Monthly Archives: January 2015
Podcast: Marvel Movies, The Oscars & BvS
Welcome back to Keepin' It Reel! In this week's podcast, Jim Vejvoda and Chris Carle bring you the latest in genre movie news.
We discuss the latest movie news, including Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Spider-Man's cinematic future, Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars, Avatar 2 through 4, Ghostbusters, upcoming remakes, as well as our reactions to The Golden Globe Awards winners and today's Academy Awards nominations.
Finally, we wager whether reigning champ Taken 3 can hold off Blackhat, Paddington and The Wedding Ringer at this weekend's box office.
Download Keepin' It Reel, Episode 273!
7 Mods We Want to Play in GTA 5
Ever since Doom tore back the curtain of video game development, amateur programmers have dug into major PC releases, modifying the source material into new worlds. Mods stretch games beyond the wildest dreams of their developers, and GTA 5's immense world is a template perfectly suited to this kind of creative intervention. How will modders transform San Andreas? Here are seven mods we'd like to see.
Picture the mining boom town of San Andreas circe 1876. Complete with horses, stagecoaches, gunfights, saloons, card games, and speeding train reveries, GTA 5's Old West would invoke the best mythic elements of Red Dead Redemption and the spaghetti western tradition. And when you got tired of wandering the wastes as The Man With No Name, an Undead Nightmare mod would turn the scenario on its head again, adding swarms of flesh-hungry zombies to the mix.
These Are the Best Selling Games of 2014 in the US
Today, the NPD Group revealed December 2014's best-selling games. However, the group -- well-known for tracking retail game sales in the United States -- also revealed the top 10 best-selling games for all of 2014.
Here they are.
(As always, the hardware represented in parenthesis next to each game indicates the top-selling to worst-selling platforms for each game listed.)
- 1. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC)
- 2. Madden NFL 15 (360, PS4, XBO, PS3)
- 3. Destiny (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3)
The War Z Was a ‘Terrible Choice of Name,’ Says Producer
Despite having a "terrible" name and being pulled from Steam for misleading buyers, Infestation: Survivor Stories (formerly called "The War Z") has sold 2.8 million copies.
In a postmortem on Gamasutra, Infestation's producer, Sergey Titov, explains the mistakes he and the development team made when launching their open-world zombie game, and the success that came in spite of them.
"...The War Z was a terrible choice of name, as it naturally invited comparisons between our game and DayZ. We made a big mistake in not listening to the vocal minority of our community who thought the name was terrible...
Call of Duty: AW, GTA V Dominate US Sales Charts
Today, the NPD Group revealed what the top 10 best-selling games in the US were for the month of December, 2014. Without further ado, here they are.
(As always, the platforms shown in parenthesis next to each game are in order of versions sold per console, from best-selling to worst-selling.)
- 1. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC)
- 2. Grand Theft Auto V (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3)
- 3. Madden NFL 15 (360, XBO, PS4, PS3)
- 4. Super Smash Bros. (NWU, 3DS)
- 5. NBA 2K15 (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC)
Monument Valley Infograph Reveals Big Numbers
An infographic from Ustwo Games shows some big numbers for Monument Valley.
As of January 12th, 2015, the game has made $5,858,625 in revenue across Google Play, iOS, and Amazon and officially sold 2,440,076 digital copies.
The most money the team made in a single day was $145,530 on April 3rd, 2014, when the game first launched. Sales plummeted into May, but saw decent spikes after Ustwo released the game on Android.
The Apple Design Award, an iOS sale in July, and Google Play's Summer Sale also made for momentary increases in sales. Monument Valley hit one million sales around this time.
Going into August and the first month of fall, sales seemed to plateau, but the launch of its first expansion pack in November, Forgotten Shores, made for a sharp spike in purchases, as did its Apple iPad GOTY award and the arrival of Christmas a month later.
Breath of Fire Wii U Release Date Announced
Capcom has announced the Super NES classic Breath of Fire will arrive on Wii U Virtual Console next month.
The Capcom Unity blog announced the date as February 12. The release was originally announced last June, alongside 14 other Capcom classics that were to be added to the Wii U and 3DS Virtual Consoles. Those included several Mega Man and Street Fighter games, Final Fight, and Ghosts 'n Goblins.
The blog also mentioned that Street Fighter 2010, the NES precursor to the popular SNES fighting game, is coming tomorrow. Breath of Fire ranked as #43 in IGN's Top 100 Super Nintendo Games.
Steve Carell Poised to Join The Big Short
Steve Carell, who was nominated for an Oscar today for his dramatic turn in Foxcatcher, is in talks to join the star-studded cast of The Big Short.
Carell is the latest name to be associated with the movie adaptation of Michael Lewis’ best-selling non-fiction drama. If a deal is reached, he could join Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale, all of whom are in various stages of negotiation for the project.
Set against the backdrop of the 2007 financial crisis, The Big Short follows some of the more interesting characters who bet against the financial markets and profited hugely from their collapse.
Several Games Missing from Xbox 360 Games Store
Users have recently reported the absence of several games and game add-ons on the Xbox 360 games store, including Far Cry 2, BioShock 2: Minerva's Den DLC, Crysis 2, and The Darkness.
Microsoft has responded to our inquiry about the matter and will provide us with more information as details become available. If you have discovered any other missing items from the storefront, please tell us in the comments below.
A similar occurrence on the Xbox One Games Store took place last week, when Ubisoft's open-world shooter Far Cry 4 was temporarily unavailable for digital purchase, possibly due to a glitch.
Robot Chicken Animator Mods Powerglove as Animation Tool
Animator Dillon Markey, who works on the stop-motion Adult Swim show Robot Chicken, was looking for a way to more efficiently manage his work flow.
While animating a shot on a large stage a few years ago, Markey needed to move from one side of the stage to the other to animate each frame. While moving around the stage, he carried with him a corded, numeric USB keypad. He asked himself, "Why can't I just wear this on my arm?"
The desire to streamline the process got Markey thinking. "What would I want to animate with all day?" He settled on a Powerglove, the instantly recognizable wearable controller from Mattel that was designed for the Nintendo Entertainment System. "This device, this aesthetic, was the one that I wanted," Markey said, adding "I had to have a Powerglove on my arm!"