Pre-Order Prometheus on BD and See It for Free!

Yup, you read that right. 20th Century Fox is offering an awesome deal for you future Prometheus/current Alien fans. If you're one of the first 5000 to pre-order Ridley Scott's Prometheus on Blu-ray or Blu-ray 3D from Amazon, you will receive a certificate valid for one admission up to $10 to see the movie at participating theaters between June 8, 2012 and August 31, 2012. You can read all about the deal by clicking here.

Naturally, no release date, tech specs or bonus features have been listed just yet. It appears that the Blu-ray 3D combo pack will include the 3DBD, a Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy. The standard Blu-ray combo pack includes a Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy. A DVD version of the film is also available for pre-order, but the free movie ticket offer DOES NOT apply to this disc.

Here's a look at tentative artwork for each release:

Prometheus is already in theaters in the UK. It opens in the US June 8, 2012. You can read our review of the film here or check out our video review below:

Become a friend of R.L. Shaffer on Twitter, Facebook and MyIGN for quotes, rants, reviews, news and more!

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/pre-order-prometheus-on-bd-and-see-it-for-free

Men in Black: Alien Crisis Review

The bad old days of movie tie-in games are back. MIB: Alien Crisis is an on-rails third-person shooter that is boring to play and ugly to look at. The musty dialogue fails to reproduce any of the charm of the movie franchise, and you can see everything the game has to offer in the span of an afternoon. This creaky relic of the past retails for full price in the present, making it one of the most shamelessly exploitative games in recent memory.

There's nothing aliens hate so much as being encapsulated in bubbles.

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You play as a disgraced archaeologist turned art thief turned man in black, Agent P, who joins the agency after stealing an alien artifact for the villain, the improbably named Emilio Chauncy. Agent P's sardonic attitude is clearly modeled after Agent J (played by Will Smith in the movies), but his attempts at witty irreverence fall flat. The by-the-book female agent you pair up with is a bland foil for jokes about authority and increasingly flirtatious banter, but the hackneyed writing utterly fails to capture the humorous juxtaposition of nonchalance in the face of the bizarre that serves the movies so well.

With the hope of humor dashed, you are left to rely on spectacle and gameplay. Alas, Alien Crisis is an unattractive game that would have looked dated years ago. Homely character models waggle their mouth holes during cutscenes, and the barren backgrounds offer precious little distraction. Action sequences are a visual mess of bright, blurry projectiles and explosions, and your clumsy-looking alien enemies are covered in a milky sheen.

There's nary an echo of the slick visual style of the movies, and so you are left with the gameplay. As in most light-gun shooters, you progress automatically to the next point in the level when you defeat all the enemies at your current point. At any given location you can jog between two or three cover positions or just hang out in the open and fire away. Moving is a good way to avoid grenades and get a better angle on some enemies, but you can usually clear most foes from a stationary position.

Hey girl, let's meet up at DANCING later tonight.

Using the analog stick, the PlayStation Move, or the Top Shot Elite, you slide your reticle around the screen to target your weak alien enemies. Baffingly, there is no way to invert your aim, so if you only have a controller and like your down to be up, you're out of luck. Your small arsenal consists of a few unremarkable guns (the iconic noisy cricket being an explosive exception), as well as a few attachments that add a bit of variety. You can freeze an enemy and shatter him, use an antigravity grenade to lift a group of foes into the air, or slow down time temporarily. The most versatile attachment lets you encase enemies or innocent bystanders in a bubble that you can then shoot it to make it bounce around the area and kill foes.

Yet even with mildly interesting attachments, it's all very boring. Enemies move at an unhurried pace through open spaces, making it easy to spot and eliminate them. You face only about a half dozen different foes, who perform the same few actions (take cover, shoot, reposition), so repetition quickly sets in. By using attachments or spamming your scoped weapon, you can increase your score multiplier and drive your score even higher, but seeing bigger numbers pop out of downed enemies doesn't make the dull action more lively.

When you aren't shooting away willy-nilly, there are short stealth sections in which you must shoot security cameras and trap baddies in bubbles. Wait for the cone of vision to pass, shoot the camera, bubble the alien, move on. Inconsistent detection means you might get caught doing the thing you got away with moments before, but frequent checkpoints keep these setbacks from being more than mildly irritating. Car chases through (or rather, above) the streets of New York City provide some faster-paced action that, while inoffensive, is far from exciting.

I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

Other attempts at gameplay variety are more irksome because they drag on much longer. Investigation sequences have you walking around a small area at a snail's pace, hovering your scanner reticle over anything that glows. This could have been a good place to bring in some humor or fantastical alien mythology, but save one or two interesting descriptions, the writing and dialogue here are as lifeless as elsewhere. Ditto for the conversation sections. The occasional choices you must make are neither interesting nor impactful, leaving you to wait through lengthy dialogue, desperate for a humorous morsel that never comes.

Despite this padding, you can complete the story mode in about three hours. There are timed challenges with target scores to shoot for, and you can run these split-screen with a friend or take turns competing with up to four players locally. But this is the same bland shooting action from the story mode, and the prospect of competition does little to enhance it.

All of this boredom and blandness is exacerbated by the fact that MIB: Alien Crisis frequently subjects you to loading times in excess of 30 seconds, leaving you to wonder what exactly it's working so hard on. But perhaps the most egregious offense is that the game is currently retailing for full price. Even with the included voucher for money toward a movie ticket that may or may not be redeemable in your area, this is a shockingly high price. Fortunately, it makes your decision easy: Don't buy this game.

Source : http://www.gamespot.com/men-in-black-alien-crisis/reviews/men-in-black-alien-crisis-review-6379976/

Max Payne 3 PC First Impressions

With a nearly 30 GB download and Rockstar’s history of performance issues with PC versions (Grand Theft Auto IV, Bully), there’s reason to hesitate before picking up Max Payne 3 through Steam. Based on a few hours of play, though, it appears that Rockstar’s Windows version is stable, runs smoothly , and controls well.

As Max tumbles around environments in slow-motion and blasts bullets from behind cover, lining up headshots and ensuring foes stay down feels natural with a mouse and keyboard. Taking cover behind pieces of the environment, rolling forward, crouching, going prone and smacking enemies with melee attacks at close range is all easily controllable with the keyboard. Weapon switching is accomplished with the mouse wheel or number keys, which is easy enough considering Max can only carry three guns.

On a system with a Core i7 975 CPU, 6 GB RAM and a GTX 580, Max Payne 3 runs pretty much flawlessly, maintaining 60 frames per second even in firefights with five to six enemies. You can check out the screenshot below to see the graphics settings used.

Outside of the story and arcade modes, you can take part in multiplayer games through Max Payne 3’s matchmaking system or through LAN. Unfortunately the matchmaking system is clumsy, and several times I wound up stranded on a loading screen with no way to back out to a menu. I have been able to get into several deathmatch games to play and unlock bonuses, but for now the matchmaking system isn’t exactly ideal.

If you’ve been holding out for the PC version, it seems to be all good so far. Expect a PC version review to show up sometime soon, and in the meantime you can check out what IGN’s Daniel Krupa had to say about the console versions.

 

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/max-payne-3-pc-first-impressions

E3 2012: IGN Nintendo's Most Wanted

We're within striking distance of E3 2012. In just a few days, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will be unleashing a wave of announcements and products to support the remainder of the year, and maintain their momentum into 2013. Though many publishers have been confirming and revealing a variety of games in the past several days (Gears of War, Dead Space, Need for Speed, Castlevania), there are no doubt many secrets tucked away into the depths of next week's press conferences.

For weeks (even months) you've heard plenty from the IGN Nintendo team about Nintendo's fortunes, hopes, dreams and risks. We've spotlighted some of the big Wii U and 3DS games, discussed what we expect and more. But what do we actually want to see? What's interesting to us that isn't related to Nintendo? Here are a few picks for each of us (Rich and Audrey) as we head into the big show.

Rich's Most Wanted

#1 - Zelda. Metroid.

This just feels like a year when we'll get both Zelda and Metroid. Precisely how is more the question in my mind. We've heard Nintendo discuss repeatedly that it has ideas for Zelda on 3DS, ranging from a remake of Majora's Mask to an original game to a sequel to A Link to the Past. We've also seen the Zelda Wii U demo, and while that was denied to be a project in active development, the reception of the footage had to make Nintendo think twice.

On the Metroid front we're looking at a situation where Retro has been rather quiet. Too quiet. Exceptionally quiet. It seems as though it is time for the developer to at least reveal what it's working on, and a Wii U entry of Metroid Prime seems a pretty reasonable assumption. And then, in the spirit of A Link to the Past, it'd be great to see Nintendo look back to the spirit of Super Metroid and deliver a new 2D entry on the 3DS.

It almost seems greedy to want both Metroid and Zelda in one show, but I've got my fingers crossed. I'll be more than happy with just one of these, however.

#2 -
Resident Evil 6

Moving away from Nintendo, I'm very eager to get my hands on Resident Evil 6. The fourth core entry in Capcom's horror series is one of my favorite games of all time, and the fifth was a strong successor, despite some significant flaws. Based on the demo I saw last April, as well as some truly great trailers, RE 6 seems poised to give me a fascinating mixture of RE 4 and 5, which sounds great to me. I love survival horror. I love high-stakes action. This might give me both.

#3 -
Assassin's Creed III

As enticing as Resident Evil might be, Assassin's Creed III just might be commanding more of my attention. From its great historical setting to way Ubisoft is incrementally yet profoundly evolving the franchise's gameplay, this next installment is proving far more interesting than any of its predecessors. I've been a fan of the AC series since the second game hit store shelves, but I've never anticipated an entry as much as this one. Here's hoping Ubisoft shows us something interesting. A glimpse of the Wii U version wouldn't be bad either.

#4 - Nintendo's Third Party Support

I will always buy Nintendo platforms for Nintendo games. The publisher's prowess at developing some of the best games in the world remains its biggest asset, and remains why I will always have faith in new hardware. However... Nintendo can't publish new titles every month - not significant ones, at any rate. That's just one reason why I want third party support for both the 3DS and Wii U to be significant - more than past generations, at any rate.

Nintendo wants Wii U to appeal to gamers of all types, and it needs the 3DS to continue its upward trajectory. Third party support will be key. I hope I get to see that happen next week - and in the weeks to follow.

#5 - Something New

As excited as I am for what's coming for the Wii U or Resident Evil or anything else, what I'm most eager to see is some new material. So much of this late console cycle is dominated by sequels and existing franchises that I want something fresh. Something that doesn't have a number after it. Something that tries something new. That seems like it will happen when Sony and Microsoft fully move to new consoles, but I'm hoping to see a bit this year as well.

 Audrey's Most Wanted

#1 - Zelda Wii U or 3DS

This one almost goes without saying, but I’m absolutely dying to see what’s next on the docket for my favorite Hylian hero. Whether it’s a glimpse of the 3DS project that’s in the works, a sequel to A Link to the Past (gasp!) or an HD logo for Link’s first Wii U outing - any small bit of information about the next adventure in Hyrule would make the show that much more exciting. Do I expect anything playable? Absolutely not. But a screenshot or official title would more than suffice. And if a new trailer surfaces, I may just kick off my shoes and call it a day (just kidding, Rich!).

#2 - Metroid Dread

It’s been about seven years since Samus fans were first teased with the prospect of Metroid Dread - and we still haven’t let the idea go. I’d be thrilled to pieces if Nintendo finally let this cat out of the bag and announced Dread as a new 2D side-scroller for the 3DS - complete with detailed sprites, gorgeous 3D backgrounds and classic, Super Metroid-style gameplay. Retro Studios is my first choice for development, since the company pretty much took the franchise and made it their own with the Prime series. But if Nintendo’s internal team wants to have another go at the franchise I’d be terribly excited to see that as well… so long as Samus doesn’t start blubbering halfway through the first boss fight.

#3 - Long Overdue Localizations

Fire Emblem has long been one of my favorite video game franchises, and it’s been absolutely painful knowing the latest installment has been out in Japan for more than a month now - with no word on a North American release. E3 is the time for Nintendo to make things right and bring this bad boy overseas. I’m desperate to come up with wicked strategies, engage in some epic battles and watch the latest Fire Emblem tale unfold. I also want that gorgeous blue 3DS with the dragons. Is that too much to ask? Me thinks not. And before the show concludes, there better be localization announcements for Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle and Project X Zone. Hell hath no fury like an Aminka scorned.

#4 - Animal Crossing 3DS

Very little news has surfaced about Animal Crossing 3DS since last year’s show. In fact, the game’s release window got pushed from the end of Nintendo’s last fiscal year (March 2012) to the end of this one (March 2013). I’m sick of waiting and wondering and re-watching the same trailer over and over again - it’s time to show off what this new game is made of. I want to run around this new world, swim in that big ocean that’s been staring me down since the original, and hear all about what being a mayor will entail. I want to see what the new store will look like, what new furniture/clothes/bugs will show up, and what new features and capabilities this game will come packing. I also want to find out what the heck happened to Tortimer (if you’re the Mayor, is he… the President?!). E3 is the time to show off this new game, so I’m hoping Nintendo plays nice and doesn’t keep us Nook fans waiting any longer.

#5 -
Resident Evil 6

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the true return of the one and only Leon S. Kennedy for a while now - ever since Resident Evil 4 blew my mind wide open with awesomeness. While Resident Evil 5 didn’t live up to my admittedly sky-high expectations (having a hot girl steal my ammo and feed me herbs kind of kills the horror mood), RE6 looks like it may be everything I wanted 5 to be. I can’t wait to get my hands on this game on the show floor and see how Capcom has balanced action and survival horror this time around, and whether co-op is as big of a mistake as it was in RE5. Also, Leon looks in the RE6 trailer. Just saying.

#6 -
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

When the show floor opens, I’ll finally have my chance to see what Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is all about. I’ve been salivating over the prospect of grabbing this PS3 title ever since I saw the first trailer - and I absolutely can’t wait to see how it plays. From what I’ve seen, it looks like the geniuses over at Level-5 haven’t skimped on their trademark charm. Ni no Kuni looks like a unique RPG experience with gorgeous animated sequences (care of Studio Ghibli) and a fascinating dual world mechanic that sounds simply amazing. I’ll know soon if the game actually plays as well as it looks - and if it does, it will easily start climbing up my list of most anticipated titles.

Rich is an Executive Editor of IGN.com, the leader of the IGN Nintendo team and watches over all things Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed and WWE. Join him in his ridiculous adventures on Twitter, Tumblr and IGN.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/e3-2012-ign-nintendos-most-wanted

Lost Co-Creator Damon Lindelof Returning to TV

Yep, you heard right. It looks like Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof is nearing a three-year deal with Warner Bros. TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Lindelof, who co-wrote Ridley Scott's Prometheus, will be signed on to begin developing new television series as part of the contract. He will also be joining his frequent cohort J.J. Abrams at the studio.

Lindelof was previously attached to ABC Studios, which produced six seasons of Lost. He didn't develop any other shows in his time with ABC, but he did help fellow Lost writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz develop the hit TV show Once Upon A Time.

In addition to Prometheus, Lindelof is currently working on the sequel to Abrams' Star Trek -- which he co-wrote -- as well as Disney's 1952, a new sci-fi project from director Brad Bird.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/lost-co-creator-damon-lindelof-returning-to-tv

Did Burning Skies Kill the Resistance Franchise?

It’s no secret how big of a Resistance fan I am. I enjoy the series’ ability to tell an interesting story while interweaving a handful of characters that you really get to know and care about. The Resistance trilogy on PlayStation 3 is a great example of how something as outwardly contrived as yet another first-person shooter can be so much more, and Resistance 3 in particular constitutes, in my mind, one of the best single-player experiences of the entire generation (until its disappointing ending, anyway).

So when I got to sit down with Resistance: Burning Skies on PlayStation Vita, I was excited. Not only does it represent the very first proper, dual-analog FPS on a handheld in the history of the gaming industry, but it also constitutes the continuation of a criminally underappreciated series that I hold very dear. But Resistance: Burning Skies proved to be an overwhelming disappointment for me, showing not only that its developer, Nihilistic Software, doesn’t understand what makes a Resistance game great, but that Sony itself doesn’t seem to care very much what happens to its once-proud series.

This surprised me, since my initial reaction to playing Burning Skies last year at Germany’s GamesCom was overwhelmingly positive. It was surreal to play a real shooter on a handheld, and if you examine Burning Skies solely as a shooter, it’s totally competent. But Resistance was never just another shooter, and that fact made it special. Burning Skies lost sight of this, and as a result we’re saddled with a shooter that plays well but that doesn’t exude that special something that makes Resistance such a respected series with the PlayStation faithful. This brings the entirety of the package down considerably and calls into question whether the franchise will continue at all.

For starters, we have Tom Riley, the FDNY firefighter at the center of the story, and the setting, which brings us to various places in the New York metropolitan area. I thought I would inevitably relate to this character and the locale in which he takes on the Chimera. After all, I’m from Long Island and my father happens to be a retired FDNY firefighter. But Tom Riley is boring, and you barely get to know him. The characters that surround him (most notably the freedom fighter Ellie and Tom’s wife and child) are underdeveloped and kind of just there. I didn’t care about any of them. These characters are a far cry from Nathan Hale and Joseph and Susan Capelli.

New York City itself rapidly becomes a boring backdrop when you put two and two together and come to the conclusion that you already know what happens to the entirety of the country in Resistance lore. It’s noble that Riley wants to drag people out of fires, save folks from Chimeran conversion centers and play the hero. But Spires are everywhere, the coast has quickly become overrun and we, as fans of the series, already know what happened to New York City. You see how cold, desolate and outright abandoned it becomes when you go there in Resistance 3.

This is Joseph Capelli. He's a real character.

In other words, nothing Tom Riley does actually matters. New York City still falls, the people he saved likely succumbed to the Chimera at a later date, and Riley himself walks into the sunset without us ever really knowing him. The developers at Nihilistic Software could have made us care about Riley, his family and his plight to negate these complaints. But they didn’t. They forced these issues to the fore through boring storytelling and a lackluster cast of characters that never successfully tie in to what we already know happens in Resistance. This is one of Burning Skies’ paramount problems, and I sense that Resistance fans will know precisely what I’m talking about when they play the game through for themselves.

Story, characters and setting aside, Burning Skies also missed the mark with presentation. When Resistance: Fall of Man launched with PlayStation 3 back in 2006, it impressed a slew of gamers with its style. Insomniac Games put a lot of love into its new franchise and you could tell. This culminated with Resistance 3, widely considered the best game in the franchise, one that absolutely oozed with Insomniac’s signature stylistic approach.

Beautiful, varied environments were littered with little things that expanded on the story. The best example of this was with Resistance 3’s amazing intel documents, which showed hand-written messages, beautiful pictures and more that further immersed you into a dying world. In Burning Skies, every document you find is typed in the same font with uninspired, boring and at times totally nonsensical text that does little-to-nothing in advancing the story. Insomniac Games knew that attention to minutiae is part of the reason Resistance is great, something that wasn’t parlayed to Nihilistic Software when it took hold of the franchise.

But Nihilistic Software didn’t grab the game on its own. Sony allowed this to happen to Resistance, begging the question "Does the company care about the series at all?" Resistance 3 met significant critical acclaim when it was released last year, even if it didn’t fare well commercially. Then again, Burning Skies was well into development before any of that happened (and I even played it before Resistance 3 was released). So I can’t point my finger at Sony and say that Resistance 3’s poor sales resulted in them taking the series out of the trusted triple-A sphere of developers. That simply wouldn’t be true.

But I can say that perhaps Sony never fully realized what it had with Resistance, and the damage Burning Skies does to the brand ensures a sort of negation of the crescendo Insomniac Games reached with Resistance 3. Resistance: Retribution on PSP proved that a studio outside of Insomniac could handle the franchise artfully, as the Sony-owned studio Bend showed PlayStation fans. But when Bend attempted to make another Resistance game, Sony pulled the plug. That studio was given Uncharted instead (an undoubtedly wise choice) while Resistance was thrown out of the first party, away from Insomniac, and to an unproven studio. Something tells me Sony wouldn’t have done that if it truly believed in Resistance as a brand.

Nihilistic Software deserves a lot of credit for creating a good first-person shooter on the PlayStation Vita, a revolutionary task considering where handhelds have been and where they are right now. But Resistance deserves better than just good, because the series has always been great. And now, I fear, the series will be no more.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/did-burning-skies-kill-the-resistance-franchise

Summer 2012 TV Preview

It's time for some summer TV! Sure, things are a bit more quiet, but there's still plenty of notable programs coming your way in the coming weeks and months. Nancy Botwin, Bender, Patty Hewes and Walter Freaking White are among the many characters we'll be seeing again soon - Plus, a dude named Tron! Take a look at the summer highlights on the following pages.

Hatfields & McCoys

Network: History

Airs: Monday-Wednesday, 9pm

Premiere: 5/28/12

Kicking off on Memorial Day Monday is History’s three-night Western mini-series, Hatfields & McCoys, starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton as the respective patriarchs of the legendary feuding families. If you like tough, gritty dirt-beneath-your nails Westerns, then make sure you tune in and watch the bullets fly. Tom Berenger, Mare Winningham, Jena Melone and Powers Boothe also star. Oh, and check out what Oscar-winner Kevin Costner had to say to IGN about this new TV project.

Longmire

Network: A&E

Airs: Sundays at 10pm

Series Premiere: 6/3/12

Widowed Sheriff Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) wears a cowboy hat and carries a gun, but this ain’t no Justified rip-off. Set in the stoic badlands of rural Wyoming, Longmire has more of a true “Western” feel to it, as well as a rather gripping tone and unique look (as IGN TV can attest to after watching the pilot). Plus, if you’re like us and you’re jonesing hard for some Starbuck, you’ll enjoy seeing Katee Sackhoff, who plays Walt’s new-in-town deputy, Vic. Lou Diamond Phillips and Smallville’s Cassidy Freeman also star.

Tron: Uprising

Network: Disney XD

Airs: Thursdays at 9pm

Premiere: 6/7/12

Set completely inside The Grid, this animated series is set between the original Tron film and Tron: Legacy, and boasts a formidable voice cast, including Elijah Wood as Beck, Bruce Boxleitner returning as Tron, Mandy Moore as Mara, Emmanuelle Chriqui as Paige, Nate Corddry as Zed, Lance Henriksen as General Tesler, Reginald VelJohnson as Able, Paul Reubens as Pavel and Tricia Helfer as the voice of The Grid. The first episode was released early and you can check out our review.

True Blood

Network: HBO

Airs: Sundays at 9pm.

Premiere: 6/10/12

SVU’s Christopher Meloni and Spartacus’ Peter Mensah join the proceedings this Summer as Bill and Eric form a bit on an uneasy alliance in order to try to avoid the wrath of the Vampire Authority. Meanwhile, Eric runs into a female vampire that he’s had a long, storied history with, Jason must deal with the recently turned Rev. Steve Newlin, we’ll flashback to Pam’s life before she became a vamp and Sookie must try to figure out how to protect herself from the possible return of King Russell Edgington. Plus, what is the true fate of Tara?

Dallas

Network: TNT

Airs: Wednesdays at 9pm

Premiere: 6/13/12

We're not exactly the target demo for night time soaps here at IGN, but Dallas gets a bit extra attention by not being a remake of the classic 1980s series, but an actual sequel series - following both a new generation of Ewings and their respective romantic partners (played by Jesse Metcalfe, Josh Henderson, Jordana Brewster and Julie Gonzalo) and original cast members Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray and Larry Hagman, reprising their roles - including Hagman's iconic TV villain, J.R. Ewing. Having seen the pilot we can say Dallas actually looks to be pretty fun, if you can embrace this kind of stuff, played very straight, with nary a sign of camp.

Burn Notice

Network:USA

Airs: Thursdays at 9pm

Premiere: 6/14/12

When we last left Michael Westen, he hadn’t truly beaten end-end-end-end villain Anson Fullerton (Jere Burns, who's been also keeping busy on Justified and Breaking Bad). He, with the help of Fiona, merely managed to eliminate the leverage that Anson held over the group, with a somewhat tragic sacrifice-play. And since he wasn’t defeated that means, yes… Anson will be back. Along with Kristanna Loken’s Rebecca. Other Season 6 guest stars include John C. McGinley, Taryn Manning and William Mapathor.

Falling Skies

Network: TNT

Airs: Sundays at 9pm

Premiere: 6/17/12

Returning for Season 2, Falling Skies will pick up on the heels of last year's cliffhanger, in which Tom (Noah Wyle) went onboard one of the alien's spaceships - to discover... Well, that's what we're waiting to find out! Look for Lost's Terry O'Quinn to show up this year near the end of the season, playing an important figure from Tom's past.

Futurama

Network: Comedy Central

Airs: Wednesdays at 10pm

Premiere: 6/20/12

Futurama will be back on June 20th, and if you want to know more about what’s gonna go down this season, head over to the Futurama Facebook page where you can dive into the “Countdown to Futurama” – that includes exclusive images, storyboards and podcasts. With episode titles like “Decision 3012,” “The Thief of Baghead” and “A Farewell to Arms,” and images of puddle monsters, Zombie Fry and Napoleon Bender, you know this season’s gonna be great!

The Newsroom

Network: HBO

Airs: Sundays at 10pm

Premiere: 6/24/12

After writing acclaimed films like The Social Network and Moneyball, Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) returns to TV with his first cable series. Sorkin's shown his fascination with TV before on Sports Night and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and continues that exploration in this new HBO series, which takes place behind-the-scenes at a CNN-like cable news network, with Jeff Daniels as the star anchor, among a cast that also includes Emily Mortimer, Alison Pill, Olivia Munn, Sam Waterston and Natalie Morales.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/summer-2012-tv-preview

Bill Murray as... the Human Torch?

Before Bill Murray was the superstar he is today, there was a time when the young comedian was struggling to land any gig he could. And before he reached his stardom on Saturday Night Live in 1977, one of those gigs was voicing Marvel's iconic character the Human Torch on a serialized radio drama for the Fantastic Four.

Yes, even in the 1970s, serialized radio was still a thing (albeit a dying one). Marvel's Fantastic Four program only lasted ten episodes, but thankfully you can still listen to most of them through the magic of the Internet. Check out the YouTube clip below for Murray's voice as the hotheaded Johnny Storm. (And as a side note, the serials were also narrated by none other than Stan Lee himself.)

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/bill-murray-as-the-human-torch

Sorcery Review

When you're a spellcaster in training, every monster in the realm wants a chance to knock you down a peg. But as you learn in Sorcery, a lone goblin is no match for a mighty sorcerer, even one who's still a boy. So hundreds of ill-tempered meanies flood the screen as they attempt to overwhelm you with sheer numbers. And this is where Sorcery stumbles. Tactics have little place in these frustrating encounters because you're too busy frantically flinging spells in order to simply survive. Delightful visual design and in-depth alchemy can't overcome the tedium of sinking hours into waggling at an army of evil beings. Poorly balanced fighting scenarios transform Sorcery from an enchanting adventure into a grueling ordeal.

The first thing a wizard must learn is how to waggle.

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An apprentice without a master has to grow up in a hurry. You play as Finn, an eager boy who has the ability to shoot spells from his handy wand. You team up with a talking cat named Erline in search of your master, who has mysteriously disappeared. Although the story does little to draw you into this world, the whimsical artistic design does a great job of establishing a happy-go-lucky mood. Idyllic forests give way to treacherous underground caverns as you uncover the secret behind your mentor's fate, and though the locales present typical fairy-tale landscapes, there's a feeling of merriment that stays with you no matter how dark the story becomes.

Things start out nicely enough. Using the Move to control your wand and the Navigation Controller to run around, you seamlessly transform sheep to rats with the flick of your wrist. Spells travel in the direction you snap your wand. Although the precision you would get from a point-and-click interface is absent, it's easy enough to aim high or low, left or right, or even send a curving shot flying toward an ice troll's head.

It's when you enter into fights that things take a turn for the worse. Using strategy is mighty difficult when dozens of nasty buggers are rushing toward you. Aggressive goblins and hounding spiders threaten to smother you in a sea of grotesqueries, and you need to shake your arm as quickly as possible to keep these creatures at bay. You might think that inane waggling is only an option, but sadly that's not the case; it's a necessity. Some enemies have regenerating health, so if you hit them once without following up immediately with another strike, they go back to full strength. This baffling design decision, coupled with the unending mass of monsters constantly pursuing you, leads to tiring encounters that go on long after the entertainment has subsided.

Why does a troll have so many spiders?

A poor camera adds further obstacles to your enjoyment. Tapping a button centers the view behind Finn, but automatic shifts hinder your ability to see your enemies. Wrestling the camera to get a good look at the action accentuates the already problematic battles. Finishing off a foe before it regenerates health is tricky enough without the beast leaving your line of sight. Auto-targeting should alleviate this issue, but it only makes the problem worse. The game isn't smart enough to know which enemy you want to attack, so your spell automatically tracks tiny spiders swarming around a giant troll's feet instead of letting you freeze the huge beast's head, even when you're aiming as high as possible.

Thankfully, the motion controls at least do what they should most of the time. There are some issues, such as clunky switching between spells, but they're not a big hindrance. What is a problem are the traditional controls. There are separate buttons for using a shield and diving out of the way, but there are times when you tap them during key moments only to have nothing happen onscreen. Other times, you get caught in an inescapable string of knockback attacks in which none of your actions can free you from the misery. Most baffling of all is how healing is implemented. You're not blessed with regenerating health like your enemies. Instead, you have to quaff potions. It's a fine idea, but it doesn't work in practice. Shaking the bottle and then bringing it to your lips while hounding enemies surround you is impractical, and having your drinking animation interrupted whenever you're touched is downright maddening.

All of these problems come to a head in tedious boss encounters. These ordeals stretch on for dozens of minutes, and it takes all of your concentration to come out on top. Despite the peaceful aesthetics, this is a difficult, punishing game that doesn't give you an inch. When a troll tosses a boulder, you'd think that diving out of the way would keep you safe. But that happens only a fraction of the time. Poor collision detection ensures you take damage even when you jumped clear well before contact, and it's incredibly easy to be caught on the environment as you run backward to avoid taking further hits. And if you should die during one of these boss battles, you have to start over at the very beginning of the fight.

Lake Erie has nothing on this flaming pond.

Despite the myriad issues, Sorcery does have some interesting combat elements. As you become a stronger wizard, you learn new spells, and these add layers of complexity to combat. Conjure an electrical cloud to zap your enemies into oblivion, or send a ripple of earth their way with a shimmering ground strike. Mixing spells even gives you opportunities to dispose of your foes creatively. A twister can gobble up a fairy or two in a pinch, but those prancing fools will scream bloody murder if you set that storm on fire. Or freeze a spider in place and shatter it into a million pieces with a concussive blast. These clever combat mechanics add a dose of excitement to the normally monotonous duels.

Most of Sorcery is composed of tedious combat encounters, but there are side activities that provide some enjoyment. Light puzzle solving introduces new ways to use your powers, and it's certainly empowering to fix a broken bridge or toss a giant pillar aside like a sack of grain. Alchemy is an optional though surprisingly in-depth activity. By combining ingredients you find hidden throughout the world, you can concoct all sorts of potions. Some provide a permanent increase to your health or magical might, while others have a temporary negative effect. Mixing and matching to find all the combinations is a nice distraction from the aggravating combat. In some sections, you transform into a rat to slink through tight passages. Although these are mildly fun, the places you change into a bird are noninteractive cutscenes which is a disappointment.

Sorcery's biggest flaw is that it focuses on the tiresome combat. Considering how strong the other elements are, it's disappointing that you spend the vast majority of the game frantically waggling just to stay alive. It's simply not fun to have your view blocked, your attacks interrupted, and your wrist ache as you try to squash an angry crowd of enemies. Sorcery fumbles its impressive potential by favoring mindless combat over the other enjoyable activities a boy wizard can take part in.

Source : http://www.gamespot.com/sorcery/reviews/sorcery-review-6379807/

What's Next for Ridley Scott?

Following Prometheus, director Ridley Scott still has quite a few films left on his docket. The filmmaker is currently prepping for Cormac McCarthy's The Counselor, which has been described as "No Country for Old Men on steroids." Even still, Scott claims he has another Western in the works with a story ready to go.

"I want to do a Western really badly," said Scott in a recent interview with Slash Film. "I think I’ve got a Western this morning, finally after two and a half years of talking and writing and talking... I think I have it, which is kind of interesting."

When asked about his other projects, Scott said that his Blade Runner film is still in progress, and he also offered a few hints on two more of his films. Continued Scott, "Monopoly’s first pass is written... I don’t know what to do with Brave New World. It’s tough. I think Brave New World in a funny kind of way was good in 1938, because it had a very interesting revolutionary idea. It came shortly before or after George Orwell, roughly the same time. When you re-analyze it, maybe it should stay as a book. I don’t know. We tried to get it."

As for Tripoli, one of his earlier failed projects, Scott explained why the film never got off the ground. "It didn’t happen because of a personal thing," he said. "I felt somebody wasn’t well, so I couldn’t do it and I stopped, but Tripoli is great, because it’s about Thomas Jefferson and a guy called William Eaton... It's a good story."

And since Scott's Alien sorta-prequel Prometheus is on everyone's mind right now, let's take a look back at what he told us a couple of years ago about the creation of the xenomorph:

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/whats-next-for-ridley-scott

Hero Worship: Whatever Happened to Super Villains?

I don’t know if it’s that I’m getting older or what, but I can officially state that I’ve grown incredibly tired of “heroes vs. heroes.” I didn’t fully realize it until yesterday, when the announcement of Injustice: Gods Among Us hit. Don’t get me wrong, visually the game looks pretty stunning, and I enjoyed last year’s Mortal Kombat, so I’m sure the gameplay will be great. But the premise – the “what if the superheroes become our greatest threat” idea – is played out, dull, and I need it to go away. Forever. And yes, I get that it’s a fighting game, so by nature of the genre they have to fight one another.

But Injustice was merely the spark that lit my fuse. I’m ready for the heroes to fight super villains again and make us want to root for them instead of picking sides.

Superheroes fighting one another (before eventually teaming up and tackling a greater threat) is part of the fabric of superhero comics. It just is. It always has been, and it always will be. This same trait carried over into Marvel’s The Avengers, and I imagine it will continue with any new cinematic characters that are introduced. It simply provides an easy dramatic arc for their relationship that culminates in them learning to co-exist as teammates.

But in the last decade or so, superhero comics have become more and more about battling ideologies (and egos) between heroes, resulting in some of the biggest events in years. Marvel’s Civil War was perhaps the most notable, but since then, we’ve also seen variations on the same idea.

Secret Invasion saw the Marvel heroes suspicious of one another, fearing that any one of their teammates might be a Skrull invader. Fear Itself found various Marvel heroes usurped by evil avatars and fighting each other. Avengers vs. X-Men is, well, self-explanatory, and takes its cues from X-Men: Schism, a story that pit the X-Men against one another. And all signs at DC are pointing to a war between the heroes of the Justice League.

There is some good dramatic material in all of these stories that is worth mining to some extent. I even promoted the idea of Marvel adapting Civil War for the big screen. But at the same time, who needs villains when the heroes are so ready and willing to throw down with each other? There is a certain amount of fan service in seeing these characters square off, finding out who is faster, stronger, or smarter. But with each battle between heroes, their status as figures of morality is just a little bit tarnished. Superhero comics are, at their core, the modern incarnation medieval morality plays.

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With each battle between heroes, their status as figures of morality is just a little bit tarnished.

These are characters created to inspire faith in the absolutes of humanity. Of course, all of these characters have evolved since their conception, introducing many shades of gray that have made their intertwining relationships more complex and interesting. Yet at a certain point – the point we’re at now – their constant conflict with one another is growing tiresome.

I’m not saying we don’t need tumultuous relationships between heroes, because we most certainly do. No one wants to read stories where everyone is chummy 100% of the time, gleefully dispatching bad guys and shaking hands afterwards. Internal conflict can be powerful and interesting. But when both major superhero companies are structuring their entire universes around hero infighting, it becomes a struggle to remain invested in the characters as superheroes instead of just being amused watching them slap fight with their egos.

In a time when the real world is looking more and more desperate for a hero with each passing day, we should be able to turn to these fictional heroes for inspiration and hope. Just like people did in the midst of World War II, the Golden Age of superheroes. Superman and Captain America were there as something to aspire to; even moral support, in a way.

But when we look to our comic book heroes now, they’re usually too busy fighting each other to care about the rest of the world.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/hero-worship-whatever-happened-to-super-villains

Theron Stoked for Mad Max: Fury Road

Charlize Theron has had a pretty good month. She's the star of Universal's Snow White and the Huntsman and she'll be appearing in Ridley Scott's Prometheus premiering on June 8. Following that, the actress will be heading back to her native Africa, where she'll begin filming for George Miller's Mad Max 4: Fury Road, a shoot that she's been looking forward to for quite some time.

"I leave in two and a half weeks and we start shooting I think around mid-July in Namibia," said Theron in a recent interview with Slash Film. "I’m f***ing dying, too, it’s been three years. It’s time to skin this cat already, so yeah, I’m very excited about it... I feel like the original Mad Max created such a vivid world, that to go back and re-imagine it and kind of replay in that sandbox sounds like fun to me."

When first approached about the character, Theron admitted she was less than enthused about the part. But after reading the script, she made a quick turnaround. "It’s a really challenging piece of material," she continued. "I think for me originally when they were like, 'Oh, Mad Max.' I was like, 'Uh, I’m not going to play the f***ing girl for Mad Max.' Then I read it and I was like, 'Oh, Mad Max. I feel sorry for you.' [Laughs] That rarely happens. It’s just really, it’s two great characters. It’s not the original Mad Max. It’s the revamped Mad Max. It’s Tom Hardy, who’s incredible. So, the whole thing is just very, very exciting."

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/theron-stoked-for-mad-max-fury-road

Wachowskis' Jupiter Ascending Sounds Bats*** Crazy

As with any original Wachowski film, it can be difficult trying to wrap your head around it until you've actually seen it -- and even then, it can be tricky. Nevertheless, one source claims to have the latest scoop on Andy and Lana's upcoming sci-fi pic Jupiter Ascending.

Imagine a universe in which "human beings are just the Cro-Magnons, or even the Australopithecines, of what beings can ultimately go on to become in the galaxy,” explained an insider at Vulture. “It’s a return to form for [the Wachowskis], because these higher forms of life are watching us from other, albeit this time non-meta worlds, but actual, other worlds, as in planets and moons."

The story centers on an unlikely and reluctant heroine, a recent Russian immigrant -- played by actual Ukrainian native Mila Kunis -- who scrubs toilets for a living. Unbeknownst to her, however, she possesses the same perfect genetic makeup as the Queen of the Universe and is therefore a threat to her immortal rule. These other evolved beings are categorized into various groups, but all of them share at least some human DNA. The rest is animal DNA, which heightens their best qualities -- e.g., soldiers obtain the fearlessness of wolves, workers obtain the industriousness of bees, etc.

Soon, an evolved bounty hunter -- likely played by Channing Tatum -- is sent out to dispatch the cleaning lady with the Great Pair of Nucleotides. However, true to Matrix fashion, they fall in love. From there, calamity ensues. (It's also worth noting that this sounds suspiciously like Universal's Snow White and the Huntsman with a sci-fi twist, but we'll save that judgement for later.)

In other casting news, it sounds like Joseph Gordon-Levitt may also be up for a role in the film, though no other details were provided.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/wachowskis-jupiter-ascending-sounds-bats-crazy

Pure Chess Review

I love the game of chess more than nearly any video game ever released. Its strategic nature is timeless and fun, but while chess owns a renowned status as a thinking man’s game, video game iterations have often had a hard time being as epic as the real thing. As someone who grew up fiendishly playing chess, I readily admit that no digital version will ever be as good as sitting at a table, pieces placed and timer set. But some attempts are more successful than others.

When it comes to Pure Chess, you’ll find a game – whether on PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita -- that both hits the mark and misses it completely. Its single-player offerings challenge gamers with a variety of options that will please chess nuts, especially for its relatively low price (though you’ll need to purchase it twice if you want it for both PS3 and Vita). However, Pure Chess has completely unacceptable online functionality that’s flagrantly clumsy and lazily executed. Thus, in your pursuit of purchasing Pure Chess, you have to think about one thing and one thing only: do you want to play by yourself or online?

If you answered the former, you’re in luck, because Pure Chess totes a robust set of modes and options that prove their worth far beyond the $8 entry fee. For starters, you can play against the computer in standard exhibition matches, sorting through various difficulty settings to find the artificial intelligence that best suits your skill level. The AI makes smart moves for the most part, though some questionable tactics are deployed from time to time. Plenty of stat-keeping makes things interesting the more you play, though some of these stats seem glitched (especially when chronicling online play).

Tournament play also proves to be a lot of fun. Three tournaments of four games each are presented at increasing difficulty levels, and only by winning all four games in a row do you progress through the tournament successfully. When combined with fleshed-out tutorials to teach chess newbies the fundamentals and awesome “Mate in 1-5” puzzles that chess nerds will adore, there’s plenty to keep players busy. You can even play with a friend locally, customizing board setup and timing to your heart’s content.

Unfortunately, for all of the great single-player features Pure Chess offers, abysmal online play brings the whole package down. Pure Chess has no online gameplay per se, unless you count its “play by mail” correspondence-style chess. Pure Chess forces you to play against others like prisoners play with each other in supermax facilities by swapping annotated notes that are then clumsily loaded onto a board. Worse yet, the online functionality of Pure Chess utilizes the PlayStation 3’s wonky built-in messaging system in what can very well be the most unnecessarily cumbersome online setup ever seen in a PSN game.

Because of Pure Chess’s reliance on PSN messaging, you have to be friends with the person you want to play with to even get a match going. There’s no way to challenge someone randomly from a queue, which will be a gigantic problem for those who don’t flex their social muscles on PSN. Once you get past that ridiculous hurdle, you’re then subjected to a system where game data is sent via PSN message over and over again as you wait for the person on the other side to make his or her move. It’s a terrible system, and perhaps the worst possible solution to playing chess online. Correspondence chess continues to be a copout in lieu of seamless online play, and in the year 2012, it’s gotten beyond old.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/pure-chess-review

Avengers Blu-rays Revealed

There's been lots of scuttlebutt about The Avengers' eventual Blu-ray release recently, including a rumored 10-disc set. And while Disney and Marvel have yet to release the official specs on these collections, Amazon has now put up several Blu-ray (and DVD) listings for the Greatest Movie in the History of the Universe. Let's break it down:

Marvel's The Avengers (Four-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy)

List Price: $49.99

Current Amazon Price: $34.99

Marvel's The Avengers (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

List Price: $39.99

Current Amazon Price: $27.99

Marvel's The Avengers (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in DVD Packaging)

List Price: $39.99

Current Amazon Price: $27.99

Marvel's The Avengers (DVD)

List Price: $29.99

Current Amazon Price: $20.99

As for extra features, Amazon doesn't have anything listed yet, but Blu-ray.com has reported that the following will be included on some (obviously not all) of the sets:

• Commentary by Joss Whedon

• Disney's Second Screen feature

• Behind-the-scenes featurettes:

- Assembling the Ultimate Team

- A Visual Journey

• Marvel One Shot short film: Item 47

• Deleted/extended scenes:

- Alternate opening: "Maria Hill Interrogation"

- Extended scene: "Loki & Barton Strategize"

- "Steve Rogers: Man Out of Time"

- "Nick Fury and World Security Council"

- Raw extended footage: "Viaduct Fight"

- "Fury and Hill Discuss the World Security Council"

- Extended scene: "Banner and Security Guard"

- Alternate ending: "Maria Hill Interrogation"

• Soundgarden's "Live to Rise" music video

• Gag reel

The site also reports that The Avengers sets are expected to street on September 25th.

And then there's the 10-disc, six-movie set that collects all the Marvel films to date. It appears this collection will not arrive in September, and perhaps not even in 2012. More info on this one is expected to be released on July 15th. Check it:

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One - Avengers Assembled (10-Disc Limited Edition Six-Movie Collector's Set) [Blu-ray]

List Price: $219.00

Current Amazon Price: $153.30

Limited Edition collection includes:

• Marvel’s The Avengers (Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray)

• Captain America: The First Avenger (Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray)

• Thor (Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray)

• Iron Man 2 (Blu-ray)

• The Incredible Hulk (Blu-ray)

• Iron Man (Blu-ray)

• Bonus Disc - “The Phase One Archives” (Blu-ray)

• Collectible packaging with exclusive memorabilia from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

So there you have it -- all the latest official and unofficial info on The Avengers Blu-ray. I personally will probably wait for the Extra Special Edition that includes the collectible pair of torn, purple Hulk pants. But that's just me.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/avengers-blu-rays-revealed

App Store Update: June 1

Every day hundreds of new apps make their debut on the App Store, and hundreds more are updated or reduced in price. We have sifted through the noise and highlighted those select few that might be worth your attention.

Game Debuts

Fantasy War – (Free)

Social strategy/RPG Fantasy War is now available on the App Store, courtesy of Korean mobile gaming powerhouse Gamevil.

Pettson’s Inventions – ($1.99)

Create and solve 25 unique “inventions” by dragging and dropping each individual part to the correct position. Like all of the Pettson titles, Inventions has a memorable sketchy art style.

Price Drops

Grinsia – ($0.99)

Another oldschool Kemco RPG is on sale for $0.99 for a limited time. This is Grinsia’s cheapest price yet so if you’ve had it on your radar now is the perfect time to jump in.

Hotel Dash: Suite Success Deluxe – (Free)

Playfirst’s hotel-themed time management title has gone free on iOS for the very first time! Playfirst’s Dash titles tend to be more hardcore than some gamers give them credit for, so don’t miss it.

Hybrid 2 – (Free)

Gamevil’s 2D Action/RPG sequel is now free for the very first time! Hybrid 2 has been discounted to $0.99 plenty of times, but never before have gamers been able to nab it entirely free-of-charge.

Hybrid: Eternal Whisper – (Free)

The original Hybrid can also be grabbed for free. If you only choose one, the sequel is the better title. But since they’re both free there’s no reason not to grab the duo.

Galaxy on Fire 2 – ($0.99)

Fishlab’s expansive space shooter is on sale for just $0.99 – its cheapest price yet. Note that this is the SD version, intended for play on an iPhone or iPod Touch. iPad owners will want to pony up the extra dough for the high-res HD release.

Updates

Order & Chaos Online

Gameloft is celebrating Order & Chaos’s first anniversary in style. New quests, a free pet, fireworks shows, a new lottery system and plenty more are all now included.

Subscribe to the App Store Update via email:

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/app-store-update-june-1

Facial Recognition Coming to EverQuest 2

Sony Online Entertainment announced today that new facial recognition and voice-modulation software is being implemented into their games, starting with EverQuest 2. Called SoEmote, the software suite will give players the ability to use a webcam and microphone to put their voice through various filters, and have the camera match their character's expressions to those of their actual face. For more information and first details, check out the trailer for SoEmote below.

The hope is that this will help players have a more immersive role playing experience. Are you interested in this? Which other SoE games would you like to see make use of this new software? For now there's no release date, with SoE only stating that it's "coming soon."

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/facial-recognition-coming-to-everquest-2

Revolution Stars Billy Burke and Tracy Spiridakos on Working with Abrams, Kripke and Favreau

Coming from the impressive trio of Supernatural creator Eric Kripke, J.J. Abrams (Lost, Star Trek, etc., etc.) and director Jon Favreau (Iron Man), NBC’s upcoming series Revolution has quite a pedigree.

The series takes place fifteen years after all electronics instantly stopped working in the world, with no explanation (yet!) for how or why it happened. Tracy Spiridakos (Being Human) stars as Charlie, a teenage girl trying to rescue her brother, after he’s taken by the leader of a local militia (Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito). Needing help, Charlie goes to find her uncle, Miles (Billy Burke), a man she’s never met – but one whose skills can certainly be of use to her.

Tracy Spiridakos, Anna Lise Phillips and Zak Orth in Revolution.

I spoke to both Burke and Spiridakos recently, at NBC’s Upfront, and both actors were very enthusiastic about Revolution. Said Burke, “I just saw it the other day, and I kind of can’t believe I got lucky enough to be on this show.”

When it came to the creative team behind the series, the actor added, “I cannot say enough good stuff about all of them. Kripke and I hit it off right away. I think we totally get each other. And Favreau, as a director, is an actor’s dream. He absolutely puts it in a different perspective, you know? I hope he’ll direct thousands more of them.”

Billy Burke and Tracy Spiridakos in a scene from Revolution:

Spiridakos shared the praise for Favreau, telling me, “He’s wonderful. He knows what you’re thinking when you’re in that moment of not being able to go where you need to. He’s just very supportive, so smart and able to help us. He’s done such a beautiful job with everything so far. I’m a huge fan of his separately from this, so it’s been such an honor to work with him.”

Describing his character, Miles, Burke said, “He’s a little bit crusty on top but has some soft spots in the middle. But yeah, there’s nothing like being able to fantasize about playing a freedom fighter and then actually execute it. It’s been so much fun.”

As for Charlie, Spiridakos noted, “She’s grown up in this type of world, so for her it’s not that overwhelming of a concept. But then with the changes that happen to her and that are going to be happening throughout the series, she grows, just like any other person her age would - through the loses and the challenges she goes through.” Added Spiridakos, “She’s a fighter, for sure. She’s a fighter. She’s ready to tackle it out if she needs to.”

Both Charlie and Miles are handy with weapons, with Spiridakos explaining she uses a crossbow in the series. Miles, meanwhile, has a big swordfight in the pilot, and Burke laughed, remarking, “If you had told me a few months ago that I’d be sword fighting, I’d have said, ‘You’re out of your mind.’ We have a fantastic stunt coordinator Jeff Wolfe, who did all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and stuff like that. So it’s big.”

Check out how it all begins in Revolution's prologue:

The idea of our modern society suddenly not having any of the technology we depend on is a compelling one and Burke told me, “Every day on the set there were always discussions like, ‘Well, what if this happened, and what if .’ And the reality is, all this stuff is possible. Sure, we’re fictionalizing a lot, but a lot of this stuff is possible, a lot of the concepts and situations. But really the show, underneath all that, is really about what would people do? How are they going to connect, how are people going to find each other without all of these distractions that we’re so used to.”

When it comes to pondering actually being in the situation the characters in Revolution are in, Spiridakos remarked, “You know, I’ve thought about that a lot." She mentioned to me that she was a gamer and brought up Fallout, noting, “I play that game and I love it. So I’ve kind of explored that realm of what that world would be like, and I think it’s terrifying. But it’s exciting in a way as well. It’s different.” And no, I couldn’t resist asking Spiridakos what other games she was playing, and she told me, “I just beat Uncharted 3, which is really fun. And then my boyfriend and I just got Rage. So we’re going to start playing that one and Mass Effect 3.”

I asked Spiridakos if Kripke had given her any ideas on where the show would go and what twists and turns might be in store. She smiled and nodded, saying, “Yeah, we hung out on set a lot. But I don’t know what I’m allowed to tell you. So I’m going to leave it at that!”

Revolution premieres this fall on NBC.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/revolution-stars-billy-burke-and-tracy-spiridakos-on-working-with-abrams-kripke-and-favreau