Thursday 19 June 2008

The Dark Knight delves deeper into the "Dark Knight Returns" lore.

 

Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" was the first Batman comic I ever read.

Enchanted by the grime, horror infested streets of Miller's Gotham, it is fair to say the comic changed my view of Batman. No longer was he merely the brooding vigilante seen in Tim Burton's Batman films, he was much more.

The Dark Knight Returns was made so great, in my opinion, by Miller portraying Batman as a man who is no longer loved by his city, once a saviour now a menace. There were hints of this in Batman Begins, however it seems that characters who complained about Batman were more confused than hateful, however the latest piece of viral marketing suggests that this hatred has grown into something much worse, and thus has stimulated an underground group to form. The "Nycticeius Underground" (Nycticeius being a type of bat) seems to be the name of a forum that /Film was contacted about unfortunately it's password protected.

I think it is obvious from the trailers that we'll be seeing a sons of batman thread in the movie which sees Batman doubting whether he is needed and if he is crossing the moral line of being a vigilante who no longer has the support of Gotham. The evidence appears everywhere, from the introduction of Harvey Dent, to Christian Bale looking rather despondent in trailer. However the greatest piece  of evidence is the appearance of this forum, a seemingly pro-batman group which is underground is rather reminiscent of the "Sons of Batman" in The Dark Knight Returns.

I'm not a big fan of viral campaigns, however I must say that this one has certainly kept me interested and built hype for this film. The fact Christopher Nolan seems to be able to insert all of these aspects that would keep a your hardcore Batman fan happy, whilst subtly inserting them so that the film is not bogged down by it is amazing.

Tuesday 17 June 2008

Mr Dent, you such a tease!

No Spoilers here.

This short video has just been released teasing Harvey Dent. Is this for The Dark Knight or Batman 3? I don't know. Is this fucking awesome? Hell yeah

Sunday 15 June 2008

Why there was no Spring Update

Rumours are currently coming out regarding an"avatar" system coming to Xbox Live.

Ever since it was announced that there would be no Spring Update this year there was speculation that Xbox Live would be getting a massive overhaul come Fall, and here it is.

xboxavatar

Ever since the announcement of the Playstation Home it was always thought that Microsoft would respond with something similar, however as shown by the picture this more a response to the Wii's "Mii's", pair this with news of a "Newton" motion-sensitive controller and it seems that Microsoft wants a piece of Nintendo's casual cake.

Is this the right decision?

Although in terms of business it seems blindingly obvious, and it seems that both Microsoft and Sony are going after the casual market, yet I feel that with over 500,000 Wii's selling in May that it's too little too late. Of course from Microsoft's perspective it makes sense : go after a space you've been chasing after but have failed horribly at (see - "Scene It"), with what seems to be the new craze. The systems are already under the TV, why not let the whole finally get in on the Xbox action?

Details are scarce but it will be interesting to see what they say about it at E3, thus giving us a hint at who it will be marketed to.