The much-anticipated adaptation of the cult comic book Preacher finally premieres this weekend. We’ve had a series of imagery, clips, and trailers for the supernatural thriller over the past few weeks, and now AMC have put the first four minutes of episode one online. Check it out below:
The show stars Captain America‘s Dominic Cooper as a smalltown preacher who is possessed by a supernatural creature and controlled by opposing forces of both good and evil. It was developed by Seth Rogen and his regular filmmaking partner Evan Goldberg, and co-stars Ruth Negga and Joseph Gilgun.
It has also been reported that Amazon has signed the rights to show Preacher in several countries outside the US. According to THR, Amazon Prime Video will stream the show weekly in the UK, Austria, Germany, and Japan.
AMC has announced that a live discussion show called Talking Preacher will be broadcast after both the pilot episode and the season finale in July. The Talking Dead proved to be a highly popular weekly post-episode analysis for the channel’s zombie smash The Walking Dead, and if Preacher is a success, season 2 could see Talking Preacher take a regular slot.
Preacher was created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, and first published in 1995 by the DC imprint Vertigo to huge acclaim. It ran for a total of 75 issues, including several one-off specials and a limited series.
Microsoft is selling its feature phone assets to Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile Ltd and HMD Global for $350 million, the company announced today. Additionally, FIH Mobile will buy out Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, a manufacturing facility for Hanoi and Vietnam, as part of the deal.
As part of the new arrangement, around 4,500 Microsoft employees are leaving Microsoft. They are transferring to, “or have the opportunity to join,” FIH Mobile or HMD Global, Microsoft said.
This announcement does not affect Microsoft’s existing Windows 10 mobile devices, including its Lumia range. What it means is that Microsoft will “transfer substantially all of its feature phone assets,” which includes brands, software and service, and “critical supply agreements.”
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016.
One of the brands included in the sale is Nokia, according to GameSpot sister site CNET. When the deal closes, HMD will make Nokia-branded phones that run on Android
“We will be completely focused on creating a unified range of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, which we know will resonate with consumers,” HMD CEO Arto Nummela said in a statement. “Branding has become a critical differentiator in mobile phones, which is why our business model is centered on the unique asset of the Nokia brand, and our extensive experience in sales and marketing.”
“Microsoft agreed to acquire Nokia’s phone business in 2013 in an effort to become relevant in a phone market dominated by Apple’s iPhone and companies such as Samsung that embraced Google’s Android software. But the move failed to turn around the business,” CNET’s Stephen Shankland said.
Head to CNET to see a full breakdown of today’s Microsoft phone announcements.
Zoom has released an army of metahumans from Earth-2. Flash and the team from STAR Labs have to figure out a way to stop them. Meanwhile, a face from the past comes to Central City, and is more powerful than they could ever imagine.
Warning: Spoilers for the episode ahead.
Caitlin’s Struggle
Last week, Zoom gave Caitlin the choice to leave or stay with him, before it was revealed that the villain brought his own gallery of rogues to Central City. Caitlin chose to go back to her friends, as any sane person would. However, Zoom may have done something to her. Caitlin begins to see images of her former captor and, at first, he’s transparent. As the episode goes on, however, full images of Zoom start appearing and only Caitlin can see them. It’s unclear as to whether this is psychological and all in her head, or if Zoom actually did something to her.
Cisco Vibes the Future
Throughout the season, Cisco’s vibe power has gotten stronger and stronger. Throughout this week’s episode, Cisco begins to vibe himself in a city, presumably Central City. He keeps seeing dead birds on the sidewalk. At the end of the episode, Cisco’s vibe continues and he sees Earth-2’s Central City being torn apart by the same rifts they use to travel between worlds. However, this isn’t currently happening in Central City, that they know of, so Cisco believes that this vibe is coming from the future.
The Return of Laurel Lance
The villain of the week happened to someone from everyone’s past. Laurel Lance makes her presence known in Central City by unleashing screams that can take down buildings. However, this isn’t the Black Canary that everyone in Central City once knew. She’s still dead. This Laurel Lance is from Earth-2, also known as Black Siren. She’s working with Zoom to take over Earth-1, and she’s more powerful than the Earth-1 Laurel Lance ever was. Taking her down was tough for the STAR Labs team as the majority of them had a connection with Laurel prior to her death.
Wally is Fighting Crime
Wally West takes one more step to becoming Kid Flash by hitting the streets of Central City to help take down the Earth-2 metahumans. He doesn’t have his signature Speed Force powers (yet), but he has decided to take action by hunting down these Earth-2 villains. Joe finds out and isn’t too happy. Eventually, Flash runs into Wally to have a talk with him about what he’s doing. However, Wally says he’s doing this because he lives in Central City too, and he wants to defend it.
Death of the Father0
Zoom escapes to Earth-2 after the other metahumans in the city have been taken down. Everything seems safe, and the STAR Labs crew shares a dinner together at the West household. However, they are not safe. Zoom runs in and kidnaps Henry Allen, the Flash’s father. Flash runs after him and Zoom leads Barry to his childhood home, where his mother was killed. Zoom thinks Barry will be just like him if he kills Henry. Barry pleads with Zoom, but in the end, Zoom kills Henry Allen.
Will the death of Henry Allen break the Flash? Will he give into his rage and seek vengeance? We’ve already seen Barry pushed to the limit in the first season, after finding out the Reverse Flash killed his mother. Now that two different speedsters have killed one of his parents, all because Barry chose to be a hero, the Flash could be unhero-like next week in the season finale.
The supporting cast gets some further development as well, mainly Cisco, Caitlin, and Wally. We’re not too sure where the developments with Caitlin are leading though. Could she turn into Killer Frost because of her dealings with Zoom? There’s something going on, so expect something big from her in the season finale next week. In addition, Wally is finally becoming the character fans know and love from the comics. He’s becoming a hero, but without the powers. He’s sure to be an important part of the next season, as will Cisco, who is really honing his new powers. It’s great to see not all the focus is on Barry this week.
The overall episode was exciting and quite a bit better than the last few episodes. The biggest complaint came from the fact that Central City is supposedly invaded with metahumans from Earth-2, yet the audience really didn’t see more than three: Zoom, Laurel Lance, and the guy Wally helped take down in the opening of the episode. There were also a few shots of other villains being taken down briefly at the end of the episode. Because of that, the threat to the city the viewer was supposed to feel wasn’t apparent. Regardless, it is nice to see everything slowly come to a close here, and there’s a big enough hook with Henry Allen’s death to bring viewers back next week.
2K Sports has announced that its popular professional basketball game NBA 2K16 is adding a spectator mode, though it may not be as useful as you’d like. The mode, called 2K StreamCast, will go live this coming Saturday, May 21, and will be offered on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
On May 21, 16 teams will face off in the single-elimination Road to the Finals tournament. The top two teams will then meet in the $250,000 championship held in June, timed to take place alongside the real-world NBA Finals.
Every Road to the Finals match will also be available to watch on-demand after they’re finished, so if you can’t watch live or want to see a replay, you will be able to do that. The tournament runs from 10 AM – 6 PM PST on May 21, and you can also check out the action on 2K’s Twitch channel.
No mention was made of support for StreamCast on last-generation consoles.
For more, you can check out the trailer above to see what StreamCast looks like. As for the Road to the Finals tournament, here is the full bracket.
Nintendo has shared some new numbers for its hit Wii U game Super Mario Maker. Writing on Twitter, Nintendo revealed players have now created 7.2 million courses, which have been played by the community 600 million times.
To put that into context, Nintendo writes, “If you played every level in Super Mario Maker for 1 minute each, it would take you nearly 14 years to play them all.”
Super Mario Maker is one of the Wii U’s biggest hits. It has sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide to date, a figure that counts units included with the Super Mario Maker hardware bundle.
“The game won’t necessarily turn you into the next Shigeru Miyamoto, but you can almost feel a little bit of that magic rubbing off every time you upload a new creation,” reviewer Justin Haywald said.
Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda series looks set to receive a range of trading cards, an EB Games Australia listing has indicated. According to a product description on the retailer’s website, the initial set will feature “images from 5 different games.”
“The Legend of Zelda trading cards are here,” reads the product description. “This brand is incredibly popular right now with best-selling games, books, and more! There are two major game releases this year, including the new HD version of The Twilight Princess in March and an all new game coming soon.”
“This stunning set will include images from 5 different games! Look for your favorite characters and icons in high quality trading cards, foil cards, tattoos, decal stickers (Clear and foil-stamped), and tattoos.”
It adds: “Each [base] pack contains four packs of six randomly inserted cards and one decal or tattoo, a poster, as well as one of three randomly inserted collector’s pins.”
Zelda Wii U and NX (an official title has not yet been revealed) was originally scheduled for 2016, but has been delayed into 2017. Nintendo has confirmed the Wii U version will be its only playable title at E3 2016 “in order to provide attendees a complete immersion.”
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice might technically be a hit movie, but it was a critical failure and now looks unlikely to cross the expected $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office. One criticism that Warner has faced is that, unlike rivals Marvel, it doesn’t have anyone overseeing its ongoing cinematic universe. This is now changing, with the creation of a new DC movie division and the appointment of two executives to run it.
According the The Hollywood Reporter, the newly-formed DC Films will focus entirely on the films in the superhero universe. Jon Berg and Geoff Johns will oversee the production and creative direction, much as Kevin Feige does at Marvel. THR states that this is intended to focus the direction of the ongoing franchise, as well as add clarity to the “murky greenlight process.”
This follows news that the negative reaction to Dawn of Justice and its dramatic second-week box office slump has led Warner to consider reducing the number of films that it makes. As THR noted, the studio may largely restrict its output to their key properties–DC, Lego, and Harry Potter–at the expense of new original projects.
The next movie in the DC universe will be Suicide Squad, which opens in August. Next year will see the release of Wonder Woman, which has now wrapped production, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League Part One, which is currently shooting.
This week it was reported that Warner were considering a female superhero DC team-up centred around Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Robbie will play the character in Suicide Squad, alongside Will Smith and Jared Leto.
While Stephen King is one of the most adapted authors of the past few decades, his multi-part fantasy epic The Dark Tower was for a long time a key book that remained unfilmed. A movie version is finally in production, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. The first on-set images have been published, revealing Elba in costume. Check it out below, via the Mail Online:
Luthor star Elba is playing gunslinger Roland Deschain, while McConaughey will feature as Walter Padick, aka the Man in Black, the demonic sorcerer who is the story’s central villain. It is directed by Nikolaj Arcel, who previously helmed the Oscar-nominated A Royal Affair.
The Dark Tower has had a long development process, and had passed between several studios before ending up at Sony. In March, King commented on the length of time it had taken for the project to reach this stage. “It’s been a looong trip from the books to the film,” he told EW. “When you think about it, I started these stories as a senior in college, sitting in a little sh*tty cabin beside the river in Maine, and finally this thing is actually in pre-production now.
“I’m delighted, and I’m a little bit surprised.”
The Dark Tower encompasses eight novels, written between 1982 and 2012. The books blend classic western themes with horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, and many of King’s other novels connect to the ongoing story.
The film is set to be released on February 23, 2017, and there are plans for this movie to be the first of an ongoing franchise.
It looks like Microsoft may have some kind of an announcement to make today. Xbox engineering lead Mike Ybarra posted a cryptic message on Twitter last night, signalling something for later today.
It would appear that something Xbox-related will be revealed/detailed today. He posted the tweet at 10:21 PM, so 13.5 hours from then would be around 11 AM today.
We’ll keep our eyes on this and report back with new information when it becomes available.
Ybarra is a partner director for the Xbox and Windows platforms. He heads up the development on updates for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC, though that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what this tease pertains to.
A recent Windows 10 update added support for new gaming features such as unlocked frame rate, as well as G-Sync and FreeSync. However, games themselves need to be updated to support the new features.
Thomas Puha of developer Remedy Entertainment wrote on Twitter that Quantum Break’s new PC update is expected to land “within the next two weeks,” but possibly sooner.
We are close to getting update 3 done for Win10 @QuantumBreak It will include G-Sync/FreeSync support now that the Win10 update is out
The next major update for Windows 10 PC, as well as Xbox One, is the Anniversary update. It is scheduled to come out this summer for both platforms, introducing “key gaming features,” among other things. You can check out this post to learn more about it.
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