Mom's Minute

"With great power, comes great responsibility", a famous quote from Spiderman movies and comic books may be heard once again when the latest Spiderman movie is released.  Sony has partnered with Marvel Studios on the next Spiderman movie to bring it to theaters as a reboot.   To refresh you on Spiderman's "acquisition"  -- Marvel sold Spiderman to Sony at a cost of about $7 million back in 1999.  Spiderman will be going back to his roots, so to speak, when Marvel Studios (owned by Disney) and Sony join creative forces.

Sony/Marvel's partnership goes beyond the new upcoming Spiderman movie.  The partnership will open avenues to weave and include Spiderman in Marvel's other popular renderings such as the Avengers and other Marvel based comic book superhero franchises.

One such inclusion is Spiderman's possible appearance  in the Captain America movie, before his own movie comes out in 2017.  Tom Holland, an English actor, will play as Spiderman, replacing Andrew Garfield who was Spiderman in the movie's two previous renditions.

Will the upcoming Spiderman movie be a blockbuster success?  It may be too early to tell.  However,  given the lukewarm reception of the new Spiderman movie, looks like Sony and Marvel may have to rely on the overwhelming popularity of the Spiderman character himself to help revitalize excitement in a movie featuring yet another actor playing the role of  the Amazing Spiderman. Hopefully Sony and Marvel are up to the challenge.  

The new Spiderman movie releases in theaters on July 28, 2017.

Are you a fan of Broadway musicals?  If so, how would you like to dance to some of the most popular songs from several musicals, many of which are still playing live on Broadway?  You can do just that if you have either a Wii or a PlayStation 3 video game system as well as the video game Dance on Broadway.

Dance on Broadway has been out for a few years now so the game is readily available.  It was originally released for the Wii back in 2010 and later for the PlayStation 3 in 2011.  Dance on Broadway is a dancing game so you essentially move in concert with the avatars on the screen.  Based on how well you follow the steps and movements you will be met with varying forms of assessments such as "Great", "Excellent", etc.

You may ask how does this dance video game differ from some of the others that are more current, such as Just Dance and Dance Central.  Well, there are similarities between Dance on Broadway and other dance type video games; however, the major difference is that Dance on Broadway is comprised entirely of songs and music from musicals -- no pop, rock, rap or soul -- simply musicals.  Some songs you may be familiar with which are on this video game are "All that Jazz" from the musical Chicago; "Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In" from Hair and "Cabaret" from the musical Cabaret.  In fact there are twenty different musicals you can dance to when you play Dance on Broadway.  Unfortunately, the songs are not directly from the musicals but are sung by other talented singers instead.  However, the tune and flavor of the actual songs from the musical are reflected in the twenty songs. The biggest plus is as you dance you will be exercising as well, while having fun!

If this sounds like a video game you would like to play, it's easy for you to own.  Dance on Broadway is available on Amazon, GameStop and other retail estabishments where video games are sold. If you have a PS3, you will have to use the PS move controller to play Dance on Broadway.  

Get the Dance on Broadway video game and before long you will be dancing as if you are the star of a big time musical, without even leaving the comfort of your home.

Dance on Broadway was developed by Longtail Studios AiLive; published by UbiSoft and is rated E +10.

EA was mum regarding the Mass Effect video game during its E3 2015 press conference on June 15, 2015 choosing instead to concentrate on news for eSports type games as well as Tom Clancy's Division and others.  The next video game in the Mass Effect franchise was announced during E3 which was held June 16-18, 2015 at Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California.  Maybe this game was going to be the surprise hit for EA; however, looks like the reception so far has been luke warm at best.

You may recall the massive negative publicity EA as well as BioWare suffered with the ending of the previous Mass Effect video game.  The company went so far as to give refunds for the game because of the disappointment and total letdown gamers experienced after finishing this video game.   There had been talk from EA of another video game forthcoming in the Mass Effect series, with EA being emphatic, in my opinion, the name of the game would not be Mass Effect 4. Well, now we know the name of the video game will be Mass Effect Andromeda, set in a whole different galaxy and environment.

Based on the Mass Effect Andromeda trailer, the world will be set in part on a mountainous type terrain, with the characters transversing across it, which probably includes explorations as well.  As with most action adventure games, Mass Effect Andromeda will most likely have its share of battles, explosions and other cinematography likes effects, which have become customary with these types games. Of course, more information will become avalable as the video game gets closer to its release date.

It's early yet.  The developers have some time to differentiate Mass Effect Andromeda from its predecessors which will hopefully culminate in an enjoyable, exciting video game to play and not just more of the same.

For now, I guess we will have to just wait and see.  Mass Effect Andromeda video game is expected to be rated M for Mature and currently has a release date of Holiday, 2016.

Mass Effect 4 or Not Read More

If you have played the Killer Instinct video game character Maya or even watched this character during gameplay, you may have noticed she has, in my opinion, a strong resemblance to Beyonce Knowles.  Back in the day when Beyonce was part of the group Destiny's Child, she wore her hair in braids often similar to how Maya is depicted in the video game.  When I watched this game being played, I also noticed the character has certain victory movements that are signature moves for Beyonce -- even though anyone of course could do these moves as well.

The question I have is why, unlike Lindsay Lohan, Beyonce has not come forward to challenge the use of her likeness without her permission.  As you may know, a few months back Lindsay Lohan sued those behind supposedly or alledgedly using  her likeness in the video game, Grand Theft Auto V -- which is still pendng.  However, not a whimper has been heard from Beyonce.

Could it be that Beyonce is still reelling from the recent video game settlement she made with game developer Gate Five after  being sued for over $100 million dollars for backing out of a video game deal?  Or maybe there are other reasons.  By the way, details of the settlement were not disclosed.

Of course it is possible that her likeness is based on someone else who simply resembles Beyonce, which essentially means the controversy between Maya and Beyonce's likeness does not exist.  Maybe this is the case   since the game has been out for some time now and there has not been nary a peep from Beyonce or her people about how Maya looks like Beyonce in the video game Killer Instinct.

If you would like to weigh in on this yourself, you may check out  Killer Instinct which is an Xbox One exclusive video game, rated M for Mature.  Maya is a playable character in the Killer Instinct Season 2 series that launched October 15, 2014.

You may have heard the saying, "Everything is coming up roses."  Well, in the case of movies and video games of late, everything seems to be coming up Star Wars.  In addition to May 4, 2015 being Star Wars Day, or "May the force (4th) be with you Day", there is a lot of buzz about the upcoming Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens which will feature several alumni actors from the Star Wars Return of the Jedi movie  --including Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford.  Star Wars:  The Force Awakens movie releases on December 18, 2015.  By the way, Vanity Fair just announced that Star Wars will grace its June 2015 magazine cover, so it appears that Star Wars is not lacking in its share of publicity -- online as well as in print.

Star Wars' gamer fans are also included in the Star Wars publicity machine.  Specifically, the video game Star Wars Battlefront will release on November 17, 2015.  Star Wars Battlefront is the third entry in the Star Wars Battlefront series where the action and adventure will involve battling as a Stormtroopers or as a Rebel Alliance soldier.  The multiplayer mode will accommodate up to 40 players.

 If you want to get a head start on playing the DLC that will be available after the game releases, you can pre-order Star Wars Battlefront from Amazon.com as well as other video game places.  At Amazon.com, the pre-order bonus for Star Wars Battlefront is  you will receive the DLC a week earlier than other gamers.  The DLC consist of two maps set on the planet Jakku before the Star Wars: The Force Awakens saga begins.  The DLC will be released publicly on December 8, 2015; however if you preorder, you will receive the DLC a week earlier on December 1, 2015.

Star Wars Battlefront is published by Electronics Arts (EA) and developed by EA Digital Illusions CE.

Whether you plan to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie when it comes out, or if you plan to play the Star Wars video game -- Star Wars Battlefront -- or even enjoy both -- May the force be with you.