Monthly Archives: December 2015
Star Wars: Lucasfilm Seeking Female Directors, Writers
While Star Wars has had a male-dominated past, Disney and Lucasfilm are looking to buck that trend, as it seeks female directors and writers to work on future Star Wars movies.
According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, Adriana Alberghetti (of the William Morris Endeavor talent agency) was successful in "procuring meetings for four female directors and three female writers on upcoming Star Wars films."
The identities of the woman were not disclosed, but ComingSoon.net notes Alberghetti represents talent including Suffragette director Sarah Gavron and Maleficent screenwriter Linda Woolverton.
We React to the BvS and Civil War Trailers
Download Keepin' it Reel, Episode 308!
Welcome back to Keepin' It Reel, the IGN show where Jim Vejvoda and Chris Carle bring you the latest genre movie news.
This week's topics include new details on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War and more.
Steiff Creates Really Expensive Pikachu Plush
German toy company Steiff has created a high-quality—and very expensive—Pikachu plush. This adorable little guy will sell for 45,000 yen, which is about $367 USD. Certainly a bit more expensive than Build-a-Bear Workshop's exclusive plush.
Steiff's Pikachu is made from only the most luxurious of products. His signature yellow fur is made from natural mohair, says a source on Good Smile Company's English blog.
Steiff's Pikachu goes on preorder today, with only a thousand units to be sold in Japan. You can preorder it on the Good Smile Company online store and on Amazon Japan. Pikachu is set to ship in early February.
Spider-Man Confirmed for Captain America: Civil War
Tom Holland's Spider-Man will appear in Captain America: Civil War, according to Robert Downey Jr.
The Iron Man actor outed Holland's involvement in an interview with Entertainment Weekly while discussing how he and Don Cheadle are now the old guys on set. "We’re now like the old guard, and our storyline carries real weight just because of our history in the
. But we’re also looking around like, 'Who thought that Falcon and Black Panther and Ant-Man and now Spider-Man…?' I mean it’s like wow, this thing is just crazy."
Rise of the Tomb Raider’s DLC Detailed, Scheduled
We have our first details, not to mention release windows, for Rise of the Tomb Raider's upcoming slate of DLC.
The first bit of content is Endurance Mode. Available this year, December 29, the new difficulty setting will challenge players in unique ways. "Fire takes fuel, cold kills the unprepared, food restores health, but everything must be caught, collected, or crafted," says Microsoft.
Second is Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch. A Baba Yaga trailer was shown at The Game Awards last night, and sports an almost hallucinatory look and feel as Lara Croft tracks the folkloric phantom through a supposedly haunted forest. It will be "available in early 2016."
New Legends of Tomorrow Poster
With DC's Legends of Tomorrow set to premiere next month, the CW have released the official key art for the new superhero/time travel series.
The key art depicts the entire cast -- Victor Garber (" Professor Martin Stein / Firestorm", Brandon Routh ("Ray Palmer / The Atom"), Caity Lotz ("Sara Lance / White Canary"), Arthur Darvill ("Rip Hunter"), Ciara Renée ("Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl"), Franz Drameh (Jefferson 'Jax' Jackson / Firestorm"), Dominic Purcell ("Mick Rory / Heat Wave"), Wentworth Miller ("Leonard Snart / Captain Cold"), Falk Hentschel ("Carter Hall / Hawkman") -- ready for battle.
Mifune Almost Played Vader
Seven Samurai star Toshiro Mifune turned down offers to play Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader.
Mika Mifune—the late actor's daughter—revealed this Star Wars trivia at an event in Tokyo today.
"I heard from my father that he was offered the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but he was concerned about how the film would look and that it would cheapen the image of samurai, on which George Lucas had based a lot of the character and fighting style," she said.
Mifune also had concerns about playing Darth Vader.
"At the time, sci-fi movies still looked quite cheap as the effects were not advanced and he had a lot of samurai pride," she continued. "So then, there was talk about him taking the Darth Vader role as his face would be covered, but in the end he turned that down too."
Dark Souls 3 Collector’s Editions Confirmed for US, UK
If you're a Dark Souls fan and you like collectible statues, then Bandai Namco might just have made your day. The publisher has announced several different collector's editions will be available when the game releases on April 12, 2016.
Gamers in the US can get either the Dark Souls III Day One Edition or the Dark Souls III Collector's Edition. The Day One SKU includes the Prima starter guide, official soundtrack, O-Sleeve packaging, and the game itself. The Collector's Edition also includes an artbook, cloth game map, 10-inch Red Knight Statue and collector’s box. The editions cost $60 and $130, respectively.
UK Dark Souls fans have more choices in which edition to buy, but each edition is limited to an exclusive retailer. The Apocalypse Edition needs to be pre-ordered from GAME UK and includes the game, official soundtrack, and comes in a metal case.
Fargo: Season 3 Could Bring Back Season 1 Characters
Season 3 of Fargo will once again shift time periods, this time back to a more modern setting after its trip to 1976 for Season 2.
According to Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Noah Hawley says that Season 3 is "set a couple years after Season 1."
When asked whether this means that we'll be seeing some of the characters from the first season, the reply was a cryptic "potentially."
Hawley was also asked whether there would be hints about Season 3 in the current season. "There are going to be connections, the way the first year was connected to the movie and the second year was connected to the first, but I think part of the fun is figuring that stuff out and I wouldn’t want to take that away from anybody...There will be definitely things that connect to something in our story.”
See Rock Band 4’s Punishing New ‘Brutal Mode’ – IGN First
Though not technically a game of 2016, Rock Band 4 and its new Brutal Mode belong in our "Hot Games of 2016" because you'll be playing it (and being driven insane by it) well into the New Year. Join me and Harmonix community manager Josh Harrison in the video above as we talk over our attempt to triumph when barely being able to see the note highway.
And in the video below, we take a look at another new addition to the music platform: variable Breakneck Speed. See as we speed the note highway up in 0.25x increments, all the way up to 2.5 times as fast!
Both Brutal Mode and the 2.5x Breakneck Speed feature are included in Rock Band 4's first big free update, hitting on December 8. For more on Rock Band 4, check out our review.