Ten Reasons Why Michael Fassbender is The Man

It’s hard to name a young working actor in Hollywood with more credibility than Michael Fassbender. The Irish/German thesp has shot up the Hollywood ladder of late thanks to a series of carefully chosen roles appealing to cinephiles and comic fans alike – and with the recent announcement of his role in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie, he’s gaining new attention from legions of gamers. Whether you’re a new or an established Fass Fan, here are ten reasons why Michael Fassbender is The Man.

Minor spoilers ahead.

He's Got Style

One can’t deny Fassbender’s almost insistent suaveness. X-Men: First Class showed us the guy can rock a vintage leather jacket, and his subsequent turn as a wealthy New Yorker in 2011 drama Shame proved he can turn any look into instant cool. For a franchise drenched in as much lavish style as Assassin's Creed, the recent GQ Magazine cover boy couldn't be more suited to don the hood.

He Stood Out in a Tarantino Cast

Fassbender's performance as the extremely British Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 Inglorious Basterds is a stand-out amongst a stand-out cast. It's true that Tarantino traditionally enjoys lengthy speeches from his characters, sometimes to a fault, but Fassbender's wordy French tavern scene is so perfectly executed it comes close to stealing the entire movie. Here was an actor teetering on the edge of stardom, and having a hell of a lot of fun while doing it.

He Survived
Jonah Hex

One of Fassbender’s rare career missteps was as a secondary villain opposite Josh Brolin’s hero in the 2010 Western Jonah Hex. After the film was released to fairly terrible reviews, Fassbender shrugged off his involvement in an interview, quipping “Pretty awful, was it? I haven’t seen it myself.” He followed Jonah up with a performance in 2011’s critical darling Jane Eyre, for which he won numerous awards.

Even Charlize Theron Loves Him

In an infamous - brilliantly infamous - case of foot in mouth, Charlize Theron couldn’t help but reference Fassbender’s, uh, assets in Shame at the 2012 Human Rights Campaign Gala. “I have to say that I was truly impressed that you chose to play it big,” said Theron, after accepting an award from Fassbender. “Most other actors would have gone small, trust me. No, I know, because I've worked with them."

He was the Best Part of
Prometheus

Starring in what was, no doubt, the most highly anticipated sci-fi of the year, Michael Fassbender managed to steal the show under the noses of the rest of Prometheus' considerable cast. His android David is a multi-faceted creation, swinging between cool detachment and voracious curiosity like a sinister child, his mimicry of Peter O’ Toole unsettling in its ‘not quite rightness.’ While the unfulfilled ambitions of Prometheus disappointed many, few can argue that Fassbender’s turn wasn’t utterly spellbinding.

He’s Versatile

Fassbender’s starring roles to date have included a sex-addict (Shame), a super-villain (X-Men: First Class), an Irish hunger striker (Hunger) and an android (Prometheus). He's the king of reinvention, in part thanks to an ear for accents, a curiously malleable face and, like contemporary Christian Bale, a commitment to changing his body drastically for a part (he undertook the infamous 300 training regimen, for example, and dropped 40 pounds for his role in Hunger.)  But it’s his ability to turn these roles into something unexpected every time, which makes The Fass more than the sum of his parts.

He’s Unafraid to Tackle Tricky Subjects

Fassbender’s turn as a sex-addicted New Yorker in Shame is one of the more courageous performances by a mainstream actor in recent memory. This is a film where Fassbender (literally) bares everything, his horror-stricken grimaces in some of Shame’s, ahem, more climactic moments painfully intimate. His performance is so accomplished that director Steve McQueen publicly determined America was ‘too scared of sex,’ after Fassbender failed to be nominated for an Academy Award.

He Was a Great Magneto

Fassbender brought just the right amount of steely intensity to Magneto in X-Men: First Class. His Magneto is unassuming and chilling; a man who draws steel fillings out of teeth with a debonair air more evocative of Connery’s Bond than a super-villain. It’s testament to his performance that he beat out Lord Voldemort and Loki in the Favorite Villain category in IGN’s 2011 Summer Movie Awards, described at the time as stealing scenes with ‘savvy understatement, physical grace and brooding menace.’

He’s Got Cred

At the announcement that Fassbender was donning the Assassin’s Hood, the Internet went wild on a familiar theme: ‘WILL FASSBENDER KILL THE VIDEO GAME TO MOVIE CURSE?” The hysteria is somewhat understandable; Fassbender is an actor of a caliber one rarely sees in video game adaptations. That said, Bob Hoskins starred in Super Mario Bros., and look where that got everyone.

He's Co-producing Assassin’s Creed

While his starring role in Ubisoft’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie is an exciting prospect, his investment as a co-producer through his own DMC Film label is more intriguing. Little of the history behind the decision has been made public, but the move suggests a confidence in both the franchise and the creative control behind the film one rarely sees in usual ‘gamer-for-pay’ star turns.

What do you guys think of Michael Fassbender's casting in the Assassin's Creed Movie? Let us know in the comments. 

Lucy O'Brien is Assistant Editor at IGN AU. You should talk to her about games, horror movies and the TV show Freaks & Geeks on IGN here or find her and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.

Source : ign[dot]com

Saw Screenwriters Adapting God of War

The screenwriters behind four Saw films and Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim will rewrite the movie adaptation of the Sony video game franchise God of War.

The Hollywood Reporter says Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan have come aboard the game-to-film project to revise an earlier draft by David Self, who will also executive produce the film. The Dark Knight Rises' Charles Roven is producing along with Alex Gartner through Atlas Entertainment. Universal Pictures will distribute the movie.

Source : ign[dot]com

Valve’s Source Filmmaker Now Available

Open beta has begun for Valve’s Source Filmmaker, a new “storytelling tool” that allows anyone to create their own animated short films.

The tools available in the beta are the same tools Valve used to create the shorts, and downloads of the Source Filmmaker will include all assets from Team Fortress 2 along with assets from two of the Meet the Team videos. According to Valve, Source Filmmaker “condenses the production pipeline of an animation studio down onto a single gaming PC.”

The Source Filmmaker tools were announced alongside the release of Meet the Pyro, Valve’s final short in its long-running Meet the Team series. At the time, Valve designer Bay Raitt commented that "The goal of the SFM was to develop a story telling tool that allowed us to create computer animated movies more efficiently, and with greater creative freedom. Over the past five years, we've produced more than 50 animated shorts with the SFM. The Source Filmmaker will allow our community to create their own movies in Team Fortress 2 and in their own Source SDK-created mods."

The beta follows yesterday’s announcement of Steam Greenlight, which will allow the community to pick the next indie games to be released on Steam.

The Source Filmmaker can be downloaded on Valve’s official site. For a look at the highest rated videos produced so far, check out Valve’s Source Filmmaker community page.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Comic-Con: Behold - The Jar Jar in Carbonite Action Figure!

Tomorrow morning I leave for Comic-Con and I'm currently swamped with last minute prep - but I felt I had to post something about the awesome Hasbro Star Wars Comic-Con exclusive that arrived yesterday.

The hexagon-shaped box features a new action figure from each film in the series, in a box meant to evoke the famous carbon freezing chamber from The Empire Strikes Back. The action figure cards are a fun "What If?" choice, based on a design Kenner considered but didn't go with back in the day, using the alternate Star Wars logo seen on other merchandise at time. The selection of characters is something of a hodgepodge: Jar Jar Binks for Phantom Menace, a Clone Trooper Lieutenant for Attack of the Clones, a Shock Trooper for Revenge of the Sith, a Sandtrooper for A New Hope, Princess Leia (in her Bespin outfit) for The Empire Strikes Back and Darth Vader (looking all, "Oh crap, I just got Force Lightninged") for Return of the Jedi. There's a bit of a theme with the three generations of Stormtroopers, but the other three don't really match.

Overall though, this is a great followup to last year's SDCC exclusive, which had another "Could have been" bit of packaging, with the Revenge of the Sith carded figures inside a Death Star-shaped case.

But the most fun draw for the carbonite freezer set is the hidden seventh figure it comes with. Which is revealed by opening a panel on the top of the box, by pulling out the Phantom Menace title piece...

Wait for it...

And it's...

That's right, it's a Jar Jar in Carbonite action figure! Oh, glorious day.

This very special and amusing Star Wars set is available at San Diego Comic-Con at the Hasbro booth. Suffice to say, expect some serious lines.

Source : ign[dot]com

Quantum Conundrum Review

Odds are, Quantum Conundrum will give you serious Portal vibes, and for good reason: The cartoony new first-person puzzler is designed by Kim Swift, one of the creators of the original Portal. While this multi-dimensional mind-boggler doesn't quite match the genius of its forebear, it delightfully says, "Laws of physics be damned!" and hands over the keys to four distinct dimensions beyond our own.

Conundrum sends you on a quest of inter-dimensional problem solving to rescue your mad-scientist uncle, who has gone missing somewhere in his labyrinthine mansion. The professor's latest invention, the Inter-dimensional Shift Device (or ISD), should prove quite useful in navigating the obstacles in each room -- obstacles like death lasers and pools of skin-melting "science juice." (On a side note, why would anyone build rooms like this? That is a conundrum for another time…)

Playing this game will feel instantly familiar to anyone who’s spent time with Portal. You move from room to room solving one environmental puzzle at a time. The only characters to be found are robots. And an unseen person on the god mic (your uncle) fills the GLaDOS role, providing colorful commentary on your performance every step of the way.

Does Quantum Conundrum have you completely confounded? Solutions for every puzzle are a click away in the Quantum Conundrum Wiki.

But Quantum's shifty abilities provide their own special kind of brain teasers. Rather than pondering portals, here you're thinking about weight, speed, and velocity -- sometimes all at once.

The Interdimensional Shift Device (or IDS) lets you freely phase into four dimensions, each changing the physical properties of your environment in different ways. For example, say you need to drop something heavy on a switch. In the fluffy dimension, everything sheds its weight and can be lifted with ease.

That's a very basic example, but as you’d expect, the puzzles become much more complex as you progress, with the IDS also empowering you to reverse gravity and bend time. Eventually you'll enter the fluffy dimension, pick up a heavy object, throw it, switch to the slow time dimension so you can hop on, then alternate reversing gravity while you ride on the heavy object's wave of inertia over some deathtrap. Quantum Conundrum stumped me a few times, but never frustrated me.

The four dimensions in Quantum Conundrum are:

Fluffy: Heavy objects can easily be carried or blown by the wind.

Heavy: Light objects become paper weights. Useful for pressing switches.

Slow Motion: Time slows to a crawl but you move at normal speed.

Reverse Gravity: Anything not tied down will float to the ceiling.

Is it safe?

Though the puzzles often dazzle with brilliant design, the interior decorating of the mansion where you spend all your time shows less imagination. You wander through the same hallways passing the same books all throughout the game, and the corridors lack detail. It doesn’t really feel like a wacky, Doc Brown-like inventor lives here.

Story-wise, your uncle communicates with you from the Netherworld during your journey, dropping hint after hint about his whereabouts. Unfortunately, the big reveal with regard to his fate ends up being pretty insignificant -- it seems like a twist is being foreshadowed the whole time, but ultimately the opportunity is missed.

Which leads me to the real let down: the disappointing ending. I'm not going to spoil anything, of course, but know that the end of your five-hour adventure lacks both climax and satisfaction. It’s neither heavy nor fluffy enough.

Source : ign[dot]com

Assassin's Creed Returns to Comics

I think we can all agree it’s difficult to find good comics based on video game properties. It’s like picking a needle out of a haystack. That’s why 2010’s Assassin’s Creed: The Fall stuck out like the best kind of sore thumb. Written and drawn by Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl, Assassin’s Creed: The Fall was a fantastic offshoot from the main Assassin’s Creed mythology, catering to both longtime AC fans and newcomers alike.

Now the duo is back to continue the stories of Daniel Cross and Nikolai Orelov in Assassin’s Creed: The Chain. We caught up with Stewart and Kerschl to chat about their goals with the new book and find out what’s so enticing about working in the AC universe.

IGN Comics: Let me start by saying that I was floored when a sequel to Assassin’s Creed: The Fall was announced; I was a huge fan of that first book. So how soon after its release was it decided that there would be a sequel?

Karl Kerschl: When The Fall was finalized, we didn't have any intention of going back to this story and these characters. We felt like we had told the story we wanted to tell with them and were ready to move on and explore another period in the Assassin's Creed mythos. Ubisoft really wanted to do a follow-up to The Fall though, and after a short meeting with the writers and producers of AC, they basically told us to think about it; if we come up with a story worth telling then we'll go ahead, otherwise we'd explore something new. On our way back from the meeting (about a 5 minute walk from their offices to our studio in Montreal) we came up with an idea that got us excited and gave them a call back right away letting them know we were in.

IGN: Okay, that kind of answers my next question, then. So it was Ubi pushing for a follow-up to this specific story, not the other way around?

Cameron Stewart: We had always discussed the potential of several volumes right from the planning stages of The Fall, but it was shortly after The Fall was completed that we were asked by Ubisoft to come up with an idea for a follow-up. With the introduction of Daniel Cross and Nikolai Orelov into the AC universe, Ubisoft was keen for us to expand and deepen those characters.

IGN: Assassin’s Creed: The Fall was published under DC’s Wildstorm banner, which unfortunately is no longer around. So who will be publishing The Chain?

Stewart: Although initially published by DC Comics in monthly issues, Ubisoft publishes both The Chain and the deluxe collected edition of The Fall in-house, through their Ubi Workshop department. 

IGN: What I love about both The Chain and The Fall before it is that they don’t require prior knowledge of the Assassin’s Creed franchise to be enjoyed. If you have it, you’ll have more context going into these stories, but it’s not essential. Is that something that was important to maintain with The Chain, keeping it new-reader friendly?

“

I hate seeing comics that are impenetrable to audiences not already exhaustively familiar with past continuity...

Stewart: I hate seeing comics that are impenetrable to audiences not already exhaustively familiar with past continuity, so it was important to us to make the books accessible to readers new to the Assassin's Creed universe. Much of Karl's and my existing readership comes from outside the gaming world so we wanted to be able to have a book that would appeal to them as well as long-time Assassin's Creed fans, and also act as an entry point to the game series. Obviously the experience is richer if you are a fan of the games, but new readers should have no problem picking it up and understanding the story. We tried to include everything you need to know.

IGN: Both Daniel Cross and Nikolai Orelov return for The Chain and have interesting character arcs in the story. They might share the same ancestry, but they represent two very different sides of the same coin – the idea of being alone versus being surrounded by family seems to be the main theme at play here. Was this something you really wanted to explore with this sequel? Do you feel this is the distinguishing factor between the Templar and Assassin orders in the Assassin’s Creed universe?

Stewart: We invert the positions of Cross and Orelov -- in The Fall, Daniel is very much the outsider, and Orelov is with his "family" of the Brotherhood, but by the time the events of The Chain occur, Orelov has both lost his family and estranged himself from the Order of Assassins, and Daniel is no longer alone, allowing himself to be drawn closer to his kindred. We also had fun subverting the audience's perceptions of both the Assassins and the Templars, and readers might find their sympathies shifting.

IGN: Much like with The Fall, The Chain is a gorgeous looking book from top to bottom. Both of you guys are credited with the book’s art, so could you maybe detail the process of how you divvied up art duties?

Stewart: As with The Fall, we didn't split the art duties in the traditional method of penciller and inker - Karl and I worked on the pages collaboratively.  Both of us would choose scenes we were interested in drawing or suited to our individual strengths, and then in many cases handed them off to the other for polishing. For example, Karl might lay out a page, which I would then draw finished art over, and then he might go back in and refine parts of  it.

IGN: Without going into spoilers, I thought the book’s somber ending was an interesting choice. Instead of ending with a knock-down-drag-out brawl, you wrap things up with a quiet moment in a church. What was the thought process to ending the book in this fashion?

Kerschl: Daniel's connection to Nikolai Orelov is concluded in this story, for better or worse, and since they never physically meet we wanted to do the next best thing by giving Daniel a quiet moment with his closest actual living relative.

IGN: Should readers expect any connections to the much-anticipated Assassin’s Creed III with The Chain?

Stewart: I'm not sure what we can reveal, but there is definitely a link, which was planned in close collaboration with the AC3 team, and we expect that fans who play the game will be very interested in going back and reading The Fall and The Chain.

IGN: If you guys have the time and motivation to do more stories set in the Assassin’s Creed universe, would you jump at the chance?

Stewart: It's very fun to contribute to this universe and with such a huge archive of history to draw from, new stories will continue to feel fresh and exciting for us to explore, so I'm sure we'll be on board for a while.

Assassin's Creed: The Chain is currently available for pre-order from Ubi Workshop and is scheduled to ship late Summer 2012.

Erik is a writer for IGN's Comics channel and co-host of the IGN Assemble! podcast. You can follow Erik on Twitter, or find him here at IGN. Fair warning: prepare for suspect shenanigans.

Source : ign[dot]com

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Will Be Split in Two Films

Taking a cue from book-to-film adaptations such as Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (and more recently The Hobbit), The Hunger Games' third and final installment, Mockingjay, will be split into two separate movies.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 will be released on November 21, 2014 followed by The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 set for November 20, 2015. The first sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, is already slated for release on November 22, 2013 and includes most of the original cast members in addition to the recently announced Jena Malone and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Francis Lawrence is directing Catching Fire. However, the filmmaker has yet to be confirmed for either of the Mockingjay films.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Namco Uncertain if Tekken Belongs in Smash Bros.

That some quantity of Namco Bandai characters will end up in the next Smash Bros. entries seems almost a certainty now that the company is developing the games with Nintendo's Masahiro Sakurai. The question is which ones?

"Obviously it’s a big priority for the company, so company-wide there are a lot of people involved with that particular project. Not just from Tekken but a lot of our franchises," Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada told NowGamer, who noted that while his team is pre-occupied with Tekken Tag Tournament 2, it would no doubt be called upon to support Smash Bros. "I do think we'll support the initiative in some kind of capacity."

However, would that support come in the form of Tekken characters? Considering their radically different play styles, would Tekken characters find their way to Nintendo's juggernaut fighting game series?

"That question was one of the most frequently asked questions we got when we announced the project. Especially from abroad," Harada said. "The fans, rather than asking about Tales or Gundam, or some of our other franchises, the fans abroad saw Tekken as one of the key words and took off on that. We’re not really sure at this moment but when thinking of the playerbase who is playing Smash Bros, maybe Tekken characters is something they wouldn’t want, so I’ve been pulling back on that a bit. But I don’t know."

Smash Bros. is still very, very early in development, but the questions keep coming. Stay tuned to IGN for more as we hear it.

Rich is an Executive Editor of IGN.com, and the leader of the network's Nintendo team. He also covers all things Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil, WWE and much, much more. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN, if you dare.

Source : ign[dot]com

Earn Achievements for Burning Calories

Kinect PlayFit is now available on Xbox Live in the United States. Available on the dashboard. Kinect PlayFit tracks calories burned while playing Kinect games, including support for Dance Central 2, Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 and Kinect Star Wars.

Players will be able to keep track of their personal stats over time, plus compare with others via global leaderboards. Achievements will unlock based on the calories you burn, as will Avatar awards.

According to Xbox Live’s Major Nelson, Kinect PlayFit is the first ever fitness tracking app on a video game console. It will be available in regions outside of the United States later this week.

This is just part of Microsoft’s continued initiative to promote fitness via Xbox Live, joining the announcement of a Nike Plus Xbox Live app during E3.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

New Dark Knight Rises Spot Reveals Reno 911! Actor's Role

A brand new TV spot for The Dark Knight Rises focuses on the lighter moments in the film, and also reveals that Reno 911! star Thomas Lennon -- yes, Lt. Dangle himself -- is in the film. Check it out:

The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Secret World Team Details Plans for Future

If there's one problem most every MMO seems to run into it's a lack of content. Despite having only been out a week, Funcom announced today a plan to add new content every month to The Secret World, with the first update coming July 31st. No specific details are available about what the first update will include, but the press release did detail some bigger picture ideas Ragnar Tornquist, Senior Producer and Writer on The Secret World, first wrote in his initial 'State of the Game' forum post:

• Monthly mission packs, including a slew of new investigation mission


• New weapons (including a big one that will cause even bigger explosions!)


• Raids (clue for the first one: The Big Apple will never be the same)


• Expanded character customization, including plastic surgery


• A player vs. player dungeon set in an entirely new geographical area


• Dungeon finder tool to make grouping for dungeons much easier


• Seasonal events such as Halloween and Winter Solstice


• Two large adventure areas including new characters, missions, monsters, lore and more


• More social gameplay will be added to the London hub


• Combat will be enhanced significantly both visually and mechanically

Many of the planned updates are pretty standard for MMOs, but the monthly update schedule is quite ambitious. Tornquist went into more detail, writing:

The first few packs will contain new investigations for every adventure zone in the game -- but we also have more action and sabotage missions planned for the near future. These missions will feature fully voiced cut-scenes and new media pop-ups, and will match the quality of the missions currently in the game. Oh, and like everything else in our monthly updates, these packs are FREE for our subscribers!

How are you feeling about The Secret World so far? Does the prospect of regular content make you want to keep playing? Maybe start for the first time?

Anthony loves him some action-RPGs and comic books. As a member of IGN's PC team he also loves anything involving a mouse. Anything. You can always hit him up by following him on IGN or Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Star Wars: The Old Republic Offers Free Trial

BioWare has announced a free trial for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Starting today, players can try the game with no time limit up to level 15 at no cost as long as they don’t have a previously active account.

Players in the free trial can use all eight character classes and explore the Origin World for each one, as well as their faction’s Capital World. They’ll also be able to participate in PVP warzones or play with friends through a Flashpoint.

The news comes just one month after BioWare said it was looking into free-to-play options for The Old Republic. The trial is open to players who have previously participated in Weekend Pass Free Trials or the Friends of Star Wars: The Old Republic Trial. Sign-ups are available on the game’s official site.

Plan to try The Old Republic for the first time? Be sure to check out the Star Wars: The Old Republic Starter Guide in our IGN wiki.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Voice Actor Confirms Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC

Last month, leaked files suggested that Mass Effect 3’s next single-player downloadable content would focus on a rogue Reaper named Leviathan. Now, voice actor Anthony Skordi has confirmed the content, telling Eurogamer that he provided a voice for Leviathan in the add-on.

While BioWare hasn't officially announced the content, according to the leaked files the expansion will focus on Shepard hunting down Leviathan, a Reaper that has taken control of a mining facility and indoctrinated its inhabitants. BioWare is expected to make the news official at its Comic Con panel on Saturday, as the description says it will include “hints at upcoming DLC.”

The Leviathan content would follow the From Ashes add-on that was available alongside Mass Effect 3's launch, as well as the Extended Cut endings released last month.

Separately, new Mass Effect 3 multiplayer content was confirmed this morning, set to focus on Earth. More details will likely be coming very soon, so keep an eye on our Mass Effect 3 downloadable content wiki for all the updates as they’re announced.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Dark Knight Rises Set Visit, Part 2

We visited the Pittsburgh set of The Dark Knight Rises one relentlessly hot day last summer. What follows is the second and final part of our chats with the cast and crew behind Christopher Nolan's swan song to the Batman film franchise. (Part 1 of our set visit can be found HERE).

Be advised that there are SOME SPOILERS ahead ...

The Man Behind Batman's Wonderful Toys (No, Not Lucius Fox)

Special effects supervisor Chris Corbould on the film's biggest challenge: "I think it was getting all our head around the fact that we had to top Dark Knight. Getting all the creative juice flowing to format this film so we've got a great film for everybody so they won't be disappointed. There were a lot of very. very intense meetings going on about story line, what we could do, how we could change things, and how we could change digital effects. It was a very, very intense period, generally shorter than what we're used to. In Batman Begins, when we were building the tumblers, I think we had eight months to build them. Probably the Batpod was bit shorter, seven months. (Nolan) is very into his machines. He knows every single bit of them. He's deigned it with the Batpod and the Batmobile we started with a model this big, and what we built was almost identical to the little, plastic model. Every step of the way, whether it be the size of the tires, the color of the black-- I didn't even know there were so many shades of black. The Batmobile was like four different shades. To me, they look black, but he sees some difference in them. He's very meticulous in every single vehicle, gadget, costume... He's very, very intimate with that."

Dressing Bane and Catwoman

Costume designer Lindy Hemming on Catwoman's costume: "It's very, very simple. And she's the kind of female version of Batman in a way. She's someone who's produced a suit which has a technology of its own which is in the fabric. She has her own functional items which she needs. She has a custom-made belt with tiny -- everything to do with burglary, looking at jewelry. She has a belt which is full of those things all miniaturized for that. The tech in the fabric is our own creative tech. It's not a special fabric. We made it ourselves by screen printing the under-layer and putting a very thin, silky over layer on. We wanted to keep her very, very light, very creeping-about. Not robotic or anything like that. And we didn't want it to be rubbery or shiny like the previous Michele Pfeiffer suit. We didn't want it to have any implication of being a bondage or sex kind of suit. It was to be something functional but you wear when you're trying to creep about in the dark, not be visible."

Hemming on making Catwoman's "ears" work: "Christopher Nolan and I were trying to work out how we were going to keep it modern and trendy and cool. ... We said, 'What is forming these ears? What's the logic to have the ears?' And the logic you will see behind the ears is that when the  goggles go up, the shape of the goggles makes the ears. And we think it's really cool. We went through so many incarnations of how to make it happen. I don't know how many of you have seen jewelers, when they've got the jeweler loupe. Or when you go to the dentist -- that was my inspiration -- and they're looking at you, and they've got the thing that looks into your mouth. They've got magnification and everything. Both of us looking at different versions of that, and then we employed the sunglasses. ... We started making our version of night-vision goggles-- or magnification goggles when she's doing her cat burgling. We made it so that when it goes up, it falls into ears."

Hemming on Bane: "When you look at the comic version of Bane, he's this massive man. He wearing a wrestling suit, and it's a bit difficult to imagine how you could translate that into a Chris Nolan film because everyone is meant to have a real background and come from real story. So with Bane you can see him with his mercenary men and you can know in the story where he's come from and why he is like he is. Following that route, he's much more armored with a nod toward the straps of the wrestling suit he started with. He's got an injury which is why in the comic he has to have the venom. In our story, it's slightly different, but it's the same kind of idea. Using all those things, and using the fact that he doesn't come form the same technology as Batman -- he doesn't have Fox making all these things for him -- his stuff has been made on-the-move, over the mountains of the world, maybe in training camps. He's the guy who's had his stuff made by different people along the way. So there is a sort of slightly clunky element to him, and that's part of his story. But at the same time, the way he's directed in the film, is the menace within him because he's a wrestler. And he's also an older character. He's not a young kid. He's an older man who, as you'll see in the film, you'll know he's been around for a long time. The reason he looks like he looks is he's much more a warrior, mercenary kind of man."

On Bane's mask: "We wanted it to be like an animal. I wanted it to have an animalistic feeling, and I looked at things like silverback gorillas and snarling teeth, fangs coming up and fangs coming down. You're getting sort of what it is. ... We all decided early on that if you have a film where two people are wearing a mask -- we didn't want when they're fighting together, Batman and him, to look the same. And Bane's mask in the comic is this sort of black, wrestling mask thing, and you can't see any of his face. So my first thing was animals, and my second thing with Chris-- and it was his idea really-- is how on Earth can we make this man not look the same as the other man when they're fighting? So just between working, drawing, looking at reference pictures of animals and everything, we came up with the idea that the [mask is partially covering his face] so the mask is functioning. The painkillers are being fed down into here, and it could be that his face is damaged. We don't know. And I think we didn't mind about the fact that it would limit his vocal abilities because it's a film, and we can put that in or do whatever we want with that afterwards. But it seemed to make him more menacing [for] this bit to be hidden."

A Chat With Mayor Garcia

Actor Nestor Carbonell on the mayor's stance in TDKR: "The mayor definitely feels that he is not for a vigilante coming in here and solving crime this way. It's just not the way that he envisions things. I think that there is an ego element to him. This is a man who wants to restore law and order. This is a man who is very much for putting out legislation where he has the freedom to really go after criminals, to really pursue them in a hard way. You know, I'm not saying he's going to violate civil liberties, but this is a man who is very much tough on crime and takes it upon himself to take on criminals headfirst. And no, he does not appreciate someone like The Batman to come in here and solve problems. ... With a man like this, from his point of view, he's absolutely against corruption, and if he's done anything within his teneur as mayor, it's to fight the mob head-on. Now, we have these lunatics running around doing their own thing, and they're essentially terrorists. That's a different thing altogether, but in terms of handling organized crime, this is a man who's dead set against that existing. He makes it part of his campaign."

Batman and Bane Work (and Fight) Well Together

Stunt coordinator Tom Struthers on working with Christian Bale and Tom Hardy: "Christian is very, very disciplined. Christian is one of these people where you can show him something once or twice, walk him through it, and after two or three days, a major fight sequence which has maybe 200 different moves in it-- a very, very long fight when we're filming one-- he picks it up very, very well. So does Tom I must say. Both are very easy to work with. They both pick up choreography, of the fighting, of the style. And then Chris will insert the drama that he wants and the moods and feels and the flow of it. ... They have a good chemistry because they're both physical actors, and they're both physical people that both get out and do stuff. It just makes a big difference when we're putting it on the screen because that bit flows, and then they can concentrate on the drama that they need to give to the director. And they're easy people to work with."

Maintaining Secrecy in the Age of iPhones and Twitter

TDKR co-producer Jordan Goldberg: "It's amazing how much it's changed since we shot The Dark Knight. With The Dark Knight, it was usually about a day before things got on the Internet. Now it's like within two minutes it's on the Internet. I think it's fun because on one hand, it's a love/hate thing because people are really that enthusiastic about the project that they want to be the first person to post something out there, which is cool. And ultimately, the comments I've seen so far have been very positive. But you're very wary about it sometimes because you don't want to ruin the surprise. When people are filming you filming a movie, you don't want to ruin the illusion of the film. All these movies, they're kind of like magic tricks. You don't want to have people see behind the scenes because we want [to conceal] tricks."

The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20.

Source : ign[dot]com

Counter-Strike, Expendables 2 Lead PSN Play Line-Up

Just like last year, Sony has answered Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion with PlayStation Network Play, a summer program that offers big downloadable games with special bonuses.

This year, Sony is offering four games at $14.99 each ($11.99 for PlayStation Plus members) plus the opportunity for cash back via PSN vouchers depending on how many titles you buy. Purchasing two games gets you $3 back, three gets you $6 back and all four gets you $10 back.

This year, the line-up includes:

The Expendables 2 Video Game

On July 31st, The Expendables 2 will be available nearly three weeks ahead of its Xbox Live release on August 17th. The game is a co-op shooter that offers four-player support and challenge modes.

Sound Shapes

On August 7th, Sound Shapes will be available exclusively for PSN (and buying it on PS3 gets you a free copy of the Vita version as well). Sound Shapes is an awesome platformer that creates music while you play -- read about it here.

Papo & Yo

On August 14th, Papo & Yo (another PSN exclusive) will be available, telling the story of a young boy preventing his friend Monster from eating poisonous frogs (based on the creator’s father’s struggle with alcoholism). Papo & Yo is touching and emotional -- read about it here.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

On August 21st, the promotion will close with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. CS:GO is an objective-based first-person shooter that updates the gameplay of the original Counter-Strike. The game introduces new modes and lets up to 10 players play online, and features Move support on PS3.

Keep an eye out for reviews of each game as they arrive on PSN in the coming months.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

EA Sports: Gamers Wanted Digital-Only Euro 2012

EA Sport's executive vice president has claimed that gamers wanted the Euro 2012 game to be made available as a DLC addon rather than a boxed release.

According to MCV, Andrew Wilson said the company delivered the title this way due to popular demand, and would consider doing the same for 2014's World Cup tie-in.

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We’re going to listen and we’re going to do our best to deliver what is asked for by gamers.

"Gamers in all honesty asked for it to be delivered that way, and what you’ve seen from us over the last 18 months, is that we are listening to gamers more now ever before," he explained.

"When you asked ‘will all tournaments go this way?’, we will do things based on gamer demand. And you know with 25m people engaged playing 10m games a day with us, and with nearly 20m Facebook fans involved in a daily conversation about what we do and how we do it, not to mention the many millions of people in our forums.

"We’re going to listen and we’re going to do our best to deliver what is asked for by gamers."

UEFA Euro 2012 launched as a downloadable expansion pack for FIFA 12 in April to a review from us that centred on this very issue; whilst the pricing of DLC may be cheaper than that of a new boxed release, the absence of significant changes to gameplay made it hard to justify the premium price tag.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant.  You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

PEGI Ratings Official on July 30th

The new PEGI age ratings system for video games goes live in the UK on July 30th.

Video games are currently monitored by two different regulatory bodies, with the BBFC doubling up on titles that contain mature content. But at the end of this month, PEGI will take full control of video game censorship in the UK.

Also for the very first time, PEGI ratings will be legally enforceable. This means disreputable retailers who sell games to minors will now face prosecution.

“We welcome the news from government that July 30th is now looking the likely date for the implementation of PEGI as the single age rating system for video games in the UK,” said UKIE CEO Jo Twist.

“To prepare for the transition to the new system, we’ve already held PEGI briefing sessions to make sure that the industry is clear about what these changes will mean for them.

“We very much believe that the sole adoption of PEGI will provide clear and consistent direction on age ratings for parents and will be a vital tool in helping them to understand the types of games that their children should be playing.”

Daniel is IGN's UK Games Writer. You can be part of the world's worst cult by following him on IGN and Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Comic-Con: Explosive New Expendables 2 Poster

Lionsgate has released an Expendables 2 retro poster for Comic-Con this week, featuring Stallone, Statham and the rest of the gang firing guns and blowing sh*t up in over-the-top '80s fashion.

The bulk of the cast will be appearing at the convention itself, with one of the yet-to-be-announced stars being welcomed into the IGN Action Hero Hall of Fame.

The Expendables 2 hits screens globally throughout August, with the synopsis as follows:

The Expendables are back and this time it's personal... Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) -- with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Nan Yu) aboard -- are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time -- six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that's nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way....

Chris Tilly is the Entertainment Editor for IGN and his favourite expendable is Dolph. You can spend some time in the United States of Tilly by visiting his Twitter and MyIGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Trent Reznor Writing Black Ops 2 Theme Song

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has composed the theme song for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

In an interview with USA Today, the game's signature tune is described as veering "towards guitar, bass, drum rock band aggression".

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It didn't make sense to have a gung ho, patriotic feeling theme song. It has to feel weighty. There is a lot of remorse and apprehension here.

An avid gamer, Reznor has previously worked on both Quake and Doom 3, as well as the recent Girl with the Dragon Tattoo film. When asked about how he became involved with the project, Reznor explained, "I have always looked to that franchise as the cutting edge of what seemingly unlimited budgets and full-on not cutting any corners can do in the current day and age.

"What I learned in listening to the full story and the amount of effort that has gone into the back story and the characters and the full preparation there is a lot of reservation and angst and sense of loss and regret and anger bubbling under the surface. So it didn't make sense to have a gung ho, patriotic feeling theme song. It has to feel weighty. There is a lot of remorse and apprehension here."

He concluded by explaining that his choice of instruments was heavily influenced by the setting of the game, saying if it had been set during World War II then he may not have been so quick to move away from an orchestral sound.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is due out November 13 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC with a Wii U version also said to be in development.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant.  You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Angry Birds Trilogy Coming to PS3, 360 and 3DS

Back at E3, Activision teased us with the fact that Angry Birds was coming to consoles. Now, we know it's the Angry Birds Trilogy, and it's "built from the ground up" for HDTVs, according to Rovio's Executive Vice President of Games Petri Järvilehto.

"You can think of the game as the ultimate collector’s edition," he said. "There are new cinematics, extras and other entertaining content. In addition all of the existing material has been uprezzed and re-treated for the high-resolution and big screen."

Angry Birds Trilogy bundles the original Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio on one disc or 3DS cartridge. Järvilehto wasn't ready to say if players would get access to the free level packs iOS and Android players received, but he did say that there would now be individual leaderboards for each level.

"The backgrounds have been animated, we've added lighting modes, reactive backgrounds, the list goes on and on," Järvilehto said. "We believe that there are a lot of people on the consoles who appreciate a great casual game play experience. This is a game that resonates across a wide audience on many platforms."

The HD!

Angry Birds Trilogy will support Microsoft Kinect, PlayStation Move and StreetPass on the 3DS. Järvilehto is happy to be bringing the birds to a brand new market this holiday.

"There have been so many fans asking to be able to play the game on their home console with their friends and family, and so far we haven't been able to offer anything to them," he said. "Now we're finally able to have a great high quality experience on those platforms."

Greg is the executive editor of IGN PlayStation, cohost of Podcast Beyond and host of Up at Noon. Follow IGN on Twitter, and keep track of Greg's shenanigans on IGN and Twitter. Beyond!

Source : ign[dot]com