Yearly Archives: 2018
Opinion: Why the Mario Movie Might Actually Be Good
Since I’ve been alive, video game movies have burned me left and right, leaving mental scars of unhappiness when some of my favorite video games get butchered by Hollywood’s hand. Case in point: Silent Hill, Warcraft, and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Live-action renditions are particularly guilty, which unfortunately doesn’t leave any room in our hearts for any video game movie, even animated, to be considered as a possibility for success.
Nintendo is stepping back into the movie industry with Illumination Entertainment (the studio behind Despicable Me) and aiming to put their iconic characters on the silver screen. But why now? You would think Nintendo would continue keeping their Super Star: Mario from Hollywood’s sights -- we all know how the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie turned out. Mario doesn’t deserve that torture again.
Out This Week: Shadow of the Colossus, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Dragon Quest Builders on Switch
With so many new games and movies coming out, it can be hard to keep up. Lucky for you, IGN is here to help with a weekly round-up of the biggest releases each and every week. Check out the latest releases for this week, and be sure to come back next Monday for a new update.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Dwayne Johnson to Star in New Competitive Reality Show
Dwayne Johnson will be producing and starring in a new show for NBC called The Titan Games - an athletic competition in the vein of shows like Ultimate Beastmaster.
Variety reports that NBC has ordered 10 episodes, and Johnson will be producing alongside Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz, and Toby Gorman.
The Secret Origin of Westworld
HBO’s Westworld is a huge modern hit. But the series’ origins can actually be directly traced back more than 40 years, to the sci-fi cinema of the 1970s as well as to co-creator Jonathan Nolan’s past stories on artificial intelligence… and his fascination with video games.
The concept of Westworld dates back to the cynical streak of science-fiction that dominated the late-’60s and early ’70s. These films predicted a dark and dire future for humankind that tracked with the overall attitude of the era. Events like the Vietnam War and Watergate had taken a toll on public consciousness, and the sci-fi cinema of the era reflected this.
One of these films was The Andromeda Strain -- a tale of an alien microorganism that threatens to wipe out all of mankind. The movie was based on a novel by Michael Crichton, a Harvard Medical School grad. It was his first major hit, opening the door for a career that would spawn Jurassic Park, Congo, and several more best-selling sci-fi thrillers. Soon, though, Crichton also revealed he had a keen interest in filmmaking.
Sleeping Dogs Movie Still Happening
The film adaptation of Sleeping Dogs was announced last year, with Donnie Yen set to play the leading role - Wei Shen in the game. We haven't heard anything on the project for some time, but Yen has confirmed the movie is still happening.
"Sometimes great things take a bit of time," Yen wrote, in a post on his Instagram account.
"Sleeping Dog is motion, you guys ready for this?"
New Crash Bandicoot Game Rumoured for 2019
A new Crash Bandicoot title could be on the way next year, according to a UK-based merchandising company.
Max Arguile, manager of merchandising company GB Eye, is responsible for the rumour, following an excerpt spotted in DHX Brands' Licensing Source Book Europe. He also stated that Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy would be coming to PC and Switch.
“The new game was a huge success at retail with no marketing spend. Next year it will be going broader (Switch and PC) and there will be another game in 2019.
"Activision has a five-year plan for this and GB Eye is delighted to be fully on board for all products.”
UK Daily Deals: Xbox Live Gold Six Month Membership for £17, Xenoblade Chronicles Switch Pro Controller Under £50
PUBG Bans 1 Million Cheaters in January
In an effort to curb the cheating that's rife in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, anti-cheat measures continue to be rolled out in the various updates, with over a million players banned last month alone.
The stats come from the BattlEye Twitter account, which shared that over 1,044,000 cheaters were banned in January.
We have banned over 1,044,000 PUBG cheaters in January alone, unfortunately things continue to escalate.
— BattlEye (@TheBattlEye) February 4, 2018
Top 10 Super Bowl 2018 Commercials
Super Bowl LII is in the history books and so are all the kajillion-dollar ads that ran during it. Commercials featuring Chris Pratt selling Michelob ULTRA, Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman pimping Doritos and Mountain Dew, Jeff Goldblum daydreaming about Jeep Wranglers, Anthony Hopkins and Cardi B voicing Amazon's Alexa, and many many more. In fact, you can see all the Big Game commercials right here!
And while you're at it, check out all the rad movie trailers that dropped too - like Avengers: Infinity War, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Mission Impossible: Fallout, and more.
2018 MVP Named in Puppy Bowl XIV
Bear, a 16-week old American Staffordshire Terrier / Foxhound playing in his rookie year in the prestigious Puppy Bowl, has been officially named the Puppy Bowl XIV MVP. Hailing from Virginia Beach, Bear helped his team put the competition into hibernation as part of the 2018 Starting Line-Up at this year's Puppy Bowl.
The 14th year of Puppy Bowl pitted champion against chomp'ion, as last year's prizewinning Team Fluff returned to try and send former two-time champion Team Ruff back to the locker room with their tails between their legs again. Last year's spanking of 93 to 38 was rough on the Ruffs, but these dogs weren't about to just lay down and play dead in the face of a challenge from the new alpha dogs.