Aston Martin Partners for New Electric Car
Aston Martin is teaming up with Faraday Future to get truly serious about electric cars.
Engadget reports that Faraday, along with the technology company LeEco, will aid Aston Martin in producing an electric version of the Rapide S. That car was announced last year with the promise of 800 horsepower and a 200-mile range.
The so-called "RapidE" is currently planned for release sometime in 2018. With the help of Faraday Future that seems fairly reasonable.
Faraday, a Chinese-backed electric car company, showed off its own impressive model earlier this year. The FFZero1 concept car looked absurd (and amazing), but also promised a sort of modular design that allowed nearly any car body to be laid over it.
The Pink Ranger Gets Her Own Comic Miniseries
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' Kimberly Hart is getting her own six-part comic book mini-series.
It's spinning off from the main Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team comic from BOOM! Studios and Saban Brands, Los Angeles Times reports.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink Issue No. 1 cover, by Elsa Charretier (via Los Angeles Times and Boom! Studios)
Virtual Reality Could Help Depression
Virtual reality therapy could help people with depression, a new study asserts.
Researchers from University College London and the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies at the University of Barcelona have discovered "immersive virtual reality therapy" teaches patients to be "less critical and more compassionate towards themselves." This, in return, reduces the symptoms of depression.
Fifteen patients with depression—from ages 23 to 61—received virtual reality therapy for a month, nine of which reported reduced symptoms. Four of those nine, the study said, had a "clinically significant" drop in depression. Participants donned the virtual reality headset for just eight-minutes, three times a week.
Warren Spector Joining System Shock 3
Warren Spector, one of the original minds behind Ultima Underworld, Deus Ex, and System Shock, is joining the developer of System Shock 3 as a Studio Director.
Spector has acted as a "Creative Advisor" for OtherSide Entertainment since it was founded. Currently, the producer and director teaches film classes at the University of Texas at Austin. At the end of this semester, however, he'll be joining OtherSide in a more expanded role.
Spector will begin by working on Underworld Ascendant, which is billed as a spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld. The game had a successful Kickstarter last February, earning a total of more than $860 thousand.
After that Spector "will ramp up and lead the team developing System Shock 3." OtherSide announced System Shock 3 late last year, and hinted at possible VR support.
Deadpool’s Ugliest Faces
Most superheroes wear masks in order to hide their secret identities. Deadpool wears a mask because the sight of his face is known to induce vomiting and cause small children to weep uncontrollably. Deadpool has the distinction of being one of the least physically attractive characters in the Marvel Universe. But it's what's inside that counts, right? Well, that's the other thing...
Because Deadpool prefers to hide his ugly mug whenever possible, it's a memorable occasion when he does choose to unmask. In honor of his big return to Hollywood, here are 23 of the most iconic images of Deadpool's face, ranked in order from tolerable to completely repulsive and cringe-worthy.
It's interesting to see how Deadpool's physical appearance has evolved alongside his costume over the years. Some of the rougher edges has been smoothed off as Wade has evovled from wise-cracking assassin to leading man, but his is not a face many would describe as attractive. Except for that time he looked like Tom Selleck.
Sony Holding Free Multiplayer Weekend on PS4
In celebration of Street Fighter V's launch this week, Sony is opening its online multiplayer to all PlayStation 4 owners this weekend.
According PlayStation Blog's announcement, those without a PlayStation Plus subscription will be able to hop online and play with their friends starting Friday, February 19, at 12:01am PT. The offer runs until Sunday, February 21, at 11:59pm PT.
In addition to highlighting the launch of Capcom's new fighting game—our review for which you can check out right here—Sony is also encouraging players to check out Call of Duty: Black Ops III's new DLC, Awakening, which launched earlier this month for PlayStation 4.
A New Delivery Service for Minecraft Gear
Mojang has announced Mine Chest, a monthly shipment service of exclusive Minecraft T-shirts, collectibles, and DIY crafting recipes sent right to your doorstep.
The Loot Crate-esque service will cost $30 a month plus tax and $7 for shipping and handling and launches in May. Those that sign up before the end of February will get access to an "extremely limited" Mine Chest Beta version.
The goal of the new service is to add to "players’ game knowledge as well as their Minecraft apparel and real life crafting experience," while "bridging the space between game play and real world creativity," according to Mojang.
Mine Chest will only be available in the US for the time being, but Mojang is working to bring the service to the rest of the world. To sign up, head on over to Mine Chest's website.
The Division: 11 Impressive Little Details
When the reclusive film director Stanley Kubrick was prepping Eyes Wide Shut, he sent his nephew, Manuel Harlan, on a research mission to photograph London, armed with a camera and a stepladder. From these 30,000 or so pictures, Kubrick was able to recreate vast chunks of West London as a photographic collage.
Ubisoft Massive did something similar to make The Division. They just didn’t take a step ladder. (Not to my knowledge.)
But thousands upon thousands of reference photographs were taken by Ubisoft’s World Texture Facility Team, which were painstakingly tagged and indexed, serving as the reference point for realising its bleak version of New York. The level of detail is immense, and having spent two days with the game, here are some of the most impressive little details I noticed.
How Xbox Live Arcade Almost Didn’t Happen
Greg Canessa, the man behind Xbox Live Arcade, recently stopped by the IGN office to discuss the creation of XBLA and the long and challenging process involved in getting it off the ground.
"It was not part of the plan for Xbox or Xbox 360 at all. That's kind of one of the lesser known facts in the console space nowadays," Canessa shared in the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered. "While we all think about it as the game service that we've come to know and love over the last 10 years or so, it was a project that came in very late in the planning cycle for Xbox 360—the very end of OG Xbox—and wasn't really supposed to happen and almost didn't happen."
Kurt Russell Joins Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Cast
UPDATE: The official press release has now gone out, and reveals that Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan and... Kurt Russell have joined the Guardians 2 cast.
Might the latter be playing Star-Lord's Dad, as previously rumoured? The release does say that the team will "unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage."
Previous story follows...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has started shooting in Atlanta, with writer-director James Gunn announcing via a post on Twitter.
Alongside a picture of the famous five - which can be viewed below, Gunn wrote: "Official Photography on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has begun. You're very welcome."