Geek To Me

Gaming geek creates back to high school experience with SCHOOL DAZE

geektome — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:35:08 +0000

When I was in high school, I would play Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with my friends. We’d get together during study period or after class, and transport ourselves to exotic, far-off lands full of magic and adventure, all via the power of our imaginations and a set of dice.

It’s been a while since I’ve played an old-school Role Playing Game (RPG) and I’m guessing that I would really enjoy getting back into it. There’s something about the social interaction that happens at the game-playing table that I prefer to on-line gaming. But whether I’d play D&D or some other type of tabletop game has yet to be decided. I’m wondering if I should get back into the world of RPGs with Tracy Barnett’s SCHOOL DAZE. Tracy is a full-on gaming nerd that I met on Twitter years ago. I mean, the fact that he goes by the Twitter handle of @Rolling20s should say a lot about him. He loves RPGs so much that he has been developing his own RPG that lets players re-live their high school years…sort of.

In this interview for Geek To Me, I asked Tracy about his gaming background; his game SCHOOL DAZE; and which country in North America has the superior sense of humor:

Geek To Me: Tell me, how long have you been into gaming?

Tracy Barnett: I’ve been gaming for most of my life, but only actively for the last 10 years, or so. I got a copy of the Red Box when I was about 8, and used it to make many characters whose stats were all 18s, and who never saw a single session of play. After playing a ton of Baldur’s Gate in my computer in college, a buddy asked me if I wanted to play 3rd Edition D&D. I did that for about 6 years, then had a hiatus before I started running my own games. A landmark moment in my gaming life was Origins 2010, it was there that I played my first game that wasn’t D&D. I got hooked, and hooked big. Now, I’ll play almost anything.

Geek To Me: Any faves growing up?

TB: I’ve always had a soft spot for Dragonlance, as I read those books when I was but a wee lad. In my mind, green dragons still breathe chlorine gas, and are capable of terrible machinations against secluded groups of elves. With the advent of Baldur’s Gate in my life, I fell in love with the Bhaal story. I really, deeply want to run a D&D campaign that explores the story of those games from an outsider’s perspective… or one where Bhaal comes back again. The thought makes me giddy.

Geek To Me: Are you a tabletop or card gaming kind of geek?

TB: I tend very heavily towards tabletop RPGs. I will definitely play and enjoy card and board games, but my bread-and-butter is RPGs. There’s just something about the collaborative storytelling that lights me up. Unsurprisingly, I usually GM games, or I play glib charismatic characters. I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut at the game table.

Geek To Me: Tell me about the one you’ve created?

TB: It’s still a little odd to have someone ask about that, as School Daze is the first game design I’ve ever done, really. School Daze is a story-driven game that’s designed to tell stories in a high school setting. That means the system is really light, and the game focuses a lot on what the players bring to the table. It takes 10 minutes to make a character, so that and someone to run the game, and you’ve got a pick-up experience that is a blast.

Oh yeah, and the high school bit. I know it probably turns a lot of people off to think about revisiting high school. To you, I say these two things: this is an unrealistic game. It’s designed to emulate high school like we see in movies, and on TV, so you’re not bound to relive anything. It’s The Breakfast Club, not your own senior year. Second, if you’re still worried, take this as an opportunity to stop letting your high school years haunt you. This is just a game, and I’m not psychologist, but this might help you move on. Give it a shot.

Geek To Me: How does it differ from games that are already on the market?

TB: It differs in that it’s very free-form. Now, that’s not a unique thing in the indie RPG world (School Daze was heavily influenced by Fiasco, among other things), but in the mainstream world of D&D and Pathfinder, having a character with no real stats whose actions are largely determined by how the story goes (with a little dice rolling thrown in) is different. Every game of School Daze I’ve played or seen, everyone has had a blast. High school is a time that everyone remembers, and it’s not hard to play the stereotypical characters that we grew up with, and saw emulated on TV.

It’s also different because it’s all licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-only license. That means you’ll always be able to get the rules at my website (http://www.sandandsteam.net/schooldaze), and you’ll be able to share the final product, hack it, make a game based on it, or whatever, as long as it’s attributed properly. We, as gamers, hack and adapt the games we play. It’s in our nature. I want people to feel free to do that with my game without any fears of me coming after them for any copyright nonsense.

Geek To Me: Good, chaotic, neutral or what?

TB: The world? Largely neutral, because everything balances out. Me? Chaotic Good, without doubt. I tend towards neutral when I need to focus and get something done, but I like to walk my own path.
My cats? Chaotic neutral, all the way. Pet me! Now I’m gonna puke! Wait? Is that your hand? Attack!

Geek To Me: Is it true that Canadians are funnier than Americans?

TB: Well, yeah! I mean, come on, have you seen Strange Brew? No contest.

Geek To Me: Finally, where can people learn more about your Kickstarter project?

TB: The School Daze Kickstarter is here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/170831994/school-daze and we’re on our way to our second stretch goal, which is an expanded setting book for Trowbridge High, Home of the Fighting Kraken. You can also check out my website: http://www.sandandsteam.ne and follow me onTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/Rolling20s

Are Level Caps Killing Your Game?

geektome — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:30:46 +0000

Level Caps Killing Your Game? – Written by Sean “Blazek” Emes, Edited by Jordan “Doomhammer” Kahn

The Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) industry has been in a pretty sad state over the last seven years. Many games have been released only to disappoint hundreds of thousands of fans who proceed to discard the game within months, causing most games to fail or switch to a free-to-play model to stay alive. So what’s the problem with most of these games? They try to emulate that game we love to hate: World of Warcraft (WoW). The ironic thing is that WoW has been around for eight years and most of its fame and popularity was generated from the release and its first expansion. Now, even WoW has changed and the model has caused players to become increasingly disappointed since the expansion of Wrath of the Lich King.

Graphics and Gore Will only get you so far

So what’s the problem?

The main issue with MMO’s is actually the same issue with most console / single player games: what do I do when I beat it? Now that sounds funny to say about a game that has a persistent online world, but it is very true for most MMO games today. From Rift to Star Wars to Warcraft to Warhammer, players hit a wall when they finish leveling and accomplish all the end-game content, effectively “beating” the game. At this point players are forced to do the same thing week after week until a new dungeon comes out, or get tired of it and cancel their subscription. Even worse, most of these games kill off prior end game content, meaning new players will never experience a large portion of the game, and loyal players go through many hours of work just to have gear replaced, in some cases much quicker than before.

Back to Basics:

The reason we get excited about some new MMO is because it does something different that we like. We continue to play through the leveling process as we have a goal, getting to the level cap, and it takes effort to get there. Most games are able to find ways to make leveling both entertaining and difficult and thus it feels rewarding to play through the game and have that maxed level character as a symbol of our accomplishment. However when we no longer have a goal and are just repeating the same predictable thing every week, we lose interest.

The original idea of MMO games was to have a persistent online universe that always had something to do, or some way to improve ourselves or our friends. Developers need to get back to this basic idea and give players a way to constantly stay engaged and a reason to continue to play.

Okay, true but what’s the alternative?

Most MMO games create or expand upon fairly unique ideas that make their game different and at least enjoyable the first time through. This is where all the hype is generated and players feel hopeful about their new game. Unfortunately, this fun factor dies before or at the level cap when the content is finished by excited gamers, leaving not enough interesting content to do. There are, however, at least two very clear solutions developers can take to keep players interested and thus retain subscriptions.

Love it or not, FFXI was able to keep a very loyal fanbase for years

The first method is pretty simple: Stop killing your content!

Final Fantasy 11 and Dark Age of Camelot actually did an amazing job at this; the level cap in both games was not raised over the life of these games (only recently with FF11), however developers found ways to either reinvigorate older content or simply diversify items so much that all prior endgame areas were worth doing. Final Fantasy did this best as every expansion provided some very valuable items that took weeks, sometimes months, to acquire. Many of these items provided a unique bonus that could only be attained from limited rare items, giving new players a vast amount of content and veterans a feeling of accomplishment without actually losing value of items attained.

The second method, a never ending war with spoils towards the winning realm.

Now, this sounds much more on the side of PvP oriented games, however adaptations have been attempted already, with mixed success. Two examples were the NPC factions in Aion and Tabula Rasa. While it is true these two games did poorly, it was not strictly because of their NPC factions or the consistent war. Mostly, developers fail to realize what this system actually requires and we end up with many games that claim to have expansive PvP but are nothing more than battlegrounds and meaningless open world combat. Conversely, there are a handful of games that have been “successful” with this model. For example it’s the single reason Dark Age of Camelot was able to celebrate their 10 year anniversary last year, and most of their audience decline is due to the age of the game with an outdated engine or game mechanics, and a much younger audience entering the world of MMO games.

Because of the Realm War, DAoC kept my Subscription for 5 Years!

Food for Thought:

Most, if not all, MMO games released in the past seven years have attempted to follow a flawed example, one that wasn’t even what led to World of Warcraft‘s success. Combined with launch issues and the incredible amount of options on the market, many players end up going back to what they knew or jumping on each new thing right as it releases. Developers need to break this habit, create some innovation and consider what will actually keep players for the long run. Two simple ways to do this are to give so much content throughout the life of the game that players always have something to do to feel rewarded, or to create a world where there is no ultimate ending. While there’s always the risk that players will feel frustrated and overwhelmed at always having more stuff to have to do, giving them that opportunity will continue to bring players back again and again. Just don’t let the game engine get out of date.

Article written for Geek to Me and reproduced with permission of the author and vVv Gaming.

Follow Sean “Blazek” Emes on Twitter!

MLG takes e-sports to the next step

geektome — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:20:28 +0000

MLG: Taking E-Sports to the Next Step – Written by Sean “Blazek” Emes, Edited by Jordan “Doomhammer” Kahn

The Major League Gaming (MLG) Winter Arena was a highly controversial topic a few weeks back, sparking lots of debate on the Pay-per-view structure and raising the question is eSports ready for this jump? By the end of the weekend, the nay-sayers were silenced and MLG had clearly showed that not only can it be done, but it can be excellent. With notably few technical issues, the only real problem was trying to pay attention to just one game! Even this was alleviated by MLG’s drag and drop stream features and numerous stream setups, allowing rapid switching between games and even the ability to watch all four streams at once!

Many people watched in anticipation and silence during the finals at vVv Gaming’s Virtual Barcraft.

The Event itself was simply amazing. With 32 of the best Starcraft 2 players from around the world flown into New York to compete, the three day tournament offered over $26,000 in prize money. The matches themselves were all entertaining and every player proved themselves to be the best in the world. The North American favorite, HuK, fell short of the top, but took third after playing some incredible matches during the first two days. The final matches featured DongRaeGu, who was following the momentum of a great comeback from Losers Round 2 and managed to take the first set 2-1. But at the end of the day he was taken out by the MLG Champion, MarineKing.

With most of the fires out and the dust subsided, the event was a hands down success. It proved that gamers not only want quality content but that we are willing to pay for it. Riding the wave of this success, MLG‘s CEO, Sundance DiGiovanni, announced at the conclusion of the Winter Arena that two more arena events will be coming in the spring season. Great news for North American eSports, and it shows the next direction MLG will be expanding. While it might not be the only future of eSports, it’s definitely a strong step in the right direction!

It May be time to dust off those arcade sticks, Fighting Games are coming back to MLG!

So where does this leave us? The MLG Winter Championship is just a few weeks away in Columbus, Ohio, with even more games and money up for grabs! While many competitive titles haven’t been sharing the same success as Starcraft, a rising tide lifts all boats and growth of eSports for one title is a growth of eSports in general. It is far more possible for other competitive titles to grow following in the wake of Starcraft’s success. Call it a gateway eSport if you will.

Article written for Geek To Me and reproduced with permission of the author and vVv Gaming.

Follow Sean “Blazek” Emes on Twitter!

NBC’s Community returns with animated shorts

geektome — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:30:21 +0000

After months of speculation and worry that it wasn’t coming back, the NBC comedy COMMUNITY is returning to the airwaves. It’s the show that many will say “outgeeks” Big Bang Theory, the show that it goes up against each week. And to prove it, here we have a series of animated shorts to prime COMMUNITY fans for the return of their favorite show!

If only the lawyers at NBC hadn’t put the kibosh on the independent production of a “Inspector Spacetime” web-series, we’d have even more geeky goodness out there promoting the show!

The Muppets play The Hunger Games!

geektome — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:35:17 +0000

When they were building up the anticipation for “The Muppets” movie’s release in theaters, they made a cleverly crafted parody of “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” Now, ahead of the film’s release on DVD and Blu-Ray, Kermit and Co. bring to us their take on “The Hunger Games”!

Does this whet your appetite for more Muppets mayhem? Did you see the film in the theaters or were you holding out for the DVD? Let me know in the comment section and check back for my review of The Muppets on DVD.

The Muppets is Available March 20th! The Wocka Wocka Value Pack, contains the movie on Blu-ray high-definition, DVD and Digital Copy (3 discs) plus a download card for the film’s soundtrack from Walt Disney Records!

“Like” THE MUPPETS on Facebook!

Star Wars: The Musical returns to Chicago!

geektome — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:35:38 +0000

There once was a time when I thought that no good could come of making a musical out of Star Wars. I mean, considering that the first time I’d ever seen something of the sort done, it was in the Star Wars Holiday Special and Carrie Fisher sang the “Life Day Song.” Oy.

But since then, I’ve seen how much fun Star Wars can be when it’s interpreted by folks who really get it. I got a real kick out of the gals at Gorilla Tango Burlesque with their “A Nude Hope: A Star Wars Burlesque“ show. They really knew how to sauce it up and get a chuckle while they were at it.

Which is why I have “a new hope” for some side-splitting, science-fantasy based comedy with the upcoming “Stars! Wars! A Musical” from my friends at Octavarius. They’ve tackled the world of pro-wrestling, and spoofed the Founding Fathers, so taking the story of Luke Skywalker and Co. and putting it to music shouldn’t be any big whoop for them. Here are the deets:

I sure hope she can sing better than Carrie Fisher.

” After their ComedySportz run ends, Octavarius is back on stage at the Mercury Theater for one-night-only show “Stars! Wars! The Musical“ on Friday, March 9 at 8pm. The musical, back by popular demand, tells the story of “Star Wars: A New Hope” with completely original song and dance numbers, accompanied by a live band.

Following the musical, Octavarius will perform their signature nefarious improv set with robot R2D2. Individuals who dress like characters from the epic film, or bring a lightsaber, will gain a discounted admission fee of $7, regularly $10.

Tickets for Octavarius’ “Stars! Wars! The Musical” can also be purchased in advance online at http://mercurytheaterchicago.com/.”

I’m thinking about getting out my old Jedi Robes from Halloween and dressing up for the show. What character are YOU going dressed as?

The Fades brings a British spin to the undead apocalypse

geektome — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:00:22 +0000

It seems to me that as of late, BBC America is becoming the network that SyFy used to be. The home of shows like Doctor Who and Top Gear, BBC America has created an impressive stable of top notch sci-fi and fantasy shows. They’ve secured the rights to air the U.S. television hit Battlestar Galactica; and have already seen their fantasy series Being Human remade into an “American” version. (Which, quite frankly, makes no sense to me. I mean, it’s not like they’re speaking a foreign language, right?)

BBC America now adds The Fades to the roster of shows that American sci-fi/fantasy geeks are sure to enjoy. Named for the undead beings that roam the streets of London – and the world over – The Fades tells the story of Paul (Iain De Caestecker), a nerdy British teen who is dealing with the challenges of being the school outcast, having a very cruel sister, and dreaming of the apocalypse. After having a vision of very bad things to come, Paul and his buddy Mac (Daniel Kaluuya) find themselves crossing paths with a group called the Angelics, a secret cadre of agents whose mission is to dispatch the undead from our world to the next. We soon discover that Paul is meant to join their ranks, a destiny he’s not all that willing to accept. As the series progresses, we find that for Paul it’s hard to distinguish which of the two worlds he lives in – the world of the high school dork or of one who has been chosen to help stave off the apocalypse – is more difficult.

The writing on the show is pretty snappy, with the storytelling non-linear, so you have to really pay attention to keep up with what’s going on. No spoon feeding plot points here. And it came as a bit of a surprise to me, anglophone that I am, that Paul and Mac were so steeped in American pop-culture as they were. They reminded me a bit of Shawn and Gus from the show Psych, and the number of references to Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Spider-man and even Mork and Mindy made me chuckle. Also, I really want to believe that the reason Paul wears purple pants throughout the show is that it’s an homage to Marvel Comics. But that’s just me.

I give The Fades a Geek Factor Rating of 4 out of 5 Zombie-Killer Bullet Casings.

************

On February 21st, The Fades was released on DVD and Blu-Ray – with all 6 episodes of the premiere season being collected. The set contains Special Features like Extra Scenes, Deleted Scenes, Behind The Scenes featurettes, Outtakes and a series of shorts called “Mac Explains”, where Paul’s buddy explains the mythos of the series. I found those bits in particular to be very helpful myself.

You can own it on DVD or Blu-Ray by ordering it from the BBC Store or you can WIN a copy of The Fades on DVD by entering my contest!

What is the contest, you ask? Well, it’s easy: to enter to win a copy of The Fades on DVD courtesy of BBC Home Entertainment, all you have to do is comment below and tell me what superpower you would want to fight the undead

Everyone who comments will be entered into a random drawing for a copy of The Fades on DVD. Deadline for entry is 5:00 PM CST on Friday, March 9th, 2012. (Winner to be notified via e-mail. DVD to be shipped directly to the winner by BBC Home Entertainment. One entry per person please.)

Answering the homophobes against “Life with Archie”

geektome — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:30:32 +0000

I’m sorry, I try to be tolerant, I really do, but sometimes the ignorant and hateful make it too easy to mock them. I mean, watch any particular episode of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report and you’ll see that they’ve made a cottage industry of making FOX NEWS look foolish. And then take a group like One Million Moms who took notice of a recent issue of “Life With Archie” and decided that they needed to organize a boycott of Toys R’ Us for selling that particular comic book.

What was going in in “Life With Archie” that offended the OMM so much? Were they upset that Archie chose Veronica over Betty? Or that Jughead was revealed to have some sort of eating disorder? No, of course not. The group – which I seriously doubt actually has a membership of “one million moms” – was protesting that Archie cast member Kevin – the first and only openly gay character in the history of Archie Comics – was getting married to his same-sex partner.

To make their “voices heard”, the OMM set up an on-line campaign, complete with a form letter for folks to fill out and send to reps of Toys R’ Us. Here it is:

“As a mother and a member of OneMillionMoms.com, I am extremely disappointed to learn that select Toys ‘R’ Us stores are now selling ‘Archie’ comic books with a same-sex wedding displayed on the front cover. I am referring to the ones where the front cover reads “Just Married” with two men marrying, one wearing a service uniform.

I am aware that Toys ‘R’ Us employees do not actually set up the displays; they leave this up to the vendor. Your company should be aware of the merchandise being sold in your stores nonetheless. These comic books are displayed at the front checkout counters so they are highly visible to employees, managers, customers and children.

Unfortunately, children are now being exposed to same-sex marriage in your toy store. This is the last place a parent would expect to be confronted with questions from their children on topics that are too complicated for them to understand. Issues of this nature are being introduced too early and too soon, which is becoming extremely common and unnecessary.

A trip to the toy store turns into a premature discussion on sexual orientation and is completely uncalled for. Toys ‘R’ Us should be more responsible in the products they carry.

Please remove all the same-sex “Just Married – Archie” comic books immediately from your shelves. My decision to shop in your stores depends on it.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding my concern.”

Of course, this sort of outrage brings to mind the histrionics of Helen Lovejoy, the wife of Reverend Lovejoy on the animated series “The Simpsons.”

The thing about the letter is that you can go in and edit it to suit your own purposes, which is exactly what I did. (Thanks to my BleedingCool.com editor Rich Johnston for the idea!) I’ve highlighted my changes:

From:
To:
Cc:
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 12:12:07 -0600
Subject: THANK YOU FOR Same-Sex Archie Comics in Toy R’ Us!

As a mother and a member of OneMillionMoms.com (well, I’m not really a mother but have been called one from time to time), I am extremely elated to learn that select Toys ‘R’ Us stores are now selling ‘Archie’ comic books with a same-sex wedding displayed on the front cover. I am referring to the ones where the front cover reads “Just Married” with two men marrying, one wearing a service uniform.

I am aware that Toys ‘R’ Us employees do not actually set up the displays; they leave this up to the vendor. Your company should be aware of the merchandise being sold in your stores nonetheless. THIS BOOK IS AWESOME! These comic books are displayed at the front checkout counters so they are highly visible to employees, managers, customers and children. MORE PEOPLE SHOULD SEE THEM! YOU SHOULD HIRE AN EMPLOYEE TO SPECIFICALLY DIRECT PEOPLE TO WHERE THEY CAN FIND THE BOOK!

Finally, children are now being exposed to same-sex marriage in your toy store. Until now, all they had were toys that reinforced sexist gender roles – like blue is for boys and pink is for girls – and items that glorified the use of violence to solve problems (I mean, just look in any action figure aisle). You would think that this is the last place a parent would expect to be confronted with questions from their children on topics that are too complicated for them to understand, but sometimes we don’t give our kids enough credit for being smarter than we think they are. Issues of this nature are being introduced too late and too infrequently, which is becoming extremely common and regrettable.

A trip to the toy store turns into a teaching moment on sexual orientation and is something that all good parents should be prepared for. Toys ‘R’ Us should commended in the products they carry.

Please add more same-sex “Just Married – Archie” comic books immediately to your shelves. My decision to shop in your stores may depend on it. Also add more Pokemon because my kid keeps asking for it. Oh, and more Monster High figures. Do you know how hard it is to find that “Ghoulia” doll my daughter keeps asking for? I had to find the last one on eBay and got robbed!

I look forward to hearing from you regarding my concern. Seriously, add more Pokemon.

Sincerely,

Elliott Serrano

On a related note, the book is currently selling out, so thank you to the comic book community for showing that not everyone is narrow-minded and bigoted. Now let’s get back to discussing matters that are truly worth debating, like whether Captain America could beat Batman in hand-to-hand combat.

Sonic brings “Justice League” in tot form!

geektome — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:10:23 +0000

Ever since a Sonic Drive-In opened near my house, it’s been all I could do to resist eating there almost every week. Between their aggressive marketing, funny TV ads and deals on Groupon and Living Social, they make themselves pretty hard to pass up. Comic book geeks are now going to have the additional temptation of wanting to collect the new “Justice League Tots” that Sonic is offering in their “Wacky Pack” kids meals.

The “tots” are small plush toys that are modeled after 10 different Justice League characters. You have Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Hawkgirl, Plastic Man, Clark Kent and Bizarro. (No, there isn’t a Batman tot. And yes, I do find it odd that they included Bizarro who really isn’t a member of the Justice League, but is a darn cute tot.)

I pleaded with the folks at Sonic that I wouldn’t be able to make so many trips to their fine fast-food establishment to collect the whole set – what with my “Geek Fit Challenge” coming up – but that I would be happy to spread the word about these geeky toys if they sent me a few to add to my office collection.

They were more than happy to oblige and went so far as to send me the whole set! They went even one better, which I’ll explain after you check out the gallery of “Justice League Tots” taken at Geek Central:

These little dudes make fun playtime activities for young children – and the young at heart – and can even be enjoyed by your dog or cat who is every bit the comic book geek that you are. (I love how Plastic Man has little legs that stretch!)

Now, since I always love sharing the wealth with my readers, the folks at Sonic have offered me a SECOND COMPLETE SET of “Justice League Tots” to give to one of YOU. In addition, one lucky reader will not only get the set of tot toys but also a $20 gift card to use at your local Sonic Drive-In. Ginchy, huh?

If you’d like to qualify for the Sonic “Justice League Tots” Prize Pack, all you have to do is follow me on Twitter and comment below with your Twitter handle. Everyone who follows/comments will be entered into a random drawing which will take place on Friday, March 9th, 2012. Winner to be notified via Twitter DM.

(Justice League Tots and gift card to be sent directly to winner by representatives of Sonic Drive-In.)

Second “Avengers” Trailer hits the Internet!

geektome — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:00:14 +0000

On May 4th, the culmination of 2 years of Marvel movies will be realized with the release of “The Avengers.” (Technically it’s called “Marvel’s The Avengers” – and is even titled “Avengers Assembled” in the UK, which all sounds like some silly branding issues.) The first trailer met with rave reviews, and this second one is getting all the Marvel Zombies (the nickname for fans of the MU) worked up:

We’ve got a couple choice additions to this trailer, namely some showing the role that the Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) will be playing in the team. Of course, knowing that Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) wrote the screenplay, it comes as no surprise that he would give his lone female Avenger an important role.

So far, this is looking like it’s going to be a fun film. I just hope they haven’t given away too much in the trailer.

What do you think?