Looks like Arrow Season 3 will move more towards incorporating the DC Universe than ever before. The series' lead star Stephen Amell has hinted that fans will be seeing a lot more Batman villains in the new season.

 

During a Q&A session with fans at the Phoenix Comic Con held over June 7-8, Amell spoke to fans about the eagerly-awaited Season 3 of Arrow and hinted at the inclusion of new exciting DC Comics characters (via comicbook.com).

 

"If you like some of the enemies Batman has fought, you're really going to like Season Three," Amell told a young fan.

 

"DC is a really good partner for us, and they're giving us access to characters that they wouldn't have even considered giving us in the first season and they wouldn't have given us in the second season.

 

"But I think we've proven ourselves. I think we've proven that we can present a worthy version of characters that people care a lot about, and so I would imagine that there would be no shortages of DC characters coming," he said when asked which members of the DC Universe he'd like to see appear on the show.

 

"I do know also that very early on in Season Three, we see a new superhero suit," Amell revealed.

 

Amell also stated that he'd like to see Ra's al Ghul on the series (a character whose name has been dropped numerous times and who many fans expect to see in Season 3).

 

Season 2 of the series saw Black Canary turn out to be aligned with the League of Assassins, and forge a relationship with Nyssa Raatko - the daughter of Ra's al Ghul.

 

http://www.ibtimes.c...n-amell-1451844

Arrow= Greatest of all time tier show

The biggest retailer in the world’s profits were once so interlinked with Nintendo that it didn’t want anything to do with Sega or any other game-hardware company.

That’s just one of a few dozen interesting tidbits I learned while reading the upcoming book Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation. In the 500-plus page tome, author Blake J. Harris guides readers through the various battles of Nintendo and Sega. He conducted more than a hundred interviews and brings a narrative style of storytelling that reveals a number of amazing facts that I either didn’t know or had long forgotten about the dominant gaming corporations of the late 1980s through the 1990s. It all makes for an incredibly gripping read that feels much shorter than its actual length because of how difficult it is to put down. That’s also one of the main reasons that Hollywood announced plans to have Superbad writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg turn the story into a feature film.

Console Wars is due to hit book stores, both physical and digital, May 13. I’ve been reading and enjoying it over the last few weeks, and I wanted to share a handful of other interesting things I learned about the 16-bit gaming kings.

For example, Walmart barely even wanted to speak to Sega of America, let alone stock its Genesis system back in the early days of the 16-bit console’s life in the U.S. This was for multiple reasons — but particularly because the Nintendo Entertainment System and its software represented nearly a 10th of the Arkansas-based retailer’s profits. Of course, having Sega probably would have made Walmart even more money — so, why did it turn down Sega of America president Tom Kalinske when he asked them to make an order?

Because Nintendo was scary as hell.

The NES manufacturer once threatened to stop filling orders for any retailers that stocked games from rogue third-party manufacturer Tengen, which released unlicensed software for the NES in an effort to avoid Nintendo’s strict contracts. Nintendo’s threat was enough to convince every retailer to stop selling Tengen games, and it rippled through the industry and convinced companies like Walmart to avoid making decisions that might upset Nintendo … like stocking the Genesis.

Here’s some of the other things I learned while reading the book:

To get into Walmart, Sega took over the retailer’s hometown

Kalinske and Sega had a problem. Retailers weren’t interested in the Sega Genesis, so instead of going from chain to another in an effort to get what he could, the Sega boss decided to focus on Walmart.

That didn’t pan out for all of the reasons noted above, but that’s when Kalinske and one of his partners came up with a plan to cover Bentonville, Ark., the home of Walmart’s headquarters, with advertisements for the Genesis. The hardware company even rented out a storefront where consumers in town could come in and check out the Genesis, but they couldn’t buy one. The idea was that everyone would go to Walmart and ask for the new, amazing system only to find out they didn’t have it — and ask why not.

This didn’t work … at first.

After months of rejection, Kalinske finally received a call from Walmart’s head of electronics. He gave in after explaining that his bosses kept pestering him about why they weren’t carrying the Genesis. The Sega boss agreed to close the store and take down all of the advertising. And other retailers started falling into line behind Walmart.

Sega of America boss Tom Kalinske was integral to Barbie, Flintstone vitamins, and He-Man

Before joining Sega of America as its chief executive officer, Kalinske worked as CEO of Mattel. Before that, he was a marketing whiz at health-supplement company Miles Laboratories.

While at Miles, Kalinske came up with a way for the vitamin maker to expand its market. He believed that a supplement that tasted pleasant and featured a property that children recognized could do well. That’s how he and his team came up with Flintstones Chewable Vitamins, which was a hit with kids and parents when it hit the market in 1968. The product remains the top-selling vitamin for children today

His work at Miles eventually helped his get his position with Mattel. Early in his tenure at the toy company, Barbie sales were starting to slip for the first time in history, and most people predicted the blonde toy for girls would fade into obscurity. Kalinkse came up with a plan that would introduce a variety of different Barbie dolls all throughout the year that would appeal to different interests and budgets. This completely reinvigorated the Barbie brand and has helped it maintain its success through to today.

It didn’t end with vitamins and Barbies. Kalinske was also crucial in the development of He-Man and other iconic toys.

“I was shocked to learn that before he even joined Sega, Tom Kalinske had been responsible for such a large part of my childhood,” Harris told GamesBeat. “From Flintstones Chewable Vitamins and Matchbox cars, to He-Man and Pee Wee Herman dolls, the man’s behind-the-scenes influence shaped an entire generation.”

Nintendo could have implemented backward compatibility into the Super Nintendo … for $75

To follow-up the incredibly popular Nintendo Entertainment System and to thwart competition from the upstart Sega, company president Hiroshi Yamauchi gave his engineering team orders to make an amazing new system. More important than that, however, the Super Nintendo had to have the capability to play the original Nintendo games.

We all know that didn’t happen.

Nintendo was able to build a system that could produce colorful visuals, but the top engineers could not get that hardware to work with older NES titles without adding $75 to the cost of the $250 machine.

In the end, Nintendo reasoned it was more important to have a lower price and that consumers were giving up cartridges for CDs. Maybe they would look at the Super Nintendo transition in a similar way. Unlike Sega, however, Nintendo didn’t even opt to release an add-on port that would enable the Super Nintendo to play the 8-bit software.

Consumers, and parents in particular, felt that Nintendo was actually trying to exploit them by releasing a new system that requires new software. The nightly news reports even featured stories about it:

 

 

Nintendo didn’t care about making friends, and this helped Sega

Nintendo dominated gaming for much of the 1980s, and it didn’t hesitate to implement draconian controls or to throw around its legal might to keep it in charge of all aspects of the industry. That included things like taking the Blockbuster corporation to court to fight game rentals as well as starting the Nintendo Power magazine to cut out independent publications.

So when Sega needed to grab the attention of gamers, Blockbuster was happy to work with Sega by setting up in-store displays. When Sonic The Hedgehog was getting ready to debut, the American press was happy to put him on the cover of their magazines since Nintendo gave almost all of its biggest stories to its own Nintendo Power.

Kalinske, a charming man who knows how to make friends, even noted to Harris that it was much easier to rely on the hatred others had for Nintendo.

The U.S. government brought a lawsuit against Nintendo on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor

Nintendo’s retail tactics, such as those that kept Tengen games out of stores, eventually led the federal government to bring charges against Nintendo. While many argued the House of Mario was operating a monopoly, others believed that the suit was an example of Americans trying to prevent a Japanese company from gaining traction in the U.S. Harris points out that many believed the latter theory because the government filed the charges on Dec. 7, 1989, which was the 48th anniversary of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

Whatever the reason, Nintendo’s legal team — savvy as ever — was able to negotiate a deal that would give everyone who purchased a Nintendo Entertainment System between June 1, 1988, and Dec. 31, 1990, a $5 coupon. This got the government off Nintendo’s back, and it would force consumers to spend $50 on an NES game to save $5.

What surprised the author?

While the book surprised me a number of times, I wanted to learn what shocked the author while he was researching the book. Harris, who is working on turning the book into a documentary, was happy to fill me in.

“Going into the writing of Console Wars, I expected the most vicious war stories to be about the feud between Sega and Nintendo,” he told GamesBeat. “But I was totally surprised to learn that while that battle was going on, an even greater war was brewing between Sega of America and Sega of Japan.”

Those battles started with Sega of America taking over the design of Sonic The Hedgehog (which looked much edgier) and continued for years.

Out of everything he uncovered, however, Harris still has one thing that he still shocks him.

“I still can’t believe that Sega passed up the opportunity to release the consoles that became the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64,” Harris said. “And even more surprising than the fact that they missed out on these two consoles, which ultimately led Sega to their untimely demise, were the strange reasons why this was the case.”

Those reasons? Well, it has a lot to do with the battle between Sega of America and Sega of Japan. You can get the full story when the book drops later this month.

 

http://venturebeat.c...-wars/view-all/

Interesting article. 

According to the director, even his biggest critics will end up watching “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” the latest installment in his ever-growing franchise.

“They love to hate and I don’t care; let them hate,” he told MTV’s Josh Horowitz. “They’re still going to see the movie! I think it’s good to get a little tension. Very good.”

So far, “Age of Extinction” is the worst reviewed movie of the series with an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The first “Transformers” movie has the highest with 57%. However, “Age of Extinction” has an A- Cinema Score.

Bay said it’s important for everyone to voice their opinions, as negative as they may be, as it only advances the conversation and drives him to create better films.

“I used to get bothered by it, but I think it’s good to get the dialogue going,” he said. “It makes me think, and it keeps me on my toes, so it’s good.”

“Age of Extinction” is evidently review-proof as it crushed the box office on Friday with $41.6 million Stateside — the biggest opening day of the year. It’s on track for a $104 million-plus debut, another best for 2014.

 

http://variety.com/2...ism-1201254031/

Movie of the year easily. 

 

Over the past month, we’ve seen a strong spike in interest in our Xbox One console options, including the new $399 offering, and the amazing lineup of games announced during E3. Since the new Xbox One offering launched on June 9th, we’ve seen sales of Xbox One more than double* in the US, compared to sales in May, and solid growth in Xbox 360 sales.

We’re excited to welcome so many fans to Xbox this summer and we can’t wait for them to get their hands on the wide selection of new games available this year on Xbox One, including Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2, and Ori and the Blind Forest. Xbox One is the only place you can play these games along with creative independent titles and blockbusters such as Assassin’s Creed Unity, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Destiny, Evolve, Grand Theft Auto V, and dozens more. We’re honored that Xbox One was awarded with the best games line-up of 2014 by game critics at E3 and our fans have a lot of amazing new games to look forward to in the coming months.

Starting in August with the release of Madden NFL 15, new blockbuster hits will launch for Xbox One at an incredible pace throughout the fall, as we head into the holiday season. Gamers love the holidays and we are lining up incredible deals and special promotions to celebrate. The fun is just getting started and we can’t wait to share more exciting news soon.  

 

http://news.xbox.com...-double-in-june

I'm glad. Despite what Nollog and Ryduo say, the Xbox One is actually a great console. It may not have any games now, but the Wii U/PS4 are the same position as well.  Things will look better once Sunset Overdrive and The Master Chief Collection comes out in the fall.  

Movie looks great.

Going to see it in theaters, first one was great. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYKEtHHyvgA&list=TLYwFG2EUE9WGVE38Yx5yO4bBNY7GRARFm

http://www.theguardi...pain?CMP=twt_gu

Apparently they changed it real quick, so it has to be the release date. 

 

"Bruce Banner continues to play a key role in things in [Avengers: Age of Ultron], and when the final war with Ultron spills onto the battlefield and out of the virtual realm, he has a major part to play. Unfortunately, that ends with him onboard a Quinjet on his way off the planet, with no way to immediately turn things around. He's going to have to ride out the trip. It's pre-programmed and he can't stop it." Drew McWeeny goes on to speculate that the Quinjet is likely headed to wherever the Guardians of the Galaxy are. Basically, the HitFix reporter thinks that the potential sequel to James Gunn's upcoming space epic will incorporate the Incredible Hulk.
"I suspect we'll see some sequences that very much feel like they're part of Planet Hulk story," McWeeny writes, "but the larger story will be about the Guardians finding a way to get Banner home, only to end up going with them." This would somehow bring Thanos to earth and boom; Avengers 3 begins. This route likely hinges on Guardians' success, but what do you think?
Read more at http://www.comicbook...Hmd12M3fhoki.99

 

Planet Hulk @__@

I would definitely see it more than once in theaters. 

 

That’s Nathan Drake rendered in full 1080p glory, using the power of our PS4 engine. All footage you see in the trailer was captured completely in engine. We’re targeting 60fps for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and as you can see, the visual fidelity for our character models will reach new heights. In fact, thanks to the power of PS4, right now Drake’s Uncharted 4 model is over double the polygons of Joel from The Last of Us PS3.

The next generation of Nathan Drake is going to be very real and will explore what it means when Drake is forced back into the world of thieves. He will embark on a globe-trotting journey in pursuit of a historical conspiracy behind a fabled pirate treasure. It’s his greatest adventure yet and will test his physical limits, his resolve, and ultimately what he’s willing to sacrifice to save the ones he loves.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is available for pre-order right now. Stay tuned — we’ll have more information in the coming months.

 

http://blog.us.plays...ailer/#comments

BeastStation4

st episode will be a spoiler.

 

Fans have been weighing in with their thoughts about the new Walking Dead season 5 trailer that debuted at Comic-Con in San Diego, but what about the cast and producers themselves? What do they have to say about it? After the awesome experience of watching them watch it on a monitor while backstage at their panel, I asked TeamWalking Dead their thoughts later when they stopped by the Entertainment WeeklyRadio (SiriusXM, channel 105) studio at the convention, and now you can hear the entire conversation by clicking on the audio player icon below

Joining us were none other than cast members Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, and Michael Cudlitz, along with executive producer Scott M. Gimple and co-executive producer Denise Huth. So what do they make of the clip, in which, according to Cudlitz, “it certainly looks like we’re heading to DC” to find a cure for the zombie outbreak? It seems the cast has been getting a kick listening to fans hypothesize as to what it all means. “The theories are fantastic,” says Gurira.

So exactly how much did Gimple stress about putting the trailer together, especially when “every single thing in the first episode is a spoiler,” according to Huth? Listen in to find out. And you’ll also get to hear Reedus, Yeun, Cohan, Cudlitz, and Gurira share their fondest Comic-Con memories as well as the debut of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Michonne.” Plus, who freaks out on set over the proper way to eat an Oreo? The answer can be found by clicking on the audio player below. And for more Walking Dead scoop,

 

http://insidetv.ew.c...cast-producers/

The SPOILER is that everyone dies. 

n a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have developed a blood test for Alzheimer's disease that predicts with astonishing accuracy whether a healthy person will develop the disease.

Though much work still needs to be done, it is hoped the test will someday be available in doctors' offices, since the only methods for predicting Alzheimer's right now, such as PET scans and spinal taps, are expensive, impractical, often unreliable and sometimes risky.

"This is a potential game-changer," said Dr. Howard Federoff, senior author of the report and a neurologist at Georgetown University Medical Center. "My level of enthusiasm is very high."

The study was published in Nature Medicine.

'We were surprised'

In the beginning, the researchers knew they wanted to find a blood test to detect Alzheimer's but didn't know what specifically to look for. Should they examine patients' DNA? Their RNA? Or should they look for the byproducts of DNA and RNA, such as fats and proteins?

They decided to start with fats, since it was the easiest and least expensive. They drew blood from hundreds of healthy people over age 70 living near Rochester, New York, and Irvine, California. Five years later, 28 of the seniors had developed Alzheimer's disease or the mild cognitive problems that usually precede it.

Scouring more than 100 fats, or lipids, for what might set this group apart, they found that these 28 seniors had low levels of 10 particular lipids, compared with healthy seniors.

To confirm their findings, the researchers then looked at the blood of 54 other patients who had Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment. This group also had low levels of the lipids.

Overall, the blood test predicted who would get Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment with over 90% accuracy.

"We were surprised," said Mark Mapstone, a neuropsychologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center and lead author of the study. "But it turns out that it appears we were looking in the right place."

Alzheimer's risk before symptoms: Do you want to know?

The 'holy grail'

The beauty of this test, Mapstone says, is that it caught Alzheimer's before the patient even had symptoms, suggesting that the disease process begins long before people's memories start failing. He says that perhaps the lipid levels started decreasing at the same time as brain cells started dying.

He and his team plan to try out this test in people in their 40s and 50s. If that works, he says, that would be the "holy grail," because then researchers could try experimental drugs and treatments in a group that's almost sure to get the disease. That would speed research along immensely.

Plus, people could get a heads up that they were probably destined to get Alzheimer's. Although some people might not want to know that they're destined for a horrible disease, others might be grateful for the warning.

Federoff said he would want to know whether he was on his way to getting the disease, even though there's nothing he could do about it. He might want to take a family trip he'd been thinking about or might want to appoint a successor at work.

"I would make sure that things that are important to me get done," he said.

But, Federoff added, others might not want to know they were about to get a devastating disease they were powerless to stop.

"I think it's a very personal decision," Federoff said. "It would have to be thought through on multiple dimensions. Patients and their families would have to be counseled."

Next steps

Other research teams are looking at other possible tests for Alzheimer's. The need for a screening test of some kind for Alzheimer's has never been greater: A report released last weeksays the disease claims the lives of perhaps a half a million Americans, making it nearly as deadly as heart disease and cancer.

If any of these tests work out -- and that's still an if -- it would take years to make it to doctors' offices, since the test would need to be validated by other labs and with larger groups of people. Thee test developed by the Georgetown and Rochester researchers, for example, was used mainly in white people, and it might not work as well with other groups.

Heather Snyder, a spokeswoman for the Alzheimer's Association, said the study was well done but much work is still needed.

"It's an interesting paper. It's an intriguing study. But it is very preliminary," she said.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2....html?hpt=hp_t2

Could help in a lot of ways. 

Nintendo has announced a Mario Kart 8 Wii U Deluxe bundle for North America. Featuring a 32GB Wii U, a copy of Mario Kart 8, a red racing wheel, a Wii Remote Plus, and the package will cost $330 on May 30.

Additionally, anyone who registers a copy of Mario Kart 8 on Club Nintendo before July 31, 2014 can redeem one free Wii U game from a selection of four.

Nintendo is offering a digital copy of Pikmin 3, New Super Mario Bros. U, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, or Wii Party U to Mario Kart 8 owners.

To make that choice easier, read our reviews for Pikmin, Mario Bros., Wind Waker HD, and Wii Party, or watch the video reviews below.

Nintendo recently announced a different Mario Kart 8 bundle for the UK, which includes a Yoshi Wii Remote Plus for £250.

 

http://www.ign.com/a...r-north-america

Now you can enjoy our the Wii U  

The NBA's commissioner came down hard Tuesday on Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, ordering him out of his team's business and pushing to force him to sell over racist remarks that caused a firestorm since becoming public days ago.

Adam Silver detailed Sterling's punishment of a lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine -- the "maximum amount" allowed per league guidelines -- at a press conference eight hours before Sterling's Clippers were to tip off in the fifth game of a tightly contested first-round playoff series with the Golden State Warriors.

Silver's decision was met with immediate support from NBA owners, players and others connected to the league who have been calling for swift, firm punishment ever since TMZ posted audio featuring the incendiary comments.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2...erling-scandal/

Seems like a reasonable punishment. 

http://www.eurogamer...asy-games-to-pc

Square Enix is interested in bringing future Final Fantasy games to the PC, it's said.

While MMO Final Fantasy games Final Fantasy 11 and Final Fantasy 14 are available on PC, none of the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy of games are, and Final Fantasy 15 is confirmed for release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One only.

It's a series whose heritage is on console, but according to Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase, that may change.

"Let's not forget, when we developed the Final Fantasy 13 series, all three titles, at the early stages of development we were working on PC," Kitase told Eurogamer.

"Then we had to port it to the consoles. As far as the technology is concerned, it would have been possible for us to make a PC version, but we decided against it for two reasons: we looked at the market situation and we didn't think it would be a good idea, and also it would have involved lots of complex issues like security. So we decided not to do it this time around.

"But we see potential in it and there are lots of regions and countries where PC is very strong. So in terms of our hope of being able to deliver our games to every single country in the world and to as many gamers as possible, yes, we would definitely be interested in pursuing that route in the future."

Square Enix has recently released some of the Final Fantasy games on Steam, including Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8. Kitase said these titles had enjoyed success, making more launches on Valve's enormously successful digital platform likely.

"Final Fantasy 7 and 8 are now available on PC and they've been proving quite popular," he said. "It's an early stage for us. We haven't got an awful lot of experience in this field. So when we have more know-how and experience in this market we would be very interested."

In June last year Square Enix unveiled Final Fantasy 15 for PS4 and Xbox One, in development at the company's First Production Department and under the guidance of producer Shinji Hashimoto, director and character designer Tetsuya Nomura and co-director Hajime Tabata. Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura is also working on the game.

 

 

Ehh, I suppose I can roll with this. 

 

"I'm going to embrace the spectacle," Marc Webb told fans at his South by Southwest keynote earlier today at the Austin Convention Center. "There was a moment deep in the [first film's] post-production process where a giant lizard smashed through a wall chasing a boy-man in a unitard and I said, 'This is not grounded. I'm not going to be beholden to smallness. I want it to be fantastic, to be big, to command and express that feeling when you're a kid and reading the comics. ... I didn't want to hide or shy away from that." With a total of three villains in the follow-up (Jamie Foxx's Electro, Dane DeHaan's Green Goblin and Paul Giamatti as Aleksei Sytsevich/The Rhino), no one could accuse The Amazing Spider-Man 2 of being grounded! However, Webb is well aware of the concerns over crowding the movie with too many bad guys. "We're obviously familiar with the complaints people had We're very careful to make sure the stories intertwine. For Peter Parker, it's very important that you create obstacles that are difficult to overcome." He would then add that The Rhino is, "in the movie for four minutes."

 

 

http://www.comicbook...s/news/?a=95738

Isn't this about equal to the same amount of time Venom was in Spiderman 3? 

Damn it Israel. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|System | This Week | Last Week | Last Year | YTD | Last YTD | LTD |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 3DS # | 25.015 | 25.440 | 50.415 | 935.990 | 1.764.651 | 15.630.001 |
| PSV # | 14.096 | 13.699 | 13.719 | 560.301 | 444.898 | 2.835.440 |
| WIU | 8.858 | 6.836 | 5.536 | 232.249 | 292.023 | 1.750.676 |
| PS4 | 7.387 | 6.887 | | 576.787 | | 576.787 |
| PS3 | 7.383 | 7.060 | 12.335 | 266.517 | 408.636 | 9.835.017 |
| PSP # | 1.201 | 1.320 | 5.949 | 64.112 | 274.483 | 19.672.605 |
| 360 | 104 | 132 | 309 | 5.751 | 9.988 | 1.613.310 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ALL | 64.044 | 61.497 | 89.392 | 2.647.172 | 3.238.662 | 64.657.380 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PSVTV | 762 | 855 | | 32.217 | | 105.243 |
| PSV | 13.334 | 12.844 | 13.719 | 528.084 | 444.898 | 2.730.197 |
| 3DSLL | 20.304 | 20.619 | 37.542 | 675.828 | 1.130.346 | 5.457.252 |
| 3DS | 4.711 | 4.821 | 12.873 | 260.162 | 634.305 | 10.172.749 |
| PSP | 1.201 | 1.320 | 5.949 | 64.112 | 274.483 | 19.512.030 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shut up you skank. I didn't see the other thread cause it didn't appear in the news feed. 

Devil's Third is a bloody shooter. A game obsessed with perfecting the close kill. And now it's a Wii U exclusive.

The shooter's creator, Tomonobu Itagaki, is a man best known for games that titillate with skimpy clothing, or lopped limbs. He's a to-the-point game maker, not shy with his criticism. So it's not surprising that in bringing the game to Nintendo, there were some arguments.

What might be surprising, though, is the idea that this developer — a man who is rarely seen without his dark sunglasses and worn leather jacket; a developer seemingly so different from Nintendo's famed creators — discovered within the Japanese game company not just strong allies, but what he describes as a fundamental design lesson.

"There are also cultural differences between the way that I've worked and the way Nintendo works, which is when it comes down to the basic grammar of games, the method of game creation," Itagaki said through a translator. "And so we certainly fought some, but I think that I saw the value in a lot of the ways that they do things and learned a great amount.

"Now this is close to a trade secret so I can't say too much, but I feel like I learned the most fundamental meaning of what it means to push a button. When you tell someone, 'Push the A button,' there's a wealth of information there. And I feel like all of us who have worked on this project, as a result, have grown a bit."

Now the game is back with the same drive to reinvent the up-close-and-personal kill in shooters, and to bring the game exclusively to Nintendo's Wii U. That the game is coming to the Wii U is in part due to Danny Bilson, the former senior vice president of creative development at the now defunct THQ.

It was to Bilson that Itagaki first went with his game all of those years ago.

Devil's Third, despite its jump from Sony and Microsoft consoles to Nintendo's Wii U, remains mostly unchanged. Itagaki said that 90 percent of the game's concept hasn't been altered. But that remaining 10 percent, he said, was shaped by Nintendo. Specifically, he said, Nintendo's Hitoshi Yamagami and Yusuke Nakano loved his project like their own and both helped and taught him.

"That other 10 percent I think really has been flavored by this cooperation with Nintendo," he said. "Now, as I'm sure you're aware, Japan is a small country in terms of landmass, but it still has an amazing concentration of lots of different cultures within it, and I think that Nintendo culture is one of those, and I had this opportunity to learn about Nintendo culture through the years working with them."

 

http://www.polygon.c...interview-wii-u

 

Saddened to announce the passing of the Ultimate Warrior. Icon and friend. My sympathy to his wife Dana and his daughters

 

https://twitter.com/TripleH

Holy rainbow this came out of nowhere. He just got inducted into the Hall of Fame two days ago and was on RAW on Monday.

WTF