The 2011 San Diego Comic-Con - also known as 'Wonderland', to all of us comic geeks out there - has come to a close. We're left in the prime-coloured and super-powered aftermath, and it is glorious. Over the years the San Diego Comic-Con, or SDCC, has evolved into more than a simple nerdy comic book convention. It's morphed into a multi-headed beast; more than just comics are discussed in the halls of this massive event, with panels on everything from movies to video games.

This year the amount of videogame news coming out of SDCC was in no short supply, so trying to sum it all up would be foolish. However, taking a look at the latest news regarding the biggest licensed games based on comic books is actually quite doable. So sit back, grab your controllers and put on your capes and tights; here is what the newest videogame/comic-book unholy hybrids have in store for you.

1: X-Men Destiny

Some of my fondest PS2 memories were had with the X-Men Legends games, insanely fun action-RPGs starring Marvel’s Merry Mutants. So, I was pretty excited when X-Men Destiny - a new title which seems to share a few traits with the Legends games - was announced a few months ago. In the game, you choose to play as one of three characters, all of which are mutants who have just discovered their powers. Through the magical power of choice you must decide whether your destiny lies with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, led by Magneto, or with the X-Men and their leader, Cyclops.

Although Activision is still keeping pretty tight-lipped about the game, Comic-Con did bring with it some new video footage for the game and a spanking new trailer (which you can see above). Also, we now have an official release date. The game will hit shelves on 27th September, 2011.

2: DC Universe Online

I must admit that I am not very big on MMO-RPGs. The whole idea of playing in a massive space occupied by thousands of other players is simply quite daunting. However, as a professed comic geek, even I was intrigued with the possibility of flying around as a hero of my own creation in a world populated by DC Comics most fabled heroes and villains. Ultimately, reviews for DC Universe Online have been mixed, and I'm yet to give the game a shot, but some interesting news coming out of Comic-Con may at least make Green Lantern fans give this game a chance.

A new DLC pack has been announced for DCUO, entitled 'Fight for the Light'. The DLC, like its predecessors, will give DCUO players access to a new set of missions, following an original storyline involving Green Lantern and his yellow-bellied arch-nemesis Siniestro. Perhaps the most alluring aspect of the DLC is the new power sets it offers, featuring the one and only power rings. Downloaders will be able to choose to either align themselves with the Yellow Lantern Corps or the Green Lantern Corps, and each side will have access to twelve diverse power constructs. Power constructs are both shiny and awesome, so this is a definite win.

3: Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

Last week I gave my fanboy mind free reign and presented you guys with my ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom DLC character wishlist. Just a few short hours later, the big MvC3 announcement was revealed and although most of my geeky dreams were shattered - not a single Marvel female, seriously? - I am genuinely excited for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

In typical Capcom fashion, the company has decided to release a tweaked and improved version of their recent title, Marvel vs. Capcom 3. With the 'Ultimate' moniker now added to the title, the new version will bring with it refinements to the fighting system, some flashy new visuals here and there, and - most importantly of all - the addition of twelve new characters.

Four characters were officially announced: Hawkeye, Ghost Rider, Firebrand and Strider. However, an apparent leak on Capcom’s official media site has apparently revealed all the new characters. Rocket Raccoon, Dr. Strange, Nova and Iron Fist will all join the Marvel roster, alongside Nemesis, Phoenix Wright, Frank West and Vergil.

If this ends up being the official roster then I will eventually be able to play with at least two of my dream-team wish list. Beggars can’t be choosers, right?

4: Batman: Arkham City

Batman: Arkham Asylum will probably always be remembered as the game that redefined what a 'comic book game' was capable of. As soon as the game’s sequel, Arkham City, was announced, fans' expectations have been understandably high. So far, it doesn’t look like those expectations will be met.

It looks like they will be surpassed.

Every single tidbit of information which Rocksteady has released has just raised the anticipation for the game, and has left all of us fans salivating at the mouth. The developers came into SDCC all guns blazing, and threw rabid fans not one, but two bones simply swimming in awesome sauce. The first was the incredible new trailer featuring The Penguin, and the gargantuan – and unexpected – Solomon Grundy. The second was the knowledge that Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman) won’t be the only femme fatale prowling the streets of Arkham City. Come October 18th, everyone’s favourite female feline will have to compete with the one and only Talia al Ghul for the Dark Knight’s affection.

Gimme the damn game, already.

5: Oh, and also...

• Pinball fans will be happy to know that Marvel Pinball - the somewhat addictive and extremely fun Marvel themed pinball game, currently exclusive to PS3 and Xbox 360 - will be making a massive multi-platform jump. It's set to ping its way over to the Wii U, PlayStation Vita, 3DS, Apple's iOS, Google Android OS and PC. Also, keep a lookout for a new expansion pack, coming to a console near you this winter.
• Spidey enthusiasts will be pleased to learn that all the game time poured into Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions will earn you some sweet new threads in the new Spiderman: Edge of Time game. Beenox announced that gamers with a Shattered Dimensions save file will be granted access to ten bonus costumes in Edge of Time.
• An Uncharted comic book is coming. Yes, please.

What Comic-Con news got you all hot and bothered? Are you craving more news on any of the games featured above? Don't be shy, people; sound off below!

Labels: 2011, Comic-Con, Event, Feature, Joey Núñez, San Diego Comic Con 2011

It’s about 1pm when the A-team of technology – The Gadget Show presenters – enter the Super Theatre at the Gadget Show Live. It’s a huge performance space, but it reflects the rest of Birmingham’s NEC arena – the whole place is a gargantuan maze of warehouses, huge show floors and miles of airport-esque corridors. However, it’s not the Super Theatre which we’ve come to see – it’s an interview with legendary gamer and Gadget Show original, Jason Bradbury, which we’re excited about.

The first thing which hits you is that Bradbury is considerably less excitable in real life than he is on-screen. Entering with a cup of tea, he’s cooler, quieter and much more professional than regular viewers of Five’s Gadget Show would expect. That’s not to say he’s placid or dull, however – he’s cracking jokes as the presenters take a photo call, making the press collected at the Super Theatre with their array of cameras laugh.

Bradbury has been a member of the Gadget Show team since the show first broadcast in 2006. It’s a show which has pulled in millions of viewers and critical acclaim across the industry in its six years of broadcast; a feat which Bradbury puts down to mass accessibility. “I understand the need to make the content as easily accessible as possible, and that’s the Gadget Show’s genuine success story: it makes complex stuff easy to absorb, early in the schedule.”

However, Bradbury has become stereotyped for his eccentricity in the show – a notorious characteristic which he seems to want to rebel against more. “I understand the need to make the content as easily accessible as possible. What I wish, though, is that I personally didn’t play the role of ‘crazy dude’ quite so much – actually, I’m serious about my tech and I get less of an opportunity now than in the first few years of the series to do hardcore reviews. That’s the only thing I regret about the way the show has gone.”

“Editorially, I’m a geek, and I’d like to delve under the bonnet a bit more. But I understand that there isn’t time at eight o’clock on a mainstream channel to do that.”

However, it seems that – as much as Bradbury may not prefer it to hardcore reviews – the easy-access nature of The Gadget Show’s content is what has made it such a success. And it’s that success on which Bradbury’s job, and indeed his enviable access to advanced technology, is based upon. “I really like doing the show: the access it gives all of us to technology is very special. I feel very privileged to be able to go around the world and see the things I see and do the things I do.”

“I love it. It’s amazing, and to be sitting in front of four thousand seats [in the Super Theatre] is humbling.”

We were interested to find out, should he have control over The Gadget Show’s features, what he’d like to see on the show. The Gadget Show has, over its time, had a wide and assorted range of technology in various fields showcased, from personal transport to gaming; gardening equipment to home security – we found it difficult to imagine into what fields Bradbury would like to branch, given the experience he’s had in a wide number of fields through The Gadget Show.

“Medical. And eco. There was a show called Tomorrow’s World which used to be on, and one of the things they did on Tomorrow’s World was medical tech. Some of the most amazing technology I’ve ever seen is medically related. Robotic surgeons, and things like that. Amazing stuff. And the fight to cure cancer – the way gaming is being used to enable children to visualise the cancer cells and kill them. If I had the choice, I’d include that – we’d have a medical special.”

All the same, it’s difficult to imagine Bradbury being as excited over new medical technology as he might be over a release of a much-hyped new game as, at heart, Bradbury is famously a hardcore gamer. Tweeting on a regular basis about his hobby, and working gaming into as many Gadget Show challenges as he can, Bradbury’s love for the field is well-known.

“I was there from the beginning. 1969, when I was born, I saw the first ever videogames happening. My dad used to work with the Clive Sinclair, so I was there with the Sinclair ZX80, one of the first personal computers in the world ever. Or, the first videogames that were so small, they were printed on a magazine and you’d copy the code by hand into the computer. If it was advanced, you’d be using a cassette player to play digital sounds into your computer. It’s incredible.”

“With the advent of iPad, and iPhone and the apps, the pocket nature of gaming now is really exciting. It means that on the one level you’ve got 3D gaming, $30 million budget games; and then you’ve also got bedroom coders doing their own thing through app stores on the various platforms. It’s an incredibly vibrant time for gaming.”

The idea of mobile gaming is an interesting one, and one which has been gaining ground rapidly in recent years with the release of platforms such as the Apple ‘i’ products, Google’s Android and an increasing number of Symbian platforms. With developers warming up to the idea of on-the-move gaming, it’s an aspect of video games which could see formidable growth in the future. However, the industry is still unsure as to the strength of mobile gaming as a platform.

“It’s definitely not for hardcore gaming, that’s for sure. The iPod, iPhone, iPad platforms; they’re for casual gaming, a bit of quirky fun. Most first-person shooters don’t really work on the iPhone. I think Eliminate Pro does, actually, and the networking of that game – the way you can alert your friends that you’re in an arena and the way it uses iTunes to upgrade your weapons and stuff – is brilliantly well done. It’s definitely not about the hardcore, but that’s what’s good about it in a way – the consoles are still there, and the PC is still there, they’ve not gone away; it’s just an additional environment for coders to make money and for the industry to support itself.”

Bradbury, however, is an advocate of mobile platforms – he’s proudly announced that he’s ordering an iPad in from America – but when it comes to other growing innovations in the industry, such as 3D, he doesn’t seem so sure.

“I think it’s a complete lost leader; a load of old rubbish. I could rue the day I say this, but I do not feel that 3D will to amount to anything in the home. I just can’t see it; I’m not going to sit there with my mum and my kids with goggles on.”

“However, gaming is another thing all together. Gaming is about peripherals; gaming is about quirky, cutting-edge tech. And that’s where 3D could take off - when the consoles get on-board with 3D, oh my lord. I would pay three hundred quid for a pair of goggles to upgrade my PS3 or my Xbox, just because the experience would be so amazing.”

A member of the industry which can be seen to be killing off children’s reading, Bradbury might be the very last person you’d expect to make a foray into children’s writing. However, his children’s writing series – Dot Robot, a trilogy surrounding the characters Jackson Farley, Brooke English, the Kojima Twins and Devlin Lear and their adventures whilst using technology – has had both appraisal by prolific children’s novelists and has been taken on a tour to schools around the United Kingdom in association with Puffin Books, Bradbury’s publisher.

“You wouldn’t believe the future plans. I want to take over the world. I’ve written the first two Dot Robots: Dot Robot and Dot Robot: Atomic Swarm. They’re going really well: I’ve gone round over thirty schools, literary festivals, they’re selling really well, and I’m getting excellent reviews. Most recently, to publicise Atomic Swarm, I had one of the robots from the book made – his name’s Punk – and then I used Punk in a video on YouTube called ‘Robot Kitchen Rampage’. Please go and look at it, it’s on YouTube and you can also find it through my blog.”

“And I’ve got big plans, man: I want Hollywood. I’m really serious, I want to keep writing the books, I really, really enjoy it. I think it’s such a noble thing to do, because I think you can’t read too much. Kids nowadays need to read. It’s all about gaming, it’s all about social networking, it’s about the very things that take people away from books. I think that’s quite quirky.”

Our sincere thanks to Jason Bradbury for taking the time out of his busy schedule to speak to us – we really appreciate it. Also, due thanks need to go to Christian Payne of Documentally.com, for the very generous lend of technical equipment; and to the Open University.

Linford

Labels: 3D gaming, Book, Event, Gadget Show Live, GSL10, Interview, Jason Bradbury, Linford Butler, Technology, The Gadget Show

Linford and Jacques are at the Gadget Show Live today! The event, hosted at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, will see hundreds flock to test the latest and greatest technology available to the industry, and we'll be live at the event all day today with exclusive reviews, previews and interviews, just for you.

Also, some very exciting news - we have secured an interview with none other than Mr. Jason Bradbury from The Gadget Show, the self-professed geek gamer who we all love. We'll be doing the interview at around 12:00pm today, and we'd like to give you the opportunity to ask your questions. If you have any quickfire questions to ask him, we'll be sure to ask the best ones in our interview later today - make sure to Twitter them to @ggtl, or email them to linfordbutler@gamersguidetolife.com.

Join us as we test technology not even on the market yet, in our series of video diaries and on Twitter. Also, follow all the articles on Gamer's Guide to Life.com.

Linford

Labels: Event, Gadget Show Live, GSL10, Linford Butler, The Gadget Show, Video, Video Diary

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To celebrate the release of the New Super Mario Bros multiplayer game for the Wii, Nintendo is out to find the best gamer in all the land... of Britain.

On October 17 and 18, gamers will be invited to test their skills at four Gamestop and four GAME stores across the country. There, they will face off with the toughest, most bad ass and competetive games of all time: Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit, New Super Mario Bros DS, and Mario Kart DS. It will be a glorious and bloody

The top two finalists from each venue will then be invited to compete in a grand finale hosted by comedian, musician, and radio personality Iain Lee, a man who knows a frightening amount about The Monkees. I don't know where said finale will be held, but at it the finalists will square off to decide, once and for all, who is 'Britain's Best Nintendo Gamer.'

Oh, the glory of war.

When the dust clears, and only one hero remains, perched heavily atop his trusty Wii Balance Board, wiping the blood and sweat from his eyes, he will know the taste of victory. He'll also be awarded spoils - a trip for five to Nintendo Headquarters in Japan. Not. Too. Shabby.

Here's where the event will take place:

* Bluewater, GAME store
* Swansea, Boarders concession
* Manchester, Trafford Centre, Selfridges concession
* Oxford Street GAME store
* Birmingham New Street, Gamestation
* Hull, Gamestation
* Edinburgh Princess Street, Gamestation
* Norwich, Gamestation

Is it just me, or is Super Smash Bros getting completely overlooked in this event? It makes me sad.

Greg

Labels: Event, Greg Mengel, News, Nintendo

With the Develop Conference going strong at its usual venue in the seaside town of Brighton, Develop bosses feel that expansion is the way forward - along with pretty much everyone in the games industry at the moment. As such, the Develop Conference will be making a stop in Liverpool this year, for one day only.

Designed to further meet the expectations of games developers in the north of England, the one-day Liverpool version of the conference, currently slated for 5th November, will "go through three tracks and multiple networking sessions including a post-event drinks reception".

“With such an active and vibrant development community north of Birmingham it just makes sense to take the Develop conference to Liverpool,” said event director Andy Lane. “We want as many developers as possible to experience the passion and energy that we saw in Brighton. Develop in Liverpool is at the heart of a region that has long history of development excellence, so we’re confident this will be a day fizzing with ideas and insights,” he added.

The Develop Conference is just one in a few games expos to be making their way North this autumn. The ever-growing Eurogamer Expo will be in Leeds on 28th and 29th of October, with a London based expo at the Old Billingsgate venue on the 30th and 31st.

Develop Conference head honchos have already booked up the Brighton venue for next year's event, which will take place 13-15 July 2010.

Linford

Labels: Develop Conference, Eurogamer Expo, Event, Linford Butler