Boardwalk Empire: Season 4 Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the fourth season of Boardwalk Empire follow…

While the third season of Boardwalk Empire seemed to be about the tearing down of Nucky's world (thanks in no small part to Emmy-winner Bobby Cannavale's ferocious Gyp Rosetti), the beginning of Season 4 was all about repairing it. Nucky formed an uneasy-but-satisfactory truce with Masseria and new bootlegging prospects opened up in Florida, growing the booze business like never before. But what Nucky didn't count on was everyone around him crumbling.

Most notably, and noticeably, Jimmy's story still had too much pain to contain. It was a wound that hadn't quite closed yet. And the remnants of the Darmody arc were still engaged in a tug-of-war - one that would eventually turn that world to ash. A sad fact, and one that took two years after Jimmy's death to fully deal with. Even sadder for the viewers too because even though we felt the loss of Jimmy (whether you loved him as a character of simply thought, as the show's "Number Two," he was vastly more interesting than Nucky) we still had Gillian and Harrow to cling to. Gillian wasn't always an easy woman to love, but you always understood why she did what she did, or at least why her traumatic past forever warped her sense of family and propriety.

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Will Walking Dead's Midseason Finale Match the Comics?

Note: We're going into some major spoilers for The Walking Dead comic book here - specifically for the events that occurred in issue #48 (or the end of Compendium One, for those reading it that way). While it's speculation on what could happen in the TV show, be warned, this could also end up being a huge spoiler for this Sunday's Walking Dead midseason finale, if any of this does occur. Read on at your own peril! Also, for this story, comic book spoilers will be allowed in the comments as well. (But just this story!)

So, The Governor is attacking the prison in The Walking Dead midseason finale. With a tank.

Yes, the TV show took a long, strange road to get here, with the Governor's first, aborted attack on the prison and his recent storyline where he seemed to be on the path to redemption, only to reveal he was not. But now we seem to have gotten to the show doing the true "Governor attacks the prison" scenario that ended the long prison arc in the comic books.

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Rune Factory Developer Goes Bust

Neverland, the developer behind the successful Harvest Moon spin-off Rune Factory, has ceased operations this week, as reported by Siliconera.

The Rune Factory games are Japanese RPGs that invite you to fish, farm and socialise as well as make weapons, fight monsters and dive into dungeons. Fans would tell you that it's taken the Harvest Moon concept in more interesting directions than the core series in recent years.

The official website states that it will be ceasing operations immediately, citing changing economic conditions as the main factor in its demise. The developer has been unable to find funding to keep afloat. Bankruptcy proceedings will be started soon.

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How Virtual Reality Will Change Gaming

When I was little, I never wanted a jetpack. I still don't. My Lego men had jetpacks, and even five-year-old me could see that if you bent their stubby little legs back, the twin jets of flame coming out the back of the engines would melt their plastic feet. Rubbish. When I was little, I wanted virtual reality, like in Tron. And now it's basically here. It even plays Hawken - which basically makes it a jetpack anyway.

Joyless cynics might argue it's not quite Tron yet. VR is still in its teething stage, still an experiment; a bunch of different companies and entrepreneurs flinging ideas and cash at the same problem from different directions, trying to get us closer to our holodeck future. But why now? Why, after years of resignation to arcades and horrors like the Virtual Boy are these start-ups able to challenge billion-dollar companies for control of gamers' living rooms?

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PC is "Far Superior" For Gaming, Says Nvidia

In an interview with MCV, Nvidia's Matt Wright has posited that there's a third option for a new gaming machine, and that it's the far superior choice: the PC.

In the midst of the PS4 and Xbox One frenzy this month, Nvidia has released some smaller, more living-room friendly PCs for the Christmas period. "We are proposing small form-factor PCs to be a viable alternative to the next-gen consoles," said Wright. "Enthusiast players want the ultimate games system and that is the PC."

The message from the firm is that the choice this year shouldn't just be between PS4 and Xbox One. "The PC platform is far superior to any console when it comes to gaming, plus you get all the extra functionality that a computer brings," he says. "Steam now has more users than Xbox Live... There’s a huge community who love playing their games on PC.”

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Recent Shenmue 3 Trademark Outed as Hoax

You may have seen talk of a Shenmue 3 trademark flying around the Internet this week. Unsurprisingly, Sega has confirmed that it was a fake.

Shenmue 2 ended on a strange note.

"Sega has confirmed that the recent application for the trademark of Shenmue 3 is a fake and is looking into the origins of this application," the publisher said (thanks Eurogamer). Guess we Dreamcast-era kids will just have to keep on dreamin'.

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IGN AU Pubcast 84: The Choice of a New Generation

Welcome to the next generation of gaming, people! It's finally here! And... err... it's a lot like the old generation... only with a whole lot more patches. This episode we run through our experiences to date on PS4 and Xbox One, but we also discover that there's a whole lot of life left in the current gen. Oh, and Wii U rocks!

I don't own a gun, let alone many guns, that would necessitate a rack.

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PS4 and Xbox One in AU: Not Quite Next-Gen

The future of gaming has arrived, and it’s brought the future of entertainment kicking and screaming along with it. The Playstation 4 and Xbox One are now available down under, and these amazing boxes of technological wizardry aren’t content to use their Skynet-levels of sentience merely to play games. They’re supposedly the interactive suns at the centre of our entertainment universe, kicking DVD, Blu-ray and Cable TV boxes to the curb. Even if you’re not addicted to games, both consoles pack enough mainstream entertainment into their small dimensions to forever eliminate boredom. Well, that’s the theory.

It appears that most of the non-gaming features didn’t quite make the lengthy trip from the shores of America and Europe across those large puddles of blue stuff between them and us. Maybe Operation Sovereign Borders mistook these powerful new features for refugees, and sent them packing? As the Xbox One has spent so much more of its US$471 build budget on entertainment features than the Playstation 4, our investigation will begin with Microsoft’s multimedia Trojan horse.

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EA Aware of Battlefield 4 DLC Issues on Xbox One

A number of Xbox One users have had issues downloading the Xbox One-exclusive Battlefield 4: Second Assault DLC, and EA and Microsoft are currently investigating the matter.

It seems that players have been unable to download the DLC - a timed exclusive for the console - after buying the DLC subscription package Battlefield Premium. Many took to Battlelog to voice their complaints, and EA representative 'EA_Rick' subsequently made an official response on the Battlefield social platform.

"I know some of you have said already that it is being looked into but I wanted to just confirm it for you so you guys have a blue post to refer to. Right now all I can say is that we are aware of this issue and are currently investigating this with Microsoft. Once we have some more details I'll be sure to let you know."

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IGN PS4 App Available for Australian Launch

The IGN app is available on the PlayStation 4 at launch today in Australia. And what a very fine app it is, too.

You can find it in the App section of the PlayStation Store or the TV & Video panel on the PS4 dashboard. It's entirely free and you don't have to be a PS Plus subscriber to download it.

After a small download, you'll be able to stream IGN videos directly to your PlayStation 4 in high quality – everything from latest reviews to breaking news stories and walkthroughs. It's IGN as you know it, but optimised for your brand-new console.

And it's all wrapped up in an interface that let's you browse while you watch and build your very own custom playlists in addition to the IGN-curated channels.

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How Sony Wooed Warframe Onto PS4

We’ve heard a lot about how Sony has wooed indie developers over the past year. The decision to exhibit indies alongside triple-A titles at the PS4 announcement event became a major talking point back in February. But while the short term benefits of this good PR are obvious to anyone who kept up with PS4 pre-order numbers or the PS4’s US launch, at which it sold over a million units in a day, it’s from the long term benefits that Sony has most to gain.

Enter Digital Extremes. As a developer it’s no spring chicken, having worked on titles ranging from The Darkness 2 to Unreal Tournament way back in 1999, but despite this it’s kept a low profile. Or at least, it did until Sony decided to throw away its old indie rulebook, embrace the studio with open arms and beg to have PC space ninja brawler Warframe ported as a PS4 launch title. In doing so, Sony earned Digital Extremes’ loyalty and admiration, but just how did such a thing come about?

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Flu Review

When the SARS outbreak ravaged Asia in 2007, thousands died across the continent. China, Hong Kong, Singapore – all suffered a high number of casualties. The disease even brought death to the United States and Ireland. But Korea was left, peculiarly, unscathed.

Flu is a biological disaster film that stems partly from that anxiety. Why was it unaffected? Why was it saved? And from that niggling uncertainty, it extrapolates a nightmarish virus that kills its host within days and tears a Korean city apart in weeks. Ultimately, FLU’s a tad too long, which undercuts some of its good work, but thanks to very good performances, some thrifty special effects, and one deeply disturbing scene, Flu is an effective disaster movie that introduces the element of biological panic.

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Comic Book Reviews for 11/27/13

Welcome to the latest batch of IGN Comics' weekly reviews. Luckily, despite the imminent holiday, we were only short one reviewer this week. And that's good news, because several publishers decided to flood the market with new releases despite it being Thanksgiving week. The better news is that so many of these releases are well worth reading - the game-changing Uncanny Avengers #14, the finale to Geoff Johns' Aquaman run, the debut of Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera's dark sci-fi opus Black Science, and many more. There were a lot of 8's and 9's handed out this week, even from the miserly Jesse. And is it possible that one book landed the elusive 10 rating? You'll have to read on to find out.

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Hawkeye #14 Review

Last month's melancholy Hawkeye #13 was a tough act to follow, and writers Matt Fraction and Annie Wu have followed up that sorrowful effort with an uplifting shift in mood as the action switches over to Kate Bishop's summer of self-discovery. It's a stark tonal contrast to where we left Clint Barton, and it's hard not to compare the two narratives. Kate's story is as light and fluffy as Clint's is increasingly dark and grim, but fortunately, we can take comfort in the one constant that never lets us down: the ever present Pizza Dog.

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Saga #16 Review

Starting with Saga #12, the creative team has experimented with a rather unusual mode of storytelling. That issue left off with Prince Robot IV brutally interrogating D. Oswald Heist, the writer with whom Marko and Alana's family have been hiding. Since then, the narrative has taken a few twists and turns as writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples juggled the many moving pieces of their tale. It's an interesting tactic, but its resulted in a story that's struggled with severe pacing problems. In issue #16, we're seemingly all caught up on events, but the sense of urgency built in earlier issues is all but lost.

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Pretty Deadly #2 Review

Pretty Deadly, by writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Emma Rios, is -- inarguably -- one of the most ambitious and visually stunning books to hit shelves this month. Unfortunately, its that very same ambition that tangles up the story, resulting in a book that's as stylistically brilliant as it is narratively befuddling.

The book opens with a standard "Previously seen on..." style recap of the first issue's happenings, but its wildly useless. Several names are tossed out in quick succession, with little context with which to ground them. One wonders why the effort to add it was even deemed necessary, as it only serves to highlight the book's greatest weakness: its convoluted mixture of myth-making and plot.

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The Flash #25 Review

The Zero Year crossover event soldiers on with The Flash #25, in which a courageous -- if inexperienced -- Barry Allen heads to Gotham to lend a helping hand in the aftermath of the Riddler's citywide blackout. Though last month's issue felt like Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato's formal swan song on the title, the pair is back this time around for once last hurrah, joined by artist Chris Sprouse, whose distinctive style dominates the first nineteen pages of the book.

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Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril #5

We are really starting to feel the length of this series. Just when it seemed like things were picking up steam, Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril moves back into “people standing around and talking” territory. Sure, it's well written and absolutely beautiful, but there is a sense of treading water here, like the story is being dragged out for no good reason. Hopefully, things will get tied up soon because what was once a taunt, masterful story has quickly become a slow moving, talky comic series. This is not the Tom Strong we know and love.

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Indestructible Hulk #16 Review

This series has lost a lot of steam. What was once of Marvel's best comics has quickly become a mediocre book with a a forever rotating art team. Each month, it fails to gain traction again, fails to recapture that spark and this month is no different. Once again, we have a new artist, a whole new look. We also get a return to previous status quo, but it's hard to remember who these characters are and why we should care. Maybe Mark Waid and company can get Hulk back on track, maybe they can find that rhythm that made the earlier issues so much damn fun. Maybe, just maybe.

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Rat Queens #3 Review

Rat Queens #3 dials back the humor a bit to give us a better look at some of the characters, which is a good thing. You'll miss the humor though, which isn't to say this issue isn't funny, it's just not as funny as the previous two. In a way, the nonstop humor is the heart of this series, so when things slowdown, it's like something is missing. Still, Rat Queens is a freaking rad comic book series and it deserves a place on your pull list. Plus, it's really, really pretty.

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Conan and the People of the Black Circle #2 Review

There's a bit of a sophomore slump going on here, a dip in quality that is almost all because of the book's artwork. Conan and the People of the Black Circle is still well written, if a bit wordy, but the art loses some of its muster an becomes lifeless and repetitive. What looked exciting and new a mere issue ago now looks stiff and boring. If there is one thing a Conan comic should never be, it's boring. Hopefully, this series can recover and find that spark that gave it such a promising start.

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Sledgehammer 44: Lightning War #1 Review

While this comic is billed as a new number one, it's really the third issue in a series, and it's worth picking up the superb first two issues before jumping into this one. You certainly can start here, and there's plenty of great stuff in this issue to enjoy, but the weight of some of the moments really depend on you having read the first Sledgehammer 44 comics. If you have read those, you get the same great storytelling, big action and World War II themed mysteries. This is a big, heartfelt comic book that fans of Hellboy and new comers to the world will enjoy.

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Black Science #1 Review

Black Science #1 hits you hard from its very first page. It reads like a lost pulp masterpiece, like a well worn science fiction novel found on the shelf of a dank, used book store. It's a blueprint for a perfect opening, grabbing you right away and never letting go. It's whirlwind of color, violence and madness. When it comes to debuts this year, nothing even comes close to the stunning mastery of Black Science #1. This is what comic books are all about, people.

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Infinity #6 Review

If you had hopes that Infinity #6 would finally toss aside the few but chronic flaws of this event storyline and deliver a more cohesive final chapter, consider them dashed. This issue displays all the strengths and those same weaknesses as before. Luckily, the end result is still one of the stronger event comics in recent memory. For better or worse, this finale makes it more clear than ever that Infinity is just a stopping point along the road to even bigger things.

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Wolverine and the X-Men Annual #1 Review

It seems a little strange for Marvel to be releasing a new Infinity tie-in on the same day the event wraps up, doesn't it? But in the case of Wolverine and the X-Men Annual, the connection to Infinity is fairly superfluous. What this issue really sets out to do is reconnect readers with Kid Gladiator, a Jean Grey School member who has been absent from the series ever since his father dragged him back to Chandrilar. Anyone who has missed Kid Gladiator's antics and wished Jason Aaron had developed him more will find plenty to love in this issue.

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Superior Spider-Man #22 Review

It's strange to think that Spider-Man and Flash Thompson have had almost zero interaction since the latter first bonded with the Venom symbiote several years ago. Both characters have fundamentally transformed since last they crossed paths, and there's surely an interesting story to tell in their reunion. That's the story Dan Slott and Christos Gage are finally telling with this new arc of Superior Spider-Man.

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Aquaman #25 Review

From the beginning of the New 52, I was holding out hope that Geoff Johns would remain on board Aquaman as long as he did Green Lantern and The Flash. Sadly, that's not to be, and issue #25 marks his final bow on the series. But while there's the definite sense that he could have done much more with the franchise, Aquaman #25 is a worthy finish to Johns' run.

After months of build-up Johns finally delivers the big showdown between Arthur and the King Atlan we've been waiting for. Between the renewed partnership between Arthur and Vulko and the return of the Trench, this issue serves nicely to tie the whole past two years together. And the resulting battle allows Johns to do what he's done so well over the course of his run - showcasing Aquaman as a hero to be feared and admired rather than mocked.

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Justice League Dark #25 Review

Hold onto your butts. The Blight crossover officially kicks off with this issue of Justice League Dark. I'd say I fear the idea of any crossover lasting 18 issues, but Infinity turned out pretty well. Blight seems to be off to a solid start as well, though the fact that this issue is at its weakest when it directly sets up the crossover with the three other series is a bit worrisome.

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FF #14 Review

You know the drill by now. Fantastic Four continues to suffer from the departure of writer Matt Fraction (and now artist Mark Bagley), but FF continues humming along as if nothing has changed. This series continues to boast a fun, playful tone and some of the best art from any Marvel book. Too bad there are only two issues remaining.

The series does suffer a bit from a slowing pace, as both this issue and the last dealt primarily with the build-up towards the big showdown with Doom. Still, this languid approach allows Mike and Lee Allred to both heighten the tension as the team prepare to confront their great nemesis, and also continue providing the same heartwarming scenes of play and team bonding that make FF such a delight in the first place. Doom the Annihilating Conqueror is all well and good, but I'm more entertained by the kids and their wacky moon antics.

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Wolverine and the X-Men #38 Review

Not counting today's annual issue (which should ideally be read first) Wolverine and the X-Men #38 is the first installment of the series to explore the fallout of Battle of the Atom. Wolverine and the other instructors at the Jean Grey School are understandably miffed that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been hiding its own armada of Sentinels, and that puts them in direct conflict with Maria Hill and Dazzler. If that were the extent of issue #38, it would be a decent enough read, but Aaron thankfully focuses just as much attention on the many students of the school.

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The Walking Dead #117 Review

When was the last time we got two issues of The Walking Dead in one month? That's one of the benefits of this 12-issue-long "All Out War" storyline. The conflict begins building steam in issue #117. The balance of power is shifting so that now Negan and his forces are on the defensive, walled in their complex while thousands of zombies pound the walls outside. It's always nice to see Rick and his allies with the advantage for a change, but never for a moment does Robert Kirkman leave readers with the impression that the hard part is over.

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New Avengers #12 Review

Infinity #6 certainly alluded to newer, bigger challenges on the horizon for the Avengers, but that issue thankfully stuck to allusions and kept itself focused on wrapping up the conflict at hand. As the real epilogue of Infinity, New Avengers #12 is far more interested in what comes next. Luckily, Jonathan Hickman doesn't get so swept up in stage-setting that he neglects the Illuminati members along the way.

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All-New X-Men #19 Review

All-New X-Men #19 pits Kitty Pryde and her students against those most persecute-y of X-Men villains, the Purifiers. As an example of just how much more bloodthirsty and tyrannical the enemies of mutantkind have become since the hallowed days of the original X-Men, the Purifiers make for a decent enough threat. But where every other X-book is busy diving into new threats and challenges in the wake of Battle of the Atom, All-New X-Men is taking things too slow.

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Sony Submits Trademark For Arc the Lad

Fans of old PlayStation JRPGs will remember the name Arc the Lad well. It was a series of games released on both PlayStation and PlayStation 2, developed first by G-Craft (previously known for the Square game Front Mission), then by ARC Entertainment, and finally by Cattle Call.

The original Arc the Lad came to the original PlayStation in 1995 in Japan only. It was followed up by Arc the Lad II and III in 1996 and 1999 respectively. None of the games saw the light of day in the west until cult favorite (and now defunct) publisher Working Designs brought them over in a collection in 2002. Several spin-offs appeared thereafter; the final game in the core series came to PlayStation 2 in 2004 in the form of Arc the Lad: End of Darkness.

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Big Changes Inbound for Forza 5 Economy Following Fan Feedback

After first-week observations and fan feedback, Forza Motorsport 5 developer Turn 10 has announced changes to the economy in Forza 5 are incoming.

However, while the studio finalises these changes the team has implemented several programs in the meantime to tide fans over.

From this Friday we’ll receive a 50 per cent discount (credits or tokens) on any and every car in the game. The discount will be available between 12:01am PT Friday, November 29 (Friday, November 29 7:01pm AEDT/Friday, November 29 8:01am GMT) and 11:59pm PT Sunday, December 1 (Monday, December 2 6:59pm AEDT/ Monday, December 2 7:59am GMT) and is available to all players.

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HBO Eyes Spielberg-Produced Napoleon Miniseries

Ambitious Frenchman Napoleon Bonaparte may soon be riding onto the small screen in style.

According to Variety, HBO is in talks to acquire a Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries focusing on the military leader. The series, announced by Spielberg earlier this year, is based on a 1961 Stanley Kubrick screenplay.

Though Spielberg will not direct the miniseries, Deadline reports that Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann is in discussions to take the reins.

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10 Awesome Things About WildStar's Stalker Class

Stalkers are the most versatile class in Carbine's upcoming MMO WildStar. They can be played as a stealthy ninja or as a completely proficient evasion tank –not to mention the massive claws they have for weapons. I recently took some time to speak with WildStar developers Hugh Shelton (Lead Class Designer), Jade Martin (Stalker Systems Designer), and Chad Moore (Lead Narrative Designer) to learn 10 things about this lethal class. And don’t miss our other class profiles on the Warrior, Esper, and Spellslinger.

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Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Review

Nelson Mandela stands a little over six-feet tall. In his thirties, the South African revolutionary was lanky, but fit enough to box. Though violence would eventually enter the equation in Mandela's fight for freedom, voice was his weapon of choice. He naturally stood above crowds, his cries bellowing across people in the streets from the soapbox gifted to him by genetics.

In Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Thor and Pacific Rim actor Idris Elba stars as the famed political figure, a casting that mythologizes the leader from legend to full-blown superhero. Elba towers like Mandela (he's 6'3”) with the added power of a chiseled physique and commanding spirit. He lives on top a pedestal; literally, director Justin Chadwick's camera drifts below the actor whenever he speaks, framing him like a titan walking among men. It's a deserving respect, but a tactic that leaves the film stunted.

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The IGN Halo 4 Instagram Contest Winner!

On our Instagram, we were doing a give away for an awesome Halo 4 Master Chief statue! Compliments of McFarlane Toys, this bad boy only is limited to 1,000, retailing at a cool $295!

We asked our Instagram followers to take a insta-photo or video of their favorite Halo memory or moment, explaining why this moment or memory mattered to them in the description area provided!

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When Can You See the New Mummy Movie?

Universal just moved its film adaptation of Warcraft out of the way of Star Wars: Episode VII, pushing the Duncan Jones-directed film from December 18, 2015, to March 11, 2016. But that’s not the only release date action happening at the studio.

The Mummy reboot, which reportedly will be directed by Andres Muschietti (Mama), will now be released on April 16, 2016, Brendan Fraser be damned. Legendary’s Seventh Son, starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, has been pushed to February 6, 2015, some three years after it was shot (yikes). And Michael Mann’s untitled “cyberthriller” (previously known as Cyber) has been penciled in for January 16, 2015.

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Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition Review

Thirteen years may have passed since the original release of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, but I still remember pulling out the 263-page user's manual, feeling my eyes widen in intimidation at stats like “THAC0,” and chucking it to the side and jumping in without it. I don't regret it. Then, as now, Baldur's Gate II's stats will lead you down countless labyrinthine passageways if you let them, but there’s something ingenious about a game that uses an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons ruleset and still gives you at least a fighting chance of survival. In this new Enhanced Edition, Beamdog's clearly learned some lessons from its first attempt at enhancing the franchise last year, and its new content and built-in tweaks and conveniences render it a generally satisfying ride for newcomers.

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IGN for PlayStation, a Free App for Your PlayStation 4

When I joined IGN nearly a decade ago, we ran a website with text articles that sometimes had videos. Usually as download links. Video on the Internet was an afterthought, if a thought at all.

IGN.com, circa 2004

Now in 2013, our post-YouTube world is different. IGN video content is watched by millions, and in many cases competes head-to-head with our written articles. IGN now produces hours of original video content, every day. So we wondered, what might IGN look like if everything was video?

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Device 6 Review

I was lying in my bed, iPad in hand, surrounded on all sides by scraps of paper containing crudely scribbled notes. For the past hour, I'd been stuck on a particularly tricky puzzle that appears early on in Device 6, a strange and wonderful interactive novel from Simogo, the Swedish developer behind Year Walk. I've been guiding my character back and forth through this small chunk of an island, paying attention to every detail in the engaging prose and imagery, trying to pluck the one kernel of information I need in order to solve a combination lock at the end of the area. Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning that immediately precedes most revelations, the solution hit me: I rummaged through my notes and realized that I had solved the puzzle about half an hour ago, but didn't even know it.

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Deadfall Adventures Review

I can't fault Deadfall Adventures for its style. It’s truly pretty, with some stunning architecture. But if Farm 51's FPS wasn't so striking, its mediocrity wouldn't be quite so obvious: the sumptuous art design is like a light that illuminates the clichéd level design and boring puzzles. The globe-trotting shooter already pales in comparison to its inspirations: it evokes Indiana Jones, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and the Allan Quatermain books, but with all the skill and panache of hastily written school play. It's not witty enough to be a parody, nor is it not good enough to be a peer.

Quatermain is more than an inspiration, though: the handily out-of-copyright adventurer provides the historical clout for a story of ancient ruins, Nazis, Russians, and mummies. You're James Lee Quatermain, a whipless and witless descendant of the adventurer, hired to lead an expedition to find the Heart of Atlantis. He raids temples in Egypt, the Arctic, and Mayan jungles, because the ancient people he's trotting after have split the artifact and left it all over the Earth. I don't have a problem with that sort of hokey set-up, it worked for Indy and Lara which means it can and has led to surprising and wonderful things, but everything you'd expect to happen to him in those settings does. Levers are pulled, mirrors realigned, and awful quips are tossed between James, his attractive female companion, Jen, and a German scientist who does exactly what you'd expect him to about halfway through the story. There's even a mine cart chase sequence.

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New RPG Toukiden Gets Western Release Date

A slew of RPGs have been coming to Vita lately (and even more have been announced), and you can add Toukiden: The Age of Demons to the list.

Toukiden, which was confirmed to be coming west several months ago after selling nearly half a million units in Japan, will launch on February 11, 2014 in North America, and will be available both at retail and digitally. Its released date in other western territories still hasn’t been confirmed.

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Tarantino Reveals His Next Movie's Genre

Oscar winner Quentin Tarantino appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to promote the DC Comics adaptation of Django Unchained, during which time he revealed that his new script is for another western.

Tarantino said, though, that this western won't be a sequel to Django. Scrub forward about a minute into the clip below:

Click here for IGN's full coverage of the Django Unchained comics.

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Nintendo Explains How Pokemon Bank Works

Nintendo answered some frequently asked questions about their Pokemon Bank service yesterday.

The FAQ explains some unique features of the service to users and what to expect. A player can store up to 3,000 Pokemon in 100 online boxes. Players can use this service to import Pokemon from Pokemon Black, Pokemon White,Black 2, and White 2. Once the service is set up, it can be used sort and manage Pokemon from multiple copies of Pokemon X and Y (including digital copies). you can read the entire FAQ here.

But what happens to stored Pokemon if the no-charge trial period ends (or a user subscription expires)? Nintendo did not share any insight into what happens but said, “more details about how this functionality will operate will be announced closer to launch.”

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What You Thought of Family Guy's Big Death

Note: Full spoilers for Family Guy's most recent episode follow! You've been warned!

Family Guy certainly got a lot of attention this week, as the show delivered the big death the producers first promised back at Comic-Con this summer. The death of Brian Griffin was highly unusual for a long-running animated series, taking out one of the core family members. Will Brian's death truly be permanent? We shall see (and Jim Vejvoda and I discuss that topic in the video below).

In the meantime, we asked you, the IGN reader, what your first reaction was to Brian's death, assuming it is going to be retained. And the results were clear...

Yes, 46.15%, nearly half of those polled, said they flat out hated killing Brian, and the runner up choice were those who are wary of the decision and feel it will likely be a mistake. Suffice to say, those who were more optimistic about the death of Brian storyline being the right move were in the minority, with 14.47% saying they were at least intigued and curious to see what happens, while the smallest portion of those polled, 6.4%, were outright excited by the choice.

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Chris Nolan's Artistic Influence for the Joker

The Dark Knight Trilogy director Christopher Nolan recently sat down for an interview with the Tate Modern to talk about, among other things, the artist that influenced his depiction of the Joker in The Dark Knight, Francis Bacon.

Ever interview shy, it's somewhat rare to hear Nolan talk about his work.

Take a look below.

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Podcast Unlocked: Xbox One Aftermath

DOWNLOAD PODCAST UNLOCKED EPISODE 123 RIGHT HERE

In this Turkey Day edition of Podcast Unlocked, the crew discusses the aftermath of the Xbox One launch: what went well (Xbox Live), what didn't go so well (some people's disc drives), and what's annoying the heck out of us (crashes!). Plus, why one programmer's departure from 343 Industries is extremely bad news for Halo fans, why you should keep it clean on your Xbox One Upload Studio clips, EA's NBA Live apology, and the end of a legendary first-person shooter era. Oh, and we pick our favorite holidays in Get to Know Your Locksmiths!

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Sony Announces 'First to Greatness' PS4 Competition

Sony has announced the First to Greatness competition for PlayStation 4 players. As both a means of rewarding early adopters and celebrating PS4's launch games, First to Greatness issues 64 challenges centered around games such as Knack, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Blacklight: Retribution, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, and more. The first player to upload their accomplishments with the Share button will live on the First to Greatness website -- and when all the tasks have been completed, the site will "unlock a cool new experience."

Winning a quick game in NBA 2K14, killing seven enemies in seven seconds in Killzone: Shadow Fall, and performing a tag team tank takedown in Knack are among the issued assignments. If you want to be first, get to it -- the competition is closing quickly as other PSN users finish first.

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New Batman: Arkham Origins Story DLC Coming in December

New Batman: Arkham Origins story DLC is coming in December, and it's centered around ninja. In the latest episode of DC All Access, Ames Kirshen, VP of WB Games, mentioned that we'll soon be playing the Initiation DLC, which is a "new kind of challenge map pack that's got a little bit of a narrative to it." It will chronicle a young Bruce Wayne's trials and tribulations at a monastery full of ninja. Think the first act of Batman Begins, and you'll get the gist of it.

To help tide you over until Initiation's launch, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has also released three new sets of non-story DLC. The Infinite Earths Skins Pack contains the following six new costumes.

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New Hercules Trailer

You might have heard that there are two Hercules movies in the works right now, and in fact they're battling over the right to use that iconic name. Which seems preposterous, but hey -- it's Hollywood.

The Heavens Opened at NYCC for Hercules and This Is What We Saw

In any event, Millennium Films and Lionsgate's Hercules: The Legend Begins, starring Twilight’s Kellan Lutz as the titular (for now) character, has got a new trailer. It's not terribly different from the previous trailer, but still it's pretty fun. Take a look:

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Poll: Who's Your Favorite Disney Heroine?

The latest Disney animated movie, Frozen, features not one but two female leads in princesses Anna and Elsa. In honor of the film's release this week, tell us who your favorite past Disney animated movie heroine is by voting in the poll below!

After you cast your vote be sure to tell us in the Comments why you voted the way you did! We'll announce the winning character next week.

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DC Comics: IGN Community Tells Us How Wrong or Right We Are

All month we've celebrated 75 years of DC Comics by running a bunch of features surrounding its heroes, villains, and storylines. Today we wanted to highlight some of the IGN community's opinions.

We dug through the comment section of each article and pulled opinions that captured the general consensus of the community.

DC Comics has 75 years worth of material to choose from when deciding to make a new movie. In our article, we named famous storylines such as the Sinestro Corps. War and Death of Superman that we'd like to see be made into a movie. While some people agreed with us, a good amount of you felt like we left out three major storylines.

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Lightning Returns, Super Mario 3D World Debut Poorly in Japan

Both Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and Super Mario 3D World debuted in Japan to low sales figures this month. Media Create (via NeoGAF) lists Lightning Returns, with its 277,000 sales, as outselling Super Mario 3D World, which only made its way up to 99,500 units sold. Meanwhile, Pokemon X/Y crossed 3 million Japanese sales.

This is indicative of declining sales for Square Enix, whose Final Fantasy XIII-2 sold less than half of Final Fantasy XIII's 1.5 million in their respective opening weeks. By comparison, New Super Mario Bros. U outsold Super Mario 3D World in about the same amount of time, soaring above 200,000 sales in its opening weeks.

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Nintendo Launching 3DS Guide to Louvre on eShop

Back in 2012, Nintendo partnered with the Louvre museum in Paris to offer visitors an interactive guide to the museum's treasure trove of famous art. But for those without the means to travel to France, the 3DS-enabled tour was just an interesting concept. Starting December 2, Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre will launch on the eShop, meaning you can take in some virtual masterpieces from the comfort of your couch.

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Killzone Dev Hires Fallout: New Vegas Writer

The lead writer and creative designer on Fallout: New Vegas recently joined Guerilla Games, the developer behind Killzone: Shadow Fall.

John Gonzalez left behind a lead designer role at Warner Bros. in September, where he was working on an unannounced project, according to his LinkedIn profile. Although still not specified, this may have been Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor –– Gonzalez writes on his LinkedIn page that his "focus is storytelling for open-world role-playing games. Because they are awesome."

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Steam Autumn Sale 2013 Kicks Off

Just in time to make Black Friday shopping seem superfluous, the Steam Autumn Sale has begun, bringing with it the same sort of steep discounts on digital games we've come to expect from Steam.

It turns out the leaked sale dates shared earlier this month were accurate: The Autumn Sale will run from today, November 27, through Tuesday, December 3. It appears to be a typical sale without any of the extracurricular activities seen in some of Steam's previous sales. There are the usual flash sales that change every eight hours and daily deals in addition to week-long sales on certain games.

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Is the Siren Series Returning to PlayStation 4?

Do you remember the Siren series? The PlayStation-owned survival horror franchise debuted in Japan on PS2 in 2003, and was followed-up Siren 2 on PS2 in 2006 and Siren: Blood Curse on PS3 in 2008. Ever since then, the series went quiet as the developer that made it – Japan Studio sub-team Project Siren – went on to work on the PS Vita title Gravity Rush.

But a Romanian press release -- via Gematsu -- indicates that Siren may be coming back. In a since-deleted statement in the release, it's noted that Siren will be coming to PlayStation 4 alongside already-announced titles like Infamous: Second Son, The Order: 1886, Rime, Helldivers, Shadow of the Beast, and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.

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Namco Bandai Starts Teasing New Tales Game

Be excited, JRPG fans: Namco Bandai has opened a new website teasing an upcoming announcement of a new Tales game. The website is branded “Next Tales of,” and celebrates previous games in the series. Right now, videos and imagery from the first two titles in the Tales franchise – Phantasia and Destiny – are being showcased.

A Tweet on the Tales Twitter account points to the website and confirms that a new announcement is incoming. “We are planning to announce soon the mothership title which is the latest installment of “Tales of” series…” it reads, in part.

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Games With Gold December 2013: Gears of War, Shoot Many Robots

Gears of War and Shoot Many Robots will be free for Xbox Live Gold members in December.

Epic's brutal third-person shooter will be available from December 1-15; Shoot Many Robots is free from December 16 through the end of the month. These games normally cost $20 and $10 to download, respectively.

The Games with Gold program, which began earlier this year, offers two free games to keep every month for Xbox Live Gold members. Microsoft’s Major Nelson announced earlier this month that Games with Gold is coming to the newly released Xbox One.

Brian is an Associate Editor at IGN. Follow him on Twitter @albinoalbert for cats and Dota 2.

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Mystery Science Theater 3000: 25th Anniversary DVD Review

Yes, the 25th anniversary of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is here, AKA, another reason to feel old. But at least all of us MST3K fans, or MSTies, have a great new DVD release to commemorate the occasion, thanks to Shout! Factory's new 25th Anniversary Edition DVD set, which was released this week.

Per usual, there are four films featured on this set - four films at a glance, that is, since there are actually more than that (We'll get to that...). Those four movies are Moon Zero Two, The Day The Earth Froze, The Leech Woman and Gorgo, which provide a nice overview of the show's different eras, as the first two come from the Joel Hodgson/Comedy Central days and the latter two are from the Mike Nelson/Sci-Fi Channel era. Gorgo is a particularly exciting inclusion for fans, as it's not only never been put on DVD before but was never shown in repeats, due to a copyright dispute. While I'd say Moon Zero Two is the most hit or miss of the bunch, overall, there are strong episodes featuring some great one-liners from the Joel, Mike and the bots and some classic running gags ("Sampo!").

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The Class of '92 Review

“You can’t win anything with kids.” So said Alan Hansen on a now infamous Match of the Day in 1995, following Manchester United’s 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa early in the season. The Scottish pundit was referring to manager Alex Ferguson’s decision to sell superstars Paul Ince, Andre Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes, and replace them with several of the club’s youth players.

But history was to prove Hansen very wrong, as those “kids” were David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville, who went on to win the league that season, and formed the back-bone of one of the most successful teams in football history.

The Class of 92 charts the rise of those players, who joined Manchester United as juniors, quickly claimed the FA Youth Cup, and went onto make more than 3,000 appearances for the club, winning 26 major trophies and counting.

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Forever Evil #4 Preview

As much as Forever Evil has been about the bad guys of the DCU, Geoff Johns has also brought Catwoman and Batman into the picture as they form an uneasy alliance with Lex Luthor and his growing faction. These two heroes look to take center stage in Forever Evil #4, at least judging from the preview art DC recently released. Among other things, issue #4 will see Batman taking Catwoman to the Batcave for the first time in the New 52. If the alternate cover from artist Ethan Van Sciver is to be believed, Batman may be donning a Sinestro Corps ring again.

Forever Evil #4 is written by Geoff JOhns and illustrated by David Finch. This issue is currently scheduled for release on Wednesday, December 24.

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PSN Prices Will Be Adjusted Before UK PS4 Launch

Sony has stated that pricing of digital content will be adjusted ahead of the PlayStation 4's release in the UK this Friday.

Earlier in the week IGN reported that digitally downloadable copies of launch titles were more expensive on PSN. In particular, EA were put in the spotlight with its five launch titles originally being listed at £62.99 – a full £8 more expensive than the equivalent Xbox One game.

In a statement issued to Eurogamer, Sony said, “Although PS4 launches in Europe on the 29th November, we have switched on the European PSN early to test and make sure that features and functionality are fully operational for launch.

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New Friday the 13th Movie Release Date Set

Jason Lives! Paramount has set a release date for the next Friday the 13th movie, notes Exhibitor Relations via their Twitter. Pamela Voorhees' beloved son will be back in theaters on Friday, March 13th, 2015 in all his hockey-masked glory.

No other details have been revealed yet about the film, including a writer or director, though ShockTillYouDrop notes Platinum Dunes, who produced the 2009 remake, will again produce.

Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection Blu-ray Review

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Ashes Cricket 2013 Hammered by Players, Pulled from Steam

After quietly sneaking onto Steam late last week, Ashes Cricket 2013 has been yanked from the service and is no longer available for purchase.

Customer reaction has been overwhelmingly bad, with an avalanche of negative reviews on Steam and a Metacritic user score currently sitting at 0.2.

The Ashes Cricket 2013 Facebook page, which had over 42,000 likes, has also vanished. The game’s Twitter account still exists but hasn’t published a post since September 21.

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Agents of SHIELD: "Repairs" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

First of all… See, May and Ward were totally doing it! There were some who were doubting whether that was what was meant to be inferred by the ending of last week’s episode, but this week we found out that, in fact, their liaisons are an ongoing thing. I continue to greatly enjoy this turn of events and it's worth noting the matter of fact portrayal of this May/December pairing - if you'll pardon the pun. Usually, if there's a notable age gap in a TV show or movie, it's the guy who's older and if it's the reverse, that fact is given a huge spotlight, so it's nice to see it not be the case here.

Going in, I was excited to get an episode focusing on May this week, as I like the character and Ming-Na Wen’s calm and confidant performance. But “Repairs” was frustrating in that it continued SHIELD’s reliance on only kinda/sorta giving us backstory, while making sure every character still has big question marks around what motivates them. Yes, we now know that May “crossed off the enemy force” on a rescue mission and it left her changed and acting remote. But we still don’t know anything about what exactly she did or who she was dealing with – Coulson mentioning a “gifted individual” with followers, or “worshippers,” certainly means we’ll learn more about this person down the line, but why not at least give us a name to chew on? And at the least, if May herself had spoken about what she’d gone through, rather than others, in scenes she wasn’t even in, we could have gotten to truly know her better.

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Person of Interest: "The Devil's Share" Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow…

"I want to talk about grief."

Okay. So another home-run episode for Person of Interest. Not a "10" like last week's trauma-inducing, stomach-churning "The Crossing," but still a powerful episode full of unexpected turns and swerves that satisfied on all fronts.

"The Devil's Share" was wonderfully framed by flashbacks of Finch, Reese, Shaw, and Fusco all speaking to faceless therapists/inquisitors - and this blueprint gave the episode a tremendous kick, making it not just about Reese's wrath, but about the entire team's emotional fallout. But, for my money, nothing was better than the opening five minutes that played the entire Johnny Cash cover of "Hurt." The entire song. In fact, because it was the whole song, with no other sound, it was shot like a music video - only using slow visuals to tell the story. People walking somberly, looks of longing and despair, cars getting smashed into and rolling - made all the more painful by the slowness and the music. And finally, Reese stepping out from the truck and questioning crooks with a blood-soaked picture of Simmons. A fantastic use of many mediums to tell the story of the immediate aftermath.

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Supernatural: “Rock and a Hard Place” Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

Tonight's episode seemed as if it was going to be about angels, but nope, instead it was about the Roman goddess Vesta. As far as standalone stories go, it was entertaining enough. Any time they have a new big bad to fight it’s intriguing simply because it shows there are still new villains to battle. But even with the fresh evil, most of the episode felt sleepy and by the numbers.

The highlight of the episode was watching Dean in the abstinence purity group. His new name is Dean the Oversharer. Sure, they may have gone for the obvious jokes, but they were still hilarious, and Jensen Ackles really sells them. They have the ability to keep Dean's quips and jokes at a not-annoying level. It's no small task and again, the fact that Ackles nails comedic timing helps make it possible. Much of fandom is probably wondering what exactly Suzy did with the tacos.

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Max Martini Joins Fifty Shades of Grey

Pacific Rim’s Max Martini has joined the cast of Fifty Shades of Grey, filling the production’s Pac Rim actor quota after Charlie Hunnam dropped out.

According to Deadline, Martini will play Jason Taylor, the male lead Christian Grey’s bodyguard and the head of his security team. He probably won’t pilot a Jaeger in the new film.

Max Martini

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25 Best Battles in DC Comics History

Superhero comics, by nature, are filled with a great many battles of epic proportions. DC Comics, with their long and colorful history of publishing superhero stories, holds some of the greatest battles of modern fiction within its pages.

We've decided to take a look back on DC's 75 year history and list out the best battles that have ever graced their comics, ranging from the purely physical to the most emotional and, certainly, the most influential.

As Seen In: Batman: Under the Hood

What happens when your greatest failure comes back to haunt you? We’ve seen that theme throughout the history of great fiction, not the least of which is in superhero comics. Batman’s greatest failure, of course, is Jason Todd, the second Robin who was killed at the hands of the Joker (we’ll get to that later).

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PS4: Which Features Do You Use The Most?

Last week we asked you guys to participate in our PlayStation 4 survey. With over 5,000 total responses, it was made very clear what the IGN community is doing with their new console.

Out of the box, the PlayStation 4 lets you stream your gameplay via Twitch or UStream to anyone who is willing to watch. While it is a great feature for "let's players," the IGN community isn't taking advantage of it. 24% said they use some of the PS4's streaming capabilities while 65% said they have watched someone stream from their PS4.

Like the Xbox One, the PS4 has Netflix and Hulu Plus available to stream. To no one's surprise, IGN community members use Netflix the most when compared to other entertainment apps. To put things in perspective, 61% said Netflix was their primary entertainment app while only 3% said it was Hulu Plus.

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G.I. Joe: The Coolest Baroness Collectible Ever

If you love G.I. Joe, or someone in your life does, Sideshow has quite the collectible. The latest in their line of high end G.I. Joe releases, the new Baroness Premium Format "Classic Version" Figure is a very cool and attention-getting addition to a Joe fan's collection.

"COBRA!"

This is actually a revamped version of a Baroness figure first released a couple of years ago, which soon sold out its limited edition run of 750. That version was in Baroness' more well-known black outfit, while the new one is in the dark blue Cobra colors the character was first introduced wearing, hence the "Classic" titling. This is a rare second chance for G.I. Joe fans to get a rather stunning collectible based on one of the most popular characters from the series.

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Sony and PlayStation 4: Silence Is Golden

After what seemed like eons of waiting, the PlayStation 4 is finally here. In its first 24 hours on the market in the United States and Canada alone, it sold a staggering one million units, blowing away day one (and even week one) numbers from some of the biggest consoles of all-time, like PlayStation 2 and Wii. (A couple million more are on backorder.) With its European release imminent – where the PlayStation brand was strongest in the PS3 era – and 2013 launches planned for other parts of the world, PlayStation 4 is looking at a few million sold before the calendar year ends.

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Uncanny Avengers #14 Review

From the beginning, Uncanny Avengers has lurked on the periphery of the Avengers franchise. It features an A-List cast, certainly, but it hasn't really interacted with books like Avengers or New Avengers. Issue #14 is the point where the series looks to begin leaving its mark on the wider Marvel Universe. Marvel promised earth-shattering developments with this new chapter. And while there's plenty left uncertain or up in the air as this issue closes, there's not a sense that all the hype was overblown.

The most obvious and immediate change with this issue is that Steve McNiven has replaced Danial Acuna as penciller. And thus, Uncanny Avengers' habit of attracting the best and brightest talent at Marvel continues. The transitions is slightly jarring in the sense that issue #14 isn't the start of a new story arc so much as a direct continuation of the previous issue. But at this point, Uncanny Avengers doesn't really break down into discrete, isolated arcs.

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Homefront Review

Based on a novel by Chuck Logan, Homefront was adapted for the screen many years ago by none other than Sylvester Stallone. The film originally also had Stallone set to star, but it failed to ever get off the ground and the script was shelved. Eventually, Stallone was too old to play the lead, and Homefront was forgotten. The project was eventually revived with Jason Statham stepping into Sly's would-be role and Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls) directing. The question is, was it worth reviving?

The story centers on a former DEA agent, Phil Broker (Statham), who retires to a quiet town for the sake of his 10-year-old daughter Maddy (Izabela Vidovic). Soon, however, Broker tangles with a local meth drug lord, Gator Bodine (James Franco), who has his sights set on exposing Broker's troubled past.

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This Week on the PSN (November 26, 2013)

Every Tuesday, Sony drops a bunch of new stuff onto the PlayStation Network. Those with a PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, or PlayStation Vita can download these goodies, which include PSN games, movies, themes and more. While the Official PlayStation Blog outlines these updates in full each week, we thought we'd help truncate the good news into something more digestible.

There are no new PS4 games this week.

And here are this week’s new digitally-available PlayStation 3 games. Additionally, you can begin pre-ordering Gran Turismo 6 for $59.99.

• Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory ($39.99)


• Painkiller: Hell & Damnation ($29.99)


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EVE Fanfest 2014 Tickets Available Now, Charity Announced

Tickets for EVE Fanfest, the annual celebration in Reykjavik, Iceland, are on sale now for the event.

Fanfest 2014 runs from May 1 - 3, 2014, including events such as EVE Online and Dust 514 reveals, live tournaments, and a charity dinner with CCP Games CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, as well as a number of unannounced events.

“EVE Fanfest is our chance to bring our community together in Reykjavik, the birthplace of the EVE Universe, and further forge our connection with the greatest gamers in the world," Pétursson said in a press statement. "EVE Fanfest is an experience like no other and is not to be missed."

Standard admission tickets are $175.00 (€115.00), while a number of limited "early bird" tickets can be purchased as well, for $150.00 (€110.00).

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Wrestling Wrap Up: Cena vs Orton/Both Belts on the Line

"Cir-cum-cision!" *clap clap clapclapclap*

Oh, Kosher Butcher. How I wish you were part of the main WWE roster. Keeping the ring shellfish-free, not mixing the meats and dairies. You are sorely needed, my friend.

And I certainly wish you'd been a part of Survivor Series, one of the most dull and listless Pay-Per-Views since…well, the last WWE PPV.

Yeah, we're in one crap of a slump here, with virtually no interest present whatsoever in Cena vs. Orton Vol. 217. Even if the WWE is teasing a unification of the belts which, to be clear, is NOT what this upcoming TLC match is all about. It's about who gets to be the "face" of the company. And both belts dangling from the wire means that either one guy with be both the World Champ and the WWE Champ or (most likely) they'll each grab a belt and switch titles. Because have no doubts, this is all a way to get the WWE strap on Cena. Even with all the talk of him trying to "elevate" the status of the WHC.

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Mark Ruffalo Has the Avengers 2 Script

Don't consider this news as much as a reason for fanboy excitement: Mark Ruffalo has tweeted that the script for Avengers: Age of Ultron is now in his possession:

Okay. Just got the New Avengers Script. And I am going to read it now. I hope Banner/Hulk are represented. @Marvel @josswhedon. Fingers X'd. twitter.com/Mruff221

— Mark Ruffalo (@Mruff221) November 25, 2013

Does this make you more excited for Avengers 2? Or are you done already? Let's talk it out in the comments, as we have almost two years to kill anyway before the film comes out...

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World War Z Author on His Latest Project

Max Brooks, son of Mel Brooks and author of publications like World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, has a new graphic novel coming out, Shadow Walk, that he worked on alongside Thomas Tull, Mark Waid and Shane Davis.

Hitting shelves on November 27, the comic asks a simple question: What if the Shadow of the Valley of Death was real, physical place? Three separate paranormal incidents over the last century, in a valley near modern-day Iraq, seem to give credence to this claim. When satellite photos taken over the area hint at a dangerous new energy source, the U.S. decides to send in a Spec-Ops team to locate and extract it before it can fall into enemy hands.

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Look at This “Look at Me” Supercut

At first I was merely amused by this supercut of movie and TV characters saying “look at me” over and over again. The cuts happen fast and it’s fun to try to name all the movies and TV shows.

Slowly, however, my amusement gave way to discomfort. Discomfort then became horror as the words lost all meaning and my consciousness slipped into a trance-like abyss. By the 90-second mark each new “look at me” felt like hearing nails on a chalkboard while being punched in the throat. And yet, I just couldn’t…stop…looking.

Enjoy!

Would you like to know more? Follow @adamdileo on Twitter or adam_dileo on IGN. Service guarantees citizenship.

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We’ve Seen Part of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Minor spoilers for Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit follow.

In October 2009, news broke that Paramount Pictures would reboot Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series (which included The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears) with Star Trek star Chris Pine in the leading role. On January 17, 2014, after jumping scheduling hurdles and settling on a creative duo of writer David Koepp (Jurassic Park) and director Kenneth Branagh (Thor), Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit finally hits theaters.

Monday night, Paramount screened select footage from their long-gestating tentpole, with Pine on hand to present the reel, taking a break from his duties as Cinderella's Prince in the currently-shooting Into the Woods. And any worry that Jack Ryan would arrive with battle scars from the windy road to realization were immediately put to rest. The brief footage we saw is slick as hell and, perhaps more importantly, audiences got a taste of a different side of Pine. This is not the James T. Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise dressed in an Armani suit. Pine agrees.

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