Game of Thrones: Season 5 Finale Beats Show’s Ratings Record
Game of Thrones' Season 5 finale beat out this year's season premiere to become the most watched episode in the series' history.
"Mother's Mercy" was watched by an average of 8.1 million people, according to Deadline. The previous record holder, the Season 5 premiere, brought in 7.99 million viewers. The record is even more impressive considering last week's finale went head-to-head with Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Deadline also notes viewership for the finale was up 13% compared to the previous week's episode, and 14% compared to Season 4's finale.
Nintendo Offers Up eShop Savings to Celebrate E3
Nintendo is offering savings of up to 30% on games sold in the eShop.
The savings event is in celebration of E3, which, in case you didn't know, is happening right this very second. Wii U and 3DS games are part of the sale, and the sale covers full titles and digital-only games, too.
Some highlights of the sale include The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for $35, Super Mario 3D World for $42, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf for just $21.
There are a bunch of games currently reduced, and Nintendo took it upon itself to organize them by franchise. So you can hoard a whole grip of Zelda games, pick up four separate Just Dance titles, or get a hold of LEGO games for both Wii U and 3DS.
Guitar Hero Live Release Date Announced
Activision has announced that Guitar Hero Live will be released on October 20, 2015.
The next entry in the long-running Guitar Hero franchise will cost $100 and is currently planned for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U. Select mobile devices will also support the game.
Guitar Hero Live is taking a new direction for the series' revival, including a first-person perspective with full-motion video and a redesigned controller that positions the buttons to feel more like moving between different strings. Guitar Hero TV Mode is a 24-hour playable music network that will offer preset, scheduled programming with various genres taking different hours of the day.
Marvel Congratulates Jurassic World on Beating Avengers
As you may know by now, Marvel's The Avengers no longer has the bragging rights of scoring the biggest North American debut of all time. It was dethroned this past weekend by Jurassic World, which just so happens to star Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy leading man Chris Pratt.
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige tweeted the following congratulatory note and image today to the new champs: "Congrats Mr. Spielberg @UniversalPics @Legendary @LeDoctor @colintrevorrow and especially @prattprattpratt"
Final Fantasy VII Remake Boosts Square Enix Stock
In the wake of the surprise announcement of a Final Fantasy VII remake at Sony's E3 2015 press conference, Square Enix's stock value has increased.
Bloomberg reports Square's stock jumped 2.9 percent to 2,956 yen at the close of Tokyo's trading, the highest it's been since 2008.
No gameplay was shown, but the trailer made Final Fantasy VII appear to be a complete overhaul of the original PlayStation game released in 1997. It will debut on PlayStation, although its release window has not yet been announced.
The Walking Dead and New Spinoff Both Set for Comic-Con
AMC have announced their San Diego Comic-Con panel schedule, revealing that not only will The Walking Dead once more be present, but the new spinoff, Fear The Walking Dead, will also be coming to SDCC. Also announced is a panel for Into the Badlands, AMC's upcoming martial arts series, which will be moderated by our own Roth Cornet!
All three shows are bringing nearly their entire casts, along with producers from the respective series. Here's how the panels break down...
The Walking Dead
- Panelists: Stars Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Chandler Riggs, Michael Cudlitz, Lennie James and Sonequa Martin-Green, along with Executive Producer and Showrunner Scott M. Gimple, Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Executive Producer Robert Kirkman, Executive Producer, Director and Special Effects Make-up Supervisor Greg Nicotero and Executive Producer David Alpert.
Halo 5’s HoloLens Demo Is What I Want the Future to Be
This is an image captured from my HoloLens experience, which was a training pre-brief for Halo 5's Warzone mode.
Everyone said HoloLens was legit when it was first announced back in January. Including us. Needless to say, I was eagerly anticipating getting to try it for myself, and Microsoft's "Halo Experience" at E3 2015 gave me the opportunity to do just that. To be clear up front, this was a tech demo. It will not be a part of Halo 5 now or anytime soon. It was merely meant to show off the capabilities of HoloLens in a gaming environment.
E3 2015: Guitar Hero Live: The Music Game for Millennials?
Freestyle Games creative director Jamie Jackson is showing me Guitar Hero Live's ambitious Guitar Hero TV mode, in which scores of frequently added music is curated for you based on your song preferences throughout the rest of the game. He's demoing a Premium Show – in this case, a three-song live concert set from an actual Pantera concert – riffing along to show off the note highway in the series reboot, as this is my first time seeing it in action. He pauses the gameplay to show me some of the things you can do in the menus, right from inside the song.
"It's our always-on, 24-hour playable music network," he begins to explain.
But I notice that the song doesn't stop. The music video keeps playing in the background, it's just that the note highway is gone while we poke around in the interface. I ask if you can actually pause the song proper – you know, in case the phone rings or someone knocks on the door. No, I'm told. Not in a Premium Show. Apparently the show must go on with or without you. Which makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever, especially when you consider that Premium Shows are always more than one song long.
Student Wants Sandman Banned from College
A student at Crafton Hills College is vetting to get a handful of critically acclaimed comic books banned from her English course’s readling list – including Sandman, Y: The Last Man, Fun Home and Persepolis – due to “pornographic and violent” material in the works.
Enrolled in English 250 at Crafton Hills College, students taught by associate professor Ryan Bartlett are expected to explore “the study of the graphic novel as a viable medium of literature through readings, in-class discussion and analytical assignments.” Among the selected works are some of the most celebrated comic books in literature -- which also happen to contain instances of sex, violence, torture and obscenities.
The Legend of Zelda Is Still Coming to Wii U
Acclaimed Nintendo Game Designer Shigeru Miyamoto told IGN that The Legend of Zelda is still coming to Wii U.
Last March, Nintendo announced that Zelda Wii U wouldn't release in 2015. In April, the company revealed a new dedicated gaming platform called codename NX was in development during a press conference about its partnership to make smartphone games. These two events kicked off a wave of speculation as to whether or not Zelda would release on Nintendo's current home console.