Dark Horse’s Upcoming The Star Wars Comic Goes Back to the Future to Bring Up The Past…

Posted on August 28, 2013 by geelw

OK, it’s not just any Star Wars, folks… it’s The Star Wars, an eight-issue maxi series based on George Lucas’ original rough draft screenplay and translated into visual form by writer J. W. Rinzler and artist Mike Mayhew with colorists Rain Beredo and Brad Anderson. Behind that Nick Runge cover (that’s nicely reminiscent of the late Ralph McQuarrie’s work) lies what Dark Horse is promising to be “one of the biggest, craziest, alt-universe stories the franchise has ever seen.” I’m old enough to have had at one point a bunch of Star Wars books on the making of the film including the stellar The Art of Star Wars which showed a load of pre-production art that was based on that rough draft, and so far, the first few pages I’ve seen have captured that look just about perfectly.

So, if you’re a fan of SW, but prefer it classic style (as in Han shooting first) or as originally intended by its creator, here you go. I have the feeling that this one will do well… it must be the Force or something mule-kicking me in the noggin… Ouch.

BUY THIS! mimoco & Lucasfilm Say “May the 4th Be With You” With An R2-A6 Drive

Posted on May 4, 2013 by geelw

OK, so I’m a wee bit slow. It took me a while to figure out this whole May 4th thing and the Star Wars connection. All this time I thought it was because George Lucas had a speech impediment. There’s nothing wrong with a little lisp, mind you, but there’s probably something up with YOU if you miss out on this cool SUPER limited edition R2-A6 MIMOBOT, available NOW at mimoco’s online shop.

Like other MIMOBOT USB drives, this one comes in a few storage sizes (this one’s available in 8 to 128GB models) and also comes LOADED with cool bonuses such as desktop icons, avatars, wallpapers and more. The only thing you won’t get are any Imperial battle station plans, as those are in another droid entirely. Um, I WOULD say “this isn’t the droid you’re looking for”, but mimoco’s really nice PR person would probably beat me up (or hire a bounty hunter to do the deed). I’ll stay on her good side, as I have a “No Blasters!” rule around here that’s strictly enforced by me staying out of trouble. Anyway, go get yourself a new (and VERY useful) droid. You look as if you could use a bit more organization in your life, I say…

R.I.P., Lucasarts (Earn It, Mittens. EARN IT).

Posted on April 4, 2013 by geelw

If I were a REALLY cranky and cynical bastard, I’d say Disney REALLY killed off Lucasarts (and pretty much anything Star Wars related in the game space forever) so cheaper to make casual games like Mittens could live. Sacrifice that expensive cash-draining bigger studio and two solid-looking works in progress along with that formerly proud sci-fi IP (that still has a gigantic fan base, mind you) that’s had a bunch of not-so-hot games mixed in with a few winners over the years for this cute kitten and a ton of other faster to cash in mobile and social titles? Sure, why not? Any non-gaming industry analyst worth his salt (and a few who do, I’d bet) will say it makes PERFECT economic sense at the end of the day (albeit at the cost of too many jobs at a newly shuttered studio)…

Hey, all is not lost, right? Disney still has some of its own famous (and new original) properties that are SURELY guaranteed a huge audience based on that company name recognition alone? And hey, NO one will miss Lucasarts save for a “vocal minority” (as we get called by the executive types who trumpet these casual games and their monetizing schemes over “risky” IP with a shaky track record).

Yeah, sure… that’s the ticket…

Fortunately, I’m NOT that guy… I think. So long Lucasarts. Hopefully, the Force will be with those now unemployed.

mimoco Makes Up For Last Year’s April Fools Joke Gone Wild: Jar Jar Binks Lives!

Posted on April 1, 2013 by geelw

OK, I missed this one last year, but I did hear from a friend who fell for it hard and will still rant about it if asked to retell the tale. Anyway, the company has announced a VERY limited edition MIMOBOT for the much-hated Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace character, initially introduced as a 2012 April Fool’s joke that actually made some Star Wars fans a bit cranky.

This year, the company has gone and made the thing up for you guys, but the catch is… there are ONLY a mere 500 of them! Meaning they’ll probably be all gone as I type this (or by the end of the day) and you Jar Jar fans (wait, there are actually 500 of them? “Meesa no tink sooooo!”) will be chasing after me (and poor mimoco) with laser torches because you’ll think you’ve been had TWO years in a row! GET IT HERE, go wild with all the goodies included on the drive and feel free to Force Bounce around the room afterwards with a big grin on your face. Er, just don’t start asking for other obscure (or need to be obscure) characters from the films. I’m not sure mimoco wants to be remembered as the company that brought out a line of Star Wars Holiday Special Wookie Family MIMOBOTS… or DO they?

“Meesa tink Jar Jar should get a yeerly MEEMOBOT…” Oh shut up, Jar Jar (*Boot!*)

Star Wars Pinball: The Empire Strikes Back Rolls Onto PSN, XBLA

Posted on February 13, 2013 by geelw

Zen Studios does it again, dropping a new, cool pinball table onto PSN and XBLA for Zen Pinball fans. This one will have special appeal to Star Wars fans, as it’s Episode V themed and as you can see above, packs in plenty of detail and familiar characters from the film and fun cinematic stuff to make you lose a few balls over as you’re ogling them instead of paying attention to the rest of the amazing play field when these sequences end. Of course, pinball is easy to pick up for anyone who can hold a controller, so this one has wide appeal to all ages (E10+ rating aside). Zen also has a Boba Fett table coming and will reveal more next week, so pop back in to see what’s up (and yes, you can expect a certain line from Return of the Jedi used as a joke title for that post or somewhere in that post…).

Yomega’s Star Wars Yo-Yo’s: You Wanted Pics With That, Right?

Posted on February 11, 2013 by geelw

And here you go: still pending approval (which will give Lucas something to instead of reediting the original trilogy one more time, ha ha), but both will be really fun collectibles for Star Wars fans as well as dedicated yo-yo enthusiasts, as they offer more than just good looks and familiar faces to play with. You get a solid yo-yo with a figure body that acts as a stand and a head that pops in to replace the yo-yo when in use. I think you’ll also be able to use the head as a string winder as well, but we’ll see. I ended up also getting a nice Yomega Toy Fair 2013 yo-yo to practice with, which is a good thing, as I haven’t touched a yo-yo in years and I’m SUPER rusty. I think as long as I remove anything breakable from the living room, I’ll be fine. Well, the furniture will be. I may need some padding and a helmet. Does Yomega even make yo-yo pads and helmets? Hmmm… I need to drop by the booth again and check. Back later…

Toy Fair 2013: Are Yomega’s Star Wars Yo-Yo’s Force-Powered? We Shall See…

Posted on February 8, 2013 by geelw

Hmmm… I haven’t seen a decent yo-yo commercial (or heck, ANY yo-yo commercial) since the days of Duncan, but seeing the email in my inbox from modern yo-yo masters Yomega about their upcoming Star Wars line made my brain cook up a doozy of an ad idea. A mock battle breaks out between two kids (or adults) dressed like characters from the films who pull off all sorts of fancy tricks while facing each other (er, out of range of any actual injury, of course!). Add in some CGI laser string effects and *ding!* – instant classic. Maybe. Anyway, Yomega is releasing three new models this summer and fall – I’ll post pics of them from the show floor on Sunday – descriptions and prices are below the jump.

Hmmm. I wonder what George Lucas is up to these days? Then again, if he directed the spot, we’d end up seeing it pulled and reworked a few times too many (ha ha), so I guess some aspiring college kid with a good eye will do just fine… Continue reading →

Need Another Reason to Beat Up on Star Wars? Try Installing Knights of the Old Republic On A PC That SHOULD Play It…

Posted on September 18, 2012 by geelw

With few exceptions, I haven’t had any major issues installing and running older games on my PC, but every once in a while, I get hit with a problem child. While I’m still using Windows XP, I have more than enough memory, an external HDD and a pretty decent nVidia video card (that runs almost everything I’ve thrown at it just fine). Overall, I’m pleased with the results (especially as I don’t play many modern shooters or games that demand an annual or biannual update to a new card just to show off nice and shiny stuff but deliver nothing new in terms of gameplay). Anyway, I finally got stymied big time by of all things, one of my favorite console games I just picked up in its PC incarnation. Worse still, it seems that a lot of other people are having the same (or even more extreme) problems once they manage to install this classic.

Since it was released on the original Xbox back in 2002, I’ve replayed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic at least once a year because it’s a damn good game and like a good book, it deserves a fresh read every so often. After a few years of ignoring the PC port (I was perfectly pleased with digging out the console version), I finally decided to pick up a copy of the PC version mostly to see how it would look at a higher resolution and with whatever improvements any patches added. Turns out, it was Darth Glitchy working the production droids to death in some sweatbox on Dantooine and giving Jabba the Hutt his 70% cut of the profits, as I can’t even get the damned game to install, let alone play…

Continue reading →

Mimoco’s MIMOBOT Collection Expands: The Dark Knight Rises & Return of the Jedi USB Flash Drives

Posted on July 1, 2012 by geelw

You have to love Mimoco’s staying power, as despite the drop in memory prices over the years, the company is still going strong thanks to it’s fun line of 8GB to 64GB USB thumb drives that range from cool street art and anime flavors to their popular line of licensed DC Comics, Hello Kitty and yup, Star Wars-themed drives. Their latest collections are now ready for prime time and it’s a winner for fans of Episode Six and a certain Chris Nolan film that’s bound to blow the doors off the box office worldwide when it hits theaters later this month.

Of course, the company also has big plans to release a few VERY limited edition USB drives, so if you’re headed to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con or Star Wars Celebration VI, you’ll be able to get you hands on one of these awesome Biker Scout MIMOBOT drives (to the left, limited to 1000 units). For San Diego Comic-Con ONLY, there will be a mere 500 of these Bane USB drives (to the right, as if you needed to figure out who was who). Now, I;m not going to either event, but I’ll very most likely be headed to the next New York Comic-Con, whenever that is and of course, next year’s Toy Fair. Sooooo, Mimoco, what’s coming up for 2013, hmmmm? Inquiring minds want to know!

Toy Fair 2012: Mimoco’s Mimomicros Make Memory Managment Much More Managable Monetarily

Posted on February 16, 2012 by geelw

Mimoco’s super-cool line of original, crossover and licensed character MIMOBOT flash drives has always been a favorite of mine, but even with the price of memory dropping and USB 3.0 devices here and on the way, not everyone can afford to collect these supremely stylish USB storage solutions. The company’s MIMOMICRO line (set for a March 2012 launch) takes care of that issue entirely by allowing users to drop their own microSD cards into a custom drive that, at $12.95 makes for an inexpensive, nifty conversation piece. My favorite model from Toy Fair was The Millennium Falcon MIMOMICRO from the company’s Star Wars line. There will also be five other characters to choose from (C-3PO, Chewbacca, Darth Vader and Yoda), plus a trio of DC Comics MIMOMICRO drives that Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman fans will absolutely want to snap up.

If money is no object, well, you’re in luck, as Mimoco also has some sweet new MIMOBOT drives on the way, including an Albert Einstein drive that’s pretty cool and funny (kind of like the professor was, from what I’ve read about him), a bunch of original characters and more licensed drives than you can shake a memory stick at.

Alrighty then, I’ve done my part here- now, go click on one of those links above before I come up with more awful puns or another terrible title that uses the same letter to start off each word.