The Van Helsing Series Has Found its Leading Lady
Syfy's Van Helsing Series has found its lead actress in True Blood's Kelly Overton.
According to Deadline, Overton will play Vanessa Helsing, a descendant of the Van Helsing lineage who "must lead mankind against a world controlled by vampires in the post-Rising landscape."
Kelly Overton in True Blood.
Also joining the show are Hell on Wheels' Jonathan Scarfe and Christopher Heyerdahl as a Marine and a survivor of the vampire Rising respectively, Mad Men's Paul Johansson as the leader of the vampires, Ray Donovan's David Cubitt as another survivor, and Homeland's Tim Guinee as a vampire foot soldier who "conceals a tragic past".
NVIDIA Exec Believes Self-Driving Cars Will Arrive in ‘Next Few Years’
Self-driving/driverless cars are coming, it's just a matter of how much longer society will have to wait before seeing them on the road everyday.
Speaking at DICE 2016 today, during a panel titled "Automobiles, the Next Mobile Platform," Sahin Kirtavit, Senior Director of Automotive Solutions at NVIDIA, says he believes autonomous vehicles will hit the road "in the next few years." NVIDIA already has a hand in Volvo's development of self-driving cars, as the car maker has plans to use the NVIDIA's Drive PX 2.
Left to right: Rich Hilleman (Electronic Arts), Dr. Frankie James (General Motors), Sahin Kirtavit (NVIDIA), Oriol Servia (Dragon Racing)
How Civil War Differs From The Winter Soldier
Director Joe Russo and star Chris Evans talked up their forthcoming film Captain America: Civil War in the spring 2016 issue of Disney twenty-three, the official magazine of the D23 fan club.
Russo, who is directing Civil War alongside his brother Anthony as he also did Captain America: The Winter Soldier, took the opportunity to explain the narrative differences between the second and third Cap films.
"The turns in the movie are character-based,” said Russo (via Yahoo!). “The twists are character-based. Winter Soldier was based more on the twisting plot. This one twists on character.”
Smite Pro League Offers $100K Prize Pool
Hi-Rez Studios continues to expand support for the pro level of Smite in the Oceanic region for season three of its eSports competition.
How much extra support? Try $100,000AUD in the prize pool this year for professional teams from Australia and New Zealand.
This $100K prize pool tops Hi-Rez's previous highest prize pool offering of $65,000AUD in 2015, of which Smite Oceania Pro League victors Avant Garde took home the lion's share.
"Since introducing the Smite Pro League to the Oceania region last season
, we've been very excited to see the growth in quality and competitiveness of the scene," said Hi-Rez Studios' eSports manager Adam Mierzejewski. "We think the Oceania scene will compete very strongly on the world stage in Season 3.
Kim Kardashian Game Made $100 Million in Its First 5 Months
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was a massive success. Niccolo de Masi—CEO of the game's publisher, Glu Mobile—spoke at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas on the game's impact.
Image via GameSpot
According to GamesSpot, the free-to-play game brought in over $100 million in its first five months, and a total of $200 million over Kim Kardashian: Hollywood's first year. That money came from in-game purchases using real-world money, buying items like personal jets, cars, or clothes.
Image Comics Expo Partners With Emerald City Comic-Con 2016
The official Image Comics Expo will not be taking place in the usual city of San Francisco.
Instead, Image Comics announced it has partnered with the organizers at ReedPOP to move the event and have it coincide with Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle.
The Image Expo will take place on April 6, one day before the official start of Emerald City Comic-Con. Held in Seattle's Showbox Market Theater, the Expo will be an all-day event with signings and a number of prominent creators. The current list of confirmed guest includes Jonathan Hickman (Secret Wars, East of West), Rick Remender (Black Science, Tokyo Ghost), and Leila del Duca (Shutter).
Deadpool Fans Start Petition to Erect Statue in Character’s Hometown
Canadian Deadpool fans are petitioning the country to erect a statue of the mercenary in Regina, Saskatchewan, the anti-heroes hometown. And it makes sense. As noted by ComicBook.com, Deadpool was filmed in Canada, produced by a Canadian, and, of course, starred a Canadian. Oh yeah, and its main character—Deadpool—is Canadian.
The petition is penned by user Luke Oliver, and has almost 2,000 supporters at the time of writing. He created the petition after seeing the film, where Deadpool announced he's from "Regina, Saskatchewan, the town that rhymes with fun."
Unfiltered Episode 4: Xbox Live Arcade Creator Greg Canessa
Former Xbox exec and XBLA creator Greg Canessa sits down for a 70-minute interview about how XBLA almost didn't happen, Bill Gates's favorite XBLA game, why Microsoft should bring XBLA back, and much more!
If you'd rather listen than watch, here's an audio-only download link.
Here are a couple of clips, first about how XBLA almost didn't happen:
And here's Canessa calling for Microsoft to bring XBLA back:
Catch up on every episode of IGN Unfiltered here.
Ubisoft Trained With Bolivia’s Army for Ghost Recon Research
Today at DICE, Ubisoft VP of Editorial Tommy Francois discussed the process of creating immersive open worlds, highlighting the importance of thorough, first-hand research.
While there's value in reading books and consulting other sources of information, there's no replacement for on-hand experience, Francois explained during his panel, titled "Creative Maturity Through Life Experiences – How to Build Engaging Open Worlds."
"When you create a world, I think it’s actually a trap to only read books," he said, noting "the most important thing" in the "fight for player immersion" is first-hand experience. "It needs to start with our own immersion," Francois added. "How do we do this? We go smell the grass. We have to get out from behind our computers."
Avengers Standoff: What Is Pleasant Hill?
Marvel kicked off their latest Avengers crossover today, and we finally know the source of the conflict in Avengers Standoff.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill#1
Before this issue, Marvel didn't reveal much about the Avengers Standoff conflict beyond the fact that it involves a seemingly innocent town named Pleasant Hill and a dark secret that pits the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. in conflict against one another. This issue offered readers their first introduction to Pleasant Hill, as seen through the eyes of a confused, amnesic young man named Jim. Jim found the town's residents to be extremely helpful and accommodating, except for when he attempted to leave.