From comic relief, friendly sidekicks, the heroic warrior to world-ending nemesis, some of the most famous robots of pop culture assembled courtesy of artist Daniel Nyari.
Who you gonna call when your world is overrun by the undead and all you want is to rent a video and have a pizza? The Apocalypse Pizza Video, of course. In this astoundingly awesome trailer of a planned animated film, French animator Andres Fernandez and Je Suis Bien Content unleashed one of the most alluringly bizarre visions of the undead kind.
Feast yourself with a collection of awe-inspiring portraits of some of the most colorful characters in cinematic history with the opening of Los Angeles-based artist Mike Mitchell's first solo gallery show at the Mondo Gallery from April 26 to May 25, 2013.
"Houses don't kill people.
People kill people."
This Undead Monday, we revisit the terrifying visions of the 1979 film based on the novel of the same name, The Amityville Horror, thanks to Austin-based artist, NE.
Witness the destruction of Tokyo by unspeakable monsters... again. But this is neither any mere Kaijus nor your run-of-the-mill final battle for mankind... It's the live-action short film depicting the "Seven Days of Fire," the apocalyptic war mentioned in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the 1984 classic anime film written and directed by none other than Hayao Miyazaki.
And here we go... again. Undoubtedly the most lucrative comic-to-film adaptation franchise ever, Marvel Studios boldly pushes on for Phase Two with the release of Iron Man 3. The Daily Zombies take a final look at the promotional campaign of easily one of the most anticipated films of 2013.
Even in the face of a Zombie Apocalypse, witness the unrelenting love of a father in Cargo, an awesome short film with a most heart-warmingly intriguing (and emotion-wrecking) take on the undead.
Money, is indeed the root of all evil. And there are probably no evil more symbolic than the Injustice League... of North Korea in these graphically reinterpreted Won notes by German artist Aslan Malik.
"Good food. Fine ales. Total annihilation."
Brace yourself for the literally "Be All, End All" epic pub-crawl during an alien invasion in the long-awaited final chapter of Edgar Wright's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, The World's End.
Orson Scott Card's 1985 sci-fi novel comes to life this November courtesy of South African film-maker, Gavin Hood. The Daily Zombies take a First Look at Ender's Game with the release of the first trailer and poster by Summit Entertainment.
Comic book legend Dick Giordano passes away on March 27th at the age of 77.
Dick Giordano, the legendary comic book artist and editor, best known both for his inking work with penciler Neal Adams in Batman, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow at DC Comics, and the reimaginining of Charlton Comics' aging "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes for a new generation of readers, has passed away on Saturday at the Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Fla. He was 77 and the cause was complications of treatment for leukemia.
Giordano, whose career began in 1951 and spans work for DC, Marvel, Dell, Valiant and other publishers through more than four decades. Collaborating with Neal Adams, the duo went on to produce many landmark works in "Batman" and "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" as well as specials like "Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man" and "Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali."
As the Editor-in-Chief for Charlton Comics, he oversaw the reintroduction of characters such as Blue Beetle, The Question and Captain Atom, ensuring their continued endurance in the hearts of readers. These characters went on to become the basis in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's Watchmen.
As the Executive Editorial Director of DC Comics, Giordano helped to herald a new age of comics, injecting a new level of maturity into the medium, as landmark works such as the aforementioned Watchmen and Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns are published. During this time, graphic novel collections were also introduced, and has since endured to be come a format immensely popular and profitable. In addition, Giordano also started to uniformly credited writers and artists on the covers, the first such policy by a major comic book publisher.Not neglecting his artistic abilities, Giordano worked with artists George Pérez on the epic superhero series “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, and John Byrne on “The Man of Steel,” a bold new rejuvenation of the Superman myth for a new generation.
Giordano's last work can be seen in Jonah Hex (vol. 2) #51 — published in March, 2010 — where he did interior art and cover.
The ultimate next-gen first-person all out Parkour action adventure comes to iPhone.
Okay, granted that it is not that first-person anymore.
EA Mobile has indicated that the Mirror's Edge iteration on iPhone will feature 14 levels of running, sliding, climbing, rolling, and jumping, and based on the gameplay trailer, it will no longer be in the ass-kicking first-person format for obvious reason.
Check out the trailer for a feel of the newly converted 2D platformer look of the game.
It's another Undead Monday. A call for some NSFW fanservice? Why yes.
The manga, Highschool of the Dead (学園黙示録, Gakuen Mokushiroku, directly translated as "Academy Apocalypse") has been a rip-roaring little series that have been published since 2006 and has since on hiatus since the end of 2008.
Featuring the ever-so-popular scenario of a, what else, Zombie Apocalypse, the less-than-serious series took on the crisis with a twist - the Japanese populist twist, so it seemed, as a group of Japanese students are the central protagonists of the series. Well-known for its excessive amounts of gore, violence, and everybody's favorite service in the world, fanservice (what other service are you expecting?), and yes, an unhealthily heavy dosage of fanservice at that, the manga series have been fairly well-sought-after even in the US despite an almost zero publicity.
And now, word is out that an anime series is set to air in the upcoming Fall 2010 season, animated by Madhouse with director Tetsuro Araki, (of Death Note fame)). And hell if it isn't absolutely awesome. Check out the trailer right below.
Oh, and word is also out that the discontinued manga series would resume publication. Watch for it.
Zombie Apocalypse. Insanely voluptuous siren wielding big guns and katana. Bloody gore. Kinky jokes.
Just another perfect combination in the mundane life of a daily zombie.
The Showcase of the Immortals. The Grandest Stage of Them All. The Grandaddy of Them All. It goes by many fancy name but make no mistake about it, WrestleMania XXVI is here.
The single most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in the world, WrestleMania, the flagship event of WWE, is entering its 26th edition with the forthcoming WrestleMania XXVI, scheduled to be held at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on this Sunday, March 28th, 2010. According to the special "2010 WrestleMania Almanac" issue of WWE Magazine, the roof of the University of Phoenix Stadium will be open for the event, marking the third time in WrestleMania history after WrestleMania IX and XXIV that the event will be held in an open-air venue.
For those unfamiliar with the mechanism of professional wrestling and thereby unable to recognize the importance of this event, you can just take this like a 'Season Finale' to a long-running season of your favorite TV series. Speaking of long-running, every seasons (if you are looking at it this way) of WWE took a year, and that's just counting it short. In summary, every single plot developments this past year has been leading viewers down this path (hell they had a name for this path: Road to WrestleMania), for every feuds to culminate to the biggest event of the year.
What makes this year's WrestleMania particularly significant? (Other than the fact that it is the one true 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania. Apply logic.) Well, for one, the Road to WrestleMania has been particularly intriguing than the run-of-the-mill build-up you usually see, even by WrestleMania standards. Coupled with quality and creative match-ups, this year's Mania is potentially one of the best ones in years and if we're lucky enough, an all-time Top Three WrestleMania contender. A main contributing factor to the potential is the fact that the bookings have all the signature of a classic, wrestling writing. So much so that WWE is not bringing any half-baked celebrities to raise the profile of the event. If you still question the quality of the storylines, here's one to shut you off. It's so darn good that even Triple H is willing to step down a few notches to a mid-card match, just so that the top feuds stay where they are: Top.
While the placing of the matches in a WrestleMania have traditionally been puzzling for all wrestling fans, the position for this year's blockbuster match between company veterans, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, have been unprecedentedly so. Mainly, massive online debates over the importance of this match to be placed as the last Main Event despite the lack of the titles, are citing the stakes (namely, The Undertaker's undefeated streaks at WrestleMania, 17-0; and Shawn Michaels's show-stopping career) involved and the level of performers involved.
And what else do we have here? The "Closure Of The Greatest Screw-Job In Wrestling Business", with the unbelievably final showdown between "the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be" Bret Hart, and his ultimate nemesis, Vince McMahon, a closure for the classic chapter twelve years in the making, that spawned the character, Mr. McMahon. The "Clash Of The Canadians", with the much-anticipated return of Edge and his fulfilling the inevitable match-up with fellow Canadian, Chris Jerico. The battle of the WWE PG era icons, Batista versus John Cena. The classic build-up to a potential show stealer match-up between CM Punk and Rey Mysterio. Triple H's unexpected move to midcard match with his rumored gym buddy, Sheamus. The outrageously over-booked Money In The Bank featuring ten (!!!) excellent mid-carders waiting for their chance to burst into the main event scene. All signs of an excellent event. Even in the face of an annoying "PG-TV" era designed for Linda McMahon's senate ambition.
The Daily Zombie's WWE PPV Prediction for last month's Elimination Chamber was a stellar 3/4 with the exception for the RAW chamber where Cena triumphed but lost the title when Batista cash in McMahon's promise for being his lackey. Sounded familiar? Of course it does, because we predicted it last month. Just that we didn't think out of the box enough to know that The Animal's actually eyeing the RAW title. Nevertheless, let's see if our deadly kill-rate continues at the Granddaddy of them all.
One thing before we continue: Do bear in mind that we strongly suspect that many of the match-ups here will be rescheduled at the next Pay-Per-View, Extreme Rules in April, with the stipulation tuned up to the "Extreme". Much like last year's Backlash where Triple H dropped the belt back to Orton (due to stupid stipulation) and Cena losing his first title defence to Edge. And the fact that the draft lottery is scheduled to be the night after Extreme Rules, where they reshuffle the game.
And since the placement of the matches is a riddle by itself, we will list our prediction in an anti-chronological order, with what we thought should be the last main event being covered first and the first match-up covered at the last.
With that fact out of the way, let's get on to the game.
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
The Undertaker. Undefeated streak at WrestleMania with the score at 17-0.
And all this culminated into a match-up for all time, with both invaluable prestige at stakes, both of the most experienced veteran of the current WWE engage on the biggest match of the year, of perhaps decades, or perhaps all time.
After mesmerizing fans with last year's Match Of The Year at last year's "25th Anniversary of WrestleMania", the idea of the rematch did not sit well with many wrestling fans (inclusive of yours truly), skeptical of its potential of outdoing last year's classic.
Ever wonder what can a correct booking and well-planned build-ups do? This match would be the perfect textbook example. Leading right from December's Slammy Award, where in his acceptance speech for the Match of the Year Award for his match with The Undertaker at last year's WrestleMania, Michaels issued the challenge to The Undertaker for a rematch. The whole plot move downward spiral for the Heartbreak Kid when The Undertaker rejected his challenge, causing HBK to determined himself to win the Royal Rumble in order to fact the then-World Heavyweight Champion. He failed to, even after eliminating his DX comrades, HHH, and a stellar performance. At Elimination Chamber, he snapped, sneaking into the chamber to deliver a Sweet Chin Music that ended the Deadman's longest champion reign. All this highlight were cleverly put into a nice video package, accompanied by the cool coverage of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill by Placebo.
The fact that this match have gotten the addition of "no disqualification, no count-out" stipulation is yet another proof of the smart booking they had with this. By ridding both veterans all restraints with the cumbersome rules, you can expect both to pull out all the tricks they had in their respective bags after decades of wrestling any opponents, both in and out of the ring. Michaels, for one, will definitely be taking some incredible bump, cementing his Mr. WrestleMania status. In summary, this will definitely go down as a Wrestling 101 for all.
This is why I am certain that this match will be the last on the line-up. Because the bookers must have realized from last year's 30-min epic (which was followed by the so-called "Main Event" Orton Vs. HHH, which was too plain to be true) that this match is far too difficult to be outdone, not by Cena Vs. Batista, not by Edge Vs. Y2J, and no, not even by Bret Hart Vs. McMahon.
And on we go, to, I dare say, the most interesting portion of this entire article.
Predicted Winner: Shawn Michaels The topic that has garnered unprecedentedly massive discussion on the online wrestling world actually boils down to one logic: Which is more important, the streak, or the career?
At first glance, the answer is surprisingly simple: The freaking career. Mr. Wrestlemania (yes, tested and proven), Shawn Michaels'storied career is one for the records, while in the meantime, wrestling is pre-scripted, meaning the supposedly phenomenal 17-0 record is only as significant as the WWE dictates it to be.
For one, I am not under the impression that WWE intentionally set out to build an undefeated streak for the Deadman, going into Wrestlemania VII (The Undertaker's first). Looking further into the list of opponents throughout this 17 matches gradually highlights its surprising mediocrity. King Kong Bundy, Giant Gonzalez, Sycho Sid, Mark Henry, for starters. It is only when in recent years, that the streak becomes something that will not be repeated and thereby impressive as a profitable marketing ploy. The myth of The Undertaker's undefeated streak lives on and will undoubtedly be an inseparable portion of the Deadman in the history books. Reasonably, the only sensible way to end the streak would be for the purpose of fueling the ascent of a rising star.
However, predictability of the streak eventually caught up. The Undertaker did not feed the streak to up-and-coming types, like Randy Orton (WM21) despite the relevance as Orton is marketed as the Legend Killer, or the Animal Batista, despite the potential changing of guards storyline they could have done, or even the Rated R Superstar, Edge, despite the mini undefeated streak he's keeping up back then. And if HBK himself couldn't get the job done twice in a roll, can the WWE seriously convince anyone at all that Taker can still be defeated after all? The sales pitch is flawed.
A smart methodology for the utilization of a marketing ploy would be to put an end to it as and when the appropriate opportunity comes along when you can gain even more by putting an end to it.
With WWE getting ever more wary on escalating young stars only to lose them to competing promotions (Lesnar and Lashley, for example), the chances of WWE feeding the honor of ending the streak to a rookie dims even more. The gimmick of making the fans worry of the potentially tremendous upset whenever a rookie rise to the occasion to face the Deadman, can only last as good as it gets.
And when they roll out the classic Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels bout last year, the sales pitch became so flawed that it is so hard to follow up. The match was so good that it raised the bar so high that the streak just can't be ended in a throwaway bout that is not on half the level of last year's classic. If HBK still does not win this one, I bet nobody ever will, and Taker can keep that clean slate all the way to the Hall Of Fame. But if there ever is a glimmer of a chance that it will be ended, the chance is now.
Who better than Mr. WrestleMania himself to end the Deadman's incomparable feat? It will be a storybook ending to one of the greatest WrestleMania, invoking a feel-good moment not unlike Benoit and Guerrero's champion reign at WMXX. And with HBK failing in last year's attempt, it will also make Taker bail out not looking weak at all, as he had in fact won round one.
While Michaels had been rolling out interviews putting out strong hints that he will be retiring after this match, chances are that, these are swerves. Swerves which, if indeed true and being pulled off, could prove to be the greatest swerves ever in professional wrestling history.
All the above rhetoric is quite simply, theories to convince myself to listen to the heart, not the brain, which is screaming "18-0" like a broken record. Traditionally, WWE, being the corporate monster that they are, will only be taking the conventional way of keeping the streak alive to die another day for a more worthy course. But the heart goes for the Heartbreak Kid.
(If this indeed is the last match of the night, I will be even more sure that the above mentioned feel-good moment will come.)
WWE Champion Batista vs. John Cena
Dave Batista. John Cena. Both icons of the PGTV WWE era, and today's answer to the Stone Cold and The Rock of Attitude era.
Surprisingly, the build-up to this match-up was impressive, bearing the hallmarks of the classic championship bout. And the credits would have to be given to Batista, who delivered a series of strikingly good promos, selling his "narcissistic big bully" heel role perfectly. While art almost always imitate life here in the wrestling world, Batista's speech towards Cena's Face Of WWE status actually reflects what many fans thought. We always knew why we love the Hitman, the Heartbreak Kid, the Deadman, The Texas Rattlesnake and The Great One, but what is there to be truly marvel and impressed by the former chain-wielding rapper turned kid's icon? In that respect, Cena truly personify the PGTV era. And hell do I want anything to do with it. Imagine the smirk I had with Cena caught speechless in those confrontation they had in the past few RAW. Meanwhile, Batista had excelled at his new heel role, and is in my opinion, one the top three heels out there, along with CM Punk and Chris Jericho.
The quality of this match should be way above the average, given the other strong competition matches in the card.
Predicted Winner: John Cena Cena is almost guaranteed a victory with this, and will definitely be doing his best PGTV iconic impression with the championship high above Batista. Boring, but true. I just hope this match won't be the last of the card, taking away the thunder of the real main event.
While you might complain my laziness by just quoting directly from WWE website on this match, please forgive me for not having another method to tell you that I totally don't give a fuck about the Divas division of WWE. And guess what, so is the WWE management. If not, why are we scheduled to watch this insufferable two-minute yawn-fest, with no titles on the line, and no storylines whatsoever.
While I'll be the first to admit Kelly Kelly is stunning as hell, I just can't see why WWE is shoving every pretty face into our throat as a fully-functioning wrestler. Can't they be playing some roles like a backstage interviewer, or a heel manager to generate heat for those up-and-coming rookies who lacked personalities?
Predicted Winners: Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, Eve, Gail Kim & Beth Phoenix A crap-shot at best, but I'm pretty certain the good girls will win out.
Bret Hart vs. Mr. McMahon (No Holds Barred Match)
"Anything could happen in the World Wrestling Federation!"
If you can recall, that was the opening line to "WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role" PlayStation game a decade ago, and incidentally a line by the impeccable JR, whose absence in this year's WrestleMania, will be terribly felt. And with Bret Hart's return match with Mr. McMahon, this quote had never rang truer.
The Montreal Screwjob, much touted as the most important chapter in American Professional Wrestling history, inadvertently led to the creation of Mr. McMahon, the evil corporate boss with a monstrous ego. That, in turns, spun off the best times in professional wrestling history when Stone Cold Steve Austin rise to the challenge as the ultimate anti-authoritarian anti-hero, shutting WCW out and reinvent wrestling as we know it.
The closure to this chapter has more significance in the history books than in practice. Nevertheless, contrary to common beliefs that Vince will have a mellow little bout with Bret with not much highlights to speak of, I had a gut feeling that Bret, with his extraordinary moniker of being "the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be", had too much pride in himself to let this one fall into the mundane. Remember how Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat stole the show last year with Jericho?
Predicted Winners: Bret Hart Despite conflicting news reporting that Hart will be staying in WWE after the Mania, there's no other way of doing this one. What had became common knowledge among wrestling fans smark or casual, is the fact that Vince always lose at WrestleMania. And in this case, I see no other way than to have him tap out to the best Sharpshooter ever.
With Vince declaring that Bret will nonetheless be screwed yet again, expect some run-in interference from those ne'er do gooders like Kozlow to happen.
World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs. Edge
It's the Clash Of The Canadians in this year's World Heavyweight Championship match-up.
Both extremely charismatic and fully capable of turning out with a show-stealing performance, this match should be on the top three matches of the night. Given the stellar card, this fact is telling of the quality of the match we can expect.
Storyline-wise, the build-up had been somewhat lackluster given both wrestler's usually great promos. A main factor of that might be the fact that they are building the feud over a minor past misgiving (Y2J badmouthing Edge while he is in his rehab, is essentially nothing to write home about) and abysmally, Edge's version of "Spear".
The single one element remotely concerned with the word "powerful" in Edge's "Spear", would be his insane, sadist grin in the build-up to the move. (Anybody in question to the above statement, please drown yourself in youtube to check out Goldberg's rendition of the move, and Rhino's "Gore".) And that is the reason why I'm not sold on the way this feud is being build up on the somewhat annoying "Spear, Spear, Spear" plot.
Predicted Winner: Edge Two title change in one night. Trust me, WWE had more title change than you might care these days. And Edge winning this will fit the tradition of the grandest stage of them all. Poor Jericho with his particular title reign.
Triple H vs. Sheamus
Triple H had in recent times impressed me to no end. With an online reputation of being an egoistic, attention-seeking guy who just can't let go of the limelight (and the title at that), Hunter has shut his critic (myself being one of the guilty party) up with his actions, jobbing to many other top-card wrestlers lately, and finding himself in the midcard with his purported BFF, Sheamus.
This match-up should be better than what it seems on paper, as the big white dude seek to shut his own critic as well to prove his mettle as a top-carder. On this grandest stage, Hunter won't let up too.
Predicted Winners: Triple H While it remains fairly likely that Triple H would further his current jobbing job by falling into the white-knuckled fury of the pale Irish dude, a back-and-forth display of a hard fought battle with the Cerebral Assasin should be enough to do the job.
That said, all the fellows out there doing online wrestling PPV results predictions will agree with me that any match involving Triple H is an unpredictable wild card.
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
Quite possibly the most potential show-stealer of the card if not for the fact that the show itself is HBK/Taker. The classic booking served well here, with CM Punk reaching his career peak with his cult leader approach to the "Straight Edge Society" storyline that in all rarity, developed tremendously over the months. Being the preachy elitist with a repackaged Luke Gallows (the most amazing repackage we have ever seen since the Papa Shango-The Godfather transformation), and the voluptuous Serena by his side, Punk revitalized the often heel-less SmackDown greatly, contributing to its superiority over the often mis-focused RAW on a regular basis.
Mysterio, while being his usual heroic self in the storyline, always bring his A-game to the big ones. Punk, on the other hand, has been honing his ability well with some of the best performance in the past few months. Expect sparks to fly with this one.
Predicted Winners: CM Punk The potential storyline opportunities opening up with Mysterio joining the SEO will be intriguing enough while it lasts, most probably culminating with an "Extreme Rules" rematch next month.
Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Cody Rhodes (Triple Threat Match)
Yes, it's the heart-breaking official break-up episode between the baby-oil threesomes.
It was most interesting to watch Orton complete the reverse engineering of his heel role, as he go over DiBiase and Rhodes and threw all master-plans to the wind. The down side of that fact, would be the realization of the utter lacking of any characters for both DiBiase and Rhodes.
While packaged as a handicap match in disguise, the match will undoubtedly feature the further implosion of DiBiase and Rhodes, and hopefully brings Orton's complete face-turn to its peak. Orton as a face, might proved to be highly contentious. However, the potential for him to stay in his current Viper character as a self-serving anti-hero, not unlike Austin, would be appealing and capable of opening up more possibilities.
Anyway, this match unfortunately held the potential of being the plainest match of the card. It is somewhat puzzling that they did not go ahead with the rumored plan of having each of the opponents' fathers in the corner of their respective son. Nevertheless, this match is interestingly a card right out of this year's WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010's Road to WrestleMania mode for Orton.
Predicted Winners: Randy Orton The Viper vanquishing his two former proteges to move on with his face turn, is a likelier possibility.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Jack Swagger vs. Montel Vontavious Porter vs. Matt Hardy vs. Evan Bourne vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston.
Talked about overbooking. This has essentially become a "midcard slugfest".
Originally consisting of six wrestlers vying for the briefcase up in the air, the "Money In The Bank" match has evolved greatly, but questionably positively.
Allowing more opponents into the match ensures that more superstars will get the much-needed exposure of performing on the grandest stage of them all. But this is just plain overdoing it.
Expect bumps, super crazy bumps, ladder attacks, more bumps, and expect this formula to last another ten minutes.
Predicted Winners: Christian Consisting of an overpopulated ring, this match is in fact just eight wrestlers booked in between two likely candidate. The storyline apple's eye of Vince McMahon, Drew McIntyre, has repeatedly nullified his loss records, building up to his absolutely inane qualification into the match. Meanwhile, Christian, freshly off his ECW champion reign, has been a fan favorite for sometime. Online rumors have been rampant regarding Christian winning the briefcase and immediately challenging Edge after his victory over Jericho. While that might not exactly happen, McIntyre's victory seemed comparatively somewhat short of happening.
Unified Tag Team Champion Big Show & The Miz vs. John Morrison & R-Truth - Unified Tag Team Championship Match
The other potential weaker match on the card, a victim of lack of planning and build-up.
While the fact that there is no real tag team in today's industry has been a sad fact that most have come to recognize, the Morrison-Truth team-up is just pushing it. So much so that they even parodies this fact in the program while in the process of coming out with a name for the tag-team. (They eventually settled down on Unified Tag Team Champion. What excellent writing.)
The match should be just fine, should they tap into the intense rivalry between Miz and Morrison. One interesting point that might figure in the match, would be The Miz's "NXT Rookie" Daniel Bryan, should he show up to further their respective program.
Predicted Winners: ShoMiz While not exactly a tag-team, ShoMiz is a more functionable unit than Morrison and Truth, whom will be better off flying solo.
2010 has been a tremendous year for professional wrestling in general. We have seen Hogan spearheading the TNA, triggering the much awaited (in-ring) return of Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam (and most unfortunately, Nasty Boys as well); and the impossible return of Bret Hart in WWE. With an excellent card and the most anticipated main event that weighed heavy on all wrestling fans, it is perfectly reasonable to expect a WrestleMania to be phenomenal.
Any objection if War Machine is going to be big in the year 2010? Not that anybody cared about what you think.
The most reliable source for a highly detailed toy, Hot Toys, will be releasing a War Machine figure to coincide with the release of Iron Man 2, incidentally the most highly anticipated movie of the year.
NO prizes for guessing that it will indeed be another highly detailed figure.
Pictures tell a thousand words, but before we move on with the pictures, check out what's in store in the package.
For anyone either in agreement or disagreement (or simply have no clue) over Shawn Michaels' claims to the moniker of "Mr. WrestleMania", read this.
411mania, with their regular extensive coverage on the pro-wrestling industry, had an most interesting editorial out just in time as the countdown to WrestleMania 26 continues.
Setting out to answer one common question on every wrestling fans (Smarks or regular): Who truly is Mr. Wrestlemania? Is Shawn Michaels really deserving of the namesake? How about Hulk Hogan, whom with his multiple WrestleMania main events helped WWF to reach its business pinnacle back in the 80s? Or Stone Cold Steve Austin, who embodied WWF "Attitude Era"'s fever pitch popularity? Or perhaps it should be The Undertaker himself, of whom clean slate records of undefeated streak in WrestleMania, 17-0, have been the stuffs of legend?
Painstakingly putting together a scoring system combining record, main events, title wins, and match ratings as the main criteria to apply on all the wrestler who had ever perform in any of the WrestleManias, 411mania managed to generate a list of the top 257 contenders to the moniker, and the one true individual worthy of the title.
This entry, could have easily go by some other title: For example, "Alleged Hacker Got Hacked At, Literally", "Cheaters Never Prospers And Will Get Stabbed At", "Can You See Through Wall Now With That Knife In Your Head?" ... So on and forth, you get the idea.
The lesson that every self-respecting gamer (and Counter-Strike fanatics around the world, in particular) should pick up from this gruesome piece of news is: Counter-Strike players can get very serious with their game. Dead serious, in fact.
On a more serious note, having picked this up for the always entertaining, and occasionally very much informative Kotaku, it struck me that having two ridiculously true and tragic incidents (there's one even more tragic posted earlier) that have its roots coming from gaming fanaticism does not bode well for the gaming industry.
Oh, and the doctor who operated on the young man had commented that the chances of surviving such a wound were one in ten thousand. So for those persistent on utilizing the 'wallhack' mode, do consider that
Who would have known that these cute little alternate version of Gundam modeled after the characters in the classic Chinese literature, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, would evolved to a winning franchise soon to be branched out as both an Anime feature film and an Anime TV series?
Released in 2007, BB Senshi Sangokuden (BB戦士 三国伝, BB Warrior Romance Of The Three Kingdoms) started out as a 20th anniversary commemorative work of Gundam and featured a handful of mobile suits as "actors" taking on the roles of various characters of the Chinese literature, this further emphasizing Sangokuden as "a performance of Romance of the Three Kingdoms by the SD Gundams". As the line received widespread popularity, the Gundam models involved took on even roles as minor as Ma Su (馬謖) with Bashoku Gundam.
As mentioned earlier, an anime adaptation for SD Gundam Sangokuden was announced in last October during the 49th All Japan Plamodel Hobby Show, which was later confirmed by Kadokawa Pictures that the Anime adaptation will be a theatrical film. Chō Denei-ban SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors has opened in Japan last month in a double billing with the fifth Sgt. Frog (Keroro Gunsō) film, Chō Gekijō-ban Keroro Gunsō Tanjō! Kyūkyoku Keroro Kiseki no Jikūjima de Arimasu!
A 15 minutes TV animated series will also begin to air on April 3 2010. For now, we will have to make do with the trailer.
As it turned out, Chris Evans, with his fair share of Marvel superhero portrayals, will wield the star-spangled shield of the First Avenger.
It sure seemed like both the Big Two (DC and Marvel)had no problem with actors pulling off double duty in their respective superhero film franchises. Following Ryan Reynolds's signing to both DC's Green Lantern and Marvel's Deadpool, Chris Evans, better known for his portrayal of Human Torch (Johnny Blaze) in "Fantastic Four" films, will also be filling in the big boots of Captain America.
By signing on to the role, Evans beat out many other high profile actors in contention, including John Krasinski (The Office), Sebastian Stan (Kings), Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra), Ryan Phillippe (Crash), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield), Wilson Bethel (Generation Kill), Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy), Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights), Michael Cassidy (Privileged), Patrick Flueger (Brothers) and Jensen Ackles (Supernatural).
Not quite a simple feat, for the pivotal role of Captain America, is not only an iconic fan-favorite character of Marvel Universe, but more importantly, the leader of Avengers, a superhero ensemble featuring an all-star roster of almost all the big-names of the Marvel Universe. Which all translate into a potential series of film contracts, as 2012's colossal blockbuster film, Avengers, will unite Evans' Captain America with Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, Ed Norton's the Incredible Hulk and Chris Hemsworth's Thor.
Meanwhile, Hugo Weaving has been reported to have been cast to play Captain America's arch-nemesis, the Nazi criminal mastermind known as the Red Skull.
Paramount's "Captain America," directed by "Wolfman"'s Joe Johnson, is scheduled for a July 22, 2011, release.
In the very same vein that Alien has its Aliens, will Predator's Predators be providing the franchise-saving mojo too?
And that is in fact, Writer-Producer Robert Rodriguez's intention as well when he named the sequel to the comparatively lackluster alien film franchise. Featuring an ensemble cast with Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo and Adrien Brody, who will be playing the action hero main protagonist role, a controversial topic already hot on the Predator fan forum.
Designed to be a direct sequel to the 1987 action-packed alien shoot-em-up classic, Predator (meaning: forget everything you saw, from the borefest we called Predator 2 in 1990, to the two crossover films with the Alien franchise: 2004's Alien vs. Predator and 2007's Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Yes, especially those two.), Predators have a rather intriguing premise (thanks Wikipedia).
So Brody will be Royce, Fishburne will be Noland, Grace will be the disgraced physician (with a secret) while the rest will be joining the body count.
Seems like an interesting remorseless B'action flick that serves one purpose: Entertainment. And I meant that in a good way. While we await July 9th for the film's release, check out the poster and trailer that had just been released.
One of the best fighting games ever has just entered the iPhone fighting game ring. And we have a new champion.
Street Fighter IV (iPhone) Developed by: CAPCOM Published by: CAPCOM Price: $9.99 Size: 201 MB Platforms available on: Arcade, iPhone OS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows Released Date: March 10th, 2010 Genre: Fighting Rating content: Apple: Rated 12+ for the following: * Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence
Anticipation were reasonably high when Capcom officially announced the iPhone adaptation of the mega-selling, critically acclaimed Street Fighter IV, an unexpected choice by any would-be iPhone game developers.
As mentioned in our earlier App Attack on the port, we are seriously in doubt over the transition of the heavily-stylized graphics, the frantic breakneck-paced actions, and more importantly, the virtual joystick pad that aims to emulate the arcade joystick experience. A topic that was also discussed earlier in our coverage on Tekken's upcoming port to iPhone, that more so than any other game genres, it is a prerequisite requirement for a fighting game to have a articulate control scheme. And the fact that we have yet to witness a bona fide solid fighting game in the iPhone gaming scene is a testament to our skepticism.
However, despite the endearing odds, Capcom, with the latest offering of its signature series, Street Fighter IV, boldly took on the issue head on. And coming out of this one as the undisputed champion (for I just can't say "king") of fighting games on iPhones.
Foreseeing its potential of being an absolute licensed train-wreck, Capcom took its time in developing the port, ensuring that the control scheme, with its virtual stick and buttons, will be precise enough to deliver a genuine Street Fighter experience unlike any cheap knock-offs, which thankfully for the very same reason, failed to show up on the iPhone. Why else would you think caused the much-delayed port? (The original multi-platform Street Fighter IV were released in July 2008.)
A surprisingly faithful rendition understandably watered down, Street Fighter IV is one fast and furious fighter, just the way you remembered it, notwithstanding its somewhat disappointing extras department.
Much acclaimed for its revamped art style with the non-photorealistic rendering of the characters, along with the visual effects that are heavily accented in calligraphic strokes and ink smudges, Street Fighter IV recreates the aesthetics on a smaller scale, flattening out models from the console/arcade game in a gorgeous transition while still capable of impressive animation when the characters go head-to-head, taking down opponents in fast-paced bouts. Looking every bit as good as the screenshots, the frame rate stays consistently during the respective signature mega combo moves of the characters during the battles. A pleasant surprise would be the inclusion of the Ultra Combos, which is in essence a combination of massive special moves that causes major damages and tons of flashy graphics that fills the screen. While the Ultra and Super attacks are understandably not as spectacular as the original arcade and console version, they sure as hell still look pretty cool on the iPhone screen.
And here we get on to the real action, literally. Nobody spent their hard-earned dough only for cool visuals. The much talked-about virtual controls for Street Fighter IV is indeed something for all other would-be fighting game developer to emulate, though not without misgivings. With the simplification of the button count, of which the origin six buttons are down by two, you are left with Punch (P), Kick (K), Special (SP) and Focus (F) buttons, leaving out the low and medium punch/kick buttons and their respective moves. While some hardcore Street Fighters fans might be petrified by this news, be assured that there is no love lost for the decrease of the buttons. With the streamlined controls, the learning curve for the gameplay is somewhat simplified but still remains to be engaging enough for most. For those familiar with the six-button set-up, you might need a little time to master your favorite moves, but rest assured that you will be getting Ryu's Hadouken or Guile's Scissor Kick back in no time. One major problem with the virtual controls would be the relatively sizable portion of the screen that they took up, as they are quite likely to be in the way of the action. However, with the sharply precision that these responsive controls provided, I believed these are all part of the necessary evil required, along with the decrease of the buttons.
The earlier mentioned Super and Ultra attacks are also comparatively easier to pull off by simply tapping their respective bars while pressing the stick to a specific direction to release the fury. The adaptation, while potentially irksome for hardcore Street Fighters, are definitely a welcome for casual gamers. Nonetheless, this is just another necessary evil which I presumed is not much of a problem for most. For those hardcore gamers, they still perform these moves the traditional, analogue stick way (a combination of charges and quarter-circles, several of them I guessed) using the SP button. EX attacks also can be activated with this SP button, by meshing it with the Focus button. Also noteworthy would the fact that these on-screen buttons can easily be moved around and have their transparency adjusted, to accommodate left-handers and minimalists alike.
A total of 8 characters are available right from the get-go: Abel, Bison, Blanka, Chun Li, Dhalsim, Guile, Ken, and of course, the fan-favorite Ryu. Yes, just EIGHT. And no, no hidden characters to unlock, which is quite a downer. Fortunately, the AI is as good as you can imagined, suitably configurable at 4 difficulty levels from kickass to having-your-ass-kicked.
Tested and proven to be running perfectly on all version of the iPhone, the port inevitably included a few additional mode other than the Solo Play Tournament mode, which included all seven opponents completed with M. Bison as the final boss. Self-explainatory are the Free Sparring mode and a Training Room mode, while "Dojo" challenge mode is where players can gain more battle experiences braving unique challenges before heading into the tournament. For those who prefer human competitors, a very efficient Bluetooth multiplayer mode is available too, with relatively great connectivity which enhanced the entire multiplayer experience greatly.
As far as being a Fighting Game on a iPhone is concerned, the Street Fighter IV port for the iPhone is great game to have, despite some significant flaws. Having absolutely nothing to unlock and being stuck with only eight playable characters really struck the replayability factor down several notches. While the Local Multiplayer mode on Bluetooth works without complaints, it would only be ideal if the mode can be extended to online multiplayer over Wi-Fi or 3G (which according to Kotaku, will not be the case).
The Rundown Without a shadow of a doubt, Street Fighter IV is the best fighter on the iPhone now. More importantly, it is extremely accessible for all casual gamers or fighting game aficionado alike. While it is at its core a heavily edited lightweight port of the original, the fact remains that it is indeed another great edition of Street Fighters, amazingly adapted to whole new platform. Its surprisingly precise controls is in itself a breakthrough in iPhone gaming. Coupled ith the still-unique graphics and decent sounds, the game is shaping up to one killer on the iPhone. Nevertheless, the lack of more playable characters and unlockable extras (simple character endings CGI would be a godsend) remains to be one huge problem alienating most players.
While we remain hopeful that Capcom will update the game with more characters and extras with its future versions, Street Fighter IV is one great port for the iPhone by itself already.
The Good - Great control scheme that works like a dream for any fighting game enthusiast - Nice transition of the fast and furious pace of the original - Great-looking characters, arenas, and lived well to its legacy of graphical excellence - Perfectly functional Local Bluetooth Multiplayer Mode
The Bad - Eight playable character is pathetic. - Zero replayability as there is virtually nothing to unlock - Over-sized virtual stick and control sometimes getting in the way of the actions - Lack of Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity
And The Super Street Fighter IV? Yes, Super Street Fighter IV, the forthcoming semi-sequel/update to Street Fighter IV, scheduled to be released on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in April 2010, will most probably be coming out on iPhone as well, according to Producer Takeshi Tezuka.
Dick Giordano, the legendary comic book artist and editor, best known both for his inking work with penciler Neal Adams in Batman, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow at DC Comics, and the reimaginining of Charlton Comics' aging "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes for a new generation of readers, has passed away on Saturday at the Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Fla. He was 77 and the cause was complications of treatment for leukemia.
Giordano, whose career began in 1951 and spans work for DC, Marvel, Dell, Valiant and other publishers through more than four decades. Collaborating with Neal Adams, the duo went on to produce many landmark works in "Batman" and "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" as well as specials like "Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man" and "Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali."
As the Editor-in-Chief for Charlton Comics, he oversaw the reintroduction of characters such as Blue Beetle, The Question and Captain Atom, ensuring their continued endurance in the hearts of readers. These characters went on to become the basis in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's Watchmen. 
Giordano's last work can be seen in Jonah Hex (vol. 2) #51 — published in March, 2010 — where he did interior art and cover.
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