NYCC: Marvel NOW! Join the ReEvolution Panel Recap

Arune Singh introduced the panel, which included Axel Alonso, Tom Brevoort, Jason Aaron, Mark Paniccia, Mark Waid, Rick Remender, and Kieron Gillen.

The discussion kicked off with Gillen and Greg Land’s Iron Man. “The first twelve issues are high velocity, one story per issue with an all-new villain,” said Gillen. He stressed that each issue could be read alone but will build toward something bigger that will result in a big status quo change for Tony Stark. Paniccia described a new “modular armory,” where Tony has a mobile armory that he can use to construct any type of armor he might need on the go as different threats arise.

Thor: God of Thunder was the next topic of discussion as Aaron said, “We focus in on three different versions of Thor – young Thor, current Thor, and old King Thor.” He said that each version of the character would offer different perspectives on the same character, but with one villain – Gor the God Butcher – tying the three eras together. Speaking of working with artist Esad Ribic and colorist Dean White, Aaron said, “Having a guy on board that can draw everything I can possibly think of… it’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s a pity I have to cover it up with my words.”

Old King Thor!

Remender began to speak about his upcoming work on Captain America, saying, “As I was getting ready for the book, one thing that occurred to me is that we’ve never really seen – as much as we’ve seen adventures in World War II – is how that 98 pound weakling decided to join up and fight the Nazis. We’re going to see who his parents were and what his life was like and how he earned his position.

As for the villain of the piece, Remender said, “I’m building a Captain America story where the focus is Arnim Zola. He’s never been an A-level threat, so the challenge I set myself to was to make him an A-level threat.” He said that part of the run would be focused on Steve’s early days while the rest would be crazy sci-fi stuff. “The first two or three issues hold a lot of surprises.”

The convo moved to Indestructible Hulk. “As luck would have it, I came up with what I thought was a little different take on Banner,” said Waid of his pitch. He said that Marvel was looking to align Hulk with his tone and appearance in The Avengers, and so Waid’s idea hit the right notes. “More than ever, Banner wakes up when he’s not the Hulk and people talk about him in the same breath as Reed Richards or Tony Stark, but Banner played no part [in AvX],” he explained, saying that it was time for Banner to man up and contribute to the Marvel Universe. “He doesn’t want his gravestone to read ‘Hulk smash.’ As Hulk destroys, Banner builds.”

Waid revealed that Banner would now be funded by S.H.I.E.L.D., where he tells the organization to “think of Hulk not as a bomb, but as a cannon” where he could be deployed wherever is best if he happens to Hulk out. “He’s got a piece of leverage of S.H.I.E.L.D. that makes his relationship with them easier.” Waid also said that the mystery of what that leverage is would play out over the first year. “He hits with his words about as hard as he hits with his fists,” added Waid about Hulk’s speaking style in his run.

Fantastic Four was up next, of which Brevoort said, “Matt [Fraction] is bringing the book back to the core family.” The series is essentially a road trip/home school adventure, as Reed realizes he’s lost some focus on his family in the light of forming the Future Foundation and the expanded family. “They’re going to be gone for a year their time, but in terms of the Marvel Universe it’s only going to be about four minutes.”

The conversation moved to F4’s sister book, FF. “Odds are good that FF is your new favorite book,” declared Breevort. The series revolves around Reed’s recruitment of people to watch the world while the F4 is gone for the four minutes. Of course, the job isn’t quite as simple as Reed described it. “They’re the target of every villain and malcontent in the Marvel Universe.” And for those worried about the FF that came before, Brevoort put those worries to rest. “All the kids that Jonathan [Hickman] brought in are still part of the Future Foundation.”

Thunderbolts was next up. “You’ve got five really cool characters united by one thing: they will kill you,” said Alonso. He compared the book to Uncanny X-Force in terms of tone and team dynamic. “If you’ve never read a Thunderbolts comic before and like one of the characters on the team, you’ve got to check out this book,” added Singh.

A question from a fan brought up the long-missing Age of Ultron, to which Brevoort answered, “We haven’t talked about the Age of Ultron in a while, but it’s still coming. It’ll be out by the end of 2013. It’ll all fit and you’ll hear about it very, very soon.”

A female fan asked about the potential for more female-led books, and Alonso teased that there were two, maybe three, announcements coming that would make this fan happy – one of which is an all-female team book.

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator himself. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He loves superhero pets so hard.

Source : ign[dot]com

PAX: Furious 4 is No Longer a Brothers in Arms Game

Gearbox has confirmed that Furious 4 will no longer be a Brothers in Arms game. Speaking during a panel at PAX today, Gearbox said the game has changed to the point that it’s become an entirely new game and will instead became its own property, complete with a new name.

The shift isn’t entirely surprising, as Gearbox president Randy Pitchford said back in July that the game was “evolving” and that Gearbox needed "to make further changes before we can start talking about it."

Furious 4 was originally announced during E3 2011 as part of the Brothers in Arms franchise, a realistic World War II action series that previously included Road to Hill 30 and Earned in Blood, in addition to spinoffs on Nintendo DS, PSP and mobile phones. Furious 4’s stylized, hyperviolent take, which we compared to Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds last year, raised eyebrows as a departure for the series soon after its initial announcement.

Furious 4’s new name has not yet been announced. While all previous console outings of Brothers in Arms were published by Ubisoft, it isn’t clear if that will be the case for Furious 4 (or whatever it becomes in the future) moving forward. We’ve reached out to Ubisoft for comment and will update with any information we receive.

Source: Kotaku

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

PAX: Fifteen Minutes of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Gameplay

We just saw the first gameplay footage of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes at the PAX 2012 Metal Gear panel.

We are uploading the video. Tune back here in about 30 minutes and we'll have the video piping hot and ready to chew on.

Developing...

Casey Lynch is Editor-in-Chief of IGN.com. Hear about his love for PAX , metal, and Dark Souls on IGN and Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

God of War: Ascension Bosses Revealed

At the conclusion of the God of War: Ascension panel at PAX this weekend, key members of the development team treated the audience to a world exclusive: the video reveal of the "big bosses" to appear in Kratos' next (bloody) quest. The iconic antihero will face three powerful beings known as the "Furies." Not to be confused, I should note, with the Furries, which would present a wholly different and -- perhaps --- more terrifying threat to Kratos.

While we know that three Furies will appear in Ascension, only one was revealed in the video: a woman of horrible power with spider-like appendages clawing out of her back. The God of War team also took note of her ability to infect her victims with parasites that emerge from her "upper chest area." This unnerving skill wasn't shown today, but I fear the day when it will.

God of War: Ascension launches next year on March 12th, and introduces multiplayer to the franchise. So prepare to bring a friend along for the limb-rending fun!

Ryan Clements writes for IGN. He saw an Ellie (The Last of Us) cosplayer today that was super adorable. Follow him on Twitter if you have nothing else to do.

Source : ign[dot]com

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Exclusive Season 5 Republic Commando Action Scene

Straight from its debut during the big Star Wars: The Clone Wars panel at Star Wars Celebration VI this weekend, we’ve got the exclusive online debut for you of a new scene from Season 5 of the hit animated series.

The Clone Wars: What to Expect in Season 5

Back in Season 3, fans were incredibly excited by the first appearance on the series of the video game-created Republic Commandos – though it was basically a cameo, in the midst of a dialogue-driven scene.

But in Season 5, we’re going to finally see at least one Republic Commando in action. This gentleman’s name is Gregor, and as the clip shows, he’s got a group of droids he’s working in tandem with, including R2-D2 himself. As we learned at The Clone Wars panel, Artoo and these droids are tasked with infiltrating the separatists to get a crucial encryption code, and along the way, they meet up with Gregor. While the specifics on his history and involvement in the storyline have yet to be revealed, you can see in the following clip that his skills in battle become crucial to this mission's success.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 5 premieres Saturday, September 29th at 9:30am in the show’s new timeslot.

For more info on Season 5, including new inclusions to the series taken from both the films and the expanded universe, check out my full report on The Clone Wars panel from Star Wars Celebration VI.

Source : ign[dot]com

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 5 Includes Mustafar, Black Sun and Republic Commando

Per usual, Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ supervising director, Dave Filoni, went big at the main panel for the series at Star Wars Celebration VI today. And that was before George Lucas shocked the audience with a surprise appearance!

Accompanied by visual effects supervisor Joel Aron, Filoni debuted a ton of new clips and revealed many new storylines for the new season.

One big plot turn in Season 5? Anakin Skywalker helps start the Rebellion! That’s right, the future Darth Vader sets in motion events that will later come to be his bane.

As Filoni explained, pockets of rebels have begun to appear in the galaxy, and “Clones have come to be a symbol of imperial tyranny as much as the Droids have,” as so many systems find themselves in the midst of the war and the toll it takes. Filoni noted, “Anakin suggests to train these pockets of rebels themselves,” feeling they would be better off at least getting the rebels to work for the Republic and able to take on the Separatists themselves. The planet Onderon will be a key part of this storyline, as we see the rebels there in action, including Lux Bonteri, who we learn is originally from that planet.

We saw a beautifully animated scene set on the planet Onderon, as Ahsoka and Lux work alongside an Onderon female helping coordinate a massive fight with Battle Droids. The rebels attack on winged creatures, along with mounted beasts that look almost like a horse meets a dinosaur, with some very impressive tracking shots through the battle, with another rebel leader tossing thermal detonators down, blowing Droids up. Ahsoka’s ally is a sniper and she calmly takes out one enemy after another from the perch she, Ahsoka and Lux are on – until Separatist ships fly in, firing at them, leading to them leaping onto the winged creatures to escape.

The next scene we saw was a dialogue-heavy one, set in Anakin’s bedroom, which we were seeing for the first time. As Filoni noted, Anakin has a lot more stuff/possessions than other Jedi, including mechanics he’s tinkering with and Podracing posters and mementos.

Filoni said this scene was meant to touch upon what Obi-Wan knows or doesn’t know about Anakin and Padme’s relationship (and secret marriage). In the scene, Obi-Wan comes to speak to Anakin, knowing he’s agitated about a man from Padme’s past who has come back into her life. Obi-Wan cautions Anakin about his feelings for Padme, saying he understands having those feelings (he brings up Satine), but that it’s important not to give into them. When Obi-Wan suggests that Anakin be prepared if a relationship begins between Padme and this man, Anakin angrily replies, “They have no relationship!” Says Obi-Wan, “Then we should have no problems, should we?”

Several in the audience cheered at an Easter Egg in this scene – an image of Podracer Ben Quadinaros (a Phantom Menace character who’s developed one of those specific Star Wars cult fandoms) on Anakin’s wall.

Filoni noted that they were always fighting the perception that animation is inherently humorous and have, “Moved ourselves to more dramatic [material].” When it comes to the central figure in The Clone Wars, Filoni noted, “Anakin at this point is a lot quicker to anger at this point.” Initially, when the Clone Wars began, he saw it as an adventure, but “The longer the war has gone, the more it has beaten the Jedi down and the more Jedi die.” Unaware that Palpatine “will never let them win the war” until it has served his own purposes, Anakin, “has a lot less patience. He has a pretty interesting season.”

As for Ahsoka, Aron noted she’s “Older and wiser.” With Anakin and Ahsoka, Filoni said, “They’re master and apprentice, but ultimately she’s his friend. She’s like his little sister." Ahsoka, Filoni felt, understands Anakin’s anger more than anyone and tries to give him room.

Two scenes were shown from an upcoming arc focused on R2-D2. Filoni noted that as the series has gotten darker, the droids still allow for there to be comic relief and lighter moments and offer “the fun and sense of adventure” that makes Star Wars so appealing.

The Artoo storyline has the Astromech droid teamed with several other droids, “Tasked with infiltrating the separatist fleet to get an encryption model that will help crack this code.” Filoni said this storyline was, “One of our best adventures of all time.”

The first scene from this storyline had a very fun nod for fans, as the ship carting Artoo, the other droids, and a very small alien leading them ends up in the middle of a comet storm – in what Filoni admitted was influenced by the comets in the original version of Disneyland’s Star Tours ride.

The second clip from this storyline offered a huge crowd pleaser – a Republic Commando in action! We were shown concept art of this Commando, a new character, who has a full beard and – out of his armor – wears a very fun, classic Star Wars style costume, with 1970s influences.

There was a cameo by Republic Commandos in Season 5, but they weren't involved in any fighting. But in the scene we saw, this new character was in his full Republic Commando gear, deftly taking out a whole base full of Battle Droids himself, working as a distraction for Artoo and the other droids, who continued to move forward through the battle.

Filoni also referenced an unusual episode coming up called “The Voice” , which will be “a whole exploration of Moebius and his art style, which was a big influence on Star Wars. It’s weird and abstract. Really experimental stuff.”

Next, we got the clip that was pure “Holy crap” fan bait, beginning with the reveal that we will be going to Mustafar in Season 5 and on that infamous lava planet, we’d meet the Falleen and Black Sun, the crime group first introduced in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. Filoni cautioned we wouldn’t meet that story’s villain, Xizor, but we did see art of Falleen wearing the distinctive hairstyle and type of clothing Xizor is known for.

As for the scene itself, it has so much to geek out over. It begins with a ship approaching Mustafar, and inside we see Darth Maul, Savage Opress and Death Watch leader Pre Viszla, all working together. As the ship lands and opens, an entire squad of Death Watch fly out on their rocket packs. It should be noted that Darth Maul seemed to have entirely new legs! He no longer had the overtly robot legs we’ve seen before, and was wearing pants – though who knows what mechanics were underneath them. In the scene, Maul walks up to one of the Falleen, telling him, “We request an audience with our leaders.” The Falleen laughs and replies, “It’ll be your funeral.”

The final scene focused on Bo-Katan, the Death Watch member (voiced by Katee Sackhoff) introduced last season. While we still don’t know the specifics, it’s obvious there are some big divisions between Death Watch/Mandalorians this season, as the scene involved Obi-Wan (wearing Death Watch armor!) being taken as a prisoner by a group of Death Watch members – whose armor is distinctively colored red, not blue. Bo-Katan, leading a small group of blue-armored Death Watch attack the men holding Obi-Wan, in a scene that has Bo-Katan kicking a lot of ass. At one point, she shoots a line around one of her enemies, wraps it to another and manages to set off the second guy’s rocket pack, sending both of them flying off to their doom.

After the aforementioned surprise appearance by George Lucas occurred, the audience was treated to another showing of the brand new Clone Wars: Season 5 trailer, which debuted last night at Celebration and should be online by the end of the weekend.

Source : ign[dot]com

George Lucas Makes Surprise Appearance at Star Wars Celebration

At the Star Wars: The Clone Wars panel at Star Wars Celebration VI today, supervising director Dave Filoni said he wanted to bring out “the show’s biggest fan.” When that fan turned out to be George Lucas, suffice to say, the place lost it.

Lucas was not scheduled to appear at all at Star Wars Celebration this year, so his presence in Orlando was a complete surprise. The crowd got to their feet and began chanting, “George! George!”

Lucas’ time onstage was brief, as he gave a ton of praise to Filoni and The Clone Wars crew, noting how much he liked the writing on the series.

He said The Clone Wars allowed them to tell ongoing Star Wars stories that would be “far too complicated and far too expensive” in live-action and noted that they have been “Making it more and more adult” as the show has progressed. He added, “At the same time, we’re trying to do things that other people aren’t doing.”

A couple of years ago, there was news about another new Star Wars animated series aimed more specifically at kids and Lucas revealed that is still in play, remarking, “We are trying to do a younger-skewing show.”

As for the new comedic animated series, Star Wars: Detours, from Robot Chicken’s Seth Green and Matt Senreich, Lucas smiled, saying, “Detours… I don’t know what that is!”

Watch the First Footage from Star Wars: Detours

Lucas again mentioned how in live-action “You have limited resources. You can do things in animation you can’t do in live-action.” One of the new Clone Wars scenes we saw from Season 5 had a battle on a jungle planet with some winged creatures that may spark a few visual memories. Lucas revealed that they were doing, “A little bit of an homage to Jim Cameron... But it cost about 1000% less than Avatar.”

He admired The Clone Wars’ ability to tell offbeat stories as well, noting that they have a four-part storyline coming up that is, “Nothing but Droids - only two people speak English."

Filoni had previously said that the decision to bring Darth Maul back was all Lucas’. Asked about that, Lucas said he couldn’t help but think, “It would be fun to see what would happen if Darth Maul came back. He’s one of my favorite characters. He got killed right away."

That being said, Lucas noted, “We had a lot of discussions – He got cut in half! ‘Can we being him back?’ We had to justify that one."

He also loved that The Clone Wars allowed them to create Maul’s brother, Savage Opress and introduce the Witches of Dathomir, “and take it to a whole other level that you haven’t seen before.”

Source : ign[dot]com

Check Out These Award-Winning 8-Bit T-Shirts

The winners of WeLoveFine’s 8-bit design contest have been chosen. A panel of judges including Harmonix art director Ryan Lesser and IGN’s own beard-in-chief Casey Lynch picked ten of the best designs, and WeLoveFine has announced that all of the shirts are available for purchase!

Check out the winning designs below, and head over to WeLoveFine’s site to see all the honorable mentions. Click any shirt to head to WeLoveFine’s store. Links lead to men’s sizes, but click to the right of any shirt to purchase the women’s size.

Grand Prize: “Time Lines” by Drew Wise ($1,000 winner)

Casey’s Pick: "Aliens & Ladders" by Julien Bazinet ($400 winner)

Ryan’s Pick: "Ash Housewares" by Andrew Helms ($400 winner)

Runner-Up: "Select Your Avenger" by Julien Bazinet ($150 winner)

Runner-Up: "JRPG Battle" by Massimo Marsan ($150 winner)

Again, head over to WeLoveFine’s site to see all the honorable mentions as well as the other entries, and if you’re interested in awesome gaming shirts, be sure to check out the IGN Store as well!

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Marvel Teases the Big Players of Marvel NOW!

During San Diego Comic-Con's Cup O' Joe panel, Marvel showed off a new teaser that revealed a new Point One one-shot that would release in October. Now, Marvel is unveiling the characters that will be involved in the teaser book via a series of reveals. It appears that characters like Cable and Nova will be making a comeback under the watchful eye s  of Nick Fury, Jr. Check out the teasers so far:

Update 7/18:

Update 7/19:

And finally, the last one, updated on 7/20:

The only other information revealed by Marvel at this time is the official solicit:

MARVEL NOW! POINT ONE #1

Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, MATT FRACTION, JEPH LOEB, NICK SPENCER, KIERON GILLEN, DENNIS HOPELESS

Art by MICHAEL ALLRED, ED MCGUINNESS, STEVE MCNIVEN, JAMIE MCKELVIE, SALVADOR LARROCA and MORE!

Cover by ADI GRANOV

Variant Cover by JOE QUESADA

Sketch Variant Cover by JOE QUESADA

Variant Cover by SKOTTIE YOUNG

Speculate away!

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator himself. Follow Joey on Twitter, or find him on IGN. He will love Star Wars until the end of his days.

Source : ign[dot]com