Every year at Comic Con, thousands of collectors line up to call dibs on the latest SDCC exclusives from Mattel, Hasbro and DC Comics.

DC has just released their roster of toys that will attract collectors and Ebay junkies, who will drag their kids along to cheat their way through merchandise caps. The lineup features a healthy mix of toys adapted from the comics, the Batman Arkham City video game and DC’s Saturday morning comedy toons.

Hard core collectors will want to check out the DC Comics’ Superheroes of Green Lantern 4-pack. Ever since the Sinestro Corps war, Green Lantern has been a mainstay in DC’s SDCC exclusives. I still wish I got my Red Lantern Hal Jordan, but that line was just too long a few years back. Robert Lynders sculpted the the Green Lantern Sinestro and Dex-Starr figures, while Phil Ramirez sculpted the Arkillo and Black Hand figures. I’m loving the Sinestro sword. These will be 3.75” tall and go for $49.95. These will go great with the Injustice: Gods Among Us toys.

From Arkham City we have Hugo Strange, measuring 6.75” tall and priced at $29.95. The toy itself is pretty bland, outfitted in the typical white-black scientist uniform. He also has a syringe.

This one’s not too flashy overall, but if you’re going for a set, and got the massive Solomon Grundy, then you may want to pick this one up as well.

Next up, is the gals of DC, denoted Super Best Friends Forever Action Figures. This three-pack features Supergirl, Batgirl and Wonder Girl. Each character measures between 5.45” and 6.8” tall.

The set goes for $49.95; it is sculpted by Irene Matar and designed by Lauren Faust.

Finally, there is the Aardman: Superman Action Figure, a spoof Superman based off of WALLACE AND GROMIT.

This figure measures 6.5″ tall and goes for $24.95. It is sculpted by Phil Ramirez and designed by Rich Webber. Not necessarily the collectable I’d wait on line for, but I’m sure there are a few Wallace and Gromit fans who will dig this.

We already know we’re heading to Neverland in season 3 of Once Upon a Time this fall – which means we’ll meet Peter Pan – but there’s still plenty of other characters we’re hoping we’ll meet for the first time during the new season.
Here’s our wish-list for season 3:

Ariel.

Producers have been talking about a desire to bring on the most-famous mermaid outside of Splash since the beginning and now, knowing that we’re heading to a world with a LOT of water, it seems like the perfect time for us to meet Ariel. The show hasn’t shied away from mixing fairy tale characters in other universes – think Hook and the Queen of Hearts in cahoots this season – so why couldn’t Ariel show up on the beach when Emma and team dock at the beginning of next season?

Tinker Bell.
Seems like a no-brainer to meet Tinker Bell if we’re heading to Neverland next season, but the question has to be asked: will she be a good guy or will she be aligned with seemingly evil Peter Pan? Or maybe she’ll switch sides seven times per episode like Hook seemed to this past season.

Rapunzel.
While Once Upon a Time’s effects on a TV-budget have mostly underwhelmed (and in some cases embarrassed the show), perhaps they could give us a credible character with insanely long hair. More importantly, given the show’s desire to make princess heroines bad-ass (see Snow White), it would be great to see Rapunzel go toe-to-toe with some nasties next season.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
If Frankenstein can be on Once Upon a Time, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before we get other classic Universal monsters on the show as well. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is indeed a classic and would fit in well with the team Emma is currently leading to Neverland to rescue Henry—half of the characters have switched sides between good and evil multiple times already.

Alice.

And finally, sure, we’re getting a spin-off that takes place well before Once Upon a Time’s current timeline, but if that show can share characters like the Queen of Hearts and likely the Mad Hatter, why can’t Alice take a visit to the original show?

That’s our list… who do you want to see pop up on the show when it’s back in either September or October?

WWE Extreme Rules airs live on PPV tonight, with several hardcore matches. Here are our predictions on tonight’s festivities.

Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

These two will have a rematch of their Wrestlemania match and it will be hard to see Chris Jericho lose clean to Fandango twice in a row. No stipulations are set for the match, so expect some sort of botched finished for this match. That way, Fandango can stay hot and Jericho won’t look weak. Call me crazy, but I have a hunch sometime down the road, these two men will team up and both be good guys. After all, WWE would love to sell some Fandango T-shirts and more iTunes song downloads. Fandango showed off his aggressive and sneaky side this past Monday night on Raw and this Sunday, Chris Jericho will win via disqualification. We’ll go with a stereotypical low blow being caught by the referee.

Randy Orton vs. Big Show (Extreme Rules Match)
In his hometown of St. Louis, Randy Orton should be very over at Extreme Rules. With no disqualifications and hardcore rules in place, expect to see some chair play and other fun stuff throughout the match. Even though this brewing rivalry dates back to March of this year, I unfortunately do not see this feud ending just yet. This match should be going to Big Show to keep the rivalry going until at least the Payback pay-per-view. Then finally both men can move on and fit themselves into better and more engaging storylines.

Sheamus vs. Mark Henry (Strap Match)
The feeling here is that both men cannot lose another match if they want to stay relevant in the eyes of the WWE Universe. It has been quite a while since either men were remotely close to the main event picture. With the strap match stipulation in place, the first man to touch all four corners of the ring wins the match, so expect a very physical and grapple heavy match. Although Mark Henry hasn’t competed for any world titles lately, he does have a win over Ryback at Wrestlemania. Nothing came out of that win, but it’s at least something compared to Sheamus who hasn’t won a pay-per-view match in the past 6 months and that was only a DQ win. I’ll give it to Sheamus to win this one.

Team Hell No — Kane and Daniel Bryan vs. The Shield’s Rollins and Reigns for the WWE Tag Team Championship

What an odd turn of events for The Shield this past Monday, because they actually received their first loss on Raw. They disqualified themselves after John Cena appeared to have almost won the match against The Shield. Whoever was responsible for that outcome for the match wasn’t thinking very clearly. I guess it was a way for Cena to not lose anymore to the team as well as keeping The Shield technically “unbeaten” or “unpinned.” The feeling is that the loss doesn’t count or else the commentators would have mentioned it. Therefore, The Shield is still perfect in WWE’s eyes and should win over Team Hell No with no problem.

Kofi Kingston vs. The Shield’s Dean Ambrose for the WWE United States Championship
Same goes for this match and Dean Ambrose and maybe even more so, because Kofi Kingston has not been very involved with The Shield’s whereabouts at all. It would have made this match more impressive if the red hot Dean Ambrose would have pinned the longest reigning U.S. Champion in recent memory, Antonio Cesaro. What was the point of Kofi breaking Cesaro’s streak a little over a month ago only to drop the title just a short time later? Poor booking by upper management I’m sure. The Shield will steamroll over their matches and take home 3 gold belts tonight.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger (‘I Quit’ Match)
World Heavyweight Champion, Dolph Ziggler was supposed to be in a triple threat match with these two men, but an injury has taken him out of it. Rumor has it that the match will eventually take place at Summerslam, which means that this three-way feud will last for at least a couple of more months. That being said, the outcome of the match doesn’t matter much, but Jack Swagger does need this win more than Del Rio. Swagger losing any more high profile matches will render him a non-threat to a title he hasn’t held since 2010.

Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar (Steel Cage Match)

It’s bad enough that Lesnar is already 1 for 3 since returning, so losing a third match would be very unwise. Lesnar absolutely cannot lose this match tonight. Both men will probably not be making another appearance until Summerslam time, so Brock Lesnar will need to come in with some credibility for his next opponent. Last year’s Lesnar vs. Cena match was very physical and surprisingly bloody and it may be just as brutal this year too. Some fans may be skeptic about how good this match will be, because cage matches have been watered down very much in the past few years, but I think WWE will surprise them. My prediction is Lesnar will win after a very violent match.

John Cena vs. Ryback for the WWE Championship (Last Man Standing Match)

Their first match is the type of match that usually ends feuds — a last man standing match. I fully expect John Cena to retain his title and it will be devastating for Ryback to lose yet again and after a last man standing match 10 count. Maybe some bogus or run-in type attack will end this match, but everything points to Ryback having his momentum come to a dead-stop. Maybe, just maybe, Ryback will actually win the title, but that has a very slim chance of happening. John Cena will win this match, but the feud will continue and no one will care. It’s a very bad situation for Ryback.

WWE Extreme Rules airs at 8pm EST, with a pre-show at 7:30, on PPV.

The Vampire Diaries has slowly reached the point in broadcast TV where it has become a victim of its own success. Throughout four seasons of fang kills, hybrid drama, doppelganger woes, witchy troubles and Mystic Falls tragedies, showrunner Julie Plec has constantly kept fans off balanced. We’ve come to expect shock, awe and the infamous twist – perhaps too much.

TVD Season 4 Finale Spoilers ahead

The Season 4 finale gave me everything I expected from The Vampire Diaries. Pain, regret, loss, great return cameos (with Alaric and Connor topping the list), jokes and a few awesome fights. I even got to see Kat fight Elena, a predestined showdown that culminated in Elena shoving the cure down Katherine’s throat. Didn’t see that coming… well played.

Truthfully, I was happy just to see Ric, Connor and Lexi back for one episode. I had almost forgotten that Ric died the ultimate vampire hunter. When he took down Connor it was a “huzzah” moment, when I got up to do my touchdown dance.

Then, Stefan got back to relaxing instead of brooding, thanks to Lexi. I couldn’t stop laughing when he sarcastically apologized to Damon for having fun, “I should be upstairs grooming my hero hair.” Hey, I laughed out loud.

In one of my favorite moments, Klaus showed up to slice off the head of a witch, using a graduation cap as a razor-sharp shuriken. Nicely done, Niklaus. He played the good guy role and cured Damon of nasty werewolf-venom wound. Then, he told Caroline that he would allow Tyler to return, with a heartfelt vow. “He (Tyler) is your first love, I intend to be your last.” True.

I was equally glad to see that Elena finally made the decision to go with Damon. Yes, I’ve always been team Stefan, but back-and-forth love triangles get old after a season or two. Broody Stefan is boring Stefan. Let that man have some fun. Dammit, I’m already missing Lexi – again.

Unfortunately, Stefan’s “fun” was short-lived. Silas showed up as Elena to reveal that Bonnie’s death released him from his petrified state. In order for Silas to be an immortal, the witch who created the spell had to be alive, meaning Silas – aka Silas-Ketsia – created the spell. So, are Silas and Ketsia one in the same? According the Vaughn, one of the legendary hunters, Ketsia told them from the other side to get the cure for Silas. So, either Silas and Ketsia are the same person and the legends are false or we’ll see Ketsia show up in season 5.

Bypassing all the ambiguity in the Silas and Ketsia origin, Silas then gave us the old “nature requires balance” line. Apparently, a doppelganger, or shadow self, was created to balance out Silas’ existence. Stefan’s jaw dropped as he realized that Silas, or Ketsia (mind spinning) may be the original doppelganger. Why else would he (or she) show up as Elena? Silas, or Ketsia, predated Kat.

Well, not exactly.

The camera shifted down to the car-door window and we see the reflection of Silas as Elena become Stefan. Silas says hello to his “shadow self”, locks Stefan in a box and tosses him in the lake.

So is Silas’ original form Stefan or is it Elena? Based off the utterly confusing conversation, I’m leaning towards Stefan. However, that doesn’t really make sense. If Silas has been around for over 2000 years, why did nature wait 1840 years to make a doppelganger?

But here’s the real problem. In a show filled with twists and shocks at the end of every episode, these storytelling maneuvers have become mundane and redundant. The Season 4 finale felt like a combination of the Season 1 and Season 2 finale. A doppelganger is set to wreak havoc in Mystic Falls and Stefan (or rather Silas) will be off the rails.

Plus, the endless resurrections are getting old. Jeremy was dead. Now, he’s not dead. But Bonnie is dead, killing off the final black character on the show.

Shock is great for an episode here and there. However, our old friend “shock” has been present in nearly episode since the end of Season 1. Characters and story arcs never get a chance to breath before they end up dead. Then, the characters, stories and twists are recycled. Now, shock is just not shocking. It’s overplayed and trite.

If a new character is introduced, you simply wait for them to die, all the while knowing that nothing can happen to the main characters. Stefan gets buried underwater, but another Stefan (Silas) is now in Mystic Fall… Seriously? It’s the opposite of risk taking. This past season would have been better served if the Connor story were allowed to breath. Similar to last season, Klaus parents got killed off much too quickly.

Give the characters – and especially the actors – a chance to spread their wings. We’re no longer emotionally involved in the characters. Thus, when we watch the story it’s just about waiting for the next twist. It’s great when a show moves fast, but unless you’re giving us more hearty characters to invest our time into, thin plots and repetitive stories just don’t work.

We’ve got two exclusive stills from this week’s episode of Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters, entitled “Project Predacon.”

In this episode, Megatron hatches a plan to clone an army of Predacons. Check out this still of Megatron holding the blueprint bone in his hand:

In this still, we see a farm of cloning tubes, containing an assorted variety of transforming beasts to battle the Autobots:

You can catch “Project Predacon” Friday, May 17 at 7:30 pm on HUB Network.

*Stills provided courtesy of Hasbro Studios

The Supernatural Season 8 finale airs tonight, toting an underlying setup that may seem oddly familiar.

Sam’s life is screwed whether he wins or loses. Dean is screaming at his younger brother, telling him to man-up. Castiel is off on his own side quest, doing “God” knows what. Everyone, angel or demon, is pissed at the Winchester brothers. And the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Balls.

Although I wasn’t a big fan of the Leviathan story line, I liked the fact that Dean was the one who ended up in Purgatory. Nothing against Dean, but Sam has always been tainted ever since we learned that he had demon powers and was Lucifer’s vessel. When Sam came back from hell, his mind was fractured until Castiel did his little angelic magic trick to transpose Sam’s fracture mind onto his own. However, he had to suffer through endless lectures from big bro because baby bro had visions of Lucifer dancing in his head.

Supernatural Season 8 gave Sam and Dean to stand on equal ground – well somewhat equal. While Dean was off in Purgatory, Sam decided to retire. Needless to say, Dean was none to happy with his brother for retiring to suburban life and forgetting about him. About twenty episodes later, we also learned that Bobby was equally pissed with Sam when the youngest Winchester ventured into hell to save his stolen soul.

But Sam has found redemption for the little misstep by undertaking the trials that will slam shut the gates of hell and put an end to Crowley for good. Yeah right.

Even if the doors of hell are shut for good, we’ll still have to worry about those pesky angels floating about on their high horse. Well, that’s if Castiel and Metatron (aka Merv) can’t complete their little side quest to shut the gates of heaven.

If both heaven and hell get shutdown, what happens next? Perhaps, Metatron will pull a Castiel and become the new psycho angel. Or, maybe we’ll get a time jump like we did this year. Sam and Dean go off and have kids and then BOOM, somebody screws up and unleashes angels and demons on a tag-team mission to cut down the Winchester brothers.

Regardless, Sam is probably screwed. Yup. If his body doesn’t resonate until it explodes, that third hell-shutdown trial will come with some unforeseen consequence that will screw over his life.

What does a screenwriter do once they’ve finished a script they’ve slaved over? Perhaps shout “Victory!”?

Entourage creator Doug Ellin has taken to Twitter and Instagram to let fans know that he’s done with the script for big screen version of his TV show:

My work here is done. For real this time instagram.com/p/ZI2XIntQB-/

— Doug Ellin (@mrdougellin) May 10, 2013

And because he says “For real this time,” we believe it.

Constance Zimmer, who played Dana Gordon on the show, responded to Ellin’s tweet shortly after expressing her interest in getting started on the project:

Hopefully this means our work starts soon…“@mrdougellin: My work here is done. For real this time Instagram.com/p/ZI2XIntQB-/”

— Constance Zimmer (@oczimmer) May 10, 2013

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been almost two years since the show’s final episode. Ellin is hoping Entourage becomes the latest in a line of TV shows that made a successful jump to the box office, with 21 Jump Street and Sex and the City being recent examples. 24 is also waiting in the wings to see its big screen treatment, but the project is still stalled in pre-production.

All the stars of the show, Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara and Jeremy Piven), are set to reprise the oft-hilarious roles they played from 2004 – 2011.

If you just paid $5 to add Lobo to your Injustice: Gods Among Us roster, get ready to drop another five bones.

Warner Bros Interactive is adding Batgirl to Injustice’s heroic mix. You’ll have to pay another $5 ($4.99 on PSN and 400 points on Xbox Live Marketplace) for this Bat vixen, boosting the overall retail price of this title – with all characters – to $69.99. Of course, that doesn’t include the Teen Titans (Cyborg, Deathstroke and Raven skins) and Bad Girls skin pack (Harley Quinn, Catwoman and Wonder Woman skins), which would bring the total SRP to $72.99.

Phew. Talk about paying to see a fight.

Watch the Batgirl Trailer

If you didn’t get Injustice on day one, the price has dropped on Amazon.com to $49.99, so you’ll be able to pickup Lobo and Batgirl without breaking the $59.99 threshold.

You can also pickup the Season Pass, which gives you 4 characters “for the price of three.” You’ll save money, but it still sucks to pay for add-on characters in a fighting game, no matter how awesome they are.

Swamp Thing’s rebirth was a journey of beauty and hot fire. Yanick Paquette’s panels were a smash-up of wondrous green visuals juxtaposed with the mutilated world of the rot. It made me look at Swamp Thing a whole new way. This is a hero that sits outside of the typical pantheon of DC Comics characters; you’ll rarely – if ever – find him off on a cosmic quest with Justice League heroes, facing intergalactic threats. But that’s what makes the return, and resurrection of Dr. Alec Holland so much more appealing. It’s a vibrant Woodstock journey of Earth Day allegories and green initiatives that falls on the shoulders of one very reluctant hero.

The first Swamp Thing graphic novel brought back Dr. Alec Holland from the dead. We learned that the real Holland died and the last Swamp Thing was a “fake” created by the Parliament of Trees. Any time a character comes back from the dead, the explanation is always far fetched – even for comic books. However, this one was okay because it’s the new 52 and just about every other dead character had already come back to life in the DC Universe over the past decade.

By issue #7, I was fully invested in Dr. Holland, hated the Parliament of Trees for forcing him to be their “greatest” Swamp Thing ever and dug Holland’s love interest, Abigail Arcane – who just happened to be the predestined queen of the rot. It was a nice yin-and-yang setup, which was well played by writer Scott Snyder right downed to the canned peaches. Every time Paquette penciled a two-page spread it was a visual feast of destructive imagery and grotesquely mangled body parts framed by beautiful paisley green flora. Paquette really captures the feeling of two worlds colliding as well as the internal struggles of Holland and Abby Arcane.

Swamp Thing Volume 2 collects issues #8-11, issue #0 and Swamp Thing Annual #1. Snyder continues the great story he began in the first volume. Dr. Holland has reluctantly submitted to his preordained legacy as Swamp Thing and he’s done so on his own terms. He’s depicted as an angel; it’s foreshadowed that he can be Earth’s greatest savior or destroyer. The latter is a possibility stemming from his love of Abigail. In issues #8 and #9, you get the feeling that Swamp Thing is drowning in death – bodies litter each panel in horrific fury with the green trying to break through.

Perhaps the coolest thing about this volume is the appearance of Animal Man. Unfortunately, once he shows up the adventure is cut short. We get two origin stories and some foreshadowing split between issue #0 and the Swamp Thing Annual.

Like most origin stories, these tales sap the energy out of this volume. While they do offer more insight into Holland and Abby, which may serve as a good setup going forward, the stories feel exceptionally lackluster following the events in issues #1-11. We learn more about Anton Arcane, who raised Abby. He is a centuries old Swamp Thing slayer, who was involved in Holland’s life long before Holland knew that he was the next Swamp Thing. More importantly, we get more reason to hate the green and the Parliament of Trees. They are supposed to be on the side of good, but their undying interest in suffocating Holland’s ability to choose his destiny will just piss you off. At least, it pissed me off.

Swamp Thing Volume 2: Family Tree (The New 52) – Hardcover

Issues: Graphic Novel Collects Swamp Thing #8-11,#0, Annual #1
Writer: Scott Snyder
Pencils: Yanick Paquette, Marco Rudy
Ink: Nathan /fairbairn, Val Staples, Matthew Wilson, Tony Avina, Francesco Francavilla
Cover: Yanick Paquette
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: April 16, 2013

Rating:
8 / 10

Detective Comics: Volume 1 – Faces of Death comes in like a lion, filled with more than enough grotesque Joker shenanigans and debauchery to invigorate DC’s Batman lineup. The volume collects issues #1-7 of the new Batman: Detective Comics relaunch.

It’s worth picking up just to see the last page of issue #1, written and penciled by Tony S. Daniel, which will leave an indelible scar in your memory. Unfortunately, all the illicit Joker revelry ends with that issue, as the story arc goes off in a downward direction to follow a cavalcade of less intriguing villains. There are definitely several smart moments, especially those dealing with Commissioner Gordon. However, the majority of pedestrian twists and uninspired sleuthing doesn’t quite stack up to some of the more engrossing Detective tales of old.

Daniel’s story begins with a naked Joker, a man wearing a human mask and a young girl trapped in a fire. As if the Joker wasn’t a big enough problem, Batman has to worry about a guy wearing human skin. Gross doesn’t begin to describe it. Daniel’s artwork really captures the freakish nature of both of these serial killers, juxtaposed against Batman’s internal angst for letting Gotham’s villains run wild. Sure, you’ve seen the Joker get captured before – and, yes, he never dies – but the battle is too exciting to put down. Then, the final page of issue #1 will slap you in the face with one of the greatest Joker pages ever penciled. My hat goes off to whoever gets to purchase the original signed artwork for that page.

Things start to change in issue #2. New characters are introduced and the Joker story fades into a distant memory. If you’ve ever read a Detective Comics book, you always suspect any of Bruce Wayne’s new business partners or acquaintances. In a book that’s less than thirty pages, somebody new is usually somebody with a clandestine secret – especially in Gotham City.

Writers like Grant Morrison (except when he’s doing his best to be especially confusing) are able to deftly weave the intrigue and mystery into a story so that the reader is given a true mystery-detective tale. While most of the dialogue and Bat’s internal thought-bubbles are solid, Daniel doesn’t really pull off the mystery. What you read is what you get, and sometimes it can be heavy handed. Boyfriends, girlfriends, forgotten sisters and tricky kids all play obvious roles with transparent twists. The biggest shock comes from Gordon’s neck of the woods – and it’s one that made me wince, probably more so than the last panel of issue #1. You’ll just have to read it and find out.

There are pockets of potential sprinkled throughout the pages, especially with a group of d-class and utterly obscure villains stuck in the Penguin’s web. Given the right scribe, there is the potential that these villains could rise up and be as appealing as the Secret Six team that was introduced in Villains United #1. Mark it, wait and see.

While there are pockets of mediocre twists and trite villains in this book, when compared against previous Detective Comics tales, it’s still a good Batman read in DC Comics new 52. Plus, the artwork is just damned great.

Detective Comics Volume 1 – Faces of Death (The New 52) – Hardcover

Issues: Graphic Novel Collects Detective Comics #1-7
Writer: Tony S. Daniel
Pencils: Tony S. Daniel
Ink: Sandu Florea, Ryan Winn, Rob Hunter
Cover: Tony S. Daniel
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: April 9, 2013

Rating:
7.5 / 10

Team Focus discusses the fate of the Avengers franchise of movies as contract negotiations go awry, between actor demands and studio budgets. While most will agree that Robert Downey Jr can’t be replaced, especially following the box office sales of Iron Man 3, Marvel Studios may not be against replacing Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson and/or Scarlett Johannsen.

Can Marvel feasibly hold on to Downey Jr and the rest of the cast through Avengers 2 and a subsequent Avengers 3 movie? Team Focus discusses the possibilities in our latest Blast Off.

Listen to the podcast below:

Tune in weekly for more discussion by Subscribing to the Team Focus Blast Off on iTunes.

Be sure to Follow hosts Bags Hooper and Ernie Estrella on Twitter for more.

Still waiting for a flawless four-person shooter campaign? Insomniac thinks it has the answer with its latest sci-fi shooter, FUSE (formerly known as Overstrike). Team cooperative play is always great, just ask all those Deathmatch players who hate objective play, but the campaign’s story will be the real clincher for FUSE.

If you’re believing the hype, or lack thereof, the demo is now available for download. So you can get your four-person, drop-in-drop-out campaign going asap – against the malicious military group, Raven. Sure, you’ve played sci-fi shooters before, but in this one you can walk around with a giant floating shield and protect your friends. That’s cool, right?

FUSE hits PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 28. You can preorder now:

For years, there have been signs that the WWE puts less importance on tradition and more on “what’s best for business.” Year after year, traditions have been sacrificed to sell out t-shirts and get better PPV buyrates. But traditions are the things that mean most to hardcore and faithful wrestling fans.

Here are just four – of many – instances that show that the WWE is losing sight of the traditions that have built up the company – and its fan base – for decades.

1. Pay-per-view name changes and drops
Lots of WWE pay-per-views that have been ongoing for nearly a decade have been dropped in favor of “themed” pay-per-views. Pay-per-views such as Backlash, Armageddon and No Mercy have been discontinued to make room for Hell in a Cell, Elimination Chamber and TLC ppvs. I guess letting ppv buyers know what kind of matches they’re in for should mean better buys, but it certainly doesn’t explain why King of the Ring ppv was dropped back in 2003 as this was the event that Stone Cold Steve Austin made his infamous Austin 3:16 promo. Even more appalling is the fact that WWE actually tried to drop the Survivor Series event too back in 2010. Thankfully, the event that held the debut of The Rock and The Undertaker was reinstated after fans let their voice be heard.

2. New WWE Championship belt eagle-less
The most recent indicator involves what can be seen as the cornerstone of the wrestling industry — the WWE championship belt. The latest iteration of the title belt was introduced earlier this year by The Rock and it is the first time the gold strap’s design does not include an eagle. Sounds like something like this shouldn’t be a big deal. However, this is the first time an eagle wasn’t featured in the title’s 50-year-old history. Even the last, spinner version of the WWE championship belt had an eagle. A concept the WWE was considering featured an eagle, but was ultimately unused. It is well established that the WWE spinner version of the belt remained for so long because of how well it was selling and the latest change most certainly kept that factor in mind. So I guess someone in marketing decided no eagle equals better sales.

3. Royal Rumble not as special anymore
The Royal Rumble’s importance has been watered down very much in recent years. The winner of the match is awarded a world championship match at Wrestlemania, but the last handful of winners, besides John Cena have not main evented the flagship event. The 2011 winner, Alberto Del Rio challenged Edge as the opening match of Wrestlemania 27 and 2012 winner, Sheamus faced Daniel Bryan during the opening match at Wrestlemania 28. And although the 2013 winner, Cena was in the main event for Wrestlemania 29, the 2013 Rumble match itself took a backseat to the WWE Championship match. That hasn’t happened since the 2006 Royal Rumble and over a decade before that. Traditionally, the Royal Rumble match should be the main event for the pay-per-view and the winner should be in the main event for Wrestlemania.

4. Wrestlemania 30 not coming to NYC
The first Wrestlemania was in Madison Square Garden and so was Wrestlemania 10 and 20. Based on history, you would think that WWE would stick to tradition and bring it back to MSG every 10 years. Unfortunately, this isn’t happening and WWE has decided to bring the momentous event to New Orleans. It’s understandable if they couldn’t bring the big event to MSG because Wrestlemania has become a stadium-level event, but to not even bring it to New York is WWE showing us they’re totally disregarding the tradition they have set for the event in the past 30 years.

Mac Air. Windows Surface. And now Toshiba’s Kirabook. Who needs a bulky desktop, when you can carry around a laptop – that is just as powerful – on your back without breaking it?

Gone are the days of desktop competition and marketing campaigns pitting Intel versus AMD processors. The average user doesn’t care about the nooks and crannies. Can it play music and movies without crashing?

The future of technology is all about mobile computing: using this app and that app on the go, while wirelessly connecting to your Netflix account without getting lost – thanks to your GPS.

Instead of productivity, we look to mobile devices to give us Xbox and Hulu connectivity. Most people don’t even remember the big rivalry between Deep Blue and chess champion Garry Kasparov. It was a time where companies raced to become the leader in Hardware manufacturing. Side note, for us “techies,” Deep Blue’s win in Game 6 was as remarkable as seeing a black man become president.

Right now, Hardware is in a state of Stagware. While only a few companies compete to create better Stagware, new companies pop up everyday with promises of more useful software, mobile apps or distributed applications.

Stagware doesn’t really bring us better processing power just lighter, flashier machines.

Enter the Kirabook.

Toshiba’s new Kirabook isn’t anything you haven’t seen before. It’s a laptop – one that weights 2.6 pounds. I got a chance to pick it up and – very literally – wave it around at a Toshiba event in NYC. In layman’s terms, 2.6 pounds is pretty freakin’ light.

Outside of weight, the laptop’s big sell is its PixelPure display, which is Toshiba’s version of Mac’s Retina display. While you might not use these fancy displays to find Waldo in a satellite image, you will be able to watch your HD movies with “damned-good” quality.

The Kirabook also has a touchscreen, which is more commonplace in today’s tablet market. It’s a nice match for users who require a little more productivity. Touchscreens are “cool,” but sometimes you need a keyboard to get the job done quickly.

The concept of the tablet computer has always been great, even before the iPad. Unfortunately, I always need to bring a laptop whenever I am on the go, which negates the need for a tablet machine. I need a computer that allows me to type fifty words-per-minute, use ProTools (or another sound editor/recorder), do some quick motion graphics concept work in Adobe After Effects and “code-up” an application here and there.

Surprisingly, the first Mac Air let me perform most of these functions. While I can’t do intense After Effects work or use too many audio samples in ProTools, the Air gave me just enough computing power for smaller projects. Unfortunately, I’ll be slapped with the infamous beach ball if I try to do any significant development in Unity, XCode or otherwise on the Air.

Truthfully, the Air performs better than a Mac mini, which oddly enough still ships with a 5400-RPM hard drive as its boot disk (it is also the drive you have to install all of your applications to, making all load times extra slowww). Why are 5400-RPM Stagware hard drives still in existence when everything is going solid state? It boggles the mind.

As for style, the 13.3-inch laptop has the familiar brushed silver look you’d find on your everyday laptop. At the Toshiba event, they actually had a spec laptop with a see-through case so that we could see the parts inside. It was pretty cool for style points. It reminded me of iMacs Jobs introduced when he returned to Apple. Yeah, those blue, red, and green iMacs sucked, but all the “Styleware” users who had them thought they were awesome. However, the PR rep said Toshiba had no plans to bring the clear Kirabook to market.

The Kirabook is Toshiba’s Windows 8 laptop and is poised to take a bite out of the Windows laptop market. I’m actually a fan of the Windows 8 environment. Recently, I had to help someone with their Windows Vista machine, and it reminded me how much I hated Vista, but loved its XP predecessor and Windows 8 successor. Then again, nothing beats NT 4 Service Pack 6. I digress.

Functionality aside, Toshiba’s big push needs to be in the consumer market. You’re not going to wow Goldman Sachs or Barclays Capital to change their laptops because the Kivabook has a touchscreen. While consumers may pick up a Kirabook at a Best Buy or Staples, the brand still feels obscure in the present market. The Jamie Kennedy Toshiba prank did little to bolster brand recognition.

If Toshiba wants to build their brand as leader in the future of technology, they need to look to education as a staging ground. Students in grades kindergarten through 12 are tech savvy, but they like style. Yet, when I go around to schools, Dell and Mac still run the show.

It would behoove Toshiba to engage in more educational outreach programs. Show off software that both casual and pro users need. Nowadays, middle schools have video editing classes. Perform demonstrations using Adobe After Affects and Premiere. Schools would love your for that; I can point them out if you can’t find them. After all Final Cut is going the way of the dodo thanks to Apple’s big Final Cut X screw up. Rebuild your brand with the most important people – the children. Educate children to use the hottest software on your laptops and they’ll buy your tech products tomorrow – or at least ask their parents to buy it for them.

How does a studio follow up The Avengers? By going small, real, real small.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of sexy Iron Man suits and bombastic repulsor blasts to last a lifetime, but the scale of Iron Man 3 takes the ball from aliens and gods from Asgard to lands and problems much closer to home. IM3 takes place mainly in three locations, one of which is in rural Tennessee where Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) retreats to after being flushed out of his Los Angeles oceanfront mansion by a terrorist who goes by the name of the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Stark befriends a boy (Harley Keener) who reminds him of himself and is able to work out some of his unresolved issues. There is also a near non-existent presence of S.H.I.E.L.D. and that should meet the approval of those who found the last Iron Man sequel to be too much of a prequel to The Avengers. Iron Man 3 when you strip away all of the toppings is a simple tale of revenge.

The latest Iron Man installment is directed by Shane Black, who Downey Jr. connected with on the stylish noir-comedy, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and like that film, Black unfolds the adventure with his lead character in a bad situation, reflecting on the moment in the past that put him in trouble. The slapstick tone is another a quality that’s been carried over from Kiss Kiss, and brought back to a degree from the first Iron Man. But instead of getting Stark connected with his armor, Black explores how much of the Iron Man persona is Tony Stark. Are they different, or are they one and the same? To do that, Black keeps Stark out of the armor for a large portion of the film. We’re not talking Superman II without-his-powers, or even watching Thor without his hammer. Just trust me when I say that it’s good to see him out of the suit because Downey Jr. is just as entertaining without it on. Stark has come back affected from his worm hole adventure in New York City with some serious post-traumatic stress disorder and a new vulnerability that will remind longtime readers of Stark’s battles with alcoholism.

Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) met Tony Stark back in 1999, back when he was still a weapons dealer and before he thought about using his engineering skills for pure good, but Stark wouldn’t give the unkempt scientist his time or his money. Fast Forward 15 years later, Killian is back with a program called Extremis that is able to tap the area of the human brain and give American troops regenerative properties and other incredible abilities. What does that have to do with the Mandarin? Well I don’t want to reveal much more, not right here anyway (more below).

Iron Man 3 is a thrill ride that kicks off the summer movie season in a big way, and it’s also best enjoyed by those who don’t have a lot of personal history with the Iron Man comics, or by those who understand that there are the comics and there are the films. Why would ignorance be bliss going into this movie? I know the referenced material too well and hold it too high in regards to see it cherry picked and watered down. Skip the next three paragraphs if you don’t want to be spoiled or want to have some of that knowledge going in. Just be careful as it may take away from your enjoyment of the film.

*** Comics Reader Spoiler Zone ***

Normally as a long time comics reader, one who is especially aware of the Iron Man lore that wealth of knowledge generally helps fill in some of the subtext or keeps you in on all of the subtle inside jokes. But it can also be a drawback, and here’s why it works a little against those walking in with 30-40 years worth of Iron Man stories in their head.

First is the Extremis storyline that’s used for gridwork of the Iron Man plot is a fantastic story in its own right. It’s a flawless blend of sci-fi and Tony Stark tech, written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Adi Granov and takes his armor to a new, exciting place. A more literal translation would have worked well, especially fusing the Extremis project with the evolution of Stark’s technology. This would–unfortunately for people like me–not be the case. You can tell that Extremis makes its way in, but is more of a reason to bring Aldrich into story. The story-long adventure of Stark and Maya (Rebecca Hall), a strong relationship in Stark’s recent comic life is pushed completely aside and Maya is treated instead like an afterthought, a simple conquest who started out ideal and was later corrupted by a large corporation.

And finally, the treatment of the Mandarin which is a nice bit of commentary on the “super villain” and terrorism. But the convention of using something as a symbolic distraction is something that’s become all too familiar in superhero stories. Ultimately the final treatment of the Mandarin doesn’t sit well with a long time reader because of the legacy that he brought to the pages of the comic is minimized in the film. How Marvel Studios passed on bringing the Mandarin and his mystical power rings to a spectacular reality but somehow was okay with Whiplash is beyond me. It does however explain that wacky accent Sir Ben Kingsley puts on, and it also addresses all of the rumors of is he or is he not playing the Mandarin.

*** End of Comics Reader Spoiler Zone ***

It’s difficult to look beyond those differences, but to judge the film solely on that would just sound like sour grapes on my part that the film wasn’t the personal love letter to Extremis and some of Stark’s supporting characters that I hoped it would be, but somehow I managed to enjoy the film nonetheless all the way through and after the credits rolled (wink, wink).

And yet I still found flaws. I’m tired of seeing Jim Rhodes (Don Cheadle) treated like a constant punch line whenever he’s wearing the suit, and he’s again trivialized in the story’s biggest action sequence. While it’s nice to see the chemistry between Stark and Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow), her ultimate threat and resolution was poorly developed too. Will whoever lit the final action sequence please understand that we want to see all of the different armor and their iterations. The scene, which was spectacular, was too dark or too fast and a lot of the differences in the armors get lost. Some concepts, like Starks’ Avengers-related PTSD are great additions to the character but don’t go far enough.

These gripes are all in the details though. Iron Man 3 far exceeds Iron Man 2, picks up the ball from The Avengers in a focused character study, with an entire syllabus on Tony Stark. Black plays with the notion of who Stark is outside the suit in several creative ways but gives plenty of moments there to see him suit up, again and again, and unfortunately leaves us Stark-free until Avengers 2.

The first season of The Americans came to a thrilling end in “The Colonel,” a gratifying resolver that still left plenty to ponder for Season 2.

Our favorite Directorate S agents were given two separate orders, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) was to meet the Colonel (Victor Slezak), with intelligence on President Regan’s Star Wars missile defense system, while Phillip (Matthew Rhys) was ordered to retrieve a the latest recording from Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger’s study bug, which audiences learned from last week, was compromised by Agent Gaad’s (Richard Thomas) task force.

Orders came from Claudia (Margo Martindale) in another icy exchange with Elizabeth, sparking suspicion from her and Phillip, that the meeting with the Colonel was most likely, a setup due to its sudden urgency and level of intelligence exchanged. It was finally agreed upon that they carry out the orders as planned–until Phillip changes the plans at the last minute, building up to the episode’s tense final 20 minutes that saw Phillip out-driving the FBI, Elizabeth getting seriously wounded, and Stan almost getting close enough to identify them.

EDITOR’S PICK: Read our interview with The Americans’ Stan Beeman – Noah Emmerich

The body count was already high from Vlad (Vitaly Benko), Gregory (Derek Luke), Amador (Max Hernández) and General Zhukov (Olek Krupa) and the tensions were funneling towards another one. The bad blood between Elizabeth and Claudia was bubbling over and Nina (Annet Mahendru) had become expendable once she told Arkady (Lev Gorn) she was the mole. Either character could have easily died for the cause; great characters always seem to have limited run on a well-written serial like The Americans, but I found it a relief that the season didn’t end with a major death or cliffhanger.

Instead Nina’s story gets more complicated now that she’s been asked to be a double spy and extract information from Stan, and to try and turn him–those are tall orders! She ultimately comes through for the Motherland, telling Arkady she felt like a big plan was in play once Stan (Noah Emmerich) told her that her exfiltration would be approved soon. This second turn in her character makes Nina far more interesting, in fact it’s more plausible she would die for the cause than succumb to Stan’s heroic charm. Instead of being saved from it all and betraying her country, she plunged herself in a larger web of lies and now we’ll see just how good she is manipulating Stan and keeping all of her stories straight, while feeding lies to Stan.

As for Claudia, she finished what Elizabeth couldn’t, killing Richard Patterson (Paul Fitzgerald) with frightening expertise. Then she saves them by recognizing an abort order cleverly put in motion by Arkady (who I’ve become a big fan with each episode). Phillip and Elizabeth pegged Claudia all wrong but will their request for a new handler goes through, or are we going to find this working relationship gets better from here? My hope is for the latter as we’ve now established enough about Claudia that Elizabeth might want to learn from her. And also to selfishly hope Ms. Martindale finds a permanent TV home for a while.

All of the women on this cast should be commended on helping introduce TV to characters we’ve been starving for, but there doesn’t seem like enough can be said about Russell’s performance. One episode she’s basking in a late night parade with Sandra Beeman (Susan Misner) the next she absorbs the guilt thrown at her by her teenage daughter for forcing their father away. Another episode finds Elizabeth comforting her past lover before he sacrifices himself for her, and the next she’s paralyzed in communicating with the man she created a family with and fights beside for 20 years. There are so many sides to Elizabeth Jennings, some real, some false, and one very true.

EDITOR’S PICK: See our PHOTO GALLERY of the cast of The Americans at FX’s Upfronts

Up until now we’ve been able to draw comparisons between Stan and Elizabeth, both loyalists to their respected countries, so much so that the importance of their work defines what their priorities must be. But something revealed in the finale was a tape recording of her mother speaking to her about how proud she was of her, and how wonderful it was for her mother to hear that Elizabeth had a family. Curled up on the floor, alone in the laundry room, Elizabeth savored the recording. Normally she must keep a front, so fierce and strong for her family, for her cause. But she never looked so scared that she might lose either Phillip or her children because of the spy game, or that she’s led a life away from everyone she cared about–without any tears falling down her face.

And was there a more perfect way to end the season than with Peter Gabriel’s Cold War anthem and critique of nationalism and war, “Games Without Frontiers”? From the high pitch whistles to the growling guitar licks, every note and lyric seemed to echo Phillip’s questions from the pilot, how much are he and Elizabeth willing to lose to help win a secret war?

“If looks could kill, they probably will in games without frontiers, war without tears”

Looking up at Season 2, the ante is raised with Phillip needing to maintain the charade of his marriage with Martha (Alison Wright) while trying to build his other “fake” marriage with Elizabeth back up. Either that or he has to find an unceremonious way to end it with Martha. The Beemans look like they’re in for more difficult travels, and someone as astute as Stan could want to be such a hero that he doesn’t realize he’s being played. Paige’s (Holly Taylor) curiosity is piqued and anyone who can recall being her age, she’ll keep snooping around until she finds something. And let’s not forget how much information Sanford (Tim Hopper) could spill to the feds on Elizabeth.

This is how you do a season finale, and we are counting down the days until Season 2 premieres.

Note: This article contains minor story spoilers

I recently completed the stellar adventure found within Irrational Games’ Bioshock Infinite. It was one of the most memorable gaming journeys that I have experienced, and is easily an early candidate for game of the year. The game was filled with intense combat, memorable characters, a wonderful and unique take on music, some incredible vistas and easily one of the most interesting and creative worlds we’ve seen in recent times. In Bioshock Infinite, Irrational Games created one of the most unique cities I’ve ever visited, in that it was one I admired for its exterior beauty, and hated for its rotted contents.

Columbia was such a beautifully realized city. There is a definite sense of wonder before the chaos begins. You leave from a droll, rainy world of Earth and literally take a rocket ship to another place. The rocket sequence is influenced not only by early pulp science fiction, but also (quite deliberately) by the opening sequence of the first Bioshock.

Where the rocket lands is almost equally as eerie as the original bathysphere opening sequence in Bioshock. The rocket touches down in a dark, candle-lit church or all places. The church has the same kind of quiet eeriness that a lot of the original game had, and this was helped by the fact that the floor was covered in a thin layer of water, reminiscent of the floods of Rapture.

However, upon leaving the church, we are greeted by a world that was nothing like Bioshock’s faded utopia-turned-dystopia. The player leaves and finds themselves in a beautiful, sunlit park, filled with peaceful pilgrims in white, flowers, and a gigantic, overwhelming statue of three founding fathers, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. The statue, and the text surrounding it, seems to deify the figures. It is the first hint at the extreme nationalism that has gripped Columbia.

Past that odd statue, or even in spite of it, there really is nothing to separate the park from one that might be found in a church garden in our world. As you leave the church grounds, you’re greeted by happy people on a sort of main street. You can get hot dogs from a street vendor, eavesdrop on a few conversations about a festival, watch a small parade or see a barbershop quartet singing a Beach Boys song. The Beach Boys song should stand out, as the game takes place close to 60 years before the game came out, but it fits with the festive atmosphere of Columbia.

The streets of Columbia are beautiful. The use of yellow cobblestones gives them the appearance that they are literally paved in gold. One of the most striking things about the earliest part of the game was that, after the opening of the lighthouse, the rocket ship and the priest, the player does not feel like chaos is about to break loose. We know it must, as this is a game, and conflict is at the center of most games, but Columbia, for that first half hour or so past leaving the church actually seems peaceful. I took my time to explore, and never felt harried after exiting the church.

Rapture was a city long since declined, merely clinging to the last threads of its tragic existence. Columbia on the other hand is a golden city in the sky, one in its prime. While I loved the art deco style that marked Rapture, Columbia’s simple, brick and mortar buildings almost made you forget that the city was floating through the air on 1912 alternate universe technology. It was eerie, but surprisingly not unsettling. Upon making my way to the fair and the raffle, I did notice one thing. The city was white washed. While the rocket took off from Maine, the people in Columbia seemed almost like the stereotype of well-mannered, early 1900’s southerners. They were perfectly nice to your face, but you could almost hear the criticism behind your back. In spite of the warm-yet-cold reception from the people, Columbia was still a stunning place to visit, especially when you could see far off destinations.

Of course, once you hit the fair and raffle, you are reminded of the times you exist in. Upon winning the raffle, you are presented with a couple in rags, a black woman and a white man. Suddenly, the world makes a lot more sense, and as you are encouraged by the host to throw a baseball at the couple, you get a clear view of the ugly side of Columbia.

With Rapture, we were presented with the consequences of vanity. Immediately after the magical opening in the bathysphere, you are presented with a rotting city, and you don’t actually meet anyone sane. Columbia contrasts this by hinting at something sinister, but first showing you a golden city, full of life. The people here, in spite of their prejudices and fervor, are still people, and not crazed genetic mutants.
In spite of itself, the vast majority of what we get to see of Columbia is beautiful. You pass through high end apartments and restaurants, and short of one house filled with a printing press and African-America’s sleeping on small cots, Columbia again seems to be a paradise that you are fighting through. As a player of games, it is easy to not be fooled by the glamour of Columbia’s life, but in spite of itself, the city, at least aesthetically, remains beautiful.

We know the people, at least in the upper city, are bullheaded, spiteful, petty, and even perhaps brainwashed by the jingoistic propaganda, but this can be dismissed as part of the times. That doesn’t make it any less awful of a place. The unique nature of Columbia is a large part of what makes Bioshock Infinite so enthralling. It is a place that is incredibly beautiful on the surface, yet just behind the scenes lurks the awfulness of early 1900’s inhumanity towards other races.

This incredible contrast is most apparent in back corridors of the stunning Battleship Bay boardwalk or the downtrodden streets and docks of Fink Manufacturing’s area. In Battleship Bay, you wash up on a pristine beach. This is already odd because you’re floating through the sky, but the beach is really not all that different from those in our world. The atmosphere is brilliant, with dancing, a boardwalk and bright, vibrant colors. It’s a nice break from the early action, until you get to the back corridors and see the disgusting, ramshackle bathrooms for “colored” and “Irish” people, and the downtrodden people who actually seem to maintain the brilliant exterior. They seem a bleak contrast to all the happiness of the happy citizens surrounding them, and act almost resigned to their fates as near slaves surrounded by a paradise they themselves can’t reach.

Fink’s is similar, with people bidding time for jobs, and slaving over the docks under the watchful eye of Columbia’s police. We get to see that they live in squalor, under the watchful eye of a massive, gilded, industrial clock, reminiscent of Metropolis. It is nothing short of unsettling to watch the blue-collar workers of Columbia clamor for these awful jobs as it hints that the city has grown too fast. Even without Booker’s intervention in the downfall of Columbia, the city appears on the brink of economic collapse. The obvious sign is the burgeoning revolution, but even without that, the city is clearly exhausting its limited resources and heading towards a societal collapse.

The strangest part of the game is that people that you would expect to sympathize with, the revolutionaries, are revealed to be just as awful as those they fight. Their reasons may be better, but their revolution really turns things for the worse. There is an ironic twist to their revolution as well. While these people are clearly second class citizens in their city, as they take over, they appear to harbor similar hatreds and equivalent morals. Anti-Semitic graffiti, civilian casualties, and even the attempted murder of a child do much to make the downtrodden of Columbia almost as detestable as those they rally against. This doesn’t even begin the betrayal of their own chosen martyr for their ‘narrative.’

It’s all brilliant in a way. Irrational Games does an incredible job with Columbia to reveal a striking society. One ostensibly built on the backs of science, progress and pride that reveals itself to be more concerned with vanity, hatred, paranoia and jingoism. The actual soldiers you fight merely want an honorable death in combat as a way out, but almost everyone else you meet is so wrapped up in their own selfishness that the glamour of their beautiful accomplishment is completely eradicated. The best people in the game were Elizabeth, who was so far removed from the society, and the Lutece “twins,” who managed to escape Columbia and become the catalyst for its downfall.

Never before had I played a game where I both loved the location and found myself detesting it at the same time. I wanted to explore every nook and cranny of Columbia’s beauty, while completely avoiding the paranoia and hatred that nearly every citizen exhibited. There were a few apparently good souls in and around the city, but these few were drowned out by the warped jingoism of the majority of the upper class and the faux-revolutionary appeal of the lower. The chaotic nature of the last hour and a half of the game’s narration certainly fits the evolution of the city’s mental state, and only served to enrich the conflicted way I felt about Columbia. At its heart, the game is almost about the downfall of a disguised dystopia as it is about Booker and Elizabeth. Bioshock Infinite is worth playing through almost solely to experience this wonderfully chaotic society trapped in what should have been a paradise, and I for one can’t wait to revisit Columbia again when the DLC is released.

The last time we saw the DC super heroes duke it out in a fighting game, it was 2008′s Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. This was also the last time Midway published a Mortal Kombat game, which put to end an era of sorts.

Midway started off strong with a fighting series that rivaled Street Fighter for years, but that soon faded away with the death of arcade fighters as well as putting out titles that just weren’t up to par with standards set during the early 90′s. Thankfully, the Mortal Kombat legacy was revived in 2011 by Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, which brought back fan favorite characters and going back to the tried and true 2D fighting format. Oh, and with the last game being rated T, bringing back the iconic M-rated violence helped too.

Now in 2013, in comes Injustice: Gods Among Us and rather than jumping into the next Mortal Kombat title, Warner Brothers focused on doing justice for the DC characters the same way they did for Scorpion, Sub-Zero and the rest of the Kombat cast. Right from the first sights and sounds, you will notice that every comic character here is much more rugged and brutal than most of their other iterations. Superman isn’t the goody two-shoes you’ve grown to know this time around.

What also sets Injustice apart from its peers is its unique fighting mechanics, including interactive environments and dynamically different play-styles each character possesses. Each stage includes multiple interactive objects or areas and they are context sensitive. For example, if you want to interact with the conveniently parked car in the middle of the stage, a character like Bane will slam it on his opponent, whilst an agile character like The Flash would simply springboard off of it to make a quick getaway. All of the characters also play very differently from each other with their unique abilities and movesets. Green Lantern has the ability to grab characters out of the air with “Lantern’s Might” and Nightwing can change from long range to short range fighting styles with the press of a button. Bottom line: No two characters are exactly the same — not even close.

Not that a fighting game really needs one, Injustice includes a story mode that is a completely original story written by the collaboration of NetherRealms Studios and DC writers. A grand story is told and you fight the battles that occur within it. Moral ambiguity, parallel universes and twisting plots are all here to keep you invested to continue playing. After a handful of fights following one character, you move on to the next until the narrative is finished. The cutscenes are great to watch with some awesome voice acting to boot. Voice actors, Kevin Conroy (Batman), George Newbern (Superman)  and many others lend their talents to the game to bring that level of authenticity only they can bring.

While playing through the story, matches are sewn in seamlessly. Mortal Kombat (2011) did this really well for its story mode and Injustice kept what worked. It does feel that some dialogue was forced in there to have an excuse for characters to have a fight, but I guess it can’t all be perfect. Another returning feature from MK is a mission based mode called S.T.A.R. Labs. Here, a mission is laid out and your job is to complete it. These missions range from dodging certain objects during a match to completing a match in a set amount of time. Each mission varies enough to keep things fresh and there is even some text dialogue thrown in there for some reading material.

Besides standards like Single Match and Training Mode, the last of Injustice‘s single player modes is the classic arcade-style series of fights. In Battles mode, you choose a character and face 10 characters. Nothing groundbreaking, but what is cool is that there are some variations here too. You can choose to fight against heroes or villains only or put a handicap on yourself with starting matches with a quarter of health or have a steady decrease of health with poisoning.

Online mode for Injustice is fully loaded as there are both ranked and player matches, King of the Hill and Survivor modes and the rarely included online Practice mode. Earning experience points to unlock costumes, icons and backgrounds takes place playing online and offline. Online is noticeably laggier than playing locally, but it’s not entirely unplayable. The ranking system is based on a TrueSkill system, so know that losing games will hurt your level — sorry, people used to the Call of Duty system of leveling up.

There are features in the game that subtly show time and care was put into it rather than being included just knock off a tick in a checklist. One of them being the pause menu having instant access to each character’s special moves list. With all new fighting games and new players, every first few matches consists of pausing, scrolling to the moves list option, then checking out the inputs. Playing Injustice makes it easy by making it a one button stop to see the special moves with the option of going into more depth for other moves and combos. Simple but efficient. Another is the inclusion of putting in-depth details about each move, such as start up frames, recovery frames, block advantage and hit advantage. Features that are not necessary, but very much appreciated.

NetherRealms Studios put a wealth of modes and features into Injustice: Gods Among Us to give players the most bang for their buck in a fighting game. Hours can be spent playing alone and even more while playing online. There is an abundance of content to unlock, combos to experiment with and challenges that are seemingly endless. Don’t be fooled — this isn’t a side project just to fill in the gap before the next Mortal Kombat game is released. NetherRealms has put together a fleshed out and epic fighter that is quite possibly better than their flagship series.

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Genre: Fighting
Platform: Reviewed on Xbox 360 (also available on PS3 and PC)
Developer: NetherRealms Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Release Date: April 16, 2013

Rating:

9.0 / 10

The Season Finale of History Channel’s Vikings is here and BuzzFocus was on call with creator and showrunner, Michael Hirst, who also created The Tudors and Camelot, and was an executive producer on The Borgias. He shared with us his thoughts on last week’s episode, “Sacrifice,” tonight’s finale, and Season 2.

Last week’s pivotal episode, “Sacrifice” saw Ragnar and his crew visit Gamla Uppsala to pay sacrifice to the gods. Hirst was asked where the relationship of our main characters goes after Ragnar tried to have Athelstan sacrificed:
Michael Hirst: Strangely  enough there isn’t an immediate fallout from that because one of the things Athelstan will come to understand was that Ragnar wasn’t going to sacrifice him because he hated him or he thought he was disposable. He wanted to sacrifice him because he thought he was worthy as sacrifice; he liked him. It’s one of the strange counterintuitive things about Vikings, for example they liked going into battle so they could die and go into Valhalla. In a curious way, it was a compliment to him that Ragnar wanted to crucify him. Because he was a Christian monk in England, he’s a way for the audience to experience these Viking and Pagan worlds. I slightly identify with him and his story becomes richer and more interesting as we get into the next season. He’s a major character in the show and George Blagden is a great actor and it does him full justice.

While the pillaging and the battles were sure to be a draw for audiences, surprisingly, so has the character of Athelstan and whether or not he embraces Viking culture. Michael, could you explain the anatomy of the scene where Athelstan is asked to renounce his religion, like Peter did with Jesus, and that while he wasn’t ready to renounce, perhaps this scene was the beginning of that change in him:
MH: One of the important things about last week’s episode and the over-arching issue of spirituality on the show is that we don’t know very much about Paganism and how they ritualized. We do know that there was a temple in Uppsala, they had carved figures and priests. But in terms of the ceremonies and the rituals, we don’t know very much so it was a question of doing something that felt right, that felt appropriate, and touched on things that people could relate to.

It’s clear that Christianity borrowed a lot of things from Paganism. I wanted to make that borrowing quite clear and for people to see that. Some of the rituals with the unfolding of the sacrificial weapons had echoes of Catholic liturgy and rituals, and that was deliberate. To echo the question three times was another deliberate attempt for me to connect those times to our own. To connect in people’s minds Paganism with things they might believe now. It’s a very important part of the show. It’s something I’m very keen on myself. You’re right to pick it up and I hope there was some kind of shock on his face that he was asked to renounce three times.

The fact he was holding onto the crucifix after the third time he was asked to renounce, you realize he didn’t reject it. The priest had been right to press him. Three is a magical number; nine is the number of sacrifices they did and nine is magical today and it was magical then.

Hirst on Athelstan’s “sudden” transformation and change in appearance:
MH: (As we discussed) he has not renounced his Christian belief, and nor does he completely well into Season 2. In order to stay alive he has to try fit in with his Viking hosts, so it’s not surprising that he adopts their clothing and grows his hair and so on, but what happens inside is a different matter. If I had rushed that, I would have been guilty of doing something that would’ve been wrong, but I didn’t do that. It’s very modulated, it’s an issue that keeps coming back, it’s a big issue in Season 2 and Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard) always refuses to believe he’s renounced his Christianity. Floki’s a Pagan fundamentalist, if I can describe him as that, and he’s very, very suspicious of Athelstan.

Editor’s Pick: Read how the Vikings invaded Wondercon 2013

The inspiration in creating Vikings:
MH: Most of what little we did know about the Vikings was wrong so I wanted to tell the story from their point of view and to introduce the world this race of people who were amazing, as was their technology and social life. I find them inspirational. They  were assimilated into most western countries so we all know Vikings; we’re all a little bit Vikings ourselves, they’re not foreign people, they’re very close to home.

On the opening credits and the Fever Ray song.
MH: There are so many clichés about the Vikings we wanted to dispense with and really get people thinking in a different way. We knew we were saying something different about the Vikings, that we were going to surprise people. We wanted different music, a different approach, something with a more contemporary edge to it so people didn’t think it was a museum piece. The Fever Ray song, “If I Had a Heart” was chosen by our first Scandanavian director, Johan Renck. Johan’s also one of the world’s foremost music video directors and he knows a lot about music.

We had a great company (Rama Allen directed with The Mill+ and Take 5 Productions) make that credit sequence. We discussed some of the images we wanted and how we were going to do it but one of the joys for me is to be able to work with other creative people at the top of their game and that’s what happened. I never get bored of listening and watching that introduction. You get so much information, emotion and atmosphere in a very, very short sequence. It’s so clever–it’s brilliant.

Rama Allen explained on the Mill+ website:
“The credits were inspired by a folktale found in The Sagas, That of the ‘Nine Sisters’ the goddesses of the waves who would pluck Viking explorers from their ships, and pull them to a sensual, dark and watery grave. The Vikings’ relationship with death was built on honor, inevitability, sex and the constant presence of gods pulsing through every grain of sand and swell of the ocean.”

“Ritual. Supernature. Memory. Visions. Salt. Gold. Smoke. Sex. Metal. Blood. Gods. Fire. Death. Honor. Family and the Sea… are all Viking themes we drew from. To develop the sequence we sought the haunting, ancient, fearsome and visceral part of us. ” 

Michael, we must ask about Donal Logue (Terriers, Sons of Anarchy) joining the cast and his role of King Horik and what his potential is in Season 2?
MH: King Horik is another historically based character who’s a very important character and I was delighted with Donal’s casting. Horik does develop very, very significantly in the new season; he’s a major player. Horik is a complex character who is very difficult to read. Audiences will find him full of contradictions and for me as a writer, that makes him fascinating but he’s entered as a sympathetic character, an ally of Ragnar (Travis Fimmel). Things are going to develop from there. It’s not going to be an easy ride. I promise this is a major character who came onto the scene last week carrying his chicken and he’s going to be a force in the coming season.

Hirst on the Season 1 finale where we are introduced to  Jarl Borg, a man who Ragnar will confront and attempt to settle a matter with, for King Horik:
MH: It’s an inspired piece of casting, he’s played by Thorbjørn Harr, who has real Vikings roots. I knew because of the actual history I was telling, I knew that Horik sent Ragnar to another  land, Gotaland (Part of Sweden today) as an emissary. I needed for him to meet someone interesting and important. Jarl Borg is one of the few characters I completely invented. I couldn’t think of what to call him. My favorite tennis player of all time is Bjorn Borg. Jarl is another word for Earle, so he’s Jarl Borg. There are a lot of unresolved issues with Jarl Borg at the end of episode 9, so like Horik, Borg is very, very important in the second season. He interests me, he’s a complex man, and a lot of things have happened to him and a lot more things will happen to him.

Hirst on Rollo and his plans to betray his brother:
MH: That’s a very big issue in the finale. You can feel for Rollo (Clive Standen) to some extent, but he lives in the shadow of an extremely successful sibling who is becoming increasingly famous. In Viking society, fame and renown were very important.  So you have a guy who is clearly a great warrior, a great fighter and he’s suffering in comparison with his outstandingly gifted brother. He has a lot of unresolved issues, including of course his continuous love for his brother’s wife, Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick). In Viking society, again, family was very, very important. They fought together in the Shield War, they were very close knit and the relationship between Ragnar and Rollo comes to a head in the last episode.

Hirst on writing the finale for season one prior to knowing if Vikings would be renewed.
MH: I didn’t want it to end at season one, we got these great characters up and running and there’s a lot to tell and say about Ragnar, who is of course, a historical character, who had an extraordinary career. There are number of unresolved issues at the end of episode nine, that needed at least another season to resolve and deal with. You can imagine I was extremely happy it was picked up again.

Hirst on writing all of the episodes
MH: I confess that my problems is I can’t delegate. I find it hard to give up material that I’m personally involved with. I wouldn’t mind trying. The idea of giving away my babies away to other people to play with isn’t a great one when I feel able to do the work and feel inspired to do the work. In my head all the characters become close acquaintances of mine  and I love to go to my study in the morning and find out what they’ve been up to and whether they’re going to surprise me. As long as I have strength and health and imagination I want to keep writing, certainly this show. I have no intention of letting anyone get their hands on this show if I can help it. Maybe if we go beyond 10 seasons I might let someone else in on the game.

Teen Titans Go premieres on Cartoon Network tonight, an ostensibly watered-down version of the 2003 series. The familiar voices of Scott Menville (as Robin,) Khary Payton (as Cyborg), Hynden Walsh (as Starfire), Tara Strong (as Raven) and Greg Cipes (as Beast Boy) will remind long-time fans of the Titans’ epic battles against Slade (aka Deathstroke), mixed in with just the right sprinkling of chibi anime humor.

However, familiarity ends with the voices. Teen Titans Go lacks the substance needed to survive in its prime time spot. The pilot has two mini-episodes: “Legendary Sandwich” and “Pie Bros.” There’s no real action, just a few jokes and gags that won’t have you coming back week-to-week for more pedestrian tomfoolery.

In “Legendary Sandwich,” Raven sends the Titans off on a fool’s quest to recover a few mythical sandwich ingredients. Now, she can watch a My Little Pony knock-off cartoon in peace. The cartoon is fun for all of two minutes. Younger audiences may enjoy the humor and vibrant pastel colors. But thee mini-episodes lack the oddities of a SpongeBob and the creative antics of Phineas and Ferb.

“Pie Bros” tries to teach a lesson on friendship, but starts to drift off in an odd direction. At one point, it appears that Cyborg and Beast Boy are engaging in a bit of cannibalism before the misdirect is revealed. It’s more uncomfortable to watch than funny, especially when Beast Boy plucks Robin’s insignia out of his teeth. The episode also throws in an obligatory “bad guy” (or rather bad girl) for no apparent reason.

The characters’ personalities are definitely there, thank you voice cast, but the comedic situations are lacking. The mundane storytelling just doesn’t maintain the consistent wit or playful banter of a series like The Looney Tunes Show.

Of course, first episodes are just that – first episodes. Most series take a while to take off. For fans of previous DC Comics’ series, this show may be difficult to digest at first – much like swallowing a piece of Robin’s costume. Episodes appear to be one-off gag fests, unlike the action-oriented series DC Entertainment typically produces.

Teen Titans Go is better suited for the after-school scheduling block and not during prime time, when young children fight for TV viewing. Perhaps Teen Titans Go! could work in a Saturday morning time slot as well. But after Young Justice got canned, Cartoon Network and Warner Bros Animation probably decided it was best to go with the evening airing. Unfortunately, in both cases, it just seems as though the programming directors don’t get the demographic that either of these cartoons appeal to…

Teen Titans Go! airs Tuesday nights at 7:30PM on Cartoon Network.