Ok, so what was up with the URL http://ilovebees.com/ getting flashed on the screen at the end of the Halo 2 trailer?

A lot of people (myself included) are working hard to find out…

Well, the San Diego Comic Con International (CCI) has long since overtaken my hometown con as the world’s largest (even though we still get Joss, Jeph, and Kevin Smith), so it’s the preferred forum for publishers big and small to make announcements.

Two things irritated me about DC Comics’ Batman panel:

The first is that everyone, including the normally astute Comic Book Resources, seems totally oblivious that Sin Tzu, the master of military strategy and tactics, is almost certainly the Batman villian behind the events of the upcoming “War Games” crossover. I mean, this was obvious (to me, at least) as soon as I heard the title of the story. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so hard on the guys at CBR, since I was probably one of three people who played Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu AND actually paid attention when the developers said the Jim Lee-created villain would eventually be introduced into the comic book continuity - explaining the panel’s “yeah, kind of” response to questions about whether or not the crossover would introduce new characters. (He’s new to the books, but not new to the Batman metamythology.)

The second is the announcement that Judd Winick has been named as the “permanent” writer on Batman. As I’m sure is obvious to even the most casual reader of this weblog, Batman is my favorite comic, and I thoroughly dislike Winick’s writing. I didn’t like it on Green Arrow, I never read it on Exiles or Green Lantern, and I don’t like it on Batman. I also dislike the fact that he took a mediocre cartooning gig at our alma mater’s student newspaper (Judd and I spent overlapping stints at the same university) combined with pseudo-fame from being on MTV’s The Real World and used it to get his break in comics. For me, that - plus the fact that I just don’t like his writing - makes his assignment to Batman unearned. I know that it’s self-defeating of me to let a writer’s background distract me from what should be my favorite comic, but what can I say? I’m protective of my favorite character.

[H]ard|OCP not only had the good fortune to benchmark DOOM 3 video performance, but they did it on-site at id HQ, away from the influence of hardware vendors who are always tempted to cheat on these things.

In my opinion, the most significant finding (after being shocked at how thoroughly nVidia kicks the living crap out of ATI, that is) is that DOOM 3 will play pretty well on systems that no one ever thought the game would even launch on. Hooray - more targets for deathmatch!

I’m definitely looking forward to [H]ard|OCP’s more comprehensive DOOM 3 hardware guide which will consider more than just video cards and look at different component configurations… they claim that the first version of the guide will be out next week.

Bryan Singer is set to be in the director’s chair on the fifth Superman movie, rumored to be entitled Superman Returns.

Rather than a “reboot” of the franchise (which, in some cases, is badly needed) as had been originally planned, Singer’s vision is to pick up more or less where Superman IV left off. This will necessitate throwing all of the script and casting work done thus far out the window, but despite this Warner Brothers still seems intent on moving ahead with filming by the end of the year.

Only downside? X-Men 3 will likely be looking for a new director.

The next generation of PC games has arrived.

Doom 3 will be commercially available in less than 3 weeks, sometime between August 2-6 (depending on how motivated your retailer is).

Want to know what US$1 million in comic books (according to the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide) looks like?

Have US$250,000 laying around and feel like buying a collection that not only inlcudes Batman #1, Superman #1, and Amazing Fantasy #15, but also EVERY ISSUE of Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and the Uncanny X-Men - plus 10 copies of Giant-Sized X-Men and 60 copies of the Frank Miller Wolverine Limited Series (among many others) thrown in?

This auction at e-bay has you covered. (At least go look at the pictures and drool.)

Although I was not nearly the fan of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind that Desiree was, I am nevertheless very happy to learn that Bethesda Softworks has licensed the Fallout franchise and will begin work immediately on Fallout 3. (Thanks for the link go to Jason at Loonyblog, who appears as excited as I am about all of this.)

Let me make one thing clear - I love the Fallout franchise. Wasteland had a profound effect on me back when it first came out for C=64. I’m amazed that I can still remember that Wasteland’s gaming system is based on Stackpole’s Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes pen and paper system (and that I also ran a campaign of MS&PE in high school), that designer Brian Fargo put himself in the game as “Faran Brygo”, that you never wanted to be on the business end of a Meson Cannon, and that I once ran a BBS called “The Temple of the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud”. It’s a testament to the lasting impression this game (and the series) can leave on you.

If I’m willing to thoroughly date myself and expose my inner deep-geek by talking about things like pen & paper RPGs and BBSes just to praise an (offline!) RPG, then you know the love affair is serious. See if you can find some remnant of the Wasteland/Fallout legacy to try for yourself before Bethesda delivers the gooey, irradiated goodness of Fallout 3.

No, the Coen Brothers aren’t directing the next Superman film, but it seems like practically every other director in Hollywood has been attached.

Maybe that’s a bit of hyberbole, but the director’s chair has been somewhat of a revolving door. Latest victim: McG, who cites budget disagreements and Warner Brothers’ lack of support for using New York as a stand-in for Metropolis as the reasons for his departure.

I suppose this means that the recent casting efforts are down the drain, too. *sigh*

A new - and better? - server for TiVo’s Home Media Option, JavaHMO. Via MESH DiaWebLog.

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth among MMORPG players when Electronic Arts announced its cancellation of what was, by all accounts, the best MMO game in development on 21 March, 2001 - Ultima Online 2. In hindsight, maybe it wouldn’t have been that great, since the lead designer, Raph “DesignerDragon” Koster, went on to design what is arguably the best MMORPG on paper and one of the worst in execution - Star Wars Galaxies. “Who let the fun out?” indeed.

Fast forward to today, a little over 3 years later, when Electronic Arts has now cancelled another companion for the venerable Ultima Online in the MMO market again - Ultima X: Odyssey has officially been canned.

While I find the trend of large gaming publishers abandoning the MMO business somewhat troublesome (since it’s probably my favorite genre), what I find even more disturbing is how similar the two press statements are:

• Ultima Online 2’s cancellation notice from 21 March 2001

• Ultima X: Odyssey’s cancellation notice from 30 June 2004

I felt like I was in some sort of time-warp after reading those.