Mighty Morphing Power Rangers? How about… Miney Morphing Power Rangers? Hmmm, maybe not.
What’s got us so excited we’re throwing out puns this awful so early in the week? A new skin pack in Minecraft of course! The Power Rangers pack launches today on Console, Pocket and Windows 10 Edition. Go go, MINEY Morphing Power Rangers! (Hey, it’s catching on!)
You won’t just find the brightly-coloured buddies in the pack either. Every good superhero team needs an equally bad rogues gallery of cackling villains, so you’ll find skins for wrong un’s like Rita Repulsa, Bulk and Skull terrorizing the pack too. Initiate Megazord sequence!
“As a teen I remember getting out of school, grabbing a snack and settling into the cartoon line-up,” explains Mike Fielder, one of the artists who worked on the skin pack. “Part of that routine was watching Power Rangers. When I found out we would be working on a Minecraft version of some of the character line-up I was pretty excited and even more so when I found out Bulk and Skull would be included since they were my favourite characters. I had a blast creating Minecraft versions of these characters. I hope everyone who uses these skins has as much fun playing them as I did creating them.”
So next time your parents hassle you for watching too much TV after school, kindly remind them that Mike now gets to make skins in Minecraft for a living. Or respect your elders and just try some of these Power Rangers skins for free right now!
Woosh! Test your elytra skills in tomorrow’s free update
We’ve got a pretty swish update soaring onto consoles tomorrow, bringing with it a free, all new Mini Game. It’s called Glide and it’s designed to test your aeronautical skills to the very limit. Strap on a pair of elytra and hone your swooping skills on an exhilarating aerial track – the first in a series of free tracks to be released.
Beat the clock in the Time Attack mode, using thermal drafts and speed boosters to your advantage, or go for points in Score Attack by hitting all the hoops. Careful study may reveal sneaky shortcuts to refine your runs, so keep your eyes peeled! You can choose to beat your personal best in solo play, pit your wing-skills against other players online, or – on Xbox One and PS4 – take a swing at the all new Glide leaderboards. This update also boosts the number of PS4 and Xbox One players possible in both Glide and Battle up to 16, and all platforms get a more spacious lobby, too!
You can watch us livestream the game mode TODAY at 4pm BST (8am PDT). Check out our channels on Beam or Twitch.
I had a chat with 4J’s art director David Keningale and level lead Michael Hansen about the mode and launch track. How did it all come about?
“Putting the Elytra in for the Console Edition Christmas update was the big driving force,” says David. “The cogs were already turning while we were building the elytra tutorial level. That said, we assumed it would be a ring-based flight course, like PilotWings. It was only as we were building the tracks that we realised just how much fun Time Trial was – and that inspired us to add more shortcuts in order to make it even more fun.”
While the team explored a few different ideas for the launch track (some of which survive as forthcoming challenges) it was the track inspired by their Battle map, Cavern, which got the best reception in testing.
“We put Battle’s Cavern map into the track – it took less than three seconds to fly through! We quickly realised that Glide’s maps would have to be huge.”
“We wanted to create a track which was almost like a journey to finding the Cavern Battle map,” explains Michael. “The whole theme of the map is based on the architecture of that Battle map, so they linked together really nicely.”
“We actually thought, hey, this will save us some work!” says David. “But then we put Battle’s Cavern map into the track as a test. It took less than three seconds to fly through! We quickly realised that Glide’s maps would have to be huge.”
And so they are! The launch track is a giant descending spiral, that moves from open areas, to tight bore-holes, before opening up again, the path regularly split by columns and other highly face-plant-able hazards.
“You start off in the Overworld, in a great canyon,” says David. “From there we wanted to introduce familiar terrain with little elements from Cavern, just to sort of hint as to the region you’re in, and as you descend the architecture gets more elaborate and less ruined. It’s almost like an archaeologist’s journey. We started off the build by digging tunnels, and trying to get interesting flight paths, and then we looked at where we could open up the map more. There’s a large atrium with some really tall architecture that works really well from that aspect, creating a crossroads between lots of a little shortcuts and different routes.”
“The thermals give you that roller-coaster feeling. You’re flying down, and it’s getting frantic and tight and then all of a sudden you get this lift up.”
The use of thermals to give the player lift allows for an interesting variety in the terrain, rather than a continual angular plunge.
“The thermals basically give you that roller-coaster feeling, you know?” says David. “You’re flying down, and it’s getting frantic and tight and then all of a sudden you get this lift up and then you sort of pause and then you dive down again. It gives you both adrenaline boosts and little breaks in the downward trajectory, giving you a chance to look around a little and see what’s going on.”
You’ll need to keep an eye out for those shortcuts – some aren’t obvious at all, and may take a fair bit of practice to master.
“We put the map into test with the Microsoft Test Team,” recalls David, “and though the test team loved it straight away, we had some of the senior members at Microsoft complain that some of the shortcuts were actually impossible. So we sent over a video of how to do those shortcuts – that’s when the competition really ensued. We ended up leapfrogging each other with our best times!”
In the Score Attack mode, you get to choose between different routes marked by rings – the level of difficulty and point value indicated by their colour and decreasing size: green for easy, yellow for middling, blue for hard.
“These routes all overlap, so you can get scores by switching between routes,” says David. “But, if you want the challenge, you can also just go for the yellow or blue rings. They’re much harder to get. You’ve got to be much more skilled in order to get them all.”
Glide has pretty much taken over the Mojang office – if you’re anything like us, you’ll be quickly fixated on taking down your friends scores, eking out every precious second from the course. Look out for more tracks in the near future – some free, some as part of a Season Pass. You can get a glimpse of these at the end of the trailer.
“The first DLC pack going out will be themed around beasts,” says David. “We have a kraken-themed level which takes inspiration from Battle’s Cove map. You burst out into a huge open area with two battling ships and a giant, giant kraken that you fly right up and over. It’s a really great experience. Then we have an exciting glacial track that uses the Ice Spikes biome as inspiration. We have lots of yetis running through the map and giant fossils for you to avoid and to fly through. And the final one uses the Chinese Mythology pack – you’ll be flying alongside dragons and around the fantastic, epic terrain of China!”
Keep your eyes on the skies for free maps, too – like the forthcoming Temple-inspired track, which sweeps through jungle canyons, mines and archaeological dig-sites!
We hope you enjoy the new mode! Just don’t beat my score.
Yesterday, fans of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy were treated to some news — not only is a fifth book being written for the series, but the Hollywood adaptation of the book series is finally getting a continuation. The new book is untitled, and will be written by David Lagercrantz, the same man who penned the fourth book, The Girl In The Spider’s Web, after Larsson’s passing. The new movie, meanwhile, will be a sequel and reboot, based on the most recent novel, and passing over the events of the second and third books in the series. The film will be directed by Fede Álvarez, and is going to begin production this fall for an October 2018 release date.
As a reboot, rather than a direct sequel, there will be changes to the franchise, including a new cast — which the director has now confirmed, along with an explanation for his decision to re-cast. Álvarez tweeted about his reasons in response to a question from a fan, who tweeted “Awesome news! But I’m a little disappointed that Mara & Craig won’t be returning, what’s your reason?”. Álvarez’s response was simple:
The first adaptation of the series (in English), was The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, in 2009. It starred Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander, and Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist — the two key players in the series. An earlier Swedish adaptation of the trilogy saw Lisbeth played by Noomi Rapace and Blomkvist played by Michael Nyqvist. While Mara and Craig would still be potentially available to reprise their starring roles in a new movie, the confirmation of a re-cast puts the emphasis on rebooting the franchise, rather than creating a more direct sequel.
Fans have already started to speculate about who might pick up the titular role for the upcoming thriller, with both Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman rumored to be in the running. There is no news yet about who might be picking up the mantle of Blomkvist, although there is bound to be plenty of speculation on that front as well, at least until Sony makes some official casting announcements.
It’s exciting to see the Millenium series return to the big screen, especially as many wondered if it would ever happen. If the upcoming film makes its planned release date, there will have been almost 10 years between the first movie and its sequel — a huge gap, but one that the popularity of the series will no doubt overcome. It makes a lot of sense to make the sequel a reboot, as well, rather than attempting to pick up where the first left off, as this will give Álvarez a chance to put his own stamp on the series.
However, some will remain disappointed that the cast who made the original film so great will not be returning, especially as both Mara and Craig have expressed their willingness to return for a sequel in the past. Readers are also less than thrilled to hear that the film will skip two entire books to focus on the fourth installment, and it’s worth questioning how difficult it will be to include the salient plot details from those novels in addition to the plot of the fourth. For now, however, we’ll just be keeping an eye out for news of the new cast for The Girl In The Spider’s Web.
It has not escaped notice for many fans of the Arrowverse that a number of the actors cast in the various shows have a history with musicals. Colin Donnell, John Barrowman, Jesse L. Martin, Carlos Valdes, Victor Garber, Arthur Darvill, Ciara Renee, and Jeremy Jordan have all starred in Broadway musicals. Supergirl and The Flash actors Melissa Benoist and Grant Gustin both were on the musical show Glee, and Jeremy Jordan and Jesse L. Martin were also on a musical series, Smash – along with Broadway star Andy Mientus who has appeared on The Flash as The Pied Piper. It seemed like only a matter of time before a musical episode happened – and now the wait is almost over.
On the March 20th episode of Supergirl, ‘Star-Crossed’, the crossover will kick off, and then most of the story will be told in The Flash episode ‘Duet’. It also is technically a bit of a crossover with Legends of Tomorrow, with Victor Garber returning to The Flash to participate. As will John Barrowman, who signed one of several contracts which lets him move between all the Arrowverse shows though he has mostly been seen on Legends of Tomorrow.
DC All Access has now released a video from the set of ‘Duet’ where they talked to several of the participating actors and learned a few things about the musical. Possibly the most telling hint came from Darren Criss, who is playing the episode’s guest villain, the Music Meister. It’s quite the reunion for Criss – also a Broadway alum – who was on Glee with Benoist and Gustin and went to college with Valdes, and he revealed a bit of what his character is up to:
“So the Music Meister has plans for them, he’s kind of stringing all of the main character along. Particularly the couples, to maybe teach them a lesson? That’s what he says.”
Speaking of couples, Candice Patton spoke about how she will be involved, as the daughter of a gangster and not Iris. That fits in well with what was already revealed, the Music Meister traps Barry and Kara in a fantasy world where the people they know are there, but not as themselves. Since Martin is playing a gangster, it sounds like Patton is still his onscreen daughter in this fantasy, even if they are not specifically Joe and Iris West.
Gustin and Benoist also spoke a bit about the duet they are singing in ‘Duet’. While they did not use the song’s name, it has previously been announced that they are singing a song called “Superfriends” which is co-written by Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s Rachel Bloom. Gustin called it “a fun, comedy song” and mentioned that there was a lot of space within it to improvise.
With the sheer amount of singing and dancing talent in the cast, ‘Duet’ is poised to be an amazing treat for fans of Supergirl and The Flash.
Supergirl continues Monday, March 20 with ‘Star-Crossed’ at 8pm on The CW. The Flash Tuesday, March 14 with ‘Into the Speed Force’ at 8pm on The CW, with ‘Duet’ at the same time on March 21.
Thanks to Marvel’s unprecedented partnership with Netflix, the superhero studio has been able to mirror their cinematic success with serialized storytelling. Fans and critics held their breath when Daredevil debuted in 2014, and were pleasantly surprised when the show’s bareknuckle adaptation proved to be just what comic readers and TV viewers had been hoping for. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage raised the bar even higher, blending social commentary into the fantastical story to highlight issues like rape and police brutality, respectively. Even Daredevil dealt with issues like gentrification while providing a look at one of the few superheroes with a disability.
With the final Defender just on the horizon, Iron Fist has always seemed like the riskiest bet. Not only are his mystical origins a far-cry from the street-level action we’ve seen so far (give or take a clan of undead ninjas), but the character has long been controversial. While audiences have been repeatedly assured everything will be fine, the initial reviews for Iron Fist have confirmed many people’s worst suspicions. Still, we have hope it can improve. In the meantime, Marvel aren’t slowing down their marketing ahead of the series’ Friday debut.
IGN has a new banner from the show that mirrors similar promo images for Daredevil and Jessica Jones. The heavily-photoshopped art features Danny Rand, along with Colleen Wing and the Meachum family. It also highlights Danny’s neighborhood and teases one of the MCU’s landmarks. Check it out below:
As you can see, the Avengers Tower is quite visible, as it was in the previous banners. Sadly, we’ve never seen the tower in the actual shows. Despite Marvel’s claims that all of their series take place in the same universe, we’ve not had more than a few passing references to the events of the MCU films in the Netflix series. While inserting Avengers Tower into a shot would presumably not be too difficult, Marvel have chosen to forego that Easter egg so far.
As we await the premiere of Iron Fist, we’re learning quite a lot about it. We know, unfortunately, that both Danny’s costume and the dragon Shou-Lao won’t appear in the first season. Given the poor reviews, one has to wonder whether a second season will even happen. There’s always the chance for a Heroes for Hire series, which could further explore Danny’s backstory while allowing him to suit up. On top of that, we’ve also been given a better look at Colleen Wing, who may just prove to be the future of the franchise. There are even more comic characters being teased as set to appear on the show, so if nothing else, this show will be for the fans.
Iron Fistseason 1 premieres on March 17th. The Defenders will arrive sometime in the summer, with The Punisher coming later this year. Daredevil seasons 1 and 2, Jessica Jones season 1, and Luke Cage season 1 are now available on Netflix. Premiere dates for the newest seasons of Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage have not yet been revealed.
Among the many DC Extended Universe films that are currently in some stage of development without an official release date is The Flash solo movie, as well as the Suicide Squad spinoff Gotham City Sirens and a direct followup to Zack Snyder’s Superman movie reboot, Man of Steel. That’s just the tip of the iceberg too, as the list of DCEU movies that are actively moving forward without a firm launch date in place (yet) includes director Matt Reeves’ The Batman, the Dwayne Johnson-headlined Black Adam movie, a Birds of Prey film and a Nightwing solo movie from The LEGO Batman Movie‘s director, Chris McKay.
Over the past year, there’s been much in the way of reported activity on a number of those same DCEU movies. The Flash, for example, was seemingly all ready to begin filming at the beginning of this year, before writer/director Rick Famuyiwa stepped down in late 2016. Meanwhile, Gotham City Sirens (by most accounts) continues to make steady progress forward, with not only a director (Suicide Squad helmsman David Ayer) but also a screenwriter (Tomb Raider reboot writer Geneva Robertson-Dworet) and one of its three central stars (Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn) in place already. As for Henry Cavill’s Superman: a Man of Steel 2 script is in active development and has been since last fall, but there hasn’t been a major update on the project since.
We may now have some fresh details concerning the release date windows for the three aforementioned DCEU films, thanks to “leaked” information that was posted on a DCEU sub-Reddit (via Screen Geek). According to the post, Gotham City Sirens is targeting a February 2019 theatrical release date, putting it a few months ahead of the current release date for the Shazam movie. Man of Steel 2, meanwhile, is supposedly taking the November 2019 release date previously reserved for Justice League 2, while The Flash is apparently being put on the back-burner for a 2020 release (the same year that Cyborg and Green Lantern Corps movies are scheduled for).
While this information should (obviously) be taken with a healthy helping of salt – given that it comes from Reddit – there is fair reason to believe that it’s accurate. For starters, this comes from the same source that claimed Joe Manganiello is playing Deathstroke in the DCEU, long before the news was made official. Moreover, these release date windows more or less align with other recent progress updates concerning these three DCEU installments.
It’s to be expected that Gotham City Sirens would be fast-tracked ahead of the Suicide Squad sequel’s release, given the popularity of Robbie’s turn as Harley Quinn from Ayer’s (yes, Oscar-winning) first Suicide Squad movie. The early 2019 date would give the film sufficient time to make its way down the pipeline, thus avoiding the blowback that Warner Bros. and DC endured for Suicide Squad‘s rushed development process. Alternatively, with The Flash struggling to hold onto a director and now undergoing rewrites, the movie (once scheduled to arrive in March of 2018) is unlikely to hit theaters until 2019, at the earliest.
As for Man of Steel 2: with many DCEU fans wanting to see a truly Superman-focused followup to Man of Steel (e.g. not the shared universe launchpad that was Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice), WB and DC have good reason to prioritize getting such a project off the ground at last. Snyder is following up Justice League with his passion project The Last Photograph rather than Justice League 2 and Man of Steel 2 reads as being a sensible replacement for the latter. That said: with so many films currently in the pipeline, the larger game plan for the DCEU may be equally fluid right now.
