Category Archives: Video

Sony celebrates 20 years of PlayStation with a retro-designed limited edition console

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This December 3 marked the 20th anniversary of PlayStation. It was on that day in 1994 when Sony released the original PlayStation in Japan forever changing the gaming landscape and evolving the industry into what it has become today: a place to play and discover and wow with incredible, life-like graphics and intuitive mechanics.

To celebrate 20 years of PlayStation, Sony is manufacturing a special, limited edition PS4 with a design that harkens back to the aforementioned OG PlayStation. The bundle is packed with a 20th Anniversary Edition PS4, DualShock 4 wireless controller, PlayStation Camera, and a vertical stand all coated in the same Original Grey finish as the PS1. You’ll also spot the original PS logo across the new hardware, as well as a cool 20/X/Square/Triangle pattern design scheme embossed all over the console and the controller’s touch pad. And when Sony says “limited,” they mean it: only 12,300 of these bad boys will be made (that number matches the PS1’s release date–neat, huh?). Consoles will be specially marked with their number (as in x/12,300). Want one? Today (12/6) the company put it up for preorder on its online store and to nobody’s surprise it sold out in minutes. This is not to say Sony won’t release another batch, but eBay will likely end up being your best bet in the future.

Already own a PS4 and still want to get in on the celebration? Sony’s got you covered: fire up your console, download the latest firmware update, and you’ll be privy to a free PS1 retro theme that takes over your home screen with a predominantly grey color scheme with floating colorful O’s, X’s, Squares, and Triangles. It also features a familiar boot-up sound! Preview the theme here.

Elsewhere in PS Land, Sony is holding its inaugural PlayStation Experience this weekend in Las Vegas. Some cool announcements worth mentioning follow, in brief. Remember when Microsoft offered those customizable console faceplates for its Xbox 360? Well, Sony is following in their footsteps with new faceplates to spruce up the PS4 for those so inclined. “Project Skylight Beta” is currently offering two faceplates at $24.99 apiece featuring designs inspired by the games The Order: 1886 and LittleBigPlanet 3 with more on the way. Removing the console’s current faceplate and snapping in a new one is, well, a snap; Sony demonstrates the painless process here.

Also at PSX, the company held a keynote for fans brimming with upcoming titles for PS4, PS3, and PS Vita. Engadget‘s done a nice job of collecting trailers for the announced games. Ones that popped out for me include this new look at Hello Games’ trippy exploration adventure No Man’s Sky, this first look at Capcom’s fifth major installment in the Street Fighter franchise, and this 15-minute preview of stunning in-game footage from Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Oh, and speaking of games, EA is handing out three free (I’ll reiterate: free) games at this very moment. PS4 owners can download the addictive animated shooter Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, PS3 users can nab the uniquely first person Mirror’s Edge, and handheld Vita gamers are awarded Need for Speed: Most Wanted. You’ll want to hop on this fast–these awesome deals expire tonight at midnight PST/3am EST.

Jump after the break to continue the anniversary celebration with unboxing videos and a special clip featuring Sackboy and the rest of the LittleBigPlanet universe embodying the past 20 years of PlayStation. Continue reading Sony celebrates 20 years of PlayStation with a retro-designed limited edition console →

‘Terminator: Genisys’ trailer introduces a new past for Sarah Connor to escape

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His catchphrase is “I’ll be back,” so we should have known all along that action hero and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would eventually reprise his iconic role as The Terminator in that film franchise. The latest Terminator movie, Terminator: Genisys, is more of a reboot than a sequel. Like J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek it intends to roll around in the playground already laid out by James Cameron in the 1984 original, but it introduces a new timeline that allows for a new story to unfold. As we’ve seen play out time and again, John Connor–leader of the resistance–will send his trusted lieutenant Kyle Reese back in time to save Conner’s mother Sarah to ensure his existence. However, this time around, Reese will be sent to a brand new past we haven’t seen before. The movie’s Wikipedia page does a pretty solid job in summing it all up:

The movie will take advantage of a more comprehensive grandfather paradox that includes a parallel universe. In Terminator Genisys, Kyle Reese traveling from Universe A will end up in a Universe B, created when Skynet attempted to kill Sarah Connor during childhood. Together, Reese and Sarah will attempt to create a Universe C that would obliterate both Universe A and B, and in which the events of Judgment Day (Skynet’s launching of World War III, devastating humanity) would have never happened.

Make sense? Well there it is. Jason Clarke (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) stars as John Connor, Jai Courtney is Kyle Reese, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) is a bad-ass Sarah Connor, and Lee Byung-hun is the new liquid metal T-1000. Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World, Game of Thrones) directs.

Terminator: Genisys releases July 1, 2015. Eye a teaser poster after the break. Continue reading ‘Terminator: Genisys’ trailer introduces a new past for Sarah Connor to escape →

‘Toy Story’ special & new Netflix original ‘Marco Polo’ premiere this month [Update: ‘Black Mirror’ Christmas special]

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Now here’s something to tide you over until Disney and Pixar unleash Toy Story 4: it’s another Toy Story TV special, a follow-up to 2013’s Toy Story of Terror! Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reprise their roles as Woody and Buzz Lightyear (alongside other fan favorite characters) in a half-hour tale titled Toy Story That Time Forgot.

During a post-Christmas play date, the Toy Story gang find themselves in uncharted territory when the coolest set of action figures ever turn out to be dangerously delusional. It’s all up to Trixie, the triceratops, if the gang hopes to return to Bonnie’s room in this Toy Story That Time Forgot.

Watch the trailer here. The special premieres Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 8pm on ABC.

Jump after the break to preview Netflix’s latest drama. Continue reading ‘Toy Story’ special & new Netflix original ‘Marco Polo’ premiere this month [Update: ‘Black Mirror’ Christmas special] →

Saul Goodman meets Mike Ehrmantraut in ‘Better Call Saul’ pilot preview

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Better Call Saul is coming soon, and to celebrate its anticipated premiere, AMC aired an actual scene pulled directly from the pilot episode during Sunday night’s tragic midseason finale of The Walking Dead. In it, Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman prototype Jimmy McGill meets a familiar face for the first time: it’s Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut who’s reprising his character from Breaking Bad. As you’d probably guess, things don’t get off to such a great start for these two.

BCS premieres Feb. 8 at 10pm on AMC.

‘House of Cards’ season 3 lands February premiere date

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And now, a special message from the White House: Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood returns to our screens on February 27, 2015. The official House of Cards Twitter account revealed the season three premiere date on Monday with a silent clip embedded here. All 13 episodes will launch at once, naturally, on Netflix.

Movie trailer round-up: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, ‘Jurassic World’ & ‘Pan’

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It’s here, and it’s glorious. Today director J.J. Abrams released upon the world his vision for Star Wars. Tatooine? Droids! Stormtropers! A landspeeder? X-wing starfighters! A triple-bladed lightsaber! TIE fighters? The Millennium Falcon! John Williams’ iconic score! A Sith (?) foreboding the reawakening of the Force: “There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? The Dark side…and the Light.”

The 88-second teaser takes no time to prove its might; it is extremely effective in teasing the seventh episode in the Star Wars saga. It injects the classic Star Wars universe with fresh characters (see John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, and is that Adam Driver as the shadowy villain?), potential new worlds (I’m pretty certain the desert world is Tattoine, but what about those water and icey worlds?), and a visual style that grounds CG animation with practical finesse (how fantastically gritty is that Stormtrooper reveal sequence at 0:32!). The flashy clip does raise more questions than answers, doesn’t it? Why is Boyega wearing a Stormstrooper suit? Is he actually playing a baddie, or is he taking a cue from the Luke/Han playbook and simply impersonating one? Better question: Why are Imperial Stromtroopers still around, and more, why are TIE fighters still flying the skies chasing after X-wing starfighters? At the end of Return of the Jedi our heroes defeated the Galactic Empire, right? Or perhaps they merely put a major dent in it and now, after many years have passed, The Empire will rise again with a new villain at the helm. The timing is on point: The Force, which apparently has been in a slumber, is making a comeback and both the Dark side and the Light will battle for supremacy again. Please share your theories in the comments section below!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, also starring Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Crystal Clarke, Pip Andersen, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow and original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker, opens December 18th, 2015.

Jump after the break for more trailers. Continue reading Movie trailer round-up: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, ‘Jurassic World’ & ‘Pan’ →

Peter Jackson enlists former Hobbit Billy Boyd to perform franchise swan song

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I’ve got the strangest feeling in the pit of my stomach; there’s pure excitement and there’s undeniable sadness lingering as we approach the release of Peter Jackson’s final film in the Hobbit trilogy. Not only will The Battle of the Five Armies close the book on The Hobbit movies, but it also serves as the last chapter in Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s tale of Middle-earth. So how does one properly say goodbye to characters and settings you’ve grown to know and cherish across 13 years and 6 movies? The director enlisted actor and musician Billy Boyd–who played Hobbit Pippin in the Lord of the Rings trilogy–to perform the Five Armies swan song. “The Last Goodbye,” written by Boyd, Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, will play when the credits roll at the end of the last Hobbit movie and will surely leave fans with a feeling of closure. “We came all this way, and now comes the day, we bid you farewell,” sings Boyd on the soft, charming tune.

“We had to get the song just right, to send the audience out of the movie theater in the most perfect way we could,” Boyd tells Entertainment Weekly. “I think we discovered very quickly this wasn’t just a song to end The Battle of the Five Armies—it was a song to say goodbye to Middle-earth.” He added, “…being asked to go back to that, to work in that wonderful fantasy world again and to be singing the song that says goodbye to Middle-earth for everyone involved and the fans who took this beautiful journey with us is truly a great, great honor.”

Though “The Last Goodbye” doesn’t carry the same oomph as Ed Sheeran’s closing song used in The Desolation of Smaug, it serves its purpose with flying colors as it aims to peacefully put the stories of Middle-earth to rest. Watch Pippin Boyd perform his song in the video embedded above; it’s set against scenes across Hobbit and LOTR films, so embrace yourself for pangs of nostalgia and bring the hankies.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies releases December 17. Download “The Last Goodbye” at iTunes.

Kanye West puts his stamp on Lorde’s ‘Hunger Games’ track “Yellow Flicker Beat”

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New Zealand singer songwriter Lorde was given the keys to curate the official soundtrack for the latest Hunger Games film, that is, Mockingjay Part 1. She got to handpick the artists featured on the album and she collaborated with them to set a particular mood and tone for the 14-song soundtrack. Two of those tracks were imagined by Lorde herself, and one of them caught the eye of Kanye West. The rapper puts his signature twist on Lorde’s “Yellow Flicker Beat,” turning the rather upbeat tune into a darker and frankly more haunting symphony. Listen to the remix above; click here to watch Lorde dance around to the original version. Mockingjay Part 1 hits theatres November 21, and Lorde’s curated soundtrack is out now on iTunes.

Movie trailer round-up: ‘Peanuts’ & Disney’s ‘Cinderella’ [Update: ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ inside]

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When the first teaser for director Paul Feig’s adaptation of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts landed in March, I was lamenting the fact that his creative team decided to go with CG-animation as opposed to the classic hand-drawn style from the comic strips. But now, the more I watch this new trailer, I’m convinced a fun story can be told through the CG lens. I can appreciate the fact that Feig and co. opted to take Charlie Brown and Snoopy into new territory while still retaining some of the nostalgic squiggly lines there. What do you think?

Peanuts makes its big-screen debut November 6, 2015.

Jump after the break to see the trailer for Kenneth Branagh’s imagining of the Disney classic Cinderella. Continue reading Movie trailer round-up: ‘Peanuts’ & Disney’s ‘Cinderella’ [Update: ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ inside] →

Ready, set, “Too Many Cooks”

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I’ll be brief, because the video hanging above is quite possibly the greatest thing to take the Internet by storm. This week Adult Swim filled 11 minutes of late-night airtime (at 4am, to be exact) with a short called Too Many Cooks. Directed and written by Casper Kelly, it starts off as an innocuous parody of classic 80s sitcoms like Family Matters. Give it time, and soon enough it spirals into a TV genre parody mashup that gets more bizarre and definitively disturbing by the second. It’s best if you go into it knowing not much more than this. So with that, you’ve been warned.

Editor’s note: Get through the entire thing to fully appreciate it! Because when you realize its brilliance, that’s the most profound reward.

Magic: Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” mashed with an aerobic workout from the 80s

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Feel free to file this under Weird, But Cool! YouTuber Thomas Jung must have had some sort of epiphany of epic proportions when he thought to pair this seemingly random aerobic workout video from the 80s with Taylor Swift’s hot single “Shake It Off.” BECAUSE THE SONG SYNCS TO THE CHOREOGRAPHY NEARLY PERFECTLY. See for yourself!

Oh, and you want to know what else is oddly coincidental? The workout video is from 1989, the name of Swift’s new album. Ack!