Monthly Archives: February 2015
Documentary Explores Motivations of Mars Colonists
The Mars One mission is asking for volunteers to colonize the red planet, and some might ask why anyone would sign up. Thanks to a new documentary from The Guardian, we now have answers. The ten-minute film, “If I Die on Mars”, asks volunteers why they signed on to spend the rest of their lives on an alien planet millions of miles from home.
“Hundred of years down the line, who's going to know who was the President of the United States or something?” asked one volunteer, “but everyone will remember" the first four people who stepped on Mars.
Over 200,000 people applied for a chance to be one of those four members of the first colonization mission, and according to the documentary there are now just 660 finalists. Are all of them just in it for the chance to be remembered?
Black Hawk Down Writer Adapting The Activity
Black Hawk Down and Defection screenwriter Ken Nolan is writing a film adaptation of Image Comics' The Activity.
In the foreword to The Activity, Vol. 3 trade paperback (as noted by Latino-Review), Nolan revealed that he is working on a big-screen adaptation of Nathan Edmondson and Mitch Gerards' hit action comic.
The Activity, Vol. 1 TPB
New Alien: Isolation DLC Available Today
The fourth and second-to-last pack of downloadable content for Alien: Isolation is now available for download.
Called Lost Contact, the DLC is an add-on for Alien: Isolation's survivor mode, in which players are put up against a series of different enemies with only one life at their disposal. As the character Axel, players will salvage and navigate a map filled with corridors and crawl spaces while crafting items to use against foes.
Successfully completing challenges will reward players with points, which they can use to either unlock save slots or appear on Alien: Isolation's leaderboards.
The DLC is currently availble for $8 USD on Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC worldwide. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 owners in North America have access to it starting today, while European PlayStation gamers can download the DLC on Wednesday, February 11. The DLC is also available to season pass holders, and one more add-on is expected to release after this.
App Store Update: February 10
Every day hundreds of new apps make their debut on the App Store, and hundreds more are updated or reduced in price. We have sifted through the noise and highlighted those select few that might be worth your attention.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Warhammer 40,000: Carnage – ($0.99, Down from $6.99)
"Run and gun through screaming hordes of frenzied enemies in this fast-moving, high powered, action side-scroller. Jump into the kick-ass Warhammer 40,000 universe, obliterating infernal Orks in this stunning world."
Make Your House a Drone-Free No-Fly Zone
You can now register a no-fly zone over your home to deter drone operators from invading your privacy.
All you need to do is enter your address into NoFlyZone.org, provide and verify some additional information, and the site will store the GPS coordinates of your place of residence for drones worldwide to avoid.
NoFlyZone actually coordinates with drone manufacturers to make this happen, though the service does not guarantee all drones and their operators will follow the rules.
According to the website, only drones produced by one of NoFlyZone's participating manufacturers will be programmed to avoid designated property.
Spidey Likely in Captain America: Civil War
After the bombshell announcement yesterday that Spider-Man will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans very quickly began wondering what this means for Drew Goddard's planned Sinister Six movie. And now word has come that the film is still in the works, but will move to a later, unspecified date. Additionally, we now know that Spider-Man will make his MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War.
According to the Wall Street Journal (via Coming Soon), Spider-Man will be introduced to the Marvel movie-verse in time for the third Captain America film, which follows the events of the Marvel Comics event, Civil War. As per the paper, "The two companies said late Monday that Spider-Man will appear in an upcoming Disney-produced Marvel super-heroes movie; that movie is 2016’s 'Captain America: Civil War,' according to a person with knowledge of the matter."
Wrestling Wrap Up: Roman Reigns Spears Daniel Bryan
I was all set to do a rather humdrum Wrap Up this week. Nothing special. Typical "Road to the PPV before WrestleMania" stuff. Some more musings about where the WWE might go with Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns. It was looking like the best option, at this point, was Bryan leading Reigns through an awesome match at Fastlane and putting him over clean. Then shaking his hand afterward, raising his arm, and giving him the full endorsement. Not great, but good enough.
Zen Studios Announces Two New Tables for Zen Pinball
Zen Studios has unveiled two more original tablets in its Iron & Steel Pack coming later this month.
The pack consists of a table based on Zen’s action-strategy-RPG CastleStorm, as well as the Wild West-themed table Wild West Rampage. In CastleStorm, players team up with the knight Sir Gareth as he defends the Kingdom from the Viking hordes. The table features both single and multiball game modes in a Viking stronghold, including a dragon or two.
Wild West Rampage stars Cindy the bounty hunter in the western town of Rackton Point. The Western-inspired playfield comes complete with a rolling 3D steam engine, six-shooter ball locker and battles with the local officers of the town. The Iron & Steel Pack launches the week of February 24, and will be available on PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Steam, Mac, iOS, Android and Amazon platforms.
Atari’s Asteroids to be Re-Imagined in New PC Game
Atari announced today that it is planning to re-imagine the classic Asteroids arcade game in Asteroids: Outpost.
An open-world survival game, Asteroids: Outpost places players in the asteroid belt in which they will mine for materials, defend their bases from enemies, and forge alliances with other players.
Developed by Salty Games, Asteroids: Outpost will allegedly pay homage to the original arcade classic through the use of asteroid destruction animations.
Asteroids: Outpost will release first on PC. At this time, no official release date is known. Visit the official Asteroids: Outpost website to learn more.
Cassidee is a freelance writer for various outlets around the web. You can chat with her about all things geeky on Twitter.
The Americans Creators on That Disturbing Suitcase Scene
The Americans returned two weeks ago for another incredibly compelling season, as Philip and Elizabeth Jennings continue to try to protect their own identities as KGB agents while debating whether they should do as their commanders wish and begin to recruit their own daughter, Paige.
I sat down with The Americans’ executive producers, Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, to discuss Season 3’s new developments, including the Paige situation and Nina imprisoned in Russia.
And, of course, we talked about last week’s gasp-worthy scene, as Elizabeth and Philip disposed of a body in a particularly graphic, bone-crunching manner…
IGN: The Paige question is looming large this season. How much will that escalate?