Right around the time that I started writing here at FirstShowing in 2009, there was a project called Motorcade in the works. At the time, Ryan Reynolds had just been brought in to replace Tom Cruise in the project, and “24” executive producer Jon Cassar was replacing Len Wiseman in the director’s chair. But it’s been over five years since that news surfaced, and the project has been dead in the water. But today it has new life as Deadline reports DreamWorks is bringing in Smokin’ Aces, The Grey and The A-Team director Joe Carnahan to get the project in gear and finally get it into production. So what’s this film about again? ›››
Most of the original artwork we feature is paying tribute to specific films, featuring settings, characters and more from the stories we love. However, artist Julian Rentzsch has decided to pay tribute to the filmmakers themselves with some beautiful portraits that also pay tribute to their filmography. There’s only a few portraits he has done right now for Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch, but he’s planning on making more. And once you see how incredible these portraits are, you’ll be glad that’s the case. Each also includes a quote from the filmmaker being illustrated. And you can even get ahold of one! ›››
Briefly: “I’ve decided to write the story down…” Roadside Attractions & Miramax have confirmed a release date for Bill Condon’s Mr. Holmes, starring Sir Ian McKellen as an aging Sherlock Holmes. I’ve been raving about the film ever since I caught the premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, since it really moved me (read my review) and I can’t wait for it to hit theaters over here. Roadside will be releasing Mr. Holmes in theaters starting on July 17th this summer, around the same time as Marvel’s Ant-Man and Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck. Let’s hope it doesn’t get lost in the mix. It’s a gem of a film, about an older Sherlock Holmes struggling with memory loss and aging, who befriends the young son of a caretaker. Watch the first trailer.›››
Before Jemaine Clement became the star of films like Gentleman Broncos and this year’s Sundance selected People, Places & Things and director of What We Do in the Shadows, and before Bret McKenzie became an Oscar-winning songwriter and part of Middle-Earth for Peter Jackson, the duo became famous as the humorous folk duo Flight of the Conchords. And one year before they had their hit show on HBO, they were playing shows at SXSW, and while on their Texas trip, they shot a 45-minute documentary. Of course, it’s hilarious, but it’s also fascinating to see them with fans before they made it big. Watch now! ›››
What would you like to see in a collector’s edition for upcoming open-world game Just Cause 3? Now’s your chance to be heard. Avalanche Studios and Square Enix have launched a public voting page where anyone can rank a series of items that could end up in a premium bundle.
It’s easy. Just head to this website and select three items, in order of preference, that you would like to see included with the Just Cause 3 collector’s edition.
There are 12 total items available to vote on, including a remote-control helicopter, a nine-inch Rico statue, a camouflage backpack, a grapple hook replica, diecast vehicles, various dioramas, and even a destructible statue/puzzle.
Check out the image gallery below to see all twelve options.
Upon submitting your selections, you’ll be given the opportunity to sign up for a Square Enix email list that will let you know what the contents of the collector’s edition are when announced. Pricing for the collector’s edition has not been announced, and there’s a good chance the ultimate cost will depend on what fans vote to include in it.
Developer Evolution Studios on Thursday released a new trailer for PlayStation 4 racing game Driveclub that outlines all the new content coming to the title through this month’s update.
Here’s a breakdown of what to expect when the update rolls out on March 24.
Free car: Peugeot Onyx Concept
The Lamborghini Expansion Pack: Comes with four new cars; see them here.
Pace-Setting Tour Pack: Includes five new trophies and 12 new tour events.
New Replays feature: You can now save a Replay at the end of any single player event and view it later from the Replays section.
In addition to the new content, Driveclub’s 1.12 update includes a range of improvements and tweaks based on fan feedback. These include refinements to Drift Mode and adjustments to drag reduction when veering off the road, as well as the ability to use Twitch or Ustream to livestream multiplayer matches.
What about the long-delayed free PlayStation Plus version of Driveclub? There’s still no ETA for its release, but Evolution says, after Driveclub 1.12 is released, it will make “continual server upgrades” to eventually allow for the release of the game.
The full Driveclub 1.12 patch notes and more are printed below, courtesy of Evolution.
DRIVECLUB 1.12:
Adds Replays to the game for all Single Events and Tours. You can now save a Replay at the end of any single player event and view it later from the Replays section.
Photomode can be used from within a Replay at any point.
Introduces a new Driver Level 50 reward: You can now unlock the Ferrari 599XX Evoluzione for your Garage!
Refines Drift Mode scoring to increase the points scored for momentum, control and staying on the track.
Adjusts the drag reduction when veering off road, so that accidentally leaving the track slows you down more gradually.
Adjusts the drag penalty on world collisions, to remove the possibility of gaining any advantage after colliding with a wall.
Adds the option to control screen brightness in-game (new Display Option).
Adds the option to change the volume levels on individual SFX channels (new Audio options in Settings).
Adds the option to make the AI opponents in a Single Event drive in the same car as the one the player chooses.
Adds the option to select factory paint jobs for AI opponents (new Display Option).
Removes the voicechat icon for any player you have chosen to mute in Multiplayer while you are driving.
Adds new categories for downloaded Livery Packs within the Bonus Designs in Customization.
Adds status information about friends playing DRIVECLUB to the Social Hub.
Immediately centers the camera view behind the car automatically whenever you reset to the track.
Adds support for live streaming via Twitch and Ustream while playing Multiplayer.
Improves the atmospheric visual effects further by improving heathaze and introducing mirages, which are visible on the road when light is refracted by hot air.
Includes more minor bug fixes, performance improvements and usability tweaks.
Update 1.12 Add-ons (coming to PlayStation Store March 24-26):
Adds support for the Peugeot Onyx Concept, coming to PlayStation Store as a free download.
Adds support for the Lamborghini Expansion Pack, coming to PlayStation Store as a premium/Season Pass add-on.
The Lamborghini Car Pack includes: Lamborghini Aventador LP 720-4 50° Anniversario, Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4, Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Squadra Corse and Lamborghini Veneno.
The Lamborghini Tour Pack includes 10 new Events and 5 new Trophies.
Adds support for the Pacesetter Tour Pack, coming to PlayStation Store as a premium/Season Pass add-on.
The Pacesetter Tour Pack includes 12 new Events and 5 new Trophies.
Adds support for 2 new livery packs, coming to PlayStation Store as a premium/Season Pass add-on. Each Livery Pack contains 5 new livery patterns to customize your cars with.
Important developments to be aware of (coming after 1.12):
Continual server upgrades: to keep improving online stability and performance for all current players and to enable the release of the PS+ Edition and DRIVECLUB companion app.
Private lobbies: Development of Private Lobbies for Multiplayer is ongoing alongside development of server improvements.
Replays for Multiplayer races: these require further development and testing and will come in a future game update.
Lots more cars: We’re only half way through the Season Pass that runs to July and we have many more commonly requested cars and manufacturers coming to DRIVECLUB!
New ranks: because many of you are at Level 50 already. In the mean time, please enjoy exclusive access to the Ferrari 599XX Evoluzione as a reward for your dedication and success.
Visceral Games’ cops-and-robbers shooter Battlefield Hardline takes up around 45.3 GB of hard drive space on Xbox One, according to the game’s product page.
Hardline’s Xbox One file size has been revealed as a result of the game launching today through EA Access. Members can play the game for a period of 10 hours before its official release next Tuesday, March 17. The PlayStation 4 file size is likely similar, while it’s unclear how much space the game takes up on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
You could have probably already guessed that the Star CitizenPC client would be huge given the massive scope of the first-person universe game. But now we have an actual number: 100 GB.
Jeremy Masker, Star Citizen director of game operations, revealed the figure in a post on the game’s forums. A fan predicted that Star Citizen’s final release would be “significantly more compressed and optimized” than it is currently, leading to a client size of 30-40 GB.
That’s not the case, however.
“As I have already said, I would not count on this,” Masker replied. “The game compression and asset removal is unlikely to yield such high gains that we will be able to reduce our client size to 30-40 GB. The size and number of assets that are left to deliver means that our client size is much more likely to be 100 GB.”
Masker went on to say that developer Cloud Imperium Games is optimizing game patching, but “this is unlikely to reduce actual patch size.”
“Again, each patch has 100s of assets, each of these assets are at times 200 MB, this leads to 2-6 GB patches, and if we end up doing a file type re-factor and have to re-download 30-40% of the assets on the hard-drive, then the patch will be 14-20 GB,” he said.
As PC Gamer points out, a massive file size isn’t such a big issue for players with zippy connections and unlimited data. But it could be something of a problem for people not as fortunate.
Developer Harmonix has launched a new page where fans can submit their song requests for tracks they would like to see included in Rock Band universe going forward.
Just head to this page and write in your requested song title and artist. Not sure if the song you want is already in the game? Check out the Rock Band song database here. You can submit as many requests as you like.
Of course, writing a request to Harmonix does not guarantee that your song will make it into the game. “But we will read every request to get a better understanding of what the community most wants to see in Rock Band,” the developer wrote.
Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos recently said that Rock Band 4 will have a “top-tier” soundtrack, though the game’s tracklist remains a mystery. The developer is also planning to release even more DLC for the game outside of the title’s on-disc tracklist.
Microsoft and developer Moon Studios are working on supplying a patch update for its critically acclaimed Metroidvania title, Ori and the Blind Forest.
Just hours after the game shipped on Xbox One on Wednesday, players posted messages on a number of forums, such as GameFAQs, to report technical problems. As well as intermittent screen freezes interrupting the game, user reports suggest that screen blackouts also occur when the Xbox One multi-tasks the game with another app.
A Kotaku reporter went into detail on the nature of the problem:
“Three or four times, the game simply wouldn’t display properly whenever I tried to open it again from my Xbox One dashboard after switching over to something else—showing static or simply an all-white or all-black screen that would intermittently switch over to the game.”
In some instances, uninstalling and reinstalling the 7GB game was cited as a solution to overcome this bug, though Microsoft says this is not necessary.
A patch update to resolve these issues is now being coded. Microsoft said: “We have identified a conflict between Ori and the Blind Forest and the Xbox One’s instant-on feature. We are working to resolve the conflict in an upcoming update. In the meantime, we recommend players fully quit out of the game and restart, rather than resuming their game quickly. There is no need to uninstall and reinstall the game.”
Ori and the Blind Forest has garnered near-unanimous praise from critics.
GameSpot’s Ori and the Blind Forest Review hailed it as a “rapturous platformer that is as fun as it is beautiful”. The video review can be watched above.
This praise was echoed by critics across Europe and the US, with Moon Studios’ breakthrough project receiving glowing write-ups. A review roundup can be found here.
