Two games, with two interesting concepts, that both don’t go nearly far enough.

Asura’s Wrath

One of the running jokes at Zero Punctuation is that game developers are more and more grudging about letting players actually do things: they’d rather buttons trigger a cutscene than actually let you, say, punch an enemy in the face or jump over an obstacle.

“Asura’s Wrath” is that concept taken to a ridiculous extreme. It achieves what it sets out to do: be an interactive anime series. Unfortunately, that means you’re going to be spending a lot of time waiting for the cutscenes to end so you can actually, you know, play the game.

And it’s unfortunate because “Asura’s Wrath” has a lot going for it: the graphics are stunning, the gameplay is a lot of fun, and the concept and how its executed are classic Capcom wackiness. There really is a lot to like about this game, but it’s barely a game. If you’ve seen gameplay previews, that’s actually a fair chunk of the gaming you’ll do.

In the end, the question boils down to “is this game worth $60?” I really want to say “yes”, but I can’t. There’s just not enough game here at that price to justify that purchase. And that’s a shame.
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The Criterion Collection, if you’re unfamiliar, is the premier DVD label: perfect transfers, deep and informative features, detailed collections of marketing materials, the works. And, of course, finely crafted covers.

Fake Criterions is dedicated to paying tribute to those covers, as well as making a few suggestions of Criterions that should be made. We pulled our twenty favorites from the site. But don’t stop with us: let us know what movies need the Criterion treatment in the comments.

Criterion logo courtesy Criterion Collection
all other images courtesy Fake Criterions

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This week brings some interesting stuff, although it’s surprisingly light on new issues compared to recent weeks. One note, though: for some reason, Diamond is listing “Mondo #1″ as coming out this week. Said Hulk-vs.-chickens comic hit stands last week. Anyway!

• DC has more Aquaman and the surprisingly good “Green Lantern: New Guardians” up this week, as well as a reissue of “Sandman”
• Marvel is putting out possibly the funniest thing ever: “Spider-Man Fights Substance Abuse”, a collection all those preachy anti-drug comics and one page stories they put out covering a range of social issues. And they’re all terrible, but they’re also hard to find. Whether nostalgia is worth $25 is up to you, but it’s pretty funny.
• Image has more “Prophet”, “Chew”, and “Bulletproof Coffin” hitting the stands, which more than makes up for the “Wizard of Oz”-except-it’s-horror book “There’s No Place Like Home”, which is already resorting to boobs to push issues.
• Speaking of boobs, Dynamite has a Witchblade/Red Sonja crossover starting this week.
• Dark Horse is putting out a whole bunch of collections, including a new collection of their great Kull comics.
• And IDW is up to their usual greatly appreciated archiving tricks, collecting a whole bunch of Wally Wood’s EC comics into a hardcover volume.

As usual, drop us a comment and let us know what you’re picking up at the FLCS, and the full list is under the cut.
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As you may know, Dynamite has been publishing “John Carter” and “Tarzan” comic books that aren’t quite called “John Carter” and “Tarzan”. It’s one of the weird results of copyright law: the actual stories these characters are first featured in are public domain in the US (but not the UK, where the suit originates).

Well, the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate is just a wee bit upset, so they’re suing.

The funny part is when they whine about Dynamite’s covers as “pornographic”. We have our problems with some of Dynamite’s publishing, although “Lord of the Jungle” is pretty great, and the “risque nude” covers, which are just the same covers without the pasties, are kind of ridiculous and awful.

That said, though, it’s not like running around nearly naked isn’t a staple of fantasy art, especially the art used to illustrate Burroughs’ work. It’s not like nobody looked up Tarzan’s loincloth. So we’ll be interested to see how this suit proceeds.

[ via the rulers of the jungle at Comics Alliance ]

image courtesy Dynamite Entertainment

“Mass Effect 3″ is coming up, just when you thought you might escape from “Kingdoms of Amalur” and actually get outside for some fresh air. As the sequel to one of the most deservedly popular and best reviewed games of all time, there are a lot of expectations.

We’ve heard about the revised combat system, and we’re looking forward to trying it out. And, of course, we’re looking forward to digging through all that dialogue to find side quests, more information about the various species, and to get into our secretary’s pants.

But there are a few other revisions we have in mind, some little touches that would substantially improve the experience.
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Ever stomp an ant? We’ve got bad news: his friends might be coming for you.

Ants, it turns out, develop a collective memory when it comes to smells of other ants who have offended them, or owe them money. If an ant, specifically a tropical weaver ant, runs into an ant from a rival colony, it passes on the smell of that ant to all his buddies. Of which there are 500,000 or so per colony.

Scientists at the University of Melbourne tested this out by introducing rival ants of the same species to a few workers, and then a week later just cold dropping a few onto the nest, where they were immediately brutally ripped apart. Science!

Of course, they all turned up mysteriously skeletonized a week later, so, uh, yeah, maybe avoid ticking off the ants.

[ via the antlions at the BBC ]
image courtesy Shutterstock