GOTHAMCENTRAL.NET

Teddy Scares

Gotham Central — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:51:00 GMT

While I was visiting my local toy store, 1up Collectibles today my girlfriend saw the neatest plushy, Teddy Scares. As I stood there looking at the different packages for the different models the shop owner of 1up Collectibles gave us a brief overview of the bear’s history. “The Teddy Scares line is created by a Philadelphia based company called Applehead Factory. The zombie style teddy bears where once the cute and cuddly bears that where forgotten by the little children that once loved and adored them.”

Currently Applehead Factory is on the second series of these morbidly loveable bears. The line-up for this series is

Teddy Scares Mundy Drudge 12" Plush.
Teddy Scares Sheldon Grogg 12" Plush.
Teddy Scares Granger Evermore 12" Plush.
Teddy Scares Mazey Podge 12" Plush.
Teddy Scares Eli Wretch 12" Plush.
Teddy Scares Exclusive Granger Evermore 12" Plush.

Of course my girl felt she needed to have all these wonderful plush figures which seemed to make the owner of the toy shop pretty happy. I also noticed that they had some miniature versions of the series one figures. I believe they were called Morgue Minis with their very own body bag. If you happen to be in the West Reading, PA area stop by our favorite shop on the avenue 1up Collectibles and get your Teddy Scares Bear. If you are unable to make it into the shop check them out online at www.1upcollectibles.com

Gears of War Lancer Assault Rifle

Gotham Central — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:39:00 GMT

TriForce proudly presents the officially licensed Gears of War 2 Lancer Assault Rifle, intricately sculpted by Erick Sosa, art director of TriForce, and paint-mastered by highly respected industry veteran, Paul Komoda. The end result is the most authentic trademark weapon of the COG military brought to life! The Lancer Assault Rifle is hand-finished and hand-painted to precision quality. Intricately crafted and cast in polystone, it stands a massive 40" in length and weighs in at 15 pounds! Own this authentic piece of videogame history as part of a Limited Edition of 500 pieces worldwide.

Currently this item won't be availible untill late February early March 2010 however you can preoder your very own Gears of War Lancer Assault Rifle at Project Triforce directly or one of their authorized vendors such as 1up collectibles.

"Batman: Arkham Asylum" Awarded a Guinness World Record

Gotham Central — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:30:00 GMT

The highly anticipated Batman: Arkham Asylum™ game has been awarded a Guinness World Record for the ‘Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever’.

Batman: Arkham Asylum has been given top scores across the board from National newspapers and specialist game reviewers. The game has broken the Guinness World Record in this category by achieving the highest average score of 91.67 from reviews around the world.*

Developed by Rocksteady Studios and based on DC Comics’ Batman license, Batman: Arkham Asylum offers players diverse gameplay that pushes the envelope for action, adventure and superhero games and exposes players to a unique, dark and atmospheric adventure taking them to the depths of Arkham Asylum.

Gaz Deaves from Guinness World Records states, “We are so pleased to be awarding Batman: Arkham Asylum a Guinness World Record. It is a fantastic new game and due to the reaction of gaming experts we believe it has a well deserved place in the Guinness World Records book.”

In Batman: Arkham Asylum, BATMAN finds himself trapped inside the confines of Gotham’s psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane, ARKHAM ASYLUM. THE JOKER has set a trap for the DARK KNIGHT and has conspired with the deranged inmates to eliminate BATMAN once and for all. Adding to the authenticity of the game are veteran animated Batman voice talents Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, who reprise their roles as The Joker and Batman respectively.

Batman: Arkham Asylum features an original story by Paul Dini, Batman writer and five-time Emmy Award winner whose credits include Lost and Batman: The Animated Series. Gamers will move in the shadows, instill fear amongst their enemies and confront The Joker and Gotham City's most notorious villains, including HARLEY QUINN, BANE, KILLER CROC, POISON IVY and SCARECROW, who have taken over the asylum.

Batman: Arkham Asylum, co-published in North America by Eidos Inc. and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, is rated “T” for Teen and is available for PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft for the suggested retail price of $59.99. It will also be available for Games for Windows® LIVE at retail outlets for the suggested retail price of $49.99 on September 15, 2009. For more information, please visit www.batmanarkhamasylum.com.

*Compiled by Metacritic.com, one of the web’s best resources for critical information about film, video, games, books and television.

About DC Comics

DC Comics, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world and home to such iconic characters as SUPERMAN, BATMAN, WONDER WOMAN and the SANDMAN. These DC SUPER HEROES and others have starred in comic books, movies, television series (both animated and live-action) and cyberspace, thrilling audiences of all ages for generations. DC Comics’ Web site is located at www.dccomics.com

About Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, is a premier worldwide publisher, developer, licensor and distributor of entertainment content for the interactive space across all current and future platforms, including console, handheld and PC-based gaming for both internal and third party game titles.

About Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records is the universally recognized authority on record-breaking achievement. First published in 1955, the annual Guinness World Records book is published in more than 100 countries and 25 languages and is one of the highest-selling books under copyright of all time with more than 3 million copies sold annually across the globe. Guinness World Records celebrated its 50th anniversary edition in 2004, a year after the sale of its 100 millionth copy. Guinness World Records also annually publishes the Gamers’ Edition; a records book devoted solely to the world of computer gaming and high score record achievements. The Guinness World Records website (www.guinnessworldrecords.com) receives more than 11 million visitors a year. Guinness World Records is part of the Jim Pattison Group, one of Canada’s largest privately owned companies which is a conglomerate of interests, including advertising, broadcasting, grocery stores and automotive retailing.

About Metacritic

Each movie, game, book and album featured on metacritic.com is assigned a METASCORE®, which is a weighted average of all of the scores assigned by individual critics to that movie, game, book or album. On a typical film page, for example, you will see the individual critic scores next to each of their quotes, while the overall METASCORE will be displayed at the top of the page. Book METASCORES are calculated slightly differently, but the underlying concept is the same. METASCORES range from 0-100, with higher scores indicating better overall reviews, and lower scores indicating less favorable reviews from critics. Various ranges of METASCORES are also identified by different colors, so you can tell at a glance how critics felt: generally, green scores indicate favorable reviews, yellow scores denote mixed reviews, and red scores are used for unfavorable reviews. The METASCORE is considered a weighted average because we assign more significance, or weight, to some critics and publications than we do to others, based on the overall stature and quality of those critics and publications. In addition, for music and movies, we also normalize the resulting scores (akin to "grading on a curve" in college), which prevents scores from clumping together. Note that we do not calculate METASCORES for items that do not have a minimum number of reviews, as doing so would not provide an accurate result. These items are marked score pending or XX.

About Eidos Interactive Ltd.

Eidos is the creator of some of the world's leading videogame properties, consisting of several development studios including Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Beautiful Game Studios, Eidos Game Studios, Eidos Hungary and Eidos Montreal, plus sales and distribution offices in Europe and the US. The Group has a valuable portfolio of intellectual property including: Tomb Raider™, Hitman™, Deus Ex™, Championship Manager™ and Just Cause™. Eidos is a wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.

Just Cause, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Championship Manager, Eidos and the Eidos Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Eidos Interactive Ltd. All rights reserved. SQUARE ENIX is a trademark or a registered trademark of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. in the United States and/or other territories. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM Software © 2009 Eidos Interactive Ltd. Developed by Rocksteady Studios Ltd. Co-published by Eidos, Inc. and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. Rocksteady and the Rocksteady logo are trademarks of Rocksteady Studios Ltd. Eidos and the Eidos logo are trademarks of Eidos Interactive Ltd. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

HD DVD Trade-in Program

Gotham Central — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:02:00 GMT

The other day, I was talking to my neighbor about the amount of HD DVDs movies that I had in my collection and how I wasn’t ready to go out and buy these titles on Blu-Ray as of yet. He then mentioned something about how WB was doing a trade in for the old HD DVDs to Blue Ray. This naturally peaked my curiosity as I have quite a few of the HD DVDs left in my collection.

Red2Blu is a simple program that only works with Warner Brothers HD DVDs. All the user needs to do is send an HD DVD copy of a film, and he or she will soon receive a Blu-ray copy of that same film in 4 to 5 weeks.

This service isn’t free, as it cost about $4.95 per disc, and it looks like the user has to pay for the shipping and handling of a flat $6.95. So are you getting a good deal out of this? Well, you will just have to do the math.

See why it’s called Red2Blu? The HD DVD copies were red, and the Blu-Ray is packaged in blue. Get it? Pretty clever, actually. For more details visit WB’s site: http://www.red2blu.com/

Now, if only other studios were offering this deal. It would appear that the big WB has the copyright on the name Red2Blu, but surely Universal and Paramount can set up a similar program and get in on the action?

GREEN LANTERN - FIRST FLIGHT DVD

Gotham Central — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:44:00 GMT

Grade: A-
Stars: Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer, Michael Madsen, John Larroquette
Writer(s): Alan Burnett
Director: Lauren Montgomery
Release Date: July 28, 2009
Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Warner Home Video

GREEN LANTERN has always been one of the more under-rated superheroes in the DC Universe, bowing before BATMAN and SUPERMAN and the rest of the JUSTICE LEAGUE. But in the comic world, GREEN LANTERN has always had a special place in the hearts of those that first read him or saw him in SUPERFRIENDS on Saturday mornings. That’s where my first experience began. Watching SUPERFRIENDS and always being disappointed when Green Lantern wasn’t on it. He was always powerful and creative in the ability to create material structures out of green light. It was just plain cool.

Hot on the heels of the newfound popularity, the first GREEN LANTERN movie finally been made, entitled GREEN LANTERN – FIRST FLIGHT, documenting the origins of Hal Jordan and his first adventures. This animated feature film takes a look at the origins of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern from sector 2814.

While the movie itself is quiet liberal with the origins of the Green Lantern Corp and for that matter Jordan’s first few days – in fact, we just recently learned those in the comic book under Johns’ “Secret Origin” storyline – the creators had to make it easy and enjoyable for all parties regardless of the continuity factory.

After Hal Jordan receives his ring from Abin Sur, the Green Lanterns take him to Oa to discover if he is worthy of wearing the ring. Hal gets then wrapped into an internal affair with the Guardians of Oa who are trying to recover a yellow device that is set to have untold power. Hal and his mentor, Sinestro and other Lanterns track the trail through a number of thugs. Sinestro turns out not to be the good guy becomes the Yellow Lantern taking out his rage and frustration on the Guardians & by killing numerous corp. members in the process. It is up to Hal to save Oa and the Lanterns or die himself.

Tron Legacy

Gotham Central — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:03:00 GMT

I have to admit, when they first announced a Tron sequel at last year’s Comic Con, I was intrigued but not really all that sure how well the concept would work 28 years later. It’s true that digital graphics and computer animation are a thousand times more advanced than they were back then, but the entire idea of getting sucked into a computer’s grid-like world now just seems dated somehow.

Well, nevermind, you can forget all that because the first trailer for Tron 2 (now titled Tron Legacy) has finally been unveiled online, and it has completely blown me away! I guess this is basically the same footage that Comic Con attendees got to see last year, and it’s just a single scene showing off an intense light cycle duel. But man, the look and feel of this is absolutely gorgeous… I can only imagine how it will look in 3-D on IMAX. The movie is supposed to be out sometime in 2010, and I, for one, can’t wait. Check out the trailer here and see what you think.

Gears of War 2: Locust Design Maquette

Gotham Central — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:21:00 GMT

Project TriForce proudly presents the officially licensed Gears of War 2 Locust Drone Design Maquette, brilliantly sculpted by Chris Perna, art director of Epic Games, and paint-mastered by highly respected Hollywood special-effects creature creator Jordu Schell. The end result is a living, breathing, nightmarish soldier from the Locust Horde, brought to life! The astonishing maquette is hand finished and hand painted to precision quality. He even comes with a Gears COG! Intricately crafted and cast in polystone resin, he stands 19-inches tall and weighs in at 14 pounds! Own this authentic piece of videogame history as part of a limited edition of only 500 pieces worldwide.

You can get your very own Locust Drone Maquette from a couple of different online retailers;

World of Warcraft Movie

Gotham Central — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:21:00 GMT

I for one have never been much of a Warcraft person but I have Tons of friends who have sworn by this MMO. Some of these friends have even tried to convert me from playing Everquest I & II. Anyway I'm sure that most of them now are going to be extremely excited about the latest news that I have heard about this MMO.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced today that Sam Raimi has signed on to direct the eagerly-anticipated major motion picture based on Blizzard Entertainment®'s award-winning Warcraft® universe. Raimi has, in the course of his career, clearly demonstrated a genius for developing and adapting existing fictional universes for mainstream audiences while staying true to the spirit of the original content.

Raimi directed the Spider-Man trilogy, which has broken box-office records around the world and garnered five Academy Award® nominations. Known for his imaginative filmmaking style, richly drawn characters and offbeat humor, Raimi wrote and directed the cult classic, The Evil Dead and produced 30 Days Of Night. He most recently wrote and directed the supernatural thriller, Drag Me To Hell.

"At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story," said Raimi. "I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen."

Charles Roven's producing talents were recently seen with last summer's blockbuster The Dark Knight, which grossed in excess of $1 billion, was nominated for eight Academy Awards® and won two. His body of work also includes the widely acclaimed Batman Begins and the sci-fi classic 12 Monkeys. Roven, with Atlas producing partner Alex Gartner, will be producing with Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, Legendary's Chief Creative Officer Jon Jashni, Raimi and Raimi's producing partner Joshua Donen. Raimi's partner, Robert Tapert, will be an Executive Producer and Blizzard Entertainment's Senior Vice President of Creative Development, Chris Metzen, a Co-Producer.

"Partnering with Sam Raimi exemplifies Legendary's mandate of marrying the highest quality intellectual property to world-class filmmakers" said Legendary's Tull. "Sam's passion for 'Warcraft' is undeniable and we know that he will create an incredible film worthy of Blizzard's phenomenal franchise. We look forward to collaborating with our partners at Warner Bros. and continuing our successful relationship with Chuck in bringing this rich new world to the screen."

"Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures have a shared vision for this film and we searched at length to find the very best director to bring that vision to life," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "From our first conversation with Sam, we could tell he was the perfect choice. Sam knows how to simultaneously satisfy the enthusiasts and the mainstream audience that might be experiencing that content for the first time. We're looking forward to working with him to achieve that here."

Source - blizzard.com