In Case You Haven't Been Paying Attention 12/05/08

Not paying attention hurts. 


Thankfully for you, we've got all the latest news updates during the busy holiday season.


Avoid the black eyes, bruised muscles, and strained groins.  Especially the groins.

Conflict of Heroes

Academy games have announced the release schedule for upcoming entries in their lauded Conflict of Heroes tactical wargames system. The order of release will be:

- Stalingrad

Although dates have not yet been forthcoming. Which is a shame, seeing as they're fairly appropriate to the North Aftrican theatre.






Fantasy Flight Games


FFG's big holiday sale is still going but is due to end shortly.  Perikles is already sold out but there are lots of other boardgames, CCGs, and miniatures still available.  There are some killer deals on AT-43 in particular if you're into the whole minis thing.  Head on over to their website to check out the deals if you haven't already.


The Talisman 4th Edition (FFG version) Rules are up: 
http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Talisman/Talisman%20Rules2.pdf


Other updates to their site include the rulesbooks for Android and Cosmic Encounter, and a new BattleLore scenario that features the Troll.



Andrea Fanhoni from Nexus Games sent us this information:

"The rulebook of Age of Conan, the strategy board game that lets each player control one of the four major kingdoms of the Hyborian Age,  is now available for download, at www.nexusgames.com.

In Age of Conan, players fight with armies, sorcery, and intrigue to conquer their enemies and make their kingdoms the most powerful in the world. However, only one will win the allegiance of the mightiest hero of all – Conan the Cimmerian! Published by NG International/Nexus Games, Age of Conan will be available worldwide in Italian, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish edition in february 2009.

The rulebook can also be downloaded at Fantasy Flight Games website, www.fantasyflightgames.com, that publishes the English language edition of the game."






Internet Wank

Changes to Thoughthammer's shipping policies (from their website):

"Thought Hammer charges a flat rate of $9.00 for shipping on all orders to a single address that total less than $100.00 (before tax), and $4.50 for orders over $100.00. Customers are charged per order total, not per game. For orders that total $150.00 or more, shipping is free to single addresses within the 48 contiguous states."















Deal looks to end this Sunday so better act quickly if you want to take advantage.







New Masters of the Universe Figures Now Available!
















Longtime ABC show Boston Legal airs its finale this Monday, so don't miss your chance to see William Shatner as Denny Crane one last time...Nathan Fillion of Firefly, Buffy, and Lost fame (among others) has a new show coming out called Castle.  In it, he'll be playing a mystery writer who actually helps police solve crime.  The show is set to debut March 9th, 2009 at 10 pm...the finale for the putrid Knight Rider remake airs on February 23rd, as NBC cut the number of episodes ordered.  By all accounts, the show is done for after this finale airs...ER has a finale date of March 12th, bringing an end to the long-running series...Reaper returns to the CW on Tuesday, March 17th...Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate), is executive producing a new series for TNT starring Timothy Hutton and a team of theives acting as modern day Robin Hoods.  Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek: TNG fame is set to direct a few episodes...The Sci-Fi network announced this week that Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel, has been ordered as a series, with the pilot expected to air in mid-2010.  It will take place 50 years before the Cylon War and star Eric Stoltz, Polly Walker, and Esai Morales.  Maybe Fantasy Flight can get a head start on bringing us a killer boardgame based on the new show...

(TV news credit of Ain't It Cool and 411mania.com.)





Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles

Yeah, so I'm giving this a special section for whenever I decide to write about it.  The good news:  the show's ratings were up 26% this past week--of course, competition was a bit lighter.

The episode was sort of a weird one as it had Cameron making friends with a library guy as she tried to unravel a mystery about a Terminator that had leaped back into the wrong time, into the 1930s.  Summer Glau's Cameron character is absolutely the most fascinating part of the show as there's obviously some emotional wiring in her. 

I don't know that I dig the recent revelation about John Connor's girl pal--if you haven't seen it I won't spoil it--but it's kind of out of left field. 

I'm still waiting to see exactly what they have planned for Shirley Manson's T-1000 character...her motives still have yet to really be revealed.

If you haven't watched it much, check it out.  Download the torrents or whatever and get caught up.  The show started out pretty good and continues to improve each week.




Heroes

On the flipside, I'm almost ready to sign off on Heroes after this past episode.  The whole Eclipse thing was a total bust, and if they're really going to just revert Sylar's character at the drop of a hat, screw 'em.  Kring has gone on record (again) apologizing for the quality of the show this season, and there's been axing of the creative crew with Brian Fuller (from season 1 of Heroes, and more recently Pushing Daisies) stepping back in late season to try and get the show back on track.

It's frustrating to watch this show because for every cool thing they do, they find an equal way to screw things up.  Their payoffs for many of their story elements just never seem to really work out all that well...who can forget the "battle" at the end of Season 1?