Thursday 28 February 2013

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag What It Needs To Do


The next chapter in the video game behemoth that is Assassin’s Creed has been announced officially. The map has been leaked and we almost certainly know that the game is centered around pirates… in the Caribbean. There is no concrete details on the mechanics or features of the game until at least the 4th of March. We try to speculate what Ubisoft could bring to freshen the franchise.
The first thing that is needed is a return to a likable character who we can empathise with. Assassin’s Creed 3 replaced our beloved Ezio (who had his story stretched farther than needs be) with Connor, a half English, half native American. The character was no where close to the level of character development that was seen in the previous games. Ezio was instantly a hit with me personally and with others as well I am sure. The new game needs a humorous, swashbuckling character to lead the pirate charge. Give him a set background, let us see him in short bursts growing up and let us see what drives him (we watched the death of Ezio’s family). Make him a great Assassin but do not make us watch a cold-blooded killer for hours on end.
How charming!
What to do with the ships, eh? The vessels that will presumably carry our new protagonist from point A to point B need to be more than a filler. Yes have battles similar to the naval battles of Assassin’s Creed 3 but don’t add in unnecessary battles from nowhere to waste time in between a mission. In addition, let us customize the boats. If they are being used to travel all the time, let us customize weaponry on the ship and be our own interior designers with the captain’s quarters. Let us name them ourselves! I can see the ships with unique names like the ones I see for gamertags… The “FuzzyPanda” or The “GangstaLife271″ would make for endless fun. The feature would be legendary. Lastly for the sea vessels, allow upgrades for speed and maneuverability. Let us grow to be our own Flying Dutchman, with immense power by the end. If these are not implemented, at least let us swing over to enemy pirate ships and commandeer them to gain leverage over faster or more powerful enemies than ourselves.
“I’m on a boat mother******!”
Allow us to choose our crew.  This feature could be a genius addition to the game. Akin to Mass Effect, why not choose your crew from people you meet in different towns based on their different skills and abilities to cherry pick the most terrifying Assassin Crew ever?Characters who increase speed on the ships by being faster at tasks, men and women who have pin point accuracy with weapons to help you distract guards and kill targets or how about each island has their own special skill and you have to build the crew as each area becomes available? The possibilities are endless.
Make crew selection similar to Mass Effect
A tonne of land-based missions are a must. The map shows Cuba to be central to the locations available to us and while the game is supposed to be pirate-based, this iteration must not stray far from the series’ roots. Chasing enemies over building and through bustling cities is what brings me back to the franchise. Captaining a pirate ship, bringing it up along side another ship, jumping across and chasing enemies mere meters away will not interest people for very long. We need the thrill of the chase, the fear in the target’s eyes and the possibility that we may fail.
Lots of areas like this please.
Have a mission taking on a giant whale. There is an image of a large whale on the map for the game. Why not utilize this? Call it Moby Dick if you must but make it happen. There will be a lot of time for mindless killing of same old humans, change the pace up a bit. Make us change our weaponry to harpoon guns and strategically take down the beast. But please…please do not put glowing areas for us to hit on it or obvious weak spots for us. Many gamers are clever people and can figure out a difficult boss battle. Give us a challenge.
This.
There has to be a cameo or a reference to Pirates Of The Caribbean. Ubisoft are making a game about pirates… In the Caribbean. There is no way the film cannot be referenced in this context. Put a drunken man constantly claiming he is a captain or include a mission where you must maroon a man on a small island swarming with sea turtles and a rum store. Things like this would harken back to and surpass the tongue in cheek “It’s a me! Mario” moment in Assassin’s Creed 2 along with the Metal Gear Solid Easter Egg in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood if it was handled appropriately.
Somebody like this!

Box Office Results: Die Hard Falls Hard


The weekend box office results are in and it does not look good for the newest Die Hard on its second weekend.
The crown of the number one spot has returned to the Jason Bateman starring film Identity Thief which earned just over $14 million.  The comedy was usurped as number one by A Good Day To Die Hard in a massive opening weekend but numbers have since dwindled for all in the charts bringing Identity Thief back to the forefront. Numbers for the comedy are expected to reach $100 million by Friday.
The new film starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Snitch, gained $13 million to place it at second for the past weekend. Despite this relatively low opening, Johnson has Fast & Furious 6 along with GI Joe: Retaliation on the horizon so maybe his numbers can be pulled up by these well-established franchise.
The Bruce Willis franchise Die Hard’s newest iteration has seen a massive 60% drop in numbers falling to only $10 million for the weekend. The film, which opened promisingly but looks set to be the worst take for a Die Hard film in the franchise at $52 million for its entire run.
Silver Linings Playbook clawed its way back up into seventh with $5.7 million. The film had its female lead, Jennifer Lawrence, win an Academy Award this weekend so it isn’t too much of a stretch to see why it has climbed.
Rounding out the top ten are Safe Haven, the soppy romantic kind of film, dropping to fourth with just under $10.5 million, Warm Bodies and Beautiful Creatures dropped to eighth and ninth earning $4.8 million and $3.6 million respectively while Side Effects, the Jude Law and Rooney Mara starring thriller dropped to tenth with slightly under $2.25 million.
The weekend had not been a good weekend for all of the current films. However, a new month brings new releases to up the numbers with Jack the Giant Slayer and The Last Exorcism Part 2 highlighting next weekend.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Map Analysis


Yesterday, Kotaku released an image of a poster for Ubisoft’s next Assassin’s Creed game, Black Flag. This showed a new protagonist fighting with burly pirates. What is interesting however, is the other side of the leaked poster. It has a large map adorning the back featuring the details of the locale in AC4.
With the help of a little research and geography, we will try to pick out the details and some places where you can expect to be assassinating people in the upcoming game.
First off, the top left hand corner of the image sets the general area that will be available to us in the next game. The “Caribbean Islands” is the term used to generalize the map. The large names shown on the map are the capitals of each island, presumably major areas that will be visited. Havana is the central name which makes the large island slap bang in the middle Cuba. The smaller island south of Cuba is Jamaica, as seen by it being labelled by its capital, Kingston. Above Cuba, the collection of islands labelled Nassau will be the Bahamas, Nassau being the capital. The name Andreas links to one of the islands of Colombia, San AndrĂ©s. Other areas shown on the map are Florida and the Cayman Islands. The unnamed area to the east of Cuba is the country of Haiti but seeing as it is not labelled, don’t expect access to it. Maybe access could be granted in future DLC.
After researching “Castille de Jagua” (the name right in the middle of Cuba), what came up was a real-life fortress called “Castillo de Jagua”. This fortress was built to keep the pirates from landing in the town of Cienfuegos. However, this conflicts with the date shown on the map of 1715 as the fortress was not built until the 1740′s by Spanish king Phillip V. The Cayo Islands (located slightly north of the main island, Cuba) were used as a hideout for buccaneers in earlier colonial times, which could mean that it could be a safe point for the character or something treasure related. The name Matanzas can be seen and is a province of Cuba with the capital being Matanzas again. This city is apparently known for its poets and culture.
Map of Cuba and Surrounding Areas
Map of Cuba and Surrounding Areas
The pictures of objects next to some of the place names around the map are interesting. Examples of these are the Crab next to Kingston, the Seahorse next to Havana and the Anchor next to the Cuban town of Matanzas. What comes to mind when seeing these are the locations of the major ports. This could mean that, if you captain a boat in the game (which would seem likely to travel between islands), you could dock it at certain points around the map to search for targets, supplies and ammunition.
Another interesting point is the logo of the Assassins with a skull in it. Obviously a cross-over between pirate flags and the sign of the Assassins but looking across the map, they are spread across different playable areas. Example:
The map highlights these areas with details of their exact location. Note that the map says “Within a shipwreck on the beach,” referring to the sign in Florida. This hints at something to find. Seeing as it is treasure, it would not be a stretch to imagine it being Assassin treasure. Perhaps this signifies puzzle areas similar to the Assassin Tombs from AC2 or the secret locations to find William Kidd’s Treasure.
Lastly, the time period for the game is 1715, which sets the game 45 years before the start of AC3. As this game features a new protagonist, this would not put the game at odds with the third but sets the game up for a possible cameo from Connor?
An Assassin’s Creed event is scheduled tonight, so check back later for any information on a possible announcement for AC4.
Is there anything you have noticed? Let me know.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Is Official


Ubisoft have announced the next entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. This comes after leaks throughout the week detailing information about the game.
The news came today when the publisher released a statement saying: “We confirm that Ubisoft will announce all the details of Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag on Monday March 4th at 5pm GMT.”
Earlier today, box art of the game was leaked but Ubisoft officially released it along with their statement. The art shows the new protagonist (according to Examiner, he is called Edward Kenway, father of Haytham Kenway from Assassin’s Creed 3) standing over a dead body holding a gun and a sword. From the looks of things, he also has three other guns on his body, a bit excessive? Take a look:
The game was also confirmed as being in production for Xbox 360, Wii U, PC and PS3. The PS3 version will ship with “60 minutes of exclusive gameplay,” Ubisoft revealed. There is no word on production for next generation consoles. Will next-gen be left out of the new Assassin’s Creed till a larger audience have purchased the consoles?
This week the game was leaked by various sources showing the poster with art from the gameplus a map of the locations available in the game. This confirmed a pirate theme for the game and may have forced Ubi’s hand on a rushed reveal of the game.
In addition, VGLeaks has reported that 2 Assassin’s Creed games will be released this year. However the second will not be on consoles. The website says to “Bet for a Vita one in 2013.” A sequel to the initial Vita game Liberation? Both could be revealed on March the 4th at 5PM GMT/9AM PST/12 PM EST.
What do you think of the new setting that Assassin’s Creed has taken?

http://leviathyn.com/games/news/2013/02/28/assassins-creed-iv-black-flag-official/

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Assassin’s Of The Caribbean: AC4: Black Flags Leaked?


Ubisoft’s massive franchise, Assassin’s Creed, is certain to have a new installment this year and the game seems to have been leaked prior to any official announcement. Assassins are going plundering!
The news broke at Kotaku who had been sent a photograph by a mysterious “tipster” which shows a poster for the fourth game in the Assassin’s franchise. The poster shows a hooded man  holding a gun and a dagger towards some big, bearded pirates. Underneath were the words Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. According to the source, the posters will be put into stores on the 4th of March 2013.
Shortly afterwards on Examiner, a supposed screenshot of the protagonist taken from the game itself was posted along with information from the game. “The main character’s name is Edward Kenway, father of Haytham Kenway from Assassin’s Creed 3. Edward is known as a Privateer, Assassin and… pirate” said the website. They added that the game’s location is set in the Caribbean on various islands including Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas. This was followed by the website stating that “The current game is running on the Xbox 360, but has plans for next generation console’s as well.”
Previously, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot had confirmed a new game this year. He also confirmed a new setting for the game along with a new protagonist. If these rumors are true, it would fit in with this announcement along with putting down the rumors of the name “Assassin’s Creed: Golden Age”.
Ubisoft have a scheduled an Assassin’s Creed announcement event for the 27th of February according to MCV’s twitter posting a week ago. This will probably be where we find out what is next for the franchise and whether these leaks are valid.
If true, could this be a launch game for the next generation consoles? Leave your thoughts below.

http://leviathyn.com/games/news/2013/02/26/assassins-of-the-caribbean-ac4-black-flags-leaked/

Sunday 24 February 2013

Movie News Round-Up: Knights Of The Old Republic, Deus Ex and Fantastic 4


This week, lots of movie news has rolled in and we thought we would put it together in one place for you to browse over with ease.
Kevin Feige, Marvel President of Production, had a talk with Variety in which he talked about the superhero genre of films as well as specifically mentioning Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He said “If [the superhero film] is a fad, it’s one that lasts 30 to 40 years, as the Western did, because each one is so different.” He added “There’s an opportunity to graft almost sub-genres onto them. Our first Captain America film was a World War II picture, and the next is a political thriller. They all have their own textures and patinas, and that’s what is exciting about it.”
This suggests that the film will take a much different tone and theme than the first film. As you probably know, The Winter Soldier is one of Captain America’s major story arcs and it will be interesting to see how this story translates to a blockbuster film.
The Winter Soldier is releasing 4th of April 2014.
Deus Ex is the latest video game series to be turned into a film. The film, currently in production, is directed and co-written by Scott Derrickson and co-written by C. Robert Cargill (both of these guys wrote and directed 2012′s Sinister). Talking to Crave Online, the pair talked extensively about the new film. After being asked which game they will be focusing their story on, Cargill replied “Human Revolution”. In addition, they singled out their inspiration for the cyberpunk genre as District 9, Inception and Looper. They explained “Alien and Blade Runner, together, really changed everything. Smoke and rain and fog and darkness… it’s noir. And Looper and [District 9] went ahead and just got rid of that idea, and said let’s take a different aesthetic… it was “Let’s do make it very realistic, and let’s start where some of these movies end, and let’s have different kinds of problems.” The result was everybody loves them.”
It was also mentioned that they do not want to follow the game too closely, to create a new cyberpunk film: “What they want to see is, they want to see elements of the game that they love, but they want to see things that they hadn’t quite seen in the game, that the game didn’t allow them to see.” I disagree and would like a film to follow the games, to see how another person has interpreted the aspects of the same story. What do you think?
This week, on Twitter, Mark Millar announced that Matthew Vaughn has joined the reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise. The director of such films as X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass will join the project as a producer.

Just off the phone with Fox and some excellent news – Matthew Vaughn is producing Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot!
@mrmarkmillar
Mark Millar
The film, directed by Chronicle’s Josh Trank and is scheduled for a 2015 release date.
Rumors have been swirling recently that one of the proposed Star Wars spin-off films is none other than Knights of The Old Republic, one of the most popular Star Wars video games of all time. This caused a stir with fanboys, but the hopes of seeing the film version of the celebrated PC game have been dashed by Drew Karpyshyn, the former BioWare writer who created the stories for both the Knights of The Old Republic and The Old Republic games. He responded to the story on Ain’t It Cool, who updated the story with his response. It said “he has heard nothing about a KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC movie. Of course even if he was working on it, he couldn’t say so – but I’m going to say this looks like a rumor that we can put to rest for now.”
In hilarious news, everyone’s favorite actress Megan Fox has been cast by everyone’s favorite director, Michael Bay. The man responsible for the Transformers film franchise posted on hispersonal blog “TMNT: we are bringing Megan Fox back into the family!” Expect slow motion running with large explosions in the background… probably destroying another major landmark in the process. Check out Leviathyn’s How to Make a Proper Ninja Turtles Movie!


http://leviathyn.com/entertainment/movies/2013/02/24/movie-news-round-up-captain-america-deus-ex-and-fantastic-4/

Next Generation Will Be Decided By Core Gamers


The announcement of the PlayStation 4 was a success for one reason: It focused on the gamer. This is in stark contrast to the announcements of games over the last few years with manufacturers training their sights on the casual market and seeing the chance to lap up the potential in it. Nintendo’s Wii succeeded here from the off, making it the top seller for a long time. But using similar strategies will not be the work with the upcoming generation.
This generation was characterized by a new breed of gamer, as people ranging from infants to the elderly began to enjoy gaming. This revolution was brought about by the Nintendo Wii. The simple controller and user interface coupled with the offering of simple, entertaining games such as Mario and the never-ending Brain Training series prompted people around the world to buy the console. The interest was not in the specifications that Microsoft and Sony were throwing at them, but in the pure fun and simplicity of games. Thus, the Wii thrived for many years. Sony released the PlayStation Move while Microsoft released the Kinect in an attempt to court the masses to both simple games and the more serious versions. The PlayStation Move featured improved but still incredibly similar controllers coupled with games for all ages. The Kinect featured an innovating camera that followed your body’s movement on the screen which allowed for a new, fun experience similar to the effect the Wii had upon release.  The manufacturers strained to find different experiences for the motion tech, releasing games such as Eye Pet and Kinect Star Wars. The motion phenomenon dominated this generation, creating some disappointment at events such as E3 where we expected hints at next generation and all we got were bloated motion control demos (looking at you again WonderBook).
Sony had launched the PlayStation with a built-in Blu-Ray player, a drive that plays high-definition films. This caused a large amount of interest once Blu-Ray became a major player in the physical media space, as consumers could own a box that played video games and HD films and (most of the time) for a cheaper price than dedicated Blu-Ray players. Realizing the potential in the non-gamer market, Microsoft and Sony both diversified in to try to dominate consumer’s living rooms. Deals with BBC for the iPlayer along with other services like Netflix, ESPN and others created a media hub that diminished the use of set-top boxes. Following this came the movie and television stores on both of the manufacturer’s consoles. All of the distractions from the core gamer compounded.
There has already been a shift however, with Sony using the whole of the PlayStation Meeting to show new, high-quality games or the tools that can provide those games. They provided great specifications and tech demos to wow the people who really care, the core gamers. Even the Media Molecule demonstration opened up the possibilities for creation of deep games using motion controls. There was no mention of deals with television and film companies to distract from the games. This is, I think, because Sony have realized there is no big push for next generation from the non-gamers or casual market.
Think about it for a second. First of all, non-gamers already have their Blu-ray player that they can continue to use, as there is no new physical disk technology to upgrade to. Added to this, there is nothing preventing them from continually using the console as a cheap Blu-Ray device for years to come, until streaming and downloading becomes the main way of enjoying films. Secondly, both the Kinect and the PlayStation Move already work with the current generation consoles and, no matter what next generation brings with it, there is no significant reason for someone who does not care about how many fingers a motion camera can track or how well a virtual personal trainer is rendered to be excited for. Why would someone shell out hundreds of dollars for the features they already have?
This means that the only market for the next generation to cater to, at least initially, is the core or “hardcore” gamers. The people who enjoyed listening to the specs available for the new console from Sony while eagerly awaiting the next Xbox. The people excited for new IPs and creative ideas and not the gamers who believe buying Call of Duty and Gears of War makes you “hardcore”. Look at the Nintendo Wii U, people already have a Wii or a HD console with motion controller with no obvious reason to upgrade. The more core games such as Assassin’s Creed and ZombiU flooded the Wii U in comparison to the casual titles showed an attempt by Nintendo to appeal to the gamers that are constantly excited by new consoles.
Whether they liked the conference for PS4 or not, all core console gamers were excited for the concept of a next generation console. The console manufacturers will continue to support the things such as television and film but, with motion especially, they will try to tailor it to a more serious experience (the first step to this was integrating Move into the Dualshock 4).
Sony seem to have realized that gamers should be the focus. Let us hope Microsoft can do the same.

http://leviathyn.com/games/opinion/2013/02/22/next-generation-will-be-decided-by-core-gamers/

Thursday 21 February 2013

Is There A Limit To PlayStation 4? Sony Destroys The Shackles Of Developer’s Imagination


Sony made a big deal today about how they asked developers what they wanted and they had a few of them on stage to show their support. Have Sony given back the reigns to the game makers and let them roam free?
During the PlayStation Meeting, Sony ran a reel of various developers talking about the freedom the PlayStation 4 gives them. For the last year or so, developers from around the world have complained of restrictions created by slow, outdated consoles with old graphics and tiny RAM. Sony responded with a question, asking developers directly: What would be your ideal tools? Out of these talks came a console with 8GB GDDR5 RAM and a “supercharged PC architecture” for easy development.
Immediately after these specifications were talked about, Sony ushered first party developers up to the stage to talk about their new games. What caught my eye was the excitement that Evolution Studios Head Matt Southern showed at the reveal of Drive Club. He stated that the game had been in the back of their minds for about “10 years” with the studio having the copyright to the name for 9 of those years. The way he proudly talked about the detail that they had put into each car, down to the rainbow effect that is created from waxing headlights, was amazing. He was giddy to be able to showcase the game as he said that Evolution has had to wait for technology to catch up with their ideas, and this points out that Sony has made developer’s dreams come true with their new console.
The question of whether developers are limited by the PS4 is answered by the amount of unreleased new IPs that were shown at the PlayStation Meeting.  The Witness, Knack, the previously mentioned Drive Club, Watch Dogs, Destiny and Deep Down were all officially announced with others being shown as initial tech demos. These are all powered by a wave of optimism that a new console brings with it.
Apart from IPs, look at inFamous: Second Sons. Despite being an inFamous game, the story follows a different, more Orwellian view of the society than that of the previous two games. This change in setting has been made possible because Sony has given the developers tools to dream bigger and better than before, taking their games in any direction regardless of the restrictions they had on their previous games on PlayStation 3.

Talking about this topic brings to mind something that Michel Ancel said about one of my favorite games, Beyond Good & Evil. He talked about the transition to PS2, where the developers had thought that they could achieve anything with the new technology. He believed that they would be able to create a whole universe to explore and, as we know, the game turned out to have much less scope than planned due to the limitations of the time. But what if the PlayStation 4 is truly open? Developers could create magical worlds out of their minds for us to explore to the full extent that they had dreamed them.
Sony may, unintentionally or not, have brought in a new age of creativity for gaming by letting developers roam free.

http://leviathyn.com/games/opinion/2013/02/20/sony-have-captured-developers-imaginations-is-there-a-limit-to-it/

Wednesday 20 February 2013

PS4 Build Up: Gaikai Registers PS-Cloud.com


Gaikai has registered the domains for multiple websites referencing a PlayStation Cloud service just one day before the expected announcement of the PlayStation 4, Sony’s next generation home console.
The websites PS-cloud.comPS-cloud.net and PS-cloud.org among others were registered to Gaikai employees on the 15th of February 2013 but the domains have so far gone unnoticed. These give weight to the recent rumors that the PlayStation 4 will utilize Gaikai streaming for PlayStation 3 games.
Gaikai is a company that allows users to stream and play PC and console games through an internet connected device. Sony bought the games streaming company in July of last year for a sum of $380 million. There has been no hint of what they have worked on since they were purchased by the PlayStation manufacturer but there have been many rumors of a PlayStation cloud service ever since they were bought. In 2009 however, Sony registered the name PS Cloud for use with a large list of different things (Thanks Siliconera).
Obviously Sony has been building up to a service for streaming games for a while now and acquiring the streaming company could have just been the next piece of their grand puzzle. Next? Integrate cloud gaming for PS Plus subscribers with a PlayStation 4 and give access to not only PS4 games, but PS3, PS2 and PS games!
Rumors have been swirling leading up to the “PlayStation Meeting”. Reports and supposed leaks have been surrounding the industry for weeks regarding features and hardware for the PlayStation 4. An early prototype of the controller had been leaked last week showing a touch pad, Move capabilities and upgraded design. The hardware specifications have  been known for some time, showing off its potential power.
Sony have got the “PlayStation Meeting” scheduled 20th of February (or TOMORROW!). This is reportedly being used by Sony to announce their next generation console. If recent reports are correct and the PlayStation 4 uses video game streaming, expect PS Cloud to be the official name for the service. Check back tomorrow as Leviathyn will be covering every announcement that Sony releases and we will comb the meeting for anything and everything related to the next generation.

http://leviathyn.com/games/news/2013/02/19/ps4-build-up-gaikai-registers-ps-cloud-com/

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Box Office Results: A Good Day To Die Hard Top Of The Pile


Yippee Kay Yay! The US Box Office results from the President’s day weekend have been released and the newest Die Hard film took the number one spot.
A Good Day To Die Hard took $29.3 million to top the charts in its five-day opening weekend despite having generally negative reviews (see it’s Metacritic score of just 28/100). This took the overall gross for the film since the opening to over $37.5 million… Not bad Mr. McClane but not as good as the opening five days of Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth entry in Bruce Willis’ action franchise, which made $48.4 million. Interestingly, the latest Die Hard film made more this weekend than the opening weekends of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newest film, The Last Stand, and Sylvester Stallone’s Bullet to the Head combined. Is Bruce Willis become the king of the aging action heroes?
Check out Leviathyn’s review of A Good Day To Die Hard here.
(Bruce likes the sound of money hitting his pocket)
Comedy film Identity Thief came a close second earning just over $27.8. The Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy film has now earned over $70 million in a total of 10 days. In third came the new romantic film starring Transformers’ own military bad ass Josh Duhamel, Safe Haven. The film took in $25 million in its first weekend in cinemas just missing out on the number two spot.
Rounding out the top ten for the weekend are the supernatural romance film Warm Bodies and Beautiful Creatures earning $10.25 million and $8.9 million respectively. Seeing as Beautiful Creatures only opened this weekend and at sixth place, it is not looking good for Twilight-esque film. Silver Linings Playbook, the Academy Award nominated film starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, kept its place in the top ten at number eight earning $7.6 million bringing its total to just above $100 million. Both Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and Zero Dark Thirty came ninth and tenth, each earning below $4 million.
So Bruce Willis graces the top of the charts but with such films as Dwayne Johnson’s action film Snitch and new horror film Dark Skies releasing in the coming week, will he hold on to the top spot or will he drop down the pile like Hans Gruber off the Nakatomi plaza? Check back next week.

http://leviathyn.com/entertainment/movies/2013/02/19/box-office-a-good-day-to-diehard-mops-up/

Monday 18 February 2013

PS4 Reveal: What Could Make It Work (And What Could Ruin It)


We are only days a matter of days away from the announcement of the next generation of consoles. The announcement on Wednesday will decide the path that games follow over the next decade. Success for the meeting hangs on whether Sony can provide a compelling reason as to why we should buy the PlayStation 4. If this is not met, the hype surrounding the announcement will quickly fade and hand the advantage to Microsoft and the next Xbox. I want to explore what Sony must do right at the meeting and what the consequences are if they fail.
Sony should not talk about numbers – At E3, Sony begins by re-treading the sales of each console they have and how this shows their success. This is a waste of time at the PlayStation Meeting. Let’s say that Sony only have an hour to announce their next generation console, the time that they have booked must be used to show off some details of the console and not to tell us how the PlayStation brand has done over the last twenty years. Tease us, do not bore us.
(Interesting… Not)
Tease games – This is so that consumers are reassured that when they do eventually buy the product… No one wants a console with no launch games! Depending on launch dates, the console could release with games that are already announced: Watch Dogs, Destiny and Star Wars 1313 to name but a few. These would be major games to announce but don’t waste time with gameplay of new games, just  give us a set of logos (like with Agent). There need to be a show of graphical prowess to prove superiority over current gen consoles. Demos in the vein of the PS3 Killzone demo would show the crowds that next generation is truly here. Uncharted, a game that has pushed graphics over the last generation, would be an ideal demo (NOT a game).
(Like this)
There should not be more than a mention of Vita – The Vita has had a large portion of Sony’s conferences of late and it does not need any attention on Wednesday. The home console is the only focus and trying to push a Vita price cut or new games by using the PS4 hype will turn people away. The only mentions of the handheld that I will enjoy hearing is deep integration with PS4 along with Gaikai streaming between Vita, PS4 and mobile.
(None of this…)
Motion control can ruin the presentation – I know I have talked a lot about motion control recently, but the technology comes with many advantages and disadvantages. Sony has become obsessed with the Move, Wonderbook was their only flagship game for the Christmas period last year. Yes, the controller seems to have Move integrated into the controller but we know what it does at its base level. Any extra features for a Move 2 should be kept for E3 seeing as that is where all things motion have been focused on of late. This goes for the PS Eye as well.
                                                                                     (…or this)
Technical issues will certainly ruin the conference – The PS4 cannot afford issues with the controller or the console itself. Any hardware problems that arise on stage could potentially lose consumer interest in the product. After all of the problems with hardware this generation, people will be sensitive to hardware failure. Also, Sony can ill-afford a problem after all of the hype that they have built up and especially seeing as they are streaming the event to the world.
 (The damned Yellow Light of Death)

http://leviathyn.com/games-2/opinion/2013/02/18/ps4-reveal-what-could-make-it-work-and-what-could-ruin-it/

Next Call of Duty Map Pack Leaked: “Orientation”


Just as with the first Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 map pack, Revolution, a picture supposedly showing the next piece of DLC has been leaked on the internet.
Called “Orientation”, the poster shows another four multiplayer maps: Water, Southpaw, Mobile, Plane. In addition to one zombies map: Dead High. The DLC comes with another weapon according to the leaked image, but the name is not shown. Here is the image:
It is not known whether this is real or not and we probably will not know till Activision officially announces the pack.
The first map pack was released in January for Xbox 360 and will be released for PS3 and PC 28th of January.

http://leviathyn.com/games-2/news/2013/02/18/next-call-of-duty-map-pack-leaked-orientation/

Jason Momoa Cast in “Guardians of The Galaxy”


Yet another Game of Thrones actor has been cast in a major superhero film! Jason Momoa, best known for his role as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones, is set to join the cast of Guardians of The Galaxy to play the comic book character, Drax The Destroyer.
Coming from Latino Review’s sources, the actor’s screen test for the part prompted Marvel offer him the part there and then. Being Hollywood, the actor is in negotiations over a counter-offer!
Drax The Destroyer was a human whose family was murdered by Thanos (or for non-comic book nerds, the big purple guy at the end of Avengers!). His spirit is then placed inside a stronger body, creating Drax The Destroyer.
Guardians of The Galaxy is slated for a 1st of August 2014 release date and is being directed by James Gunn. The film also stars Chris Pratt as protagonist Star-Lord.
Is this a good casting choice or is it a misstep for the Marvel film?

http://leviathyn.com/entertainment/movies/2013/02/18/jason-momoa-to-play-drax-the-destroyer-in-guardians-of-the-galaxy/