MvC2 for 360 and PS3!

Marvel and Capcom just announced they are re-releasing one of my favorite fighting games this summer. Marvel vs Capcom 2 (MvC2) for the 360 and PS3. They are both going to be available by download through Xbox Live and Playstation Networks. Think the 360 version is going to be priced at 1200 points ($15.00). Don't think there is anything different about this re-release, except that all characters will be unlocked and the online multiplayer capability.

It's been so long since I played this. I still have my Dreamcast version of the game, along with a bunch of other ones. This game was one of the reasons I bought a Dreamcast back then. A lot of the Capcom fighting games that came out for the system played much better and closer to the arcade versions than the ones that were released on the Xbox and PS2.

Since Capcom finally released Street Fighter 4, and now this re-release, they really need to follow it up with Marvel vs Capcom 3 and a sequel to Project Justice. I can't wait for this to come out.

Busy Events Weekend

Lots of events happening this weekend, work and not work related.

A non-work related event is the Festival of Books over at UCLA. Lots of authors, celebrities and performances to meet and see. Going down there mainly to see David Horvath (co-creator of Uglydolls), Dan Goodsell (creator of Mr.Toast) and DJ Lance + Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba!

The publication I work for, L.A. Parent, is a sponsor for Baby Celebration (Saturday and Sunday) at the L.A. Convention Center and Kids4Kids Run/Walk (Sunday) in Century City. I don't think we have a booth at the Baby Celebration, but free issues of our Expecting! L.A. baby magazine will be available there. We do have a booth at the Kids4Kids event, so I'm going to be there to help out manning it. We'll be handing out some goodie bags and t-shirts, plus some facepainting. There should be some games, food, entertainment and celebrities. Last year I remember seeing the kids from Nickalodeon's "iCarly" and skateboarder Ryan Sheckler (MTV's "Life of Ryan").

Star Trek Screening

Well, I just got home from seeing a screening of the new Star Trek movie. I am not a huge Star Trek fan, but like the series and grew up watching it and the movies. Kinda hard to avoid when some of your friends huge fans of the series.

The new movie takes us to where the characters from original tv series meet for the first time and started... much younger and attending Starfleet Academy. So it takes place well after the Enterprise series and way before the original series. The actors did a very good job portraying these iconic characters for young and old fans. From recognizable phrases like, "I'm a doctor, not a..." by McCoy and Spock's "facinating" to Chekov's accent. I thought that Karl Urban's portrayal of a younger Dr. McCoy was the best. Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty, got the least screen time, since he shows up way later in the film. Would have liked to see him a bit more. ILM did a very good job with the visual effects.

The film relaunches the Star Trek franchise in a new direction with this new group of actors, some really nice effects, action, funny moments and a pretty good storyline. Although I thought it could have been a little longer (2 hour movie). Do I think there will be another movie (or two)... Oh Yeah! Don't see why they wouldn't... Star Trek for a new generation. I'm kinda on the fence about the storyline, only because it has to do with altering timelines/reality of Star Trek history. But I can live with all that if it continues the franchise with movies like this.

Canceled? Maybe...

Is Dollhouse and Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles canceled? It's being rumored that Dollhouse has already been and Sarah Conner Chronicles might not be back for a 3rd season (2nd season just recently finished).

This would make this the 2nd series that Joss Whedon has done that was not as successful as the Buffy series. I don't think it was doing well in the ratings too. Only watched a couple of episodes of Dollhouse and thought that it was pretty good. But I wasn't hooked on it like when his Firefly series aired. A series based on his Fray comic series could work... or not... maybe?

As for Sarah Conner Chronicles... it doesn't quite make sense to kill a series that seemed to be doing okay in the ratings and quite popular. Plus with the new movie coming out soon, you would think that Warner Bros. would be able to market the tv series around that. Think this has a better chance at returning for another season than Dollhouse.

Without these two shows it makes Fox's Sci-Fi night dead... maybe the SciFi network (or is that Syfy now) will pick them up. That seems to be the place that all these failed sci-fi-type shows go to a some point: Threshold, Firefly, Dark Angel, Invasion, Jericho, Moonlight, Jake 2.0, Wolf Lake, Tru Calling...

SDCC Friday Passes... Gone.

Friday passes sold out on Sunday. With that here are more SDCC Exclusives that have been announced:

Hasbro:
• Transformers Optimus Prime Mighty Muggs (detachable cannon, metallic finish and commemorative box)
• Marvel Logan/Wolverine Mighty Muggs with retractable claws
* Deadpool Mighty Muggs may/may not be an SDCC exclusive

AFX:
• Marvel Minimates - Champions boxed set (Hercules, Black Widow, Angel, Ghost Rider)
• Terminator Minimates - T2 Attack on Cyberdyne box set (Sarah Conner S.W.A.T. Gear, Terminator Muscle Shirt, Miles Dyson, Scortched Endoskeleton)
* Another Minimates box set with 4 figures soon to be revealed at the AFX Blog

Haminal:
• Deviled Haminal plush

Star Wars:
• Rebel Pilot Luke Skywalker figure with ladder attachment for X-Wing

Nintendo DS Gets An Upgrade

The Nintendo DSi came out a couple of weeks ago. Not going to get one right away or trade my DS Lite in for one though. The features are nice... camera, downloadable games, Wi-fi, online play and music player.

Only thing that makes me not want to get the DSi right now is the backwards compatibility feature. Cartridge slot is now gone, so no older DS games and Guitar Hero. Maybe if some of the downloadable games are the ones I play occasionally, then I'll upgrade to the DSi.

6 Hours and Over A 1000 Eggs!

Gaia Online's 2009 Easter Event ends tonight at midnight. After playing for 3 hours on Sunday night, then another 3 hours on Monday, I finally got my 2nd badge (the last one for the event). Had to race and fight other players to get the egg first, then deal with a lag from their servers.

I still need to finish the 500 egg hunt, which means I have to do a page refresh every minute and find the flying egg on the page. Completing this one gets me the last event item for this category. I should finish this one before tonight though. Think I'll go back into the town and hunt for more eggs just for the prizes and be a little greedy... =)

Grimshaw

Going through some old files I came across this sketch I did a few years ago. Haven't done any pencil drawing like this in a long time. Forgot about how much I liked this guy, so I know I'm going to have to do something with him. Just have to find the time now...

Freezer Isle

Went to a gallery opening last month down in Orange County. Normally I would not drive that far for just any show, but I had to do it for this one. Lazysmash was part of the Freezer Isle group show at Phantom Gallery. Lazysmash is Kerry Horvath (Uglydoll co-creator, David Horvath's sister) and Darth Rimmer, the creators of Evil Ice Cream. The last show they were in Kerry had a new plush creation named Broccoli Boy and a Berry Burgler/Lactose Ghost plush. Missed out on that Broccoli Boy... grrr... That was almost a year ago.

Very surprised at what they had there... new plush creations and polystone figures. I picked up one of each Evil Ice Cream figures (Evil Ice Cream, Ice Clown, Zit Chip, Creepsicle), a Nosey the Narwhal, a purple Walrus Pop and the only Cauliflower Boy plush.

Darth told me that the vinyl Evil Ice Cream is not coming out since Wheaty Wheat is out of the business and the plush versions are on hold for now. Although they do have the polystone figures with the other characters waiting in wings to be made.

SDCC 09 Exclusives

SDCC '09 is only 4 months away... 4 day and Saturday passes have sold out, with Friday not far behind them. Some companies are starting to reveal some of the exclusives they are going to have at the show. Here are some of them:

Hasbro:
• Transformers 25th Anniversary Soundwave figure. A re-issue of the original 1984 G1 figure with 4 cassettes-Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Ravage, Ratbat (What the heck...? No Rumble or Frenzy...? geez)
Mattel:
• 3 3/4" Anti-Monitor figure (for 50 Anti-Monitor points you get it FREE).
• 30" Anti-Monitor figure (1 raffled each day, 25 Anti-Monitor points for 1 raffle ticket).
• DC Universe Classics Wonder Twins 2-pack (Gleek comes poly-bagged separately and only at SDCC).
• Justice League Unlimited Green Lantern Origins 3-pack
• Masters of the Universe Classics HE-RO figure
• Cars - Rescue Squad Mater 3-pack
• Ghostbuster Classics Dr. Egon Spengler with Slimer figure
• Toy Story - 3 3/4" Buzz Lightyear with movie acurate packaging
*Some limited quantities will be available after SDCC on the MattyCollector.com website

McFarlane Toys:
• Halo Griffball Spartan figure

AFX:
• Battle-Damaged Jetfire Bust

Forbidden Planet:
• Doctor Who figures of the first two Doctors (one with Dalek, other with Tombs Cyberman) in color and black/white, sixth Doctor in "Real Time" costume

Gentle Giant:
• Blackhole Stormtrooper statue
• Ralph McQuarrie concept Boba Fett bust (2 interchangable helmets)
• Limited Edition Breast Cancer Research pink Darth Vader helmet

Let's Try This Again...

My first attempt at this blog stopped not too long after my dog, Miki, past away a few years ago. She was my "little buddy" and it was hard for me to take. A lot of time has past since then, more than enough to start things up again...

With all that said, I've decided to refocus and start this all from scratch. So I'll be putting some things that I might be working on - from work (movie screenings, events, products) to personal (drawings, ideas) - and stuff I'm interested in on here. I'm heading to Anime Expo and SDCC this year (maybe E3 too, CES for 2010), so I should have some posts about that in a few months.

I've put up a temporary banner with a logo that I've been playing around with for sometime. Still unsure about the typeface for it... but I'm happy with the robot thingy.