Occupied. Not defeated.

When THQ went defunct most of their IP's were sold off to various developers and publishers. One those IP's was Homefront. The game got incredibly mixed reviews; you either loved it or you hated it. I was in the former camp. I thought the world they created was ripe for potential and great adventures. Crytek seemed to agree as they picked up Homefront and coming in 2015 comes a whole new take on this FPS. 

Homefront: The Revolution takes place in an open world version of Philadelphia in the year 2029, 4 years after North Korea has invaded the US. North Korea has made Philadelphia it's new capital. This is the heart of all of their operations — Crytek admitted that this is extreme fiction. In the game North Korea has way more advanced tech than that of American civilians. Drones are constantly patrolling the streets and cameras are everywhere. 

The game has a real time day/night cycle and a dynamic weather system. Throughout the game, as you spark a revolution, the world around you will change in both extreme and subtle ways. This made me think of Pandemic's final game The Saboteur.

You play as an everyman. You are no soldier or convicted felon or anything like that. You're just a civilian who has had enough. Therefore your play style will mostly revolve around guerrilla tactics. You are fighting a well trained and massive army with a few fellow civilians. Crytek rightfully pointed out that this is asymmetric warfare.

Within this asymmetric gameplay there are a few things that the player will need to keep in mind. First off is scavenging; from batteries, to chemicals, to scattered bullets, everything is useful to the cause. Conserving ammo is a smart thing to do in this game. Within the scavenging system, Crytek showed off a super impressive crafting system. You can craft IED's, RC Cars which can be used as a scouting drone or as we were shown can be combined with a crafted IED to become a roving bomb. Crytek also said assassinations would play a pivotal role but in what respect remains to be seen. Sabotaging NK's facilities, vehicles, drones, and cameras are also going to be central in gaining the upper hand. 

Within the demo we were shown at E3, your in-game phone plays an important part in your arsenal. You can use it to tag enemies and also decide which objective to proceed with. The character had 4 objectives to choose from, the one they chose was to free captive revolutionaries from a North Korean prison.

The game did a really good job of building a convincing world off of an absurd plot. The NPC's around you all seem to have there own thing going on and you are just in the middle of it. For instance, when the player killed an NK soldier patrolling two civilians painting over graffiti, the two civilians freaked out and said, "That dude is crazy! The Norks are gonna kill us for sure!" And they took off running. As you move throughout the world you also see other revolutionaries setting up attacks, such as running along rooftops with guns in hand. The world is also very grim and chaotic. When you're freeing the captives the NK soldiers go berserk and just start shooting anybody, including unarmed civilians. 

First person shooters in my opinion have a really hard time with building great cover systems. Dishonored and Killzone are notorious in my book for having some of the worst FPS cover systems. This seems to be changing as the recently released Thief and now Homefront: The Revolution have done a remarkable job at an adaptive cover system. 

The game also features on the fly weapon modding much like in Crytek's other great franchise Crysis. This actually took it a step further though when the player changed the frame of the gun. In a matter of seconds the player went from using an assault rifle to an LMG. 

Lastly, the game is freaking gorgeous, which isn't surprising seeing as all of Crytek's games are beautiful running on Cryengine. 

I was very impressed with what I saw and can't wait to take America back.

Homefront: The Revolution will release in 2015 for Playstation 4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, and Linux. 

The fourth season of Game of Thrones is coming to an end this Sunday, and HBO has released an extended promo for the episode called "The Children." The intense spot teases even more footage from the season finale, and I can't wait to see how they end it. The tag line for the season has been "All Men Must Die." I just hope to hell that Peter Dinklage's Tyrion survives because I'm going to be so pissed off if he dies! I also just want to say that Dinklage deserves an Oscar for his role in this series — I know Oscars are for film, but Dinklage has given the best performance that I've seen this year in any medium. That guy is such an incredible actor. 

Vincent D'Onofrio has been officially cast as Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, in Marvel's Daredevil Netflix series. D'Onofrio will join Charlie Cox, who has been cast as Matthew Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil. D'Onofrio is a great actor, and looking at his career, he has played a wide range of villains, with notable roles in Full Metal Jacket, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Cell, and Men in Black. He's also pretty busy, with eight projects coming out in the next two years.

In the 2003 Daredevil movie, Fisk was played by the late Michael Clarke Duncan. I was hoping we would see another villain from the Daredevil canon and not a retread of what the movie did. With 13 episodes in the series, I'm guessing Kingpin will be the main, overarching villain.

Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s Head of Television, had this to say about the casting:

"We’re incredibly proud to have an actor with the gravitas and versatility of Vincent joining Marvel’s Daredevil in such an integral role. Wilson Fisk is an iconic villain whose cunning and power make him the dangerous equal of our hero."

Marvel also released a few more details:

Marvel’s Daredevil follows the journey of Matt Murdock, who was blinded as a young boy but imbued with extraordinary senses, now fighting against injustice by day as a lawyer, and by night as the super hero Daredevil in modern day Hell's Kitchen, New York City.

Marvel’s first original series on Netflix is Executive Produced by series Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight (“Spartacus”, “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer”, “Angel”) and Drew Goddard ("Cabin in the Woods," "Lost," "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," in addition to writing the first two episodes of “Marvel’s Daredevil”), along with Marvel TV’s Jeph Loeb (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “Smallville,” “Heroes”).

Activision has released a new trailer for Bungie's highly anticipated new game, Destiny. The new trailer focuses on the gameplay and highlights a ton of activities that players will be able to have fun with. Bungie Co-Founder, Jason Jones, details everything you need to know about the game while you watch the video. I've been hearing mixed opinions about the game, but I personally like what I see. It's something that I'll definitely be playing in the future. Here's a short synopsis:

Everything changed with the arrival of the Traveler. It sparked a Golden Age when our civilization spanned the solar system, but it didn't last. Something hit us, knocked us down. The survivors built a city beneath the Traveler, and have begun to explore our old worlds, only to find them filled with deadly foes.

Destiny's Public Beta begins on July 17th and then launches worldwide on September 9th for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Nobody makes something scream FUN like Nintendo, and Splatoon (which, I must say, is a fantastic name) looks as if somebody spilled a bottle of fun all over a video game. Splatoon is a 4 on 4 third person shooter that puts you in the lovable shoes of an inkling, a squid like creature that when not in their original form look like your normal everyday super soaker carrying kids. Each team is assigned a different color of ink, and while the goal is to beat the other team in deathmatch style combat, the ink itself transforms the battlefield as the match goes on. Anywhere your color of ink covers you can then transform into your squid form and move through it at a much greater speed (as seen in the trailer below), which allows you to get to hard to reach areas or surprise enemy snipers and campers. Things like paint rollers are also accessible, allowing your team to get an advantage since they can move to and from somewhere on the map with ease.

Check out the trailer and the additional screenshots below, and let us know what you think about Nintendo's ultra colorful 4 vs 4 shooter in the comments.  

FantasyCon in Salt Lake City UT is coming, and GeekTyrant will have a booth and a panel that you can attend if you are going to the convention! If you don't have tickets to the event yet, we've got some to give away. We are going to have a little meet-up with our SLC readers, so if you live in the area, please come meet up for some fun times with myself and the GeekTyrant VS team.

We'll be giving away tickets to FantacyCon at the meet-up for as long as supplies last. As for our panel, we will be shooting a live GeekTyrant VS show that will include audience members. We will be battling over what wizard in more powerful, Gandalf or Dumbledore. I'm really excited about all of this, and it should be an amazing time! I've also included the latest TV spot for the event below the information.

You can visit our Facebook event page here.

Here are the details for the meet-up:

Where: Atomic Arcade - 3939 S Highland Dr. Holladay, UT 84124

When: Saturday June 14th, 2014 7:00 to 9:00pm

What: Lots of awesome retro video games to play and a bar.

Here are the details for our panel: 

Where: The Salt Palace - SLC UT - Room 151

When: Saturday July 5th from 3:00 to 4:00pm

What: Live GeekTyrant VS - Gandalf Vs Dumbledore - Which Wizard is more Powerful

GeekTyrant VS is back with a new episode! This time around we argue over which fictional ship is cooler… the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars or the U.S.S. Enterprise from Star Trek.

Watch the episode and let us know which side you agree with in the comment section below, and please feel free to suggest any other topics we can battle over in future episodes!

To watch our Captain America Vs. The Avengers episode click here; for our Spider-Man 2 Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 episode click here; for our Godzilla Vs. Gipsy Danger episode click here; for X-Men Vs. Avengers click here and for Mortal Kombat Vs Street Fighter click here.

If for some reason you can't watch the video below, click here.

Who's next?

At E3 I was shown a behind closed doors demo of the next installment of the Mortal Kombat franchise, and so far I am absolutely loving what I am seeing. It seems incredibly fast paced and looks brutally gorgeous. 

Scorpion and Sub-Zero make their return on top of 4 all new fighters: D'Vorah, an insect-human hybrid; Ferra/Torr, a brutish hulking barbarian with a small psychotic women who controls him; Cassie Cage, the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade; and lastly, Kotal Kahn an Aztec warrior. 

One new addition in Mortal Kombat X is the 3 variant fighting styles for each character. For example, if I choose Sub-Zero I then have three options for how I want him to fight. Cyromancer is an offensive fighting style in which Sub-Zero creates ice weapons out of thin air and on the other end of the spectrum is the Unbreakable fighting style, which uses ice shields and is much more defensive. 

Each of the stages shown had interactive set pieces that can be used to your advantage. The X-ray feature from the previous title is coming back and is as gory as ever. My favorite feature, though, is the almost limitless taunts that are now available every time you fight with different characters. The fighters acknowledge each other and then make some smart ass comment specific to their opponent.

As I said before, this installment is super fast paced, and I can't wait to FINISH HIM! when Mortal Kombat X is released in 2015.

Ever since Lords of the Fallen was announced I was very intrigued. A new IP announced out of nowhere? This is an interesting game for sure. The developers kept the story a little close to the chest and said part of the fun of the game is discovering the world around you. What I did find out is that you play as a recently released convict whose mission is to kill a fallen god who has released demonic hordes upon the world. 

Two games came to my mind upon my play through, Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls. Death happens quite a bit so a lot of the game is trial and error which got more aggravating rather than feeling like I was gaining some sort of knowledge. One of the things that seems like a straight up rip-off of Dark Souls was the ability to get your soul back after you die, thus getting experience back. There was no reason as to why this was happening. It just seems like a tacked on feature from another game. 

One thing I enjoyed though was the weapon variety. There are 9 different classes that are mostly melee based. You also have a gauntlet that can shoot fire in 3 different ways — sniping, scattershot, and explosive. All weapons can be wielded two-handed or can be used in combination with a shield. 

The variety of enemies was vast which was great. The environment can also be used to your advantage, such as when I tricked a heavy enemy into walking over a boarded up hole which he fell in and died. 

The biggest flaw though was the camera. It was godawful. Multiple times it would zoom in on a wall or get caught up behind an enemy which would completely obstruct my view and I would die. This will hopefully get fixed when the game is released this fall for Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC. 

In space no one can hear you scream, but they certainly can at E3. The objective seemed simple, "escape the area." But dammit if Alien: Isolation isn't the hardest game I've played at E3 yet. It was incredibly masochistic and I loved every tension filled moment. You play as the daughter of Ellen Ripley who is on a mission to find out the whereabouts of her mother. You find yourself stranded on the space station Sevastopol which has been overrun by a single Xenomorph.  

This game is one of the most intense experiences I have had in a long time. The game is more about survival and getting from point a to point b than it is about combat. You can use a flame thrower against the Xenomorph which only makes the creature retreat rather than killing or injuring it. It can go anywhere too — underneath the floor, which is shown by having dust rise from the ground and hearing scurrying beneath you; in the vents above you, which was the scariest way I died, actually. I walked underneath an open vent and the Xenomorph just snatched me up and killed me. I died a lot and almost every time I did, it was in a different way. One time the alien impaled me with it's tail. Another time I was crouching and maneuvering around a room and the Xenomorph walked in and I thought that it hadn't sensed me but alas it moved at an almost super speed and grabbed me and absolutely destroyed me. Another time it came up behind me and snapped my neck. 

The motion tracker is your best friend. But they're optional objectives that give you rewards for completing them, one of them being "don't use the motion tracker". With the motion tracker in hand, your vision of your surroundings is blurred a bit. It is subtle but drastically ramps up the tension. The UI is fantastic, very retro-futuristic. 

Scavenging and crafting are also great features to use. You can create flares and similar objects to light up dark areas or create distractions. 

The best part of Alien: Isolation is of course the alien. The AI system is almost flawless. It is superbly smart and overtly viscous. This game is not for the faint of heart.

This looks like this may be the Alien game we deserve, especially after the abysmal Colonial Marines. I can't wait to get my hands on it when it's released on October 7th for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. 

20th Century Fox has released another TV spot for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. This one is called "Retaliate," and the apes are going to war with the humans. There's a few bits of new footage thrown into the spot to whet your appetite. It looks like director Matt Reeves pulled off a fantastic sequel! The movie is set to be released on July 11th.

Last month we got a new synopsis for Pixar's upcoming animated feature Inside Out. It gave us a few new details on what we will see in the story, but today we have even more info on the movie to share with you thanks to Variety.

They were on hand at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in southern France, where director Peter Docter screened a couple of scenes from film and also talked a little about it.

The story follows a 12-year-old girl named Riley and centers on the emotions inside of her head as she deals with moving to a new place. The director says that "Riley is not our main character; she is our setting.” He also reveals that the story is "based on a strong emotional experience I had watching my daughter grow up. There is something that is lost when you grow up."

Variety seemed really impressed with what they saw, and they say "the film could eventually prove to be as revolutionary as Dante’s Divine Comedy, which so vividly described the Italian poet’s vision of heaven and hell that it has shaped the public’s image of both ever since." That's an interesting comparison for sure. They go on to say:

The site goes on to describe the second clip from the movie that centers around Riley's thinking process. This is actually a scene that was shown to us at D23 in storyboard form. Variety got to see more of a finished product.

Inside Out looks and sounds like it's going to be one of Pixar's great films. I love the concept behind it. It's set to be released on June 19th, 2015, and I'm sure Pixar fans are going to be very happy with what this movie gives them.

Art: Ryan Barger

There's been a lot of speculation surrounding the standalone Star Wars films that are being developed by Lucasfilm. It's almost certain that one of these movies is going to center on everyone's favorite bounty hunter, Boba Fett. There has already been a good amount of news sorrounding a movie based on this character and today we have a new one to add to the list. 

The Schmoes at Schmoes Know are saying their inside source has confirmed that Empire Strikes Back screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan is in the process of writing the script for the film. A rumor about this started about five months when Metalocalypse director Jon Schnepp said:

We later learned that Disney and Lucasfilm were having issues trying to crack a solid story that focuses on the villainous character. I'm sure they've been able to figure something out since then, if they were in fact having real problems. Maybe to solve them they had to go to the expended universe.

The site goes on to say that Kasdan might have based "some elements of his screenplay off of an Expanded Universe story!" What's interesting about his bit of information is that the Lucasfilm has said that they will not be basing their upcoming films on any of the expended universe. At this point who knows if what the studios are feeding us is true or not. The site adds:

They go on to speculate that if this is the case, the movie could be based on an old Star Wars book, Tales of the Bounty Hunters, as one of the stories in it focuses on Boba Fett. That story is called "The Last One Standing." Here's some information on it via Wookieepedia:

There's also the aspect of  Fett being swallowed by the sarlacc. This is an question I think every fan is going to want to see answered in a movie. It was answered in the story, and here's some information on it:

It would be incredibly awesome of the movie was inspired by this story. Of course, if Kasdan is actually being inspired by the expanded universe then he might also be pulling from several different sources. 

None of these story details are actually confirmed for the movie, but a Boba Fett film will eventually happen, and when it does I don't care what the story is as long as it's freakin' awesome! I'm really excited about these standalone movies, and I can't wait to see what they are and what stories they will actually be telling.

I know we've already seen some concept art for Godzilla, but you haven't seen this set of awesome illustrations! These come from concept artist Dominic Mavery, and they show off some incredible visuals. The art shown here is just beautifully crafted work. It's artists like this that help ensure we get amazing visuals in the epic genre films that we watch. 

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is seriously one of the best movies this year. As much as I loved the first film, this sequel is so much better in every way. DreamWorks Animation has released a new featurette for the animated flick, and it focuses on the music that was created for the feature. The score was composed by John Powell (Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon) along with the help of Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi. What they created for this film is beautiful. The music really nails the emotion of the characters. When the score is done right it makes the movie that much better. How to Train Your Dragon 2 hits theaters on June 13th, and it's a must watch! Thanks to Time!

The Battlefield franchise is changing it up this year with Battlefield: Hardline, a new take on the franchise being developed not by DICE but by the awesome team over at Visceral, known for their work on the Dead Space trilogy. Instead of soldiers fighting soldiers it's cops versus robbers this time around. 

This is a very different project for Visceral so I am very excited to see what they do with it. I got a chance to play a multiplayer match, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It plays almost the exact same way as previous Battlefields. The leveling system revolves around experience and cash, which can be used to buy guns and attachments during and in between matches. There is another layer, though, called "the reputation system," in which as you go through a round and are hopefully doing well you will reach a threshold in which you get to choose between two different perks that last the duration of the round, but once the match ends the rep gets wiped.  

As I said above the game plays almost exactly like the other Battlefields. If anything, it may be little more fast-paced, but that's about it. 

The part that I am most excited about is the part I have yet to get my hands on, and that's the single player campaign. Visceral is known for creating compelling characters and stories, and Battlefield is in desperate need of that when it comes to their campaigns. I enjoy them all, but they're very shallow and it would be great if we could delve a little bit deeper. 

Battlefield 4 really let me down, EA basically shipped a broken game. My campaign progress was erased twice and the multiplayer was rampant with bugs and glitches, so I am apprehensive about picking this game up when it's released on October 21st for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. 

The LEGO Movie is set to be released on Blu-ray next Tuesday, and one of the special features included is this hilarious fake trailer for an awesome crime thriller called Michelangelo and Lincoln: History Cops. I laughed my ass off when I first watched this thing. Will Forte even reprised his role as Lincoln in it. This History Cops trailer needs to be turned into a real LEGO movie because it would be one of the greatest things ever. Enjoy the trailer! 

Marvel has released a cool featurette for James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy that gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the sci-fi adventure film. It includes interviews with the cast and crew and shows off a bunch of great footage!

The featurette is called "Guardians of Good," and it was released as part of a campaign to search for "young men and women (ages 14-18) from across the United States to share their stories of how they are bettering their communities through service, science or innovation, and gives them the opportunity to connect with a galaxy of Peer Guides—who are already doing great things—to learn from their successes."

I've included more details on the campaign below the video. Guardians of the Galaxy is set to be released on August 1st!

Application forms, eligibility requirements, official contest rules and more information are available at http://www.marvelguardiansofgood.com. 

Applicants for GUARDIANS OF GOOD will participate in online sessions with Peer Guides, who will include representatives from generationOn, Broadcom MASTERS®, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” Ultimate Mentor Leadership Council. Peer Guide sessions are scheduled to take place between June 13, 2014 and June 21, 2014. The Peer Guides will discuss their personal stories of service, science or innovation as well as learnings and advice. 

Following the Peer Guide sessions, all applicants will then submit a short video explaining how they are improving the galaxy and what inspiration and guidance they received from their Peer Guides. The five best video entries will be selected as winners. 

The five winners will each receive: Two round-trip tickets to Hollywood, including hotel accommodations, from July 20 through July 23, 2014, to be on the red carpet at the World Premiere of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” on July 21, 2014; an invitation to the first-ever GUARDIANS OF GOOD INNOVATION & SERVICE SUMMIT on July 22 at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, where professionals and peers will share their knowledge; a backstage tour of the Disneyland Resort; and a red-carpet screening of the film at a Dolby® Atmos TM Theatre in or near the winner’s hometown.

Sega has released an awesome gameplay trailer at E3 2014 for their upcoming new game Alien: Isolation, and this thing looks so freakin' cool! I love the retro style and tone of the trailer that's reminiscent of the original Alien film. I hope the actual game has that same vibe. The story follows Ellen Ripley's daughter, who is looking for answers about her mother's disappearance. Here's some additional information on the game, and you can click here to read our hands-on review. 

AV Club

Today marks the start of a 365-day countdown to the release of Jurassic World, and to celebrate, Universal Pictures has released three official photos from the movie, giving us our first look at a few of the main characters in the story. We have pictures of Chris Pratt,  Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins. I'm sure we'll see some of the dinosaur stars of the movie sometime in the near future, but it's really awesome to get a first solid look at this movie. I'm really excited about this, and I think director Colin Trevorrow is going to do amazing things with it. Jurassic World is set to be released on June 12th, 2015!