Monthly Archives: January 2018
9 Months After Closing, Mad Catz Is Born Again
Less than a year after closing, peripheral maker Mad Catz is back from the dead.
The revitalized accessory maker, which filed for bankruptcy last year before closing its doors, is back under new management. The company is now known as Mad Catz Global Limited, with its headquarters located in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It show off some its new products at the Consumer Electronics Show this year from January 9-12.
"We couldn’t be more excited than to begin 2018 by announcing the return of Mad Catz to the global gaming arena," said Selena Chang, director of sales and operations for Mad Catz Global Limited. "Mad Catz has been a permanent fixture in gaming for almost three decades and we firmly believe it’s best days lie ahead."
FOX Renews The Gifted for Season 2
The Gifted has been renewed for a second season.
FOX shared the news today, ahead of the show's two-hour Season 1 finale, which airs on Monday, January 15.
The new X-Men spinoff series, executive produced by Burn Notice's Matt Nix, as well as Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, and Marvel's Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory, debuted this past October and ranks as the No. 3 new drama of the 2017-2018 season.
The Gifted stars Stephen Moyer as Reed Strucker and Amy Acker as his wife Caitlin, as well as Natalie Alyn Lind and Percy Hynes White, who play their kids Lauren and Andy.
For our thoughts on this week's new episode, read IGN's "3 X 1" review. While you're at it, find out what Moyer had to say about the fate Reed Strucker, as well as what Jamie Chung told IGN about portraying Blink's powers.
DC Films Reportedly Gets New Boss
Warner Bros. has reportedly promoted Walter Hamada to oversee its DC film production division.
According to Variety, Hamada will serve as the new president of DC Films, replacing Jon Berg and Geoff Johns. In the wake of Justice League's disappointing performance at the box office, reports emerged last month that DC Films would undergo a restructuring in January that would make Berg a production partner alongside Roy Lee.
Streamer Breaks Tetris World Record… By Accident
Twitch streamer Jonas 'NubbinsGoody' Neubauer accidentally set a new Tetris (NES) world record during a recent attempt at breaking a completely different record.
As NintendoLife reports, last week Neubaeur tried to set a new speed record for clearing 100 lines of blocks. Well, during one of his better attempts, he instead wound up besting the fastest time for reaching 300,000 points. Neubaeur managed to do it in 1:57, a full two seconds faster than the previous record - but only realised after being told by his viewers.
Kendrick Lamar to Produce Black Panther Soundtrack Album
Grammy Award-winning artist Kendrick Lamar will produce the soundtrack album for Marvel's Black Panther. Lamar will curate the album alongside longtime collaborator Anthony Tiffith, owner of Top Dawg Entertainment, the record label to which he is signed.
Black: Panther: The Album will contain a plethora of songs from the movie as well as some inspired by it. The album's lead single "All The Stars" features Lamar and SZA, another artist signed to TDE.
Lamar and Tiffith will be working with Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, who hand-picked them to create music "specific to the needs of the film"
"I am honored to be working with such an incredible artist whose work has been so inspirational," writes Coogler, "and whose artistic themes align with those we explore in the film. I can't wait for the world to hear what Kendrick and TDE have in store"
‘Canon Breaking’ Pink Darth Vader Is Now a Battlefront 2 Mod
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 has just got a pink Darth Vader mod.
As detailed on GameWatcher, you can get the mod on Nexus Mods and it's from a modder who goes by the name of Destauch. You'll need the Frosty Mod Manager to install it. It only changes Darth Vader's physical appearance and doesn't alter how Darth Vader plays. Check out the pink Darth Vader in action here.
‘No One’ Working on Rick And Morty Season 4 Script
No work has begun on a script for Rick and Morty Season 4, and the show may not air again until 2019, according to a writer on the show.
Speaking to The Detroit Cast, writer-producer Ryan Ridley said: "As far as I know, no one's working on the show, and I'm certainly not, so I don't know what's going on. I haven't heard anything."
Given Season 3's gestation period - it took over a year and a half from renewal to its April Fools' premiere - fans might well feel a little unnerved by that. Ridley isn't going to disavow them of that feeling:
Comic Book Reviews for January 3, 2018
The new year started off strong when it comes to comics. This week brought about the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, the start of a pivotal new Walking Dead storyline and the debuts of Batman and the Signal, Rise of the Black Panther, Rogue & Gambit and Transformers vs. The Visionaries.
Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and various other new releases, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.
DC COMICS
Paladins Announces Battle Royale Game Mode
Free-to-play hero shooter Paladins is getting a battle royale mode called - wait for it - Battlegrounds.
Developer Hi-Rez announced that Paladins: Battlegrounds will be free-to play, and drops 100 players into 20-minute matches set on a large map. There, teams of players fight over the loot of "more than four dozen outposts" and chase "zeppelins that drop legendary gear" as encroaching fog corrals them into ever-tighter skirmishes. The last team standing wins.
Paladins: Battlegrounds was "designed from the ground up to be played in teams," Hi-Rez said, and will retain the main game's class-based team composition. Mounts will also be usable.
Ahead of its battle royale mode, Paladins will also receive a content update this month (January 10 on PC and January 17 on consoles). This will be the first of a string of updates headlined by another new game mode: Team Deathmatch.
2005’s Star Wars: Battlefront 2 Patched Again
Disney (or someone associated with Disney) has once again patched the PC version of 2005's Star Wars: Battlefront II, following the restoration of its multiplayer services last year.
As detailed on Steam, the patch improves lobby functionality, fixes an issue where Steam usernames weren't correctly displayed, and makes ping calculations more accurate. It also includes "minor bug fixes and optimized performance."
Steam lists the update as having come from Disney, but it's not clear exactly who is updating the game - Disney no longer has internal game development studios, and original developer Pandemic has since been bought by EA and shut down.