Fly With Elliot in Pete’s Dragon 360 Video Experience

Now Pete isn't the only person who's going to experience flying on his pet dragon Elliot.

In anticipation of the upcoming release of Pete's Dragon, Walt Disney Studios partnered with WETA Digital, Nokia, Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand to create a unique VR/360 video experience, which IGN is exclusively debuting. Pete's Dragon: Elliot's Flyover allows the viewer to experience what Pete felt when he soared through the sky on Elliot's back.

Check out the experience below:

WETA Digital created the experience by using live action footage, shot on location in New Zealand, and adding in CGI effects, including a fully customized version of Elliot. This 360 video evokes a similar scene early in the film that's teased in the trailers, in which Pete and Elliot fly through canyons and across rivers around the film's Pacific northwest setting.

Continue reading…

Hot Rod to Appear in Transformers: The Last Knight

Transformers: The Last Knight has gained yet another Autobot, as director Michael Bay has confirmed Hot Rod will appear in his upcoming film.

Bay shared the news in a post on Twitter, providing a first look at the classic Autobot and saying, "Time to turn up the heat. Meet Hot Rod."

hot-rod Hot Rod in Transformers: The Last Knight, via Michael Bay's Twitter

Continue reading…

Xbox-Exclusive Action-Platformer, Unit 4 Announced

Brand new studio, Gamera Interactive has announced its debut project - a 16-bit style action-platformer called Unit 4 - exclusively for Xbox One.

Including both single-player and 4-player local co-operative campaign modes, the game sees members of the titular Unit (each with unique abilities) attempting to chase down the alien force that's stolen sacred artifacts from their world.

Here's a suitably bleep-bloopy reveal trailer:

The game's seemingly aiming for a distinctly old-school vibe, featuring ability-specific logic puzzles and inflicting one-hit kills on players from any source of damage - but matches that with space exploration and minigame elements to go along with the core platforming.

Continue reading…

How Much Does Suicide Squad Need to Make to Succeed?

To say there's a lot riding on Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. and the DC Extended Universe is an overwhelming understatement.

According to an industry insider cited by The Hollywood Reporter, Suicide Squad has "got to do $750 million, $800 million to break even. If they get anywhere close to that, they'll consider it a win."

The David Ayer-directed film reportedly cost $175 million to produce (including roughly $10 million on reshoots) and over $100 million more to market. It's currently tracking to open this weekend between $125 million and $140 million, the latter of which would make it an even bigger North American debut than Deadpool ($132.4 million).

Continue reading…

Peter Capaldi Likely to Continue on in Doctor Who

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat is handing in his writer's badge after the popular BBC show's next season, but he doesn't think actor Peter Capaldi will leave with him.

"I have no reason to suppose that I'm writing out a Doctor," Moffat told Doctor Who Magazine, according to Entertainment Weekly. "Peter is loving the role, and long may he do so." Some had speculated that Capaldi would exit with Moffat, so that a new Doctor could regenerate alongside incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall.

Continue reading…

The Wrong Characters Keep Appearing in Overwatch’s One-Character Mode

Overwatch dropped Lucioball - a Rocket League-indebted new game mode - as part of its Summer Games seasonal event on Tuesday. Because this is the internet, people have already worked out how to use characters other than Lucio in Lucioball.

Numerous videos have popped up since release, showing practically every other character in the game taking part in the new sport, most of whom go onto break the rules by straight up murdering their opponents. Lucio might have had his offensive moves turned off for the mode, but that doesn't mean damage can't be done.

Continue reading…

Full No Man’s Sky Soundtrack Now Streaming

The first part of 65daysofstatic's soundtrack album of music from and inspired by No Man's Sky, Music for an Infinite Universe is available to stream now.

The ten tracks available to stream are more traditional 65DOS tracks, inspired by writing for the game. Missing from the stream are the album's six soundscapes, drawn directly from the procedural soundtrack the game creates as you play.

Here's the stream, released alongside  The Independent:

Continue reading…

Comic Book Reviews for August 3, 2016

With a new superhero movie hitting theaters, this week's comic book lineup was all about Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad. DC relaunched both Harley's solo series and the main Suicide Squad book to solid results, though their real winners this week were Superman #4 and Sheriff of Babylon #9. Over at Marvel, Invincible Iron Man began tying into Civil War II and Doctor Strange wrapped up the "Last Days of Magic" storyline. Elsewhere, writer Chip Zdarsky said farewell to Jughead and The Walking Dead kicked off a major new story arc called "The Whisperer War."

Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and various other new releases. And be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.

Continue reading…

Sean Bean to Voice Civilization 6 Tech Tree

Not only did Sean Bean voice the Civilization VI E3 trailer, he's also taken on the mantle of tech tree narrator.

According to PC Gamer, the actor will be voicing the historical quotations which appear when you research new technologies in the game.

Sean Bean takes over from Morgan Sheppard, who performed the same role in Civ 5. Before Sheppard, Leonard Nimoy voiced the tech tree in Civ 4.

Bean has done voice acting for a couple of video games video games before, most recently as the narrator in Kholat, and before that as Martin Septim in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, illegitimate son of Patrick Stewart's Uriel Septim.

Continue reading…

Disney 16-Bit Platformers Now Available on PC

GOG.com is offering players a blast from the Disney past, with a trio of 16-bit sidescrollers now available beginning today.

The 16-bit era releases of Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Jungle Book are all now available exclusively on GOG.com, DRM free, for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Each game will normally cost $9.99, though GOG has discounted them for launch to be available for $8.99. All three can be purchased together in a special bundle for $19.99.

And for those wondering, the Aladdin version being released is the Sega Genesis and PC version of the game, not the Capcom-produced SNES game also based on the 1992 Disney animated hit.

Continue reading…