Monthly Archives: April 2015
Joss Whedon Called Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man The Best Script Marvel Ever Had
Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon has opened up about Edgar Wright's departure from Ant-Man.
"Only that I don't get it," Whedon told BuzzFeed when asked for his thoughts. "I thought the script was not only the best script that Marvel had ever had, but the most Marvel script I’d read. I had no interest in Ant-Man.
I read the script, and was like, Of course! This is so good! It reminded me of the books when I read them. Irreverent and funny and could make what was small large, and vice versa."
"I don’t know where things went wrong. But I was very sad," he said. "Because I thought, This is a no-brainer. This is Marvel getting it exactly right. Whatever dissonance that came, whatever it was, I don’t understand why it was bigger than a marriage that seemed so right. But I’m not going to say it was definitely all Marvel, or Edgar’s gone mad! I felt like they would complement each other by the ways that they were different. And, uh, somethin’ happened."
Wrestling Wrap Up: Daniel Bryan Pulled from Extreme Rules?
Look, we're still in a post-Mania funk. It's pretty bumpy right now. AJ left. Bryan's in career-threatening "rough shape." Rollins just lost his Curb Stomp finisher. It's been a bummer batch of weeks.
Plus, we're headed into a disposable pay-per-view. Rusev will lose. Orton will lose. Someone's "arse" will be exposed. And it'll either be blindingly white or deviously orange. Extreme Rules isn't looking to break the mold.
WWE 2K15 is Coming to PC
2K Games announced a PC version of WWE 2K15 today, and according to the publisher, its release is "only weeks away."
The PC version will include everything found in the console versions, including the MyCareer and 2K Showcase modes, as well as all of WWE 2K15's DLC for free. According to cover star John Cena, that includes thirty-six extra characters, four new managers, twenty-six matches, forty-six single player stories and cut scenes in 2K Showcase, and more.
You can see screens from the upcoming PC version in the gallery below.
In addition, day one buyers will receive two versions of Sting and Hulk Hogan. For more, check out IGN's WWE 2K15 review, which said it "looks better and hits harder on new-gen, but some key omissions keep it from reaching the main-event."
New Direction Coming for Justice League United
Though it wasn't among DC's June 2015 solicitations, it appears that Justice League United will remain a part of their ongoing lineup. Today the publisher revealed that writer Jeff Parker (Aquaman) and artist Travel Foreman (Animal Man) will be taking over the series as of issue #11.
Along with this new creative team will come a new status quo in the aftermath of Convergence. Current team members Alanna Strange, Animal Man, Stargirl and Equinox will be joined by new recruits Mera, Poison Ivy, Swamp Thing and Etrigan. This eclectic bunch will be charged with stopping a new "cosmic catastrophe" before it begins. It sound slike the book's blend of Earthly and interstellar conflicts will remain.
Podcast: The Digigods want to Escape from New York!
From their secluded home-theater compound, film critics Wade Major and Mark Keizer mix insightful commentary with irreverent banter, covering the latest DVD and Blu-ray news and new releases of the week, including studio, independent, television and special-interest titles.
Digigods Podcast, 04/21/15 (MP3) -- 30.6 MB
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Tom Cruise is the Bravest Actor in the World
Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson helped present attendees at Tuesday's CinemaCon with an exclusive look at the forthcoming sequel Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation.
The sequel is directed by Oscar winner Christopher McQuarrie and once again stars Cruise as Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt, along with series vets Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, and Simon Pegg. In addition to Ferguson, the new cast members also include Alec Baldwin and Sean Harris.
Cruise, Pegg and Ferguson presented two action sequences from the film, which are detailed below. Be advised of SPOILERS AHEAD.
New PlayStation Vita Not Coming After All?
Update: We reached out for comment, to which Sony replied: "We can’t comment on rumors or speculation."
Original Story: Just yesterday, a trademark surfaced for what appeared to be a newly redesigned model of the PlayStation Vita. However, that doesn't appear to be the case after all.
According to DualShockers, the "(位置商標)" in the trademark actually refers to a positional change of an element within the product rather than a modification in its design. As such, Sony's filed request isn't in reference to what many assumed to be the hypothetical "super-slim" Vita 3000.
Date for Jon Stewart’s Final Daily Show Revealed
Award-winning satirist Jon Stewart has announced that he will host his last Daily Show on August 6.
Stewart, who took over as The Daily Show host from Craig Kilborn in 1999, announced his departure date on the April 20 recording of the Comedy Central series. The actor, director and writer revealed that he would be leaving The Daily Show in February, after a 16-year stint as host.
Taking over in Stewart's place as host is Trevor Noah. The South African comedian made his American TV debut in 2012 on The Late Show as well as The Tonight Show and has since served as a contributor for The Daily Show.
Kraft Mac ‘n’ Cheese to Lose its Neon Orange Glow
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese's comforting neon orange glow will soon be calmed down to a more natural color.
In response to a Change.org petition calling for the food manufacturer to make its iconic dish healthier without changing the taste, Kraft Foods Group has announced plans to begin removing artificial preservatives and synthetic colors from Macaroni and Cheese (also known as Kraft Dinner in Canada).
Specifically the colors Yellow No. 5 and 6, the shades responsible for Macaroni and Cheese's easily recognizable, near-luminescent orange tint. Instead, Kraft plans to use paprika, tumeric, and annatto to try and restore the taste.
VoidExpanse Review
My faction's commander gave me a special weapon for destroying alien hives in a single shot, but it wouldn't fit in my ship. I left it in my inventory for later use, but at some point in my travels, it disappeared (perhaps I sold it by mistake?), and I could not find a way to retrieve a new one. The contact that had given it to me had nothing more to say, and none of the stations I visited sold such a weapon. So I was left to my own devices, slowly whittling down hives while accompanied by a useless companion that could fend off attacking aliens and space pirates, but could do no damage to the hive itself. I spent a half-dozen hours hammering away at these things, laboriously zooming back and forth between alien systems and bases where I could refuel and refill ammunition. After a while, I could finally afford a better hull, and I presumed my path to victory--a path without the disappearing superweapon--would be clearer.
Instead, my new fighter made things worse by allowing me to only equip weapon types with limited ammo reserves. I wasted precious minutes flying to a base seven systems away so that I could reload, only to return to the alien system and find the hive had gained back all of its health. It was here that VoidExpanse and I parted ways after 25 hours of spacefaring tedium and shallow questing, and I can't say I'll miss repeating the same four side missions over and over again.
It didn't have to be this way; it never does. VoidExpanse is built from a proven foundation, recalling every space sim in which you crisscross the galaxy, buying low and selling high. In VoidExpanse's case, this all occurs on a 2D plane upon which you zoom from one space station to another, mining minerals from asteroids and shooting down space pirates along the way. With each accomplishment, you earn not only money but experience, which you then apply to skills that improve your flight agility, open access to new weapons, and enhance your financial standing.
2D plane aside, this is Freelancer, or DarkStar One, or X3: Reunion, a game that encourages you to find your inner Han Solo, gaining funds by performing odd jobs, aligning yourself with a faction, and destroying whatever enemies stand in your way. Those games built adventures around these basic systems; VoidExpanse, on the other hand, rarely expounds upon the fundamentals. You do odd jobs for your chosen faction so that you can join its ranks, and at least those tasks mix things up a little. You even get choices to make, potentially befriending or alienating a contact depending on how successful you are at hacking a terminal, or convincing a pesky pirate to leave his enemy alone instead of firing on him at first glance.
The rare story-based diversion is not enough to brighten up the dreary pace that soon develops, however. VoidExpanse recycles the same few missions over and over again: Mine some minerals, deliver this package, kill this pirate, rescue these survivors. This is the steady diet of quests you feast upon if you have any hope for forward progress, unless you prefer to ferry supplies and the spoils of random enemy encounters from one system to another, seeking the highest possible prices. Trading is a common activity in space exploration games, but the lack of visual variety squashes exploration flat. Backdrops are generically pretty displays of green and purple nebulae stretching across starfields, and space vessels lack the drama of pop culture's most iconic craft; They are built for function, apparently, and not for form. But it is form that such a repetitive game needs to thrive, and what starts as a fun but formulaic adventure grows tiresome.
Combat is functional, at least, and supports two different control schemes, one of which allows you to drive the ship with the mouse, and the other of which separates aiming and movement. It is the latter scheme that affords finer control, and there is inherent appeal at hovering your targeting reticule over a pirate or an alien pod, launching missiles at it, and watching it explode. Alien ships are particularly mobile, so while most encounters aren't demanding unless you wander into systems you shouldn't be exploring yet, some battles keep you circling and reward precise aiming.
The main reason to press forward is to earn more currency and more experience, leaving behind your paltry vessel and starter gadgets for a more powerful and roomy ship. There are slots for weapons, shields, engines, and so forth, along with places to equip consumables (good for a resupply of hull strength, for instance) and boosters (good for, say, improving your defenses or supporting your energy supply). But all the incremental improvements represented by ship advancement and skill choices are at the service of repetitive sights, repetitive travel, and repetitive actions. In time, the few spots of joy are overwhelmed by the annoyances, such as the suicidal way the companion you later earn keeps ramming into alien hives until he explodes, and an autopilot that sometimes steers around obstacles, and other times bounces your ship against asteroids and space stations.
Galaxies are procedurally generated--and you can join other players' galaxies in online play--but those options bring little diversity to VoidExpanse. In the case of galaxies, the variables have too little effect on the pace of exploration to be meaningful; In the case of online play, the community is too small to make multiplayer worth investigating. Going online means following the same path you would if you played on your own, except you might encounter another player to shoot or ignore. In fact, VoidExpanse is toothless in general, lacking the mystery and suspense that could have propelled it through the universe.