Monthly Archives: December 2015
You Can Buy This Lightsaber Pen for $25,000
Fancy penmaker S.T. Dupont Paris is releasing a `limited edition Star Wars levitating lightsaber fountain pen, "fit for a Jedi master." You can purchase it as either Darth Vader's Sith Lord lightsaber or Yoda's Jedi Master lightsaber, both adorned with a 2 carat crystal—red or green topaz—to represent the weapon's blade. And it'll cost you $25,000.
The pen is "formed from bronze with black lacquer with palladium and rhodium finishes" and designed to look like the lightsabers from the Star Wars films. The pen is truly limited edition, with S.T. Dupont releasing only eight.
Your new lightsaber pen will come with a levitating platform, which might as well be made using the force—but in reality, just uses magnets to stay afloat.
XCOM Modders Announce New Strategy Game
The team behind XCOM: Enemy Unknown's popular Long War mod has formed a new studio to create its first original title.
The new development team, aptly named Long War Studios, is working on a "grand strategy game" called Terra Invicta, in which players must defend Earth from an incoming alien invasion.
According an announcement on the studio's official site (via NeoGAF), the game is currently in "pre-Kickstarter development."
In Terra Invicta, players must "assemble a council of scientists, politicians, military leaders and operatives" in an effort to "unite Earth's squabbling nations with the ultimate goal of taking the fight to the aliens in the high ground of outer space."
See Super Mario Maker’s New Costumes in Action
Nintendo has released a pair of new trailers showcasing Super Mario Maker’s upcoming Excitebike and Birdo costumes.
Nintendo of Europe unveiled the new costumes last week, announcing that both skins will be available on December 31 via NES Remix Event Courses.
See the Excitebike costume in action below.
Here's a look at the new Birdo skin.
Nintendo also released a new trailer for Captain Toad, who joined Super Mario Maker's costume lineup last week.
Nintendo of America has yet to provide a specific release information for these new character skins, but both are expected to be available in the region soon.
Kevin Feige Describes the Cinematic Powers of Doctor Strange
Kevin Feige has revealed some insight into the powers of Doctor Strange in his cinematic universe debut.
As part of Entertainment Weekly's set on the upcoming Marvel movie, the film's producer explained that Strange's iconic, tongue twisting spells will make it into the film.
"We don’t want to shy away from that, because that’s what makes Doctor Strange Doctor Strange," Feige said. "He has a Cloak of Levitation that allows him to fly, but he doesn’t fly like Superman or like Thor."
Having just seen Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange it does seem like Marvel really is going whole hog on the design of the character. That's interesting, as aside from some vague allusions in the Netflix Daredevil series this will be the first time Marvel has incorporated its magical mythos into the cinematic universe.
Motorhead’s Lemmy Dies at 70
Just days after being diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer, legendary hard-living/hard-rocking Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister has passed away at age 70.
Over on the official Motorhead Facebook Page, the following message was posted:
There is no easy way to say this…our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer. He had learnt of the disease on December 26th, and was at home, sitting in front of his favorite video game from The Rainbow which had recently made it’s way down the street, with his family.
We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren’t words. We will say more in the coming days, but for now, please…play Motörhead loud, play Hawkwind loud, play Lemmy’s music LOUD.
The Rock to Appear at WrestleMania 32
We may not know any of the matches occurring at WrestleMania 32 next April at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas - but we do know one big mega-star that's going to be there. The Rock!
Today on Instagram, The Rock announced that he'd be a part of 'Mania 32 in Texas. An appearance that certainly won't hurt the WWE's chances of selling out the stadium's one hundred thousand seats.
IT'S OFFICIAL: People's Champ is coming home to do 3 things with THE PEOPLE: Set an ALL-TIME attendance record, ELECTRIFY Dallas like never before & make all time #WRESTLEMANIA history. And we have FUN. Ok that's four things but you know what the hell The Rock's sayin'.. . THANK YOU #WWEUniverse! It's always an honor coming home and I wouldn't miss it for the world. #PeoplesChamp4L #MakingElectrifyingHistory #SmackethLaidDownOnThyCandyAsses
Millennium Falcon Takes 7500 LEGO, Over 1 Year to Build
What's the longest you've ever spent building a LEGO set? A couple of hours or days? Well, according to Mashable, one Star Wars-loving LEGO master has spent the last year putting together a 7,500 piece Millennium Falcon complete with working lights, gun turrets, a cockpit, a working boarding ramp, and a detailed underside.
At 22 pounds and 3 feet long, Flickr user Marshal Banana's masterpiece is a stunningly accurate recreation right down to the radar dish.
Saving Matt Damon Would Have Cost Over $900 Billion
Matt Damon has required a whole lot of saving over the course of his film career, thanks to his starring roles in films like The Martian, Interstellar and Elysium. In fact, more than $900 billion would be required to rescue all of Damon's fictional characters.
Quora user Kynan Eng (via Yahoo! Tech) calculated the cost required to bring Damon home in each of his movies, breaking it down by movie budget, as well as the estimated fictional costs using 2015 currency.
Here's the movie-by-movie budget breakdown:
- Courage Under Fire: $46 million
The Best-Reviewed Movies of 2015
There were many films that came out in 2015 that IGN reviewed, as superheroes fought dangerous enemies and emotions taught us the range of our feelings and beloved franchises came back, better and more relevant than ever. But of those many movies that hit theaters, these 10 are the ones that we considered the best of the best.
You'll see some overlap with IGN's Best Movie of 2015 nominees, as these films listed below are our 10 best-reviewed movies of the past year. From returning to a galaxy far, far away to an inside look into one of the 21st century's best innovators, here are the projects that got our ringing endorsement.
Mass Effect Andromeda Director Leaves BioWare
Mass Effect Andromeda director Chris Wynn has announced he's parting ways with BioWare.
Wynn, who served as the senior development director on BioWare's highly anticipated role-playing game, confirmed his departure in a post on Twitter:
It is with a heavy heart today to say that I am moving on from BioWare and Mass Effect: Andromeda, and returning to the USA.
— Chris Wynn (@The1Wynn) December 22, 2015