comic-con posts

Ah, Comic-Con. In the last few years its turned from being fairly PC and video game free to a place where most of the major publishers are holding court. Who would have thunk it?

• The free Alien Swarm game from Valve has gotten a new update, mostly for bug fixes.
• Can you guess what the next game from indie developer Mousechief will be?
• Kalypso Media sent over word that the expansion pack Tropico 3: Absolute Power, previously released via download, is now available in retail stores.
• Steam is offering the fantasy action-RPG Dimensity on sale for a 10 percent discount.
• Steam is now offering for sale the previously released DLC map pack for The Settlers 7.
• Someone created a custom StarCraft 2 map that looks and plays like the artsy PS3 game flOw.
• Check out this video from last week's Develop conference. No words; just watch

The 2010 edition of the San Diego Comic-Con is now just 10 days away and today the massive pop culture event has revealed the panel schedule for the final day of the show on Sunday, July 25. Sunday is usually the slowest day of the event and panel event programming is usually themed for the kids and that's certainly true for the game-related panels on that date.

One of them will feature members of Gazillion as they take about their upcoming kids themed Marvel Universe MMO Super Hero Square Online. Another panel takes a look at the entire Halo franchise; not just the games but all of the other aspects of Microsoft's game series (novels, comics, action figures, etc). Finally Netdevil team members host a discussion of the upcoming Lego Universe MMO title. You can check out all of Comic-Con 2010's games-related programing by using the Games tag on the web site's schedule page.

One interesting panel that's happening at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 24 that we missed mentioning on Saturday was one that involves Ubisoft's Ghost Recon franchise. You may remember a few months ago that Ubisoft plans to release a live action short movie based on the military shooter franchise. It's being designed in part to promote the upcoming release of Ghost Recon Future Soldier.

On July 24 at Comic-Con Ubisoft will hold a panel where the first trailer for the live action short film will be shown for the first time. The panel will also have a live demo of Ghost Recon Future Soldier which is due for release in the first quarter of 2011.

The official San Diego Comic-Con web site has been updated once again, this time with the schedule of panels for Saturday, July 24. Saturday is usually the busiest day in terms of attendance for the sold out pop-culture event and there's lots of game-related programing slated for that day.

One very interesting panel for that Saturday will apparently reveal for the first time a new game in the Spore franchise. According to the schedule the panel will feature members of Eleclronic Arts' Maxis development studio. They will reveal "a brand new, Sci-Fi Action-RPG based on the DNA of Spore."

Other game-based panels scheduled for that day include Guild Wars 2, Red Faction Armageddon, and non-PC games like God of War, Epic Mickey and more.

Later this month the sold out San Diego Comic-Con begins and it's becoming more and more of a place for game developers and publishers to show off upcoming titles and even make a few game announcements. The official Comic-Con web site has just posted up their panel schedule for the first day of the convention, Thursday, July 22, and it reveals that one game will be getting its world premiere during the show.

That game will be "Project Mercury" the code name for the upcoming RPG title from 38 Studios, the game developer formed by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, and its subsidiary Big Huge Games. Big Download confirmed that the panel will indeed be about "Project Mercury" via a 38 Studios rep. The panel discussion, which will feature Schilling, art director Todd McFarlane, author R. A. Salvatore and designer Ken Rolston, will reveal the actual game title and will also have the premiere of the first trailer for the game.

July 22's panel schedule for Comic-Con is going to have lots of other game-themed programming including panels on City of Heroes: Going Rogue, Dead Rising 2, World of Warcraft, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2 and more.

While PC gamers wait patiently for the release of the PC port of Darksiders sometime in September publisher THQ has announced plan to release merchandise related to the action game from developer Vigil Games. Two of these items will debut during this July's San Diego Comic-Con.

One of them is The Art of Darksiders,a book containing tons of concept artwork from the game. It will be released in a limited print run at Comic-Con by Udon Entertainment and will be generally be released in October. Also SOTA Toys will show off a 14 inch statue of the lead character in the game WAR during Comic-Con. The statue will be the first of a series based on Darksiders and will be sold sometime later this year.

E3 2010 is over but the next big event is just over a month away. It's the San Diego Comic-Con on July 22-25 and the massive convention is already sold out of its tickets. 125,000 people are expected to attend this year's event and game publishers and related companies are all set to attend.

Game publishers have been making a bigger push to attend Comic-Con in recent years and this year's exhibitor list shows that's continuing with companies like EA, Ubisoft, THQ, Capcom, NCsoft and many other listed as attending the how. There should also be a number of game related panels and events at Comic-Con and we will report on them when they are announced.

Even with this crappy economy, the tickets for the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con have all been sold out for months. If you are lucky enough to get a ticket you will be able to have a change to purchase some exclusive comics, toys and other items at the July show.

Many action figure companies have exclusive products at Comic-Con and this week Toy News International reports that one of them, NECA, has revealed that their Comic-Con exclusives will include an Eleanor (with Saved Little Sister) figure from their BioShock 2 line up. This is likely just the first of what will be many game-oriented Comic-Con exclusives for 2010.

[Via Kotaku]

The official web site for the San Diego Comic-Con has just updated with a list of their panels for Friday, July 24 and yes, gaming is represented well in Friday's schedule as well. Since Friday is traditionally Star Wars Day at the show you might expect some Star Wars related game panels . . .and your expectations are correct.

There will be a Star Wars: The Old Republic panel that Friday with members of BioWare talking about their much anticipated MMO game. Capcom will have two panels on Friday, talking about Lost Planet 2 and their fighting games. There's even a panel centered on the MMO-themed online video series The Guild scheduled for Friday. We will post up news on what gaming panels will be in place for Comic-Con for its final two days this weekend.

When we and other web sites post up galleries of booth models for events such as E3 2009, it's always assumed that the models are there just for eye candy. Surely the babes know nothing about the products they are trying to sell, right? Well, not necessarily. CNBC's web site has a feature on a booth model agency that prides itself on hiring models that also happen to be gamers.

The agency, Charisma+2, was founded in 2008 by Yvonna Lynn (pictured above) who felt there was a niche to be filled by creating a company of models for events like E3, Comic-Con, QuakeCon and others. It can also be a way to break into the game industry. Lynn states, ""The main idea is to help these guys and girls get their foot into the door in an industry they normally would not have access to That's especially true with the ladies, because this is such a hard industry for women to break into."