Blogga's Wall - May '12

 

Spectacularly out of date as always, but here's what went up on my wall in the month of May!

1) Mass Effect: Homeworlds #1

 

A new series from Dark Horse comics set in the Mass Effect universe. This series focuses on individuals within the continuity and fleshes our some of their backgrowund and other details to set the scene for Mass Effect 3. This issue focuses on the new character James Vega and his getaway from a life on the edge of the law to serving with the Alliance military, nice to put a bit of flesh on the bones for this character and I look forward to getting to know him better in game. 

2) The Hunger Games

  Worth seeing for the haircuts alone!! A very well realised sci-fi world complete with sci-fi haircuts in a range of colours. The setting of a televised death match between children in the different 'districts' was very well realised and an exciting watch. 

3) Avengers Assemble

 Now THIS is a movie!!! It was great to see all the new Marvel stars in action in this action-packed movie pitting the rough around the edges Avengers against Loki and an invading army of Chitauri. With a fantastic balance of action and humour (Hulk absolutely stole the show!) and great comic book fanservice (Helicarriers!) it was a visual delight and a worthy comic book adaptation. 

4) Heir to the Empire: 20th Anniversary edition

 

 I was given this book as a wedding present and it has been fun to re-read the definitive Star Wars book wioth my wife and finally having an actual purpose for all those Essential Guides I bought!! Annotations by the author make it fun to re-read with his perspective on certain parts and the challenge of establishing a new Star Wars story. 

More soon!!

Video Game Diary - 28/6/12

Another post in Video Form - I hope you enjoy!!

 

More soon!

Star Wars: Dark Times - Out of the Wilderness

More catching up on comics now as we look at the latest story arc of Dark Times. This is a much more personal story as Jennir is stranded on a wilderness world while his friends track him, but with a rogue bounty hunter and Darth Vader on his trail there's still plenty of action in this story.

New Characters

Beyghor Sahdett 

Species: Verpine
Sex: Male
Occupation: Jedi Knight








OK well this isn't the first appearance of Sahdett, he actually appeared in the last arc but as I didn't seem to blog about that one I'd better mention him here. Sahdett actually first appeared in the final issues of Republic where we first me Dass Jennir, he was seen standing over a pile of Clone Troopers and that obviously got fans interst going and it was a nice touch to have him turn up here. After the purge he has been seraching for other Jedi and managed to find Jennir's old crew and continues his search.

Falco Sang

Species: Human
Sex: Male
Occupation: Bounty Hunter



Falco Sang was a bounty hunter with a reputation as being the man to hire if you want someone dead. He took a contract on Dass Jennir, eager to try himself against a Jedi but fell foul of Darth Vader who was ultimately tracking the same quarry.

New Droid Models

IZ

'Izee' was the companion of Falco Sang, an adaptable combat droid able to track a target over long distances and operate high powered weaponry. It travelled using repoulsorlifts and had two arms capable of carrying weapons.

New Vehicles

ISO-L8

An Imperial prison station converted from a refueling facility, this station housed Janks, former member of the Uhumhele crew until he was tracked down by Falco Sang.

Falco's Ship

This nimble vessel was used by Falco Sang to inflitrate an Imperial prison as well as track down Das Jennir.

Map

 

Story

Dass  Jennir has rescued Ember Chankeli from the hands of the mob that would kill her, even though she probably deserves it!! While travelling they are intercepted and crash on the desert world of Prine home to barren wastes and cruel slavers. When Ember is captured Jennir tracks her down, unaware that he is being tracked by three parties, Falco Sang a deadly bounty hunter, Lord Vader himself and hiw former crew accompanied by a new Jedi friend - a big showdown is only inevitable!!

 

E3: Star Wars Stuff

This post comes in video form - enjoy!!

I did consider using Avatar Kinect but I find it takes too long to upload and you're restricted to a max of 5 minutes so I think this approach of audio with pictures might work better - what do you think?

E3: Halo Stuff

Last year saw the announcement of the return of Master Chief in Halo 4, well this year we're getting swome serious info on his journey and what he'll be facing, glimpses of new enemies, new locations and one of the driving factors behind Chief's emotional as well as physical journey in this new trilogy.

It all started with Microsofts press briefing which launched with THIS epic video clip.

Get More: GameTrailers.com, Halo 4 - E3 2012: Debut Gameplay, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

The first part is either a brand new trailer or, I'm guessing, a part of the new 'Forward Unto Dawn' web series. We see the starship Infinity which clearly has a critical role to play in the game as well as some other new ship types that we'll hopefully get more info on soon or at least when the game comes out!!! There is also a new vehicle, the large one which is about the size of an Elephant but no names or info on that yet either.

Next we see Chief and Cortana battling through the jungle against some terrifying new foes, which I do have some info on.

Crawler

Crawlers are a type of Forerunner AI programme that attack in packs - they seem a bit easy to kill for Forerunner tech, but then again Sentinels aren't that hard to kill I suppose and these would likely be cannon fodder used against the Flood or other opponents.

Promethean Knight

These guys are pretty terrifying, especially which their holographic skull effect thingy. My initial reaction was that they looked like something out of Bionicle (don't get me wrong I LOVE Bionicle!!) and seemes a b it strange but the more I think of the Forerunner warriors using these guys in battle the cooler they seem to me. They also carry cool Forerunner weapons which we saw disintegrate a poorly armoured Elite in one shot. Thier ability to teleport should make them interesting combatants too.

Watcher

These nifty foes are deployed by the Knights but can also summon Crawlers. Their ability to catch grenades and fling them back at their owner should also make them a fun challenge.





 Unidentified Object

I have no idea what this massive thing is other than it is clearly an oponent for the Chief, by the looks of things it's what caused the Infinity to crash and from the orange glow I'd say it's what's controlling the Prometheans too - can't wait to take the fight to this guy!!

Well that's about as much as I can say for the game - don't know more than what's in the video really.

We've also had more infor on the multiplayer aspect and how it works and...well this trailer basically says it all!

Get More: GameTrailers.com, Halo 4 - E3 2012: Infinity Multiplayer Trailer, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Well that's it for Halo but there might be a few more E3 goodies yet to come out - stay tuned, I know I'm going to!!

Star Wars 1313

E3 hasn't even begun and the announcements are flying already including one I definitely wasn't expecting - an entirely new Star Wars game with a very interesting perspective.

Before you ask the 1313 doesn't have anything to do with a year it refers to a lever on Coruscant where the game takes place. The lead character is a bounty hunter who hunts and lives in this shadowy area during the time of the Empire, beyond that details are sketchy but we should have more info during the official announcement of E3.

It's a very interesting move for Lucasarts to take with no Jedi or force powers, no epic scale battles or...well I don't know what but I am very intrigued about this one and while it's not quite the surprise of last year's Halo 4 leak/announcement it's certainly got me watching my computer screen with anticipation.

My only conern is that this means we're not getting a follow-up to the confusing and soemwhat aggravating end to The Force Unleashed II. But this game may be a step back in the right direction for the genre and the fact that we're getting a new Star Wars game at all and one that looks, dare I say it, cool...is poretty good!!

More from E3 soon I expect!!