Comic Book Reviews for May 10, 2017
It was another big week of comics, as Marvel launched new books like Rocket and Secret Warriors and kicked off the Star Wars crossover "The Screaming Citadel." DC, meanwhile, added another title to the Young Animal line with Bug: The Adventures of Forager and began a major new story arc in All-Star Batman #10. And Image wrapped up the mini-series A.D.: After Death and debuted Regression.
Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and various other new releases, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.
Note: We'll have a review of A.D.: After Death Book 3 up a bit later.
MARVEL COMICS
ABC Cancels Last Man Standing, Renews Modern Family
Modern Family has been renewed for two additional seasons, ABC has announced.
As such, the popular comedy will run up through at least Season 10. The network also said it's open to the possibly of continuing the show with additional seasons in the future. With this 44-episode order for two more seasons, the finale of Modern Family's tenth season will mark a total of 232 episodes.
Modern Family promo image, courtesy of ABC
Nintendo Details Its Plans for E3 2017
Nintendo has outlined its plans for this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo.
As detailed on the official Nintendo of America Twitter account, the company will hold a "Nintendo Spotlight" on June 13 at 9am PT/12pm ET/5pm UK (June 14 at 2am AET) where we'll learn more about Nintendo Switch games, including Mario Odyssey, on e3.nintendo.com.
Immediately following, Nintendo will kick off its Treehouse Live event, during which developers and members from the Treehouse will showcase gameplay from various Nintendo Switch and 3DS games. Finally, on June 13 and 14, Nintendo will host tournaments for both Splatoon 2 and Arms, which can be seen live from its E3 booth.
Dynasty Warriors 9: New Details and First Screenshots Released
More details of Dynasty Warriors 9 have been revealed, and the first screenshots of its new open world and gameplay have been released.
The first open world game in the long-running hack 'n' slash series has received a reveal feature in Famitsu this week (as translated by IGN Japan). Set in regions that will be familiar to anyone who's played the series before (but placed throughout one seamless map), the game aims to reinvent a series that's stayed relatively similar for 20 years at this point.
Gotham Renewed for Season 4
Overwatch: Game of the Year Edition Seemingly Leaked
A datamine of the Xbox Store has seemingly revealed a few details about Overwatch's inevitable first birthday celebrations this month.
True Achievements (an Xbox Store scanning site) has picked up hidden new entries for a Game of the Year Edition - set for release on May 23 (a day before its May 24 first anniversary) - and Anniversary Loot Boxes.
According to the current store description, the Game of the Year Edition will be practically identical to the currently available Overwatch Origins Edition, aside from the fact that it offers 10 free loot boxes along with the various other cosmetic bonuses in that version.
Voice Commands Coming to Ubisoft’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Star Trek: Bridge Crew will utilize the voice recognition capabilities of IBM's Watson AI for a limited time. The Watson beta will be made available after the game launches.
The partnership between IBM and Star Trek: Bridge Crew publisher Ubisoft gives players the "opportunity to use their voice and natural-language commands" during interactions with the non-player controlled characters in the game.
Ubisoft says Watson will let players complete missions "without breaking immersion," whether the missions are carried out with humans or AI.
Watson, a cloud-based AI, makes possible the "ability to issue commands to non-player crew members in the same way they do with a human crew; by using their voice," Ubisoft's David Votypka said.
Square Enix Parts With Hitman Studio IO Interactive
Square Enix has declared its decision to withdraw from Danish developer Io Interactive. The company made the announcement alongside its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017 – released today.
“To maximize player satisfaction as well as market potential going forward, we are focusing our resources and energies on key franchises and studios,” Square Enix said in its statement. “As a result, the Company has regrettably decided to withdraw from the business of Io Interactive, a wholly‐owned subsidiary and a Danish corporation, as of March 31, 2017.”
Io Interactive – the developer of Hitman and Kane & Lynch – found itself in the Square Enix stable back in 2009 when the Japanese publisher acquired Io’s parent company, Eidos Interactive.
Hearthstone: Designing Journey to Un’Goro
Hearthstone’s latest expansion, Journey to Un’Goro, has introduced a wealth of new ideas and mechanics to the game, and now – more than a month on from launch – we have one of the healthiest metas in a long time, with plenty of diversity and choices for players. I caught up with Team 5 senior designers Peter Whalen and Mike Donais to dig into the design process for the set. (Please note, Mike joins the conversation a short way in, so it’s just Peter to begin with. Also, you can see all the cards in the set here.)
Rick and Morty VR Dev Owlchemy Labs Acquired by Google
Developer Owlchemy Labs announced today that it has been acquired by Google.
With six years in the industry the small development team found its niche with VR starting with the original Oculus Rift development kit, leading to popular titles such as Job Simulator and, more recently, the Rick and Morty VR game.
Olwchemy Labs stated that, "We both believe that VR is the most accessible computing platform and that there’s a ton of work to be done, especially with regards to natural and intuitive interactions. Together with Google, with which we share an incredible overlap in vision, we’re free to pursue raw creation and sprint toward interesting problems in these early days of VR."