Monthly Archives: December 2017
Astonishing X-Men Delivers Long-awaited Return
Astonishing X-Men #6 by writer Charles Soule and artist Mike del Mundo saw the return of an iconic X-Men character, but with a twist.
Warning: full spoilers ahead!
Art by Mike del Mundo. (Marvel Comics)
Charles Xavier is back from the dead, which is no surprise to anyone reading Astonishing X-Men since it began in July, but his return came with a big price.
Major Overwatch Competitive Changes Announced
The eighth season of competitive Overwatch begins in January, and Blizzard is making some big changes in preparation.
Scott Mercer, Principle Designer for Overwatch, announced on the Battle.net Forums changes coming to the game, which include limiting the maximum difference in Skill Rating (SR) between players, and eliminating Personal Performance Skill Rating adjustments for players at or above Diamond tier.
The first big change being made is limiting the maximum SR difference between players. This will result in players being matched with others that are closer to their skill level, with the goal of creating better match experiences for players at both ends of the skill spectrum.
Next Star Wars Trilogy: “Let’s Go Some Place New”
Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and producer Kathleen Kennedy have spoken out about the newly announced, standalone Star Wars trilogy, which is in the early stages of development.
While specific details are still scarce, the pair discussed what to expect thematically from the new movies, and ways in which they may connect to the original saga.
“I’m at the very, very, very beginning of the process, so I’m just starting to figure what it’s going to be. There’s not a lot to talk about yet,” admitted Johnson during an interview with IGN Japan. “But in terms of connections to what’s there already, what’s exciting to me – and this was almost the extent of my pitch to Kathy (Kennedy) and to Disney – was ‘Let’s go some place new; let’s tell a new story, new characters, new places’.
Last Jedi Director on Stories, Characters and Porgs
Ahead of the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, IGN Japan joined a roundtable interview with director Rian Johnson in Tokyo. Johnson spoke of his approach to making a Star Wars movie, the strengths of the movie’s cast and characters, and the origins of the Porgs.
As you are one of several directors to work on the Star Wars series, how were you able to leave your personal stamp on The Last Jedi?
“The last thing in the world I was trying to do was to make a Rian Johnson film, or try to put my mark on it. I was just trying to tell a good Star Wars story.
“Now, inevitably, because I’m the one telling it, it’s going to have stuff that is told in my voice and comes from me. But I was just trying to make something that was emotional, something that was also very fun like a Star Wars movie should be, and something first and foremost that served these characters that I really loved and gave them something interesting to do and someplace that felt honest for them to go – but that ended up being very surprising.”
Nintendo Voice Chat Episode 385: Our Picks for Switch Game of the Year
Welcome to Nintendo Voice Chat, Episode 385!
We recorded this before the Game Awards (Bayonetta 3!), but we think you'll still enjoy our discussion about the latest Switch news, including our picks (and bonus indie picks) for Nintendo Switch Game of the Year.
As always, you can watch NVC here on IGN and on our YouTube channel (subscribe and hit the bell!) or listen to it on your commute in audio format. If you enjoy the show, share it with other Nintendo fans, make a constructive comment, and give us a thumbs up or leave us a review.
Game of Thrones Director to Helm The Phantom Tollbooth Movie
Game of Thrones director Matt Shakman will adapt the classic children's book The Phantom Tollbooth into a feature-length film.
Deadline reports Shakman will helm The Phantom Tollbooth movie for TriStar from a script by Phil Johnston and Michael Vukadinovich. Shakman directed the Game of Thrones: Season 7 episodes “East Watch” and “The Spoils of War.”
The Phantom Tollbooth art.
Defenders Co-Exec Producer to Adapt Netflix Witcher Series
Netflix's The Witcher series adaptation has found its showrunner.
Variety reports Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, co-executive producer on Marvel's The Defenders and Daredevil as well as Starz's Power, will serve as showrunner and executive producer on Netflix's new show based on the fantasy saga. Along with Hissrich, Sean Daniel and Jason Brown of Sean Daniel Company, as well as Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko of Platige Image will executive produce.
Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the eight The Witcher novels, will serve as a creative consultant on the series. Tomas Baginski, who has directed the intro videos for the three Witcher games from CD Projekt RED, will direct at least one episode per season. No release date or casting has been announced yet.
Opinion: The Justice League Comics Need Saving
Regardless of the critical reception to the Justice League movie, the team is currently in the midst of its biggest ever multimedia push. Now even the most causal of moviegoers are familiar with characters like Cyborg and Aquaman and concepts like Mother Boxes and the Speed Force. So with the Justice League becoming such a big deal in the Hollywood realm, why does it seem like the team has become such an afterthought in DC's comics?
In general, the quality of DC's comic book line has improved drastically since the start of the DC Rebirth relaunch last year. Rebirth reinvigorated all sorts of characters and franchises. Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott greatly elevated Wonder Woman. Tom King and his artists are crafting what has already become one of my favorite Batman runs of all time. Everyone from Green Arrow to Flash to Aquaman is in a drastically better place thanks to Rebirth. That's to say nothing of all the fun, unexpected ways DC's publishing line has grown in other areas, from the Hanna Barbera line to Gerard Way's Young Animal imprint to the upcoming "New Age of DC Heroes" line.
Legends of Tomorrow Temporarily Gets Supergirl Time Slot
Supergirl will take a nine-week break while DC's Legends of Tomorrow assumes its time slot to finish out its third season, The CW has announced.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, episodes of Supergirl will air this winter from January 15 through February 5, at which point Legends of Tomorrow will take over its Monday, 8/7c time slot up through April 9. After that, the remainder of Supergirl's third season will air through June 18.
Legends of Tomorrow's move to Supergirl's time slot makes room for the debut of Black Lightning, which will air during Legends of Tomorrow's current Tuesday, 9/8c time slot. Black Lightning will premiere on January 16.
How Nintendo Hinted at a Motorcycle for BotW Months Ago
The image of Link riding the Master Cycle Zero in the release trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's second DLC expansion pack may have been surprising, but Nintendo teased a bike-riding Link for the newest entry in the franchise earlier this year.
During the Breath of the Wild GDC 2017 panel in March, members of the Zelda development team showed off a host of concept art for potential Link's they dreamed up ahead of BotW's development. One of those Link's was a more realistic, bike-riding version of the character.