Monthly Archives: January 2017
Twitch Announces TwitchCon 2017 Dates and Location
Twitch announced its third annual TwitchCon will be held October 20-22 in Long Beach, CA.
The Long Beach Convention Center was chosen for "its impressive main theater and arena," according to Twitch. The company also points to the design of the convention center itself, the "150 restaurants in a 10-block radius," and its proximity to three airports, as key factors.
Similar to previous TwitchCon events, attendees can check out panels, visit exhibitor booths, "participate in live events," and more, according to Twitch.
Steve Aoki headlined TwitchCon 2016 in September, and details for TwitchCon 2017 will be revealed "in the coming months." Updates for the event can be tracked on the TwitchCon 2017 homepage.
Ben Affleck Confirms He Will Direct The Batman
Ben Affleck has restated that he will direct upcoming DC solo film, The Batman.
Despite last week saying that "it's not a set thing", the writer and star appeared to set the record straight on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night:
"I'm going to direct the next Batman", he explained. "We're working on it."
He went on to say that his relative quietness about the movie was down to his work on current project, Live By Night:
"It's one of those things that's really frustrating because, like, Live by Night took me a year-and-a-half to write it and get it ready, and I worked really hard. It's just nobody gave a s**t! No one was like, 'Where's Live by Night?' But with Batman I keep on getting, 'Where's The f**king Batman?!' And I'm like, 'Whoa, I'm working, give me a second!'"
FF7 Remake, Kingdom Hearts 3 ‘Still Have a Way to Go’
Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake director Tetsuya Nomura has provided an update on the development state of both games, saying they "still have a way to go" before either title is ready for release.
When asked about Kingdom Hearts III in the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu (via Gematsu), Nomura said "there are still worlds untouched" and that "production is progressing on unannounced worlds, in a state that we cannot show them off."
With regard to how Final Fantasy VII Remake is coming along, Nomura said they are "steadily progressing on production," before apologizing "that the wait will be be a bit longer for Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake." He then went on to assure fans that he "will make a game that will meet your expectations."
Heroes of the Storm Holding a Free Weekend
To kick off 2017, Blizzard is unlocking all Heroes of the Storm characters this weekend.
While the base version of the game usually offers a few free characters on rotation, but all will be unlocked for the duration of the event.
That means you’ve got three days to test out any characters you haven’t had the chance to play with yet. The whole shebang runs from January 13 through to January 16.
Heroes of the Storm had a pretty busy 2016. January saw the announcement Diablo characters would be joining the HotS roster, as well as an eSports prize pool totaling $4 million. One month later, in February, the Lunar Festival kicked off.
BAFTA 2017 Nominations Revealed
The BAFTA 2017 nominations are in.
Leading the charge is Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, which is up for a total of 11 mentions, including Best Film, Best Director, Leading Actor, and Leading Actress, closely followed by Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi Arrival with nine nominations. The latter is up for Best Picture, Director, and Actress for Amy Adams, among others.
Bringing up the rear in the Best Film category are Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester By The Sea, Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, along with Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight.
On the Star Wars front, Rogue One is up for two awards, Make Up and Hair and Special Visual Effects, while Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is up for five awards, namely Production Design, Costume Design, Outstanding British Film, Special Visual Effects, And Sound.
Sony Announces White PS4 Slim
Sony has revealed the first colour variant for the new slim version of the PS4, 'Glacier White'.
So far announced as a 500GB model for Europe and as 500GB/1TB models for Japan (there's no word on a North American or Australian release as yet), the console also comes with a white edition of the updated PS4 controller.
It appears to be a permanent addition to Sony's console line-up, as opposed to a limited edition. No official price has yet been announced.
The Glacier White console will be released on January 24 in Europe and February 23 in Japan.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and this console hurt his eyes. Follow him on Twitter.
Microsoft Deletes All Mention of Scalebound From Its Channels
Microsoft has removed mentions of Scalebound from its website, and removed all trailers for the game from its primary YouTube channel.
Following the in-development action-RPG's surprise cancellation, it appears Microsoft is now scrubbing it from any of its official web outlets.
The game's official page on Xbox.com now redirects to the site's homepage (although its Microsoft Store entry remains live), and trailers, gameplay demos and conference showings have been taken down or made private on YouTube.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is Important to Revival
While there was clearly a lot of excitement for the Twin Peaks panel at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press today, it was with the understanding that almost no information would actually be revealed at it. The secrecy around Twin Peaks' new episodes is massive and not only was Showtime not debuting any footage (nope, no trailer*), the panel was only scheduled to include cast members -- no writers or producers -- who were no doubt unable to say anything about the plot.
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Twin Peaks Photo Gallery: All the Returning Cast Members
However, there was one big surprise when David Lynch himself made an unscheduled appearance, prior to the cast taking the stage. Lynch answered questions for nearly 20 minutes and was, well, David Lynch... His questions were either incredibly brief and simple, or long and amusingly odd.
Get Ready to Witness the Justice League Meeting the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
With dozens of comic books to choose from, let us show you which are the best coming out this week. Take a look at this list spotlighting our favorite comics that we know are money-well-spent and new books that look cool and are backed by some top-tier talent.
Check out our picks, then head to the comments to let us know what you’ll be buying this week!
By writer Tom Taylor & artist Stephen Byrne | DC Comics / BOOM! Studios
Yahoo Changing Its Name to Altaba, CEO to Depart
Yahoo chief executive officer Marissa Mayer and co-founder David Filo are leaving the company once the company's sale to Verizon is complete.
According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Mayer, Filo, and several other board members are stepping down. The company will also change its name to Altaba, Inc.
Verizon is buying Yahoo's core business for roughly $4.8 billion USD.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. Image Source: Yahoo