“I can’t lose my daughter. I’ll give you my everything.” We’d already gotten a first look at a ripped Jake Gyllenhaal for his role in Antoine Fuqua’s boxing drama Southpaw, but now that the first trailer has arrived, it’s clear that this isn’t just another boxing movie. Gyllenhaal plays a champion who has his life torn away form him piece by piece, leaving him a shell of the man he used to be. There’s a really meaty story here, and the redemption that Gyllenhaal’s character seeks isn’t just for boxing glory. This is a summer release, but I hope this ends up getting Gyllehaal the Oscar nomination he didn’t get for Nightcrawler. ›››
After raising $50,000 on Kickstarter, filmmaker Mischa Rozema and his buddies from an Amsterdam production house called PostPanic made a short sci-fi film called Sundays, and it went viral online on Monday. Well, the short created a frenzy in Hollywood as Deadline reports at least three studios weren’t fighting for the rights to the short, as well as the talent that is Mischa Rozema, and Warner Bros. came out on top with a deal to turn the short into a feature film. This is the new way to break into the exclusive club that is Hollywood, and it’s undoubtedly a dream come true for Rozema and his team. Wanna see the short? ›››
Even though the Swedish drama Force Majeure wasn’t eligible for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, it was still one of the best international offerings of 2014, winning a bunch of awards that are the Swedish equivalent of the Oscar, as well as the Un Certain Regard jury prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film is available on Netflix Instant now, but for those who just can’t handle subtitles or would rather see the same story adjusted to your own American sensibilities, THR reports Fox Searchlight has picked up the rights to remake with “Veep” and “Seinfeld” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus in talks to star. ›››
We already know Star Wars Celebration next month is going to have a huge kick off with J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy on hand, likely showing off the new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens before it arrives around the release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron. And now it sounds like there might be some news on the developing standalone films, because StarWars.com has announced that Gareth Edwards, the director of Star Wars: Rogue One and Josh Trank, the director of the next untitled spin-off, will be coming to the event to “share their experiences as the newest members of the Lucasfilm creative family.” ›››
Briefly: Even though Michael Keaton didn’t win an Oscar for his performance in Birdman, it sounds like The Weinstein Company thinks he’s got another chance with his next project The Founder. Keaton is playing Ray Kroc, the salesman from Illinois who picked up a burger operation in 1950s Southern California and turned it into McDonald’s, which would become a multi-billion dollar fast-food chain in the world. The Blind Side director John Lee Hancock will be at the helm of the film with a script from Big Fan scribe Robert Siegel, and now THR reports the film has been set for a pretty prime awards season release on November 25th, 2016. We’ll certainly be looking forward to seeing this one late next year. Stay tuned. ›››
Sony has announced a new weekend promotion where gamers can save 10 percent on their entire PlayStation Store purchase. Just use the 10-digit code above to enjoy the savings.
There are some limitations to the deal, however. First, it’s available this weekend only in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Second, it’s good only for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 content, not PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV, PSP, or any in-game wares.
On top of that, the one-time use code does not work for PlayStation Plus memberships, any other subscriptions, pre-orders, PlayStation Now content, or video rentals. To use the code, you’ll need to complete your transaction by March 30 at 12 Noon PDT.
The 10 percent off code can, however, be applied to existing discounts, including everything that’s on sale this week through Spring Fever event. It can also be used on new releases such as Bloodborne and Battlefield: Hardline, among many others.
What are you planning to pick up using the code? Let us know in the comments below!
Destiny of Spirits, the free-to-play RPG developed at Sony Japan Studios, will shut down little more than a year after its release.
The PS Vita game appeared to be popular, with claims from its developers suggesting it had been downloaded more than one million times. A notice on PlayStation Japan’s website states that the global response to Destiny of Spirits “has been incredible.” The reason for its deletion was not disclosed.
On June 30, the online service in which the game plays on will be terminated, effectively rendering the game useless. Customers who have acquired Destiny Orbs–in-game currency that can be acquired with real cash–have not been offered refunds or alternative games where the currency can be spent.
In the build-up to the game’s closure, its development team will run a special Destiny Orb sale in late April.
The developer added: “To ensure everyone can make the most of the last few months of service, we will be launching aFan Appreciation Campaign and bringing back past raid boss events with the final game update, version 1.12.”
“We at the DoS team will be working to support the game all the way up until the end of the service, and we look forward to playing with all of you until the last day.
Square Enix is celebrating the Easter holidays with a unique promotion; the publisher is offering five mystery PC games in a Steam bundle for £4. Though the corporation wouldn’t specify which games are put together in each mystery box, it said their combined value is usually going to be more than £40.
The pool of games used for each bundle is mixture of well-known AAA titles along with acclaimed indie hits. The deal is open to customers across Europe only.
Exclusive discount offers will also be packaged into the bundle, Square Enix said.
The store page for Square Enix’s bundle can be found here.
Microsoft has announced another new feature coming to Xbox One via the platform’s upcoming April update, and it’s something users have been requesting since the console arrived in November 2013.
April’s Xbox One update will introduce voice messaging support, one of the “most popular requests” from fans, according to Microsoft. Not only will the Xbox One’s voice messaging system let people send messages to other Xbox One owners, but Xbox One-to-Xbox 360 is also supported.
The Xbox One voice messaging supports “Snap” functionality, meaning users can double tap the Xbox button to bring up the menu when they’re doing something else, such as watching a movie or playing a game. As users know, typing out messages using the Xbox One controller, or even the SmartGlass app, can still be kind of a pain. Voice messaging aims to offer a faster solution.
Voice messages on Xbox One will be limited to 15 seconds. Check out the video above, from Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, to see the Xbox One voice messaging feature in action.
Xbox One owners who are part of the invite-only Xbox Preview program can try out voice messaging right now.
The Xbox One’s April update also introduces dedicate servers for party chat, with the aim of more reliable chatting experiences, and a new “What’s On” area. This will highlight popular videos, movies, TV shows, and game broadcasts. In addition, the update improves Achievement notifications and makes further tweaks to game hubs.
Blackrock Mountain, the next Hearthstone adventure featuring 17 boss challenges and 31 new cards, will release worldwide from early April.
The first of the adventure’s five chapters, called Blackrock Depths, is set to go live across America on April 2. Players based in Europe, Korea, Taiwan, and China will need to wait an additional day for the add-on.
Developer Blizzard has built Hearthstone to be fully cross-platform, meaning that once the adventure is available on PC, it will also be accessible on Mac, iPad, and Android tablets. Soon, iPhones and Android smartphones will be added to this ecosystem too.
Blackrock’s opening wing, much like the four others that will follow it on a weekly basis, can be bought with either in-game currency or real money.
Ahead of the expansion’s release, Blizzard has been showcasing many of the cards that will be unlockable throughout the adventure. (Below is a gallery all of the cards showcased so far.) One of the driving themes of these new cards is dragon synergy, with theoretically enough cards available to build a dragon deck.
Eric Dodd’s, one of Hearthstone’s principal designers, said the decision behind this was more based on the development team’s love of dragons than anything else.
“Well the intention at a higher design level was really that players really like dragons, so it would be awesome if they could make a dragon deck,” he told GameSpot.
“The new Blackwing Technician card will be a good example of that. It’s a 2/4 that costs three mana, but is 3/5 if you have a dragon in your hand, which is a pretty effective card.
“We love the idea of people building their deck around dragons. Up until now, you could put Ysera or Alexstrasza in your deck, but we wanted to support that a bit more. We actually really like the idea of adding new cards that make you want to play the old ones again.”
Nefarian is the latest Legendary card revealed for Hearthstone’s Blackrock Mountain adventure. Click on the thumbnails below to view the remaining cards revealed so far.
