New Vimeo Initiative Supports Female Filmmakers
Vimeo is backing a program aimed at elevating women in the film industry. The initiative, called "Share the Screen," promises to invest in at least five female-driven projects in 2016.
"We’re putting our money where our mouth is," Sam Toles, Vimeo’s head of programming, told Variety. "It’s apparent to us that there is a huge disparity in the number of women content creators. All the data shows that this business skews heavily male."
A report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film shows that only nine percent of the top 250 domestic films in 2015 were directed by women—a number that is only two percent higher than it was in 2014, and basically the same as it was in the late '90s.
Republique PS4 Release Date Announced
Republique, an episodic stealth action game, will launch on March 22 for PlayStation 4.
According to the PS Blog, Camouflaj confirmed the game will be available digitally and physically at retailers. The PS4 version will include original and new outfits for the game’s protagonist Hope, including a PS4 exclusive outfit based on Gravity Rush.
Camouflaj also talks about their decision to bring Republique to PS4 in the post, stating “it was not an easy one” because of the challenge of transitioning controls from touch on mobile to desktop hot-keys to the Dual Shock 4.
Xbox One Rocket League Will Have Sunset Overdrive Items
The Xbox One version of Rocket League will include exclusive cosmetics, courtesy of Insomniac Games.
The bolt-ons are themed around Insomniac's equally Xbox One exclusive third-person shooter, Sunset Overdrive. They will apparently include a new booster effect based on Overcharge, orange mutagenic swill that causes a zombie outbreak, and Fizzie, the energy drink's sinister mascot.
Sunset Overdrive creative director Marcus Smith says that the cosmetics won't just alter a Rocket League vehicle's look. When using the custom boost "you can hear the firing mechanism from the Ahab gun in Sunset."
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime Coming to PS4
The cooperative space game Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is making its way to PlayStation 4.
Lovers will be released on the PlayStation Network on Feb. 9, 2016. No price point has been set, though the game is currently available on the Xbox Marketplace and Steam storefront for $15 USD.
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a game where two players take control of two pilots on a giant ship, and must manage different weapons and systems to combat the Anti-Love and rescue space bunnies.
If that sounds like a good time, check out IGN's favorable review of Lovers.
Got a special someone you're looking forward to playing Lovers with on your PS4? Let us know in the comments!
Star Wars Rebels Leia Figure Coming This Fall
Hasbro will debut its Star Wars Rebels Princess Leia toy this coming fall. Check out the photo below, courtesy of USA Today.
Image courtesy Hasbro, USA Today
The 3 3/4-inch figure is based on Leia as seen in the Disney XD show, who premiered in last night's episode. The episode, titled "A Princess on Lothal," is set three years before the original Star Wars film. Princess Leia appears as a young aide to Bail Organa, and acts as an Imperial supporter while secretly helping the Rebel crew.
X-Men’s Dark Phoenix Saga Could Get a Redo
During my visit with a small group of press to the set of X-Men: Apocalypse, both producer/writer Simon Kinberg and director/writer Bryan Singer acknowledged that it’s possible they might adapt the Dark Phoenix Saga once again.
The Dark Phoenix Saga is the most popular X-Men comic storyline and arguably one of its best. It sees Jean Grey become possessed by a fiery cosmic bird that embodies the concept of life and death, making her one of the most powerful beings in the universe. The story centers around her struggle to control that power and her eventual fall to evil, becoming the Dark Phoenix.
Ex-BioShock Devs’ Perception: Designing Horror Around a Handicap
How can a game be scary if the protagonist can’t even see? Such is the on-paper quagmire facing Perception, an upcoming first-person horror adventure being crafted by the ex-BioShock and ex-Dead Space developers at startup studio The Deep End Games. In it, you play as Cassie, a teenage girl drawn to the oddities of an 18th century Massachusetts home set on the Echo Bluff cliffside.
Naturally, the designers behind the game have a solution: echolocation – think of a sort of bat-like sonar, triggered when Cassie taps her white stick on the floor – allows our heroine to “see” the creepy house. She’ll be transported through multiple time periods within the house, being freaked out along the way by creepy sounds, quick flashes of spooky things like spiders and ghouls, and the even creepier Poppet dolls that roam the house.
Long War Modders Create Launch Content for XCOM 2
According to XCOM 2's official website, Firaxis Games and 2K are bringing on the modders behind COM: Enemy Unknown's popular Long War total-conversion mod to make add-ons for XCOM 2's February launch.
Long War Studios is made up of Rachel “Amineri” Norman and James “JCLewis” Karlson, and The Human Reach author John J. Lumpkin. In addition to The Long War and X-COM 2's upcoming mods, the studio is preparing a Kickstarter for a grand strategy game called Terra Invicta which will have players trying to unite the earth against a imminent alien invasion.
XCOM 2 takes place 20 years after XCOM: Enemy Unknown and its expansion pack XCOM: Enemy Within, in a world where the aliens won and it falls to players to lead the resistance. Last week, IGN sat down with the game's Lead Producer Garth DeAngelis and Designer Mark Nauta to learn about all the ways you'll be able to kick extraterrestrial ass when XCOM 2 comes out on February 5.
Analyst: NX Portable Coming in 2016, Console in 2017
Following yesterday's batch of NX rumors hinting at what Nintendo may have planned for its next console, additional information has surfaced by way of Macquarie Capital Securities in Japan.
According the firm's report (via Nintendo Life), Macquarie expects Nintendo to release NX as two separate units, with the portable element launching this November and its "console partner device" arriving in 2017.
Lots of Harley Quinn and Superman for DC in April
DC released their full solicitations for April 2016 this week. Look for multiple new Harley Quinn-themed projects that month, while DC will also be kicking off another big Superman crossover called "The Super League." Because apparently the Justice League wasn't super enough already.
New Series:
- Bloodlines #1
- Harley Quinn and Her Gang of Harleys #1
- Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad April Fool's Special #1 (one-shot)
New Creative Teams:
- Peter Tomasi and Fernando Pesarin on Action Comics #51
- Brenden Fletcher (as solo writer) and Eleanor Carlini on Batgirl #51