Universal Pictures and Focus Features have hired the Oscar-winning team behind The Social Network to produce their screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, that best-selling erotic romance novel you can't avoid that started as Twilight fan-fic.
The studios announced Monday that Michael De Luca (whose credits also include Ghost Rider 1 and 2, Fright Night, and Moneyball) and Dana Brunetti (Fanboys, 21, Safe) have come aboard to produce the adaptation of the E. L. James lit trilogy, which follows the relationship of 27-year-old billionaire Christian Grey and college student Anastasia Steele.
“At its core, Fifty Shades of Grey is a complex love story, requiring a delicate and sophisticated hand to bring it to the big screen,” said Universal Pictures Co-Chairman, Donna Langley, in a statement. “Mike and Dana’s credits more than exemplify what we need in creative partners and we’re glad to have them as part of our team."
According to two separate reports from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad, with a screen between 7-8”. The tablet would directly compete with recently announced and expected tablets such as the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire 2. Apple currently holds 61.4% of the tablet market with the company’s 9.7” iPad models, according to Gartner.
Bloomberg expects this new iPad model to be announced in October, to release the following March (the same time Apple releases new iPads annually). This is telling, as Apple typically doesn't announce new products so far in advance of release.
Pricing is still unknown, but analysts expect this smaller iPad to rival competitors pricing, though it would likely be slightly more expensive than the competition. The reports also indicate that the display will have a significantly lower resolution than the Retina display on the iPad.
Some reports suggest the smaller iPad will contain a 16:9 widescreen display instead of the current 4:3 on the iPad, with a lower resolution of 720p. This configuration would make it a prime competitor against other 7” tablets, but require developers to completely re-work previous iPad apps.
These reports may still prove false. The 7-inch tablet business has seen few victors, besides Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which subsidizes the low price for exclusive content available through the company’s Amazon Prime service. The Nexus 7 will likely prove to be another hot seller.
This isn’t the first time such reports have surfaced, but it is the first time two very similar reports have been released simultaneously from two completely different sources. We will continue to report on this as more information becomes available.
What do you think about a 7” iPad? Would you buy one, or get one over the current iPad? Or is it all fake?
2012 definitely stands as the year of Marvel’s The Avengers, what with Joss Whedon’s big-screen take on the superhero squad cleaning up at the box office with $1.4 billion in ticket sales. And with the home release already dated for September 25, the fun looks to continue on for months to come. With that, Ubisoft has finally stepped forward with an Avengers licensed video game, Battle For Earth, which will be knocking heads later this year for Xbox 360 Kinect and Wii U. The company recently invited us to a behind-closed-doors demo to see how it works.
The concept is pretty similar to Power-Up Heroes, Ubi’s previously released superhero endeavor, but obviously tailor made with the Avengers in mind. Instead of tying in with events from the film, you’ll be following chapters from the Secret Invasion saga, which means you’ll not only be tangling with the Skrulls, but also super villains like Loki and Magneto. For that matter, additional characters will be included with the original Avengers team, such as Spider-Man and Wolverine. (Over 20 will be in the game in all.)
The game works like a one-on-one battle game, where you fight against a specific opponent until one of you falls. Think of it like a fighting game, but set up with an over-the-shoulder view – and with motion controls. With your chosen character, you’ll execute attacks by swinging your arms and feet around in the desired motion.
Movement of your character is handled simply by swaying left and right, or pushing forward if you feel like going in for an attack. You can swing your fists for basic attacks and also initiate an air launch move, leaving them vulnerable for a strike. But it’s when you introduce special moves into the fray that things really get interesting with Battle For Earth.
Here, you can raise your arm in the air using Thor to initiate a lightning charge, then point at your opponent to hit them with the required voltage. Or you can play as Hulk, slapping your hands together for a Thunder Clap and watching the sonic waves knock them around like crazy. (A ground smash is available as well, so don’t be concerned.) Ubisoft is fine-tuning each character so that their attacks feel natural to the player executing them, and so far, those controls look quite responsive, though there are times small executions aren’t properly received. It’s still in the works though.
On top of a single player campaign, Battle For Earth will also support two-player co-op, so you can battle with a friend in split-screen fashion, swinging away and using special techniques. The game will also be online compatible through Xbox Live, so you can battle others.
We noted that Battle For Earth was also headed for Wii U, and while Ubisoft didn’t specifically elaborate on the features for that version, it’s bound to use the touch-screen to some effect, and possibly even the device’s gyrosensors. Once we know more, we’ll let you know what unfolds…
For now, you can rest easy with The Avengers: Battle For Earth. This isn’t just some rushed Kinect effort that’s taking advantage of the super-hot film franchise, but rather a fighting game that lets you acts out your ultimate superhero desires with 20+ various characters. Who doesn’t want to perform a shield throw with Captain America or a plasma blast with Iron Man? We’re game for that.
With Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil: Retribution scheduled to hit theaters this September, Screen Gems and Sony Pictures has decided to go viral with their fifth RE installment by launching an official website for Umbrella Corporation.
In addition to frequent interruptions from Milla Jovovich's Alice, the site also promotes a mobile recruiting tour set to hit San Diego sometime in the near future (Comic-Con perhaps?). The tour claims to have already hit Cancun, Mexico in April. No further dates are listed, but Cannes, France and Barcelona, Spain are marked locations of the recently ended Cannes Film Festival and the upcoming CineEurope.
For more info, check out the official website. And if you find any signs of Umbrella Corporation in your area, be sure to let us know in the comments below. Resident Evil: Retribution will premiere in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D on September 14.
His latest big screen adaptation of a cult classic horror TV series isn't exactly doing great business at the box office, but that apparently isn't deterring Dark Shadows star Johnny Depp from moving ahead with his plans to produce and star in a feature film version of The Night Stalker.
The Hollywood Reporter says D.V. DeVincentis (High Fidelity, Gross Pointe Blank) has been hired to script The Night Stalker based, like Dark Shadows, on the 1970s Dan Curtis TV series.
Scott Pilgrim helmer Edgar Wright will direct The Night Stalker for Disney.
As Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 proved at the system's launch, the Vita can be a very capable home for fighting games. The system's gorgeous screen and impressive hardware make for a handheld that can stand up next to what the consoles have to offer. NetherRealm's Mortal Kombat reboot is the latest fighting game to get the Vita treatment, and luckily stands as a great port of last year's viciously violent fighter.
In terms of sheer content, Mortal Kombat on Vita offers a ton of features both new and old. The entire original game that released on consoles last year is here, complete with the full challenge tower and story mode. Additionally, all four DLC characters are now available from the get-go, along with God of War's Kratos, who was a special character in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. If that wasn't enough, the Vita version also adds in another bonus challenge tower accessible from the menu, with challenges that capitalize both on the DLC characters as well as the Vita's touchscreen and motion controls.
Mortal Kombat on Vita brings all of the brutal combat, huge character roster, and bloody fatalities from last year's game to the system. The fast and frantic pace and combo-based mechanics are a blast to play, and the brutal X-ray moves return from the console version. While the AI can be exceptionally cheap at times leading to some real moments of frustration, the game still plays very well. Last year's story mode also returns with no changes made, following Raiden and his band of Earthrealm warriors as they attempt to change the past by fighting through the events of the first three Mortal Kombat games. The story is pretty cheesy and is filled with some over the top voice work and writing, but is a pretty fun take that MK fans will dig.
Mortal Kombat's vicious X-Ray moves return in fine form.
Control is an area where previous fighters have faltered on handhelds, and where Mortal Kombat on Vita shines. The game controls extremely well, and once unwieldy fatalities have been given the touchscreen treatment and are much easier to pull off. Simple directional swipes replace d-pad presses and face buttons aren't required when using the touchscreen. If you'd like to still use the more traditional button-based control scheme for fatalities, you absolutely can.
Another great element added to the mix is a brand new challenge tower. The new tower is a completely separate group of original challenges, quite a few of which take advantage of what the Vita has to offer from a hardware perspective. Using the accelerometer and touchscreen, you'll be doing everything from juggling fighters in the air with missile fire and wiping away view obstructing blood from the screen to shaking the Vita to defuse bombs and stagger enemies.
The bonus challenge tower includes two new modes, as well – Test Your Slice and Test Your Balance. Test Your Slice is a Fruit Ninja-style mini-game that has you slashing across the touchscreen, dismembering body parts to rack up high scores, while the more difficult Test Your Balance mode requires you to tilt your Vita to balance your character and keep them from falling in a deadly pit, all while severed body parts are being thrown at you. Of the two, Test Your Slice was a lot more fun, but neither of them really seemed to add much outside of self-contained, gimmicky experiences.
The bonus challenge tower offers a ton of great new missions.
However, there are still plenty of challenges that play out more traditionally, featuring the game's four previously DLC-only characters for the first time in the challenge tower. The new tower will require you to use Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and Freddy Krueger quite often, on top of the aforementioned Vita hardware abilities.
Playing through the challenge tower is definitely addictive and extremely tough, but feels rewarding as you burn your way through it. As you complete the tower and you're your way through the game's other modes, you'll earn Koins that can be spent in the Krypt on new costumes, art, and other unlockables. You'll even get some new art and costumes from the DLC characters, which were previously unavailable in the original release. Overall, the new challenge tower is a blast, offering varied gameplay and some really fun, albeit very difficult moments littered throughout.
Some of the challenge tower missions can get pretty weird.
Graphically, Mortal Kombat on Vita runs at an impressively smooth 60 frames per second with very few bouts of slowdown. The original console experience ran at a similar clip, so being able to bring that and the smooth animations to a handheld format is a notable feat by the developers. However, there were a few consolations that happened in order to ensure the fast framerate, namely in the image quality of the character models. While the game looks great in motion, a closer look reveals that the characters look jagged, blocky, and not as detailed as their console counterparts. However, the grievance is a small one, and watching the game in motion is fantastic, as it successfully captures the fast pace and action of the original game.
The game supports both Wi-Fi and Ad-Hoc play. While there were a couple of performance hiccups in play sessions over Wi-Fi, Ad-Hoc worked swimmingly and both managed to maintain fluid framerates throughout.
