EB Games Expo 2012

EB Games Expo 2012, what an amazing spectacle.

From the FMX stunt team, to the dancers, to the amazing amount of epic loot available and amazing presentations. I'm one sore reviewer.

The Sydney Olympic Park was packed at all time and game queues had many people waiting in excess of two hours just to get a taste of some of the amazing games heading out to a games store near you, soon.

The only thing I suggest for people next year is: get the Express pass. It's well worth the money.

EB Games really put on a fantastic show and the running of it was executed amazingly.

Also, props go to the Just Dance 4 dancers who danced for days and days and never showed any fatigue at all. Great work.

I personally would like to thank all the EB staff and helpers, game devs and publishers and media for making this the best show we have seen thus far.

What we played and how we felt:

BEST IN SHOW
Assassin's Creed 3:
Although the level we got to play was "more of the same old", the story and the game play seemed much better. The AI of the enemy is a little more forgiving and I can see this being a top seller for sure.

Injustice, Gods Among Us:
Simply amazing, this Mortal Kombat based DC fighting game was nothing short of amazing fun. Kicking ass as some of our fave DC heroes and villains was fantastic, the detail and graphics were amazing and the game play was button spam HEAVEN

Medal of Honor: War Fighter:
I have already stated my love for this game, and it was echoed by fans young and old as they raced around ganking each other in the multiplayer. I also got some time on the single player and for me, this is where this title really shines.

Skylanders: Giants: I was a little disappointed with this sequel as they didn't really add much to the game and it feels even more like a money sink hole than the first.

CoD: Black Ops 2:
More of the same? not exactly. Same game, new maps, better kill streak rewards. It was a lot of fun to play and even more fun to play with a bunch of other gamers. The game feels new and makes me wish I did actually pre-order it.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance:
Blown away. This is the only way to describe the game play and feel of MGR:R. The AR mode we got to try just felt like a new IP, it did not feel like "much the same copy paste bored now" like some of the previous MGS games.

Zombie-U:
If ANYTHING would make me buy a Wii-U, it would be THIS GAME. Look for a review on why, soon.

WORST IN SHOW
Marvel The Avengers: Battle for Earth:
Kinect games always make me wonder why they bother at all, and this game is no different.  The sensor wasn't picking my movements up very well, the game play was chunky and slow and it felt like a turn based game. Not the exciting action we were hoping for. Nothing like the trailers.

Fable The Journey:
Please no, no more Kinect. Just say no. This was for sure one of the worst games of show. If you want a kinect game, go buy Star Wars Kinect, it is actually BETTER than this game has thus far shown.

The Wii-U: still not 100% sold on it as a console.

Superman Vs The Elite- Review

Should you watch this movie? Yes.
Is it the best animated movie DC has ever done? No.
Can the story be picked apart in the first ten minutes and the ending obvious? Not really.

Jumping right in, the animated movie starts with what I can only say is a throw back to psychadelic 70's feeling with art from the 40's era of the comics. Loud and explosive mono coloured I was at first wondering if the company DC used to package this movie up accidentally put the wrong Bluray in the case. We are so used to a modern credit roll of scenes from other animated series and movies, that this was a real shock to the system.

from here, the movie launches into a "pre-film" cartoon that was drawn like the old Roger Ramjet cartoons, that silly skinny legged big body style, making me think this was going to be a crap-tastic throw back movie where they try and do something they had not done before. Lucky they didn't, or this movie would have sucked worse than trying to hear Bane in TDKR.

The movie itself focuses on a group of super-powered humans from around the world, who have gotten together to "rights wrongs" and in the process, kill super bad guys outright. A no holds barred, screw anyone who gets in the way, collateral damage is acceptable type of story.

And really, it is amazing that DC pulled this off as a PG13 considering the side bad guy, Atomic Skull, starts the movie off by killing a whole heap of people.

The main "good guy" is a Brittish "super hero" named Manchester Black, a psychopathic killer who really from the get go has you thinking "something with this guy just isn't right", even though the writer had tried to mask it as best he could. Eventually when you find out what The Elite is up to, you already know.
Hearing him say "wanker" so many times and also Superman saying it once was also a bit of a shock, a word that used to be considered a swear word, being used as though it was some kind of comical catch phrase.

Louis is featured more heavily in this story, this time around, and she is not the Louis we all know, she is actually on The Elite's side and tells Superman that he is basically outdated for modern times, that he SHOULD take that one step over the line and kill bad guys so they can't escape over and over. Clark seems like he is losing hope with Earth as everyone starts to turn on him and call for him to take life, something he would NEVER do.

I won't spoil the ending, but I will say it is the one thing about this movie that will shock you, the way that the ending is done provides for a huge twitst. DC seemed to be trying to say something about how the world is at the moment, but the message is lost in translation.

All in all, the movie is entertaining, but not anywhere near as great as other animated movies featuring a full cast of the Justice League.

6/10 Red Capes

Also, thank you to Kings Comics in Sydney (AUST) http://www.kingscomics.com/ for the Bluray thanks to a competition they had run. They are an awesome store (and I'm saying this because they actually are) and they have a huge selection of comics and geek related items you should probably check out.

Spider-man to be Amazing in Avengers 2?‏

The last few weeks there has been some major buzz that Andrew Garfield will be play The Amazing Spider-man in The Avengers 2. This rumor is based off a paparazzi shot of Garfield with a “fist full” of Avengers comics.

I’m here to be the sinker to your fishing line, NO. If any of the sites reporting this did some simple research and watched any of the interviews with Garfield for the press events of The Amazing Spider-man, they would have heard Garfield state that he was a huge Spidey fan when he was a child, even learning gymnastics “to be more like Spider-man”.

Now, I’m not ruling it out, however as Sony own the rights to Spider-man, I can’t see them coming to the table with it’s separate property so that The Avengers 2 can be just that little bit more awesome (if that’s possible).

Yes, it would be a win/win for both Sony and Disney/marvel in a way when you consider the box office taking, however I can’t see Sony just handing over the rights to Spider-man (not after the AMAZING showing of the new film), maybe if Marvel/Disney BUY the rights to Spider-man (and if I made all that cash from The Avengers, I would certainly look to buy the rights back if I were Marvel/Disney) however this would not only be very costly, but also Sony would NOT want to sell the rights back considering that Spider-man is printing money for them.

The bigger question now becomes “is the media not paying attention? Do they not do any research at all due to trying to get buzz and hype out before any other publication?”. It gets to the point where I start asking myself if it’s just me and my love of all things geeky, should I care less or should publications care more when doing articles.

The Mail Online article can be found here. 

Also, check out "Agent M Loves Tacos", Executive Editorial Director for Marvel Digital Media Group and Marvel.com. 

who specifically states "If you’ve seen the photo of The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield with a stack of comics, it’s because my Associate Producer Blake Garris gave them to him. Because Andrew’s a comic book fan and Blake’s a nice guy. Nothing else to it."

Avengers: Battle for Earth

A number of things come to mind when I see any games studio or manufacturer release an online video for a new game and don’t show any game play, usually they come to me as listed below:

1 The video is pretty, what about the ACTUAL game though?

2 Please don’t let it suck

3 Please, please don’t let it suck

4 What consoles will it be available on?

5 What is the story based on?

Avengers: Battle for Earth provides one of these questions with an answer, apparently Wii-U, Xbox 360/kinect.

What throws me off at this stage is the fact that they state xbox 360/Kinnect, I hope it is not a Kinnect game, and instead has the option to use Kinnect.

Kinnect could be a decent way to play games, if only the games thus far brought out were not as buggy and slow to react as they currently are (see the Star Wars dance game fiasco).

Also, they show Spiderman, Wolverine, Venom, Magneto and Storm in the clip. Ok, so we know that it is the Marvel Universe and as such, we would see some other Marvel IP’s in the world/game, but are they playable?

Will I be able to swing through the streets as Spiderman? Claw my way up buildings with Wolverine? Fry the crap out of bad guys with Storm? Throw cars at good guys with Magneto? I have no opinion on the game until I see what they ACTUALLY intend to do, but one thing is certain.....The video is pretty.
 

I would love to see Marvel use the Skylanders system to create a Marvel Universe variant using figures of even Super Hero Squad, it would be great to see them do this, it would stick to the kid theme and should move units.

Market it just the same, you get a great painted figure of your fave characters AND the in game character to use.

Also, you could have it like the Lego: Batman game, where you can play as either Hero or Villain.

Oh the possibilities.

Also, a super smash brothers style game would be excellent, sure it would just be smash brothers, but with Marvel. I would buy it for sure.

Going forward with merchandise, limited edition X-Men xbox? Wolverine controller? I’d buy that. Hell, Imagine if th

rger figures Galactus, Sentinel Prime and the like?

 Amazing.

Guaranteed pick up lines.

So, how exactly do you pick up women? No, not with a winch, not with a car, maybe with a little suttle pick up line.

Here are some witty pick up lines to use:

Hi my name is Slim Shady, his name is Fats Domino *points at crotch*

Have you ever seen a storm trooper naked? Would you like to?

*Waves hand* that guy is not the Jedi you are looking for.....

Would you like to see my Ewok?

Your eyes are like a magical bag of holding, I can get lost in them.

Would you like to roleplay? I have Vampire: the masquerade.

Even if we last only one date, it will STILL be better than Twilight, how about it?

Hey baby, can I see your Death Star exhaust pipe? (Make sure she is REALLY drunk, that way you can duck if she swings at you).

If any of these lines work (and if you try them enough, the law of probability states that one WILL work) I WANT YOUTUBE PROOF!

Al.