Crispy Gamer News

Normally I could give a rat’s ass about some photo op sent by some PR firm that wants to sell their event or product, but this particular photo is pretty cool. Mark Hamill, the man that made Luke Skywalker a household name and the voice of The Joker in the first Batman cartoon series, stands side by side with legendary comic book artist (and DC Universe Online lead) Jim Lee in this photo. The photo was taken at Sony Online Entertainment’s annual fan party during San Diego Comic-Con on Friday

Honestly, I watched the original Star Wars trilogy films and thought Hamill’s character was kind of a panty waist, but this guy’s voice work as Joker was — dare I say it — groundbreaking. He really did a great job of capturing the essence of the Joker (who I admittedly liked more than Batman in the series). Enough gushing, click on the photo for a larger view. Thanks SOE and BHI for the photo.

Why Nickelodeon, why? As someone who has watched every last episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, today’s announcement that the company is working on a watered down MMO combat game is a bit disconcerting. Why? Because talk in my circles about an Avatar MMO have been frequent and stimulating. But instead of getting the robust MMO experience I’d imagined from such a game, it looks like fans of the show will get a watered down arena combat game. Here’s some free advice for developers making games for kids: they can handle decent, deep and engaging gameplay.

The game, Avatar: Legends of the Arena, will serve as a prequel story to the events in the series, letting players create their own Avatar character and test their skills against players from around the world in 3D online arenas. Each game level will introduce new content, challenges, custom character outfits and powers on an ongoing basis. A beta version of the game is being unveiled today at Comic-Con in San Diego.

The game will be rolled out in 81 markets in ten languages, including the United States, United
Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, Southeast Asia, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Italy, France, Korea, Japan, Israel, Holland, Northern Belgium, Germany, Brazil, and Portugal. A total of 77 countries will launch the game on Sept. 15, with the remaining markets launching shortly thereafter.

The game is part of an initiative to promote the continuing re-runs of the series on Nicktoons Network, the July 29th release of the Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book 3: Fire - Volume 4 DVD and the upcoming Avatar live action film being handled by M. Night Shyamalan, and the Avatar The Last Airbender: Into the Inferno video game from THQ.

Paul Barnett, creative director for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, will be giving a talk on Mythic’s game during Comic-Con. The presentation is this Saturday, July 26 at the San Diego Convention Center. Barnett will try to explain how they have used Game Workshop’s Warhammer universe to maximum effect, and how the company has balanced satisfying Warhammer fans while providing an MMO experience that everyone will want to play.

The talk will take place Saturday, July 26 from 2:00pm - 3:00pm in Room 2 at the San Diego Convention Center.

As previously announced during E3, Konami is rolling out a special Metal Gear Online tournament at Comic-Con in San Diego this week. Metal Gear Online 2008 exhibition tournament is being hosted with the help of professional gaming league MLG and will run until Sunday, July 27th.
Following the climax of the tournament, Metal Gear solid creator Hideo Kojima will be make an appearance in the tournament room to sign autographs and meet fans.

For full details on the torunament include dates, times, locations and prizes, check out Konami’s MGO Tournament Site.

Everybody is heading to or already at comic-con this week, in case you haven’t noticed already. Sony Computer Entertainment America is no exception, heading to the annual San Diego event with some games and fun for attendees.

Each morning (9:30am to 12:00pm) the company will be holding BUZZ! Quiz TV competitions on the stage, giving out prizes to the smartest players. In the afternoons, the stage will become a way to torture the entire show with awful singing and bad dancing.. as SingStar for PS3 is showcased from 1:00pm to 7:00pm.

Thursday and Friday SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation will apparently be playable, along with some real Navy SEALs in the competition area. They will be making appearances at 11:00am, 2:00pm, and 5:00pm. Saturday and Sunday, the competition area will feature Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, along with an opportunity to race against other attendees to win free stuff.

SCEA will also offer some instructional on how to create and play levels in LittleBigPlanet with onstage demonstrations taking place daily at 11:00am and 2:30pm. A LittleBigPlanet feature area will also let you get hands on time with the game.

Other fun stuff? PSP and PLAYSTATION Network showcases on Skype, the PC store, internet radio and more for PSP; details on titles coming to PLAYSTATION Network; and daily gift bag giveaways everyday at 9:30am and 3:00pm along with a chance to win a PS3.

SCEA will be situated at booth number is 4901. More Comic-Con news here.

Namco Bandai Games announced that it is bringing Afro Samurai to Comic-Con (July 23-27, San Diego Convention Center) this week, with sneak-peak demos of the game. Based on Spike TV’s anime series starring and executive- produced by Samuel L. Jackson, Afro Samurai combines hip-hop culture with traditional Japanese culture to create a fresh cinematic experience. The playable demos (located in booth# 5037) will provide attendees an early glimpse at the action game. Afro Samurai will be released Q1 2009 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

An Afro Samurai panel will also be conducted on Thursday, July 24 (4:15pm – 5:15pm; Room 6B) featuring the creators behind the hit series including star and executive producer Samuel L. Jackson (The Spirit), musical artist The RZA, (Kill Bill), original creator Takashi Okazaki, and executive producer Leo Chu (Spike TV). Finally, the creators will premiere an exclusive Comic-Con trailer and artwork from the manga.

More Comic-Con news here.

Capcom has a lot of fun and interesting things planned for Comic-Con later this week in San Diego. These activities include panels on the making of such games as Street Fighter IV and Bionic Commando, signings with various Capcom writers and artists, cosplay, Street Fighter IV Tournaments, and even a meet and greet with Bionic Commando and the blue bomber himself - Mega Man.

A full listing of events and happening can be found on Capcom’s Unity Blog.