Tangled Animated TV Series Announced
Walt Disney Animation announced today that Tangled, a new animated series based on the 2010 film, has begun production, with Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi reprising their roles as Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert (aka Flynn Rider). The series will premiere on Disney Channel in 2017. It will also reunite legendary Disney composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, as well as executive producers Chris Sonnenburg (Enchanted) and Shane Prigmore (The Lego Movie).
New promo art for Disney Channel's Tangled animated series
Head of Quantum Break Studio Leaves for Wargaming
Matias Myllyrinne, CEO of Remedy Entertainment, has announced that he will be leaving the studio after 15 years.
In a goodbye post on the Remedy website, he said "I've been with Remedy since 1999 - this is a long time. It is time for me to move on." His destination will be Wargaming, the team behind World of Tanks.
Despite his departure, Myllyrinne has claimed that work on upcoming game Quantum Break will be unaffected. The game was recently delayed to 2016.
This news comes just a week after former head of franchise development at Remedy, Oskari Häkkinen, left the studio to form Futurefly.
Fallout 4 Officially Revealed With In-Game Trailer
Update: Bethesda has confirmed Fallout 4 is coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC and released an in-game trailer for the game revealing it's set in Boston.
The trailer, which you can see below, brings to an end years of speculation and rumours about the highly-anticipated title and gives glimpses at the expansive world we'll be traversing. It also includes the infamous tagline "War. War never changes" said by Ron Perlman.
The trailer confirms reports the next entry in the franchise will take place in The Commonwealth - the fictional universe's version of Massachusetts that’s been referenced in prior games. In Fallout 3 side quest The Replicated Man, players encounter a scientist named Dr. Zimmer who comes from The Commonwealth, a “war-ravaged quagmire of violence and despair” where he notes he and his colleagues created androids that have escaped and are running wild. Zimmer also references The Institute, which it seems is a future version of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The GOG Summer Sale Starts Today with The Witcher 3
The GOG Summer Sale 2015 kicks off today, with a host of DRM-free titles available at discounted prices.
As part of the sale, which lasts from today until June 21, anyone who spends $1 will get SimCity 2000 for free; anyone spending $20 will net S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and anyone opting to go for $50 gets Xenonauts.
A host of titles are on offer, with daily deals and bundles both available. Highlights from day one include big discounts to Monkey Island titles, Jade Empire, Telltales Game of Thrones titles and all The Witcher games.
Luke Karmali is IGN UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter.
Chris Pratt Doesn’t Want the Guardians Saving Cleveland
Chris Pratt hasn’t been briefed on future plans to unite the Guardians of the Galaxy with the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
When asked about the upcoming sequel, and the impending threat of Thanos, IGN asked Pratt about when the Guardians will team-up with the Avengers and other earth-based heroes.
“That’s speculation. I haven’t heard that. No, no one’s ever discussed it with me,” he said. Pratt went on to express interest in what the Guardians should do next:
“I think like the universe itself it’s best to expand outward. I don’t personally – and it’s not up to me, I’ll do whatever they want me to do – I don’t want to see the Guardians defend Cleveland, Ohio. We’re cosmic man. I want to be in space.”
Super Charged Skylanders
Touting it as the series’ “biggest innovation yet,” Activision revealed it’s adding vehicles to the newest version of Skylanders. Called Skylanders Super Chargers, the new game includes 20 new characters and a range of jets, helicopters, submarines, boats, and cars.
Kaos is back as the series’ main villain, and this time the diminutive bully has created the Sky Eater, a large warship that literally eats the sky. To stop Kaos from tearing rifts in the firmament, Eon recruits the Super Chargers, an elite group of pilots who use their outrageous vehicles to battle the enemies of Skylands.
Each Super Charger in the roster has his or her own unique vehicle. There are vehicles for land, sea, and air, each of which can be used at special pre-arranged locations in the levels. Most sequences involve either some type of racecourse or an open battle arena. The game’s hub will also have playgrounds for all the vehicles in the lineup.
This Course Will Help You Get into the Games Industry
NextGen Skills Academy is launching its first course, the Level 3 Diploma in Games, Animation and VFX Skills this September.
The two year course will be available at a number of further education courses including North East Surrey College of Technology, Sunderland College, Truru & Penwith College and Uxbridge College.
The diploma will provide a level 3 qualification, which is equivalent to three A Levels. It is designed to help students build portfolios which help prepare them for work in the industry.
In addition to the diploma, NextGen is also creating three higher apprenticeships. One is for a Quality Assurance Technician at Rebellion, and there are two VFX apprenticeships for a Junior 2D artists at Double Negative, and a Technical Director at Framestore.
Scientists Have Begun Generating Tiny Brains
Scientists have managed to create tiny replicas of patients' cerebral cortices so they can be studied in vitro.
The study was posted in Nature Methods last week and outlines the approach for "generating a laminated cerebral cortex-like structure, named human cortical spheroids (hCSs), from pluripotent stem cells."
Stem cells are extracted from the patient's skin, which are then formed into a structure of neurons resembling an actual brain. The process will be used in order to test which medication could work on the patient's brain before prescribing it for real.
Destiny: The Taken King Expansion Evidence Leaks Again
The title of Destiny's big expansion rumoured to hit in September seems have been confirmed as "The Taken King" thanks to US packs of Red Bull energy drinks.
Redditors spotted promotional codes on some packaging of the drinks, which offer bonus experience points and an "epic quest" in the as-yet unannounced expansion. The redemption site itself isn't a dead link, either, but rather "under construction".
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Doesn’t Have a Level Cap
CD Projekt Red has confirmed there is no hard level cap for Geralt in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Community lead Marcin Momot confirmed the news on Twitter, which means you'll theoretically be able to master all of Geralt's abilities and max out his Skill Trees if you're persistent.
Of course, in practice it's less feasible. While you'll be able to grind your way as high as you want by fighting monsters, once a decent spread of quests and other map events have run out it's going to be a long slow road.
Interestingly, Momot's comments on Twitter have led to calls from many for a New Game Plus mode, so you can start again taking a different path through the game and taking on challenges that'll reward a decent amount of XP. At the time of writing CD Projekt Red has yet to respond to these requests, though perhaps it has something up its sleeve related to the two sizeable expansions coming later in the year.