Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - The Da Vinci Disappearance

 Well, this has got me very excited. AC Brotherhood was possibly the best game of last year, and any new DLC is to be welcomed in HiEx Towers!

Ubisoft announced today the release of the new downloadable content (DLC) for Assassin’s Creed^®Brotherhood for the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation^®3 computer entertainment system. The new DLC, entitled “The Da Vinci Disappearance”, will be available for download at beginning of March 2011 on XBOX LIVE^® and on the PlayStation^®Network. The DLC will be made available for 800 Microsoft points.

The Da Vinci Disappearance will include both single-player and multiplayer content for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. After the fall of the Borgias in Rome, Leonardo Da Vinci is kidnapped by the Hermeticists, an underground cult dedicated to transforming mankind. Ezio will embark on a relentless quest to recover stolen paintings in order to find Leo before it is too late, discovering two new locations and two new gameplay features along the way.

The multiplayer addition is the biggest expansion to the award-winning multiplayer yet, including one new map, four new characters and two new game modes. The new multiplayer map, Alhambra, is a lush environment set in Spain’s Albaicin of Granada and provides multileveled indoor and outdoor areas perfect for predators to lurk in the dense crowd for unsuspecting targets.  The four new characters will undoubtedly be a huge hit with Assassin’s Creed fans, consisting of the Dama Rossa, the Knight, the Marquis and the Pariah. The two new gameplay modes, Escort and Assassinate, will provide a whole new gameplay experience for Brotherhood players.  In Escort mode, two teams of four players compete in this team-based mode where each team must protect their VIP target or assassinate the other team’s VIP. In Assassinate mode, six to eight players are pitted against each other deathmatch style in one ten minute round. 

For updates on Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, please visit the game’s official Web site at www.assassinscreed.com, via Twitter @AssassinsCreed and Facebook at facebook.com/assassinscreed.

Assassin's Creed Project Legacy is available on Facebook at: http://apps.facebook.com/projectlegacy

Commando comes to the ipad!

Commando, the iconic action and adventure comic published by D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd., starts its 50^th anniversary year in 2011 with a bang, courtesy of a brand new website, http://www.commandocomics.com, officially launched today. The much-loved comic, which has now surpassed 4300 stories since its inception in July 1961, has launched a full-scale assault on the digital world, including a new website, digital subscriptions service using iPhone & iPad apps, a first from DC Thomson’s stable of publications. The new service ensures that Commando adventures, famed for their accuracy and authenticity, are now available in digital form as well as print.

The new website, created by DC Thomson’s Digital team in partnership with Edinburgh-based digital agency, Storm ID, has a range of new features which ensures that Commando is well positioned for the digital future.  Users can explore the stories, including new issues, using the free interactive viewer as well as obtain information on the military hardware featured throughout. There’s also the chance to enjoy various story features and the reminiscences of both the current editorial team and contributors from throughout Commando’s 50 years. Visitors will also have the ability to purchase a digital subscription directly from the website or buy a print subscription for delivery. Also, for the first time, users can get their hands on some famous Commando cover posters (in A1 size format) exclusively through Commandocomics.com, for the introductory price of £19.99.

Commando Editor, Calum Laird, said: “Being the first DC Thomson title to offer a downloadable digital comic via a web-based subscription service is quite a responsibility but one we are delighted to take on. Commando is a unique product in the UK marketplace and now, it can be made available worldwide at the click of a mouse, or the tap of a screen for iPhone and iPad. These devices are almost tailor-made for the unique presentation of Commando. Backing up the subscription service with a fully-loaded website giving access to our timeless story archive will be welcomed with open arms by Commando fans.”

The iPad and iPhone apps are free to download through the Apple iTunes App Store and a digital subscription is priced at £4.99 per month, compared to a £99 annual print subscription. For those not sure there are 4 free issues to download prior to making a purchase so you can be sure! The new website, digital subscriptions and iPhone/iPad apps will be backed by digital marketing campaign, featuring paid-search, Facebook and online display advertising.

There’s much more to come from Britain’s only war/action adventure comic in its Golden Jubilee year with a full programme planned. Favourite characters are due to make returns alongside new heroes specially created for the anniversary year along with delving deep into Commando's past to dust off classic stories like “Walk or Die” that haven't seen the light of day for many years.  Commando is one war veteran that isn’t done fighting yet.

The Amazing Spider-man

Sony pictures have given the comic fans of the world an extra special Valentines Day gift.
They've given the forthcoming Spider-man reboot a name: The Amazing Spider-man. Which, as I'm sure your eager to learn, meets with the HiEx seal of approval.

Here's to a sequel called The Tangled Web of Spider-man!

Oh, and they've also released this new picture, which we're sure will give those murky corners of fandom who are into such things a loads more to complain about as they explain at length how the movie is going to suck...

For the rest of us though, it looks pretty cool.

Website for the movie is HERE, but there's nothing there yet but this picture!

Sci-fi London Convention

Ten years of fantastic film: SCI-FI-LONDON celebrates its tenth anniversary with a bigger festival than ever
The UK’s leading science fiction and fantastic film festival, SCI-FI-LONDON (The London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film), will host film screenings, special events, workshops and celebrations during its 10 day festival across the capital in 2011. For the first time, the BFI Southbank and BFI Imax will host festival events.
The festival runs Saturday 23 April – Monday 2 May, 2011. In the current climate, SCI-FI-LONDON makes no apologies for its defiantly carnival attitude. In addition to the core film programme, highlights include:
• The Royal Wedding all-nighter The night before Will and Kate’s wedding we celebrate the wonder of weddings with Veronica Lake, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. The evening features five black-and-white classics including: BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, BRIDE OF DRACULA and I MARRIED A WITCH. Midnight ‘til 9am... cheaper than a hotel and a stone’s throw from The Mall!
• 20th Anniversary of MANGA UK Celebrate with screenings of the classic AKIRA in glorious HD and brand new animé feature, EDEN OF THE EAST.
• 48 Hour Film Challenge With Edgar Wright and Gareth Edwards on the jury, our 2011 challenge has a first prize of a feature development deal with Vertigo Films. The challenge takes place 2–4 April, 2011.

• SCI-FI-LONDON LAB Our real science thread examines subjects including long distance space travel and synthetic biology. Thinking caps on please.
• Fantasy Easter Parade along the Southbank From the BFI to the London Film Museum on Easter Sunday, featuring Stormtroopers, zombies, superheroes and more. All genres, all costumes, all-comers welcome to this free event!
Festival Director, Louis Savy says:
“It is a tribute to our volunteer staff and the support of our sponsors and venues that we are here today. When we started ten years ago it was to challenge preconceptions about science fiction and bring a few independent movies to London.
I never imagined we would become a key fixture in the international film festival calendar, and be a well-known genre event. This year’s festival will certainly be bigger and bolder but, equally, a celebration of those 10 years of fantastic film.”
Full details will be available soon and on www.sci-fi-london.com.

SCI-FI-LONDON, now in its 10th year, is the UK's only dedicated sci-fi and fantasy film festival. It screens world and UK film premieres, documentaries and a selection of classic SF titles. SCI-FI-LONDON also has a strong international shorts programme and screens a short film with every feature screening. It also holds a film school and filmmaking competitions to encourage more science fiction films to be made in the UK

Alan Moore: Storyteller preview

portrait by Danny North

Gary Spencer Millage, writer of the wonderful Strangehaven has just completed work on his next book, Alan Moore: Storyteller.
Gary writes about it on his blog, which you can find HERE.
The book will be published in the UK in May by Ilex Press.

Alan's parents wedding: 1952

We've been lucky enough to see a preview of some of the book, and if what we have seen is anything to go by, you are in for a treat. It is full of fascinating snippets- everything from early family photographs to some of his first published cartoon work to thumbnails for the world changing graphic novel From Hell.
All this is accompanied by in depth interviews with the Man Himself and information about his many landmark series.

This illustration of Elvis Costello was Moore's first professional sale

We'll keep you up to date with any new info about this wonderful looking book, and bring you a full review nearer the time.

And by the way, in searching for a picture of Mr Moore for the top of this page, we found this wonder, which it too good not to share:

Cy Dethan on SciFi Pulse

We reviewed the graphic novel Slaughterman's Creed a while ago. Remember? No? Well, HERE it is, go read it.

Now you can hear the writer, Cy Dethan, talk about this astonishing book and much much more on the SciFi Pulse podcast, which can be found HERE.

Go listen!

X-Men First Class official teaser trailer

This looks rather good!