Category: News

SEGA to Port Older Games After ‘Persona 4 Golden’s Success on Steam

It’s always interesting to see how a success story can shape a company’s future business practices. SEGA just recently launched a port of the PSP exclusive Persona 4 Golden on Steam. This was a huge surprise, as it was the first time the franchise has left the realm of PlayStation. Luckily, this paid off for them in record time. It is now Steam’s most-played non-MMO JRPG. As a fan of the franchise, this was fantastic to see, as it could entice SEGA to release ports of older entries. I never had a chance to play the third installment and always was hoping to get a chance to do so. Sadly, the game is not available where I live and some used copies can fetch a price of up to €250.

Luckily, this gamble paid off so well that SEGA has confirmed this notion moving forward. In a recent investor Q&A, they confirmed that they plan on broadening their approach to porting past releases. That means not only through Steam but also through other platforms. This could indicate that dormant franchises could finally make a return. We already have seen the first steps of this strategy. In a recent Nintendo Direct Mini, they announced a remaster of the cult classic Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne for the Switch. This is a perfect opportunity to potentially reignite interest for new entries in these franchises.
A personal hope would be to see the return of Skies of Arcadia Legends. It was one of the best-reviewed games on the Dreamcast but it sadly under-performed on a dying console. While it did get an expanded port to the GameCube, the dwindling interest in JRPGs at the time sadly disheartened any further development. Even the creator has been vocally pushing for the franchise’s return. Persona 4 Golden‘s success proved that there is a noticeable market for this genre once again. If a port of this game could draw in an audience, there is a chance we could see this franchise make a return after almost 20 years. This is just one example of what SEGA could accomplish with this strategy and am looking forward to what the future will bring.

Source: VG24/7, Push Square, Nintendo, IGN, EuroGamer

August 11, 2020
Spidey 3 Allegedly Titled ‘SPIDER-MAN: HOMESICK’

In what’s probably a case of something being too good to be true, it seems that everyone in the entertainment industry other than me already knows the title to the third installment of Marvel Studios and Sony’s Spider-Man franchise. And the kicker is they’re casually flaunting it and nobody’s noticing! If the internet and some rumblings on the ground are to be believed, we’ll all be watching Spider-Man: Homesick in theaters next December.

UPDATE: According to a report from The Direct, Maxim magazine, one of the sites referring to the film as Homesick, based their decision on rumors and speculation, shining doubt on the legitimacy of the title.

This is not a confirmation on my part but simply me sharing evidence that’s out there. Whether or not this is the official title or not remains to be seen. Take a look at what’s out there already:

Both Esquire and Maxim have, for quite some time now, listed Spider-Man: Homesick on their websites’ respective upcoming superhero films pages.

If this isn’t the title, it wouldn’t be the first time a mistake like this has happened (Jude Law was playing Mar-Vell and the Controller was going to be the villain in Guardians of the Galaxy, after all) and it wouldn’t be a big deal. On the other hand, it also wouldn’t be the first time the title to an upcoming Marvel Studios film casually leaked. You might remember that we all found out about the last Avengers film’s Endgame subtitle when the composer leaked it on his resume. So it really could go either way, which is why we asked around a little bit to see what we could find out.

While we certainly can’t get confirmation from the studio, we did some digging around. As we reported the other day, set construction and prep work for the film has already begun in Atlanta where it is also being referred to as Homesick. Is that what it’s being called because, other than me, everyone has read Esquire and Maxim or is that what it’s called because that’s what it’s called? Your call but that’s not the only name we’ve heard and

Spider-Man: Homesick (?) should swing into theaters December 17th, 2021.

August 11, 2020
DC Hit Hard as Warnermedia Swings the Ax

Just twelve days before the highly anticipated Fandome event scheduled to go live on August 22nd and celebrate all things DC, Warnermedia’s restructuring process has begun, affecting many under the brand including those around DC. Employees within the company were informed of the mass layoffs that stretched from comics to the DCU streaming service.

With Jim Lee set to continue his active role as CCO, the biggest losses suffered at DC comics included senior story editor Brian Cunningham, editor-in-chief Bob Harris, VP of marketing and creative services Jonah Weiland, VP of global publishing initiatives and digital strategy Bobbie Chase, senior VP of publishing strategy and support services Hank Kanalz and executive editor Mark Doyle.

It’s being reported that DC Universe had lost a good majority of its staff, coming just a few days after the social media pages for Titans and Harley Quinn removed the ‘DC Universe’ tagline from their names and a few weeks after it was announced that Stargirl would be leaving the service for the CW network. Ever since it was announced that Doom Patrol would be streaming on HBO Max as well, it was blatantly obvious that the waters were being tested to see if it would be a good fit for the service. It’s currently unknown what the future of Titans and Young Justice will be but HBO Max seems like their best bet with both already in development of their next season. It doesn’t seem likely that Bizarro World would find a home at HBO Max, with Strange Adventures, another Anthology series, already in development at max.

The final fatality of today’s news was that after 22 years DC Direct, manufacturer of the DC collectibles brand will be closing its doors. It’s currently unclear if the brand will be picked up by WB’s consumer products division, but it wouldn’t be a surprise as they’d recently begun releasing merchandise for Wonder Woman 1984.

To see many of these great people and parts of DC wiped away by these uncertain times is unfortunate, as many of them had developed such memorable parts of DC history. I truly hope the best for everyone affected by today’s unfortunate news.

August 11, 2020
Report: ‘MS. MARVEL’ Looking to Cast Some Key Roles

A new report from the Illuminerdi indicates that Ms. Marvel, one of several planned streaming series in the works from Marvel Studios over at Disney Plus, is on the lookout for a couple of key characters from Kamala Khan’s inner circle. Unsurprisingly, it looks like the series will feature Kamala’s brother, Amir, and one of her best friends, Nakia.

According to the report, Marvel Studios trusted casting director, Sarah Finn, is looking to cast a Pakistani male, mid-to-late 20s, to play a “wiser older brother” and an actress, 16-20, of Turkish, Moroccan or Arab descent as a “woke, popular and smart” student activist. Fans of the comics will recognize those character as Amir and Nakia, two characters central to Kamala’s journey in the comics.

As it stands, Ms. Marvel is reportedly looking to begin production this November and wrap next March, making it possible we could see it sometime in the Fall of 2021!

August 10, 2020
UPDATE: Director Garth Davis Attached to Direct ‘Tron: Ares’

UPDATE: Now this is an unexpected reveal. As mentioned below, Jared Leto is attached to star and produce the upcoming Tron film. Little was known about the project and there was no title released. Well, it looks like Leto may have accidentally revealed that the upcoming threequel will be titled Tron: Ares in his announcement tweet. He did change it to just TRON shortly after the tweet went online. Ares is an interesting subtitle choice. The obvious connection would be to the God of Greek mythology. So, we may see the war from Legacy between the real and digital worlds. It also works as nod to the Ares Network, a peer-to-peer file-sharing application. Whatever it could be, it is exciting to know that the Tron franchise is back.

https://twitter.com/JaredLeto/status/1292938162495397888

There is hope that the wait between Tron: Legacy and a third installment won’t take another 28 years. It’s already been ten years since Legacy released and fans have been patient for an official update. There was hope that Disney+ would offer the possibility to explore this digital world without the fear of another live-action film underperforming. Rumors started circulating that a new film was back in development back in July. Jared Leto had been involved with the project since 2017 but it never really picked up steam. The only thing that was missing was a director. Well, it seems they finally found someone to continue this legacy franchise.

Deadline reported that Disney has now hired Garth Davis to direct the new Tron film. This would be the director’s first major blockbuster film, as he is mostly known for his indie productions. His film Lion even received six Oscar nominations back in 2017 putting him on everyone’s radar. What stands out is that the director seems to have been pursuing this film quite aggressively. We don’t know if he is a fan of the franchise, or simply wanted to explore the world but the enthusiasm is great to see. It seems this will still be based on an existing script by Jesse Wigutow with Leto producing. Justin Springer and Emma Ludbrook are also attached as producers. Here’s hoping that this film could potentially breathe new life into the franchise, as it has the potential to expand with a series on Disney+. My only hope is that they keep the amazing designs from Legacy and explore the Grid.

Source: DisInsider, Deadline

August 10, 2020
Adria Arjona Joins ‘Rogue One’ Spin-Off

Disney+’s The Mandalorian was a great start to highlight what is possible with this new streaming service. It especially opened up so much potential for exploring the different parts of a galaxy far, far away. While news on the Kenobi show has been rather sparse, Deadline just got its hands on some interesting casting news. It seems that Adria Arjona, who recently appeared in 6 Underground, will join series star Diego Luna in the upcoming Rogue One spin-off. She rounds out the cast alongside Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Alan Tudyk, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kyle Soller.

No details are given by Deadline but she will have a lead role in the series which will follow Cassian Andor’s early days as a Rebel agent. So far, the only returning cast members of Rogue One are Diego Luna as the titular character and Alan Tudyk as K-2SO. While the announcement caught many off-guard at the time, it offers a unique perspective into this galaxy. As a spy, he can pretty much end up in many different scenarios. This could give us a closer look at how the Empire operated during this time. Maybe also introduce other factions besides the Rebels that were fighting for their freedom. We only got glimpses so far, so this show may offer a closer look at the daily life under the Empire’s thumb.

Source: Deadline

August 10, 2020
What I Heard This Week: Marvel Studios Has Come Back to Atlanta!

Marvel Studios crews returned to work this week in Atlanta to begin preparation for the resumption (or in some cases the beginning) of filming.

Crews for The Falcon and The Winter Solider, Loki and Hawkeye moved back into town and got the ball rolling again on the three upcoming Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series, joining the crew for the Untitled Spider-Man Sequel, which had previously begun prep work.

The past week saw crews return to their projects’ offices, stages being built and preproduction steps taken that should ensure both The Falcon and The Winter Solider and Loki are able to resume filming sometime in late-August or early-September. Back in early July, the studio had hoped to resume filming on those projects by August 17th (a date I reported in my Patreon).

A recent report indicated a late-October start for Hawkeye and, as I reported a few months ago, the Spidey sequel is expected to begin filming in September (though the recent release date shift does give them a month to play with). WandaVision, you may have noticed, is glaringly absent from the list but we continue to hear they have work to complete in Los Angeles.

The return of crews to the area is incredibly encouraging as it continues to give fans hope that production on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will be completed in enough time for the series to stream before the end of 2020, giving content-starved fans an epic introduction to Kevin Feige’s plans for the streaming service. It also means casting news might begin to trickle out for Hawkeye and Spidey 3 over the next several weeks, giving us some insight into what exactly we can expect from these projects. This is just the kind of great news we needed headed into the weekend.

August 7, 2020
Nia DaCosta Set to Direct ‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’ Sequel

According to Deadline, Nia DaCosta, director of the upcoming Candyman reboot, has come on board to helm the 2022 sequel to Captain Marvel.

The report indicates that while DaCosta has been the front runner for a while now, she landed the job after meeting with Marvel Studios The-One-Above-All this past weekend.

The sequel, written by WandaVision writing room grad Megan McDonnell, is expected to adapt the Marvel Comics event Secret Invasion.

August 5, 2020
‘Shang-Chi’ Production Ready to Return to Filming

A brand new video and report today from 7 News in Australia reveals a fresh look at work being done on a set for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in Sydney. Check it out below!

The report also indicated that cast has returned and they would resume filming in the coming days. Check out the full video from Facebook below!

August 2, 2020
New Casting Call for Archers in ‘Shang-Chi’

We’ve been seeing signs for a while now that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings might be resuming filming very soon, from actors Simu Liu and Awkwafina doing Instagrams from trailers, to other actors returning to Sydney. But now a new sign (literally) from Twitter user @mma_tuesday indicates someone is searching for Chinese archers at FOX studios.

While it doesn’t specifically say it’s for a Marvel movie or Shang-Chi, it’s certainly a safe bet it is, as @mma_tuesday indicates in his tweet. It would seem from a previous tweet that he saw the notice at a local archery range. I am curious how many they’re looking for, but chances are it’s enough for an army!

Murphy’s Multiverse has previously reported links to an ancient army and perhaps Genghis Khan himself. With a fairly long shoot of a month and a half for these archers, beginning mid August through the end of September, it seems to be a significant part of the film!

July 30, 2020