BY JONDI SCHMITT-

SOPER

Each year more than

30,000 people invade he

downtown area of India-

napolis - but not just any

people. No, these people

are gamers, cosplayers,

comic book-lovers, anime

fans and more.

With this year’s newly

opened expansion of the

Indianapolis Conven-

tion Center, Gen Con

was even bigger and bet-

ter than ever before. With

a larger exhibit hall, the

board games headquarters

nearly doubled in size and

the convention’s premier

event, True Dungeon, was

able to expand to 10-per-

son groups throug the

dungeons this year.

The True Dungeon is a

two-hour massive Dun-

geons and Dragons live-

action adventure complete

wih highly immersive

sets, working props and

monsters - don’ forget the

monsters. A the end of this

year’s advenures, a video

of True Dugeon creator

Jeff Martin was shown to

adventurers, in which he

announced that the True

Dungeon at Gen Con 2012

will be moving to a bigger

locaion and expanding.

Information about the

True Dungeon adventures

can be found at www.true-

dungeon.com

Gen Con’s costumes, as

always, were epic. What

better place to see amaz-

ing cosplay than a gaming

convention? There were

men dressed as women,

women dressed as men,

people dressed as animals

and robots and there were

even a few real robots!

The costume competi-

tion brought steep compe-

tition. The fi nalists came

down to a well-made Bat-

man suit, a halfl ing-orc (I

don’t want to know how

that even happens) or a

beauiful Warhammer co-

splay group that even in-

cluded a woman. In the

end, the judges turned o

the audience for the fi -

nal decree and the results

were actually quite sur-

prising when the halfl ing-

orc took the winnings (he

was pretty adorable).

Mayfair Games

expanded their

presence at Gen

Con this year

signifi cantly, and

they had a petty

large presence

last year to begin

with. They had

several licenses

present this year

on their area on

the exhibi hall

fl oor, which was

by far he largest

area in the hall.

Who North

America, a Dr.

Who store based

in Indianapolis,

was a popular

booth. With a display that

looked like the TARDIS

and a life-sized World

War II Dalek at the booth,

even those not stopping

to shop were stopping to

pose with the TARDIS or

the Dalek for a photo op.

The store offered

books, games and memo-

rabilia from all eras of Dr.

Who adventures and even

some things from the two

spin-off shows, “The Sar-

ah Jane Adventures” and

“Torchwood.”

From Wizards of the

Coast with their release

of the Neverwinter adven-

ture and Wyrd Games with

their wonderful miniature

games such as Malifaux

and Puppet Wars to events

for “spouses” in which

atendees made chainmail

belts for a teddy bear, Gen

Con Indy 2011 truly had

something to offer ev-

ery member of the gamer

family.

FREEVol. 5

Issue 1

August 2011

Gen Con 2011 had something to offer gamers of all sizes, shapes

Even kids dress up at Gen Con!

Photo by Amanda Lynn Lupfer

Publisher

OGO Publications, Inc.

Editor in Chief

Jondi Soper

Graphic Designer

Jeremy Soper

Contributors

Icv2.com

con-news.com

PRnewswire.com

www.gamepolitics.com

MailOGO Publications

P.O. Box 2224

Columbus, OH 43216

Telephone1-877-646-0010

E-mailpress@ogopublications.com

2

G.A.M.E.R.S. is published 12 times per year. Manufactured and published in the United States of America. The Editor in Chief welomes submissions from all sources.

Such submissions should be addressed to EDITOR. G.A.M.E.R.S. is a copyright of OGO Publications. Products named in these pages are trade names or trademarks

or their respective companies. The publisher shall not be responsible for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lesson the value of the advertisement. The

publishers liability for other errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is limited to republication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue or the

refund of any monies paid for the advertisement.

BY SHAWN MARSHALL

con-news.com - Al-

though I’d been a spec-

tator from afar for quite

some time, 2011 marked

my fi rst venture to Dis-

ney’s D23 Expo. In the

interest of full disclosure,

I think it’s important for

you to understand that I

am a Disney fan, but I’m

probably not what you’d

consider a Disney fanatic.

I have a season pass to

Disneyland and have been

to Disney World a number

of times, but I don’t pur-

chase much in the way of

memorabilia and I’ve nev-

er been to Club 33 (does

having a knowledge of

Club 33 make me a bit of

a fanatic?). So, although

I knew of the D23 Expo

in the past, I had never

thought it was an event

that was necessarily for

me. That being said, the

ever-expanding Disney

Empire lured me for this

event with their relatively

new acquisition of Marvel.

In order to prepare for

the event, I began follow-

ing the many discussions

on Twitter about #D23

and #D23Expo. As a re-

sult, I decided to follow

the advice of @evico and

purchase a D23 member-

ship for the fi rst time (but

not the last). The minimal

membership was only $35

and immediately earned a

$7 discount on each tick-

ets, an exclusive watch,

and, most importantly, ac-

cess to the show an hour

before the regular public.

Although the D23 Expo is

not the size of a San Di-

ego Comic-Con (SDCC)

or a New York Comic-

Con (NYCC), anyone that

has been to one of these

events can appreciate how

much entry an hour early

would mean to the over-

all rhythm of the day. Al-

though we did not hit the

exclusives hard like other

events (as I said, I’m not

a huge Disney collector),

the extra time the mem-

bership gave us did allow

us to grab extra swag and

to get to the front of the

line at many of the more

popular exhibits. This

meant that the rest of the

day had a much more re-

laxed tone, as that one

hour provided us with

several hours worth of fun

and entertainment. For

those of you that might

attend the next D23 Expo,

my fi rst two pieces of ad-

vice: 1. Follow @evico on

Twitter and 2. Get the D23

membership.

Regarding the entertain-

ment value of the event,

although the tickets are

a bit pricey ($47 per day

without D23 member-

ship and $40 per day with

it), there are a number

of great panels through-

out the weekend. The big

news of the weekend that

emphasized part of this

point is that with Marvel

on their side (or vice-ver-

sa?), D23 Expo pulled off

what SDCC could not this

year and hosted an Aveng-

er’s panel. Not only did

this panel feature the wit

of Robert Downey Jr., but

it also included exclusive

clips of the new movie.

Furthermore, they fol-

lowed this up with another

entertaining panel on Sun-

day where Joe Quesada,

Chief Creative Offi cer

of Marvel Entertainment,

held one of his “Cup O’

Joe” talks, where he led a

discussion on the history,

psychology, and sociology

Disney’s D23 Expo: a recap

3

of the Marvel Universe.

Beyond Marvel, Disney

also utilized its other re-

lationships and provided

exciting panels related to

Pixar and ABC (really sad

I missed their panel on the

new show, Once Upon

a Time). Beyond these

“fringe” relationships, the

heart of the content was

directly Disney. With a

number of panels led by

Imagineers, attendees had

many opportunities to

look behind the curtain to

get a glimpse of the inner

workings of Disney. Ad-

ditionally, for the younger

crowd, the D23 Expo had

near constant program-

ming tied to their Disney

Channel shows. Although

Lemonade Mouth and So

Raven! may have not been

on my “must see” list, the

teens, tweens, and little

ones seemed to have a

blast with the many pan-

els and performances in

this vein.

Unlike many conven-

tions where programming,

vendors, and talent are the

most important elements,

D23 Expo also had many

interactive experiences

and exhibits. Of these, the

Carousel of Projects was

probably the most popu-

lar. Mimicking the origi-

nal, Carousel of Progress,

this exhibit gave attendees

a number of glimpses at

upcoming attractions that

Disney has in the works.

From the renovations of

California Adventures to

the addition of a new ship

in the Disney fl eet, the

Carousel of Projects of-

fered attendees the oppor-

tunity of getting up close

with some of the interac-

tive elements that would

soon be making their way

into the Disney Kingdom.

Of the items featured in

this area, the replica mod-

el of Disney World’s new

Fantasyland was by far

my favorite.

Having just been to Dis-

ney World a few months

ago, it was particularly in-

teresting to see what is be-

ing built behind those bar-

ricades I had just recently

seen.

Without a doubt, I found

the D23 Expo to be an ex-

tremely enjoyable event.

That being said, I do un-

derstand some grumblings

I heard about the lack of

presence by other Dis-

ney properties (ie. ABC,

ESPN, Marvel, etc.) on

the showroom fl oor.

I think a Marvel booth,

armed with free Avenger

posters and shirts would

have gone a long way to

further integrate the com-

pany into the Disney fam-

ily. So, although I was sur-

prised that there wasn’t a

stronger presence by some

of these properties, I also

understand that Disney is

a successful business that

is very pragmatic about

their undertakings. Hav-

ing seen the hysteria sur-

rounding the new addition

to the family, I’d be very

surprised if Marvel (and

others) aren’t more vis-

ible the next time around.

In addition to the discon-

tent about the lack of Mar-

vel, I spoke to some who

also felt the vendor room

was a letdown. This is

understandable, as it was

one of the smaller vendor

rooms I’ve ever seen at a

show of this size. If you

didn’t collect Disney pins,

there wasn’t much else to

purchase. Although my

Disney collecting is lim-

ited, I defi nitely have been

known to buy Haunted

Mansion memorabilia or

Vinylmations from time-

to-time. Because of the

limited offerings in the

vendor room, I didn’t even

have temptation. That

being said, the Saturday

sell-out of the D23 Expo

indicates what we’ve seen

recently at SDCC and

WonderCon…big things

are on the horizon.

Although the D23 Expo

is not scheduled to return

to Anaheim until 2013, I

wouldn’t be surprised if

the immense popularity

lured the company into

coming up with something

next year. Like LucasFilm,

Disney has no desire to

saturate the market with a

con-presence, but despite

this Star Wars Celebra-

tions are becoming more

commonplace. Similarly,

I wouldn’t be surprised if

we see some sort of con or

expo related to Disney in

Southern California prior

to 2013. Either way, the

next time there is a Dis-

ney-Con of any sort in my

area, I’ll be there. The new

partnerships Disney has

formed, coupled with the

increasing frenzy by the

public for Con-Culture,

leads me to feel that we’ll

see the D23 Expo become

an increasingly powerful

player in the convention

scene in the very near fu-

ture.

Disney-con makes for enjoyable experience

4

Norwalk, CT, Au-

gust 4, 2011 - The New

York Anime Festival

(NYAF) and Crunchy-

roll today announced

auteur Japanese anima-

tor and director Makoto

Shinkai will participate

in this October’s New

York Anime Festival.

The New York An-

ime Festival will take

place October 13-16,

2011 at the Javits Center

in Midtown Manhattan

as part of the sixth an-

nual New York Comic

Con (NYCC). NYCC,

which attracted 96,000

attendees in 2010, cel-

ebrates comics, tele-

vision, movies, toys,

games, and the popular

arts from around the

planet. NYCC’s Anime

Festival shines a spe-

cifi c spotlight on anime,

manga, and Japanese

pop culture. NYCC

has already announced

guests including Kevin

Smith, Felicia Day, and

Robert Kirkman. NYAF

guests include voice ac-

tress Junko Takeuchi

and manga author Hiro

Mashima.

Makoto Shinkai,

born in Nagano, Japan

in 1973, boldly entered

the animation world

in 2000 with “She and

Her Cat,” a short sin-

gle-handedly written,

directed, and animated.

His follow up, “The

Voices of a Distant Star”

in 2002, was again a

solo work.

Shinkai laboring indi-

vidually on what a team

would normally produce,

the result was a poi-

gnant, personal, unique

fi lm which won awards

and praise in both Japan

and the United States.

Shinkai’s fi rst animat-

ed feature, “The Place

Promised in Our Early

Days,” was released in

2004, and it was fol-

lowed by “5 Centimeters

per Second” in 2007.

Shinkai now work-

ing with a dedicated staff

at CoMix Wave Films

committed to his vision,

these two titles expanded

the scope of his storytell-

ing. They further planted

his name squarely in the

minds of anime fans, crit-

ics, and cinemaphiles on

both sides of the Pacifi c,

and earned the young art-

ist comparisons to master

storytellers including

Hayao Miyazaki and the

departed Satoshi Kon.

“Hoshi O Ou Kodo-

mo: Children who

Chase Lost Voices from

Deep Below” is Ma-

koto Shinkai’s newest

work, released earlier

this year in Japan and

premiering in New

York City at the New

York Anime Festival.

He is co-sponsored by

Crunchyroll. His travel

is provided by Ameri-

can Airlines.

“The New York An-

ime Festival is hum-

bled to welcome Ma-

koto Shinkai to New

York City,” NYAF and

NYCC Show Manager

Lance Fensterman said.

“Since The Voices of

a Distant Star was re-

leased in America, it

has been making fans.

Something different,

all of Shinkai’s works

have been possessed by

a heart and a sense of

self that is seldom seen

in anime.

Every project Mr.

Shinkai’s been behind

has had a clear per-

sonality, intimacy, and

immediacy that have

earned him fans far be-

yond traditional anime

watchers. Shinkai’s

works are respected by

animation and cinema

afi cionados the world

over, and I am delight-

ed to bring Mr. Shinkai

to New York City and

to present his most re-

cent work, Children

who Chase Lost Voices

from Deep Below.”

“Children who Chase

Lost Voices from Deep

Below” premiered in

Japan on May 7 and

saw its American pre-

miere at Otakon on July

30th of this year. It will

screen for the fi rst time

in NYC at the New

York Anime Festival. In

“Children who Chase

Lost Voices from Deep

Below,” a girl named

Asuna meets a young

man called Shun who

comes from the far-

away land of Agartha.

The two quickly be-

come friends, but then

— just as quickly —

Shun disappears. And

when Asuna hears the

word “Agartha” again

in school as part of a

fairytale, she knows ad-

venture and mystery lie

ahead.

Makoto Shinkai’s

most ambitious fi lm yet,

Continued on Page 9

See NYCC

Makoto Shinkai

Animator, diretor Makoto Shinkai to

appear at New York anime festival

CBLDF TO DEFEND AMERICAN CHARGED IN CANADA

ICV2.COM

The Comic Book Legal

Defense Fund is forming

a coalition in order to sup-

port the legal defense of an

American citizen who is

facing charges in Canada

that could result in a man-

datory minimum sentence

of one year in prison.

This incident is the

most serious in a disturb-

ing trend noticed by the

CBLDF involving the

search and seizure of

print and electronic comic

books carried by trav-

elers crossing national

boundaries.

The CBLDF has agreed

to assist in the case by

contributing funds to

the defense, which it

is estimated could cost

$150,000, as well by pro-

viding access to expert

witnesses and assistance

on legal strategy.

The defendant in the

case, whose name is being

withheld as part of a legal

strategy, is a computer-

programmer and comic

book fan in his mid-twen-

ties.

He was on his way to

visit a friend in Canada

when a Canadian customs

offi cial conducted a search

of the man and his per-

sonal belongings includ-

ing his laptop, iPad, and

iPhone. The customs offi -

cer discovered the manga,

believed to be a doujinshi

(fan-created) comic of the

mainstream manga se-

ries Magical Girl Lyrical

Nanoha, and declared it

was “child pornography.”

The man is being

charged with violating

sections 163.1 (3) and

163.1 (4) of the Criminal

Code of Canada, which

prohibits both the impor-

tation and possession of

child pornography.

Japanese publishers are

much more lenient about

allowing amateurs to cre-

ate works featuring their

licensed characters, which

has led to a large mar-

ket for “doujinshi” in Ja-

pan where self-published

works featuring licensed

characters are often sold

in the thousands, and pub-

lishers regularly mine the

ranks of doujinshi creators

for new talent. But a sub-

stantial portion of doujin-

shi creation is often simi-

lar to the “Tijuana Bibles”

in that they depict licensed

characters in sexual situ-

ations.The images at is-

sue are all comics in the

manga style and the crux

of the case, in addition

to protecting the privacy

rights of travelers, is the

increasingly urgent issue

of authorities prosecuting

art as child pornography.

No photographic evidence

of criminal behavior is in-

volved in the case.

'THEY'RE NOT JUST LOOKING FOR BOMBS ANYMORE'ICV2.COM

A new outreach ad

aimed at getting more par-

ticipation in and contribu-

tions to the Comic Book

Legal Defense Fund will

begin running as a PSA

in comic books starting in

late July.

Created pro bono by the

Bonfi re Agency, the ad,

which features the pow-

erful headline, “They’re

Not Just Looking for

Bombs Anymore,” draws

attention to the case of an

American who faces se-

rious charges in Canada

after Canadian customs

offi cials found comic art

on his laptop that they

considered child pornog-

raphy (see “CBLDF De-

fends American Charged

in Canada”).

Bonfi re’s Steve Rotter-

dam, former V.P. of Sales

& Marketing for DC Com-

ics, created the copy for

the ad: “We felt that the

comic book in a briefcase

stopped on an x-ray con-

veyor belt together with

the headline, ‘They’re Not

Just Looking for Bombs

Anymore,’ summed up the

situation very succinctly

and powerfully.”

Most major comic book

publishers will be includ-

ing the ad in their com-

ics and related banner ads

have been created to run

on comic news sites,

publisher Websites,

blog sites and other fan

destinations. Rotterdam

noted, “I was blown

away by the fact that

the CBLDF had never

advertised to potential

members and contributors

in the most likely place

to fi nd them—the comics

themselves.

When Ed (Catto) and

I formed our agency, we

were determined to help

change that.”

6

8

ICV2.COM

Konami Digital Enter-

tainment VP Yumi Hoashi

told ICv2 that attendance

at the YGO Regional

Qualifi ers in the U.S. is up

27 percent in 2011 versus

2010. Hoashi told ICv2

that she at-

tributes the

jump in at-

tendance to,

“An increase

in the number

of players, a

lot of lapsed players are

returning to the game.

We have also put a lot

of effort into promoting

organized play in gen-

eral. We are providing

players with more venues

that they can play at, and

in some areas events are

held at less intimidating

venues such as Tourna-

ment stores, which are a

lot more accessible and

less intimidating.”

Attendance at Yu-Gi-

Oh! Championship Series

events in the U.S. was up

17% in 2011 versus 2010.

These gains in atten-

dance at both the Re-

gional Qualifi ers and

YGO Championship Se-

ries come on top of simi-

lar boosts in attendance

in 2010 versus 2009 that

were reported last year

(see “Yu-Gi-Oh! OP At-

tendance Up”).

Konami took control

its YGO brand in North

America in late 2008 and

launched its YGO OP pro-

gram in 2009 (see “Kon-

ami Launches League

Play”).

‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ Organized Play Makes Big Gains

ICV2.COM

08/09/2011 - Anne Ha-

thaway has reacted to crit-

icism of her Catwoman

costume that character-

ized her Dark Knight Ris-

es togs as “underwhelm-

ing.”

Hathway replied to re-

marks about the costume

by telling MTV, “What I

am happy to say is, if you

didn’t like the photo, you

only see about a 10th of

what the suit can do.

And if you did like the

photo, you have excellent

taste.”

Hathaway’s function-

al and understated Cat-

woman costume is perfect

keeping with the overall

design of Christopher No-

lan’s Batman fi lms.

Meanwhile Hathaway’s

stunt double acciden-

tally totaled an expen-

sive IMAX camera while

fi lming a scene in which

she was riding the mas-

sive Batpod motorcycle

down the steps of Carne-

gie-Mellon University in

Pittsburgh. According to

The Hollywood Reporter,

the stunt double fl ew off

the bike and sailed into the

pricy IMAX camera.

Though the camera was

wrecked, neither Hatha-

way’s double nor any of

the camera crew was hurt,

so it could be said that

the Catwoman costume

passed its fi rst test at least

for durability.

With a budget just

north of $250 million, the

producers of The Dark

Knight Rises should be

able to absorb the cost of

replacing the camera.

Anne Hathawy defends Catwoman costume

Hathaway on Batpod in her Catwoman costume

9

“Children who Chase

Lost Voices from Deep

Below” is grand in

scope, marrying togeth-

er lavish visuals with a

narrative that literally

crosses worlds.

At the New York An-

ime Festival, Makoto

Shinkai will speak on a

Q&A session and dedi-

cate time to autograph-

ing, both public signings

for general attendees and

reserved autographing

for NYAF VIPs. His ap-

pearance will culminate

in the introduction to

Children who Chase Lost

Voices from Deep Below.

For Mr. Shinkai’s bio,

headshot, and stills from

“Children who Chase

Lost Voices from Deep

Below,” please visit

www.newyorkcomiccon.

com.

Details around all of

Shinkai’s events and

NYAF’s full schedule

will be announced later

this summer. Tickets are

available at www.newy-

orkcomiccon.com now.

For the latest informa-

tion, please follow @

ny_anime_fest and @ny_

comic_con on Twitter as

well as read NYAF and

NYCC’s offi cial blog,

www.mediumatlarge.net.

for other fans, thus

making them uniquely

qualifi ed to service those

with whom they share a

common passion.

NYCC continued from Page 3

ICV2.COM

08/09/2011 - After fi rst

announcing a 6-episode

season six, SyFy abrupt-

ly pulled an about face

and cancelled the sixth

season of Eureka, the

science fi ction comedy/

drama created by Andrew

Cosby and Jaime Paglia.

The series, which de-

buted in July of 2006, is

not going to disappear

immediately. It will end

with the 12-episode sea-

son 5 that is set to air on

SyFy in 2012, so diehard

fans will have some time

to attempt to convince

SyFy to keep the property

going in some form.

One of the most origi-

nal American science fi c-

tion TV series in years,

Eureka takes place in a

fi ctional high tech com-

munity in Oregon where

nearly everyone is a sci-

entist working on ma-

jor technological break-

throughs at a corporation

known as Global Dynam-

ics.

The key dynamic in the

series is the tension be-

tween Sheriff Jack Carter

(Colin Ferguson), a man

endowed with consid-

erable practical intelli-

gence and the numerous

resident Eureka double-

domes, who either on

purpose or inadvertently

create problems for the

community that Sheriff

Carter has to deal with.

BOOM! Studios,

which was co-founded

by Eureka co-creator

Andrew Cosby, has pub-

lished several issues of

a Eureka comic book,

which are based on story-

lines provided by Cosby.

SyFy cancels Eureka

ICV2.COM Frank Cho has an-

nounced that he is work-

ing on an X-Men minise-

ries for Marvel that will

feature “three of the hot-

test women in the Mar-

vel Universe.” Cho an-

nounced the project on

his Website on a list of

“stuff coming out in the

next 12 months” that also

included the Guns and

Dinos 3-issue miniseries

from Image that debuts in

November, and Brutal a

miniseries co-written with

Joe Keatinge that was an-

nounced at Comic-Con

and is slated to debut in

April of 2012.

The X-Men project was

third on the list, which

would appear to indicate a

late 2012 debut. The other

project, which he notes

will probably come out in

2-3 years is Jungle Queen,

a pet project, which will

probably be published in

France “where there is no

censorship of nudity like

here in America.”

Cho explained on his

Apes & Babes site that he

will be both writing and

drawing the X-Men mini-

series, but noted “I can’t

say too much right now

but this miniseries will

have three of the hottest

women in the Marvel Uni-

verse.”

Frank Cho creating ‘X-Men’ mini-series

10

www.gamepolitics.com

Aug. 24 - Yesterday it

was revealed that cloud-

gaming service OnLive

and Square Enix had

teamed up for a special

promotion that would give

consumers that bought a

retail copy of Deus Ex:

Human Revolution for

PC a free OnLive version

of the game. Gamestop,

however, took steps to

make sure its customers

did not get an OnLive ver-

sion of the game - and they

did it without telling them.

GameSpy offers a report

saying that a number of

GameStop customers con-

tacted them outraged at

what the retailer had done.

From the GameSpy arti-

cle: “We received reports

from a handful of Game-

Stop customers claiming

that their new PC boxed

copies of DXHR were

opened and the OnLive

codes were missing. We

also received evidence

from an anonymous tip-

ster suggesting that it was

GameStop management

that made the decision

to physically remove the

OnLive codes from its PC

copies of the game.”

A photo of an internal

memo shows that (alleg-

edly) GameStop man-

agement instructed its

employees to remove the

OnLive codes. It reads, in

part:

“Please immediately re-

move and Discard the

OnLive coupon from all

regular PC versions of

Deus Ex: Human Revolu-

tion. Our desire is to not

have this coupon go to

any customers after this

announcement.”

GameStop public rela-

tions representative Beth

Sharum commented on

the story to GameSpy in

an email, confi rming that

GameStop was in fact re-

moving the coupons:

“Square Enix packed

the competitor's coupon

with our DXHR product

without our prior knowl-

edge and we did pull and

discard these coupons,”

Sharum said.

OnLive had no comment

on the story, but did says

they were aware of it.

GameStop pulls free OnLive Deus Ex: Human Revolution coupons

ICV2.COM

Aug. 23 - Archaia Enter-

tainment, publisher of the

Dark Crystal comic book,

has announced plans to re-

lease a role-playing game

based on the Jim Henson

classic late in 2012. ICv2

caught up with Mark

Smylie with the details at

the recent Gen Con game

fair.

“It will be fairly simple,

all-ages appropriate, and

available for younger

players,” Smylie ex-

plained. The game will

be designed by Luke

Crane, who also created

the Mouse Guard RPG for

Archaia and the award-

winning Burning Wheel.

The Dark Crystal RPG

will use similar rules to

those found in Mouse

Guard. Players will be

able to create gelfl ing

characters and explore the

world of the fi lm.

Smylie indicated that the

game will be released as

a single hardcover book,

and may later be present-

ed in a boxed set as well.

Archaia hopes to have the

game fi nished in time for

Gen Con.

A sequel to the Jim Hen-

son and Frank Oz fi lm is

reportedly in the works.

Omnilab Media and The

Jim Henson Company will

produce “Power of the

Dark Crystal,” the sequel

to the original, in 3D. The

feature will be a combina-

tion of live action, pup-

petry, and visual and spe-

cial effects. Fantasy artist

Brian Fround will be the

conceptual designer of the

fi lm.

Brothers Peter and Mi-

chael Spierig (Undead,

Daybreakers) have been

hired to direct from a

screenplay by Craig

Pearce (Moulin Rouge)

based on a script by An-

nette Duffy and David

Odell.

Sequal and RPG planned for Jim

Henson classic ‘The Dark Crystal’

Celebrity guests added to Tennessee Horror WeekendBY SHAWN SCOTT

SMITH

Horror Weekend 2011

announced several new

additions to this year’s

show show.

Sid Haig is best known

for his role as Captain

Spaulding in “Rob Zom-

bie’s House of a 1000

Corpses” and “The Dev-

ils Rejects.” He has bee in

the fi lm industry for over

50 years, also appearing

in fi lms such as Rob Zom-

bie’s “Halloween,” “Night

of the Living Dead 3D,”

“Kill Bil Vol. 2,” “House

of the Dead 2,” “Warlords”

and he has also appeared

in tv shows such as “The

Dukes of Hazzard,” “Bat-

man” “Star Trek,” “Gun

Smoke,” “Mission Impos-

sible” and many more.

Priscilla Barnes is prob-

ably best known for her

role on the classic televi-

sion series “Three’s Com-

pany” but has gain noto-

riety in the Horror world

with her role in “The Dev-

ils Rejects.” She has also

appeared in “Trailer Park

of Terror,” “Ed Gein: The

Butcher of Plainsfi eld”

(opposite Kane Hodder),

“Mall Rats” and appeared

as a Bond Girl in “James

Bond 007: License to

Kill.”

Plus several paranormal

guests have been added to

the show.

Brian Harnois a para-

normal investigator that

appeared in more than 50

episodes of Syfy Chan-

nels Ghost Hunters as

well as Ghost Hunters In-

ternational.

John Tenney is a para-

normal investigator that

is best known for A&E’s

Paranormal State the New

Class as well as Realm of

the Weird and Weird Lec-

tures.

Visit their website at

www.HorrorWeekend.

com for complete event

details.

LOS ANGELES, Aug.

9, 2011, PRNewswire --

GameFly, Inc., the num-

ber one online video game

rental subscription service

will be launching a new

digital client, the one-stop

shop for gamers, this holi-

day season. The biggest

bonus for active GameFly

subscribers will be the ad-

dition of free "Unlimited

PC Play" which allows

them to download and play

as many Windows/Mac

games as they want, from

a large and ever-growing

collection of titles.

Gamers will have un-

precedented fl exibility in

how they want to con-

sume games, whether it is

renting discs by mail from

a library of over 8,000

titles, downloading any of

the more than 1,500 Win-

dows/Mac games for sale,

pre-ordering new console

and PC releases or buying

used games – all managed

via the desktop client.

Casual to hardcore

gamers can get all of their

gaming information with

up-to-the-minute news, a

live feed and archive of

HD trailers, videos, and

screenshots, and a robust

social component for real-

time discussions of what's

hot and what's not.

In addition, users will

be able to manage their

entire library of games

across all gaming plat-

forms, as well as create

custom libraries to share.

“We're thrilled to bring

digital to the gaming con-

sumer in a meaningful

way, as no other service

or retailer brings physi-

cal and digital gaming

together like GameFly,”

said Sean Spector, Game-

Fly co-founder and SVP

of Business Development

and Content.

“With a library of over

9,500 titles from over 300

fi rst- and third-party pub-

lishers, GameFly mem-

bers have the ultimate

choice of how, what, when

and where they game.”

GameFly will launch

their closed beta at a Los

Angeles event on Sept. 8,

exclusively for GameFly

members.

All attendees will walk

away with beta codes for

themselves and a friend.

Gaming enthusiasts not

in the Los Angeles area

who want to gain access to

the private beta can visit

www.gamefl y.com/beta.

The digital client will

launch publicly during the

holidays, but for a sneak

peak now, see the teaser

trailer here --www.you-

tube.com/gamefl y.

Gamefl y subscribers to have free computer game access11