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Rian Johnson: Apple won’t let movie villains use iPhones on camera
Product placement in Hollywood has existed almost since the advent of movies themselves, so by now we're all fairly immune to seeing glaringly obvious logos and brands on the big screen. And while no company wants to be associated with negative connotations, it seems that one tech giant is particularly twitchy about its reputation: Apple.
Fight for evil in Inferno Legend's open beta today
If the idea of jumping in and playing through a game as a traditional villain in Inferno Legend piques your interest, you'll be happy to know that the multi-platform game opens up its beta doors today to let everyone in. Built on the Unity 3-D engine, this game allows players to select from five races of devils and fight against the so-called "just" authority on PC, Android, and iOS. Other features include hundreds of pets (each with different skills and attributes), a player arena, random battles, an exploration system (that unlocks at level 30), and a "Miracle" system. If you need another incentive to check out Inferno Legend, Gamebox is giving players free gift codes for rewards such as rare skills, gold, and gems. Get a taste of the action in the open beta launch trailer below. [Source: Changyou press release]
Batman: Arkham Origins has the Bat face off against Black Mask
Choosing Black Mask as a villain in Batman: Arkham Origins automatically lends the game a twisted tone, based on his history as a merciless, sociopathic torturer and killer. The Black Mask in Arkham Origins is Roman Sionis, the original man behind the mask, and he runs Janus Cosmetics, a mega corporation that grants Sionis power, money and notoriety, Game Informer reports. Off-hours, Sionis is the No. 1 gang leader in Gotham, and for Arkham Origins, he hires a collection of the world's best killers to take down Batman on Christmas Eve."It's basically Batman's worst nightmare," says Narrative Director Dooma Wendschuh. "We have eight of the best assassins in the world who've come together to Gotham City for one night, Christmas Eve of all nights, to kill the Bat."Sionis originally appeared in the Batman comics in 1985; his rage toward humanity stems from his wealthy, hostile parents, whom Sionis eventually murders. He crafts a mask from his father's casket and it becomes permanently attached to his face when Batman attempts to save him from a fire – a fire in his childhood bedroom that Sionis himself set ablaze."His thing is torture," says Creative Director Eric Holmes. "That is what gets his rocks off. And he's really good at it."Batman: Arkham Origins is due out on October 25 for PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Wii U from Warner Bros. Montreal.
Champions Online gives you the chance to design an in-game villain
Let's face it: Supervillains are almost always more interesting than heroes. Give us The Joker, Lex Luthor, or Deadpool any day of the week, and we're happy geeks. So to design a supervillain in Champions Online that will actually go into the game seems like a dream come true. Cryptic is hosting a Design-a-Villain contest in which players can whip up some fearsome foes of their very own. The top five submissions will make it into the game in the form of Alerts villains whom everyone will fight. The top villain will be used in a 10-man Alert, while the others will be relegated to other roles in the future. Any players, including free ones, may participate. To do so, you'll need to make an outfit for the villain in the Champions' costume creator, then come up with a name, backstory, power set, and minion type. Bring your best game, for you may only enter twice. [Thanks to The Grand Nagus for the tip!]
Have a beer, play Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 a week early in a London bar
Villain, a bar in London's Shoreditch neighborhood, is hosting a preview night of Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 on Nov. 9, one week before the game is released and because that's what an establishment called "Villain" does. Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 will mark the first installment of the bar's monthly "Ultimate Villain" night, which includes six screens for hands-on gameplay held inside of an aircraft fuselage with a car dangling from the ceiling, apparently. If you're of age and you'll be in the Shoreditch area, RSVP to the event here, and if you won't be -- don't fret. Everyone there will probably get too plastered to remember playing the game at all, which also sounds like a lot of fun, just in a different, headache and upset-stomach kind of way.
The dark side of Super Hero Squad Online
Who says good guys never go bad? In Villainville, the newest expansion to Marvel's kid-friendly Super Hero Squad Online, players can do just that. Situated beyond the borders of the pleasant Super Hero City, Villainville is home to Doctor Doom's Lethal Legion and his evil minions, and within the dark city's walls and sewers, players go beyond merely fighting the bad guys -- they can become fallen versions of some of their favorite heroes, like Dark Surfer, Red Hulk, Iron Patriot, and Red She-Hulk. Players can also explore the all-new game world and jump into new missions like Abomination Obliteration and MODOK's Mo' Problems. SHSO, which released last year complete with housing and a trading card game, is a F2P browser-based MMO that's heavy on the comic mischief and perfect for a quick superhero-flavored dungeon romp. Be you big kid or small, check out the new Villainville trailer behind the break!
One Shots: Into the pool
When it comes to villainy in DC Universe Online, we don't often get a chance to see what the other side is like here on One Shots. As we find out today from our regular contributor, Redwense, life isn't too terribly bad when you're on the other side. In fact, it can actually be pretty swanky, as he notes -- both in-character and out: "And then Doctor Moxie felt it... a sudden urge to play pool. But alas, still adjusting to her new-found superpowers, she accidentally crushed the cue stick in her iron grip and shattered the table with her ice breath. Doctor Moxie faded back into the shadows, alone and ashamed. Nobody would play with her, anyway. So she plotted her rise as the next ruler of the known galaxy." Out of character, he adds: "I have to hand it to the villains of DC Universe Online -- they know how to lend some personality to their safe houses. I was disappointed at the recycling of interiors, but I began to appreciate the little details that went into the general design of the areas, even if rough around the edges and needing some extra polish. Let's hope the developers continue to flesh out the world and the activities within it. (Maybe we can have that sadistic game of pool to determine who gets shot in the head?)" If you'd like to share screenshots of your character -- with an in or out of character note -- we'd love to see them! Just email your image to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here and give you the credit! %Gallery-112285%
One Shots: Heroes beware
While we've given some column space to the heroes fighting crime in Gotham and Metropolis since the launch of DC Universe Online, today we wanted to spotlight one of the many villains who make it challenging. Why challenging? Well, if you play on a PvP server, you know all-too-well what it's like to get pounced while working toward a story object or when in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's the beauty of today's One Shots from Mourne -- it's just indiscriminate villainy. He writes in to explain: "I snapped this pic of my dual-pistol wielding villain, Slinger, ejecting brass. The graphics in this game look a lot better than I thought they would, and the cities are very immersive. My favorite part -- open world PvP is non-stop on PvP servers." Whether you're a hero, villain, or something else entirely, we'd love to see what you're up to in your favorite MMO. Just email your image to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing in the image. Please make sure your image is at least 1024 pixels across and has no visible UI elements showing. It could wind up being the next one we showcase here on Massively! %Gallery-112285%
A better sidekick than Robin for sure: DCUO reveals Ms. Harley Quinn
Who's more terrifying than The Joker? For our money, it's the woman who's become so infatuated with him that she's turned to a life of insane crime just to win his approval. Initially, The Joker's psychiatrist, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, fell hard for the clown prince and hasn't looked back since. A new jester-themed wardrobe, a punny take on her name, and the rest became history. While we've seen the villain Harley Quinn in some of DC Universe Online's screenshots already, it's great to hear the official announcement of this fan favorite in the game. From her pictures, it seems as though Harley's favorite weapon is a giant carnival mallet, a combination of the cartoonish and deadly. Villain characters will have the opportunity to assist Harley Quinn in her nefarious schemes once DCUO launches next month.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Facefirst into Praetoria
It's finally here, and I have to admit, it's a little weird to realize it. After I spent the better part of half a year focusing on Going Rogue, the expansion has been released and is totally playable. To have the game sitting in front of me (metaphorically) after it's become such a huge part of my professional life is almost too daunting. I almost didn't even want to fire up the launcher to... OK, yeah, that part isn't fooling anyone. Getting to play around a bit while it was in beta to see how it would play was nice, but I couldn't get myself into City of Heroes fast enough to start leveling a Loyalist and going to town on the new side of town. At the end of the day, I'm just a player like everyone reading this column, and the game I got to play on Monday evening made me very happy indeed. There's a lot to see and do, and I've tried to recap some of the disconnected thoughts in this week's column. And as a bonus, there's a sad announcement at the end! It's like a bonus, anyway.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to raise up the shadows of doom
Today, All the World's a Stage concludes a series on "how to be evil," bringing the bad guy back into your fantasy roleplaying, complete with ideas, methods, warnings, and practical examples. Be sure to check out steps 1-3, steps 4-6, and steps 7 and 8 on the path to evil!Your friends keep telling you, "you can't play Arthas, man! Nobody's going to believe that your little human death knight is actually the Lich King in disguise. Get real!" But your idea just won't go away. You admit that creating a human death knight named "Ahrrthyss" might not be the best way to go about it, but you're in this guild which is devoted to fighting the Scourge, and you want Arthas to be a part of your story, not just an NPC who shows up in some quests and at the end of a raid.We've already discussed a number of ways to be a villain in WoW – so you look at them to see if you can get one of them to work for you: The most obvious is to just start a new character and designate it to be one of your guild's antagonists, but the problem here is that making Arthas as an actual player character is way too Mary Sue. Such a tactic usually only works for very subtle villains (more like flawed heroes really), or for short-term possession, and your guild has done 3 "possessed by the Lich King's power" type stories already. You need something new! Another choice is to create a disposable villain, perhaps, some agent of the Lich King, which could be interesting, but still doesn't put you in touch with Arthas himself. But there is another way, which many people have not thought of: to put the villain entirely in the shadows of the background, let him never actually be seen, but let his effects be felt based on what happens to the heroes. Arthas can indeed play a huge role in your story, without ever having to appear in person. It has been done to great effect before, even in novels. Sauron, anyone?
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be possessed
Today, All the World's a Stage continues a series on "how to be evil," bringing the bad guy back into your fantasy roleplaying, complete with ideas, methods, warnings, and practical examples. Be sure to check out steps 1-3 on the path to evil here.It's been said that the secret to writing a good story is not having a really interesting hero, but rather an interesting villain. The hero himself is defined by the villain in many ways, just as a sports team becomes famous only once they've defeated the last year's champions, or a runner breaks the world record for speed, a hero needs someone to test himself against, a great obstacle for him to overcome or destroy. If the villain is interesting, then the hero will be interesting too.It is natural, then, for a roleplayer to want to test his own heroes or those of his friends against some obstacles as well. Many of us sit down with the intention of creating a really interesting challenge for our guildmates to overcome – but in our creative endeavor we must remember that danger lurks behind every corner, and creating a villain in itself is a task with significant obstacles to overcome. In fact, one might say that the greatest enemy of such a roleplayer is none other than his own self, the ghost of cliché lurking just outside his field of creative vision.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a bad guy
Today, All the World's a Stage begins a series on "how to be evil," bringing back the bad guy in your fantasy roleplaying -- complete with ideas, methods, warnings, and practical examples.Up to now, we've mostly talked about roleplaying as a way that you and your friends can get together and enjoy developing your characters' relationships with one another. You don't normally tell stories about epic struggle against evil incarnate as a roleplayer in WoW, mostly because you have very limited control over the enemies you can struggle against in the game -- they tend to respawn every few minutes. It's hard to say, "We have just defeated Arthas and rid the world of the threat of the Scourge!" when your guild is scheduled to do the same thing again next week. There are ways around the continuity problem when you're raiding, but generally the best roleplayers tend to stay away from big lore characters and earth-shattering consequences, to focus on the more personal, down to earth things our heroes experience as they go through their daily lives. It's kind of like if you had a TV series about all the things that happened in the general background of Lord of the Rings that didn't make it into the movies or novels – Frodo, Aragorn and Legolas would not be in it, but there would be other characters who could interact in the same world, and flesh out many of the details that wouldn't fit in the epic trilogy. (Incidentally, I have not had a chance to play Lord of the Rings Online, but I would hope that one of the goals of that game would be to do just this for the world of Middle Earth, the same way WoW roleplayers can sort of do for Azeroth.)Now, even though you typically don't roleplay yourself beating up the biggest bad guys in the game, that doesn't mean you can't have any antagonists in your RP stories -- just that your own personal villains have to be somewhat low-key, and that you and your friends have to play them yourselves. There are a lot of limitations and pitfalls with that sort of endeavor, of course, but with a bit of subtlety and imagination, it can most certainly be done.
Cryptic's Bill Roper on balancing powers in Champions Online
When news came in of the Champions Online launch being delayed to September, a few of the writers at Massively were despondent. It's always better for a game to launch once it's solid rather than release in a buggy state, though. While we wait for the re-scheduled September 1st launch, we're keeping up with the news and interviews surrounding the upcoming superhero title. In fact, we've just come across an MMOCrunch interview with Bill Roper, executive producer of Champions Online you might be interested in. Roper gets into how some of the game mechanics in Champions Online will play out, and explains a bit about how travel powers like flight and teleportation can be countered by those without such capabilities. (For example, how does a ground-based melee character engage a kiting opponent in flight?) He also touches upon the game's sidekick system, which will allow newer players to temporarily boost their powers to keep up with higher level friends. Alternately, the sidekick system will give advanced characters the ability to tone their powers down to the level of their appallingly weak lower level buddies.
The 5th Column returns as City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary goes live
It was only a few weeks ago that we wrote about the City of Heroes Issue 15 beta testing, but this latest update to the game, Anniversary, has gone live. Issue 15 brings a host of improvements to City of Heroes particularly in terms of hero and villain character customization. There are 20 new character faces to choose from, two new costume sets, and costume change emotes, which provide flashy transitions between costumes for your characters. Issue 15: Anniversary also marks the return of The 5th Column and The Reichsman, and thus new missions at levels 45-50 -- with Villain Strikeforce and Hero Taskforce arcs, depending upon which side of the law you're on. NCsoft has more info about Issue 15 on their Anniversary overview site, and asks, "What does the opening of the Omega Team Time Capsule hold in store for Paragon City and the Rogue Isles?" The answers, we suspect, should be clear as City of Heroes and City of Villains players explore the new Issue 15 content.
Champions Online introduces new villain: Gigaton
While the term 'unlikely hero' is pretty familiar to most, it's not often we think of unlikely villains. But this is the case with the latest 'big bad' that Cryptic Studios has revealed for Champions Online -- "Gigaton". His story begins as Tim Colton, a perfect and loyal soldier and thus an equally perfect candidate for Project Sunburst, ostensibly a military war game involving nuclear strike scenarios. It was more than theoretical, however, and Colton became the military's unwitting guinea pig in actual nuclear tests. While most other test subjects died as a result of the tests, Colton developed superhuman abilities after being bombarded with radiation. Although he remained in perfect physical condition, requiring neither food nor water, he was inexplicably comatose. Despite the slight drawback of being perpetually unconscious, Colton's bio-nuclear powers were off the chart. This came to the attention of a major villain in the Champions Online setting, Doctor Destroyer, who had Colton 'liberated' from the army's facilities. Colton was revived and given a new purpose in life by his villainous benefactor, to join forces with Doctor Destroyer's organization, the only real option open to Colton after being betrayed by the army. From that point on, Colton became Gigaton, and is thus the latest villain announced in the Champions Online lineup. Cryptic has put together a villain profile for Gigaton outlining the character's past, and of course his superhuman abilities.
Fallen Earth's villainous troupe, the White Crow Battalion
Without Darth Vader and the Emperor, Luke probably wouldn't have seemed so heroic to everyone. Why exactly is this kid from the desert blasting all these guys in white armor with his magical powers? What exactly did they ever do to him? Oh, they killed his foster parents and murdered his grandfather figure/teacher. Well that changes a few things, and this developer diary for Fallen Earth discusses many of these merits for their own story.For Fallen Earth, this seems to be the role that the White Crow Battalion fills for players. As a mercenary group, they don't appear to fall into a faction -- or at least we don't think they do. Considering the opening moments of your newly created character's life revolves around picking up a weapon to stop the merc group from blowing your brains out, we're sure most people won't want to make nice. This excludes the particularly masochistic players, of course.
DC Universe Online flying into New York Comic-Con at full force
If you're planning on heading to the New York Comic-Con this year then be prepared to see DC Universe Online in full force. SOE is pulling out all the stops this time around, including the first-ever villain play via a new playable demo at the SOE booth on the show floor. Something else attendees won't want to miss will be the panel on Saturday, February 7th where a mysterious new creative team member will be revealed and opened to questions along with Jim Lee, Geoff Johns, SOE developers Wes Yanagi, Jens Andersen and Jared Carr.Immediately after the Saturday panel, SOE will be holding a fan event where the new villain-focused demo will be available for further play. Plus, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns will be on hand to speak about the game some more -- as if they won't have been pelted by fervent fan questions already. Still, the whole thing sounds like a ton of fun for anyone looking forward to DC Universe Online and the new superhero MMOs in general.Find full details after the cut. Did you enjoy this? We've donned our capes and tights to explore SOE's DC Universe Online in-depth. Come explore more of Metropolis and Gotham with your friends at Massively!
Could there be such a thing as life without the Lich King?
In response to one player's question, "After Arthas, what's left to kill?" Bornakk has revealed a surprising tidbit about the future of World of Warcraft. The answer is: Murlocs! That's right. After we kill Arthas, "instead of adding new creatures or new continents it will be just one area of endlessly spawning murlocs." Amazing fun! This is what I've been wishing for ever since I saw my first murlocs on the shores of Darkshore. Perhaps we'll be able to collect endless varieties of Murky pets, too! They could go by all sorts of cute names like Lurky, Quirky and Turky.Ah... to dream. Anyways, later in the same thread, Nethaera stops by too and adds her own meditation on the possible death of Arthas, reminding us of a most ancient question regarding trees falling in the woods without anyone to hear them: "If Arthas dies, does the Lich King also die?" This seems to be a pretty clear indication that the death of Arthas will not mean the death of the Lich King, and that the story of the Living versus the Dead will go even after the big bad prince bites the dust.Arthas and the Lich King has been a pretty huge part of the Warcraft story ever since before most of us were even familiar with it, and for some of us it feels strange that he might one day no longer be a part of it. In our interview with WoW's lead producer, he noted that both the Maelstrom and the Emerald Dream were once considered as possibilities for WoW's second expansion, but they chose Northrend and Arthas to come before them because it seemed like the strongest idea. But how strong is Arthas really? Could he ever compare to murlocs?No, but seriously, do you think the Lich King is just way too cool not to perpetuate indefinitely as the ultimate villain? Would you like to see Arthas get killed in one patch, while the Lich King returned in another, kind of like Kael'thas showed up twice in The Burning Crusade? Or do you think we're going to get our fill of Lich Kinginess -- so much so that once Arthas is dead, the Lich King and all the Scourge should just die for good along with him?
DS Daily: Celebrating villainy
Villains: easily some of the most interesting characters in the gaming kingdom, more often or not thanks to their megalomaniacal tendencies, difficult relationships with fathers, and the plain, simple fact that being evil pretty much rules, man. But who's the best bad dude on the DS for you? The devious Don Paolo? The crooked Caulder? The hard-to-take-seriously Bowser?And no picking Dracula. 'Cause we totally just did. Ha!
