Monthly Archives: December 2016
Daily Deals: Final Fantasy XV for $35 and Great Laptop Deals
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Star Wars: Rogue One Novel Features New Scenes
A novel based on Rogue One: A Star Wars story is now available and features additional content that wasn't covered in the film's theatrical release.
According to Amazon's product listing, the novel, written by Alexander Freed, includes "new scenes and expanded material."
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story novel by Alexander Freed
How a Video Game Let Me Relive My Father’s History
One of the most important games I played this year wasn’t about sci-fi space battles or dark fantasy realms. It was a short, small, and sad interactive story about a frequently overlooked, real-world event: the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
I’m half-Iranian and it isn’t often that I get to see elements of my heritage portrayed in a positive light. Western movies and TV shows love to “other” the so-called Middle East, casting actors as faceless terrorists in political dramas that oversimplify complex conflicts into fights between the Good Guys and the Bad Guys. In video games, we’ve fired shots at many a bearded, AK-wielding baddie in a keffiyeh, seen Arabic script used as cryptic decor to root gaming’s nameless, war-torn deserts in some kind of gritty reality. Sometimes, the language isn’t even right.
Justice League: New Look at Flash, Wonder Woman, Batman
A new photo of Justice League has been revealed, providing a brand new look at Ben Affleck's Batman, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Ezra Miller's The Flash.
The photo comes courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, who recently spoke with director Zach Snyder about the film. "I'm super happy with the chemistry of my league of justice doers," Snyder said.
Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ben Affleck as Batman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in Justice League. Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics, via EW
This Pokemon-themed Wedding Is Adorable
A bride and groom made their Pokemon wedding dream come true earlier this month, and some of the photos from the event have been shared online so the rest of the world can enjoy it too.
One of the attendees (thanks Otakamu with a translation by Anime News Network) posted some of the pictures to Twitter, and they've received thousands of likes and retweets.
A look at the Pokemon-themed wedding via Twitter user sdc47_intel
13 Things Rogue One Did Differently Than the Other Star Wars Movies
Rogue One! It’s a Star Wars film, that’s for sure, and yet in many ways it has eschewed the tropes of the standard “Saga” movies with a style all its own. Of course, that was the intention of Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and director Gareth Edwards in introducing this first standalone Star Wars movie, i.e. a story set outside of the Skywalker family soap opera.
So let’s take a look at some of the things Rogue One did differently than the rest of the Star Wars movies to date -- from little things like onscreen text changes to bigger stuff such as music, digital character creation, and
.
Yes indeed, some major spoilers follow.
That’s right -- it never says “Star Wars” during the opening of the film. The traditional Lucasfilm logo followed by the full screen “Star Wars” and the blaring fanfare just isn’t a part of Rogue One. And when the Rogue One title (finally) appears onscreen, there’s nary a sign of the subtitle “A Star Wars Story.” It’s just “Rogue One.” And it’s pretty cool.
Steam Winter Sale Start Date Officially Announced
Valve's annual Steam Winter Sale will kick off on Thursday, December 22.
PayPal UK shared the news in a post on Twitter, confirming prior reports of the sale's start date, which surfaced earlier this month and claims the sale will conclude on January 2.
As noted by Polygon, this year's Winter Sale begins the same day that voting beings for the Steam Awards. From December 22 to December 29, fans will be able to vote on a new category each day, with the winners set to be unveiled on December 31.
Dark Souls to Be Featured in Orchestral Concert in Europe
Bandai Namco Entertainment has announced the music of Dark Souls will be featured in an upcoming concert series in Europe.
The event, dubbed Orchestral Memories, will feature the "most acclaimed pieces" of music from the popular game series in concert. Watch a teaser trailer for the event below.
Composer Motoi Sakuraba will appear as a special guest, as well as Bandai Namco Studios composer Go Shiina.
The event will take place at 8pm on Saturday, February 4 at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris. In addition to Dark Souls, several several other Bandai Namco franchises will be featured, including the Tales of series, Soul Calibur, Tekken, God Eater and more.
Hasbro’s Guardians of the Galaxy Spring Lineup Revealed
The Guardians of the Galaxy are returning to theaters in May 2017, and Hasbro will be releasing a lineup of new toys based on the live-action film and Disney XD animated series focusing on Marvel's Kevin Bacon-loving heroes.
IGN can exclusively debut a look at Hasbro's spring Guardians of the Galaxy toys. Among the items that will go on sale are a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Star-Lord figure, an animated series-inspired Rocket Raccoon figure, a Groot version of Bop It!, and more. Check out the toys in the gallery below:
The lineup includes a set of Titan Hero figures, two toy blasters, as well as both Rocket Raccoon and Star-Lord masks. A recently revealed set of Marvel Legends figures from Hasbro also showcased character and costume designs from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
A Cure for Wellness or a Cure for Franchise Filmmaking?
Gore Verbinski has directed a lot of successful movies, including the horror remake The Ring, the animated Rango, and the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films. He’s also had some films that haven’t quite worked out, including most recently The Lone Ranger, which received a critical and box-office drubbing when it was released in 2013. But now Verbinski is back with A Cure for Wellness, which stars Dane DeHaan as an up-and-coming business exec who is sent on a mission to the Swiss Alps. There he must retrieve his missing CEO, who has retreated to a mysterious spa… a “wellness” facility that DeHaan soon finds himself trapped in as well.
I recently had the chance to watch the first act of A Cure for Wellness and then spoke to Verbinski about the film, his frequent genre-hopping, being “not well,” and what it was like to have to bounce back from The Lone Ranger. Read on for our full chat below.