Monthly Archives: October 2018
Apple Announces October Event, iPad and Mac Announcements Expected
Apple has officially announced an upcoming press event, set to take place in Brooklyn, New York on October 30. Many expect Apple to announce updates to the iPad Pro, MacBook Air and potentially the Mac Mini product lines at the event.
As reported by The Verge, the next iPad Pro is rumored to have a slimmer bezel and include the Face ID unlock recognition system which debuted on the iPhone X in 2017.
Rumors also suggest that this new model will come with 11- and 12.9-inch display options, and possibly even replace Apple's proprietary Lightning port with a USB-C port. Apple has used proprietary ports for its mobile devices even before the 30-pin connector was introduced with the third generation iPod Classic in 2003, which was superseded by the Lightning connector in 2012.
The Flash: Are Cicada and Nora Connected?
The Flash has wasted no time in introducing the first major villain of Season 5. Team Flash had their first run-in with the metahuman killer Cicada this week. On the surface, we don't seem to know that much about this new villain or their background. But a few key moments at the end of "Blocked" suggest that Cicada may have close ties to Central City's newest speedster, XS.
Based on these scenes, we think Cicada and Nora may be related (which by extension would tie him to Barry Allen, too). Here's what we know from DC's Flash comics and how that may play into how Cicada is being portrayed on the TV series. Potential spoilers continue below!
Four Classic Valve Games Now Xbox One X-Enhanced
Four Xbox 360 era Valve games are now enhanced on Xbox One X.
Microsoft announced Half-Life 2: The Orange Box, Portal: Still Alive, Left 4 Dead, and Left 4 Dead 2 have all received Xbox One X enhancements, including higher resolution.
Technically, it's more than four games, since The Orange Box includes Half-Life 2, both expansion episodes for HL2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. Portal: Still Alive released after The Orange Box and contained additional content.
The new additions bring the total number of Xbox 360 games upscaled fro Xbox One X to 21. So far, the collection includes many of the 360's standout games such as Red Dead Redemption, Fallout 3, Portal 2, and Halo 3. Each enhanced 360 game in the program boasts a better resolution and nine times the pixels.
Battlefield 5 Campaign Story Details Revealed
In a series of tweets this morning, DICE detailed Battlefield 5's campaign, dubbed War Stories, which drops players into France, England, and Norway to fight for the Allied Forces during World War II.
In the War Story "Tirailleur," players will take on the role of a French colonial soldier from Africa to fight for the liberation of France, a country he's never seen and which doesn't accept him. "This is the untold story of forgotten soldiers fighting on a forgotten front," tweeted DICE.
"Under No Flag" gives a criminal a second chance to redeem himself after getting out of a London jail. Players will fight alongside a Special Boat Section unit and do "whatever it takes to get the job done."
Update: Here’s What Rockstar Employees Have To Say About Working On Red Dead 2
Update 10/18/18: Added gallery with additional tweets from Rockstar employees. Please note that these tweets only come from those currently at the studio.
Following controversy surrounding Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser's comments on 100-hour work weeks during the development of Red Dead Redemption 2, the studio has seemingly given its employees the opportunity to speak openly about working conditions.
Experiences from several current Rockstar employees lined up with Houser's second statement, in which he claimed that only he and a select portion of the writing team "crunched" to this degree during certain points in the game's development.
Max Payne Was Originally Planned to Have Multiplayer
The popular Max Payne action games have almost always been revered for their blend of hardboiled crime drama and slow-motion, guns blazing shooting. When it came time for a fledgling Remedy Entertainment to pitch publisher and producer Scott Miller on their next game, a top-down version of Max Payne was only one of three possible ways the company might have gone. Miller and Remedy's other two options included a 3D racing game to follow up on their debut Death Rally, and a conceptual real-time strategy game set in space a la Homeworld.
Having learned a lesson about character-driven franchises with Duke Nukem Forever, Scott Miller was excited to turn Max Payne into something that he thought could last for a decade. Miller joined this month's episode of IGN Unfiltered to talk about behind-the-scenes details of Max Payne and more, including the changes Remedy made that had fans scratching their heads, but have become normalized in the modern era.
Mark Hamill Reconfirms He Will Appear in Star Wars: Episode 9
Mark Hamill has reconfirmed that he will be, as many suspected, returning to the role of Luke Skywalker in the currently untitled Star Wars: Episode IX.
Announced via his Twitter, Mark's reconfirmation follows an "avalanche of questions" about Episode IX in which, besides confirming that Luke will play some part in the next entry in the Skywalker saga, his response will be, firmly, "EPISODE NEIN COMMENT."
Spock’s Logic Will Be ‘Totally Fried’ in Discovery Season 2
Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 debuts on January 17, 2019, bringing with it not just the crew of the Disco -- Michael Burnham, Saru, Stamets, Tilly and the rest -- but also Mr. Spock and Captain Pike, straight from the USS Enterprise!
After debuting the latest trailer for the new season at New York Comic-Con, executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin chatted with IGN about what to expect from the sophomore voyage of the Discovery, including why they decided to add Pike and Spock to the show now, the mystery of the Red Angel, redesigning The Original Series uniforms, and much more. Read on for our full discussion…
How Spock 'Becomes' Spock
Kurtzman, who has some experience with recasting a younger version of Spock thanks to the 2009 J.J. Abrams reboot which he co-wrote, said that the first season’s set-up of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) as the Vulcan’s adopted sister essentially raised canon questions that the creative team wanted to address now that the show has established itself firmly.
Why Daredevil Needs Kingpin
Daredevil Season 3 is fairly unique among Netflix's various Marvel shows in that it's the first to reuse a major villain from a previous season. Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk was the main antagonist of Season 1 and had a significant part to play in Season 2, and now he's once again going head-to-head with Matt Murdock in Season 3.
While it's easy to accuse Daredevil of going back to the same well too many times, we think it's a good thing that the Kingpin continues to be the dominant villain on the series. If a hero is only as strong as their greatest villain, then Kingpin makes Daredevil a better character. Here's why Fisk deserves to be the main villain in yet another season.
Daredevil’s True Strength Comes From Religion
A seasoned attorney. The Man Without Fear. The sworn enemy of The Hand. Daredevil wears a lot of hats, but all signs for the upcoming third season of his Netflix show point to one of his most consistent and intriguing characterizations: the tormented Catholic. It’s a tricky needle to thread — mixing religion and superheroes always is — but when it’s handled well, it’s been the source of some of the very best Daredevil stories. Maybe even the very best one of all: Frank Miller’s iconic 1986 storyline, “Born Again." Few Miller stories were darker, but fewer still had a more hopeful, uplifting conclusion. In “Born Again,” Daredevil’s triumph comes thanks to his religious beliefs just as much as his billy club and super senses.