What a weekend it’s been. Between Avengers, “Fights of the century”, Free Comic Book Day, the Suicide Squad reveal, and the Batman: Arkham Knight DLC info; some of us didn’t even get a weekend. On the Monday night edition of WGB we’ll talk about some of the tidbits that slipped through the cracks in the last few days such as Star Wars Infinity, and The Last of Us. This week doesn’t show signs of slowing down either as we got a full trailer look at Jason’s appearance in Mortal Kombat X, plus a Legend of Zelda graphic novel hits stores this Wednesday. Let’s Go!
This past Thursday, a retail leak fueled speculation that the upcoming Disney Infinity 3.0 would feature Star Wars characters. The 3.0 set leaked by retailer Saturn shows a set that includes toys based on both Anakin Skywalker and Clone Wars star Ahsoka Tano. No word on when the new 3.0 Infinity game would launch or what systems it would be available for.
Our Thought:
The first Disney Infinity featured characters from classic Disney films while 2.0 brought Marvel characters into the toy box. It seems logical that the next phase of Infinity would feature Star Wars. With the slew of new comics and upcoming movies, every division of the Disney machine should have a way to pry open wallets all over the world. While no official announcements have been made, it seems a safe bet that the new Disney Infinity would follow their incumbents model of releasing on all the major platforms. Over the last year not only has Disney Infinity had to compete with the popular Skylanders game toy franchise, but Nintendo also made a splash in the market with their Amibos. Most recently, Lego announced they would also release their own version of this with Lego Dimensions. All this adds up to Disney Interactive needing to do something huge to gain a hold on market share, which means consumers could see the biggest Infinity line up yet. With gamings biggest week, E3, right around the corner you can expect the official word to come sooner rather than later.
The Last of Us: Left Behind, the single player downloadable add-on chapter to developer Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed PlayStation game, The Last of Us, was released more than a year ago. Since then the PS3 classic has seen a full 1080p remastered edition bundled for the PS4, now the DLC chapter comes standalone and will be available on both PS4 and PS3 starting May 12th for only $9.99. Left Behind is the story of Ellie and her best friend Riley as they sneak out to an abandoned mall to enjoy their last night together. It also touches on a key battle for Ellie not seen in the main story campaign that takes place right before you briefly play as her in the Winter.
Those who purchase the standalone version of Left Behind will also get a two hour trial of the factions multiplayer mode.
Our Thought:
Yes, most of you who’ve owned or currently own a PS3/4 have already played The Last of Us and most likely its DLC chapter. However, there are quite a few gamers out there who may have been caught in the next-gen transition that didn’t want to pay another $49.99 for the remastered edition just to play the DLC. This move seems to be geared toward that part of the audience. If you haven’t played either of the games, you’re missing out on one this generations best stories. Left Behind especially makes a bold stand for diversity with its characters not only as female protagonists, but as voices for young teens who might be struggling with their own identities.
If you want to go even deeper into the world of TLOU, then check out the Dark Horse Comics published companion series, The Last of Us: American Dreams. The book was written by the game’s mastermind himself, Neil Druckmann in collaboration with the incredible Faith Erin Hicks. You can find it in shops and online.
We’ve known for months now that Mortal Kombat X‘s Kombat Pack downloadable content would include the Predator and horror film icon Jason Vorhees. Now more has been revealed about Jason’s appearance including all three of his style variations players can choose before the fight.
- Slasher: The character goes classic white mask and uses the machete to slash the sternums of his opponents. Lots of bloodshed.
- Relentless: This variation changes his mask chrome and uses barehanded attacks. The quirk about this mode is that it also comes with the ability to flip an opponents block buttons and teleportation.
- Unstopabble: Just as the name would suggest. Jason is able to regenerate health and power up his attacks.
Players who purchased the Kombat Pack will be able to download the character starting tomorrow. If you don’t own the Kombat pack you’ll have to wait until May 12 to purchase the Jason pack for $8 which also includes the “horror pack” skins for Melina, Ermac, and Reptile.
Our Thought:
MKX has been a great time for gamers. I’ve yet to complete the classic towers with every character. Now the addition of the movie franchise characters we were teased gives me more reason to dive back into combat. Monday’s Netherrealm live stream (archived here) also teased what we’ll see when the Predator comes to the game. Some out there might think having these licensed characters might be cheeky, but they don’t have any real barring on the MKX story. They’re just there for a cheap pop and there’s sure to be more incoming fighters from previous Mortal Kombat games, maybe even a DC Villain.
Mortal Kombat X is available now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC with Ps3 and Xbox 360 versions to launch this Summer.
Monday also marked “May the fourth be with you” a holiday for lovers of Star Wars. To celebrate EA and DICE posted a look at the planet Sullust in the upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront game. The game’s developer, DICE, traveled to Iceland to base an unexplored planet in the legendary sci-fi series’ mythos. In their chronicles which you can view on the game’s site, fans will see the developers travel to locations used in the original film for planets such as Endor.
Our Thought:
For anyone who looked at the game’s trailer during Star Wars celebration and said it’s nothing special, take in to account just how much detail DICE is stretching to put into this game. Star Wars: Battlefront is poised to become the new standard by which all future Star Wars games will be measured. You know, as long as they don’t include the prequels.
Star Wars: Battlefront will come to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 17, 2015.
Before we get to this Wednesday’s new comic releases. I wanted to mention that The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past graphic novel will be in stores. Originally published as a 12-issue comic in Nintendo Power magazine, this reprinting captures the original story by Shotaro Ishinomori as it was told back in the 90’s.
Our Thought:
We’ve read it and it’s a must have for any Zelda fans. When I first read the Shotaro Ishinomori story in Nintendo Power, I couldn’t appreciate just how spot on this tale nails some of my favorite characters of the game. It pays tribute to Zelda’s core themes of adventure and good versus evil, plus it’s pretty damn gorgeous.
Gaming comics in stores 5/6/15
Tabletop RPG News: Cubicle 7 has announced that the newest version of LONE WOLF, THE LONE WOLF ADVENTURE GAME, will become available for pre-order this week.
As a Tolkien fan, I am also glad to hear that RUINS OF THE NORTH, an adventure supplement for THE ONE RING ROLEPLAYING GAME (also from C7), will ship very soon.
The Cubicle 7 website: http://www.cubicle7.co.uk/
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