This is just perfect. Director Paul Feig has revealed on Twitter early casting news for the new all-female Ghostbusters movie he’s currently working on. Feig has announced that Chris Hemsworth, the God of Thunder Thor himself!, will be playing the receptionist in Ghostbusters. Our presumption is this means he’s taking on the same role that Annie Potts played as Janine in the original films, which is a perfect swap of the character. Mostly because Hemsworth is becoming funnier (did you see the Vacation trailer?), and yet he’s still a talented actor who can take on challenging roles like Rush and In the Heart of the Sea. And because we know Feig is great breaking down usually badass actors, like Jason Statham in Spy. See the tweet below. ›››
“I don’t want to survive, I want to live!” Need a smile today? Or maybe a quick cry? Fire up this wonderful video made in tribute to the upcoming release of Pixar’s Inside Out, titled Emotions of Pixar, edited by Lindsay McCutcheon. It’s a tribute to the various emotions seen in Pixar movies, and is essentially a tribute to the extraordinary work of the very talented animators and artists at Pixar. They are truly the ones who are responsible for creating these characters and making them so perfectly expressive, in subtle ways, and their work really shines when edited together like this. So many great movies, with so many sad, happy, exciting, worrisome moments throughout. From Monsters Inc to Monsters University, and their entire filmography. ›››
Opportunity rocks where you least expect it. Open Road Films has debuted a trippy new poster for Rock the Kasbah, the latest film from Barry Levinson, starring Bill Murray as a “down-on-his-luck music manager” who discovers a talented singer in Afghanistan and takes her compete in the Afghani version of American Idol. The film has a big cast, including Zooey Deschanel, Kate Hudson, Danny McBride, but this poster is all about Murray who gets his smiling mug front and center. I’m not sure if all the wild colors are from the film, or just designed to make this eye-catching, but I’m curious to see some footage. View below. ›››
Finally. Hopefully. Maybe it will be out this year. Fingers crossed. We’ve been following this film since the very early days of FirstShowing – originally called just ’77, then retitled to 5-25-77, with releases planned for years but nothing actually ever happening. Patrick Read Johnson’s 5-25-77 is a coming-of-age indie set around the opening of the original Star Wars on the big screen on May 25th, 1977. Apparently the film is finally being finished, a distributor is place, and it will be out later this year – or so Patrick Read Johnson told Yahoo (via SlashFilm). “I can tell you that the film will come out in theaters on a significant date,” he hints, but that won’t be on the same day as The Force Awakens in December, so it has to be another time. ›››
Lee was hospitalized for respiratory problems and heart failure and died Sunday in London, according to The Guardian.
The news was only released today because Lee’s wife of 50 years wanted to speak with family first.
Lee is also known for his roles as Dracula and as a Bond villain in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun. He also played a lead role in 1973’s The Wicker Man.
Star Wars fans may also recall that Lee played Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
Ahead of E3 next week, Electronic Arts and DICE have released a new image of their upcoming shooter, Star War: Battlefront. Published on Twitter, the image shows a band of rebels on what appears to be Hoth.
“Its location is no longer a secret,” reads the image’s description.
Though we’ve seen a flashy CG trailer, DICE hasn’t released any Battlefront gameplay footage publicly to date–but that’s soon to change. During EA’s E3 briefing next week, the publisher will release gameplay for the first time.
As you might have guessed, the new Ratchet & Clank runs at 1080p; frame rate is 30fps. These details were confirmed by developer Insomniac Games community lead James Stevenson.
“Our goal was to match or exceed the fidelity of CG animated movies,” he said on the PlayStation Blog. “When we first started we realized that was actually possible with PS4. Pretty exciting.”
The new Ratchet & Clank game for PS4 will launch in spring 2016 alongside a full-length animated movie based on the series. Both the game and the movie were previously expected to launch in 2015, but were recently delayed. For more on the movie, check out its star-studded voice cast.
Stevenson also confirmed that, as suspected, the new Ratchet & Clank game will cost $40, not $60.
In addition, Stevenson clarified that the new Ratchet & Clank is “way bigger” than the most recent release, Into the Nexus for PlayStation 3, and should offer about 10-12 hours of gameplay. Of course, this is just an estimation, and Stevenson stresses that the game will also offer upgrades and trophies to unlock.
In addition to the much-improved visuals, Ratchet & Clank will feature new planets, bosses, and weapons, as well as a modernized control scheme. These weapons consist of both brand-new weapons and some returning from the Ratchet & Clank Future games, such as the Groovitron that forces nearby characters to dance. Also making a return here is the Bouncer weapon from Going Commando, but you’ll need to preorder the game in order to get your hands on that.
Expect to hear much more about the game as we approach E3 next week.
The free version of PlayStation 4 racing game Driveclub, which was supposed to launch alongside the main game last year but was later delayed indefinitely, is now closing in on its release.
“We’re in the final stages of development now,” game director Paul Rustchynsky said to a fan on Twitter.
The PS Plus edition was put on hold, with Sony saying it would not release the game until it was confident that the servers would hold up.
If you’d rather play another Sony-developed PS4 racing game, we learned this week that Gran Turismo 7–which will have better crash physics–should launch before 2017.
Are you planning to check out the PS Plus edition of Driveclub when it arrives? Already moved on? Let us know in the comments below.
Shadow Warrior 2 is in development, publisher Devolver Digital has confirmed.
A Facebook post on the Shadow Warrior page links to a website with the logo for the sequel. The post also asks “Who wants more Wang?,” as a cheeky puerile reference to the first game’s protagonist.
The post also confirms the sequel will once again be developed by Flying Wild Hog. The timing of the tease suggests the game will be more fully revealed at E3 2015.
“If you’re going to remake a game known for its tacky humor, this is the way to do it,” said our reviewer. “The crassness is here, but it’s merely seasoning in a colorful old-school first-person shooter that allows excitement to build organically from the way its systems interact.”
“If you saw Duke Nukem’s 2011 appearance as a personal slight, you’ll be glad to know that Lo Wang still stands tall and proud.”
The game was also praised for its high-energy, colorful shooting action, great diversity of weapons, with lots of reasons to use them all, and robust upgrade system.”
GameSpot’s early access reviews evaluate unfinished games that are nonetheless available for purchase by the public. While the games in question are not considered finished by their creators, you may still devote money, time, and bandwidth for the privilege of playing them before they are complete. The review below critiques a work in progress, and represents a snapshot of the game at the time of the review’s publication.
In the time that I’ve spent with it so far, Lego Worlds has been an utter delight. Whenever I think I’ve seen everything it has to offer in its current state, suddenly there’s a camel rolling around comically in the sand, or a vampire jealously guarding a motorcycle, or a pig snuffling around the top of a massive cupcake.
This game is a treat.
Most animals will be your BFF if you ask nicely.
Based on what’s playable now and what’s planned for the future, Lego Worlds’ focus is exploration and building, and it already excels at both. There is a surprising variety of biomes to drop into its generated worlds, along with a slew of interactive objects–too many to name, with countless unique interactions available. During my first few hours of play, I found myself riding a bear and fighting robbers in an area littered with oversized puddings, as the sun crested gold over a chocolate-topped mountain. Soon enough, I had traded my bear friend for a dinghy and set out toward a patch of green across the water.
Mobility is key in Lego Worlds, whether you are spurring a cranky bear through a field of candy or traveling by foot. Characters can climb up the sides (and even undersides) of just about any object placed in the world, from pine trees to pagodas, and when climbing is combined with double-jumping, exploration-minded folks will have little trouble getting wherever they want to go. And there are plenty of reason to explore. New objects, characters, vehicles, and animals populate the inventory, while chests littered across the world spit out gleaming plastic studs to use as currency–as will most other objects, when punched hard enough. Larger, rarer chests may also have items like weapons in them, but considering that you can take down a zombie with a couple bare-handed swipes, these seem mostly ornamental.
Climbing is an unexpected but welcome feature for explorers.
Studs can also be used to unlock props and playsets to build with in the world, and building is where Lego Worlds shines brightest. Rather than giving you blocks made of specific materials, Lego Worlds instead provides you with dozens upon dozens of different brick shapes, colors, and even opacities to build with. That’s simple enough, but the real brilliance of Lego Worlds’ building system is how rarely it gets in the player’s way. Bricks do not follow any particular rules, so there’s no need to worry about gravity or logic or even lining up the studs of the bricks themselves. The camera is always where it’s needed, while the avatar is always just out of the way, and switching between placing, moving, and deleting bricks is accomplished with a few deft clicks. Have a change of heart about the color of the walls? No need to rebuild, just paint it over. Brick variety is also staggering, and when you consider that making a chair in Minecraft still involves crafting up a set of stairs and two wooden signboards to slap on either side, it’s easy to appreciate the creative freedom that a full range of shapes can provide. The best part of all this is that laying plain bricks costs the player absolutely no currency or resources, so it’s easy to dig right into building if that’s what you’re there for. There’s also terraforming, which can be accomplished with a standard range of terraforming brushes or with a line-up of entertaining specialty vehicles, including steamrollers, bulldozers, and even lawn mowers.
But Lego Worlds still has its fair share of kinks to work out. The lack of a windowed mode is a big pain for those who likes to multitask while they build or wander, and I’ve personally had to contend with disappearing cursors and uncooperative menus more than once. Given how good the game both looks and feels otherwise, these are fairly minor grievances. I can live with a fickle “undo” function, for example, when I can remove the offending block with a single right click either way.
Terraforming the old fashioned way.
Of course, the conversation around Lego Worlds (and countless other building-oriented sandbox games) inevitably leads back to Minecraft, which doesn’t do anyone any favors. While there are similarities between the two, there is a certain type of Minecraft fan who will find little of interest in Lego Worlds. It doesn’t offer much in the way of survival mechanics or scarcity of materials, and there’s no hint of either in the game’s list of promised features. This means that those who savor spending their first night in a new world dug into a tiny hillside bunker, hoarding coal and raw pork chops, may be left wanting. The same is true for those who appreciate the creep of progress as they gain access to better and better materials for more advanced crafting recipes. It’s best to scrap any hopes of crafting altogether, because this just isn’t that game.
A lot of promising sandbox games have stagnated in their early access or beta stages. I’ve personally been burned before, and I have a hard time imagining another “craftlike” enthusiast who hasn’t. As much as I enjoy Lego Worlds’ charm and usability, I would still describe its future as uncertain. It will take a lot more than camels and bears and unbelievably user-friendly building controls to stand alongside the genre’s biggest successes. While it demonstrates an impressive understanding of how you engage with exploration and building in wide open worlds, that won’t be enough to sustain it without even more content and the implementation of promised features, such as online multiplayer. Lego Worlds’ foundation is rock-solid; the developer just needs to keep laying the bricks.
What’s There?
There are loads of biomes ready to explore, as well as creatures, characters, vehicles and items to interact with. The game also has a full set of building and terraforming features already implemented, though there may still be more in the works.
What’s to Come?
The list is long, but most notably they’re promising more biomes, items, characters, buildings, vehicles, as well as new liquid behaviours, underwater exploration, cave systems, improved AI and online multiplayer.
What Does it Cost?
$14.99
When Will it be Finished?
Early 2016
What’s the Verdict?
It’s an absolute delight to explore and build even in the game’s current state, but there’s still plenty of room to grow. Like so many other early access craftlikes, maintaining regular updates will make or break LEGO Worlds.
