Monthly Archives: April 2015
The Fall of an Empire? Star Wars Opposing Forces Have New Names
Folks on the floor at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim are noticing the Empire is no longer referred to as such. Instead, it's being referred to as "First Order." And the Rebels have also had a change of name, and are now referred to as "Resistance."
Technically the Rebels are the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and the Empire also has several different names, including the First Galactic Empire, New Order, Palapatine's New Order, the Old Empire, the First Galactic Empire, and the Imperium.
RiffTrax Takes on The Room
Fathom Events, RiffTrax and IGN are teaming up for a live-presentation of The Room, with commentary from hosts (and original Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys) Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. The now-classic B-movie, with RiffTrax commentary included, will debut tomorrow at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The first nationwide screening of RiffTrax Live: The Room is slated for May 6, with an encore presentation scheduled for May 12. You can pick up tickets over at Fathom's website. Check out a very special video shout-out from the RiffTrax guys right here (if you can handle the heat):
Battlefield: Hardline Leads Sales of Games for March
According to the NPD group, Battlefield: Hardline was the top selling game for the month of March. It beat out Bloodborne and Grand Theft Auto V to claim the title.
The top 10 selling games for March were:
- Battlefield: Hardline (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, 360, PS3, PC)
- Bloodborne (PS4)
- Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3)
- Mario Party 10 (Wii U) (sold 290,000 copies physical and digital, according to Nintendo)
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
- MLB 15: The Show (PS4, PS3)
- Minecraft (360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4)
- NBA 2K15 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
March’s Top-Selling Console Was…
PlayStation 4 was March's top-selling console, according to NPD sales results.
"We are truly honored PlayStation 4 is the top selling console and #1 in software sales again according to NPD sales data for March 2015," a statement from Sony Computer Entertainment revealed. "PS4 remains the cumulative sales leader both globally and in the United States and we want to thank gamers worldwide for their ongoing support."
On the Nintendo front, total 3DS hardware sales this year have increased approximately 80 percent when compared to the first quarter of last year. As for Wii U, Nintendo's tablet-centric console has seen over a 20 percent year-over-year increase in Q1 hardware sales.
Hands-On With GTA 5’s First Cheat Mod
Those much-anticipated mods for Rockstar’s PC port of Grand Theft Auto 5 are slowly emerging, beginning with the LinGon Trainer.
The LinGon Trainer is a client for Grand Theft Auto 5 that adds several cheat codes in-game, including invincibility, instant money, and more, all at the touch of a button. You can see it in action in the video above.
IGN’s Jared Petty dove into the mod. For most of the Let’s Play, he has invincibility active, as well as the option that removes the need to reload.
It Follows Sequel Ideas
Though there are no solid plans for a sequel to the horror hit It Follows, studio execs have revealed that they are currently floating potential ideas for the plot.
"I don’t want to give away too much, but we’ve thought about it," says Tom Quinn, co-president of Radius-TWC - which distributed the movie with Dimension Films - in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "Flip the title. There's so much you could do."
Flipping the title would result in "Follow It," suggesting that a sequel may have characters tracing their partners' sexual histories to track the origin of the first film's shapeshifting demon, which is spread from person to person via sexual contact.
Disney XD to Air David Tennant Doctor Who Seasons
Disney XD has picked up the David Tennant seasons of Doctor Who, and is set to premiere the 10th Doctor’s run of episodes next month.
Season 2, Episode 1 of BBC’s Doctor Who revival, titled “New Earth,” will premiere Saturday, May 9 at 9pm ET on Disney XD, following the network’s debut of the 2005 Fantastic Four film at 6:45pm ET.
The second season of Doctor Who will resume on Saturday, June 13 with the airing of Episode 2, “Adventures in time and space,” and the next seven episodes will continue to rollout thru Saturday, June 20, as part of a week-long programming event. Additionally, starting June 14, all the episodes will be available to stream on the WATCH Disney XD app.
NBC Revives Emerald City
NBC has given Emerald City -- its dark modernization of The Wizard Of Oz -- a 10-episode series order, after having shelved the project last year. The series was devised by scribes Matt Arnold (Siberia) and Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) as a Game of Thrones-influenced reimagining of L. Frank Baum's classic tale.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the project is being reworked by writer David Schulner, who previously worked on shows like Dracula, Do No Harm, The Event and Kings for NBC.
Here's the official longline for the series: "In the blink of a tornado’s eye, 20-year-old Dorothy Gale and her K9 police dog are transported to another world, one far removed from our own—a mystical land of competing kingdoms, lethal warriors, dark magic and a bloody battle for supremacy. This is the fabled Land of Oz in a way you’ve never seen before, where wicked witches don’t stay dead for long and a young girl becomes a headstrong warrior who holds the fate of kingdoms in her hands."
Rock Band 4 Will Support Old Guitar Hero, Rock Band Instruments
You may want to hold on to those old Guitar Hero and Rock Band instruments.
Speaking with Business Insider, Rock Band 4 project director Daniel Sussman revealed the upcoming music game will be compatible with last-gen Guitar Hero and Rock Band peripherals.
Sussman explains he and his team wanted to see this integration through as a way to cut costs for consumers.
"Our position is really all about respect for our consumers and for the money that they have spent to get into the game space in the first place. They spend a fortune on games: on consoles, on hardware, and we're sensitive to that," he said.
Ryan Gosling Eyed For Blade Runner Sequel
Ryan Gosling is in negotiations to star in Blade Runner 2, the sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic.
The new comes via Variety; it's not yet known which character Gosling will play if cast.
The original Blade Runner took place in a dystopian 2019 Los Angeles. The sequel will take place several decades later, with Harrison Ford reprising his role as Rick Deckard.
Denis Villeneuve is directing the sequel, with the original's director Ridley Scott producing this time around. Hampton Fancher and Michael Green wrote the script, which Scott praises as "very, very good."