Monthly Archives: June 2015
Riot Games Donates LCS 2014 Fines to The Trevor Project
League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced it will be donating all of the collected LCS 2014 fine money to The Trevor Project.
The charity, which offers "crisis intervention and suicide prevention services" for LGBTQ youth, will receive a total donation of $31,850, according to Riot's announcement.
"For the first major donation, we wanted to see the money collected from the 2014 make a difference to one cause," the studio said. "When we sat down and thought about what was meaningful to us as a community, one cause resonated with most of us—the fight against harassment and discrimination."
Just Dance 2016 Confirmed
Just Dance 2016 has been outed in an Instagram post.
Instagram user Averagelatindude posted the image, as seen below, revealing a promotional banner containing the logo for Just Dance 2016 alongside Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and The Division logos.
He included the hashtags “justdance2016,” “E32015,” and “E3times,” alleging the game will be unveiled at E3.
Dota 2 Reborn Announced, Beta Coming Next Week
Dota 2 is getting a complete overhaul, aiming to provide a more intuitive user experience.
Valve has revealed numerous updates for Dota 2 Reborn, which includes a new interface, new engine, and all-new custom games. Dota 2 players will get their chance to preview the changes in an upcoming open beta.
The official site details a dashboard redesign updating party management, invites, voice chat, and featuring a new party beacon that allows players to set themselves to “open” status and broadcasts to friends that they are looking for more party members.
Players can now interact with friends’ customizable miniprofiles and activity feeds. Friends can also compare their performance with heroes and their playstyle with the new interface.
UPDATE: PSN Recovering After Tonight’s Outage
UPDATE June 13, 12:14 a.m. PDT: PlayStation Network services have been restored, according to the official status page, which states "all services are up and running."
UPDATE June 13, 12:09 a.m. PDT: PlayStation Network services appear to be coming back online for some users. The official status page still states "services are experiencing issues."
Sony's PlayStation Network is currently offline, with users reporting issues with logging into the service.
Secret Wars and Bravest Warriors Sell Huge in May
Diamond Comics released their sales figures for May 2015 today. Unsurprisingly, Marvel's Secret Wars #1 was the best-selling single issue for the month. However, it faced stiff competition from Boom! Studios' Bravest Warriors: Tales of Holo John #1, which was included in Loot Crate's May subscription box. Both comics are estimated to have sold over 500,000 copies.
Secret Wars was a success for Marvel overall, with issue #2 and several tie-ins (including A-Force #1 and Old Man Logan #1) ranking among the top ten best-sellers. Two issues of DC's weekly Convergence event also cracked the top ten.
Star Wars Special Effects Company Making VR Experiences
Industrial Light & Magic – the company behind Star Wars' famous special effects – has formed a new group to make immersive, story-based experiences in virtual reality and other mediums.
Called the ILM Experience Lab (ILMxLAB), the division will combine talent from Lucasfilm, Skywalker Sound, and ILM for projects in VR, augmented reality, real-time cinema, theme park entertainment, and "narrative-based experiences for future platforms."
No concrete projects have been announced yet, but the studio's launch video below, which shows off a real-time, user-created scene on Tatooine, gives us a glimpse at what could come.
ILM President and Lucasfilm Executive VP Lynwen Brennan told The Hollywood Reporter new Star Wars content will come to mass-market VR goggles, though "the initial, most high-end experiences will be in the
Gears of War Teaser Counts Down to E3 Reveal
Microsoft and its recently renamed first-party dev, The Coalition, have released a teaser that reaffirms what we already knew: we'll be hearing all about the future of Gears of War during its Monday morning E3 media briefing.
In a post on Twitter, the official Gears of War account shared the following tease:
Three. More. Days. #GearsofWar #XboxE3 pic.twitter.com/FG0Oyxno7D
Joker and Harley Quinn Aren’t the Only Reason to Get Excited for Suicide Squad
There has been a surge of enthusiasm for Warner Bros’ upcoming DC Comics movie Suicide Squad and it’s all thanks to the inclusion of two Batman villains -- the Joker and Harley Quinn. Between official images of the Joker’s new look and Harley posing with the Squad, plus an inordinate amount of fuzzy set photos, the Internet has been going bonkers for these two crazy characters. But if people only knew what to expect from a Suicide Squad movie, they’d be even more excited.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to get pumped for with Joker and Harley. Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger’s Jokers were classic performances that wowed crowds and did Batman’s number-one nemesis justice, so there’s a painful amount of anticipation to see what Jared Leto will do with his take on the Clown Prince of Crime. Harley has a wild, passionate fanbase and a best-selling comic book, so seeing her in a movie has been a long time coming. The two are known for their unsettling, antagonistic romance that sees them hating, hurting, and loving each other in equal measure. It’s a cool combo of iconic characters, for sure, but believe it or not, they have nothing to do with the original Suicide Squad concept.
Lucas, McKellen and Jackson Salute Christopher Lee
Tributes have been pouring for actor Christopher Lee -- who passed away this week at the age of 93 -- from those who worked with him on the Star Wars and Middle-earth franchises.
George Lucas, who cast Lee as Count Dooku in the latter two installments of his Star Wars prequel trilogy, said in a statement, "Christopher was a great British actor of the old school. A true link to cinema's past and a real gentleman. We will miss him."
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said: “Christopher brought a grace and gravitas to the many roles he's played over a rich and expansive career. His performance as Count Dooku in Episodes II and III remains a highlight of the Star Wars saga, and we have been so privileged and honored to count him among our family. Christopher was a gentle soul and deeply adored by fans, and we will miss him dearly.”
Game of Thrones: 11 Heartbreaking Moments
Warning: Spoilers follow for all of HBO's Game of Thrones that has aired so far, up through the episode "The Door."
Over the course of five and a half seasons, Game of Thrones has had some truly shocking moments, scary moments, violent moments and badass moments. But the most recent episode, "The Door," reminded us that it can also have some truly scarring, sad moments, as we discovered the origin of Hodor's name during a bit of time travel and an epic example of self sacrifice.
