Well folks it's official! For the next Magic the Gathering set we will returning to the plane of Ravinca in:

The set will be released in October 2012 and contain 272 cards. It's headed by Erik Lauer and Ken Nagler. Lauer was the lead developer on the vastly successful set Innistrad and Nagler was the lead designer on the Commander decks, as well as the lead designer on the Avacyn Restored set. It only makes sense that the return to the fan popular plane be headed by two heavy hitters. Wizards also released the set symbol: 

And this picture showing guild leader Niv-Mezzet standing with a blue eyed Jace:

So with very little information besides the aforementioned specs, I figured I'd at the rumor mill by making some predictions.

Prediction Number 1) I'm guess, with the trend of WOTC pushing new planeswalkers, that there                    will be a plainswalker for each guild. 

Prediction Number 2) We'll be seeing a return of the favored Shocklands

Prediction Number 3) They will be reprinting both Niv and Jace(Hopefully we won't have another Mind Sculptor)

Prediction Number 4) This will be a flavored based block. After the success of flavor based block Innistrad, and given the rich flavor of the original set/books, it'll be a logical step. 

Prediction Number 5) Jerkface Mill players( Who we still love here at FF), will get more cards to piss us off(make us happy). Hooray for another Unthinkable or Lobotomist

Weigh in with your predictions or comments below. We'll ring in with more information as it leaks. 

THE ROAD TO EVO



With the impending date of July 6 for EVO, one of North America's largest fighting game tournaments, contestants are furiously trying to build points for a higher seed in the tournament. By competing in tournaments such as UFGT or the Northwestern Regionals, players that rank high accumulate points that will determine their seeding in the EVO brackets.With the prize pool set at over $100,000, EVO hopefuls are battling it out to seed high and grab a piece of that cash. Two major tournaments happened the past week and had exciting and... disappointing results.

CEO 2012- A fantastic weekend of gameplay that culminated in Justin Wong taking the Grand Finals in both MvC3 and Street Fighter 4 AE. Wong looked flawless in Street Fighter, with perfect execution of Rufus' mixups and utilizing the new buff to the maximum. It was satifsing to see, though I'm not a Wong fanboy, him smack down Chris G in the Grand Finals of Marvel vs Capcom. G's lame keep away playstyle with Morgan was no match the rush down techniques of the Virgil/Frank combo. Spooky was live streaming the event and graciously put the VODS up on SRK's website for those who missed the live stream.


UFGT8- Once again, Chris G's "amazing" playstyle was showcased here. Taking the Grand Finals, and the excitement, with his lame Morgan keep away play. His opponent, hometown boy Brightside, battled his away up through the Winner's bracket with some amazing matches in the Top 8. If at the very least this Grand Finals, showcased Brightside as an emerging player and possibly somebody to look for at EVO. In the Street Fighter Top 4....well it was boring to be honest. Team Evil Genius made amazing case for why players should remember Rufus, with both Ricky Ortiz and Justin Wong placing in the Grand Finals with the rotund fighter. The only moment of hype came from a pre-victory dance from Wolfkrone in the Top 4. Check it out in the video below.

So at hopefully at EVO we can see more hype moments like that and less of Chris G's lame playstyle. I'll be there personally, interviewing players and watching matches. So we'll have up to the minute information. And for those that have never been or watched EVO, it can be summed up with this excessiely hype moment from EVO 2004

Reading Comics: A Primer

A friend of mine once confessed that she has never read a comic. I suggested that she was missing out, but then it occurred to me that a lot of people probably don’t read comics. For one reason or another they just have never picked up a comic. They may have skimmed through the newspapers funnies, but never sat down and read an issue or graphic novel. One thing that might have kept them away, other things being equal, is that they just simply don’t know how to read a comic. Comics aren’t like typical literature, where you read the story and mentally picture what is going on. Rather, comics as sequential art provide everything that’s going on through the panels—the sound, the action, the characters, etc. So I figured I could provide some help in how to read a comic.

First, two terms: panel and gutter. The panel(s), typically just a rectangle, is where the action occurs at a time (or lapse of time). The gutter is the space dividing the panels. If I have a page with two panels, one on top and one on the bottom with the gutter dividing the two, the action in the top panel precedes the action in the bottom. Scott McCloud explained that knowing what’s going on in the gutter is the fundamental thing needed in order to understand reading comics. He says that the shit between panel to panel is like a game of peek-a-boo where you see the parent (panel one), the parent is hidden (the gutter), and the parent re-appears (panel two). Upon development we recognize that although we don’t see the parent, we still know s/he is there. Likewise, the gutter serves as a time lapse between one action and another.

A panel page (a page that consists of a minimum of two panels) reads left to right, top to down. Let’s take a look at an example (Chew no.1, pg. 7):





Here we start (1) at the top moving downward to (2) then to the right (3) and so on till (5). Lettering, thought/chat bubbles, occurs in the same way—left to right, top to bottom. Dialogue on the top or left always has priority, and because comics have to somehow give a sense of time, also come before the other dialogue. (Side note: Bubbles that seem to drift from outside the panel--like in (4)--come from outside the panel, in the same way when watching a movie and a character behind the camera is speaking.)

I hope this helps some of you, and expect more to come. Feel free to leave any questions you may have on reading comics.

-Ignipotens

So did you not get enough Poyo the first time around? Well lucky for you, Chew's beloved luchador, secret agent chicken is getting his own one shot( Yes that is the cover art above). If it's anything like the last time Poyo showed up, we'll get some more glorious splash pages of a chicken eviscerating people. Good fun.  The issue is set for release on July 11 on Image Comics. Also, if you haven't checked out Chew yet, DO IT! It's probably one of the best books on the shelves today.

Frank Frazetta is a name that should ring a bell in most comic book reader's head. A master in fantasy art, Frazetta is a veteran in the comic book world having been featured in the old EC comics and most recently having new writers create adaptations of his famous paintings. Another new face is taking a spin on a Frazetta classic story, "Thun'da". CBR has an exclusive interview with Robert Naption and you can view it here. If you're looking to get into Frank's career this is a good point, or start with the book "Death Dealer" which is based off of Frank's artwork.

-CCI, the fine people that run Comic Con in San Diego have released the full schedule for the convention starting  on July 12. Check it out here

In my absentmindedness I forgot that yesterday was Comic Book Wednesday! So let's see what's been happening in the world of the funny books.

-Oh yes. She got her own book. Set in between Volumes 1 and 2 of Kick Ass, Mindy struggles to cope with life as a normal girl, all while dealing the bloody justice we've come to expect from her. Writer Mark Millar also said that he plans to reveal the back story of character Red Mist. The first issue hit stands yesterday, so go pick that up. 

-So over the course of the week Marvel has been releasing teasers of their upcoming "This is War" storyline. Tuesday we got a picture of Cap's shield and yesterday we saw a bloodied picture of Iron Man. Today Marvel showed what they had in store for Spiderman with this picture. 

No news yet at as to what this war will be about. Hopefully we'll flesh some things out in the upcoming panels this weekend and at Comic Con. From the looks of the pictures, the event might have something to do with the Punisher. The event is slated to be released in October, but hopefully we have more information before then.

Yo yo yiggity yo, nerds and nerdettes! Let's see what happened today in the world of video games!

- The video "Meet the Pyro" was officially released today, allowing players to finally get insight as to what goes on behind the mask of our beloved pyromaniac.  Check it out at the link below and feel free to mosey over to the TF2 website for more details on the just released patch. Also Adult Swim has paired up with the guys at TF2 to bring us a brand new Robot Chicken Hat! Yay! The also announced a new Machinima style  movie maker for TF2 but who cares about that?  NEW HATS!!!


-A website known as Valvetime, posted some gorgeous pics of what could be Half Life 2: Episode 3 related concept art. Nothing official that is from Half Life 2 :Episode 3 but it doesn't hurt to dream. Check out at the link below.

                                                        http://www.valvetime.net/

-Nintendo released a trailer for their upcoming Nintendo 3DS XL.The new version of the 3DS, totes the largest screen on a Gameboy and bigger Home/Pause/Start buttons. The thing looks massively huge and massively gorgeous but one wonders: will it still fit in your pocket? Surprisingly absent is the toggle stick that was originally available as an add-on for the 3DS. I felt it would have been a nice addition to the game, so I didn't have to shell out money for a Circle Pad Pro. But I guess I did log like 500 hours on Pokemon blue with only a directional pad...so who needs toggle sticks!

UPDATE: According to Kotaku, Nintendo plans to produce another Circle Pad Pro specifically for the 3DS XL.
                                       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwMvcTBZ-Wg


-Gamers everywhere are beginning to weigh in on the Mass Effect DLC.  The Wednesday release was planned to give players that felt cheated by the original ending something more substantial. Personally, I felt that it was a bad case of "too little  too late". I wasn't thrilled by the original ending but accepted it as the game's ending. Though I felt it was unnecessary, it was nice to see Bioware pay attention to what their fans want out of their games. If you haven't checked it out yet, pick up and weigh in at the comment section. 


- Dead or Alive 5 fans rejoiced earlier this week, at the announcement of new character Rig. In an issue of Famitsu, they revealed the brand new character will be a Tae Kwon Do specialist and be voiced by Hiroki Touchi(Chris in MvC 3). Now fans can catch Rig in a new trailer from Team Ninja, alongside fan favorite characters Bass and Christie.  Check it at the link below.( Thank you to SRK for this information)


                       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0dM70dhX_U&feature=player_embedded#!

- With the imminent release of The Amazing Spiderman movie, people are gearing up for the accompanying game. I've strayed from Spiderman games, as they either never embody the web-slinging I love about the series or the have any elements of a good video game. After it's showing at E3, The Amazing Spiderman has changed my feelings. The webslinging looks seamless and entertaining. They also have added in a layer of depth by allowing players to choose targets to sling to. So now the player has more input into Spidey's actions and the webslinging feels more real. I mean, as real as webslinging can feel. The demo trailer was about 8 mins and showed all aspects related to Spiderman flying around the New York skyline. Machinima has planned to live stream interview with the cast and crew of The Amazing Spiderman. The stream goes up tomorrow at 6:15 PM (PST) and can be found on Machinima's Youtube channel. 

Sources from the information above include: Joystiq, Kotaku, SRK, Machinma and Youtube

UPDATE: After perusing the inter-webs for a bit, I found a video posted by SkinSpotlights. This details all the moves for the new LoL character Jayce. It looks like his weapon switches between an axe and a gun, allowing him two different movesets. This could be confusing or incredibly fun, we'll see as more information comes out.  Link to the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIdUV3AH7bE

Welcome to the inaugural post of Focus Fire, a place where geeks and nerds can let down their hair and squeal like schoolgirls at the exciting new information posted here everyday. Let's see what we have on the docket today:

League of Legends News: For anybody that plays LoL, they'll know that the recent patch was less then helpful. Crashing servers and three hour login times, were the direct result of unforeseen problems by Riot.


" The problems we’re experiencing are database-related – specifically, it’s a data throughput issue. Our infrastructure handles a massive volume of data and requests every day, and the backend changes in this patch introduced a new bottleneck."(LoL Forums) 

Though this all sounds quite terrible, there actually was some amazing discoveries found in patch 6-8 on the PBE(Public Beta Environment). Hidden files were found that contained moves and names of unreleased champions. There were files for six champions, Seth, Xara, Diana, Dark Soverign, Hexmage, and Teek. There were also files relating to new skins for Tryndamere, Jarvan, Cassiopeia and Malphite.  Exciting stuff and hopefully we hear more about those champs in the future.


Other Gaming News:  
-Dreams for a FFVII remake were shattered or at least postponed. In an article by IGN, they quoted CEO Yoichi Wada saying that they wouldn't work on a remake until the current franchises surpassed the quality of the beloved original game. I guess that means Final Fantasy fans can look forward to better games in the future or we'll never see the remake we wanted. Who knows?!


- Players will finally get to meet Team Fortress 2's Pyro in a new update. This will most likely contain new weapons for all the classes. Head over to the website to partake in the Pyromania
                                                    :http://www.teamfortress.com/  


-After it's fantastic showing at E3, fans will have to curb their appetite for Far Cry 3 after a recent announcement that the game will be pushed back from September 2012 to December 2012. It's a long time but the game will be well worth the wait


-The Skyrim:Dawnguard DLC was relased today. Some of the new additions include the ability to be a  flying vampire lord and access the all new Dawnguard storyline. So if you need more dragon-slaying action go download that from the X-Box Marketplace or the PSN for 1600 MS points($20). 




That's all I have for right now. Comments, questions and concerns in the appropriate places. 

-bLank