Monthly Archives: April 2015

BB-8, Sphero Is Your Father

At the Star Wars Celebration 2015, a small start-up called Sphero got a big shout-out for their contributions towards creating BB-8, the newest droid to join the Star Wars universe. In an interview with Fortune, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who took over for company founder George Lucas in 2012, mentioned that the technology that makes BB-8 tick was created by the Boulder, Colorado-based company.

Walt Disney CEO, Bob Iger, whose media empire bought Star Wars creator Lucasfilms for $4.05 billion USD in 2012, is credited with discovering the tech start-up. Sphero was selected to be one of ten companies to receive support from Disney's accelerator program. Disney uses this three-month-long program to select tech start-ups who want to “make an impact on the world of media and entertainment.” The chosen teams are given funds up to $120,000. Each start-up also gets paired up with a mentor from within Disney’s executive ranks and Sphero got none other than Bob Iger himself.

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Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens Book Series Gets Release Date

The entire series of Star Wars: The Force Awakens tie-in novels will be released on September 4, Del Rey Books announced during its panel at this weekend's Star Wars Celebration.

The series, aptly branded "Journey to The Force Awakens," spans a total of 20 books, all of which will be available on the aforementioned date, providing fans with plenty to do before the film hits theaters in December.

It was confirmed earlier this year that the books will all be set during the 32-year span between the end of Return of the Jedi and the beginning of the upcoming seventh film. Not only that, but the series, which includes both young adult and adult novels as well as comic books, will contain hints at what's to come in the forthcoming films.

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Mortal Kombat X Patch 1.02 Adds New Skins, Gameplay Updates

An all-new patch for Mortal Kombat X is now available to download on all platforms.

Patch 1.02 includes a number of new updates, including a free classic Sub-Zero skin and a number of other DLC skins for different characters.

The patch also makes a number of balance and online stability updates to Mortal Kombat X, including several specific move fixes listed below:

General - Throws (regular or command grabs) will no longer sometimes connect on a grounded reacting opponent off a counter hit

Shinnok(Impostor) - He can now control the location of a stolen Goro Stomp.

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Original Star Wars Author Returns for The Force Awakens Novel

The upcoming novelization of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be written by Alan Dean Foster, the very same author responsible for the novel based on the original Star Wars film.

The news was revealed during today's Star Wars Celebration Del Rey panel in which Foster, posing as a fan in the audience, requested if he could handle the novelization. After convincing the panelists to say yes, he took the stage to reveal who he was, surprising the crowd.

We're currently on site covering the panel, so stay tuned to IGN for all your Star Wars Celebration needs.

In the meantime, let us know in the comments what you think of Alan Dean Foster's involvement in the upcoming novel. Do you think he's the right man for the job?

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Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Trailer is Full of Surprises

The first trailer for season 2 of Star Wars Rebels was shown not once, but twice, during a live panel about the show at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim. In it, the surprising return of characters from Star Wars: The Clone Wars is shown.

Captain Rex, Hondo Ohnaka, and of course, Ahsoka, are shown in the trailer.

During the panel, executive producer Dave Filoni touched on the possibility of a showdown between Ahsoka and Vader, saying it's "part of the story that we have to tell you."

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Star Wars Rebels Director Elaborates on Showdown

This article contains spoilers for season 2 of Star Wars Rebels.

Star Wars Rebels director, Dave Filoni, dropped some hints of what's to come in season 2.

During the Star Wars Rebels panel, a fan in the audience asked about a Star Wars Rebels poster, which you can see in our previous coverage.

The poster depicts Ahsoka Tano, apprentice to Anakin Skywalker, facing off with her former master, who is now Darth Vader.

"Ahsoka and Vader was the topic that George and I discussed specifically," Filoni explained. "I asked him exactly what you’re asking me now. I said, what would that be like? What does she know? What would she know?"

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3 Crazy Awesome Interactive Star Wars Toys Revealed

The Star Wars Toy Innovators panel kicked off with Lucasfilm’s Anita Castellar introducing some representatives from JAKKS Pacific, who started by talking about their Big Figures line. They already have 20 inch figures that go for $19.99 and 31 inch figures that go for $30. Their newest entry is a 48 inch Giant Darth Vader for $99.

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It’s an interactive product with a sensor on his belt that triggers by movement. He has a friend and foe mode, which will give either friendly lines like “What is thy bidding?” or antagonistic lines like “There is no escape.” They jokingly described it as an action figure that replaces a piece of furniture.

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How Returning Characters Will Change Star Wars Rebels

WARNING! Spoilers for Star Wars Rebels season 1 follow.

The creative minds behind Star Wars Rebels took to the stage at Star Wars Celebration to talk about the next season of Disney XD's animated program. The voice cast and producers from the show sat down during a live panel to discuss the show's past and its future.

Of course, one character was shown who fans were first introduced to in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Captain Rex appeared, grey-bearded and flanked by two other clones, fighting alongside the rebels in the season 2 reveal trailer shown during the panel.

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