Comic fans hear the word “redesign” a lot. It’s a tale as old as time, and every fan knows that no matter what crazy-ridiculous new look Jim Lee or Rob Liefeld can concoct, our beloved heroes are likely to be back in classic duds within a year. But what if they weren’t? What if these redesigns were actually both different and good enough to stick around for the long haul?

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s this little game that just came out called Injustice: Gods Among Us. This features the DC Universe in an Elseworlds-esque setting where Superman is tricked by The Joker into killing Lois Lane and all of Metropolis, and subsequently imposes a global ceasefire. Since this is billed as a non-canon Elseworlds story, there is no weight of continuity, no standards to adhere to, and free reign to go crazy with the status quo. (Wait, wasn’t that the point of the New 52?)

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A few weekends back, I went to New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) with some friends, one of whom was a studio art major (this is important later). Part of the decision to go was based on the presence of an exhibit that featured video games!

Upon entering the museum, we stumbled upon Tilda Swinton sleeping in a glass box. That was cool. We wandered a bit before asking a staff member about the video game exhibit, met with a curt reply of "It's not just about video games, you know." She seemed very set on making it clear.

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Today, at a Nintendo Direct presentation, Link to the Past 2 was unveiled as a 3D graphics enhanced traditional Zelda game. This is the first time we've had a new game of this kind since Minish Cap.

A year ago, Miyamoto commented on the idea of a remake to the SNES classic Link to the Past, saying that he'd much rather see a follow-up title than a simple 3D-ification of the classic. Of course, for news starved Zelda fans, any news is good news.

Turns out, follow-up means sequel! The new game will utilize its new platform in some unique ways — while predominantly a "2D" game, the player can shift perspective by becoming a drawing on a wall, and move within the third dimension to solve puzzles. There will also be new layers of depth, heightened by the 3D effects of the device. 3DS owners can find a 3D enabled video demonstrating these features later today on the 3DS eshop.

In other Zelda news, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages will be available on the 3DS store May 30, complete with game-linking features. Huzzah!

I love Metal Gear Solid. I have since I discovered the first MGS over a decade ago. In America, Metal Gear Solid's gruff heroes Solid Snake and Big Boss have been voiced by David Hayter since the original game came out in 1998 on Sony's Playstation, the first Metal Gear to be in full 3D and have voice acting.

Since then, Hayter has voiced the character in nearly every iteration of the the stealthy soldier, even Super Smash Bros Brawl. David Hayter's signature voice has become synonymous with the quirky franchise. Whether his performance is seen as good or bad, fans expect him, and his presence complements the often insane series perfectly. It's only fair to assume he'd be playing him in any future entries into the series. Wrong. It looks like he won't be returning to the next part of the Metal Gear saga. Hayter's absence is like if Charles Martinet didn't voice Mario and Luigi.

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Mass Effect is a property near and dear to many gamers’ hearts. Mine most definitely included. The series hit the scene in 2007, already stocked with a massively deep mythos, as the brainchild of game designer/writer Drew Karpyshyn. Drew rose to prominence as the lead writer of one of the most acclaimed RPGs of all time, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. After demonstrating such a clear grasp of what made the Star Wars franchise great without the benefit of culturally iconic characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, and Han Solo, I can’t think of a person more equipped to tackle a brand new sci-fi franchise in the same vein as Star Wars. And tackle it he did.

From the moment the game opened, it was clear that this series wasn’t trying to be anything other than itself. This wasn’t a re-skinned Star Trek or Star Wars. This was something new entirely. The game quickly threw several nuanced different races at us, and for me, someone who is often intimidated or turned off by being dropped into a whole new sci-fi world like that, it just worked.

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This morning at 9 AM EST, Satoru Iwata addressed the general public on the future of the Wii U. Along with a decent amount of news, we learned that a new Zelda that "rethinks conventions of Zelda" is in development. Also, an HD Wind Waker will come this Fall.

On the full page version of this article, you can see a direct transcript of the English translation of Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma's presentation, as well as Iwata's follow-up remarks.

Most notable of the details revealed are that the new Zelda will revisit ideas like linearity in dungeon completion and the idea of playing alone. If they're willing to make Zelda a multiplayer game (beyond, perhaps the extend of Four Swords), we may be in for something legitimately new. There is also some mention by Iwata that we will get to see some of the challenges the Zelda team will face soon, as in an Iwata Asks, though this could be a mistake of language.

As for the Wind Waker HD release, it sounds like the game will be adapted to the Wii U control scheme and potentially given a slightly-more-than-cosmetic overhaul on the level Ocarina of Time received with its 3DS release. My only fear is that the true beauty of Wind Waker may be lost behind bloom effects and soft lighting as seen in the released screenshots (which are not necessarily of the HD remake, but rather of a test case put together by the Zelda team while experimenting with Wii U hardware).

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A blog post Friday from Bethesda announced an actual date for the release of not only the PC version of Dragonborn, but also a TBA release in February for the Playstation 3 (preceded by the 1.8 patch). The Dragonborn DLC (downloadable content) will be available for PC users on February 5th, and sometime later in February for PS3 users. Later in the same month, the first and second DLC packs Dawnguard and Hearthfire will be released on PS3. Each of these DLCs including Dragonborn will be priced at 50% off for the first week of release.

For PS3 users especially this will be either a very exciting prospect or too little too late.

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