#preview

Precursor Games, a development company started in 2012, was born out of faltering developer Silicon Knights. Over the course of just a year many of the programmers, artists, creative professionals and executives came over to the newly formed company. The exodus picked up especially after a multi-faceted lawsuit with Epic Games over the misuse and licensing of the Unreal 3 engine became a no-win situation for Silicon Knights in March of that year. There are two sides to the salacious story but now Precursor has set about creating a new line of games including a sequel to their cult hit Eternal Darkness.

The next Superman film, Man of Steel, is preparing to go head to head with the summer blockbusters of 2013. With that competition comes the expectation that this new DC superhero reboot will offer an epic and gritty story for hard-to-please fans. It’s very obvious that Marvel (after its purchase by Disney) has banked on realistic superheros. Marvel’s new line of movie characters display all the foibles of the average person and none of them use their superpowers to solve any of their human problems. If you line up the The Avengers you’ll see exactly what Tony Stark described the group as in their recent multi-million dollar movie: “not a team, a time-bomb”. So what can the most perfect character that DC has to offer show in the name of realism and humanity? Lots.

This week at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco Bungie has been showcasing a bold and expansive vision for Destiny, their first person shooter set in a persistent world. Today Bungie designers Joseph Staten and Chris Barrett shared with fans and other developers a fantasy with mythology that mixes some ideas that are familiar and others that are literally "alien". The team has dubbed the resulting amalgamation "Mythic Science Fiction" and after getting a look at tons of brand new concept art it has become apparent that Bungie is creating a grand space opera much like Star Wars.

For almost three straight months now trailers for Oblivion have been preceeding some of the biggest movies of 2013. I've seen them running in front of almost every type of movie possible, from children's flicks to action films. It's become a bit of a running joke for me as to when or if Tom Cruise's voice will break the silence of the darkened theater. When it comes to comparing me to the normal moviegoer I see more than the average number of movies each year so by the time March rolled around I had viewed the Theatrical trailer for Oblivion almost 20 times. I have a theory that seeing a commercial, even a good one, too often can sour the content for you. Oblivion was about to test that theory in a real-world setting.

Star Trek Into Darkness isn't your typical prequel, or sequel for that matter. The odd title isn't a normal subtitle and the entire movie including it is storyline have been debated up and down on Internet forums for the past few months. Fans and critics are unsure if J.J. Abrams is trying to pull a fast one by hiding the identity of the film's antagonist but many signs are now pointing to hints that Benedict Cumberbatch is indeed the famed Khan Noonien Singh from 1982's Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. Mysteries and debates aside the trailers for this film run the gamut from the soulful and heartfelt Official Trailer which was released in December to the versions which are punchy with tons of action. Needless to say when May rolls around fans around the world will be lining up in droves to catch the latest adventure for Kirk and his crew.

Razer’s Fiona tablet concept impressed gamers last year arriving on scene at CES 2012 with an above average ~10 inch screen and enough power to run some of the most demanding PC games. It also signaled that the peripherals manufacturer was dedicated to reshaping the PC gaming world and that they were the proper stewards to see it through the next transitional phase. Fast forward to CES 2013 and the Fiona is no longer a concept, the newly rebranded Edge is due to start shipping in the first quarter 2013 at an initial price of $999 for the base models. The Edge was shown on the floor at Razer’s booth, demoed extensively behind closed doors, and has even become one of the fastest growing posts on Razer’s Facebook Page.

Do you ever see a movie trailer and hang your head in shame saying to yourself “dear god who decided to let this one slip through”? For the last few months every time one of these trailers comes up I've been saying exactly that. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is what you might call a severe remodeling of a traditional fairy tale story. The German story that the movie is loosely based on tells of a sister and brother who are tricked by a witch who lives in a house made of candy and has an appetite for cooked kiddies. Hansel and Gretel are imprisoned while the evil witch plans how best to bake them as her stove warms to proper temperature.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will soon be coming out on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. As the game is being polished for a February release Sony & Sanzaru Games, Inc. are releasing new updates on a steady basis. The last update included a bevy of stills showing the concept art that helped to design various locations and lighting in the stylized world of thieving anthropomorphic animals. Sly and his friends, Bentley and Murray, are traveling through time on their first full-featured PS3 generation release.

Oz: The Great and Powerful initially strikes you as one of those prequel films that you don’t want to be seen made because you hold the original content in such high esteem. The Wizard of Oz (1939) is so revered that huge box sets have been created to celebrate the single movie, stage shows have been written focusing on expanding the original screenplay, and fans have grown an entire subculture. When you see that Walt Disney Pictures is producing the movie you’ll also begin to question if it will cater specifically to children or if it will offer something for the older crowd that helped make the property so popular over the decades.

Peter Jackson got a unique chance and managed to make the original Lord of The Rings trilogy by shooting all three films at once even after encountering his fair share of speedbumps, rights issues, and pre-planning headaches. The success of his grand filmic adaptation of a beloved contemporary literary work allowed him to expand his clout in Hollywood. Jackson’s empire now rivals that of his former idols Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. His new trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit lands in theaters December 14th, the trailers tell a hidden story of a director with a passion for loving interpretations.