Yearly Archives: 2018
Ubisoft Buys a New Studio
Ubisoft has announced its acquisition of Brawlhalla developer, Blue Mammoth Games.
Blue Mammoth is an Atlanta, Georgia studio made up of 21 employees - Ubisoft did not disclose how much it had paid for the studio.
Brawlhalla is currently the most-played fighting game on Steam based on concurrent users and is apparently one of the top free-to-play titles on the PlayStation store, according to Ubisoft.
“The team at Blue Mammoth Games is expert at developing and running scalable, competitive, multiplayer online games, and they’ll be a great addition to Ubisoft’s network of studios,” said Laurent Detoc, President of Ubisoft NCSA.
Terry Pratchett’s The Watch Series Will Bring Discworld to TV
Terry Pratchett's series following the antics of Discworld's Ankh-Morpork City Watch is reportedly coming to TV.
Deadline reports that BBC Studios will be making a six-part series currently titled The Watch, based on Pratchett's City Watch series of books. Narrativia, which is now run by Pratchett's daughter Rhianna Pratchett and his former business partner Rob Wilkins, will produce.
How DC Is Beating Marvel at the Relaunch Game
With Marvel Comics announcing a “Fresh Start” to their comic book line this May, it will be the seventh time the publisher has done a relaunch in six years. DC Comics, on the other hand, has done three in about the same time. What’s with all the relaunches?!
The main reason that these relaunches happen, and will continue to happen for the foreseeable future whether you like it or not, is because they can always be depended on for a sales bump. Look at the sales charts over the past several years and you will see a spike whenever there was a relaunch. When comics relaunch and start over from Issue #1, it not only creates a fresh jumping on point for new and returning readers to buy but it entices collectors to purchase extra copies in hopes that the first issue of a new series will one day be worth something (even though that rarely happens these days). Plus, comic book retailers get discounts and incentives to purchase more of a new comic to sell in their stores, which lets the publisher report big sales numbers, even though they’re artificially inflated because they’re not representative of actual demand for the books.
Xbox One Spring Update Rolling Out, Adds Mixer Remote Play
Xbox One has begun rolling out its Spring update which, among other things, allows stream viewers to control a streamer's games remotely.
As detailed on Xbox Wire, the update is available today for Xbox Insider Alpha Ring members.
The highlight is Mixer's new "Share Controller" function. When streaming through Mixer, users can now pass off control to a viewer, who can either play using a plugged in controller, or with onscreen controls. You can see it working below:
Mixer will also receive a set of quality of life upgrades on Xbox One, primarily with streams no longer auto-ending when you switch between games.
Blizzard Could Be Teasing Diablo 3 on Switch
Update: ...but it probably isn't. Polygon got a statement from Blizzard that shoots down the speculation.
"We can assure you we’re not that clever,” said a Blizzard spokesperson. “
meant to be a fun community engagement piece. We have nothing to announce.”
Boo!
Original story: Blizzard has taken to Twitter possibly to tease Diablo 3 on Nintendo Switch. Or it's just really keen on having us check out its fancy nightlight.
The official Blizzard Twitter account posted a short six second clip of a Diablo nightlight being repeatedly switched (get it?) on and off:
J.J. Abrams Wrote Drafts For Star Wars 8 and 9, Says Daisy Ridley
According to Daisy Ridley, director J.J. Abrams had written early versions of Star Wars Episodes 8 and 9, but director Rian Johnson used none of the original draft for his Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Rey actress, Ridley spoke to Geek Le Mag (translated by Tumblr user daisyridleys), who asked if J.J. Abrams had already planned the mystery of her character's backstory before Episode 7. However, Ridley's response was far more wide-reaching:
“Here’s what I think I know. J. J. wrote Episode VII, as well as drafts for VIII & IX. Then Rian Johnson arrived and wrote TLJ entirely. I believe there was some sort of general consensus on the main lines of the trilogy, but apart from that, every director writes and realizes his film in his own way.
Oscars: Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway Reportedly Presenting Best Picture Again
It's being reported that Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty will once again be presenting the award for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards.
According to TMZ's sources, the pair will return to present the award, which was famously botched last year.
After the incorrect announcement that La La Land had won Best Picture, the on-stage revelry of the film's cast and crew ground to a halt once it was revealed that Moonlight had actually won the award. The mix up was later blamed on professional services network PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
UK Daily Deals: 12 Month PS Plus Under £38, Nintendo Switch Zelda and Super Mario Wired Controllers for £19.99, £400 off DJI Mavic Pro 4K Drone
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The Cheapest Place to Buy a 12 Month PS Plus Subscription
Amazon have dropped the asking price for a 12 month PS Plus subscription to £37.49. This is usually £49.99 and seldom goes down in price, so it may be worth grabbing it even if your current subscription still has time to expire.
Every Movie Now Opening Alongside Avengers: Infinity War
By this point, very few movies will be happy to open on the same day as Marvel's reliably gigantic offerings - and with Avengers: Infinity War's US release date moved forward, there's a new crop of movies that will likely feel the effect of that shift.
Here's what's opening in US theaters on April 27:
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Traffik
- I Feel Pretty
- Bad Samaritan
- Disobedience
- Animal Crackers
- Armed
- Kings
- Godard Mon Amour
Highlander Movie Reboot Moving Ahead With New Script From Rampage Writer
The Highlander reboot looks to finally be going ahead after a script from Ryan Condal has been approved.
Deadline reports the film is finally heading to start pre-production later this year after receiving the script, which retells the epic story of the immortal battle for supremacy in which there can be only one.
Ryan Condal is known for his work as co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner the USA drama Colony, as well as his work penning the sci-fi film Rampage.
“We’ve finally got a screenplay we’re happy with,” Patrick Wachsberger, Head of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group told Deadline. “We have set up the story so it has sequel potential.”