On the heels of the first teaser poster being released for Game of Thrones: Season 3, HBO aired a new teaser promo Sunday night.
Like the poster, this is the most tease-y of teasers - pretty much just giving you the date Game of Thrones returns, and a few bits of intriguing voice over dialogue, much like the earliest Season 2 ads. But hey, the campaign has begun, which means more is to come...
McG is now attached to direct Fox and Radar Pictures' Hollywood Magic Castle movie, based on the famed magicians' night club. Andrew Barrer and Gabe Ferrari will pen the screenplay.
Built in 1909, the historic mansion on Franklin Avenue serves as the headquarters of the nonprofit Academy of Magical Arts Inc. and offers a private space for renowned magicians to perform. Celebs who have performed at the exclusive nightclub include Cary Grant, Steve Martin, Johnny Carson and Neil Patrick Harris, who is the current president of the Academy of Magical Arts.
McG will soon begin filming the Kevin Costner-starrer Three Days to Kill, which will wrap production in February. From there, says The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker will shift his focus to Magic Castle, which has Radar's Ted Field producing.
Now repped by agency CAA, the Magic Castle will begin expanding its marketing opportunities not only to films, but other outlets such as television, live events, video games, digital media and merchandising.
Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.
This week a hungover Luke, Keza, Chris and Rich recall the events of last night's Games Media Awards, where our very own Ms. MacDonald won the inaugural Games Writer of the Year award.
We also get round to hazily discussing the biggest news stories of the week as well as ponder just what the hell that mystery trailer of Sony's could be teasing.
Download it here through the magic of mouse-clickery, or saunter over to iTunes at your leisure:
IGN UK Podcast #157: GMA-zing – 31.86 MB
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On the heels of winning two Emmys last month for its first season (among seventeen nominations), American Horror Story returns Wednesday night for a brand new story, American Horror Story: Asylum.
Completely unconnected storywise to the first season, Asylum does feature several returning cast members playing totally different roles, including Zachary Quinto, Lily Rabe, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Jessica Lange - the latter of whom won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for her work in the first season. They are joined by several newcomers, including Chloe Sevigny (Big Love), James Cromwell (Babe, LA Confidential), Joseph Fiennes (FlashForward) and Adam Levine (yep, the Maroon 5 guy!), in the story of an asylum in 1964 where some very twisted things are occurring, involving both humans and... otherwise. It was also just announced that Ian McShane (Deadwood, Kings) will be appearing in two episodes.
American Horror Story amassed quite a following last year, even while some felt the show -- from Nip/Tuck and Glee's Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk -- was too over the top. With the new season and a completely new storyline here, we wondered, will you be checking it out? Let us know in our poll below!
American Horror Story: Asylum premieres Wednesday, October 17th at 10pm on FX.
Arrow, the CW's new series based on DC Comics' Green Arrow, premiered last night to some superhero-sized ratings (as per CW standards, natch). - via EW.com
Read IGN's Review of the Arrow Pilot!
Arrow's 4 million viewers, and 1.3 rating, might not seem enormous, but it marked the network's most-watched series debut in total viewers since The Vampire Diaries in 2009. Arrow's premiere also helped give Supernatural its best ratings in two years, with 2.6 million viewers.
On the other side of the dial, ABC's critically-acclaimed new series Nashville trounced NBC's critically-poo poo'd new series Chicago Fire, 9 million viewers to 6.4 million viewers.
Read IGN's Review of the Nashville Pilot here!
Konami has revealed it will resurrect Castlevania: Symphony of the Night via PlayStation Network.
The 2D side-scroller was originally released in 1997 and was the first game in the series to offer an open-world level design and RPG elements. The game places you in control of Alucard as he tries to hunt down his vampiric nemesis, Dracula, using both spells and swords.
The game will be available in Europe from October 10 for £10.99. We've reached out to Konami for details about an American release and will update the story when we know more.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.
Konami has revealed it will resurrect Castlevania: Symphony of the Night via PlayStation Network.
The 2D side-scroller was originally released in 1997 and was the first game in the series to offer an open-world level design and RPG elements. The game places you in control of Alucard as he tries to hunt down his vampiric nemesis, Dracula, using both spells and swords.
The game will be available in Europe from October 10 for £10.99. We've reached out to Konami for details about an American release and will update the story when we know more.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.
With Supernatural: Season 8 kicking off this Wednesday night at 9pm, we recently caught up with stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki on the Vancouver set of the series, find out where Sam and Dean are headed this year.
Both Winchester brothers have been trapped in far off hell-mensions before, but in the Season 7 finale we saw Dean actually land down in an unfamiliar place to the show - Purgatory. So how will this season be different, as far as the "separated brothers" storyline goes? Well, for one thing, the year down in Purgatory has turned Dean into a "hardened warrior." Because in Purgatory, it's all monsters. And the hunter became the hunted.
"We find that Dean has gotten out, and the time that he spent there [Purgatory] and what happened there has changed his outlook, and his perspective on things," Ackles revealed. "These guys [the brothers] are always kind of at war, with the evils of the world, but he got a heavy, heavy dose of it down there, because he's surrounded by the things that he kills when he's topside. It was almost a concentrated version of what he's used to. He's come back a hardened warrior, and ready to use those sharpened skills in the real world. So he's a solider that just got back from war. It's going to take him a little while to adjust to the lack of threat, and the lack of combat."
Sam and Dean, from the Season 8 premiere.
"It's almost like The Hurt Locker, when Jeremy Renner's character comes back from war and he's sitting there looking at a cereal box aisle, and it's just so foreign to him," Ackles continued. "But what isn't foreign is being on the ground, fighting. I think Dean is feeling a sense of that. It's a year that he spent down in Purgatory, so he was down there for a whole year doing this. Fighting and battling non-stop, covered in blood, covered in mud, covered in dirt for twelve months."
Meanwhile, Sam, with no idea where Dean or Castiel went, and without Bobby or any contacts to the Hunter world, has been living a very different life. "[Sam's] going to take off the hunter garb and just live a normal life, because I have nothing to tie me back," Padalecki remarked. "There’s no Jo, there’s no Harvelle’s Roadhouse, there’s nothing. There’s absolutely nothing holding Sam back from a normal life so he really commits to it and so when it all comes crashing back down, it’s like a brutal reminder yet again of who he kind of has been and is possibly meant to be."
"I think Sam in this season is different than Sam in other seasons where Dean was either in hell or where Sam was in hell," Padalecki added. "Usually when they’ve been split up, there’s been sort of the impetus of like, 'My brother’s in trouble, I’ve got to save him. I’ve got to help him. He’s going to help me and he’s going to save me.'" Part of the normal life that Sam pursues in Dean's absence is a relationship - his first meaningful one since Jessica back in the pilot episode - with a girl named Amelia. And even though the relationship is apparently over and done with by the time the Season 8 premiere takes place, Sam is still left hesitant to return to his old life with Dean. "Sam is kind of the adult in this reconciliation," Padalecki said. "He’s like, 'Look I found my own thing. I love you. You’re my brother and I’m so happy you’re back and I’m going to help you now but I want out. I want out. I love you. It’s great. I’m grateful that you’ve saved my life many times and vice versa. No hard feelings.'"
Padalecki then added, "And so Sam is kind of at a place where he wants to move onto something different, and I think Dean resents Sam more because Sam was living a good Christian life down in Kermit, Texas with a girl that he fell in love with and Dean was fighting for his life." Jensen Ackles also expanded on this notion, stating that the brothers have been worlds apart, in many ways. "It's going to take a little bit of time to warm up to the relationship that [Dean] has with Sam," Ackles said. "There's also what Sam did for the past year, which compacts the odd element that these two brothers have not only spent time apart — it's what they were doing. Dean was in this concentrated war zone, and Sam was literally just the opposite. So really, these two brothers have really been living two different lives this past year, and now they're having to come back together and pick up where they left up. It poses a bit of a problem."
More from the Season 8 premiere.
Added into the mix, causing more problems, is a new, mysterious character named Benny (played by Ty Olsson), who Dean bonds with down in Purgatory. "I'm really excited about that relationship, just on a personal level," Ackles smiled. "It's not only introducing a new character who I think is really cool, and I don't know if you guys have had a chance to talk to or see any of Ty Olsson's stuff, but he's a really fantastic actor. He and I clicked right off the bat, and the character is I think a really great kind of contemporary for Dean. It's a foxhole relationship in a sense. He's been at war with this guy. Benny really earned his stripes with Dean. He earned his trust, which is really difficult not only for Dean to understand, but even more difficult for Sam to understand when Dean comes back."
So with the Winchester brothers now more estranged than ever, what does that mean for the further adventures of Sam and Dean? "I think the way [Sam's] going to specifically react to Dean is just try to help him out in the task at hand and hopefully then do his own thing again," Padalecki stated. "He’s not going to leave him hanging and say 'Nope, I’m not having this. Have fun.' He’s going to say 'Okay, I get it. I do owe you this as you certainly have done for me a lot more than anybody else has. You’ve earned this and so I’ll help.' And we also both believe that we’re onto something that will end our hunting careers forever, so Sam’s like 'You know what? Perfect. Because I know what it’s like to not have an anchor into the hunting aspect of life - so I would love to actually not have a need for that hunting aspect of life and if this can solve that, then I’m in.'"
Supernatural's Season 8 kicks things off with "We Need to Talk About Kevin," on Wednesday, October 3rd, at 9pm.
Travel accommodations to Vancouver provided by Warner Bros.
With Supernatural: Season 8 kicking off this Wednesday night at 9pm, we recently caught up with stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki on the Vancouver set of the series, find out where Sam and Dean are headed this year.
Both Winchester brothers have been trapped in far off hell-mensions before, but in the Season 7 finale we saw Dean actually land down in an unfamiliar place to the show - Purgatory. So how will this season be different, as far as the "separated brothers" storyline goes? Well, for one thing, the year down in Purgatory has turned Dean into a "hardened warrior." Because in Purgatory, it's all monsters. And the hunter became the hunted.
"We find that Dean has gotten out, and the time that he spent there [Purgatory] and what happened there has changed his outlook, and his perspective on things," Ackles revealed. "These guys [the brothers] are always kind of at war, with the evils of the world, but he got a heavy, heavy dose of it down there, because he's surrounded by the things that he kills when he's topside. It was almost a concentrated version of what he's used to. He's come back a hardened warrior, and ready to use those sharpened skills in the real world. So he's a solider that just got back from war. It's going to take him a little while to adjust to the lack of threat, and the lack of combat."
Sam and Dean, from the Season 8 premiere.
"It's almost like The Hurt Locker, when Jeremy Renner's character comes back from war and he's sitting there looking at a cereal box aisle, and it's just so foreign to him," Ackles continued. "But what isn't foreign is being on the ground, fighting. I think Dean is feeling a sense of that. It's a year that he spent down in Purgatory, so he was down there for a whole year doing this. Fighting and battling non-stop, covered in blood, covered in mud, covered in dirt for twelve months."
Meanwhile, Sam, with no idea where Dean or Castiel went, and without Bobby or any contacts to the Hunter world, has been living a very different life. "[Sam's] going to take off the hunter garb and just live a normal life, because I have nothing to tie me back," Padalecki remarked. "There’s no Jo, there’s no Harvelle’s Roadhouse, there’s nothing. There’s absolutely nothing holding Sam back from a normal life so he really commits to it and so when it all comes crashing back down, it’s like a brutal reminder yet again of who he kind of has been and is possibly meant to be."
"I think Sam in this season is different than Sam in other seasons where Dean was either in hell or where Sam was in hell," Padalecki added. "Usually when they’ve been split up, there’s been sort of the impetus of like, 'My brother’s in trouble, I’ve got to save him. I’ve got to help him. He’s going to help me and he’s going to save me.'" Part of the normal life that Sam pursues in Dean's absence is a relationship - his first meaningful one since Jessica back in the pilot episode - with a girl named Amelia. And even though the relationship is apparently over and done with by the time the Season 8 premiere takes place, Sam is still left hesitant to return to his old life with Dean. "Sam is kind of the adult in this reconciliation," Padalecki said. "He’s like, 'Look I found my own thing. I love you. You’re my brother and I’m so happy you’re back and I’m going to help you now but I want out. I want out. I love you. It’s great. I’m grateful that you’ve saved my life many times and vice versa. No hard feelings.'"
Padalecki then added, "And so Sam is kind of at a place where he wants to move onto something different, and I think Dean resents Sam more because Sam was living a good Christian life down in Kermit, Texas with a girl that he fell in love with and Dean was fighting for his life." Jensen Ackles also expanded on this notion, stating that the brothers have been worlds apart, in many ways. "It's going to take a little bit of time to warm up to the relationship that [Dean] has with Sam," Ackles said. "There's also what Sam did for the past year, which compacts the odd element that these two brothers have not only spent time apart — it's what they were doing. Dean was in this concentrated war zone, and Sam was literally just the opposite. So really, these two brothers have really been living two different lives this past year, and now they're having to come back together and pick up where they left up. It poses a bit of a problem."
More from the Season 8 premiere.
Added into the mix, causing more problems, is a new, mysterious character named Benny (played by Ty Olsson), who Dean bonds with down in Purgatory. "I'm really excited about that relationship, just on a personal level," Ackles smiled. "It's not only introducing a new character who I think is really cool, and I don't know if you guys have had a chance to talk to or see any of Ty Olsson's stuff, but he's a really fantastic actor. He and I clicked right off the bat, and the character is I think a really great kind of contemporary for Dean. It's a foxhole relationship in a sense. He's been at war with this guy. Benny really earned his stripes with Dean. He earned his trust, which is really difficult not only for Dean to understand, but even more difficult for Sam to understand when Dean comes back."
So with the Winchester brothers now more estranged than ever, what does that mean for the further adventures of Sam and Dean? "I think the way [Sam's] going to specifically react to Dean is just try to help him out in the task at hand and hopefully then do his own thing again," Padalecki stated. "He’s not going to leave him hanging and say 'Nope, I’m not having this. Have fun.' He’s going to say 'Okay, I get it. I do owe you this as you certainly have done for me a lot more than anybody else has. You’ve earned this and so I’ll help.' And we also both believe that we’re onto something that will end our hunting careers forever, so Sam’s like 'You know what? Perfect. Because I know what it’s like to not have an anchor into the hunting aspect of life - so I would love to actually not have a need for that hunting aspect of life and if this can solve that, then I’m in.'"
Supernatural's Season 8 kicks things off with "We Need to Talk About Kevin," on Wednesday, October 3rd, at 9pm.
Travel accommodations to Vancouver provided by Warner Bros.
With Supernatural: Season 8 kicking off this Wednesday night at 9pm, we recently caught up with stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki on the Vancouver set of the series, find out where Sam and Dean are headed this year.
Both Winchester brothers have been trapped in far off hell-mensions before, but in the Season 7 finale we saw Dean actually land down in an unfamiliar place to the show - Purgatory. So how will this season be different, as far as the "separated brothers" storyline goes? Well, for one thing, the year down in Purgatory has turned Dean into a "hardened warrior." Because in Purgatory, it's all monsters. And the hunter became the hunted.
"We find that Dean has gotten out, and the time that he spent there [Purgatory] and what happened there has changed his outlook, and his perspective on things," Ackles revealed. "These guys [the brothers] are always kind of at war, with the evils of the world, but he got a heavy, heavy dose of it down there, because he's surrounded by the things that he kills when he's topside. It was almost a concentrated version of what he's used to. He's come back a hardened warrior, and ready to use those sharpened skills in the real world. So he's a solider that just got back from war. It's going to take him a little while to adjust to the lack of threat, and the lack of combat."
Sam and Dean, from the Season 8 premiere.
"It's almost like The Hurt Locker, when Jeremy Renner's character comes back from war and he's sitting there looking at a cereal box aisle, and it's just so foreign to him," Ackles continued. "But what isn't foreign is being on the ground, fighting. I think Dean is feeling a sense of that. It's a year that he spent down in Purgatory, so he was down there for a whole year doing this. Fighting and battling non-stop, covered in blood, covered in mud, covered in dirt for twelve months."
Meanwhile, Sam, with no idea where Dean or Castiel went, and without Bobby or any contacts to the Hunter world, has been living a very different life. "[Sam's] going to take off the hunter garb and just live a normal life, because I have nothing to tie me back," Padalecki remarked. "There’s no Jo, there’s no Harvelle’s Roadhouse, there’s nothing. There’s absolutely nothing holding Sam back from a normal life so he really commits to it and so when it all comes crashing back down, it’s like a brutal reminder yet again of who he kind of has been and is possibly meant to be."
"I think Sam in this season is different than Sam in other seasons where Dean was either in hell or where Sam was in hell," Padalecki added. "Usually when they’ve been split up, there’s been sort of the impetus of like, 'My brother’s in trouble, I’ve got to save him. I’ve got to help him. He’s going to help me and he’s going to save me.'" Part of the normal life that Sam pursues in Dean's absence is a relationship - his first meaningful one since Jessica back in the pilot episode - with a girl named Amelia. And even though the relationship is apparently over and done with by the time the Season 8 premiere takes place, Sam is still left hesitant to return to his old life with Dean. "Sam is kind of the adult in this reconciliation," Padalecki said. "He’s like, 'Look I found my own thing. I love you. You’re my brother and I’m so happy you’re back and I’m going to help you now but I want out. I want out. I love you. It’s great. I’m grateful that you’ve saved my life many times and vice versa. No hard feelings.'"
Padalecki then added, "And so Sam is kind of at a place where he wants to move onto something different, and I think Dean resents Sam more because Sam was living a good Christian life down in Kermit, Texas with a girl that he fell in love with and Dean was fighting for his life." Jensen Ackles also expanded on this notion, stating that the brothers have been worlds apart, in many ways. "It's going to take a little bit of time to warm up to the relationship that [Dean] has with Sam," Ackles said. "There's also what Sam did for the past year, which compacts the odd element that these two brothers have not only spent time apart — it's what they were doing. Dean was in this concentrated war zone, and Sam was literally just the opposite. So really, these two brothers have really been living two different lives this past year, and now they're having to come back together and pick up where they left up. It poses a bit of a problem."
More from the Season 8 premiere.
Added into the mix, causing more problems, is a new, mysterious character named Benny (played by Ty Olsson), who Dean bonds with down in Purgatory. "I'm really excited about that relationship, just on a personal level," Ackles smiled. "It's not only introducing a new character who I think is really cool, and I don't know if you guys have had a chance to talk to or see any of Ty Olsson's stuff, but he's a really fantastic actor. He and I clicked right off the bat, and the character is I think a really great kind of contemporary for Dean. It's a foxhole relationship in a sense. He's been at war with this guy. Benny really earned his stripes with Dean. He earned his trust, which is really difficult not only for Dean to understand, but even more difficult for Sam to understand when Dean comes back."
So with the Winchester brothers now more estranged than ever, what does that mean for the further adventures of Sam and Dean? "I think the way [Sam's] going to specifically react to Dean is just try to help him out in the task at hand and hopefully then do his own thing again," Padalecki stated. "He’s not going to leave him hanging and say 'Nope, I’m not having this. Have fun.' He’s going to say 'Okay, I get it. I do owe you this as you certainly have done for me a lot more than anybody else has. You’ve earned this and so I’ll help.' And we also both believe that we’re onto something that will end our hunting careers forever, so Sam’s like 'You know what? Perfect. Because I know what it’s like to not have an anchor into the hunting aspect of life - so I would love to actually not have a need for that hunting aspect of life and if this can solve that, then I’m in.'"
Supernatural's Season 8 kicks things off with "We Need to Talk About Kevin," on Wednesday, October 3rd, at 9pm.
Travel accommodations to Vancouver provided by Warner Bros.
Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
The conclusion of Louie’s journey towards potentially becoming a late night host ended in Late Show Part 3, and while it didn’t quite offer as many new turns as the last couple of episodes, it still was incredibly entertaining.
There was an obvious Rocky homage last week, with Louie running in the middle of the street, trying to get in shape, but here it became solidified that this entire storyline was Rocky – the original Rocky, that is. This was a story about Louie going the distance. He didn’t beat the champ. He didn’t become the champ. But he proved he could go toe-to-toe with him.
That would of course make David Lynch’s Jack the Mickey character, and indeed, Jack turned out to be the tough bastard who constantly harped on Louie, but ultimately was trying to help him and saw his potential.
Lynch’s appearance on these two episodes has been amazing. Again, we were in clear Lynchian/Twin Peaks territory here – close your eyes and listen to Lynch delivering the line, “Here’s the thing with that, champ – it’s short for champion” and you can just hear Gordon Cole saying something like that to Albert Rosenfeld. Lynch and Louie were a pairing I never would have thought of, but it completely worked and it would be great if somehow, they could bring him back at some point.
Louie’s practice interview with a cleaning lady was a wonderful disaster, as she broke down crying over the mother she lost when she was eight. All of Louie’s attempts to hone his skills were that great combination of awkward and funny, including an hysterically random array of curse words Louie let out at one point when practicing a monologue by himself.
After last week’s episode ended with the reveal that Chris Rock was also in the running for the Letterman job, it was odd to not have that brought up at all here or to at least get some mention of it. But that was balanced by having Jerry Seinfeld himself appear, as yet another celebrity willing to play a rather dark version of themselves – with Seinfeld attempting to trick Louie into believing a deal for Jerry to take the Letterman job was already signed. I’d already chuckled at Lynch’s parting words of advice -- “If someone asks you to keep a secret, their secret is a lie, you got that?” -- but it was even better when it turned out to be setting up Seinfeld’s scene.
Having Louie’s oh-so youthful manager Doug not speak at all the past couple of episodes got a great payoff here, as he got to exclaim, “If somebody asks you to keep a secret…!” and give Louie the eureka moment that would allow him to go out and nail his test show.
It’s interesting how negative a light this episode painted Letterman in at the end. Not only did we learn he signed a new 10-year deal to stay on the show, but we learned Louie had been banned from ever appearing on Letterman again. Hell, the episode ended with Louie yelling, “F**k you!” at the Letterman studio. (Though in a victorious way!) This show involves Louis C.K. using real life as a springboard sometimes while completely creating scenarios other times. Do he and Letterman have a beef? Are they good buddies and this will be laughed about between them? Either way, the scenario had a satisfying conclusion, with the unseen Letterman still making an impact.
In the end, this was a nice bit of validation for Louie, who had certainly wanted that job, but seemed to take heart in his friend telling him, “You took 20 million out of that a**hole’s pocket - that’s how good you are.”
Requisite awesome Jane line of the week: “You’re not skinnier. Daddy, you’re fat, Daddy.”
Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.
It's September, which means the streets dance with the flutter of turning leaves, the sun dips quietly toward the night earlier and that guttural, paranoid fear of being back within the terrifying clutches of school has officially returned. Between the nightmare that is day to day academic judgment and the very feasible worry that you'll never live up to the lofty dreams and ambitions created by teachers, parental units and your own spiraling inertia as you careen towards the real world, where will you find the time to play video games? Well luckily, you're young and the world isn't as tiny as you think it is. And growing up is tough! You have to do real things with your time, like go to IKEA and meet your significant other's parents every year when you screw things up with the last because they're like "why do you have a Super Mario action figure in your bedroom?" and you get really defensive and accidentally yell at them and they realizes they can do better. So many real world responsibilities!
But remember, you're not alone. In your school right now are a bunch of gamers just like you who can't wait to get home or head back to the dorms and play video games. And who can blame them? Back in high school and college, gaming was a great escape from what we thought was an all-consuming world of tests and lectures. So great that I gathered some of my friends here to reminisce about some of their favorite multiplayer gaming moments. These are the stories of friendship, of heroes working in unison or battling against each other for a greater cause: that video games are awesome and that school isn't. Here are the tales from IGN's vintage vaults. We hope you enjoy them, and if they're written terribly, maybe we should have paid more attention in school.
Ryan Clements, Features Editor - My sophomore year of college, I hungered for Devil May Cry 3 like a stumbling party-goer hungers for late-night burritos. Eager. Desperate. One of my best friends from down the hall, Hilario, wanted Gran Turismo 4 with the same level of anticipation. It had launched just a week or so earlier. We decided to make an event of our purchases. We carved out a huge chunk of time between classes and homework to play the games in my room. We would alternate between them in dizzying succession. We dubbed this great day in gaming history “Gran Devil Turismo May 4 Cry 3 Day.” After sitting patiently through a few laps in Gran Turismo 4, we switched to Dante and all his pizza-eating antics. We didn’t switch back for the next 24 hours. Hopefully Hilario forgives me.
Nic Vargus, IGN Tech Editor - After my high school friends had graduated and dispersed to colleges, jobs, and unemployment lines across the country, we pledged to meet up once a year over the only thing we had in common: sports. Just kidding, I mean video games, obviously. We called these rendezvous "H24," and every year we'd cart our original Xboxes, 30 bombs of Mountain Dew, and ethernet cables to my friend Mike's basement and play Halo 2 for 24 hours straight.
We did this every January 1st for years. I can't tell you how many absolutely epic games of Capture the Flag, Tower of Power, and Rumble Pit happened in those 24 hour segments, but I can tell you each year we rekindled our friendship over that game. While we don't still meet up and LAN each year, Xbox Live has made it so many of us have never lost contact.
Anthony Gallegos, PC Editor - It wasn’t uncommon for me and my friends to ditch class in high school so we could play Bushido Blade II. At the time we all had a mild obsession with Asian martial arts, so Bushido Blade scratched an itch most other fighting games didn’t with its one-hit kills. Of course fast food binges went hand-in-hand with these epic matches, and countless Taco Bell burritos fell alongside the bodies of our opponents. I still see the disc in my game binder now and again, but, just like a powerful doomsday weapon, I don’t pull it out lest I face the onslaught of burritos that comes with this awesome, often overlooked, fighter.
Ryan McCaffrey, Xbox Executive Editor - I roomed with my best friend for freshman year of college, and all we did when we didn’t live in the same tiny dorm room was play video games, so you can imagine how that first year of higher-education went. We had our respective high-end gaming PCs set up on opposite walls, so we sat back-to-back and did almost nothing but game…when we weren’t in class, of course (*cough*). Given that our freshman year was fall of 1998, a metric sh*t-ton of amazing games came out. We went one-on-one in Half-Life deathmatch (crossbow, how I love thee…) on a near-daily basis. We passed the controls back and forth playing Carmageddon II, laughing hysterically at each new pedestrian-exploding crash. It was an amazing time in my life…until the spring semester, when EverQuest released and took over my best friend’s soul. Still, if I had a time machine, I’d love to go back to that dorm room, just for a day. No responsibilities (uh, besides my studies, I mean…), just my best friend for life and round-the-clock video games.
Colin Campbell, Features Editor - Moosehead, the Lavers twins and me used to bunk off school to go down the launderette and smoke ciggies. I was running a nice little earner at the time, buying chocolate boxes from a clearing warehouse and selling them to other kids on the bus and to teachers outside the staff room. They were great ugly things with gaudy Victorian pictures of flowers. I guess it must have been around Mother's Day at the time, because I was marking up by 100%. Anyway, I had some spare cash so we played a bunch of Frogger and we smoked a lot of Benson & Hedges and we enjoyed it. In this way, I kept the Lavers twins from killing me, because they were naturally that way inclined, and Moosehead from killing himself, because only arcade games and fruit machines and maybe saveloy-and-chips kept him from the brink of despair. I suppose, on the downside, I avoided hearing about Chiang-Kai-Shek and plate tectonics for at least a decade, but, in retrospect, it was a good trade.
Mike Drucker, Lead Writer, IGN - When I was in high school, I really wanted to make video games, so I took a lot of computer programming classes. Luckily, those machines could run Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament so we learned absolutely nothing. None of us. Not a person. Thirty people and zero knowledge of programming. Oh, we could shoot each other in the face – we learned that just fine. And putting Bill Clinton and Simpsons characters in Quake 3? Yeah, we were on board. But when it came time to take the actual AP test for computer programming, we all opened our test books, stared at the questions, and then went outside to play kick ball. Because we knew nothing but how to slaughter each other on the virtual battlefield. And you know what? I never did learn programming. But our teacher was soon fired after that. I like to think it was because of that beautiful school year when he totally failed to do his job.
Brian Altano, Executive Editor of News & Features - During college I think I spent more time in Mario Kart 64's Block Fort than I did in the actual college parts of college. I've spent so much time in Block Fort that if Block Fort was a place on Foursquare I would be the Mayor of Block Fort if I ever used Foursquare. I spent so much time in Block Fort that if Block Fort had a phone number all of the numbers in Block Fort's phone number would be kind of worn out and yellowish on my phone from all the times I called up Block Fort like "YO, BLOCK FORT, LET'S HANG OUT!" I spent so much time in Block Fort that I can't even play multiplayer modes in other Mario Kart games because they're not as fun as playing in Block Fort.
Block Fort is like my one that got away. When I'm like 85 years old and I'm making the world's saddest whiskey face at a bar by myself and the young, lively bartender asks me what my one regret in life is, I'll say I wish I could have spent more time in Block Fort. Over the years the Block Fort multiplayer matches went from four players to three to two, to just me sitting alone in Block Fort remembering all of the good times, but that's the thing about Block Fort: it just totally encapsulates exactly what makes real life so great. Four equally colored, interconnected towers covered in banana peels and dead turtle shells populated by kart riding dinosaurs and stereotyped Italians under a ticking clock. Actually, that's nothing like real life, but Block Fort is still the most magical place in the world. Block Fort.
Casey Lynch, Editor-in-Chief -- Week nights during my college career were spent listening to Slayer and NOFX, playing Magic: The Gathering, and on the really good nights, assembling an army of friends and gear to play Doom deathmatch. Saying “playing” Doom puts it mildly. Doom deathmatch was my introduction to LAN parties, and by LAN parties, I mean kids stampeding into each other’s houses with a mess of cables, power strips, card tables and icy cold beverages, racking up frags and blowing each other to bits into the wee hours of the morning. This inevitably resulted in spirited but friendly yelling matches, and the occasional outrageous wager, but when we were hunched over in the flickering glow of our boxy CRT monitors, we were alive. I can’t tell you how many classes I missed the morning after Doom nights. Other than Halo LAN parties years later, no single gaming experience has come close to those early deathmatch days. I really miss it.
What games got you (or are still getting you) through school's most stressful days? Let us know in the comments below, and remember, no matter what you'll always be MY favorite commenter.
Brian Altano is IGN's Executive Editor of News & Features. Follow him on Twitter. He's really happy he doesn't have to go to school anymore.
The concept of The Tower Chronicles is not exactly a new one. We have a mysterious loner who hunts down the things that go bump in the night, a doubtful FBI agent who needs his help solving a case and plenty of lines like, “I work alone” and "I can smell her fear." Without a doubt, The Tower Chronicles feels dated, like a story we've all heard before or a movie that never made the jump from VHS to DVD. The main character even looks like a mashup of the classic action heroes of the 80s and 90s, complete with turtle neck, Members Only jacket and slicked back hair. Fortunately, despite all that, it's still a fun read that's filled with some ridiculous action and some truly awesome looking monsters.
The story, created by Thomas Tull and Matt Wagner, revolves around John Tower, a man (at least we assume he is a man) who specializes in hunting down the kinds of things that the law can't. If, for instance, you are fairly certain that your family was murdered by a pack of werewolves, then you'd ring up John Tower and he'd make sure that said werewolves didn't come around anymore. Like I said, it's not exactly a new story, but Wagner's script manages to keep it interesting. In the book's 70 pages we get to see a man-made ghost, an owl demon thingy, and some really creepy vampires. It's cool stuff, as long as your idea of cool is seeing a vampire ripping the head off of a small child in extreme, gory detail (the kid is also a vampire, so I guess it's okay).
The dialogue, like the story itself, often feels stiff. None of the characters standout or doing anything particularly unexpected or interesting. You'll no doubt find yourself wishing you could get to the next monster and the next fight scene, because that's where this book excels. When the word balloons drop off the page and the plasma knife comes out, The Tower Chronicles gets good. Real good. It's just all those bits in between that'll have you wondering if this was originally a spec script for a Lorenzo Lomas movie from the early 90s.
Like the writing, the Simon Bisley's art is hit and miss. His detailed, exaggerated style looks amazing during the aforementioned fight scenes. The vampire melee towards the book's end is worth the cover price alone. It's sinister stuff, in all the best ways. The problems start when characters have to interact without a ghost or a monster attacking them. That's when things look awkward and lack a clear flow. It's a shame, because I'm sure there is more to Tower than his typical, brooding, tough-guy demeanor; it's just hard to care when he looks like such a bizarre dork. I just want to see more vampires and less FBI agents and mullet-topped bounty hunters.
The Tower Chronicles is scheduled to be a big story, covering several of these 70 page, over-sized books. Hopefully, as the story unfolds, the dated, stale feeling that haunts this book will be exorcised. This could be a great series, especially if we get more vampires ripping the heads off of people -- because that stuff is awesome.
Benjamin is a Ninjak enthusiast. He owns many variant covers and his office smells of honor. Follow Benjamin on Twitter, or find him on IGN.
Filmmaker Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister) has signed on to direct Beware the Night from a script he co-wrote with Paul Boardman. Screen Gems will produce the film and is currently in negotiations with Disney for the rights.
TheWrap describes the story which follows a New York police officer tasked with investigating demon possessions, exorcisms and werewolves after dark. Casting has yet to begin, although Mark Wahlberg was reportedly being eyed for the leading role.
In addition to Emily Rose, Derrickson directed 2008's The Day the Earth Stood Still and penned the screenplay for the upcoming Devil's Knot.
The upcoming remake of Red Dawn will have its world premiere as the closing night film of this month's Fantastic Fest, which runs from September 20-27 in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.
Two of the movie's Wolverines -- Josh Peck and Adrianne Palicki -- will be in attendance at the Thursday, September 27 premiere. The movie's distributor, FilmDistrict, announced that a Korean-invasion-themed party will follow the premiere screening.
Fantastic Fest will also transform the Austin American Legion into a maximum-security prison for the ultimate Red Dawn after-party. As the studio press release puts it, "Prisoners will experience mandatory enjoyment from delousing stations as well as free prison tattoos and head-shaves. Executive chef John Bullington will be doling out wild-game bulgogi, kimchi and piping-hot shots of deer blood while the uniformed detainees enjoy the musical stylings of festival favorite Future Folk."
It may have been overly obvious how much the writers and producers were really stretching out the three hours on last night’s RAW, but not only did we get another wonderful leaf pile of Daniel Bryan/Kane shtick to leap into, but they managed to take the CM Punk story and...well...
Man, and just when it was starting to get boring too. Freakin’ Paul Heyman and CM Punk! Friends forever! Amazing. I adore this.
And just one week off of Punk having to fight Jerry Lawler – which is sort of bottom-barrel heat seeking. But this? This makes everything better. This makes it all go down smooth. Of course, it’s weird to pair them up so close to a title match that CM Punk seems destined to lose. But now...perhaps...maybe not...with the losing so much? Maybe Punk can retain? I don’t want to get my hopes up. I mean, I don’t know the exact nature of Heyman and Punk’s storyline relationship yet. All I know is that this tweet (and response) makes my eyes piss tears.
It’s all happening. Back during “Pipe Bomb 3:16”, Punk said he was a “Paul Heyman guy.” And people have been wanting these two dynamos to hook up for years. But what Heyman originally said, months back when he reappeared on behalf of Brock, was true. Heyman works best when he’s speaking for a guy who needs help speaking. Punk doesn’t need a mouth (too...many...jokes…). He’s his own Heyman. That being said, I don’t care. Give me ALL THE MOUTHS! (more excerpts from my pre-written eulogy)
Snow Angels.
It seems as though, with Punk facing Cena in Boston at NOC, that the WWE was trying to get some nuclear heat on Punk right quick. So that there, in the very least, would be split crowd in Cena’s hometown. But now, after a RAW in Chicago and a team-up with Heyman? All of that Lawler beating was for naught. Punk was getting cheered last night no matter what. Even when he barfed out typical heel rhetoric like “When you disagree with me, you disrespect me.” Didn’t matter. The crowd was too intellimark. And next week’s RAW is in Canada! That’s not going to help Cena one bit! Anyway. Regardless of whether Punk still winds up losing at NOC, this is all great freakin’ news.
Well, except for the official theme song for NOC. By Kevin “Suuuuuucks” Rudolf and Fred “Still Doing Things Despite All Our Wishes That He Wouldn't” Durst. Yeah, f*** that. And not only are there horrible people behind the writing and producing of the song, it’s also an effing awful song! Like, probably the worst song I’ve ever heard. And I know that those of us who write on the internet would be absolutely nothing without the rampant abuse of hyperbole, but it was truly atrocious. And I only heard a few seconds. Imagine if I’d heard the entire magnum opus? I’ve never felt the need to describe a piece of music as gamey before. I wish I could give it a Yelp review. If that song were an ice cream flavor it would be Uncooked Pork Ripple.
Now, I do understand why Lawler wouldn’t be back doing commentary this week after last week’s match. So why the extra Punk/Lawler brawl at the beginning? That was clearly a brawl and not a sneak attack. In fact, Punk even said that the footage never showed how the fight started. I mean, it wasn’t going to get Punk any heat in Chicago, so why do it? And for the love of...it’s been weeks now, thanks to Lawler and Matthews' various stories -- of Cole doing a solo act at the announce table. I mean, it’s not really any more terrible than him doing it with someone else…but why is it happening? Why the parade of guest commentators? The funny thing is that…when Cole is by himself, and has no one else to bulls*** with, he CALLS THE MATCH! And drops his heel agenda. So – surprise surprise – there is an upside to all of it. For the entire Ziggler vs. Orton match, Cole just played it straight and boring. Which was fantastic, since it meant that I could just enjoy the match. And it was a great match. As was the Del Rio/Cena match at the end. Speaking of Del Rio, someone on Tumblr ships him and Daffney.
I don’t know what sparked this obsession, but I’ll support anyone’s ridiculous shipper fantasies. Sometimes, in this lonely dark world, it’s all we have. Speaking of good news for depressed people...
More from RAW, including Kane and Daniel Bryan's officiated hug match, on page 2...
Last night IGN hosted the fourth instalment of the increasingly popular IGN Pub Quiz at The Good Ship in Kilburn, North London, and we think it was the best one we've done yet (even if we do say so ourselves!).
IGN Crew Rolling Deep!
With prizes donated by Insert Coin Clothing, Loading Bar, Substance PR and many more generous benefactors, competition was fierce. Returning champs The Super Quiz Fighters were keen to retain their crown, which they looked set to do as they led the pack at the halfway point.
Perhaps it was Alex's malfunctioning audio round that threw them, or it could have been the IGN Subhead round that scuppered most teams, but something soured The Super Quiz Fighters' plans causing them to drop out of the running by the end of the ten rounds.
The winning team receive their trophy!
Please join us as we congratulate our new quiz champions The Court Of King Crude (a team which included the creator of the rather magnificent Thomas Was Alone) who took home a huge bundle of prizes with their whopping score of 55/102.
The Loading team came second overall.
Runner up spoils went to Loading, The Arkham Asylum Varsity Swim Team, #GATSUGA, Super Pixel Bros. and Day of the Testicle who all competed fiercely for the second third and fourth spots.
Are we dreaming? No, you came joint third.
Let's not forget our losing team, Big Fact Hunt, who bagged the wooden spoon prize with a measly 16/102 - better luck next time guys!
Better luck next time Big Fact Hunt (great team name though!)
We'd like to thank our prize donors, the staff at the Good Ship, but most importantly everyone who came down to compete - we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. If you want to see more photos from the night head over to www.facebook.com/IGNUK.
Details on our next Pub Quiz will be coming soon, all we can say at this point is - October 11th - SAVE THE DATE!
Pit your wits against the quiz questions over on the next few pages!
Jaws is coming to a Cinemark XD theater near you for one night only! The 1975 Steven Spielberg classic, which just premiered on Blu-ray last week (read our review here), will kick off Cinemark’s Fall Classic Film Series on Thursday, August 23, 2012.
Rare Jaws Japanese Poster
From the official press release, "As part of Universal Pictures’ ongoing 100th Anniversary celebration, Jaws was one of 13 classic Universal films to be digitally remastered and fully restored from 35mm original film elements. Over the course of several months, skilled technicians worked with Steven Spielberg to meticulously balance color, remove dirt and scratches, and repair any damage to the film elements shot by shot and frame by frame.
“Jaws is one of the most influential pictures in Hollywood history and changed the landscape of how movies are released,” states James Meredith, VP of Marketing & Communications for Cinemark. “With this incredible restoration, fans now have the opportunity to see one of Hollywood’s legendary films in crystal clear digital projection and incredible surround sound. Some of our locations will be featuring these titles on our Cinemark XD Extreme Digital Cinema screen!”
In addition to Jaws, Cinemark has selected six titles that were visionary films at their time of release, and still stand as true “classics” in every sense of the word. The list of films and dates of their presentation are:
For more info, visit Cinemark's Classic Film Series website where you can buy a ticket to see all six films for just $30!
Credit: R.L. Shaffer
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Between the Dick Grayson-related revelations that came out of Night of the Owls and various other elements Kyle Higgins has seeded over the past year, Nightwing has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, the series too rarely seems to nail the execution. Issue #12 is another frustratingly uneven installment that nonetheless suggests some pretty cool things are coming on the horizon.
It's mainly the final clash with Paragon that disappoints in this issue. I'm rarely a fan of the types of hero/villain showdowns where the characters embark on long-winded conversations even as they trade blows. There's a lot of exposition flying about during the extended fight scene. But to his credit, Higgins successfully ties some threads together and showcases just how far back he was planning Paragon's rise. But ultimately, like so many of the new villains that have debuted in the Bat books with the New 52, Paragon lacks that special punch needed to stand alongside the classic rogues.
One area where Higgins succeeds relative to a series like Catwoman is in building up an effective supporting cast that actually feels vital to the book's success. The relationship between Dick and Detective Nie takes an interesting new turn, as does Dick's civilian relationship to Sonia. I'm also very keen on some of the later plot twists Higgins introduces after the Paragon battle wraps. I would be amazed if the series doesn't immediately start to improve as this new material comes into play.
Sadly, the ongoing art woes continue to plague the series. Andres Guinaldo is back again. His work shines best during the fight scenes, and he shows a particularly deft grasp of Nightwing's fighting style and acrobatics. It's more the facial work that drags down the issue. The expressions run from being merely bland to downright weird and silly. The facial work really works against the tone of the script in the final encounter between Dick and Sonia. What should be a serious, dramatic moment reads almost like a comedy instead.
Nightwing needs a more suitable and consistent artist if it's going to live up to its potential. Luckily, Higgins seems to be maneuvering the book into a more compelling place in the coming months, so the visual woes aren't an insurmountable problem.
Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. He can't wait until he's old enough to feel ways about stuff. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.
WWE RAW is now, as of a few weeks ago, three hours long. So that, plus two hours of Smackdown on Fridays and the upcoming Wednesday night show that the WWE will have on ION TV will soon place them at...carry the two...a flaflillion hours of TV a week!
So...much...WWE.
But it doesn't stop there. It was announced today that for the first time since 2001, the WWE will have a program during a popular TV kids' time slot on Saturday morning.
A new, weekly half-hour show called WWE Saturday Morning Slam will debut in two weeks on August 25 at 10 a.m. as part of the television premiere of Vortexx, a Saturday morning kids' television block, reaching 114 million U.S. television households on The CW. Vortexx on The CW is run by Saban Brands, the company that brought the world the Power Rangers.
Somebody call my mini-momma!
No, I suppose those of us IGNers who watch the WWE don't necessarily need to make Saturday Morning Slam part of our balanced breakfast. It's going to skew younger and focus on the elements of the WWE that are kid-friendly. It will still have in-ring action, but it will also incorporate behind-the-scenes footage and include highlights from WWE’s Be a STAR anti-bullying campaign and other community initiative. It also promises to be the "most energy-filled half-hour on television."
“We are extremely excited to partner with the WWE to bring their world-class brand of entertainment to Vortexx,” said Joel Andryc, Co-President, Vortexx. “With a focus on action, adventure and comedy, Vortexx is the perfect home for WWE Saturday Morning Slam and will definitely excite our fans.”
“WWE has a long history on Saturday mornings, and we’re thrilled to make our action-packed return on Vortexx with WWE Saturday Morning Slam,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO. “The new program enables us to further engage kids and families, a vital component of WWE’s passionate and multi-generational fan base.”
