Monthly Archives: December 2018
Fortnite’s Hourly New Year’s Eve In-Game Event Now Live
Epic is celebrating a successful year of Fortnite with an in-game New Year's Eve event occurring every hour today.
When the clock hits a new hour, all players in a Fortnite match will see a giant disco ball rip through a rift in the sky. A countdown starts while music begins to play.
Fireworks overlooking Dusty Divot and Salty Springs.
When the countdown reaches zero, a barrage of fireworks are released and every player is forced to boogie down for 10 seconds, no matter if you were in the middle of a fight or just minding your own business. The event concludes with a giant firework of a llama with a promising "2019" underneath.
Virgin Galactic Flight Manages to Reach the ‘Edge of Space’
Earlier in December, Virgin Galactic's supersonic space plane the VSS Unity reached the upper limits of Earth’s atmosphere in a test flight, reaching a point that many consider the “edge of space."
As reported by CNN, the rocket-powered plane, flown by two veteran pilots, reached a maximum altitude of 51.4 miles, exceeding the 50-mile altitude that NASA considers the edge of space, but not quite the 62 miles that the widely-accepted Karman Line denotes as the edge of space. This point is vaguely defined, largely due to the nature of Earth’s atmosphere not ending at any particular hight, but rather becoming progressively thinner as altitude increases.
The Predator Alternate Ending Almost Featured a Big Alien Twist
The Predator’s ending already had a bit of a surprise, but one of its alternate endings almost featured a major Alien reference.
SFX artist Yuri Everson posted an image on Instagram that supposedly came from the BCIT Aerospace Centre showing actress Breanna Watkins playing a “Predator Killer Ripley,” with her face covered by a mechanical mask in what appears to be a sleep chamber of some sort.
Why 2018 Was the Best Year For Video Games… Ever
Another year, another reflection on another batch of video games... but this year is different. Because 2018 was the best year for video games ever.
Don’t believe me? Take a close look at the chief contenders below and make up your own mind... but watch out, because 2018 was pretty nuts. Please note that this timeline has a strong American bias since it mostly reflects US release dates... awesome developments in Japan, Europe, and elsewhere that didn’t have an immediate impact in the US aren’t covered here. That means a lot of important contributions to Japanese and UK gaming history have to wait until they have an impact on the American market. We’re looking at you, Rare.
Below is a list of the best years in gaming history, all leading up to the spectacular 2018.
Marvel’s Oscar Hopes May Not Be With Black Panther Anymore
Marvel Studios' Black Panther is nominated for three Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture – Drama. This nomination certainly has Marvel fans a little excited, as until that point, it seemed as if much of Black Panther's odds of making it to the Academy Awards were slimming. Black Panther is still perhaps a long shot (it's competing with critical darlings like A Star is Born, BlacKkKlansman, and If Beale Street Could Talk), but its nomination at the Golden Globes is a pretty big deal.
Why Is the Internet Obsessed With Bird Box?
While Bird Box is hardly Netflix's first big tentpole exclusive horror movie, it more than others seems to have struck a major chord with viewers. The streaming giant reported that Bird Box had the most successful first week of any Netflix film, with over 45 million accounts tuning in. And one need only spend a few minutes browsing Twitter at the moment to see that people have gone a little bit crazy for Bird Box.
So what is it about this horror flick that's making people so obsessed? Why, in a year full of great horror films like Hereditary and A Quiet Place, is Bird Box the toast of social media? Here's why we think the Internet is freaking out over Bird Box.
Midseason TV Shows We Can’t Wait to Watch
It's Midseason TV preview time, and the first four months of 2019 are set to sock you square in the squishier as HBO unleashes the final season of Game of Thrones and the third season of True Detective.
With more scripted TV series than ever (some of which aren't even on this list yet, because Netflix hits us with dozens of new unannounced titles each month!), you're going to have your hands, and eyeballs, full with all these new and returning shows.
Not only are series like Gotham, You're the Worst, Broad City, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and (most likely) The Punisher hitting us with final seasons, but Star Trek: Discovery, The Magicians, and American Gods are all back to thrill us with new episodes.
Top 10 Most Popular Trailers of 2018 on IGN
There are few things better than a great trailer to get us -- and you, our audience! -- hyped about an upcoming movie, game or TV show. With 2018 coming to a close, we thought it would be fun to look back at the trailers that got the most eyeballs across IGN's various platforms.
Pulling data from our YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and, of course, IGN.com videos, we compiled a list of the 10 trailers that got the most combined viewed across those five platforms. It's a somewhat surprising mix of titles, but offers a pretty good snapshot of the properties that struck 2018 the most. (This data was compiled on Dec. 30th.)
Take a look at our top trailers below, and let us know what your favorite trailer of the year was in the poll below and in the comments!
49 Big Games Coming in 2019
With 2018 firmly in the books – and what a year it was! – it's time to focus on the future. Now that 2019 is upon us and bringing with it long-awaited sequels, intriguing fresh takes, and a ton of exciting games, let's run down the list of what we know is on the way in the next year. Here are 49 big games confirmed to be coming in 2019, with the pesky reminder that delays happen and some of these could slip out of the calendar year. But with the fine print out of the way, on to the list!
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
Release Date: January 18 (PS4, Xbox One) / February 1 (PC)
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
A Cafe in Japan Hires Robot Servers, But With a Twist
A Cafe in Tokyo uses an all-robot staff, though some of its employees that control these servers do so remotely, under special circumstances.
As reported by NextShark, these employees have debilitating conditions like ALS and similar spinal chord injuries, and operate the robot servers from home. They operate an OriHime-D: a 4-foot-tall robot that moves, handles objects, and communicates with patrons at Tokyo’s Cafe DAWN (Diverse Avatar Working Network). Cafe DAWN is intended to resemble the robot-centric cafe featured in the 2008 anime Time of Eve.