Monthly Archives: April 2016
Animaniacs Getting a Live Musical Tour
The cast of Animaniacs is coming together once again for a musical tour of songs from the 90s animated show.
According to the New York Times, Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, and Tress MacNeille, the voices of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, will be on tour with a full orchestra.
They'll be performing fan favorites such as Wakko's list of American states and their capitals, and the list of all the American presidents.
The song Yakko's World, which lists nearly all the countries in the world to the tune of Mexican Hat Dance, has been updated by writer Randy Rogel. The new verse will feature new countries formed in the past 25 years or so since it was written. Paulsen told the NY Times he still gets asked to sing it all the time. No dates have been announced yet for the tour.
Japan Has Created Pokemon Lingerie
The Pokémon Company International and Yummy Mart—a Japanese lingerie and sleepwear company—are partnering to release a Pokémon-inspired lingerie line.
The line includes a Pikachu cape, Poké Ball-clad shorts, Pikachu underpants, and a Pikachu sleep mask. Yummy Mart will also be selling a Poké Ball-shaped toiletry bag. Sadly, the plush Pikachu-covered bra is not for sale.
Those interested can purchase pieces from the Yummy Mart online store once they become available on April 20.
Though these likely won't come west, Pokémon fans in the United States can look forward to The Pokémon Company's expanded line of "unisex fashion," which was featured at a very special, very fancy Pokémon party hosted by Drew Barrymore. And yes, Pokémon nail-art was included.
This New Zelda Figure Is Just Too Adorable
Online retailer Good Smile has begun taking pre-orders on a new Nendroid figure of Princess Zelda, as she appeared in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.
Optional parts will allow her to display three different facial expressions, and she'll come with three battle accessories as well: her bow with a light arrow, the Master Sword, and the Mirror Shield. The latter of the two can even be smacked onto the previously released Link Nendroid if you want to give yours something new to do.
This newest Nendroid is set to come out in Japan this October for ¥4, 444 (or about $36). You can pre-order it from Good Smile here.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst’s Multiplayer Features Detailed
Mirror's Edge Catalyst has no live multiplayer mode, instead introducing Social Play, an asynchronous feature that lets players create their own content in the single player world.
In a preview session with IGN, DICE explained that Social Play has two major functions, Beat L.E. and Time Trials. The former allows players to simply mark elements in the world - those markers are then sent to friends and strangers. DICE expects this to be used to highlight Easter Eggs or points of interest, like shortcuts.
Time Trials allow players to create checkpointed courses almost anywhere in the world (key or one-time story locations are excluded). The starting points for those courses are then sent to friends and other players, with leaderboards set up for every course.
Construction Begins on Star Wars Lands at Disney
Construction has begun on Disney's Star Wars-themed lands for both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
To celebrate the groundbreaking, Disney released a 360 degree photo from the 14-acre construction site at Disneyland.
It looks like Disney's construction team has some extra special help from some resourceful Star Wars friends. According to Disney, the Star Wars-themed lands will be the "largest-ever single-themed land expansions" at both resorts.
AMC Theatres Might Allow Phone Use in Sections
AMC Theatres is open to the idea of allowing smartphone use in certain sections or auditoriums to appeal to millennials.
While speaking with Variety, AMC Entertainment head Adam Aron discussed how the company can cater to younger demographics. "When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow," he said.
"... At the same time, though, we’re going to have to figure out a way to do it that doesn’t disturb today’s audiences."
As such, Aron said the company is looking at ways to allow smartphone use in AMC theaters. He said allowing certain sections to text is one possibility, but there is another stronger alternative.
Supergirl’s Digital Comic to Introduce New Villain
With Supergirl flying high on CBS in her first-ever TV show, DC Comics has followed up with a digital comic series by writer Sterling Gates and a rotating team of artists including Bengal, Emma Vieceli and Cat Staggs. The Adventures of Supergirl takes place in the same continuity as the show, telling stories of Kara Danvers saving National City from alien threats as Supergirl.
Gates is no stranger to writing Supergirl comics, so we hopped on the phone with him to talk about what’s changed from when he wrote her comic, how he’s telling stories relevant to today’s youth, and how the series went from digital to graphic novel, to digital to single issue.
Also, we have your first details on a brand new Supergirl villain that will debut in the comic.
Daily Deals: PS Plus, Fallout 4, Awesome Three Game PS4 Bundle
Grab a Half-Price PC Copy of Fallout 4
If you still haven't emerge from your vault and journeyed into the wasteland, you can grab the tremendous Fallout 4 for only $30 on PC, today only. Console copies aren't part of this sale, but Xbox One and PS4 copies are both around $38. Fallout 4's price averages around $50, so all version are currently a pretty good deal.
Game of Thrones: The ‘Guillotine Swings Quite Heavily’ in Season 6
The night is dark and full of terror in the days leading up to the Game of Thrones: Season 6 premiere, especially as the series ventures off-book into territory not yet written by author George R.R. Martin. The cast and creators of the HBO drama are the keepers of this season's secrets, and according to star Liam Cunningham, Game of Thrones is going to be as bloodthirsty as ever.
To preview what's ahead in the new season, Cunningham got on the phone to discuss where his character Davos Seaworth stands now that his king is dead and the Night's Watch is without a leader. He promises that the "guillotine swings quite heavily" in Season 6, and that Game of Thrones will switch things up with the new year.
Top 25 Backward Compatible Xbox Games
Late last year, Microsoft began retrofitting select Xbox 360 games with backward compatibility on the Xbox One. We’ve hand-picked the 25 best backward compatible Xbox games you can buy and put together a ranked list for your consideration. Your selection committee is: Justin Davis (Executive Editor), Ryan McCaffrey (Executive Editor), Jared Petty (Senior Editor), Miranda Sanchez (Editor), and Mitch Dyer (Editor Emeritus).
Our criteria are as follows:
We’re looking for the best 25 games with a little extra weight for experiences that were especially exceptional on the Xbox 360. How much fun we had with the games is obviously our primary concern, but we also considered elements like staying power, influence, and innovation. This list consists only of games released for backward-compatibility on or before March 28, 2016, our story deadline. You can see a complete list of Xbox backward-compatible games here.