Mars Mission to Explore Planet’s Interior Set for May 2018
NASA's recently suspended launch involving the InSight lander and its mission to Mars has been rescheduled, and is now targeting a launch window beginning May 2018.
The main goal of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport mission, NASA explains, is to study the interior of the red planet and come away with a better understanding of how rocky planets are created and how such planets evolve over time. The lander was supposed to start its mission this month, but a vacuum leak in its seismometer was enough to make NASA postpone the endeavor.
Why Black Widow is Especially Troubled in Civil War
As more info is revealed on Captain America: Civil War, a question some fans have asked is what in the world is Black Widow doing on Iron Man’s team, as Captain America and Iron Man come into conflict with one another?
It certainly seems Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) has a closer bond with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) than Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), especially following the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. On top of that, her friendship with Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) – who sides with Captain America -- is an especially old and close one in the MCU, making it all the more notable she is now fighting both of them.
Scarlett Johansson in Captain America: Civil War.
Unlocked: Is Fable Dead?
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On this week's Xbox show, we analyze the cancellation of Fable Legends and the apparent closure of Lionhead Studios. Could either have been saved? Can and will Fable continue on, or is it dead? Plus: our first impressions of The Division, Gears of War 4 continues to divide us, Doom multiplayer inches closer, Overwatch and Battleborn have a silly (albeit one-sided) feud, and more!
Oh, and Unlocked now has its own snazzy new homepage! Bookmark this: go.ign.com/unlocked
The Division Sets Ubisoft Sales Record
The Division is enjoying the highest day-one sales in Ubisoft’s history.
Ubisoft says the new game has sold more copies in its first 24 hours than any other game in its 30-year history.
The company stopped short of providing actual sales numbers, though.
CEO Yves Guillemot says: "The launch of The Division is a tremendous achievement for Ubisoft, and demonstrates our unrivaled capacity to create fantastic new game brands and transform them into entertainment blockbusters."
The Division was launched just yesterday on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Should we get those actual numbers, we'll share them with you here.
Suicide Squad Movie to Offer Fans Character Tattoos
Harley's Tattoo Parlor is apparently coming to this month's South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.
The official Twitter account for the Suicide Squad movie posted a series of character-inspired tattoo designs today with the following caption: "The #SuicideSquad is ready to leave their mark on #SXSW #HarleysTatooParlor"
Check out the tattoo designs and the SXSW poster for Suicide Squad in the gallery below:
No further details on precisely where and when Harley's Tattoo Parlor will be operating or how much the tattoos will cost, but we'll let you know as soon as that's revealed. The SXSW Film Festival runs from March 11-19.
Early iPhone 7 Case Design Doesn’t Have a Headphone Jack
A new batch of leaked photos are reinforcing the idea that the next iPhone won't come with a headphone jack.
OnLeaks has shared several new photos showing an early version of an iPhone 7 case with cutouts for two speakers grilles at the bottom, but no hole for a 3.5mm headphone jack. Current rumors suggest Apple will drop the headphone jack, and move on to using Bluetooth or Lightning headphones that will come packed in with the phone.
The case alone is not a confirmation, however. After placing an iPhone 6s into the iPhone 7 case, the headphone jack is still easily accessible, bringing the accuracy of the rumors into question. There's a decent amount of time before the iPhone 7 goes into production, meaning its design can still change. The final version of the phone could look entirely different from its earlier designs.
9 Reveals from the Game of Thrones: Season 6 Trailer
The time for teasers has ended.
The full Game of Thrones: Season 6 trailer has finally dropped, setting the internet ablaze with piercing and potent imagery involving boats, horses, the Night's King, and many, many shots of Jon Snow's lifeless body. Like, we get it. He's dead. So very dead.
And as with many a trailer, we have questions. In fact, considering that this season of Game of Thrones is the first not to easily correlate to any published Song of Ice and Fire book, the "unknown" now looms large and casts a formidable shadow. But instead of raising a bunch of "What's that?"s and "What if?"s, let's hone in on what the trailer actually confirms for us. The actual, (mostly) irrefutable information we get from it. Sansa and Theon survived the drop. Davos is in mourning. Melisandre has doubts. Thant sort of stuff. And much more.
BvS Director Snyder Wanted to Cast Bale, But …
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder has revealed that he wanted to cast The Dark Knight Trilogy's Christian Bale in his superhero epic, but not as Batman.
“This is a total and opposite reality from the Chris Nolan movies. It’s another universe, so we couldn’t hire Christian Bale if we wanted to, because he doesn’t exist in our world. Maybe we could hire him to play another part. We did talk about that briefly," Snyder told FilmInk.
"I just wanted to hire Christian to play another part to make that obvious. Christian could play, like, Alfred with age makeup. No! Of course not. But you know what I mean. Even people at the studio would say, ‘Who are you getting from the other movies?’ And I was like, ‘Hey, come on guys, let’s all understand, it’s a different world.’"
XCOM 2’s First DLC Pack Detailed
Firaxis has revealed details on XCOM 2's first piece of DLC, Anarchy’s Children.
Anarchy's Children releases on March 17 and costs $5. The pack features over 100 new customization options ranging from new hair styles, to face paints, to helmets and armor, to decals, and more. The items are described by Firaxis as "post-apocalyptic"and "downright deranged." Check out how some of the options below:
Anarchy's Children is included in the Reinforcement Pack, which costs $20 and promises two other pieces of DLC, Alien Hunters and Shen's Last Gift, coming in the future.
Firaxis is also working on a patch for performance optimizations and gameplay bug fixes.
Sony’s VR Software Approach Is to Start Small
When it comes to developing games for its upcoming PlayStation VR platform, Sony is taking a "shotgun approach."
According to Polygon, Sony is developing several, smaller VR experiences, rather than allocate resources to one big game.
"It’s just the relative progression of any new media," Sony president Shuhei Yoshida said. "When the content side starts investing, you usually start small."
Yoshida told Polygon smaller games can have a "significant impact," something he calls "more preferable."
Yoshida has advised his team to think smaller, because bigger isn't necessarily better. He tells developers "while you’re working on something long-term, the whole industry will learn a lot and you’ll discover half of what you set out to do will become obsolete."