The cheapest PS3 game I've bought

Last week I found myself digging through a fairly large basket filled with games for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and various other consoles. A few titles caught my eye, Medal of Honor, Assassin's Creed, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Since there were no prices on any of the cases, I was reluctant to take them all to the check-out counter to find out their prices individually.  I completed the story in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag last night, and I still want to play all the Assassin's Creed games, but I intend getting the Assassin's Creed Heritage Collection. So buying the first title on its own would mean I'd end up with two copies of the same game. I passed on Medal of Honor just because. I figured I already had Call of Duty: Ghosts which fills the military-simulation genre pretty well for me, plus I still have to download, and play through all the DLC that has been released so far. Thus I took only the title that I was most interested in, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

I'd read a few reviews about X-Men Origins: Wolverine shortly after it was released way back in 2009, and they were less that flattering. Regardless I'm a big fan of Wolverine, and decided that if the game cost R150, or less, I was going to add it to my collection just for the sake of it. At the check-out counter it turned out that Wolverine cost less than a third of what I was prepared to pay for it. Needless to say it's now sitting in my box of games.

I read a few more reviews after having bought the game, and it turns out that it was R50* well invested. Several years later, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is still regarded as one of the best movie tie-in titles ever released, not that that is a difficult feat to accomplish, and I personally thought the opening animations were more convincing than some more recent titles. I played the opening chapter briefly, and instantly drew on the similarities to this and the God of War franchise. After all the sneaking about I've been doing in Black Flag, perhaps an all out hack and slash adventure that this title promises to offer will be the best way to spend the coming weekend.

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* R50 is the cheapest I've ever seen a PS3 game retailing for, let alone some pretty good titles. I may go back and get Medal of Honor for my future brother-in-law, as he is a fan of movies such as Lone Survivor.

The Avengers vs More Avengers

Today's Madame & Eve cartoon by Stephen Francis and Rico is one of the best I've seen all year. Not only is it poking fun at South Africa's most prominent politicians, but it also makes light of frustration being caused due to the latest Marvel movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron is being filmed in down town Johannesburg. Several of the streets in the inner CBD have been closed off while Hulk runs amok, causing even worse traffic than normal in the area. Good thing I'm not planning on going near that part of town for quite some time still.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes character list

With the release of Lego Marvel Super Heroes in South Africa taking place on Friday, I thought I'd share the list of the playable characters featured in the game, as well as a link to download the demo for PC.

1. A-Bomb
2. Abomination
3. Absorbing Man
4. Agent Coulson
5. AIM Agent
6. Aldrich Killian
7. Ant-Man
8. Archangel
9. Arnim Zola
10. Aunt May
11. Beast
12. Beetle
13. Beta Ray Bill
14. Black Bolt
15. Black Cat
16. Black Panther
17. Black Widow
18. Blade
19. Blob
20. Bruce Banner
21. Bullseye
22. Captain America
23. Captain Britain
24. Carnage
25. Colossus
26. Curt Conners
27. Cyclops
28. Damage Control Worker
29. Daredevil
30. Dark Phoenix
31. Deadpool
32. Destroyer
33. Doctor Strange
34. Doombot
35. Dormammu
36. Dr. Doom
37. Dr. Octopus
38. Drax the Destroyer
39. Elektra
40. Electro
41. Emma Frost
42. Extremis Soldier
43. Falcon
44. Fandral
45. Frost Giant
46. Galactus
47. Gambit
48. Gamora
49. General Ross
50. Ghost Rider
51. Green Goblin
52. Groot
53. Gwen Stacy
54. Havok
55. Hawkeye
56. Heimdall
57. HERBIE
58. Hogun
59. Howard the Duck
60. Hulk
61. Human Torch
62. HYDRA Agent
63. Iceman
64. Invisible Woman
65. Iron Fist
66. Iron Man
67. Iron Patriot
68. J. Jonah Jameson
69. Jane Foster
70. Jean Grey
71. Juggernaut
72. Kingpin
73. Kingpin's Henchman
74. Kraven the Hunter
75. Kurse
76. Lady Deathstrike
77. Lady Liberty
78. Laufey
79. The Leader
80. Lizard
81. Loki
82. Luke Cage
83. Magneto
84. Magneto Acolyte
85. Malekith the Accursed
86. Mandarin
87. Maria Hill
88. Mary Jane Watson
89. Mastermind
90. Mini Sentinel
91. MODOK
92. Moon Knight
93. Mysterio
94. Mystique
95. Mr. Fantastic
96. Ms. Marvel
97. Nick Fury
98. Nightmare
99. Nova
100. Odin
101. Pepper Potts
102. Peter Parker
103. Phoenix
104. Polaris
105. Power Man
106. Prisoner
107. Professor Xavier
108. Psylocke
109. Punisher
110. Pyro
111. Red Hulk
112. Red Skull
113. Rescue
114. Rhino
115. Rick Jones
116. Rocket Raccoon
117. Ronan the Accuser
118. Roxxon Guard
119. Sabretooth
120. Sandman
121. Sandman Goon
122. Sentinel
123. She-Hulk
124. SHEILD Agent
125. Shocker
126. Sif
127. Silver Samurai
128. Silver Surfer
129. Spider-Man
130. Spider-Woman
131. Squirrel Girl
132. Stan Lee
133. Star-Lord
134. Storm
135. Super-Skrull
136. Symbiote Scientist
137. Taskmaster
138. Thanos
139. Thing
140. Thor
141. Toad
142. Tony Stark
143. Union Jack
144. Venom
145. Viper
146. Volstagg
147. Vulture
148. War Machine
149. Wasp
150. Whiplash
151. Winter Soldier
152. Wizard
153. Wolverine

That's one heck of a list, and by no means exhaustive as there is sure to be additional DLC characters in the future. As you may see though, some of these characters are not super heroes, and a few others are merely alter-egos. I wonder if this means that the Peter Parker figure will not be able to transform into one of the Spider-Man figures though? Several of these characters, most notably Iron Man, will also have several skins that will wach have different abilities. Some of these characters have also been slated as being DLC exclusives, and not part of the core game.

I pre-ordered the Toy Edition of the game, which comes with an exclusive Iron Patriot Lego mini figure. I didn't order this especially for the figure though, it just happened to be the cheapest option. This will be my first gaming figure, although probably not nearly as impressive as the figures included in a few of the other releases so far this year. Splinter Cell: Black List (5th Freedom Edition), and Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag (Buccaneer Edition) come to mind.

X-Men: Days of Future Past - Official trailer

I hope this film is going to be as good as the trailer suggests. I recently watched X-Men: First Class, and really enjoyed it, apart from a rather lame looking Beast. This instalment of the X-Men story looks to sort that out, while introducing a few new mutants, and re-acquainting us with a few old, familiar favourites.

Marvel Fact File magazine series

So while I wait for the release of the Lego Marvel Super Heroes, and the console version of Deadpool to land up in a few bargain bins, I've decided to start brushing up on my knowledge of the Marvel Universe. The new Marvel Fact Files magazines was launched a month back, and after perusing a few of the covers I've decided to start collecting the series.

These magazines are a great way to get the behind-the-scenes information on my favourite Marvel super heroes, without going back and reading forty years worth of comic books. Even though I'd really love to collect and read an entire Marvel comic book series from start to finish, I honestly just don't have the time, or money. In the mean time the fact files will have to suffice.

So far I've already learnt some cool bits of trivia; for instance, did you know that the Hulk was originally grey in colour? Okay, you could probably have found the same information by searching the internet, but the artwork included in the two issues of the Marvel Fact Files I've bought so far have been well worth it. I can't wait to get some facts (and full page illustrations) of the original Venom, Carnage, War Machine, and of course, Deadpool.

Restroom Spiderman: Episode 1

Source: Deathbulge

Deadpool Game

Announced at the 2012 San Diego Comic Con in July, the Deadpool game remained under my radar until last night. Centred on the wise cracking, "Merc with a Mouth" the game is set for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2013.

Teaser trailer for Deadpool game

Since I own neither of those consoles, and it doesn't seem there will be a PC port of the game, perhaps it is finally time for me to replace my ageing PlayStation 2.

A PC version of Deadpool was released alongside the console versions of the game. I also subsequently upgraded to a PlayStation 3 in March when my girlfriend's DVD player packed up, and as a result I'm now more likely to get a copy of Deadpool for PS3, rather than for PC as originally intended. Despite wanting to own the game, I'm still a little reluctant to pay full-price for it, as it has received mostly mediocre reviews to date. I think I'll wait for it to go on sale.

Marvel super hero guitars

Peavey Electronics have launched a range of officially licensed guitars and accessories featuring several super heroes from the Marvel Universe.

The range includes a half size acoustic, three-quarter electric, and full size RockMaster/ Predator electric guitars featuring artwork of Captain America, Thor, Wolverine, X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Artworks of Punisher, Ghost Rider, and a few Marvel villains are available on guitar straps and picks.