The trailer for the Avengers Blu-ray is out!

Avengers comes out September 25th in a Blu-ray combo pack. You can pre-order it on Amazon now.

Hot Toys released some new photos of The Amazing Spider-Man movie figure. With the reviews of the movie slowly rolling in and most of them positive, I am super excited for this figure. Seems like a bit of a rushed announcement since it includes some concept art and an unapproved head sculpt. My Hot Toys expert predicts this bad boy to be around $200. Check out what Hot Toys had to say:

One of the most popular superheroes is back on big screen as a new chapter in the Spider-Man legacy. To celebrate the launch of The Amazing Spider-Man movie, Hot Toys is proud to present the 1/6th scale Spider-Man Limited Edition Collectible Figurine from this summer blockbuster. The movie-accurate Spider-Man collectible is specially crafted based on the image of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man/ Peter Parker in the movie, highlighting the newly developed head sculpt, highly detailed costume and accessories.

(Note: Spoilers do not begin until the SPOILERS line in this article below the photograph.)

We’ll have an official Big Shiny Robot review of The Amazing Spiderman for you July 2nd, but in the meantime we wanted to bring you some comments trickling in from Japan about the film. Kotaku East reporter Richard Eisenbeis was on hand for the Japanese premier, and has provided some valuable context in his article about why Spiderman does so incredibly well in Japan:

“Japan loves Spider-Man. I mean they LOVE him. It’s not the same with other American superheroes—Batman, Superman, and most of the recent Marvel movies tend to do poorly in at the Japanese box office…Perhaps it’s due to his similarity to Japan’s own masked superhero—heck, he even had a live-action, power ranger style show in the late 70s. Because Spider-Man is a sure hit in Japan, his movies often get released in Japan before the rest of the world.”

He goes on to review the film, saying fairly good things about the handling of the origin story, the strength of the supporting cast, the fantastic performance that Martin Sheen has given as Uncle Ben, and some thoughts regarding directorial choices in relation to the film’s use of 3D. Though his review seems to be a bit on the first-watch-is-super-awesome side, I’d say that his review is balanced enough to suggest that the film is pretty good. To me, this is great news, because I’ve honestly been a bit nervous about this project from the start. I really did like Sam Raimi’s first two Spiderman films in the early 2000’s and was cautiously optimistic that this movie would still rock even though it hasn’t been that long since we saw Spidey swing onto the big screen.

WARNING: SPOILERS START HERE!

What’s the not-so-good from this review? Eisenbeis mentions his mixed feelings about how much disbelief we are expected to suspend given Peter’s secret identity and currently available technology (and there are choices made in the film that imply “that both the company and the police are incompetent—not the way you want your potential antagonists to be portrayed.”). He also expresses serious frustration with the fact that Spidey has his mask removed more than once, and subsequently reveals his identity to more than five people throughout the movie. On the surface, that does sound like a rather poor creative choice to me, but I’ll be watching to see how it’s handled (along with Eisenbeis’ other points) when I get to see the movie for myself next week.

What do you think? Will you be seeing The Amazing Spiderman when it hits theaters? Check out Eisenbeis’ review (WARNING = FULL OF SPOILERS) and then sound off in our comments section!

I’ve been licking my chops for more pinball. Over the past couple months any time I wanted more pinball action I would go for achievements and I’ve gotten pretty high on some older tables. I’m even in the top 400 overall on 3 tables. So when I heard 4 new tables were coming out I checked my email about every day waiting for news on when it would come out, and I can tell you as of this article it is out and ready for you to get. This pack is called Avengers Chronicles and these four tables pit the Avengers in four different scenarios many know from the movies and the comics. I played each table once through just to wet my whistle and then went straight into the one I liked the most at first.

World War Hulk.

That’s right, the World War Hulk series is a part of this grouping. I played with this table for around 4 hours and the thing that makes this one so good is you feel like a maniac because there are so many ramps to shoot and they are easy to aim at. Within ten minutes I was getting combo after combo after combo. 5 ramps in a row, 6, 7, 8, etc. Within about an hour I had already gotten 100 Million points on this one. After my total play time my best score was 184 Million. The reason being is there are 3 very doable multiballs and completing each mission nets you 25M a piece. There’s also a nice random award shot which can usually net you an extra ball. The missions I recommend are Hulk vs. Wolverine, and Hulk vs. Dr. Strange. I haven’t actually read this particular series but I’ve heard a lot of good about it, and if you have read the series you’ll likely get a lot of what’s going on.

Fear Itself

This is an interesting table, it has a wacky under orbit which is what originally drew me to the table. This table is based on a 2011 comic series of the same name and it focuses a lot on Thor and Captain America. Thor and the different “Worthy” play a prominent role in this table. The main missions are based around each of these different “Worthy” which have interesting missions for you. I’ve been stuck playing Nerkkod’s because I love multiballs and I want to get it down. The missions are easy to start so there’s a lot to do right off the bat. The highest score I’ve gotten on this one is around 30 Million, but I figure I’ll probably put a lot of practice into since I haven’t played too much of it to this point.

I should mention at this point that the last time these guys came out with a 4 pack Marvel Table I ranked them based on my first impressions but as I played the tables and got better I found myself liking some I thought I wouldn’t and so there’s some longevity in some of these tables that you might not see at first.

Infinity Gauntlet

The very first comic book I ever bought was actually a part of the Infinity Gauntlet series. Adam Warlock fighting Thanos, that was my introduction to comics. Since then I’ve made sure to find other old Infinity Gauntlet stuff and I now own a bunch of those old comics. So finding out there was a new Infinity Gauntlet table I was stocked. This one does what Ghost Rider did in the last pack, is that when you attempt a mission you get the gem for it and are able to keep going. Some other tables have done this and what I love about it is that it means you can often get to the hardest battle on the table even while being rusty or not as good. The table Sorcerers Lair was the first one I scored over 100 Million on, and it had that same sort of idea where you could get to the final mission by just attempting the other missions.

Avengers

Finally we have Avengers, based on the movie more so then the comics. This one has a very interesting idea where you have balls themed after each of the characters each with their own power, so for instance The Captain America ball gives you a longer ball save where as Hawkeye’s ball gives you more chances at getting the kickback arrows.

Being that this table is based on the movie the main six characters are Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow and The Hulk. From my friends who are playing this seems to be their favorite table. I haven’t figured out this table all that well yet but it’s mostly because I’ve been sinking more hours into the other tables.

Great pack here. The only weird thing is that the xbox achievements are lessened, there’s only one per table, but after sending an email I found it’s because of the xbox’s restrictions on number of achievements. You can find these and other tables by downloading the Pinball FX2 on the Xbox Live Arcade. These can also be found on the PSNetwork.

I am a bona fide Spider-Fan, and I’ll give anything with the ol’ webhead a chance. While I still have a few lingering doubts about this summer’s upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man, as long as it stays true to the roots of the character it’ll be fine in my book. On that note, current spider-scribe Dan Slott turned me on to what appears to be Spidey’s first ever live-action appearance, albeit in an unofficial form. From 1969, we get the famed Don Glut’s last Marvel fan-film, and thanks to the magic of YouTube, we can all share in the fun! From uploader Fudgebudger:

The first ever documented Spider-Man fan film, and the first (unofficial) live action appearance of Spider-Man from 1969! This was produced by Donald F. Glut and was his last amateur film (he had produced many other Marvel fan films before this) before moving on to write for classic cartoons like Transformers and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

I love the costume (Don Glut is wearing the red and blues himself), it looks heavily inspired by Steve Ditko’s work. And notice the use of the Captain Action Spider-Man figure for web swinging and wall crawling; that goes for huge bucks now. The villain in this fan film, Dr. Lightning, is not a real Marvel character and was just created by the guy’s making the film.

So without further ado, Don Glut’s seminal Spider-Man!

“>httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4HQn6rsJ38

Sure, the effects are of definite fan quality, and the acting is just “OK”, but underneath that is evidence that Glut “gets” Spider-Man, especially the late 60’s version of the guy. He’s quippy, acrobatic (webslinging in a mountainous area must have been murder!), and is surrounded by tragedy. The music is also truly epic as only proto-70’s funk can get. He gets the essence of the webhead down, and it definitely gave me a geeky smile. What do you guys think?

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is out today. As much as I appreciate you reading my article, why aren’t you playing this already? Is it because it’s LEGO and for kids? If that’s really your excuse you obviously haven’t played the LEGO games and you need to rectify that immediately. I’m actually so backlogged right now that I’m just getting to LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean and I have to admit it’s one of my favorite entries so far. And I don’t even like the film franchise. Traveller’s Tales is just that good. But, now that you’re here, finish the post. Then buy LEGO Batman 2 (brand new only $43 on PS3) and bring some simple joy back in your life. It’s something my yoga instructor recommends every week, find the joy!

Thanks again to one of the numerous international ratings boards for outing an upcoming release before the official announcement. This time it’s the British Board of Film Classification that’s since pulled their listing for Bioshock Ultimate Rapture. This looks to be the first two games bundled with all of their respective DLC. No release date is announced, but this seems like a good way to build some extra hype for Bioshock Infinite, coming February 2013.

All of the speculation about Valve and Overkill’s collaborative effort seems to have made way more out of the situation than is actually happening. It appears the two were working together on a piece of DLC for Payday: The Heist. The “No Mercy” expansion will be an add-on for Payday that takes place in Left 4 Dead‘s Mercy Hospital. A character from Left 4 Dead will likely be making an appearance though the mission will not be considered canon in the zombie franchise. According to Valve’s Chet Faliszek there will also be a “fun little easter egg with a payoff later in Left 4 Dead.” Is that payoff coming as Payday-related DLC for Valve’s franchise, or upcoming for the thrid game?

Harmonix Director of Communications and Brand Management, John Drake, recently mentioned new IPs for the company on the Harmonix podcast. What are these new IPs? We don’t know yet, but we know what they’re not. According to Drake, “Dance Central and Rock Band are kind of our big, established IPs. And man oh man are we working on multiple – like, more than two – new triple A IPs, right now that we can’t talk about at all. None of them are Rock Band or Dance Central titles. It’s not a previous game. It’s not Led Zeppelin Rock Band. This isn’t – I’m not talking about Rock Band 4. I’m not talking about the next Dance Central game. I’m talking about new, crazy stuff.” Harmonix are the masters of rhythm gaming, so is this another entry in that formula, or something entirely new for the company? They are also working Dance Central 3 and Rock Band Blitz.

If the reviews on Telltale’s first episode of The Walking Dead are any indication, the expectations for the next episode are high. But when will we see it, and what will it be? The developers have finally announced that it’s expected “around the end of June.” That’s not very specific, but that pretty much means today or next week. As for what you’ll be playing, the second episode joins the group three months later, when “things have gotten tenser [sic]—food is scarce, and no one in the party is a particularly good hunter.” Hopefully this will keep up the quality and be able to deliver on the promise of consequences for choices.

Not only has a special edition been announced God of War: Ascension, but there’s also special edition coming to get you caught up. The God of War Omega Edition will contain both HD collections and God of War III in a steel case with a numbered, limited edition statue. Pricing and release date haven’t been announced. The Ascension special edition is $80 on Amazon and comes with a special case, 8″ Kratos statue, digital soundtrack, dynamic theme, avatar pack, multiplayer Double XP unlock, and the Online Pass. The prequel releases March 12, 2013.

The pinball ‘bots around here went a little nuts when “The Avengers Chronicles” pack was first announced for Zen/Marvel Pinball. That anticipation is finally getting its payoff today with the release of the four new tables. But that’s not all of the great news from Zen Studios. They’ve also announced that Zen Pinball 2 is scheduled for release in mid to late July for PS3 and Vita. ZP2 will actually be a free download that will serve as a platform for all tables released under Zen Pinball, Marvel Pinball, and future releases to be purchased a la carte. That means your existing tables from a prior purchase of either game will work in the new platform, along with some minor bug fixes on some. Which basically describes how the original Zen Pinball worked on 360 anyway.

Another expansion releasing today is DC Universe Online‘s “The Last Laugh.” This expansion focuses on PvP experience and brings a new weapon along with new Light-Powered and Kryptonian Legends characters. As the title would indicate, the Joker is up to no good and has hacked Safe House computers to allow for 4 on 4 battles. Headquarters matches will take place in the Watchtower or Hall of Doom and will feature 8 on 8 match ups.

SEGA’s recent financial setbacks have resulted in a shuffling of the release schedule, most notable affecting the western release of Anarchy Reigns. The game is scheduled for July 5th in Japan, but is now being pushed to first quarter 2013 for Europe and North America. I’m going to assume SEGA knows what they’re doing, but I have to admit that I don’t see the logic. You have a game that is complete and ready for distribution, but you’re going to wait six months to sell it? I would expect that the sooner you can start to recoup your investment costs, the better. Certainly the hype doesn’t seem to be very high for the title, but is that going to change next year? My strategy would be to release it now, in the summer doldrums, instead of early next year when everyone is still trying to catch up on the backlog of holiday games, buying AAA titles used and at steep discounts. Releasing now means a price drop right in the middle of the holiday shopping season, a good tactic to sneak your way into a few homes that can’t afford the newest Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed. Then again, SEGA’s been selling games for decades. I’ve been writing about them for a couple years. I yield to your expertise, SEGA, but I question it. And I’m not the only one. Atsushi Inaba of Platinum Games, the developer for the title, went on Twitter after the announcement to voice his own frustration, explaining that the game is done and they aren’t developing anything additional for the international versions. He’d like to see a global release, but as the developer, they get very little say in the publishing process.

Is there a window on when DLC should be released? Bethesda’s Rage released in October of last year, and a new PEGI rating has something called “The Scorchers” coming soon as a downloadable expansion. The Scorchers were a clan that was cut from the final game, but are apparently making a comeback. The late release “Dawnguard” for Skyrim seems to make sense for such a huge game, making it more of a traditional PC expansion pack than simply a downloadable add-on. But Rage? It doesn’t seem to have sold very well, and reviews were sort of all over the map. DLC generally has a two-fold purpose, 1. generate small scale sales to enhance developer/publisher value, and 2. discourage used game sales by encouraging owners to retain copies for further play. But if you wait 8+ months after release before even announcing the DLC, hasn’t the used games market already kicked in, effectively limiting the number of consumers willing to make the smaller transaction as well? Really, if you bought this game used for $15, are you going to want to pay another $15 (guessing at the price here, nothing official) for an extra four hours of content? Good job for supporting the game, Bethesda. But, like SEGA, I’m questioning your strategy in regards to timing.

Well, that’s it for the early edition. And I apologize for my profuse editorials. I usually chime in a little bit, but it seems I’m feeling extra passionate today as my opinions have been scattered throughout this relatively slow news period. As much as I love E3, I seriously don’t care for the drought in the weeks following. Check back Friday for the rest of the week’s news.

Marvel announced (via The View) that Northstar will be getting engaged to his boyfriend in an upcoming issue of Astonishing X-Men (#50) and married in the next (#51).

Here’s Sithbot:

First we saw it in Dragon Age, then Mass Effect, Archie, and now finally in X-Men, same sex couples are getting their due and finally starting to cross over into the geek mainstream. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, be sure to stop by your local comic shop early on May 23 to pick up Astonishing X-Men #50 (and put #51 on hold) where we will see Northstar propose and get married to his boyfriend, Kyle Jinadu.

Northstar has been a popular character and played integral roles in many story arcs across the Marvel Universe, as well as being the first openly gay member of the X-Men, (coming out in 1992 in Alpha Flight #106). His homosexuality had been hinted at before he was allowed to utter the words ‘I am gay’ in AF 106, and, to Marvel’s credit, they have always treated his story arcs that have dealt with everything from homophobia among mutants, unrequited love, courting other X-Men (Colossus in the Ultimate universe) and now his marriage with respect that is quite refreshing. Kudos to Marvel for taking this issue head on and reflecting real life issues in the pages of their comics and not shying away from what some may feel is controversial. Gay people get married every day, and it’s a wonderful thing to be able to see characters we know and love experiencing these same joys.

The X-Men have been my favorite Marvel comic series since I got into them as a kid. Not just because they had kick ass powers and could do a bunch of cool stuff, but because, as a gay teen, I readily identified with ther outcast status and the fact that no matter how much good they did, there was still a certain level of distrust the general public always had for them. I was really happy to see Marvel take a huge step by introducing the first openly gay comic character, Northstar, back in 1992, and it was great to see that they dealt with his homosexuality openly and honestly, and had him deal with many of the same issues we all do, regardless of sexuality.

I am extremely excited to see his proposal and marriage to his boyfriend in Astonishing X-Men #50 and #51 hitting comic shelves May 23. Too often, in film, tv and especially comics, those of us in the LGBT community have felt a bit slighted as we are still oftentimes portrayed as complete stereotypes and not as we really are. Granted, things are changing for the better a la sitcoms like Modern Family, and it’s refreshing to see Marvel take such a positive step in celebrating the lives and loves of all their characters, not just the straight ones. On behalf of all in the gay geek community, I want to offer a huge thank you to Marvel for standing up and doing such a great job representing us in your world despite the fact some might find it controversial. I’d definitely recommend putting this in your hold ASAP because if the recent issue of Archie celebrating a same sex marriage is any indicaion, these issues will sell out, and fast!

If you want to watch the women of The View discuss this (shut up…someone might) The Mary Sue has the video.

Last year Hot Toys put out the Spider-Man 3 version of Spider-Man in his usual red and blue outfit. While ultimately I was excited to add him to my collection, he fell short in a few ways. When Hot Toys announced the Black Suit version I was definitely on the fence about it. After I saw the photos of him with the Sandman base, I couldn’t resist.

This figure comes with the exact same accessories as the blue and red suit. A bunch of extra hands and quite a few different web options. The only difference is an extra head of scary Peter (not to be confused with Emo Peter), and the Sandman base. The Sandman base is just under a foot tall. He comes with two different right hands, a fist or a mace.

Black Suit Spider-Man is definitely an improvement from his predecessor. The fabric of the suit feels thicker and less likely to rip. The various hands are made out of a softer plastic, making it much easier to swap them out. The classic blue and red suit was extraordinarily difficult to swap the hands. The plastic was very hard and the ball joints would get stuck.

Probably my favorite improvement is his chin. Because you can swap out his head, the fabric is sewn in a more form fitting fashion. This fixes the chubby neck look of the previous installment.

All and all this one was a must have. It is probably one of my favorite Hot Toys, if not my favorite. The most surprising thing to me is how much I could love something to come from Spider-Man 3.

Disney CEO Bob Iger has announced that Avengers 2 is now officially a “go.” With opening weekend sales well above $200 million (and that’s only in the US!) we were pretty sure this announcement was on its way.

With the current lineup set for Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, and Thor 2 – most guesses put the tentative release of Avengers 2 for sometime in 2015.

If you still haven’t seen The Avengers (are you CRAZY?) then I really, honestly am telling you that you should get out there and see what is sure to be the most awesome movie of the year. It climbed my top movies list all the way to the top 5 along with Empire Strikes Back, Last Crusade, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I spent most of the film laughing, cheering and clapping along with everyone  around me in a completely packed Los Angeles theater. The whole night was one of the best real movie-going experiences I’ve had in a long time – one where I spent every second absolutely engrossed in the film. I was actually relatively shocked after it had ended that it had really been almost two and a half hours long. Usually, I’m not a huge fan of long movies, but I didn’t want The Avengers to end.

Also, since not many people have commented on this yet, I wanted to say that I was pretty happy with Colbie Smulder’s performance as Shield Agent Maria Hill. If you haven’t seen this awesome photo circulating around the internet yet please allow me to share its awesomeness with you:

Have I really not convinced you to go see The Avengers yet? Watch this and re-consider:

UPDATE 05/07/12 2:35pm MT: The official numbers are in, and The Avengers actually pulled in a bit more than estimated! $207.4 million is the official domestic take for May 4-6!

Joss Whedon, Disney, and Marvel officially have a mega-hit on their hands with Marvel’s The Avengers!

Leading up to the US opening of the film last week, it was reported that pre-sale ticket sales were already huge, and that momentum carried on through the weekend. Starting with midnight screenings The Avengers brought in an impressive $18.7 million, totalling to $80.5 million for all day Friday, $69.7 million on Saturday, and a projected $50.1 million on Sunday – bringing the total to $200.3 million, handily breaking the opening-weekend record previously held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with $169.1 million. Adding this domestic figure to the amount The Avengers has made internationally after 12 days of release brings the global total to $641.8 million (the film cost around $220 million to make)!

Both critics and audiences have been heaping praise on this movie, and I think these numbers just add to the hype fact that this is just a tremendous film. Of course, these figures bode well for the Marvel movie franchise as they move into what they are calling “Phase 2”, with sequels planned for Iron Man (which actually begins shooting next month), Captain America, Thor, and of course, a second Avengers film.

I, like so many of you, caught a midnight showing and plan to see it at least two more times. Seeing a film of this magnitude, bringing all of those other films together, and so well executed almost almost brought tears of joy to my eyes. I grew up reading the comics, playing with the action figures, watching the cartoons – and to see all of these elements brought together larger than life on the big screen it such a way was damn-near overwhelming. I believe a film such as this doesn’t set these types of records unless it is deserving of it, and I assure you, what Joss Whedon and company have done here is very deserving of the audience they brought in in one weekend.

I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration when I say a new bar has been set for superhero films, including The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man due for release later this year. While I have very high hopes for Nolan’s conclusion to his Batman trilogy (The Dark Knight Rises brought in a whopping $158.4 million on its opening weekend), I don’t know if it will be able to beat this new record set by The Avengers – but then again, no one predicted a $200 million plus weekend for this film, so anything is possible!

Welcome to the Summer movie season folks, it’s off to an amazing start!

Be sure to check out our reviews of Marvel’s The Avengers by CitizenBot and Swank-mo-tron, and come discuss the film in our Open Thread!