A student at Chicago’s University of Illinois’ Electronic Visualization Laboratory named Arthur Nishimoto has developed a pretty impressive new Star Wars strategy game called Fleet Commander, but unfortunately it’s not one you’ll get to play anytime soon. Unless you’re friends with Arthur, of course. Which I am, despite the fact that Arthur does not yet know it yet.

Basically the game is like Angry Birds on your iPhone, except the fact that there are no birds, it’s played on a touch screen big enough to take up a large wall (I can’t WAIT until every home has a wall–sized touch screen for movies and gaming!), and that it’s really not like Angry Birds at all.

If confused, the best way to see what the game looks like is to just continue on below now and see it for yourself. Once there, you’ll find two videos: the first is the latest version of the game on said gigantic touch screen; while the second video is an earlier version on a tabletop–like touch screen. [...]

Universal Studios has released the first official official trailer for The Thing, the prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter scifi-horror film of the same name.

Watch the trailer here below and check out the official synopsis for the film.

The studio recently released the teaser poster and the new trailer appears to be the mostly the same footage that was shown at the film’s panel at New York Comic-Con in October 2010 (minus the opening cafe scene that was shown).

The film, which hits theaters on October 14, 2011, stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian Olsen, and Trond Espen Seim [...]

Today Disney has released the first official trailer for its 2012 film John Carter, an adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel A Princess of Mars. You can check out the trailer here along with the film’s teaser poster and official synopsis.

The book, first published nearly a century ago, was the first in Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars series that proved over time to be very popular and highly influential on several generations of science-fiction writers and filmmakers. The film version, which was originally titled John Carter of Mars until the studio shortened it (perhaps in reaction to the poor box office performance of Mars Needs Moms), marks the live-action directorial debut of longtime Pixar animator and director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) [...]

The t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel today is a mash-up of Star Wars and Portal 2 called “Death Portal” by artist zerobriant.

The shirt went on sale at RIPT today, Thursday, July 14, 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 digital rental deal of the day over at Amazon today is Disney’s Tron: Legacy, which is available for rental for only $.99. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde, Garrett Hedlund, Michael Sheen, and Bruce Boxleitner.

This deal is valid only for today, Thursday, July 14, 2011, until midnight PST. Once you activate the rental through the Amazon Instant Video service, you’ll have access to the movie for 48 hours. (There is no option at this time to purchase this digital version through Amazon Instant Video.)

If you’d like to purchase a physical copy of the movie, it’s also available as a 5-Disc Blu-ray (contains 3D & standard blu-ray, DVD & digital copy, plus the original Tron film), 4-Disc Blu-ray (contains 3D & standard blu-ray, DVD & digital copy), 2-Disc Blu-ray (standard blu-ray, DVD), and DVD (1-disc DVD) [...]

We’ve known for a while now that Matt Damon would not be returning for the fourth film in the Bourne series, titled The Bourne Legacy. We’ve also known that two–time Academy Award–nominee Jeremy Renner (The Town, The Hurt Locker) would be replacing Damon as a new character along the same lines as Jason Bourne, but not as Bourne himself.

Since then Rachel Weisz has been cast as the love interest, and now it’s being reported that Edward Norton is in talks to join the cast as well. Norton would be playing the film’s villain, but not much else is known about the character or his villainous ways.

Hopes are for The Bourne Legacy to begin filming by this fall. The movie will be directed by Tony Gilroy, who wrote the screenplays for the previous three Bourne movies, as well as Dolores Claiborne, The Devil’s Advocate, State of Play, and Best Picture nominee Michael Clayton, which he also directed. [...]

A reboot, remake, sequel, and whatever other word you want to use has seemed to have been talked about when it comes to Sam Raimi‘s cult classic Evil Dead series. Every once in a while we’d hear something about it still happening, but nothing substantial had ever come of it until now.

Star Bruce Campbell joined the Twitter the other day and continued ensuring us that it was happening, but instead of the reassurance coming and going as it had so many times before, some more official announcements have now followed.

It’s being reported that The Evil Dead will in fact be remade, and that the project has been placed on the fast–track to production. Raimi and Rob Tapert will produce through their Ghost House Pictures, along with Campbell (though it’s still uncertain whether he will return to star, or whether the Ash character will even be used at all). [...]

Remember back in September, when Irrational Games and 2K released a beautiful 10–minute gameplay peek at their 2012 prequel title, BioShock Infinite?

Since then—with such a long wait in front of us at the time—the game has remained relatively quiet. Even at the recent E3 convention, what the man behind it all, Ken Levine, brought to show off was kept securely behind closed doors for the most part. Yes, we got a very tiny glimpse and some info on the game being compatible with PlayStation Move, as well as word of an original PlayStation Vita BioShock game, but we didn’t get to see what those people saw behind those closed doors—the very same footage that scored BioShock Infinite an embarrassment of convention awards.

Now, we see what they saw. The 15–minute E3 gameplay demonstration for BioShock Infinite has been released online, and it’s a wild, wild ride. You can see it for yourself by heading below now! [...]

DC Entertainment provided us with a little more information for the upcoming Batman: Year One animated feature film that is coming in October, and let me tell you, alongside the release of that box art (click the art here at right for larger view) … the details have me really excited.

If you’ve followed our previous news about this upcoming straight to DVD and Blu-ray feature, then you’ve already had a glimpse of what’s to come [see the First Look and trailer], but let me break it down one more time for all the kids in the back.

Batman: Year One is an animated adaptation of the classic 1987 Batman comic book series Batman: Year One created by multi-time Eisner Award-winning writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzuchelli. The story redefined Batman’s origins for a new generation and it’s one of the very few post-Crisis of Infinite Earths origin stories to actually stick for a character. And the reason for that is that it’s a simple take on The Batman. Bruce Wayne swears an oath to justice and to protect the people of Gotham City after his parents were viciously murdered. Also, the book is just as much about commissioner Gordon while he was still a lieutenant. It’s a tale of two men seeking justice in a world of corruption. A story of two men crossing paths and finding that they need each other to accomplish their goals. Year One also features a brand new take on the character of Catwoman. Searching for justice in her own way, Selina Kyle takes to the streets as a vigilante who a taste for theft, and after a chance encounter with The Dark Knight, she’s inspired to don a costume of her own. It’s a thrilling crime drama with the best superhero while he is still setting his roots as a crimefighter [...]

Sherlock Holmes: Year One #5
Writer: Scott Beatty
Penciller/Inker: Daniel Indro
Dynamite Entertainment
$3.99
Release date: July 13, 2011

I love Sherlock Holmes, though I have not read any of the novels as of yet. Until I do though, there’s a different way to read about the detective — in comics. I have watched a lot of the movies and TV shows, and seen how the master detective uses his powers of deduction to solve what some consider to be impossible crimes.

This 6-issue series is called Sherlock Holmes: Year One and it is a look at how the team up of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson came to be. As the series begins we see brutal murders happening, and it will of course be up to Sherlock Holmes to solve these murders. The villain is known as “The Twelve Caesars Killer” as he been striking fear into the people of London. As Holmes begins to discover the possible secret behind this vicious murderer’s secret, it is questioned as to whether or not Holmes may be a part of the problem. While Holmes and Watson discover the methods and reasons for the crimes, they are still not able to deduce who is responsible [...]

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 July 13, 2011. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

On this week’s GoD List, Henchman21 sets an elaborate death trap for MK2Fac3 filled with RASL, Red Wing, and Marvel comics, and the only way out is for MK2Fac3 to battle back with Bat-books. Will MK2Fac3 survive? Or will the evil Henchman21 take over The GoD List for good!? Let’s do this one together soldiers, for America! [...]

The video game deal of the week over at Amazon this week is Dungeon Siege III for Xbox 360 and PS3 for only $39.99 each (that’s 33% off the list prices of $59.99), and for PC for only $29.99 (that’s 40% off the list prices of $49.99).

This sale is valid only for this week through the end of day PST on Saturday, July 16, 2011, while supplies last.

Also, when you purchase the Xbox 360 version, you can get an additional 5% off the price of the Dungeon Siege III: Prima Official Game Guide [...]

The t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel today is the Firefly-themed shirt called “Mal Always Shot First” by artist Karen Hallion.

The shirt went on sale at RIPT today, Wednesday, July 13, 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 [...]

Not much has been heard about Universal’s much talked about prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi horror classic The Thing, itself a remake of 1951′s Howard Hawks-produced The Thing from Another World, since it was bumped from its original Spring release date to make way for Fast Five. There hasn’t even been an official trailer released yet outside of a teaser that screened at conventions last year (which you can watch below; also, here’s our footage description and panel coverage from the 2010 New York Comic-Con). On top of all this, the studio also decided to name the prequel The Thing as well, because they don’t want to create any confusion apparently.

Hoping to stave off the cloud of doom that hangs over this new Thing, Universal has released the first official poster and it looks….interesting. (Check it out here below.) In fact, the poster definitely looks like one for a Thing movie so I guess the studio did their job. It’s a simple yet creepy piece with the logo (strongly reminiscent of the 1982 film) taking up most of the poster space and a mysterious individual inside the logo sprouting some strange looking appendages on their left hand, which brings to mind the fate of one of the characters from the Carpenter film [...]

Slowly but surely images of the dwarves from Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films are surfacing. First we saw Nori, Ori, and Dori, then came Oin and Gloin, the latter of whom is father of Gimli from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Now, we get our first look at brothers Fili and Kili, nephews of Thorin Oakenshield, from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Check out the photo above.

The new photo shows Dean O’Gorman as Fili and Aidan Turner as Kili.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits theaters on December 14, 2012 with its second part, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, to be released a year later on December 13, 2013 [...]

Just last November, Netflix announced that they would be increasing their prices due to their ever–growing selection of movies and TV shows available to watch instantly or on DVD and Blu–ray.

At the time, most customers seemed to be upset over the price changes—the company does offer an gigantic amount of movies and shows to watch, but they’ve always had trouble getting what people actually wanted to watch. The vast majority of their titles are strange and obscure offerings most people have never even heard of. And while they have increased the amount of worthy options, many people still think the price isn’t worth the low amount of top–level movies and shows available.

All of that said, the video rental giant still projects to keep growing more and more each year, and they’re raising prices and changing their plans again to keep up with demand. Continue reading to see what’s being changed and how much it will cost you. [...]

Many classic movies are getting the royal treatment on Blu-Ray: Citizen Kane, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, and even the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Later this year another unparalleled achievement in the annals of cinema history will be released in the highest of definitions: Lucio Fulci‘s ultraviolent gorehound epic Zombie. Long a staple of the grindhouse circuit and a film beloved by fans of horror around the world, the film is being released by Blue Underground on Blu-Ray and DVD in an all-new 2-disc Ultimate Edition on October 25, 2011 with a brand new widescreen transfer, enhanced sound, and a walking dead-plagued island full of bonus features.

You can check out all the details below at the end of this article along with a new promotional trailer for the Ultimate Edition. (Click the image at right for larger view of the Blu-ray cover.) [...]

EPIX is celebrating the summer by hosting outdoor screenings of some truly classic films all over NYC with their Movie Free-for-All. This Wednesday, July 13, 2011, EPIX is showing Wayne’s World at McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.

But, if you’re not planning to be in a park in New York any time soon, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a good flick, though, as EPIX has given Geeks of Doom three (3) DVD copies of Wayne’s World so you can you party on with the best of them!

Three (3) winners will each receive:

– One (1) Wayne’s World DVD [...]

The t-shirt deal of the day at TeeFury is a no brainer for me personally and any other fan of the Venture Brothers, Batman, or organized havoc in any of its forms. The shirt was designed by WinterArtwork and features everyone’s favorite doughy Henchman, Two Ton 21, with a logo in the style of the Batman logo.

The sale at TeeFury began today, Tuesday, July 12, 2011, at midnight EST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore [...]

The metal world has suffered another heavy loss, with the sad news that former Motörhead guitarist, Würzel, passed away on July 9, 2011, reportedly from heart disease. He was 61 years old.

Würzel joined Motörhead in 1984, for the timeless album Orgasmatron, and remained with the band through to 1995.

According to Mark Carras at RockMyMonkey.com:

He had acquired the nickname Würzel in the Army because his Scarecrow like hair made him look like a British children’s fictional character Worzel Gummidge. Motörhead leader Lemmy Kilmister is rumored to have had the idea to add the umlaut to the ‘U’ to make it more metal. [...]