Well I thought it’d be nice if I posted this up. It’s been a good year and I’d like to thank every single one of our members who frequently visits AvPGalaxy. It’s for you guys we do all this work.  :amuse: I’d also like to thank all our affiliates such as Dark Horse, Sega, Gearbox, Obsidian and Fox.

I hope you all look forward to another exciting year with plenty of news on Colonial Marines, the RPG, the new comic series (!) and all the wonderful merchandise we can expect. I might finally bring myself to get one of those awesome Hot Toy models.

From all the staff at AvPGalaxy, myself, Darkness, all the mods: Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Here’s to Hot Toys in your stockings, and South Sea China wrapped up with your presents!

Continuing their release of Aliens and Predator Maquettes, ADI and Sideshow have just announced the latest in their recent line:

This Maquette is actually life sized so it will be quite large. Unfortunately there is no release date. But you can keep an eye on this thread for more information as it is released. Thanks to Sabres21768 for the news.

Following up on Weaver’s recent idea of having an Alien 5 without any Aliens, MovieHole has just released a little article after they got the chance to talk to Weaver:

“And, you know, I don’t think we have a deep, pressing need to finish the saga although it does definitely feel unfinished to me. And I think if I wanted to go and have a meeting with Jim about it, I’m sure he’d be game”.

Usual stuff really. As expected she also takes the chance to slag off the recent AvP movies (that’s our lass  :amuse: ). But to quote Dreamcatcher, “same shit, different day”. Read the whole thing at MovieHole. Thanks to DazAvP85 for the news.

PlayStation magazine PSW (PlayStation World) recently did a massive article on the upcoming Colonial Marines game. While they released no new screenshots, they did reveal quite a bit about the game!

• One aspect of the story ties neatly into the Aliens universe is the use of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation as an over-arching evil, a puppet-master pulling the strings behind the action. Though your immediate survival against the Sulaco’s alien infestation is your primary concern, the game will build in a conspiracy story behind the gameplay.
  
• There will be more than six episodes to wade through, including some revelations that could affect the Aliens cannon.
  
• All team members are essential. One marine will be able to hack security doors another will be able to set portable gun turrets. Each carries their own signature weapon. The officer carries a standard pistol, while the other squad members carry flame throwers, pulse rifles, grenades, one even carries an RPG
  
• Gearbox has said new aliens will be introduced to ensure that there’s plenty to shoot.

Forum members WarWager and Sh0dan have been kind enough to scan up the pages and post the new information, the rest of which you can read in the CM board. The game is sounding better and better. Keep your eyes on this space for more news.

I’d really like to apologize for this one. We’ve had it for a while but I was waiting until we got a little added extra before announcing it so I’m extremely sorry for the delay. However, onto the main attraction!

“But for me I really like ambiguous characters because they seem more real. I mean, we might not be gunrunners, but each one of us has made some dubious moral or ethical decisions. So when we respond to villains, we kind of are acknowledging that, yeah, we have a part of ourselves that’s like that, too.”

Jeff VanderMeer is the author of the latest Predator novel, South Sea China. We talk about the usual stuff including the other comics, the translated version of South Sea China (of which we were given an exclusive copy of the cover) and I’ve even scored you all the entire first chapter of South Sea China! So be sure check out the interview.

MTV Movies has been talking to Mrs Weaver and as usual she reveals that her and Ridley Scott have been talking about an Alien 5. Again. But this time it’s a little different:

““What we’re interested in is taking the character of Ripley and seeing what other science fiction story we can tell about someone who has lived several lives.”

An Alien film without Aliens? I know it’s always been about Ripley but…Well, I’ll let you make your own minds up about it. Read the whole thing here. Thanks to Xenomorphine for the news.

There’s a couple of stories circulating today on Kotaku and ShackNews that Gearbox / Sega was going to drop Aliens: Colonial Marines altogether. Apparently, Gearbox let go of a large number of employees today because Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway hadn’t sold well. Kotaku also mentions that Sega may have cut the funding on Colonial Marines because they were concerned that the project couldn’t be delivered on time and on budget.

Gearbox president Randy Pitchford has since made a statement saying the game is still in production but a release date hasn’t been confirmed. If the game is still in development, I’d expect it to be delayed at the very least. Still, there’s no smoke without fire. Sure is strange that we’ve seen very little of Aliens: CM and absolutely nothing of Obsidian’s Aliens RPG.

The hot topic of the community is the upcoming fanfilm by Alex Popov, Redemption. We’ve been covering it for a good few months and I recently got chance to have a chat with Alex about Redemption:

“It all began when I saw “Batman Dead End”. I decided I wanted to make my own Predator fan film. The next step was making the costume. I did some research on the web about how to make cheap armor and decided to go with cardboard and duck tape. It took me about 2 month to make it and about $200. Lucky for me I finished right in time for Halloween. In 2 days I won about $800 in cash prizes. Eventually I started to think about some storylines and did some test shots. My first test called “Alex Versus Predator”, you can find it on YouTube.”

It’s quite a meaty interview but it’s a fantastic read. If you’re looking forward to this film as much as I am then make sure you read our interview with Alex. For more information on Redemption, Alex frequents our forum.

I just received word from Gary of Alien War that a massive piece of news has been posted regarding the upcoming Alien War attraction. And that is that it will be opening this month:

“The London show will now not happen until mid 2009 so to keep things ticking over we are delighted to say that Alien Wars will return back to its original home in the creepy basement at The Arches in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. It will open on November 28th 2008 and the special premier VIP of this new show will be on the 27th Nov. We are looking for staff/actors and auditions are being held this Monday 3rd at 7:00pm at The Arches, please come along and bring CV etc.”

The Arches has also release the prices for the event on their Myspace. £10 adults, £8 for students and unwaged and £5 for children (14 and under).

As far as I’m aware the plan for the Glasgow release first has been there for a while. Look out for more news soon and I hope to see some of you guys down there! For more information on the venue check out The Arches website. Also be sure to visit the Alien Wars Myspace to see their new picture. Once again, thanks to Gary for news. I look forward to heading down there.

EDIT: Okay guys, looks like there has has been a change of plan. Garry just posted this up on his MySpace:

“The New Alien Wars will now open on Saturday the 6th December to the public. A speical Premier Party for special invited guests will be held on the Thursday night the 4th December. This Myspace web site will now be only for the old Alien War Show and a new Myspace site and official web site www.alienwars.com will be up and runing in the next few days, details will be posted soon.”

Sideshow has just previewed a brand new PredAlien maquette that will soon be coming our way. What’s different about this one? It’s a “Concept” design:

Its based on one of the numerous concept designs done for Chet. Makes me wonder if we’ll be getting more. You can see more pictures on our forum. Thanks to Sabres for the news.