QUEENS, NEW YORK: EMCE Toys, the brand that brought classic ‘70s toy company MEGO back from the dead this year, announced that it is releasing four 8” poseable action figures based on characters from the seminal 1968 cult zombie classic NIGHT OF THE LVING DEAD. The heads are sculpted by fan favorite James Brady in the classic MEGO rotocast plastic style, and the figures are packaged in MEGO-style blister packaging with illustrations by original MEGO artist Harold Shull.
“This is the first new line released since MEGO Corp. closed in the 1980s,” said Paul “Dr. Mego” Clarke, who co-created the EMCE Toys brand at SphereWerx Micromedia. “We brought back the classic STAR TREK and PLANET OF THE APES toys this year, and now we’ve created an entirely new line with the involvement of the original MEGO players.”
The first two figures to be released are Bill Hinzman as the “Graveyard Zombie” from the film’s opening scene, and Duane Jones as “Ben”, the rifle-toting hero.
Later this year, EMCE will release Judith O’Dea as “Barbra” and Kyra Schon as the “Karen Cooper Zombie”. All figures are approved by the actors or their respective estates and are timed to the 40th anniversary of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
In 1974, MEGO invented the licensed action figure with their distinctive eight-inch lines based on classic scifi and superhero characters, then expanding the lines to include electronic toys and playsets. An entire generation of fans had their very own “U.S.S. Enterprise Bridge” or a removable-cowl Batman at some point.
MEGO closed its doors in 1982, leading to a sky-rocketing in the value of these prized collectibles.
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New York Comic Con (NYCC), the second largest popular culture event in the United States, today announces many of the video game highlights during its 2008 event, April 18-20, at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. With an expanded focus on video games, this year's conference includes a look into the award-winning Gears of War franchise and the upcoming Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360 by Epic Games President Michael Capps and Gears of War 2 scriptwriter Joshua Ortega of Microsoft Game Studios. New York Comic Con is a showcase for the biggest and the best of American pop culture and video games. These driving forces in what's popular and hot are represented through a number of NYCC events, exhibitors, and guests, with this year's show attracting many celebrities including Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and T.M. Revolution.
New York Comic Con is proud to welcome exhibitors including Konami, Namco Bandai, Square-Enix, and Ubisoft; some of the biggest names in the interactive entertainment industry. These exhibitors will present their current hits and preview the summer's biggest titles from the show floor. While these demos and videos will be enough to satisfy any gamer, they are just the tip of the iceberg. New York Comic Con will present a special gamer summit on Sunday, April 20, with 12 panel discussions led by video game industry leaders. NYCC's gamer summit was created with the guidance of TenTonHammer.com and Themis Media, publishers of cutting-edge sites like The Escapist Magazine and WarCry Network. The summit will showcase games including Age of Conan, EvE Online, Iron Man, Warhammer Online, and studios including CCP, FunCom, Turbine, and 38 Studios. The summit will also feature round table discussions and topics ranging from video game journalism and writing for video games, to starting a career in the video game industry.
The gamer summit will begin with a presentation by Michael Capps, president of Epic Games, and Joshua Ortega, the scriptwriter behind Gears of War 2, discussing the origin of the Gears of War saga, its unprecedented success, and offering a glimpse into this year's upcoming Gears of War 2.
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With Traveller’s Tales confirmation of LEGO Indiana Jones’ release date confirmed today, and with LEGO Batman also in the pipeline, it got us here at Nintendic thinking about what other famous comic book characters are would be deserving of a plasticised makeover before being thrust back onto the videogames market. It’s not as if the ingredients for a potential smash hit aren’t already there in the majority of cases, so join us as we pick five of the best-known superheroes around argue their cases for future LEGO transformations.
Super Man
Superman, despite his popularity in the ‘real world’, has a lot of work to do to sway opinion in the videogames industry. None of the games that he has fronted in recent years have been anything close to great, from Superman 64 in 1999, which many have dubbed the worst videogame of all time, to 2006’s distinctly average Superman Returns. The potential is certainly there, from his ability to fly to his superhuman strength, not to mention the power to vaporise foes with lasers from his eyes. With the whole of Metropolis on his doorstep just begging to be explored, a LEGO Superman could be something special.
Spiderman
Spidey has fared somewhat better than Superman throughout his numerous videogame outings, but arguably it’s been a number of years (see Spider-Man 2 in 2004 and Ultimate Spider-Man in 2005) since Stan Lee’s human arachnid has been featured in a videogame that is deserving of his stature in the world of Marvel comics. Villains such as Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Venom (amongst many others) provide more than enough meat for a LEGO transformation to sink its teeth into, while Spider-Man’s superhero powers, particularly his web-slinging, would, for example, fit the motion sensing controls of the Wii Remote and Nunchuck perfectly.
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DrMaster Publications has announced that High School Girls vol. 9, the final volume of the series by Towa Ohshima, The King of Fighters 2003 vol. 4 by Wing Yan & King Tung, and Junk - Record of the Last Hero vol. 6 by Kia Asamiya, are all available now.
High School Girls vol. 9
The end is finally here! The crazy Okinawan school trip approaches its end in this final volume of High School Girls. Eriko and her friends are up to their usual antics terrorizing the teachers, starting pillow fights, buying up weird Okinawan souvenirs for their friends and families, and having late night sleepovers snacking and reminiscing about their hilariously silly pasts. Prepare to laugh your socks off in this awesomely hysterical and side-splitting conclusion to the High School Girls series!
The King of Fighters 2003 vol. 4
The King of Fighters 2003 series returns with more explosive kicks and punches that will blow your mind! The 10th King of Fighters semi-finals kicks off with Team K' vs. The High School Girls Team on top of the zooming "Highway Star Express." However, their match is unexpectedly interrupted by the former leader of NESTS' research department, the Phantom Pain-Kirameki Kannaduki, who suddenly attacks K'. What will happen to K'...? On the other end of the world, on a sailboat on the Nile River, the second battle of the semi-finals is taking place - Hero Team vs. Wolf Team. Shen-Woo vs.Terry Bogard begin the incredible battle between the two highly-skilled teams. Both fighters pull out all they have for battle, and despite the unexpected result, the sensational combat touches the whole world.
Junk - Record of the Last Hero vol. 6
Hiro goes back to school to begin a fresh start in his life... or so he thought, until his sexy new Junk counselor becomes his new homeroom teacher! As the third Junk's terror escalates, a new and more powerful Junk sent by Junk Systems appears and is set on punishing the third Junk. While a cult called Koufukukai reaches out to the fear ridden citizens of Tokyo with sinister intentions behind their "goodwill."
Availability
High School Girls vol. 9, The King of Fighters vol. 4, and Junk – Record of the Last Hero vol. 6 are AVAILABLE NOW! High School Girls and Junk – Record of the Last Hero are each priced at $9.95, and The King of Fighters is fully colored and priced at $13.95.
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The National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) and Telefilm Canada, in association with Zeros 2 Heroes Media, is calling for applicants for its newest training program NSI playWRITE.
NSI playWRITE is intended to give writers an opportunity to break into the video game industry as narrative designers and the chance to earn an internship with a Canadian game developer.
Organizers say it is the perfect program for film or television writers, novelists, short story writers or playwrights who have wondered how to break into the video game industry.
The program is not intended for those who already have a design credit in the game industry. Those who have previously worked as a game designer and have a design credit on a shipped title will not be considered.
"We're extremely excited to launch this innovative program with the creativity of the Zeros 2 Heroes team and Telefilm Canada support," said Susan Millican, CEO at the National Screen Institute. "NSI training is proven in the film and television industry and we're eager to expand into the video game world. We've identified the need for quality writers in a genre that continues to grow rapidly."
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Agon: Lost Sword of Toledo could be accurately described as an interactive book, just as accurately as it could be called a game. In the first thirty minutes of play I’d already discovered more on-screen text than I wanted to, discounting the lengthy conversations I’ll talk about later.
I won’t criticise a game for including educational elements, as I’m sure that someone with the inclination (someone who, for example, enjoyed reading the books in Oblivion) would take great pleasure in poring over the digital texts. However, I’m not naïve enough to believe there are that many people out there who are of this ilk. I’m certainly not one of them.
You take the role of convivial British Museum employee Professor Samuel Hunt. His mission, quest if you will, is to investigate myths, legends and so on. In this particular title (the fourth of a proposed 14) your task is to discover more about the fabled Sword of Toledo. Of course, there are plenty of things to sidetrack the professor in his mission, such as family quarrels and incarcerated youngsters.
Movement is flick-screen, Myst-style, although thankfully the camera isn’t fixed. A 360 degree vision area allows the player to examine his surroundings more effectively, although the flick-screen element does annoy somewhat when manoeuvring in a small, enclosed space. It won’t irritate veterans of the genre, but more…exuberant players will uninstall the game after five minutes of this.
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Hothead Games on Thursday revealed pricing and system specifications for its forthcoming game, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. The game is coming to Mac OS X, Windows and Linux and will cost $19.95.
Based on characters seen in the eminently popular Web comic Penny Arcade, the game is planned as the installment, or episode, of several downloadable games.
Penny Arcade is focused on the continuing exploits of Tycho and Gabe. The comic strips, which are published for free three times a week, often involve situations or a punch line related to video games or video game humor. The new game series is intended as an adventure/action game featuring the characters seen in the Web comic.
System requirements will call for Mac OS X v10.4 or v10.5, G4/1.0GHz or better (including Intel), ATI Radeon 9500, Nvidia GeForce FX 5200, or GMA 950 or better 3D graphics with at least 64MB VRAM, 512MB RAM, 350MB hard disk drive and available Internet connection for download and one-time authentication.
The game has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB.
