NECA Gets Valve General License

June 7, 2011 | Poe

NECA lied to me.

OK, maybe that’s not quite true. They may have been telling the truth at the time, so far as they knew.

It was on April 20 of this year, when I asked them if they could make Portal 2 toys. Their response: “to date Valve does everything on their own, no outside licensing. We’d love to work on some of their titles, great stuff!”

Well, turns out Valve does do licensing, because NECA’s got it.

NECA Enters into Agreement to Produce Valve Consumer Products Based on Valve’s Game Properties

June 7, 2011 (Hillside, NJ) – The National Entertainment Collectibles Association, Inc. (NECA) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Valve Corporation to produce consumer products based on all of Valve’s titles. Merchandise will include action figures, toys, board games, accessories, and apparel for all Valve properties. “When Valve approached us to make their content, characters and art come alive in the physical world we were of course excited at the possibilities,” said Joel Weinshanker, President of NECA Games, “We quickly realized that our two companies have a similar view on how to ensure products exceed expectations of devoted fans and are thankful to be working with them”.

About National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA)NECA INC. operates as a media and entertainment company in the US and internationally, with divisions dedicated to Consumer Products, Filmed Entertainment, and Online Retailing / Digital Distribution. The Consumer Products division is a leading manufacturer and distributor of entertainment related products, dominating the specialty market. The Filmed Entertainment division is investing in the production and distribution of content that will benefit from NECA’s unique and proprietary distribution and marketing model. The online division leverages NECA’s properties to provide an immersive, platform-agnostic entertainment experience through subscription and transactional models.

So…Portal 2 and Half-Life 2 action figures, anyone? What’s even better is NECA’s videogame figures typically get tons of articulation, so this we have some great toys to look forward to–never mind a full-size Turret replica, replica Portal Gun…

Review > Scarecrow (Batman: Arkham Asylum, DC Direct)

June 7, 2011 | Poe

"My head all full of stuffin', my heart all full of pain..."

It took a long, long time for Batman to get a game worthy of his name. But in Batman: Arkham Asylum, fans were finally given the opportunity to truly become the Dark Knight. A well-designed game from top to bottom with a great combat system, good dialogue, an intriguing, original story and a distinctive artistic style, Arkham Asylum was everything I loved about Batman and videogames in one amazing package.

The game’s aesthetic attempts to be both more “realistic” and more grotesque than the comics, and every character was given a redesign with that in mind. Batman’s outfit is the least altered, but he gets some Dark Knight-style armor pieces and, oddly enough, pupils. The Joker is stretched taller and thinner than usual and is given a touch of the disturbing “decayed” appearance of Heath Ledger’s portrayal, but with his trademark Conrad Veidt face from the comics. Harley Quinn is famously tarted up as a naughty nurse, but perhaps the most radical redesign among the game’s central characters is that of Scarecrow. (more…)

Odds n’ Ends > June 7, 2011

June 7, 2011 | Poe

  • The big website redesign I’ve been mentioning for months now is tentatively scheduled to go live this Monday. That could easily be pushed back, but for now that’s the plan. OB1 and Mecha-Shiva have been working their butts off for this project.
  • To get you all psyched up for the redesign, I’ve pledged to write a review a day this week (since evidently it’s my most popular feature).
  • DC revealed a bunch of Bat-titles for its upcoming “Brand New DC” (my term) in December. Pros: Dick Grayson back as Nightwing, only one Batman. Cons: Damian Wayne still Robin. Not sure how to feel about: Barbara Gordon getting her legs back and returning as Batgirl. I recommend you read this op-ed by Jill Pantozzi. And finally, Rather worried about: While Catwoman, Batgirl, Batwoman, Nightwing, Batwing and even frickin’ Jason Todd get their own books, there was no sign of Tim Drake yesterday. I have a bad feeling Tim may be getting killed off/”disappeared” by Didio & friends.
  • There seem to be a lot of mixed feelings on this, but I’m psyched about all the Halo news out of E3 so far. First off, I’ve never loved any Halo game as much as I loved Combat Evolved, so the news about the updated version was welcome–it’s something I’ve talked about for years. As for Halo 4, while I generally do think certain companies do the best job with certain properties, I also think Bungie had some idiosyncrasies in its game development and storytelling that I wouldn’t necessarily miss (Gravemind anyone?). So long story short, I’m willing to give both games the benefit of the doubt. The one thing out of E3 I’m not liking? All the discussion of the Kinect and Move, especially them being used in games like Mass Effect 3. No thank you, game developers.

Review > Sy-Klone (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

June 6, 2011 | Poe

I never owned Sy-Klone as a kid, and as such, I don’t have any real attachment to the character. I was also always a bit confused by him–did the “klone” part of his name mean he was some sort of weird clone of He-Man? His face did–and does–look a lot like He-Man. I realize Mattel needed to make the figure’s name trademarkable somehow, but by introducing the “clone” question, it confused some of us kids.

X-Entertainment wrote an exhaustive analysis of Sy-Klone that I highly recommend. I was also quite fond of the Millennium version, which introduced a sort of cyberpunk street samurai look to the character. The new Classics version is of course based on the vintage Sy-Klone, with the small addition of the Millennium-style hula hoop.

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Reviews > Duke Nukem (Duke Nukem Forever, NECA)

June 3, 2011 | Poe

Around 1993 or so, my dad finally bought a new computer to replace our family’s aging IBM Compatible. While I had played a few computer games on that machine, almost all of them were adventure games like King’s Quest, Police Quest and LucasArts titles like The Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion and Loom. But with this new PC, my dad brought home a game that absolutely rocked my world: Doom II.

While people often point to Wolfenstein 3D or the original Doom as the first major first-person shooter (FPS), I think Doom II made the bigger impact, mostly because it was the first to be sold in stores. It’s fair to say I was completely, utterly addicted to it for quite some time. I played a lot of the mods, too, particularly Army of Darkness Doom. Many new FPS titles quickly followed, such as Descent, Star Wars: Dark Forces and, of course, Duke Nukem 3D. (more…)

Bastards of the Universe > “Bad Day, Part IV”

June 2, 2011 | googum


A month long Bad Day? Yeah, I’ve had that before, too. Usually ended with a new cellmate–I mean, um, roommate–for me as well.

Next time, we get to see a little background of the man, the myth, the legend: Pornstache.