Rise of the Supermoon sparks record number of werewolf sightings in UK

Sheer lunar-cy or the beginning of a worrying trend?

Thousands of people from up and down the UK braved the cold and took to the streets last night to catch a rare glimpse of the supermoon. This unique astrological phenomenon, which is only visible every few generations, occurs when the moon’s orbit brings it in close proximity to the earth. 30% brighter and 14% larger than your run-of-the-mill full moon, this unique lunar light show makes for a breathtaking and beautiful sight.

While this rare celestial event was a cause for celebration for many, there are some who will look back on the evening of November 15 with fear, not fondness, in their hearts.

During the night, while the supermoon rode high in the sky, UK Emergency Services were inundated with calls from panic-stricken members of the Great British public, many claiming to have seen or been attacked by creatures they described as 'werewolves'. At first, the operators were baffled by these bizarre reports, but that bafflement soon turned to bewilderment as more and more calls from terrified UK residents began pouring in.

One of the callers was Basingstoke resident Joan Landis. The 45-year-old mother of two was awoken in the early hours of the morning by the sound of persistent scratching and banging. “Sometimes we gets stray cats making noise round the back, but straightaway I could tell this weren’t a cat. There were a lot of banging and this horrible, like, snorting sound.”

Upon going to investigate, the former healthcare assistant was horrified to discover what appeared to be a 'massive, two-legged wolf' smashing its way through her conservatory windows. “At first I thought it were just kids mucking about,” she said, “but as I got closer I could see it weren’t a costume.There was drool all coming out of its mouth and its eyes were rolling this way and that.”

Whether Joan’s nocturnal visitor was an actual werewolf or just a youthful yob spreading mischief has yet to be determined, but, prank or not, Joan was taking no chances with her family’s safety: “Soon as I realised what it was I went to the kitchen drawer, grabbed a knife and me phone and ran upstairs.” Suitably armed, Joan roused her two children Jess, 3, and Max, 5, before barricading her family in the bathroom and making a call to the local police.

The first officer on the scene was 25-year veteran Boris Chaney who reported finding traces of blood and clumps of “thick, wiry grey hair” among the scattered pieces of the Landis’ smashed conservatory windows.

While Chaney refused to be drawn on the subject of wolfmen, he did confirm that the Landis’ were not the only people to contact Basingstoke's police department with reports of werewolf-related disturbances that night.

When asked if he thought this was strange, Chaney replied: “I may not believe in werewolves or monsters, but I do believe there are people out there who can think of nothing more entertaining than pulling on an old Halloween costume and ruining someone’s evening. Sadly, this kind of thing happens a lot more than you’d think.”

Chaney’s words would be a lot more comforting if stories of alleged werewolf sightings were restricted to just Basingstoke, but people in places as widespread as Portsmouth, Glasgow, Aberystwyth, and even Northern Ireland have all reported seeing werewolf-like creatures prowling beneath the light of the supermoon.

While many were quick to label the sightings as nothing more than an elaborate hoax, Dr. J.R. Hirsch, a professor at Glyndwr University whom specialises in Fables, Folklore and Ancient Legends, believes people should not dismiss them so readily.

“Normally, I would be the first person to denounce these accounts as a hoax,” he said, “but the fact that so many people, from such a diverse number of places and social backgrounds, are claiming to have come into contact with creatures characteristic of werewolves is fascinating. Of course, I’m not saying that this proves the existence of things that go bump in the night, but I believe it does warrant further investigation.”

If it is proof Hirsch seeks, he would be well advised to pay a visit to popular video-sharing website Youtube. Overnight, hundreds of videos purporting to contain footage of real, live werewolves were uploaded to the streaming service.

Nick Baker, known on Youtube as Skreeonk84,  was one of the first people to post a video of a supermoon werewolf. The 32-year-old IT consultant, who lives on the outskirts of Glasgow, was taking his Corgi, Molly, for a walk when he glimpsed a strange creature slinking through the undergrowth bordering the secluded country lane upon which he and his beloved pet take their usual evening stroll. Baker, who described his ordeal as “total-brown-trouser-time”, used his iPhone to document his werewolf encounter before uploading it to Youtube. Within hours, the video had gone viral, racking up over a million views and attracting tens of thousand of comments.

Although some commentators believe Baker’s shocking video, which clearly shows a huge, bipedal, dog-like creature silhouetted against the disc of the moon, is incontrovertible proof of the existence of werewolves, not everyone is convinced. Youtube user PWNZassassINZ69 was among the sceptics, leaving a comment beneath the video that read: OMGz get a grip u f*ckin p***ies….. ive seen better special affects (sic) on syfy channel.”

Poorly expressed though their scepticism may be, it is at least understable; after all, this wouldn’t be the first time someone has doctored video footage as part of an attempt to prove the existence of the supernatural. Much harder to discredit, however, are the grisly wounds received by a homeless man living on the streets of Northamptonshire.

Jack Kessler, 19, was rushed into Kettering Hospital during the early hours of Tuesday morning, his body covered in wounds believed to have been sustained during an animal attack. A nurse who saw Kessler as he was brought in the ER described him as looking “like a waking meatloaf.”

The attack itself was witnessed by 52-year-old taxi operator Eddie Quist. A local father-of-three, Quist was driving home after a late shift when he saw a “large, grey animal” tearing into the unfortunate Kessler’s body. When asked if he thought the transient youth may have been attacked, as some people were reporting, by a werewolf, Quist laughed, saying: “No, of course not, it was some kind of bear, one of them big grizzly b*stards. Probably just escaped from the local zoo.”

We reached out to the staff at Hamerton Zoo Park, situated just outside Kettering, in an attempt to confirm Quist’s suspicions, but the staff were quick to assure us that all their exhibits were present, accounted for and safely tucked away in their cages.

A hospital employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, was on duty when Kessler arrived and was shocked by the state of the young man’s appearance: “I’ve never seen anything like it, there was blood everywhere. His body was covered in claw and bite marks - it was like something out of a horror movie.”

“He was unconscious when he came in, but as we were prepping him for surgery he woke up and threw a right fit. In the end, it took four orderlies to hold him down and sedate him. The whole time he was thrashing about like a madman and screaming about monsters. The lads and me had a good chuckle about it afterwards, but I don’t mind admitting, at the time, I was bloody terrified.”

Although Kettering Council refuses to indulge in speculation about the existence of werewolves, a council spokeswoman said they were taking what happened to Jack Kessler extremely seriously. In a bid to ease the public’s fears, she assured nervous onlookers gathered outside the council’s municipal offices this morning that animal control experts were being brought in to assess the situation, before promising them that the perpetrator would soon be brought to heel.

Despite the life-threatening nature of Kessler’s wounds, surgeons were able to repair most of the damage and are optimistic he will make a full recovery. Dr. Yogami, one of the hospital staff that helped save Kessler’s life, said: “Jack is doing extremely well. In fact, to the amazement of me and my colleagues, some of his wounds are almost already completely healed. I fully expect him to be up and about in time for the next full moon.”

New No Man's Sky trailer invites gamers to explore the universe

Universal appeal

 

 

We've had open world games before but nothing quite on the scale of No Man's Sky. This ambitious space-sim from Joe Danger developer Hello Games doesn't just limit players to a single digital playground, or even a single world, but let's them explore the star-strewn stretches of a universe containing 18 quintillion digital planets. For some idea of just how mind-boggling a number of planets that is, No Man's Sky's lead developer Sean Murray reckons only 0.01% of those quintillion balls of rock will be explored in our lifetime.

Give the sheer amount of real-estate floating around just waiting to conquered, it's no surprise that exploration is a key part of the game. To hammer this point home, Hello Games have cut together a series of trailers, four in all, highlighting the different gameplay elements that form the cornerstones of the No Man's Sky experience: Exploration, Combat, Trading and Survival.

'Explore', the first trailerin the series, gives us a better idea of what different kinds of terrain gamers will encounter as they whizz around the cosmos. We can see bucolic planets teeming with all manner of strange and wonderful creatures, mysterious alien obelisks, towering machines, and monolithic spacecraft suspended in the cold reaches of space.

Tantalisingly, Hello Games have hinted that as players close in on the centre of the universe the planets and creatures they encounter will become progressively stranger, earth-like vistas giving way to twisted and surreal alien landscapes.

Look out for the next video in the series, which will highlight how the game's combat works, in the next few days.

What's new and what's different in the film version of The Dark Tower?

What does Entertain Weekly's new info reveal about the film adaptation of The Dark Tower?

 

It's been a long time coming, but Stephen King's cult fantasy series The Dark Tower is finally headed to the big screen. As with most adaptations, the retelling of this 8-book-strong fantasy saga will deviate from the source material in some major and minor ways. One of the neatest things about The Dark Tower series is how certain plot developments, particularly in the final book, create opportunities for the creative team behind the film to take the series in unexpected directions without contradicting the text completely.

We won't go into exactly what those developments are in this article, but if you're interested we highly recommend reading through the full cycle of Dark Tower books. Not only will you be able to enjoy one of the finest, as well as weirdest, pieces of epic fiction ever written, but it will give you a deeper appreciation - not to mention, understanding - of just how the first film in the series fits into the larger framework of The Dark Tower universe.

For some time now we've known that the first series in the film adaptation of The Dark Tower would be based, in large part, on the first novel in King's fantasy saga, The Gunslinger. The slimmest volume in the series by a comfortable margin, it recounts Roland of Gilead's efforts to track down the mysterious Man in Black and learn more about the tower after which the saga is named. Unusually for Stephen King, this is a very obtuse, at times ambiguous novel, one that features many elements that only really come into focus the further into the series (or along the path of the beam, say thankya) readers get.

Thanks to King himself, we knew that the first film would be pulling together elements from multiple books, not just The Gunslinger; what we didn't know was how these disparate elements would all fit together. Now, thanks to EW, we have a clearer picture of how the first film in the series will work - the basic gist of the story will be the same; it will still chronicle Roland's attempts to apprehend the Man in Black and learn more about the tower - visions of which have haunted him all the years of his long, long life. Instead of flashing back and forwards, however, the film will introduce elements from the final two books in the series, most notably Algul Siento, the breaker camp located in the arid, sickened wastes of Thunderclap (which is to The Dark Tower as Mordor is to Lord of the Rings).

Breakers are powerful psychics, men and women poached from our world, and worlds like ours, to 'break' the beams that converge on The Dark Tower. Despite its foreboding name, the Tower is the linchpin at the centre of not just our universe, but all universes; if the beams break and the Tower falls, the rest of space and time will fall along with. As the beams break, Roland's world, once a beacon of life and hope, begins to sicken and slide inexorably into chaos. World's begin to bleed together, people and animals begin to mutate, and all manner of dark and unspeakable things begin to crawl out of the dark and unknowable spaces between universes. It all sounds a touch complicated, but (as with most fantasy series) once you look beyond the made up place names, weird creatures and otherworldly trappings you're left with the simple tale of a lone gunslinger trying to save the world from the forces of evil.

The makers of the film version of The Dark Tower are keeping things relatively simple for the first film, no doubt as a concession to those unfamiliar with the books, but the recent EW articles throw up lots of intriguing things that will be of especial concern to long time fans of the Dark Tower series as well as King's work in general.

The Shining

In The Dark Tower books those men and women endowed with the gift of telepathy are described as being strong in 'the touch'. In a clever nod to one of King's best loved books, however, the movie version of DT replaces this with 'shine', a clear reference to The Shining and the latent psychic ability that helps young Danny Torrance stay one step ahead of his axe-wielding old man. On the page, Jake - a young boy from a world very like our own, plagued by visions of a mysterious gunslinger and a tower - is skilled in the touch, but he never ends up breaking beams with those who share in Algul Siento. For the film version, Jake is described as a sort of beam-breaking MVP, a psychic so powerful that The Man in Black is willing to cross dimensions just to find him. From what we can glean, Jake's story will be relatively true to the books, but will deviate in a few key ways. First of all, Jake's origin seems to have been slightly tweaked - in the books he's a gifted psychic, but not powerful enough to draw the gaze of the Crimson King and his minions. By the sounds of it, Jake's story is being rolled into Ted Brautigan's, a man of unparalleled psychic ability who is cozened by the forces of evil into assaulting the beams.

Through a glass darkly

At various points in the books, Roland and co.encounter glass balls from the Wizard's Rainbow. That might sound rather jolly, but these balls (thirteen in all, each with different properties) are just as likely to harm their handlers as they are to help them. Think of the Palantiri from Lord of the Rings and you'll have some idea. In the books, these malignant globes of gaudily coloured glass are rare, not appearing the fourth installment, but in the films we'll see them (or something very like them) almost straightaway. Speaking to EW, Matthew Mc describes  how he and Roland communicate with one another from afar using little glass balls. Although he doesn't refer to them as pieces of the Wizard's Rainbow, it's pretty fair to assume that's exactly what they are. It's a pretty big change from the novels, but it makes sense - after all, you don't hire two actors of Elba and McConaughey's caliber and not have them interact until the end of the film. The glasses will allow the two to bounce off of one another long before they meet in the flesh, and (more importantly) give first time viewers some idea of just how long and acrimonious the history between these characters is.

Bryan Singer and Matt Nix planning another X-Men spin-off

The Motherhood of Mutants 

 

Matt Nix, the creator of Burn Notice, is teaming up with Bryan Singer to produce a new mutant-themed series for US TV network Fox. Fox already has a few comic book series on the air, those being the adaptations of DC properties Gotham and Lucifer, but this will be one of their first Marvel projects, the development of which has been a "top priority" for the network.

The series, which is as-yet untitled, will take place within the wider X-Men universe (still one of the few major Marvel properties the comic book giant has yet to claw back) but instead of chronicling the exploits of everyone's favourite band of merry mutants it will focus on two ordinary parents who discover that their bouncing bundle of joy has mutant powers.

In order to keep their child out of the hands of a rogue government agency, the doting ma and da fall in with a coalition of mutants who have gone underground to fight back against their oppressors.

In addition to Nix and Singer (themselves no strangers to the world of network TV), the project has snared Marvel's own Jeph Loeb, as well as Fox's Simon Kinberg and Lauren Shuler Donner as producers.

It's certainly an interesting concept, but it doesn't sound nearly as unique or exciting as Fox's other X-Men spinoff, Legion, currently being put together by Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley. 

Fox are understandably keen to strike while the iron is hot, especially following the success of its X-Men movies and Deadpool, but one has to wonder if pumping out series after series of vaguely mutant-related TV shows is really the best idea.

Source: Empire

Javier Bardem to play Frankenstein in Universal's Monsters Universe?

No Country for Old Wolfmen 

 

 

Hollywood is all a-flutter over the idea of shared universes these days, with many studios putting in motion plans to launch their own interconnected film series in a bid to emulate Marvel Studio's hugely successful model.

Interestingly, this phenomenon isn't just limited to comic book properties - we're also beginning to see studios cobble together different IPs, character and franchises that don't quite fit into the superhero mold.  The most interesting of these is undoubtedly Universal's Monsters Universe, an attempt to bring together some of the silver screen's most memorable bogeymen and women  (a list which includes Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Dracula and Van Helsing) and place all of them within a shared and persistent world. Kind of like a modern day, big budget version of Penny Dreadful.

Normally I'd be the first to accuse Universal of hopping on the bandwagon, but I actually really like this idea and think it could lead to some very interesting and entertaining projects. Universal are certainly hoping so, and are going to great lengths to round out their stable with an enviable list of actors, producers and writers, including John Spaihts, Alex Kurtzman, Aaron Guzikowski, Noah Hawley, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp and Russell Crowe.

In addition to the stars above, rumours persist that Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Angelina Jolie, and now, Javier Bardem are also being courted for starring roles. The latest round of murmurs suggest that the Oscar-winning Bardem is in talks to take on the role of Frankenstein. Whether that means he's in the frame to play the creature's creator or the creature itself is unclear.

Personally, I think Bardem would make a great monster - he's imposing enough to give the creature a real sense of malice and menace, but also an incredibly skilled performer, one that can bring to life the pathos and emotional tumult that has always defined the character.

Given the amount of talent (potentially) involved in these pictures, I'm very interested to see how the Monsters Universe shapes up, particularly a modern day take on The Wolfman - if there's one thing the world needs, it is more werewolf movies.

Looking forward to what Universal is cooking up in their lab? Let us know your thoughts on the Monsters Universe below!

No Man's Sky's quintillion planets take up just 6GB of disc space

Infinity on the head of a pin

 

 

Sean Murray, the mastermind behind the sumptuous-looking spacefaring sim No Man's Sky, took to Twitter today to reveal just how many gigs of data his studio's game occupies on a single blu-ray disc.

Much to the surprise of his many followers, Murray revealed that the game weighs in at just 6GB, despite, that is, offering players roughly one quintillion (yes, we checked and that is a real number) planets to explore. What's more, most of that data is comprised of audio files, meaning that 65daysofstatic soundtrack probably eats up more disc-based real estate than the actual game itself.

It may sound insane, especially given the sheer, mind-boggling amount of explorable space on offer, but No Man's Sky worlds, galaxies and pocket universes are all procedurally generated, meaning they take up very little actual space.

Players will be able to begin exploring that space this August with the game releasing on the 9th, 10th and 12th in the US, Europe and UK respectively. 

Batman: Return to Arkham delayed to November amid quality concerns

The inmates are running the asylum

 

Remasters are big business nowadays, so it's no surprise that plans were afoot at Warner Bros. to repackage two of the publisher's most critically and commercially acclaimed games and re-release them for current-gen platforms.

Dubbed Batman: Return to Arkham the upcoming collection is set to include Arkham Asylum as well as its follow-up Arkham City. Many fans were excited at the prospect of playing these classic games on their shiny new hardware, but that excitement quickly curdled when footage of the games running on current-gen consoles was unveiled.

Despite porting the games to a new engine and, presumably, taking advantage of newer rendering techniques and graphical effects, it quickly became apparent that the remastered Arkham games looked a good bit worse than their last-gen counterparts. Lighting effects were missing, character models looked off and it appeared that the quality of some textures had taken a noticeable hit.

Fans of the series were quick to point out the differences, providing detailed comparisons that showed the remaster in a much less than flattering light. We can assume that Warner Bros. got wind of this negative feedback, as the game was quickly pulled off of schedules and slapped with a delay just weeks shy of its July 31st release date.

According to Eurogamer, the collection hasn't been scrapped entirely but delayed until  this coming November. Sources close to the site informed them that the quality of the port has come under fire, with the frame rate in particular being a major concern.

The Batman brand took a major hit when the last game in the saga, Arkham Knight, arrived on PC in a near-unplayable state. Unlike the near-flawless console versions, the PC port of the game was plagued with crippling issues, causing a red-faced Warner Bros. to pull the game from sale and offer apoplectic PC gamers copies of its previous Arkham games by way of apology.

Given everything that happened with Arkham Knight on PC, the last thing Warner's wants to do is release a buggy, poorly performing collection and destroy all the goodwill the series has left. Hopefully they'll do right by these classic titles and give the team at Virtuous Games all the time and resources they need to do Batman and the games' original developers, Rocksteady, justice.

Source: Eurogamer

Pokémon Go to hit the UK "within a few days"

Release in Europe, Asia and Japan is a go 

 

It's only been available to download for a few days, but Pokémon Go has already become one of Nintendo's most talked about titles, with reports of people mooning around US cities snapping up Squirtles and converging on virtual Gyms flooding social media.

Sadly, the game proved to be so popular with aspiring monster hunters that servers became overloaded, putting plans to release the game in Europe, Japan and Asia on hold. Nintendo have yet to offer a solid release date for the aforementioned regions, but the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Pokémon Go "will likely be available" outside of the US within the next couple of days.

For those of you who have yet to become acquainted with the Pokémon Go phenomenon, it is an augmented reality game that allows users to catch virtual critters in real world locations.

The game has been a huge success for Nintendo, bringing in an estimated $1.6 million a day in revenue, as well as causing shares in the Japanese gaming company to soar by almost a quarter.

Given that it blurs the lines between virtual reality and, well, actual reality, Pokémon Go has also been mentioned alongside some bizarre real world incidents, including the discovery of a dead body and a scheme in which armed robbers used the game's lure feature to seclude unwitting players and divest them of their valuables.

3-min Star Wars: Rogue One trailer coming on July 15

You'd be Darth to miss it  

 

Star Wars fans have something to look forward to next Friday: three whole minutes of footage from upcoming flick Rogue One.

The news comes courtesy of  ABC HD, whose listing for Secrets of the Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey promises "a 3-minute trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" in its description.

The film, which is set around the same time as A New Hope, follows a ragtag crew of rebels on a mission to steal the plans for the Death Star, thereby facilitating its destruction in the saga's original chapter.

We've already seen a trailer for the film, which promises to show us a more somber side of the Star Wars universe, but the prospect of even more new footage has us very excited indeed.

Could we finally get a look at Darth Vader? I daresay this trailer will include a tease or two that hints at the Dark Lord's presence - a bit of heavy breathing or a flash of a red light saber, perhaps?

The footage coincides with the Star Wars Celebration and will hopefully be available to watch/stream online for those of us not not lucky enough to attend.

Publisher Deep Silver bringing Persona 5 to Europe

Silver linings

Deep Silver has answered the prayers of Persona fans all over the continent by announcing that they will be bringing the hotly-anticipated JRPG to Europe.

It's been a tumultuous old time for fans of all things JRPG in Europe lately, what with Sega's European arm showing zero interest in publishing Atlus' (a company it owns, fer chrissakes) titles in the region. The there was the small matter of NIS America - who usually publish Atlus titles over here - also announcing that their partnership with Atlus was dissolving, leaving many of us to wonder if we would ever see an official Persona 5 release outside of Asia and the US.

Thankfully, Atlus heard its European fans' pleas and has sealed a deal with Deep Silver - whom they hold in "high regard" - to bring multiple games to our JRPG-hungry shores.

The deal includes not only Persona 5, but the 3DS titles 7th Dragon III Code: VFD and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. Hopefully, this marks a turning point in Atlus' relationship with Europe, although one does have to wonder why Sega seems so averse to publishing these games themselves.

Regardless, it's nice to finally have confirmation that Persona 5 and SMT IV: A will makes their way to PAL territories. Persona 5 is due in the US this coming February, let's hope the EU releases isn't far behind. 

More gaming icons headed to Killer Instinct?

Potential new characters hinted at in official Microsoft survey

Killer Instinct isn't shy about rounding out its roster with guest characters from some of Microsoft's most recognisable IPs. So far, Halo's Arbiter, Gears of War's General RAAM and Rash from rage-inducing retro classic Battletoads have all stepped into the arena.

Clearly, these newcomers have been a hit with gamers because it looks like Microsoft are thinking about adding a few more quest characters to its flagship fighting game.

A survey, currently being hosted on the KI site Ultra-Combo.com, invites gamers to rank a list of characters in the order they most want to see them appear in the game. In among some generic choices such as Wendigo, Djinn and (excitingly) Lovecraftian, a few more famous names jump out: Brute from Halo, the super-powered Agent from Crackdown, and, most interesting of all, Perfect Dark's Joanna Dark.

Clearly, it's an exciting time to be a Killer Instinct fan. The game, already into its third season, recently made the jump onto PC and is also expected to feature heavily at this year's Evo fighting game championships.

Pixar to sideline sequels in favour of more original content

Following the release of Finding Dory, the animation impresarios over at Pixar have vowed to release more original films going forward.

In its early days, the vaunted studio was averse to churning out sequels, opting to release original material rather than rehash past glories. Still, filmmaking is a fickle business, and sequels do big business at the box office - eventually something had to give. Luckily for us, Pixar didn't take the easy route, only committing to creating sequels when they felt they had an idea worth exploring, creating some of their best films in the process.

As good as these sequels are, however, many yearned for a return to the glory days when the studio was putting out film after original film and was one of the most potent creative forces in the modern blockbuster space. Thankfully, Pixar's current company president, Jim Morris, feels the same way and has promised that there are many more originals films in the pipeline.

Before that we'll be seeing a few more sequels, including the much anticipated follow-up to Brad Bird's The Incredibles (still the best comic book movie ever made). Once they're in the can, however, the studio will focus entirely on new releases.

Finding Dory swims into UK cinemas on July 29, while Coco is due to arrive this December.

Aquaman steals the spotlight in new Injustice 2 gameplay trailer

Under the sea

A couple of days ago we got a nifty CGI trailer which confirmed a sequel to 2013's DC-centric fighting game Injustice was in development. It was a great promo, featuring some beautiful renditions of some of DC's most recognizable super humans, but many gamers, myself included, were more interested in seeing the actual game in motion. Thankfully, NetherRealm heard our cries, quickly turning out a trailer comprised entirely of in-game footage.

As you can see, the serie's roster has been expanded to include a raft of new faces, including Atrocitus, the savage Green Lantern baddie with a penchant for the colour red, Clark Kent's Kryptonian cousin Supergirl, and (best of all) Gorilla Grodd, a hyper-intelligent simian hellbent on world domination.

As exciting as Grodd's inclusion is, the best moment in the trailer comes at the end when we see Atlantean superhero Aquaman perform his brutality, a series of savage moves that ends with him summoning a nightmarish sea creature from the briny depths before siccing it on his unfortunate opponent.

The game's full roster has yet to be revealed, although images on Twitter suggest Dr. Fate, Captain Cold and Harley Quinn have all made the cut. In the footage, we also get a brief glimpse of Black Manta, but - for the time being - it is unclear if he is playable or just a background character. Personally, I'm hoping Swamp Thing will finally put in an appearance - his powers seem like a great fit for this series.

Berserk game from Dynasty Warriors devs incoming

Long considered one of the greatest manga series ever written, Berserk has enraptured two generations of anime fans with its bloody action and shocking narrative twists and turns. Those same fans have often wondered if Berserk would ever return to the world of videogames. Well, it looks like Guts and co. are finally heading back to consoles, courtesy of Omega Force, the Japanese developer behind the Dynasty Warrior series.

For those of you who've never had the pleasure of reading Kentaro Miura's manga epic, Berserk is a gritty fantasy series which follows the exploits of Guts, a swordsman clad all in black, who hunts demons following a tragic event in his not-so distant past. It's gruesome, unspeakably violent but also filled with fantastic characters and some great storytelling beyond its awkward early chapters.

Given the popularity of  gritty and gruesome fantasy series like Game of Thrones and Dark Souls (whose aesthetics already borrow heavily from Miura's artwork), now seems like the perfect time to thrust Berserk back into the limelight.

According to publisher Tecmo Koei, the game will also be "the most lethal warrors game yet", confirming that the Guts' current-gen debut will stick to the musou formula which underpins their bestselling Dynasty Warriors series of titles.

No release date has been announced, but if has been confirmed that the game will be available in the West on PS4, PS Vita and PC.

First Yooka Laylee trailer released

A rare treat 

A shiny new trailer for playful looking platformer Yooka Laylee has found its way online.

Comprised of ex-Rare employees (the folks behind such classic platformers as Banjo Kazooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day) the good folks over at Playtonic are attempting to resurrect the kind of colourful, sprawling, collectible-filled platformers that were very much in vogue during the early days of 3D gaming.

Their first attempt is Yooka Laylee which, as we can see from the trailer, does an excellent job of hearkening back to a time when mascot platformers ruled the proverbial roost. There's plenty of floating platforms, power-ups and even a spot of mine carting. It really does look like an N64 platformer that's been plucked off the drawing board and brought to life with modern gaming tech.

For a game that's only been in development a short while, it's all looking surprisingly polished. The graphics are gorgeous and there's a lot of variety in the environments on show. Sadly, this trailer does confirm that the game will miss its October 2016 release date. The new release date is Q1 2017 - not a huge delay, and if it gives Playtonic time to iron out those bugs and make the game shine, we're sure it'll be worth it.

Final Fantasy XII remake confirmed

Finally! 

 

A video showcasing a new and improved, PS4 version of vaunted role-player Final Fantasy XII has found its way on to the internet.

As you can see from the video, the PS2 classic is looking very sharp indeed, no doubt thanks to some updated graphics tech as well as to what seems to be higher res textures, character models and backgrounds.

Judging by the trailer, it's safe to say the re-release will be based on the International 'Zodiac' Edition of the game. This is all rather exciting, especially as this edition was never seen outside of Japan. It also added a job system to the game in addition to several tweaks and improvements to the combat.

As with most of Square's recent Final Fantasy re-releases, XII will include a few adjustments to make life easier for us modern gamers. These include a turbo mode, which will let you coast through combat encounters, decreased loading times and an auto-save option.

At present, the game has only been confirmed for release on PS4. That could change, but given that the Final Fantasy X remaster was a Sony console exclusive I wouldn't be surprised if XII followed suit. We'll know for sure either way when Square give us an official announcement.

Is this our first look at a fully regenerated Shin Godzilla?

Action figure gives us a closer look at the resurgent Godzilla

 

 

If you've seen the trailer or any of the images for Godzilla Resurgence released so far, you'll know that this version of the King of Monsters isn't quite as photogenic as some of his previous incarnations. In fact, Shin Godzilla is downright gruesome; a mangy concatenation of scales, scars and exposed gristle. Rumour has it, however, that Godzilla will not stay in this attenuated state for the entire film, but will slowly regenerate over time, ending the film, presumably, in a state that more closely resembles the Godzilla we all know and love.

He's certainly looking a little less peaky in the image above which shows a Godzilla markedly less gaunt and wasted than the one glimpsed in the film's other promotional materials. Of course, this could just be down to the sculpt - at a glance, this Godzilla still seems to be crisscrossed with scars and wounds - as this particular line of figures isn't exactly known for its movie-accurate modelling.

Personally, I think this one's down to the sculpt, although I do believe we will see Godzilla in different stages of recovery in the final film. If (as is believed) this is the original Godzilla, rising, revenant-like, after being exposed to the oxygen destroyer at the end of Godzilla 1954, the film may even kick off with an even mangier, more grizzled version of the Big G than the one we've seen so far. The image of a grossly malformed, half-skeletal Godzilla rising out of the ocean like the world's largest zombie would be pretty terrifying. 

Source: Scified.com

Legion, the X-Men spin-off from Fargo showrunner, greenlit for TV

Although X-Men: Apocalypse may not have been the out-and-out success Fox were hoping for, they're still not done with their merry band of mutants. There are a few X-men themed projects currently in development, the most exciting of which would definitely have to be Legion.

From the mind of Noah Hawley, responsible for both seasons of Fargo, Legion takes a sideways look at the mutant world and, according to FX's Nick Grad, brings "an entirely new aesthetic and sensibility to the enormously popular and richly represented X-Men world."

The story follows David Haller, played by Dan Stevens of Downton Abby and The Guest fame, a man who has spent his life in and out of various psychiatric institutions. He comes to realise, however, that the voices and visions that plague him may not be a product of his damaged mind but of his burgeoning mutants powers. In the comics, David is the son of Charles "Prof. X" Xavier and suffers a form of dissociative identity disorder. In true comic book fashion, each one of his multiple personalities has its own superpower, which sounds ideal for the needs of a weekly TV show.

The series, expected to hit out TV screens in 2017, so impressed the execs at FX with its pilot that it has already been commissioned for a full, eight-episode series. Fox's last X-Men spin-off, Deadpool, was a major coup for the studio, and Legion could help further cement its fledgling, interconnected comic book universe. 

Doom (2016) videogame review

666 out of 10 

 

There comes a point in nearly every fantasy novel when the hero (usually some kind of pseudo-viking or barbarian), outmaneuvered and outnumbered, takes up his sword and flies into a red rage: the world shrinks, time slows down and they become an unbeatable, unstoppable killing machine. Now, never having been in the midst of a full-on sword and sandals skirmish, I'm not sure if this is something real soldiers experience or just a persistent piece of literary invention, but I do know that I felt something similar whilst playing Doom 2016. This is a game unafraid to throw players in at the deep end, burying them in seemingly endless waves of brutal beasties. Each skirmish passes by in a blur of exploding shells, fiery blasts and gouts of blood; you cut down demon after demon and desperately scramble around the arena in search of health pickups and precious ammo. You feel like that fantasy hero; outnumbered and outgunned but utterly impervious. You become a whirling dervish of death.

Yes, Doom 2016 is the kind of no-frills, unashamedly old-school FPS that seems to have been swept under the rug in our post-Call of Duty world. It hearkens back to a time when the genre was more concerned with sprawling, labyrinthine levels that were stuffed with secrets and things that wanted to kill you, than it was with crawling through narrow corridors and  shooting bad guys that pop up like paper targets at a range. There are no lengthy cut-scenes, or bits where you jump into a helicopter from the roof of a collapsing building, or take control of a satellite in order to microwave terrorists from the heavens in Doom; there's just you, thousands of demons in need of killing, and a weapon wheel's worth of big, loud, ugly guns with which to do it.

Luckily, while this new entry in the Doom saga may lean heavily on its pixellated past, it doesn't ignore the many advances made in the FPS genre since hell first came to Mars over two decades ago. Sometimes developers forget that there's a difference between being inspired by your heritage and being beholden to it. Doom, thankfully, doesn't suffer from this problem, and feels fresh enough to avoid feeling like yet another soulless rehash of a once-revered gaming franchise. Naturally, the formula has been streamlined, the fat has been trimmed, and the presentation overhauled, but the core of Doom remains intact: you ramble around, plucking keycards off corpses, and killing anything unlucky enough to wander across your path.

While that may not sound particularly diverting, the gameplay loop that carries Doom through its surprisingly generous 8-10 hour campaign (longer if you like to scour every nook and cranny for geegaws) is supremely satisfying. The game moves at a good clip, and the shooting mechanics fairly sing. This is one of those rare games - like Mario 64 and Halo CE before it - in which the mechanics feel so fine-tuned that simple act of navigating environments and shooting enemies is a joy. And developer  Id really puts those mechanics to the test - particularly in the later portions of the game - regularly throwing enemy combinations at the player that forces them to take full advantage of their arsenal and the environment.

There are moments when Doom feels almost like a character action game, challenging players to adapt to new enemy types and configurations on the fly. Some enemies are simple cannon fodder, but others require a little more skill to take down. There are pinkies whose armored carapaces deflect bullets, summoners that whip from one location to the next drawing more minions into the fight as they go, and lumbering Hell Knights that will chase you all over the map. The odds can be overwhelming, but Doom always gives you the tools to succeed. It may sound odd, but there are stretches (mostly in the second-half ) when Doom feels like an exercise in resource management. Using the right tool for the job, or waiting until just the right moment to snag that quad damage power-up, can be the difference between kicking ass or getting yours handed to you.

It would have nice to have different enemies combinations on the harder difficulties, especially as earlier levels lack the nerve-sapping intensity that comes to characterise the latter parts of the campaign. Thankfully, a mission select option becomes available after beating the game, so you can skip straight to the more savage skirmishes, if you so wish. This also makes hoovering up any collectibles or secrets you might have missed less of a chore.

And Doom is a game that likes it secrets, with each knotty labyrinth littered with easter eggs, stat-boosting microchips and adorable lil Doomguy bobbleheads. It's worth exploring, too, as doing so will net you upgrade points for your weapons, unlocking yet more devastating mods and access to some game-changing secret abilities for your arsenal. It's also an example of how the game's systems interlock in surprising and intelligent ways. Even when you're not in combat, that feeling of always moving forward, always making progress, is there, and is a large part of what makes Doom so satisfying to play.

Big, dumb and most definitely fun, Doom is a stunning revival for a franchise many of us thought  dead in the water. The gameplay is crisp and eye-wateringly responsive, and the generous campaign is stuffed with secrets to uncover. There's also a refreshing lack of flab or pretension, leaving players to concentrate on the important things - things such as eviscerating hellish hordes of rampaging beasties, and ripping and tearing their way through some of the most intense encounters ever seen in a first person shooter.

Preacher Pilot audio commentary w/ Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg released

Fear in a handful of dust

AMC's Preacher - the wild, wonderful and appallingly violent adaptation of Garth Ennis' classic comic book - got off to a phenomenal start last week. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the creative minds behind the series, wisely haven't attempted to just transplant Ennis' comic to the screen panel by panel, but are using it as a jumping off point to explore these beloved characters in fresh, exciting ways.

Diehard fans will probably be drowning their sorrows in a bottle of Ratwater following some of these chnages, but I always think its good to see an adaptation that manages to preserve the spirit and (most crucially) the atmosphere of the original, while having the confidence to follow its own path.

If you want to find out how Goldberg and Rogen managed this balancing act, you can treat your ears to the audio commentary they recorded for the series' inaugural episode. It's available to listen to on AMC's website and will tell you everything you need to know about the process involved in turning this fudged-up funny book into an equally fudged-up hour of TV.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan review round-up

From shell 

 

The look on Leo's face says it all.

When it was first announced that Platinum Games were partnering with Activision to bring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to current-gen consoles, the news was greeted everywhere with much joyous cheering and spontaneous throwing of pizza parties.

With a CV that includes such gems as Bayonetta 1 & 2, Metal Gear Rising, The Wonderful 101 and Vanquish, Platinum are one of the few studios operating today that can scratch that character action gamr itch. Sadly, far from being a match made in heaven, Platinum's attempts to thrust the TMNT back into the gaming spotlight has been met with almost unanimous disappointment. So far, it's looking less heroes in a half-shell and more like a half-assed attempt to cash in on the new Turtles movie hitting cinemas next week.

With just 9 reviews, Mutants in Manhattan is currently sitting on a combined Metacritic score of 46, making it the worst reviewed Platinum game of all-time. GameCrate awarded the game 68 out of 100, admitting that while the game makes for a solid co-op experience and contains plenty of fun references and easter eggs for diehard shellheads, it is too repetitive to justify its price tag.

USgamer claim that though the game shows glimpses of that ol' Platinum magic and contains some good ideas, it feels too underdeveloped. IGN were less charitable, calling the game a 'slog', and Polygon slapped the brawler with the low, low score of 3/10, citing the repetitive encounters and lack of depth or challenge as crippling flaws.

As a big TMNT (as well as Platinum) fan, I have to admit this has all come as something of a bitter shock. My rampant fanboyism will probably prompt me to pick this up somewhere down the line, but for the time being it sounds like gamers would be better off throwing their hard-earned pesos at some of the other great games that have released in the past couple of weeks.

Godzilla 1984 finally getting a Blu Ray and DVD release

Time to party likes it's 1984 

Godzilla Returns, the kaiju flick that kicked off the Big G's heisei (or eighties) era, is finally coming to Blu Ray and DVD.

For the longest time, this prime slice of monster mashing action has been a nightmare to get hold of due to various licensing and rights issues. Previously, the rights were held by New World Pictures who closed their doors in 1997, barring the release of the film on DVD and Blu Ray.

Thankfully, that deal has finally come to an end, leaving the door open for Kraken Releasing to snap up the rights and squeeze this much sought after film onto DVD and Blu Ray disc. For many - myself included - this will mean finally completing that collection of heisei-era Godzilla films.

There's still a ways to go - the release won't be until September 13th - but it's still heartening to know that this rare entry in Toho's kaiju series is, at long last, on the way.

Is a new, more powerful Xbox One coming in 2017?

Sources reveal that a beefed-up Xbox is on the way

Not just one, but two new Xbox One consoles will hit the market next year, according to a new article from Kotaku.

Sources close to the gaming portal revealed the existence of the two new Xbox SKUs, one of which will be a substantial upgrade over the current model, boasting a increase in overall graphics processing power, as well as full support for VR device Oculus. Currently, this beefed-up Xbox is going by the codename of Scorpio.

In addition to Scorpio, Microsoft will release a revised Xbox One console, presumably with a smaller form factor, increased storage space, and access to things like 4K streaming.

Scorpio's specs still haven't been nailed down, but third-party publishers have been made aware that the new SKU is heading their way.

All of this seems to suggest that console manufacturers are moving away from the tradition console cycle and towards more iterative hardware. It's been successful for Apple, whose product launches are met with frenzied consumer demand, but it will be interesting to see if console buyers are willing to make that transition. After all, part of the appeal of a console is that you have fixed piece of hardware under your TV that you know will see you through the next five gaming years or so. Gamers who want to juggle hardware and tinker with iterative upgrades have long since migrated to the PC space.

As ever, I suppose it will come down to the software - hopefully console manufacturers and game developers will be able to leverage all that extra power into more exciting, innovative games, games that offer new experiences (not just the same old tired franchises) that justify the move to a more expensive, powerful machine. If all they're offering is the same games just with higher pixel counts, frame rates and optional graphical effects, it might be a much harder sell.

Excitingly, this leak also hints that Microsoft will unify their console and PC gaming sides, meaning PC gamers will finally be able to get their hands on some upcoming Xbox One exclusives.

With Sony planning a similar move with their own PS4 upgrade, tentatively named NEO, this is shaping up to be one of the most explosive E3s in a long, long time.

Shadow of the Beast videogame review

It was the beast of times... 

The original Shadow of the Beast is an odd game, one that has become a cult icon despite its sadistic difficulty, and fussy, oft-frustrating gameplay. A lot of this had to do with the game's graphics, which - for the time - were unparalleled in all their parallax-scrolling splendor - and David Whittaker's score; an unforgettable OST that managed to be incredibly unnerving and deliriously catchy
at the same time. The main reason I like to think Shadow of the Beast's legend has endured so long, however, is because it was so bloody odd - here was a game that mixed low-fantasy with high-tech, a game that asked you to explore underground warrens that - for reasons still unknown - were filled with discarded rockets and other, similarly incongruous pieces of technology. Intentionally or not. Psygnosis had created an incredibly textured and diverse world, one that stuck in the imagination long after players had vanquished the final boss and stepped out of the beast's shadow.

Now, in 2016, we're visiting the quixotic climes of Karamoon once more, this time under the guidance of developer Heavy Spectrum, who have managed to craft an experience that strips away much of the clunkiness and obscurity of the original, while fleshing out that deeply fascinating and richly realised world. There's a depth of visual storytelling here that compliments the newly expanded mechanics and beautiful graphics, and players who like to soak up every piece of lore and unlock every optional cutscene will find a wealth of fascinating content to explore. 

Players assume the role of Aarbron, a former-human who has been transformed into a living weapon  by Maletoth, an evil sorceror who looks a bit like Swamp Thing suffering from a serious case of malnutrition. As a slave under Maletoth's control, you begin the game, essentially, as a villain, with the sorcerous dictator's second-in-command, Zelek, leading you around on a leash and siccing you on anyone unlucky enough to cross your path. You're on the trail of baby, whom the sorcerer wishes to turn into another beast so he can cement his power and tighten his stranglehold on the world of Karamoon.

Things get a little more complicated, when Aarbron buries his spiky fists in his own father's guts, triggering a flashback that restores his memories. Finally, aware of who and what he is, Aarbron is able to shake off Zelek's control and attempts to kill his former tormentor. Unfortunately, Arby is unable to finish the job and the wounded mage manages to flee with the squealing babe in tow. So begins a chase that will change both Aarbron and Karamoon forever.

Aarbron's quest for vengeance takes players on a journey through seven side-scrolling stages that combine gore-drenched combat with stretches of platforming and puzzle solving. As a piece of virtual tourism, Shadow of the Beast, much like the Amiga original, is a triumph. The environments you'll visit feel incredibly distinct, each rendered in eye-watering detail and filled with all manner of surreal alien flora and fauna. Despite taking place on a 2D plane, there is a tangible sense of depth to these rolling vistas, and the camera often pulls way back to let players soak in a particularly pretty view.

While everyone can appreciate a shimmering sunset or the awesome sight of a giant mech soaring through the heavens, Shadow of the Beast's combat is sure to be more divisive. While initial encounters pass by in whirl of bloodletting and button-mashing, later skirmishes require you to make full use of all of Aarbron's abilities, which include a dodge, stun move, grapple, a kind of leap-frog maneuver, and various blood abilities that allow you to regain health, buff your score or recharge your wrath meter. The game never feels unfairly difficult, but early on, while you're still learning the ropes, the combat can feel somewhat stiff and unforgiving. Initially, I found myself getting frustrated - often I'd get tagged by an enemy while in the middle of a combo, or catching one between the shoulder blades when I tried to block an attack - but the more I played, the more I became acclimated to the game's idiosyncratic, almost rhythmic combat mechanics. 

These mechanics will reward those players who take the time to learn their ins-and-outs and - in terms of 2.5D games - the combat, encounter and enemy design herein is a definite step above most retro retreads. There's even an incentive to crack the game's most difficult setting and bag a gold medal in each encounter - doing so will let you witness the game's true ending, unlock a couple of additional epilogues, and even a playable, Sin and Punishment-esque mini-level. Still, while most players will appreciate this more deliberate approach, it is hard to escape the feeling that the game's slightly off-center gameplay and adherence to old-school difficulty will alienate more casual audiences.

My other main gripe would be that foreground elements sometimes obscure the action. This may not sound like a big deal, but for a game that's built around such a rigid scoring system, placing elements within these arena-like spaces that make it difficult to keep track of your opponents is a major oversight. The same can be said for the blood splatter effect that accompanies the game's more gratuitous gibs - it adds nothing to the game's presentation and, on occasion, can make encounters harder than they already are.

Luckily, while Shadow of the Beast is no pushover, it does make a few concessions for those players who are less well versed in the vocabulary of action games. On all but the highest difficulty setting, you can respawn an unlimited number of times, and the easiest option also allows you to get right back into fight without losing any progress. When you're not unleashing the beast, you'll often be tasked with solving simple, yet satisfying puzzles. Unlike the arcane brain teasers found in the Amiga original, these sequences are designed more to give you a break from the action than they are to pummel your gray matter.

This balance between bruising fisticuffs and puzzle-solving is struck perfectly in the Hydrath Castle stage, which, apart from being the most complex level in the game, is chocked with optional puzzles, unlockable combat encounters and branching paths. Sadly, the game's penultimate level feels somewhat lacklustre, consisting of a series of unconnected gauntlets that feel wholly divorced from the five artfully constructed, beautifully paced stages that preceded them. Thankfully, the final stage is a joy; a surreal on-rails boss encounter that takes one of the most bizarre moments from the 1989 original and turns it into a fittingly epic conclusion.

And that isn't the only nod to the original - here we have a game that goes beyond simple fanservice and acts as a sort of digital monument to a bygone classic. Delve into the Crypt of Shadows and you'll find a written retrospective of the series, in addition to scads of unlockable artwork, an in-game audio player that lets you bop along to David Whittaker's lauded OST, and even a emulated version of the Amiga original. That's all on top of the various upgrades for Aarbron, bestiary entries, optional cinematics, talismans and concept art you can spend your hard earned points on. It's a generously appointed package, as well as a heartfelt tribute to the days when games were measured in pixels, not polygons.

Shadow of the Beast may not tickle every gamer's fancy, but for those who can adapt to the rhythm of its deliberate but brutally satisfying combat, there is much here to enjoy. Not only is it stunning to look at, it features a huge amount of optional content, easter eggs and secrets. The scoring system also offers plenty of incentive to run through each of the beautifully paced levels again and again, and completionists will appreciate that the game's many unlockables, which - far from being mere padding - serve to enrich the already impressive, confidently mythic storyline, a storyline which paves the way for a sequel we're already desperate to get our hands on.

New details about Witcher 3 expansion Blood and Wine leaked

Sounds like this expansion will pack quite a wallop

 

 

According to a Steam listing, which quickly appeared and disappeared yesterday (not before Twitter user Wario64 managed to nab a screengrab, however), Blood and Wine, the long-gestating expansion pack for The Witcher 3, will make its debut on May 30th.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine out on Steam May 30 https://t.co/cyxsehDKdD pic.twitter.com/cRxDTW4ZGb

— Wario64 (@Wario64) May 8, 2016

The Steam listing includes an extensive description of Geralt's continuing adventures and reveals, among other things, that players will have access to their own vineyard. Hopefully, this won't prevent them from staying sober long enough to tackle the expansion's main quest, which involves bringing down a wicked-sounding beastie that is terrorising the remote and peaceful realm of Toussaint.

Being a Witcher game, in which the monsters are often misunderstood and line between good and evil is blurry at best, we imagine the plot won't be as simple as all that. We do know, however, that the expansion brings with it at least 20-hour's worth of fresh content.

Aside from featuring new quests to embark on and new beasts to cleave in twain, Blood and Wine will also allow players to participate in a grand tourney, and supplement their supply of Gwent cards with a whole new Skellige-themed deck. You can even add a dash of colour to your old gear courtesy of a new mechanic that lets you dye your Witcher armour.

All in all, it sounds like quite a generous slice of content, made all the more enticing by the fact it will only set you back around £16. Not bad for an expansion that's double the length of most full-price games. Hopefully, we won't have to wait long to find out whether or not that rumoured May 30 release date is accurate.

Shadow of the Beast remake to include surprises for fans of original game

The remake will include an emulated version of the original game

 

With all the excitement for Uncharted 4, it's easy to forget that there's another PS4 exclusive waiting just around the corner. Based on the 1989 Amiga title of the same name, Shadow of the Beast is a 2.5D platformer - interspersed with moments of puzzle-solving and bloody combat - that takes place on a surreal alien world that looks like it was ripped straight from the cover of a seventies prog record. This isn't actually too far from the truth - the original game featured contributions from Roger Dean, an artist who built his reputation on the back of album covers for bands like Yes, Uriah Heep and Gentle Giant.

If you've seen any of the dev diaries that have been released the game so far, you'll know that Heavy Spectrum, the developer responsible for ushering SotB out of retirement, has a massive amount of respect for the cult Amiga title, and are attempting to be as faithful to '89 original as possible. Players will be able to judge just how faithful the translation to the current generation is for themselves, as the developer has revealed that an emulated version of the original game will be available as an unlockable extra.

That isn't the only retro easter egg for fans to look forward to, either. They will also be able to unlock the original SotB soundtrack (one of retro gaming's greatest OSTs), and a high-res scan of the artwork painted by Roger Dean for the game's initial release.

Shadow of the Beast arrives exclusively on PS4 on May 17.

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens shows off some news trick in fresh gameplay footage

Nothing can stop the Lego juggernaut; every year sees the release of one, maybe even two, of these kid-friendly collectathons, and every year they sell by the (Lego) bucket-load. This summer's upcoming installment will likely sell even more, mixing as it does the irresistible lure of Lego with the franchise to end all franchises: Star Wars.

We've had Lego games based on George Lucas' Galaxy Far, Far Away before, but this will be the first based on the new trilogy. As such, the game will allow players to revisit key locations from The Force Awakens, as well as relive some of the film's most explosive set-pieces. Of course, one film doesn't provide much content for an entire game, but developers Traveler's Tales are plugging the gaps with some original new levels that pre-date the events of the film.

If the footage is any indication, this will also be one of the most diverse Lego games in recent memory, adding cover-shooter mechanics, an increased focus on building objects, including enemies that can use the Lego bricks on the battlefield to build their own gadgets, and epic space battles to the usual mix of bashing, building and light puzzle-solving.

Scope out the footage for yourself below.

Mark Millar comic Empress coming to the big screen

Spacewalk Empire

Few comic writers have found as much success in the world of film as Mark Millar. To date, the Scottish scribe has supplied the framework for Kingsman, Wanted, and Kick-Ass, and his groundbreaking work on The Ultimates helped shape the direction of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. Now, Millar's back at it again, with the Hollywood Reporter revealing that the rights for his Empress comic have been snatched up by producers Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum.

The new series, which only debuted (and sold out) last month, is a collaboration between Millar and artist Stuart Immonen, and concerns the titular Empress, who - tired of her Galactic Emperor husband's nefarious ways - abandons the Empire with her three children and the help of a sympathetic bodyguard. Far from spelling the end of her troubles, however, this causes ructions with her teenage daughter, who, it turns out, would rather remain with daddy dearest. To make matters worse, the Emperor wants her back and she becomes the focus of a galaxy-wide manhunt.

All in all, this is a far cry from Millar's other film adaptations (if not his comics output) and could pose some interesting challenges for Roth and Kirschenbaum. Then again, there's definitely a gap in the market for films that mix domestic drama with a dash of space opera.

Empress isn't the only of Millar's projects currently working its way through development. Starlight is apparently still on the cards, as is an adaption of the subversive superhero comic Superior. We're also getting a sequel to Kingsman, entitled The Golden Circle, in June 2017.

Rumour: Zelda U has some suprises in store for fans of the series

Next game in the series to be available on Wii U and NX; will allow players to choose between male and female versions of Link

Nintendo have been keeping the latest Zelda game firmly under wraps, offering gamers only the briefest of glimpses of the title since it was announced. We know from comments offered by series' producer Eiji Aonuma that this will be one of the most ambitious entries in the series to date, complete with an expansive, open world for players to scamper around in. This won't be the first time a Zelda game has featured an open-world, but from what we can glean, Zelda U will be the first 3D entry in the franchise to offer up the kind of open, interconnected sandbox one would expect from a modern open-world game.

According to Twitter user Emily Rogers, this won't be the only one of the game's innovations. In a first for the long-running franchise, Emily says players will be able to select Link's gender. Aside from their sex, players will also have a choice of which system to play the game on, as the rumour suggests Zelda U will span generations, appearing on the Wii U as well as its successor, NX.

One tradition that won't be broken is Link's stoic and silent demeanour. While Link will remain tight-lipped, however, Emily claims that the rest of the game's cast will be fully voiced.

To lend further weight to these rumours, Nintendo World Report's Neil Ronaghan took to Twitter to confirm that he was hearing similiar chatter from other sources close to Nintendo.

This isn't the first time the prospect of  a lady Link has grabbed the headlines. There were murmurs of her existence when footage from the game first debuted, with many people claiming that the Link seen in the clip was female. These rumours were quickly quashed by Nintendo, but -if what Emily's saying turns out to be true- the Big N may have taken note of people's interest in seeing a female Link and adjusted the game accordingly.

We'll have to wait and see if there's any truth to what's being said, but given Nintendo's recent push for inclusivity in their games, we would not be at all surprised if these rumours turned out to be true. Historically, Link has always been sort of a cipher, the player's link (geddit) to the game, so letting players decide whether they want to play as a male or female seems like a natural step.

Gears of War 4 to launch worldwide on October 11th

A sight for saw eyes

The most testosterone-fueled third-person shooter in gaming will return on October 11, it has been revealed.

In a post at gaming site Xbox Wire, Coalition's Community Director, Adam Fletcher, unveiled Gears of War 4's release date, almost a year on from its initial reveal at E3.

Taking place after the original quadrilogy, Gears of War 4 puts players in control of JD Fenix, son of the original game's Marcus, who -judging by the attached image- has inherited his pop's penchant for glowy-blue lights and gun-mounted chainsaws.

Reportedly, the fourth proper entry in the Gears saga will move away from the widescreen bombast of the last few games, opting for a more intense and atmospheric campaign, a la the original.

We'll have to wait a little longer to see how that campaign is shaping up, but, in the meantime, players can sample the game's multiplayer for themselves when the beta gets underway later this April.

If you want to get in the action early, you'll need to have played Gears of War: Ultimate Edition on either Xbox One or PC. Everyone else can take part on April 25th, provided they are an Xbox Live Gold subscriber.

Quantum Break has a hearty surprise for PC players

Not the patch you are looking for...

Quantum Break has a jolly surprise in store for players it thinks may be pirating the game.

A member of popular online forum Reddit, discovered that you don't even have to be playing a cracked copy to get your hands on this pirate get-up - simply boot up your copy after logging out of the Windows Store and you'll trigger a costume swap.  Upon loading your game, you'll see Jack Joyce is now wearing a rather fetching eye-patch complete with a Jolly Roger symbol.

As far as we're aware, no one has actually managed to actually pirate the game, which makes use of the improved Denuvo digital security, a new form of DRM that, so far, has resisted all attempts to crack it.

This, of course, isn't the first time Remedy have singled out sticky-fingered gamers for pirating their wares - their previous game, Alan Wake, also had the same feature.

It's a nice inclusion, but probably not the kind of patch PC gamers are clamoring for. Since it released a couple of days ago, angry PC gamers have been inundating Remedy and Microsoft with complaints over the state of Quantum Break's PC port. Reports suggest the game is buggy, riddled with performance issues and lacking in basic features; you can't even quit the game from the menu.

All in all, it sounds like a far cry from the PC port of Alan Wake, which was quite a substantial improvement over its Xbox 360 cousin.

Dark Souls III review round-up

Soul survivor

Dark Souls III, the final game in From Software's brutally engaging and engagingly brutal Souls series, is finally upon us. Before we gird our collective loins and head once more unto the breach on April 12th, let's take a look at what the gaming press are saying about the end to one of gaming's most popular trilogies. Is it a triumphant swansong, or has repetition finally dulled the series' keen edge?

Given that this is the third time (fifth, if you count Demon's Souls and Bloodborne) From Software has whipped up a Souls game, one would expect them to have the formula down pat. So far, it's looking like they have delivered, with the game sitting on a whopping score of 90 (PS4 version) on Metacritic. It's early days, but for the moment that makes it the highest rated game released so far this year.

At the top of the pile we have a quartet of perfect scores. Gaming site Meristation claims that Dark Souls III "reaches pure perfection", the Telegraph praised the third chapter in the saga for its staunch refusal to bow to popular demand, while Twinfinite called it a "fantastic, no-holds-barred" experience.

IGN awarded the game 9.5 out of 10, calling it a worthy send-off, and Eurogamer labelled it an essential purchase. Of the bigger sites, the outlier seems to be Polygon, who gave DSIII 7 out of 10, currently its lowest score. While the reviewer acknowledges that Dark Souls III remains as gripping an experience as ever, they deducted points for the game's reliance on familiar ideas and mechanics, and some troubling performance problems.

I'm not sure Souls fans needed much convincing, but its good to see that From Software's latest getting such rave reviews. So far, 2016 is shaping it to be a hell of year for gamers and it'll be interesting to see where Dark Souls III ranks once all the dust has settled. As for me, I can't wait to get my hands on this one and see what surprises Lothric has in store.

Batman v Superman movie review

Overlong Dark Knight of the soul 

 

 

Billed as the greatest gladiator bout in history, Batman v Superman is a film that carries no small amount of expectation. Though these comic book titans have been sharing panels since the ‘50s, the two have never appeared alongside one another on film, so the prospect of the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel sharing top-billing in a multi-million dollar mega-movie is the kind of thing fanboys and girls’ dreams are made of. Sadly, what should have been a energetic, knockabout romp is a leaden, portentous slog, that (outside of a handful of promising scenes) is far from super and recasts two of pop-culture's greatest icons as a pair of unlikeable and apathetic sociopaths.

Zack Synder’s second attempt to bring the DC universe to the world of film starts out promisingly enough, opening with a sequence that bridges the gap between Batman v Superman and Man of Steel. It’s here that we are introduced to Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy by day and brutal vigilante by night, as he scrabbles around attempting to save his employees from the disaster caused by Superman and General Zod’s superpowered smackdown in the skies above Metropolis. It’s not the first time Bruce has been unable to do nothing but look on, powerless, as those he cares about are brutally taken away from him. This time, however, Bruce can direct his rage at the one responsible: Superman. Thus begins a quest to conquer this extraterrestrial threat and stop him from potentially destroying the human race.

It’s an effective sequence, not only because it brilliantly evokes the same tragedy that led to Bruce becoming Batman, but because it so effortlessly sets up this conflict between these two legendary heroes. It’s a shame then that the film loses focus so quickly, shifting into a series of strained subplots that go nowhere and eat up over half the film’s running time. To begin with, we are introduced to Lex Luthor, a febrile fop who is more impish than intimidating, as he attempts to lay his hands on Kryptonite with the help of Holly Hunter’s US senator; Lois Lane is running around trying to unravel a plot to demonise Superman, while Supes himself is questioning whether or not we ungrateful humans deserve his help.

All the while Batman is chasing leads, and taking prophetic naps that seem to serve little purpose other than to plug DC’s upcoming movies and further strain the viewer’s patience. This is how the film unfolds for the first hour and a half, hopping clunkily from one uninteresting scene to the next. Whenever it it seems like the film is about to switch gears and finally get to the action, it suddenly stalls, taking an almost perverse pleasure in drawing out Batman and Superman’s eventual battle.

When the two come face-to-face for the first time (in costume, that is) - following a curiously weightless and unexciting chase sequence - the film stumbles, feeling less like a precursor to a battle for the ages and more like two sneering bullies trading insults on the playground. It’s odd to see these characters, especially Superman, acting so antagonistically; there’s no attempt, by either party, to discover each other's motives or reach an understanding, they just glare at one another, go their separate ways and leave the viewer staring down the barrel of yet another dream sequence (seriously, this film has a lot dreams sequences) or perfunctory subplot.

In fact, the film spends so much of its running time skirting around Batman and Superman’s title bout that by the time they finally do cross capes it’s difficult to remember why they were fighting to begin with. It doesn’t help that the filmmakers can never come up with a compelling reason for them to finally lock horns and duke it out to the death. For all its lofty ideas about men and gods and power and responsibility, these numerous threads are left hanging and it falls to Lex Luthor to get things started, which he does -rather unimaginatively- by kidnapping one of our hero’s loved ones. If getting Superman and Batman to tear each other's throats out was this simple, one has to wonder what all the portentous plotting and agonised introspection that comprise the film’s first half was really for.

In a way, I almost admire Snyder and Terrio’s ambition to craft a more somber and thoughtful superhero film. They touch upon some interesting ideas, attempting to address how a being like Superman would be received in a world a fearful and paranoid as ours. Sadly, like most things in this film, these ideas are never given room to breathe, they are simply there to add a patina of pretension to a film which is otherwise aggressively dumb. By the time the third act rolls around, they’re not even pretending any more, the film devolving into a numbing procession of apocalyptic set-pieces and CGI overkill.

To make matters worse, the film does a huge disservice to both Batman and Superman, getting their characters wrong on a completely fundamental level. Historically, Batman has relied more on his wits than his strength; his superpower being his uncanny ability to find a solution to any problem. Snyder’s Batman is almost the opposite, a jackbooted hooligan who acts without thinking. This is a Batman who kills without remorse, blows up bad guys with machine guns, and almost turns Superman into a Kryptonite shishkabob.

The idea of a gun-toting, murder-happy Batman may be antithetical to most people’s perception of the character, but, honestly, I’m not completely against it. There’s drama to be had in a Batman who realises that to save the world he must go against everything he believes in and break his one inviolable rule. The problem is the filmmakers never really address this, they never offer a compelling reason for why Batman has abandoned his code and given into the dark side. Sure, there’s an inference that this Batman has been pushed over the edge, his sense of honour decaying along with the world around him, but it never manifests in any tangible way; he just murders and mutilates without a flicker of remorse.

The real shame is that on a visceral level - the look, the physicality, the sheer menace - this is the closest a filmmaker has come to capturing the Batman of the comics onscreen. The sequence in which he savagely, and systematically, chews through a room full of armed mercs is a real highpoint. It’s just a shame the sequence ends with Batman blowing one of the baddies away with a light machine gun before dropping a one-liner. There is a sliver of hope at the end of the film when Batman - in probably the closest thing this film has to an actual character arc - realises he has lost sight of his mission, vowing to follow Supes’ example and become a better (bat)man.

Still, at least Batman makes an impression, something which can’t be said for Superman. For much of the movie the last son of Krypton flaps around with a moue of disappointment on his chiselled face, agonising over whether or not to carry on swooping around the globe saving people. At least, I think he’s agonising; this version of the character is so diffident and phlegmatic it’s difficult to be completely certain. The crux of the problem is that the movie can never quite decide what Supes’ role is: are we supposed to feel sorry for him, is he supposed to be the villain of the piece, or is he a reluctant saviour? It’s never made clear, and as a result the character feels more like a plot device than an actual person.

For all my complaining, the movie does contain fleeting moments of brilliance - the title fight (though not as inventive as it could have been) is a bone-jarring slugout that ends with a clever if contrived, twist; Ben Affleck’s steely, understated performance is great, and Snyder’s eye for imagery gives the film a sense of visual sophistication far beyond most superhero movies. Ultimately, however, the experience is too dour, too depressing and too prosaic to recommend. It may not be the worst superhero movie ever made, but you’d have to go a long way to find one more disappointing.

My only hope is that WB and Snyder use the reactions to this film to rethink how they plan to approach the DC cinematic universe as they move toward Justice League. Hopefully, going forward, this will mean we get stories tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of these characters, not reactionary, tonally jarring movies that misrepresent them completely. Part of the problem is this specious argument that the DC universe is grim and gritty, the complete inverse of Marvel and their snappy superhero epics. Anyone who’s followed the company for a few years can tell you that couldn’t be further from the truth - just like Marvel, it’s a rich and diverse place, with heart and humour amongst all that grit and grime. So, though being different may be all well and good, if it comes at the expense of what everyone loved about these characters in the first place you’ve got a problem. In the end, we can only hope that BvS is a blip, that awkward first step on the path to something greater.