Editor’s Note: No doubt you’ve heard a little something about some changes coming to Newsarama. Along with those changes comes a new contributor, William Clark. Until his new home is ready, though, William will be hanging with us here at Blog@. Check out his first post below …

Hi guys, I’m William Clark and I’m a gamer.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way… wait, oh, what was that? More, huh? Okay, I’ve been playing video games for, well, let’s just say my first console was an Atari Jaguar and leave it at that. Newsarama is adding more content and realized, “Hey! We don’t have anyone reviewing video games especially with all these comic characters and movies coming out and the games attached!” I was asked to blog about game content primarily because I’m gamer and a blogger. And when I say gamer, let me clarify: I play video games all the time. As I’m writing this, I’m taking time away from me and GTA IV, so this will be over quick cause I’ve got missions to catch up on.

The title of these blog entries will be “We Run Game” because that’s what this blog will do - run all the gaming news and reviews Newsarama can muster at you. By the way, it won’t be just comic character games we review but a little of everything that Newsarama believes you guys would be into (so Madden heads - don’t worry - I got you.) This means besides Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, etc., you’ll see reviews on Madden, Metal Gear Solid, God of War (the PSP review is coming….), etc. Holla back on your own insights too, but be prepared to back it up - we gamers are real passionate about our games and consoles.

There is just one rule - no console bashing. People have different consoles for different reasons and it’s just not cool. Fair comparisons are fine but to just say “PS3 sucks!!!” or “Who in the world would ever want a Wii?” or “X-Box is garbage!” that’s not cool and we won’t be having it here, so play nice or at least be civil. After that, have a blast. With that said, let’s get into some news….

And now some brief news from around the gaming world:

Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows (Activision) is coming. Since this game is not tied to the movie franchise, Activision has to come up with something unique to entice gamers to take notice. Well, the concept for this game is the power of choice. The gamer gets to choose almost every move Spidey makes, whether it be where to go first (uptown, downtown, midtown, etc..), which powers to upgrade, Spidey’s style of fighting, who in the Marvel Universe to team up with and who to fight against. Basically, it’s all on you. Whatever choices you make, dictates how the game progresses. Choose wisely. For more information, check out the website, http://www.seizecontrol.com/.

MK vs DCU PS3 Working Cover

Mortal Kombat vs DC (Midway):
Midway has their “Gamers Day” 2008 edition and DC comic fans should get stoked because their heroes are going hardcore! The most hardcore fighting game in video game history, Mortal Kombat, is going up against the DCU. Now, for all you MK fans, we at Newsarama have some bad news: no fatalities (breathe, y’all, breathe!!!). We know, as fans of Mortal Kombat, that news broke our collective gaming hearts but as comic fans, we understand it. There is absolutely no way DC will let someone like Superman or Green Lantern commit what is essentially murder. But, while there are no fatalities, the will be plenty of blood (Guess that Superman doesn’t bleed edict over at DC is out the window for this one… heh heh). Wanna see the teaser trailer?

Sub Zero vs Batman. That alone should get you all excited. To bring these two universes together, the MK creative team joined forces with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey for a unique story. There is also a new fighting system which includes Freefall Kombat and Klose Kombat plus now MK fans get multi-tiered enviroments.

Battle at your own risk - http://www.worldscollide.com/

Afro Samurai (Namco): Late 2008 release

While still being developed, Newsarama got a chance to check out some early Afro Samurai from a friend and whoooo boy! If you’re a fan of Afro Samurai, you’re going to go gonzo over this game. Not only is is beautifully rendered and basically simply gorgeous to look at, it’s a hack and slash bloody good time. Color is the name of the game here because instead of the every-game-has-one health meter, you have to pay attention to Afro’s focus during combat modes. If he’s getting whupped on, then the color starts to fade out and you know Afro’s about to buy the farm. The color paletter starts to flatten out and that means Afro’s over-focused. Over-focused for Afro means he’s basically unbeatable and can kill with a single stroke. His health doesn’t automatically regenerate either, you have to keep battling to get Afro to regain his focus.

And you have a multitude of moves to learn, gamers. Afro has three components - aerial, ground and terrain. Aerial has Afro chopping up folks in mid-air, while ground has him spinning and rolling and slicing and dicing. Terrain will let Afro interact with objects in the game - he can flip off ledges, wall runs, and basically go martial arts crazy.

You can cut anyone anywhere and the blood will be spilt in full effect here. In some takedowns, you can choose exactly where to strike and at what angle and these hits are actual physical slices so you can imagine that Namco will be chest thumping this particular development gem.

RZA’s still doing the beats, which means we got an awesome soundtrack and here’s where it gets interesting. Everyone has their own basic soundtrack. And then there’s Afro himself.

As loyal viewers remember, Afro isn’t the most stable brother on the planet. His mental state will range from focused to hallucinations to schizophrenia. This gives you access to Afro’s Reflection mode, which you can access at anytime with the pause button. There you go into a dreamlike state which tells Afro’s history in blurred visions. You can learn new moves here as well and piece together clues for the storyline, as well as other gems.

The game isn’t finished yet but from what I’ve seen so far, Namco’s development team is on the right track. When we obtain more information, we’ll let you guys know.
http://www.namcobandaigames.com/games/afrosamurai/