Monthly Archives: October 2017
Stardew Valley Creator Discusses Next Game
In a Reddit AMA, Eric Barone, creator of Stardew Valley, discussed his thoughts on his next project and how he's learned from Stardew's development.
Although he confirmed that he had plans for his next game in the AMA, Barone was initially hesitant to discuss future projects because "creating hype too far in advance is a lot of pressure, and ultimately I don't think it benefits anyone. I prefer to work in an isolated bubble."
But Barone said he is approaching the next project "with a similar mindset to Stardew Valley — take a style of game that was never fully realized (or that changed trajectories, leaving unexplored possibilities), and carry on the tradition in my own weird way. "
How Lessons From the Wii U Affected the Nintendo Switch
Nintendo has discussed lessons learned from the Wii U and how these lessons were applied in order to make the Nintendo Switch as successful as it has been since its launch.
Nintendo of America senior product marketing manager Bill Trinen told Business Insider the ease of simply jumping into the Switch experience has been a huge step up from the Wii U.
“If you look at the Wii U hardware system, just the system menu itself — the time that it took to boot that system up, to get into gameplay — was something that was a frustration for a lot of players early on, and actually became a hindrance,” Trinen said.
Classic PC Game Star Control II Gets New Direct Sequel
25 years after its original release, Star Control II is officially getting a sequel — and it's coming from the game's creators.
Fred Ford and Paul Reiche announced on their blog that a direct sequel to Star Control II — The Ur-Quan Masters is in the works, and it will be called Ghosts of the Precursors.
"Pretty much ever since
, fans have been politely asking us to create a sequel, sometimes begging for a sequel, even threatening us if we don’t make a sequel. Our answer was always, “We really want to do this, we just need to wait until the time is right” ... Well, the stars have finally aligned," the announcement post reads.
Destiny 2 Leviathan Prestige Raid Delayed
Bungie has delayed Destiny 2's Leviathan Prestige Raid.
In a post on the game's official forums, Bungie said an exploit was discovered in the Leviathan Raid that makes its enemy encounters easier than they should be. Since this could potentially tarnish the legacy of the team who earns the World First Bonus for completing the more difficult, Prestige version of the Raid, the developer has decided to postpone its launch to fix the exploit.
As such, Destiny 2's first Prestige Raid will now go live on Wednesday, October 18 at 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm UK (October 19 at 4am AET).
The Leviathan Prestige Raid was announced last week among a slew of other new content, including Destiny 2's first Iron Banner event and new armor sets.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 Season Pass Content Revealed
The MCU is invading Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, with the sequel's season pass revealed to include Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Revealed as part of the game's showing at New York Comic Con, WB has confirmed that the season pass will cost $14.99 and include six level packs and four character packs. The six level packs are all based on Marvel Cinematic Universe films or TV shows, including:
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- Black Panther
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Ant-Man and the Wasp
- Cloak and Dagger
- Runaways
The season pass also includes four character packs:
Indy 5: How John Rhys-Davies Envisions Sallah’s Return
John-Rhys-Davies has revealed he would love to return as excavator Sallah in Indiana Jones 5.
Speaking to Yahoo Movies at the BAFTA Cymru Awards, Rhys-Davies pondered Sallah's life beyond The Last Crusade. "I like to think that he would have been somebody like Khaled al-Asaad – that marvelous 80-year-old man who was defending his museum in Palmyra and who hid its major treasures and refused to give them over to ISIS and was beheaded in the town square," he said.
Rhys-Davies is referring to Syrian archaeologist Khaled al-Assad, who tragically died defending the ancient city of Palmyra in 2015. He believes the "best digger in Egypt" would have shared some qualities with the late scholar.
Star Trek Family, Stars Unveil Statue of Late Anton Yelchin
A bronze statue of the late Anton Yelchin was recently unveiled, honoring the actor's life and career.
According the The Hollywood Reporter, the statue was revealed during a service for Yelchin, which was attended by some of his Star Trek collaborators, including Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, and J.J. Abrams.
Director Joe Dante, who helmed the Yelchin-led horror comedy Burying the Ex, shared the following photo of the statue on Twitter:
Photo courtesy of Joe Dante on Twitter
The 15 Biggest Stories You Missed from NYCC
It's not October with out New York Comic Con at NYC's Javits Center, and this year some big news broke out of the fall convention that has major repercussions for pop culture.
In case you missed some of the biggest headlines, we rounded up the 15 most important stories out of New York Comic Con to help you stay up-to-date with all the news that's fit to print. From the multiple Marvel controversies that made headlines to the Watchmen character back from the dead to a massive Walking Dead crossover in the works, here's what you might have missed from NYCC:
That's not all of IGN's New York Comic Con coverage. We got a first look at several notable new TV series, including a Marvel's Runaways pilot review and Future Man pilot review. We also reviewed the early premiere of Ash vs Evil Dead: Season 3, and offered our impressions of Black Mirror's Season 4 Christmas episode.
Why Is There No Internet in Blade Runner’s World?
The world of Blade Runner is one full of futuristic cyberpunk technology, including lifelike androids, space travel and giant, holographic billboards. But there are a few pieces of modern technology that are strangely absent in this sci-fi universe. Namely, there are no cellphones and no Internet. That might seem like a strange omission in this day and age, but there are actually several reasons why the Blade Runner universe is missing those crucial pieces of technology.
The simplest explanation is that the original Blade Runner simply couldn't have predicted the ubiquitous nature of cellphones, the web and social media in the 21st century. Not only was that film released in 1982, it was based on a Philip K. Dick novel published in 1968. In some ways, Blade Runner was very prescient in envisioning the world as it would exist in 2019. The film predicted China's rise to become a global superpower, the nonstop sensory barrage that is modern advertising and the fact that humanity would increasingly have to deal with the effects of climate change. But in other ways, Blade Runner was way off the mark. Unless some big changes happen very quickly, we're not likely to have flying cars, androids and off-world colonies by the year 2019.
Blade Runner 2049’s Opening Compared to Other Long-Awaited Sequels
Opening to a less-than-expected $32 million, Blade Runner 2049 underperformed despite glowing critical reception. But while 2049 may not have performed up to industry expectations, how did it fare in comparison to other long-awaited sequels.
IGN earlier this year took a look at 13 movie sequels that took years, and even decades, to be released following the original. In the chart below, find out how those sequels fared alongside the openings of the original films, with numbers via BoxOfficeMojo.