First off, happy new year to everybody reading! This blog has been a lot of fun to write for the past several months, and I plan to keep it going in the new year. I really appreciate the subscribers and all of the conversations we get going in the comments, and I wish you all a very happy 2013!
Already I can see that the upcoming year is full of geeky things to get excited about. Speculation flies that Microsoft many unveil the next gen Xbox console at E3, and we know for sure that (potentially) awesome movies like Star Trek Into Darkness are coming out. Though this list is far from complete, here are a few things I’m looking forward to this year…
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DmC: DEVIL MAY CRY
I don’t have to wait long for this video game, as it’s coming out in just two weeks. The next installment in the Devil May Cry franchise has been on my dying-to-play list for months, even with Dante’s angsty new dark-haired look. (At least his jacket is still cool, right?) I’ll be reviewing it for Population GO, so expect a post about it later this month!
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REMEMBER ME
Remember Me is a video game set in a dystopian Paris circa 2084, featuring a female protagonist and a world where memories are a commodity. The gameplay looks innovative (combos!), and I’m loving the overall style and concept art recently released for it. This might turn out to be my game of the year.
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XBOX 720
Rumor has it that the next gen Xbox console will come out in time for Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving this year. (Maybe that’s why there’s not a flood of Xbox 360 titles set for release around that time… or so the rumor goes.) In anticipation, I’m buying a cheap refurbished Xbox 360 to get me through until then, rather than splurging on a nice black slim… but we’ll see. At any rate, Microsoft should announce it this year!
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STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
I love Star Trek, with Deep Space 9 being my favorite series of the bunch. The latest J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie released in 2009 was a huge experience for my college friends and me, with our finals and dissertations behind us and a long month of summer to enjoy before we parted ways for graduation. I have way too many photos of us running around London and Cardiff that year making the Vulcan salute. And even if Into Darkness didn’t look as amazing as it does in trailers, I would still be giddy over its release.
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ENDER’S GAME
Many people say that Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game is the greatest science fiction novel ever written. Though I don’t really agree with that, I did enjoy the book and am looking forward to its film adaptation, which looks magnificently cast. The only strange thing will be seeing the story play out so colorfully; for some reason, I imagined everything happening almost in black and white when I read the book.
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ABADDON’S GATE
The third and final installment of The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey comes out in June. I enjoyed the first book, Leviathan Wakes, which is a masterpiece when it comes to world-building. It has a gripping plot that’s part mystery and a whole lot of conspiracy, and I loved the well-written action scenes. The only downsides were the slightly cheesy dialogue in spots and the use of the term “vomit zombies” way too many times. I have yet to make it through Caliban’s War, but now that Abaddon’s Gate is coming out, I’ll hurry and finish both this year. If you’re into space opera, I highly recommend the series. And it has some of my favorite cover art ever.
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CONTINUUM
I’ve seen some trailers for upcoming Syfy shows like Defiance, but the only one that has really captured my interest is Continuum. It’s a Canadian series about terrorists who escape from the year 2077 to our time. Though it premiered in Canada in May 2012, it’s coming to the United States this year. Since the only sci-fi or fantasy series I watch consistently now are Games of Thrones, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, and Merlin, I’m eager to try this one and possibly add it to my list of geek TV that I actually keep up with.
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STAR WARS DETOURS
A smart cartoon set in the Star Wars universe that good-naturedly pokes fun at Star Wars? It’s like a dream show… especially for weekend mornings when I still sometimes watch cartoons like I’m a kid. There’s no release date in sight quite yet, but with a trailer that’s over three minutes long, this show has got to be pretty close to finished, right? Maybe? Please?
— Ashley
Robo♥beat 
Hi ashley, this is a good list. Happy new year to you too! :) … Man, i’ve been wanting to read Ender’s game for a while now, guess i’ll have to get down to it. “Remember me” seems to be a very interesting concept for a game, i would like to know more about it. Btw, would you highly recommend “Dr Who” as a show to watch? i’ve been wanting to , but never really got down to it. Of course i also like game of thrones, and the walking dead. Is Dr Who along those lines?
Thanks! Yeah, I recommend “Ender’s Game.” I like to read books before the movie versions are released… though I don’t always succeed. =)
Doctor Who is amazing but it’s very different than Game of the Thrones and The Walking Dead. It’s much funnier and more whimsical, though it definitely has its tear-jerker moments. It’s hard to compare it to anything else, so I’d say give it a try and maybe play different seasons, different doctors to see if anything hooks you!
Happy New Year! I agree with your list here. I have been wondering what a new gen Xbox will look like. I suppose all in due time, right? I’m very excited about Remember Me, and I have you to thank for setting my radar onto this one! :) The female protagonist is a huge draw too. The trailer for Into the Darkness looked great. And although I haven’t had a chance to sit down and watch the BBC Sherlock Holmes, I have been a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch after seeing him in a bunch of films. The fact he is playing the villain for the new Star Trek film should prove to be a good choice I think.
Yes, there are a lot of Cumberbatch fans these days! What movies did you see him in? I’ve watched Sherlock way too many times by now, but it was the show that first introduced me to Cumberbatch and many of the other actors in the series, who all do a fantastic job. As for Remember Me, I agree about the female protagonist; that was one of the aspects of the game that caught my attention early on. I’m glad I could sort of “introduce” you to it… that’s the great thing about the blogging world I guess! I’m looking forward to checking out some of your blog’s anime and manga picks soon as well. =)
The first time I actually saw Benedict Cumberbatch was a in a British film based after a British book I read called “Starter for 10.” He was really good in that one as an uptight, wet towel kind of college student. And that film came out before he became known for his role as Sherlock in Sherlock Holmes. I remember seeing ads for the BBC series and immediately recognized him, and then of course he seemed to be popping up in other films big and small. I also liked him in “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.”
Yes, blogging and finding other bloggers with liked minded interests is a great way of discovering new things! I also look forward to reading more of your posts here and on Population GO. ;)
Thanks! Ooh I wanted to watch “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” back when it was in theaters… but I could not for the life of me figure out what it was about! I’ll have to put it on my rental list.
Man, I had no idea “Ender’s Game” was out so soon; I’ve read so many of the books in that franchise, include the parallel Bean series. It’s funny about the color thing: I actually did envision it as being quite colourful. Check out the Marvel Comics adaptations.
Awesome, I just looked up the Marvel Comics and I see what you mean: they are way more colorful than I had imagined! It looks really good, though it totally repaints the mood I had when I read the book. I guess I pictured the ship as super metallic and colorless, and even the parts on Earth I imagined like old vintage photos that had faded or were in black and white. I may check out the other books in the series sometime… I have one friend in particular who is a major fan of the series like you, so reading Speaker for the Dead has been on my to-do list for a long time.
Honestly, Ender’s Game and the last 3 are like two different series. The complexity of the story ramps up and makes Game look downright straightforward.
On an unrelated note, man I need to post something… I’ve finished Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution (that I could review in a single paragraph), and am now playing Sleeping Dogs (definitely a sleeper hit), Binary Domain (Terminator meets Blade Runner story with ripoff- level Mass Effect controls and gameplay elements) and am really enjoying Fable: The Journey ( I did swear I’d get it eventually). I should probably start with Hitman since it’s strengths and weaknesses are very easy to explain…
That’s good to know regarding the rest of the series! Maybe I’ll like the other books even more…
As for the gaming, I’m so jealous! I was planning on getting loads of gaming done over the holiday break, but it all went by way too fast. Far Cry 3 and replays of Batman: Arkham City (with DLCs I hadn’t gotten before) and the ME series are what I’m mainly focusing on now. I’d definitely be interested in your review of Far Cry 3 if you end up writing one… and Sleeping Dogs has been on my list of games to play for quite a while. Hitman: Absolution doesn’t have a lot of appeal to me, and I’ve heard mixed feedback about it. Is your review short because it’s bad or simple or because its beauty left you speechless?
It’s enjoyable for sure, but it has one major design flaw or concept flaw that encompasses all the others that is quite obvious once pointed out. Here it is in a few steps. 1) you get rid of your signature gadgets as part of the story, 2) which means you don’t get to do the hits your way anymore, for one. 3) Because of this set-up, money is irrelevant in the campaign; you aren’t using it to buy weapons or upgrades. 4) Because money doesn’t matter, your overall score doesn’t matter either (it used to turn into cash). 5) When that’s the case, being *stealthy* doesn’t matter because your score is trivial, for bragging rights only…
So by turning your character into somewhat of a fugitive, they ended up taking out or trivializing the majority of the gameplay mechanics of Hitman that made it fun. But they didn’t *completely* get rid of it: they put it into Contracts mode, a separate mode where you can explore the campaign levels and kill people however you want, including bringing in unlocked or purchased weapons, and getting other to try to beat your score. It’s how you used to play, but with no story.
Effectively, they split the game in two and neither feels wholly satisfying. You have a narrative-driven campaign with less freedom and no incentive to be stealthy, and a sandbox mode with no story, no set-up.
I’m getting kinda excited about Remember Me — it’s nice to see another original title pop up for a 2013 release (same with The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls). Capcom has fighting systems down by this point, so if the combat and story are as interesting as they look, it could be a pretty damn good game.