Dana, creator and host of the wonderful Stimulated Boredom, must really like us. During his latest podcast he took time to mention Atomik despite having plenty of things Comic-Con to talk about with guest co-host Vanessa G of Girls Gone Geek.

I’ll put it this way: as a listener, testing the waters of a new podcast is daunting. With so many choices out there, what you need is a good old-fashioned recommendation. If you’re into interesting, down-to-earth, thought-provoking spoken word, Stimulated Boredom might be for you. If not, well, who left your cage unlocked?

Click it!

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Designed by Steve Thomas in the style of wartime propaganda, they ask that you “do your part” and “donate your quarters” to help keep the worlds involved safe. Try and guess which posters belong to which games (You can mouse over the blacked out text for the answers).

Donkey Kong

Dig Dug

Frogger

Joust

Galaga

Space Invaders

Ghosts n’ Goblins

Pac-Man

Spy Hunter

Missile Command

Asteriods

Centipede

The posters became so popular (and rightly so) that ThinkGeek decided to turn them into actual products!

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Sadly, being entirely fictional characters and games, they can’t actually help us. We’re stuck with something a little more like this:

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A Thomas Bess review of:

Directed By: Mike Newell

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, Richard Coyle, Steve Toussaint, Toby Kebbell, Ronald Pickup

Run Time: 116 gritty, windblown minutes.

Hello all! Sorry for the delay, but now that the doldrums of central May have passed, I am back with the review of a film that the Atomik readership is no doubt giddy for, I speak of course, about Sex and the City 2. Actually, that last sentence was a lie, being away from the keyboard for a few weeks has made me a bit loopy. With respect to any fans of Carrie Bradshaw and the other three consumer-istas, there is no way in hell I’d have the personal strength to pen a cogent review for that movie. No, I take that back. If the Atomik Brain Canisters can finesse it so Kristen Bell or Allison Mack would accompany me to the theater, I’d consider it. Might even keep the vitriol to a minimum, but no promises. Where was I? Oh yes, the real review. Anyhoo, so now that Iron Man 2 has at least temporarily slaked the public’s thirst for super heroic fare, it’s time for the annual “sweeping pseudo-historical epic in a place that is–or at least used to be–real, complete with a whole lotta magic, one liners and the fantastical ability to spawn sequels.” 2010’s entry is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and while it’s not perfect, it’s pretty darned fun.

The Plot

The plot goes a little something like this: Destan (Gyllenhaal, looking like C.M. Punk dressed as Battle Damage Aladdin) was plucked off the streets as a kid by the king (Pickup) and has since grown up to be one of three “Princes of Persia” alongside his brothers Tus (Coyle) and Garsiv (Kebbell). As our story begins, the princes and their uncle Nizam (Kingsley) are on their way to a holy city that is supposedly supplying weapons to Persia’s enemies. During the course of their attack, Destan stumbles across a big ol’ knife with what looks to be an oversized salt shaker grafted to the hilt. This pilfering irks the crap out of Princess Tamina (Arterton) as the dagger’s a sacred relic of her city and it absolutely, positively cannot fall into the wrong hands. After some flirtatious sniping with said princess, Destan comes into a whole load of trouble as he’s framed for the king’s murder and just like that the whole Persian army is on his tail. Accompanied by Tamina, he sets out to prove his innocence, catch his father’s killer and tinker with pre-Delorean, blade-based time travel.

The Good

What’s good? Gyllenhaal and Arterton are most definitely the stars of this show and thankfully both hold their own quite nicely. Also, and perhaps more importantly, they have solid chemistry in their shared scenes. Up to this point my biggest reference point for Jake had been Donnie Darko, which, while cool, doesn’t really scream “gravity defying action hero!” but he pulls off all of Destan’s acrobatic wackiness quite well while shifting between tough guy, funny guy and serious guy modes without missing a beat. Arterton isn’t really asked to do much more than be alternately snarky and earnest while occasionally taking on a few low-level bad guys with a sword or whatever might be handy. Sadly, she doesn’t get to tangle with any giant scorpions like she did in Clash of the Titans, but she proves a worthy partner for Destan and thankfully, doesn’t get all swoony and “saaaaaaaave me” when there’s mayhem afoot. The rest of the cast is solid, particularly Alfred Molina as a sleazy “entrepreneur” running ostrich races, but really everyone else is there to stand behind Destan, Tamina and the special effects. Speaking of the effects, they’re suitably epic and gritty, especially whenever the sub-titular sands of time are released from the dagger to do work their mojo. On a more practical level there’s plenty of slashings, slicings and impalings, but because we’re in the realm of PG-13 the blood is kept to a minimum, so those looking for arterial spray on the sand, keep those hopes in check ’cause it’s not happening.

The Not So Good

What’s not good? Well, it’s a relatively minor spoiler, but just in case, can I get the Brain Canisters to throw up the anti-spoiler rollover magic? Thanks. (Ok, so Ben Kingsley’s the villain. Shocker right?) And while he does a good job in the part, I never really got the impression that he was much of a threat, not even during the last reel when there’s a climactic showdown with Destan. He’s much more of a hang in the background and plot sort of Big Bad, which would be ok if the Prince were a little more cerebral himself. As it is, we’re presented with a conflict between chess player and war machine and everyone knows that once all the goons have been mowed down, the chess player is toast, which makes for a rather lackluster final battle. Thankfully, our heel has half a dozen Hassan-sins in his employ and they provide a much more immediate physical threat to our hero, even if their characters are ultimately defined more through their weapons than any sort of character development. Also, while I figure it was done to set the appropriate sparks a flyin‘, there’s a bit too much bickering and dagger stealing between Destan and Tamina in the first few reels. Considering that there’s a whole freakin’ army on their tail and that they keep saving each other’s lives, they’d just calm the hell down and let one or the other hold onto the blasted thing instead of putting them both in danger with all the infighting.

Should You See It?

Should you see it? I doubt that it’s going to change your life one way or the other, but if you’re in the mood for a fun way to kill two hours or simply looking to hide from a member of the fairer sex that wants you to endure SITC2, you could do a helluva lot worse than Prince of Persia. Oh, and a suggestion for any Bruckheimer underlings that might be listening: Presuming there’s a sequel, it needs to be something like: Prince of Persia: Conflagration of Rampaging Ninjas! I mean, truth in advertising is refreshing, right?

The Verdict

Taking a cue from another great desert epic, if “A Whole New World” is terrible and “Friend Like Me” is perfect, I’d say this flick is “Prince Ali” and that ain’t bad.

Til next time, always remember that the calls are coming from inside the house.

Tom Bess recently shaved his legendary sideburns at a cost of two hours and five pounds. The end result is a slightly puffier, but much more aerodynamic movie-reviewing machine who is still patiently waiting for Allison Mack to return his calls. While he’s waiting, he’ll read copious amounts of Lovecraft and eat too many Peach Gummy Bears.

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A representative of the show was able to answer a few of our questions:

Atomik: What is the cost to enter the event?

Peter Augus: There will be no admission fee for attendees to insure maximum traffic into the sales rooms. The two ballrooms are located in direct traffic flow where everyone attending the events will have to pass through the convention area.

Atomik: Can we expect to see the event making a return?

Peter Augus: This year our magazine has teamed up with the promoters of GayDayS to present Mari-CON 2010 and we hope to make it a yearly event.

Atomik: Where will the event be taking place?

Peter Augus: It will be held at the same host hotel as the GayDayS events in the ballroom across from the main pavilion. The admission for all guests will be FREE to assure constant flow of costumers for our vendors for both days. Our booths are 10×10, pipe & draped booths that will come have skirted tables and chairs.

Atomik: How much is it for a booth, per day?

Peter Augus: We are asking a nominal $100 per day for each booth (corner booths are $50 extra). Any vendors requiring more than one booth will get a discount for the additional ones. Set up for the convention will start on Thurs. the 3rd and the convention will be on FRIDAY, June 4th and SATURDAY, June 5th.

It’s very exciting for such an event to take place right in our backyard and even better that, being completely free, you have nothing to lose by attending.

For those of you not able to make it, Atomik has plans to attend the event and take enough pictures to make you think you were there. Stay tuned!

Full press release below:

What’s Happening Magazaine and GayDayS will present “The 1st Annual Mari-Con Comics & Collectibles Show” at the GayDayS host hotel (Doubletree Resort – Orlando on International Drive).

This FREE to the public event is the first of its kind to be held during GayDayS specifically catering to GLBT community but welcoming everyone who has a love of comics and collectibles. This year marks the 20th Anniversary of GayDayS and its theme HEROES was the perfect inspiration for us to finally realize one of our lifetime dreams of of organizing a comic book convention. THere will be music and videos playing throughout the show as well as live entertainment and REAL superheroes milling about for photo-ops with their fans.

The show will feature comic dealers from around the country, aritsts and writers as well as toy vendors, Sci-Fi, Horror, Anime & Gaming. There will bea special appearance by “Parthenon” Stan Lee’s Who Wants to be a Superhero, plus many more surprises and guests. There will be a suggested donation at the door of $5 to be donated to the Ave Project.

The Avenue Project Mission: To seek out the most progressive HIG/AIDS research available and share it with the public. We want to provide, en masse, the opportunity to follow the progress and participate in the process of ending this golbal pandemic in the next decade by empowering our cmomunitiies to bring their dynamic contributions to this battle.

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Edit 2: If you happened to miss it, the page has been immortalized (rightly so) over at www.Google.com/Pacman

Edit: After playing for a little too long, I discovered that two clicks of the “Insert Coin” button inserts two coins! This allows you to enter two player mode with the second player using WASD to control Ms. Pac-Man. Good luck!

Have you visited Google today? Being that it’s the 30th anniversary of our favorite yellow protagonist, today brings a Pac-Man themed Google Doodle. Rather than your normal, run-of-the-mill “doodle” though, today’s is special. It’s interactive.

If you spend about 5 seconds on the main Google page, it beings to change. (Alternately, if you aren’t into waiting, simply click the “Insert Coin” button that now resides in place of the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button). Fans of Pac-Man will immediately recognize the familiar “READY!” text that appears. Then from there, it’s time to play.

And the best part? The game seems fairly close to the original, with the obvious exception of the level shape. Outside of that, the fruits still change as you complete levels, and every few wins you still get a short animation of Pac-Man one-upping the ghosts. I guess if you can expect anyone to do something right, it’s Google.

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As movie video games go…well, they don’t generally go very well. While films take around two years to finish, most video games require twice that. Such a severely shortened production schedule guarantees an end product worth very little to anyone. Despite these disadvantages, Ubisoft’s adaptation of the upcoming Scott Pilgrim vs. The World seems to be coming along quite nicely.

In line with the films’ basic premise, the game appears to be a side-scrolling beat-em-up that still manages a few tugs at the ol’ heartstrings. To back up the majesty of the screenshots below, Bryan Lee O’Malley has assured us that Ubisoft intends to treat his baby with respect.

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A while back, Ken Levine wouldn’t tell us that he wasn’t working on an X-Com sequel. Joystiq was finally able to confirm that X-Com will be making a comeback and that 2k Marin will be overseeing the production. Word on the street suggests a departure from the original turn-based alien-fighting system of the first games in favor of exploring the world of XCOM from an “immersive new perspective and experience firsthand the fear and tension of this gripping narrative ride.”

XCOM is the re-imagining of the classic tale of humanity’s struggle against an unknown enemy that puts players directly into the shoes of an FBI agent tasked with identifying and eliminating the growing threat. True to the roots of the franchise, players will be placed in charge of overcoming high-stake odds through risky strategic gambits coupled with heart-stopping combat experiences that pit human ingenuity – and frailty – against a foe beyond comprehension. By setting the game in a first-person perspective, players will be able to feel the tension and fear that comes with combating a faceless enemy that is violently probing and plotting its way into our world.

For those not familiar, 2k is responsible for both the Ayn Rand inspired Bioshock and the surrounding dystopian city of Rapture it takes place in. While I certainly don’t condone changing a game’s single most important gameplay element, it’s rather easy to be confident that 2K will create a worthy sequel to such a beloved franchise. For those looking for proof, search no further than the multi-million unit selling Bioshock franchise.

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The illustrious developers at The Behemoth, still plugging away at their latest title, have finally deemed us mere mortals worthy enough to unveil an official title, trailer AND basic premise. While many fans will forever refer to it as Game #3, BattleBlock Theater promises “A story about friendship, betrayal, and a whole truck load of cats.” While the phrase “truck load of cats” implies as many cats as would fit in a truck I think it’s safe to assume that the truck in question is fairly large, so, no worries there.

Having shipwrecked on a mysterious island you find yourself both betrayed by your best friend Hatty and captured by the locals. All of this is happening while being forced into deadly performances. This however, is just the start of your problems.

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From right this second until Sunday, January 24th (’cause you know they can’t do this all week), The Behemoth is donating 200% of their Xbox Live Arcade profits to the Haiti relief fund. That means that not only will they be donating every ounce of profit made from the sales of their top-rated XBLA game Castle Crashers, the King and Necromantic DLC packs and their insta-hit Alien Hominid HD but the team at The Behemoth has also promised to match all profits made to better aid Haiti in their time of need.

So, if you planned on donating to those in need anyway, why not get two of the coolest Xbox Live Arcade games in the process?

Via The Behemoth Dev Blog

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