Category: Games

Netflix is planning a new influencer reality TV show in Australia, but residents and businesses in the area are revolting and trying to stop the production from coming to town.

The show is called “Byron Baes,” and it’s set in the oceanside community of New South Wales’ Byron Bay, a popular beach community where Chris Hemsworth has a home. It’s also the site of the annual Byron Bay Blues Festival and it’s generally known to be a relatively quiet place that serves as an escape when people want to get out of the city and relax.

Netflix has proposed filming a reality show there and locals aren’t having it. According to The Hollywood Reporter, about 100 surfers went into the water on Tuesday to form a “cancel” symbol to protest the series. Some local businesses have refused to sign filming permits, such as the Byron Bay General Store.

“They’re proposing to drag our name through the mud and make millions of dollars without offering anything back to the community and completely misrepresenting who we are and it’s totally wrong,” store operator Ben Gordon said. “There was no consultation whatsoever. They just came in unannounced.”

For its part, Netflix said Byron Baes is trying to be an “authentic and honest” shows that “embraces the drama, heartbreak, and conflict that makes for such entertaining viewing.”

“Our goal is to lift the curtain on influencer culture to understand the motivation, the desire, and the pain behind this very human need to be loved,” a spokesperson said.

“The reason behind choosing Byron Bay as a location was driven by the area’s unique attributes as a melting pot of entrepreneurialism, lifestyle and health practices, and the sometimes uneasy coming together of the traditional ‘old Byron’ and the alternative ‘new,’ all of which we’ll address in the series.”

Byron Bay has successfully kept its small-town stature in recent years, blocking proposals from the likes of McDonald’s and KFC to open restaurants there.

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Despite not having officially announced a run for the position of Texas governor, actor Matthew McConaughey has outpolled the sitting governor Greg Abbot. The Texas born-and-raised actor has teased a potential run for governor, and seems to have the support of Texas voters, Entertainment Weekly reports.

The poll, which surveyed 1126 registered voters in Texas, was released Sunday by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas. 45% of those polled said they would vote for potential celebrity candidate Matthew McConaughey, where 33% preferred incumbent Greg Abbott, and another 22% said they would rather vote for someone else.

McConaughey had more support from Democratic voters, with 66% of them preferring him to the other options, while only 30% of Republican voters showed support for the actor. McConaughey has described himself as a centrist, and in the past has criticized both Democrats and Republicans, so it’s unclear how an actual campaign from the actor would go.

“Right now, where politics has gone, where the great divide not only in Texas but in the United States, the left thinks the right’s racist and the right thinks the left’s Socialist. Well, that ain’t true.” McConaughey said in an explanation of his politics in an interview with the Austin American-Statesman. “Then you go, well, the left is for empathy, compassion and solidarity; well the right’s for resilience and work ethic and responsibility. I’m like, I like all six of those. Those are values that our mamas taught us.”

If McConaughey does decide to run for governor, he could be the latest in a long line of celebrity governors that includes Ronald Reagan, “Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jesse Ventura. McConaughey still hasn’t decided whether it’s the right path for him, however, saying “I’m ready to step into a leadership position in this next chapter of my life, but I don’t know that that’s in politics.”

After three years of work, Moscow’s Dream Island theme park is opening its Hotel Transylvania attraction for the first time, in anticipation of the upcoming fourth movie in the series, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. The attraction will see guests welcomed inside the titular Hotel Transylvania, where they will be guided through multiple locations by Dracula himself.

Dream Island in Moscow is Europe’s largest indoor theme park, a fitting location for the vampire-themed attraction. As well as the hotel tour ride, the Hotel Transylvania-themed area of Dream Island will also include a Tavern of Fear snack bar, a Vampire’s Bite burger café, and a merchandise store named Transylvania Treasures.

A preview of the attraction posted to YouTube shows many of the Hotel’s denizens brought to life through special effects and animatronics, as well as a high level of detailing in the castle’s decoration. Dream Island’s other licensed attractions feature Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, The Smurfs, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while other areas are themed after fairytales and famous tourist attractions around the world.

The ride is the second internationally to be themed after Hotel Transylvania, with a dark ride based on the franchise having been built at Dubai’s MotionGate Theme Park–which also has a John Wick-themed roller coaster in the works.

The launch of Dream Island’s take on Hotel Transylvania was timed to match up with the release of Hotel Transylvania: Transformania–the fourth and final film in the franchise, which is due to release on July 23 in the United States.

The Academy Awards are back with the iconic awards show’s first ceremony since COVID-19 changed everything about live events. While the Oscars have been pushing to get back to something resembling the pre-pandemic norm, the ceremony will still be quite different to years past. Here’s how you can watch it for yourself.

The most notable difference in this year’s event will be the location. While certain parts of the show will be streamed from within the show’s normal home of the Dolby Theatre, the majority of it will take place in an open-air venue at Los Angeles’ Union Station.

Parts of the show will also be streamed from international locations–such as a performance of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’s nominated song Husavik performed in the town of Húsavík, Iceland–though the event organisers are looking to cut down on Zoom call-ins wherever possible.

Like the aforementioned Husavik, all this year’s Oscar-nominated songs will be performed in their entirety as part of the pre-show, rather than having the performances as part of the ceremony itself.

As far as nominees, Chadwick Boseman is in the running for a posthumous Best Lead Actor win for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, after winning the Golden Globe for the same role earlier this year. Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland is considered the front-runner in a Best Picture race that also includes Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, David Fincher’s Mank, and Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah. Check out all the nominees for the 2021 awards here.

When and where to watch the Oscars on TV

The 93rd Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, April 25, after being delayed due to COVID-19. The red carpet kicks off at 6:30 PM ET, with the ceremony itself beginning at 8 PM ET.

The show, which will be hostless as it has been for the past two years, will still be broadcast live on ABC. ABC’s coverage will start with the “Oscars: Into the Spotlight” pre-show at 6:30 PM, which will include footage from a stripped back red carpet that has been described as a “a teeny-tiny red carpet” by producer Stacey Sher. Instead of the usual red carpet crowds, only nominees, their guests, and presenters will be present–though the Academy has asked attendees to put more effort into their dress than the pandemic-inspired loungewear seen at other award shows.

Where to watch the Oscars online

The ceremony and pre-show can also be viewed through the ABC app for viewers who authenticate through their cable or satellite service. ABC will also make the show available on-demand after the ceremony. Cable-cutters can also stream the show through services such as YouTube TV, FuboTV, or Hulu with Live TV. Viewers who don’t have any of these services who are happy to just watch the highlights can also follow along on the official Oscars YouTube channel.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone are entering Season 3 with some huge changes to core multiplayer and Warzone. Cold War is getting three new operators, including Wraith, Knight, and Antonov. Not to be left out, Modern Warfare’s Captain Price will also be joining the roster. Season 3 will add six new weapons:PPSh-41: SMG, Swiss K31: Sniper Rifle, Ballistic Knife, CARV.2: Tactical Rifle, AMP63: Pistol, and a Baseball Bat.

In terms of locations, Cold War picks up four multiplayer locations, which are Yamanatau, Diesel, Standoff, and Duga. Yamantau is a mountainous 6v6 map; Diesel supports multiple player counts and is set in a badlands gas station; Standoff is a classic Black Ops 2 remake map, and Duga is a multi-team map set around the massive radar array in the Ural Mountains. Alongside these maps are added modes, such as Sticks and Stones, as well as Multi-Team Elimination, which sounds a lot like classic battle royale with teams fleeing radiation zones. Finally, there’s a new mid-tier Scorestreak: Strafe Run that lasts longer than comparable streaks Napalm Strike and is designed for better area denial.

On the other hand, Zombies fans are getting the new Field Upgrade: Toxic Growth, a special perk that can be used in round-based maps and Outbreak, which slows zombies with a deadly growth of toxic thorns. The Duga region will also come to Outbreak with new secrets to find.

Finally, the Warzone map event has entered a Containment Protocol phase with Corruption Zones springing up around the map that can turn players into zombies leading up to Operation Rapid Sunder on Wednesday, April 21st.

Shaun Escayg, writer and creative director of Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers, has announced he has left the studio and returned to work for former employer Naughty Dog. Prior to his departure from “the kennel” back in 2018, Escayg worked as a cinematic animator for The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 as well as game director and writer for Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. While he has yet to announce what project he’ll be working on, from the looks of his Twitter bio Escayg is back to writing and directing. Naughty Dog later shared the news, tweeting it’s “looking forward to doing awesome stuff together.”

The news of Escayg’s departure from Crystal Dynamics comes less than a year after Marvel’s Avengers’ release and subsequent lackluster sales. Despite praise towards the game’s single-player campaign and protagonist Kamala Khan, the game suffered from a plethora of technical difficulties that “rendered the game unplayable at times,” according to our review. However, Escayg has assured fans not to be worried about the future of the game, tweeting “Marvel’s Avengers is in good hands.”

As for what kind of “awesome stuff” Escayg and the rest of the Naughty Dog staff will be working on together, the options seem endless as more and more projects are teased over at the studio. Earlier this year, studio co-president and game director Neil Druckmann retweeted a post from the official Naughty Dog Jobs account listing off dozens of new positions the studio was looking to fill. According to Druckmann, the new hires would join the team to work on an (at the time) unannounced project, and get the chance to “make something very cool.”

Since these jobs were listed, a handful of titles have been either rumored or confirmed, including an unnamed online, multiplayer game, The Last of Us 3, and a remake of The Last of Us. The only option off the table, according to Druckmann, is a new Uncharted game. Back in 2016, Druckmann said Naughty Dog would no longer work on the Uncharted series, but was not opposed to handing the IP to a new studio. However, there’s always the chance that time and the return of Escayg could lead to a change of heart.

Reflections are a movie camera’s arch nemesis, and VFX artists spend a bunch of time taking them out. But it’s not often the reflection comes from a main character’s moving helmet, as is the case with John Cena’s Peacemaker character in the upcoming The Suicide Squad film, James Gunn says.

“Peacemaker’s helmet is a damn mirror ball,” said director James Gunn in response to a question on Twitter. “We need to remove me and the crew from every single shot in which we use it, in the movie and in the [HBO Max spinoff] show.

Peacemaker‘s mirror-reflective helmet protects his mind from the voices that haunt him (seriously), but it’s also a unique problem for a filmmaker. A round, reflective surface like this is going to catch not just the camera, but the entire set all around the actor. And being that it’s a helmet, it has all the unpredictability that comes with a human moving around on camera.

To solve the issue, Gunn explains, the crew has to shoot a full wrap-around plate to apply to the helmet in those cases. Interestingly, this is not completely unlike the video game technique of Cube Mapping, which is how many modern games simulate reflections.

If you’ve been on the internet at all in the past few years, you’ve almost certainly seen the memes that play on John Cena’s “You can’t see me” slogan. It’s funny, then, that his character, Peacemaker, is the one giving people behind the camera a headache.

The Suicide Squad is scheduled to hit theaters on August 6, 2021, and Cena’s Peacemaker spinoff in January 2022.

Rumors have been swirling since last June that the upcoming Flash film is set to go the way of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with two version of Batman appearing in the film. After speculation and some recent doubt, Keaton is now set to reprise his role as Batman in The Flash, according to TheWrap.

Michael Keaton’s talent agency, ICM Partners, confirmed to TheWrap that Keaton will indeed appear in the film. While rumors started back in June, Keaton himself threw all that into doubt in a March interview with Deadline. There, Keaton said the “COVID situation in the UK” would “determine everything.” The actor said that the pandemic was informing all of his decisions for upcoming roles.

“Is this thing going to kill me, literally? And you know, if it doesn’t, then we talk,” Keaton had said.

Keaton first played Batman in the 1989 eponymous film, which was one of the very first superhero films and the first superhero blockbuster. The Flash, directed by Andy Muschietti, will use the Flashpoint storyline. In this story, Barry Allen goes back in time–a thing The Flash can do (and does in Zack Snyder’s Justice League)–to prevent the murder of his mother. The change has a variety of knock-on effects that start with him never becoming the Flash and end with Aquaman and Wonder Woman in an apocalyptic war.

The scale of the long-in-development live-action film will likely be quite different–we haven’t heard word of Jason Momoa or Gal Gadot appearing in the film just yet, for example–but it looks like Warner Bros. is still hoping to push The Flash into some weird places. In addition to Keaton, Ben Affleck will appear as Batman. That’s right: two Batmen. The Flash is officially starting production today, but things have been ramping up in recent weeks with regard to casting. While Billy Crudup left the film (again), Ron Livingston (Office Space) is on-board to play Barry’s father, Henry Allen. Kiersey Clemons will play Iris West, and Maribel Verdu will appear as Barry’s mother, Nora Allen. Perhaps the biggest casting news, though, is that Sasha Calle will appear in the film as Supergirl, a character who hasn’t seen the silver screen since the 1984 Supergirl film starring Helen Slater.

The Flash is currently scheduled to hit theaters on November 4, 2022.