Sonic the Hedgehog’s Secret Backstory Revealed
You may not know this, but Sonic The Hedgehog was inspired by “Hedgehog the Human,” a WWII fighter pilot. That’s the (fictional) backstory that the original Sonic The Hedgehog team game designer Hirokazu Yasuhara and character designer Naoto Oshima revealed in a talk at GDC 2018 -- along with the original design docs to prove it.
Below you’ll find the full secret origin story of Sonic The Hedgehog, as well as some other interesting secrets revealed by the '90s team that developed the original Genesis mega-hit.
Westworld: Season 2 Poster Promises ‘Chaos Takes Control’
HBO has released a stunning new Westworld poster ahead of Season 2's premiere in April.
The poster depicts a mechanical vulture in a bleak desert standing next to a familiar-looking black hat, which might or might not belong to the Man in Black (Ed Harris). There's also some blood splattered next to the hat, which matches the crimson-colored sky in the background.
The poster also has the ominous tagline, "Chaos takes control." Check out the poster below:
New Westworld: Season 2 poster, via HBO
Attack on Titan Creator Hopes Season 3 Will Let Him Erase ‘Regret’ of the Manga
Attack on Titan creator, Hajime Isayama, says the third season of the anime will give him a do-over of sorts of the corresponding manga volumes.
Comicbook.com reports that in an interview included in the Blu-ray boxset of season 2, Isayama expressed his disappointment with the volumes of the manga that season 3 of the anime, announced last year, will be based on.
Chris Evans Expects Avengers 4 to Be His Last MCU Movie
It seems likely Chris Evans will officially be done with the MCU after Avengers 4.
In an interview with The New York Times, Evans revealed he expects to not be renewing his contract with Marvel Studios and will be finished playing Captain America after next year's fourth Avengers movie. “You want to get off the train before they push you off,” Evans said.
The actor also confirmed he has already completed all of his scenes as Captain America barring a few reshoots for Avengers 4, which are planned to take place sometime this fall.
Evans has been an integral part of the MCU since Phase 1, having made his debut as the beloved Marvel superhero in his first solo movie, 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. Evans then followed that up with 2014's Captain America: The Winter Solider and 2016's Captain America: Civil War.
30 Photos of Awesome Fortnite Concept Art
Based on Fortnite's concept art and earliest iterations, Epic Games' multiplayer sensation may have once had a much darker, ominous aesthetic.
Epic Games Art Director Peter Ellis offered a look at concept art for previous artistic spins on Fortnite, as well as how the team settled on its official look, in a GDC 2018 panel, Developing the Art of Fortnite. Check out the art below:
Eliis ran through the creepier aesthetic Fortnite had in its earliest days, a far cry from the more colorful art of the final game, which itself went through an unconventional launch. One of the images seems to even include an accidental progenitor to the Stranger Things: Season 2 Big Bad, as Ellis joked at the panel. Among Ellis' art at the panel is what he believes to be quite possibly the first screenshot ever taken of Fortnite (the creepy, white building shrouded in mist is specifically what he referred to.)
Original 6 Star Wars Soundtracks Being Remastered
John Williams' original six Star Wars soundtracks are being remastered.
As detailed on the official Star Wars website, the soundtracks for A New Hope (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005) have been reconstructed from new hi-resolution (24/192) transfers.
All six soundtracks are currently available to pre-order and will be re-released on Star Wars Day, May 4. They will come on CDs and feature new artwork and a collectible mini-poster. Some of William's most memorable compositions were retouched, including “Imperial March” and “Duel of the Fates.” Check out the new artwork in the image gallery below.
Ubisoft Announces Mumbai, Odesa Studios
Ubisoft is adding two new studios to its roster of development teams, with offices in Mumbai, India and Odesa, Ukraine being established.
The Odesa studio will open in addition to the already established Kiev Ubisoft studio, managed by Kiev studio manager Adrian Serbanescu. The Odesa office joins the seven other studios working on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon franchise. 10 people are currently working on the team, and Ubisoft plans to expand with 60 more members of the Odesa team within the next two years.
The Mumbai team will report to the managing director of the Pune, India studio, Jean-Philippe Pieuchot. The two studios are set to work closely together on the development of AAA console games and development of Ubisoft's live services. Pune's previous work includes the South Park: The Fractured But Whole Nintendo Switch port, as well as the upcoming Far Cry 3 remaster included as part of Far Cry 5's season pass.
Deadpool 2 Trailer Confirms Terry Crews Is Playing This X-Force Character
The latest trailer for Deadpool 2 seems to finally confirm who Terry Crews is playing in the sequel: Jesse Bedlam.
The trailer shows Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) recruiting members for X-Force, a new team of anti-heroes. The group in the comics usually includes characters like Cable (Josh Brolin), Domino (Zazie Beetz), and Wolverine, and it looks as though Crews is starring as the longtime X-Force character Jesse Bedlam.
In a quick shot in the trailer, you can spot Deadpool going through a few headshots for potential X-Force members, and one of those headshots feature Terry Crews with the name Bedlam. Check out the screenshot below.
You can spot the name Bedlam in the far right, screenshot via the latest trailer, which briefly later includes Crews' headshot.
Nintendo Switch Getting Third-Party Joy-Con With Traditional D-Pad
A third-party hardware maker is producing a joy-con peripheral with a traditional D-Pad for the Nintendo Switch.
The device is manufactured by Hori and will replace the left Joy-Con controller.
According to Famitsu, the peripheral will trade the motion-sensing capabilities of a typical Joy-Con for the D-pad, making it useful for those with serious ambitions in Switch fighting games that demand precise inputs.
The Joy-Con with D-Pad, via Famitsu
God of War’s One-Shot Style Rejected by Tomb Raider Game Reboot
God of War director Cory Barlog had a single-shot game idea long before God of War and, having it been rejected for the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot.
As IGN noted in its recent God of War preview, the game's use of a single, never-cutting shot for the entire game appears to be an affecting device for absorbing the player into the world. However, in an interview with The Daily Star, Cory Barlog revealed that this technique was not only not a new idea but one he’d had rejected previously.