Monthly Archives: September 2015
180 Million Reasons Real Racing Isn’t Worried About Forza or Gran Turismo
Many racing game fans have a tendency to be as tribal about their racing game of choice as real-life revheads are about their favourite car manufacturers. Gran Turismo versus Forza Motorsport. Project CARS versus Assetto Corsa. Need for Speed versus Burnout. iRacing versus everything else.
Sales figures are regularly the artillery that racing enthusiasts lob at one another as proof of greatness and superiority. Boiled down to a number on a spreadsheet, several tens of millions is better than several million.
But if these really are the terms that the racing genre’s most argumentative enthusiasts want to wage war on, there’s one number they’re missing.
NASA Is Launching a 4K TV Channel Dedicated to Space
NASA is launching the first non-commercial consumer ultra-high definition (UHD) channel in North America on November 1, the agency announced today.
NASA Television will broadcast high-resolution footage from the International Space Station, current NASA missions, and re-mastered footage from historical missions.
The new channel is product of an Space Act Agreement between video delivery infrastructure company Harmonic and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The agency will use Harmonic’s end-to-end video delivery system to deliver content at 2160p at 60fps.
You’ll need at least 13 MBps connectivity to watch NASA Television on the internet. According to the announcement, Harmonic is also in discussions with pay TV companies to bring the channel to consumer satellite, cable and optical networks.
Minions Now Second Biggest Animated Movie of All Time
The opening of Illumination Entertainment’s Minions in China has nudged the film’s global box office total to USD$1.08 billion, reports The Wrap. This sees Minions edge past Toy Story 3’s global box office total of USD$1.06 billion and become the second highest-grossing animated movie of all time, behind 2013’s Frozen (USD$1.27 billion).
Minions collected USD$20.1 million in box office receipts during its debut in China over the weekend. The Wrap notes this is almost 50 per cent higher than the Chinese opening for Despicable Me 2.
Either way, it appears to have gone a lot better than its opening in Ireland.
EA Removes Several Classics From App Store
Electronic Arts has pulled a number of its classic iOS games from the App Store, including Flight Control, Real Racing, and Dead Space.
Earlier this month, the publisher quietly announced the removal of over fifteen titles on its support site, as spotted by TouchArcade, the very same day they were being pulled.
Here's the full list of EA classics that are no longer available:
- Bejeweled 2
- Burnout™ CRASH!
Blizzard Reveals Legacy of the Void Launch Date
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void will launch on November 10 for PC and Mac, Blizzard revealed today during the StarCraft World Championship Series.
The standalone Protoss-focused final chapter in the StarCraft II series is now available for pre-purchase on Battle.net -- Blizzard’s online gaming client -- and will cost $40 for the standard edition. Those who pre-purchase the game digitally will gain access to the Whispers of Oblivion prologue missions. Of course, for those looking for a more robust experience, Legacy of the Void will come in multiple editions featuring a number of bonus items:
- Standard Edition - $40
- Digital Deluxe Edition - $60 - The upgradeable digital deluxe edition includes bonus in-game content for Blizzard’s other games: an Archon pet in World of Warcraft; a Void Speeder mount in Heroes of the Storm; a protoss-themed card back in Hearthstone. This content will be available upon Legacy of the Void’s launch.
Perfect Guy Edges Out Shyamalan’s Visit at Box Office
The Perfect Guy had an incredibly successful opening this weekend, placing first at the box office with an estimated $26.7 million.
Meanwhile, M. Night Shyamalan's thriller The Visit debuted in a close second, earning approximately $25.7 million.
Both films had modest budgets and are expected to be quite profitable, soaring well above their projected debuts, according to Variety. Both films were tracking in the $15-17 million range going into the weekend.
Trailing in third was last week's number one, War Room, which raked in a respectable $7.4 million.
Matrix’s Essie Davis Appearing in Game of Thrones S6
Essie Davis (The Babadook, The Matrix Revolutions) will appear in the upcoming sixth season of HBO's Game of Thrones.
Davis will play the lead actress of a traveling theater company, according to Watchers on the Wall. While little is known about the character, including her name, we do know she's described as a "fun, charismatic, rum-drinking actress," thanks to Season 6 character descriptions revealed earlier this year.
It should be noted that Davis was spotted on set by fans and the casting has yet to be confirmed by HBO. You can see the actress in costume below, courtesy of Watchers on the Wall.
Del Toro’s Next Project Reportedly ‘Wall-E Meets Splash’
Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro is rumored to be working on a brand new film project that draws inspiration from both WALL•E and Splash.
Del Toro has already written the film, and plans to direct and produce under Fox Searchlight, according to Tracking Board.
The director is also gearing up for a sequel to Pacific Rim, which is rumored to be titled Pacific Rim: Maelstrom. While shooting was expected to begin this November, rumor has it production has been pushed to 2016.
Gwenpool Is Getting Her Own Comic Book
Marvel Comics’ Gwen Stacy/Deadpool mash-up Gwenpool is getting her own comic book.
According to Newsarama, the character will be featured in a three-part backup story in the first three issues of Howard the Duck, followed by Gwenpool Special #1 in December.
In the one-shot, Gwenpool shows up to a holiday party thrown by She-Hulk. As you can see from the cover image below, an assortment of characters from the Marvel Universe are in attendance.
Marvel Comics' Gwenpool Special #1
Pirates of the Caribbean 5 Returns to Series’ Roots
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will be a return to form for Disney's popular treasure-hunting film franchise, according to The Maze Runner star and Pirates newcomer Kaya Scodelario.
"It
a lot more of the first movie, that’s what they wanted to bring it back to," Scodelario told Digital Spy. "
want to take it back to the beginning again. They wanted it to have this epic journey, and for it to make sense, and for it to tie things up, and also lead to new storylines."