The long-awaited Star Wars: The Old Republic is a huge MMO based in the Star Wars universe that has been in the making for years now at BioWare, creators of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age action RPG video game series. Plenty of impressive trailers and gameplay videos have been released over time, but because the game is so mammoth and because fans have been dying to finally play it for so long, BioWare has to make sure to keep releasing new goodies to appease the masses.

To sweeten the pot at E3 2011, the Old Republic crew brought not only some juicy details and brand new footage, but the entire opening cinematic to the game, which I have to say is really freakin’ good. Oh, and it has a SPACE COWBOY! Not sure if that’ll upset or elate fans, but this humble observer loves it (#teamfirefly). On top of that, BioWare still remains determined to have the game out at some point in 2011, though there’s still a good chance we’ll have to wait for 2012. [...]

By Andrew Sorcini

Ubisoft demonstrated gameplay at E3 this week for The Adventures of Tintin: The Game, the tie-in for the upcoming animated film produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Steven Spielberg.

The presentation began with the film trailer. This was followed by a recorded introduction by Spielberg and Jackson, proudly describing the game as “very cinematic” and faithful to the film. Following that, the lead Ubisoft developer asked us to don our 3D glasses, and fired up the demo.

Most of the gameplay shown took place aboard the SS Karaboudjan, a cargo ship Tintin has stowed away aboard, as he dodges volleys from smugglers who are trying to get him off the ship, Later, Tintin must escape the sinking cargo ship, as rising ocean waters threaten to drown him. These levels play as side-scrolling platformer, but the 3D effect make the set pieces feel so deep and impressive, it nearly counters the linear gameplay [...]

At this year’s WonderCon back in April, IDW Publishing announced the upcoming release of a new artist’s edition hardcover of Walt Simonson‘s classic 7-issue run on Marvel’s The Mighty Thor. Walter Simonson’s The Mighty Thor: Artist’s Edition will be released this July and is available now for pre-order.

Today, IDW has announced that they will be offering a limited edition of only 300 copies with a variant cover that will be available only at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con in July. You can pre-order Walter Simonson’s Thor Artist’s Edition Variant Cover Edition online now direct from IDW and then pick it up at the convention, or purchase it at the IDW booth during the Con (if you pre-order online, you can ONLY pick it up at the convention; there’s NO options for shipping).

Check out the cover art here below.

Also, Walter Simonson will be appearing at the IDW booth during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, signing copies of The Mighty Thor Artist’s Edition [...]

DC Comics made another set announcements on Thursday regarding what they are calling their “edge” titles. Now, I’m not exactly sure why they chose the name to describe these titles, but we’re just going to roll with that, for now. In this set of titles we see a rebirth to a few Wildstorm characters, as well as the return of a few fan favorites. Today’s titles showcased murderers, war, and a hopeful teenager. Yeah, it’s been a weird day to accompany a weird week. But, in continuing my ongoing series of coverage of the DC Relaunch, I will be listing each one of the nine books announced alongside my running commentary. So, let’s get to it! [...]

The digital deal of the day over at Amazon today is the Oscar-winning film Black Swan, which is available for rental for only $.99. The film, is directed by Darren Aronofsky, and stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.

This deal is valid all this weekend through Sunday, June 12, 2011, until midnight PST. Once you activate the rental through the Amazon Instant Video service, you’ll have access to the movie for 24 hours. If you’re interested in purchasing the digital version, the cost is $14.99.

Also, if you’d like to own a physical copy of Black Swan, the Blu-ray is available for $21.99 while the DVD is $12.99. Both editions are part of Amazon’s “Buy This DVD and Watch it Instantly” program — purchase the physical copy and you get the film as a FREE digital rental you can watch immediately while you watch for the DVD or Blu-ray purchase to be delivered [...]

The t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel is a Doctor Who-inspired shirt called “The Impossible Astronaut” by artist 6amcrisis.

The tee went on sale at RIPT today, Friday, June 10, 2011, at midnight CST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore.

The design is based on the Doctor Who Season 6 episode titled The Impossible Astronaut [...]

Today, DC Comics announced five new titles coming in September centered around teams and teens. Fans have been asking about most of these titles since the initial announcement from DC, and now, they got their answer. But are these titles and changes enough to get fans excited? Well, in my ongoing coverage of DC’s relaunch by listing the new titles while giving you my running commentary, I hope to help you come to that conclusion on your own. So, let’s get started!

Legion Lost #1 – This actually seems pretty interesting to me. In a very similar concept to the traditional take on Legion of Superheroes, this band of seven seemingly diverse heroes from the 31st century go back in time to save the future. Legion Lost will be written by Fabian Nicieza, a personal favorite, while the art will be handled by Pete Woods who has done a phenomenal job on his recent stint with Action Comics alongside Paul Cornell. I’m really intrigued with the concept, and I love the creative team, soI’ll definitely be giving this one a shot [...]

Not too long ago a game set during a zombie outbreak called Dead Island took the online world by storm when a hauntingly beautiful cinematic trailer arrived online. That trailer alone almost sold most of us on wanting to play the game from Techland, the team behind westerns Call of Juarez and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, but we would all need to see some solid gameplay to really commit.

If you haven’t noticed yet this has been a pretty gameplay-friendly E3 convention, showing off a lot of the games we’ve known were coming. So of course we were going to finally get a good long look at Dead Island and what it’s bringing to the table. In fact, it was just before E3 that the first extensive look at the gameplay was released, so we’re a little behind the times.

You can head below to see the new Dead Island trailer, followed by a lengthy demonstration of how the game works, how the gameplay looks, and how you’ll go about slaughtering an endless supply of zombie attackers. Be warned: lots of gore and naughty words await you. [...]

The big surprise for comic boo fans at E3 this year was that Batman: Arkham City, the follow-up to the highly popular Batman: Arkham Asylum, would allow you to not only play as the Dark Knight, but as Catwoman as well. The Joker—who returns here and is once again voiced by Mark Hamill—was a playable character in Arkham Asylum, but only on the PlayStation 3, so this is exciting news for you Batman fanatics.

Along with the Catwoman news, the team at Rocksteady Studios came to the convention with a large amount of gameplay footage to show off, as well as plenty of new details on what you can expect from the expansive new game.

You can continue on below now to see two videos—the first revealing and discussing the inclusion of Catwoman while the second talks more about Batman: Arkham City as a whole. [...]

Fitting to its premise, Hitman: Absolution had a very stealthy E3 2011 presence. Some “behind closed doors” demo work and Square Enix had a small group of lucky individuals raving about how great the game looks.

Despite staying in the shadows for the most part, the team that’s FINALLY making a new Hitman game (instead of another horrible Kane & Lynch) didn’t want to leave the rest of us empty handed. They brought with them a few details about the game, as well as a brand new cinematic trailer.

You can see the new cinematic trailer below, followed by an interview with some details about the game, which will be released sometime in 2012.

Hitman: Absolution will be a more personal story for Agent 47, and as you’ll see in the trailer, our favorite killer appears to be fairly determined to get what he’s after. The trailer is brutal as 47 tears through some guards (perhaps with a little too much energy—I prefer the enemy be disposed of before they even realize 47 is there) and makes his way to the shower of a curious female target. [...]

There’s been some surprises at E3 2011, as there always is, and one of these surprises is a first trailer for a brand new Star Trek video game. As we all know, most games based on movies are horrible and vice versa, and Trek games especially have been pretty unplayable over the years…but there’s something about this one.

The new game will supposedly bridge the story gap between where J.J. Abrams‘ 2009 blockbuster left off, and where his 2012 sequel will pick up. The game will also be released at some point in 2012.

And yes, as you will see in the trailer, the game it might be a total Mass Effect ripoff in terms of the look, colors, and gameplay. But if that’s what it takes to get a great movie-based game, then why not. Word out of E3 is that the game also works very well with the PlayStation Move and exclusive phaser attachment that will be available to those who play the PS3 version.

Check out the trailer by continuing on now! [...]

By Andrew Sorcini

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is Nintendo’s next installment in the Legend of Zelda series for the Wii, and the successor to Twilight Princess. Gameplay will feel very familiar to any fans of the franchise since Ocarina of Time, and to its credit, Nintendo wants gameplay to be intuitive. There are some slight new wrinkles, such as a radial weapons selection system and the ability to remote pilot certain launched weapons.

Gameplay on display included dungeon exploration and a bird flying experience. Environments (and graphics in general) really betray the age of the Wii console, and don’t seem to push its limits at all. What wasn’t apparent in this early demo however was the overall plotline that would send Link on his journey, and that could make the difference in what might seem like a mediocre entry in the series.

Super Mario (titled just like that), for the 3DS feels strikingly similar to New Super Mario Bros. for the 1st gen DS, albeit from a top-down perspective. The 3D effect, for the most part, felt arbitrary, although the game gets its highest marks when it uses it as part of a puzzle. A good example of this is when a block appears to be part of an isometric pyramid, but when the 3D is enabled, perspective reveals it to be isolated [...]

Amazon’s Blu-ray box set deal of the week is the Alien Anthology Blu-ray Edition for only $52.99 (that’s 62% off the list price of $139.99).

Note, this deal is valid only for this week through June 10, 2011.

This Blu-ray box set includes all four standalone Alien films, which starred Sigourney Weaver: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Resurrection.

Along with the two versions of each film are two bonus discs with over 65 hours of special features, with over four hours of previously unreleased exclusive material such as original screen tests of Sigourney Weaver prior to filming the original Alien, unseen deleted scenes, thousands of still photographs from the Fox archives, the previously unseen original cut of “Wreckage and Rage: The Making of ALIEN3,” and more.

Below is an extensive list of what’s included in this Blu-ray box set [...]

DC Comics announced eight more new titles on Tuesday showcasing the darker side of their publishing line. The titles that were announced were a strange assortment of titles that focused on demons, former Vertigo characters, magicians, vampires, and monsters. And as weird as the concept of introducing these characters with ongoing titles is, the creative teams attached to these projects are some of the best names from up-and-comers in the comic books industry. Names like Scott Snyder, Jeff Lemire, Sami Basri, and Joshua Hale Fialkov are only the tip of the iceberg, and if that doesn’t have you excited about these books, then you should probably read some of their work. Also, I’m a big fan of supernatural and crazy comics, so it’s almost like DC plan these announcements just for me. Continuing my ongoing coverage of the DC Relaunch, I’ll list each one of the titles announced with running commentary for each, so let’s get to it! [...]

Another title gamers are dying to get their hands on is of course Naughty Dog’s trilogy-maker, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. The game follows the gigantic success of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, where we’ll once again be playing as Nathan Drake as he finds himself in yet another mess of deadly situations seeking out the world’s most legendary treasures and artifacts.

Naughty Dog brought some goodies to E3 ’11, and as expected, they will only add to your excitement for the game.

First up is a brand new trailer for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception that appears to show off Dame Helen Mirren as one of the game’s villains, followed by an absolutely insane gameplay demo that sees Drake trying to escape a fast-sinking ship.

You can see both videos by clicking on over to the other side now! [...]

AMC has unveiled the first image from the upcoming second season of the hit zombie TV series, The Walking Dead.

The show is of course based on the Robert Kirkman comic book series of the same name, which is written, directed, and produced by The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont.

Of the cast and crew being back in production on the sophomore season—which will run 13 episodes as opposed to season 1′s shortened 6-episode sprint—Darabont said “At this moment, I’m standing on a stretch of post-apocalypse interstate in Georgia, littered with abandoned cars and blessing my good luck to be reunited with our amazing cast, and our fantastic directors and crew. Across the board, there are none better. It’s great to be shooting again. I think we’ve embarked on a great season.”

You can continue on below now to see the first official image from season 2 of The Walking Dead! [...]

It feels like it’s been forever seen we got the first trailer for the unexpected BioShock Infinite and that brain-meltingly good 10-minute extended gameplay demo that was shown off not long after.

But for as long as it’s felt since we’ve seen those wonderful peeks, it still feels even long until the game’s still-unscheduled 2012 release. Not much has come out of E3 2011 for the game, either, which also hurts our feelings a bit.

But Irrational Games’ Ken Levine—one of the top people behind the original BioShock—was in attendance with a couple of surprise announcements and a little more gameplay footage from Infinite.

You can learn more about what the future of BioShock holds and see the new gameplay by heading on below now!

As for the announcements, Levine shared that—though he had been against it in the past—Infinite would have some form of compatibility with the PlayStation Move…but he wouldn’t share what yet. He also revealed that there had been an idea for another game set in the BioShock world floating around for a while, and that he found the “perfect home” for it on the PS Vita, but no details have been shared about that, either. [...]

The decision to completely makeover Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise is looking more and more like a very smart decision. Not only did they give Miss Croft a much more realistic appearance, but the new game keeps getting solid buzz and a whole lot of people who were never interested in Tomb Raider now walk with piqued curiosities.

The one really important question that was left, however, was how exactly the gameplay would look. We’ve seen the new Croft and the new cinematic trailer (which can be seen below) is excellent, but until you see the game in action it’s hard to know what to expect—which is why in addition to said cinematic trailer, E3 saw the arrival of a new Tomb Raider gameplay demo as well!

Another intriguing factor is that the game starts from the beginning when Lara Croft first sets off to find her adventures as a young girl. Of course, things never go quite as planned…as you shall soon see.

You can check out both the trailer and the gameplay demo by heading below now! [...]

By Andrew Sorcini

The Playstation Vita is the latest handheld console announced by Sony at this week’s E3 convention. At first glance, it appears to be a revision of the classic PSP, as its design lines don’t fall far from the tree. A closer look reveals advances that Sony hopes will make it a forerunner in the handheld market.

While it still has the faithful dual analog stick control, D-Pad and action buttons, it now boasts gyroscopic Six Axis motion sensors, single front- and rear-facing cameras (for augmented reality games), a multi-touch front display, and intriguingly, a rear multi-touch interface (more on that in a bit).

I was taken through a series of five game demos over thirty minutes, the first of which was Little Big Planet. Gameplay was fairly conventional, using the analog sticks to move Sackboy around, but other environmental elements were touchscreen interactive, such as using the front screen touch surface to move blocks in place or spin wheels [...]

Each week, MK2Fac3 and Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull list, grab some issues and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of June 8, 2011. This weeks comics feature Hulks, Kings of the Jungles, Frankenstein-Monsters, Vampires, Bat-Women, and… high school students? Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

SINGLE ISSUES

American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1

Henchman21Okay. So let’s start with American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1, written by Scott Snyder with art by Sean Murphy. I just read the Hellblazer: City of Demons trade, which also had art by Sean Murphy, so my anticipation for the art is at a fever pitch.
MK2FAC3: Oh absolutely. Sean Murphy’s recent work on Joe the Barbarian absolutely blew me away. It was the highlight of the series! … and I’m a huge Morrison fan.
Henchman21: And if you liked that, you should check out that City of Demons trade or his spectacular self published work OFF ROAD which was re-released by Oni a couple of months ago.
Henchman21: And as much as I love American Vampire and Scott Snyder’s writing, I just cannot wait to see what Murphy does in this universe [...]