Fran Kranz, famous for his role as Topher in Dollhouse, actually did come off as the embodiment of an actor from the Whedonverse. He’s funny and a little self-deprecating, and quite humble. He also had so much to say about the story of Dollhouse, little things that he’d thought that went on behind the scenes and his own narrative of things that hadn’t specifically come up in the show. This dedication to storytelling and commitment to a role is something else that marks him as a Whedonverse actor. And, with a TV show and two movies under his belt under Joss Whedon’s capable hands, he’s certainly a part of the family now.
He spoke a lot about Joss and how he has the ability to inspire people and encourages actors to make their own decisions and suggestions about the character. The adulation was clear, and really, it seems quite well earned. It did sound like a family environment and one that Kranz was happy to be a part of. One example was Topher’s reaction to the spreading of the Dollhouses, which Kranz played as Topher being disturbed by this, while Joss thought that he would be thrilled. It’s things like that which is why the Whedonverse just seems like such an awesome environment to be a part of, and it translates so well onto the screen.
He also talked about Much Ado About Nothing, a movie that was filmed by Joss using a lot of his favourite actors at his home. This is definitely something to look out for, and Kranz seemed quite excited by it. Check out the iMDB page for the cast list HERE. What do you guys think? Are you keen for the movie? It isn’t yet slated for a theatrical release, but here’s hoping!
Check out the rest of our Oz Comic Con coverage on the rest of the site, including impressions, more panels, and interviews!
At the tender age of eleven years old, Willow Shields holds herself far better, and with far more maturity, than I, or anyone I know, did. She speaks with a wisdom and surety that any pre-teen would be jealous of, and manages to still remain confident and well spoken in front of a conference room of people, which is no easy feat.
Willow Shields is famous for her role in Hunger Games as the main character’s little sister Primrose Everdeen. And given her performance in the movie, it’s no surprise that she comes off as a good actor off screen as well. When asked if it’s difficult for her to cry as often as she does, she answered that it was easy for her once she was in character. She couldn’t quite explain it, but clearly her instincts are right on, because she carries it off well.
She talked fondly of Jennifer Lawrence, saying she was the most wonderful, kind person, as well as Josh Hutcherson. It is nice that her on screen relationship with Jennifer Lawrence’s character, Katniss, continues off screen. She also bonded with Amandla Stenberg, who plays Rue and is closer to her age than the other actors.
When Willow first auditioned for the role of Prim she was halfway through reading the book, and like most people, loved it and wanted to have a part in the movie desperately. She also relates really well to Prim, in their caring and helpful personality, and relishes the development her character is going to undergo in the second and third movie, on this her maturity was clear in the way she spoke of how she loved the challenge and the opportunity to really utilize her acting skills to expand her character further.
When asked the question ‘Peeta or Gale?’ she replied ‘Katniss’, which as a Hunger Games fan, I fully support. Even that choice spoke of her maturity and was a great answer.
Catching Fire will start shooting in the American Fall, so sometime over the next few months, and has a release date set for November 22, 2013. Are you guys keen for it? Is there a particular thing that you’re looking forward to seeing in the second movie? Or are you just excited for the whole thing?
Check out the rest of our Oz Comic Con coverage on the rest of the site, including impressions, more panels, and interviews!
This is massive news for the Evangelion fandom as the latest in the film rebuild storylines has had its cinema release date finally revealed. This is a long time coming for Evangelion fans as it has been quite a while since the release of the last film, Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance.
The latest film is titled Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, which has been updated from Evangelion Q, as I recall it being called in the preview section of the previous film. The movie is set for a November 17 release over in Japan on cinemas and we have yet to hear anything about a release over in the US or Australia.
Be sure to keep an eye out for more info as it comes. Video is embedded below. Thanks to @animemadman for the tip.
Thomas Was Alone Developer: Mike Bithell Platform: PC (Reviewed), Mac Release Date: June 30th, 2012 Price: $9.99 – Available Here or Here
Overview:
Building up from and expanding a game that was made in 24 hours, Thomas Was Alone helms from the mind of developer Mike Bithell. The original was pretty unique for an internet flash game, to the point that when I first read about this release I still remembered playing the original game myself. Somewhat short, the original game didn’t dally on spectacular graphics, but instead nice, slightly challenging platforming featuring rectangles trying to reach a specific spot for one on each level. This time, the expanded full game now has a full narrative story, including voice-over, and more gameplay featuring than simple jumping. So, just how good is this indie title?
Story: Thomas Was Alone is the story of simple rectangles moving up and to the right, no wait it’s the story of the events leading to a companies closure, no wait it’s the story of emergent self-aware AI, no wait it’s all of them and more. Thomas, while being the title character, is by no means the main focus in this three act story. There is a lot of things going on in the story that aren’t even told through the voice-over work. The story is a pretty interesting thing, there is more there than is handed to the player, which must be figured out for themselves. For something that can be taken for a simple platformer there is a lot more going on and that’s what makes it so good.
The story starts with just the introduction of Thomas, but continues to build to the character base. All of which have their own little personalities, that while never actually speak for themselves comes out quite well through the narration. The game really is a three act story, albeit divided into 10 different chapters where several of the chapters form each of the different acts. The third act, and still trying to avoid spoilers here, is actually pretty interesting and unexpected. Going in a direction that while still building from the previous act, solidifies the ending of the second act perfectly. That’s what is so refreshing about the game, a platformer that gives characters to actually care about, even if they are just multicolored little rectangles.
Gameplay:
To be honest, in some ways there is more story to the game than actual gameplay, though this isn’t really a bad thing. There is still some nice interesting features in the gameplay department. In the original flash game the only difference between characters was movement speed and jump height, but now there are characters that can float on water, act as trampolines, and break the laws of physics. The puzzles range in difficult from requiring some decent movement skills, to simply getting characters into the correct positions. Weighing in at 100 levels, there are a decent amount that revolve only around forwarding the narrative, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing though as the story is one of the best things about the game.
The gameplay does switch gears throughout the different chapters, continually changing things up and adding new characters as well as other aspects of gameplay. This does keep the game fresh and prevents the player from having to think in the same way from start to finish, so that they have to stay on their mental toes. The shifts in gameplay are really welcome and keep the game feeling dynamic, it’s not simply having another shape to get to that shaped spot across 100 levels. Even without the story, some of the levels would give players a good mental jog at figuring out how to use the characters together, though these can be a little far in between.
Audio and Visuals: Thomas Was Alone doesn’t have much to speak of in terms of visuals, it does look very nice at the highest resolution, though it is much more simple in terms of how things look. The most diverse thing in the game is a pixel cloud, while the vast majority are just the different shaped rectangles. Though the visuals of the characters are pretty well thought out as many of the characters stand out in shape alone, but also in nice contrasting colors. Though I will point out that two of the characters are the exact same shape and while being different colors, these are red and green, so colorblind people of that spectrum may have a harder time with those two, if they didn’t act in completely opposite ways.
In terms of audio though, this game is of the highest tier. The music fits the computer-istic setting with its bleeps and wonks and there is plenty of it as well. The music changes to fit the different tones of the different chapters, which some might not expect in a platformer and even better doesn’t get overly repetitive and on the nerves, with much longer pieces than some other games. The music isn’t the only thing in audio getting top marks though as the voice-over is one of the most fun I’ve heard in a while. The narration of Thomas Was Alone features Danny Wallace, an English TV personality, who is probably best known in the gaming world for providing the voice of Shaun Hastings from Assassin’s Creed II. Danny does an amazing job and adds a lot of charm and humor to the characters through his voice over, but the narration doesn’t simply hinge on humor alone. There are some pretty low points that the narration doesn’t simply make light of, actually being pretty somber when needed to the point where I cannot think of anyone who could have done a better job with it, as it is one of the main things that makes this game.
Overall: Thomas Was Alone is one of the best games I’ve played this year, which I’d been dying to play since the trailer. I was not at all disappointed with not only how the game turned out, but where it went in the game. The music, narration, and gameplay all meet together to make something amazing. The game is quirky and fun, but it isn’t all the time having highs and lows, which is what quality story-telling is about. I give Thomas Was Alone
After being beta tested for the PC for months and months to work out the kinks for its eventual release for the Xbox 360, Cold Stream, the newest DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 has finally been given a release date. Coming out on July 24th, the new DLC will not include just the single new campaign, but reworked and re-tweaked versions of the remaining campaigns for the first Left 4 Dead to fit and work within Left 4 Dead 2‘s mechanics.
In addition to the total of 5 campaigns with the DLC, the devs have said that all the mutations will be available at any time with the update. This means users will no longer have to wait around for Gibfest to appear in the hopper to go for the expert difficulty achievements. With the date announced all that’s left is to wait for the release, and probably pricing too, though with a total of 5 campaigns, 4 from last game, hopefully it isn’t too much more than other DLCs.
Get out the gun oil and get ready to get your team back together to relive the rest of the Left 4 Dead campaigns and the new adventure Cold Stream on July 24th.
During their panel at Anime Expo 2012, Funimation Entertainment announced the acquisition of multiple new anime licenses, both for digital and physical releases as well as some simulcasting and broadcasting licenses. The following series were announced to have been licensed by Funimation:
Blood-C – (broadcast, physical release, digital release, mobile release confirmed)
Blood-C: The Last Dark – (physical release confirmed)
Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians – (physical release confirmed)
Ikki Tousen: Xtreme Xecutor – (physical release confirmed)
Michiko and Hatchin – (physical release confirmed)
Appleseed XIII – (physical release confirmed)
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero – (digital simulcast confirmed)
Binbogami ga! – (digital simulcast confirmed)
Aria the Scarlet Ammo – (broadcast, physical release, digital release, mobile release confirmed)
Jormungand – (broadcast, physical release, digital release, mobile release confirmed)
Eureka Seven AO – (broadcast, physical release, digital release, mobile release confirmed)
This is simply an incredible line-up of new titles acquired by Funimation Entertainment. Let us know what you think in the comments section below of Funimation new licensed titles.
With a few months until the release the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Activision has announced that fan favourite Call of Duty: Black Ops map Nuketown will be returning to Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 in the form of Nuketown 2025.
Nuketown 2025 will be a ‘futurist’ remake of the extremely popular Black Ops map Nuketown which was originally set in a U.S. nuclear-testing site made to look like the average American suburb, complete with fake dummies as well.
Nuketown 2025 will only be available to players that pre-order the game, which is a pretty good pre-order incentive. However on the other hand, this pretty much sucks for anyone that’s looking to rent or buy the game second hand as they’re going be missing out on arguably one of the best Call of Duty maps ever made.
It’s July 1st as of today. This of course means we are over the half-year hump, knee deep into summer, and also that it’s time for some new Club Nintendo Rewards. This month, the pickings are a bit lighter for members when it comes to the digital rewards, but they are still quite sweet for anyone that has yet to pick up either.
Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 was the first in the franchise, giving Waluigi life, and letting us see Peach in Tennis shorts for the first time (if you were into that, of course). You can now own this Virtual Console title for nothing if you have the points this month, as it has been delivered to Club Nintendo members that own a Wii for 100 coins.
Next up is more of an application than a game, but still interesting to say the least. Electroplankton Rec-Rec is of course from the cult favorite Electroplankton series, and lets players record sounds and add them to colorful fish. Yeah, this one will be more of a personal preference for most, but it’s nice to see some of the more offbeat DSi titles highlighted for once. At 100 coins, it’s not much of a risk, either.
Mario Tennis is the obvious choice here, and while the quantity of rewards have slipped, it’s nice to know that both platforms are still involved. Hopefully, we will be enlightened on the mysterious Platinum Reward soon, so stay tuned as that should be coming forth within the next few hours.
Thanks to Remedy Games the Death Rally series is returning to it’s PC roots when it is released in August this year. That’s right, the top-down racing classic from the mid nineties is returning to the PC platform after such a long hiatus on the platform.
On bringing the series back to the PC, Matias Myllyrinne, CEO at Remedy had this to say –
“Our PC fans have been clamoring for Death Rally and it’s time we finally bring it there. It’s been fantastic getting the game back to PC with the help of our development partners, Mountain Sheep and Cornfox & Bros.; Death Rally has come full circle now.”
The game has also appeared on mobile devices where it has reached 11million downloads and 110million game sessions. The PC version of the game will recieve a new track “Sevo” and the classic character “Shadow Man” will be returning to the race.
Death Rally will be hitting the Steam Marketplace for $9.99US on August 3rd.
The Sims 3 Lucky Palms is now available to download exclusively at The Sims 3 Store. Lucky Palms is a brand new world for your Sims to explore. Set in a desert oasis, The Sims 3 Lucky Palms introduces new Sims and storylines along with new clothing, décor items, venues, objects and furniture to fully customise player’s games.
The Sims 3 Lucky Palms also introduces the all new Wishing Well. Sims can now wish for love, wealth, power, fame and anything in between, thanks to this new item.
The Sims 3 Lucky Palms is available to download now, exclusively from The Sims 3 Store.
Fran Kranz, famous for his role as Topher in Dollhouse, actually did come off as the embodiment of an actor from the Whedonverse. He’s funny and a little self-deprecating, and quite humble. He also had so much to say about the story of Dollhouse, little things that he’d thought that went on behind the scenes and his own narrative of things that hadn’t specifically come up in the show. This dedication to storytelling and commitment to a role is something else that marks him as a Whedonverse actor. And, with a TV show and two movies under his belt under Joss Whedon’s capable hands, he’s certainly a part of the family now.
At the tender age of eleven years old, Willow Shields holds herself far better, and with far more maturity, than I, or anyone I know, did. She speaks with a wisdom and surety that any pre-teen would be jealous of, and manages to still remain confident and well spoken in front of a conference room of people, which is no easy feat.
