Tauri33 Gamer

A Brief Preview Look at Skylanders SWAP Force

Posted by Tauri33 on February 9th, 2013

skylanders-swap-force-top630

Skylanders is a video game series taking the gaming community by storm. Currently it ranks as one of my son’s all-time favorite games yet, having just gotten Skylanders Giants this past Christmas. I don’t know what he enjoys more… playing the game or collecting the Skylanders figures. Now Activision is working on releasing the next installment in the game’s franchise: Skylanders SWAP Force.

In Skylanders SWAP Force, Portal Masters embark on an all-new adventure in the mysterious Cloudbreak Islands, home to a mystical volcano that erupts every hundred years to replenish the magic in Skylands. During an epic battle, a brave group of Skylanders were caught in the volcano’s eruption, which blasted them apart and sent them to Earth. But, the magic of the volcano gave these heroes a remarkable new power — the ability to swap halves — turning them into a special team known as the Swap Force. Meanwhile, Kaos is back with a new evil plan. And now, Portal Masters everywhere must reassemble the Swap Force — in their original form or in new combinations — and send them back to Cloudbreak to save Skylands!

The game will introduce 16 SWAP Force characters, 16 new Skylanders figures, 8 LightCore Skylanders, and 16 returning Skylanders with all new in-game powers and abilities. The SWAP Force Skylanders have the unique ability to mix and match their top and bottom parts to create new characters with different in-game abilities and powers; 256 unique combinations all total.

One aspect that will appeal to Skylanders fans is that all figures from both Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure & Skylander’s Giants will work in Skylanders SWAP Force. More importantly, these figures will still retain all of their earned levels and acquired upgrades; so no worrying about having to start from scratch.

The game will launch Fall 2013 (specific date not yet known) to the Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo 3DS.

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by John Minton

Skyrim: HD Texture Pack Available on Steam

Posted by Tauri33 on February 9th, 2013

Not that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is lacking in its visual appeal, but for those looking to add a little bit more realism to their game, a new HD Texture Pack update has been released through Steam.

The update will add improved textures for all of Skyrim’s released DLC including Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn.

To install the update, your PC has to meet or exceed the recommended requirements for the main game.

OS: Windows Vista/7
Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
Memory: a minimum of 4GB of system RAM
Graphics: DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with at least 1 GB of RAM and the latest drivers (Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher)

The download is approximately 4.7 GB in size and is completely free! Yes, that’s right. I went to the Steam website and checked it out for myself and according to their site, players can download this HD Texture Pack for free.

Sorry Xbox & PS3 gamers (myself included as I have Skyrim for the Xbox 360), but that’s the disadvantage of not playing games on the PC; you miss out on a lot of cool extras like new & improved texture packs and additional quests and other elements contributed by game modders.

If you liked this post and would like to stay updated with the latest from Tauri33 Gamer, I invite you to Subscribe to and follow this blog. Subscription buttons to have updates emailed to you automatically, our Newsletter Updates, or to follow this blog via Twitter can be found on the sidebar located to the right hand side of the site.

by John Minton

Yoda To Get His Own Star Wars Spin-Off Film?

Posted by Tauri33 on February 6th, 2013

“A movie I get? Time it’s about.”

With Disney’s acquisition of the Star Wars franchise, and director J.J. Abrams signed on to direct the first of 3 new trilogy of films (Star Wars: Episode VII), what else is Disney considering to make the most of their newly-acquired franchise? It seems they could be looking into a series of spin-off movies.

It had been previously reported by THR that Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg were exploring potential story-lines around the franchise’s supporting characters in a series of their own spin-off movies, and recent rumors may have revealed who the first of these characters will be.

AICN reports that the first of these standalone spin-off films will focus on Yoda. Whether the story will focus on Yoda in his younger days or continue his existing story, it’s anyone’s guess.

Yoda is arguably one of the franchise’s most beloved supporting characters (possibly also Chewbacca) and I, for one, would love to see a story centered around this character. Reportedly, the next character in line could be Jar Jar.

As more details come up, I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated.

What Star Wars characters would you like to see get their own spin-off film? Leave your comments below.

If you liked this post and would like to stay updated with the latest from Tauri33 Gamer, I invite you to Subscribe to and follow this blog. Subscription buttons to have updates emailed to you automatically, our Newsletter Updates, or to follow this blog via Twitter can be found on the sidebar located to the right hand side of the site.

by John Minton

The New Doctor Who Encyclopedia

Posted by Tauri33 on February 2nd, 2013

The Doctor Who Encyclopedia (New Edition) cover image.

The world of Doctor Who is massive, with all of the planets traveled, aliens encountered and times visited. I mean after all, you’re talking about all of time & space here.

As a relatively recent Whovian myself, only having gotten into Doctor Who since the introduction of the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) in 2005, a new comprehensive encyclopedia is something I’ve been waiting a long time for. And now it’s here.

Written by former Doctor Who script editor Gary Russell, the app is the ultimate guide to seven years of thrilling Doctor Who adventures, which includes up to date information on every episode since the show’s return to our screens in 2005. It allows you to scroll your way through a complete A-Z of the show and explore and search thousands of entries by series or episode. You will discover the Doctor’s fiercest enemies, closest allies and key places and objects and have the opportunity to preview and buy those must-have episodes.

The Doctor Who Encyclopedia iPad app sample screen image.

The encyclopedia app contains over 3,000 entries and each entry includes links to episodes, people, places and objects related to it. Additionally, each entry has an episode reference, allowing you to search the Encyclopedia by episode or series – so you can find out all you ever need to know about the Doctor, his allies, enemies and everywhere he’s ever visited. You can also preview episodes and buy your favorites directly from iTunes.

The app also contains 11 unique portals – special interactive entries, for the Doctor, Amy, Rory, River and other major characters in the show. The Doctors’ portal uses parallax technology which allows users to move their iPad to scroll through a 3D environment, featuring the Doctor’s closest companions and deadliest enemies.

The Doctor Who Encyclopedia iPad app sample screen image.

The Doctor Who Encyclopedia (iPad version) costs $6.99 (and worth the cost in my opinion) and is exclusively for the Apple iPad, but is also available in hardcover as well. As much as I would love to get the iPad app version, I just simply do not have an iPad, nor will I be able to afford one anytime soon. It looks as if the only way I’ll get to enjoy any of what this encyclopedia has to offer is to invest in the hardcover version, though I’ll be missing out on the interactive elements. You can find the hardcover edition through any book retailer such as Barnes & Noble (ranging in price from $26.19 on up) or Amazon.com (retails $26.39).

If you like the Doctor Who Encyclopedia, then you may also be interested in these other Doctor Who titles:

Doctor Who: The TARDIS Handbook (prices ranging from $13.34 and up [independent sellers] on Amazon.com)

Doctor Who: The Time Traveller’s Almanac (retails $27.99 at Amazon.com)

Doctor Who: Character Encyclopedia (retails $11.55 at Amazon.com)

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Monster Guide (retails $18.47 at Amazon.com)

If you liked this post and would like to stay updated with the latest from Tauri33 Gamer, I invite you to Subscribe to and follow this blog. Subscription buttons to have updates emailed to you automatically, RSS Feeds, or to follow this blog via Twitter can be found on the sidebar located to the right hand side of the site.

by John Minton

PlayStation 4 To Be Unveiled February 20th

Posted by Tauri33 on February 2nd, 2013

After all of the rumors and speculation concerning Sony’s next-gen console, sources have it that the new PlayStation 4 will be unveiled on February 20th, just 3 weeks away. That should put to rest any questions gamers have about the new console.

A source told the Wall Street Journal, stating:

“Sony’s device will be released later this year, these people [familiar with the matter] said, and will spar against Microsoft’s own machine, which is also expected to be released by the holidays.”

So if this source is correct in it’s statement, then gamers everywhere should expect to see both the PS4 and Microsoft’s Xbox 720 by the holidays this year, just as Nintendo released the Wii U in time for the holidays 2012. But we’ll just have to wait until February 20th and see.

If you liked this post and would like to stay updated with the latest from Tauri33 Gamer, I invite you to Subscribe to and follow this blog. Subscription buttons to have updates emailed to you automatically, RSS Feeds, or to follow this blog via Twitter can be found on the sidebar located to the right hand side of the site.

~Tauri33

All PS3 Skyrim DLC Release Dates Announced

Posted by Tauri33 on February 1st, 2013

Not long ago Bethesda finally announced what PS3 players were frantically anticipating for many agonizing months; that in February all of the DLC content for Skyrim would finally become available. Unfortunately, no specific dates in February were given. Until now.

All of the DLC will be released in reverse order they became available to Xbox Live users, but the important fact is that it’s being release. The dates are:

Dragonborn releases Tuesday, February 12th
Hearthfire releases Tuesday, February 19th
Dawnguard releases Tuesday, February 26th

In an earlier post on this same matter, I mentioned that in an effort to apologize for gamers for the incredible inconvenience experienced waiting for the DLC to become available, for the 1st week that each DLC is available, it will be offered at a 50% discount. So I recommend not wait.

If you liked this post and would like to stay updated with the latest from Tauri33 Gamer, I invite you to Subscribe to and follow this blog. Subscription buttons to have updated emailed to you automatically, RSS Feeds, or to follow this blog via Twitter can be found on the sidebar located to the right hand side of the site.

~Tauri33

Man of Steel 1:6 Scale Superman Iconic Statue

Posted by Tauri33 on February 1st, 2013

The new Superman franchise reboot film, Man of Steel, is only about 4 months away from it’s theatrical release (June 14th), but in May 2013, Gentle Giant Studios will be releasing an exclusive Man of Steel Superman 1:6 Scale Iconic Statue in anticipation of the film’s upcoming release.

The resin statue is highly detailed from his flowing cape to his Henry Cavill likeness. The statue stands on a Superman symbol display base.

Man of Steel Superman 1:6 Scale Iconic Statue

Statue Dimensions:

Tall: 13 1/4-inches
Wide: 8 1/2-inches
Long: 5 3/4-inches

This Superman statue will be officially released in May 2013 and is available exclusively from . This is a must for any real Superman fan! Pre-order your statue today. It retails for $109.99.

If you liked this post and would like to stay updated with the latest from Tauri33 Gamer, I invite you to Subscribe to and follow this blog. Subscription buttons to have updated emailed to you automatically, RSS Feeds, or to follow this blog via Twitter can be found on the sidebar located to the right hand side of the site.

~Tauri33

A Preview Look at Man of Steel (2013)

Posted by Tauri33 on January 28th, 2013

Man of Steel (2013) new teaser movie poster.

In the pantheon of superheroes, arguably the most recognized and valued character of all time has to be Superman. Originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster back in 1932 and later sold to Detective Comics (DC Comics) in 1938, my first exposure to the world Superman wasn’t until the 1978 release of Superman: The Movie starring Christopher Reeve.

I personally wouldn’t call Superman one of my all-time favorite superheroes (I’m a bigger fan of Batman & Green Lantern), but I do enjoy superhero movies and shows of all sorts, and I still greatly respect Superman as a character.

Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder, is a reboot of the Superman franchise, much as Christopher Nolan did for Batman with his 3 film releases (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises). It’s been said that in Man of Steel movie-goers will see an interpretation of Superman not yet seen before. One thing is for certain, the movie will definitely retell Superman’s origin story.

General Zod (Michael Shannon)

In Man of Steel, Clark Kent/Kal-El is a 20-something year-old journalist who feels isolated by his powers. Transported years ago to Earth from Krypton, a highly advanced, distant planet where his father Jor-El is their head scientist and council member, Clark struggles with the ultimate question ‘what is my destiny?’, while being raised on Earth and shaped by the values of his adoptive parents Martha and Jonathan Kent. Now, Earth is under attack from General Zod, Faora and their army of Robots from his home planet Krypton, wanting to destroy Superman and his family both here on Earth and Krypton to ensure he cannot reclaim head council on Krypton. With Earth and Krypton both in need of stability and support, Clark must become the man he was destined to become and protect the people on Earth he now loves and shine as the world’s beacon of hope as the Man of Steel.

Jor-El (Russell Crowe)

What I find interesting already about the retelling of Superman’s story based on the preliminary plot synopsis… unlike every other interpretation of Superman’s origin, this time the planet Krypton doesn’t seem to be destroyed, at least not in the sense where the whole planet has exploded. Maybe civilization has been brought to its knees by General Zod and his army. So why does Jor-El send his only son away to Earth to be raised by a Kansas farm family? My personal assumption and speculation is that General Zod is attempting to usurp power from Jor-El, which he may have successfully done by eliminating him as head of the Kryptonian council. The only person left who could challenge his authority is Kal-El. So Jor-El sends his son away to Earth to protect him, until he can grow to an age where he has a fighting chance to stand up to Zod and reclaim the position of head council either himself or for his father, either way ending the tyranny that is Zod and protecting both of his homes (Krypton and Earth, respectively).

Man of Steel supports a strong cast of actors, including:

Henry Cavill – Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman
Amy Adams – Lois Lane
Kevin Costner – Jonathan Kent
Diane Lane – Martha Kent
Russell Crowe – Jor-El
Avelet Zurer – Lara Lor-Van (Clark’s biological mother)
Michael Shannon – General Zod
Antje Traue – Faora (Zod’s wife & Kryptonian soldier)
Lawrence Fishburne – Perry White
Christopher Meloni – Colonel Hardy
Jadin Gould – Lana Lang

Man of Steel opens in theaters June 14th, 2013. I, for one, am looking forward to this theatrical release. Many of the film franchise reboots of late (in my opinion & that I’ve seen) have not disappointed (J.J. Abrams Star Trek & Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy as a few recent examples), and all that I’ve seen regarding Man of Steel, it’s shaping up to be potentially one of the best Superman stories I’ve seen in a long while.

If you liked this post and would like to stay updated with the latest from Tauri33 Gamer, I invite you to Subscribe to and follow this blog. Subscription buttons to have updates emailed to you automatically, RSS Feed, or to follow this blog via Twitter can be found on the sidebar located to the right hand side of this site.

~Tauri33

A Preview Look at Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Posted by Tauri33 on January 28th, 2013

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) movie poster.

For a long time, Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek used to be one of my all-time favorite sci-fi shows; however, after so many years of seeing the same old faces continuing to go on adventure after adventure with the typical set backdrops and effects, everything just got to a predictable point where the series became uninteresting, and I finally abandoned my once favorite love.

Then came J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot of 2009, that turned the Star Trek franchise on it’s head. For the first time in a while, the world of Star Trek was brought back in a whole new way; something that looked fresh and exciting again. Though the characters were the same, they were now portrayed by new faces, new talent. And the concept was brilliant; have a villain go back and change history so that everything we’ve come to know about Star Trek in the near 50 years prior in both television and movies, never happened. The world of Star Trek could begin anew, with a clean slate and a plethora of new storyline directions to explore.

In Star Trek Into Darkness, when the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving Earth in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As the heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

As for the villain in the film, there has been quite a bit of rumor and speculation, and there are some secrets Paramount just doesn’t want to give up. However, everything I have seen scouring across the Internet, seems to point to the possibility that the villain could be that of Khan Noonien Singh (the IMDB website has actor Benedict Cumberbatch among the list of cast credits as Khan [rumored]). For long time fans of Star Trek will remember Khan as a genetically engineered superhuman (and leader of group of other genetically engineered super-humans) from Earth’s Eugenic Wars. As J.J. Abrams has a whole new universe of possibilities to explore, if Khan truly is the villain of the film, it will be interesting to see how the character will be portrayed.

The Star Trek sequel stars all the same cast from the first 2009 film (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, and Anton Yelchin) with an additional supporting cast of Alice Eve (as Dr. Carol Marcus), Peter Weller (unnamed role), and Benedict Cumberbatch (as Khan [rumored]).

Star Trek Into Darkness comes to theaters May 17th, 2013.

If you liked this post and would like to stay updated with the latest from Tauri33 Gamer, I invite you to Subscribe to and follow this blog. Subscription buttons to have updates emailed to you automatically, RSS Feed, or to follow this blog via Twitter can be found on the sidebar located to the right hand side of this site.

~Tauri33

PS4 Specs Leaked From January Dev Kit

Posted by Tauri33 on January 25th, 2013

I’ve noticed in the past several months the most highly regarded (and anticipated) information in the video gaming community seems to center around that of the next-gen console, the PlayStation 4 (code named Orbis); what gamers can expect to see in the new console, but more importantly when it will be released.

There certainly has been no shortage of rumors circulating about, but according to Kotaku (another video games based blog), they have “secured” about 90 PDF documents offering insights into the PS4′s potential power, controller, and unified user accounts.

Based on this information, the hardware specs for the PS4 look like:

System Memory: 8GB
Video Memory: 2.2 GB
CPU: 4x Dual-Core AMD64 “Bulldozer” (so, 8x cores)
GPU: AMD R10xx
Ports: 4x USB 3.0, 2x Ethernet
Drive: Blu-Ray
HDD: 160GB
Audio Output: HDMI & Optical, 2.0, 5.1 & 7.1 channels

The information seems to fall in line with recent rumors and prior development kit leaks; however, cautions that due to the fact that the specs are based on development hardware, the final consumer release version of the system could very well differ.

The new controller is reported to include a touch pad, something similar to that of the Vita’s rear touch screen. The report presumes that this is on the back of the original controller design where it will, “retain the four traditional face buttons, two analogue sticks and shoulder triggers of older PlayStation pads, as well as vibration and improved motion-sensing.” Rumors have also surfaced of a “share” button to be included, but there is no mention of its intended function.

The final piece of leaked information pertained to the new “multi-user simultaneous logins” that may be implemented. This would allow multiple users to be logged into the PS4 at any given time. Each player will have localized saves and be able to log-in and associate their Sony Entertainment Network account to each additional controller. This would benefit players engaged in co-op play, where each player can earn trophies as they progress.

If you liked this post and would like to stay updated with the latest from Tauri33 Gamer, I invite you to Subscribe to and follow this blog. Subscription buttons to have updates emailed to you automatically, RSS Feed, or to follow this blog via Twitter can be found on the sidebar located to the right hand side of this site.

~Tauri33

A Brief Preview Look at Skylanders SWAP Force

Skyrim: HD Texture Pack Available on Steam

Yoda To Get His Own Star Wars Spin-Off Film?

The New Doctor Who Encyclopedia

PlayStation 4 To Be Unveiled February 20th

All PS3 Skyrim DLC Release Dates Announced

Man of Steel 1:6 Scale Superman Iconic Statue

A Preview Look at Man of Steel (2013)

A Preview Look at Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

PS4 Specs Leaked From January Dev Kit

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