Warner Bros and TT Games, the team behind the LEGO video games, released a new trailer at San Diego Comic Con today. The trailer, which was unveiled in the Marvel Games panel, features some LEGO figures that are larger than life.
Though it’s probably no surprise, The Hulk will be a HUGE LEGO figure. With the tagline “The bigger they are, the harder they fight,” some other Marvel figures, such as Colossus, The Rhino, and The Thing, will be throwin’ down some block bustin’ action in the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes game.
Be sure to check out the video player below this article to see the big guys in action. The game is set to release for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, DS (seriously), 3DS, Vita, PC, and next generation consoles…so basically everything that isn’t a mobile device (though we won’t rule those out just yet).
This year at San Diego Comic Con, Joss Whedon took centre stage at Marvel’s panel to discuss his upcoming film. The movie is a small project but maybe you have heard of it; The Avengers 2. Well, part of the reason that the writer/director took to the stage was to announce the official title for the movie. The Avengers 2 is now officially called “Avengers: Age of Ultron“.
Comic book fans would know that Age of Ultron is a fairly recent comic book story (ie; only just wrapped up). It will be interesting to see how many elements from the comic series will make their way into the film, although it is pretty safe to say that ‘Ultron’ will be making an appearance (safe money is he will be the lead villain).
Ultron manhandling Iron Man and Captain America
While this is exciting news to say the least, it now offers up fans plenty to ponder about. Notable questions that spring to mind are; “How will the introduce Ultron?” and “Will Thanos still be making an appearance?”
Marvel and Disney aren’t releasing Avengers: Age of Ultron until 2015, where it will go up against the recently announced Superman/Batman film. 2015 looks like it will be THE year for comic book fans, so for all the Avengers news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
Comic Con is a place for geeks, nerds, dweebs and misfits of all kinds. If you are passionate about a book, movie, tv show, video game or anything else, then you are welcome at the con with open arms and a warm smile. When it comes to franchises that have cult followings and oodles of fans, one definitely springs to mind: The Simpsons.
I don’t need to tell you that The Simpsons have been around the block a few times. Originally airing as shorts on the Tracy Ullman Show before making their full-lengthed debut in 1989, the series has struggled through. It has had its ups and downs, but its loyal fans are always there for “America’s favourite four fingered family.” This year, The Simpsons had a strong presence at comic con, not only having their own panel, but making guest appearances in similar panels like Family Guy and Futurama.
The Family Guy panel was the first of the big three this year and creator Seth McFarlane dropped a huge bombshell: The Griffin family would be meeting the Simpsons! Family Guy and the Simpsons have a storied rivalry going back to when Family Guy first aired, and it has gone from true, passionate resentment down to where it stands now as simple light hearted one-upsmanship. Tensions have eased between the two recently with Homer Simpsons making a brief cameo in an episode of Family Guy, and Seth McFarlane himself appearing in an episode of The Simpsons.
Now it seems that the crossover that nobody though was going to happen (but everyone wished it would) is finally coming to pass. In an upcoming episode of Family Guy, titled ‘The Simpsons Guy,” The Griffin family will embark on a road trip and end up in Springfield. From there the two families will meet, and hilarity is sure to follow. Who’s a better prankster; Bart or Stewie? Which of the two fat fathers could drink the other under the table? All these questions are sure to be addressed next year when the episode airs.
That wont be the last of the Simpsons crossovers next year. Woo Hoo!Good News Everyone! The crew of the Planet Express from Futurama will also be meeting the lovable yellow family. The episode is planned as either the Simpsons 25th Season Finale, or the 26th Season Premiere. Regardless it will be happening next year. Bender has appeared twice in the series in cameo roles, but this will be the first time that the entire main cast will meet one another.
On a more somber note, with this being Futurama’s last year, the crossover episode with The Simpsons may be the last time we see Planet Express. A moment for our fallen comrades.
Bender’s “The Simpsons” cameo appearances
Lastly, The Simpsons will be making one final crossover… This time with… The Simpsons. Well more specifically there will be an episode that crosses over with the popular iOS and Android game; The Simpsons: Tapped Out. Not much is known about what will happen, but I am sure it will be worth having your Springfield ready to go by the time the episode airs.
So there you have it, at least three different crossover episodes to come in the next 12 months for the Simpsons, allowing them to check off of their bucket list the last few things they had left to do.
During the final day of the PAXAus event in Melbourne this your, there was a humourous panel where panel-goers were invited to pitch a game idea to a panel of judges. The pitchees were competing for a small selection of prizes, with each tier containing the previous tiers winnings plus a little extra.
After a long line and a plethora of ideas, there were only three winners. The winners and a brief description of their ideas can be found below:
In third place, we had “Line Manager”. Line manager is a game where players progress by managing queues well. As players progress they can manage more and more events.
Second place was a game called “Kaylen”. It was a cool concept that had the audience cheering. We weren’t allowed to share by request of the creator.
The first place winner was “Home Sweet Home” where players are tasked with defending their homes from intruders and then using their loot to better the players home. It can be summarised as a game similar to Dungeon Keeper.
At this weekend’s San Diego Comic Con, brand new information from the forthcoming second season of “Avatar: The Legend of Korra” was announced. Following on the tradition of previous Avatar series, the latest installment will be called “Book 2 – Spirit” We also now know that the premiere for the series will be hitting TV screens this September.
In this series, Korra, having finally reached the stage of being able to bend all four elements must travel to the spirit world. There she will battle against ghostly phantoms, as well as communicate with the avatars that have come before her. It all looks really cool, and the stellar work of the crew, combined with an all-star cast, this season is pretty much guaranteed to continue the high standards of the Avatar franchise.
Fans in attendance got to see the entire first episode of the new series, but for those of you who couldn’t make it to the con, we have a special treat for you. No, it isn’t that full episode (i wish). A close second though is that Nickelodeon have uploaded a quite long (over two minutes in fact) trailer for the series, set to some pretty somber music.
Check out the trailer below, and be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Legend of Korra News as it becomes available.
At today’s DC Comics Panel at San Diego Comic Con, Man of Steel director Zack Snyder took the stage and dropped an absolute bombshell on the audience. Warner Bros’ sequel to the Man of Steel is not only already in production, but it will feature a certain someone you might know.
Superman will be teaming up with the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, the goddamn Batman! OK have you caught your breath? Has your fan-boy meter died down? Well I have had time to digest the news and my excitement hasn’t waned, but regardless I will continue.
A lot of the Man of Steel team is back for this epic flick; Zack Snyder is in the director’s chair once again, and is also writing the film along with Man of Steel scribe David S. Goyer. Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder are back to produce the sequel, while Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas will serve as the executive producers. Thomas said about the movie;
Whilst our Dark Knight trilogy is complete, we have every confidence that Zack’s fresh interpretation will take the character in a new and exciting direction.  His vision for Superman opened the door to a whole new universe and we can’t wait to see what Zack does with these characters.
Superman/Batman logo from the comics
As for the cast, the World’s Greatest Detective has yet to be named, but Henry Cavil, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane are all back, reprising their roles from the original.
Close to nothing is known about this movie aside from the fact that it will be balls to the wall awesome. Time for speculation though! To introduce the film, a passage from Frank Millar’s “Dark Knight Returns” was read out, and the Bat-Symbol used for the title card looks surprisingly like the symbol from that very story, so might we be seeing a live action version of Dark Knight Returns? Only time will tell, but for those playing at home, this is the passage that was read
I want you to remember, Clark, in all the years to come, in all your most private moments. I want you to remember my hand at your throat. Â I want you to remember the one man who beat you.
I want you to remember the one man who beat you
Well I’m officially sold. Take my money DC, take it all day long. The film is set to launch in the 2015, so there is a lot of time for us to get more and more excited. If you haven’t seen Man of Steel yet, definitely go check it out, or if you want to play as the Man of Steel and beat villains in the face, check out the Man of Steel Game for iOS. For all the Superman/Batman news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
After lining up for over two hours to secure a decent seat for the Xbox One presentation, guests were finally allowed to enter the main hall at PAX Aus where the conference would take place. Luckily the wait was well worth it, as the crowd were presented with a professional, fun, informative and quite frankly awesome showing that I’m sure managed to disspell some negative opinions about Microsoft’s latest console.
Starting off with the E3 reveal video, some points were then brought up to feature the systems highlights. Many focused on the computational power of the Xbox One and how the system has been future proofed for the next ten years with the addition of the Cloud. The presenter stated that for every Xbox One in your living room, another 3 Xbox One’s were behind the scenes providing additional processing power. The Cloud can also be used to give unlimited storage to the user. Some other features discussed include 1080p Skype on your television, multi tasking and fast switching between applications and the 2 operating systems working side by side.
The presentation then moved onto the Kinect 2.0 which seems much, much, much more impressive then the original Kinect. The sensor has been greatly enhanced and can track the player with much more fidelity. The camera can now recognise individual fingers and different facial expressions and emotions. The Kinect demonstrator would change his face and the sensor would accurately depict his experssion such as happy, angry or neutral.
In terms of the camera’s ability to actually sense you and your movements, Kinect 2.0 can now detect up to 6 seperate players at once, track the player in a much wider area with only one metre required between the player and the camera and the new IR Mode, which is essentially night vision for the Kinect and means no more needing to play in perfectly lit rooms. IR Mode can also filter out external light sources. Some other impressive Kinect 2.0 features included the ability to track the users heart rate by checking their blood flow and being able to detect the orientation and speed of movement as well as the distribution of weight in the player. For example, a quick jab will register different to a heavy punch.
For people that still hold some resentment for motion controls, the improved controller was next up on center stage. The 40 improvements made to the 360 controller were discussed briefly and alot of focus was placed on the new impulse triggers, which provide haptic feedback to the fingertips. Some examples shown were different recoil on different guns, feeling the heartbeat of the character when they are near death or feeling the pressure of the ABS brakes as you brake in Forza 5.
Then came what everyone in the room wanted to see, live demos. First game up was new IP Ryse: Son of Rome. The medieval demonstration shown was similar to the E3 build and featured all the brutal kills and sword clashing action that had been shown previously. The girl playing seem well practiced as she easily slaughtered armies of enemies trying to cut her down with cool finishing moves like stabbing someone in the neck with their back turned or crushing their face into the dirt.
The most impressive part of the demo was when the player rallied his troops to charge the castle and the enemy would fire back with a barrage of flaming arrows. The player could command the army to raise the shields at the right time and then counter with their own arrows and throwing spears. It might have just been because of the loud booming speakers in the presentation hall, but the sound was truly awe inspiring as you could really hear the heavy impact of every arrow raining down on your squad. At the end of the demo the presenter said over 100 finishing moves will be present in the final game.
Next up was Battlefield 4 with the single player Angry Sea demo. The presenter mentioned they wanted to bring the things people loved in the multiplayer over to the campaign such as vehicles and marking opponents so your AI team mates know where they are. He also placed some heavy emphasis on the campaign, saying while in the past Battlefield has focused more on military like campaigns, this one will be a much more character driven experience. The development team are using ‘full performance’ capture technology to bring more realness to scenes as opposed to capturing an actors movements and then syncing them up with the vocals provided by a seperate voice actor. Battlefield 4 will also feature enhanced destruction (because destruction is to Battlefield what Tim Tams are to hot cocoa apparently) and a feature that really stood out to me, the ability to create your own paths in the environment to flank the enemy. The demo featured multiple paths the player could take and various options to utilise in combat, such as taking out the tracks holding fighter jets in place so they would roll down the ship, taking out enemies below.
At the end of the Battlefield 4 demo the presenter also stated that the game will launch alongside the Xbox One and will have first access to the Second Assault DLC which includes 4 fan favourite maps redone to fit with the Frostbite 3 engine.
The last game shown was Killer Instinct which again was a similar showing to E3 with a match between Sabrewulf and Jago. The match consisted of many savage combos and the one c-c-c-c-combo breaker executed garnered a large roar from the crowd. Jago ended up with the win much to the dismay of the crowd who really wanted to see a big comeback from Sabrewulf with an ultimate combo. Killer Instinct led as a segway to discuss some of the Xbox One’s community features that seem perfectly suited for fighters. These included live Twitch Broadcasting so players can watch and comment on your match in real time, the game DVR in the Xbox One allowing players to record and share content and the huge amount of dedicated Xbox Live servers meaning things like P2P and host migration will be a thing of the past.
The show wrapped up with one final announcement before displaying the Halo 5 trailer to close out the presentation. The EB Expo in Sydney will be host to an Xbox One mega booth, where players can get their hands on over 100 consoles to try it out for themselves.
As Borat would say, the presentation was ‘great success!’ It definitely helped swing my opinion of the Xbox One which seems to be en route for a PR turn around after the recent decision to reverse all the controversial DRM decisions. Hopefully the positive momentum can continue before the system launches later this year.
Stay with Capsule Computers to check out all our coverage from PAX Aus 2013.
Atlus (Shin Megami Tensei IV) and Old School Games (God Mode) have released their newest title, R.I.P.D. Based on the movie of the same name that just hit theaters, players will take control of Roy (Jeff Bridges) and Nick (Ryan Reynolds). In R.I.P.D., Roy and Nick will have to take out waves of “Deados” and either capture or kill a major criminal.
Join editor Joe Morgan and head honcho Phil Federico as they cooperatively play through the new 3rd person wave-based shooter. They’ll have to shoot, kick, punch, and invoke special powers to take out waves of enemies. You’ll get to see a couple of different levels, several types of bad guys, and the way you progress with your weaponry throughout the game.
We will be livestreaming the footage to our Twitch page. We’ll be sure to upload it to our YouTube page later for those that missed the livestream as well. Also be sure to follow us on Twitter, and Facebook since we’ll let everyone know when a livestream begins that way. Be sure to leave a comment here or head on over to our YouTube page and leave a comment so we know what you think of our newest feature.
Before the first night of PAX Australia 2013 came to a close, the Wombat theatre (non-Aussies won’t get the names) hosted the developers of the 6 indie titles chosen for the inaugural Australian Indie Showcase. Jeff Kalles (Penny Arcade) hosted the panel and fielded a variety of questions from the audience; these are some of the highlights.
First came the introductions of course. The panel included Tom Greenaway from Kumobius (Duet), Grant Davies from Endgame Studios (Fractured Soul), Alexander Bruce (Antichamber), Andrew Goulding from Brawsome (MacGuffin’s Curse), Lance McDonald from Man Fight Dragon (Black Annex) and Joe Wintergreen from Impromptu Games (InFlux). The group shared the size of their respective development teams and how long they’ve worked on their games in the exhibition before diving into the Q&A. The first topic of the night was the struggle of juggling a full-time job with trying to create a game as an indie – the experience of which Lance McDonald is too familiar with and likens to a certain purgatory;
…When I entered to be in the showcase, I spent all of March up until 3am most days and getting up at 9am to go to work, and it was ab-so-lute hell dealing with customer service face-to-face with people knowing I haven’t had any sleep and it’s going to be the same thing again tonight.
Fractured Soul by Endgame Studios
For some, the most difficult part of development was the business side of things or staying sane; for others…all of it. And when it came to funding, all avenues were covered. Alexander self-funded with his own savings and put the challenge to himself to make the game only for the cash he had and no more. Grant’s Endgame Studios got funded twice by Film Victoria – once they paid back – and twice by publishers – one who never paid the full amount before walking out – before having to pay the rest from the team’s own pockets; earnings made from ‘work-for-hire’ over the 10-year cycle (yes, 10 years!!).
This led into the question of marketing as an indie developer. Lance, having the most experience in the field with it being a part of his day job, spoke on his approach to pushing Black Annex;
I basically spend as much time marketing the game as I do making it […] And really, I am lucky that I have niche things about my game that really appeal to a very vocal niche crowd […] And I’ve got stories to tell about the development history of it – I have a gimmick about me and how the game was made. So, for me personally, my story probably doesn’t apply to a lot of other game developers, but I’ve really designed a game to appeal to a very specific market deliberately because I know that market exists and I know I can talk to them, I can approach them, I can relate to them and I can them a story they find interesting…
After bookending his methods with “make sure you know how to talk to people and sell things to them”, Joe then hysterically and endearingly replied to the indirect statement with “I don’t think I do! I don’t think I know any of this shit […] Help me…”
Black Annex by Man Fight Dragon
Conversation then turned to distribution avenues, such as Steam Greenlight and why it is not based on merit but a glorified popularity contest instead. Lance sees it as a way of getting feedback for, and funneling, his marketing efforts. Joe appreciates that, but is absolutely frustrated by the process and its flaws;
25,000 people vote yes on this game – my problem is, I can’t sell it those people […] If half of the people who voted yes on my game already could buy it right now, sweet, I can make the next one. But currently none of them can.
And if the buck stops with these guys – because they often don’t have other teammates to blame – who do they turn to for help? Alexander travelled to other conventions all around to talk face-to-face with those he respected and could later return to those people as a resource. Lance had a more interesting and somewhat uncommon (unpopular?);
Yeah, Reddit and somethingawful.com. If you need help, ask those guys and they will just tell you straight up. Like, I ‘can’t work out how to solve this problem’, or ‘I think this might suck’ or ‘can you tell me what I’m supposed to do next?’ Yep, there’s 200,000 people who do know the answer to that […] I would not be where I am at the moment, mostly without somethingawful.com – by far the biggest support network I have – but Reddit have done amazing things as well…Reddit’s game dev community; Reddit is a terrible website, but they have a very small good part on their website.
Antichamber by Alexander Bruce
The next question dealt with piracy and whether it should negatively affect indie devs at all. Short answer: no, as Alexander explained his point of view whilst touching upon DRM;
It happens. You look at World of Goo where it’s like a 90% piracy rate […] but then you look at things like McPixel and how that got through Greenlight by having it advertised through Pirate Bay. Piracy is just something that happens and if you look at it like a lost sale, then you’re going to implement DRM that then hinders the people that bought it for real and the pirates are gonna find a way around it anyway.
Before the final pitches for their games, the devs stressed the importance of finding downtime during those taxing times of development to keep from becoming burnt out; something every creative type should remember. And so, now I will share with you the panelists’ “elevator pitches” to maybe entice you further into checking out these cool indie titles. Duet is focused on intuitiveness on mobile. Fractured Soul “is MegaMan on two screens”. Antichamber “is a total mindfuck and some people just like being surprised and confused”. MacGuffin’s Curse “is a werewolf comedy puzzle-adventure”. Black Annex is a “literal homage to Syndicate and Theme Hospital.” InFlux is “Portal meets Proteus“.
You can check out these titles through the PAX Aus website. Give them a look; these guys deserve it with some truly original concepts at play here.
Plants vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time Developer:PopCap Publisher:EA Platforms:iPhone, iPad (Reviewed) Release Date: Out Now (AUS), TBA (US) Price:FREE – Available Here
Overview
Plants vs Zombies is one of the most beloved franchises in all of mobile gaming. It was able to redefine the tower defense genre, and was even able to transcend the mobile platform and can nowdays be found on just about anything that plays video games (heck, even Facebook has its own version). Plants vs Zombies 2 takes the ball from its predecessor and runs with it in a big way. More levels, better visuals and a few new interesting mechanics makes for a game that is a blast to play.
Story
The story of Plants vs Zombies 2 revolves around ‘Crazy Dave.’ Crazy Dave has returned from the original and he has brought a whole world of crazy with him. After the game runs you through its brief tutorial, Crazy Dave eats a taco so delicious that he wishes he was eating it again right now. To that end he introduces his time machine and the race is off! The time machine however sends you and Dave too far into the past, and you have to battle your zombie hordes to get back to the present Dave’s taco.
The story and the dialogue are a lot of fun, and filled with the same puns and nonsensical humor that you would expect from this game. All in all it makes the package of Plants vs Zombies 2 feel more complete than its predecessor.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Plants vs Zombies 2 retains a lot from the original. You place plants in your lawn (or a few other areas) to defend yourself from the oncoming zombie hordes. Each plant has a different ability; some allow you to gather energy in order to grow more plants, some offer walls, and others fire projectiles against the undead monsters.
The game includes all of the game modes that you love from the original. The standard “gain sunlight energy and plant plants,” is of course the game’s go-to, but the even more frantic “we will keep giving you free plants while zombies come at you” is also present. The former is fun and lets you plan strategically how you will position your plants for maximum zombie carnage. The latter is a frenzied race where you just slap down as many plants as you can and hope for the best.
One of the new features in this game is the addition of “Plant Food.” Plant food is an item that gives one of your plants a temporary boost. Drag plant food onto your regular pea-shooting plant and it turns into an absolute plant of war – firing off a barrage of about 40 pellets in less than five seconds. You also have power-ups that are overpowered little boosts you can use, such as the Power Zap which obliterates all zombies in a straight line.
The Double edged sword of Plants vs Zombies is its free-to-play status. The game is completely free, and that is always awesome, but EA makes its money back through microtransactions. Some plants are unavailable to players unless they pay some real-world dollars to unlock them. One of these plants is the Snow Pea from the original (the one that freezes zombies while dealing damage). This fan-favourite plant, as well as a few others cost $2.99 each.
(little side-note; when I first loaded up the game, it was asking for an incredible $10.49 for each plant… it definitely was a “woah, no way!” moment… Luckily that was a bit of a glitch and the problem since rectified itself)
There is also the mobile-standard “3 star” system present in Plants vs Zombies 2. Unlike in most games where the stars are just for bragging rights, in PvZ2 they serve a purpose. You are required to collect a certain amount of stars in order to progress through the game and unlock more levels. Should you be a little impatient, or just not great at the game, you can purchase stars with real-world money. While you have the option purchase these stars and plants, you are by no means forced to and the game doesn’t have that “play to win” feel.
The gameplay is all solid and the controls are incredibly responsive, never requiring you to mash on the screen or fail a mission due to input lag. All in all the game runs even better than you would expect, and really shows the Tower Defense genre what it is like to be king.
Visuals
The visuals in Plants vs Zombies 2 look absolutely amazing. They retain the same art style from the original game, and has improved on it with slick HD visuals and the change in backdrops between worlds really adds life to the game, so you can’t stuck looking at the same thing every level.
Currently there are three available worlds; Ancient Egypt, Pirate Seas and Wild West (with a fourth world coming soon). Each has separate themes and are completely distinguishable from the last. Aside from just the locals, the different worlds even bring their own unique zombies. Ancient Egypt features a Sarcophagus-carrying zombie, while the Pirate Seas world has Captain Zombies, and zombies with the Jolly Rodger emblazoned upon their traffic cone helmets.
The distinguishing visual styles of each world helps to break up the game so that you aren’t reliving the same thing over and over again. Repetitiveness was a problem that I personally had with the original, and something simple as the visual changes go a long way to break that up.
Audio
For the most part the audio in Plants vs Zombies 2 is unchanged from the original. I for one find this to be a boon, as the audio in Plants vs Zombies was one of its most charming features. Everything makes its own unique sound, and while you are frantically tapping the screen to place your plants, the sound of a zombie munching on your Wall-nut is unmistakable and immediately draws your attention.
Overall
Plants vs Zombies 2 is what a sequel should be; a game that takes everything that was great from the original and improves on it. The free to play structure often leads games to being either poorly made or rely too heavily on microtransactions, but PvZ2 is a superbly made game with none of these faults. Sure the microtransactions are there, but they aren’t necessary to get the full enjoyment out of the game. The stunning cartoon visuals, charming comedic story and variety of locales all add to the Plants vs Zombies experience. Not only is this a game that PvZ fans should download, but it is a game that anyone with a smartphone needs to download.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
