Monthly Archives: August 2016
Amazon Competitor Gets Blessing for Drone Delivery Tests
Alphabet, parent company of Google, Boston Dynamics, and a slew of other high-tech companies, has been cleared to test its drone delivery service in the US.
According to CNET, the tests are part of a new initiative from the US National Science Foundation, "which plans to spend $35 million over the next five years" researching unmanned aircraft flight.
Amazon, which itself has hopes to get its delivery service off the ground, literally, initially expected to have Amazon-drones delivering your wares in 2015. However, new drone regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration meant Amazon's plans were blocked from coming to fruition.
Pokemon Go Battery Saver Option to Return in ‘Several Days’
Pokemon Go developer Niantic Labs has revealed new information about when players can expect the game's battery saving option to be reinstated, while also providing an update on the game's continued worldwide rollout.
A new Facebook post reveals why the game's battery saving option on iOS was removed from the app and when players can expect it to be reinstated.
"We had removed this feature as several users were experiencing it to be buggy, but we are fairly confident that a fix for this should roll out within the next several days," the post reads.
The battery saving app allowed players, while leaving the app on, to reduce its drain on the phone battery when the phone was turned and held upside down. The phone would still then vibrate when nearby Pokemon appeared, however, the feature was removed in a recent update.
Powers Canceled by PlayStation Network
The PlayStation Network television series Powers has been canceled.
In a series of posts on Twitter, executive producer and co-creator Brian Michael Bendis confirmed that Season 2 will be the end of the show, saying the series "is sadly, no more." He also thanked the fans for their support and said he will share more details later.
That said, Bendis did tack on the caveat that there's no third season coming "at least for now," and in a later tweet offered a shred of hope to fans that it could one day return, saying, "a Powers episode generated over 4.5 million hits on YouTube alone and people BTS who believe in us. We'll see..."
Suicide Squad Had Competing Cuts
According to a new report, there was a lot of drama behind the scenes during the production of Suicide Squad as director David Ayer and Warner Bros. executives struggled to settle on the tone of the film.
Inside sources told The Hollywood Reporter there were two different cuts of Suicide Squad, as a lighter version was tested against the director's more somber take. Ayer agreed to participate in the studio's process of trying out multiple tones, which added millions of dollars to the film's budget.
After the feedback was received from screening the two different cuts, Ayer and Warners' execs sought to find "a very common-ground place," and the lighter, studio-favored option that brought in more characters early on ultimately won out.
How Suicide Squad Is a More Realistic Justice League
The Suicide Squad movie his later this week, so today DC Comics released Suicide Squad: Rebirth #1, which is a relaunch of the comic featuring Harley Quinn, Deadshot and other unscrupulous characters as part of Amanda Waller's black ops team called Task Force X.
Writer Rob Williams and artist Philip Tan crafted this issue as a jumping-on point that introduces the main players and sets the stage for the proper series beginning in Suicide Squad #1 by Williams and artist Jim Lee.
Being the Co-publisher of DC Entertainment, Lee is quite busy these days, and so it was recently announced that he'll be drawing only 12 pages of each Suicide Squad issue (down from the original 20) and new artists will be brought in to draw eight-page backup stories that put a spotlight on different members.
Thor: Ragnarok’s Mark Ruffalo Wraps Filming
While production on Thor: Ragnarok will likely continue for a few more months, Mark Ruffalo has wrapped filming on Marvel's upcoming movie.
The Hulk/Bruce Banner actor announced his completion on set in a post on Instagram that includes a photo of himself alongside director Taika Waititi, saying he "had such a great good fun time making this movie." In a follow-up post, Ruffalo shared another photo of himself, this time staring into the eyes of Banner's green-skinned alter ego.
via Mark Ruffalo's Instagram
Watch the New Trailer for Syfy’s Incorporated
Syfy's new series Incorporated might be set in the near future, but the cast of the show doesn't think it's depicting a reality far off from our own.
The series is from Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd's Pearl Street Films, and is co-created and executive produced by Self/Less's Alex and David Pastor. Alex and showrunner Ted Humphrey joined stars Sean Teale, Julia Ormond and Dennis Haysbert at the 2016 summer TV Critics Association press tour to present a new trailer for the upcoming show and discuss why it is so timely.
Watch the trailer below:
Stranger Things Creators Want to Make a Video Game to Bridge Gap to Season 2
Stranger Things hasn't officially been renewed for season 2, yet the show's creators already have ideas in mind about that theoretical season. Not only that, but the Duffer Brothers also know how they'd like to bridge the gap between the two seasons.
Speaking with IGN about the end of the recently released eight-episode first season, executive producers Matt and Ross Duffer revealed they'd have to jump forward a year in the timeline of the show for the supposed next season. And if they could tell the story of that missing year in any medium, they'd prefer to do it as a video game.
Daily Deals: Gears of War Complete Series, LEGO TIE Fighter, iPhone Battery Case
Gears of War 4 Now Comes With All Four Original Games
Buying Gears 4 now gets you the entire Gears series. Order now and your copy will come with a digital download of Gears 1, 2, 3, and Judgement. These are Xbox 360 versions of the game, playable on Xbox One via backwards compatibility. I actually own two copies of Gears 3 and have a lot of fun playing local multiplayer Horde on my Xbox One while a buddy plays with me on my old 360. You can't connect an Xbox One with a 360 over Live, but it will work locally over the same Wifi connection. I play Left 4 Dead 2 this way as well.
And don't forget, you'll only pay $48 for this pre-order if you have Amazon Prime.
Falling Water EPs Respond to Inception Comparisons
On paper, USA's new TV series Falling Water seems to bear a lot of resemblance to Christopher Nolan's 2010 sci-fi film Inception.
Coming from executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, Falling Water follows three separate people who slowly realize they are all sharing the same dream, and that their dreams could have big answers for major questions in their lives. But while co-creator Blake Masters acknowledged they're both similar because of the idea of dreams being more than they seem, he explained at the 2016 summer TV Critics Association press tour that he and his late creative partner Henry Bromell originally came up with the idea for Falling Water long before Inception had incepted its way into pop culture.