|
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 26, 2014 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Wars 
Well, I think it was inevitable that Hot Toys would make a Boba Fett figure, but 1/4 scale? Now that’s impressive… Most impressive. He’ll feature tons of accessories (as usual) along with 30 points of articulation, four sets of hands, a cloth cape, two rifles, and an assortment of knives and blades. Plus, as usual with Hot Toys, at 18 inches tall he’ll be incredibly detailed — you can probably tell from the images. He’ll be out late 2015 or early 2016 (figures like this often get delayed). As for cost? Nothing is confirmed yet, but he’ll probably be over $300, so start saving your pennies now. Check out more images below! Read more…
Tags: Boba Fett, Hot Toys
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 26, 2014 in Videogames 
Every year, Valve puts out a holiday update for Team Fortress 2, usually with a bunch of goodies and sometimes new gameplay additions. This year, they’re keeping in that trend and releasing three new weapons (two for Demoman and one multi-class item for Heavy, Solider, Pyro, and Engie), along with something really neat: a beta game mode. This new mode is called Mannpower, a CTF variant that features power-ups and grappling hooks. Yes, you read that right: every player has a grappling hook that will be able to help them traverse the map. It’s suitably silly and fun, and you can play it right away in game without any beta-participation shenanigans. Check out the full update details here. Read more…
Tags: Team Fortress
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 22, 2014 in Science 
Last time we posted about robotic limbs, we saw an awesome prosthetic leg and a slick robotic hand and wrist combo. This latest project from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory features a full harness over a man named Les Baugh, replacing both of his full arms (which he lost in an electrical accident). This essentially gives him back both of his arms. This is a huge step and the fact that he’s controlling them simply by thinking is amazing. Just imagine how much more advanced these will be in just five years from now! What an incredible boon this’ll be for folks who have lost limbs. Video embedded below! Read more…
Tags: technology
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 22, 2014 in Cinema 
Robert Rodriguez is going to be creating a live-action adaptation of Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta’s Fire & Ice. This isn’t a huge surprise, as he originally said he’d be making this a few years ago, and, well… now he is! Bold Films has been financing the film’s pre-production and now they’re logging in with Sony. Of course, Sony wants this to be a multi-film saga and possibly establish a world for many future sequels and spin-offs. Obviously. Still, the visual style will probably be the big draw here, especially given that Rodriguez has proven himself dedicated to that angle before. I’m excited to see how a live-action version will look! Read more…
Tags: Robert Rodriguez
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 21, 2014 in Star Wars 
JJ Abrams recently released a video sending his thanks out to all the fans who donated to UNICEF as part of the Force for Change event, which would give fans a chance to be in the movie. The last two videos gave brief looks at alien puppets and the X-wing design in the film, and this time around we’re seeing Chewbacca and R2-D2 show up! As you might expect, R2 looks like R2. Chewie doesn’t have a single grey hair! I know Wookies live a long time, though, so who knows when those start coming in. Make Wookie noises below the jump. Read more…
Tags: Chewbacca, Episode VII, The Force Awakens
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 21, 2014 in Videogames 
Road trip! Road trip? There’s a fair amount of driving going on in Final Fantasy XV, but of course, there’s plenty of the “fantasy” stuff that you know and love too. There’s some story bits here, gameplay footage, and both English and Japanese versions of the trailer. I’m impressed they got voice actors set up this early, but hey, maybe the game is further along than expected. I’m also impressed by the visuals on display here. I hope that the final product runs well in addition to being stunning graphics-wise. There’s also a demo on the way in the near future! Check out both English and Japanese versions of the trailer below and take your pick! Read more…
Tags: Final Fantasy
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 20, 2014 in Comic Books 
No really! I promise you won’t be embarrassed! The comic book industry has been making several good steps recently, and when characters have been coming up for costume redesigns, artists have been more conscious about their wider audience. Basically: the new Spider-Woman costume designed by Kris Anka is pretty neat. It looks good and it makes a lot of sense for a costumed crime-fighter. Like a lot of heroes redesigns recently, instead of spandex we’re seeing leather, which can help take a beating in a fight. The costume will show up in Spider-Woman’s second story arc, which will begin in issue #5 and feature art by Javier Rodriguez. Good work, Kris and Marvel! Read more…
Tags: Marvel, Spider-man, Spider-Woman
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 20, 2014 in Videogames 
Miyamoto has been a spree recently, doing hype interviews for the holiday season and getting folks excited for Nintendo and their latest product: Amiibos. If you’ve been following the Amiibo story (or, even worse, trying to collect them all), you probably know that several Amiibos have already become nearly impossible to find, with no reprints or restocks in sight (Marth, Wii Fit Trainer, and Villager are the main culprits here). Prepare to pay $50 and up if you want them now! However, Miyamoto did mention in a recent AP interview that Nintendo has a way to cover this problem: trading cards. “[…] we have the option, if certain Amiibo figures are no longer available in stores, to release an Amiibo in card form with the same functionality.” This way, you can still get the unlocks and in-game content an Amiibo provides… but without the cool action figure part. Well, it’s something, I suppose. Read more…
Tags: Amiibo, Shigeru Miyamoto
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 19, 2014 in Videogames 
Uh, ok. File this one away in weird news: Notch, the creator of Minecraft, has bought an enormous mansion in Beverly Hills for $70 million. Why? Because he can. I mean, the place has a built-in candy dispensary! It’s the most that’s ever been paid for a house in Beverly Hills, making it a record-setting sale, as well. Had you ever considered we’d be hearing about this kind of excess in the video game industry… from the creator of Minecraft? Notch seems like a pretty chill guy, all said, though. You could host some pretty intense game jams, there, couldn’t you? Check out the property’s branded website for more images and if you want to dream a little. Read more…
Tags: Minecraft, Notch
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 19, 2014 in Videogames 
It’s that time of the year, and Steam has officially begun their holiday sale. This’ll be running from now until January 2nd, with new deals each day. If you haven’t been around for a Steam sale in the past, always wait for a game you want to show up on the daily deal, as that’s where it’ll be cheapest. Voting in community choice polls and buying sale items will net you holiday cards with adorable little elves on them, which can create a 2014 Holiday Badge for your Steam profile. Anything to get you to spend more money, eh? Check it out here! Read more…
Tags: Steam
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 15, 2014 in Cinema 
Back at Comic-con news broke of a new King Kong film titled Skull Island, which would focus on the original island and a group of adventurers who explore it — and of course, Kong himself. The film has now gotten a new release date (March 10th 2017) and a new title (just so you don’t forget what this movie is about): Kong: Skull Island. Yup. They just added “Kong” on the front. The film will be directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and will star Tom Hiddleston in the lead role. No real story details are available yet aside from that we’ll see the “mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island.” Oh, and this actually takes places in “an entirely new, distinct timeline.” Ok. Read more…
Tags: King Kong
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 15, 2014 in Star Wars 
Chalk this up to more evidence that JJ Abrams is indeed living up to his promise of more practical effects: the rolling ball droid, BB-8, featured briefly in The Force Awakens teaser, isn’t CGI. In a recent interview, Mark Hamill mentioned the droid, saying, “[…] it’s not CGI, that’s a live prop — I was just amazed.” They also let him drive it around: “I was running it all around at the creature shop up in Pinewood. I’m telling you, it’s an absolute delight.” It’s really great to see how excited Hamill is about being part of Star Wars again. “And not having thought that I’d ever go back there, to go back into that world, is just – I get the chills. It’s just so much fun.” How about you: did you think BB-8 was CGI at first? Read more…
Tags: Episode VII, The Force Awakens
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 14, 2014 in Cinema 
Ridley Scott is making headline a lot these days, eh? With his latest film, Exodus: Gods and Kings, fully whitewashed and ready to release, he’s also been chatting about Blade Runner 2. Scott has leaned away from the idea of directing it in the past month or so, but he apparently heard back from Harrison Ford on his impressions of the script: “I sent him [the script] and he said ‘wow, this is the best thing I’ve ever read.’ It’s very relevant to what happened [in] the first one.” High praise, it seems. I hope it actually is as good as Scott portrays it to be. In lieu of him, who do you think should direct the film? I’m not 100% sure, but I think a good name to suggest would be Nicolas Winding Refn. Since we can’t replicate the success of the original, why not try something totally unique and different? Read more…
Tags: Blade Runner, Harrison Ford, Ridley Scott
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 14, 2014 in Cinema 
No, Colbert doesn’t interview Cumberbatch directly. He doesn’t interview a puppet, either. No, he’s interviewing the real live Samug. Er, well, as real as CGI is, anyway. Yes, they animated an entire sequence in which Stephen Colbert interviews Samug (who appropriately busts through the set), and he’s voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. You may know Colbert is a huge Tolkien fan, so this is probably an interview he put a lot of work into. They discuss making the movie, recent news topics, and even throw a Sherlock joke in there. It’s all very cute. Colbert seems to be ratcheting up the impressive guest list, first with the President and now with Samug. Who’s next? Read more…
Tags: Stephen Colbert, The Hobbit
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 13, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Perhaps you already ran out and picked up Guardians of the Galaxy. If you did, you can already see this brand new blooper footage! But, if you’re like me and are saving money for the holidays, it’s nice to see Marvel sharing the blooper reel with the internet at large. Although, I will say, blooper reels seem to be getting shorter and shorter — or is it just me? Of course, no modern blooper reel is complete without some “real” bloopers featuring the CGI cast members (aka Rocket and Groot) screwing up a scene too! Those are always seem a bit more forced, just due to the fact that the animation is put over a voice actor’s flubs, but hey! It’s all in good fun. Bloopers below! Read more…
Tags: Guardians of the Galaxy
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 13, 2014 in Star Wars 
If you watched the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer and wanted just a tiny bit more… I have good news for you. JJ Abrams and Disney have given Entertainment Weekly the names of several characters that show up in the teaser trailer — on trading cards! In a cute reference to yesteryear (JJ apologizes: “I’m only sorry we couldn’t give everyone a stick of gum.”), they decided to reveal the names on red and blue card line-ups. Most important, John Boyega’s character is named Finn, Daisy Ridley is named Rey, Oscar Isaac is Poe Dameron, the ball-droid is BB-8, and the shadowy villain is called Kylo Ren. Check out all the cards below! Read more…
Tags: Episode VII, The Force Awakens
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 12, 2014 in Star Trek, Star Wars 
Theme parks are big business these days, it appears! A deal has been struck between the BBC and Paramount to create the London Paramount Entertainment Resort. The park will feature attractions based off of BBC properties like Doctor Who and Top Gear, along with Paramount films such as Star Trek and Transformers. This is a pretty impressive collaboration, but don’t start booking your tickets yet: the park isn’t planned to open until 2020. In other theme park news, Disney chief Bob Iger revealed that Disney’s plans for Star Wars attractions will mainly feature rides themed around the new films, but yet didn’t exclude the possibility of rides based around the prequel and original trilogies. Still early for a lot of these plans, but still fairly interesting! Read more…
Tags: BBC, Disney World, Disneyland, Doctor Who
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 12, 2014 in Cinema 
The new Mad Max film looks suitably crazy. In fact, it barely resembles a modern film in many ways, with tons of practical effects and some general weirdness that usually gets smoothed out in Hollywood. Who knows if it’ll actually end up being good, but it sure does make for some amazing trailers and visuals. George Miller has done a lot of stuff over the years, but seeing him come back to Mad Max is nice. The movie features Tom Hardy as Max and Charlize Theron as Furiosa (which is a ridiculous but awesome name) who’re both described as people “of action” in the movie’s description. Check out the trailer below! Read more…
Tags: mad max
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 8, 2014 in Videogames 
The Playstation Experience 2014 also featured the debut of a new trailer for No Man’s Sky. This game has been a bit of an enigma, promising incredible worlds and tons of space to explore, all randomly generated and unique to each player. It’s a pretty bold statement, if you’re a AAA developer, and Hello Games (makers of No Man’s Sky) employ 10 people. So it’s definitely going to be impressive if they pull off all that they’re promising. Visually, it looks pretty good, with lots of neon colors and bright, saturated skies. And spaceships! It all tickles my sci-fi bone, I just hope they can deliver. I want nothing more than for this game to succeed! Read more…
Tags: No Man's Sky, PS4
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 8, 2014 in Videogames 
At Sony’s Playstation Experience, they pulled out all the stops. Lots of great games to play, see, and announce (of course). One of the biggest items shown that evening was gameplay footage of Uncharted 4, featuring Drake jumping across rocky cliffs and shooting up a bunch of enemies. I’ve enjoyed the Uncharted series in the past, but I’ve grown a bit tired of it since 3. I would prefer more adventuring than shooting, mainly. There’s a lot of cool things going on in this gameplay trailer, especially the gorgeous graphics, but I basically tuned out once gunfire started going off. The new grappling hook does look like a lot of fun, though! Check it out below. Read more…
Tags: PS4, Uncharted
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 7, 2014 in Videogames 
Fullbright, the impeccable group of people behind Gone Home, one of 2013’s best games, period. Critics derisively called it a “walking simulator” due to its focus on story rather than immediate game play feedback, but I found its methodical pace and realized area (an empty house you explore) incredibly compelling. At The Game Awards, Fullbright teased their next project, titled Tacoma. The teaser trailer doesn’t show much, and the game isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2016, but I’m already intrigued, as the plot appears to be about a woman exploring some sort of space station or base. More space games is always good in my book! Read more…
Tags: Fullbright, Tacoma
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 7, 2014 in Videogames 
Surprising just about everyone, Nintendo brought several big announcements and trailers to Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards. They’re really opening up, aren’t they? At the TGAs, Nintendo showed off new Mario Maker footage, a new Project S.T.E.A.M. trailer, and lastly, brand new footage of the upcoming Zelda game for Wii U (and Miyamoto casually confirms that Star Fox will arrive before it in 2015). This new footage finally gives us an in-game look at the world, and it looks very impressive. It’s still pretty early though (those copy-pasted trees), but with a year left to go, I’m certain we’ll see even more amazing visuals once it’s out. Big props to Nintendo for showing a game this early! Check out the footage below. Read more…
Tags: Legend of Zelda, Wii U
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 6, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Yes, that Deadpool movie is really happening now. Ryan Reynolds will definitely return to play the merc with a mouth, the LA Times has confirmed. Not too surprising, since we knew Reynolds wanted to return to the role. In other news, Benedict Cumberbatch has also been officially confirmed as Doctor Strange. Surprise! And also on the plate: Krysten Ritter will play Jessica Jones in an upcoming Marvel Netflix series (essentially, she’s a washed-up superhero who opens up her own detective agency, which is a great concept for a show). Tons of casting, although Reynolds will probably never meet up with the other two. What a shame! Read more…
Tags: Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Jessica Jones
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 6, 2014 in Videogames 
It leaked out a little early, but there were some rumblings about it anyway: Street Fighter 5 has been confirmed. Surprisingly (or not?) the game will be coming “exclusively to PS4 and PC,” which is certainly intriguing. Who knows how they’re using the word “exclusively,” though. We’ll be sure to get more details soon, but for now you can check out the promotional trailer below, which features footage of Ryu and Chun Li duking it out interspersed with clips of the fighting game community and various tournaments. Visually, it looks similar to SF4, but there’s definitely some changes and it looks better overall. Exciting! Read more…
Tags: Street Fighter
|
|
