Homage to Destiny’s Xur Pops Up in World of Warcraft
Blizzard has included a vendor named Xur'ios in World of Warcraft's Legion closed beta.
According to the Destiny subreddit (via Eurogamer), Xur'ios offers items in exchange for "Curious Coins". Some items remain static, but one varies day-to-day. His inventory includes Gjallar’s “Horn”, Ingram’s Puzzle, Krota’s Shield, and Mote of Light.
The character is seemingly based upon Destiny's own high-end gear merchant, Xur, a mysterious figure who appears each weekend at either The Reef or The Tower offering exotic gifts and engrams for Strange Coins.
Pokemon Go Tracking Site Creator Sends Open Letter to Niantic
Pokevision creator Yang Liu has described his disappointment regarding Pokemon Go’s current state in an open letter published via Medium.
Explaining he was “never too excited about Pokemon Go” Liu conceded it became the “most amazing, yet simple thing” he’d seen in gaming, and he pronounced the effect of Pokemon Go has been “phenomenal.”
“You’ve simply captured all of our hearts with Pokemon Go, Niantic,” wrote Liu. “But then, you broke it all too quickly.”
Liu insists that Pokevision was built as a stop gap solution to Pokemon Go’s inoperative in-game tracking system and claims the team “had every intention in closing it down the minute that Pokemon Go’s own tracker restored functionality.”
NBC’s Timeless is More Quantum Leap Than 12 Monkeys
NBC's new fall series Timeless -- from The Shield's Shawn Ryan and Supernatural's Eric Kripke -- follows an unlikely team comprised of a history professor (Abigail Spencer), a soldier (Matt Lanter), and a scientist (Malcolm Barrett) as they chase a mysterious criminal who is intent on destroying America by changing the past.
But as both Ryan and Kripke pointed out at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, during a Q&A panel for the show, Timeless isn't exactly to meant to be the most complex time travel series. "This show is much more, I think, like Back to the Future and Quantum Leap than it is like 12 Monkeys in that way," Ryan explained. "Time travel is something that we use as a device to tell this pretty epic historical adventure show. And, yes, we're going to have important personal things. The Lucy character undergoes a really serious, epic loss at the end of the pilot, and we're going to deal with that, but in ways that we're going to attach at the beginning and end of episodes and hopefully aren't going to get in the way of people dropping in to enjoy the episode when they watch."
Shatner Open to Star Trek Discovery Appearance
Star Trek Discovery could feature an appearance by the original Captain Kirk, as William Shatner said he's open to the possibility.
During the Television Critics Association press tour, Shatner told TV Guide he would return for the new TV series only "if I were useful," after lamenting the way in which Leonard Nimoy's appearance was handled in the J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek reboot and the sequel Into Darkness.
Shatner said he thought Nimoy's cameo was "a waste of time" and wished he was more involved in the films, adding, "He's so talented. Why didn't they do something more with him?"
Guardians 2: Check Out Yondu’s New Fin
After actor Michael Rooker debuted Yondu's new look at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel has released an image providing a closer look at the character's upgraded headpiece.
Posted on Marvel's Instagram, the image of "everybody's favorite blue-skinned ravager" shows off a fin that's more in line with the character's look in Marvel's comics. Check it out below:
Two clips from the upcoming film were recently shown during Marvel's Comic-Con panel. The first -- a full scene from the movie -- saw Yondu and Rocket imprisoned by the Ravagers, while the second was a sizzle reel showing Star-Lord, Gamora, and Drax arguing during a face-off with a cosmic beast.
First Guy to Catch All US Pokemon Heads Overseas to Catch the Rest
Nick Johnson — the American Pokemon Go player who caught all 142 Pokemon available in the United States — is heading out on a journey far and wide to catch the three other country-exclusive pocket monsters.
His trip is sponsored by Mariott Rewards and Expedia, Business Insider reports. Johnson and his girlfriend will first travel to Paris, where Europe's Mr. Mime is likely to reside. One day later, they'll fly to Hong Kong to find Farfetch'd, and a day later, to Sydney to track down Kangaskhan.
This Week on PSN: Batman’s Telltale Series, Abzu, and More
Every week, Sony drops a bunch of new stuff onto the PlayStation Network. Those with a PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita can download these goodies, which include PSN games, movies, themes and more. Take a look at this week's highlights below!
NEW GAME RELEASES
Xbox One S Performance Boost Has Been Benchmarked
The new Xbox One S is now available, and in addition to 4K Blu-ray support, the console revision also has improved performance over its predecessor.
The jump in performance definitely isn't the big leap Microsoft is promising for the Scorpio, but according to Eurogamer, benchmark scores for the slimmer Xbox put its performance at up to 11 percent higher than the vanilla Xbox One.
Of course, that 11 percent performance jump isn't across the board, but was noted during a test of Project Cars in third-person chase-cam replay. The One S beats out the Xbox One due in large part to an overclocked GPU. Whereas the original Xbox One GPU clocks in at 853 Mhz, the GPU in the One S has a 914 Mhz clock speed.
Death Note: Willem Dafoe Joins Cast as Ryuk
Adam Wingard's upcoming live-action Death Note film has found its Ryuk in Willem Dafoe.
According to Mashable, the Oscar-nomiated actor, who starred as the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy, has closed a deal to voice the apple-loving Shinigami.
Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn (aka Green Goblin) in Spider-Man
Arrested Development: Season 4 Has Been Re-Edited
Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz has shared new information on the previously announced recut version of Season 4, confirming the re-edited version will span a total of 22 episodes, each with a runtime of 22 minutes.
Hurwitz shared the news last week at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour with The Hollywood Reporter. There's no word on when or if the recut version of Season 4, which features new narration from Ron Howard, will release, and whether it would be available via Netflix also remains unconfirmed.