Monthly Archives: June 2015
Valve Announces $250,000 Prize Pool for CS:GO at Cologne 2015
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s next Major Championship is ESL One Cologne 2015 with a $250,000 prize pool, Valve official announced today.
The sixth Major Championship for CS:GO will run August 20-23 at the LANXESS arena in Cologne, Germany. Eight invited and eight qualified teams will go head-to-head to win the ESL One Champion title and trophy, currently held by ESL One Katowice 2015 champion, Fnatic.
Fans unable to attend will be able to watch the all of the group stages and playoff matches, along with behind-the-scenes and "out of game" footage via multiple livestreams. For the first time, offline regional qualifying events in Burbank, USA, Cologne, Germany and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will also be officially streamed on July 18-19.
Marvel Reveals First Look at Their Heroes After Secret Wars
Marvel Comics has released the first image of their heroes as they will appear after this summer’s big Secret Wars event.
Art by David Marquez
Secret Wars brought about the end of the Marvel Universe in May, which resulted in a new place being created called Battleworld -- a world made up of different Marvel realities ruled by Doctor Doom. A majority of Marvel’s books ended and were replaced with Secret Wars series, leaving fans to wonder if Marvel was going to reboot or relaunch their entire line after Secret Wars. While the press release does not use either of those words, it does give a name to this new era of Marvel and confirm that we will be getting a new wave of comics all starting at issue #1.
Star Wars: Could Mace Windu Still Make a Comeback?
Most Star Wars fans agree that Mace Windu perished in Revenge of the Sith, but others -- including star Samuel L. Jackson -- aren't entirely convinced.
Ever since it was first announced that Disney and Lucasfilm were making more Star Wars movies, Jackson has said he'd be open to reprising his role as the esteemed Jedi Master. And now that we've begun to explore the time period between Episodes III and IV -- not to mention the returns of classic characters on Star Wars Rebels -- the idea of Jackson's character making a comeback doesn't seem completely outside the realm of possibility.
Unlocked: Fallout 4 Reactions
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You know what we're talking about this week: Fallout 4. Join us for a 26-minute reaction segment to the announcement and the trailer. We discuss what gameplay elements the trailer suggests, why we think we're going to get a very long demo at E3, when we think the game is coming out, and more. Plus: what the Gears of War developer's studio rebranding means for the series, why the Rise of the Tomb Raider teaser trailer bugged us, details on the big Unlocked 200 celebration, and so much more! It's a 90-minute epic episode of Podcast Unlocked!
How Much Would You Spend on Virtual Reality?
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The Tech Fetish crew discusses the best announcements out of Google I/O, a text messaging bug that causes some iPhones to crash, Oculus Rift pricing, and AT&T's latest attempts to stall net neutrality. Also, laundry services.
Hop to the 02:44 mark to get to the tech talk.
Fantastic Four Director and Producer Address Casting Uproar
Josh Trank has spoken out to address the the casting criticism leveled at the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, admitting he "knew it was going to get ugly."
In a recent interview with Hero Complex magazine (via LA Times), the director argued his decision to cast African American Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm (aka The Human Torch) and the relatively-short Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm (aka The Thing) was done out of a desire to not simply retread old ground and tell the same story in the same way.
"It only speaks to the greatness of any story that has been told for decades or centuries that people still want to tell that story," he said. "But you can’t just keep telling it the same way over and over again. And I think it only helps the world to be more honest with young kids, to show them the world that they go walk outside and see."
George R.R. Martin on Violence Against Women in Game of Thrones
Author George R.R. Martin has offered his take on women in his A Song of Ice and Fire novels and the hotly-debated topic of the violence, particularly the sexual violence, they suffer at the hands of men.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, it's important to note that Martin does not address the HBO show, which has come under fire throughout its lifetime for including rapes and sexual assaults that were not in the books, and their arguably mishandled aftermaths. Rather, he reflects back on the patriarchal building blocks used to create his fictional worlds of Westeros and Essos in his written work.
Musicals and Gaming Suits: An Interview with Pac-Man’s Creator
Smiling and laughing, Professor Toru Iwatani is impressively jovial, considering he just went immediately from a fourteen hour international flight to a large celebration in Pac-Man’s honor. But, such a demeanor is fitting of a man who created one of the most popular arcade games in history.
It’s been thirty-five years since Pac-Man first launched in North America and became one of the most beloved and widely-recognized characters of the classic gaming era. Pac-Man has become deeply embedded in modern popular culture - he has appeared in multiple films, television shows, video games, and licensed products, stretching from Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. for Wii U to an episode of Futurama. People young and old all over the world recognize the wakka wakka sound Pac-Man makes as he chomps his way across the board. They know the ghosts that follow him. He is one of perhaps three video games the average grandmother in Middle America could name.
How Vacation Continues Griswold Legacy, R Rating Included
I’m a huge fan of National Lampoon’s Vacation – so much so that I named it one of my ten favorite movies ever when I listed my personal Top 10 for IGN a few months back. So suffice to say, it was pretty exciting to find myself standing at Walley World last year, watching Rusty Griswold and his family visit the fabled theme park.
Okay, sure Walley World was really Six Flags Over Georgia…* but still! There was the new generation of Griswolds, led by a grownup Rusty (Ed Helms)! And based on the conflict the Griswolds were having with another family (led by Office Space's Ron Livingston) as they tried to board a rollercoaster, Rusty's luck when it came to vacations was as terrible as his father's.
Hannibal’s Back and Everything Has Changed
It’s been a long, thirteen month wait, but Hannibal is back on Thursday night. The brilliant, beautiful, and bloody series has some big changes in store, in the wake of the shocking events that closed out Season 2, which Hannibal executive producer and showrunner, Bryan Fuller, jokingly calls “the Red Dinner.”
With Season 3 here, I spoke to Fuller about what to expect this year, as we follow Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) and Bedelia (Gillian Anderson) to Italy and gradually begin to learn just who survived the mayhem Dr. Lecter left in his wake back in Virginia. Fuller and I also chat about the latter half of the season, as the famous Red Dragon storyline begins, with Richard Armitage (The Hobbit) playing the “Tooth Fairy” killer, Francis Dolarhyde, and discuss the current plans beyond Season 3 and the ongoing question of whether Clarice Starling can ever be introduced, given that character’s film and TV rights (along with anyone else introduced in Silence of the Lamb) are currently held by MGM and not Hannibal’s producers.