From Hunger Games to Independence Day 2?
With Will Smith not returning for the sequel, The Hunger Games' Liam Hemsworth is reportedly the front runner to lead the cast of Independence Day 2.
According to TheWrap, the Mockingjay and Expendables 2 actor -- who is also the younger brother of Thor star Chris Hemsworth -- has an offer to star in the movie, reportedly now titled ID Forever.
Roland Emmerich will return to direct from a script by Carter Blanchard. Emmerich is also producing along with Dean Devlin and Harald Kloser.
Podcast Beyond Episode 379: The Future of the Resistance Franchise
Greg, Colin, and Jared sit down and discuss Grim Fandango, PSN outages, and the future of the Resistance franchise. Also, I missed the episode again, but it was for a good reason. Last time, promise. ll this and more on the Internet's No. 1 PlayStation podcast!
BEYOND!
Podcast Beyond, Episode 379 (MP3)
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Marty Sliva is an Editor at IGN. He enjoys casting pods. Follow him on Twitter @McBiggitty.
Light Fall: A Pleasant Surprise at PAX South
When you're running from appointment to appointment at a show, you don't stop for a lot of things, but I stopped for Light Fall at PAX South. One look makes it pretty obvious why; its striking silhouettes and judicious use of color make it immediately eye-catching. It's not just another pretty face either, it's mechanics allow its designers the freedom to craft platforming challenges of a unique kind, and it gets many of the little things right that even big, experienced teams get wrong.
The core mechanic is something called the Shadow Core, a block that can be summoned out of thin air at will for use in a variety of different ways. The most fundamental use of the Shadow Core is to generate a block directly under your feet while mid-air, which you can do an unlimited number of times per jump. Of course, this means you can stay in the air indefinitely, which makes it less about "making" jumps, and more about using this unique ability to overcome formations of insta-kill obstacles. Even in the short demo I played, there were flashes of what a platformer can start to look like when level design isn't bound to placing objects within a single jump-length of one another.
Female Ghostbusters Cast Revealed
Several well-known comedic actresses are said to be in negotiations for the new Ghostbusters movie.
Former and current SNL cast members Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones are all in early talks for the film, according to Variety. Earlier this week, director Paul Feig confirmed that Melissa McCarthy was in talks as well.
You’ve Played Dragon Age: Inquisition for Longer Than Recorded History
BioWare packed a lot of content into Dragon Age: Inquisition's single-player campaign, and according to a recent EA report, players have spent a lot of time completing quests –– 113 million hours, to be exact.
That's a little less than 13,000 years. All in all, Dragon Age: Inquisition players have spent more time recruiting party members, completing quests and exploring the world of Thedas than exists in recorded history. Prior to the RPG's release, BioWare told IGN that completionists would need to spend more than 200 hours in order to see everything Inquisition has to offer.
EA’s Q4 2014 Earnings Surpass Expectations
Electronic Arts claims it fourth quarter earnings in 2014 were better than anticipated. Exceeding their expectations of $1.27 billion, the publisher's net revenue instead came in just over $1.428 billion.
Much of this success was due to the sales of Dragon Age: Inquisition, which EA heralds as developer BioWare's "most successful launch" in the studio's history. No specific sales numbers or figures have yet been announced, although the team has recorded 113 million hours played across all platforms.
EA saw significant growth in the mobile market as well, achieving 22 million downloads of the mobile game SimCity BuildIt in its December launch month. Both Madden NFL Mobile and FIFA 15 Ultimate Team celebrated a 45 percent increase in active players since the same time in 2013. EA also reports an 82 percent growth in revenue across both games.
iPhone, Mac, and App Store Score Big Money for Apple
Apple released its first quarter earning results for the quarter ending December 27, 2014. The company posted quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion USD, with a net-profit of $18 billion. The company attributes the record quarter to all-time record revenues from both the iPhone and its Mac product line.
During the quarter, iPhone sales set an all-time record, with 74.5 million units being sold during Q1 of fiscal year 2015. The App Store was also a strong earner for Apple, with "record performance," during the quarter, according to the company.
According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the $74.6 billion represents a revenue growth of 30 percent over the same period last year.
Ubisoft Deactivates Fraudulent Game Keys
Update Jan. 27, 3:00 p.m. PT: Ubisoft issued the following, updated statement in response to the story below:
"We strongly recommend that players purchase keys and downloadable games only from the Uplay Store or their trusted retailers. We regularly work with our authorized resellers to identify and deactivate fraudulently obtained and resold keys. In this case, we confirmed activation keys were recently purchased from EA’s Origin store using fraudulent credit card information and then resold online. These keys may have been deactivated. Customers who may have been impacted should contact the vendor where they purchased the key for a refund."
Ubisoft is deactivating keys for Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed Unity that it claims were obtained by re-sellers through fraudulent means.
Conan Wanted to Make a Minecraft Episode
Conan O'Brien wanted to air an entire episode of his late-night talk show in Minecraft, but the game's creators "weren't on board."
Team Coco gave a brief glimpse at what a Minecraft episode of Conan would look like —which you can check out below — showing O'Brien and Andy Richter recreated in the building-block game. "We had an idea which is to take an entire episode of this show and re-air it entirely in the Minecraft style," O'Brien said.
While the Minecraft creators (presumably Mojang, though O'Brien never specifically says the company's name) originally said yes to the idea, "they suddenly changed their mind and said we don't want you to do it," O'Brien said. He called that decision "really crazy" since there are so many Minecraft videos all over the web.
Daily Deals: PS4 With Dying Light and the Last of Us, a Year of Xbox Live for $40, Far Cry 4 for $40
A PS4 with The Last of Us and Dying Light
$430 gets you a PlayStation 4 with a digital copy of The Last of Us Remastered and Dying Light. Now, we know that Dying Light hasn't been reviewed yet, but at least you're getting a copy for $30 here. It's also unclear if that Dying Light copy is physical or digital - I've reached out to Amazon for clarification and I'll update when I hear back.