Australian Senator Attacks Censorship, Classification Board
Australian Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm has criticised the Government and the Australian Classification Board in a speech delivered to the Senate yesterday.
The Senate crossbencher highlighted the recent case of Outlast II, which was refused classification late last week due to a rape sequence during one of the game’s cut-scenes.
“This video game takes place in a fantasy world involving all kinds of creatures both human and non-human,” said Leyonhjelm. “The mere suggestion of an out-of-screen encounter between a creature and a human character was enough to get it banned altogether by the Australian Classification Board.”
Why Bernie Wrightson Was a Comic Book Legend
The comic book industry suffered a huge blow this past weekend with the tragic passing of Bernie Wrightson. Easily one of the most talented artists ever to work in the medium, Wrightson left behind a very impressive body of work spanning many decades.
Sadly, because Wrightson wasn't as active in recent years, not all comic readers may be aware of his talent and influence. To honor the late, legendary artist, we've put together a brief retrospective of his work, from Swamp Thing to Frankenstein to Batman.
Wrightson passed away this past weekend after a long battle with brain cancer. He'll be sorely missed, but we're grateful he left behind such a wide and impressive body of work.
Cross-Platform Play Is Way Harder Than You Might Think
I'll never forget when I was a bright-eyed young gamer and home consoles were starting to boast online play. I loved the idea of sitting at home on the couch and playing with my friends a few suburbs over.
I’d always been a PC gamer, but this new wave of consoles intrigued me enough to buy one. Of course, I had to decide if I wanted a PS2 or an Xbox. The deciding factor came down to what my friends had, and what games we could play together. The going was tough, and it was a pretty harrowing choice, but I ended up with a PlayStation 2, and that decision cemented my loyalty to Sony to this day.
For generations now, gamers have been defining themselves by console choice; the PlayStation and Xbox camps gnashing their teeth while PC gamers sit back and watch with an air of superiority. And that’s without mentioning the Nintendo fans - jumping up and down with renewed vigour because the Switch might let them compete in the third party scene again… We’ll see.
Nathan Drake Won’t Appear in Uncharted DLC ‘At All’
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy will put the spotlight on two previous supporting characters in the Uncharted universe, but don't expect its central protagonist to appear in the upcoming standalone expansion.
Following up about previous statements regarding Nathan Drake's involvement in The Lost Legacy, Game Director Kurt Margenau confirmed to the PlayStation Blog that the star of the Uncharted series won't appear in the standalone DLC "at all."
"We’re not going to touch on Nathan Drake in this, at all," Margenau said.
Margenau followed up statements from writer Josh Scherr, who said the team "entertained a few possible ideas around including Nate as a secondary character ... but everything we did felt superfluous because we tied it all up with Uncharted 4."
Rogue One’s Original Ending Revealed
Spoilers for Rogue One ahead.
Jyn Erso's fate wasn't always fatal in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Speaking with EW, Gary Whitta — who co-wrote Rogue One's story — discussed the original, happier ending for the Star Wars film. He explained that even though the plan always was to kill off the entire crew, they were worried Disney wouldn't approve of such a dark storyline.
So with that in mind, Whitta went about devising another narrative for Rogue One, in which Bodhi Rook, Chirrut Imwe, and Baze Malbus didn't exist. Meanwhile, Erso was a Rebel sergeant instead of an imprisoned criminal.
Deadpool 2 Writers on Domino, Cable and New Director
During a recent chat with IGN about their new sci-fi thriller Life, starring Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick opened up to us about the upcoming Deadpool 2, the casting of Zazie Beetz as Domino, the sequel's new director, and what adding Cable to the mix means for the movie.
IGN: Has it been any different working with David Leitch as opposed to Tim Miller?
Rhett Reese: It's been phenomenal, David has his own, you know, point of view that's different from Tim's. He comes into a situation obviously where there already exists a tone and a style, so he's going to stay pretty close to that, I think. But at the same time, he brings a new approach and it's enlivened us definitely to try new things and to do things a little bit different from the first Deadpool. Not drastically, but enough that you get the sense that it's coming from a slightly different team.
Amazon’s Anime Strike Adds Free Monthly Manga
Amazon is sweetening the deal for Anime Strike subscribers.
By teaming up with ComiXology, Amazon will give Anime Strike subscribers a free monthly manga volume — starting in April — for the rest of the year. The bonus begins with Blue Exorcist Volume 1 because Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga was the top-streamed winter simulcast for the service.
Strike subscribers will receive a code via email, with volumes chosen by Amazon Strike staff based on the most popular shows from the previous month.
Anime Strike launched earlier this year. The streaming service costs $5 a month for Amazon Prime members. For more on Strike, IGN took a look at Amazon and Netflix's interest in anime and what that means for viewers and piracy.
Iron Fist Is the Worst Part of Iron Fist
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Marvel's Iron Fist...
If you've not started, or finished, Marvel's Iron Fist on Netflix, then you may want to shy away from this piece - though if you're looking for our episode-to-episode Iron Fist review breakdown, you can see it here.
Iron Fist, critically, stands as Marvel's first notable misfire on Netflix, which feels all the more unfortunate since it serves as the gateway series to this summer's Defenders team-up. Perhaps the production was rushed, perhaps the budget just wasn't there to give many of us the series we were looking for - there are many "perhaps"s here, though the sad reality is that one of the worst elements of Iron Fist is the protagonist, Danny Rand (played by Finn Jones), himself.
The Big Bang Theory Renewed for Season 11 and 12
The Big Bang Theory will be back for an eleventh and twelfth season, as CBS Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television announced a two-year broadcast agreement to continue the show up through the 2019 season.
News of a two-season renewal isn't all too surprising, given prior comments from CBS Entertainment president Glenn Geller. Last year at the TCA press tour, Geller spoke to the likelihood of The Big Bang Theory continuing beyond Season 10, saying, "We are very confident that everyone involved wants more Big Bang past year ten."
What Are the Biggest Box Office Openings of All Time?
With Black Panther's record-breaking February debut, Disney now represents eight of the top 10 biggest box office debuts in history.
Black Panther earned an estimated $201.8 million in its opening weekend. That's the biggest February debut of all time, as well as the second-highest opening of the MCU. It's also the fifth highest in domestic box office history, unadjusted for inflation, becoming the fifth MCU film to enter the top 10 domestic openings.