Entertainment

The Walking Dead News: Sons Of Anarchy Alum Ryan Hurst Joins The Cast

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

One of the best casting choices in the universe of The Walking Dead since Jeffrey Dean Morgan was revealed this week and his name is Ryan Hurst. Ryan was on the hit TV series Sons Of Anarchy on FX as one of the fan favorites Opie. His character received a brutal death during season 5 and since then, he has appeared in Bates Motel and Outsider. He will now appear on the 9th season of The Walking Dead as one of the whisperers but not just one of them, he will play as Alpha’s right hand man, Beta. You most likely want to know who is Beta would you? I will give you the rundown.

 

Beta made his first appearance on issue #154 (4th part of volume 26: Call To Arms) in the comic series as Negan encountered him after he escaped from jail. He is very tall and wields two large knives. After Negan’s encounter with him, Beta orders the rest of The Whisperers to take Negan back to their camp. When Michonne and Aaron tries to look for Negan in the woods, Beta and The Whisperers attacks them until Dwight stops it. That is all I can say now about his debut in the comic series. Fans have anticipated if Beta will appear at all in the upcoming season since Alpha and The Whisperers debuted long before him in the comic series. Ryan Hurst and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s interactions on the show should be very interesting so we will have to wait until we see.

 

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Monster Crunch! The Breakfast Battle Game to Release at Target on August 26th

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Big G Creative is releasing a new board game title, Monster Crunch! The Breakfast Battle Game based on the wildly popular Monster Cereal characters from General Mills, including Count Chocula, Boo Berry, Franken Berry, Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy. Pick your favorite Monster Cereal characters and battle to see who can “eat” the most cereal. In this fast-paced game of luck and strategy, players try to collect as many Cereal Cards in their Bowls as they can. Each monster has special powers to give you an advantage and help you gobble up the most cereal. Use Milk Tokens to combine Cereal Cards and take bigger bites. The monster that munches the most wins the game!“At Big G Creative, we build games that connect families across generations. We believe Monster Crunch! gives parents a new way to have fun with their kids,” said Rob Stevens, Founder and President of Big G Creative. “The Monster Cereal characters seem to strike a happy chord with everyone.” Monster Crunch! The Breakfast Battle Game is a light strategy game that is suitable for a wide variety of ages and blends nostalgia with friendly competition. The game is aimed at players 9 and older, allows for 2 to 5 players, and has an estimated gameplay of 20 minutes. MSRP is $19.99.Monster Crunch! The Breakfast Battle Game is available now for pre-order on Target.com and will be in Target stores on August 26th, 2018.

20 Years Ago This Week: The Ultimate Warrior’s WCW Debut

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

This week, I went to a time machine on the WWE Network to revisit WCW Nitro. Nitro was the Monday night show for WCW and at the time, it aired on the same time as WWE’s Raw Is War and you would have to change the channels back and forth between USA Network and TNT. We did not have the option to watch it on a live stream 20 years ago and the only way if you can watch both shows is if you put two screens in the same room, or if you tape the other show on VHS and watch it later. Technology was different 20 years ago and i lived through it. On the August 17th, 1998 edition of Nitro, Warrior made his WCW debut. But before that, Eddie Guerrero cut his “worked shoot” promo towards then WCW boss Eric Bischoff as he was disappointed with the direction of his character along with him feeling like he (and more wrestlers that worked with WCW) was being held back for main event pushes that were already given to the bigger stars of the company at the time. This got overshadowed later that night when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff went to the ring to cut a promo on Diamond Dallas Page.

After a few minutes, Warrior appeared on the stage to a thunderous reaction from the crowd and Mike Tenay on commentary even sounded very thrilled that he is there in WCW for the first time. This was not The Renegade at all as it was the real deal. The fans were shocked and the huge ovation lasted for a few more minutes. And then, that long promo from him begun as he talked and talked for almost 10 uninterrupted minutes. It went from a decent promo 3 minutes in, to a disaster for the rest of the promo. In fact, one of the lines are the following:

“Different than you wanna make people believe, I never received an invitation. I showed up on my own accord. And let me tell you, Mr. Eric Bischoff, if you stick your nose in my business, you will only very quickly prepare for your own demise. Furthermore, when I get done with my business here, I’m gonna be sending you a bill. I suggest you pay it. I have…waited…patiently. The WARRIORS have waited all too patiently. Now…NOW…the virtue of justice unties my hands so that I can continue to fulfill a destiny set in motion on that memorable day years ago. A destiny at the next level. A destiny beckoning the next superhero.There really is no sadder sight than when a grown man fears the challenges in his life so much that he rationalizes adolescent behavior to the point where he carries out heinous and self-indulgent actions. Your evilness, an evilness you embodied and portray, is intolerable. I am the one that has the power to destroy you. In sorts, Hogan, the truth is inexhaustible. I come here, not to beat you up tonight, Hogan. Beating you means nothing anymore, everybody already has.”

If you read that part of the transcript of the promo, ask yourself if you understood what he was trying to say and what was he trying to accomplish with this promo. He went on and off topic for most of it and as the promo went on and on, the fans started to turn on him and boo him. While this was going on, Hogan and Bischoff just stood there and took every word he said from start to finish. The promo was only supposed to go for 6 minutes, but that along with the rest of the segment went for a whopping 18 minutes which suffered for the rest of the show since everything after this had to be re-arranged. You would think that if the viewers changed the channel when this happened but only a small amount of viewers did as Nitro did an 4.97 on that hour as Raw pulled in an 4.40 on the same hour. While this was going on also, Raw on this hour had The Nation vs. DX street fight, Bradshaw vs. Draz (Brawl For All), and Val Venis vs. Kaientai. All of this was better than seeing an 18 minute long segment that was supposed to go for 6 minutes. When it is all said and done, That episode of Nitro pulled in an 4.9 rating as Raw pulled in a 4.2 rating overall that night. That promo was a time waster even though it had Warrior’s first appearance in WCW. The plan was for Warrior to come in WCW so that way Hogan can get his win back which he did on Pay Per View a few months later at Halloween Havoc. The match was horrendous as Wrestling Journalist Dave Meltzer gave the match a -5 stars.

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WWE 2K19’s Showcase Mode Is Putting The Spotlight On The Career Of Daniel Bryan

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

WWE 2K19 will see the return of Showcase Mode this year (which was missing for the last two games) and this time, we will get to relive the career of WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan. I think that this choice is a good one since he came out of retirement earlier this year and has had matches on the main roster ever since. He has reunited with his former tag team partner Kane and has had feuds this year raging from Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Big Cass, Harper and Rowan, to now The Miz which has been building up since Bryan was the General Manager of Smackdown over two years ago. Daniel Bryan and The Miz will finally have a match on this year’s Summerslam. So far, his year is shaping up to be a very good one for him and the fans are happy that he is back wrestling once again. Now it is time to dive down to the news that came out today.

 

While he has been back in the ring to create new stories and memories for fans to remember, 2K Games took the time to revisit his best feuds and matches from the past. There is said to be about 11 matches on this mode and some of them features his first WWE match ever with John Cena on an episode of WWE Velocity way back in 2003, his tag team title win against Kofi Kingston and R-Truth back in 2012, His street fight match against Randy Orton on Raw in 2013, and his WrestleMania 30 match with Triple H along with the triple threat match later that night that included Batista and Randy Orton which was also the height of the “Yes” movement. We do not know yet of the other matches, but there will also be a “surprise match” on this mode that was not shown yet so everyone including myself can guess on which match that will be.

I would like to point out that CM Punk was also in WWE during Bryan’s career and with the controversy that surrounded him after he quit WWE a few years ago, many fans wonder if his [Daniel Bryan] matches with Punk will be featured as well. Another person that is not currently under contract with WWE as well is AJ Lee and she was involved with the feuds between Bryan and Punk along with Bryan’s feud with Sheamus. Only time will tell before we know if those particular matches will be included of the 11 matches. In fact, what if one of the matches i just explained is the “surprise match”. Other notable superstars that were there while he was there are Ryback, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, and John Morrison as they were all also involved with his run in WWE in the early 2010’s. We will know very soon as the video game is released this October on Playstation 4, PC and Xbox One and there is a collector’s edition with bonus material that features WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair.

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Fear The Walking Dead News: Will Morgan Return to Alexandria?

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The second half of the fourth season of Fear The Walking Dead has arrived at AMC, and has revealed the odd unknown. Among them, we could know the desire of Morgan (Lennie James) to return to Alexandria, and has asked allies to follow him in his mission

After having been visiting the different survivors of Fear The Walking Dead, Morgan decides that it is best to return with his original group of friends to provide the necessary help. At the request to be followed, only seems to agree Al (Maggie Grace), who agrees to take him there. But, will there finally be another ‘crossover’?

Everything seems to indicate that no. Or, at least, for now. In response to the recent production decision to renew Fear The Walking Dead for a fifth season, the fact that both zombie titles merge into one is a probability that, in the short term, is not contemplated. This should not mean a resounding ‘no’ to Morgan’s return, as he could leave and remain in his origin series. But here lies the big problem:

The ninth season of The Walking Dead raises a temporary leap of no less than a year and a half, so it would be very difficult to make the two chronological lines come together. Also, Scott Gimple has indicated that there are no plans for a new ‘crossover’ soon. Of course, this does not close the door to occur in the future, but it is something that we can discard right now:

“No [excludes more crosses] That’s all I have to say, it does not, but I would not wait for it all the time, things could happen, you never know who could appear in Fear The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead and potentially to people in the past of ‘Fear the Walking Dead “.

However, an existing option is that the protagonists of The Walking Dead do march to Fear with the intention of following this plot in its corresponding timeline. However, it seems an unlikely option.

The ninth season of The Walking Dead will arrive at AMC on October 7th.

 

Top 10 WWE Games Changes That Nobody Asked For

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

The WWE Games series has come a very long way. From the days of the NES to now the current generation of video game consoles and PC, it is not going away soon. I enjoyed WWE video games for years especially the early years of the Smackdown! and Smackdown vs. Raw series along with cult classics such as WWF No Mercy, WCW/NWO Revenge, and WCW World Tour. I loved them and at this time, each series improved over another in great ways, but there are some changes that i myself including many fans did not like. I am here to count down the top 10 changes in WWE video games that nobody asked for.

 

10. Ridiculous Camera Angles (Smackdown vs. Raw 2009)

I start this list with a decent entry to the series even though there were a few major flaws. Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 was built around the new tag team engine but that did not stop them for having a good idea with poor execution. One of those ideas were the outside the ring camera angles. This feature made the game play irritating on where to locate the superstars and even though I liked that they wanted to have a visual presentation to what it looks like in real life, the results were not the same when that feature was implemented into this game. Have they saw other games with poor camera angles before deciding to go with this?

9. Removing GM Mode for Career Mode (Smackdown vs. Raw 2009)

General Manager Mode is a popular mode among Smackdown vs. Raw veterans. Although today’s Universe Mode is good, it is not as in-depth as General Manager mode so when fans found out that this mode is going to be removed in Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, the entire community was very angry. What they did was added a Career Mode and trust me, it is very dull. You chose a brand, your superstar, your match of the week and try to build attribute points and repeat. This mode was so repetitive that you will get bored with this mode after one hour.

8. Promo Engine (WWE 2K17)

We all thought that this engine would change WWE Universe Mode in this game but we were so wrong. Want to have Bray Wyatt say something like “i will defeat you at the next show” or “me and my friend John Cena will team up tonight”? Well that is the promo engine for you. Every character has their own way of cutting promos on television in real life. In this game on the other hand, it is as robotic as a Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar match. There is no life to these promos and it was a huge waste of time trying to create segments with the superstars too. Did i forget to add that the promos are in on screen text instead of voice overs?

7. Fighting Styles (Smackdown vs. Raw 2008)

This game is considered the worst of the Smackdown vs. Raw era and it shows the moment you play this game. There was a new feature that included fighting styles and your superstar had a choice of having two out of eight different styles. This decision was very poorly received because this game had far too less moves and limited down how many moves a superstar can do. Good thing that this feature was removed in next year’s game and turned those styles into a variety of abilities that your superstar can have.

6. Removing 2K Showcase Mode (WWE 2K17)

The 2K Showcase mode goes way back to The Attitude Era mode way back in WWE ‘13 and to see it being removed in 2K17 is a huge mistake. The only way you can play this mode is by DLC but in 2K18, this mode was not brought back. You cannot sell a video game with no base story with it.

5. Not Including Many WCW/ECW Superstars (Smackdown! Just Bring It)

Lets keep this in mind that i said “many” because this game was released at the height of the WCW/ECW Invasion storyline. The likes of Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Hurricane Helms, Mike Awesome, Tommy Dreamer, DDP, Lance Storm and many more huge names were absent from this game. It is the first WWF game on the PlayStation 2, but it was a disappointment by fans despite the fact that the game actually looked great. The roster was extremely outdated and there was no excuse for this since Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role had a very stacked roster a year before.

4. Very Minimum Content (WWE 2K15)

2K15 was a graphical improvement since it was running on PS4/XBOX ONE hardware and that is all it was. Removing many content such as multiple match types, the ability to create custom soundtracks, Create a Superstar, Match Creator, Entrance Video and other content was just very jarring for a WWE Video Game. You would think that you would have multiple options and decisions in this game when it is first announced but I along with many other fans learned the hard way and that is, when there is not much announced before a release date, then there is something that they are hiding that does not want to come to light and this game is a prime example of that. The last WWE video game I have enjoyed was 2K14 and that is almost 5 years ago now.

3. Character Models (WWE ‘12)

This game has some of the worst modern character models for a WWE video game at the time and it was a shame to see the downgrade of graphics compared to the previous game’s graphics engine. I will say no more other than Look at Booker T in this game compared to others.

2. Merging GM Mode With Season Mode (Smackdown vs. Raw 2008)

“Why did they do this” comes to my mind when i first tried it out at a comic book store when i was still in high school back in 2007. This is another idea that sounded good on paper, but bad when you see it. The ratings system is extremely broken, your selected superstar burns out quick within a few matches, the ECW Brand would lose every time and so on. There is more to be said badly about this decision and I am glad that they never did this again. The last game to have a good GM mode was Smackdown vs. Raw 2007.

1. Adding Loot-crates (WWE 2K18)

In the age of Loot-crates and micro-transactions, this one takes my number one spot because when gamers hear those words, there is trouble to come. Of course you cannot use real world money to buy those crates in this game, but i have a bad feeling that it will happen in the next game since 2K Games did it to a few of their game lines such as NBA last year. Loot-crates are for My Career only, but nobody should have to rely on randomized boxes to increase stats and etc. We saw how this damaged EA’s and Bungie’s reputation and i have a bad feeling that 2K will get that reception too on this year’s game. This is a feature in every game that NOBODY asked for and that is my main reason why this takes the number 1 spot.

 

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Adds Five New Characters To It’s Roster

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

With only a few months away from the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, we were treated with an array of news today thanks to the Smash Direct that was streamed earlier. Today, we learned that there will be new game modes and more gameplay changes to the game such as the return of Tournament Mode, Smashdown, Squad Strike, and an unannounced mode that is coming soon. We also learned that Final Smashes can now be charged and that there will be 103 stages in total and over 900 songs to listen to. This is exciting news for a Smash veteran like myself as this content is much bigger than any other Smash Bros. game. Now lets dive into the new characters that were announced today.

Simon Belmont

First appearence: Castlevania (1986)

Simon has been requested for a very long time (so as the other characters as well) and it is great to finally see a character from this series make their debut on Smash Bros Ultimate. He battles using his whip and his other weapons such as Axe, Holy Water, and Cross. He seems very versatile and his final smash is the grand cross.

Richter Belmont

First Appearance: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood/Dracula X (1993)

Richter also makes his first appearance and he will be the echo fighter to Simon. His moveset is similar to his with a few minor differences. Whichever is stronger of the two we will have to find out for ourselves.

Chrom

First Appearance: Fire Emblem Awakening (2013)

After only having a cameo in the last Smash Bros. game, Fans are now happy that Chrom is finally in the game. Fire Emblem characters are now stacked in the roster of this game and his introduction now has maxed out the most fighters in one series in the game. He is an echo fighter of Roy which i find odd. But then again, Marth already has an echo fighter so this does make sense in a way.

 

Dark Samus

First Appearance: Metroid Prime 2: Echos (2004)

Dark Samus appeared as an assist trophy in the last game so it is good to finally see her as an fighter. Her moves are based off of Samus including her final smash. Now that makes two Metroid series boss characters that playable in the game (Ridley being the first).

 

King K. Rool

First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country (1994)

I wanted to see this guy get a slot in Smash Bros. since Brawl and now he makes his first appearance. His moveset is based on the three Donkey Kong Country games that were on Super Nintendo and they did not hesitate to make that known. King K Rool has been requested since the second Smash Bros. game and he finally made the cut. I think that we can say that Sakurai has made the fans happy.

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Julian’s San Diego Comic Con 2018 Roundup

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This year, i was approved for a press pass to cover San Diego Comic Con. That is right, the “Comic Con” of all Comic Cons and the show is big as its name is. If you were to tell me how big the convention center is, i would tell you that from one end to another, it will take you a whole 10-15 minutes to walk through it. I did that on Wednesday morning on preview night to get my idea of where to walk to and where are the offices. The place is massive and even without attendees there, i still felt like there was a crowd there. Before I went to the convention center, I seen the line for the Conan taping outside the studio and it was very very long even at 7AM in the morning. This was not compared to the massive lines i have seen inside and outside the convention center. There was a line for everything raging from getting a ticket for the autographs from select celebrities, to trying the escape rooms for South Park and Jack Ryan, and lets not forget about the dreaded Hall H line which ended all the way to the IMDB boat. That line itself looks very intimidating and i do not think i will ever attempt to wait on that line for a few days just to see a panel.

The show floor was flooded with attendees and cosplayers walking to different booths and vendors or taking pictures. You could not look around to not see a cosplayer at all as there were a few each second. Many vendors that were there was Hasbro, Funko, Mattel, AMC, ABC and much more. I have seen many people in these booths trying to buy exclusive merchandise. The indoor panels were upstairs from the convention center and as much as people hated it, they close off the entire room (or in some cases the floor) if all the room’s lines are capped and that is good that they did that to prevent over crowding.

But i enjoyed the show floor along with going to the Jack Ryan escape room. I was given a chance to preview that area before it was open to the public and that escape room done something i do not think i have ever seen and that is, re-enact the first few minutes of the pilot episode of the show. I was in a group of 10 people trying to solve puzzles and go to the next room. The first one featured money and a code, the second one tasked you to stop an enemy attack, the third one showcased an interrogation scene as the actors gave you clues to how to escape the room. This was an interesting twist to an escape rooms and i loved it.

I was also invited to attend the Amazon Fire TV showcase to see their upcoming TV devices and features and there was a few themes inside that tent. It was a very good sight.

AMC Network also had an attraction area for their shows Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead and i was able to preview the attraction before it was open to the public and i have seen Jadis’ grinder machine, The Sanctuary (along with inside The Sanctuary where a guy demoed The Walking Dead: Our World mobile app game), the SWAT truck, the water slide with a pit of Walkers, and The Kingdom’s training area. That area always draws the attention of curious attendees and i believe that they were giving away Shiva Funko Pops to attendees once it opened.

I also had the chance to attend press rooms at SDCC which is where the media work began. I spoken with the cast and key developers of different shows such as Impulse, Young Justice, Lego DC Super Villains (video game), BUYBUST, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, and MR. Mercedes. I was also invited to attend the press invited press conferences of Better Call Saul, Fear The Walking Dead, and The Walking Dead. I mentioned those three conferences in different posts in the last few days.

Young Justice

Mr. Mercedes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0x9vllQHDo

Impusle

Crazy Ex Girlfriend

San Diego Comic Con is a great experience and i recommend everyone to check it out in 2019. Try to get tickets the day the sale opens or else you will be out of luck.

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SDCC 2018-AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead Press Conferences

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More San Diego Comic Con news came out as I was invited to attend both of AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead press conferences. The Fear one started first as the cast and producers of the season made their way to the long table. The cast included Colman Domingo, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Lennie James, Danay Garcia, Garret Dillahunt, Maggie Grace and Jenna Elfman as they all talked about what to expect from the second half of season 4 as the back half of the season deals with more character development and a natural disaster. I also spoke with Alycia and Maggie for a few minutes after the conference to talk about Travis’ death way back in season 3. I also spoke with Scott Gimple as we talked about the comic series of The Walking Dead, his new comic series with Robert Kirkman Die!Die!Die, and future possible storylines of The Walking Dead especially since Volume 30:New World Order just finished not too long ago.

 

Here is the audio

https://youtu.be/ikNbhSCan_Y

 

After that conference was over, The Walking Dead started and we learned more information to the upcoming season and Andrew Lincoln’s departure of the show. That got sad to hear him say it because he loves the show and working with everyone there. The Press conference was very funny also as Norman and Andrew Lincoln had a “stare down” after the rest of the cast arrived, along with Jeffery Dean Morgan stealing the show over there with his very funny humor. Other cast members that were there was Danai Gurira and Lauren Cohan along with Greg Nicotero and the new show runner Angela Kang and Executive Producer Scott Gimple. The panel is a must listen!

Here is the audio from the conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huBlQfcTTow&t=6s

Meeting Andrew Lincoln face to face is a dream come true of mines and I am happy that it happened!

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SDCC 2018-Better Caul Saul Press Conference

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AMC Network has invited me to attend the Better Call Saul press conference today and I have learned new things about the show along with new tidbits of the development of that show and Breaking Bad. It was great to hear the cast and director talk about the show especially for its upcoming 4th season. Here are some photos from the event along with the audio from that press conference in the video below.

 

Here is the Audio

https://youtu.be/vWecEsx7Joo

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