Top 10 Metal Gear Solid Bosses

August 31, 2017September 3, 2017 ~ Alex Crilly-Mckean ~ Leave a comment

Hideo Kojima’s masterfully crafted series about espionage, genetics and a badass solider named Snake has no shortage of epic boss battles. For this list, we’ll be looking at ten characters that best emphasize the complexity and craziness of Metal Gear Solid’s world!

Warning, there are SPOILERS AHEAD.

#10: Sniper Wolf

The beautiful Iraqi sniper that forces players to put their patience and aiming to the test…unless you totally cheat by using stinger missiles.

#9: Metal Gear Sahelanthropus

Sometimes you just can’t beat gunning down a giant robot, especially one that can walk and comes armed to the teeth.

#8: Liquid Snake

Is there anything more manly than fighting your shirtless evil British twin atop a burning robot with your bare hands? We didn’t think so.

#7: Metal Gear Ray

While a battle against this sleek-looking beast would be awesome in of itself, the fact you get to crush it while piloting your own Metal Gear elevates it to legendary status!

#6: Solidus Snake

As the third and final clone of Big Boss, this former U.S President more than earned his place by not only having a boss battle that focused on swordplay, but also explored his grim history with Raiden.

#5: The End

Don’t let his age fool you, this sniper can literally shoot you from any angle and blend into the environment like a chameleon. If you’re having trouble tracking him down, you can just wait it out for a few days and eventually he’ll just pass away. But where’s the fun in that?

#4: Liquid Ocelot

The emotional conclusion of the fourth game also came with three layers of nostalgia for longtime fans. This fusion of Snake’s two greatest foes can only be defeated by pummeling his face in via the mechanics of the three previous games.

#3: Steven Armstrong

Why is this senator the epitome of testosterone fueled awesomeness? Well, he kicked the crap out of Raiden, is infinitely quotable, and he played football in college.

#2: Psycho Mantis

Before it was commonplace, this gas-mask wearing telekinetic blew our minds by making our controllers move, changing the TV channel, making us switch ports, and even reading our MEMORY CARD?!

#1: The Boss

The background. The music. The combat. The build-up. All of it leads to heartbreaking conclusion as both Snake and the player are forced to kill their former mentor in an act that would forever ripple across the franchise.

Do you agree with our list? Which Metal Gear Solid Boss Battle is your favourite? With new top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo!

Universal Studios Wants to Put You Through Hell at Halloween Horror Nights

August 31, 2017 ~ Liam Schell ~ Leave a comment

If you’re able to make it out to one of four international Universal Resort Parks this Halloween season, you might just run into some of your favorite horror movie bad guys! The teams behind Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights, the resort’s annual haunt event, have just finished announcing all of this year’s event and is it ever a stacked lineup! Houses, scare zones, live performances and everything in between will be on display when the festivities start in mid-September.

Familiar Faces

The yearly event sees horror’s biggest properties taking the park hostage to scare anyone brave enough to enter. Past haunted houses have included takes on The Exorcist, The Cabin in the Woods and Halloween, and while these won’t be returning for this year’s event, anyone looking to see similar top tier IP’s certainly wont be disappointed.

Houses based on The Shining, American Horror Story, Ash vs. Evil Dead and Saw will appear at both of Universal’s American parks (Orlando and Hollywood), as well as a full house based on the films of Blumhouse Productions, where guests will be able to walk through their favorite horror movies of recent years including Insidious, Sinister and The Purge.

Fresh Scares

Universal Orlando has also announced four entirely original houses that will appearing, including The Hive, which draws inspiration from the classic tale of Nosferatu, and Scarecrow: The Reaping, which sees park guests walking through an abandoned farm infested with killer scarecrows.

West coast visitors will see The Walking Dead house return yet again, a house that has been a staple to the Halloween Horror Nights event for the past few years, as well as a house titled Titans of Terror which brings together three legends of horror (Leatherface, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger) for what has been described as “an assault on your sensibilities”.

Horror fans outside of the U.S. can also visit Universal Parks in Singapore and Japan, and while those parks wont be seeing quite the same mazes as their American counterparts, house names like “Death Mall” and “Deadman’s Forest” just might force us to impulse buy a plane ticket.

Miike Drop: New RED BAND Trailer released for upcoming Blade of the Immortal movie

August 31, 2017 ~ Moses Eckman ~ Leave a comment

Prolific Fic Pro

Takashi Miike makes a LOT of movies.

Slashfilm:

In Hollywood, we call a filmmaker prolific if they make one movie every few years. But Takashi Miike laughs in the face of even the speediest directors – he’s releasing two movies in 2017 alone. And a TV series. And has directed 15 movies since 2011. He’s a machine.

And his newest film, Blade of the Immortal, is a jaw-dropping milestone. This live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga series by Hiroaki Samura is Miike’s 100th movie. If the bloody new red band trailer is any indication, he hasn’t lost any of the insane and darkly comedic nerve that has defined his career so far.

Blade of the Immortal looks like an old school samurai movie, albeit one with a supernatural twist – the lead character cannot die, a curse that will only be broken once he’s taken the lives of enough evil men. And the trailer makes it pretty clear that he’ll be facing plenty of evil men throughout this movie. And killing them. Lots and lots of them. Although he’s made his fair share of fantasies and comedies and horror movies, this looks like Miike in his element, complete with geysers of blood and pitch-black gallows humor.

Keep your eyes on Blade of the Immortal. This could be a blast. Magnet will release Blade of the Immortal in theaters on November 3, 2017.

Immortal Technique

Here you go! Hope you like blood! (Talk about a literal red band trailer.)

And here’s the synopsis of the plot, for all you who haven’t checked out the manga:

Samurai Manji has taken a lot of lives, both innocent and guilty, and now lives life in feudal Japan as a criminal. After being cursed with immortality until he kills enough evil men, Manji meets a young girl who enlists him to be her body-guard. Swearing loyalty, protection and vengeance against the group of sword fighters who slaughtered her family, the unlikely duo set on a remarkable quest to make right against those who did them wrong.

Top 10 Scariest Monsters in Anime

August 31, 2017August 31, 2017 ~ Alex Crilly-Mckean ~ Leave a comment

Its the law of the anime universe; for every magical girl, there must also be a new breed of horrifying monster. With too many unique and nightmarish creatures to count, we’ve put a list together of what we believe to be the kings and queens of bloodshed!

As you might expect, be on the look out for MATURE CONTENT.

#10: Yoma

Not sure what’s more unsettling about these guys, their hunger for human flesh or their ability to shape-shift. Their strength is so great that the only ones who can hope to take them down are the all-female, half-Yoma warrior known as Claymores.

#9: Angels

While each differ in their appearance and destructive abilities, these less than benevolent alien beings are each giant in stature and can easily break apart any ill-prepared EVA pilot. Sachiel and Ramiel especially know how to make an entrance.

#8: The God Hand

These five are revered as angels among monsters, able to influence humanity for worst and seem to thrive on the torment of others. Given how they managed to convert Griffith to their side, we’d say they’re doing a pretty good job so far.

#7: Benge

As a Barbarois, this high-pitched freak of nature possesses a whole host of frightening abilities, most notable the ability to manipulate shadows.

#6: Parasites

It’s like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, only with a lot more razor blades and cannibalism. After infecting their human host, these tiny intergalactic entities turn them into literal walking Swiss army knives. Ones that happen to have a taste for blood.

#5: Boar Demon

By itself, the Boar God Nago isn’t that intimidating to look at. However, sprinkle it with some corruption and all of a sudden its one of Miyazaki’s creepiest creations.

#4: Human-Fish Hybrid

In a film that features sharks with robotic legs, a monster that’s part undersea beast, part mangled human still stands out as the most disturbing.

#3: Gauna

They tore the Earth in half, can only be defeated by a mecha, and are coated in a fleshy substance known as a placenta. Eww.

#2: Terraformars

GIANT. HUMANOID. COCKROACHES!!!

#1: Titans

They have driven mankind to the brink of extinction, ate the main character’s mother in the first episode, and unless your name is Levi they can’t be easily killed by humans.

Do you agree with our list? Which anime monster do you think is the scariest? With new top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo!

The Evil Within 2 Developers Talk Horror

August 31, 2017August 31, 2017 ~ Alex Crilly-Mckean ~ Leave a comment

They Really Want To Make Us Scream…

The first Evil Within game certainly had the elements of an excellent horror game, and while it fell into a few pitfalls along the way, it wasn’t without a rather gripping sense of dread.

Not to mention some really messed up boss battles.

Now the developers are back, and they have their sights on scaring the crap out of every gamer who picks up a copy of the sequel. In preparation for the release of The Evil Within 2 in October, the likes of director Shinji Mikami, game director John Johanas, and writer Trent Haaga revealed their thoughts on the genre during an interview with Gamesradar –

Why Shinji Mikami Loves Horror

“Some people love to go into a haunted house,” Mikami explains through a Japanese interpreter. “Other people may get a thrill from riding a roller coaster. I love getting into horror games. That’s how I am. What I don’t like the most are ferris wheels. They’re really scary, no thank you to that.”

Why John Johanas likes making people scream

“It’s kind of a weird question,” Johanas begins, taking a moment to think. “I mean, I grew up playing horror games. But when you make something, the goal is to get that sort of visceral response out of an audience – especially nowadays when you can literally watch people play on YouTube or Twitch or something. And you get to see people emotionally affected by things you make.

“It’s rewarding in a different way, especially if you’re someone who makes horror games, to see that what you make literally had an effect on how someone’s experiencing something. And it’s much more extreme than in other formats of games, I think.”

Why Trent Haaga loves a bitter pill

“I’m a horror guy, I have been for years, it’s primarily what I make,” Haaga says. “And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I love the taste of a bitter pill. You know what I mean? This is a delivery system for truths that are a little bit cynical that we don’t want to acknowledge. And just doing sort of a dank prison drama doesn’t give deliver the same message in a way that a sort of a bitter pill that you enjoy taking does. That’s what horror is. You know, you’ve got monsters and whatever, but ultimately this is a story about a guy who loses his daughter and is on a redemptive quest to try to get back what he’s lost, and that’s what’s underneath there, in the middle of the bitter pill. And I love that, I love horror. Because of the delivery system that it provides.”

Check out the trailer for The Evil Within 2.

New Anime Land of the Lustrous Boasts Beautiful Visuals

August 31, 2017 ~ Alex Crilly-Mckean ~ Leave a comment

It’s So Freaking Shiny!

Are you a sucker for gorgeous visuals in an anime? Then you might want to check out the promo for Land of the Lustrous, an upcoming series so full of sparkles that the lead characters’ hair are practically aglow in every scene.

According to an article by Crunchyroll, the plot for the show is as follows:

“In a world inhabited by crystalline lifeforms called The Lustrous, every unique gem must fight for their way of life against the threat of lunarians who would turn them into decorations. Phosphophyllite, the most fragile and brittle of gems, longs to join the battle. When Phos is instead assigned to complete a natural history of their world, it sounds like a dull and pointless task. But this new job brings Phos into contact with Cinnabar, a gem forced to live in isolation. Can Phos’s seemingly mundane assignment lead both Phos and Cinnabar to the fulfillment they desire?”

Based on the seinen fantasy manga by Haruko Ichikawa, Land of the Lustrous looks to be one of the standout TV anime of the fall season. Takahiko Kyogoku directs the October-due series, with Toshiya Ono on series composition and Asako Nishida on character designs for the Orange production.

Cast members revealed thus far include Tomoyo Kurosawa as Phosphophyllite, Mikako Komatsu as Cinnabar, Ayane Sakura as Bort, Ai Kayano as Diamond, Yumi Uchiyama as Rutile, Saori Hayama as Goshenite, Mutsumi Tamura as Morganite, and Ayahi Takagi as Jade, among others.

Is anyone else getting major Steven Universe vibes?

Given the amount of anime that we’ve gotten this year that are laced with breathtaking art design, lovable characters and emotional investing narratives, can Land of the Lustrous stand tall by itself and bring its own set of feels?

Hard to say, but if the promo is anything to go by, it might be a strong contender!

New Kermit Debuts! No Word on Whether Miss Piggy Even Noticed.

August 31, 2017August 31, 2017 ~ Moses Eckman ~ Leave a comment

Permit to Kermit

Last year, The Muppets (well, the people who run the Muppets, sorry to burst your bubble) axed the voice of iconic frog Kermit.

But now there’s a new frog in the pond.

ET:

Kermit the Frog has a new voice, and it sounds comfortingly identical to his old one. Matt Vogel — who is stepping in to replace long-time Kermit puppeteer Steve Whitmire — made his debut as the iconic Muppet earlier this week in the adorable YouTube video “Muppet Thought of the Week,” and fans can rest easy that his portrayal of Kermit is almost spot-on to his predecessor. “Dreams are how we figure out where we want to go. Life is how we get there,” Kermit shares in the clip. “I’m headed this way.”

In the short clip, the famous frog was introduced by the Muppet Uncle Deadly, who Vogel has also been voicing for several years.

Vogel has been working with the Jim Henson Company since 1996, when he was cast as an ensemble puppeteer on Sesame Street. He joined The Muppets in 2008 for the NBC special A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa.

Vogel is taking over the iconic role from Whitmire, who was fired by Disney in October after voicing the amiable amphibian since Jim Henson’s death in 1990.

The studio claimed Whitmire was fired for “repeated unacceptable business conduct” that was over “a period of many years.” However, the puppeteer denied those claims and said that he was never given any indication that he was going to be fired after being part of the Jim Henson Company for 27 years.

“I had had no advance warning on that. Nothing had ever been framed to me as a career-breaking problem,” Whitmire told the Today show in July. “In fact, we had been talking prior to that… about me being sort of a creative producer with them, working alongside the two executives whom I spoke with, where I would have been really part of the day to day decision making on The Muppets.”

So to quote noted philosopher (and kinda Muppet-looking guy, frankly) DJ Khaled:

LET’S RIDE

Bioware Will Return To Mass Effect Franchise

August 31, 2017 ~ Alex Crilly-Mckean ~ Leave a comment

Mass Effect Isn’t Dead Yet!

In case you weren’t aware, the reactions to Mass Effect Andromeda were…chaotic at best. On one side you had longtime fans who enjoyed much of what the game had to offer but were severely disappointed in certain areas. On the other side you had fans who were so resentful towards the game that you’d think they had just seen the ending to Mass Effect 3 for the first time.

While Andromeda may have been something of a rocky ride, that’s not to say fans don’t want to return to the franchise. After all, these are the video games that gave us Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex and Tali’Zorah Vas Normandy, of course we want to see more! Maybe this fourth entry was just a bump in the road.

However, with Andromeda now receiving no further DLC and Bioware preoccupied with their new dream project Anthem as well as Dragon Age 4, the future of the franchise has been thrown into doubt.

Fear not! In an interview with Gamereactor, one of the big wigs at EA reassured fans that Mass Effect was far from finished.

EA’s Executive Vice President Patrick Söderlund was in attendance at Gamescom in Cologne recently, and we couldn’t resist talking to the man about all things EA, including Mass Effect: Andromeda. When we asked about his views on the franchise right now, and where it needs to go in the future, he had some very interesting things to say on the matter.

“Well I think, my personal opinion is, I think that the game… I usually don’t do this, but this is one of those places where I feel like the game got criticised a little bit more than it deserved,” Söderlund said. “I think the game is actually a great game. Yes, we have to acknowledge the fact that there were some things that maybe we could have done better, absolutely, but as a whole, if you go in and you buy the game today with everything that’s in it today, I believe that that’s a game worth buying, personally.”

“So that’s the first thing I’ll say. The second thing I’ll say is, for Mass Effect as a franchise, that has such a big fanbase, and you know I’ve seen people saying ‘Oh, EA’s not making another Mass Effect’. I see no reason why we shouldn’t come back to Mass Effect. Why not? It’s a spectacular universe, it’s a loved series, it has a big fanbase, and it’s a game that has done a lot for EA and for BioWare.

“What we need to be careful though of is, whenever we bring Mass Effect back again, we have to make sure that we bring it back in a really relevant way, and in a fresh, exciting place. That’ my job, and that’s Casey’s Hudson job, and BioWare and the Mass Effect team’s job, to figure out what that looks like, and that we don’t know yet, but we will.”

Guess the series needs a bit more calibrating before it makes a triumphant return.

Infini-T Force: The Movie Getting Theatrical Release

August 31, 2017 ~ Alex Crilly-Mckean ~ Leave a comment

Meet Anime’s Avengers

You want to talk about old school anime? Who remembers such hits like Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Tekkaman: The Space Knight?

Well to be honest we’d be surprised if you did. These were aired during the 70s after all, and it’s far more likely you saw Gatchman’s dubbed incarnation Battle of the Planets along with a show called Teknoman, which was actually the dubbed version of Tekkaman’s highly popular sequel Tekkaman Blade.

Putting aside the nostalgia, genuine fans of these classic shows will be thrilled to know that a mass crossover of all these iconic characters will be coming this October in the form of the series Infini-T Force.

The series features characters from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Tekkaman: The Space Knight as well as other Tatsunoko Production legends Casshan and Hurricane Polymar.

Excited yet? Well, get ready for more because it’s also been announced that following on from the series, an Infini-T Force movie is scheduled for a theatrical release in Japan come 2018.

An article on Crunchyroll managed elaborates further.

“The saga of Infini-T Force – an upcoming 3DCG TV anime that celebrates 55 years of Tatsunoko Production by creating the ultimate mash-up of Tatsunoko superhero characters – will continue in February of 2018 with a theatrical film tentatively titled Infini-T Force: The Movie.

Whether Infini-T Force: The Movie will be a continuation or a compilation is currently unknown. While details on the newly announced film are scarce, it is known that the voice actors from the Infini-T Force TV series will reprise their roles for the film, including:

Tomokazu Seki as Ken Washio / Gatchman.

Takahiro Sakurai as George Minami / Tekkaman.

Kenichi Suzumura as Takeshi Yoroi / Polymar.

And Sōma Saitō as Tetsuya Azuma / Casshan.

Infini-T Force is directed by Kiyotaka Suzuki and features animation by Digital Frontier. The series features characters from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Casshan, Tekkaman: The Space Knight, and Hurricane Polymar, as well as original characters. The Infini-T Force TV anime will broadcast on Nippon TV and other stations beginning on October 03, 2017.”

Ready to see a guy dressed as an eagle kick some major ass? We sure are!

The Simpsons composer Alf Clausen FIRED after 27 years!

August 31, 2017 ~ Moses Eckman ~ Leave a comment

De-Composed

Loyalty and quality often go hand in hand. And there’s no better example of that than with The Simpsons, a show that has been on the air for approximately 100 years now.

But change is afoot. And money, naturally, is the root of all of it.

Dollar Dollar Bills Y’all

The BBC reports:

Emmy award winning composer Alf Clausen who has written music for The Simpsons for 27 years has been fired. Clausen told Variety that he received a call from Simpsons producer Richard Sakai, who said the company was seeking “a different kind of music”. He confirmed the news on Twitter and thanked fans for their support. There is speculation that it is the result of cost-cutting on the long running animation. Clausen used a 35-piece orchestra every week.

Speaking in 2015, he said he was very strict with the budget because he appreciated how much using a large orchestra each week cost, but said the bosses at The Simpsons did not hassle him over it. Clausen won an Emmy award for his 1997 song We Put The Spring In Springfield from the episode Bart After Dark. He also won an Emmy for the 1998 song You’re Checkin’ In from the episode The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson. He was nominated a further 18 times at the Emmys and has also won three Annie awards. Clausen produced The Simpsons albums and collaborated with many of the show‘s musical guest stars, including U2.

Family Guy and American Dad creator Seth McFarlane tweeted it was “sad news”.

“He reinvented the sound of prime-time animation. I hope The Simpsons keeps the orchestra. Big part of a great show.” Writer Kaleb Horson said: “Alf Clausen is as important to that show as some cast members, so the decision, like the daily decision to let the show live, is appalling.” Composer Austin Wintory praised Clausen as “one of THE most respected composers in Los Angeles, and one of the few “old souls” who can handle super traditional writing,” and called his firing “the end of a true dynasty”. Film reviewer Stefan Ellison described it as “shocking news.” “They mention cost-cutting. Makes me wonder if those yellow Springfieldians are winding down.”

#10: Sniper Wolf

#9: Metal Gear Sahelanthropus

#8: Liquid Snake

#7: Metal Gear Ray

#6: Solidus Snake

#5: The End

#4: Liquid Ocelot

#3: Steven Armstrong

#2: Psycho Mantis

#1: The Boss

Do you agree with our list? Which Metal Gear Solid Boss Battle is your favourite? With new top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo!

Familiar Faces

Fresh Scares

Prolific Fic Pro

Immortal Technique

#10: Yoma

#9: Angels

#8: The God Hand

#7: Benge

#6: Parasites

#5: Boar Demon

#4: Human-Fish Hybrid

#3: Gauna

#2: Terraformars

#1: Titans

Do you agree with our list? Which anime monster do you think is the scariest? With new top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo!

They Really Want To Make Us Scream…

Why Shinji Mikami Loves Horror

Why John Johanas likes making people scream

Why Trent Haaga loves a bitter pill

It’s So Freaking Shiny!

Permit to Kermit

LET’S RIDE

Mass Effect Isn’t Dead Yet!

Meet Anime’s Avengers

De-Composed

Dollar Dollar Bills Y’all

COULD THIS BE THE END OF ZOMBIE SPRINGFIELD??