest superhero film last year..."
-Crowd cheers-
MC: "...by teaming up two of Marvel's greatest heroes: Captain America and Iron Man. Can you tell if you plan to bring ALL of the Marvel heroes together?"
Kevin Feige: "I have to tell you guys a little story. My good friend, (DC Expanded Multiverse producer) Geoff [Johns] never stopped busting my chops since Justice League hit theaters. Ever since we released Heroes United, he calls every week to ask, 'when are are you doing, Avengers, Kev? When are you doing Avengers, Kev?' Well, I can tell you now: coming May 2012, the Avengers will assemble!"
-Marvel Mediaverse Panel, Hall H, San Diego Comicon, July 24, 2010
"I would love to use Thanos, but the higher-ups don't want it to look like we're copying any of Justice League's plot. I would suggest using Kang the Conqueror as the greater scope villain. The DCEM hasn't delved deep into time travel and the character has a long history with the Avengers. He might better tie into our plans for the next two Avengers movies."
-Private correspondence between Marvel producer, Kevin Feige, and Avengers screenwriters, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (circa August 2010)
- Status