Heroes Creator on Why It Made Sense to Revive the Series
After five years, Heroes is returning to NBC this Thursday via Heroes Reborn, a new 13-episode series. Once more guiding the series is Heroes creator Tim Kring, and I sat down with him to discuss bringing the series back.
Kring chatted about why he wasn’t surprised Heroes was revived, his approach to the story and how he thinks they can avoid some of the pitfalls they encountered the first time around.
IGN: When Heroes came on the radar as possibly coming back on NBC, was it an out of nowhere surprise to you?
Tim Kring: The honest answer is no. There had been talk all along, in various ways. Some of that was just that there was a recognition of what the audience really was out there for the show. Even when the show was cancelled, there were many people who were aware of what was happening with the audience. The last full year we were on the air was 2009 and we were the number one most downloaded show in the world back then. We were one of the most DVR’d shows, we were certainly one of the most streamed shows in the world. I think that year we sold two million units of DVDs, which is a lot. I remember reading that article at the end of 2009, in December when they do those kind of year-end wrap ups of things. I think it was March of 2010, a few months later, we were cancelled. So reconciling this idea that a show that had sold two million units of DVDs and was one of the most downloaded shows in the world, one of the most streamed shows in the word, one of the most DVR’d shows, was also cancelled, was something that was talked a lot about internally.
Security Firm Zerodium Offers $1 Million Bounty for iOS 9 Jailbreaks
Zerodium, a company that acquires exploits, is prepared to pay $1 million USD to those that can provide a good enough iOS 9 jailbreak.
The company is hosting what it calls "The Million Dollar iOS 9 Bug Bounty," with the main intent being to buy an "exclusive, browser-based, and untethered jailbreak" for Apple's latest mobile operating system. In a post explaining the challenge, Zerodium states that, while iOS 9 is the most secured version of iOS Apple's developed so far, it's still subject to vulnerabilities. And the high bounty is meant to represent the difficulties people will run into as they try to find any flaws.
PAMELA Is a Sci-Fi Open-World Survival Horror
Six-person indie team NVYVE Studios has revealed a trailer for its upcoming survival horror FPS game PAMELA, revealing a utopian future ravaged by mankind's misguided pursuit of perfection.
Jeff van Dyck, who works as composer for the Total War series as well as audio director for Alien: Isolation, contributed a haunting theme to the Rebirth trailer, which reveals a number of the game's locations and reveals the titular omnipresent AI overseer.
PAMELA begins as the player is awoken from cryosleep in fallen utopia Eden. You'll fight for survival alongside AI Pamela as you both explore a once-vibrant city now overtaken by monsters known as the Afflicted. You can wield, customise, and upgrade weapons and equipment to help you explore the environment, and you'll also be able to enhance your body with bio-augmentations to give you an advantage over your enemies. You'll want to be careful with your choices, though, as every decision comes with consequences.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time Recreated in Unreal Engine 4
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's iconic village has been reimagined using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4.
See Kakariko Village rendered in glorious high definition, courtesy of YouTube user ArtistArtorias, below.
The next proper entry in The Legend of Zelda franchise is slated for release on Wii U sometime next year. In the meantime, Nintendo is releasing a multiplayer-centric spin-off, dubbed The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, for 3DS in October.
Zelda fans also have Hyrule Warriors Legends, a handheld port of the action-packed Wii U game, to look forward to in early 2016. It will feature a playable Toon Link, as well as Tetra and other bonus Wind Waker content.
Celebrate Batman Day With Comics and Cupcakes
DC is celebrating their annual Batman Day event with a huge digital comics sale. Starting today, 1000 different Batman comics will be available for $.99 each through the Comixology, Amazon, Google Play, Barnes & Noble NOOK, Apple iTunes and iVerse platforms.
The sale will include both the pre-New 52 and current incarnations of Batman, Detective Comics, Batgirl and Nightwing, as well as series like Superman/Batman, The Long Halloween, Dark Victory and Legends of The Dark Knight. You can see the full list of comics included in the sale on DC's website. The sale will run from September 22-28.
Dragon Age: Inquisition GOTY Edition Announced
Dragon Age: Inquisition will be receiving a Game of the Year Edition next month, Electronic Arts and BioWare have announced.
According a post on the official Dragon Age website, the GOTY Edition will include a copy of the main game, as well as all of the major post-launch content, including The Descent, Jaws of Hakkon and Tresspaer DLC add-ons.
Additionally, EA is packing in the extras from Spoils of the Avvar, Spoils of the Qunari, and the Deluxe Edition upgrades, which include new gear, mounts, weapons, and more.
Dragon Age: Inquisition Game of the Year Edition is slated for release on October 6, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. There has been no mention of a release for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
Street Fighter 5’s Next Beta Features Cross-Platform Play
Street Fighter V’s next beta will not be limited to PlayStation 4 only.
Capcom has revealed on the Capcom-Unity blog that the upcoming phase of the Street Fighter V beta will support play between PC and PS4 platforms.
In order for PC users to prepare for the beta, Capcom has also released minimum and recommended requirements for Street Fighter V. A full list of the requirements can be found on the blog post.
Mila Kunis and Rob Zombie Working on a Horror TV Show
Golden Globe Award-nominated actress Mila Kunis and filmmaker Rob Zombie are producing a new Starz show called Trapped.
The horror comedy series sees an affluent family terrorized by a murderous cult, with the half-hour show happening all in one night. Trapped comes from Kunis' Orchard Farm Productions (she's also an executive producer), with Zombie on board to direct and executive produce as well.
“We’re excited to work in partnership with Rob Zombie as well as Mila Kunis and her Orchard Farm Productions associates Susan Curtis, Cami Curtis and Lisa Sterbakov on this horror comedy series,” said Starz managing director Carmi Zlotnik.
Arrested Development co-producer Joey Slamon is the creator of Trapped and also scripting the Starz series.
How to Properly Pronounce Mount Everest
Even though Mount Everest is the highest peak on the planet and even has a new movie focused around it, most of us are mispronouncing the name.
Mental Floss points out that the highest mountain on earth is named after Welsh surveyor and geographer Col. Sir George Everest. And his surname was pronounced Eve-rest, with a focus on the first part.
That's a notable difference to how almost everyone else says Mount Everest (Ever-est or even Evv-rest). Even the trailer for the new movie starring Jason Clark, Josh Brolin and Jake Gyllenhaal uses the Ever-est pronunciation.
Selfies are Deadlier Than Sharks
Sharks are known best for their pointy teeth and their hobby of chewing on hapless beach-goers. They have a pretty bad rap in pop culture too, with even George R. R. Martin having had his head ripped off by a shark in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! But there's one thing more deadly than the much-feared shark - the selfie.
Conde Nast Traveler reveals that through August 2015, the number of selfie-related deaths reached "at least" 10, noting that while several cases of selfie deaths have been easily tracked through media coverage, there are undoubtedly more out there.