HBO Recategorizes Watchmen as a Limited Series

Ahead of an official awards season campaign, HBO has reclassified Damon Lindelof's Watchmen from a "drama series" to a "limited series," including for “any possible future installments.” As Variety reports, the new category allows Watchmen to compete for a different set awards while also more aligning with what creator Lindelof has said about the nine episodes representing his entire idea for a series, giving us a complete beginning, middle, and end. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=watchmen-all-the-comic-book-references-in-the-hbo-series&captions=true"] Though the door isn't closed on Watchmen, HBO programming president Casey Bloys said that a Season 2 was unlikely without Lindelof. HBO's statement reads: “We discussed with the producers and felt limited series was the most accurate representation of the show and any possible future installments.” IGN named Watchmen the best TV show of 2019, an accolade Damon Lindelof called "an incredible gift." We also cited Watchmen as one of the best TV shows of the decade. For more on Watchmen, check out Regina King's emotional explanation of the ending, our spoiler-free review of Season 1, and get the answers to 10 burning questions we had about the show. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/22/star-wars-the-clone-wars-season-7-premiere-has-a-surprising-reveal"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

HBO Recategorizes Watchmen as a Limited Series

Ahead of an official awards season campaign, HBO has reclassified Damon Lindelof's Watchmen from a "drama series" to a "limited series," including for “any possible future installments.” As Variety reports, the new category allows Watchmen to compete for a different set awards while also more aligning with what creator Lindelof has said about the nine episodes representing his entire idea for a series, giving us a complete beginning, middle, and end. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=watchmen-all-the-comic-book-references-in-the-hbo-series&captions=true"] Though the door isn't closed on Watchmen, HBO programming president Casey Bloys said that a Season 2 was unlikely without Lindelof. HBO's statement reads: “We discussed with the producers and felt limited series was the most accurate representation of the show and any possible future installments.” IGN named Watchmen the best TV show of 2019, an accolade Damon Lindelof called "an incredible gift." We also cited Watchmen as one of the best TV shows of the decade. For more on Watchmen, check out Regina King's emotional explanation of the ending, our spoiler-free review of Season 1, and get the answers to 10 burning questions we had about the show. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/22/star-wars-the-clone-wars-season-7-premiere-has-a-surprising-reveal"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

The Bella Twins Announced for WWE Hall of Fame

Nikki and Brie, The Bella Twins, will join Batista and the NWO (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman) in the 2020 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame. On this week's SmackDown, Alexa Bliss broke the news on her "Moment of Bliss" talk show segment, where the Bellas thanked their "Bella Army," brought up how they're both also pregnant (yes, a week and a half apart), and then mentioned Nikki's engagement to her boyfriend, Artem Chigvintsevwith. The announcement ended with Brie's husband Daniel Bryan coming out on stage, with their daughter Birdie, to share in the celebration. The Bella Twins debuted in WWE back in 2008, using dirty tactics - "Twin Magic," in which Nikki would secretly swap in for Brie - to win matches. In 2011, Brie captured the WWE Divas Championship while Nikki would win the title in 2014, holding it for 300 days and setting a record for the championship. The duo are also the stars of E! reality shows Total Divas and spinoff Total Bellas. The 2020 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place on Thursday, April 2, during WrestleMania 36 Week. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=most-devastating-finishing-moves-in-wwe-history&captions=true"] For more TV news, check out our review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars' Season 7 premiere as well as all the new characters announced for The Witcher: Season 2. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

The Bella Twins Announced for WWE Hall of Fame

Nikki and Brie, The Bella Twins, will join Batista and the NWO (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman) in the 2020 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame. On this week's SmackDown, Alexa Bliss broke the news on her "Moment of Bliss" talk show segment, where the Bellas thanked their "Bella Army," brought up how they're both also pregnant (yes, a week and a half apart), and then mentioned Nikki's engagement to her boyfriend, Artem Chigvintsevwith. The announcement ended with Brie's husband Daniel Bryan coming out on stage, with their daughter Birdie, to share in the celebration. The Bella Twins debuted in WWE back in 2008, using dirty tactics - "Twin Magic," in which Nikki would secretly swap in for Brie - to win matches. In 2011, Brie captured the WWE Divas Championship while Nikki would win the title in 2014, holding it for 300 days and setting a record for the championship. The duo are also the stars of E! reality shows Total Divas and spinoff Total Bellas. The 2020 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place on Thursday, April 2, during WrestleMania 36 Week. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=most-devastating-finishing-moves-in-wwe-history&captions=true"] For more TV news, check out our review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars' Season 7 premiere as well as all the new characters announced for The Witcher: Season 2. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Friends Reunion Special at HBO Max Officially Confirmed

An unscripted Friends reunion special will be available on HBO Max when the new streaming platform launches in May, the company has announced. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer are all confirmed to return. The cast will record the special on the original soundstage where the show began filming about 25 years ago. Variety says each cast member is making $2.5 million for the reunion while The Hollywood Reporter says that payday could be as high as $3 million each. “Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together — we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa, and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire Friends library,” said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer of HBO Max and president of TBS, TNT, and truTV. “I became aware of Friends when it was in the very early stages of development and then had the opportunity to work on the series many years later and have delighted in seeing it catch on with viewers generation after generation. It taps into an era when friends – and audiences – gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans.” The special was first reported to be in development in November 2019. That was after months of the cast answering questions about whether any sort of Friends reunion or reboot will take place. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/30/green-lantern-tv-show-coming-to-hbo-max-ign-now"] "...a reboot of the show? No," Aniston said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October. "We would love for there to be something, but we don't know what that something is. So, we're just trying. We're working on something." Friends aired 236 episodes from 1994 to 2004 on NBC. According to The New York Times, the Friends series finale was watched by more than 52.5 million people. That audience hasn't died down with People writing that Friends was the second most popular show on Netflix. The series left Netflix at the end of 2019 and every episode will be available on HBO Max at launch. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=everything-coming-to-hbo-max&captions=true"] HBO Max will have a hefty slate at launch including Joker, South Park, and the first three seasons of Rick and Morty. And there will reportedly be unlimited password sharing at launch to get your friends hooked. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who will buy a year's worth of HBO Max if Ed, Edd n Eddy is on it.

Friends Reunion Special at HBO Max Officially Confirmed

An unscripted Friends reunion special will be available on HBO Max when the new streaming platform launches in May, the company has announced. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer are all confirmed to return. The cast will record the special on the original soundstage where the show began filming about 25 years ago. Variety says each cast member is making $2.5 million for the reunion while The Hollywood Reporter says that payday could be as high as $3 million each. “Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together — we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa, and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire Friends library,” said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer of HBO Max and president of TBS, TNT, and truTV. “I became aware of Friends when it was in the very early stages of development and then had the opportunity to work on the series many years later and have delighted in seeing it catch on with viewers generation after generation. It taps into an era when friends – and audiences – gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans.” The special was first reported to be in development in November 2019. That was after months of the cast answering questions about whether any sort of Friends reunion or reboot will take place. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/30/green-lantern-tv-show-coming-to-hbo-max-ign-now"] "...a reboot of the show? No," Aniston said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October. "We would love for there to be something, but we don't know what that something is. So, we're just trying. We're working on something." Friends aired 236 episodes from 1994 to 2004 on NBC. According to The New York Times, the Friends series finale was watched by more than 52.5 million people. That audience hasn't died down with People writing that Friends was the second most popular show on Netflix. The series left Netflix at the end of 2019 and every episode will be available on HBO Max at launch. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=everything-coming-to-hbo-max&captions=true"] HBO Max will have a hefty slate at launch including Joker, South Park, and the first three seasons of Rick and Morty. And there will reportedly be unlimited password sharing at launch to get your friends hooked. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who will buy a year's worth of HBO Max if Ed, Edd n Eddy is on it.

Dreams Review – Create And Play

The first game I played in Dreams was a cute Captain Toad-inspired puzzle platformer called Pip Gemwalker. It's about a Sloth who has to collect hidden gems across seven increasingly-complex levels. The second game I played was Blade Gunner, a Resogun-style twin-stick shooter with upgrades, an in-game store, and online leaderboards. After that I hopped into Art Therapy, a first-person game where your goal, as a disgruntled artist wielding a baseball bat, is to smash your way through a museum without any of the guards catching you in the act. The fourth was Shadows Dance at Olivetop Reach, a fantasy RPG with turn-based combat and an XP-based levelling system.

Each of these games is vastly different from the last, not just in terms of genre and gameplay mechanics, but their use (or disuse) of cutscenes, voice acting, art style, music, narrative, and so on. The one thing they each have in common is that they were all created using the exact same set of tools. That's Dreams in a nutshell: a platform where you can create pretty much anything you can put your mind to. Developer Media Molecule has continued the mantra of "play, create, share" that it used to define the LittleBigPlanet series and applied it to a much more ambitious concept with a significantly broader scope. Metaphorically speaking, if LittleBigPlanet is a single country, then Dreams is the entire universe. There's just so much promise and potential for the burgeoning Dreams community to create some innovative and inspired art, all by using an intuitive toolset that's made accessible via a streamlined creation suite and the use of informative hands-on tutorials. Whether these creations take the form of an hour-long video game, a short film, a simple visual spectacle, or something as simple as a sound effect that another player can use in their own project. The possibilities are endless, which I know is a tired cliché, but in Dreams--more than anywhere else--it actually applies.

There are two parts to Dreams which both branch out like roots from a tree. DreamShaping is where you can begin creating your own projects and find myriad tutorials that will teach you how. DreamSurfing, meanwhile, lets you find other people's creations and play them for yourself. It's also where you'll find Media Molecule's own creations, including Art's Dream. If you want to construct a level in LittleBigPlanet, you are always confined to the base template of a side-scrolling 3D platformer. Inevitably, some people found inventive ways to circumnavigate this template, but compared to what you can do in Dreams it's overly restrictive. To demonstrate the monumental shift between LittleBigPlanet and Dreams, Media Molecule has created a showcase of sorts, placing Art's Dream front and centre when you jump into DreamSurfing for the first time.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Dreams Review – Create And Play

The first game I played in Dreams was a cute Captain Toad-inspired puzzle platformer called Pip Gemwalker. It's about a Sloth who has to collect hidden gems across seven increasingly-complex levels. The second game I played was Blade Gunner, a Resogun-style twin-stick shooter with upgrades, an in-game store, and online leaderboards. After that I hopped into Art Therapy, a first-person game where your goal, as a disgruntled artist wielding a baseball bat, is to smash your way through a museum without any of the guards catching you in the act. The fourth was Shadows Dance at Olivetop Reach, a fantasy RPG with turn-based combat and an XP-based levelling system.

Each of these games is vastly different from the last, not just in terms of genre and gameplay mechanics, but their use (or disuse) of cutscenes, voice acting, art style, music, narrative, and so on. The one thing they each have in common is that they were all created using the exact same set of tools. That's Dreams in a nutshell: a platform where you can create pretty much anything you can put your mind to. Developer Media Molecule has continued the mantra of "play, create, share" that it used to define the LittleBigPlanet series and applied it to a much more ambitious concept with a significantly broader scope. Metaphorically speaking, if LittleBigPlanet is a single country, then Dreams is the entire universe. There's just so much promise and potential for the burgeoning Dreams community to create some innovative and inspired art, all by using an intuitive toolset that's made accessible via a streamlined creation suite and the use of informative hands-on tutorials. Whether these creations take the form of an hour-long video game, a short film, a simple visual spectacle, or something as simple as a sound effect that another player can use in their own project. The possibilities are endless, which I know is a tired cliché, but in Dreams--more than anywhere else--it actually applies.

There are two parts to Dreams which both branch out like roots from a tree. DreamShaping is where you can begin creating your own projects and find myriad tutorials that will teach you how. DreamSurfing, meanwhile, lets you find other people's creations and play them for yourself. It's also where you'll find Media Molecule's own creations, including Art's Dream. If you want to construct a level in LittleBigPlanet, you are always confined to the base template of a side-scrolling 3D platformer. Inevitably, some people found inventive ways to circumnavigate this template, but compared to what you can do in Dreams it's overly restrictive. To demonstrate the monumental shift between LittleBigPlanet and Dreams, Media Molecule has created a showcase of sorts, placing Art's Dream front and centre when you jump into DreamSurfing for the first time.

Continue Reading at GameSpot