Carrie Fisher Had a Small Role in Dishonored
Carrie Fisher, who recently passed away at age 60, had a minor role in Dishonored.
According to Glixel, Fisher recorded several lines for developer Arkane Studios' stealth game and her work is well hidden. You have to kill a certain propaganda officer during the "Return to the Tower" mission.
Afterwards, late in the game, you have to pay close attention to spot her voice coming over the public address system in Dunwall, Dishonored's main setting.
Fisher tells people not to "interfere with the regular transfer of deceased persons to disposal centers in the Flooded District" or that "any disturbance in the region of Dunwall Tower this evening has been the result of a previously scheduled training exercise."
Twitter Considering Letting Users Edit Tweets
If you've ever set a Tweet into the wild with a glaring typo, the only way to fix it is to delete the whole thing and try again. However, we may soon have the ability to simply edit the offending typo in our 140-character micro-blogs.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey asked what users would like to see from Twitter in the new year and personally responded to a few of the replies asking for an edit function.
@_AlexLawrence @cloleaf yup me too. We're thinking a lot about it.
— jack (@jack) December 29, 2016
Scarlett Johansson Is 2016’s Top-Grossing Actor
Scarlett Johansson narrowly topped her Marvel co-stars Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. to become 2016's top-grossing actor.
According to Forbes, which calculated the global ticket sales of actors’ movies released this year, Johansson brought in $1.2 billion at the box office thanks largely to her role as Black Widow in Captain America: Civil War, which made over $1.1 billion worldwide. Johansson also had a minor part in the Coen brothers’ latest film Hail Caesar!, where she played 1950s Hollywood actor DeeAnna Moran.
Johansson starred in The Jungle Book, which grossed over $950 million worldwide, and the recently-released Sing as well this year, but Forbes did not count animated films where only actors’ voices were used. Johansson's Civil War co-stars Evans and Downey each grossed $1.15 billion in 2016 and tie for second place.
New to Amazon Prime for January
Amazon Prime welcomes us to the new year with their new shows Sneaky Pete -- from executive producer Bryan Cranston -- and Z: The Beginning of Everything, starring Christina Ricci. You'll also be able stream Swiss Army Man, Hellboy, The Infiltrator, She's All That, Dirty Grandpa, and more.
For purchase, you'll find The Accountant, Inferno, Deepwater Horizon, and The Girl on the Train. Here's the full list for January!
13 Hours: Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Across the Universe
Happy Feet
Rent
Hellboy
Radio
Stardust
American History X
Norm of the North
Are We There Yet?
43 Big Games Coming in 2017
With another excellent year of gaming in the books, it's time to look forward to what's in store for us next year. Everything from long-awaited sequels to fresh takes on familiar genres, there are a ton of interesting games headed our way. Here are 43 big games coming in 2017, with the caveat being that some of these might be delayed.
Agents of Mayhem was the featured game for our June IGN First, and we got some fairly extensive hands-on time with it. Though it technically exists in the same storytelling universe as Volition’s Saints Row series, it’s a new IP that plays quite differently from its sister series, or from any sandbox action game really. You choose three squad members from a larger pool of diverse heroes, all of whom have customizable passive and active abilities, and by swapping between them on the fly, you can put together some impressive pyrotechnic displays. The core combat is already a good time, and if the open world elements wind up matching it, Agents of Mayhem could be the sandbox action game to beat in 2017. -- Vince Ingenito, Editor
Which TV Show That Ended in 2016 Will You Miss the Most?
Another year done, another lengthy list of TV casualties. Cancelations are part of the natural selection of the business, along with shows coming to an end because the creators decided it was time, and some great shows took their final bow in 2016 - but which one will you miss the most?
Now, you may notice that not ALL the canceled shows are on the poll because we're only counting established series that were on for at least two seasons. That being the case, you won't find The Grinder, Damien, Braindead, Limitless, Heartbeat, or any of the other shows that came and went after only a single season. You also won't find shows whose final run may have started this fall, but won't actually air their final episode until 2017 (Teen Wolf, Salem, The Vampire Diaries, we'll see you on next year's poll).
Artificial Intelligence Imagines How Scenes Will Play Out
A new form of artificial intelligence (AI) can create its own films by simulating possible outcomes based on a picture.
As reported by Scientific American, humans are able to look at a picture of, say, two other beings interacting, and imagine different ways the scene could play out, and new technology could allow machines to do something similar.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) put this technology to the test, pitting two AI systems against each other. One AI system would create short videos realistic enough that they tricked the other, which was tasked with trying to pick out real videos from machine-created. When the videos were shown to workers at Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, 20 percent of the time they picked the AI created videos over the real ones.
Super Mario Run: Android Pre-Registration Now Available
Nintendo has announced that Android users can now pre-register to download Super Mario Run.
As announced on Nintendo of America’s Twitter account, Android users can pre-register on Google Play and will receive a notification as soon as Mario’s auto-runner becomes available for download.
The Google Play listing confirms that, just like on iOS, players will be able to download the first few levels of Super Mario Run for free, then have the option to purchase the remaining levels for a set price. Also just like on iOS, internet connectivity is required to play Super Mario Run.
Ranking the Final Fantasy Games
Vikings Creator on This Week’s Shocking Turn of Events
Warning: The following interview with Vikings creator/showrunner Michael Hirst contains massive spoilers from this week's episode, "All His Angels."
This week, Vikings star Travis Fimmel exited the show in epic fashion as Ragnar, traded over to King Ælla, fell to a series of burnings, beatings and poisonous snake bites. Doomed to the vengeful king's viper pit, Ragnar sacrificed himself for the sake of his own legacy and for the future of his people, knowing that Ivar and his brothers would swear revenge and come calling on England for blood.
I spoke to Vikings creator Michael Hirst about the game-changing episode, "All His Angels," and what Ragnar's demise means for the rest of the series. Plus, I got Hirst's thoughts about the death itself, Ragnar's relationship with Ecbert, and why Ivar was, ultimately, Ragnar's choice to succeed him.