The dynamically geeky duo known as Corridor Digital have unleashed their latest video upon the world, and it is the definition of awesome. It’s called “Art of the Instakill,” and it features eight lethal showdowns, quick-cut style, between many of your favorite video game protagonists.

Be warned: if you’re opposed to realistic depictions of blood and gore, this video is not for you.

Master Chief. James Bond. Commander Shepard. If you consider yourself a serious gamer, then you should recognize every character in this two-minute video. All of these parts are played by Niko and Sam of Corridor Digital, in what seems to be a game of quick-fire one-upmanship. You’ll never guess who wins.

I don’t know much about these two guys, but I can tell you they have mad film skills. Their editing and visual effects are particularly impressive. Whatever they come up with next, I’ll be watching.

Well, Free Comic Book Day has been and gone again, but it’s taken me a while to read through my stash from the day. As ever, the greatest treat I had left buried at the bottom of the pile.

Of course, I have always come to expect good things from Boom!, and as regular readers of this column know that it seems the team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, commonly known (among geeks) as DnA, rarely if ever fail to deliver excellent product.

So it goes with the teaser issue of The Hypernaturals. Establishing the framework of this new world, we are introduced to a super-team that has lasted for a hundred years, replaced periodically with a whole new crop of members; while humanity has spread across the stars and formed a galactic civilisation.

The newest team have departed on their first mission, and as one can imagine, it does not go well. In a media-oriented society, as the Hypernatural veterans gather they barely get a chance to determine what has happened to the recent recruits.

To tell you more than this would be to spoil the story, but can I just note that the personality of many of the characters show through immediately (although I also hope that they each contain some surprises), and despite the heavy presence of obvious back-story, the reader is drowned in it, but merely given enough to understand what is going on and invited to imagine the remainder. As like all great writers, Dan and Andy give us enough to kick-start our imaginations, and leave the rest of the work to us.

The art of Brad Walker and Tom Derrenick is crisp and clear, presently a beautifully sanitised vision of the future yet making it all seem so very normal. (Well, as normal as skin-tight clad metahumans in a sci-fi environment can be!) What really struck me was the continuation of cable news and annoying phones, even if both are now composed of holograms.

This is a series I eagerly await, and what better way to introduce it to the world than the FCBD?

Looking towards today, I am forced by cosmic law beyond my control to point out that it’s Fantastic Four day again!

ROBOTS

It’s called the Robots t-shirt, and it is designed by Dov Torbin of Comic Strip Tees. The site is Dov’s baby, where he posts a new t-shirt featuring a design by a cartoonist every week. The t-shirts are sold for 7 days and are limited edition. That means your chances of running into someone wearing the same shirt are slim!

More than selling t-shirts, Comic Strip Tees is all about giving back to the comic community. Actually, every time a t-shirt is sold, part of the proceeds go straight to the cartoonist.

If you can’t get enough of your comics, why don’t you support the guys? And to get things going, we have teamed up with Dov himself to spread the word about Comic Strip Tees. One of you guys will receive a free Comic Strip Tees t-shirt of your choice if you join our contest for this week. All you need to do is follow the steps below.

Before that though, you might want to visit Comic Strip Tees on Facebook and like their page. For other designs, check out the main web site – Comic Strip Tees.

Step 1: Copy & paste the following, and then tweet it:

I want to win a free t-shirt from @geekforever and @comicstriptees! Enter here: http://spla.us/KNB4nQ

Step 2: Leave us a comment on this page (below) to let us know you tweeted, and paste the link to your Tweet in your comment. (Note that our comments are moderated, so your comment may not show up immediately after you click the “Post Comment” button.)

You can enter the contest once a day between now and Friday!

The winner will be selected at random from the commenters on or around 10:00 pm EST on Friday, May 18. The winner will be notified via Twitter, after which we’ll give you the contact e-mail for Dov so he can send you your t-shirt. Don’t forget to thank him if you win!

When J.J. Abrams launches a new TV show, we are there. Because we’re geeks, and Abrams is a major player in the geek pantheon. This Fall, he’s bringing Revolution to NBC, and this four-minute trailer is your first look at it.

I’ve grown disillusioned with network TV lately. Sure, you’ve got brilliant pieces of genre storytelling like Fringe, always taking chances and pushing its characters into new, unexplored territory, while telling a much larger story over the course of a season. But they’re few and far between. Most genre shows on broadcast networks fizzle out, their audiences losing interest fast, because network execs or even the showrunners themselves simply refuse to believe that modern audiences want to engage their brains enough to follow a serialized story week after week. Or, just as bad, the weekly episodes meander about, telling little one-off stories, until the season finale hits and the big, game-changing story happens. That’s not good storytelling — it’s just leading the viewer on. Why must we wait all season long for the good stuff? (See: Terra Nova, Alcatraz, The River, and on and on.)

No, cable TV is where it’s at. On cable, you’ve got The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, American Horror Story, Homeland, Spartacus… Shows that aren’t afraid to take chances, shows that assume their audience is actually (gasp!) paying attention. But I digress.

On broadcast TV, J.J. Abrams is one of the few media moguls whose shows are actually worth watching. He’s got hits like Alias, Lost, Fringe, and Person of Interest under his belt. His record’s not exactly spotless — he also has failures like Undercovers and Alcatraz on his resume. But we know he’s capable of greatness, so we always tune in to see what he’s got up his sleeve.

This time, he’s producing a show created by Eric Kripke, the creator of Supernatural, with a pilot directed by Jon Favreau, the director of Iron Man. The premise is one of those compellingly simple ideas: what happens if every form of power in the world suddenly stopped working? From electricity to car engines, everything goes off in an instant, its effects lasting (seemingly) forever. Planes fall out of the sky, hospitals have to close up shop, and perhaps most impactful of all: no more communication. No phones, no computers, no Internet, no radio, no TV, no… nothing.

Revolution begins by depicting the moment when everything goes off, and then jumps forward 15 years, to show us the dramatic effects this change has had. Sunlight and fire are the only sources of illumination. Cities have been reclaimed by nature. Governments have fallen. Life in general has slowed waaaaay down. Which might not necessarily be a bad thing.

No sooner do we find out that the most anticipated game of the year — BioShock Infinite — has been delayed to 2013, than we get hit with another blow. Go ahead and scratch Tomb Raider off the 2012 release list, too.

Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher announced on the Eidos forums that the hotly-anticipated reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise, originally targeted for this Fall’s (admittedly crowded) release calendar, has been delayed. Now, fans who can’t wait to guide Lara through her dark, survivalist adventure will have to wait until Q1 2013.

Gallagher’s stated reasons for delaying echo those of BioShock‘s Ken Levine: “We truly believe we have something very special on our hands… Our priority is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game.” In other words, they’re adding some additional coats of polish, shaping and honing the game to perfection. Unlike BioShock Infinite, Crystal Dynamics and its publisher Square Enix are still planning to show Tomb Raider at E3 next month.

As I said last week, I’m sure this extra bit of effort will result in a superior game. And it’s not that I’m not willing to wait for a better game. I’d much rather play a game that’s the best it can possibly be, than play a game right now that could have been better. In the end, I’m sure this is the smart move for Tomb Raider.

But the excruciatingly long wait for a game that looks this amazing… just bites.

Chocolate Brain

This guy, Andy Mills, made a pretty cool brain using, of all things, chocolate! Then again, if you think about it, chocolate has been molded into practically all sorts of stuff, so a chocolate brain isn’t all that novel.

What makes this chocolate brain a tad cooler is that it is actually modeled from an MRI scan. So yes, it is an accurate representation of what controls the human body. Andy Mills had his brain MRI scanned, and the guys at Inition decided to use the copy of the scan to make a chocolate brain. According to their post, the steps are pretty straightforward.

• Converting sliced DICOM data into the STL file format (a 3D geometry format widely used for 3D printing)
• Editing that model to clean up
• 3D printing a solid model
• Producing a latex mould
• Finally casting the chocolate and eating

And in case you are not sure how to eat brains, albeit made of chocolate, here is a video that will how you how.

Although I am a rather squeamish person, I do not think I would mind biting into my own brain if I had the chance to make a chocolate model! What about you? Cool or not?

I knew it! Traveler’s Tales, Warner Bros., and LEGO are teaming up once again to produce another LEGO video game based on a major Hollywood property. They’ve done Star Wars, they’ve done Harry Potter, they’ve done Indiana Jones, and even Pirates of the Caribbean. There’s just no way they weren’t going to do LEGO Lord of the Rings.

We’ve been following LEGO’s development of Lord of the Rings building sets since the popular building-block manufacturer acquired the Tolkien license sometime last year (in anticipation of Peter Jackson’s forthcoming The Hobbit movies). And all that time, absolutely everybody thought it was a total no-brainer that LEGO would ask their partner company Traveler’s Tales to work their magic on the Lord of the Rings movies.

So the news may not be surprising, but man is it exciting!

The scoop comes from TheOneRing.net, where one of their writers was recently prepping for an early review of the “Shelob Attacks” playset, in advance of the new toy line’s release (still a few weeks away, but you can find them in some stores already if you look hard enough). The writer opened the set and found a teaser image for the LEGO The Lord of the Rings video game in the back of the instruction book, confirming what everyone suspected. Above is a photo of the teaser graphic (I retooled it a bit with my mad Photoshop skills).

Over the weekend, there was also a leaked product listing page found at European retailer ShopTo.net, which lists the game as having an October 26th release date. Although this may merely be a guess on ShopTo’s part. The image found by TheOneRing reveals that the game is, unsurprisingly, being made for nearly all the major consoles: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and 3DS. Conspicuously missing is PS Vita.

E3 is just a few weeks away, so it’s likely that Warner Bros. Interactive is waiting to officially announce the game there — where we should get our first look at screenshots, a trailer, and the first details about the game. If Traveler’s Tales holds true to form, then the game’s levels should be split into three chapters — one for each movie in the trilogy — with about six levels in each chapter. Traveler’s Tales loves to throw in extras, too, like special hidden levels, so there should be plenty of that as well. Then, about a year later (to coincide with the release of the second The Hobbit film), we’ll probably see a LEGO Hobbit game, too.

It’s a good time to be a LEGO fan!

Most people know that anime has an uncanny ability to make just about anything cute. This is most apparent with female characters, where just about any girl can turned into a beauty once she’s animefied or mangafied. There are some other things that anime can make cute though, and the series airing this season make that more than obvious.

Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos

Nyarlathotep is a deity from H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional universe, Cthulhu Mythos. It has thousands of different forms, but commonly appears as a tall man who resembles an Egyptian Pharaoh. Its other forms are supposedly terrifying. As Nyarlathotep’s nickname suggests, it likes to cause chaos and relishes in torturing people using deception and manipulation. The anime Haiyore! Nyaruko-san has turned Nyarlathotep into a silver-haired teenage girl with a screw loose in her head.

Drooling

When you see someone drooling, you normally wouldn’t think that they look cute. Nazo no Kanojo X (Mysterious Girlfriend X) is about Mikoto, a girl that produces unsightly amounts of drool, and her drool-loving boyfriend, Akira. I thought I had seen it all, but I never would have thought anyone would make an anime about drool.

Zombies

Recently, zombies have become relatively common in popular media, and I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t know what they are. The characteristics of the undead are pretty much set in stone – they are mindless, rotting corpses that are out for human flesh and brains. Sankarea turns the definition of a zombie upside-down. Who would ever imagine having a teenage zombie that is the very definition of beauty end up living with a boy and asking him to show her what it’s like to be a regular girl. Well, I guess that’s not too much of a stretch for anime.

Japanese Heroes

The legends of Japan’s Warring States era were battle-hardened murderers that wouldn’t even flinch at slicing a man or two in half. Oda Nobunaga is probably the most famous warrior in Japanese history, having helped unify the country after countless battles. In Sengoku Collection, Oda Nobunaga and a slew of other historical figures are cute girls who have been transported to the future.

Firearms

We normally think of guns as killing machines made of cold steel. The creators of Upotte!! had something else in mind, high school girls. In this anime, guns interact with each other just like any human and also have emotions. You wouldn’t want to get on the bad side of a gun though.

Alduin Dragon Cake

Here’s a close look at Alduin the World Eater dragon cake.

Alduin Dragon Cake Up Close and Personal

Look at the detail on those wings.

Alduin Dragon Cake Wings

I started making it using photos I found on the internet. Later, when we purchased the set, I realized that my pretty birdy was getting way too big, almost twice the size of the statue. To make the whole thing proportional, I had to scale up the size of the cake itself. It was made of four 13″x18″ sheets of chocolate cake, soaked in strawberry syrup, and sandwiched with bittersweet strawberry ganache (5 lbs of chocolate). Alduin’s core is made of modeling chocolate. His scales, horns, and spikes are made from gum paste. The double-sided wings are half-and-half (fondant/gum paste). His eyes are Swarovsky crystals.

Swarovsky crystals, no less! I do love how they glow, don’t you? And if you look closely below, you will see an inscription on the stone. That’s dragonspeak for “Happy Birthday Tim”. It really doesn’t get much better than this for a little kid!

Alduin Dragon Cake Front

So that video game for The Avengers we’ve been waiting to hear about? It’s not a movie tie-in (which is probably a good thing), and it’s only for Kinect and Wii U. Meh-heh?

Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth marks the comic book publisher’s first partnership with Ubisoft, The motion-controlled game will star Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and sixteen of their fellow Avengers in a storyline based on the comic book’s Secret Invasion miniseries from a few years ago. Secret Invasion was about the alien, shape-shifting Skrulls, who had infiltrated major parts of society by taking the place of specific heroes, villains, military, and governmental figures.

It doesn’t look like this game has any relationship to the leaked in-game footage that was found online last year; that game is believed to be part of a cancelled THQ game. Xbox 360 + Kinect and Nintendo’s forthcoming Wii U console are the only two platforms the game is being made for. Which begs the question: where’s the PlayStation love? Why will Battle for Earth work with Kinect and Wii U but not PS Move?

Ubisoft hasn’t set a release date yet, but they’ve promised to show off the game and reveal more details at E3 next month. They also said that the game will be disc-based, and not downloadable.

Well, maybe not firsthand encounters for most of us, but vicarious experiences can be almost as fun. Some time ago, I found myself drooling over a meteorite sword. Not just anyone’s sword, mind you. It’s Terry Prachett‘s sword. As they say, though, make love, not war; and what is a sword if not an instrument of war? Why not go the opposite way and create something that emanates peace and love? How about a wedding ring made of meteorite?¹

This guy has just won THE prize. For what exactly, you can give it your own label, but seriously, after hand-forging his wedding ring out of a chunk of meteorite, he deserves an award. DIY wedding ring. He posted his work on Reddit, starting with this huge piece of rock, which obviously needed some sawing and hacking.

Meteorite Chunk

Heating Meteorite Chunk

Meteorite Bar

Meteorite Slabs

Glowing Meteorite Ring

Meteorite Wedding Ring

Via

1. Then again, a wedding ring might very well be the harbinger of war.

Sad-with-a-silver-lining news for fans of the most-anticipated game of the Fall: BioShock Infinite has been pushed back to March 2013. What’s the silver lining? Read on.

According to Irrational Games’ creative director and BioShock Infinite designer Ken Levine, the original release date of October 2012 was something they “felt pretty good about,” at least at first. But in the time since that date was announced, they’ve decided that the game can be even better than it already is with “some specific tweaks and improvements.” We’ll likely never know what those things are, but it means that in the end, a potentially great game is being given every chance to be brilliant.

BioShock Infinite‘s release date has been pushed ahead by four months to February 26, 2013. Levine went on to say that the original BioShock experienced a similar delay at the end of its development cycle, so Irrational could improve game aspects like the Big Daddies, and the “grimy” textures of Rapture. Likewise, this time Irrational isn’t willing to settle for anything but perfection.

Levine also says that BioShock Infinite won’t be shown at E3 or Gamescom this year — news that’s sure to bum out attendees. Irrational made the decision to pull back from the Summer expos because “preparing for these events takes time away from [game] development.”

While all this stuff means Infinite should more than live up to gamers’ already-high expectations… it still sucks for those of us dying to get our hands on the game. I really don’t begrudge Irrational their desire to raise the bar of excellence with their next big game. Not one bit. You can’t rush genius, and I’d rather the game was perfect rather than timely.

I just hate waiting! I know this game is going to be fantastic and I need to play it. Now!

All the flash and glory we expect from the original(?) heroes!

Any regular readers of this column will know that I am passionate about the DC Multiverse, and it was with great joy that I opened the pages of last weeks Earth 2#1.

It was not what I expected.

I had hoped that we would be seeing the Justice League Infinity, as seen in in the JSA’s Kingdom storyline of a few years back; a world that continued the lives of the pre-Crisis Earth-2 cast; but it was not to be.

Strangely enough, I was not disappointed. Of course, being written by James Robinson, one expects a carefully woven classic, drawing upon traditional themes and obscure references from seven decades of comics’ history. A piece of graphic literature that will draw in both the new fan with its elegance and long term fans by its depth of continuity.

That is not what I found. Not at all.

That is not to say that I was at all disappointed. (Well, maybe a little, I wanted to see Justice Society Infinity soooooo bad!) But what I found was an action packed story, telling of a devastating attack on humanity by the forces of Apokalips five years ago, in which the DC Trinity gave their lives defending the planet.

So, from word go, as in the Justice League, we see the establishment of Darkseid as the premier villain; the really big bad. Additionally, we now know that the Flashpoint has affected the entire multiverse, as there is no sign of the JSI at all.

I wonder where that leaves Grant Morisson’s Multiverse, which was announced long before the New 52?

Yet the attack of Apokalips is not the only reference to the Fourth World. In fact, one could say that this of Earth -2 incarnation is the Fourth World. A Fourth World at the very least.

We are all familiar with the original Earth-2, the original DC Comics/National Comics issues before the late Fifties and the assault on the industry by psychiatrist Dr Fredric Wertham with his publication of The Seduction Of The Innocent.

Then came the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

But good villains never die, and with the demise of Earth-3, the Crime Syndicate of America needed a home. Thus we saw for the first time the Earth of the anti-matter universe; a world of polar opposites.

Then came the rebirth of the multiverse in the pages of Infinite Crisis, and later we saw Earth-2 again in all of its splendour, if only far too briefly.

Now, with the New 52, we have a whole new world to play with. The only thing that I will say has carried through is that great sense of ‘epic’ respect, well known to all of Mr Robinson’s fans. We know this new Earth-2 will be safe in his hands, and we older comic geeks will examine every page for the slightest hint of the original Earth-2.

If you have yet to be sold on the notion of the New 52 (and I’m slowly coming around. Begrudgingly, admittedly, but I’m getting there,) then try this title on for size. I imagine there may still be a few issues hanging around.

Addendum:

I suppose really, this is the Fifth World, as we saw the multiverse rebuilt in Final Crisis by Superman and the Miracle Machine, after the multiverse collapsed into a singularity with Darkseid’s prior death, now wiped away by the Flashpoint. Quickest retcon, ever!

Still, nobody even had the chance to talk about that, did we?

Today, it is but apt to pay tribute to the creator of the picture book that has become embedded in many people’s lives. Maurice Sendak, artist and writer, passed away on Tuesday after having had a stroke several days before. He was 83 years old.

Most of us may not have the talent and skill Maurice Sendak had, so let’s settle for the work of another renowned cartoonist: Art Spiegelman. For those of you who may not know him, Spiegelman is well known for his graphic novel “Maus”, which won a Pulitzer Prize. He is also involved in numerous other activities, not the least of which is contributing editor to The New Yorker.

So what do we get when Art Spiegelman takes on Maurice Sendak? Something that will either outrage you, or make you feel sad about the latter’s passing away. Enjoy the short read!

In the Dumps

“Kid books…grown up books…That’s just marketing. Books are books.” Priceless!

Via Blown Covers

Do you remember the days when making sure that you had the latest version of your PC anti-virus software was a priority? These days, if you own a PC, that should not be a strange concept. However, if you own an Apple computer, you might not be “bothered” about protecting your device.

Then there’s the gamut of electronic devices that many people use on a daily basis. Mobile phones and tablets are only a couple of the gadgets that we rely on for our daily flow. The chance are that you have several devices with you all the time.

Have you paid any attention to protecting them against cyberattacks?

There is no doubt about it – even Macs are not completely immune against unscrupulous entities prowling the the Net. One small slip, and you just might regret not ensuring the protection of your devices.

You may think that you have nothing to hide anyway, but what about sensitive information? If you do online banking, whether on your laptop, your phone, or your tablet, you know very well that you wouldn’t want others to get their hands on your details. Then there is online shopping. The list goes on and on, but the bottom line is to make sure that you are adequately protected.

Whatever operating system you are using, whatever your go-to device is, it is a smart thing to take a look at protection, isn’t it?

If you’re like me, you’re addicted to your smartphone, tablet, maybe even your laptop. What is your best tip for keeping all of your devices protected? Comment below and you’ll be entered to win a $400 Amazon gift card from Kaspersky Lab.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kaspersky Lab. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

Classic PC sandbox/racing game — you remember, the one where you got extra points for running down pedestrians? — Carmageddon, is back. Well, maybe. If developer Stainless Games can get enough Kickstarter supporters to back the project.

If Kickstarter users pledge at least $400,000 in support (at the time of this writing, they’re up to 10% of that goal), Stainless Games will reboot the anarchy-centric game with a new title called Carmageddon: Reincarnation. Stainless chose to go the Kickstarter route with this reboot after all the controversy they endured back in the late 90s for the darker aspects of the game. Crowd-sourcing the game’s funding means that the developers will have complete control of the product, and not have to meet anybody’s standards. It’s a good example of what Kickstarter does best — you get to vote for something’s worth with your wallet. If the game gets made, Stainless Games promises to “stay true to Carmageddon’s roots while adding a ton more over-the-top, outrageous content” with Reincarnation.

A $15 pledge gets you a copy of the game, which will be distributed via digital download on Steam (because it’s what all the cool kids are doing). One of the most enticing support levels is the $1,000 pledge, for which Stainless will insert a custom skin of you into the game as one of the many pedestrians players can run over.

Stainless Games hopes to deliver the finished game by February 2013.

Coolness! Visual effects house Method Studios created the “main-on-end” title sequence that plays immediately after The Avengers ends (but right before the much-discussed prologue). And they’ve posted their work online, in its entirety, so you can truly appreciate their painstaking attention to detail. (Note: this post contains no spoilers.)

Set to the sweeping, heroic score of Alan Silvestri (a guy who knows a thing or two about epic music — quick, hum his theme from Back to the Future), Method Studios created this incredible end title sequence entirely in their computers. It’s also rendered in 3D, though you can only see that version in theaters.

The main-on-end title sequence shows off the various superheroes’ weapons, gadgets, and gear, in what Method calls “macroscopic detail,” which was shown to “identify the scars of combat.” You can see Captain America’s shield, Iron Man’s helmet, Thor’s hammer, and more, up close and with significantly greater detail than they’re ever shown in the movie. Method Studios’ virtual cameras weave and flow through this virtual space smoothly, panning and zooming with complex lighting and focus effects.

Marvel supplied Method with props from the film, which the animators recreated by hand for this two-minute sequence. Method also created the original font they then used in the main title that appears near the beginning of the movie.

Head over to methodstudios.com to watch the entire sequence online, where you can pause and gawk to your heart’s content.

Guess what I just saw on Reddit? Avengers nail polish, of all things! I suppose that it is not a novel idea, especially since a simple search on Google gave me countless results on Avengers nail polish. However, many of them were not as good as the one on Reddit, which you can see below.¹

Avengers Nail Polish

Here’s another set that I found at Nails Beatiqued.

Avengers Nail Polish - Colors

Last is this set from When Geeks Wed. The work does not seem too polished, but the faces are rather recognizable as well.

Here’s the best thing, if you really want to see for yourself how to make your nails stand out. The girl who does this is amazing!

1. Source: Reddit

Oh, Ubisoft. You big ol’ tease, you.

Having enjoyed loads of viral success with past Assassin’s Creed marketing campaigns, it’s no surprise that Ubisoft is kicking up the PR dust by once again asking fans to take part in spreading the word  by helping to “unlock” the new game’s latest trailer.

Sure… Make us do everything…

Assassin’s Creed III‘s new protagonist Connor Kenway ain’t no smooth-talking Italian playboy. This dude is a full-on hunter/killer, capable of stalking from the shadows and striking with lethal precision.

At least, that’s the impression one gets from watching this way-too-short teaser for the game’s new trailer, which promises to show off actual game footage for the first time. (The first trailer was an entirely CGI affair.) You may also note a little splash-screen near the beginning for “AnvilNext,” Ubisoft’s next-gen iteration of the Anvil game engine that all of the Assassin’s Creed games have been built on.

To help unlock the full trailer, there are several of hoops we mindless monkeys have to jump through — all of which can be found over at this Facebook page. From there, you can share, tweet, and post, so Ubisoft will hand over the full-length video. It’s all kind of silly, really, since we all know Ubisoft is going to release the full trailer whether you and I help out or not. All we can really contribute is bringing it about a little faster.

Which… actually… sounds like a pretty good idea. I mean, have you watched the teaser yet? How can you not want to see the whole thing right now?

Okay, okay, fine. Ubisoft’s PR department is filled with evil geniuses and we’re all I mean, I am a willing slave to their marketing mojo. Satisfied?

Now can you just help me out and go do the Facebook thing?

It’s worth noting that in selecting these, I tried to stick to infographics that address the movie, not just the comics. Click on any image to view the full-size version.

Reportedly, this one is based on a poll conducted via Twitter. It’s one of my favorites, because the character trait makeups of each superhero is fascinating, and pretty much spot-on. [Infographic source]

This nicely done poster takes “show, don’t tell” to new heights, thanks to a maximum of visuals and almost no text. [Infographic source]

The text on this handy-dandy timeline of Marvel’s shared-universe films is a little hard to make out, even at its maximum size. Fortunately, its creator posted all of the text at the source link, for your reading pleasure. [Infographic source]

Print publication The National Post published this in a recent edition, but the company was kind enough to put it online as well. [Infographic source]

This smart, colorful infographic traces the history of Marvel’s films with an eye toward all of the major events that lead into The Avengers. [Infographic source]

I’m not sure if I’m less confused or more after reading over this flow chart that diagrams the connections between Marvel’s movie characters. (Conclusion: everything revolves around Coulson.) [Infographic source]

The Boston Globe ran this impressive fold-out centerpiece a little over a week ago in their print edition. I’m kinda bummed that the full-size image isn’t quite big enough to make out all of the smallest bits of text, but it was too cool and elaborate not to include. (If anyone has a larger, more legible version of the image, please let us know.) [Infographic source]

LEGO Harry Potter for the iPad

In any case, the new LEGO Harry Potter app is out, and it promises a much better gaming experience, complete with lessons, casting spells, and duelling. The game is based on the last three books of the series (or, the last four movies of the franchise). For sure, you will still enjoy your “stay” at Hogwarts, with the plus of having the chance to face Voldemort in battle. Isn’t that every Potterhead’s dream?

You can play with spells, of course. (No need to look silly waving your pretend wand in the air. Just play the game.)

LEGO Harry Potter Spells

You can also test your skills in duels.

LEGO Harry Potter Duel

As with many iOS games, you can check the leaderboards to see where you stand. A little competition never hurt anybody after all.

I am not a big Harry Potter fan, and while I did follow the books and movies, I am not sure if I will shell out $4.99 for this game. If you have no second thoughts, though, check out LEGO Harry Potter.

Anime fans show their love an appreciation for anime in different ways, ranging from creating AMVs to cosplay and fandubbing. Something you don’t see very often (if ever), is anime rap, because honestly, who watches anime and can rap? Richie Branson, that’s who. A rising internet sensation that writes, mixes, and produces is own music, Richie raps about an anime every Tuesday in a segment called #OtakuTuesdays. He has already rapped about Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop, Initial D, and Gurren Lagann.

Admittedly, when I first heard about anime rap, I thought it was a cool idea, but that it probably wouldn’t sound very good. After listening to Richie’s work, I’ve come to change my mind. Now he’s no Jay-Z or Kanye West (yet), but his music is good. If you don’t believe me, you can listen to it yourself by checking out his Youtube channel or one of the videos below.

Richie is always open to suggestions for new anime to rap about, and if you have one, simply contact him on his website.

The trailer showed us an elderly, retired Sgt. Frank Woods warning an off-camera Black Ops agent about the dire situation described above. Inter-cut with scenes of frantic urban action in Los Angeles (and probably some other places, too), Woods gives his unseen, younger counterpart a dire pep talk, reminding him that innocent lives are about to be lost unless the Black Ops soldiers get in there and do what they do best.

The premise sounds promising, but am I the only one sensing a disconnect with this? The future seems like the natural next step for the Call of Duty franchise. They’ve already covered pretty much every major war of the 20th Century, after all. The notion of a futurized Call of Duty is a strong enough idea on its own. Why did they need to tie it in with the Black Ops brand and characters? It’s almost like they thought a second Black Ops or a Future Warfare installment weren’t enticing enough notions on their own, so they mashed ‘em up to maximize player interest.

It’s a long wait until November. In the meantime, pore over these screenshots for every last detail there is to be gleaned from them. Click on an image to make it bigger.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II screenshot

Call of Duty: Black Ops II screenshot

Call of Duty: Black Ops II screenshot

Call of Duty: Black Ops II screenshot

Call of Duty: Black Ops II screenshot

Call of Duty: Black Ops II screenshot

On the other hand, asteroids can be valuable resources. Think of asteroids in StarCraft. Think of whichever science fiction story you like most. Chances are asteroids play a positive role. Heck, you can even use asteroids to hide from enemies!

Kidding aside, the days of asteroid mining as a figment of science fiction might just be at an end. A recent CNET article actually features a new company called Planetary Resources. This company is headed (and founded) by Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson, and their aim is to augment Earth’s natural resources by exploring resources to be found in space. And thus, asteroid mining becomes all too possible!

To get a clearer idea of just what benefits we can garner from asteroid mining, check out this infographic titled “The Space Economy: A Modern Day Gold Rush”, infographic design courtesy of Infographic Labs.


The image shows the rich potential of asteroids. For one, these space rocks have a “near-infinite supply of precious resources”. Think platinum. They say that an asteroid just might have more platinum group metals than what has been mined on Earth. Ever. No wonder dollar signs are popping up in everyone’s (who’s involved) eyes.

Some asteroids also contain water. H20. Agua. That thing that we absolutely cannot live without, especially if you live in a tropical country like I do. According to the infographic, one water-rich asteroid might be enough to fuel every rocket that has been launched.

Yup, the potential is huge, maybe even beyond the imagination of our greatest science fiction authors. Or maybe not.

Click on the image above to see the infographic in its full glory!

1. Screwed: Big Bang Theory

Game Informer has just unveiled their June cover story, and it’s one of their biggest exclusives ever: the announcement of The Elder Scrolls Online. The Tamriel-set MMO has been rumored to exist for ages, but today it became official.

Set one thousand years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the new MMO pits players against daedric prince Molag Bal, who wants to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm. Developed by Zenimax Online Studios, The Elder Scrolls Online brings the franchise’s rich mythology and exploration aspects into a persistent online setting, where players can team up to taken on Molag Bal’s forces, or go head-to-head in PvP battles.

Zenimax Online’s Matt Firor heads up the development team behind the new game. Firor is an MMO veteran best known for Dark Age of Camelot, which he produced.

Game Informer and Zenimax aren’t saying much else about the game at this point, preferring to dole out information slowly over the next month, both in the pages of the print magazine, and over at Game Informer‘s website. They promise to post the first teaser trailer and screenshot for the game tomorrow.

The Elder Scrolls Online is currently penciled in for a 2013 release date. It’s being made for both PC and Mac computers.