Record Store Owner. (High Fidelity) One of my all time top five jobs from a movie would be record store owner, and what better place to work than Championship Vinyl? Although a dying field, you would have the true lovers of music and nostalgia seeking you out. There is a passion that comes with starting a company in an area that not as many people may still partake of. And it’s not about the money, as you will learn is the case with most of my employment selections. I would never think that I’d open a record store and the money would just start pouring in. In fact, as I write this, 3 more record stores just closed. So, once I make my millions, then I will sit back, open a record store with a couple of my friends, and spend my days listening to awesome music.

Insurance Claim Investigator. (Fight Club) While Edward Norton/Tyler Durden was more out in the field with his job, in my current “grown-up” job I sit at a computer and am on the phone a majority of the day with insurance representatives. People might see this as boring, but I actually really enjoy my job because I like playing detective and linking all of the little details together until I’m able to fully understand the big picture. While the area of insurance to most people is considered mundane or even frustrating, it takes a level of patience and open-mindedness that I like to think I possess.

Writer for Vogue. (Sex and the City) Writer Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, spends 95% of her day shopping, having lunch with friends and having sex (not always all at the same time). The other 5% of her day she actually spends writing. And not only that, but it comes quickly and easy to her. I only recall one episode where she ever dealt with “writer’s block”, a disease I feel inflicted with pretty much everyday. She gets to sit around enjoying coffee and her new pair of shoes while chatting openly with her friends about their latest sexual/relationship adventures, which is a never ending pool of resources. What better way to spend your days? Shopping and hanging out with your friends who basically write your work for you!

News Photographer. (Spider-man) Besides being able to impress all of my friends with my awesome profile pics, I’d be getting paid to do something that I love. I’d get to be front and center in all of the action going on, and also get all access passes to concerts and all sorts of other cool events. I would enjoy being able to do something creative and travel all over the world. Not only seeing all the sights for myself but also being able to share them with everyone else. Plus, you’d be able to provide a cheap and easy present for housewarming parties, birthdays and weddings.

Waitress. (Amelie) Now, while to some of you this may not seem very glamorous let me tell you, it’s not. I’ve worked as a server in many restaurants before, but this would be different. Amelie works as a waitress at Les Deux Moulins (The Two Windmills) in Paris, and that would be the only place that would make me go back to waiting tables. Serving coffee and little slices of pie to lazy patrons who have no where better to be because they are exactly where they want to be. Retired old people spending their days sipping a tall glass of chilled wine on a warm day. I’d spend my days talking with the patrons about where they come from and listen to all of their stories of love and loss, and spend my nights discovering the winding roads of Paris. Yeah, that sounds nice.

What about you? Agree? Disagree? Let me know what your dream movie-inspired job would be!

At first, what makes Ao Oni (“Blue Demon”) such an effective survival-horror game monster was hard to pin down. He’s certainly not frightening to look at with its sad puppy eyes, five o-clock shadow, and titularly confusing purple skin. I thought perhaps the lavender teddy bear manchild hugged a bit too hard, and Hiroshi looked like a fluffy rabbit to him. As I continued to play, I found myself replacing those snide remarks and insults with genuine fear toward The Oni. All of a sudden, my rudimentary attempts to avoid the monster began to prove fruitless, as it started to appear at the most inopportune times. Grabbing a key from a seemingly safe prison cell? The Oni knew, as he used this cramped space to go in for the quick kill? Even if you were able to squeeze by him, you then had to deal with the fact that he was slightly faster than you. Just this fact alone means that you will meet the Game Over screen…a lot.

Then it hit me, the reason why the creature was so terrifying: he’s relentless. Like Nemesis in Resident Evil 3 before it, the creature will stop at nothing to see you dead, even in places you originally thought safe, like, oh say, THE INVENTORY SCREEN. Yes, you heard me right, The Oni is able to still get you in the seemingly safe pause menu if you aren’t careful.

You’ll notice that I not once mentioned the actual storyline of the game until this point. Truth is, it’s incredibly par for the course of a freeware horror title. Simply put: you enter a haunted mansion, the door locks behind you, you try to escape the mansion alive, wash, rinse, repeat.

If you fancy yourself a master at puzzles, Ao Oni will only eat up a few hours of your time. Though, with the use of a few cheat codes, you can increase your fun with the game. Here are a few of the best:

All cheats are activated by changing Hiroshi’s name when you start a new game. Hiroshi’s name will be unchanged in-game if the codes are input correctly.

SOUTHPARK – A new shorter storyline done in the style of South Park.

TIMER – A chase timer will appear whenever The Oni attacks.

BLOCKMAN – The Oni will be replaced with a block-shaped Oni that can dash quickly towards you.

JMU – Jon is sleeping on the couch. Take care not to disturb him.

You can download Ao Oni from the developer’s website (don’t worry, the English version is listed there too)

Batman #2: Scott Snyder (script), Greg Capullo (pencils), and Jonathan Glapion (inks)

Batman #1 of the recent “The New 52″ reboot of DC Comics served as a great teething ring to a world of media that I had neglected for most of my life. Prior to then, my experience with comics had been little more than Mad Magazine, the unfunny 3-panels in the local newspaper, and the occasional reprint of an old Tales from the Crypt issue.

Now, with issue #2 under my belt, I can safely say my new-found desire to read comic books was well worth it. Scott Snyder masterfully carves together a brand new group of villains, rather than rely on the tried-and-true classics, breathing new life into a seemingly stale cast of enemies for Batman to punch in the face. The Court of Owls, a group of assassins long thought to be a fabrication from a nursery rhyme, have taken a serial killer approach to killing influential figureheads in Gotham, and Bruce Wayne is next on their hit list.

If I had one complaint with Batman #2, it’s that they handled issue 1′s cliffhanger reveal (Dick Greyson’s DNA was found under the victim’s fingernail) which was unceremoniously shrugged off, saying that the victim had grabbed him previously, warning him of the assassination attempt. Sure, Bruce Wayne has all the technology in the world to prove his former Boy Wonder’s innocence, but the additional tension of an ally potentially being a murderer was swept under the rug far too quickly.

Starting today and ending on June 1st, indie developers around the would unanimously agreed to drop the prices on their titles (a number of which are multiple award winning) for 7 days only. Whether you game primarily on your Android or iOS device, PC, Mac, Linux, or even the Xbox 360, Because We May has you covered. Even those who insist that everything they play must be on Steam are included in the massive discounts!

A complete list of participating titles can be found on the Because We May website. Don’t be discouraged if your favorite titles haven’t been included, as new discounts are likely to pop up throughout the week.

I’m sure all the single parents out there are just going to snicker at me because they are super-parents that somehow do this every day, by themselves, and I give you guys the most thunderous standing ovation I can give. Maybe even a slow clap.

Day 1:

3:45 AM, I gave my wife a kiss as she walked out the door, told her to be safe on the drive to the airport and to text me when she was getting on the plane. I turned around, looked up the steps and my 4 year old son was standing at the top of the stairs. He had that wild look in his eyes where he didn’t know if it was time to get up or if he was still tired and should get his butt back in bed. When he asked where Mommy was going, I had to remind him that she was going on her trip and would be back in 3 days.

He cried his eyes out for the next hour.

It took a quick episode of some TV show to get him to calm down and shuffle him back to bed. I knew that I would be in for a long day since at 6:30 I’d be getting up when my daughter wakes up, so my two hours of glorious sleep was eagerly taken. By the time mid-morning rolled around we were in full gear for a normal day in my houshold on the weekend. Even though it was only thursday, I was in a Saturday morning mindset where my wife gets to sleep in, so after oatmeal for everyone I decided to circumvent the ban my wife placed on certain TV shows and be that dad that let their kids watch something Mom didn’t approve of.

Looney Toons.

I know, it’s old school characters getting wailed on and blown up comedy that we all grew up with. While I agree that violence isn’t something that our kids should be watching, it’s friggin Looney Toons. So as I sat there with my 4 year old and 2 year old watching the show I took a certain enjoyment watching my oldest laugh his ass off to everything. EVERYTHING. Every smack to the face, falling piano, explosion and falling off long cliffs. He. Laughed. His. Ass. Off. I was so proud. My daughter chuckled mostly, but I think it was mostly because he typically copies her brothers reaction to things. By the time Lunch rolled around, and my mother in law made a quick stop by to apparently make sure I wasn’t crying to myself in the corner while the kids paraded around with a pigs head on a stick I got them down for a easy nap.

I will say this, the best way to make your late afternoon go smoothly and ensure that the whole dinner/bath/clam the hell down time/JUST GO TO SLEEP time is a smooth transition you can try this. Long walks yes, I suggest you force marching your kids outside for a long period of time. Ok, My son rode his bike (on training wheels still, that’s another story) and pulled my daughter in the wagon we had until we got to the bike/walking trail near our house and got her to walk. 2.4 miles, a hour and a half later (thanks Runtastic app!) I had to kids that just wanted to eat and sleep. Woo! Just slapped a Papa Johns take and bake pizza, gave them some rainbow shertbert, tried not to gouge my eyes out with one of their half hour shows and it was easy peasy bedtime after I read them Green Eggs and Ham.

Day 2:

Here are my notes on how day 2 started

• Shit.
• Both kids woke up at 6am
• WHINING COMMENCEMENT OF DEEP HUNGER
• Whining.
• Whining while I cooked breakfast
• Whining while I served them breakfast, and AFTER their insatiable need for hunger
• 2 hours later, MAKE THE WHINING STOP, please CROM
• It’s 10am and they have destroyed my soul
• THEY SLEEP @ 1pm

So what did I do after they woke up from their nap? Convinced them (easily) that a walk/bike ride on the trail would be super awesome fun! 2.4 miles later and they were back under my iron grip and authoritative control. Then, I had to do something I’ve never done before.

I gave them both a bath. At the same time.

Usually, my wife is watching the other kid as I give one a bath and we rotate the kids until both are squeaky clean. So attempting this my plan was to throw in a whole bunch of the bath toys to keep them occupied while I tried to clean their filthy faces. (Dinner was a little bit messy) Giving two kids an overabundance of toys is a bad idea. Bad. Idea. I’ll never understand how if one kid finds something to play with the other is immediately content to want to play with that EXACT SAME THING that their sibling possesses. Nothing else matters, they could have a whole frigging toy box at their feet, but if someone is playing with a rubber duck, the world is going to end if they can’t get their hands on that damn duck.

I now hate rubber ducks.

After nearly 3 accidental deaths (one of them standing and slipping in the tub, a near eye gouging of the water faucet, and me wanting to beat my head against the side of the tub) I somehow managed to get them clean enough, and dripping water all over the bathroom floor as I went to grab towels. To where they both were like that one dog you had after you give it a bath and it rolled around in the grass/mud they ran naked away from me to roll on the carpet and grab toys screaming at that high pitch that is so cute for the first 5 seconds then eardrum splitting after 2 minutes. I will say that once toweled off, I did another first, I brushed my daughters hair.

I have never brushed long hair I realized. My wife always just did it for our daughter because well, it just became our system. So my first comb through, she squealed in pain. How the hell does hair get so tangly? Even though I had to find some way to comb her hair without causing pain, I did feel a little bit of a connection that I never had before. It was funny like that for me, or maybe I’m just overly sensitive as a dad, whatever. I combed her hair, and I DID A GOOD JOB

Day 3:

Ok, this day was easy as hell. Not only did they have a birthday party to go to, I didn’t even have to take them. I put in an easy morning of transitioning from wearing pink sun hats and having tea parties to getting the crap beat out of me with plastic swords as a jerk dragon that was stealing treasure. Once nap was over, my brother in law came over scooped the kids away and brought them back at 8pm completely exhausted (the kids, not him) it was like a nice break of a day. I watched some post apoc movies, ate steak and potatoes for dinner, finished reading Dune and started/finished a short fantasy novel about Dwarves. Probably the worst part of the day was changing a poop diaper, thank Crom my 4 year old uses the potty.

Everyone keeps asking me how I survived, and as a Dad, it was never about survival, it was just being a Dad for me just mostly by myself. As much as the jokes about Dads not being able to survive these kinds of solo kid watching experiences it’s not that damn hard. You just be patient, try not to take out your frustrations around the kids and just be a parent. If my wife wanted to go to work and get a job that would pay all our bills I’d switch roles to being a stay at home dad in a heartbeat. It’s hard, so very, very hard. Kids are EXHAUSTING. When you have those little moments though, simple things like brushing your daughter’s hair for the first time it’s the kind of things that really stick with you. I was incredibly thankful when my wife came home to help in sharing the parental duties again, I don’t know how you single parents, especially those with more than one kid pull it off day in and out. For that, I give you a very humble tip of the hat.

I was a late bloomer into the Tron world of geekery, I’d seen the original when I was younger a couple of times but I never fully grasped the entire concept. It wasn’t until the release of Tron: Legacy that I watched Tron with a fully formed brain that could comprehend the depth the movie could present. From there on out, I’ve been on a quest to immerse myself more into all things Tron.

“Beck’s Beginning” aired last Friday on Disney XD, yes, it’s on the kids channel in full animation glory with Beck (the main protagonist) voiced by Elijah Wood. I was easily sucked in and drawn into The Grid and the characters that they are building as Beck takes the mantel of Tron under the training and tutelage of well, Tron himself. I found myself quickly sending text message to WPR overlord and resident Tron super-nerd Xopher (who forgot it was airing, so he’s lost some Tron Geek cred) about how great the show us.

Obviously the animation is top notch, it’s Disney playing with a license that is deeply entrenched, so I’m glad that they paid it the attention Tron deserves. Elijah wood as Beck had the “LISTEN IT’S FRODO” thing going for the first couple of minutes but by the end of the episode that melted away for me as I found myself focusing more on the story and the development of Clu’s army securing the grid with absolute control. When Mara, one of Becks co-workers at the garage with him it took me a second to place her voice, I had to look online because it was bugging me that I couldn’t place it, turns out it’s Mandy Moore.

I’m going to skirt talking too much about the episode in general since whenever I do that, I tend to just go on a spoiler rampage. It’s good, damn good. Make your kids sit down and watch it, some of it might go over there heads but it’s your job as the adult to help them fill in the blanks. If you missed the episode, just watch the whole damn thing that Disney posted online.

Elric: The Balance Lost #9, $3.99
Hellraiser #14, $3.99
Irredeemable #37, $3.99

Dark Horse Presents #12 (Dean Motter Variant Cover), AR
Dark Horse Presents #12 (Sam Kieth Regular Cover), $7.99
Guild Fawkes #1 (One Shot)(Emma Rios Variant Cover), AR
Guild Fawkes #1 (One Shot)(Paul Duffield Regular Cover), $3.50
Incredible Adventures Of Dog Mendonça And Pizza Boy TP, $12.99
Mind MGNT #1 (Gilbert Hernandez Variant Cover), AR
Mind MGNT #1 (Matt Kindt Regular Cover), $3.99
Orchid #7, $3.50
Ragemoor #3, $3.50
Resident Alien #1, $3.50
Serenity Volume 1 Those Left Behind HC (2nd Edition), $17.99
Space Family Robinson Archives Volume 4 HC, $49.99
Star Wars Darth Vader And The Ghost Prison #1 (Of 5)(Dave Wilkins Regular Cover), $3.50
Star Wars Darth Vader And The Ghost Prison #1 (Of 5)(Tsuneo Sanda Variant Cover), AR

Absolute Batman Dark Victory, $99.99
All-Star Western #9 (Night Of The Owls), $3.99
Aquaman #9 (Ivan Reis & Joe Prado Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Aquaman #9 (Ivan Reis & Joe Prado Regular Cover), $2.99
Batman #3 (Greg Capullo 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Batman Incorporated #1 (Chris Burnham Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Batman Incorporated #1 (Chris Burnham Regular Cover), $2.99
Batman Incorporated #1 (Combo Pack Edition), $3.99
Batman Incorporated #1 (Frank Quitely Variant Cover), AR
Batman Knightfall Volume 2 Knightquest TP (New Edition), $29.99
Batman The Dark Knight #9 (David Finch & Richard Friend Regular Cover)(Night Of The Owls), $2.99
Batman The Dark Knight #9 (Night Of The Owls)(David Finch & Richard Friend Variant Cover), AR
Dominique Laveau Voodoo Child #3, $2.99
Fables #117, $2.99
Flash #9 (Francis Manapul Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Flash #9 (Francis Manapul Regular Cover), $2.99
Flash #9 (Tony S. Daniel Variant Cover), AR
Fury Of Firestorm The Nuclear Men #9, $2.99
Green Lantern New Guardians #9 (Tyler Kirkham & Batt Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Green Lantern New Guardians #9 (Tyler Kirkham & Batt Regular Cover), $2.99
I Vampire #9, $2.99
Justice League Batman Action Figure, $24.99
Justice League Dark #9, $2.99
MAD Archives Volume 3 HC, $59.99
MAD Vinyl Spy Vs Spy 2-Pack, $49.99
Nightwing #8 (Eddy Barrows 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Savage Hawkman #9, $2.99
Showcase Presents Sea Devils Volume 1 TP, $19.99
Stormwatch Volume 1 The Dark Side TP, $14.99
Superman #9 (Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert Regular Cover), $2.99
Superman #9 (Ivan Reis Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Teen Titans #9 (Brett Booth & Norm Rapmund Black & White Variant Cover)(The Culling), AR
Teen Titans #9 (Brett Booth & Norm Rapmund Regular Cover)(The Culling), $2.99
Unwritten #37, $2.99
Voodoo #9, $2.99

Cobra #13 (Cover A Antonio Fuso), $3.99
Cobra #13 (Cover B Antonio Fuso), $3.99
Cobra #13 (David Williams Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Cobra #13 (David Williams Variant Cover), AR
Comic Book History Of Comics TP, $21.99
Complete Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie Volume 8 1938-1940 HC, $49.99
G.I. JOE A Real American Hero Volume 4 TP, $19.99
Ghostbusters #9 (Cover A Dan Schoening), $3.99
Ghostbusters #9 (Cover B Tristan Jones), $3.99
Ghostbusters #9 (Mike Henderson Variant Cover), AR
Godzilla #1 (Art Adams Gatefold Variant Cover), AR
Godzilla #1 (Cover A Art Adams), $3.99
Godzilla #1 (Cover B Tony Harris), $3.99
Godzilla #1 (Ryan Kelly Movie Tribute Variant Cover), AR
Hawken #4 (Of 6)(Tim Truman Rawhide Edition Variant Cover), AR
Hawken #4 (Of 6)(Tim Truman Regular Cover), $3.99
Hero Comics 2012 (Cover A J. Scott Campbell), $3.99
Magic The Gathering #4 (Of 4)(Karl Kopinski Regular Cover), $3.99
Magic The Gathering #4 (Of 4)(Tyler Walpole Variant Cover), AR
Monocyte #4 (Of 4)(Menton J. Matthews III Regular Cover), $3.99
Monocyte #4 (Of 4)(Phil Hale Variant Cover), AR
Smoke And Mirrors #3 (Of 5)(Cover A Ryan Browne), $3.99
Smoke And Mirrors #3 (Of 5)(Cover B Francesco Francavilla), $3.99
Smoke And Mirrors #3 (Of 5)(Ryan Browne Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Snake Eyes And Storm Shadow #13 (Cover A Robert Atkins), $3.99
Snake Eyes And Storm Shadow #13 (Cover B Robert Atkins), $3.99
Snake Eyes And Storm Shadow #13 (Steve Ellis Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Snake Eyes And Storm Shadow #13 (Steve Ellis Variant Cover), AR
Transformers More Than Meets The Eye #5 (Cover A Alex Milne), $3.99
Transformers More Than Meets The Eye #5 (Cover B Nick Roche), $3.99
Transformers More Than Meets The Eye #5 (Marcelo Matere Variant Cover), AR
True Blood #1 (Cover A Tim Bradstreet), $3.99
True Blood #1 (Cover B Photo), $3.99
True Blood #1 (Tim Bradstreet Sketch Variant Cover), AR

27 Volume 2 Second Set TP, $12.99
Artifacts Origins First Born TP, $19.99
Chew #26, $2.99
Elephantmen #39, $3.99
Epic Kill #1 (Raffaele Ienco 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Foot Soldiers Volume 1 TP, $19.99
Haunt Volume 3 TP, $14.99
Los Angeles Ink Stains Volume 1 TP, $29.99
Magdalena #12, $3.99
Near Death #8, $2.99
Netherworld TP, $19.99
No Place Like Home #4, $2.99
Prophet #25, $2.99
Rebel Blood #3 (Of 4), $3.50
Saga #1 (Fiona Staples 4th Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Spawn Compendium Volume 1 TP, $59.99
Thief Of Thieves #2 (3rd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Thief Of Thieves #3 (3rd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Thief Of Thieves #4 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Witchblade #156 (Cover A John Tyler Christopher), $2.99
Witchblade #156 (Cover B Diego Bernard & Fred Benes), $2.99
Xenoholics Volume 1 TP, $14.99
Youngblood #71 (Cover A Rob Liefeld), $2.99
Youngblood #71 (Cover B Ryan Ottley), $2.99
Youngblood #71 (Cover C Chris Giarusso), AR

Amazing Spider-Man #686 (Gabriele Dell’Otto Variant Cover), AR
Amazing Spider-Man #686 (Stefano Caselli Regular Cover), $3.99
Amazing Spider-Man Volume 1 Behind The Mask SC (Young Readers Novel), $6.99
Astonishing X-Men #50 (Dustin Weaver 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99
Astonishing X-Men #50 (Dustin Weaver Regular Cover), $3.99
Astonishing X-Men #50 (John Cassaday Sketch Variant Cover), AR
Astonishing X-Men #50 (John Cassaday Variant Cover), AR
Astonishing X-Men Wedding Invitation Postcard (Promotional Item), AR
Avengers #25 (Daniel Acuna 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99
Avengers The Many Faces Of Henry Pym TP, $19.99
AvX Vs #2 (Of 6)(Salvador Larroca 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99
Captain America #12, $3.99
Captain America And Hawkeye #631, $2.99
Daken Dark Wolverine No More Heroes HC (Premiere Edition), $19.99
Deadpool #55, $2.99
Deadpool MAX Involuntary Armageddon TP, $19.99
Dorothy And The Wizard In Oz #7 (Of 8), $3.99
Fantastic Four #606, $2.99
Hulk #52, $2.99
Hulk Smash Avengers #4 (Of 5), $2.99
Husk Smash Avengers Collectible Postcard #4 (Promotional Item), AR
Journey Into Mystery #638, $2.99
Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Journey Into Mystery Volume 4 HC, $64.99
Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Journey Into Mystery Volume 4 HC (Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 180), $64.99
Marvel Masterworks The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 7 TP, $24.99
Marvel Masterworks The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 7 TP (Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 44), $24.99
Marvel Universe Spider-Man Amazing Fantasy Digest TP, $9.99
Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man #2, $2.99
Marvel Zombies Destroy #2 (Of 5), $3.99
Mighty Thor #14, $3.99
Mighty Thor By Matt Fraction Volume 1 TP, $19.99
Mighty Thor By Matt Fraction Volume 2 HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Secret Avengers #27, $3.99
Strikeforce Morituri Volume 3 TP, $34.99
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Death Of Spider-Man Fallout TP, $19.99
Ultimate Comics X-Men #12, $3.99
Uncanny X-Force Otherworld HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Uncanny X-Force Volume 3 The Dark Angel Saga Book 1 TP, $19.99
Venom Circle Of Four HC (Premiere Edition), $29.99
Wolverine And The X-Men #9 (Chris Bachalo 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99

Roskin is the heir to a remote kingdom that has known peace for so long they’re more artsy than their battle hardened kin to the south. This story is about him leaving his kingdom on order by his father to find some inner peace for a year, then come back to assume his duties. So this half dwarf, half wild elf decides that getting the crap beat out of him, enslavement, nearly getting killed numerous times and getting a whole bunch of newly made friends killed or maimed in the process of trying to attain a legend of glory was a much better route to take instead. All just to get his hands on a statue.

D.A. Adams puts together a story that I found myself reading from start to finish in less than a day (Ok, I read for a long stretch after the kids went to bed). While it isn’t incredibly long the amount that he was able to pack in there was beautifully done and perfect for people like me that don’t have a ton of time and want to read a book that doesn’t take weeks. (I’m looking at you Dune.) Adams even put in a human character that by all means the reader should have detested or would have been someone to hate in other fantasy stories and broke him down to a point where you could only find yourself giving him a mental nod in the end that while he’s done some bad stuff, you kinda forgive him in a way.

That’s just being a damn good storyteller.

Thankfully, Adams has two more books in the series (Red Sky at Dawn, The Fall of Dorkun) that look to be more of what he delivered in this book, short, sweet and full of Dwarves kicking ass. I can’t wait to dive in deeper into this world he created.

ACCEPTING. Zombies have no thought or care for their own appearance or yours. They accept everyone just as they are, and in fact usually favor those with weaknesses (i.e. fat and slow). Zombies are a perfect example of exactly why we shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. You might assume just because of the way they look or smell or act that they don’t deserve a second glance, but don’t let that fool you. They will impress and surprise you, so don’t write them off just yet.

TENACIOUS. Zombies have a level of tenacity that should be awarded with gold medals. I’ve never know a human to go through as much to get what they want. Zombies persevere through bullet wounds, severed and broken appendages, and being set on fire to go after what they want. They have a one track mind and nothing short of a blow to the head will stop them from getting it.

SIMPLE. There is something refreshing about a simple lifestyle. The ability to remain grounded and not letting your head get away from you. Zombies don’t ask for much and have no use for lavish items. They don’t spend time worrying about “the meaning of it all” and what lies ahead. They simply live! They don’t require transportation, they get around on their own feet (two or otherwise) just fine. Zombies don’t need shelter, weapons, or the newest fashion. They work hard with what appendages they may have left.

COMPETITIVE. No zombie is going to idly stand by and let another zombie just take what’s theirs. They fight viciously for what they want and to keep what they have. They will leave others behind and not be held back from their goals/brains.

And the last reason I admire zombies

RELIABLE. There is one thing that is always constant and that is where there’s brains, there will be zombies. They’ve always got your back!

Notable Releases

Tuesday (5/15)

Diablo III (PC)
Max Payne 3 (PS3/360)
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II (PSN/XBLA)
Game of Thrones (PC/PS3/360)
PixelJunk 4am (PSN)

Game of the Week

As much as I would love to recommend Max Payne 3 this week, I’m not fully convinced that Rockstar Games has captured the true spirit of the series on this one. This week’s recommendation is going to Diablo III: massively hyped, finely tuned, albeit likely more of the same.

This is the continuation of the last episode where I said I’d be back in a week…over a week ago (sorry) but the good news is that I will have yet another episode of the show ready for y’all by tomorrow! Hooray?

The cast this episode was Ryan Bez, James Helsby, Evan Burkey, and myself as we discuss the finer points of Mass Effect 3′s ending with spoilers so be warned! Anime expo news including Evan’s bout with a fursuit, and Bez recalling all of the weeaboo moments he’s been part of when it comes to conventions.

OPENING – Super Mario World
CLOSING – ICP “Miracles”
BGM – Macross Frontier

Want to get in-touch with the show? Have a listener question or a shout out? Have an opinion about why the panel is either right or wrong? Feel free to get in touch with everyone from the panel and continue the show long after it’s been played!

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RLR #118 – Brown Bag of Random Hentai

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A bear wearing a mask pretending to be Finn will work too.

Come on, any time a bear is wearing clothing, especially the “Bear” ears that Finn wears as a mask/hat. They’re bear ears right? I thought I saw that somewhere. Regardless, Jake doesn’t trust this bear, one bit. So when they find the bear dancing with PB and the Candy people at night, and the whole unmasking you’d think the episode had run it’s course.

I didn’t see the end coming. Which if you’ve read this whole thing so far I’ve spoiled the hell out of the episode so… The Lich is still possessing the waving snail? When the bear handed him the Echiridion he said, “Yes! Now we are one step closer!”. I’d also like to note that this is the first time the snail has ever actually spoken. So we may be in for some Snail related episodes.

Bum Bum BUMMMMMMM

What do they have in store for us with the Waving Snail and his Lich possessed body? I can only dream, until then, I’ll watch “Mortal Folly” and “Mortal Recoil” to refresh my memory on The Lich episodes.

Then, there are those like myself who merely stood against the wall, observed, and nodded in appreciation and then signed the guestbook on their way out.

The Avengers movie smashed records, like, well that that pun would have been too obvious. My friends that have seen it have been gushing about the multiple geekgasms that have coursed through their bodies as they watched, the tales of watching in misty eyed wonder as I reflected on my weekend of changing poop filled diapers and the highlight of mowing the lawn. Then there are my friends who claim to have seen it a full three times since Friday. Three times. Those people have no responsibilities, and are single. Go figure.

While I can’t go on and on about the movie other than hearsay, I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers, which is going to be harder as I continue to wait and get my ass into the theater. If you enjoyed The Avengers, and you’ve never dived into Whedon’s other projects that have given him notoriety then let me get you started.

Slight updates because Reddit comments makes me remember how trying to write something on a lunch break cuts out things I forgot about. Yes I know, articles shouldn’t be a work in progress.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No, not the 1992 Kristy Swanson/Luke Perry movie though, he did have his hand in that as the writer. I’m talking about the show that was created five years later in 1997 and starred Sarah Michelle Gellar. Ok, that’s all I know about that show. Hot chick killing vampires and more notably, giving geeks a hot redhead to dream about. Really, that’s all I know about Buffy, you’re better served using Netflix to watch old episodes or clicking the wiki links I provided. Also, I’m lumping that whole Angel show with this one, regardless of how many people might scream about it. It’s a spin-off of Buffy from all my research, and I know just about as much about it. Buffy is from all the word of mouth I hear from fans excellently written and blends the whole kicking vampire ass with great storytelling. Why the hell didn’t this show stake the whole Twilight series? You can catch Buffy and Angel on Netflix which is what I highly suggest you do. Moving On.

Firefly (and the Serenity movie): Oh Captain Mal and your browncoat, when Firefly aired originally I didn’t watch it. Yes, I’m admitting that. The reason is that I saw THIS and for some reason, though they only shared the “Fire” part of the name, I thought they were one and the same. Fire in the Sky gave me that kind of intense alien abduction nightmares. It wasn’t until after I graduated college that I realized that the show that was on TV all those years ago was something separate and all available as a complete series in one little box. Yes, Firefly didn’t last that long before being canned. It was a mixture of Sci-fi and Western, but that seems to be cutting it short. It came together in a way that just, well, worked. Even my wife, who shuns nearly every geeky thing I have gotten or get into has nodded in approval after watching a couple of episodes. Firefly has a devoted following at the Altar of Whedon, fans who dream of new episodes (never going to happen) and movies (more likely, but probably never going to happen). Whedon has said recently that in order to bring back anything Firefly, he has to kill the careers of people like Nathan Fillion (Castle) and the others who have moved onto new stages in their careers. While the longing of what could have been will always remain, this part of the Whedon cannon is best learned, loved, and then like all things, you have to move on from the great experience you had with it. Not even seeing the image of Nathan Fillion in Jorts could kill the memories of Firefly to me.

Dollhouse: OK, Another Whedon show that I never got into. SO yeah, it had hot chicks kicking ass…I assume? Lets see, it starred Eliza Dushku, I’m going that route I came up with. I can at least provide you with a summary, then once again, hit up Netflix to watch the whole thing:

The show revolves around a corporation running numerous underground establishments (known as “Dollhouses”) across the globe which program individuals referred to as Actives (or Dolls) with temporary personalities and skills. Wealthy clients hire Actives from Dollhouses at great expense for various purposes. The series primarily follows the Active known as Echo, played by Eliza Dushku, on her journey towards self-awareness.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: NEIL PATRICK HARRIS. NATHAN FILLION. FELICIA DAY. This combination of actors, and muscial….awesomeness is that the best way to put it? Took womens panties and oh hell, plenty of guys under-roo’s too. I think the debate of if Fillion or NPH received more is still up in the air. It’s Dr. Horrible having a video blog and trying to gain entrance into the Evil League of Evil. Yes, you can see where this is going already. It is awesome. Just, watch the damn thing already.

You can’t really forget that Whedon is a writer at heart, the guy even has his imprint on the comic book world starting with Dark Horse and Fray in 1994, he went on to work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer comics and even continued the storylines of Firefly and Serenity in comic book form. Most notably is his praise for Astonishing X-Men that he did for Marvel. While I missed the whole thing entirely, just looking at the accolades and awards, I sure as hell missed out on something that I’m now finding myself looking for in old Trades.

Movies other than The Avengers? He’s credited in the Toy Story screenplay and Titan A.E. while both of those movies have HUGE supporters (my 4 year old has watched Toy Story a million times) They aren’t SOLELY his work or initial creations, but perhaps you can see his influence in the stories. He was the co-writer for the recently released (in April if I remember right) Cabin in the Woods which still carries a 90% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Yes, I’m sure I missed out on a whole hell of a lot of things Whedon has contributed to or worked on in some form, I’m here for those of you that saw The Avengers movie, and wanted to start getting into past work from the director of the movie. Just remember that no matter where you end up, in the Buffyverse or finding yourself buying a Browncoat, to dancing and singing Dr. Horrible tunes there are diehard fans. DIEHARD FANS. I recommend my approach, enter the room, consume the media, nod your head in appreciation and sign the guestbook.

Welcome to the Altar of Whedon, I hope you enjoy your stay.

Why it might kick ass

Track record

You can’t really argue that every time Bethesda has created a new iteration of The Elder Scrolls, they are met with critical acclaim and millions in sales. As a franchise, just slapping its name on anything is guaranteed to kickstart the hype machine.

We’ve explored so little of the universe so far

Bethesda has created an entire universe for its Elder Scrolls franchise, yet we’ve only explored a very small amount of a continent in that universe in 5 main titles. Even if The Elder Scrolls Online only focuses on the continent of Tamriel, we’re in for a huuuuge game.

The team has been at it since 2007

ZeniMax Online Studios was created specifically to make this game a reality, and they’ve been at it for about 5 years now. That might not seem like much, but Skryim, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas were all conceived and published in that time.

Why it might suck

Development record lacks real multiplayer experience

ZeniMax Media might have published a number of multiplayer gamers, but when it comes to developing them in-house, the company has minimal experience. In fact, the only real experience on the ZeniMax team comes from a company they acquired, id Software.

The Elder Scrolls was attempted in multiplayer once before…to lukewarm reviews

Hidden very deep on the Bethesda Softworks website is their only previous attempt to bring the series into multiplayer, An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire. The game was released at the end of 1997 using the same in-house engine they used for The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, used only once before to run a multiplayer deathmatch Terminator game, not a full RPG. Needless to say, the game had to be stripped down heavily from its single-player experience, and was a critical failure.

Their launches are often riddled with bugs.

As much as we might love the franchise, Bethesda has gotten rather infamous for the “buggy mess” state that their titles are released. With a single player game, this is usually more acceptable (as patches can be pushed and downloaded at one’s own discretion, but multiplayer is a little more unforgiving. Especially in those first months, a developer can’t afford to need multiple early patches, as this leads to less time in the game itself.

It’s not going to look as good

I’ll admit, this one is more a flaw in the massively multiplayer market rather than the series. The Elder Scrolls single player experience is painstakingly created to make the game as beautiful as possible on current hardware and console limitations. As such, towns and dungeons are carefully crafted to minimize slowdown due to too many objects on the screen. When bringing it into the multiplayer world, we now have to add server capabilities to the table as well. As such, we’re going to see a considerable scale down to prevent the servers from catching on fire, including limited character model customization.

Higher Earth #1 (Cover A Joe Benitez), $1.00
Higher Earth #1 (Cover B Phil Noto), $1.00
Higher Earth #1 (Cover C Frazier Irving), $1.00
Higher Earth #1 (Cover D Ben Oliver), $1.00
Higher Earth #1 (Cover E David Aja), AR
Higher Earth #1 (Cover F You Are Illegal On This Earth), AR
Higher Earth #1 (Cover G Joe Benitez Sketch), AR
Higher Earth #1 (Cover H Michael Golden CGC 9.8), AR
Incorruptible #29 (Cover A Garry Brown), $3.99
Incorruptible #29 (Cover B Matteo Scalera), $3.99
Space Ducks An Infinite Comic Book Of Musical Greatness HC, $19.99

Alabaster Wolves #2 (Of 5), $3.50
Blood Blockade Battlefront Volume 2 TP, $10.99
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 9 #9 (Georges Jeanty Variant Cover), AR
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 9 #9 (Phil Noto Regular Cover), $2.99
Dragon Age II Embroidered Patch Chantry, $4.99
Dragon Age II Embroidered Patch Kirkwall, $4.99
Dragon Age II Embroidered Patch Quanari, $4.99
Dragon Age II Embroidered Patch Templars, $4.99
FLCL Omnibus TP, $19.99
Lobster Johnson The Burning Hand #5 (Of 5), $3.50
Savage Sword Of Conan Volume 11 TP, $19.99
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic War #5 (Of 5), $3.50

Batgirl #9 (Night Of The Owls), $2.99
Batman #9 (Night Of The Owls)(Combo Pack Edition), $4.99
Batman #9 (Night Of The Owls)(Dale Keown Variant Cover), AR
Batman #9 (Night Of The Owls)(Greg Capullo Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Batman #9 (Night Of The Owls)(Greg Capullo Regular Cover), $3.99
Batman And Robin #9 (Night Of The Owls), $2.99
Batman Arkham City Series 2 Batman Detective Mode Variant Action Figure, $14.00
Batman Arkham City Series 2 Catwoman Action Figure, $14.00
Batman Arkham City Series 2 Hush Action Figure, $14.00
Batman Arkham City Series 2 Jervis Tetch The Mad Hatter Action Figure, $14.00
Batman Arkham City Series 2 The Riddler Action Figure, $14.00
Batman Arkham Unhinged #2, $2.99
Batman Volume 1 The Court Of Owls HC, $24.99
Bible HC, $29.99
Brightest Day Volume 2 TP, $19.99
DC Universe Legacies TP, $24.99
Deathstroke #9, $2.99
Demon Knights #9, $2.99
Fairest #3, $2.99
Frankenstein Agent Of S.H.A.D.E. #9, $2.99
Green Lantern #9 (Combo Pack Edition), $3.99
Green Lantern #9 (Doug Mahnke Black & White Cover), AR
Green Lantern #9 (Doug Mahnke Regular Cover), $2.99
Green Lantern #9 (Gary Frank Variant Cover), AR
Grifter #9, $2.99
I Zombie #25, $2.99
Justice League International Volume 1 The Signal Masters TP, $14.99
Legion Lost #9 (The Culling), $2.99
Legion Of Super-Heroes Archives Volume 13 HC, $59.99
Mystery In Space #1 (One Shot)(Michael Allred Variant Cover), AR
Mystery In Space #1 (One Shot)(Ryan Sook Regular Cover), $7.99
Night Force #3 (Of 6), $2.99
Resurrection Man #9, $2.99
Scooby-Doo Where Are You #21, $2.99
Suicide Squad #9, $2.99
Superboy #9 (The Culling), $2.99
Superman Grounded Volume 1 TP, $17.99

Anne Rice’s Servant Of The Bones HC, $24.99
Archie’s Sunday Finest HC, $49.99
Dead Rising Road To Fortune TP, $17.99
Doctor Who Classics Series 4 #4 (Of 6), $3.99
Dungeons And Dragons Forgotten Realms #1 (Bonus Edition With Script & Annotations), AR
Dungeons And Dragons Forgotten Realms #1 (Character Design Variant Cover), AR
Dungeons And Dragons Forgotten Realms #1 (Cover A Tyler Walpole), $3.99
Dungeons And Dragons Forgotten Realms #1 (Cover B Steve Ellis), $3.99
Frankenstein Alive Alive #1 (Bernie Wrightson Regular Cover), $3.99
Frankenstein Alive Alive #1 (Bernie Wrightson Variant Cover), AR
G.I. JOE #13 (Cover A Will Rosado), $3.99
G.I. JOE #13 (Cover B Will Rosado), $3.99
G.I. JOE #13 (Tommy Lee Edwards Black & White Variant Cover), AR
G.I. JOE #13 (Tommy Lee Edwards Variant Cover), AR
Memorial #5 (Of 6)(Michael WM Kaluta Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Memorial #5 (Of 6)(Michael WM Kaluta Regular Cover), $3.99
Night Of 1000 Wolves #1 (Of 3)(Dave Wachter Regular Cover), $3.99
Night Of 1000 Wolves #1 (Of 3)(Michael Manomivibul Variant Cover), AR
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Classics #1, $3.99
Transformers The IDW Collection Volume 6 HC, $49.99
Trio #1 (John Byrne & Joe Sinnott Variant Cover), AR
Trio #1 (John Byrne Regular Cover), $3.99

America’s Got Powers #1 (Of 6)(2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Artifacts #17, $3.99
Choker Volume 1 TP, $16.99
Fatale #5, $3.50
Forgetless Live To See Last Call TP (New Edition), $14.99
Green Wake Volume 2 Lost Children TP, $14.99
Invincible #91, $2.99
Manhattan Projects #2 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.50
Morning Glories #18, $2.99
Pro TP (New Printing), $7.99
Saga #2 (Fiona Staples 3rd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Secret #1 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.50
Skullkickers #14, $3.50
Spawn 20th Anniversary Poster #2 (Of 4), $9.99
Thief Of Thieves #3 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Thief Of Thieves #4 (not verified by Diamond), $2.99
Walking Dead #97, $2.99
Witchblade #149 (Diego Bernard Virginia Comic-Con Exclusive Variant Cover) , $10.00

Amazing Spider-Man Parallel Lives #1, $4.99
Astonishing X-Men By Dustin Weaver Poster, $8.99
Astonishing X-Men Volume 7 Monstrous TP, $16.99
Avengers Academy Second Semester HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Avengers Assemble #3, $3.99
Avengers By Brian Michael Bendis Volume 3 HC (Premiere Edition), $29.99
Avengers The Crossing Omnibus HC (Mike Deodato Direct Market Cover), $99.99
Avengers The Crossing Omnibus HC (Patrick Scherberger Cover), $99.99
Avengers The Private War Of Dr Doom HC (Premiere Edition), $29.99
Avengers The Private War Of Dr Doom HC (Premiere Edition)(Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 89), $29.99
Avengers Vs X-Men By Jerome Opena Poster, $8.99
Avenging Spider-Man #7, $3.99
Captain America #11, $3.99
Captain America And Hawkeye #630, $2.99
Captain America By Ed Brubaker Volume 2 HC (Premiere Edition), $19.99
Deadpool #51 (Dave Johnson 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Deadpool #52 (Dave Johnson 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Deadpool #54, $2.99
Essential Black Panther Volume 1 TP, $19.99
Halo Fall Of Reach Covenant TP, $16.99
Hulk #51, $2.99
Hulk Smash Avengers #2 (Of 5), $2.99
Husk Smash Avengers Collectible Postcard #2 (Promotional Item), AR
Incredible Hulk By Michael Kormarck Poster, $8.99
Journey Into Mystery #637, $2.99
Magneto Not A Hero TP, $14.99
Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Volume 12 HC, $59.99
Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Volume 12 HC (Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 179), $59.99
Marvel Universe The Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #2, $2.99
Marvel Zombies Destroy #1 (Of 5), $3.99
New Avengers #26, $3.99
Oz Ozma Of Oz TP, $19.99
Powers Volume 6 The Sellouts HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Punisher #11, $2.99
Scarlet Spider #5, $2.99
Silver Surfer Parable HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Silver Surfer Parable HC (Premiere Edition)(Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 91), $24.99
Spider-Man Identity Crisis TP (New Printing), $24.99
Spider-Man Season One HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Takio #1, $3.95
Thing The Serpent Crown Affair HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Thing The Serpent Crown Affair HC (Premiere Edition)(Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 92), $24.99
Ultimate Comics The Ultimates #10, $3.99
Ultimate Comics X-Men #11, $3.99
Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 12 HC, $39.99
Uncanny X-Force #25 (Jerome Opena Regular Cover), $4.99
Uncanny X-Force #25 (Stephen Platt Variant Cover), AR
Wolverine #306, $3.99
Wolverine And The X-Men #10, $3.99
X-Men Legacy #266, $2.99
X-Men Mutant Genesis 2.0 HC, $49.99

Notable Releases

Tuesday (5/8)

Starhawk (PS3)

Wednesday (5/9)

Minecraft (XBLA)

Game of the Week

Awarded to Minecraft, the most addictive game this side of Skyrim.

It’s almost like Avengers is casting a shadow over one of the biggest days of the year for comic books, well, people that are broke like me and want a free sampling. May 4th, Avengers movie, May 5th FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

The first week of May is free comic book day, and if you don’t know where the hell your local comic book store is, I suggest you check HERE (put in your zip code on the left sidebar button)

I can already tell that the GOLD comics will once again all be gone by the time I get there, since I’m banned from driving (not kidding) and have to wait for my Wife to get up (Saturday is her sleep in day, which she takes full advantage of). Then there are the kids. Yes, I’m not a comic books guy, never have been, but I’d like to be. I still try my hardest to get my kids to enjoy them whenever I can, especially when it’s free.

Really, I’m more excited to pick up some stuff for my kids, especially my 4 year old son, who’s been showing great interest in the last couple of weeks in my “old comics”. Or the ones I allow him to read from my “collection”. Why did I put that in quotes? My comic book collection is a pile of crap. It’s an assortment of free comics I got last year, stuff that has been sent to WPR for review purposes and well, the you can count on two hands amount of comics I’ve bought over the last couple of years when I ass myself to get into a comic book store. What’s my boy reading? Ultimate Spider Man collection, Muhammad Ali VS Superman graphic novel, New Avengers, Transformers, X-Men First Class and Atomic Robo. He’s still learning to read, but just watching him sitting there looking at the pictures makes me smile.

Ok, I’ll be honest, I’m smiling because he’s being quiet for 20 minutes.

The comics I’ll be crossing my fingers are still around when I show up after everything has been picked through are: MOUSE GUARD LABYRINTH & MORE, ATOMIC ROBO & FRIENDS, BAD MEDICINE #1, DINOSAURS VERSUS ALIENS, VOLTRON FORCE SHELTER FROM THE STORM. I’ve read that there is supposed to be a Serenity/Firefly comic available too, though it’s not showing up on the main FCBD website. Yes, some of those comics are obviously ones that are more for my kids. Every parent knows that if you really want to get something that your wife isn’t totally for, you get your kids damn excited about it and let them break down the walls for you.

I’m smart like that.

Except that I wrote down my plan on the internet and put it on a place where my wife is 99% sure to read it.

Damn.

Here is the complete “official” list of comics that should be available at your local participating shops.

I don't know what's wrong but Cap shouldn't look like this

Let me set the stage for you. I am a huge Marvel fanboy, I have been reading Marvel comics for more than 30 years. When they started making movies I loved those too (yes, I even liked Fleck’s Daredevil and Cage’s Ghost Rider, don’t hate me). When Marvel relaunched the ert Avengers, Secret Avengers and New Avengers at the same time a couple years ago I jumped fully onto the Avengers bandwagon and followed all three titles.

The new Marvel movies have just reinforced by love for these properties, Iron Man was phenomenal, Thor turned out awesome and the one I had the most doubts about, Captain America, ended up being really good (I had a hard time with the apparently three-foot tall Steve Rogers turning into the muscled behemoth Steve Rogers, it was hard to suspend the disbelief. Plus, they still haven’t gotten the Cap costume right. I’m sorry, but even in the trailer for the new movie something about it looks just a little ridiculous but I digress). I am really looking forward to seeing this group brought together it looks to be epic.

That's right, Captain America should look like this, he's not made of plastic.

Now here’s the part where I’m getting Avengered out. Marvel’s big crossover super story this year is Avengers Vs. X-Men, it’s supposed to be pretty good but I just can’t get myself to care. I don’t know if its the thought of shelling out $3.99 for each of the 12 issues or if I’m starting to feel abused by the Marvel marketing machine trying to get me to buy extra comics beyond the monthlies I always pick up.

Yes, this is real. And yes that is Thor and Thor as a frog.

I mentioned earlier I was picking up the three Avengers titles, Avengers, New Avengers, and Secret Avengers. Eventually, I lost interest in all three and I haven’t been back to any of them. Now in addition to those titles you can pick up Avengers Assemble (with surprise, surprise the exact same team as the Avengers movie, go marketing machine, go) Avengers Academy, Super Special Avengers, Dark Avengers, Light Avengers, West Coast Avengers, Avengers Origins, Avenging Avengers, Avengers With Cream Sauce…okay you get the point (and I did make up at least a few of those).

Enough is enough. I love the Avengers but wow do we really need a bajillion different Avengers titles? I can’t get excited about even one. So May 4 I’ll be first in line for the movie but when I hit the comic shop I’ll be buying Daredevil, Punisher and Venom.

Tony, however, should look exactly like this.

The following article is the writer’s opinion. It does not portray the opinions of WatchPlayRead as a whole

As much as it doesn’t look like it, these so-called AAA titles happen multiple times in a year. A big name publisher throws millions upon millions of dollars at a franchise, publicizes the hell out of it, and is guaranteed at least an 8.0 from all the major publishers. So, what’s my problem with AAA? Well, think of this in terms of eggs. In order for an egg to be considered “AA”, it has to reach a certain level of quality, and thus earns its higher price, while the “B” grade eggs are flawed and intended for mass consumption. In the game industry, the grade only seems to correspond with the price.

As for quality, I really don’t see it in AAA titles. These are the games meant for mass consumption, as they don’t take any risks with their already tired formulas. This likely directly correlates with the fact that most of these games are sequels. I guess you could say that when you are guaranteed to make all your money back plus a good profit, most of these companies think “why change perfection?”. But that’s the thing. These games aren’t perfection, they’re incredibly stale and tired.

Bioware, I feel, is a AAA company doing it (somewhat) right. For this example, let’s use the controversial Dragon Age II. The first Dragon Age was incredibly successful, even if it was no more than a “spiritual successor” to Baldur’s Gate. The game did so well, that it spawned not only expansions and a standalone prequel, but got the greenlight for a sequel. So what did Bioware do for its highly anticipated sequel? Well, they through out the entire tried and true formula for Western RPGs and tried something completely new with everything. Guess what? The mass consumption crowd hated it. They felt betrayed by the company, some even downright boycotting any future titles, but they never gave up trying new things with their franchises, most recently Mass Effect. While I might disagree with some of the choices the company has made (an action-heavy Mass Effect 3? Really?), I have nothing but respect for them stirring up the pot.

Batman #1: Scott Snyder (writer) and Greg Capullo (art)

What better way could I start my journey into the world of comics than the recent reboot of more than 52 DC titles. I knew I wanted to start with Batman, as he was the only DC property I was familiar with that has had a recent string of movie and video game hits. What I didn’t know was that of the 52 titles updated, 12 of them were related in some way to Batman. So I did what any respectful reviewer would do: I “eeny meeny miney mo”ed it. The simply titled Batman #1 was the lucky winner.

Boy, did I luck out. Batman #1 went right into the action, skipping the motivation parental murders and jumping right into Batman in jail, fighting alongside The Joker, or so we’re led to believe. You see, Batman sent “Boy-Wonder” Dick Grayson right into Arkham with a digitalized Joker disguise and a few acting classes to look for holes in security. If Chris O’Donnell was put into this same situation, he’d be a shank magnet in minutes, but this Dick Grayson plays the part perfectly.

For those completely in the dark, the story does offer slight bits of back story through Bruce Wayne’s bevy of nifty gadgets, including what is essentially a voice activated detective kit. This device must have tabs on everyone in Gotham, as a quick call for facial recognition pulls up information on everyone he targets, testing it on two young boys who just so happen to be different Robins. Batman sure loves him some orphans.

The artwork and story is bloody and gritty, very much at home with the Batman I’ve seen in the Christopher Nolan films and recent “Arkham” games, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. As much as I love the Adam West Batman, this Batman seems much more believable. Sure, the tech might be a little “science-fiction”, but nothing seems too far off.

If Batman #1 is any indicator, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship with comics.

Perhaps my background is to blame for my strong opinions against athletic competition. In the Wilson household, the only time the television was ever really turned to a sports program was during the World Series (growing up in New York meant I could feign support for the Yankees and no one would bat an eye) or the Super Bowl, both of which I could easily tune out with some Sega Genesis time. I even made it through two years of Little League, the second year of which my team made through as undefeated champions, with heavy apathy and boredom. Could you blame me though? Outfield is incredibly boring when the ball rarely leaves a tee.

So what magical thing eased over twenty years of cynicism, albeit only slightly?

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for the PlayStation 3

Yes, you heard me right. A derivative PlayStation 3 launch title from EA Sports put my cold, athletically-apathetic heart on the defrost cycle. Sure, golf might not be the most popular of sports, reserved usually for rich businessmen and doctors, but damn have I found great enjoyment smacking that virtual dimpled sphere around.

How to cure your cynicism, the Ryan Wilson way

Create a character

While it might seem tempting to just jump right into the game with a quick 18 holes as Tiger Woods, trust me, don’t! Nothing kills your enthusiasm for a game than sucking royally with a character that can make it to the green easily with one fell smack. One of the great things I’ve found with Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’07 (and I assume subsequent games), is that you start off as an amateur…and I do mean amateur, as every stat is at 1. Sure, it might take you an extra shot to get the ball right where you want it, but it’s much easier to recover from a terrible slice when you’re working with only 200 yards.

Multiplayer, multiplayer, multiplayer

If you can help it, play the game with someone, preferably in the same room. Tutorials simply aren’t enough to understand how to properly play the game. Whether your opponent is a “professional” or a total amateur like you, you can watch the effects of their club, power, and aim decisions. Just by doing this, I went from triple bogeys to eagles and birdies in no time.

Remember, it’s just a game

This one is the most important: keep your cool while you play. The announcers, especially in Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’07, are relentless assholes when you make a bad shot. If you can’t handle them, turn them off. After all, it’s just a game.

I know, it’s been 2 weeks since the last show, but we’ve found a way to space out the shows so that we can get them to you weekly, if I weren’t such a flaky host and producer.

Included in the panel for this week, besides myself, is James Helsby, Ryan Wilson, Evan Burkey, and The Bez

OPENING – Anberlin “Feel Good Drag”
CLOSING – Kamui Gackt “Vanilla”
BGM – Macross 7′s FIRE BOMBER!!!

Want to get in-touch with the show? Have a listener question or a shout out? Have an opinion about why the panel is either right or wrong? Feel free to get in touch with everyone from the panel and continue the show long after it’s been played!

E-MAIL: RLR@WatchPlayRead.com
CALL/SMS: (347) 669-3377

That’s not all either…there are still two other ways for you to get your opinion known and stated to the RLR and WPR worlds. You can always leave comments on the shows right here in this post. If you’re an iTunes user who doesn’t mind giving a bit of honest criticism and feedback, we welcome your ratings and comments on iTunes! We’re dying to hear what you all think of the show.

RLR #117 – They All Tuck Down Here

Subscribe via iTunes, because we’d hate for you to ever miss an episode of our finely crafted show.

If none of that works, or if you can’t figure out how to click on a few things…OR you just want to download a copy of the show to your computer the old fashioned way, RIGHT CLICK ME and click ‘save as’.

Notable Releases

Tuesday (4/24)

Risen 2: Dark Waters (PC)
Prototype 2 (PS3/360)
Shifting World (3DS)

Wednesday (4/25)

The Walking Dead: Episode 1 – A New Day (PC/PSN/XBLA)

Friday (4/27)

Binary Domain (PC)

Game of the Week

Despite the disaster that was Jurassic Park: The Video Game, this week’s recommendation is still going to Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead episodic adventure. The company has, time and time again, proven itself to produce quality products, and the brief glimpses of game play we’ve witnessed so far look incredibly promising.

So, what’s install for this first stop of the tour? I shot Steven a couple of ideas, and while I liked them all, I really crossed my fingers that he would take one of them and run with it. He did. So now, I present to you a story told by Gorias himself about how he made his armor from baby dragons.

“How To: Kill a Dragon, Skin it, and Make it into armor”
By Gorias La Gaul
How did I come by this dragon skin armor? With my incredible singing voice, ya twerp.

Seriously? I figured ya’d have heard the tale, either in the Atapuerca’s Ballad of Altamira
or the one they teach in some schools. Both aren’t exactly Jake, so I’ll try and make this
easy for ya. Since we’ve all had more to drink, and need a damn sight more of the water
of life, here goes.

Ya can’t kill a dragon with a sword. The damned plates of the skin are too dense. I know
of a guy near the Bospurus land bridge that got one to fall in a dug out hole like a tiger
pit. The damned thing broke its leg under the displaced weight. Great idea.

However, need being the mother of invention, I had to kill this dragon that plagued the
region of Altamira so they’d help me out. What? Oh, I needed their warriors to help with
an invasion of Kemet to keep their Pharaoh Atkensobek busy so I could slay his 150
children, but I digress. Why did I wanna kill his kids? He killed my daughter. Simple
really.

This dragon they nick named Tartaroos had taken up residency in the valley and some
caves they used for mines. The dragon seemed to get off on stopping their mining efforts
and started to eat their slow moving folks. The last straw came when the damned thing
started to dig up their graveyards. Heh, kill a few live dorks and that is all right, but screw
with my grammy’s bones, then we got a problem.

What did I do? I hadn’t got my swords yet, these really good ones, but figured they
wouldn’t be enough to lift a scale and penetrate the underbelly of Tartaroos. I really
wasn’t sure what to do and figured I was buggered good, but then saw the nest. Yeah, I
saw the fresh-hatched babies of Tartaroos.

While she was off raiding the townsfolk or graveyards for good eats for the kids, I
climbed up there and killed one of the babies. How? They aren’t so mobile and about
the size of a man. Mouth open to be fed, I stuck my sword down its throat and twisted.
I hauled off the body and managed to saw the head free. True, it took a diamond treated
cross cut saw, but Rothwell Davin and I cut the head free. Then I used its own teeth to
slash a seam and tear its skin open. As luck would have it, we were close to the same
size. Yeah, I scooped the damned thing out and cut the dimensions for my armor. What?
A baby? Why would you feel sorry for that? Because it’s cute? That’s the trouble with
rotten folks, they are cute babies for a while and folks let them grow up.

Anyways, it took a bit to cure the armor proper but I strapped it on and used the dew
nails on the armlets and the teeth embedded in my visor to cut a stratum in ol’ Tartaroos.
How I’d get close enough? I rode right up and attacked. Damn thing ate the horse I rode.
That was okay though. It wasn’t my horse. While Tartaroos chewed, I jumped on and
sliced a spot open under the plates of her neck. She threw me so I attacked low. That’s
what I wanted. I tore with the dew nails and removed a couple plates. My swords went

up in and I yanked a ring of guts out. I lopped that intestine over Rothwell’s mount and
set him off. As Tartaroos unraveled, I set about keeping her busy, slicing off a toe, ya
know the drill. In the end, we got her dead. Rothwell, stupid ass, he died. By the claws
of Tartaroos? Naw, he was fool enough to cook the wyrmling dragon’s flesh and eat it. I
guess I never told him it was poison and would keep trying to re-grow in one’s stomach.
Ah well. Everyone who saw him die will remember that.

Inner cushions, leathers and other tricks by artisans in Jericho have augmented my armor,
so there ya have it. The helmet? Yeah, that’s from it’s head.

What? You guys don’t wanna drink anymore?

GIVEAWAY: You and a guest are invited to a special advance screening of THE RAVEN!
When: Wednesday, April 25 @ 7pm
Where: The Gateway, Salt Lake City

Relativity Media brings the works of Edgar Allen Poe to life in the stylish, gothic thriller, THE RAVEN, opening nationwide on Friday, April 27! Set in the 19th-century, Baltimore is terrorized by a string of horrific murders inspired by the recently published works of notorious author Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack). The only one who can stop the serial killer is the man who inspired him. WatchPlayRead readers can be one of the first to see the film on Wednesday, April 25 at 7:00PM in Salt Lake City! Visit www.Gofobo.com/RSVP and enter the code: WPRP17C to download your complimentary pass. (Please note: Each pass admits 1. Limit 2 passes per person while limited supplies last. Passes are on a first come, first serve basis.) Passes do not guarantee admission as screening is overbooked. ARRIVE EARLY).

SYNOPSIS

Rated: R

In this stylish, gothic thriller, 19th-century Baltimore is terrorized by a string of horrific murders inspired by the recently published works of notorious author Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack). After initially suspecting Poe of the crime, young detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans, Immortals) soon joins forces with the master of the macabre to try to get inside the killer’s mind and stop him from turning more of Poe’s brutal stories into blood-chilling reality. The race to find the killer turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse that only escalates when Poe’s true love, Emily (Alice Eve, She’s Out of My League) becomes the murderer’s next target. Intrepid Pictures’ The Raven also stars Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Masterpieces #12, $3.99
Ice Age Playing Favorites (One Shot), $3.99
Irredeemable #36 (Cover A Matteo Scalera), $3.99
Irredeemable #36 (Cover B Damian Couceiro), $3.99
Peanuts #4 (Of 4)(Charles Schultz First Appearance Of Snoopy Variant Cover), AR
Peanuts #4 (Of 4)(Charles Schultz Regular Cover), $3.99
Planet Of The Apes #13 (Cover A Damian Couceiro), $3.99
Planet Of The Apes #13 (Cover B Marc Laming), $3.99
Planet Of The Apes #13 (Cover C Damian Couceiro), AR
Steed And Mrs Peel #4 (Of 6)(Ian Gibson Regular Cover), $3.99
Steed And Mrs Peel #4 (Of 6)(Ian Gibson Variant Cover), AR

3 Story Secret Files Of The Giant Man (One Shot), $3.50
Abe Sapien Volume 2 The Devil Does Not Jest TP (not verified by Diamond), $17.99
Archie Archives Volume 5 HC, $49.99
B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth The Long Death #3 (Of 3), $3.50
Dark Horse Presents #11 (Francesco Francavilla Variant Cover), AR
Dark Horse Presents #11 (Tonci Zonjic Regular Cover), $7.99
Fear Agent Volume 6 Out Of Step TP, $16.99
Gantz Volume 22 TP, $12.99
Hellcyon TP, $12.99
Katsuya Terada’s The Monkey King Volume 2 TP, $16.99
Oh My Goddess Volume 41 TP, $12.99
Ragemoor #2, $3.50
Reset #1 (Of 4)(Matt Kindt Variant Cover), AR
Reset #1 (Of 4)(Peter Bagge Regular Cover), $3.50
Resident Alien #0, $3.50
Star Wars Dawn Of The Jedi Force Storm #0 (Of 5)(3rd Printing Variant Cover), $3.50
Star Wars Dawn Of The Jedi Force Storm #1 (Of 5)(3rd Printing Variant Cover), $3.50
Star Wars Dawn Of The Jedi Force Storm #3 (Of 5), $3.50

Ame-Comi Heroine Series Raven Angel Of Azarath Variant PVC Figure (resolicited), $70.00
Ame-Comi Heroine Series Raven Demon Daughter Variant PVC Figure (resolicited), $70.00
Batman #6 (Greg Capullo 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Batman #8 (Combo Pack Edition), $4.99
Batman #8 (Greg Capullo Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Batman #8 (Greg Capullo Regular Cover), $3.99
Batman #8 (Jay Fabok Variant Cover), AR
Batman Beyond Unlimited #3, $3.99
Batman Odyssey Volume 2 #7 (Of 7)(Neal Adams Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Batman Odyssey Volume 2 #7 (Of 7)(Neal Adams Regular Cover), $3.99
Batman The Dark Knight #5 (David Finch & Richard Friend 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Batman Venom TP (New Edition), $14.99
Birds Of Prey #8, $2.99
Blackest Night Special Edition #1, $4.99
Blue Beetle #8, $2.99
Captain Atom #8, $2.99
Catwoman #8, $2.99
Cinderella Fables Are Forever TP, $14.99
DC Universe Presents #8, $2.99
Dominique Laveau Voodoo Child #2, $2.99
Fables #116, $2.99
Green Lantern Corps #8, $2.99
Hellblazer #290, $2.99
Justice League #8 (Combo Pack Edition), $4.99
Justice League #8 (Jim Lee & Scott Williams Regular Cover), $3.99
Justice League #8 (Jim Lee Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Justice League #8 (Mike Choi Variant Cover), AR
Legion Of Super-Heroes #8, $2.99
New Teen Titans Omnibus Volume 2 HC, $75.00
Nightwing #8, $2.99
Red Hood And The Outlaws #8, $2.99
Shooters HC, $22.99
Showcase Presents All-Star Squadron Volume 1 TP, $19.99
Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Special, AR
Suicide Squad #7 (Ivan Reis & Eber Ferreira 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Supergirl #8, $2.99
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Volume 2 #6 (Of 6), $3.99
Wonder Woman #8 (Cliff Chiang Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Wonder Woman #8 (Cliff Chiang Regular Cover), $2.99
Young Justice #15, $2.99

Doctor Who #16 (Cover A Mark Buckingham), $3.99
Doctor Who #16 (Cover B Photo), $3.99
Doctor Who #16 (Matthew Dow Smith Variant Cover), AR
Dungeons And Dragons Eberron Annual 2012 (Menton J. Matthews III Regular Cover), $7.99
Dungeons And Dragons Eberron Annual 2012 (Valerio Schiti Wraparound Variant Cover), AR
Eternal Descent Volume 2 #4 (Of 6)(Cover A Jason Metcalf), $3.99
Eternal Descent Volume 2 #4 (Of 6)(Cover B Santi Casas), $3.99
G.I. JOE A Real American Hero #177 (Cover A Ron Frenz), $3.99
G.I. JOE A Real American Hero #177 (Cover B Herb Trimpe), $3.99
G.I. JOE A Real American Hero #177 (Larry Hama Sketch Variant Cover), AR
Ghostbusters #8 (Cover A Dan Schoening), $3.99
Ghostbusters #8 (Cover B Nick Runge), $3.99
Ghostbusters #8 (Gabe Eltaeb Variant Cover), AR
H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror TP, $17.99
John Byrne’s Next Men Aftermath #42 (John Byrne Black & White Variant Cover), AR
John Byrne’s Next Men Aftermath #42 (John Byrne Regular Cover), $3.99
Rocketeer Adventures 2 #2 (Of 4)(Cover A Darwyn Cooke), $3.99
Rocketeer Adventures 2 #2 (Of 4)(Cover B Dave Stevens), $3.99
Rocketeer Adventures 2 #2 (Of 4)(Darwyn Cooke Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series #4 (Leonardo)(Cover A David Petersen), $3.99
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series #4 (Leonardo)(Cover B Ross Campbell), $3.99
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series #4 (Leonardo)(David Petersen Black & White Variant Cover), AR
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series #4 (Leonardo)(Peter Laird Re-Mastered Original Leonardo Micro-Series Retro Variant Cover), AR
Transformers Classics Volume 3 TP, $24.99
Transformers More Than Meets The Eye #4 (Cover A Alex Milne), $3.99
Transformers More Than Meets The Eye #4 (Cover B Nick Roche), $3.99
Transformers More Than Meets The Eye #4 (Marcelo Matere Interconnected Variant Cover), AR
Zombies Vs Robots This Means War SC, $17.99

Bloodstrike #26 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Bomb Queen VII Queen’s World #3 (Of 4), $3.50
Darkness #101 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Manhattan Projects #1 (3rd Printing Variant Cover), $3.50
Manhattan Projects #2, $3.50
Near Death #7, $2.99
No Place Like Home #3, $2.99
Prophet #23 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Prophet #24, $2.99
Saga #1 (Fiona Staples 3rd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Spawn Origins Book 6 HC, $29.99
Super Dinosaur #10, $2.99
Walking Dead #96, $2.99
Witchblade #155 (Cover A John Tyler Christopher), $2.99
Witchblade #155 (Cover B Diego Bernard & Fred Benes), $2.99

Amazing Spider-Man #684 (Gabriele Dell’Otto Variant Cover), AR
Amazing Spider-Man #684 (Stefano Caselli Regular Cover), $3.99
Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Volume 2 HC (Humberto Ramos Cover), $99.99
Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Volume 2 HC (John Romita Sr. Direct Market Cover), $99.99
Avengers #25 (Daniel Acuna Regular Cover), $3.99
Avengers #25 (Gabriele Dell’Otto Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Avengers Sampler #1 (Promotional Item), AR
Avengers The Serpent Crown HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Avengers The Serpent Crown HC (Premiere Edition)(Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 87), $24.99
Avengers Vs X-Men #0 (Of 12)(Frank Cho 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99
Avengers Vs X-Men #1 (Of 12)(Jim Cheung 2nd Printing Variant Cover)(not verified by Diamond), $3.99
Avengers Vs X-Men #2 (Of 12)(Carlo Pagulayan Avengers Team Variant Cover), AR
Avengers Vs X-Men #2 (Of 12)(Carlo Pagulayan Variant Cover), AR
Avengers Vs X-Men #2 (Of 12)(Carlo Pagulayan X-Men Team Variant Cover), AR
Avengers Vs X-Men #2 (Of 12)(DCD Summit 2012 Inked Variant Cover), AR
Avengers Vs X-Men #2 (Of 12)(Jim Cheung Regular Cover), $3.99
Avengers Vs X-Men #2 (Of 12)(Nick Bradshaw Sketch Variant Cover), AR
Avengers Vs X-Men #2 (Of 12)(Nick Bradshaw Variant Cover), AR
Defenders #5 (I Am A Defender Variant Cover), AR
Defenders #5 (Terry Dodson Regular Cover), $3.99
Defenders #5 (Walt Simonson Variant Cover), AR
Emma TP, $14.99
Fear Itself The Home Front HC (Premiere Edition), $29.99
Fear Itself Uncanny X-Force The Deep HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Incredible Hulk #7 (Charles Paul Wilson III Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Incredible Hulk #7 (Leinil Yu Regular Cover), $3.99
Invincible Iron Man #515 (Greg Horn Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Invincible Iron Man #515 (Salvador Larroca Regular Cover), $3.99
John Carter The Gods Of Mars #2 (Of 5), $2.99
Marvel’s The Avengers Prelude Fury’s Big Week #4 (Of 4)(was ‘Prelude To Marvel’s The Avengers’), $2.99
New Mutants #41, $2.99
New Mutants A Date With The Devil HC (Premiere Edition), $19.99
Punisher #10 (Adi Granov Variant Cover), AR
Punisher #10 (Marco Checchetto Regular Cover), $2.99
Red Hulk Hulk Of Arabia TP, $14.99
Six Guns TP, $14.99
Thunderbolts #173, $2.99
Ultimate Comics Avengers By Mark Millar Omnibus HC, $75.00
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Volume 4 Death Of Spider-Man TP, $19.99
Uncanny X-Force #24 (Gerald Parel Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Uncanny X-Force #24 (Phil Noto Regular Cover), $3.99
Venom #16, $2.99
Wolverine And The X-Men #9 (Alex Maleev Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Wolverine And The X-Men #9 (Chris Bachalo Regular Cover), $3.99
Wolverine And The X-Men By Jason Aaron Volume 1 HC (Premiere Edition), $19.99
X-Factor #234, $2.99
X-Factor Volume 13 Hard Labor TP, $15.99
X-Men #27 (Jorge Molina Regular Cover), $3.99
X-Men #27 (Khoi Pham Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
X-Men Fatal Attractions HC, $99.99
X-Men The Hidden Years Volume 1 TP, $34.99

Button mashing is nothing new to gamers. From your “Test Your Might” challenges in Mortal Kombat to the NES’ Track and Field, developers have been ruining controllers (and hands) all in the sense of competition. But, what if that same button mashing technique was used for opening treasure chests and doors? Well…

How it can go horribly wrong

No consequence

What’s the point of having a button mashing if there is no penalty for failure? Many times, I’ve seen button mashing used simply for opening a treasure chest in a room void of enemies, where the only penalty for messing up is the fact that you have to go through the entire chest opening sequence again. The prize is still there, so all you lose is time. Unless you’re a speed runner, this will mean nothing to you.

Mashing multiple buttons

What’s more annoying than mashing one button? Mashing multiple buttons. Sure the game might try justifying this action by showing the character switching hands in the animation, but they aren’t fooling anyone. Couple this with a lack of consequence and this just gets infuriating.

How it can go right

Urgency

As I mentioned before, without the sense of consequence, button mashing is just a pain in the ass. But what if a big baddie is raining hot death right behind you? You can bet that finger endurance test is going to hold more weight.

Multiple paths

Button mashing can also be used to give incentive to the player. For example, let’s say that the door you are trying to open is time sensitive, and making your way through it will offer an alternative route through the game. Missing this button mashing opportunity, while not an insta-death consequence, will make the situation more difficult.

Though it was 13 years ago, I remember this moment like it was yesterday. The survival horror genre was still cutting its teeth with the Resident Evil franchise when Capcom decided to nix the zombies for a bit and bring in the Jurassic Park crowd with Dino Crisis. I had tried Resident Evil a year or two prior, but my feeble pre-teen mind couldn’t handle the complicated two-button combat system, leading to one frustrated piece of zombie chow. By the time of Dino Crisis, I had finally learned to control the tank-like protagonists.

While games were usually restricted to the confines of my room, an earlier experience with Jurassic Park on my dad’s new home theater system made me insist on experiencing the game in full house-shaking surround sound, even though I knew being out in the open would leave me susceptible to any and all chores my parents could think of to get me away from the television. However, this time, my parents not only let me play the game undisturbed, but were generally interested in watching me play the game.

I wasn’t particularly far in the game, killing a few raptors, opening a few locked doors, and skipping through all dialogue in my wake. In retrospect, I wish I could slap my past self in the back of the head for my blatant disregard of storyline, but I digress. One room, however, kept alluding me throughout my speedrun: the Chief’s room, located on the second floor of the research facility. I frustratedly kept backtracking through the game, searching for that allusive key that would open the room. I must have been searching for at least an hour, my parents back-seat gaming the entire time, until I finally found what. Absolutely ecstatic, I made a bee-line right for the Chief’s room and typed in the decoded door passcode when…Mom wanted a shot at the game.

My mom has never been much of a gamer outside of the occasional adventure game at that time, so I was shocked to see her get an interest in what was easily my biggest hobby. Begrudgingly, I handed her the controller, preparing myself to back-seat game her until she got bored with it. If she only knew what was ahead of her, she probably wouldn’t have taken the controller.

In my mind, the giant pane of glass covering one side of the office was a red flag, but my mom didn’t pick up on it as she ran past it to get to a deceptively easy medal box puzzle. I winced as she ran by, knowing that window would not be intact for much longer. Sure enough, once she grabbed the card from the puzzle and began to run for the exit…

The controller flew in the air as my mom shrieked as a Tyrannosaurus made its smashing debut. Looking back at it now, this moment easily ranks in the top ten moments I’ve laughed my ass off. As for my mom, she never picked up the controller again.

Notable Releases

Tuesday (4/17)

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Vita)
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition (PC/360)
The House of the Dead 4 (PSN)
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (PC)

Game of the Week

Awarded to The Witcher 2, a great PC game made even better and imported to the console crowd.

Richard Garriott de Cayeux

Known for: Ultima franchise, Tabula Rasa
Richard Garriott, best known by his gaming alter-ego Lord British, has been revolutionizing the role-playing genre for over 30 years. Though he started as a hobbyist creating Dungeons & Dragons campaigns for his friends, he was encouraged to try selling his latest game, Akalabeth, in Ziploc bags in game stores. This proved extremely successful, selling around 30,000 copies. He soon followed this up with what would soon become his name-to-fame, Ultima, which lead to a franchise of 9 games, spinoffs, expansions, and even a popular MMO still active today. Garriott may have taken a few years away from the game industry to pursue his passion for aerospace, but together with his new company, Portalarium, he is ready to take the gaming world by storm once again.

So what’s stopping him?: Unfortunately, Lord British has all but lost his rule over the world of Ultima, as EA firmly holds the rights to any and all future titles bearing the Ultima moniker (though, surprisingly, he still holds the key to Britannia). He’s been in talks with EA to claim the name once again, but so far his efforts have been fruitless.

Roberta and Ken Williams

Known for: King’s Quest franchise, Phantasmagoria
This husband/wife combo are responsible for popular adventure game company, Sierra On-Line, which brought us such franchises as King’s Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and Quest for Glory. The duo created what is easily the company’s most successful franchise, King’s Quest, which spawned 8 titles and helped bring adventures games out of their text and parser days and into the graphical era.

So what’s stopping them?:Ken and Roberta retired from the industry back in 1999, and have shown little interest in going back. While we did see a glimpse of them when they gave their blessing to the unofficial fangame, The Silver Lining, both are currently busy with other pursuits. The final nail in this coffin might be the fact that the series is set to be reboot by Telltale Games.

John Romero

Known for: DOOM, Wolfenstein 3D
Together with John Carmack, John Romero essentially created the first-person shooter genre with Wolfenstein 3D. With DOOM, Heretic, and Quake, he helped the genre continue to evolve. Following his great success at id Software, he went on to form Ion Storm, which led to such popular franchises Deus Ex and Thief.

So what’s stopping him?:Not everything that came out of Ion Storm was successful. After the colossal failure and snarky campaign of Daikatana, his name might be too tarnished to ever receive enough funding. He has already tried unsuccessfully to return to the industry a handful of times to little success (many projects cancelled due to lack of publisher).

Chris Roberts

Known for: Wing Commander
Chris Roberts, like Richard Garriot, built his game development career at Origin Systems, assisting on the Ultima series shortly before he made a name for himself with Wing Commander. The series combined white-knuckle space combat rivaling Star Wars with great story and, from Wing Commander 3 on, Hollywood talent like Mark Hamill, John Rhys-Davies, and Malcolm McDowell. The series spawned 5 main titles and numerous spinoffs.

So what’s stopping him?: After a long run of successful titles, Wing Commander’s reputation was tarnished by a horrid film adaptation, which Roberts directed himself. You’d think with the heavily cinematic stylings and star studded nature of the game franchise, they’d be able to easily follow suit with a movie, but we were wrong. Horribly wrong. Roberts has since left the game industry to pursue a career in film production.

Just recently jumped into a new indie game I saw on steam called Vessel.   You play the role of Arkwright the inventor of liquid based automatons.  The game progresses as a puzzle based game where you need to solve problems caused by your inventions most of the time.  The world is very steampunk in design.  Lots of pistons, gears and steam powered engines.  You are armed with “Seeds” which allow you to gather up liquids into automations that then are programmed to perform certain tasks.

These tasks include standing on top of platforms like you see above and opening doors.  The little guys seem to be quite well programmed to perform the tasks you need them to do.  The puzzles are more about getting to the liquid to make the automaton and less about making the little guy do what he needs to do.

Soon after you master this skill you are given another ability that includes a backpack that allows you to suck up liquids and shoot them out at a later time or use that liquid to make automatons.

I really like the steampunk graphics.  Primarily I like how there are layers of graphics that your character walked behind and in front of during play.  I haven’t played the whole game thought but I have to say that the puzzles and mechanisms are very original aside from the pressure plates which seem a lot like portal pressure plates and the  automations sometimes operate like a companion cube.

What I enjoy just messing with is the liquid physics used in this game. Its sometimes fun simply to stand in the flow of water or spray water indiscriminately just to watch the water flow around the map.  If you have $15 I highly recommend buying the game if you cannot manage that there is a very short demo you can play on steam for free.  Take a look at let me know what you think.

So given the line was made up of mostly groups of 2-6 people wanting to play Diablo together when a single seat opened up they asked me if I wanted to jump into the game since no one was waiting for one seat.  I was mostly finished with the game I was on so I went over.

The amount of time we got to play was…..minimal and I cannot imagine being sold on the game in that amount of time but we got beta codes.

So knowing nothing about the game in general I jumped into the beta for the last two nights as a Wizard. So as you read this remember I am not a long time player of the Diablo franchise and I did not read the website before jumping into play.

The Interface

The intro to the game is done very well for the average gamer.  I did not find it too slow nor too rushed. I learned the basics of movement, looting, attacking and talking to NPCs in about 1min perhaps less.  I find once you get past these basics most gamers are more patient with other interfaces because they can move and explore.  It basically opens up all of your content even if your skills and advancement interface is super complicated.

At this point I felt fairly powerful (one of my big concerns in a game) even thought I was just level 1 with spells just above making the candles flicker.  You have your first interaction with an NPC, get a quest and are introduced to the map even though its been sitting there the whole time.  Now you have your wits about you and your ready to explore and basically there is little more you need to know about except skill advancement and runes.

To sum up the interfaces I feel like in 1-3  minutes of playing I knew the basic interface.  I never really understood runes but I think that is because the content of the beta ends around level 10 and you just don’t have many runes by then.  What are runes?  They seem to increase your abilities in some way.  Perhaps if I play though again as another class I will understand how they work better but it wasn’t needed to perform basic play.

One of the things I really liked about the interface is that at the bottom of most windows there was a picture of a mouse with a right or left click highlighted showing you exactly which button would do the thing you were most looking to do.  In every game there is some standard and although lots of players are familiar with the game I was not and this was a welcomed thing to see before I sold something I meant to equip or whatever. Thanks for that.

Onto battle!

Clicking on the low level bad guys is quite satisfying.  Most of the time a single attack kills the creature and when you just start playing I feel like there is a significant need for a player to feel like the run of the mill bad guys are nothing to them.  I definitely got that feeling and groups of 2-3 of the normal mobs seemed to be easy to take out and made me feel like I could take on more and so of course I rushed off to do just that.   As the skills progressed I certainly felt as though I was forced to choose a method of fight style.  I was limited to only so many abilities active at once and although that might change as you progress (or leave beta) it made me feel just a tiny bit forced to fight a certain way.

What do I mean?

Early on I had two skills and both hit a single enemy at a distance (Primary: Magic Missile Secondary: Ray of Frost).  It was nice but a few times I got mobbed and I thought that I really could use an area of effect (AoE) skill of some kind.  Bam! Next level there was an area of effect spell (Primary: Shock Pulse) and I was quite happy.  However it took the place of one of my ranged spells, my primary damage Magic Missile.  I felt conflicted but went along with the upgrade.  It was OK but non-optimal. Because Shock Pulse was AoE but centered on myself I could own things piling on me but I couldn’t really get things before they hit me a few times even if I hit them with Ray of Frost to slow them down.  There were huge bloated guys that always got right up on top of me and because I suck at the click to move interface I often ended up getting roughed up by their intestinal worms or whatever they were.   Anyway I mention all that just to say that Battle is cool, it makes you feel powerful but be sure when you are choosing powers you understand the choices you are making.  The totally cool thing? You can change your setup anytime you want provided the skill is not in cooldown.  Thanks for that!

Loot

I always have comments about treasure drops and loot so don’t take this too hard and keep in mind as a DM I nearly never used loot tables.  I really hated when something dropped that was of absolutely no use to anyone in the party.

The loot overall was fantastic. Lots of magic stuff at low level with small bonuses that I could agonize over for no reason at all.  Lots of goodies.  I did on several trips out to massacre the undead run out of space and had to drop the really crappy gear as I simply didn’t want to make trips back to town to sell junk but you certainly could do that.  In hindsight when I run through the Beta again I wont sell any of my magic gear as only magic gear can be deconstructed to craft which is why this particular review wont cover crafting much at all.  You will get plenty of loot but that loot doesn’t seem to sell for much and some of the items in beta are pretty pricey given your income.  I am not sure why but there it is you simply cannot buy everything you want even if you wipe out the whole beta.  Obviously you do not need all the goodies but everyone wants them.

Oh…one last thing.  I never saw a tool-tip or anything about the Stash in town.  The stash seems to be a chest that you can use for personal storage or so I assume.  I don’t think that was made very clear in the beta.   I just guessed I could use it I am sure right now someone is taking that weird scythe looking thing I found that was demon hunter only.  Oh well…one last thing there is a little mob that runs away from you.  No idea what he is but if you beat the snot out of him he keeps dropping gold and goodies.  If you let him he will teleport away…..so do yourself a favor and shake him down for all he is worth.

Travel

I cannot say enough about the ease of travel.  Having easy teleport locations and ways of quickly getting out of the end of a dungeon was a great relief once i realized how long it was going to take to get back to town I was a bit daunted and then I found a rune that would take me to the entrance of the dungeon I was in and from there it was easy to find a teleport point.  Thank you so much for this.

Crafting

I cannot really say much about the crafting.  There is really the shortest of introductions to crafting and you probably will only be able to craft a small handful of items in your first run in the beta.  So I am not going to really critique crafting in this article.  What I saw of crafting in the beta seemed easy to understand but I cannot speak to progress or difficulty.

Conclusion:

Even not being a Diablo enthusiast I enjoyed the beta enough to want to play through as another class.  I wrote this wanting to give you a sense of the game without giving away any storyline at all and I hope I gave you the sense that the game is fun and really makes you feel like a powerful adventurer.  The interface is solid and the combat is fun even if you are an idiot  like me and cannot negotiate click to move interfaces. The beta is not hard and shouldn’t take you long at all.  I recommend checking it out if you find yourself with a beta access and certainly worth it when it comes out to give it a try.

Admittedly when I walked up on the booth I saw the controller and I thought “Gimmick” but when i sat down with it I was definitely caught off guard by its weight and quality feel. It wasn’t a device meant to fleece gamers out of some more money this thing had a real feel.  I did have a bit of trouble when first grabbing the device.  I was not used to holding my hand in the air and I think I over-thought using it a whole bunch which wasted lots of time I could have been experimenting with the device.

For those of you who don’t know not only is the Falcon 3D a controller to replace your mouse but its a haptic feedback controller.  This means when you run into a wall the controller pushes back at you, when you fire your gun you feel the recoil through the controller.  One of the coolest features is that when you are shot the controller makes you feel it  and makes you feel it with directionality so you know exactly where the shots came from.

I had seen the device online and had heard about it but a combination of not believing it and assuming if it did work it would cost a fortune basically drove the idea completely out of my head.

In the 4-5 minutes I had I definitely experienced the recoil but I cannot speak to the directionality of hits as while i was shooting at the ground and running against walls someone pwned me and I felt the pressure of the line waiting so I got up and let the next person in.  I really would like to try more of the haptic feedback while walking along walls and around corners and I would also really like to get a feel for the directional impacts you feel as you take damage.

Surfing on over to the Novint site it seems they have something else in the works over there called XIO which shows how this tech is clearly being developed for military/combat training applications.

Novint is based out of Albuquerque New Mexico

Time was short, and for some weird ass reason, I was selected to ask Mr Bourdain some questions out of the field of people who had all camped around their phones for the conference call. No Reservations 8th season started on the travel channel Monday April 9th. Or, last night for those of you that weren’t paying attention. The episode to start things off was set in Mozambique and well, just watch the damn episode. There is a reason these guys are so highly regarded, how they do it? They’re just that good as a team.

Of course I barely touched on the current season when I talked to him, maybe I picked randomly from my list of questions, maybe I freaked out and in a panic fumbled my brush with Bourdain, maybe I’ll give you the chat to decide for yourselves. No Reservations airs Monday Nights on the Travel channel, you better be watching.

WPR: Hi Anthony, thanks for taking the time to talk.

Anthony Bourdain: Hey sure. How you doing?

WPR: I listened to you on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, and had a lot of fun listening to it. Have you ever entertained starting your own kind of podcast about No Reservations or kind of doing anything in that kind of nature?

Anthony Bourdain: I’m not opposed in principle. I mean, I really like the idea. Everyone I work with, we’re all really open to the idea of sort of any venue, any format, any platform that we can be creative and have a good time, I mean, we’re open to it. But, I mean, at the moment, anything we have to say on the subject of No
Reservations we’re pretty much either putting into the show itself or tweeting about it while we’re making the set.

WPR: Has there ever been any time where you’re actually like scared for your life while you’ve been on No Reservations?

Anthony Bourdain: There have been some uncomfortable moments for sure. I mean, certainly Beirut in 2006, Liberia there were some uncomfortable moments. I mean, when you’re filming in a place with expensive cameras, in a place where, you know, people are really, really hungry and, you know, a few dollars makes the difference between life and death for them and their family and there’s no infrastructure to speak of, you know, it could be – for very understandable reasons it can be tense.

WPR: Were there any particular moments during this season that kind of really stood out for you?

Anthony Bourdain: A lot of moments. You know, I just got back from Burgundy and let me tell you, that did not suck. You got to drink a lot of good wine and eating spectacularly well in the ancestral homeland. That’s still fresh in memory. Haven’t been shot at or anything like that. There haven’t been any high security moments yet this season that I can think of. Though we did do ice racing in Finland that got – I guess that would fall into the physically foolhardy department.

No Reservations. Monday Nights. Travel Channel. You, Watching it.

BMO! Wait, I just noticed Jake and fin have giant piles of treasure in that front room, why are they stockpiling? Ok, focus, episode theme, episode theme… Bmo talks to himself in the mirror, pretends to be alive, brushes teeth, uses soap, pretends to use the bathroom pouring water in while he sits. It’s all incredibly odd, and…weird. Jake and Finn watch him through the window, confirming for Finn that BMO does weird stuff when nobody is looking. Then Jake and Finn high five. Weakly. Thus ensuing a high fiving power-lust that includes from a distance running at each other to make for harder high fives. They do the ultimate high five ever launching through the air and over a crazy distance.

We cut to Princess Bubblegum doing SCIENCE! Making…what, starting by putting a cow in a spinning chamber like Astronauts . I nearly lost itwhen the cow got secured in an said “oh man.” What was the purpose of all this amazing SCIENCE! Of making a tomatoe and lettuce, even bread? To make the most perfect sandwhich ever to exit in the universe. So, when she gives it to Cinnamon Bun, who eats it in one bite, not tasting it and then burps chunks all over her was very anticlimactic.

There’s more! Ice King! Gunther is just playing keyboard minding himself, when ice King comes into the room and talks about how smelly it is. He figures it’s Gunther and pushes Gunther out on an iceburg because he stinks. Ice king realizes he’s the one that smells bad, makes penguins bath him, hilariously. It’s funny how he uses them like trash afterwards when he…tosses them in the trash when he’s done. Gunther is back, all wet and mad. The kicker on this one is that while the Ice King is asking why his armpits were so smelly Gunther farts into his armpits.

Is this episode crazy enough for you yet? No?

Lumpy space princess is at a talent show where her lumps song gets stolen right before her act. Everyone calls her a rip off, she throws a ball at the crowd and it hits someone and goes into the basketball net. She does this three more times, scoring three more baskets. Just as she’s being declared the winner, Jake and Fin ultimate high five right at the end when them flying through the air. Completing their high five from earlier.

<

So, what the HELL did we watch now that it’s over, we’re supposed to guess the theme. The theme was the 5 senses. Bmo saw, Jake and Finn touched, Princess made a tasty sandwich, Ice King smelled, Lumpy heard music See it all made sense (teehee) only in the Land of Ooo.

Its a good question and one I am happy to answer.  A 1 hour time block is quite a chunk of time and music although wonderful doesn’t teach you anything except that when no one is listening you sound really good to yourself in the car.  The reality is one day i recorded myself singing and played it back.  I don’t need to tell you that no matter how many hours I spend singing in the car my lyrical stylings are not going to get any better. So, having come to the conclusion that I am not the next winner of  “The Voice” i thought it best to make my one hour blocks more useful.

What can happen in the car for a solid hour is learning.  Now don’t get me wrong I am not about to tell you to try and learn a second or third language in the car.  The content has to have a bit of humor/entertainment value or you will just end up turning it off or veering off the road into a ditch as you drift to sleep.   So here are a few podcasts I am currently listening to on my commutes.  It doesn’t fill my week of 10 hours driving time so if you have one you like feel free to comment about it.  I can always use suggestions.   I also want to mention I am limiting this to my audio-only podcasts because you should not be watching video podcasts in the car.  Also I have tons of video podcasts and youtube channels that I try (unsuccessfully) to keep up with and it simply doesn’t belong in this post.

1. Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me is a once a week podcast from NPR that is a quiz show based on the news of that week.  I have no idea how long its been on radio before it was a podcast but if you find the news as ridiculous as I do then this show is worth while.  The show is approx 45 minutes.  Although the whole show is a comedy and not really a game show you do end up getting a weekly wrap up of what happened that week in the news.

2. Startalk

Startalk is lead by the well known astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson ( Twitter:@neiltyson) and is perhaps the only podcast out there that tackles explaining the universe in such a way that anyone at all can understand and follow it.  Neil deGrasse Tyson has an infectious laugh and the kind of roll with it attitude that allows him to take on any topic or joke about the universe (that’s saying a lot) and roll with it.   He always has a good mix of folks on the show and I have never gotten bored of a subject.  The only downside of this show is it doesn’t update as often as I would like.  Its rare to hear someone as passionate and down to earth and who also is considered world renown.

3. Here’s The Thing

This is a new addition to my podcast list.  Its an interview podcast by Alec Baldwin (Twitter:@alecbaldwin) and it generally centers around Hollywood and “the business” as they call it.  You learn a tremendous amount about each person Alec interviews and a fair amount about Alec himself.  This podcast also doesn’t update every week but each podcast is lengthy and the interview is in depth.  You really get a sense of the actors/actresses/musicians that Alec has on his show and nothing seems rushed like it does on those late night show guest interviews where they are really just there to push some new creation and not really there for the interview.

4. NPR Technology Podcast

I generally keep up to date on most of the bullet reporting that whizzes by my head and ends up in my aggregator but there is a need for me to have some more coverage of some of this tech news and with a total lack of anything else this fits the bill.  I wish it was made daily but its not.  However it seems to fill the bill and gets me the 20-30% of coverage beyond the short form news we are all getting used to these days.

So give one or two of those a try for a little bit and see if you like it.  If you have an audio podcast you listen to regularly drop it in the comments and I will add it into my Downloader App and give it a try.  But please if you disagree with Neil deGrasse Tyson on some nuance of something he talked about on Starchat don’t comment here. Neil doesn’t read these comments.  Use his twitter account I linked above.  He responds to folks often.

Editors Note: OR you should be only listening to the WatchPlayRead FLAGSHIP PODCAST Redlight Roundtable. I’m sure it was just an accident that Dan didn’t put it on his list. He’s new, we’ll cut him a break this one time.

I honestly think that getting Merlin has been one of the best achievements for SyFy since they stopped airing Science Fiction as a bulk of its programming. They’ve been rewarded with a show that has continuously grown in viewership week in and out as the 4th season progressed.

Holy Crap did it progress.

Morgana (Played by Katie McGrath) was the integral Villain of this season. When I talked to Katie before the airing on SyFy, she told me that Morgana really grows this season, and we see a powerful, confident woman that will stop at nothing to claim the throne from her half brother Arthur. Yes. I did actually talk to her, I just managed to be a giant idiot by not pressing record during the phone conversation and then losing my notes entirely. She was sitting at an airport waiting for a flight back to Ireland for a Holiday break. Anyways.

The continued evolution of Morgana dispelled (Teehee) any notion I had that making Morgana the lead Villain for another season was going to slow down the show and become redundant. Every time we saw Morgana on the screen it was a delight. McGrath fully embraced her dark side of relentless pursuing a way to capture the throne, when a plan failed, she might leave in a huff, but it was always done with a notion that she was just going to pull something bigger out of her bag of tricks. Which she did in the two-part season Finale. Which I’ll talk about at the end of this article, since it deserves it’s own space.

Merlin obviously is the center of the show, Colin Morgan has truly grown into his role of Merlin. Merlin as a character in this series is someone who wears multiple hats, sometimes at the same time. He has to hide the fact that he has magical powers from everyone but a very, select few people. Arthur is not one of those people. Season 4 still has Camelot as a kingdom that has no acceptance for magic and magical creatures. Merlin has to use whatever means he can find necessary to convince Arthur that all magic isn’t bad. Which is Hat #1 he plays, the bumbling idiot of a servant to the king. This is where the comedy comes into the series, Merlin willingly (sometimes unwillingly) making himself appear a fool to keep people away from his secret. It’s not over the top, nor is it completely subtle. The writers of the show inject comedic timing at the rice places to ease the show into something more memorable. Hat #2 Merlin wears is well, he’s Emrys the badass old man of legend. Except, he’s still a young warlock. As he learns and expands his capabilities as a warlock, Merlin sometimes overextends himself and either does more harm to the situation or in the case of Arthurs father, only makes things incredibly worse. Season 4 shows Merlin as a warlock who has a great confidence in his magical abilites. Hat #3 is that Merlin is the unknown hero. Because he has to hide his abilities nearly everything he does to save the day is done on the sly, or meant to give someone (mostly Arthur) the credit when things go right. The last hat he wears is confidant. Merlin is a keeper of secrets on the show, and subtly we get to see people taking huge courage in telling him things they wouldn’t to others. While Arthur may assume that Merlin is a fool, he often in slight ways uses the nudges of Merlin to do things in the right way. When Arthur finally had his moment of seeking true and honest advice from Merlin as he was a broken down man did we see the King and trusted Advisor relationship that we all know from Legend.

You can’t have Merlin without King Arthur. Well, you can, but it’s Arthur’s Legend that is being told here, not the story of Merlin. Bradley James as Arthur couldn’t be done by another actor. Well, it could in all technicality. But not for this show specifically. It’s hard to put a finger on why he has been so damn good on this show, other than he’s just a damn good actor. His portrayal in season 4 was just another part of the puzzle that made this whole season click together. His timing was always spot on when a situation was dramatic, funny, outright silly, or called for intense combat. His ability to shift between those roles and still show himself as a King and leader of Camelot was pivotal this season. It’s his story after all, with all the great losses that Arthur suffered through the season, we watched him roller coaster through highs and lows as when things seem to be going well for Arthur a horrible event would sent him back to his knees. He always rose from each downfall, and gave audiences something to watch that was worthy of coming back the next week.

The season finale though. Damn. How do I put it as spoiler free as possible. This whole season was one of growth. Morgana as the evil half sister trying to take the Kingdom from Arthur. Merlin as a Warlock and slowly accepted Advisor to Arthur. Well, and Arthur as a man who is trying to do the right thing, even though he has knives ready to stab him from all angles, perceived friend and foe alike. There was another set of growth though, by the main three actors. It’s hard to describe it, and I’m not saying that the previous seasons were bad, which they aren’t. I saw in this season was what looked like everyone stepping their game up. It didn’t feel like I was watching a show on SyFy, which has been mocked for various reasons. It felt like I was watching a show that was on a channel that you pay a monthly fee for it alone, like HBO. I don’t know how the system works over at the BBC, but the production value in this show is high, especially in this Finale. I was honestly in awe at some points of the two part finale. The first that comes to mind was when Helios, Morgana and Agravaine de Bois were marching through Camelot as Arthur watched from the shadows of his escape. Watching Morgana smugly making her way through the city as it was being conquered was a short scene, but was powerful in a way, a culmination of all of the dealing and treachery to take the Kingdom. The second scene from the finale was Merlin facing Agravaine in the cave system as Agravaine was hunting down Arthur and the few survivors on the run. The look on Merlin’s face when he turned and revealed to Agravaine made me hold my breath. Seriously. It was a glimpse at a Merlin who was incredibly confident of his abilities, while a cold face of reality of what he must do in the coming seconds. It was thrilling to watch.

I could go on and on about this show, which I will, when season 5 hits the US shores, in oh, another year. In the meantime, i’ll be doing my best to avoid all the internet musings and goings coming from England and the BBC. I’ll be a good little boy once again, when I get rewarded in such a great way, I have no other option than to repeat my good deeds once again.

The Cabin in the Woods

Genre: Horror/Thriller
MPAA rating: R
Director: Drew Goddard
Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Kristen Connolly
Plot: A twist on the classic horror setup of a group of friends going to a cabin retreat in the dark woods and uncovering something unexpected and horrific.

Lockout

Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller
MPAA rating: PG-13
Director: James Mather, Stephen St. Leger
Actors: Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare
Plot: A man falsely accused of espionage has one chance to clear his name: save the president’s daughter from a inmate breakout at a space prison.

The Three Stooges

Genre: Comedy/Family
MPAA rating: PG
Director: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Actors: Sean Hayes, Will Sasso, Chris Diamantopoulos
Plot: Larry, Moe and Curly are out to save their childhood orphanage and in turn get involved in a murder mystery and caught up in a reality TV show.

Bad Ass (Limited Release)

Genre: Action
MPAA rating: R
Director: Craig Moss
Actors: Danny Trejo, Ron Perlman, Charles S. Dutton
Plot: It’s taken 40 years, but Vietnam Veteran Frank Vega is finally recognized as a hero after saving an elderly black man from a pair of skinheads. Yet the fame is short-lived when his best friend ends up murdered and he find the local police unwilling to help, so he takes justice into his own hands.

Touchback

Genre: Drama/Family
MPAA rating: PG-13
Director: Don Handfield
Actors: Brian Presley, Kurt Russell, Melanie Lynskey
Plot: What would you do if given the chance to change your life? One man has a second change – 15 years ago, on the game-winning drive in the biggest game of his high school career, the best player in the nation falls to injury, and his chance at a professional career is dashed. Now he is given a chance to correct this mistake, but will life truly be better?

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68 Scars #1 (Of 4)(Cover D Sam Keith)(not verified by Diamond), AR
America’s Got Powers #1 (Of 6), $2.99
Artifacts #16, $3.99
Epoch #5 (Of 5), $3.99
Glory #24 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Glory #25, $2.99
Haunt #23, $2.99
Infinite Horizon TP, $17.99
Peter Panzerfaust #2 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.50
Peter Panzerfaust #3, $3.50
Saga #1 (Fiona Staples 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Saga #2, $2.99
Secret #1, $3.50
Severed HC, $24.99
Strange Talent Of Luther Strode Volume 1 TP, $14.99
Thief Of Thieves #2 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
Thief Of Thieves #3, $2.99

Amazing Spider-Man #683 (Mike Del Mundo Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Amazing Spider-Man Hooky #1, $4.99
Avengers Assemble #2 (Mark Bagley Regular Cover), $3.99
Avengers Assemble #2 (Stephanie Hans Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Avengers The Coming Of The Avengers #1, $3.99
Avengers Vs X-Men By Jim Cheung B Poster, $8.99
Avengers Vs X-Men By Ryan Stegman Poster, $8.99
Avengers Vs X-Men It’s Coming TP, $19.99
Avenging Spider-Man #6 (Adi Granov Variant Cover), AR
Avenging Spider-Man #6 (Marco Checchetto Variant Cover), AR
Avenging Spider-Man #6 (Steve McNiven Regular Cover), $3.99
Black Panther The Most Dangerous Man Alive The Kingpin Of Wakanda TP, $16.99
Carnage U.S.A. #5 (Of 5), $3.99
Daredevil Season One HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Deadpool #53, $2.99
Essential Avengers Volume 8 TP, $19.99
Fantastic Four #605 (Michael Kaluta Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Fantastic Four #605 (Ron Garney Regular Cover), $2.99
Formic Wars Silent Strike #5 (Of 5), $3.99
Goldfish HC, $24.99
Halo Fall Of Reach Invasion #3 (Of 4), $3.99
Journey Into Mystery #636, $2.99
Marvel Masterworks Captain America Volume 6 HC, $59.99
Marvel Masterworks Captain America Volume 6 HC (Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 178), $59.99
Marvel Universe Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #1 (was ‘Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Adventures’), $2.99
Marvel’s The Avengers Movie Rolled Poster (Promotional Poster), AR
Mighty Avengers An Origin Story HC (Marvel Press), $8.99
Mighty Thor #12.1, $2.99
New Avengers #24 (Mike Del Mundo Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
New Avengers #24 (Mike Deodato Regular Cover), $3.99
New Mutants Volume 4 Unfinished Business TP, $16.99
Omega Effect By Adi Granov Poster, $8.99
PunisherMAX Frank TP, $19.99
PunisherMAX Homeless HC (Premiere Edition), $19.99
Scarlet Spider #4 (Mike Del Mundo Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Scarlet Spider #4 (Ryan Stegman Regular Cover), $2.99
Secret Avengers #25, $3.99
Secret Service #1 (Of 7)(Bryan Hitch Variant Cover), AR
Secret Service #1 (Of 7)(Dave Gibbons Regular Cover), $2.99
Spider-Man The Complete Ben Reilly Epic Volume 4 TP, $39.99
Ultimate Comics X-Men #10, $3.99
Uncanny X-Men #10 (Adam Kubert Regular Cover), $3.99
Untold Tales Of Spider-Man Omnibus HC, $99.99
Untold Tales Of Spider-Man Omnibus HC (Direct Market Variant Edition), $99.99
Winter Soldier #4 (John Tyler Christopher Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
Winter Soldier #4 (Lee Bermejo Regular Cover), $2.99
Wolverine #304 (Dale Keown Regular Cover), $3.99
Wolverine #304 (Gurihiru Avengers Art Appreciation Variant Cover), AR
X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga TP (New Printing), $24.99
X-Men Legacy Lost Legions TP, $16.99

I had a short list of things for myself to do and another list of things some of my friends asked me to look at or try to get some beta access to.

One of my top things was getting a look at Borderlands 2. Friday morning I made straight for the booth and by the time I got there the line was completely wrapped around the booth and there was a second line feeding the first that was several rows deep. The kicker? They only opened the line once an hour and let folks in. So that was a bit of a let down. However I saw the game in action from a short distance away and managed to nab one of the exhibitors for a few minutes and he answered a few questions that I was really hoping to get answered.
1. Was there still procedurelly generated weapons? Yes! And the guy mentioned that the algorithm had been improved. Not sure what that means but its something to look forward to seeing.
2. Did they get split screen working? Yes but it was not on demo at PAXEast
3. Did the drops/rewards mechanic still reward groups? Yes. Which was actually something I hoped they would tweak. Sometimes I just want to solo play but the solo drops used to be pretty terrible. So I am not sure about this.

TERA
I am not sure how TERA made it under my radar but I am glad I wandered into the Alienware booth when I did. I had seen the TERA game booth and I wasn’t interested in another MMO as I already have 3 loaded up on my system. I signed up for Alienware shwag and grabbed my shirt and there was a couple Alienware machines running TERA.  And a gentleman standing there running the machine who didn’t look like a regular PAX  goer. And sure enough after talking with him for a few minutes I learned he was a dev for the game. He was incredibly well spoken and friendly.

So why will I try this game? TERA unlike other MMOs requires many of the things we have come to expect from PVP in the PvE aspect of the game. You can move out of the way of attacks from mobs and in order to hit with your attacks you have to be facing and in range or you simply miss. Simply pressing buttons will not get you through a fight. So he let me play for a bit. I know you cannot really get a sense for an MMO in 10 minutes but I have to say if I spend money on one game this summer it will be TERA.

LOTRO
I have been playing LOTRO for a few years on and off. Its an MMO with a consistent level of quality and follows a storyline that I hold dear. I know its not everyone’s cup of tea but for me this is a go to game. What I have to say is getting to stop by the booth and talk to the Turbine Folks like Rick Heaton (@rickheaton).  The people at Turbine are great folks.  They are very helpful, care about their products and really have a ton of enthusiasm.   I happily said happy birthday to LOTRO  and swung by the DDO side of their booth to see what was new.

What’s up with Lolth,

Both DDO (from Turbine/Warner) and Dungeons and Dragons from Wizards of the Coast is putting a huge emphasis on the underdark. There was a huge statue of Drizzt and a huge Drider avatar of Lolth. in the Dungeons and Dragons booth and it would appear that Lolth herself kicks your ass in DDO online from Turbine. Essentially this year the dark elves are coming for your souls.

SWTOR
Just across from WB was the SWTOR booth. They had some regular PVP matches and were giving away some minor in game pets. I didnt feel the need to play this one as I play it a couple times a week but I wanted to grab the pet and hopefully meet up with Stephen Reid(@Rockjaw). I had recently made an open jab at Corso and his habit of naming weapons in strange ways. It was cool to meet him in person and see some serious PVP played out LAN party style.

Maxpayne3
The Max Payne Line was impossible. The game generally isn’t a title I would run out to get but I certainly wasn’t going to wait for an hour or more in a line just to get a very short glimpse of a game.

The Secret World
I really had not heard anything about The Secret World until a friend asked me to check it out and look for beta access while I was at PAX. I wandered into the booth and managed to jump on a computer for about 10 minutes. For those of you that don’t know the game is broken up into three factions who are all reacting to a very real evil that is spreading. The three factions are Dragons, Templars, and Illuminati. I ended up playing the illuminati but I really didn’t get enough time. That was Friday.

On Saturday I made a quick run to the Nvidia gaming area where a ton of folks were waiting to sit down with Diablo III. I was just happy to find out that The Secret World was over there and the cool Enforcers got me a spot to sit down for quite some time playing. I grabbed the Dragons and saw enough of the story to know that I am going to try this game out as soon as it comes out.

Someone handed me a beta code for the game and they asked me if I wanted to play Diablo III without going back into the line. Not sure they were supposed to do this but I didn’t say no. I went over to the diablo seats and having not really messed with the prior games I was pulled into the game immediately. Good game certainly fun in a hurry and cool to co-op with a couple other people. I played the monk character and it was lots of fun. I did find that closing the gap before the ranged folks annihilated the enemies was difficult but not impossible.

World of Tanks
I had not heard of this game at all. The game is free to play with micro transactions it is  a team on team death-match type game but instead of running around with a gun you – Tanks game with 1930s to 1950s era equipment. I didn’t sit down with this game but I watched and asked lots of questions of the woman that was ministering to a group of players. I have to say this isn’t something I would pick up just looking at the box in the store but since they handed me a copy of the game on DVD and some keys for in game gold and a pin and a bunch of other goodies…..I may just fire it up and blow up some tanks. I am sure I will get owned a ton but it did look like loads of fun.

Novus AEterno
There was a small booth that I didn’t really even notice they had this game Novus Aeterno. It didn’t grab my attention and the booth seemed to have very little going on but one of the booth folks pushed some information into my hands and I did sit and watch for a little bit. It might be worth checking out. If you do please contact me and let me know what you thought of it.
Geek Chic – Gaming Tables
Along one of the outer aisles there was a booth with some pretty amazing gaming tables.

On Saturday towards 1:30pm I took a bit of a break and did something I have been meaning to do for a while….learn how to play Settlers of Catan. I got a chance to sit down at a vendor booth. A group of four teens had just sat down and so I hunkered down to listen to the game explanation and watch most of the game. Now they all played strategic denial refusing to trade or help each other in any way. But I guess that’s about how the real world is so I should not have been surprised. The result of me having the short class and watching most of the game was me picking up a basic game set to bring home. I really want to get a game of this going.

Smallworld
Having watched the new youtube channel Geek and Sundry from Felicia Day the Tabletop segment with Will Wheaton covered the game Small World. I enjoyed it so much I simply had to buy it while I was at PAX. If you aren’t subscribed to Geek and Sundry use the link i just put up there and go do it.

The Utilikilt booth…
For the last couple years my wife and I have talked about this Utilikilt business. She loves the idea and I stand somewhere along the lines of “My legs should not be seen by anyone who doesn’t really want to” But I have always said that I would try one if I got the change. So walking down a length of booths there was Utilikilt. Free fittings. So I said why not….and got fitted. I admit I wore a kilt once as part of a wedding. It was a traditional wool kilt. It was unbelievably heavy. Utilikilt was exactly the opposite. Light, cool…everything they claim. The didn’t have the exact material I was looking for but now that I have the right size I think I will take a look over at their site.

Here are some more sights and sounds of PAXEast 2012

Yes we’re back for another bi-weekly episode, still not quite ready to commit to a weekly JUST yet, but it’s coming.

Included in the panel for this week, besides myself, is Jermaine Pulliam, James Helsby, Ryan Wilson, Evan Burkey, and The Bez

We’re still a bit rusty but we’re getting there people, however we do return with tons of listener questions and what’s our shit this week.

OPENING – GWAR “Let Us Slay”
CLOSING – Regina Spektor “Hotel Song”
BGM – Various NES tracks

Want to get in-touch with the show? Have a listener question or a shout out? Have an opinion about why the panel is either right or wrong? Feel free to get in touch with everyone from the panel and continue the show long after it’s been played!

E-MAIL: RLR@WatchPlayRead.com
CALL/SMS: (347) 669-3377

That’s not all either…there are still two other ways for you to get your opinion known and stated to the RLR and WPR worlds. You can always leave comments on the shows right here in this post. If you’re an iTunes user who doesn’t mind giving a bit of honest criticism and feedback, we welcome your ratings and comments on iTunes! We’re dying to hear what you all think of the show.

RLR #116 – The Hungy Games

Subscribe via iTunes, because we’d hate for you to ever miss an episode of our finely crafted show.

If none of that works, or if you can’t figure out how to click on a few things…OR you just want to download a copy of the show to your computer the old fashioned way, RIGHT CLICK ME and click ‘save as’.

Only a couple of years ago, I only knew of Wil Wheaton, he was the guy that played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek Next Generation and for some reason as I grew up nurturing my Geekyness that was the only place my brain cataloged Mr. Wheaton. That changed when I heard him on the Penny Arcade podcast playing D&D, all of a sudden, that part of my brain unlocked and when I saw his name somewhere, I noticed. Now that I’m a creepy internet stalker of Wil Wheaton (his twitter and blog at least) I of course have been anticipating this new show since his announcement about playing host on Tabletop on Youtube under the Felicia Day helmed Geeks and Sundry channel. That last sentence was a big of verbiage diarrhea for me, damn.

Let me recollect myself, take a couple of deep breaths and get my brain organized.

Ok. Tabletop Episode one saw Wheaton playing against Sean Plott (host of “Day9TV”, a Starcraft II dedicated webcast on how to be a better gamer), Grant Imahara (host of Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters”), and Jenna Busch (geek blogger, writer and host), what did they play? Small World!

The episode starts out with Wheaton (come on, just saying his last name is the superior way to go) describing the game for those of use who’ve never had a chance to play and wanted to get a quick overview of the basics. This come complete with graphics of the game pieces that are actually, nicely done. It could have easily looked like a giant pile of crap so kudos to them for putting money in the budget to make sure the animation was nicely done. After the overview, we got about 20 minutes or so of watching them play Small World, obviously they fast forwarded through parts of the game. What you watch is a nicely packed episode that was highly entertaining and really just makes you want to get some people together and play some tabletop games. Hell, we even got a shocking ending where the person who ended up winning was, well, lucky. Wheaton does a great job playing host, you can tell that he is obviously very comfortable getting people excited about tabletop games and keeps everything just damn fun. Also, he’s a decent impressionist, or not, just watch and see.

I can’t wait to see the next episode, which looks like Settlers of Catan.

WatchPlayRead has been hard at work with top synthetics researchers to bring you a brand new way to experience the site. We believe that, while audio and video has certainly helped spread the influence of online journalism, there is still much to go to fully immerse a growing audience. Now, after 3 long years of research and development, we are finally ready to launch:

WatchPlayReadSmell

Though currently in alpha stages, WatchPlayReadSmell will bring a whole new way to not only read, but experience our articles. Utilizing specially selected colors tuned to specific frequencies, we are able to synthetically emulate an odor relating to the article you are reading. Combine these frequencies with mild friction (please use your finger, WatchPlayRead is not responsible for damages caused to monitors from using foreign objects) and the scent will be activated. For this launch we’ve provided three drastically different scents to showcase what WatchPlayReadSmell will bring to the table.

Gunpowder

Let’s say that Michael Bay just announced some new screenshots for his latest blockbuster film. The movie is still in early stages, so we haven’t been graced with even a teaser trailer to get you thoroughly hyped. So how do we get the white knuckle action feeling of a Michael Bay film, when the provided images are less than stellar? Why not a freshly detonated explosion?

Xopher

Website visionary Xopher Reed has done a brilliant job getting normally sedentary people off the couch and exercising with the No Hungy podcast, but we believe that we can do even better. In this scent, we’ve synthesized the pure masculinity of Xopher, fresh off a 7 mile run. Our extended research has also found this scent to be a great aphrodisiac, so get your favorite lady in front of the screen for this one (we’ve made the sample smaller on purpose…the sexuality is strong in this one).

Anime

Anime is easily one of our most complicated scents to synthesize for your smelling pleasure, but we wanted to prove that WatchPlayReadSmell can be implemented for every situation. By combining the smell of Pocky, fresh Pokemon cards, Evan Burkey, and a squid’s tentacle, we believe we have accomplished the impossible, but that’s up to you to decide.

If you’re having trouble activating the scent please watch the following instructional video, narrated by Ryan Thomason. Good luck, and happy smelling!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III set the bar incredibly low

There is one thing that most Turtles fans can agree on: the third movie was a steaming pile of cowadunga. With a poorly contrived time traveling to feudal Japan plot and not one, but TWO characters based around Brooklyn douche-nozzle Casey Jones, the movie was doomed from the start. Not only that, but the turtles themselves became the stuff of nightmares. Look at this shot from the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Now compare it to the turtles in the third movie.

This is what happens when you drop Jim Henson’s Creature Shop from your character design department; you get Gary Busey with a skin condition.

‘Ninja Turtles’ isn’t exactly Shakespeare

Sure, I just ripped on the third movie, but the truth is I find it a guilty pleasure. Plus, it’s not like the rest of the movies were exactly works of art. Even the first movie, which is often considered the most loyal to it’s comic book counterpart, wasn’t exactly a critical darling. An hour and a half of one-liners, pizza addiction, and Corey Feldman might be fine to the kids who grew up with the Turtles, but to an older audience it became grating.

The turtles you remember haven’t aged well

The Turtles you know and love are deeply seated in the late 80s/early 90s, and thus their lingo, while cool during the times, just sounds awkward and cheesy today. There is nothing wrong with a little nostalgia, but trying to recreate it is severely limiting the intended audience (namely the parents dragging their kids along. This also works in reverse, as if they try to tack on modern lingo and pop culture in with the old. If you try to draw in the older audience with promises of “xtreme bodacious pizza”, then follow it up with a little “All the single ladies” dance number, you’re going to piss off both sides of your audience. As an audience, we know what we like, but dammit are we fickle about it.

Aliens are pretty low on the absurdity chart.

Are you seriously going to get all flustered over the fact that Michael Bay is going to drop the “mutant” factor of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Please, the series has seen much, much worse disservice. Take for example the cover art I’ve provided to the right, which comes from Volume 3 of the comic book series. Notice anything odd about it? If you said “everything”, go ahead and claim your prize. While Michelangelo is, for the most part, unharmed in this series, the rest of the turtles where not as lucky. Donatello is now a cyborg (he was paralyzed from falling out of a helicopter shell-first), Leonardo had his hand bitten off by a lizard, and Raphael is deeply scarred and running the Foot Clan. Oh, and don’t even think their master walks away unscathed; Splinter gets even more mutated and turns into a giant bat. Yes, you heard me right: a giant bat. Allegedly, the co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Peter Laird, was so dissatisfied with what Volume 3 did to his franchise that he wrote it out of continuity with Volume 4.

So remember, the next time you feel the sense of enragement by the fact that Michael “Splosion Man” Bay has taken over your precious Ninja Turtles, keep this in mind: there is nothing he can do to harm the franchise that the franchise hasn’t already done worse to itself.

Crowdfunding sites have grown exponentially in the past year, the most popular of which are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Developer hopefuls need only a handful of concept art and a video introduction to pitch their idea to the masses, who serve as judge, jury, and executioner to their project.

The most successful crowdfunding campaign to date has been that of Psychonauts developer Double Fine Productions, ran by LucasArts veteran Tim Schafer. Their idea was simple: let’s reunite Tim with long-time creative partner Ron Gilbert to create a brand new adventure game, exposing the creative and development process along the way. That way, the people are treated as investors, given regular progress reports to ensure the development is going smoothly. Needless to say, the campaign worked like a charm, as the working titled Double Fine Adventure raised a record-breaking $3,446,371, over eight and a half times the original goal of $400,000. Not only that, but the campaign catapulted crowdfunding into the public eye, leading to a higher adoption rate by hopeful developers, gaming and other media alike.

So why should you be throwing your hard-earned money on an “idea” instead of a finished project? Well…

Creativity is rewarded

Like it or not, publishers, there is a very vocal audience that doesn’t want to play the same thing over and over again. Sure, a crowdsourced project isn’t going to sell millions of copies like the latest AAA sequel is guaranteed (Double Fine Adventures is sitting with a high score of over 87,000 backers), success is determined in crowdsourcing by quality, not quantity. Failure is determined by the project not meeting its funding goal, and no money will be exchanged between the investor (you) and the developer. Indiegogo is the exception to this rule, which allows for Flexible Funding, where the developer has a goal amount in mind, but the project will still be funded whether it makes $10 or $10,000.

Your contributions are recognized

Just because you are effectively pre-ordering a title before any real progress has been made to it doesn’t mean you aren’t receiving an incentive for supporting. Developers relying on crowdsourcing often provide gifts of gratitude for funding their project. Low contributions will usually net a special thanks in the credits, while exceptionally higher contributions can lead to limited edition swag and creative contribution in the game itself.

The original vision is not compromised

When a publisher signs off on a project, they have their own ideas of the finished project that more often than not differs from the developer’s vision. They’re out to make money, vision be damned. If the game’s story calls for a serious werewolf when wise-cracking vampires are “in”, you can bet 9 times out of 10 that the lycanthrope will get the axe to accommodate that smack-talking Dracula.

Crowdsourced projects cut out the middle man, allowing developers to make their own decisions. Sure, the occasional project allows contribution by the investor themselves, their input is limited in such a way that the game is still under the developer’s control.

Cancellations are less likely

The amount of games that publishers sweep under the rug is staggering. Many don’t even get far enough to get a formal announcement before the entire project (and sadly, often the entire development team) is scrapped. Worse yet, many titles get pushed into development hell, hoping that hype will sell more copies when the game is finally worthy of completion. This, as history has surely proven (*cough* Duke Nukem Forever *cough*), almost never proves successful.

Crowdfunding, in terms of the developer, is a double-edged sword. The funding is there for the project, but if it is ever determined by them that the vision was in fact too ambitious, the developer has little option than modifying the vision. Trying to cancel a successfully funded project could lead to serious legal ramifications. Let us not forget that crowdfunding is “investing”, not “charity”, and developers receiving your money will be working as hard as they can to make their dreams a reality.

New Avengers

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mike Deodato and Will Conrad
Rated: T
Price: $3.99
Hits the Shelves: April 25th, 2012

Marvel is proud to present your first look at, New Avengers #25, an epic tie-in to the highly anticipated blockbuster event of the year – Avengers VS. X-Men! From the acclaimed creative team of Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato & Will Conrad, Captain America has brought the New Avengers to the front lines of war against the X-Men! With the impending doom hurtling ever closer to Earth, Iron Fist discovers a shocking connection between himself and the Phoenix Force! But, what could this mysterious connection be?

“Encounter at Farpoint” was my first real taste of American science fiction at its finest (even though that episode does suck). Of course I was shown the occasional original Star Trek when an episode was available, and we had bootleg copies of the Star Trek movies, but seeing Star Trek The Next Generation was the real I WAS THERE moment of my life.

From that point on, it was a regular occurrence for us in the Reed family, we’d get ready for the show by making homemade pizzas and settling in for the episode without fail. This was a family tradition for all seven seasons of the series, all the way until May 1994 when the show went off the air.

This was no small feat either, being a military family, we were used to having to uproot and move every couple of years when the old man got reassigned to a new post. It’s just one of those accepted things that has to happen, no biggie. But fie on thee if we missed one episode of this beloved show, FIE I SAY! But, for those seven years, I grew from awkward pre-pubescence into awkward teenager preparing for high school. The NES was king when it came on TV, and the SNES was king shortly after. There were a ton of things that happened in that series’ run.

Now that I’m an adult and over 20 years has passed since the premiere of the series, I have the luck…or should I say we all have the luck, of being able to watch every single episode of the show and pretty much all other Star Trek shows at the click of a mouse or a touch of a finger to a capacitive touch screen. It’s a great time to be alive, no doubt.

I decided at the beginning of the year that I was going to make myself watch every single episode of the long running series from beginning to end. I’m talking Star Trek, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, and even the terrible Animated Series. I’m talking all of it.

I caught a few episodes, namely a season or so, of the original series and found myself falling in love with William Shatner on a level more than I ever experienced before. You see, I knew that I liked him from the movies and from his other television appearances…mainly Boston Legal being his highpoint in recent memory. But the James T. Kirk of the 60s was a vapor inducing swarthy kung fu hunk-o-man that was big-dicking it across the cosmos. I realized that as cool and collected that Picard may be and as fair and honest as Sisko was, none of them could hold a candle to old Kirk, the man is just a legend.

Don’t get me wrong, I love all my captains dearly, but Kirk is a force of nature that can’t be stopped, only slowed by his two faithful companions Spock and McCoy. A seemingly unwritten love triangle of humanity’s best and worst traits. On one hand you have Spock’s logic and cold calculating Vulcan side, and on the other you have the bleeding heart McCoy. There’s something about the cast of TOS that was just magic…and is evidently true due to how many movies they all filmed together. Anyways I’m getting off point.

After seeing The Original Series for a few weeks, I made the jump over to The Next Generation, especially focusing on the first season in order to relive those moments of my childhood and realized that the show, while inherently good, was mired in the in the time it was created. The set pieces were always of a taupe color (just look at the bridge again) and the design of the Enterprise model reminded me of car styles of that generation, overly curvy while also feeling obscenely obtuse.

In other words, it really didn’t age well.

There is just no words for how prolific this series has been to my development as both a geek and a normal human being. I was never one of those hardcore Trekkers who wanted to join Starfleet Academy, or even one of the many who went on the experience when it was in Vegas, but the show and philosophy of humanity becoming more than what it is, is something that I’m sure going to pass along to my “next generation” and hopefully will have even more amazing storylines to pass along to them…even though there are plenty, hundreds even, of quality episodes to show them when they’re of the right age. Oh I think around 7 will suffice.

Thank you Gene Roddenberry for helping bring together at least two generations of my family. You are missed.

Its return on Sunday brought a lot of mixed emotions. One, the hype was almost overbearing. Never have I seen a season of Television so broadly anticipated by practically anyone who has ever seen for a glimpse into the posh lifestyles of the 60s upper middle class. But that was to be expected, the show always has garnered great respect and reviews from critics who then in turn hype the show. I think a lot of the last weeks “meh” responses come from the fact that Mad Men never really had a clear and definite direction. Take most of the last few seasons. If you watched from the beginning you would imagine that Don Draper would always want to stay either one step ahead of his wife or his mistress of the hour. Now, we know that Don will survive any kind of plot twist and that leaves viewers wondering “Well, what’s next?”. The climatic ends of seasons has marked ends of marriages, companies, relationships, and long kept secrets. So what else can the show offer to a fan base that has already been so jaded by “completed plots”.

Ryan wrote that the show may have lost what initially made him interested in the show in the first place. That got me thinking, “Why did I want to watch this show in the first place?” Well to tell you the truth the only reason I started watching Mad Men was because of a Black Friday deal on the first season one year. Once I started watching the first season, I plowed through the second and since have always anticipated the next. It is one of the few shows that combines everything I love about the medium. No show has more depth of writing, masterful directing, or superb acting. Mad Men, to me, is at its best when the show is showing something that happens as a reflection to the life and turbulence of the time period. Whether that is showing generational gaps as a boxing match or foreshadowing the end of an era by the death of a transcendent president. That is where the show excels and pays off for me as a viewer and a fan.

That isn’t to say that I’m not entirely sure I like the direction the show is taking. I didn’t see anything in the “first two episodes” last Sunday that made me feel the show has jumped the shark. In fact, I am eager to see the parallels of Pete as “the next Don Draper” and see if he reacts differently to that lifestyle. I’m interested to see where the “equal opportunity” storyline takes us. I’m interested to see if we can peel away more of Megan’s and Dick’s relationship. I also question Roger’s motives and wonder if this is the year we finally see some of the major cast depart from the show. The show will be seven seasons, that much we already know, I know much of this season will set up what will ultimately be the climax and meaning of the show in the pantheon of shows. But like another great television series, “The Sopranos”, I wonder if maybe we have already seen the best the show will have to offer by year 5? Like “Sopranos”, there was a large gap between the last third of the show and the first two thirds of the show and for better or worse, it affected the production and ultimately how the show is held in within the eyes of the fans. I think it is hard to base a show off of these first two episodes and people who are crying wolf should wait and see the entire piece before passing judgement.

But also like “The Sopranos”, “Mad Men” stands upon a mountaintop that few contemporary shows even have a claim to. You could make an argument for “Breaking Bad” but that is just about it. The shows with the best quality are always going to be the most hyped and overly picked apart for any noticeable slight. The acting, in my opinion, has kicked it up a notch. Everyone has brought themselves to another level this year. Maybe it is because we haven’t seen January Jones yet, who in seasons’ past has been one of the weaker characters of the ensemble. I also found myself not missing her one bit and will question whether or not she will even be in any of the further seasons of the show. This new Don Draper, who isn’t afraid of having a genuine personal life, is a breath of fresh air. I’m glad he’s not sulking around cocktail waitresses and seems completely happy in his personal life for once. I’m glad we are seeing more and more of that carefree Dick Whitman that we’ve seen previously when he had business trips in California. This is where I think the show is heading. We’re going to eventually see the complete death of Don Draper. He’s going to just get to a point to where he just doesn’t need to put up with all that goes on in the advertising world. He’s becoming who he is and this is the foundation of that juxtaposition.

But to answer my own question at the beginning of this piece, what keeps me watching Mad Men? It is to watch life unfold for these people. It is to watch a man who seemingly has everything, lose it all, get it back, and foolishly give it all away again. It is to watch these characters experience the ups and downs of one of the most important time periods in our history. I enjoy watching the class warfare. My favorite scene of the opening show was Don’s party. It was so incredibly surreal and brought about everything that is amazing about the show. It has class conflicts, generational conflicts, and even marital conflicts. While I can side with the people who say that it has “lost it’s magic.” I can also argue that I think that is a little harsh and you need to at least give it another two episodes before you can say that you aren’t completely sucked back into that world.

This one has potential though, and who knows the R rating will probably give us a bunch of Jim gross out gags and Stifler trying to bang…any vagina. I’m sure I’ll remember what else the other characters did, I’m OLD you know.

We’re partnering up with our good friends from Zack has a Show podcast once again. If you’re not listening you’re missing out on awesome tech news and crazy stuff like TacoCopters (it’s as good as it sounds). Check them out, Friend them on Facebook and then make love to Zack Shutt. I don’t know if his wife will allow the last part.

When: Tuesday, April 3rd @ 7PM
Where: Gateway, Salt Lake City
How to Win: We are doing a text in to win contest – You can have people text the word STIFLER and their ZIP CODE to 43549 for their chance to win an admit 2 mobile pass! You’ll only be competing against fans of WPR and Zack has a Show for the guaranteed tickets! WHO WILL REIGN SUPREME?

Drawing for the winner will be MONDAY APRIL 2ND

We’ll see you guys at the show!

Editors Note: This is a guest post by Fantasy writer Jackie Gamber in a blog tour she is doing for the next book in her Leland Dragon Series “Sela” the follow up to “Redheart”. We truly appreciate her taking the time to write this and really give us lazy bastards here at WPR a reason to up our writing game

I remember being a kid. It was a long time ago, but memories are etched as deeply as the scent of grass, the sight of fluffy underbellies of passing clouds. I remember the thrill of my first solo bike ride, and finally being tall enough to ride the roller coaster.

And I remember my imagination, and how I used to play.

My playmates and I would hunt trolls, or fairies. We would build tiny rivers from puddles, and dig magical tunnels through snow banks. Sometimes I was a captured princess. Sometimes I was the hero out to save her. Always, I played, and dreamed, big.

And I liked my stories the way I liked to play. Big.

Not thick, as in War and Peace. Not large, as in the oversized-print version of the King James bible.

Big, as in: Evil has reared its ugly head again, and, again, I’m going in to save the day.

Did I understand evil to be the kind splashed around in newspapers? The sort of ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ that is such tragedy in the lives of real people, every day? The taking of children, the killing of innocents? No. That’s the kind of evil only a more mature, experienced mind can grasp. I was a kid. I wasn’t ready to see the dark side of life.

But I knew life had a dark side. It doesn’t take us long, as kids, to figure that out.

Fantasy wraps life’s darkness in easy-to-read packages. A beastly giant. A hulking monster. A wicked witch.

And fantasy paints heroes in easy-to-spot colors. Kids watch them overcome, despite all odds. Kids see triumph; they come to know it. Understand it. See how it’s done.

Fantasy fiction gives kids a chance to learn how to stand up. Stand out. Stand tall. So that when darkness comes calling, they know to grab their sword, don their courage, and get out there, swinging.

Fantasy is a life lesson at its finest.

Because one day, either very soon or far away, every kid is going to wake up older. More mature, and experienced. And they’re going to see the dark side of life for what it really is.

They’re going to see how Evil has reared its ugly head.

And, with courage, perhaps wrought in their hearts by learning from fantasy heroes, they’ll see that they need to save the day.

Jackie Gamber is the award-winning author of “Redheart” and “Sela”, Books One and Two of the Leland Dragon Series, now available! For more information, visit Jackie’s Amazon author page at http://amazon.com/author/jackiegamber

And meet Jackie and her mosaic mind elsewhere on the world wide web at:
http://www.jackiegamber.com
http://www.twitter.com/JackieGamber
http://www.facebook.com/jackiegamber