Black Ops 3 Director on Call of Duty’s First Female Protagonist
Call of Duty: Black Ops III's director has discussed why the studio decided to give players the option of a female character in the latest instalment in the franchise, and explained Ridley Scott's Alien film provided inspiration for the game's script.
Speaking to IGN, Treyarch's Jason Blundell explained the decision to include a playable female character was actually first considered for Black Ops II, but ultimately shelved over fears there wouldn't be enough time to capture a separate voiceover and mocap performance that would do the character justice.
"The power of current gen meant we could do it," he explained. "We actually thought about it back during Black Ops II but we knew it’d end up getting cut because of the amount of time, space and assets needed to fully realise a customisable player character. It just wasn’t worth it. But this time we thought we could do it justice in terms of personalisation, with full mocap and VO data for everything.
Treyarch ‘Shocked’ by Reaction to Black Ops 3 Twitter Stunt
Call of Duty: Black Ops III developer Treyarch has apologised to anyone offended by a recent marketing campaign taking place on its Twitter account that seemed to suggest a terrorist attack was taking place in Singapore.
In case you missed it, the widely-criticised stunt saw the @callofduty account change its name and branding to "Current Events Aggregate", before tweeting a series of articles about fashion and movies, both out of context and seemingly unrelated to Call of Duty. The next one was then of a terrorist attack tweeted in real time.
Wes Anderson to Direct Stop-Motion Film About Dogs
After finding considerable success with The Grand Budapest Hotel last year, director Wes Anderson is reportedly shifting gears to work on a completely new project, all about dogs.
This stop-motion animated feature does not yet have a title, and while details are incredibly scarce, sources close to Indiewire have confirmed the canine-focused film will indeed be Anderson's next major project. In fact, pre-production is reportedly already underway.
Just last year, Anderson announced he was working on an episodic movie inspired by Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Sica’s anthology film, The Gold of Naples. However, this project is believed to be completely unrelated to his stop-motion movie about dogs.
Firewatch Release Date Revealed
Campo Santo's debut game Firewatch will release on PS4, PC, and Linux on February 9.
"We're aiming for a world-wide release (as world-wide as our small studio can pull off) and will have more information in the lead-up to the date," said Campo Santo's Sean Vanaman, "and, if you're in San Francisco, another opportunity for you to get your hands on the game (running on PS4 hardware!)."
Be sure to check out a ton of Firewatch footage and read our interviews with Campo Santo's Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin from our IGN First earlier this year.
Cinemax Developing ‘Skin Trade’ from Game of Thrones Creator
Cinemax is developing Skin Trade, a TV show based on George R. R. Martin's 1988 werewolf novella.
Martin confirmed that Cinemax has ordered the pilot script via his blog. "This being Hollywood, of course, you never know where things will end," writes Martin, "but if they like the script, we'll shoot a pilot, and if they like that, hey, who knows, maybe we'll get a series on the air."
Allison Road Kickstarter Canceled, Dev Signs With Team17
Allison Road developer Lilith has announced the cancelation of its Kickstarter campaign, as the studio is now partnering with Team17 for its first-person horror game.
"We have decided to withdraw the Kickstarter campaign to allow us to commit 100% to an opportunity that will give us the chance as a team to create the best game possible," an update on Allison Road's Kickstarter page explains. "We are delighted to announce that we will be joining Team17’s highly successful games label."
For those who don't know, Team17 is a British independent developer and games publisher best known for its work on the Worms series.
Back to the Future DLC Coming to Rocket League
The DeLorean Time Machine will soon be available as a playable car in Rocket League.
Starting from October 21, the date which the events of Back to the Future Part II took place on, the DeLorean will be available to purchase for €2 ($4 USD).
"We were all such huge Back to the Future fans here at Psyonix, that it was one of the few “Holy Grails” we had hoped for besides having a hit game," says Psyonix's announcement on the PS Blog. "The fact that we’re getting both of those “best-case scenarios” in the same year is an amazing accomplishment for us, they’re things we’ll never forget!"
J.J. Abrams: Studio Is ‘Not Trying to Disney-fy’ Star Wars
Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams has spoken about working on the film under Disney with Apple's chief designer Jony Ive and producer Brian Glazer in a talk for Vanity Fair.
Some of the highlights (thanks The Playlist) included Abrams confirming that he has the final cut on the movie, however he also said that "when you do a Disney project, there's a clause in there that you kind of go, 'Well if I were a lawyer I could probably drive a truck through it...'"
Marvel Heroes 2016 Announced, Secret Invasion Story Coming
Developer Gazillion has announced the next phase for Marvel Heroes 2015 — and that’s Marvel Heroes 2016, which brings new stories, controller support, and more this December.
Skrulls, including Kl’rt the Super-Skrull, lead the Secret Invasion story chapter, which is finally coming to Marvel’s dungeon-crawling RPG. In addition to new campaign missions, older 2013 character models are getting visual improvements. The Mac version of Marvel Heroes is also exiting its year-long beta phase.
On the smaller side of fan-demanded updates, Marvel Heroes wil add leaderboards, Steam Achievements, and game pad functionality. In the months after Marvel Heroes 2016 release, Gazillion will add the dinosaur-filled Savage Land Patrol Zone, a Thanos Raid, and other unannounced content to come next year.
IGN UK Podcast #300: Live From London
It's been a long time coming, but finally episode 300 of the IGN UK Podcast is here!
For those who managed to make it along on the night, thank you so much for coming and we hope you had as good a time as we did. For those of you who couldn't make it, do not fret as here we present the podcast in its (almost) entirety. Yes, we cut out The Great Bearparkini's magic show, because close-up magic doesn't really work that well on camera, but everything else in is here, ready sucked up and loved.
So saddle up and let's ride, Duckhunters!
Note: This podcast was recorded live in front of raucous audience at the 100 Club in London, so the audio quality isn't quite up to the standard of the regular podcast. Thanks for your understanding!