Secret Wars #9 Reveals the Fate of the Fantastic Four
The final issue of Secret Wars is here, and it revealed more about the fate of the Fantastic Four in the All-New Marvel Universe.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Secret Wars #9!
Following up on the previous chapter's cliffhanger, this issue opened with a titanic showdown between the godlike Doctor Doom and the Infinity Gauntlet-clad Black Panther. Even that mighty weapon wasn't enough to overpower the ruler of Battleworld, but Black Panther revealed that he never intended to do anything more than stall Doom. The villain's real foe, as always, was Reed Richards.
Square Enix Cancels PS4 Digital Pre-Orders of Hitman
Square Enix, publisher of IO Interactive's upcoming game Hitman, is canceling PlayStation 4 digital pre-orders.
Sony sent out a message of the cancelation to those who have pre-ordered the game, which Videogamer's David Scammell posted to Twitter.
The notice sent out matches a similar one posted by PlayStation's support staff yesterday. "The publisher has notified us that the configuration of the product you pre-ordered has changed significantly," the post reads. "As a result we have withdrawn the current pre-order from PlayStation Store and will cancel all existing pre-orders. If you have pre-ordered the game, you will receive email confirmation when your pre-order has been cancelled. A revised pre-order for Hitman will be available on the store soon."
Heroes Reborn Not Getting a Second Season
NBC has announced it will not be renewing Heroes Reborn for a second season.
Network chairman Bob Greenblatt confirmed the series' impending conclusion during TCA's winter press tour. "That was always the plan, unless Tim woke up one day and said, 'Oh, I have another chapter to tell,'" Greenblatt told reporters (via THR). "But I think we're coming to the end of the world, maybe. Stay tuned."
Show creator Tim Kring recently said Reborn would be a closed-ended series, noting Heroes can be "rebooted, relaunched and recast as a franchise more than just an ongoing saga with the same characters."
Metal Gear Online PC Beta Disabled Temporarily
Konami has taken the beta for Metal Gear Online for PC offline temporarily.
According to a post on its Steam page, a potential exploit has been found and the developer is working on a hotfix.
“Due to a possible exploit, we’ve removed access to the Beta temporarily while a hotfix is being prepared,” Konami said in a statement. “Once the issue is addressed we’ll provide access to the Beta once again.”
No timeframe has been given on when Konami will relaunch the beta.
The Metal Gear Online PC beta went live yesterday. Anyone who purchased Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain for PC can opt into and download the beta.
Robot Wars Returns
BBC is bringing back Robot Wars to television.
The rebooted Robot Wars is getting a new fighting arena in Glasgow, Scotland. And BBC is promising more robots and science with the return of the series.
The game show — which originally ran from 1998 to 2004 — sees groups of professionals and amateurs building robots to go to war inside an arena. The contestants have to worry about house machines too.
Mac Sales See Slight Increase in Spite of Declining PC Sales
PC sales continue to drop, with analyst Gartner reporting that Q4 2015 marked "the fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide PC shipment decline."
For the last quarter of 2015, worldwide PC shipments amounted to 75.7 million, which represents an 8.3% decline compared to the same quarter in 2014. Throughout the year, 288.7 million PCs were sold, representing an 8% drop from 2014. PC vendors, including Lenovo, Asus, Acer, Dell and HP, all saw declines in their worldwide shipment estimates. The only exception being Apple, which saw a slight uptick of 2.8% in Q4, and an overall growth of 5.8%.
Supergirl / The Flash Crossover May Be Coming
Is a Supergirl and The Flash TV crossover in the works? Recent comments made by CBS president Glenn Geller are open to interpretation, but certainly also give plenty of fodder for speculation.
During the TCA (Television Critics Association) winter press tour, Geller seemed to give the biggest opening so far to a potential crossover between the two shows. "I have to be really careful what I say here," he told reporters (via TheWrap), when asked about the possibility of Supergirl meeting The Flash, before simply stating, "Watch and wait and see what happens."
Both shows are handled by same team of executive producers, and CW and CBS have both been asked about the potential for a crossover since Supergirl launched, but nothing has been publicly solidified so far. Just a day earlier, CW president Mark Pedowitz simply said no crossover had been announced when asked about it at the TCA press tour, though he did say he'd be open to it if the logistics could be worked out, making Geller's remarks sounds notably optimistic.
Friends Cast Paying Tribute to TV Director James Burrows
NBC will pay tribute to TV director James Burrows with a special in February that features the entire Friends cast.
Entertainment Weekly notes that Burrows has directed 1,000 episodes of television, including installments of Friends, Taxi and Cheers. As such, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer are on board to honor Burrows in the NBC special.
That said, don't necessarily expect a full reunion of the Friends cast per se. While everyone is scheduled to appear, it's unlikely they'll do so together.
"I’m hoping all six
will be in same room at same time, I’m not sure we can logistically can pull it off," said NBC executive Robert Greenblatt at the 2016 winter Television Critics Association press tour.
If Hannibal Ever Returns, It’ll Have “Quite a Change in Tone”
Hugh Dancy will soon be seen in Hulu’s The Path, teaming him with Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) and Michelle Monaghan (True Detective) and executive producers Jason Katims and Jessica Goldberg (Friday Night Lights). I recently sat down with Dancy to discuss that series at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour and while I’ll have plenty more on that series before it debuts on March 30th, our conversation also turned to Dancy’s last series, Hannibal.
Hannibal executive producer Bryan Fuller has spoken about his hope for the show, which NBC cancelled last year, to continue in some form down the line and noted he has a specific plan for where the story would go next, after that notable Season 3 finale. I asked Dancy what he felt the chances were of that happening, along with what it was like filming the final scenes of the show and his thoughts on what motivated Will Graham to do what he did…
Fan Recreates GoldenEye in Unreal Engine 4
Many still have fond memories of dorm room split-screen matches and big weekend LAN parties, all centered around the granddaddy of console shooters: GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64.
One fan didn't want to leave those memories in a 64-bit processor, so he rebuilt one of his favorite multiplayer maps from the classic Rare game in Unreal Engine 4.
Jude Wilson, who posted the video to YouTube, remade the map as part of an assignment for his Master's Degree. He says that he "tried to get it as realistic as possible, using the films interiors, props and lighting but, remaining true to the original game at the same time."
It doesn't seem to be playable in any form, much less replete with remote mines and Golden Guns, but it certainly brings back some memories for GoldenEye fans. It's a game that's survived the test of time, even making IGN's list of the top 100 games of all time.