The Flash Producer on This Week’s Big Introductions
Warning: Full spoilers for this week’s The Flash episode, “The Fury of Firestorm,” follow.
A lot was in play this week on The Flash, as a new Firestorm was introduced, King Shark (!) showed up, Harrison Wells made his presence known to Barry Allen and more.
At a recent press screening of the episode, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg discussed these recent reveals and more, including hints at the next big Flash/Arrow crossover.
No, there’s no bait and switch being played. We’d heard Keiynan Lonsdale is playing Wally West in Season 2 and yes, Kreisberg confirms, when Iris learns from her mother that she has a brother, “That’s Wally.” In the comics, Wally was originally Iris’ nephew, but Kreisberg said he and the Flash team decided to make it a sibling Iris never knew about, noting, “We always hated on TV shows that it’s year two and somebody’s like, 'Well, Cousin John’s coming!' And it’s like, ‘Oh, good ol’ Cousin John!’ who no one ever mentioned before. It was always weird. The notion that they don’t know Wally was sort of where that came from and then that was the idea that Francine was still alive and then that whole storyline."
Uncharted 4’s Multiplayer Feels Like Uncharted But Concentrated
A match of Uncharted 4’s multiplayer feels like an Uncharted adventure, but one that’s compressed into just a few minutes. There’s spectacle, a hail of bullets, moments of camaraderie, and an unexpected intrusion of the supernatural.
Watching the trailer during Sony’s press conference, in which the camera flits between familiar characters, Uncharted’s revamped multiplayer looked hectic and eccentric. But having played a couple of rounds, it’s definitely fast-paced, but there’s also a surprising amount of depth there, too, and plenty of new ideas striving to make its multiplayer feel distinctive and, perhaps most importantly, like Uncharted.
Unquestionably the most eye-catching aspect of the multiplayer reveal were the supernatural power-ups. Every Uncharted adventure sooner or later embraces the supernatural, but seeing Elena engulfed in fire before teleporting made it seem more like Infamous than Uncharted. In the context of a match, they feel far less outlandish and make much more sense.
An Updated Look at Nintendo’s Wacky Zelda Timeline
Recently, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma revealed Zelda: Tri Force Heroes’ place on the series timeline.
The three-player co-op game takes place during Hyrule’s decline, a chaotic era that connects the events of A Link to the Past, Oracles of Ages & Seasons, Link’s Awakening, and A Link Between Worlds. Your friends at IGN decided to update the timeline to reflect the recent changes, so take a look at the latest version below.
The saga continues...
What’s Going On With Apple Watch Sales?
Apple reported its financial results today, and the company posted $234 billion in revenue for the fiscal year 2015. That staggering number was driven largely by record iPhone sales for the fourth quarter. Of Apple's $51.5 billion in revenue for the quarter, $32.2 billion of that was generated by its iPhone product line. But once again numbers for Apple Watch were not given.
During its call with investors, Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned sales of the Apple Watch exceeded the company's own expectations, but provided no further information. However, on its 2015 unaudited summary data sheet, we see the closest thing there is to Apple Watch numbers, and the numbers don't look great up against the rest of the Apple line.
God of War VR Demo Sold PlayStation President on Virtual Reality
A PlayStation 3 virtual reality demo for God of War was the turning point for Shuhei Yoshida, PlayStation's President of Worldwide Studios. After seeing developer Santa Monica Studios' custom-made, first-person Kratos demo, Yoshida was convinced VR was the future.
During a Paris Games Week panel about virtual reality, Yoshida explained the moment he believed VR could work. "It was actually on PS3 at Santa Monica Studios," Yoshida said. "A developer who’d been working on God of War got me to try a handmade headset and when I put it on he used a God of War game. I was Kratos in first person view. When I looked down, I saw a strong man’s body and I thought: I’m sold”
Yoshida added, "Working on PlayStation VR, I feel like I'm back 20 years ago. I feel like I'm younger again."
Paddington 2 in the Works With Original’s Filmmaker
The family movie Paddington is getting a sequel, with the original film's writer and director Paul King on-board.
Deadline reports that King is set to write the script with Simon Farnaby, who played Barry in the first film. StudioCanal, which is financing the sequel, has been vocal about getting King back for the follow-up.
The first Paddington was a surprise critical and box office hit, grossing $260 million. IGN's review called it a refreshingly optimistic movie and technically impressive. It was adapted from the classic series of children's books written by Michael Bond.
Suicide Squad: Harley Quinn Caught in Love Triangle
Suicide Squad will send Harley Quinn on a journey of self-discovery as she seeks to break free from Joker's influence, director David Ayer has revealed.
"It's about her breaking free of The Joker and becoming this fully actualized, independent person. That really is a metaphor for everyone's journey here," Ayer told Empire (via ComicBookMovie).
Not only that, but it appears a love triangle is in her future, as Deadshot takes a liking to Margot Robbie's character. "Harley is the biggest troublemaker, but Deadshot's actually eyeballing her a little bit. There's a pretty ragged romantic triangle there," Deadshot actor Will Smith said.
Our Experiences with Halo 5’s Multiplayer Servers
As you may know, for our Halo 5 review, we decided to hold off on a final score until we'd had enough time to play multiplayer in a true post-launch environment.
A bunch of IGN editors jumped into MP right as the servers went live, and have kept playing throughout the morning and afternoon.
We're happy to report that the Master Chief Collection's myriad launch issues are virtually non-existent for Halo 5.
- Our matches are connecting quickly, whether we queue alone or with a party
Fiscal Year 2015 Was Apple’s Most Successful Ever
Apple released the results of the fourth quarter of its fiscal year to investors, and the company had its best year in history. Apple's revenue for the year grew 28% year over year, to $234 billion USD.
For the quarter alone, Apple reported revenue of $51.5 billion and profits of $11.1 billion. Those numbers were way up from the same period last year, when Apple reported a respectable revenue of $42.1 billion and a net profit of $8.5 billion.
As a result of the strong numbers posted going into the holiday season, Apple predicts revenues for the next quarter will be between $75.5 billion and $77.5 billion.
During the open statements of Apple's call with investors, CEO Tim Cook said Apple's growth last year was greater than the combined growth of 90% of the companies listed on the Fortune 500. Cook didn't give hard numbers on the Apple Watch during the call, but he did say the device's sales exceeded the company's expectations.
Bale, Michael Mann Reteam for Ferrari Biopic
Paramount Pictures announced today that it will release director Michael Mann’s next movie, Enzo Ferrari, starring Christian Bale in the title role of the Italian auto magnate.
The film "takes place in one pivotal year, 1957. It is the personal story of a passionate man and his sprawling world, at times hilarious and at the next moment devastating, as he faces a brutal challenge to his survival."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, actress Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) is in talks to play Ferrari's wife, Laura Dominica.
Christian Bale will portray auto titan Enzo Ferrari.