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We talk about why Batman: Arkham Knight was our 2015 GOTY.

Today over on the WB Games Community forums the remainder of Batman: Arkham Knight‘s downloadable content rollout was announced. In addition to new story episodes featuring Robin and a slew of Batman’s villains it was also mentioned that the Catwoman episode originally set for October is delayed to November. The troubled PC version of the game […]

New Arkham Knight DLC drops today to help season pass holders chip away at that feeling of throwing away $40

Batman Arkham Knight releases more DLC, but even a song from Prince couldn't make it bearable.

Warner Bros. gives details on what Arkham Knight owners can add in August.

1989 Movie Batmobile Pack: Battle through the streets of Gotham City with this pack that includes the Batman skin and Batmobile from the 1989 Batman film, as well as two tracks inspired by the film’s sequel.
The Bat-family Skins Pack: Included in this pack are six character skins based on the alternate timelines – – 1990s Catwoman, One Year Later Robin, Arkham Origins Batman, Iconic Grey & Black Batman, 1970s Batman and the Original Arkham Nightwing.

That’s not all; more story missions for Batman will also be available featuring “legendary super-villains invading Gotham City,” the supporting cast will also have their own quests. The August DLC will also be the first content, post launch, built by the main game’s developer, Rocksteady. More details will be announced in the next few weeks.

Don’t forget today the Batgirl: A Matter of Family DLC is available for season pass holders on Xbox One and PS4.

WB Games have confirmed what will be the first piece of downloadable content for their blockbuster Batman: Arkham Knight. If you’ve already 100% completed the game and are hovering around aimlessly waiting to activate the Knightfall protocol, fret not; season pass holders will be able to play a prequel Batgirl story at no additional cost on July 14. Batgirl: A Matter of Family will be a story of the Barbra Gordon version of the character before the events of Arkham Asylum.

Taking place in a new location and just as with Arkham Knight’s story, parts of this prequel DLC will see Batgirl tandem brawl alongside Robin and include a new hacking mechanic. Don’t worry about getting a one-round sized DLC like the Harley Quinn launch pack; the Batgirl DLC will include several side quests.

If you want an idea of what the DLC’s story may be about then look no further than the main game itself. When inside the clock tower, and a few other parts of Gotham, several newspapers can be found with a headline that reads “Batgirl Saves Police Commissioner”.

It should also be noted the DLC is credited to WB Montreal and not Arkham Knight developer, Rocksteady. If you recall, WB Montreal were the studio behind the Arkham Origins game.

Season pass holders will be able to download the new pack for free on July 14. A week later on July 21 the content will be available as standalone for $6.99. Currently the only platforms listed are PS4 and Xbox One.

What Batgirl skins would you like to see in the game?

So last night, as I continued my quest to find every riddler trophy in Batman: Arkham Knight, I started to get a bit bored. I figured I’d jump into “New Game+” mode which unlocks upon finishing the main story. “New Game+” lets you relive the entire Arkham Knight story without the pesky having to collect everything over again. Anyone who hasn’t played it; Arkham Knight’s story is one worth combing through multiple times.

The game’s opening cinematic sees the body of the Joker being cremated right before our eyes. In fact the game doesn’t start until you hold down any button long enough for the flames to char the corpse. Yes it’s sadistic, but this time around I held down the buttons long enough to singe the body but never quite have it go up in flames. Even as “under my skin” finished its classic catchy tune, I still only managed to extra crispy the Joker’s body.

Once I decided to get on with the show, I noticed a distinct lack of Jim Gordon’s opening “this is how the batman died” speech. Instead, the game delivered another “oh sh**” moment when the Joker’s body appeared to laugh back to life and Mark Hamill’s voice delivered a new opening statement to the story.

Check it out below if you don’t plan on going through the game again:

For those of us who have gone through Batman: Arkham Knight, what have been your favorite parts of the game?

02

Rocksteady’s Arkham Knight, the finale to their Batman trilogy is here and with it all the comic easter egg goodness. Warning before we get into the why and what not about the game’s relevance let me disclaimer you: this will be filled with spoilers. So if you care about that kind of thing and haven’t played the game or watched the cinematics on YouTube, turn away.

Just an update before we get started. Last week, Comics Beat put up a story about the press release sent out in regards to WB pulling the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight from store shelves and Steam. It was written in a way that made it seem as though Rocksteady was only at fault for the game’s catastrophic PC launch. The PC edition was ported and optimized for computer hardware by a different developer known as Iron Works. Rocksteady has since stated they’ll come in and devote resources to fixing the game with Iron Works, in fact yesterday they released a patch to remedy some of the issues. Yes, we’re in the age of pre orders putting out inferior and often times buggy product, but Rocksteady have had a great track record of working games and the controversy shouldn’t reflect solely on them.

If you’re going to San Diego Comic Con in a few days and want a limited edition Arkham Knight print, E3 shirt, and Batman: The Animated Series figure just follow us on instagram @ComicsBeat and I’ll post details later on.

Ok let’s get into the game spoilers in 3… 2… 1…

Batmobile

First, we have to acknowledge the elephant in the bathtub. Just about every review and comment from gamers who’ve  played Arkham Knight loathe driving the Batmobile in the game. These opinions aren’t entirely unfounded. Driving around in Batman’s car and having it handle like a lawnmower with an attached jet engine can be frustrating for two reasons. First of all; the car is just plain overused. More than 3/4 of the objectives in the game can’t be completed without the Batmobile. In fact the moment where the car is crushed by the giant drilling machine gave me a sigh of relief, only to be snatched out from under me by the addition of a back up car. Secondly, using the car wouldn’t be so bad if there was more of a learning curve to driving. Particularly in the Riddler track challenges that Batman has to complete in order to release Catwoman from the bomb collar. You’ll go from an easy straight forward track to executing barrel rolls in a sewer as you have to focus on steering and triggering puzzle elements in the level. Then there’s the tank mode, at the push of a button the car goes battle stations and takes on enemy vehicles . These sequences slow down the pace of the game but never enough to take you out of the story. Learning to transition between the sets of controls effectively takes time and patience. Both of which I have in spades… now excuse me while I put this quart of frozen ice cream in the microwave.

This all begs the question; would we have been better off not having the car in the game? No. Having the game on newer consoles like PS4 and Xbox One meant it was going to be bigger and better looking. It needed something new, something more forthright than switching between Robin or Nightwing during certain melee sequences. Driving the Batmobile was a logical progressive addition to the series. Could it have been better executed and more balanced with the story? Yes, but I’ll take Batmobile over no Batmobile any day.

The Stories that made up Arkham Knight

After E3, we talked a bit about how “one-way” the streets that connect comics and video games can feel. Comics are more often tasked with bringing video games to books than gaming taking on the tales we love. Sure there’ve been a few games that have tried translating the language of comics in games. Most of the stories lucky enough to make the jump become cannon fodder for the activity/reward relationship games are built on. With Arkham Knight, Rocksteady, managed to translate pieces from a library of Batman stories containing 75 Years worth of history to build something that harmonizes with sitting down to play a video game .

Anyone that’s played previous Arkham games knows, like television, there’s always two plots to a story. While the surface of Arkham Knight is about stopping the Scarecrow from unleashing his fear cloud over Gotham; Batman was grappling with his Joker infection from the events of Arkham City. A disease that threatens to wipe away Bruce Wayne and replace him entirely with the consciousness of his worst enemy. It’s a story we’ve seen before in the Batman Beyond animated universe story, Return of the Joker. There it was Tim Drake of the future who felt the Joker take over his mind from beyond the grave.

Then there’s the Joker running down the events of his days of yore with the dark knight. If you played the game, those chilling moments in the Batman’s mind where Joker makes him relive the horror of paralyzing Barbra Gordon from Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke. Rocksteady captured that iconic moment in history nearly panel-for-panel. Knowing what would happen when Joker stepped through that doorway made it that much more intense for us and kudos on not diluting the madness of that moment for the sake of a friendlier rating. When the game first received it’s “mature” M from the ESRB, it wasn’t hard to guess we’d see some of the Batman’s most graphic moments played out in front of our eyes.

The sequence where Batman and Robin (Tim Drake) have to recover escaped Jokerized patentients in the movie studio cuts to a piece of comic’s history. It nods to the, A Death in the Family, story where Joker blows up second Robin, Jason Todd. Not only did it tell parts of those events, but it somehow made them more brutal. In Rocksteady’s version there would be no desert and no bomb. Instead they got around the revolving door of comic death by not actually killing Jason Todd. Joker would hold Robin in secret, warping his mind and turning him against the Batman.

Red Hood Story Pack

Joker’s torture created the Red Hood comic fans are familiar with today. Most of the events the actual Arkham Knight character puts Batman through during the game are calculated insider tactics only someone close to the Bat would know. Breaching Wayne security, informing Crane about Oracle, even calling the Batman “Bruce”; it all pointed to Jason Todd being the Arkham Knight. During the game’s penultimate moments, the Arkham Knight lifts his veil and reveals himself to Batman. So much of that moment and Jason’s motivations borrow from Judd Winnick’s Under the Red Hood.

There’s the lies Rocksteady told

An editorial I came across last night, over on IGN, read like an angry complaint letter to the game. I see how anyone invested in the Batman mythology could feel lied to. One should understand the ballsy chance Rocksteady took. In today’s age of “scoops” where secrets and mysteries just don’t exist; the developer risked agitating the audience and consciously chose to add mystique where there couldn’t have been any. It worked. We all guessed Jason would be under the Arkham Knight’s mask, but we took Rocksteady at their word when they said it would be an original character. Is being honest and upfront a requirement for making great games? Who knows. Though it’s hard to be angry at Rocksteady because the lies they have been telling since Batman: Arkham City have value. Remember when Mark Hamill came out and said voicing the Joker in Arkham City would be the last time he’d ever do it. Had the studio come out a year ago and said Jason Todd is the Arkham Knight, then it would have been easy to deduce the return of the Joker. After all he’s as intertwined with him as he is with Batman.

Sure by the middle of the game it’s bombastically obvious, Jason Todd is the Arkham Knight.  That wasn’t the surprise this game banked on. Had I known about the Joker in the game before it’s release then I would have lost that moment where I’m about to put the controller down for the night and then like a bolt of lightning to the system, I see the face of the Clown Prince of Crime alive and well (sort of). The shrill echo of Mark Hamil’s laughter comes through my speakers and no I’m definitely not turning in yet.

The argument about this not being an original story is also flat. When you look at all three Arkham games as a whole, it’s probably the most original Batman story in recent years; next to Scott Snyder turning Gordon into the new dark knight. Sure, Arkham Knight borrows a lot of notes from several DC Comics stories, but that’s the way it should be. DC could sell tons of books to gamers who’ve never read comics by marketing the list of “stories that inspired the game”. Lies equated to an end result that has potential to boost two industries. That’s a fair trade for any negative PR they’ll get.

This Arkham universe remained true and defied the convention of comic’s revolving door of death where no one ever really dies. Joker was dead and using him in Batman’s head was a brilliant way of still being able to keep him in the series without betraying the events of before. If Rocksteady isn’t lying and THIS is the end of their Batman run then they went out on a better note than what Christopher Nolan did.

In the end, they lied. So what? The Golden State Warriors lied and now they’re NBA champions. Tom Brady did the things with deflated sports balls and he’s married to a supermodel. A story about a fictional comic book character is allowed to be marketed any way it sees fit to make money in a gray world.

Batman: Arkham Knight is a gorgeous end to the character. One where he loses in the end, not a loss he’ll live with either. It’s an ending we could never get in comics or film. The existence of the Arkham universe is finite and it gave Rocksteady a freedom no one else has had with the character. Sure they took some liberties with our attentions over the last two years but in the end we got the Batman game we deserve.

Following a huge wave of complaints about Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Knight‘s PC Port performance, publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has suspended sales of the title.  These complaints included tales of sluggish performance and a total inability to get the game to work.  Warner Bros. issued a statement on its community message boards last night:

Dear Batman: Arkham Knight PC owners,

We want to apologize to those of you who are experiencing performance issues with Batman: Arkham Knight on PC. We take these issues very seriously and have therefore decided to suspend future game sales of the PC version while we work to address these issues to satisfy our quality standards.  We greatly value our customers and know that while there are a significant amount of players who are enjoying the game on PC, we want to do whatever we can to make the experience better for PC players overall.

Thank you to those players who have already given valuable feedback. We are continuously monitoring all threads posted in the Official Batman: Arkham Knight Community and Steam forums, as well as any issues logged with our Customer Support (support.wbgames.com). If you purchased your copy of the game and are not satisfied with your experience, then we ask for your patience while these issues are resolved. If desired, you can request a refund at help.steampowered.com (Steam refund policies can be found here: http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds) or the retail location where you purchased the game.

The Batman: Arkham fans have continually supported the franchise to its current height of success, and we want to thank you for your patience as we work to deliver an updated version of Batman: Arkham Knight on PC so you can all enjoy the final chapter of the Batman: Arkham series as it was meant to be played.

This debacle conjures an extreme case of deja vu, as developer Rocksteady’s last Batman game, Arkham City, had similar performance issues when it was released on the PC even though it was released a month later than the console versions of the title.  The game was purportedly delayed to perfect the title’s highly touted DirectX 11 features, which included more realistic physics and a greater level of game world detail.  Despite this extra month, those who pre-ordered and patiently awaited the game’s release found that DirectX 11 features caused the game to run sluggishly on even the most advanced contemporary machines.  It took months for a patch to be released, and even now, almost four years later, some users have issues enabling the advanced graphics features.

Every time a AAA title is released on the PC, message boards and subreddits flutter with cautionary comments that warn users to avoid pre-ordering.  In the digital era, major game publishers like Ubisoft, EA, and Warner Bros. release titles before they’re fully functional and bug-free, relying on zero day patches and periodical hotfixes to produce an acceptable product after the consumer’s money has landed in their coffers.  This isn’t a new problem.  People should be well aware of what they’re getting themselves into when they pre-order digital games nowadays and by continuing to pre-order, they’re perpetuating an unacceptable and unsustainable business model.

It’s almost here. In just a few short hours gamers will be back in Gotham City. Today, Rocksteady have released the final trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight. One that shows off most of the characters we’ll see and some of the combo takedowns Batman & friends we’ll be able to pull off in the game.

Batman: Arkham Knight is getting some stellar early reviews. Will you be one of the thousands to crowd retailers at midnight tonight?

Ours just arrived, but I will not be able to get to it until later this week. To make it up; I’ll do a special giveaway for anyone going to SDCC, details this weekend. Stay Tuned

It’s June! Summer! Batman!

The game gamers and comic fans alike have been waiting for releases on June 23rd. Rocksteady, the studio behind Batman: Arkham Knight aren’t going to make waiting easy. Today they’ve released a special trailer showcasing the pre-order Harley Quinn content.

Harley gets her own unique skill set complete with her own version of the game’s “detective vision” and takedowns. In addition, her content will also have story missions that add a sliver to the game’s narrative. The current DC Comics digital weekly prequel series Batman: Arkham Knight has seen the character scar Lucius Fox and align herself with the Penguin to invade Wayne Enterprises, if her in-game story missions have anything to do with this remain to be seen.

The Harley Quinn DLC pack is available free for anyone who pre-orders Batman: Arkham Knight from any retailer. Various other bonuses are available depending on which retailer you choose to order from, such as Gamestop offering the exclusive Red Hood pack.

With all the early bonus content and the optional $40 season pass add-ons, Arkham Knight is looking to pour a gallon of comic goodness into the shot glass of our attention spans. So set aside some time away from loved ones to play it.

Batman: Arkham Knight launches worldwide on June 23, 2015 for the Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

A few days off, one day on, then we go back on the road for another show. Hope your Memorial Day was well spent. I’m Back from Punk Rock Bowling and now we get set for our next destination, Phoenix, for one of the best comic shows around.  Let’s talk about the recent news in gaming and give away some more Secret Wars books. On the rundown today; Ashley Johnson reunites with Troy Baker, Resident Evil gets yet another remake, Arkham adds some new duds, Mad Max, and have you ever wanted to be a cat? Let’s Go!

Ashley Johnson grew up for a bit in front of our eyes on the tail end of the ABC sit com Growing Pains. (RIP Boner!) Little did we know back then Chrissy Seaver would grow up to be a pop culture darling when she loaned her voice to the iconic Ellie in Naughty Dog’s masterpiece The Last of Us. Recently, Telltale Games announced the actress would reunite with her TLOU co-star Troy Baker for the latest episode of the Tales From the Borderlands series. She is reportedly voicing a “core” character and from all of the indication of the developers on twitter; she’s stolen the show. Not much else is known at this time but episode three of this series is expected in Fall 2015.

You can catch up on the Tales From the Borderlands games so far digitally through PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and Steam. Find more about the game on Telltale’s website.

Our Thought:

If there’s one thing Telltale is the best at, it’s telling a story. If there’s two things they’re the best at, it’s working with the most talented voice actors in the industry. With Telltale’s biggest endeavor still a head of them, it’s almost a sure bet we’ll hear Ashley, Troy, Dave Fennoy, Melissa Hutchison, and most of the previous talent the studio has worked with again soon. Maybe it’s their Marvel project, maybe it’s their “supershow”, but expect news on this soon.

Capcom dropped news over the holiday weekend of a remaster to the Gamecube classic Resident Evil Zero. Earlier today at an event in Japan, Capcom confirmed Resident Evil 0, a remastered version of the popular prequel to the original title in the Resident Evilseries, is currently in development. The game is planned for release on PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC in early 2016.

Here’s a video message from Director Koji Oda and Producer Tsukasa Takenaka about the project:

(If you don’t enable your subtitles, then it’s probably just a message about Japanese pot to you)

Our Thought:

Remaster! Remaster! Remasters!

Enough with the remasters already. At the very least, Capcom, for the most part, have done them based on older games in their library versus other publishers who’ve brought back PS3 games probably still stuck in our disc drives. It’s the same angst I have towards local LA radio station Alt 98.7 about calling Weezer’s “Island in the Sun” a throwback song. Apparently human history didn’t exist before 1999 when Skynet took over. All mostly kidding aside, Resident Evil Zero was one of those things I bought a Gamecube for but never finished. There’s hope this will one will A) be a noticeable visual upgrade and B) be priced at a point that makes it appealing to pick up an old game with a new paint job. We won’t have to wait long to see something about this as it’s sure to be one of Capcom’s offerings on the E3 floor.

We’re less than a month away from FINALLY getting to play Batman: Arkham Knight. Rocksteady, the studio behind the game, are determined to keep dropping surprises along the way. A few days ago a new live action trailer for the game was released. It’s common to have such videos produced to hype a game. However what’s not typical is having one of the most influential voices in the music industry be a part of it. Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor is credited as a music consultant for the video below:

As if that wasn’t enough, a new set of Bat-suits were announced as pre-order bonuses for he game. The Batman’s future theme skins include a hefty version of Batman Beyond and a nod to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns with the –built like a tank– old Batman.  These come in addition other previous announced skins and appear to be part of most retailers offerings along with the Harley Quinn pack.

Batman: Arkham Knight releases on June 23, 2015 for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Pre orders are available through the game’s website.

Our Thought:

Come on. Is there anyone out there not getting or excited for this game?

Shockingly the internet managed to, for the most part, agree on its love of the new Mad Max: Fury Road film. In a move that shocked no one, the Mad Max game long in development is back on everyone’s radar.

Avalanche Studios, the developer behind the action packed Just Cause games are behind this open world Mad Max game. You can see by the trailer much of the over-the-top blockbuster badassness is here. In the non-concrete timeline of Mad Max the game takes place before Fury Road. We only have to wait a few short months when the game is released in September for the PS4, Xbox One, and Steam. Find out more about Mad Max at the game’s website.

Our Thought:

With the heat from the astonishing response to Fury Road, it only makes sense WB would want to capitalize with both green lighting a film sequel and the release of the video game. Where most games based on movies fail is in not giving developers a proper cycle to make the game. It doesn’t have to mirror the film at all, but something that lives in that universe should speak to it as a whole. Most games never achieve this because they’re rushed to coincide with their counterpart movie. Avalanche have been at work on Mad Max for more than two years with next-gen hardware. They’ve got a great chance at being more a Riddick than a Bad Boys: Miami Takedown (I could barely type that without vomiting)

Finally to wrap things up something came into my inbox that just had to be shared with the world. It doesn’t have to do with games based on comics or vice versa, but it’s importance is no less diminished. Some time ago a game let you step into the hooves of being a goat. Chewing up everything insight, head butting objects out of spite, it was all there. Now cat lovers can rejoice!

Catlateral Damage is a first-person destructive cat simulator where you play as a cat on a rampage, knocking as much stuff onto the ground as possible. That’s the F**king description!

The game is available on PC download platforms. You can find out more about Catlateral Damage on the game’s website.

Our Thought:

Haven’t you ever wanted to wreck everything and blame it on the dog? As a society what’s left to conquer?

Now let’s giveaway a bunch of Secret Wars books (digitally)

I won’t tell you what’s what because I’m an awful human being; but here’s a few of codes for last week’s Secret Wars offerings including Battleworld, Secret Secret Wars, Loki, Planet Hulk, and more… (First Come First Served) Marvel.com/redeem

FMC6RDN62A6P

FMC19QSFR5LU

FMCTHKXQBTPL

FMCSI3LPWUSA

FMC53APWGV7W

FMCG8V9PYIHN

FMDQL3E9RUJX

We’re just a month away from the super comic-con bowl of video games, E3. Soon the entire Los Angeles Convention Center will be filled with creative giants, CEOs, journalists, “models” tempting you with cheap sunglasses or free T-shirts, and those fortunate enough to get into the show.

This special late Sunday night edition of WTGB comes sponsored by my DayQuil binge followed up with NyQuil chasers to even me out and an apology for not being able to write wrap ups for Marvel’s Secret Wars. With E3 and a few other shows fast approaching, there’s just no time to do it justice after that fantastic second issue came out last week. I will be posting digital codes of all the May tie-in and spine series issues at the bottom of Game Beat, starting with this one. Enjoy!

For now let’s turn the focus to all the things we want to see at E3 2015. Which means I can officially confirm Comics Beat will be on the show floor and the press events covering all the comics related games and more… but mostly to collect free bags, shirts, and magazines to level out my coffee table with.

From indies to first party exclusives, E3 2015 will be about games, games, and more games. Being in the middle of a new hardware cycle, the focus for this E3 will be soely on the games coming to the consoles and PC.

Batman: Arkham Knight is the first big release post E3, having a full on playable version at the show is a bit of a no brainer, though I wouldn’t expect any new announcements concerning its content. The boys at Rocksteady are already doing an excellent job of teasing the public, they’ve even released a new Arkham Insider video showing off the “dual play” system.

Ever since Lego announced their toy based game, Dimensions; it’s been radio silent on the Lego Marvel Avengers game coming this Fall. While it won’t be part of anyone’s presentations, the game should be playable on the show floor and word of a hard release date seems like a good bet. I’m curious to see if it will still have all the open world goodness of Lego Marvel Super Heroes.

With the recent word of Telltale Games not releasing Season 3 of their Walking Dead game in 2015, the developer has been vocal about announcing something big to come soon for Walking Dead fans. Telltale usually like to keep things intimate and off the exhibit floor at E3, it stands to reason they’ll be showing a brand new Walking Dead one-shot game that doesn’t tie directly into Clementine’s story behind closed doors once again. Perhaps some art, a teaser; but whatever they show will most likely be their September release.

Then there’s the Secret Wars event going on at Marvel. We know there’s going to be a toy line coming to Toys R Us in conjunction with it . Word has been quiet on how the Marvel’s current buffet of mobile titles or a new game would play off the Battleworld. Remember Marvel Super Heroes, the fighting game on PS1?

It was more or less the Infinity Gauntlet game. While we probably won’t get anything close to that for Secret Wars, we’re sure to hear about at least some kind of add-on content for one of these games tying into Secret Wars.

As for the big three…

Per usual, Microsoft will start the round of June 15 press events. Xbox head, Phil Spencer, brought a strong showing in 2014 that translated to boosted sales for the Xbox One. He’s certain to follow the same game centric formula as last year. On the non-gaming front, we don’t expect them to waste valuable time going over all the services, however a demonstration of the Xbox One’s long talked about DVR functionality might be in order. Could we also see a redesigned version of the Xbox One? While the 360 went through some variants in its lifetime, it never happened as quickly as this one would, should it be part of Microsoft’s announcements for E3.

Where Halo 5: Guardians places in the Xbox presentation will be very telling in terms of aces up Microsoft’s sleeve. The game’s hard release date of October 27 is just a few months away. We’ve seen a ton of art and pieces of the story thanks to its viral “Hunt the Truth” campaign. If Xbox’s presentation opens with Halo, weather it’s campaign gameplay or multiplayer, it would indicate Microsoft will end with the official announcement of the new Gears of War game for Xbox One, maybe even alongside footage from the original GOW remake coming to the new console. With, Quantum Break delayed to 2016 and original unproven IPs set to be announced; closing their press event with a new installment of a proven franchise makes the most sense.

Sony PlayStation will close E3 Media Monday at the LA Sports Arena. We’re sure to hear a lot of bragging about the millions of units PS4 has sold to date during their presentation. As for what they’ll show and announce during their time in the media’s eye… Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is a given. Even though it’s been moved to 2016 and an extended preview was previously shown during PlayStation Experience in Vegas; Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann will be onstage to tell us something we don’t know about the game that will make the wait feel that much longer.

If Druckmann is indeed on stage, what better time than having the eyes of the world watching to bring out Sam Rami and show the first clip of The Last of Us movie. Sure it’s a long shot, but E3 has a history of huge surprises. Could we also get the Uncharted trilogy remastered for PS4? So far the PlayStation 4 has been all about porting Sony’s previous system classics to the new one with The Last of Us Remastered and the next up God of War remaster. PlayStation has a ton of things they need to update consumers on such as their VR Project Morpheous, backwards compatibility, and the other big game of PS Experience No Man’s Sky. They could have an out of the blue announcement, but with so much they’ve previously confirmed yet not put in our hands they simply don’t need one.

There’s also the PlayStation Originals which brought us the polarizing Brian Michael Bendis adaptation of his creator owned book, Powers. Because of the season 2 announcement, it stands to reason the debut series was a success on some level for Sony. Why else would they be willing to invest further money in more episodes. If it exceeded their expectations expect solid viewer numbers to be part of their humble brag and some art or still from season 2 to be included. One of the few surprises Sony could have waiting in the wings might be an expansion of PS Originals content, maybe other adaptations of popular comics. Personally, I’m rooting for Matt Fraction’s Sex Criminals mainly due to my wanting to see Chip Zdarsky awkwardly appear onstage during another big presentation.

Nintendo is actually the gray area of the show. Their Tuesday June 16 digital press conference has already dropped news ahead of itself. According to Nintendo, we won’t be seeing the delayed Legend of Zelda for Wii U. They are however bringing the Nintendo World Championships to the show from the –long long long– ago film The Wizard. Would there really be much of a point to having Fred Savage and the Power Glove appear during a press event that no one will physically be in attendance for? Mario Maker will also be available that week for the general public to try at select retailers during E3.

The Wii U and DS are likely to have announcements about new Pokemon, Metroid, and Animal Crossing but those would probably be leaked a bit before the show. Nintendo also has the slim possibility of being the only console company showing off hardware with their rumored new “NX” system in development. Currently no details are known about the system. Nintendo wouldn’t want to deter any future Wii U sales by even talking about new hardware that isn’t coming out this year so the possibility that we’ll see it at the show is highly unlikely.

What do you want to see during E3 2015? Who do you think will win this year’s E3? What size shirts do you all use?

Also here’s codes for digital copies of Secret Wars 1-2, Magneto, and Mighty Avengers. (First come first served) We’ll also be giving away physical copies of all the May Secret Wars books at the end of the Month thanks to my LCS and if you’re in the LA or Long Beach, CA areas go buy your Secret Wars at Pulp Fiction. All this month they’re selling every new Secret Wars issue (and tie-ins) 50% off. 

Marvel.com/redeem

Magneto 18- FMC1M3NNXDX8

Mighty Avengers 18 – FMDUEP80DYIR

SECRET WARS 1- FMCJG76UTQDV

SECRET WARS 2- FMD7GMLM7F4B

With Bethesda holding their first E3 press conference, it seems like a no brainer that an announcement for, the post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout 4 was obvious, but could we now know more about what we’ll see from it? Batman: Arkham Knight is only just starting to reveal its secrets, and Nintendo gets into the theme park rides business. Let’s Go!

The German site PC Games reported a rumor from a trusted source that Bethesda Softworks will not only announce Fallout 4 at E3, but will also show off a 20-30 minute behind closed doors gameplay demo of it. Back in February, the developer announced its plans for a press conference before E3 and told everyone that no official word about Fallout 4 was ready.

Our thought:

They’re ready now. E3 is one the biggest announcement shows for gaming and they wouldn’t hold an event to not announce the game, so it’s a sure bet we’ll see at least a trailer for Fallout 4. When it comes to a demo at the show; there’s an excellent chance not all attendees at E3 will go hands on with it. The odds of Fallout having been developed to near completion for 2015 under our collective noses is slim, a release date of Fall 2016/Spring 2017 would be the likely target. Thus, Fallout 4 wouldn’t be ready for anything other than a guided tour video.

Nintendo and Universal Parks & Resorts today announced plans to bring the world of Nintendo to life at Universal theme parks – creating spectacular, dedicated experiences based on Nintendo’s wildly popular games, characters and worlds. The agreement brings two icons of entertainment together and represents a significant partnership for Nintendo as it expands the reach and popularity of its characters and intellectual property.

More details will be announced in the future, as the Nintendo and Universal creative teams work to create specific concepts.

Our thought:

Mario Karts, Metroid 3d the Ride, Donkey Kong churro stands… yes! For years, movies such as Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and most recently The Fast and The Furious have received the ride treatment. Even beloved comic book characters are the theme of attractions all over the country. It was only a matter of time before gaming made a big splash at tourist attractions. Though it seems odd to take a medium that’s meant to be enjoyed in-home and adapt it in such a way that will make gamers want to get outside and enjoy the big glowing thing in the sky. In the end, it’s a tremendous counter-programing start to Disney utilizing LucasFilm and Marvel properties in their parks.

Just when you think Rocksteady and WB couldn’t possibly tease gamers any more than they’ve already have for Batman: Arkham Knight… boom a new video drops.

As we already knew, the iconic voice of the caped crusader, Kevin Conroy would be in the game to finish Rocksteady’s epic trilogy. Now we get a look at the cast of talented actors brining their voices to a magnanimous group of characters in the game. Returning alongside Conroy are Tara Strong as Harley Quinn, Troy Baker as Two-Face and Nolan North as Penguin. If that weren’t enough, the newcomers of the group include Jonathan Banks (Better Call Saul) as James Gordon, Ashley Greene (Twilight) as Barbara Gordon, Scott Porter ( Hart of Dixie) as Nightwing, and John Noble (Fringe) as Scarecrow.

Rocksteady also cleared up one area of confusion over twitter. Last week, more details were given about the inclusions in the game’s season pass option. The image of Batgirl along with details of her getting story content for the game were met with questions of who was under the mask. As we’ve seen in the trailers, Oracle appears in her wheelchair and the Batgirl in the image looks like the Barbra version of the character. Game director, Sefton Hill confirmed that Barbra Gordon was indeed Batgirl. Now more rumors are flying about what content being based on an iconic DC Comics story

Our thought:

This is one of the best voice casts that’s been assembled for a game, period. Hearing Noble talk about the Scarecrow is simply chilling. With all the surprises and twists the game is sure to deliver, it’s building up to be a game of the year contender even before its release.

Though it was about 95% certain the Batgirl in the image was Barbra Gordon, now the confirmation opens up new possibilities about what her part of the story will be. Could we learn what events confined her to the wheelchair? Will there be some sort of recovery story in the main game that leads to her DLC? Most seem to believe we’ll see a prequel set around events of “the Killing Joke”, but that would mean Troy Baker would once again voice the Joker as Mark Hamill had officially retired from voicing the character. Baker a superbly talented actor would be great as the Joker again and would simply place the Batgirl DLC events between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum.

Fights and free comics weren’t the only things dropped Saturday night. WB Games, who are set to release the highly anticipated Batman: Arkham Knight game responded to fan and media criticism about their recently announced season pass option by giving away a few more details on their forums.

We now know a few more things about what your $40 will get you:

Batgirl: A Matter of Family
An all new prequel story expansion in an entirely new location where you play as Batgirl for the very first time in the Arkham series – check out the first render of Batgirl.

The Season of Infamy
Play as Batman in all new story missions featuring legendary super-villains invading Gotham City, with new story arcs, missions and gameplay features.

Gotham City Stories
Play as Batman’s key allies in narrative missions extending their storylines, from both before and after the events in Batman: Arkham Knight.

Legendary Batmobiles with Themed Tracks
Drive the most iconic Batmobiles from Batman’s 75-year history, on custom-built race tracks, each themed to that Batmobile’s specific era. Every Batmobile will be drivable across every race track.

Crimefighter Challenge Maps
Engage in a series of new challenge maps utilizing the unique play styles of Batman and his allies.

Character Skins
A variety of skins from across the eras for Batman, Robin, Nightwing and Catwoman.

No word on how the content will be spread out over the 6 month period they previously announced. The game’s developer, Rocksteady, did mention that they’re still working on developing even more add-on for the game which will be announced as soon as the studio “ramp on” development of the content.

Batman: Arkham Knight is set to release June 23, 2105 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

As if we didn’t have enough games to get excited over this year, now we can add one more over the top action title to that list. Also, how much is too much for DLC? With May 4th quickly approaching, Star Wars is dropping prices of its old games on new multiple platforms. Indie gaming fans can enjoy a new documentary chronicling its punk rock like rise. Let’s Go!

Game developer Avalanche Studios previously announced in December that their comic book game was 100% canceled. It was rumored to have been a Superman game, but we may never actually know what it was. As the old saying goes, ‘the show must go on” and today the developer dropped an action packed trailer on the PlayStation blog for their new game Just Cause 3 published by Square Enix. The trailer also announced the game would have a “holiday 2015″ release date.

Our Thought:

Look at it! He’s skydiving onto another plane! He took out a parking garage with the jet. No clue what the hell it’s about, but I know I want to play it now. With E3 around the corner we’re sure to find out more information about the game. Since the trailer debuted on a PlayStation operated news source, it’s pretty safe to say the platform is going to get some exclusive features. It’s also hard to say what the exact release date would be since the Star Wars and Call of Duty games are taking the November window. Unless it lands the week between the two games, an early December release is likely.

The studio behind Just Cause is also simultaneously developing the open world Mad Max game that was announced in 2013 and promoted with some sweet Shane Davis art. Sadly the piece didn’t make it onto the final box art :(

We had Star Wars Celebration in April, now May the 4th be with you is coming. To celebrate, a ton of LucasArts Star Wars games are on sale on digital platforms such as Xbox Live, PSN, and Steam. For the first time on PlayStation classic Star Wars games come to PSN for PS3: Star Wars Starfighter, Star Wars Bounty Hunter, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and Star Wars: Racer Revenge.

As if that weren’t enough, PlayStation owners can download free themes for their PS3/PS4. Also if you follow @heyplaystation on twitter you have a chance to win one of those fancy Storm Trooper PS4 boxes along with a few other things from Star Wars Celebration.

Our thought: 

There’s a generation of gamers who became Star Wars fans without getting to enjoy some of these classic games. Opportunities to rectify that don’t come this cheap. I’ll also say that I’m probably one of the few people I know who actually liked Racer Revenge.

Even more details are surfacing about Batman:Arkham Knight. This time WB Interactive and Rocksteady announced via twitter that a season pass option for the game would be available for $40. The pass will offer up new content for six months after the game’s release in June, meaning through the end of the year. What is the content you ask? A press release from Warner Bros. reveals that new Batmobile skins, “advanced” challenge maps, alternate character skins, story missions, new villains,  and additional drivable race tracks are also included with the Arkham Knight Season Pass.

A special Arkham Knight Premium Edition will also be available that comes with the game and DLC pass. This special edition will only be available digitally through PSN, Xbox, and PC digital.

Our thought:

While I’ve never been disappointed with Rocksteady’s Arkham games out of the box, their subsequent DLC such as Harley’s Revenge and Catwoman left a little to be desired. Those story bits felt like unnecessary dead stops to the narrative. $40 isn’t the most expensive season pass option in gaming but that brings up the cost of the game to $100, just to get the complete experience. That bill is even more depending on what edition of the game you’re buying. While I understand the need to save spoilers from the main story by not giving more details about the content, it’s a price tag that warrants more information for consumers.

A recently released documentary chronicling the groundswell of independent game makers is getting a lot of talk around the Internet. GameLoading: Rise of the Indies shows the struggles of creating a game without the backing or confinement of big corporate publishers. There’s tons of in-depth interviews with popular game creators and the icons that founded id Software. The documentary even touches a bit on the #gamergate controversy that surrounds Zoe Quinn. The film is available digitally on its website and on PSN, Xbox Live, Steam, and iTunes.

Our thought:

It’s a great snapshot of the indie gaming scene. Anyone whose habitually stuck to the big triple A games may find themselves looking through a giant catalogue of small games to find their next enjoyable video game experience.

So what about you, how much is too much for DLC? Would you have liked another Superman game? What were some of your favorite Star Wars games?

What a 48hrs it’s been. Gamers have been given reason to cheer and cry. Such weight that can only be decompressed with hours of performing Mortal Kombat X fatalities.

Wait that ain’t it… oh well let’s talk about some of the major news video games has recently bombarded us with.

On Sunday, Treyarch showed off the first full trailer for the next installment of the Call of Duty franchise. Call of Duty: Black Ops III comes to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC this November.

Now the series has become a yearly expectation, not unlike a new Madden Football game or MLB The Show. Hell, the game has even aided in giving birth to pro gaming leagues where Mountain Dew fueled players compete for bragging rights and copious amounts of cash. So what can a new installment bring that we haven’t seen before? Bigger combat arenas allowed the game to boast a 4-player co-op campaign. For the first time in the franchise’s history, the campaign’s protagonist is fully customizable. In addition to upgrading abilities, changing your character’s appearance and tweaking weapons, players can pick the gender of their Call of Duty hero. Black Ops also brings back Zombie survival mode, where players obliterate wave after wave of the undead. This time the mode comes with a full character progression system similar to multiplayer.

Being the third CoD game by Treyarch, the group is leaving nothing out. Come November we’ll see wall running, underwater combat, unlimited sprinting, the ability to customize your solider as a heroic female in the campaign, and swimming. Yes according to the developer certain battle arenas will have areas where players can have their solider swim while still controlling weapons and combat. Though we haven’t seen much of how this development will affect the game, it sure does sound like a thing they threw in after the art directors pool party. The one thing the game really needs is a new Jim Lee drawn cover.

Cause this weird “I gotta go to the bathroom but I don’t want to put my guns down” box ain’t cutting it.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III is set to release on November 6, 2015. Preordering through Gamestop will get you access to the upcoming beta.

Disney Infinity 2.0 finally released their mobile app on Android today. The guesstimated five of us that don’t have iPhones can now:

Create your own worlds and games starring over 60 of your favorite Marvel and Disney characters! Marvel Super Heroes come to Disney Infinity: Toy Box 2.0, with some of your favorite characters including the Avengers, Spider-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Also explore some of your favorite Disney and Disney/Pixar characters from Frozen (Elsa & Anna), Big Hero 6 (Hiro & Baymax), Brave (Merida), Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters Inc, and more!

For anyone that hasn’t picked up any Disney Infinity console and PC version… yes the cost goes beyond what you’ll initially pay after the starter set. This is just the new trend in gaming. These miniature versions of Mickey Mouse, Venom, Jack Sparrow, and Baymax we all have to buy are the new form of downloadable content for games. Though they have the distinction of having desk/shelf potential for collectors, it can still add up to serious coin, which is why it’s a nice feature that you can use web code cards from your physical Disney Infinity Figures to unlock characters in the mobile game. Such a novelty is essentially making the content transferable through all the platforms that gives it a value other games could learn from.

Now if we could just get those Legos and Amibos to talk to each other.

Plus look at the meme potential!

As we talked a little about yesterday, Batman: Arkham Knight or as I call it “That thing I’m not going to work the week of June 23rd for,” dropped a new trailer that included the long awaited story playability of Nightwing, Robin, and Catwoman (I don’t count Arkham City cause you had to download her). The feature looks to be similar to what Grand Theft Auto 5 did with switching between three main characters at the push of a button at any time.

Here it is again in all it’s glory:

Two-Face, Oracle, Azrael, and the bat-plane also appear in the trailer. In addition to all this, pre-ordering the game get’s you a playable Harley Quinn in the game’s challenge maps and if you do it through GameStop then the Red Hood (Jason Todd) will also be yours. The game’s “Mature” rating doesn’t shine through in the trailer but you can see a level of despair that hasn’t been hit in the series yet, and that’s saying a lot because Arkham City wasn’t exactly sunshine and roses.

Fortunately we won’t have to wait too much longer as the game is locked into releasing worldwide June 23, 2015 on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

In the meantime, have you figured out who “Johnny Charisma” is yet?

Before we start the rundown of what gaming comics will be in stores this week, we should take a moment of “silence” for Silent Hills. Last year the world was told to play the creepy ass downloadable game P.T. In it, you’re put in the shoes of a man trapped in the hallways of a house where some supernatural depressing Scooby Doo ghost shit is going down.  The erie vibrance and mind bending nature of the situation made the game a brief but intense ride. Then at the end players find out that this is just a “Playable Teaser” for a game called Silent Hills. As if that wasn’t enough, we’re then told the game is being developed by Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and master film director Guillermo Del Torro. Then as if that isn’t enough we’re told Daryl Dixon himself, Norman Reedus, is going to  model and voice the main character.

Yesterday, Konami confirmed our worst fears and officially canceled Silent Hills.

For fans of the Silent Hill series; the teaser was like being defibrillated back to life. A franchise whose better days were behind them, only showing mere glimpses of awesome in comics being published by IDW, was going to make a comeback. For a brief moment two storytelling giants that specialize in the bizarre were going to give fans the game they knew this series could be and P.T was the proof.

What went wrong? While we may never know the real answer to that, at least until someone makes the documentary about all this ten years from now; the writing had been on the wall for quite sometime. Rumors surrounding Kojima leaving Konami after Metal Gear Solid 5 turned into plausible scenarios. Though he doesn’t look it, Hideo Kojima is like 50 something years old (Somewhere there’s an attic with a painting of an old Hideo Kojima screaming cause this guy doesn’t age). If he feels it’s time to move on and tell a new story then he’s earned that right. Most feel that he’ll put his passion for Hollywood to use. Then, Konami itself is starting to show signs of restructuring to focus on other ventures like gambling; they even pulled themselves from the New York Stock Exchange. Though, if you look at their numbers, it was apparent very little trading happened in the US for them. Both parites will undoutebly be okay as their names and properties alone could keep them afloat for years.

There’s the matter of Guillermo Del Torro. He was the first one to come out and say that he was no longer working on Silent Hills. The news was just the latest in a string of incomplete projects the filmmaker has in his portfolio; Justice League Dark and Haunted Mansion (announced at SDCC 2010 but only now finding its star) come to mind . It looks like Pacific Rim 2 will be done before either of those movies gets to theaters. In the end the tragic news of Silent Hills doesn’t fall on Del Torro, he’s a gamer and a storyteller who wanted to create art with a man he sees as a legend. When it became apparent that the legend was leaving the table, he decided not to do the project.

Kojima will be okay, Del Torro will be okay, Konami will be okay; the only real casualties here are all of us because we’ll never know what could have been.

Gaming Comics 4/29:

Injustice: Year Three Annual #1                                                                                                                                         (W) Ray Fawkes, Brian Buccellato (A) Sergio Fernandez Davila & Various (CA) Neil Googe

Here it is:

Batman: Arkham Knight developer, Rocksteady are ending their Arkham series with a nuke. Today’s trailer shows off a new feature for the series. This time around players will have the ability to switch between characters from the Bat-family. The trailer shows Nightwing and Robin executing co-op attacks on enemies. Previously these characters have only appeared as DLC for the game’s challenge maps, but now their going to be a part of the campaign narrative.

In addition comic fans will recognize the character known as Azrael. No word on if this version is Jean Paul Valley, who took over the mantle of the bat during the Knightfall storyline in the comics. So far all the marketing materials points to a bold move from the developer that may spell the demise of Batman.

Batman: Arkham Knight comes to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC June 23.

We’ll talk more about this latest trailer and the Silent Hill cancelation this evening, in the meantime what are your thoughts about this new Batman trailer?

We now live in a post Star Wars trailer world, it’s a world where anything is possible including universally liking things. This week we’ll touch on new developments with Batman, Disney Interactive, and free Mortal Kombat X goodies.

In addition to seeing the first full trailer for The Force Awakens, fans at Celebration in Anaheim got a first look at Battlefield game series developer DICE’s plunge into the Star Wars universe with Battlefront. With the game set to be a November holiday release we can now start the anticipation build up. DICE has lit the match and started the fire by releasing a series of video diaries chronicling the game’s progress. Watch the first one below:

Star Wars: Battlefront comes to the PS4, Xbox One, and Origin PC on November 17, 2015.

While no official announcement has been made, Infinity Inquirer managed to get a leaked image  of possible characters for Disney Interactive 3.0. The image showcases a lineup of 11 new collectible toys which include Sam Flynn and Quarra from Tron Legacy, Olaf, and Mulan. Keep in mind Disney has neither confirmed or denied the image, but it has been taken down at the request of Disney from several sites.

With E3 approaching soon we should find out more details on the future of the franchise, including the possibility of incorporating figures from or to previous versions of the game.

Last week the Mortal Kombat franchise had it’s biggest launch in the game’s history. While no specific numbers are known it has been released that the PS4 version is outselling both Xbox One and PC. For a breakdown of sales, MKX sold 61% of its copies on PS4, 38% on Xbox One, and 1% on PC.

This week, to thank fans who’ve been part of this launch the latest game update will include a new free DLC skin for a classic character. Patch 1.02 improves online stability, adds a new move for Takeda, and includes general balancing tweaks. It’s most visible addition is the classic look of Sub-Zero seen here.

Destructoid has also reported that classic Mortal Kombat fatalities from the 90’s could be coming back in DLC form.

Now that we’ve played the game, it’ll be interesting to see how the DC Comics prequel series catches up to the game. As of now one of the game’s main four characters, Takeda, is a teen just starting his training under Scorpion. The series still has yet to do any significant story on the game’s main character Cassie Cage.

Halo 5: Guardians released a new trailer that showcases UNSC elite manhunter Spartan Locke taking out Covenant while in pursuit of Master Chief. If you check it out you’ll see new weapons and multiplayer abilities the game will have when it releases this October. Additionally it’s been announced anyone pre-ordering the shooter from GameStop in the US will get access to the Hunter-Class armor set.

Halo 5: Guardians releases for the Xbox One on 10-27-2015.

Batman: Arkham Knight draws closer and closer each week, yet the wait feels unbearable. The game’s director Sefton Hill isn’t making things easier. He teased fans on  twitter with talk of a new trailer, as if that wasn’t enough there’s also talk of new features Rocksteady has not yet disclosed.

He even went so far as to say, a familiar face from Arkham City would be appearing in the new trailer. With just about everyone in the Batman universe appearing during Arkham City, it’s anyone’s guess just who he’s referring to. We should know more about the trailer including a possible date in the next few days.

Batman: Arkham Knight is set to release on June 23, 2015 for the Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Game Comics out 4/22:

Halo: Escalation #17 (Dark Horse Comics)

(W) Duffy Boudreau (A) Douglas Franchin, Rob Lean (CA) Sparth                                               “The Glass Horizon” part 1: An action-packed survival tale on the treacherous and barren glasslands of a Covenant-ravaged colony world . . . and a Spartan-IV’s mysterious origin revealed.

Tomb Raider #15 (Dark Horse Comics)

(W) Rhianna Pratchett (A) Derliz Santacruz, Andy Owens (CA) Andy Park

While using the cover of a fake documentary about the legendary Chupacabra, Lara and her friends are drawn into a missing-child case while hunting the organization holding their friend hostage!

Batman: Arkham Knight #3 (DC Comics) (Print ed)    

 (W) Peter J. Tomasi (A) Viktor Bogdanovic & Various (CA) Dan Panosian

The Arkham Knight’s shadow spreads across the city as Batman digs deeper into the murders of villains – and it will soon put him on a collision course with the most dangerous enemy he’s ever faced!

(W) Various, Paul Tobin (A) Various, Stefano Intini (CA) Paco Rodriques

The pigs decide to build the “ultimate” fortress but can they muster up enough brainpower to find new ways to stop the Angry Birds?

Skylanders #8: Return of Dragon King (IDW Publishing)

(W) Ron Marz, David Rodriguez (A/CA) Fico Ossio

RETURN OF THE DRAGON KING CONTINUES! CLASSIFIED is back! Only Spryo, Hex, and Cynder have the knowledge needed to defeat this arch-nemesis!

Sonic Universe #75 (Archie Comics)

(W) Ian Flynn (A) Jim Amash & Various (CA) Patrick Spaz Spaziante

Sonic Universe has reached 75 thrilling issues, and we’re celebrating in style! “Fury”: The race is on as Sonic chases down Metal Sonic for one of the sought-after Chaos Emeralds!

Are you excited for Star Wars Battlefront? How much more Batman teasing can you take? Did Mortal Kombat X deliver for you? What video game inspired comics do you read? These are the questions we’d love to ask all your faces.

Coming off of WonderCon, this is gonna be a short one in the world of gaming crossing over with comics.

DC Universe Online is still very much alive and kicking with robust communities of players still devoting hours upon hours of their 2nd lives in the comics based MMO. Since its debut in January of 2011, the game has been well supported with new content, and today publisher Sony Online added what they call “munitions” to the game.  Munitions is all about big guns and big explosions. With it, you will learn to harness a vast array of conventional and modern weaponry to control and defeat your enemies.  If you have not yet downloaded DC Universe Online, you can do so for free. Munitions can be purchased at character create or you can gain access to it automatically when you become a DC Universe Online Member.

DC Universe Online is available for PS4, PS3, and PC.

Zen Studios has released tons of themed tables based on everything ranging from classic moves to retro games. Zen Pinball 2 is about to get the Marvel Studios treatment on April 21st when they release Avengers: Age of Ultron Pinball. The Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron table will allow players to relive the struggle of Earth’s mightiest heroes, including Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye against Ultron and his seemingly endless army. The table features dedicated game modes for each member of the Avengers team, including a first-person sharpshooting mini-game starring Hawkeye, a spectacular aerial melee combat sequence between Iron Man and Ultron, and selectable difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, or Hard) to cater to each player’s individual skill level.

The studio is cautious not to have any potential movie spoilers incorporated in the table. Anyone wanting to enjoy slapping your steel balls at Ultron can rest assured knowing they’ll still go into the movie spoiler free.

Zen Pinball 2 is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and Wii U.

Last Friday’s digital release of Batman: Arkham Knight the comic book series saw the beginning of a new storyline that points to the potential first encounter of Arkham Knight and Bruce Wayne. Part two of this story releases on Comixology this Friday.

A new installment in the Deus Ex series was confirmed by a new cover for the latest Game Informer magazine. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will take place two years after Human Revolution. It focuses on humanity’s fear of augmented people after the conclusion of the previous game. No release date is set yet, but it’s coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

DC Comics previously published adaptations of the franchise, but no publisher has announced anything in support of this new game. If one will be created, it’s typically an announcement for SDCC.

Gaming Comics in Stores This Week:

Batman: Arkham Knight #2 (DC COmics) (Printed edition collecting 2nd arc)
Mortal Kombat X #5 (DC COmics) (Printed edition)
Sonic The Hedgehog #271 (Archie Comics)
Sonic Boom #6 (Archie Comics)

Over the last few days even more Batman: Arkham Knight tidbits have dropped, Mortal Kombat builds towards its launch, Halo 5 announced a release date, and Marvel delivers a new mobile game.

Playstation Blog delivered the announcement of a limited edition PS4 console that comes with a limited edition Steel Grey PS4 system chassis with a custom Batman: Arkham Knight faceplate, a matching DualShock 4 wireless controller in Steel Grey and the disc based version of the game. This special bundle will be available for $449.99.

In addition, Sony is also doing a regular PS4 console that comes with the standard black system, controller, and Batman: Arkham Knight game for $399.99.

The bundles will be available when the game launches on June 23, 2015; currently the consoles are available for preorder at most major retailers.

It was obvious Electronic Arts, Star Wars: Battlefront would have a presence at the upcoming Celebration in Anaheim. Today it was revealed when exactly that will take place. DICE, developer of the Battlefield game series, will debut the Star Wars: Battlefront official reveal trailer during its Star Wars Celebration panel on April 17th, starting at 10:30 am PT. Those who can’t make it out to the show can catch the reveal trailer on EA’s website and official Star Wars channels during the convention, which itself runs from April 16-19 in Anaheim California.

Though a sliver of the game was shown at E3, this will be the first time actual gameplay will be on display for the public to enjoy. Star Wars: Battlefront is expected to arrive in stores later this year and what better place for a release date announcement than Star Wars Celebration.

IGN has the first 25 minutes of Mortal Kombat X gameplay. There’s a lot of information in this extended video for fans to digest, including an opening cinematic that sets the story going forward. Outside of the exciting helicopter fight between Scorpion, Sub Zero, Kenshi, and Johnny Cage, players will get a good look at the undead army of Quan Chi and Shinnok as they take on the Earthrealm Special Forces.

So far the digital comic series from DC has almost caught up to the events of the opening. As in the book Sub-Zero and Scorpion are set to be possessed and do battle with Earth’s champions while Kenshi has yet to join Cage and Sonya Blade. The footage looks impressive as the game seamlessly transitions from interactive moments to cut scenes and then to the actual fights themselves.

The Story looks as amibtious and cohesive as their previous entry Injustice: Gods Among Us was. Netherrealm, the game’s developer, has up’ed the ante for this one. Mortal Kombat X releases on PS4, PC and Xbox One this coming April 14 while the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will follow in the Summer.

Today, DeNA and Marvel Entertainment today launched Marvel Mighty Heroes, a real-time co-op brawler written by Fred Van Lente. For the first time on mobile devices players must defend the world by assembling a dream team of Marvel Super Heroes including Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man, Captain America, Star-Lord, Hulk, Hawkeye as well as dozens of Super Villains yet to be announced. In game events will be available to download such as today’s “Infinity” series were players will team up to battle Thanos.

The game feels like a compact version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, we’ll give you some more thoughts on it as we spend a little more time with it. Mighty Marvel Heroes is currently available as a free download on the Apple App Store for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and on Google Play for Android phones and tablets. Plus if you download the game this week you get a free special in-game Hulk as a reward.

During Sunday’s season finale of The Walking Dead on AMC, two new TV spots revealed the worldwide release date for the highly anticipated Halo 5: Guardians. The commercial showed the same events from both of the game’s main characters: Master Chief and Agent Locke. You can see it for yourself, there’s a lot of tension and drama that was missing from Halo 4.

Although with the game being an October release, it leaves Microsoft with no big exclusive for November. It could be that this spot will go to Rise of The Tomb Raider, a game that was announced during E3 but has not been talked about much since.

So what games are you excited for? Have the problems of the Mortal Kombat X digital series wavered your excitement for the game? Are you getting the Arkham Knight edition PS4?

Batman: Arkham Knight is already one of 2015’s most anticipated games. It looks like fever has climbed a few degrees. A listing on Amazon suggests the Harley Quinn DLC bonus may contain more than previously thought. “For the first time in the Arkham series take on the role of Joker’s psychotic side-kick Harley Quinn and wreak havoc inside the Blüdhaven Police Department,” the description read. “With this exclusive Story Pack experience events in the lead-up to Arkham Knight as you infiltrate Blüdhaven to rescue your partner in crime: Poison Ivy. Delve deep into Harley’s demented nature and utilize her devastating baseball bat to smash, crash and bash your way to a friend very much in need.” Gamestop already has the Red Hood story DLC as a pre-order exclusive and this Harley Quinn DLC looks to be available at other retailers. PlayStation owners will receive a console exclusive Scarecrow Nightmare DLC that was announced in December at PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas.

In addition to all that, today a new 8min gameplay video was released. While it doesn’t show much about the game we don’t already know, it does give clues to the Scarecrow’s plan and shows off how truly next-gen this title looks in action.

In the category of not-so-good Batman: Arkham Knight news, a statement was released officially pushing back the game’s release date from 6/2/15-6/23/15. While it’s only a three week delay, seeing new footage makes it feel like another three years. The move was most likely made to capitalize on a potential bump coming out of the industry trade show E3 in Los Angeles in early June. Which makes sense from a promotional stand point. Why have only one week in the spotlight before the show when you could be the first blockbuster game coming out of the biggest video game sales pitch in the world?

Batman: Arkham Knight and its DLC are in stores June 23 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Currently DC Comics digital is releasing a lead-in digital comic. Available every Friday, Batman: Arkham Knight the comic is written by Peter Tomasi and picks up right after the events of Joker’s demise in Arkham City.

Also coming from WB Interactive is Netherrealm’s Mortal Kombat X. This week the studio confirmed one of film’s most infamous game hunters, the Predator, would be a playable character in the game as part of the Kombat Pack DLC which includes additional fighters and alternate costumes. As long as we’re putting in Predator content a Danny Glover would be sweet. Regardless, the alien hunter is available as part of either the $99 special edition version of the game or the DLC can be purchased as a separate bundle for $30. It will be available when the game launches on April 14. Jason Voorhees was also previously teased and confirmed along with the returning Liu Kang.

Currently DC Comics is also publishing a lead-in digital comic book series titled: Mortal Kombat X. If the characters who appear in the book are any indication of who we’ll see when the game is released today could have been an announcement for the Outworld tyrant, Havik.

Telltale Games, the studio behind the game adaptations of Fables and The Walking Dead, have another franchise some of you might know. Their Game of Thrones episodic experience is set to release its third chapter titled The Sword in the Darkness. It’s available for download this Tuesday March 24 for PC owners, and PlayStation owners in the US. On March 25, Xbox owners everywhere and PS owners in the rest of the world will be able to access the next chapter in the Forresters’ story. Finally, March 26 will see iOS and Android devices get the game. Individually each episode cost $4.99 or season pass options are available on some platforms.

Check out the full trailer below to catch you up on events so far.

Currently the developer is also in the middle of their Tales From the Borderlands adaptation while getting set to release a new episodic story series based on the popular Minecraft. Telltale Games also teased follow ups to Walking Dead including a pre season 3 game much like The Walking Dead: 400 Days came before The Walking Dead: Season 2.

What are your thoughts on the latest Arkham Knight news? Have you played Telltale’s GOT? 

Swiftly following yesterday’s news that Batman: Arkham Knight would be rated “M”, Rocksteady has released a brand new trailer that cements the overall premise of the capper to the developer’s “Arkham trilogy” (Origins doesn’t count according to them).

And yes, that is John Noble (Fringe) playing the Scarecrow.

One of the year’s most anticipated games is the conclusion to Rocksteady’s epic Arkham trilogy, Batman: Arkham Knight. Today the ESRB announced the game has earned an “M” for mature rating. Previous entries Arkham Asylum and Arkham City both earned T for teen ratings. The news came as a surprise to game director Sefton Hill because it wasn’t the studio’s aim to make an M rated game.

In a statement from the company, the studio acknowledged that the rating would cause some younger players to miss out on the experience but ultimately the choice was made to avoid diluting the story Rocksteady wanted to tell. “It would have been wrong to water down the game and deliver a story we didn’t believe in to keep the game ‘mass market’ or enable it for more people. We feel that’s the wrong way to go about it. We said we love the story and we don’t want to jepoardize that.”

Both of the studios previous Batman titles were regarded as some of the generations best games. While the level of violence and language could have been seen as excessive for a conservative mass market, the games never jumped the lines that a Grand Theft Auto or Mortal Kombat did to get their M ratings.

One has to wonder and maybe get a little more excited for what we’ll see when the game releases on PS4 and Xbox One in June.