I don’t keep any records of these things, but I get the feeling today might be the biggest edition of VGQH so far. So I’ll just leave it at that and let the news bites speak for themselves. Enjoy:

From Software is offering a great contest for artists on Facebook to promote Dark Souls. Log on to www.facebook.com/darksouls to download the three templates for shield designs you’ll find. Create your own herald for each template. You can submit one of each template before July 13th. The top ten designs in the three categories will be judged by the developers. If your design makes it to this stage you’ll win a copy of the game signed by the director, Hidetaka Miyazaki.  One winner from each category will get a signed Limited Edition of the game, their name in the credits, and their design as DLC for the game. Winners will be announced on Facebook July 28th. So if you’ve been wanting your artwork in a video game, make it happen. You could see success as early as October 4th when the game launches.

Media Molecule has begun talking up the July wave of Sackboy costumes for Little Big Planet 2 and there appears to be some great stuff. Up first are two Cole McGrath costumes from inFamous 2 available this week. The good and bad karma versions of Cole are bundled with a new sticker pack for $2.99. Next week’s batch is great news for Final Fantasy VII fans. Aeris, Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth will be available for $1.99 each. Or you can bundle them with a bonus Vincent costume for $5.99. The following week will see another $2.99 costume and sticker bundle pack featuring Rico and Hazmat from Killzone 3. Finally, three packs of Toy Story 3 costumes, levels, and stickers are planned. All of this leads up to the Move pack coming at the end of summer.

Multiplayer fans got good news about Battlefield 3 from DICE this week. Lars Gustavsson, Lead Multiplayer Designer, made it clear they’re thinking about multiplayer in a whole new way. “The mindset at DICE during the development of Battlefield 2 was pretty much: ‘Play the game our way, or play something else.’ Now, we have made a conscious effort to reverse that mentality.” This means there will be more modes, including the return of Team Deathmatch, and Rush and Conquest. He also confirmed Battlelog, an adapted version of Need for Speed’s stat-tracking social network, Autolog. Look for the game October 25th.

Ubisoft made a few remarks this week on the scale of Far Cry 3. While the plan is for the environment to be just as dense as the first two games, the size will be about ten times larger. That’s a lot of game! While large scales are great, density is the real key to any open-world game. Look at the difference between Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. While both very enjoyable, the constant presence of “dungeons” and extra areas with special weapons and rewards in the former make it seem so much more populated than the large desert vistas of the latter. In addition to the scale, Ubisoft is also talking up the variety of decisions to be made, going beyond just good or evil choices to create more “interesting” options. We’ll see exactly what that means when the game releases next year.

Speaking of Fallout: New Vegas, there’s nothing really new to say about the up coming Old World Blues DLC, but there are some new screenshots. This one is my favorite, mostly because the hat is so stylin’ and 1990s comics didn’t sate my love for pouches.

Here’s one more, just because I love that universe so much. It’s also kind of a hint. Clearly mugs are not the worthless wasteland trash you’ve always thought them to be. Might be a good idea to hang onto these instead of dropping them to clear inventory weight. Who knows what bonuses this little guy will provide?

A couple of Environment Artists from Bioware, Don Arceta and Nick Lukasewich, recently spoke with XBox World 360 about integrated cover in Mass Effect 3. Essentially, they’re trying to create environments that can surprise you. According to Arceta, they “have a lot more integrated cover, so you don’t walk into a room and immediately know there’s going to be a combat there. It’s about making these spaces feel natural and not forced. It shouldn’t ever feel forced, by gameplay or art – it really should be this perfect marriage.” Lukasewich agrees, “Yeah, you don’t want to walk through a room and go, ‘okay nothing’s going to happen here. There’s no cover for me here,’ and then you walk around the next corner and you just see a sea of these chest-high things – you basically see the fight ahead.” The new emphasis will be on functional spaces, areas that actually look like they’re in use for something other than a video game level. Really, how many hallways have you seen that have crates set up in a zig zag pattern leading to a doorway surrounded by explosive barrels? While we don’t have any specific art as an example, I do have some of the alternate costumes for a few companions, that’s good enough isn’t it?

In somewhat related news, Legendary pictures is promising a big reveal at Comic-Con this year, the Mass Effect movie. The reveal will happen in a panel on July 22nd. Members of the panel will include Screenwriter Mark Protosevich and BioWare’s Casey Hudson, Executive Producer of the film, alongside Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk. Legendary has rights to film versions of several other video game franchises. They’re convinced game films are the future of cinema. I’m not convinced game films can be good. I’m hoping they’ll prove me wrong.

Another gaming company out to prove me wrong on the movie-game front is a minor surprise. Rockstar Films was recently approved as a trademark for Take Two. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single franchise from them that I wouldn’t want to see on film. Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, Bully, L.A. Noire. Well, Manhunt with Marky Mark already sucked. But I think it’s possible to make a good one too. Here’s the official trademark description (yes, the “children’s” themes is a scary concept):

Animated motion picture films featuring entertainment, namely, action, adventure, dramatic, comedic, children’s and documentary themes; pre-recorded video discs and other pre-recorded digital and electronic media in the field of live action programs, motion pictures, or animation featuring entertainment, namely, action, adventure, dramatic, comedic, children’s and documentary themes.

The latest in special edition and preorder bonuses comes from Lord of the Rings: War in the North. Currently scheduled for release this fall, preorders will get you the Orc Champion sword and early access to the digital back story comic from Amazon; the Elf theme pack (sword, armor, helmet, and Lothlorien Challenge map from Best Buy; Human theme pack and Osgiliath Challenge map from GameStop; a signed poster and digital comic access from Toys R Us; three songs from the soundtrack at Target; and the Dwarf theme pack from Wal-Mart. There is also a special edition in the works for $130. That edition includes a Ranger of the North Quiver Case; prerequisite art book; bonus disc with interviews, behind the scenes footage, sound recordings at Abbey Road, and three songs from the soundtrack; and a bonus theme (PS3 only) including fonts, wallpapers, etc. This is mostly standard fare, except for that awesome quiver case. This is possibly the most apt bonus for a game I’ve seen yet. While the game is almost at zero on my interest scale, I kind of want it just for the case.

Earlier this week, Daishi Odashima, Game Director for Soul Calibur IV, dropped a teaser via Twitter. Two silhouettes of characters set to appear in the game were released. The names of the characters have not been announced. I won’t pretend I’m a big enough fan of the series to even guess. If you have a theory, post it in the comments. The full reveal on these two will come at Comic-Con.

On their community forums, Kan Muftic, Senior Concept Artist for Batman: Arkham City, spoke a little about the genesis of Robin’s look in the Best Buy exclusive add-on for the game. His description definitely doesn’t sound like the Dick Grayson I know, but he also doesn’t specify which Robin they’re using. The concept art looks okay for the visual style of the game, but it does have a little too much Smallville flair in the costume for my tastes.

“We wanted to create a Robin that players would identify as a contemporary character and move away from the traditional ‘Boy Wonder’ image that most people know. Our vision of Robin is the one of a troubled young individual that is calm and introverted at times but very dangerous and aggressive if provoked. The shaved head is inspired by cage fighters, because we thought that Robin might be doing that in his spare time to keep him on his toes. Still, we kept all the classic trademarks of Robin’s appearance, such as the red and yellow colors of his outfit, the cape and the mask. We really hope that people will discover our Robin as one of their new favorite characters in the Batman universe. He is back and he means business.”

[edit: Thanks to “You’re no journalist” in the comments for pointing out that this Robin has been confirmed as Tim Drake. Which is obviously why his description doesn’t match my vision of Dick Grayson. I had actually assumed they were using Drake, or possibly Jason Todd, maybe even Damian. But when you say the name Robin to me, it will always be Dick that comes to mind.]

Harmonix, the developers behind the Rock Band and Dance Central franchises, has recently filed for a new title trademark, Vidrhythm. They’ve been quiet on the subject, other than to confirm it is a project they’re working on. Far too early to tell, obviously, but I trust these guys to make to fun games and I’d get my wager in early that this will be no exception.

Sony is now jumping on the “online pass” bandwagon with its first party titles, starting with Resistance 3. Sony’s PSN Pass will work much like EA’s “ten dollar initiative” as well as many other similar programs. The games will come with a one time use code to be redeemed for full online access. Renters and pre-owned buyers will be able to purchase the pass from the Playstation Store for an additional fee, likely around $10. This is obviously a response to the growing used game market and the growing popularity of Gamefly. I’m not necessarily a fan of this program, but I understand their desire to get some additional proceeds from the secondary games market. As long as it doesn’t affect game quality, you won’t see me complaining. What does everyone else think?

Really not sure how I feel about this one. Criterion Games is going back to basics, but also really meddling with the formula, for their next car smashing extravaganza. Burnout CRASH! will be available this fall on XBLA and PSN. Crash mode has always been a favorite part of the series, especially the big crash junctions where you can rack up combo destruction for high dollar demolitions. But, they’re making it top down. It’s Criterion and car crashing, so I have to assume it will be fun. But I’m not thrilled with the perspective or the art style. Right now it’s a coin flip in my book. I look forward to seeing more of this, but I’m not convinced I’ll spend any money on it.

Can’t get enough Dragon Age 2? Good, there’s more coming. EA recently confirmed the “Legacy” DLC will hit July 26th. The add-on will take you to a Grey Warden prison where you’ll meet new types of Darkspawn and a powerful new foe, Corypheus. The new mission line will be available at any point in the story and will actually have you leaving Kirkwall to face a cabal seeking the “blood of the Hawke.” You’ll learn much more about your character’s lineage and gain a powerful new weapon.

Wow, for a feature called Video Game Quick Hits, this one wasn’t very quick. Lots of news though. And I like to think it’s formatted well enough to let you skip the stuff you don’t want to read and get right to your top games. Now, it’s the weekend. Quit reading, grab your PSP or DS and go find a nice shade tree to get some fresh air while you get your game on.

Universal Studios has spared no expense on the upcoming release of the Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy.  On October 25, 2011, the prehistoric saga roars onto Blu-ray for the first time ever.

Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III earned nearly $2 billion combined worldwide, and the visual effects from special effects powerhouse Industrial Light and Magic changed movie-making forever.  All three films have been digitally restored and remastered, and the sound effects and John Williams’ stirring score can be heard in 7.1 surround sound.

In addition to hours of bonus features (including a six-part documentary), the set includes digital copies of all three films.  A limited edition set (pictured above) includes a custom T-rex dinosaur statue.

From the press release:

The Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy features an all-star cast including Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Attenborough, Ariana Richards, Joseph Mozzello [sic], Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, William H. Macy and Tea Leoni.  In addition to the talented cast of actors, the Trilogy features stars of a different magnitude—from the huge Tyrannosaurus rex to the vicious Velociraptor, the Jurassic Park films showcase an extraordinary level of realism and technical innovation brought to life by a talented design team which include: Stan Winston, Live Action Dinosaurs; ILM’s Dennis Muren, Full Motion Dinosaurs; Phil Tippett, Dinosaur Supervisor; Michael Lantieri, Special Dinosaur Effects and Special Visual Effects by Industrial Light & Magic.

ALL-NEW BONUS FEATURES ON BLU-RAY™ & DVD

• “Return to Jurassic Park” – this six-part documentary features all-new interviews with the many of the cast members from all three films, the filmmakers and Steven Spielberg.

o   Dawn of a New Era
o   Making Pre-history
o   The Next Step in Evolution
o   Finding The Lost World
o   Something Survived
o   The Third Adventure

The following bonus features also appear on the both the Blu-ray™ and DVD:

• The Making of Jurassic Park
• The Making of The Lost World: Jurassic Park
• The Making of Jurassic Park III
• Steven Spielberg Directs Jurassic Park
• Early Pre-Production Meetings
• The World of Jurassic Park
• The Magic of Industrial Light & Magic
• Location Scouting
• Phil Tippett Animatics: Raptors In The Kitchen
• The Jurassic Park Phenomenon: A Discussion with Author Michael Crichton
• Industrial Light & Magic and Jurassic Park: Before and After The Visual Effects
• Industrial Light & Magic and The Lost World: Jurassic Park Before & After
• The Industrial Light & Magic Press Reel
• A Visit to Industrial Light & Magic
• Hurricane in Kauai Featurette
• Dinosaur Turntables
• The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park III
• Montana: Finding New Dinosaurs
• Animatics: T-Rex Attack
• The Special Effects of Jurassic Park III
• The Sounds of Jurassic Park III
• The Art of Jurassic Park III
• Tour of Stan Winston Studio
• Feature Commentary with Special Effects Team
• Production Archives: Storyboards, Models, Photographs, Design Sketches and Conceptual Drawings
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailers
• And MORE!

Just seeing this list of bonus features makes me feel a little like Dr. Grant when he first sees the dinosaurs at the beginning of the film and Hammond says “Welcome . . . to Jurassic Park.”  A tour of Stan Winston studio!  Industrial Light and Magic!  Phil Tippett Animatics!  Interviews with Steven Spielberg!  And even deleted scenes!

The original Jurassic Park has always been one of my favorite movies.  The dinosaurs looked amazing, and the story about greed and over-reliance on technology is a cautionary one.  It poses an interesting question:  just because science has allowed humans to do something, should they?

Furthermore, the movie is just visually stunning, from the lush landscapes of Kauai to the breathtaking realism of the dinosaurs.

Though the sequels failed to capture my attention to the same degree, each Jurassic Park film offers something unique.

The Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy is available for pre-purchase here.

I’m a big fan of war movies, usually World War II, but there are a glut of Vietnam era war films and more often than not, they just have a harder time connecting with me. After Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now, what else needs to be said? If I were to pick a third Vietnam-era film to elevate to the same pedestal as those other two, is Oliver Stone’s Platoon.

Sure, Charlie Sheen has gone off the deep end lately, but Platoon is probably his finest performance. Propped up with a supporting cast of Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, John C. McGinley (as a fantastically gutless character), and even Johnny Depp (briefly) and Forest Whitaker, this film is easily up there as one of Oliver Stone’s best. Telling the story of a rich kid who joins up to find how horrible war is.

It’s a tale of injustice and the indignity of war. It’s heart breaking and thrilling. It’s everything you’d want in a war film.

The Blu-ray is, as most Blu-rays are, is stunning. I’ve been hearing of a backlash by some people that the quality is “too good” on Blu-ray and that’s why they haven’t switched, but I would dare them to watch a movie like Platoon and say that. It has a detail and level of clarity that no one has seen since it played in theatres and this film is so gorgeously shot (even though it’s reasonably gritty) you wouldn’t want it any other way. The night scenes are especially of better visual fidelity than I’d seen and… it really is just like having a movie theatre at home.

The 25th anniversary release of the film comes with a host of special features, a welcome upgrade from my bare bones DVD version. There are two commentaries, one by Oliver Stone and another by a military advisor. Both deserve your attention. There are also more documentaries than I could wrap my head around, both about the making of the film and the war itself.

For anyone interested in both the history of war and great films, this is the perfect mashup.

And I can’t understate how good the movie is. It’s moving and nerve-wracking, thrilling and emotional.

You can get the 25th anniversary Blu-ray of Platoon from Amazon for less than $17. At that price, it’s a steal.

We’ve been given a copy of the original Terminator film on Blu-ray (with the collectors booklet) and we’re having a contest to see who gets it!

This is the one that started it all. Sure, it’s a little cheesy, but it’s a classic and worth every minute. And on Blu-ray it looks stunning.

In order to win, all you need to do is shoot us an email with the subject line COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE to editor (at) bigshinyrobot.com. For an extra chance to win, you can go to our facebook page and invite all of your friends to like us. Or you can ask your followers on twitter to follow us @BigShinyRobot. Just be sure to mention in your email that you’ve done it.

I need all of the emails in by the end of the Tuesday the Fifth of July at midnight MST.

If you can’t handle the suspense of the contest, you can buy it at Amazon.

Ah, the old run down shack. Always a go-to for serial cliffhangers. Of course Captain America is no exception. If you really think they’d let anyone, let alone an innocent “girl” get blown up in one of these though… Anyway, one thing I like to note in the chapter, is the noise that the thug makes when he falls to his doom. It’s actually a little evocative of the “Wilhelm Scream”, even though it pre-dates it by about a decade or so. I do have to wonder what films would be like if they all had the “Republic Scream” instead. Also, apologies on how murky this chapter is in parts. That’s what you get with a cheaply produced VHS copy, I guess. Even so, don’t let it sully your enjoyment of Chapter 11 of Captain America: The Dead Man Returns!

This week’s supplement is lacking again, I’m afraid. It’s just another high-res screenshot, but at least this one has Cap punching a dude out! You could even Photoshop his mustache a little, and he’s a dead ringer for Hitler! And there’s nothing more patriotic than the living embodiment of America socking a Nazi in the jaw! Happy 4th of July everyone!

I’m an unabashed Spielberg fan. I really, really love his movies and his output as a director impresses me. He’s notorious for producing incredible works of art quickly (Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can premiered back to back within 8 or 9 months of each other, and he did the same thing with Munich and War of the Worlds). This year, he’s outdoing himself completely. He’s releasing two films the same week. Between War Horse and Tin Tin, it’s going to be a very Spielbergy Christmas… Which is funny because he’s Jewish.

In any case, War Horse looks fantastic, though. I don’t think there are enough films about World War I made and this looks to be exceptional.

Maybe I’ll have to do a Spielberg double-feature on Christmas, because I think both of these movies look fantastic.

I’m so all in for this movie.

I liked the first and third Mission: Impossible movies and adding perhaps one of my favorite directors (Brad Bird – Iron Giant, Incredibles, Ratatouille) into the mix works for me on about every level. Plus Simon Pegg? This is a nerd’s wet dream.

And this movie really does look incredible. This is going to be fun, well-scripted, and well-directed. The action looks amazing and… wow… I’m stunned.

My only complaint? That song they used in the middle of the trailer… It’s not a song, really, but whatever it was… It was terrible and they should have done better.

In any case, what do you guys think of this?

It hits theatres in December.

In anticipation of the release of the new Transformers movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Hasbro teamed up with New Era Caps to bring you some super sweet Transformers hats. They’re pretty awesome, and the perfect gift for a Transformers fan, priced between $36.99-$38.99, you can’t go wrong! The following is the information I was given from New Era describing the hats, and below that, make sure you check out the pictures!

A trio of exclusive of New Era caps were specially crafted to bring to life elements of the mega-blockbuster. The series is available in the 59FIFTY silhouette exclusively at New Era Flagship stores and www.neweracap.com.

The TF3 Crew Series Soundwave cap honors the infamous Decepticon. Premium raised embroidery on the front panels displays the distinctive face of Shockwave framed by red accents. An all over tonal screen print on the cap also reveals the Shockwave logo.

Commemorating one of the most heroic Autobots, the TF3 Crew Series Optimus Prime cap has a powerful look that embodies the character. This cap also features premium front embroidery as well as an all over tonal screen print of the Optimus Prime logo.

Both character caps also include unique under visor treatments of high-resolution art from the film. Additionally, both caps have special TF3 Crew Series interior labels and retail for $38.99 each.

For the purist torn between Autobots and Decepticons, the TF3 Crew Series Basic is all black with a raised TF3 logo adorning the front panels. The back of the cap features the red TF3 logo and a special text call-out that distinguishes the cap as an official ‘Crew Series’. The under visor detail is a repeat print of both the Autobot and Decepticon logos. The cap also features special interior labels and retails for $36.99.

I think the premise of the cliffhanger leading into this week’s chapter is a bit silly. I mean sure, it makes sense for Matson to try and hide the identity of the scarab in context of the story, but we’ve known his identity since the first chapter! Also, I deduct a point for having 2 “Gail in Peril” cliffhangers in a row. Let’s just call a spade a spade and enjoy chapter 10! It’s interesting to note that on my copy of this film, chapter 10 has the title for Return of Captain America, the re-release. I’m not sure why this is. The original title card could have been lost, or the people who made the VHS this comes from didn’t care about consistency. At any rate, it’s an interesting bit of trivia!

Now we’re down to my favorite part, the supplemental material. This week, we have the lobby card for The Avenging Corpse. You know, looking at this one, I got the notion that the movie companies should try serializing movies in this day and age. It’d be something “new” and exciting. The studios wouldn’t necessarily have to have limited budgets, either. You could build word of mouth buzz and get people coming back to the theater week after week. Also, filmmakers who want to make 4-hour long epics could conceivably do so. It’s much easier to keep the attention of an audience for a half hour at a time, rather than in one big burst. It’ll probably never happen, but I dare to dream. See you next week!

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. . . ”

Emma Stone has been cast as Elizabeth Bennet, the lead role in the upcoming Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, based on the novel. For those unaware, it’s a loose adaptation of the Jane Austen classic, except that as Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are walking along the lane, zombies will attack.

And now, the long-in-development film will possibly start moving along. Most of us first saw Stone in Zombieland, so this will be a natural fit. And for those of us who enjoyed Easy A (a loose adaptation of The Scarlet Letter), this also seems like a natural fit.  Add in her role as Gwen Stacey in the Spiderman reboot. . . and I think most geeks will agree she’s a perfect choice.

And the fact that I love redheads. But maybe that’s just me that’s got ginger fever. Me and JerkBot.

So all that’s left is to find a Mr. Darcy. Call me weird, but Andrew Garfield is actually the first person who pops in my head. He is, after all, British. Michael Fassbender could do it. And if he wasn’t off filming The Hobbit, I’d suggest Richard Armitage.

Who do you think could be a zombie-slaying Mr. Darcy? Any suggestion except for Jesse Eisenberg will be taken seriously.