Fantastic Four teaser trailer is here

20th Century Fox's "contemporary re-imagining" of Marvel's Fantastic Four is now available in trailer form, and you can check it out above.

Fantastic Four is the story of four people whose physical forms are altered after being teleported to an alternate universe. The film is expected to hit theaters Aug. 7.

"Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy," the video's description reads.

There's little hint about the film's story in the trailer, though its narrator speaks briefly about mankind's need to build and invent, responsibility and sacrifice — all telltale signs of a classic superhero tale.

Fantastic Four will star Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell. The film is just one of many Marvel properties coming in the next four years, though it won't be tied to those universes in quite the same way; the roster includes new Thor and Captain America movies, as well as Doctor Strange, an Inhumans movie and more.

Source: Polygon

Nintendo, Ubisoft, and EA Top Metacritic’s list of Best Game Publishers for 2014

Metacritic has crunched all of the numbers and put together a list of top game publishers of 2014. This list is specifically for the “major publishers”, which Metacritic defines as a company that published at least 14 or more unique titles during 2014. The rankings are determined by the best overall score as averaged by reviews featured on Metacritic, the number of products with reviews above 75, the number below 49, and the number above 90. The first item counts for more, but all of these were factored in the rankings in some way.  The rankings are as follows:

• Nintendo – average score 76.5
• Ubisoft – average score 74.1
• EA – average score 74.5
• Sony – average score 72.5
• Square Enix – average score 71.7
• Microsoft – average score 68.9
• Bandai Namco – average score 68.0
• Activision Blizzard – average score 67.1

Nintendo certainly had a banner year with major releases like Bayonetta 2, Mario Kart 8, and Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U. These games not only helped bump up their overall score, but also the number of games with high ratings. Ubisoft was lifted higher in the rankings thanks to their smaller RPGs like Child of Light and South Park: The Stick of Truth. EA of course had big AAA releases like Dragon Age: Inquisition and the Sims 4.

As far as the other two console manufacturers are concerned, Sony was dragged down due to a poor Vita performance, with only 39% of their games scoring well with critics. Microsoft didn’t have a single game rank in the 90+ category, but their Xbox One games performed decently enough. Only 30% of their entire collection received positive ratings from critics.

 

Source: AOTF

Microsoft Shipped 6.6 Million Xbox One And Xbox 360 Consoles During Last Quarter

Microsoft announced its earnings results for the last quarter ended December 31, 2014. The Xbox One and Xbox 360 collectively shipped 6.6 million consoles. 

This is a good number, although it’s slightly down from the 7.4 million Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles shipped last year. Despite the lower number, Microsoft is still happy and touted it had a strong Holiday 2014 showing. The Xbox One did manage to outsell the PS4 in the United States in the months of November and December. 

Overall, the Xbox One has shipped over 10 million consoles worldwide. This number could be higher now, but Microsoft hasn’t updated the numbers yet. They didn’t separate the Xbox 360 and Xbox One figures.

Microsoft’s first party Xbox One games did a great showing over the last quarter. This is thanks to the strong sales from Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Forza Horizon 2. The continuing success and popularity of Minecraft also helped Microsoft earn a lot of money during the last quarter too. 

It’s interesting to note that Microsoft said that they recorded less revenue from “second- and third-party games and accessories“. This could be because some third party AAA games didn’t live up to people’s expectations this year. 

It should be a successful year for Microsoft in 2015 with the price drop for the Xbox One now permanent. Not to mention Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider coming out too.

Source: AOTF

K-Pop Group Nine Muses Comes Back With "Drama"

 

Enjoy~

“Outstanding” Japanese Voice Cast Hired For Xenoblade Chronicles X Says Producer

The Xenoblade Chronicles X website was updated last night with information on two new characters. In addition, producer Shingo Kawabata also said a few words regarding the game’s voice cast over Twitter.

“I wasn’t really informed of this, but it seems we’re planning on updating the official site every week,” Kawabata said. “I wonder if we’ll be all right? Then again, Nomura and the web design staff are extremely motivated, so I’m sure they’ll work hard for your sake.”

“As we present our characters, we’re also revealing the people that have lent us their voices. We’ve managed to acquire an outstanding cast, so you can look forward to hearing their work. As there was such a large amount of text, recording [the voices] took a lot of work, but the entire cast was exceptionally professional. The end result, of course, is perfection.”

Five of the voiceover artists for the game have been announced so far. These are as follows:

• Elma – Houko Kuwashima
• Lynlee – Mariya Ise
• Tatsu – Daisuke Sakaguchi
• Irina – Nao Takamori
• Van Damme – Tessho Genda

Of course, there’s a good chance that Nintendo will dub the game into English during localization, and considering the English voices in the original Xenoblade Chronicles were top-notch, here’s hoping the voice cast this time around is just as good.

Xenoblade Chronicles X will be released in North America and Europe this year.

Source: Siliconera

Clock Tower Successor Night Cry Might Come To PC, First Screenshots Arrive

Nude Maker has unveiled the first screenshots of its upcoming PlayStation Vita and iOS survival horror game, and Clock Tower successor, Night Cry.

Nude Maker CEO Hifumi Kono revealed that the studio will be launching a Kickstarter campaign in the near future for a PC version of Night Cry.

“Once we announced [Project Scissors], the fans’ reaction was basically, ‘Yeah, we’ve been waiting for this. Great. But is this only for Vita or only for mobile?’ There were a lot of disappointed voices,” Kono said. Due to this, and his own desire to bring Night Cry to a bigger screen, he thought of crowdfunding a PC version as the game’s budget didn’t allow for it. Night Cry will be released on PS Vita and iOS regardless of whether the Kickstarter is successful or not.

The first screenshots of Night Cry show an unnamed female protagonist as she explores the corridors of the stranded ocean liner. Unlike Clock Tower, this woman isn’t the only playable character, and she’s also not weak and timid. Instead, the woman in Night Cry is tough, loud, and gives support to the other passengers.

In the demo that Kono showed Polygon, the woman eventually came across the game’s antagonist, Scissor Walker. To escape it, the player has to manage their stamina as they run through the ship, alternating between walking and running.

It’s also possible while moving around to switch the camera angle from the front to behind, and vice versa. This gives you a chance to see Scissor Walker as you flee from it.

Kono also revealed where the title Night Cry comes from. It’s derived from Scissor Walker’s origin story, which involves a mother and child that burned to death together. As such, when Scissor Walker is chasing you across the ship, you’ll hear the screams of a baby, hence “Night Cry”.

As with Clock Tower, Night Cry focuses on escaping the monster rather than fighting it, and solving puzzles. You’ll have modern tools to help you out including a cellphone, which is also used to lighten up darker areas.

Source: Siliconera

The Seven Deadly Sins Manga's 1st of 3 Planned Arcs Ends

Manga sales reach 10,000,000 volumes; sequel story after ending is possible

The March issue of Kadokawa's Entermix magazine is publishing an interview with The Seven Deadly Sins manga creator Nakaba Suzuki on Tuesday. In the interview, Suzuki says that first of three planned arcs of the manga ended with chapter 100, and the second arc will begin in chapter 101, with the focus shifting from the Holy Knights to the Demon Clan as the primary antagonists.

 Suzuki adds that while he had originally planned to end the manga at around 20 volumes after he had finished the three arcs, he has been thinking about a sequel story that could run until the 30th volume. He also adds that this has always been only a rough estimate. He says with a laugh that he will only stop drawing manga when he has run out of things he wants to draw, and that since this is not happening, he will probably be drawing manga until he dies.

In addition, the magazine notes that, with the sale of the manga's 12th collected volume, the series has sold over 10 million copies.

Kodansha Comics, the publisher of the manga in North America, describes how the story begins:

When they were accused of trying to overthrow the monarchy, the feared warriors the Seven Deadly Sins were sent into exile. Princess Elizabeth discovers the truth - the Sins were framed by the king's guard, the Holy Knights - too late to prevent them from assassinating her father and seizing the throne! Now the princess is on the run, seeking the Sins to help her reclaim the kingdom. But the first Sin she meets, Meliodas, is a little innkeeper with a talking pig. He doesn't even have a real sword! Have the legends of the Sins' strength been exaggerated?

Suzuki launched the manga in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 2012, and Kodansha Comics published the fourth English volume in September. Crunchyroll is posting the new chapters as they appear in Japan.

The television anime of the manga premiered on October 5.

Source: ANN

All Sony Stores in Canada are closing down

Sony is opening another year with a round of closures of its Sony Stores, in this case all 14 locations within Canada.

The Ottawa Citizen first reported the news, later confirming it with a statement from Sony. The business will be redirected to Sony's online store and retail partners, Sony said.

Last year around this time, Sony announced 20 Sony Stores would be shut down, leaving 11 open in California, Florida, New York and Texas. That was part of cost-cutting efforts, set to close in March this year, that will eliminate 5,000 jobs, sell off its Vaio PC division and spin off its TV business.

Sony's stock price is higher than it was a year ago at this time, by about $3, but still is about $15 lower than what it was in 2011.

Source: Ottawa Citizen 

Nintendo says Wii U just had its biggest month of sales

Nintendo of America announced today that December sales of its Wii U console and Wii U games were up 29 percent and 75 percent respectively on the same month in 2013.

The company did not release actual sales numbers, but said that Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U sold over 1.7 million units and 1.3 million units respectively in 2014.

Nintendo 3DS recorded its largest month ever for first-party software sales, with Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, passing the 2 million units sold mark, since its launch in October. Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire have combined to sell over 2.6 million units since their launch in November.

In 2014, 16 Nintendo 3DS titles sold at least 250,000 units. Of those titles, eight sold more than 500,000 units and three sold over a million units.

"Wii U had its strongest year yet thanks to the highly anticipated software lineup and the introduction of the amiibo platform," said Nintendo's Scott Moffitt. "Fans can anticipate another strong year for 2015, especially with more highly anticipated games like Splatoon and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, as well as New Nintendo 3DS XL, arriving in the first half of 2015."

Source: Nintendo

New Xenoblade Trailer for Wii-U

Amazing.

Disney Schedules Live-Action Ghost in the Shell for April 14, 2017

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Disney has scheduled its release of Dreamworks' live-action Ghost in the Shell film for April 14, 2017. The entertainment news source Variety reported last week that Scarlett Johansson has signed on to star in this adaptation of Masamune Shirow's manga. 

Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner has been distributing Dreamworks films since 2009. The studio also scheduled its 3D remake of Pete's Dragon for August 12, 2016. It swapped the release dates of Jon Favreau's live-action The Jungle Book remake (now slated for April 15, 2016) with The Finest Hours (October 9) starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, and Eric Bana. The Jungle Book remake's voice cast also stars Johansson, as well as Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, and Idris Elba. 

The website Deadline noted previously that Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) would direct the Ghost in the Shell film off a script by William Wheeler (Hoax, The Reluctant Fundamentalist). Avi Arad (formerly of Marvel Studios as well as of the Spider-Man and X-Men movie franchises), Seaside Entertainment's Steven Paul, and Mark Sourian (The Ring Two) are producing. 

 

Variety reported in 2008 that Universal and Sony also negotiated for the rights, which the Production I.G anime studio was pitching for the manga's original publisher Kodansha. What turned the dealmaking in Dreamworks' favor was co-founder Steven Spielberg's enthusiasm for the project. The entertainment trade newspaper quotes the acclaimed director and producer: "Ghost in the Shell is one of my favorite stories. It's a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to Dreamworks." 

The American arm of the manga's original Japanese publisher Kodansha began reprinting the manga in 2009, after Dark Horse Comics had the license. Kodansha also launched two new manga series based on director Kenji Kamiyama's Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex television anime series that year. In addition to Oshii's two films and Kamiyama's two Stand Alone Complex television series and spinoff feature, Shirow's manga also inspired the recent Ghost in the Shell Arise prequel anime with its own tie-in feature film release and television broadcast. 

Source: ANN

New Nintendo 3DS rumored for Feb. 13 release date in North America

The New Nintendo 3DS makes its way to North America next month, on Feb. 13, according to what appear to be leaked promotional materials for Nintendo's revamped handheld. The new portable, which launched in Japan last October, hasn't been officially confirmed for a North American release.

Leaked promotional materials — pictured below, from NeoGAF — indicate that the New Nintendo 3DS XL will comes stateside in at least two colors: red and black. The ad doesn't feature the smaller New Nintendo 3DS, which was released in Japan and Australia. The smaller-sized New 3DS comes in black and white, with colored buttons that resemble the Super Famicom controller.

Nintendo will broadcast a new Nintendo Direct presentation tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 14. The company said to expect updates on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games that will be released in the springtime.

The New Nintendo 3DS features a more powerful processor, a new analog control nub, two additional shoulder buttons and built-in NFC reader support for Nintendo's amiibo figures.

Source: NeoGAF

Which console owners are browsing the most porn?

PornHub has released a data-squirt that looks into the habits of its consumers. Among the pearls of information about favored search-terms and length-of-engagement is a chart on games console use.

The chart breaks down usage according to format, with Xbox owners (presumably this covers Xbox 360 and Xbox One) taking the biggest share of console use, at 45.7 percent. PlayStation comes in at 40 percent, which is a significant decrease from 2013. Nintendo Wii owners are at 8.7 percent.

Handheld use gets a look-in, of course, with PlayStation Vita owners pumping above their weight with 5 percent, and 3DS just 1.1 percent.

 

Source: Polygon

PlayStation TV price drops at slew of retailers

 The PlayStation TV, Sony's game-streaming microconsole, is selling for $20 under the $100 list price at a number of retailers, GameSpot reports.

Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop and Walmart are all listing the base price for $80 and the controller and game bundle for $100. The list price is $100 and $140.

We've reached out to Sony to see if an official price drop is coming and will update this story when they respond.

The PlayStation TV, which launched last year in North America, can play Vita games and downloaded PlayStation One and PSP titles. It can also be used to connect to your PS4 to play that console's games using the Remote Play function.

Source: Polygon

Sony delays PS4's Chinese launch

The PlayStation 4 is still headed to China, but it won't arrive next week as originally planned, Reuters reports, quoting a statement from Sony that cites "various factors" for the delay.

Sony announced the original Jan. 11 ship date last December. A source told Reuters that "negotiations with Chinese authorities" was partly to blame for the delay. Sony has not announced a revised launch date for the PS4 console in China.

Video game consoles were banned for 14 years in China, but changes to Chinese law last spring paved the way for hardware releases. In the wake of those changes, Microsoft and Sony announced plans to bring their hardware to the country.

Last September, just before its scheduled launch, Microsoft delayed the Xbox One's scheduled Chinese launch to allow for "a bit more time to deliver the best experiences possible for our fans."

Source: Reuters

Ninja Theory's Hellblade is coming to Windows PC

Enslaved developer Ninja Theory will bring its upcoming action game Hellblade to Windows PC, studio co-founder Tameem Antoniades told PC Gamer.

This news follows last year's announcement from the studio which confirmed plans to bring the game first to PlayStation 4. According to Antoniades, platform restrictions imposed by console makers like Microsoft and Sony have previously hindered the studio's ability to quickly tweak and playtest Hellblade.

"I think PC offers us a level of freedom that we haven't had before," said Antoniades. "We're looking at everything we do on this project and figuring out better ways of doing things compared to how the traditional AAA console model works. And consoles are following suit with PC, but I think they're years behind what things like Steam are doing."

It's still unclear how the Windows PC version will differ from PS4; however, Antoniades states that Ninja Theory aims to make Hellblade mod-friendly, with support for both player-created and developer modifications.

"I think we want to get to the point where we can invite players and fans to add to the game, and do things that are unexpected, and suggest ideas or add-ons that can make the game richer," Antoniades said.

 

Source: PC Gamer

Square Enix Confirms Kingdom Hearts III Release Date Still Unannounced Following Rumors of 2015 Launch

Earlier this week, fans of the long-awaited Kingdom Hearts III were sent in to a tizzy by long-time Goofy voice actor Bill Farmer, when after quietly suggesting the conclusion of the action RPG series would be seeing its launch in 2015, was quickly fizzled out by publisher Square Enix.

Following a tweet by Farmer implying that Kingdom Hearts III would see a release in 2015, Square Enix took to Twitter to confirm that the release date of KHIII is still unannounced at this time, slyly stating that Farmer’s tweet “was a Goof.” Following its debut at E3 2013 and seeing sporadic footage here and there, details on Kingdom Hearts III are still scarce at the moment until it is ready for release.

Kingdom Hearts III is currently in development for PS4 and Xbox One.

Source: Dualshockers

Sony giving PS Plus subscription extensions + 10 percent discount over PSN outage

Sony is giving PlayStation Plus subscribers who were impacted by the PlayStation Network's downtime this Christmas an extension to their subscriptions, Sony Entertainment Network VP Eric Lempel said on the PlayStation Blog today. The company will also give all PSN users a one-time use 10 percent discount on a PlayStation Store purchase.

The five-day extension to PlayStation Plus subscriptions will be available for members who had an active membership or free trial on Dec. 25, 2014. The extension will be automatically applied.

Sony's 10 percent discount code will apply to a "total cart purchase" in the PlayStation Store. The discount can be applied to PlayStation Store content including games, add-ons, season passes, television series and movies.

The PlayStation Network was the target of a denial-of-service attack on Christmas Day and users of the service experienced extended downtime and intermittent connectivity issues for days. Sony brought components of its network back online on Dec. 29, though some connectivity issues remained. In the days after the attack, authorities have reportedly questioned and arrested suspected members of the hacker group that claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Source: PlayStation Blog

 

The international release of the Marvelous developed Nintendo 3DS RPG Forbidden Magna seems likely with Xseed’s registering of a new domain.

Xseed has registered a domain at “LordofMagna.com“, with the word “Magna” obviously being taken as an indication of its affiliation with the Marvelous title. Xseed expressed an interest in releasing Forbidden Magna internationally early last year, so hopefully we’ll hear news of an official reveal soon.

Forbidden Magna launched last October in Japan.

Source: RPGSite

Night Cry Gets a Live Action Teaser Trailer

The spiritual successor to the Clock Tower games, formerly known as Project Scissors, will be called Night Cry, and a new trailer has been released for it.

The game, which is in development for Android, iOS and – thank goodness – the PS Vita. The newly released teaser for the game features direction by Takashi Shimizu, who is known best for directing titles in The Grudge series of popular horror films. The trailer is quite promising and it definitely indicates that players are in for some serious scares.

Check it out for yourself below and keep your fingers crossed for a localization.

Source: DualShockers