Doctor Who - New series, new species part 34

And before you know it we've reached the series break for Doctor Who, with the series due to return in September with the intriguingly titled episode 'Let's Kill Hitler'. I won't reveal too much plot in case some overseas readers are um...reading but yeah, what was I saying - oh right there are some new aliens. As ever if you want more general opinion on the shows please visit the Impossible Podcasts on the sidebar for amusing and informative discussion.

The TARDIS













Strictly speaking not a new species, but an event worthy of note nonetheless. It was really fascinating to see the TARDIS come to life in such a remarkable way, brought truly to life by the penmanship of Neil Gaiman. The dynamic between her and the Doctor was brilliant as she got to reveal her side of their long story, such as the fact that she 'stole' the Doctor, as opposed to him stealing the TARDIS, which is how he always saw it. It gives you much more appreciation for the magic blue box we see week by week.

Somehow, by the malevolence of the being known as 'House'. The living being of the TARDIS was seperated from the construct it usually inhabits and put into the body of a young girl named Idris. The TARDIS quickly adjusted to life in her new form, but knew that her energy was consuming the body she inhabited. While House had intended to seperate her in order to use the TARDIS for himself, the human TARDIS paired with the Doctor chased and defeated him.

House









Ooh, just thought - wouldn't it have been great if they got Hugh Laurie to play the part of this character!! Anyway Michael Sheen did a great job as this monster who we don't know much about other than it lives in a bubble universe, kills time lords and generally appears as a green gassy thing. But he had a cool creepy voice and that made him great!

House was a mysterious entity existing outside the known universe in a 'bubble' accessible through a space-time rift. An energy being he was able to possess physical constructs, such as the asteroid where his servants made their home - earning the name 'House'. He fed on artron energy and lured Time Lords to his world and sonsumed them and their TARDISes. He was killed when he possessed the TARDIS of the Doctor, and hunted down by the Doctor who returned the matrix of his TARDIS to the control centre, eradicating House's presence once and for all.

The Flesh









I was intrigued to see where this one went with 'gangers' of people and I'm still not entirely sure if I liked it or not. I'm never particularly convinced when clones or copies of people gain the memories and personalities of their creators - it's normally rushed over by supplanting some device as able to give 'memory imprints' or worse it is just taken as part of the cloning process. Now the idea of it being a freak accident kinda works in this episode and the dramatic tension of two sets of people with the same memories competing for who is 'real' - especially when you throw a copy of the Doctor into the mix was good fun!

The Flesh was an artificial living construct made by humans for a number of purposes, one of which was to create 'gangers' copies of humans that could be used to inhabit dangerous habitats without damaging their controllers. Unbeknownst to the humans the flesh had some degree of sentience and learned about humans as they used it more and more. In several freak incidents Flesh 'gangers' became disconnected from their handlers and retained their personalities and memeries, often fighting for the life they believed they had.

Headless Monks








Again not necessarily a new species but definitely different - I wasn't overly impressed with these headless Jedi, I think far more could have been made of them. The headless concept could have worked really well - an enemy whom the Doctor can't talk to or reason with, instead it's just his companions who are left to gun them down.

The Headless Monks were part of the militarised Church's forces. Dedicated to service they removed their heads so that they could become pure. They also were possessed with some kind of energy that they could shoot or ignite their swords with. They were used against the Doctor but defeated by his companions.

and that's just about it - though there appeared to be a new set of cybermen on the loose too - we'll see. More in September!

The Wall - May '11

OK, you should know the drill by now - here's what went on my wall in the month of May this year.

1) Desmond Miles T-Shirt













It finally arrived! I've had my Abstergo hoodie for a while and it's great to have something that fits into the Assassin's Creed Universe but it's even better to have something from the game itself that one of the characters wears! I'm eagerly awaiting the white hoodie that accompanies it, but UbiWorkshop are out to get all my money 'cause the3y've just released a black hoodie and white version of this t-shirt from the forthcoming Revelations game - can I resist?!

2) The 4400, series 4














The final series of this epic science fiction drama has been out a while, but I finally found it at a decent price, in Johannesburg of all places! (I'm British, it's far way - I mean no slur on South Africans!) I love this show's concept - 4400 people dissapear across a few decades and are returned at once with superpowers as part of a mission to change humanity's futre for the better. The producers were hoping for a fifth series but that didn't happen so the ending wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped but it did give a lot of answers and wrapped things up as a series nicely. I like the show as it deals more with emotions and uses a minimum of special effects to ahieve great tension as superpowered individuals decide how to use their gifts.

3) Star Wars Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows














I'm really loving this series so far, as with the comic series Dark Times it shows the great potential for stories between the trilogies. Continuing the adventures of Jax Pavan a lone Jedi hunted by Vader and member of 'Whiplas' a resistance movement that helps smuggle dissidents in and out of Coruscant. When one such missin gets him involved in a murder case Jax is forced to solve the case himself before the police investigation uncovers his true identity. What I like about this is it deals with real life, the characters go through day to day struggles, not grand adventures and it is a great and gritty feel of life in the Dark Times. It also features Captain Typho of Naboo and Aurra Sing in what can hardly be called cameos...

That's it, more in a month!

A Scanner Darkly

So I have a scanner now! Well to be more acurate I have a scanner that actually works!! So I thought I'd share with you a few things that I found interesting in comics and things I've read recently, that I haven't been able to stick in posts because the panels haven't made their way to the relevant wikis from whom I regularly source pictures. So here are a few things I've been meaning to grab over previous posts:

Assassin's Creed: The Fall



















This page shows the variety of Assassins around the world, from businessmen to buddhists, it was great to get just a glimpse of the wider world of the order. In Desmond's time the Assassins have been forced to go underground, but it's great to get a shot of them in their glory days.













These guys in black are the Mentor's personal Assassins operating on his direct command, how much they know of the leader was never revealed but they at least knew to bring Daniel to the leader's base.

Knight Errant Aflame
















This is a Daimanite Starcrosser which I failed to find an image for, unfortunately it's blocked a bit by a trooper and some dialogue, but I think it's big enough for you to get the shape of the thing.




















And this is the Freedom Fleet a motley collection of mining and cargo vessels stolen by Kerra to smuggle Daiman's slaves offworld tot eh safety of the Republic.

And that's it for now - but it's not the last you'll be seeing of my scanner, in fact I've some scans to pass on to you very soon...

E3- Day One

So it's on! I caught a few snippets of very exciting news that leaked early (you already know don't you?!!) while in the middle of writing an important job application, with some serious determination I managed to finish without being distracted in time for the Xbox conference and I got busy taking screengrabs of all I could - the quality isn't amazing (it was from a live feed after all) and there's bound to be better stuff out there - but I thought it was about time I got you readers something I'd found myself, even if it's a bit iffy on the quality!!

First game up was Gears of War 3 which I got a few shots of from this gameplay demo.

Marcus and his team are fighting a new aquatic lambent monster with enormous tentacles that smash through the ships they're fighting from.








To fight back they use a Silverback mech suit - my screen grab is awful, there are better shots of the WIKI












The next game was Mass Effect 3, which has been heavily demoed, with a few surprises in store.

The first surprise is Kinect availability, whihc I don't think anyone saw coming. The primary use of Kinect is in voice control, you can now speak in Shepard's dialogue options, making it seem more like your choice and you can also command your squad to move and use their powers with your voice, which could make gameplay very engaging.











We also got a glimpse of this working in a level which featured Mordin Solus as well as Garrus and Liara back on the squad.












After infiltrating this base and meeting up woth Mordin, they encounter a Krogan female - the quality of my shot isn't great, but she is in some kind of cell and containment so you couldn't see much anyway.












Lastly Shepard is up against some nasty Cerberus troops, including some that can hide behind riot shields and this nasty mech.















We also got to see Shepard use his Omni-Tool as some kind of blade in a nasty takedown, but it was too fast for me to get a shot - I've got more Mass Effect stuff to post up soon anyway.

Next we got more looks at what will happen with Kinect and Microsoft really looks to be making the most of the hawdware, with FunLabs, which is already online, that scans you to create an avatar and a bunch of other software that's coming soon, with far more connectivity to hardcore games too. There were a bunch of kid titles and the anticipated Star Wars Kinect, I wasn't bowled over, but it will be a lot of fun by the looks of it, and if they refine the controls it could really enhance the experience of, say, the next Force Unleashed game.














But by far the most exciting aspect of the show was Halo. The rumoured and anticipated Halo Anniversary a full HD remake of the first game was announced and will be out in November. The graphics aren't quite as super-slick as I'd imagined but the gameplay has definitely been ramped up with Reach style assassinations an available tactic.

Some slicker-looking Pelicans in this shot.









Elites looking a bit more shiny too, as are the environments
















And of course Halo itself has had a bit of a polish.













OK, but after an accidental leak, our hopes and dreams were finally confirmed - HALO STINKIN' FOUR!!!

The chief is roused by Cortana, you can just about make out the lady as the Chief uploads her to his helmet.
















After flying through the crumbling wreckage of Forward Unto Dawn with the aid of some boosters on the back of his armour and a souped up pistol the chief stands on the broken edge of his ship.












Which is being dragged toward something huge and dangerous looking...











Presumable something on the Forerunner world we saw at the end of Halo 3's Legendary ending. Which begs the question what will the chief find and what will he fight? Given that this us going to be a new trilogy there's obviously going to be enough threat to keep it going but with the Covenant disbanded and the Flood eradicated you've got to wonder who's left to fight. Well I have faith in the Halo team and I can't wait to find out - but for now, just having it confirmed is amazing!!

And that's it, I'll keep my eye on other E3 developments but most of the good stuff will surface for you I'm sure. Now that I have my scanner working I look forward to giving you more stuff that I haven't just stolen from the web - I'll just steal it from comics and magazines instead!

Have a great E3 guys!

Blogga's Video Game Diary - 30/5/11

So we're still blogging through Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II at the moment. Due to a lack of clear cinematic breaks and story diversion I actually bombed through the second half of the game in one afternoon thinking it was just one long level!! It does show, I think that this game is weaker than the second - especially with it's irritating cliffhanger ending. I loved the first game, though it has it's share of critics, but this one isn't as strong or compelling - still it's Star Wars and if it's storyline canon then I'm going to play, watch or read it!!

On with the new stuff!

New Troopers

Terror Troopers












It's hard to know what to make of these soldiers with their General Grievous faces and odd tactics. They possessed a high level of cybernetics to aid them in combat, which enables them to cloak at will, appearing and dissapearing around the battlefield, stunning targets with their weapon then dispatching them at close range before vanishing again. They were used under the command of Boba Fett to attack the Rebel Alliance, but were mostly wiped out by Starkiller.

Aberrant Clones















There were dozens of failed attaempts at creating a pure clone of Galen Marek. These were kept in the cloning facility on Kamino as experiments. But when Starkiller attacked the facility Vader unleashed the clones to attack him, some were capable of using lightsabers or force powers but all were completely insane, madly attacking anything in their way. Starkiller was forced to wipe them out to get to Vader.

New Droids

Terror Droid










Part of the 'terror' program led by Terror troopers under boba Fett's commands these little droids attacked ships in swarms, overhwelming opponents by sheer numbers. Surrounding a target they would distract them until one got close enough to pounce and pin them down while the rest swarmed in.

Terror Walker








This walker is itself a droid designed to wreak maximum havok with it's powerful energy weepons and clawed legs. Seemingly modeled on the terrifying Acklay, it slahed down at victims and even mimicked the creature's cry. Heavily shielded there was little that could take it down when it attacked the Rebel fleet until Starkiller drove it into the main reactor of the flagship.

Incinerator War Droid










Not much to say about this one, it's basically the Carbonite War Droid from earlier in the game, only this time with a flamethrower!!

Story

As I've said I bobmed through this so there's not much to say. Starkiller reunites with the Rebel Fleet, which features some cool ships! But they have generally appeared in Star Wars before so I won't bore you with the detail, just look the game up on Wookiepedia - one thing I did note was that that ship in the hangar wasn't an A-Wing (phew!) it was a Spearhead - a precursor to it. Anyway when he gets there the fleet is under attack by Boba Fett and the Terror troopers. Starkiller fights them off, but Fett escapes with Juno. The entire Rebel Fleet follow him to Kamino where they launch an attack on the cloning facility. Taking a beating from the Imperials stationed there the Rebels hold out long enough for Starkiller to assault the city, he duels Vader and saves Juno, but still does not know if he is a clone or not. The Rebels take Vader to their base on Dantooine and... well yeah, that's where it ends, with the Rebels gone and Boba tracking them. So there's clearly going to be a third game, but come on that's quite the cliffhanger. I won't be able to resist finishing the trilogy off - but this game was, over all, a little under par.

That's it for Star Waars, next time Mass Effect!

SF at the Movies - May '11

So it's that time agtain - and just in date!! Here's the trailers for Sci-Fi out this month.

Attack the Block

Released 13/5/11



And that's it - not to worry there are some big blockbusters well on their way!!!

Stuff: Mass Effect - Evolution

As usual SPOILERS abound, I've given up trying to keep them out, I just can't resist somehow!!

This new series focuses on the origins of the Illusive Man, the leader of pro-human group Cerberus who rescues and revives Shepard to work for him against the Collectors in Mass Effect 2. It shows part of how he came to be what he is, what drives him and why he goes to such extreme lengths (Cerberus are often enemies in the first game, rogue extremists and scientists).

Story

The story starts at the end of the First Contact War where humanity ventured into the stars only to venture into Turian territory and come under attack. Battered but still fighting the humans hire specialists to uncover the secrets of the Turians, but find something bigger. A Reaper artifact, which turns people into powerful, more intelligent versions of husks and tasks them to guard it. Affected by contact with the machine Jack Harper sets out to uncover it's secrets and in so doing becomes leader of Cerberus. Saren also leanrs the truth and destroys the artifact keeping it from affecting the Turian race.

New Characters

Jack Harper












Ok, so he's not exactly new, but we do see a different side of him in this. He was the leader of a team of specialists employed by the Alliance to uncover the secrets of the Turians, but uncovered part of the Reaper threat. Most interestingly we find out the secret of his eyes, which are clearly mechanical in Mass Effect 2. He comes into brief contact with the machine, sparks from which turn them cyborg, and his friend into a Husk. These eyes allow him to percieve more, uncovering the meaning of the Reaper threat.

Ben Hislop











Ben joined Jack's team to strike back at the Turians who killed his brother, impulsive and reckless he got caught in the power of the Reaper artifact and got transformed into one of their monstrosities. Interestingly he retained more of his personality than common, but was driven to protect the device, even though it meant killing his friend. In a last bid of defiance he sacrificed himself in order to stop it being used again.

Eva Core










Also on Harper's team Eva was at Jack's side throughout the stuggle to uncover the truth behind the artifact. She was sadly killed by Ben when she tried to destroy the artifact herself, though her sacrifice inspired Ben to stop the artifact and Jack to become the Illusive Man.

General Williams










Again, not strictly speaking new, but this is the first time we've seen the General. He is the Grandfather of Ashley Williams, who served on Shepard's crew. He hired Jack and his team to investigate the Turians. Dissatisfied with the truce he resigned, but gave Harper his personal ship to carry on his work. He later went down in history as the only General to surrender to an alien force, which tainted even his granddaughter's service record.

Desolas Arterius











Brother to the infamous Spectre Saren, Desolas was a General in the Turian military, who carried enormous weight with the race as a whole. Wanting to see the Turians rise above other races he saw the Reaper weapon as a way to evolve his species, seeing the husks were faster and stronger than ordinary men and women. He struggled to control them however and pursued Jack Harper to find answers. He was killed when Saren blew up the artifact, knowing that his brother was affected by it too.

New Ships

There were a few new vessels in this, but BioWare aren't too forthcoming about ship classes and the like, though they give fairly comprehensive details about almost everything else! So a lot of this next bit is guesswork.

Alliance Dreadnought










I'm assuming this is a dreadnought, basically because it's a lot bigger than the cruisers!! It's an impressive loooking ship at any rate and a cool addition to the mass effect universe, though I can't shake the feeling I've seen it before...

Turian Fighter









I think they're fighters anyway, just from the way they're flying. There have been similar designed ships in Mass Effect before anyway, though I'm puzzled as there's a model of a ship like this in the Kasumi DLC, which she describes as the 'Turian Titanic', seems odd for a one man figter, but maybe there's more than one ship of this frame shape - dunno!

Alliance Fleet







An interesting set of ships here, there's the standard Alliance fighter, plus something new at the front and also a large ship with wheels at the back, which to my mind is a colony ship, but who knows.

EDIT: Looking again the thing at the fron is probably an Alliance cruiser from a different angle. Also made me notice the difference in official markings back then, orange and black not white and red.

I also did some digging on a FORUM and found that the dreadnought is of an unused design for 'dreadnought' from Mass Effect 1 and is the current model for fuel depots in ME2! These unused models have been used a lot as the ship with wheels is a 'human freighter', the turian fighter is originally a human fighter design and the ships seen below are taken from another design too.

Arcturus Station










Mentioned in books and Codex entries, this is the first time we've seen it, which is what's great about these comics. Located at the closest Mass Relay to Earth it is a hive of Alliance activity. Jack Harper is taken there after peace is brokered with the Turians.

General Williams' Ship







The sleek personal shuttle of an Alliance General, I like how it has standard Alliance markings and shapes, but still looks pretty flash for a private owner. Note also the other ships around, I don't know what races they could belong to as it's around the Comercial planet of Illium.

Concept art of these and other things are found on Omar Francia's BLOG

New Species

Turian Husk












Husk is a general term for any species transformed by the Reapers, but it was cool to see Turians and it looks like we'll see more transformed species in the next game. We also got to see a Turian female for the first time, not the shorter spines on the face and the back of the head.








New Technology

Arca Monolith












A Reaper device that transforms being who come into contact into mechanical servants compelled to protect it and bring more to be transformed. Desolas thought he could use this to transform the Turians into a powerful army he could control, but failed. Saren learned the truth and destroyed it from orbit.

And that's it - a great read, and knowing how much the Illusive Man has of a history with the Reapers it makes me more inclined to trust him as I play through the game, though from what I've heard about Mass Effect 3 he still has more secrets and agendas to reveal.

EDIT: I'm not really used to scanning and pinching stuff so I guess I'll just state that the pictures are not my creation and belong to the artists writers and stuff - hope that's ok!