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Friday, August 31, 2012

Tricia Helfer Guest Starring on Community

Abed’s about to kind a kindred spirit via a Cylon. Which kind of sounds right, no?

TVLine's Meg Masters reports that Tricia Helfer is guest starring in an episode of Community this coming season. She’ll play Lauren, described as a "drop-dead gorgeous superfan" of Community’s oft-mentioned Doctor Who parody/substitute, Inspector Spacetime. At Comic-Con, Community’s new showrunners, David Guarascio and Moses Port, revealed there will be an episode involving an Inspector Spacetime convention.

Tricia Helfer during her Battlestar Galactica days

No doubt there's some fun tongue-in-cheek casting having Helfer, best known for Battlestar Galactica, playing someone obsessed with a science fiction series. It was preciously reported that Little Britain’s Matt Lucas will play another Spacetime uber-fan this season.

Community: Season 4 premieres October 19th. Also previously revealed as guest starring is Malcolm McDowell, who will play a Greendale professor.


Source : ign[dot]com

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Announced

Square Enix has announced Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Set to arrive in 2013, Lightning Returns will incorporate “a brand-new story, world, characters and an enhanced gameplay system,” according to Square Enix. The game will feature Lightning as a solo playable character and allow her to freely roam a new world.

Other details regarding Lightning Returns are limited. We do know that the main story takes place hundreds of years after Final Fantasy XIII-2, set in a world called Novus Partus -- which is composed of four islands connected by monorail. The development team told IGN that three of the guiding pillars for the art direction in Lightning Returns are "gothic, mechanical and fantasy."

The most startling change to Lightning Returns comes in the form of the doomsday countdown. According to Square-Enix, the world will end after 13 days, and a massive clock will count down constantly in the corner of the screen to indicate this looming deadline. Any action players take, even taking the monorail from place to place, will spend time and hasten the end of days.

With Lightning as the only playable character, players will have unparalleled control over customizing her looks and combat style. The battle system itself, a greatly modified version of the previous two, will feature real-time elements including direct control of Lightning's movement and her attacks, as well as time-based moves that drain the doomsday counter. Lightning Returns will also include a real-time block system, designed to make battles much more active and time-based. Even dying mid-battle will activate a prompt to give players the choice to rewind their mistakes at the expense of the timer.

Lightning Returns was announced at today’s Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Event, which Square Enix has been teasing since last month. In early July, Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama hinted at the project, which entered production at the beginning of August, followed shortly by a teaser site.

Square Enix confirmed that Lightning Returns will be the final chapter of Lightning’s saga, which began in Final Fantasy XIII back in 2010. Lightning’s sister Serah was the focus of Final Fantasy XIII-2, which hit stores earlier this year and received downloadable content that continued Lightning’s story.

No other details have been announced, but be sure to check out Square Enix’s official Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII site for more updates as they’re revealed.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. He spent 100 hours playing Final Fantasy XIII-2. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.


Source : ign[dot]com

God of War: Ascension Bosses Revealed

At the conclusion of the God of War: Ascension panel at PAX this weekend, key members of the development team treated the audience to a world exclusive: the video reveal of the "big bosses" to appear in Kratos' next (bloody) quest. The iconic antihero will face three powerful beings known as the "Furies." Not to be confused, I should note, with the Furries, which would present a wholly different and -- perhaps --- more terrifying threat to Kratos.

While we know that three Furies will appear in Ascension, only one was revealed in the video: a woman of horrible power with spider-like appendages clawing out of her back. The God of War team also took note of her ability to infect her victims with parasites that emerge from her "upper chest area." This unnerving skill wasn't shown today, but I fear the day when it will.

God of War: Ascension launches next year on March 12th, and introduces multiplayer to the franchise. So prepare to bring a friend along for the limb-rending fun!

Ryan Clements writes for IGN. He saw an Ellie (The Last of Us) cosplayer today that was super adorable. Follow him on Twitter if you have nothing else to do.


Source : ign[dot]com

Hobbit Sequels Get Titles, Release Dates

Warner Bros. and MGM have officially announced the new titles and release dates for the second and third installments of The Hobbit.

The second film will be called The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and is slated for release December 13, 2013 in 2D, 3D, IMAX and in both 24 and 48 frames-per-second formats.

The third and final film is titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again. It will open worldwide July 18, 2014.

"Opening in July affords us not only the perfect summer tentpole, but fans will have less time to wait for the finale of this epic adventure," said Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

The first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, opens December 14.


Source : ign[dot]com

Command Prompt 10: DayZ Standalone Version Details

In an attempt to make sense of the chaos we call PC gaming, IGN's Anthony Gallegos and Charles Onyett put together a video show called Command Prompt. Barring any disastrous events or prolonged spells of acute laziness, new episodes will appear every week showing off three PC games.

This week we had DayZ creator Dean Hall in the office to talk about the upcoming standalone version of his popular zombie mod as well as potential console versions. It was supposed to be a single segment, but we wound up talking for a while. An hour, to be exact. So it sort of became the whole show this week, preceded by a very brief look at Guild Wars 2.

Guild Wars 2

ArenaNet's MMO is finally live, and so far it's pretty amazing. We take a quick look at it here, but if you want to know more, check out the review in progress.

DayZ

We play DayZ with Dean Hall and cover pretty much everything that's going on with the standalone version and console versions.

Charles Onyett is an Executive Editor at IGN, leads PC game coverage and used to think Pugna was his favorite Dota 2 hero, but recently decided it was Disruptor. You can follow him on Twitter and My IGN.

Anthony Gallegos is an Editor on IGN's PC team. He enjoys scaring the crap out of himself with horror games and then releasing some steam in shooters like Blacklight and Tribes. You can follow him on Twitter and on IGN.


Source : ign[dot]com

The Walking Dead: The Game -- Episode 2: Starved for Help Review

Toss the idea of slaying zombies out of your head; The Walking Dead: The Game -- Episode 2: Starved for Help is a suspense thriller. Yes, the undead lumber around, but developer Telltale Games throws us a curveball here and focuses our concern on man's inhumanity to man. That's pretty awesome.

The second of five downloadable episodes, Starved for Help picks up three months after the zombie apocalypse broke out in the original episode of The Walking Dead: The Game. We're still playing as Lee Everett, protecting Clementine, and dealing with a motley group of survivors assembled at a makeshift fortress that used to be a motel.

It's a dilemma that had me debating whose side I was on and turning my back on established relationships, and that's pretty frickin' impressive.

This time, we get to see the fruits of our labor in the first game. See, The Walking Dead: The Game is all about choice and consequence. Rather than focus on action, the majority of the game is building relationships by talking to people. You don't get a second chance to say something in this adventure game; dialogue pops up, and you have a limited amount of time to make a choice that will influence your friends and make new enemies. (For nuts and bolts of how the game controls, please check out the review of Episode 1.)

Every one of those decisions is then carried on into future episodes, so Episode 2 is the first time to see what that exactly means, and what it means is a whole lot of reasons to replay the episode. What Lilly thinks of you, how much Clementine trusts you, which lies do you have to remember -- all of the decisions you made before set the stage for Lee’s continuing story. Based on which survivor you saved in Episode 1, you have different defenses and plenty of new information in Episode 2.

And then things go to a dark place. A really dark place.

Playing on an iPhone or iPad? 

The Walking Dead: The Game -- Episode 2: Starved for Help is out now for iOS and we've put it through its paces. The port is generally top-notch. Players will make all the same gruesome choices, experience the same dialogue and see the same visuals as the console & PC release. There are some frame rate drops and general hitching for the first few seconds of every new scene, but it quickly resolves itself. This issue is slightly more prevalent here than on consoles, but it is not serious enough to be more than a minor annoyance. 

The Walking Dead's more action-oriented gameplay works great with revised touch-screen controls. Rather than move an on-screen reticle with a joystick, players simply tap the screen when they need to stomp a zombie or perform another action. Other moments, like smashing a walker's head into the side of a pick-up, are done with a simple swipe left or right. Moving Lee is slightly more awkward - players slide their finger in the direction they want to walk. But it still works. 

The Walking Dead: The Game only supports iPhone 4 / iPad 2 and newer devices. The more modern your device, the less stuttering you're likely to experience. Episode 2 can be purchased from within the The Walking Dead: The Game for $4.99, or $14.99 for a season pass.

Anyone concerned with the quality of Telltale's iOS port can put their concerns to rest. The experience might be a hair inferior to playing on a console or PC, but playing on your mobile device is still a great way to see this intimate and intense story unfold.

-Justin Davis, IGN Wireless Editor

Starved for Help opens with the series' most grotesque moment so far (if you choose to play it that way, of course), but beyond that, it starts stretching your moral muscles. The group's nearly out of food, and when it's up to you to choose which few survivors get rations for the day, you have to figure out if you're playing favorites or focusing on the greater good.

It's all about the tough choices.

The greater good: that's key to the episode. While Episode 1 was a whirlwind of chaos, life's moving at a steady pace here, and it's time to decide if Lee's going to be an upstanding person or a cold-hearted survivor. It's a dilemma that had me debating whose side I was on and turning my back on established relationships, and that's pretty frickin' impressive.

For that moment, I really was Lee, and he wasn't the man I thought he was.

Choice in games is mostly black and white, but suddenly I was thinking "Why do I care what Clementine thinks of me? We need to think about surviving," when all I wanted to do was keep her happy last episode. I can't think of another game that had me establish a character I thought I knew and then be debating big decisions a few scenes later. I began wrestling with whether a Mass Effect-style Paragon or Renegade playthrough made sense here -- could I mix and match?

That tug of war over feelings comes into full view when a new group of survivors from the St. John's Dairy Farm show up and invite your group to come over and trade gas for food. The family asks Lee all sorts of probing questions about the group, but are they being creepy or protective? Do you turn your back on the strangers or hope the relationship brings salvation?

Have questions? Check out Telltale and IGN's Official The Walking Dead: The Game Wiki.

I'm not going to spoil the lynchpin moments that come later, but know that Telltale spends a lot of time setting the stage. The suspense builds like a slowly filling water balloon as you have conversations accented with just enough weirdness to unsettle you and then other characters. Then, there's the reveal, and the water balloon pops.

As the final events of Episode 2 rushed at me, there was no time for weighing decisions and pondering if I was trying to impress Clementine. I saw the response I'd personally give and picked it. For that moment, I really was Lee, and he wasn't the man I thought he was.

It's heavy stuff, but The Walking Dead is still just a game -- something some technical hiccups remind you of over and over again. Lip syncing seems to be a bit more lax this time around, music will drop out mid track, and animations (which were already a bit herky jerky) will freeze as scenes change. None of these are issues that should make you skip this title, but they pull you out of an otherwise engrossing experience. The same thing can be said for characters’ weird side comments that Lee doesn't investigate and Lee's observations that I doubt any of us would make -- just little gripes that remind you this is a game.


Source : ign[dot]com

Check out Razer's BlackShark, Minus Battlefield 3 Logo

We liked the Battlefield 3 Collector's Edition of Razer's BlackShark headset for its solid construction, solid sound performance and badass design. (Check out the full review.)

But not everybody wants the name of a shooter that came out last year embossed on headphones that will likely outlast whatever console you may have played it on. Good thing Razer announced this black and green version, which will sell for $119.99 ($10 less than the Battlefield 3 edition).

You can order the face-lifted BlackShark from Razer, or pick one up when they hit store shelves in mid-late September.

What do you think? Do you like the generic version or the Battlefield version better?

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.


Source : ign[dot]com

Bethesda Releases Dishonored: Rat Assassin for iOS

Bethesda announced (and launched!) Dishonored promo-game Dishonored: Rat Assassin onto the iOS App Store today. The free app’s description promises that gamers will be able to “Help rid the Dunwall streets of plagued rats, one slice, dice, and crossbow shot at a time.”

If that sounds to you like Fruit Ninja but with disgusting rats instead of delicious fruit… then you’re exactly right.

The game’s Endless “Assassination” mode tasks gamers with slicing as many rats with a finger as possible without hitting a bomb. Where do all these rats come from? Why are they flying in from off-screen in patterns? Is someone throwing them? Don’t worry about it. Just slice.

Rat Assassin’s meat is in its surprisingly robust Challenge mode. It is made up of 36 hand-crafted levels, each with a tricky three-star score to achieve. Each one puts a little twist on the game’s basic rat-slicing formula.

So, here’s the deal: Dishonored: Rat Assassin is a very weird product. It’s very casual, but was built to promote a super hardcore title. It’s surprisingly violent (menu selections are made by slicing a rat in half). The App Store listing links to RatAssassin.com which loads nothing but a 403 Forbidden error (as of now).

But still… it’s still pretty fun. And free, which certainly engenders a lot of goodwill. At the very least, gamers that have mastered slicing fruit should enjoy the free romp through Rat Assassin’s challenge mode.

Justin is Editor of IGN Wireless. He has been reviewing mobile games since the dark days of Java flip phones. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.


Source : ign[dot]com

Ranking the Movies of Summer 2012

Was the Summer of Awesome as awesome as we had hoped? Check out our scorecard for the movies released this past season. They're ranked by our critics' review ratings, from the worst to the best. Chime in on the Comments with your picks for the best and worst movies of Summer 2012.

30

The Apparition

Released August 24, 2012

Review score: 3/10. Simply put, it’s not scary at all. It’s a horror movie that does nothing original and doesn’t even manage to scare you in the process.  If you enjoy laughing at bad movies with friends, then sure, have a good time watching it. -- @GreggKatzman

29

Piranha 3DD

Released June 1, 2012

Review score: 4/10. Where the original gave us genuine horror in addition to the slapstick, the sequel infuses so much meta that it's damn near intolerable. Every character is so shallow and so stupid that it's hard to feel anything for them other than irritation. It's almost like you're not even watching a sequel but a Wayans Brothers parody. -- @Max_Nicholson

28

The Campaign

Released August 10, 2012

Review score: 4.5/10. The political lampooning here is witless and dull, serving up the same trite jabs you've seen on SNL for decades. The writing milks the leads' stupidity for all its worth, and then keeps going long after its dead. At a certain point, the film just stops being funny and starts getting preachy. -- @Max_Nicholson

27

That's My Boy

Released June 15, 2012

Review score: 5/10. We were pleasantly surprised when this film turned out to not be terrible, but rather mediocre. It’s a hit or miss comedy where the misses win, percentage-wise. But it certainly has more life to it and actual humor than most of Adam Sandler’s recent output. -- @EricIGN

26

Premium Rush

Released August 24, 2012

Review score: 5/10. Despite Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s valiant efforts, this bike messenger thriller rarely comes to life and overstays its welcome. Ultimately, you’ll feel more satisfied by an actual 90 minute bicycle ride. -- @EricIGN


Source : ign[dot]com

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Dream Roster: Warhawk

Ever since PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was rumored, IGN's been pitching characters that need to be in the game. Well, after the leak, it appears developer SuperBot Entertainment isn't listening. So, IGN's Podcast Beyond is teaming with IGN reader Pandamusk to create videos for the fighters we think need to be in the game.

This week, we're pitching the plane from Warhawk. You read that right... it's Clements' idea.

Who do you think should be in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale? Let us know in the comments below. Plus, check out our past installments...

Greg is the executive editor of IGN PlayStation, cohost of Podcast Beyond and host of Up at Noon. Follow IGN on Twitter, and keep track of Greg's shenanigans on IGN and Twitter. Beyond!


Source : ign[dot]com

Dota 2 One Million Dollar Tournament Begins

Valve has kicked off its 2012 Dota 2 tournament The International, where teams of highly skilled Dota players will compete for a one million dollar grand prize. If you're interested in watching the tournament as it runs between August 31 and September 2, it can be viewed for free online or though a dedicated client on Valve's Steam digital distribution platform.

Dota 2 has been in beta testing for quite some time and routinely ranks as the most popular game on Steam. Whenever it's ready to officially launch, it will be free to play and have the entire roster of heroes unlocked. A microtransaction system, which is currently live in the beta, will allow players to purchase cosmetic upgrades for things like heroes and item couriers.

Valve also just released Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, an update of its long-running competitive shooter franchise, which was recently reviewed on IGN.


Source : ign[dot]com

Nook Simple Touch Hacked to Emulate Playstation

The Nook Simple Touch by Barnes and Noble is famously easy to root, and hackers have put it to all sorts of inventive uses, but this one may take the cake: a Hack a Day reader sent in a video of him playing the Playstation titles Crash Team Racing, Monster Rancher 2 and Spyro 2 on his Nook's black and white e-ink screen.

The hack, which requires a rooted Nook Simple Touch, involved installing a version of Mac OS 7 and FPSE (Free Playstation Emulator, which assigns the bottom-half of the touch-screen to a virtual-button controller), and a program called NoRefresh to manage the display.

The hack is actually fairly straightforward; if you've rooted your Nook you could probably pull this off too. Pretty amazing to see a device made for reading text emulating graphics that were cutting edge not so long ago.

Of course, the game ISOs and Playstation BIOS files are copyright-protected, so as cool as this is it's not technically legal. And rooting your Nook, if you don't know what you're doing, is probably a bad idea too.

Have a games-related hack of your own? Tell us about it in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.


Source : ign[dot]com

Square Reveals Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Collection

Final Fantasy’s 25th anniversary celebration is in full effect over in Japan, and a rather interesting tidbit was revealed leading up to the main event. Andriasang reports that Square Enix will be releasing something called the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box, which includes the 13 core Final Fantasy games in one handy compilation.

The games in the collection include the following:

  • Final Fantasy (PSone)
  • Final Fantasy II (PSone)
  • Final Fantasy III (PSP)
  • Final Fantasy IV (PSone)
  • Final Fantasy V (PSone)
  • Final Fantasy VI (PSone)
  • Final Fantasy VII (PSone)
  • Final Fantasy VIII (PSone)
  • Final Fantasy IX (PSone)
  • Final Fantasy X (PS2)
  • Final Fantasy XI (PS2)
  • Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
  • Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)

It was initially unclear if Square Enix would actually be releasing PSone discs (and PSP UMDs) along with PS2 and PS3 discs, but according to its listing on Square Enix’s website, it appears that is the case. All told, the collection will contain 21 discs (18 PSone, 3 PS2, 1 PS3) and a single UMD.

It will also include a “special anniversary video disc,” a soundtrack spanning two discs and more.

The collection reportedly costs ¥35,000, or $447. It comes out in Japan on September 30th. Whether or not it will be released anywhere else remains to be seen.

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.


Source : ign[dot]com

Insomniac Reveals New Game Title: Fuse

At today’s PAX keynote address, Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price revealed a new IP. It’s called Fuse, and we literally know nothing else about it other than the image shown while discussing the game: a man fighting some sort of robot.

Interestingly, a website for the game may already exist. If you head to FuseGame.com, not only is the website active, but there’s a countdown clock on it. The countdown clock is up on September 12th. What could it all mean?

An analysis of FuseGame.com’s WHOIS reveals very little, unfortunately. The domain was originally registered back in August of 2006, but was last updated only three days ago. The company that registered the domain is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, while Insomniac Games is located in Burbank, California.

Hopefully, we’ll hear more about Fuse soon.

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.


Source : ign[dot]com

Is this the Next Flagship Nokia Phone?

Two images of Nokia's Lumia 920 have surfaced today, featuring a touch interface with 3 soft buttons, what appears to be a PureView camera, and (allegedly) a 4.5 inch screen.

While the image is pretty clearly computer-generated, it's not unlikely what we're seeing is an incomplete press rendering. In other words; this probably is the Lumia 920.

A leaked image of the 4.3-inch Lumia 820, showing more of Nokia's bright colors, appears below.

Nokia will announce its Windows Phone 8 offerings at a press event with Microsoft in New York on September 5th. We'll have more details for you as they come out.

Stoked for Nokia's upcoming Windows Phones? Let us know in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.


Source : ign[dot]com

Louie: "Late Show: Part 1" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

It was amusing this week to see that Jay Leno and NBC were cool with imagery (and the actual Tonight Show set) being seen on Louie in the manner they were used, but CBS clearly did not sign off on anything – hence, the fake posters for series like Lethal Renegade and The Big House in the “CBS offices.” I’m guessing they didn’t like the idea of a story based around the “David Letterman is retiring” scenario that one day will become real for them – and didn’t want to be part of something so speculative on the subject. (But sure, I bet Seinfeld’s name would be part of the mix!)

This episode was another great mixture of comedy and drama – almost evenly split, in that the first half had some of the funniest material of the season, while the second half (Well, he final scene, really) got really, really intense.

Louie’s opening monologue about putting too much thought into buying a Blu-ray player was hysterical, as he talked about reading an Amazon review from, “An insane person who’s been dead for months because he shot his wife and then himself.”

What’s interesting is we never see anything beyond Louie’s introduction on Leno – so we don’t know what exactly it was that he said/did that “went viral” (love Louie’s, “I’m what?!” response to that). I think that’s a good choice – we all know Louie is a funny guy, and it’s left to our imagination to decide what it was that has given him his moment in the sun. How great was Louie throwing down the coat they tried to put on him as he walked out onstage?

Garry Marshall has been on a role of directing crappy movies lately like New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day, but I’ll always love him as the network exec in Soapdish (“peppy and cheap!”). That being the case, it was great seeing him show up in a similar role here, as the CBS exec who was being brutally honest with Louie.

What a monologue Marshall gave Louie in the closing moments of this show! The fact that he was so straight up with Louie about seeing him as a low-cost backup for Jerry Seinfeld and that if Louie failed, it would kill Louie’s career but not his, was funny, in that oh-so dark way this show can be. But then it got just intense and emotional (complete with stirring music), as Marshall’s character began going deep on where Louie is at in his life, saying he’d probably peaked and “You’re circling failure in a rapidly decaying orbit.” It was uncomfortable and intense and awesome.

And it’s just the beginning of a three-parter, so I’m excited.


Source : ign[dot]com

See PS All-Stars’ Nariko and Sir Dan in Action

Yesterday, we revealed that Nariko and Sir Daniel were joining the roster of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. And today, Sony has released videos of each character in action. You can see them both below.

Nariko and Sir Daniel mark the 19th and 20th confirmed characters in the game. Will there be more? Only time will tell!

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.


Source : ign[dot]com

IGN UK Podcast #151: Metal Gear Me

New Metal Gear Solid! New Metal Gear Solid! Listen all about it.

On this week's podcast we talk about all the news that came out of the exciting 25th Anniversary event held by Konami this week, from Ground Zeroes to the movie adaptation to, erm, the social game.

On this week's podcast, we also get round to talking about:

  • Layton's last hurrah
  • Kratos takes on the big screen
  • Joss Whedon's brand new S.H.I.E.L.D.

    If you want to catch up with the Metal Gear news ahead of this week's podcast, watch Luke in the video below being all informative (and Welsh):

    IGN UK Podcast #151: Metal Gear Me - 53.1 MB
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    Remember, if you've got something to say to the IGN UK team, grab us on Twitter page, our Facebook page, or via email at ignukfeedback@ign.com.


  • Source : ign[dot]com

    Guild Wars 2 Suspends Digital Sales

    ArenaNet is suspending digital sales of its recently released MMO Guild Wars 2 in a bid to protect server stability.

    Due to the high number of players accessing the game at any one time, the company has decided to try and throttle how many new people are entering Tyria while it expands its infrastructure.

    We’ve said before that we would be willing to temporarily disable first-party digital sales if we felt our high player concurrency may compromise player experiences. We have now reached that point.

    ArenaNet Social Media Coordinator Rubi Bayer explained the situation on Facebook, writing "Ensuring the best possible play experience for our fans is our highest priority. We’ve said before that we would be willing to temporarily disable first-party digital sales if we felt our high player concurrency may compromise player experiences. We have now reached that point.

    "Effective immediately we have disabled sales via buy.guildwars2.com. To be clear, box and digital sales are still available via our retail partners. We are tracking our concurrency closely while expanding our infrastructure. We’ll re-enable first-party digital sales as soon as we feel that we can do so safely."

    In terms of problems for a new title to be facing, it's a pretty good one. Given that the game sold over 1 million copies before it launched on Tuesday, it's not totally unexpected either.

    Guild Wars 2's launch has been pretty smooth so far, with a smattering of errors hitting those trying to get into the game during early access, though these have been resolved for the most part. It's encouraging to see ArenaNet keen to maintain smooth service for their current customers during the busy launch period, which tends to be pretty fraught for most MMOs.

    So for the time being if you haven't got a copy of the game and want to step into Tyria, you may have to leave the house and buy a physical version from somewhere. Or wait a couple of days for digital sales to be re-enabled. Your call.

    Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and has spent the last week exploring Caledon Forest with his Sylvari Ranger. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    American Only Fools and Horses Back On

    “If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again.” That seems to be the motto of the heads at ABC who, following the failure of their first pilot of the American version of Only Fools and Horse, have green-lit a second pass at it.

    The show – which will still revolve around the money-making schemes of brothers Del (John Leguizamo) and Rodney (Dustin Ybarra) – has changed its name however, and will now be called Kings of Van Nuys.

    Deadline reports that writers Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley are staying on to pen mark two of the sitcom, while Ted Wass will again direct.

    The pilot will apparently shoot on October 2, with Christopher Lloyd playing the grandfather character, and Bridesmaids’ Wendi McLendon-Covey and BJ Bales co-starring.

    Chris Tilly is the Entertainment Editor for IGN and quite likes the idea of Doc Brown playing Grandad. His idle chit-chat can be found on both Twitter and MyIGN.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Benedict Cumberbatch "Cynical" About Rival Sherlock Show Elementary

    Sherlock Holmes himself – Benedict Cumberbatch – has been talking about Elementary, the forthcoming modern-day TV take on the character.

    And much like Sherlock showrunner Steven Moffat’s comments on the rival show (see video below), Cumberbatch is none-too-pleased.

    Speaking to Shortlist, the actor said that’s he’d spoken to the other Sherlock, Johnny Lee Miller…

    Jonny asked me if I was all right with him doing it. I said, “What are the similarities?” And he went, “Well it’s modern...” I went, “Oh.” Then he said, “Lucy Liu’s going to play Joan Watson...” And I went, “Oh.” I got hold of the pilot script just to check it out. I don’t know, we’ll see. I think there’s room for us both to coexist. I don’t feel threatened by it and I wish him the best, which is as diplomatic as I can be.”

    Cumberbatch then questioned their motives for making the show in the first place.

    “It’s very odd” he explained. “I did say, “Well, I’d prefer you didn’t do it but you’ve got a kid to feed, a nice house in LA and a wife to keep in good clothes.” When you get used to a certain standard of living and they waft a pay cheque at you, what are you going to do? I think Jonny was like, “Mate, I’ve got the f*cking mountain to climb here [to reach the acclaim of Sherlock], you’ve got nothing to fear.” I wish him the best of luck, but I’m a bit cynical about why they’ve chosen to do it and why they cast him.”

    Head over to Shortlist to read Cumberbatch talking more Sherlock, teasing his role in Star Trek 2 and offering his thoughts on Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch.

    Chris Tilly is the Entertainment Editor for IGN and couldn't be less excited about Elementary. His idle chit-chat can be found on both Twitter and MyIGN.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Ben and Kate: "Pilot" Review

    Advance Review: FOX's new single-camera comedy Ben and Kate doesn't officially premiere for another month, but since the pilot episode is currently available for viewing via Hulu (see below!), we're considering it fair game for review.

    From creator Dana Fox (What Happens in Vegas) comes a sweet, but not too sweet, comedy about a pair of grown siblings who, long ago, formed a unique bond due to an unhappy home life while growing up. Kate (Dakota Johnson - daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) wound up getting pregnant at an early age and is now the sort of typical young, quirky "trying to make ends meet" TV mom that we've all come to expect. Unlucky in love, but lucky when it comes to the simple, genuine things in life. Like her extremely precocious five year-old daughter, Maddie. So far, so what, right? Kate's a somewhat typical klutzy, "rom-com" leading lady. But then comes Ben.

    Ben, played by Academy Award-winning screenwriter (he co-wrote The Descendents with Community's Jim Rash) Nat Faxon, is Kate's older brother. And whereas Kate "grew up too fast," Ben "never grew up at all." He's a big, doofy man-child who's constantly making Kate's life more complicated with his crazy, random antics and, honestly, your enjoyment of Ben and Kate is primarily going to depend on whether or not you find Ben annoying or endearing. I happen to be fall into the latter category on this one, although I can totally see people not enjoying Ben's juvenile mania. I understand if he gets under your skin. In fact, I've seen this pilot twice now and I think about the Bill Murray movie "What About Bob?" each time I see it. Because, drawing from that film, you either love Bob or you totally empathize with Richard Dreyfuss.

    So, much in the same way that FOX presented us with Zooey Deschanel's quirky Jess last year when New Girl premiered, Ben's naive dreamer qualities will either excite or irritate you. I think Faxon does a wonderful job of playing a lovable idiot and there were more than a few scenes here that I found pretty damn funny. In this first episode, Ben discovers that his ex, the love of his life, is getting married and decides to come up with a last ditch effort to win her back. Of course, none of this gels with Kate's plan to finally go out on a normal date with her boyfriend George and, possibly, have "the sex" for the first time since her daughter was born.

    And while I brought up "What About Bob?" earlier, my thoughts also shift into darker territory when I'm reminded of Laura Linney's character from Love Actually. Remember her? The woman who had to be at the beck and call of her mentally ill brother and couldn't maintain a normal relationship because of it? I probably think of that because A) I just recently watched that movie again, and B) Kate's total acceptance/surrendering to the fact that the comically-obtuse Ben will always be a giant, dominating chunk of her life.

    The spotlight might be on Faxon's Ben, but it's Johnson's Kate who does the heavy lifting. She's the other main reason why I feel this show works. If she were just the "straight man" put-upon sister, this would fall apart. These two have a goofy connection and by the end of the episode you feel as though they actually compliment one another. Ben, despite his life-disrupting ways, is protective of Kate a way that has no equal. Which comes in handy since Kate herself winds up in screwball situations of her own.

    The rest of the players here - Lucy Punch's full-of-advice bimbo BJ, Echo Kellum's Kate-obsessed Tommy - are fine. Young Maddie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones), when not spouting wisdom beyond her years, makes a great, doe-eyed sounding board for Ben's lunacy. Again, depending on your personality there's a chance that Ben might frustrate you, but I think Ben and Kate is one of the most promising new comedies of the season.

    The Ben and Kate pilot can be seen on Hulu. The series premieres on Tuesday, September 25th on FOX.

    Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and IGN. WARNING: No Nudity!


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Doctor Who Webseries Ends On A Cliffhanger

    For the past five days the BBC has released five mini-webisodes as a prelude to this Saturday's Doctor Who series 7 premiere The Asylum of the Daleks. Entitled Pond Life, the mini-series has offered a glimpse into what The Doctor and the Ponds have been up to since the end of series 6, as well as featuring cameos from some of Who's most iconic aliens.

    If the final episode's cliffhanger is anything to go by, it looks like things haven't been going swimmingly for the married companions in the downtime.

    You can watch all five episodes of Pond Life ahead of this Saturday's series premiere below.

    Doctor Who The Asylum of the Daleks airs this Saturday on BBC One and BBC America.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition Review

    Praise the sun! A Souls game has arrived on PC. It is surely weary. We'll let it rest, and get to the new edition's bonus content and the quality of the port in a moment. On the off chance you've been off collecting beetles for the last three years and missed Dark Souls entirely, here's a recap of why to be excited.

    On consoles, this began with 2009's Demon's Souls, a sleeper hit that offered a quest so hard, so hefty, so immaculately crafted that developer From Software might have hewn it from rock. It and sequel Dark Souls summoned staggering review scores, gifting a generation of jaded gamers with a cocktail of fear and self-respect.

    You're best off not taking your cues from Dark Souls' charming marketing slogan of “YOU WILL DIE.” While it's best known for being nipple-rippingly difficult, ultimately, it's all about the weight I was talking about earlier. That dark heft. First and foremost, this is the physical weight of your character, and the foreboding atmosphere of From Software's stunning world.

    Dark Souls tells the story of your hero trying to save an intriguing world which, by every possible metric, fell long ago. Abominations make their homes in the forgotten nooks of a lost civilisation. A handful of enigmatic survivors are all that's left, but you're as free to talk to them as kill them, and they're as liable to help you as to lie. Best of all, the game literally kills you off somewhere between character creation and the first cut-scene. Above all, Dark Souls seems to thrill at escaping expectations.

    Dark Souls can happily scare the crap out of you in broad daylight, with something as simple as a giant insect dive-bombing your head as you cross a narrow walkway.

    An example is how your character controls. Just to swing a sword sees your avatar putting their back, shoulder and wrist into the blow, leaving you to wince at the weapon's weight. Hit attack again, and you'll roll the weapon around down, up and around, maintaining its momentum to strike once more, quicker this time. But every single attack, every block with your shield, every panicked evasive roll, takes a fat bite out of your endurance meter. Never mind whatever action games you've played before, you have to learn to fight all over again because, simply put, you're only human.

    That might not sound so bad when you're gleefully taking apart a zombie with a mace. How are you going to deal with a pack of feral dogs? Or a rat as big as a Land Rover? These are the questions Dark Souls asks you, before leaning back in its high-backed leather chair to light a cigarette. It never rushes you. It never needs to. It simply tells you, to your face, that certain death lies this way. And then it tells you to walk.

    Which brings us to the radioactive feather in Dark Souls' cap. Death is something you fear. If you die, you don't just get cast back to the nearest waypoint. You run the risk of losing any unspent XP or precious humanity points. Never mind fleeing from ghosts in brooding catacombs. Dark Souls can happily scare the crap out of you in broad daylight, with something as simple as a giant insect dive-bombing your head as you cross a narrow walkway.

    All of which is why Dark Souls has a reputation of being a colossal beast, but also so addictive. If a game's capable of making you grin with each new item you furtively recover, imagine how it feels to stand over a slain boss. On a minute to minute level, though, what makes Dark Souls moreish is its suffocating consistency. That down-to-earth, tactile combat is a reason to play Dark Souls in and of itself, but it also functions to immerse you in the game's similarly plausible world.

    What defines Dark Souls is the moment you decide you're literally out of your depth, and turn the hell around, with all your precious XP intact, to go explore somewhere else. But for the most part, you won't do that. You Will Die.

    You're not completing levels, or even doubling back in the Metroidvania style. You're just exploring, taking step after nervous step through a foul wonderland that oscillates between great cruelty, and moments of sweet relief. Its great achievement is in not feeling like a game world at all, much as Minecraft didn't, and it's a similar joy to explore. This simply feels like a place where you really, really shouldn't be, where every step is heavy with dread.

    Let's put it this way - it's not the petrifying Capra Demon boss that defines Dark Souls. It's not the key he drops, that leads you to a room where you fight a disgusting, cannibalistic chef. It's not the labyrinthine sewer that the chef guards, or the village you find beneath the sewer, or the putrid moat the village is built above. It's not the nauseating creatures that live in the moat, nor is it the terrible beast that lays its eggs in them. It's not the staircase you find behind her, leading you down still further. What defines Dark Souls is the moment you decide you're literally out of your depth, and turn the hell around, with all your precious XP intact, to go explore somewhere else. But for the most part, you won't do that. You Will Die.

    Saving Dark Souls from the loneliness that haunted the open worlds of say, Metroid, is its online functionality, which was designed with the same blend of accuracy and fearless creativity that defines the rest of the game. Players can scratch messages into the ground, which are pulled at random into your own world. Watch Out For Wizard, you'll find, lying ominously before a closed door. Or more dubious stuff still - Step Off, written over a chasm into blackest darkness.

    More traditional multiplayer is limited to blue and black phantoms - other players invading your world, to help or assassinate you, for their own selfish aims. Offering some of those moments of relief are the game's bloodstains. Touch one, and you'll see the final seconds of a real-life player, which is a bit like opening a present. Perhaps you'll get a poignant warning, as they flee from something you didn't spot, or you'll just laugh as they go cartwheeling lackadaisically off a ledge.

    The mouse and keyboard controls in the Prepare to Die edition are a war crime. Losing the gentle acceleration of analog movement would have been bad enough, but the mouse doesn't control the camera so much as wrestle it around on a rubber leash.

    All of this survives, totally intact, in the PC port, with a single caveat - you must own a Xbox 360 pad, or suitable equivalent.

    The mouse and keyboard controls in the Prepare to Die edition are a war crime. Losing the gentle acceleration of analog movement would have been bad enough, but the mouse doesn't control the camera so much as wrestle it around on a rubber leash. Meanwhile, the GUI's adaption to the keyboard is just awkward. All told, you could be playing on an emulator. If you don't own a pad but somehow end up with Dark Souls running on your PC, remove the power cable from the back with a barge pole.

    But if you do own a pad, and quickly grab this 80Kb fan hotpix, which unlocks the game's resolution from 1024x720, you'll be able to enjoy the definitive edition of Dark Souls until the Artorias of the Abyss DLC arrives for consoles this winter. That content's packed in the PC version for free, and we're pleased to announce that it's... fine. It's just fine.

    The best thing we can say is that it's not ungenerous. It's three whole new areas for you to plunge through like a nervous knife, each packed with the epic bosses, new items, new spells and unsettling NPCs that you've come to expect during the rest of the game (Artorias of the Abyss is, sadly, squirreled away towards very end of Dark Souls).

    You'll cut off the tail of a chimera to use as a whip. You'll descend deeper than you've ever been before. But throughout, there's the niggling sense that this wasn't the work of the entire From Software team.

    This being DLC that's basically a given, but it shouldn't feel that way. The first new area, Royal Woods, repurposes a ton of art assets from Dark Souls' other trembling forest of Darkroot Garden. The next area, Oolacile Township, is a definite high point – a cluster of slumped towers you have to pick your way down – but it fails to surprise in the way that Dark Souls' best areas do. Finally, the Chasm of the Abyss itself is as barren, rather than as bleak, as the name implies. All of that said, of the four new bosses, the duel with the disturbingly fast Knight Artorias is my new favourite of any Souls game. Good luck with that.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Torchlight 2 Gets a Release Date

    Runic Games has announced that Torchlight II will release on Thursday September 20, 2012.

    Company president Travis Baldree made the announcement on the official Torchlight II blog, meaning there's less than a month to go until the dungeon-crawling rival to Diablo III is available.

    The official Release Date for Torchlight II is Thursday, September 20, 2012. Three weeks away!

    "I don't think there's much else I could say that would interest you right now, so - the official Release Date for Torchlight II is Thursday, September 20, 2012. Three weeks away!" he said.

    "We'll announce it 'more' officially and bigger tomorrow. You know first! Thank all of you for being an awesome and patient community, we look forward to getting this into your hands!"

    Developed by the same creative masterminds behind Diablo I and II, the original Torchlight released in 2009 to positive reviews, though many criticised its lack of multiplayer support. As a result, the team have pursued peer-to-peer multiplayer for Torchlight II, and they plan to carry the knowledge derived from this experience with them as they begin work on the Torchlight MMO.

    Torchlight II will be available both through Steam and in retail form in September.

    Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and was obsessed with Diablo III for about a week. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Report: Killzone Trilogy Incoming for Playstation 3

    A listing on Amazon France suggests that Sony will release the Killzone games as a boxed trilogy this October.

    The posting, which you can see below, claims that all three of Sony's shooters will be released on October 24 for €59.99, which works out as roughly £47 or $75.

    While nothing has been confirmed, and the price and release date for other territories could change even if the posting is correct, Amazon France has previous form in accurately leaking the existence of titles. It was the website that first listed Call of Duty: Black Ops II, outing the identity of this year's Call of Duty shooter, and it did the same for the Ratchet & Clank Trilogy (or Collection, if you're American).

    It's this second title that's most interesting to consider in relation to the Killzone Trilogy, as all three games in that collection were originally released on PS2 just like the first Killzone. As they all received HD remastering before coming to PS3, could this mean that the same is in store for the shooter that started the series off? We heard rumours earlier this year that Killzone 1 would be released on PSN as an emulated and updated version, but this was later "delayed indefinitely".

    If the game is about to come to PS3 at long last, it'd make sense that they'd want it to compare favourably in terms of visuals with others in the series, especially if updating the graphics has been mentioned before.

    We've reached out to Sony for comment and will update the story with any comment we received.

    The original Killzone title released on PS2 in 2004. This was followed up by Killzone 2 in 2009 and Killzone 3 in 2011, both on PS3. The next Killzone title currently confirmed as in development is Killzone: Mercenary, which is planned for a 2013 release on Vita.

    Thanks, TheSixthAxis.

    Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and was always more of a Resistance guy. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Karl Urban IGNUK Twitter Takeover

    Karl Urban, the star of the upcoming action smash Dredd 3D, doesn't do Twitter. There are people out there claiming to be him, but the Kiwi star of Lord Of The Rings, Star Trek, Chronicles of Riddick and many more, isn't on the social networking site.

    All this will change though at 18:30pm BST (or 10:30am if you're PT) today on Friday August 31st as the star of Dredd 3D takes over the @IGNUK Twitter feed for 30 minutes to answer your questions!

    "Stop following me!"

    Karl will be taking over the 140-character reigns to answer your questions about Dredd 3D, his past and future projects, and anything else you care to quiz him about. So, if you've ever wanted to ask whether the Judge helmet is comfy, if he gets asked medical questions when playing Bones, or just his preferred crisp flavour, this is the time to do it.

    To submit a question for Karl simply tweet it to @IGNUK using the hashtag #DREDD3D and we'll try to get as many of your questions answered as we can between 6:30pm and 7pm.

    Dredd 3D is out in UK cinemas on September 7th. Get all the latest Dredd 3D info from https://www.facebook.com/dreddthemovie.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Special Forces: Team X -- An Attempt to Breathe Life into Old Ideas

    When it comes to talking about shooters, calling the market "crowded" is an understatement. If you want to make something that can compete with the likes of Call of Duty, Battlefield, Counter-Strike or any other numerous established shooter franchises, it's not enough to make it cheap or even free. Alongside a price point that makes it attractive, you need a hook -- some sort of innovation or series of innovative twists on what's come before -- to stand out.

    For Zombie Studios next game Special Forces: Team X, the hook comes from the fact that it's a less-than-serious, third-person, cover-based shooter with a cool take on map design. Sure, cover-based shooters have been partially explored on the Xbox thanks to Gears of War, but virtually not at all on the PC, making it a much easier genre to become a potential competitor in. Combine these mechanics with Special Forces: Team X's sub $20 price tag, and you have what could be an attractive alternative to players looking for a cheap, multiplayer-only option in the genre Gears so firmly established.

    Let's just get all of Team X's similarities to Gears of War right out of the way. It puts a similar premium on utilizing cover. Battles don't boil down to who can rush in and get themselves killed the fastest, but who can play methodically, out-flanking the enemy team. Moving between cover is crucial, and Team X gives gives you a very roadie-run-like sprinting ability that lets you press on enemy positions. You can also vault and blind fire from cover and you have recharging health.

    Now that that's cleared up, let's focus on how Team X mixes it up, namely by tossing in elements from Call of Duty. Just like COD, Team X gives you loadouts, and you unlock new gear for your loadouts based on your level, which is raised by killing people, completing objectives -- you know the drill by now, right? As you level up you'll unlock new weapons for your two weapon slots, new perks (called Skills in Team X), as well as a host of options for changing your appearance. Weapons can be further customized with attachments, but Zombie has intentionally made it so you only have to worry about a few items and stats, rather than the slew of options that were in their last game, Blacklight: Retribution. The point of this isn't too think too much about how to best min-max your loadouts stats, but to put things on that sound fun and then see if they work. Since it's not a free-to-play but rather a single transaction, you don't have to fret over whether or not you want to pay to rent or buy items, either.

    One really cool thing that Team X does different from its competitors is its map generation. Instead of launching with a few pre-made maps, Team X lets players vote on the map layout before each match. Every map is composed of three segments, and to vote you simply swap out the segments until you find a combination you like. Then, after the timer counts down, Team X counts which map sections got the most votes in which slots and generates the level accordingly. This results in a few things that could make Team X a lot of fun to play. First of all, it's a great way to keep you on your toes, since this means that you can't simply learn a map in its entirety, but instead have to learn the ins and outs of sections, and then understand how they'll play off one another when next to one another. Second, it makes voting on each round feel more exciting, because you're not just picking between two maps that you might not like, you're actively participating in the design of the level -- albeit on a very basic level. Third, it means that Zombie Studios could roll out new map DLC at a fast rate if Team X does well, since the team only has to create single segments at a time rather than entire maps.

    Other standout features in Team X could also help differentiate it. For instance you can play traditional modes like team deathmatch and king of the hill with two teams, but Team X also allows as many as four separate teams against one another at a time. Or if you don't like to use grenades as your method for breaking someone out of cover, you can also bring dogs into the fight, sending them at your attackers to kill them or provide a distraction while you flank your enemy.  Even the Skill system in Team X tweaks the standard formula a bit, with some Skills giving area of effect bonuses to your teammates instead of only benefiting you. These group-focused skills are important, too, because they encourage you to stick together -- something particularly important in a cover-centric shooter.

    With so many generic shooters or blatant clones releasing in recent years, it's nice to see a studio attempt to innovate on established formulas. Whether or not this will bring success to Special Forces: Team X, though...well that remains to be seen. At least we won't have to wait long, since Team X is slated to release on XBLA and PC before the end of the year.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Thursday, August 30, 2012

    Dredd 3D: New Photos From the Reboot

    Check out this quartet of new stills from Dredd 3D, the upcoming Judge Dredd movie starring Karl Urban, Lena Headey and Olivia Thirlby.

    Dredd 3D opens September 21.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    Nintendo Almost Made a Knitting Add-On for NES

    A recently-surfaced 1980s brochure reveals that Nintendo nearly released a knitting add-on for the NES. Posted on the Facebook page of former Nintendo employee Howard Phillips, the brochure shows off the Nintendo Knitting Machine, a device that would have connected to the NES and allowed players to create and print their own designs.

    “You're looking at the Nintendo Knitting Machine,” the ad reads. “It's not a game; not a toy; not something a young girl can outgrow in three or six months or even a year. It's a machine that interacts with the powerful Nintendo Entertainment System to actually knit sweaters: and not just one or two patterns but a multitude of different and unique designs.”

    “The Nintendo Knitting Machine is just one more example of the innovative thinking that keeps Nintendo on the cutting edge of video technology," it continues. "And your customers on the edge of their seats. Of course we should probably mention that no other video game system offers anything even remotely similar. But why needle the competition?”

    According to Phillips, original Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa asked him to pitch the peripheral to Toys R Us chairman Charles Lazarus in a live demo, which he humorously describes as “one of my least genuinely enthusiastic demos.” While no reason for the cancellation of the Knitting Machine has been revealed, it’s said to have been briefly shown off at a late 1980s Consumer Electronics Show and has never been seen or heard from since.

    Source: Tiny Cartridge

    Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.


    Source : ign[dot]com

    What's in Store for the God of War Movie?

    Earlier today, I had the opportunity to speak with God of War writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton about their highly anticipated game-to-feature adaptation. Coming from a background in horror films such as Saw IV, the Feast trilogy and Piranha 3DD, Patrick and Melton only just recently took their first steps into the action genre after polishing the script for Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim. Since then, they've been hired to rewrite the long-gestating God of War movie, which was originally penned by David Self (Road to Perdition, Thirteen Days).

    As Dunstan recalled, he and Melton were hired to rework Self's screenplay, which he mentioned was actually pretty good. "The only problem with that is it was written before Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans, 300 and Immortals, and those movies borrowed quite a bit from the God of War stories. It was just a little bit outdated, so we wanted to differentiate it from those other movies."

    Their first step, according to Dunstan, was to humanize the film's main character Kratos. "In the same way that Batman was grounded with Christopher Nolan's rendition, we were attempting to do that with Kratos so that when we meet him -- like they're doing in this newest game, which is sort of a prequel to the original -- we're seeing him before he became the Ghost of Sparta, when he was just a Spartan warrior and he had family and kids."

    Explained Melton, "In the game... there's that attack from the barbarians and Kratos has to call upon Ares to help him. Really, that's going to be our first act break. Before then, he's going to be mortal, and he's going to have his family. We're going to learn about him and understand how he operates. So it's potentially 30 minutes -- give or take -- of building up this character so that, when he does turn and becomes the Ghost of Sparta, we understand him as a human and we understand the journey that he's going to take. We're emotionally invested, so that it could go beyond just this one movie."

    In regards to switching gears from low-budget horror to larger-than-life action, Dunstan and Melton couldn't be happier. "There's almost an element of relief," continued Melton. "When it comes to God of War, we are first-time visitors, and we have a wealth of imagination that has built up from our appreciation for the sword-and-sandals films of our history... We know it doesn't have to be done for a million bucks in a garage. [Laughs] That helps, too. But also, with a bigger movie like God of War, you have to go quite a bit deeper into the character as opposed to a horror film, in which you generally need to get things going; people are concerned that the audience won't have patience, so it's go go go go go.

    "With God of War, the studio's saying, 'We're going to spend $150 million to make this movie. We really need to understand this character and get behind him and feel his pain and feel his emotions so that, when he is in these giant set pieces, we're in there with him and we're feeling it.' That is a critique of some of these big action films is that they often get too big and just become noise; you're not invested in the character."

    Added Dunstan, "There was a recent movie, which will remain nameless, that depicted the main character without any fear. When you do that, how are we supposed to be afraid through him? How are we supposed to gauge anything as a legitimate threat? It's become this dulling element. So with this, we take an intimidating presence such as Kratos, fighting and pursuing a bloodthirsty vengeance trail to the God of War. How do we make that genuinely scary? The man of action must prevail, but it's got to hurt to getting there."

    Speaking of hurt, the writers also have big plans for Ares, who will become a more proactive villain in their adaptation. "In the game, you know, he's immortal, and he doesn't really do much besides raid Athens," noted Melton. "So we're trying to build him up a bit more, too, so that he can become a true villain."

    As of right now, Dunstan and Melton are still working on the screenplay. While Brett Ratner was once attached to helm the project, God of War is currently without a director. In the meantime, consider this your first taste of what's to come.

    Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.


    Source : ign[dot]com