Month of Nostalgic Game Reviews: Super Smash Bros.

Howdy ladies and gents and welcome to Day #30, the final day of my Month of Nostalgic Game Reviews where I’ll be giving you reviews of some of my most nostalgic video games from my childhood. And today we have one of my all-time favourite nostalgic games. I really did save a great game for last. Readers I present to you one of the most classic and chaotic games on the N64. Enter Super Smash Bros.!

Now these days most people know what Smash Bros. is probably because of Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Nintendo Wii. But most people outside of the age of 20 don’t really know about what comes before. While some fans and casual gamers are aware of Super Smash Bros. Melee on the Gamecube, most people don’t know about the first entry in the series on the N64. And it’s a darn shame because it’s a great game from the N64 days. So in my review today I’ll be talking about the game in detail and covering my memories with the game yo.

So Super Smash Bros. was a fighting game developed by HAL Laboratory for the Nintendo 64 which was released in 1999. Unlike many fighting games of that point in time this was a crossover game which featured different Nintendo characters, items and locations coming together into one game.

In terms of gameplay you took control of one of the twelve characters and fought against them in Nintendo-themed stages on a 2D plane with the intent of taking them out. Unlike normal fighting games where you had to deplete a life bar in order to defeat your enemies, in Smash Bros. you have to knock them off of the stage. In order to do that you have to build up enough damage on your opponents and then knock them off of the stage either down the bottomless pit or send them flying left or right off of the screen or up into the sky where they disappear into the background. Characters have a number percentage which is the equivalent of a life bar, but instead of making it go down, when they take damage the percentage goes up. Once their damage is around 100% then you can send them flying off-screen, also when sent flying away from the stage characters have the chance to recover using one of their jump moves.

When it comes to controls Smash Bros. uses the same one-attack-button, one-control-stick-direction combinations to access all moves for all characters. Each character has specific attacks tailored to them. Characters are free to run around and attack anyone they want and are not limited to one person. You can grab and throw characters and there’s also blocking and dodging mechanics too.

In single-player mode you have Classic Mode, Training and two mini games. In Classic Mode you have the choice of five difficulties and the choice of any character, and take on several different characters over several stages with two mini games in between and then your final boss encounter with the Master Hand. If you run out of time or run out of lives you get a game over, you have the choice to continue but your score is significantly cut down. “Break the Targets” and “Board the Platforms” are the two mini games in single-player and the objective is to break each target or board each platform, respectively. The goal must be achieved without falling off each character-specific stage.

In multiplayer up four people can play together in timed or stocked matches. You can set the rules beforehand and you had the choice of fighting in free for all or team battles. A winner is declared once time runs out, or if all players except one or a team have lost all of their lives.

I can recall the days playing Smash Bros. on N64 like it was yesterday. Again thanks to my school friend I was introduced to the world of Smash Bros., and damn my mind was blown! From the time you watch that epic intro movie to the title screen where you get that epic narrator shouting, “SUPER SMASH BROTHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” It makes you wet your pants because of the epicness! Being able to fight as Mario against Fox McCloud while watching out for Kirby and Pikachu too, it was crazy stuff, and I loved it! At that point in time I had never come across any game that had several characters from different franchises in the same place. It was like The Avengers of video games haha. But yeah I loved being able to play as my favourite characters like Mario, Link or Pikachu in different locations from Saffron City to Yoshi’s Island to Planet Zebes, it was just so varied and diverse. Also the use of items was great and interesting too. While I played the singe player mode a lot, it was all about the multiplayer (like most other N64 games). I played this game with my sister and school friends for ages and it was our favourite game back in the day. When I can be arsed to set up my N64 I still come back to this game was while it moves significantly slower than its successors, it’s still fun and still has the most spacious stages in the series in terms of width which I really like.

In conclusion Super Smash Bros. was the start of something big. It was fighting game that played by its own rules and stood out from other games in the genre. The whole crossover element of the game was one of the key aspects that made it loved by fans and kept things interesting. The gameplay was fun and crazy, the graphics were lovely and music was fabulous. This came was just pure fan service for Nintendo gamers and it obviously set basis for the next two games in the series on the Gamecube and Wii. Super Smash Bros. is a lovely game from the past and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for some fighting fun with Nintendo characters.

Okay, that’s it! That was the last video game review and its right on time too. It’s been a long month, I’ve had to balance this series of blog posts with my uni work, film reviews and YouTube stuff as well, but it was all worth it. I love to write and review things, plus it was a great excuse for me to revisit my youth and share some of my epic memories with you readers. Well hopefully you enjoyed the last thirty days of game review from me, remember to drop a comment and I guess I’ll see ya around! 😀

 

Ian McKellen on Returning for X-Men: Days of Future Past

Just another tidbit of information on X-Men: Days of Future Past from superherohype, this time its an interview from Sir Ian McKellen:

“Two days ago, director Bryan Singer let the world know that actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen would be returning to the world of X-Men in the respective roles as Charles Xavier and Magneto for his upcoming film, X-Men: Days of Future Past. Today, The Huffington Post caught up with McKellen to ask him about the return.

“What a gas!‘ said the actor. “I mean, Patrick Stewart and I have been have just been playing “Waiting for Godot” throughout England and in the West End of London. So, we’ve stayed in touch. We can’t believe it [laughs]. I thought these were Fassbender and McAvoy’s parts, but — no, no — we’re back. We’ll give them a run for their money. I mean, I haven’t read the script, so I don’t know how much we’ve got to do. But, to be back in that world, and for Bryan to be doing it — with all the success he’s had in the meantime — it’s wonderful. Wonderful.”

Speaking of Michael Fassbender, what did McKellen think of him as Magneto in X-Men: First Class? “I thought he was exactly that: first class. Excellent… I thought he was better than me. But, we weren’t quite playing the same character because he was so much younger than me.”

McKellen is reunited with his X-Men co-star Patrick Stewart along with James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and Nicholas Hoult. It was reported yesterday that Hugh Jackman is in talks to return as Wolverine as well.”

Well it’s nice to hear that McKellen has not only kept in contact with Patrick Stewart, but also that he enjoyed Michael Fassbender’s interpretation of the Magneto character in First Class. He seems genuinely interested and happy to be getting back into the groove of his former role and I’m well happy he’s coming back along with Stewart as they were two of my favourite characters in the previous X-Men films. In my eye Sir Ian McKellen is a badass, he’s fine two forms of awesomeness from Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (and soon in The Hobbit too) to Magneto in the X-Men films, so any film involving him and his talents has to be worth everyone’s time in my opinion. I can’t wait for more news on Days of Future Past, things are getting more and more interesting by the day. Just announce the Sentinals and I’ll be happy! 😀

 

Month of Nostalgic Game Reviews: GoldenEye 007

Howdy ladies and gents and welcome to Day #29 of my Month of Nostalgic Game Reviews where I’ll be giving you reviews of some of my most nostalgic video games from my childhood. And today we have one of biggest games from the 90s, one of the most talked about games in history and probably the most well-received movie-in video game of all time. Welcome to legendary game known as GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64!

Okay now we are talking big, I mean this game is one that everyone and their father knows. Obviously it’s based on the success James Bond film of the same name that came out two years before, but the game in a lot of ways is much bigger than the film. It carries its own history. And if you don’t know about the original you at least know about the remakes on the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 right? GoldenEye 007 for the N64 was one of the most successful games of the decade, it was critically acclaimed by many gaming publications, won several game awards and propelled developer Rare into the stratosphere. The legacy this game left behind is massive and constantly comes up in “greatest games” or “most influential games” lists. This game was and still is hot property. So what’s the deal? Well read on to find out.

So GoldenEye 007 was a first-person shooter game developed by Rare which was exclusively released for the Nintendo 64 in the year 1997. The game was obviously based on the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye, but featured a few variations to the story. In the single player campaign you took control of James Bond as he fights to prevent a criminal syndicate from using a satellite weapon against London to cause a global financial meltdown. The gameplay took place in a 3D free-roaming environment, and in each level you had to complete a specific task in order to advance. This could be anything from collecting or destroying specified items, or rescuing hostages, or meeting with friendly NPCs – and then exiting the stage. You also had access to a variety of weapons including pistols, throwing knives, assault rifles and grenades, there were also points where you’d be able to use certain gadgets for specific missions too.

In addition to the single player you also had a split-screen multiplayer mode in which up to four players can compete in different types of deathmatch games. The modes that could be played were as follows: Normal, You Only Live Twice, The Living Daylights (Flag Tag), The Man With the Golden Gun, and Licence to Kill. And you could also customise the choice maps, weapons and set the winning conditions too.

GoldenEye 007 for the N64 was big deal when I was young. I don’t really recall when I first came across the game, but I remember it was through my school friend that introduced me to Bomberman 64, Snowboard Kids and Mario Kart 64 among other things. Me and my friend would normally take on the single-player campaign in turns or in co-op (I’m sure you could play the single-player in split-screen co-op). It was amazing to see all of the scenes from the film recreated in the game and I loved how diverse the gameplay was from stealth missions, to blasting stuff in a tank to the chase after Trevelyan before having to kill him off, man this game had it all. And then there was the multiplayer. MY GOD! Back in the day the multiplayer for this game was so addictive! With all four people the multiplayer just turned into chaos! And when you set the rules and set which weapons would be available for matches, then things would just turn into filthy madness! Matches with just rocket launchers was the best, that was when I developed my suicidal method of playing FPS games by running up close to people and blowing both of us up! I really liked playing this game with my friends and it was fun to pick camping spots in your favourite levels just waiting for someone to come by and then go and take them out!

In conclusion GoldenEye 007 for the N64 was a big deal. It was the first successful movie-in video game, it also set a new standard for first-person shooter games and did I mention the fact that the game kicks ass? The game had varied and interesting gameplay, graphically it was the top dog on the N64 and the music was bloody impressive too. Many of us 90s kids lost anything from hours to days playing GoldenEye 007 either in single player or in split-screen multiplayer. If you want a game that’s the definition of classic and nostalgic that still holds up pretty well after 15 years, look no further than GoldenEye 007. It is some badass stuff, play it now if you have yet to experience this legend of a game.

Well that is video game review 29 done, tomorrow we will conclude this month of video game reviews with one of my favourite game ever. 🙂 I’m sure some of you out there must have played this game at some point back in the day so share you memories in the comment section below! And make sure to come back tomorrow for your last piece of nostalgic pie! 😀 😀

 

Learn Who’s in the Running to Play Star-Lord in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

Okay now this is more like it, there really hasn’t been too much information on Guardians of the Galaxy for a while now. Besides learning that James Gunn was going to write and direct the film, there hasn’t been much information in terms of the story and characters involved. However now we finally have some information about casting and superherohype provides us with information about the actors up for a crucial role:

“Quite arguably Marvel Studios’ most offbeat property to date, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy is now in the casting stage and today Deadline has learned of eight actors up for the role of Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord.

According to the site, the current list of names auditioning for the part includes Joel Edgerton (Zero Dark Thirty), Garrett Hedlund (TRON: Legacy), Jack Huston (“Boardwalk Empire”), James Marsden (X-Men), Lee Pace (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2), Eddie Redmayne (My Week with Marilyn), Jim Sturgess (Cloud Atlas) and Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom).

The Quill character is likely to be the central protagonist of the film. Raised on Earth, Quill learns that his father was from outer space and is drawn into an intergalactic conflict that eventually leads to him becoming the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Also said to be on the movie team’s roster are the characters Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Rocket Racoon and Gamora. Check back for casting details on those roles as they emerge.

Guardians of the Galaxy is set for release on August 1, 2014.”

(Photo Credit: Robert Wallace / Apega / Rob Rich / FayesVision / Ivan Nikolov / WENN.com)

Well there are some interesting choices, the only actors I am familiar with this Garrett Hedlund from On The Road and Tron: Legacy, Jack Huston from Boardwalk Empire and James Marsden from the previous X-Men trilogy. I also find it interesting that Eddie Redmayne is in the running for this role and Harry Osborn in the next Spider-Man film, he gets about doesn’t he? But in terms of who I’d like to see in the role I’d say Huston would be awesome because of his work in Boardwalk Empire, but recently Hedlund has proved himself as a capable actor in On The Road so I wouldn’t mind seeing him in the role either. Marsden doesn’t really seem like the leader type, I wasn’t really kind on his portrayal of Cyclops in the X-Men films so yeah not really keen on him there. As for the rest of those guys I don’t know much about them to comment so good luck to them.

 

Hugh Jackman in Talks for X-Men: Days of Future Past

Again there’s more news on X-Men: Days of Future Past and it is a report that is both interesting but also not too surprising either. While I’m a little late posting about this, as a Marvel comic book and film fan this knowledge has to be shared with people through my blog! Anyways read the superherohype article below for more information:

“Although it should come as no big surprise, especially in light of yesterday’s news, The Hollywood Reporter has now confirmed that Hugh Jackman is in talks to reprise his role as Wolverine in director Bryan Singer’s upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Jackman would join a cast that has been confirmed to include James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart.

Scheduled for release on July 18, 2014, X-Men: Days of Future Past boasts a script by Simon Kinberg and is said to be inspired Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s comic book storyline that ran in Uncanny X-Men #141 and 142 back in 1981. “Days of Future Past” introduced the idea of an alternate future for Marvel’s mutants that grew out of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants killing an important senator, leading to a future where all mutants are hunted by Sentinels.

In addition to playing a key role in the comic book version of the story, Wolverine has appeared in every live-action X-Men film to date and will star in his second solo adventure with the July 26 release The Wolverine.”

As noted in the article this news isn’t too surprising given that we have two other returning characters, but more so than that Jackman did make a great cameo in First Class so having him show up in this fan would just be giving the fans more of what they want. While I’m not against having Wolverine show up in another X-Men film I can’t help but feel like the filmmakers are just throwing him in there for the sake of his popularity. If he does make it into the next X-Men film he better have a relevent part to the film and also he better not overshadow the other characters like he did in the previous X-Men trilogy. Those are my only concerns, other than that I say bring on more Wolverine! 😀

 

Month of Nostalgic Game Reviews: Crash Bandicoot

Howdy ladies and gents and welcome to Day #28 of my Month of Nostalgic Game Reviews where I’ll be giving you reviews of some of my most nostalgic video games from my childhood. And today we have the first and only PlayStation game in my nostalgic list in the form of the awesome Crash Bandicoot.

Now before I get into this review you may have noticed that most of my game reviews have been mainly from Nintendo-based consoles like the Game Boy, SNES and N64, and that’s simply due to the fact that I grew up as a Nintendo kid. Besides my Mega Drive, I played mainly Nintendo consoles because that’s all I owned, I only got to try out other consoles when went to visit family or friends. So I just wanted to clear that up before we continue on. So Crash Bandicoot, man this game takes me back. This is 90s classic gaming and one of the best games on the PlayStation 1.

Crash Bandicoot was a 3D platforming game released in 1996 for the PlayStation. To be honest the reason I liked Crash as a character so much was because he looked so crazy and reminded me a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog and Taz from Looney Tunes. This game is the first instalment in the Crash Bandicoot series and shows how Crash was created and what his connection is to the antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex. The story in this game follows Crash’s effort to stop his creators’ plans for world domination, clean up any pollution they have caused, and save his girlfriend Tawna, a female bandicoot also evolved by Doctor Cortex and Nitrus Brio.

When it comes to gameplay Crash Bandicoot follows the same basic rules of any other platforming game in terms of level design, attacks and level progression, but obviously there are unique aspects that come with this game too. In the game Crash must travel across the three islands to defeat his creator Doctor Cortex and rescue his girlfriend. The game’s broken up into levels which you must venture through and complete in order to advance through the game. You’re given a set amount of lives and you can lose them by being attacked by enemies or falling into water or pits. If you lose all of your lives you get a game over. When you control Crash, he can jump on enemies or spin into them with a tornado attack.

Most boxes in the game contain Wumpa Fruit (fruit that looks like apples or peaches), which give you an extra life if you collect 100 of them. Another awesome item found in boxes is the Witch Doctor’s Mask, which shields Crash from one enemy attack. Collecting three of these masks makes you imperviousness from all minor dangers. Then there’s arrow boxes send Crash further up in the air than his normal jump, while TNT boxes explode three seconds after you jump on them. And boxes with an exclamation mark on them cause previously intangible objects in the area to solidify. Check Point boxes allow you to restart from the previous where the Check Point box was opened when you lost a life. Special tokens can also be found inside boxes and when you collect three you’ll be teleported to a Bonus Round, in which you can collect loads of Wumpa Fruit and get special items. Also if you complete levels without losing a life and smashing all boxes then you can obtain gems that allow you to enter new areas that weren’t accessible before.

I was first introduced to Crash Bandicoot through my aunty on her PlayStation. I think it was one of the first 3D platformers I had played and it showed from how badly I used to play. I couldn’t properly anticipate things like avoiding hazards for timing my jumps so that I wouldn’t fall down pitfalls. I never really got that far in the game, so I can’t tell you too much besides what I can remember. All I can recall about this game was that its visuals were fantastic, vivid and colourful and the music was pretty good too and upon reflection the controls was actually very nice, I just wasn’t used to playing 3D platformers at the time. One thing I can say is that after my first encounter with Crash I was obsessed, I really liked playing the third game; Crash Bandicoot: Warped and I even had a Crash Bandicoot t-shirt which I got which I got back in either 1999 or 2000 and have worn on several non-uniform days in school for years. Unfortunately I lost the shirt last year in my house somewhere, but I do hope I find it, I’ve owned it for around 12 years and it still fits! 😀

In conclusion Crash Bandicoot is a hell of time and one of the most entertaining games I recall from the 90s. With an interesting story, solid gameplay and great graphics, this is one of those games that really need to be played by fans of platforming games. While the sequels to this series improve on this original design by miles, I still recommend that you find Crash Bandicoot on a PS1 or on PSN and give it a go.

Well that’s another review done; now we’ve only got two more to go! So be sure to stick around until Friday when I unleash the final two reviews! 😀

 

Rant 09: I Can’t Stand Cold Weather, Again!

Howdy people and welcome to another installment in my blogging rants and today’s subject will me returning to the subject of cold weather and why it bothers me so much.

Now if you read my last post on cold weather which was all the way back in February, I basically talked about how cold weather inconvenienced my life and made my days off at university so dull and boring. So here we are at the latter part of the year and the winter season kicked in around early October, bringing with it those cold winter winds that makes us shiver. and since then the weather’s gotten progressively worse. Now obviously this is the way the world works, we have four seasons and this one always shows up at this time of year, but in the UK winter just sucks.

This is what the sun looks like when September disappears and the winter starts to kick in.

As soon as those winter winds kick in you have to start wrapping up with more layers of clothing, the days soon become windy and full of rain and all the stuff you could outside do before is either no longer possible or they just become a task because of the weather. I mean if you want to meet up with your friends and it’s raining then no one wants to come outside or if its raining you have to go outside for whatever reason, then it becomes a task just to move from A to B if you’re walking with any transportation. Then there’s the wind, wind in the winter season is nothing but trouble. The air is cold enough and then you have the wind blowing it all over the place making things even worse. And then there’s the dark days that come with the winter which makes travelling at night a right pain in the ass. If you’re coming from uni at night then you have to endure the walk home in the rain or snow, those are truly the worst days. Or if you’re a typical student then going on out to party is a must, but the precautions you have to take beforehand and travelling you have to do is so much effort. You either have to bring an extra coat before hand or endure running through the rain/snow. And there’s the times when the weather’s so bad that you can’t go out and have fun. It is bullshit!

This is how the rain makes people feel.

You know the funny thing is I never used to be fussed about the winter season a few years ago, but after I started getting out of the house more and going on nights out with my friends the weather has continuously worked against me and created horrible situations that I shall never forget. I have come to the conclusion in recent times that I am just adverse to cold weather and the winter season in general. I am a man who belongs in the sun. From the latter part of October onwards I consider this time of year to be an endurance test just to survive until spring shows up in April. The weather so far has been a mixed bag of okay to downright awful and depressing, but you know what the worst part is that we haven’t even gotten to the really bad weather yet. The snow is yet to come… Ah snow *grumbles*. The only good thing to come out of the coming months is that there will be some badass films in the cinema to lift my spirits. but until that time comes I’m just gonna have to endure this cruddy weather until next year. LAME!

Okay that’s another rant over. Thanks for reading. If you would like to read more of my rants and check out my other content then follow my blog yo. 😀

 

Brett Dalton Enlists for Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D.

Okay so after a little while there’s some more casting news on Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show, from superherohype we have this report:

“Marvel Studios’ upcoming “S.H.I.E.L.D.” television series has landed another star. TVLine is reporting that Brett Dalton (Killing Lincoln) has joined the cast as Agent Grant Ward.

Among the character names revealed last month, the Ward role is officially described as follows:

Quite the physical specimen and “cool under fire,” he sometimes botches interpersonal relations. He’s a quiet one with a bit of a temper, but he’s the kind of guy that grows on you.

Dalton joins Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Ming-Na Wen, and Clark Gregg for the pilot, which will be directed by Joss Whedon. Co-written by Whedon and his brother, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, the show is expected to begin shooting in January.

“S.H.I.E.L.D.” will be executive produced by the Whedons, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jeffrey Bell and Jeph Loeb.”

At least the cast are starting to expand and we’re getting a better idea of who will be involved here. I just hope that this show won’t become one of those generic action/thriller things that you see on TV and just want to turn off. The think about this particular show is that it has a wealth of history from the comic books to work from and let’s not forget that it’s attached to one of the biggest films in recent film history, The Avengers. What I am afraid of is that while the people behind the show want to create this universe for S.H.I.E.L.D. to inhabit, they will forget about the Marvel Studios films that made it popular. There will still need to be some clear connections and references to the Marvel films, and if we’re lucky there will also need to be some actor cameos in order to make this work in my opinion.

 

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen Join X-Men: Days of Future Past

Just when I thought there was nothing going on in the world of superhero films I get news on Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 and now X-Men: Days of Future Past! Thanks to superherohype I can provide you with the following article:

“Long rumored, director Bryan Singer has now confirmed that the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past will mix cast members from his X-Men and X2 with those from Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class. Taking to Twitter, Singer reports that Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are set to reprise their roles as Magneto and Professor X with Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy returning to play younger versions of the same characters.

Singer goes on say that Nicolas Hoult will be back as Beast and Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. His original tweets read as follows:

Scheduled for release on July 18, 2014, X-Men: Days of Future Past boasts a script by Simon Kinberg and is said to be inspired Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s comic book storyline that ran in Uncanny X-Men #141 and 142 back in 1981. “Days of Future Past” introduced the idea of an alternate future for Marvel’s mutants that grew out of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants killing an important senator, leading to a future where all mutants are hunted by Sentinels.

Although not yet officially listed, Singer’s “more to come” is likely to also include Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. In addition to playing a key role in the comic book version of the story, Wolverine has appeared in every live-action X-Men film to date and will star in his second solo adventure with the July 26 release The Wolverine.”

I always knew that the old Professor X and Magneto weren’t done in the X-Men film universe. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were two of the intricate parts of the X-Men films that made them work so well, their both awesome and seasoned actors and in a way if they were to return the X-Men film series this would be an interesting way to do it. We’ll this does make me wonder exactly how they’re gonna connect the tissue between these two different universes. I just hope this film continues the success of First Class but also keeps that awesome style of the first two X-Men films.

 

The Synopsis for Star Trek Into Darkness Revealed

So while we still don’t have any new images or even some small teaser trailer, we at least have the official synopsis for the film and it does seem to be pretty interesting. The following article comes from superherohype:

“Paramount Pictures today revealed the synopsis for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on May 17, 2013.

The anticipated sequel, starring John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller, is described as follows:

In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.”

So from what I can read here, the next Star Trek film sounds epic, thought I can’t really get any solid information out of this. I’m just assuming the scale will be bigger and that Kirk will be jumping into the dragon’s den along with his new crew. All I know is Star Trek Into Darkness is sounding more and more awesome by the day, all I want is some footage or at least some frigging images! XD