J.J. Abrams Not Directing Star Wars: Episode IX
We've known for some time that Rian Johnson will be stepping in to direct Star Wars: Episode VIII after J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out. However, back in March, we heard that Disney might want Abrams to come back for Episode IX.
Despite the rumor, Abrams recently confirmed he will not be directing the third and final film of the new trilogy. "No, I'm not going to direct Episode IX, as much as I am deeply envious of anyone who gets to work with this group of people on the future movies," the filmmaker told Entertainment Weekly.
You Have to Wait 9 days to Unlock Everything in Mario Maker
A new trailer for Super Mario Maker reveals how you'll unlock the creation tools through daily play.
The video shows how you'll start the game with a limited set of items in your toolbox to populate the world. Playing for at least five minutes the first day will unlock another tier of tools on the second day, and so on, for a total of nine tiers. That means creators won't be able to use the full suite until a more than a week after launch.
It also shows off some of the other features, like the randomized 100 and 10 Mario Challenges, sound effects and music block customization, and Amiibo compatibility.
The gated progress won't mean that levels with later elements will be entirely unavailable. It's launching with about 60 pre-made levels--including one from Rayman creator Michel Ancel--and presumably those will utilize the full toolset.
Arrow: Constantine Will Help Bring Sara Lance Back
It was officially announced that John Constantine would be appearing on Arrow this coming season at the TCA press tour yesterday, with Matt Ryan reprising his role from the cancelled NBC series as DC’s occult hero, and now we're getting some more info on just how this appearance will work.
I spoke to Arrow executive producer Wendy Mericle at TCA, and she delved a bit more into Constantine's appearance in Arrow: Season 4’s fifth episode, “Haunted."
Regarding how Constantine will fit in on the show, it turns out he will be involved in a big question going into this season - just how will Sara Lance be resurrected? After all, Sara was killed at the start of Season 3, but we know she’ll be back as a part of the upcoming spinoff DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, with Caity Lotz returning as Sara and her new alter ego, White Canary.
Civil War Set Photos Reveal Black Panther Costume
We've seen concept art for what Marvel Studios' incarnation of Black Panther might look like, but now we finally have our first actual look at the future Avenger's costume in Captain America: Civil War.
ComingSoon posted some new images from the German set of Civil War. You'll also notice the stunt double for Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, aka Winter Soldier, in the shots below:
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Dev Clarifies Boss Battles
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided developer Eidos Montreal has spoken out to clarify some confusion surrounding the boss encounters in its upcoming stealth-action game.
According to gameplay director Patrick Fortier, players will not be able to defeat Mankind Divided's bosses by simply talking to them. "I started reading you can take-down bosses by talking to them - it's like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where did this come from?'" Fortier told Eurogamer when discussing how players can defeat a boss through stealth-like means.
Twitter Removes 140-Character Limit From Direct Messages
Twitter has officially removed the 140-character limit from Direct Messages.
"If you’ve checked your Direct Messages today, you may have noticed that something’s missing: the limitation of 140 characters," the company revealed in a blog post. "You can now chat on (and on) in a single Direct Message, and likely still have some characters left over."
The announcement for such a change was made back in June, and was initially said to be coming in July, but Twitter has decided to implement the changes today, which expands the character limit from 140 to 10,000. The expansion marks "another big step towards making the private side of Twitter even more powerful and fun," but it will not alter the rest of the social platform - actual Tweets will still be limited to 140-characters.
Receive a Shiny Rayquaza in Pokemon ORAS
Nintendo is distributing a free Shiny Rayquaza for a limited time to Pokemon Omega Ruby Version and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire Version players.
The Shiny Rayquaza is available now until September 14 through Nintendo Network, thanks to the mystery gift option on the main menu of the handheld game. The powerful Pokemon already has the Dragon Ascent move, meaning the Shiny Rayquaza can Mega Evolve without a Mega Stone.
For more on the Nintendo 3DS game, be sure to check out IGN's review of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as well as the easter eggs we found in the handheld remakes.
Free Xbox One TV DVR Launch Territories Confirmed
Microsoft has confirmed Xbox One’s TV DVR feature will first launch in the US, Canada, and the UK, according to VG247.
DVR recording was first revealed at this year’s Gamescom. The functionality lets Xbox One users record TV shows in the background while playing games, or while you’re out.
Any recorded program can then be streamed to any device running Windows 10, or can be downloaded to it directly.
In terms of when it’ll be available, subscription-free DVR recording is due for release in 2016. If you’re wondering what extra kit you’ll be needing to take advantage of the new feature, the newly-announced Xbox One 2TB HDD is a good place to start. Following that, Podcast Unlocked has everything you need to know.
League of Legends Lag Fix Leaves Pro Unhappy
Riot Games is attempting to come up with a solution for lag in League of Legends in North America and pro players aren’t happy.
Last week, Riot revealed that North American game servers would be migrated from the West Coast to “a more centralized location” in Chicago, Illinois. The idea is connections would improve for the majority of League of Legends players.
According to Kotaku, the problem with this solution is the majority of professional League of Legends gamers live in or near the West Cast in order to be closer to the game’s servers. Closer proximity to the servers offers the players the best ping, or least amount of lag and moving the servers potentially alters the connections for West Coast players training in-game.
CBS Seems More Open to Supergirl/Arrow/Flash Crossovers
The question keeps coming up about whether Supergirl could crossover with Arrow and The Flash, despite airing on different networks. Given they share the same production company, Warner Bros., and several of the same producers – including Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg – and given the CW is co-owned by CBS, the belief is they might be more open to a crossover occurring than they might otherwise. Back in January, CBS president Nina Tassler seemed resistant to the idea, but this week at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour, sounded at least a bit more open to it.