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What great news! Just in time for the opening of E3 Nurdgasmic is now on Twitter and will be tweeting throughout the day and on through the week as information from E3 comes in. Feel free to follow us for information and links regarding #E3.

E3 2012

The Electronics Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, starts next week and I'm excited as ever. This year features some of my most beloved franchises so lets hit the ground running and get a break down.

Gears of War
Gears of War is a franchise I didn't think that I would hear from for a while The first trilogy gave me many hours of game play and I was really impressed with it. Now comes a new Gears game and I'm happy to see it return. I haven't read much about this game yet but so far we know two things, Baird and the Cole train are back. The teaser art that I've seen simply shows locusts, Baird, and Augustus Cole, with Augustus Cole in chains and being escorted in chains by the Cog. I'm really interested to see what Microsoft has in store for the Gears franchise. 

DOA5
DOA5, or Dead or Alive 5, is another game that I know nothing about but will be adding to my preorder list soon. DOA is of the fighting franchise genre. DOA4 was secretly one of my favorite fighting games. With polished graphics, multitiered fighting grounds, ninjas, and bouncy girls, how can you not go wrong. DOA5, while being shown at E3, it is already scheduled for release on September 25th, 2012 for both Xbox 360, and for the PS3.

Transformers Fall of Cybertron
Ah, loving both cars and robots how can you go wrong with Transformers? Transformers Fall of Cybertron is going to be another hit if it falls along the same lines as its predecessor War for Cybertron. While I'm not 100% sure of the story of the game, I'm sure the name says it all. One thing I am hoping to see in Fall of Cyberton is some human interaction with the Autobots or Decepticons. The name implies that we will see the end of Cybertron which may lead into their journey to Earth, of course as of right now, this is just speculation on my part. Aside from the similar game play and a more polished look to the graphics, there is one main reason for me to be looking forward to this game, Dinobots. Yes, the Dinobots will be ripping through the Decepticons in this sequel but the Autobots will have their hands full too as we will also get the Insecticons. Also with Combinors like Bruticus, this game is going to be a fans dream come true. Transformers Fall of Cybertron is scheduled for release August 28 (?), 2012 on the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

HALO 4
Halo 4, the game that needs no introduction. Halo is equally despised as it is loved but this time the franchise be being taken over by 343 Studios. In Halo 4 Master Chief returns with all new toys to an unknown alien world to battle an "ancient evil." What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine. We have already seen the grunts returning in Halo 4 so the fodder of the covenant will be present. While I haven't seen any confirmation of Elites it is quite possible that the word of a new truce between the sanghili and the humans hasn't spread all through the galaxy yet. But what about this "ancient evil"? Could they have been an unknown species that was a threat to the Forerunners that weren't wiped out by the Halo array? Could we see the Forerunners alive and well in Halo 4. Game play footage is expected to be debuted for the campaign so we will have an answer in a few short days. The suspense will be killing me in the mean time. Halo 4 will also return with a beefed up multiplayer mode with you taking control over a Spartan 4 (ironically). There will be new load outs and new abilities such as the ability to see through walls around a corner. Halo 4 will be out for retail on November 6, 2012 as an Xbox 360 exclusive title and as of now currently has a regular edition and a collectors edition. A legendary edition is rumored to be shown at E3, but only time will tell.

There's so many other items I'm looking forward to and all next week I'll be updating this blog so expect updates on the new Wii U, Gears of War, and of course Halo 4.

There's alot of titles that slipped in under my radar which I was really surprised at so here is a full list of what has already been confirmed for E3.

2K GAMES
Spec Ops: The Line (360, PS3, PC)
Borderlands 2 (360, PS3, PC)
XCOM: Enemy Unknown (360,PS3, PC)
NBA 2K13 (PS3, 360, Wii, PSP, Wii U)

ACTIVISION
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, PC)
Skylanders Giants (360, PS3, Wii, PC, 3DS)
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (360, PS3)
The Amazing Spider-Man (360, PS3)
Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (360, PS3)

ATLUS
Persona 4 Arena (360, PS3)
Persona 4 Golden (Vita)

BETHESDA
The Elder Scrolls Online (PC)
Dishonored (360, PS3, PC)
Doom 3: BFG Edition (360, PS3, PC)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -- Dawnguard (360, PS3, PC)

BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE
ArmA III (PC)
Carrier Command: Gaea Mission (360, PS3, PC)
DayZ (PC)

CAPCOM
Resident Evil 6 (360, PS3, PC)
Lost Planet 3 (360, PS3, PC)
DmC (360, PS3)
Street Fighter x Tekken (Vita)

CCP
Dust 514 (PS3)

D3 PUBLISHER
Ben 10: Omniverse (Wii, Wii U, 360, PS3)
iCarly: Groovy Foodie! (DS)
Madagascar: Join the Circus! (iOS, Android)
Madagascar 3: The Video Game (TBA)
Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game (360, PS3, Wii, DS, 3DS)

ELECTRONIC ARTS
Battlefield 3: Armored Kill (360, PS3, PC)
Battlefield 3: Close Quarters (360, PS3, PC)
Crysis 3 (360, PS3, PC)
FIFA Soccer 13 (360, PS3, PC)
Madden NFL 13 (PS3, 360, Wii, Vita)
Medal of Honor Warfighter (360, PS3, PC)
NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3)
Need for Speed Most Wanted (TBA)
NHL 13 (360, PS3)
SimCity (PC)
Outernauts (Facebook)
World Series of Poker (iOS)
Dead Space 3 (TBA)

GAMIGO
Otherland (PC)
Grimlands (PC)

HARMONIX
Rock Band Blitz (XBLA, PSN)

INFERNUM
Brick-Force (Web)

KONAMI
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (360, PS3, PC)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (360, PS3)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow -- Mirror of Fate (3DS)

LARIAN STUDIOS
Dragon Commander (360, PS3, PC)
Divinity: Original Sin (PC, MAC)

LUCASARTS
Star Wars 1313 (TBA)

MAJESCO
NBA Baller Beats (360)
Zumba Fitness (360)
Double Dragon: Neon (360, PS3)

MICROSOFT
Halo 4 (360)
Gears of War Project (360)

NAMCO
Star Trek: The Game (360, PS3, PC)
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (360, PS3)
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3)
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (PC)
Dragon Ball Z for Kinect (360)
One Piece: Pirate Warriors (PSN)

NINTENDO
Pikmin 3 (Wii U)
Super Mario Wii U (Wii U)

PERFECT WORLD ENTERTAINMENT
Neverwinter (PC)
Raiderz (PC)

SEGA
Aliens: Colonial Marines (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (360, 3DS, PC, PS3, Vita)
Jet Set Radio (Vita)

SNOWBIRD GAME STUDIOS
Eador: Masters of the Broken World (PC)

SONY
The Last of Us (PS3)
LittleBigPlanet Karting (PS3)
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3, Vita)
Soul Sacrifice (Vita)
Guacamelee! [Pub Fund] (PS3, Vita)
Papo & Yo [Pub Fund] (PS3)

SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT
DC Universe Online (PS3, PC)
Free Realms (PS3, PC)
Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures (PC)
EverQuest II (PC)
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (PC)
Bullet Run (PC)
PlanetSide 2 (PC)
Wizardry Online (PC)

SQUARE ENIX
Hitman: Absolution (360, PS3, PC)
Tomb Raider (360, PS3, PC)
Sleeping Dogs (360, PS3, PC)
Quantum Conundrum (360, PS3, PC)
Heroes of Ruin (3DS)
Kingdom Hearts 3D Dream Drop Distance (3DS)
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (3DS)
Gameglobe (Web)
American Mensa Academy (PC, 360, PS3, iOS, Android)
Darius Burst Second Prologue (iOS)
Raystorm (iOS)
Guardian Cross (iOS, Android)
Demon's Score (iOS, Android)
KooZac (iOS, Android)
Motley Blocks (iOS, Android)
Qwirkle (iOS, Android)
SolaRola (iOS, Android)

TEAM17
Worms Revolution (PS3, 360, PC)

TECMO KOEI
Dead or Alive 5 (360, PS3)
Pokemon Conquest (DS)
Mugen Souls (PS3)

THQ
Darksiders II (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
Metro Last Light (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
Company of Heroes 2 (PC)

TRION
Defiance (360, PC, PS3)
End of Nations (PC)
Rift (PC)

UBISOFT
Far Cry 3 (PS3, 360, PC)
Rayman Legends (Wii U)
Assassin's Creed III (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
Rocksmith (360, PS3, PC)
ShootMania Storm (PC)

VALVE
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (360, PS3, PC)

WARGAMING.NET
World of Tanks (PC)
World of Warplanes (PC)

WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
F1 2012 (PS3, 360, PC)
Guardians of Middle-earth (PS3, 360)

ZEN STUDIOS
Zen Pinball 2 (PS3, Vita)
Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles (360, PS3, Vita)
Marvel Pinball 3D (3DS)
CastleStorm (PC, 360, PS3, Mobile)
KickBeat (Vita)


I know its a long list so if you got this far congratulations.

The official E3 website should also be updated as well and you can find that here: http://www.e3expo.com/
G4 also has really great coverage so check with your local cable listings for them. They will be there all week. Also you can check with IGN.com for updates too.

There's lots of coverage so if you don't find something here, it will be available.

-"Nurd" Pat!

FCBD

Free Comic Books!

I'm glad I have your attention. This Saturday, May 5th, 2012 is Free Comic Book Day! That's right. Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) has been around since 2002, and is always the first Saturday of May, where participating comic shop retailers have comics for free!

No, not all comics in the stores are free. Retailers will have special issues of books specifically for FCBD.

The free comics are separated into two different groups, Gold and Silver. Now, depending on the policies of your local retailers determining how many you can have, virtually any and everyone who walks into a participating comic shop can get a free book.

But are the books any good? This year we are gonna see books of the Avengers, DC's New 52, Spiderman, Transformers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Megaman, and more.

If you would like a full list of the books then you can visit their website where you will also find a locator for all comic retailers participating in Free Comic Book Day.

www.freecomicbookday.com

I hope everyone has an exciting day tomorrow at Free Comic Book Day! Remember, support your local retailers and while your at it, if you haven't yet, go see the Avengers. The movie is fantastic and I'll be here tomorrow to talk about it.

I hope your FCBD is filled with heroes and wonder.

-"Nurd" Pat!

Marvel AR

Marvel has found a way to change the face of their comics in a big way with their Marvel AR app.

Marvel AR stands for Marvel Augmented Reality. Its an application that works with most camera enabled Apple ios and Android devices. The App is available at Marvel.com/ARapp and its absolutely free. The app boasts action packed trailers, visual character bios, creator video commentaries and more.

The way that the app works is that once activated you hold the device to view the particular page or panel with the "AR" icon in the lower right hand corner.

This sounds fantastic and couldn't wait to use it and beef up the value of my "AR" compatible books. Unfortunately I have an LG Prime android phone and it would not work with my particular device. So since I cannot provide you with my exact opinion on the app I thought I would share a video from YouTube and let you see it for yourself.






Enjoy your comics everyone. Now is the dawn of a new age!

-"Nurd" Pat!

May the Fourth...

Happy May the fourth everyone. As you may (or may not) know May forth is renowned as Star Wars day because... saying May the fourth sounds a lot like the preceding to "May the force be with you."

If you really wanna know where the phrase started from it dates back to 1979 when Margaret Thatcher was elected Britain's first woman prime minister. Her party published an article in the London Evening News that said "May the Fourth be with you Maggie, Congratulations". So there you have it. Now so Star Warsy is it?

However you decide to celebrate today, be it watching the Star Wars Saga from start to finish, the original Trilogy for purists, digging through your Star Wars memorabilia for nostalgia, or lightsaber dueling to the wee hours of the morning just remember, May the Fourth be with you!

And in honor of today, time for a little Star Wars sexy time!




You're welcome!

-"Nurd" Pat!

"Stinkorgate"

Mattycollector has done it again. They managed to bring us an amazing figure, however there is a debate in the execution.

May 15, 2012 will be Matty Day once again, where new merchandise is available to children and collectors alike and while there are some amazing items coming up the day is plagued by what is being affectionately referred to as "Stinkorgate."

Stinkor is by far a fan favorite in the Masters of the Universe history so everyone was excited to see him come to the MOTUC line. when announced at Power-Con in September 2011. I have to say that Stinkor is an amazing figure that comes with not only his classic MOTU look but also the accessories that give him his 200X deco.

So here is where the situation gets a little hairy (no pun intended). In the version showed at Power-Con you can see that his forearms have ridges that point outwards. This is a very standard look for figures with this formation on the arms, such as Skeletor and Merman.


These are newly casted parts as not to make Stinkor a straight paint swap to Merman. As you can see in the picture to the right there is molded fur coming out from the top of the glove to play more into the fact that Stinkor really is a skunk.

Press pieces have come out and the forearms have been reversed. Now this is nothing new because every time that there has been newly molded pieces they seem to be accidentally reversed such as King Hsss's shoulders and Roboto's shoulders.





Scott "Toyguru" Nietchlich, product manager of the MOTUC line, has stated that this was an intentional reverse to make Stinkor "pop" aesthetically.

Collectors cried foul knowing the track record with Mattycollector and newly molded pieces and claims that Mattel is simply trying to say that this was a design change to cover up for yet another reversal.

Toyguru stated that changes were made in the design phase however the 4 Horsemen, sculptors of the MOTUC line have always been on the front lines whenever there was a comment or concern about design in the past so this one has everyone crying foul. Especially since the anatomy of the arms don't match since reversed.

When asked on their twitter the 4 Horsemen simply states that “We haven’t seen a production version yet so we really can’t comment yet, but we can’t imagine why they would be switched.”

As far as my own thoughts on this situation, I also do not have a production copy in hand so I am laying my opinion to the side till I actually get him. I’m not saying fans and collectors should accept mistakes. It just seems like an ill fated gesture that didn’t pan out like they expected. I for one am happy to add Stinkor to my collection in any manner.

-"Nurd" Pat!

Sony's Orbis

The next-gen consoles, by rumors, are stacking up to be quite the beasts for every ones enjoyments.

Rumors have recently surfaced for Sony's Playstation 4 or better known as the "Orbis". The claims of the Orbis is that it uses an AMD CPU and GPU and has a release date around the 2013 holiday season. Development kits are already suspected to be possession by 'select' gaming developers.

The CPU and GPU being discussed is and AMD x64 CPU and AMD Southern Islands GPU. The Southern Islands name is associated to a high end range of pc cards that boasts screen sizes of 4096×2160 and a full 3D gaming experience in 1080i.


While all this sounds great there are two major draw backs to the new Orbis. The Orbis is stated to not be backwards compatible with PS3 software but the most controversial downfall is that used games will no longer be able to be used on the system. The hardware is speculated to tie a game to a particular PSN account or even through some sort of digital download.

(In order to be non biased I feel compelled to inform you that the "X-Box 720" claims to have the same lock out on second hand games.)

The gaming industry stands on a back bone of its gamers. Part of said back bone is that of the used gaming community. Since the Atari, borrowing games and/or selling and trading games has always been a part of the gaming community. Video rental stores used to be a staple and in today's day and age, gaming parties.

Taking off of this to a personal aspect, I myself will buy a game and take it to a friends house to play and in my opinion, this helps push the gaming sales. No one wants to pay $60 for a game that no one knows what its like. I know my friends don't. I may be one of the daring but I'd hate to see a world where we push ourselves to only playing Mario, Halo, Gears of War, Street Fighter, and Final Fantasy. Without being able to rent a game or borrow one from a friend or even taking one to a friends house would kill not only the secondary market but also push all gamers back into solitude. Sure there's the advent of online gaming but gaming is social at its core. We all like to get together and play.

So what do you guys think about the revolution in gaming with the new Orbis? Ho do you feel about not being able to play used or shared games?

-"Nurd" Pat!