Retro Game Scoop: SHAQ FU SEQUEL?

Here at the Scooperette we're not always looking forward, showing our audience the future, we also like to take the time to peer backwards, and show you the stories that fell through the cracks in generations past.

In 1994, Electronic Arts published Shaq Fu, a fighting game starring basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, for the SNES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, and Game Gear systems. Despite the company's strong support for the game (including a heavy marketing campaign), the game went on to receive poor reviews and ultimately flopped. As far as the public is concerned, that's where the story ends. However, according to a source that was working within the company at the time, EA had far more faith in the product than it first appeared, and even had grand plans for an entire franchise of fighting games starring the world's greatest athletes. Our source tells us they had even begun development on the game's first follow-up, but it was canned soon after the release of Shaq Fu. The name of this game was Gretzky Kwon Do.




The game starred Wayne Gretzky, the world's greatest hockey player and hero to millions. The story began with Gretzky on his way to a charity game in Transylvania. While riding his bike to the rink, he is abducted by a spaceship and taken to Planet Dracula. When he arrives, he discovers that vampires have been kidnapping the planet's peasant children and turning them into wooden statues. It's up to Wayne Gretzky and his unique brand of martial arts to defeat the evil Count Nosferaku and his robot horde to restore the kidnapped children to their natural state.




Due to the game being largely identical to its predecessor, only with a few new sprites, the majority of the game was complete when it was canned. There were even a handful of prototype cartridges produced, all of which have unfortunately disappeared in the years since. It is presumed they were taken by employees, and are probably now in their private collections or perhaps sitting in a cardboard box in someone's attic. One thing's for sure, due to their extreme rarity, these cartridges are one the most sought after items in the video game collector's market. Perhaps the only greater prize is a game that may only exist in whispered legend.

Some call it no more than a collector's urban legend, but others are convinced in its existence. One man (who prefers to remain nameless) claims to have seen it himself, albeit briefly, in the private collection of a reclusive enthusiast of exceedingly rare video game artifacts. This game was said to have been intended as the third in the Shaq Fu trilogy, developed alongside Gretzky Kwon Do in absolute secrecy (not even the team developing Gretzky Kwon Do was aware of the existence of another team), of which only one prototype cartridge was ever produced. To this day, video game conspiracy buffs pore over decade-old discarded memos and cryptic internal documents salvaged from the developer to try and prove the existence of this third game. One of these researchers, a Northern California-based man named Dr. J. Ritmanis, claims to have uncovered the definitive piece of evidence. Ritmanis claims to be in possession of a scrap reconstructed from a box of shredded paper he recovered from a landfill, a photocopy of a fax of a memo, with six slightly smudged words that appear to read:

ABORT PROJECT: Agassi Jitsu is cancelled.

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Television Scoop: The DVC Animated Series

Thanks to our intrepid intern Richie and his diligent dumpster diving efforts, the Scooperette recently got our hands on a discarded early draft of a soon-to-be-announced press release from 4Kids TV, detailing one of their brand new animated children's shows starting this fall on Fox.

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Hot off the heels of the summer's biggest movie and one of the best selling books of all time comes an all new animated adventure for kids. We at 4Kids TV are very excited to announce none other than The Da Vinci Code Animated Series!


The Da Vinci Code Animated Series follows the intelligent but always clutzy Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology, as he travels the globe solving hair-raising mysteries, everything from haunted houses to terrorist plots, using his unique knowledge of art history. Speaking of art history, Robert Langdon is joined in his quest by one of the most important pieces of art history in the world, the Mona Lisa herself! Thanks to a botched pagan ritual, the painting has taken on a life all her own, and has devoted her newfound life to tracking down evil-doers... when she's not fixing her hair that is! Assisting the duo is smart-mouthed 14 year old genius Leia da Vinci, descendant of Leonardo. She creates amazing James Bond-like inventions and gadgets for Robert to use based on her great-great-great-great-great-(well, you get the picture)-grandfather's drawings, such as wooden flying machines and grappling hook wristwatches.

While solving mysteries, Robert and "M.L." find clues uncovering an ancient religious conspiracy known only as The Brotherhood of Shadow, commanded by the mysterious Father Lucertola. His bumbling henchmen, Serpente and Orso, are always making trouble for Robert, even if their harebrained schemes to trap him never quite work out the way they plan.

Robert and M.L. go undercover to sneak into a
fancy ball in "The Mystery of Napoleon's Diamond"

The Da Vinci Code Animated Series promises to be a grand adventure chock-full of art, ancient conspiracies, thrilling chases, ticking time bombs and religion! Da Vinci Code will air Saturday mornings on Fox before V For Vendetta Jr.

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Game Scoop: POWDER: VENGEANCE PROPHECY

POWDER: VENGEANCE PROPHECY
DEVELOPER: MASSIVE CORONARY STUDIOS
RELEASE DATE: SPRING 2007
PLATFORM: PC, X-BOX 360

This year's E3 was full of huge announcements, everything from the PS3's motion-sensing controllers to NCAA Football 2007. With all these big stories, a lot of smaller games tend to fall through the cracks, even if they promise to change the very face of the industry.

Games like Powder: Vengeance Prophecy.

Developed by Melbourne-based Massive Coronary Studios, Powder: Vengeance Prophecy is a game based on the hit 1995 film about an electric albino hailed by critics and audiences alike as, "an uplifting, heartfelt, must-see film... even though it was directed by a convicted child molester!" When asked why they chose to adapt an eleven year old movie into a game, Greg Scoom, producer of Powder: Vengeance Prophecy, tells us, "A lot of older movies are being adapted into games these days because gamers are starting to realize that games adapted from current movies always suck. But Powder is totally a great movie, and is really timeless. Who doesn't watch this movie and think how cool it would be to have all those awesome electrical powers? I know I do! Now fans will get the chance they've been waiting for!"

Vengeance Prophecy acts as a sequel and the story picks up directly after the film ends. For those that have seen the movie, you will remember (spoilers ahead) that story ends with Powder being hit by a bolt of lightning and disappearing, presumably dying. Greg Scoom explains how the game's story deals with this, "Well, as you know, the movie ended with [Powder] getting hit by lightning, but when you play the game you find out that the collision of the lightning bolt with Powder's electromagnetic field didn't kill him but actually opened a hole in space-time and sent Powder rocketing into the distant future. We like to think that the movie was always intended as the beginning of a saga, even if the director and producers denied that when we asked." The game begins with Powder awakening in the year 2099, only to find the world is now controlled by a corrupt totalitarian government led by a mysterious figure known only as Mister President. Powder joins an underground resistance and uses his electrical powers to fight the One World Government's secret police force, and eventually reveal the secrets of the future in order to topple the oppressive government Mister President has created.

"It's very heavy material for a game to tackle," says Scoom, "We're used to the stories in our games being about rescuing princesses and what-not, but we felt we could take storytelling in games to a new level, just like Powder did with film. It's a very topical story, that deals with a lot of issues that we're facing in America today with freedom and stuff. Well, we're not facing these issues ourselves because we're in Australia, but we see a lot of stuff about America on TV."

Scoom mentions that they are in negotiations with some of the movie's stars to reprise their roles from the film, but so far no contracts had been signed. "Obviously they wouldn't be playing the same characters they did in the film because those characters would be dead by 2099. But for example, we are currently talking to Jeff Goldblum to reprise his role as the science teacher, only now he would be a computer hologram that his character from the film invented and put his mind into."

When asked about the gameplay, Scoom's face lights up, "Gameplay is a real passion of mine, it's my favourite part of most games! We're really trying to take the best parts of all our favourite games and put them into one package like never before. We're combining the balls out action of a third person shooter with the strategic aspects of a third person stealth game and the wide open world of a Grand Theft Auto game." Not only does Powder gain access to a massive arsenal of guns (including pistols, silenced pistols, machine guns and laser machine guns), Powder has an impressive array of supernatural abilities.

"We tried to keep his powers true to the film, while also making them fun to use, and throwing a few surprises in there too." Powder's abilities include Magnetism, which allows him to move metal objects (such as crates and barrels) with his mind a la Magneto, Lightning Blast, which he can use to shoot electricity out of his hand and fry enemy soldiers, Electro-vision, which gives Powder the power to pick up the electricity signatures of enemies and see in the dark (much like infrared goggles), Invisocloak, which creates a magnetic field around Powder that refracts light and renders him invisible to enemies, and Lightning-Time, which you can use to "make all the enemies move in super slow-mo while Powder dives through the air and blasts them away like in a John Woo movie." Scoom also promises a few surprise powers to be revealed closer to launch.

As if that's not enough, Scoom also reveals that the game will feature a complex hand-to-hand fighting system. "At one point in the game Powder will travel to Neo-Hong Kong, where he meets Xiang Qichau, an immortal who teaches him the art of wushu kung fu." Powder will be able to string together a number of graceful yet powerful combos as well as perform devastating "chi blasts".

"Powder will need all these abilities and more to survive the ruthless concrete jungle that is the future," Scoom adds, "When the One World Government discovers an ancient prophecy that points out Powder as a threat to them, they create a genetically engineered super-soldier to have all the same powers as Powder, except he's black, not white. They call him Black Powder and he is sent to hunt down Powder and the other rebels."

Although the version of the game we played had some issues with slow-down and pop-up (especially during the hoverbike race segment), and the two levels we were shown had no real geometry yet, and Powder only currently had one power implemented and was not yet animated, and much of the dialogue was still in Russian (the game's writer does not speak English, so he writes the dialogue in Russian and it is later translated into English), Massive Coronary still has a few months to iron these problems out. With a little polish, they have a sure hit on their hands!

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The Grand Opening!

Hello readers! Welcome to the grand opening of the Scooperette!

What is the Scooperette?

The Scooperette aims to bring you the entertainment scoops that no one else will bring you. In a time when even the independent media is firmly entrenched in the pockets of major movie studios, and video game publishers frequently buy glowing reviews, we're here to provide truly objective opinions and news unfiltered from "official" sources.

Who are you?

My name is Eric Poulton and I'm the founder and editor-in-chief of the Scooperette. The Scooperette Squad also includes Tom Falco, our resident movie reviewer. We're starting off with a small staff, but the team will be filled out as the site grows.

Who is Charlie J. Biggerscoops?



Charlie J. Biggerscoops personifies the ideals of this site. He's an intrepid journalist who follows the leads everyone else is too afraid to pursue. He believes in trusting his sources, no questions asked, no matter how wild their claims. While everyone else is using their heads, he uses his gut and follows his hunches to get the big scoops. He also has a mustache.

(Left: An artist's interpretation of a man that looks somewhat like Charlie J. Biggerscoops.)





Thanks for reading the Scooperette! We look forward to becoming your #1 source for entertainment scoops!

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