Monthly Archives: July 2019

Zombieland Side by Side Cast Comparison: Then and Now

Zombieland hit a decade ago in 2009, and now we're finally getting a sequel with the original cast -- and some new faces as well (check out our Zombieland: Double Tap review).

But after 10 years, you'd think the stars of the original might've changed a little bit at least, right? Well, maybe not so much with this crew. What can you say? They drink virgin blood in Hollywood or something...

Check out the slideshow below which looks at how the original cast of Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin have evolved since the 2009 film. And then also take a look at the many new faces that are joining the sequel. Turns out there are still some humans left in Zombieland!

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Opinion: Breath of the Wild 2 Can’t Just Give Us More of the Same

How do you follow up a masterpiece? It’s a question many artists face, and it’s what Nintendo must ask while developing the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Breath of the Wild was a revolutionary title for the Zelda series and the open-world genre. The, “go anywhere, climb anything” approach was the breath of fresh air (pun intended) the franchise needed, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest Zelda games of all time (and the best game on Nintendo Switch.) The reveal of Breath of the Wild 2 was Nintendo’s big announcement to cap off its Nintendo Direct for E3 2019, but the trailer told us very little about what to expect from our next trip to Hyrule.

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Two Classic Star Wars Games Are Getting a Retro Re-Release

Two classic Star Wars games will be getting re-released: 1991's The Empire Strikes Back for NES and Game Boy, and 1997's Shadows of the Empire for N64.

The classic games, which come in either a "Classic" or "Premium" edition, are being brought back by Limited Run Games and are available for pre-orders starting on July 26, 2019. The Classic editions cost $40-45 USD and come with the game cartridge for the original hardware (sorry, no digital versions - you'll need to dust off your N64 or pick up a Retron 5), in a package based on the era the action figure for the game would have released in.

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Spider-Man: Far From Home Has Earned $1 Billion Globally

Spider-Man: Far From Home has officially earned $1 billion at the worldwide box office, becoming the first film in the Spider-Man franchise to reach this milestone, not adjusted for inflation.

As reported by THR, Spider-Man: Far From Home reached $1 billion today, July 25, where its domestic total is projected to be $333 million and its international gross has reached $672 million for a total of $1.005 billion.

2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, which was the first solo film starring Tom Holland, earned $880 million USD, unadjusted.

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The Muppet Movie: An Oral History

Forty-years ago this summer, a man and a frog made their dreams come true.

The release of The Muppet Movie in the summer of 1979, starring Kermit the Frog, was the culmination of puppeteer/writer/filmmaker Jim Henson’s ambition to translate the small screen success of his feel-good felt from Sesame Street and The Muppet Show over to the big screen where they could make “millions of people happy.”

However, despite Emmy-award wins and global recognition for The Muppet Show, obtaining funding for a theatrical film with The Muppets interacting in the real world wasn’t an easy sell. As Henson, Frank Oz and their Muppet team shot The Muppet Show in London, they had to spend time shooting proof of concept camera tests that eventually attracted the foreign investment of Lord Lew Grade’s British Independent Television Corporation (ITC).

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Star Wars Arcade1up Cabinet Now Up for Preorder

The next entry into the ever-growing line of Arcade1up arcade cabinets is now up at GameStop's site.

The 4-foot tall Star Wars arcade cabinet, which stands just over 5-feet with the included riser, has the arcade versions of Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

In addition to the riser, the Star Wars Arcade1up cabinet includes a light-up marquee and "real-feel flight yoke and control buttons." We got our first glimpse of the Star Wars Arcade1up cabinet during E3, as well as a look at other upcoming cabinets from Capcom and Namco.

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Is Professor X Actually the Villain of House of X?

Warning: this article contains spoilers for House of X #1! For more on the sweeping changes in House of X #1, check out our review for the new issue here and our spoiler-filled recap here. Then learn what this series reveals about the Omega Level mutants in the Marvel Universe.

Marvel just kicked off an ambitious new relaunch of the X-Men line. House of X #1 introduces a drastically different status quo for the mutant race, with the X-Men forming a mutant nation on the island of Krakoa and demanding to be recognized as a sovereign state. Professor Charles Xavier has opened a brand new playbook in order to ensure the survival of the mutant race.

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Sam Lake: Writing Control Has Given Me Max Payne Flashbacks

Sam Lake wants you to know that he loves when stories get super meta – what you could describe as getting really self-aware and irreverent of their own world. The Max Payne franchise was infamous for this, throwing its titular hero into a hallucination sequence, with Payne commenting that it feels like he’s in a video game. With Remedy and Lake’s next game, Control, out on August 28, the writer says that he’s had many a flashback to writing Max Payne.

“It's fascinating, especially when you are studying

,” Lake told IGN on this month's episode of IGN Unfiltered. “It almost feels like it's a literary genre made for analyzing it, almost like you're playing a game. Like you are coming up with interpretations and investing into it and gaining more out of it by investing into it. So playing the game almost with the writer has also been in my mind when writing for games in some ways. That's where it started. It's all post-modern and playing around with point-of-view and what's real and what's not real ...I've had many kinds of flashbacks to working on Max Payne.”

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Nintendo Reveals Cute Japan-Only Disney Switch

Japan is getting a Disney Tsum-Tsum Festival Nintendo Switch bundle this October that includes pink and purple Joy-Cons that are decorated with patterns and feature a home button adorned with Mickey Mouse ears.

As reported by The Verge, Nintendo Japan unveiled this new bundle that will arrive alongside Disney's Tsum-Tsum Festival on October 10 for 36,080 yen ($333 USD). This new game includes Switch-exclusive minigames and the ability to play a version of the popular mobile Tsum-Tsum game by holding the Switch vertically.

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