I was a little worried the end of Battlestar Galactica would mean the end of seriously good science fiction on television. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about! The prequel series to BSG, Caprica, had its pilot episode a few days ago, and it turned out to be really cool! No familiar faces from the original series, but a familiar name cropped up!

Thoughts and spoilers below.

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Since its release in early 2008, Criterion’s Burnout Paradise has quietly become one of the best values in gaming.

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Earlier this week, Harmonix officially announced a new Rock Band title… with a twist. This next 4-player rock fest—set for release for 360, PS3, Wii and DS—will feature Legos. Yes, those colored little bricks with which you used to make wicked sweet castles with laser turrets and chainsaw-breathing dragons. Sure, it seems like an odd fit, but Harmonix hopes that it’ll be two great tastes that taste great together. My experience with Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones makes me agree. I mean, who doesn’t want to create a Lego version of him- or herself and use the power of rock to take down a giant robot (yes, that’s supposed to actually be in the game).
Of course, with so many franchises being Lego-fied lately, I’ve been thinking… what other franchises deserve this most auspicious of treatment? Here are a few ideas:
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Rhythm Heaven, a new release for the wildly popular Nintendo DS series of handhelds, is a mini-game compilation that tests your ability to stay on beat through a variety of challenges.  While the idea of another series of mini-games may have hardcore gamers groaning, Nintendo has thrown a PR blitz behind the title, giving out free copies of the game to GDC attendees and actually hiring a real celebrity to star in its commercial.  So, does Rhythm Heaven have hardcore appeal, or is it just another mini-game cash-in?

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Joss Whedon is by far one of the greatest television writers of all time. The genius behind the acclaimed  Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as the movie Serenity and the brand new series on Fox called Dollhouse. Which is starting to kick serious ass as the season progresses.

Whedon has this incredible ability to create characters that viewers actually care about.  I can hardly think of a character on his show that I didn’t like, or at least respect the creepiness of.  This being said, Joss Whedon also has a tendency to put his characters through the emotional wringer, and death is more often than not a very large part of the story ending.

Spoilers for all of his various shows/movies/etc below.

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Welcome to another Weekly Emanata, the MEGATONik review of comics. As these are a combination of readerly reaction and critical examination, expect spoilers. I’m going to write as if you, the reader, has some passing knowledge of comics, but feel free to post questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

Due to excessive real-life attempts to graduate and get a life in order, the Emanata will be coming every couple weeks for the next month or so. On the plus side of things, this means that we’ll be bringing you the best of two weeks of comics in every installment.

Boody. The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers
by Boody Rogers

Fantagraphics publishes such a wide array of books that it’s a little hard to believe that they can bring their focus intensely to bear on any one thing. However, they have, for years, put out beautiful reprints of comic strips such as Krazy Kat and The Peanuts; they’ve recently branched out into Golden Age comics, spearheaded by the amazing volume on Fletcher Hanks and followed up by this absolutely insane book collecting numerous stories by Boody Rogers. Rogers is not really a guy that people talk about; no one would mention him in breaths full of Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, and Harvey Kurtzman. I’m not going to make a case for doing that, but I would definitely make a case for reading this book no matter what sort of comics you like. These stories, mostly about Babe, “the amazon of the Ozarks,” and Sparky Watts, a unique sort of superman that mostly bums around with his friends until his body runs out of cosmic rays, at which point he shrinks to insect size. These shorts are always funny, and not in an ironic or “so bad it’s good” way. The situations are set up in an admirably mechanic way, the pieces introduced in serious fashion until they all click together in a mad mess of an ending. Each panel is packed with visual gags, creating a strange dissonance with the characters, each of whom sees nothing wrong with the situation he or she is in.

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Or, a brief case study in the proper usage of terror and horror.

My fascination with the Lovecraftian styles of horror and terror has led me to become aware of some very interesting kinds of media.  Recently, I learned of the Zaratustra Productions freeware game Eversion.  At first glance this application appears to be a simple platformer, borrowing many themes of its construction from the Super Mario Bros. series of games.  The goomba stomp is the best way to defeat enemies, and the world is composed of cheerful, technicolor architecture.  The point of the game is to collect all of the gems and then rescue the princess.

The game’s only standout gimmick is the “eversion” technique, and it is from this gameplay element which the terror and horror stems.  Shortly into the first level, a player realizes that not all the gems are accessible in the level’s current state, and that there are a few points in the level that allow the main character to change the world in almost imperceptible ways.  When you’re over one of these “eversion points” (signaled by a brief darkening or lightening in the background color), triggering an eversion causes things to happen like clouds becoming solid and trees growing…differently.

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Happy Easter, internet! It is on this most holy of occasions that I find myself dwelling on a topic I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time dwelling on: video games. Oddly, it only occurred to me today that the games industry is pretty much the same thing as Jesus Christ, just without the manic, fanatical following.

Oh, wait… I forgot that I wrote for a video game blog for a moment there.

Anyway, here are a few of the eerie similarities I’ve noticed:
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Along with all the perks of Easter — Easter egg hunts, free chocolate, half price Indian buffets — comes the most delightful moment of all. Watching the Doctor Who Easter special! Technically, it came out Saturday night, but for everyone in America, it’s probably up today.  Spoilers for all of Doctor Who are fair game, plus theories about the upcoming few episodes. Brace yourself.

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