The Doctor Is Almost IN (And It Looks As If He Needs A Doctor!)

 
I’m trying to avoid these too-brief teasers for the new season of Doctor Who kicking off in just over month on August 23, but this one made me laugh for a few reasons. One of which may be that voice could mean Davros and the Daleks are coming back early in the new season. Well, that’s what I got out of this teaser. If I’m wrong, oh well… it’s why I dislike teasers! Okay, go watch some real explosions outside, folks! I’ll be back and more on point tomorrow…

It May Be A Holiday, But Funko Still Wants You To WIN Some Cool Hikari Vinyl!

Hikari logo 

Happy Independence Day! Well, all I did today (so far) was get up at 6am to do laundry (and yes, it was packed by 7:30 or so), go home and hang a few things up I don’t normally dry, then cook myself something and get back to playing End of Serenity for the review I need to write. Thrilling, huh? Anyway, I’d almost forgotten if’s Friday and another awesome Funko Hikari Sofubi Vinyl figure giveaway to blast out your way. This time it’s more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action with two figures up for grabs: Meet Limited Edition Clear Donatello(#1 of 3000) and Limited Edition Clear Michelangelo (also #1 of 3000). One each for two lucky Funko fans!

Limited Edition Clear Donatello 

LE Clear Michelangelo Hikari Sofubi Figure 
As usual, here’s how to enter:

Just click on over to one of Funko’s social network channels:

http://www.facebook.com/OriginalFunko
http://www.twitter.com/OriginalFunko
Instagram @OriginalFunko

Enter and keep your eyes peeled for a note next Thursday if you’re a winner. Simple, no? Anyway, have a safe holiday on and off the roads and good luck! If you don’t win, BOTH figures will be available for sale THIS MONTH at a retailer near you (try your local comic shop if it happens to carry Funko figures).

CE Week: Protection Is The Name Of The Game…

CE WeekIt really doesn’t matter at all how much you spend, have spent or will spend on that hot new tech gadget at all if you don’t take care of it, folks. Sure, there are those who dispose of stuff as soon as a new model ships out or if there’s even the hint of an issue with it, but I’d bet most consumers don’t have that luxury in this economy and would be more than happy to have their tech last longer and even work better in some cases. This year’s CE Week was packed with some really cool new and returning products I can highly recommend, so pull up a chair if you haven’t already and maybe take some notes or click away on the following links at your leisure…

stm-112-033P-16_largeSTM Bags: I’d only heard of STM about a year or so back from a friend of mine who said they were “the best made laptop bags you’ll ever see”, which I promptly took with a grain of salt, as I’ve seen plenty of well-made carrying bags in my day. Anyway, he showed me the new laptop case his wife got for his birthday gift and I had to agree after poking through it thoroughly that there was some merit to his hyperbole.

These Australian-designed bag, cases and sleeves just look like they’re going places, even if you’re just hoofing it a handful of blocks to the nearest coffee spot to grab a cuppa and work on that great novel you think will rocket you to fame and fortune. Of course, if you walk in with your gear in an STM, people may think you’ve already made it. I guess that’s a sign of accomplishment, that looking successful stuff, as some of us have trouble finding a pair of socks that properly match (raises hand and waves it around)…

STM actually gave away that same model this year as a freebie to anyone who popped up at their booth with either the postcard they’d sent out or a mention of the email they shot around to a bunch of lucky attendees. As my own laptop is bigger than the bag handed out, I ended up getting someone who’s birthday was coming up a little replacement for his bag when it finally needs replacing and I’m betting he’s going to be surprised. My eyeball is actually set on that STM Sequel bag in the photo above, as it’s got everything I’m looking for and then some.

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Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Clip #1: Now, THAT’S What I Call A “Lifestyle Lift!”

(thanks, Movieclips Trailers!) 

Well, you’re certainly NOT going to tell a lady she can’t cut her own hair, right? RIGHT? I thought so. Anyway, this Sin City “sequel” looks pretty cool, although as a friend noted a few weeks back when he saw the trailers: “Everyone’s looking a wee bit long in the tooth even WITH all that makeup!” Of course, I laughed along with him because we’re no spring chickens either. But hey, neither of us is up there on the big screen chewing up the scenery for a well-earned paycheck. Hmmm… maybe we should consider a career move? I think he can play Marv without all that rubber goo on his face. Me, I guess I can be anything in a script like a table, wall or tree. I think I’m a bit wooden when it comes to the acting stuff, so playing an inanimate object is probably a better start…

AMC Wants You To Stay Home Scared This Weekend (Or: Zombies Are Safer Than Fireworks)

TWDS5_DeadWhiteAndBlue_014 
If, for whatever reason you still haven’t seen AMC’s The Walking Dead and are now interested in playing a bit of catch up binge-watching or you’re a fan wanting to stay in one place and practice for some “actual” zombie apocalypse by hunkering down with some rations and camping out indoors while all hell breaks loose outside, here you go. AMC will indeed be running EVERY episode of the show starting Friday at 9AM/8c. Right after the final episode of Season 4 ends on Sunday night at 9pm, there’s some NEW contest afterwards – a Talking Dead Season 5 Preview Special, hosted by Chris Hardwick with guests The Walking Dead Showrunner and Executive Producer Scott M. Gimple and actress Aisha Tyler. I’ll probably catch that special just because all of the shows I normally watch are on hiatus and I’ll be bored to tears (unless I have a game or movie to occupy me of course).

I generally avoid these pre-season antics because as I’ve noted countless times, I prefer to go in cold to a new season of a favorite show, not get a head full of information swirling around for months or a year or however long it takes to complete a season of shooting. Of course,I could simply forget what I’ve seen by the time Season 5 rolls around, as there’s so many other things going on…

Bundle Stars & PC Gamer Magazine Want A Million Of YOU To Grab A Free Game For The Next Few Weeks!

bundlestars-horizontal

cover 522x353Okay, I missed posting the news last week thanks to CE Week overload, but for the next four weeks, Bundle Stars and PC Gamer.com are giving away FREE GAMES- woo hoo! This week, it’s the weird and wild mix of multiplayer only first-person shooting in a WWII setting and Jurassic Park gone wilder, Dino D-Day up for grabs as a Steam code.

Just look at the “cover art” poster for this digital-only game:

DDD_boxart480x600Yeah, that’s kind of attention grabbing, isn’t it?

“How the heck do I get one of those codes, mister?” you ask? EASY. If you clicked on that link above, you already know. If you didn’t, all you need is a free Steam account, a PC capable of running the game and time to play it. You also may as well sign up for Bundle Stars while you’re at it (this is free to do, by the way) just to stay up to date on the great deals they have on the site every day!

hardgrave_nologo trex_fists

Oh, and if that poster didn’t sell you, this old trailer SHOULD:

So, don’t sleep on this one – who can pass up FREE (especially if it’s got well-armed dinosaurs you can play as or against!)? Anyway, three more weeks to go and three more free Steam codes on the way for a lucky million gamers!

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn Launch Trailer: History Repeats Itself Once More, But I Don’t Mind At All…

 
One thing some detractors of the long-running Mobile Suit Gundam video games seem to always say is many of the games go over the same original series storyline from 1979 to the point of insanity, but these folks are missing the point, I say. Given one of the goals of the series has always been to get kids to get their parents to buy them all those tie in goodies, re-introducing the story, characters and concepts repeatedly helps keep the series alive when a new generation crops up and wants to know why daddy has a OG model RX-78-2 Gundam on a shelf somewhere he won’t let get touched. Namco Bandai and Tecmo Koei have teamed up previously for a few Dynasty Warriors Gundam games, but with Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn, they’ve brought it all back to the beginning and have recreated some of the original series’ key moments as small to larger scale battles that should get Gundam and DW fans grinning right from the start. Anyway, the game is available NOW in North America as a digital download on PSN.

Yes, the UK gets this on a disc like Japan did, but this seems to be the new reality for many game companies looking to cut costs here. It’s a forced paradox here, but by NOT supporting digital releases, the chances of getting physical product if there’s a sequel are slim to none at this stage of the game. So, do what you can to get this game, but let Namco Bandai know you’d like to have more choice in HOW you get your content. Even if they end up doing online only physical sales through their shop (based on actual pre-orders that fill a minimum disc pressing requirement), it’s a better thing for all that people who want to buy certain niche games (but can’t or won’t for a few reasons) can do so and make the company a profit in the process…

So, There’s a Horrible Bosses 2 On The Way. Um, Thanks?

 
Wait. Horrible Bosses 2? Well, there’s no accounting for taste, I suppose. Now, I didn’t “hate” Horrible Bosses, when I finally caught it on cable but it certainly wasn’t a film I’d thought I’d see a sequel for. The again, it seems that ANY major Hollywood comedy that rakes in some bucks takes the easy money route to Sequeltown, offering bigger paychecks to the returning cast while adding more names into the pot to get those who liked the original to go rushing into theaters for that big weekend or four before slowly to quickly declining returns push the feature down the other road to the inevitable “Own it on Blu-Ray/DVD” commercials that kick off without fail in under six months these days before the film is either bought or not bought on it’s next road to that cable premiere.

I’m not at all interested in Horrible Bosses 2, in case you didn’t guess. Nice try though, Warner Bros. (and that’s all I’ll say about that). Still, I bet there’s a Horrible Bosses 3 next year…

Escape Dead Island Trailer: Live Men Tell Plenty of Tales…

 
Is anyone else getting a distinct Telltale Games vibe from the art in this Dead Island spin-off game headed to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this fall? No? Well, okay, it’s not an EXACT lift from those excellent adventure games, but I’d bet a smelly coin from a zombie’s pocket that developer Fatshark Studios was inspired by that series when they were cooking up this one. That’s not necessarily a bad thing at all, as if it’s done right, I can see Dead Island appealing to gamers in a slightly different manner than it has previously. That and I wonder if those stylized visuals also mean this one’s Vita-bound as well? That would be pretty cool at the end of the day. Anyway, we’ll see what’s what soon enough, right?

Funko Is Bringing Your Shelves Some Scary Collectible Goodies Soon…

funko logoOnce again, Funko is whipping out more reasons to lighten your wallet and fill your shelves. This time, it’s the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, immortalized (or is that “immoral-ized”) as a Wacky Wobbler (and I have the feeling Hitch would love being a bobblehead), available for sale this October. Take a look and while you’re looking, think of someone you’d love to give this to (even if it’s yourself, because one should always think of him or herself first when gift-giving):

Hitch Wobbler If you can’t wait until October (what, you have a date with a paid assassin or something?), In August, you can snap up these six new awesome ReAction figures from some classic (well, 1978 and up) horror flicks you may have seen once or twice. Take a peek between those fingers you’ve not got covering your face, why don’t you:

funko crow funko freddy funko jason funko pinhead funko pumpkin funko shape

Now that you’re suitably scared (well, okay, suitably thrilled and whipping out your wallet), you may as well know that keeping these killers in their packaging is probably a very darn good idea. Just a suggestion… for safety’s sake.