Hanks and Zemeckis to Launch Major Matt Mason

Oscar winners Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis are now moving forward on the long-gestating space feature Major Matt Mason, which would have Hanks set to star with Zemeckis directing.

"I started tinkering with the story after Larry Crowne," said Hanks, who co-wrote the astronaut screenplay alongside Graham Yost (Speed).

Based on a toy from 1966 (prior to the moon landing), Major Matt Mason takes place on the moon and follows a team of people based at a space station. Said Yost of the film, "There's no bad guys. There are no aliens. Nothing like that. It's just, can you survive?"

The project will mark a reunion for Hanks and Zemeckis, who have teamed on a number of movies including Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and The Polar Express.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Diablo III Monster Power System Detailed

Blizzard has detailed the Monster Power feature coming to Diablo III. In patch 1.0.5, Blizzard will add the Monster Power system, which gives players “more control over how challenging enemies are in each difficulty setting,” similar to the “Player X” feature in Diablo II. Monster Power lets players adjust monster health and damage based on various power levels. The harder the enemy, the more bonuses to stats players will receive, plus more drops. Monster Power will be available beginning at level 1 in the Quest Selection window and can be adjusted separately within Normal, Nightmare, Hell and Inferno.

At launch, Monster Power will be available in solo and private multiplayer games. According to a post from Blizzard’s Stephanie Johnson on Diablo III’s official site, “Whenever you join a private multiplayer game, your hero will temporarily adopt the Monster Power level set by the party leader, and it will return to the previous setting you selected as soon as you leave the group.” Players won’t be able to adjust Monster Power in public games, but Blizzard is “looking into the possibility of adding that ability in the future.”

Adjusting Monster Power will offer “bonuses to experience, Magic Find, and Gold Find (which will stack above the 300% cap), and Blizzard showed off the difference between the bonuses in Normal, Nightmare and Hell versus those in Inferno. Inferno will offer increased bonuses, plus offer a chance for monsters to drop an additional bonus item.

“In Inferno at Monster Power 1 or greater, monsters in every Act will also be bumped up to level 63 and share the same high-end item drop rates,” Johnson explains. “This means that no matter which act you're progressing through, the monsters in that act will all have the same shot at dropping items level 61-63, including crafting recipes, Legendary items, and set items. While monsters in Inferno will all be level 63 at MP 1 through MP 10, their skills, abilities, and attributes will still vary from act to act. This means that certain Acts or Chapters may still be more difficult for you than others based on what monsters and Elite packs appear in each, but -- since the rewards will be identical across the entire difficulty -- where you choose to play is ultimately up to you and your personal play style.”

As for the philosophy behind adding the system, Johnson explains that “the intent of Monster Power is not necessarily to make the game ‘unbeatable,’ but to provide better ways for players to measure their progress as they become more powerful.” The team built the system around that idea, focusing on two areas.

The first is Monster Damage vs. Monster Health. Johnson explains that “with each Monster Power level there's a heavy emphasis on increased monster health rather than monster damage. This is because, in general, it's more fun to find ways to maximize your damage than it is to be forced into taking every available form of damage mitigation. We also didn't want to create situations where ‘hard to beat’ could become ‘impossible to beat’ because players couldn't survive long enough to make any progress.” The team tried testing scaling up monster damage but found that it made some fights more challenging in unfair ways or made it too easy for heroes to die after one hit. Increasing monster health, on the other hand, “allowed the game to scale up in difficulty more naturally and in a way that still felt manageable.”

The second area of focus is Efficiency. “By now, some players have reached a point where they can kill monsters so fast that even Inferno provides almost no challenge, and enemies die as soon as they appear on the screen,” Johnson wrote. “For these players, the bottleneck for efficient farming is actually the speed at which they can traverse the map rather than how well they can dispense with enemies.” Blizzard feels that Monster Power fixes this, as players can increase Monster Power for more of a challenge with better rewards. “Will some players be able to kill Diablo on Monster Power 10 as soon as 1.0.5 goes live? Absolutely,” Johnson writes. “Will that be the most efficient Monster Power level at which to farm items? For most, probably not. Monster Power allows each individual decide what that ‘sweet spot’ is for them.”

“In Diablo III, your character's power can grow by multiple orders of magnitude, but up until now there hasn't been a way for you to truly put that potency to the test,” Johnson concluded. “The Monster Power system provides a new outlet for high-powered heroes to truly see how far they've come and tangibly experience just how epic the gear they've collected is. Different players want different levels of challenge, and with Monster Power you'll be able to determine what the right level of challenge is for you. Whether you're in it for the guts, the glory, or simply the goodies, we're excited to offer players the opportunity to face the forces of evil on their own (possibly slightly insane) terms.”

Previously, Blizzard explained how patch 1.0.5 will reduce Inferno difficulty along with its changes to defensive skills and monster damage. For more on how patch 1.0.5 changes Diablo III, read our interview with senior technical game designer Wyatt Cheng and game director Jay Wilson about the patch’s two biggest features, plus when we can expect PVP to come to Diablo III.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Mr. Ed Returns as CGI/Live-Action Hybrid

Waterman Entertainment is looking to adapt the classic television series Mr. Ed into a feature film. The company also recently bought the rights to The Brave Little Toaster, hoping to breathe new life into beloved children's properties.

"We are identifying properties that have had success with multiple generations of parents who feel comfortable and have excitement about reintroducing the characters and storylines to their own kids and grandkids," said executive producer Cooper Waterman. "While each property remains independent of each other, they will share the commonality of addressing social values, morality lessons, and characteristics that are clearly identifiable for kids with comedic elements for all age groups."

The original TV show centered on the exploits of a talking horse, Mr. Ed, and his klutzy but affable owner Wilbur Post. Current plans are to adapt the series into a live-action/CG hybrid movie.

Source : ign[dot]com

Captain Marvel #3 Post-Game with Kelly Sue DeConnick

Welcome back to the Captain Marvel post-game, a feature where we'll be taking a deeper look at each issue of the hit new Marvel series by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Dexter Soy. This time around, DeConnick talks influences, legacy, and the glory of the Captain Marvel covers.

Tread carefully, there be spoilers for Captain Marvel #3 ahead.

Read our review of Captain Marvel #3!

The Cover

Kelly Sue DeConnick: It's funny, sometimes they ask you “Oh, we need a cover concept for issue 8” or whatever. They usually ask for a number so far down the line that you don't even know what's going to be in the book yet, which is awesome and magical.

But, [Steve] Wacker had just set up these first three and they were surprises to me. They are amazing. This one might be my favorite, I love that our names are on the bombs. I kinda want to make it my avatar, but there's a negative connotation out of context. You know, it's a bomb and it's heading downwards.

The Pitch

DeConnick: The Pursuit of Flight was kinda a placeholder title, but I forgot to change it, so now that's the name. My pitch document was called Pilot which I think was probably a better name for our opening arc. So, time travel was in the pitch right from the beginning. And then, seriously, like after I turned in the script for issue 5, Wacker was like “Yeah, I don't know if this time travel thing was a good idea.” But, I'm having fun, so it's good.

Carol Danvers, World War II Super Soldier

DeConnick: I really wanted to deal with this idea of legacy. I wanted to give her shoulders to stand on. Dexter [Soy] excels at this kind. Fight scenes are exactly the thing that he is really, really good at, so you should give him something that he is really, really good at.

I so fell in love with the lady Howling Commandos. The next issue opens with a big battle.

That Bad Ass Moment

DeConnick: There's a certain amount of strategy here on her part. You'll see in  #4, but there is an element of shock and awe here. The Banshees are barely out of childhood. Now, these women are made of gristle and guts, but there is a certain amount of bravado to it. A certain amount of selling it. It's like Tracy saying “maybe if you accomplish this, you're the best pilot of your generation.” Carol knows she's the best pilot of her generation. She's not the best girl pilot, she's the best pilot.

Influences

DeConnick: A lot of the early cartoonists were Jewish and they couldn't get mainstream illustration work in the ad houses often because they were discriminated against because of their religion. So, there's a little nod to that in the character of Rivka. It's very subtle, but it's a nod to that. The idea was that Rivka's father was a cartoonist, and she's teaching the other girls to draw. In their down time, they are scared to death, hiding out in this cave and one of the things they do to keep it together is Rivka is teaching them about comic books.

All of these girls are outcasts. They don't fit in. The women who made up the WASP program largely came from families of means. In order to have the pilot hours, the hours they needed in a plane that they needed in order to qualify for the program, they needed to have money. It's very expensive to learn to fly. Now, that's not across the board, some learned to fly because Dad was a crop duster or whatever. Some saved their money because that was their dream, but a lot of them came from money. So what we have here is a group of misfits, of outcasts, which is kinda a Marvel Universe thing. We love underdogs.

Optimus Prowler

DeConnick: The idea was like, proto japanese, Gundam style and then, of course, Dexter designed this amazing eyeball octopus thing that I love. All I gave him was that the Prowlers are alien tech and make it so a way so that they can assemble later. They need to fit together, even with one piece missing.

When I saw the first Prowler, I was like “I don't know how those are going to fit together, but okay.” But when you see it, it absolutely works. It also makes sense that they don't need all of them. We'll see in the next issue what it is about this circular structure that makes it especially difficult for Captain Marvel to battle it.

Captain Marvelous

DeConnick: We wanted to do a lot more stuff like this. In the first arc we didn't get in everything I wanted because, frankly, I'm new and I have loftier aspirations than I am able to deliver. But, you will continue to see artifacts and reverberations from the Butterfly Protocols being ignored. You won't get as much in the first six issues, but just because our time travel arc ends doesn't mean everything will be back where she left it. There is a price to pay for all of this. There are good repercussions and there are bad repercussions. And that is coming.

Karl Kesel just knocked it out of the park. Everything about it is just super awesome.

The Interlude

Deconnick: You are going to see more of this. This is not a backup, it's a cut away. This is not bonus material, this is a cut. There is nothing in what you are seeing here that is extra. It's important. The woman in the white jacket with the black bow is Helen Cobb.

Benjamin is handsome. Like, super handsome. Follow Benjamin on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

What We Want from a Legend of Korra Movie

Last week, we heard the exciting news that Paramount Animation was finally ready to ramp up its animated feature slate by hiring seven scribes to pen new projects, some of which would be shepherded by Mary Parent and J.J. Abrams. More specifically, Paramount chief Brad Grey was tasked with hitting up the studio's sister division, Nickelodeon, for properties that could be adapted into feature films. Among the series listed was The Legend of Korra.

The reaction to this news has thus far been pretty polarized. On the one hand, a Korra movie sounds like a dynamite idea; after the overwhelming popularity of the show's first season, a feature film would broaden that audience and introduce the franchise to a whole new untapped market of viewers. On the other hand, we also heard this same pitch for M. Night Shyamalan's widely disdained live-action film The Last Airbender, which was adapted from the original Avatar series.

Of course, that doesn't mean a Korra movie couldn't work. On the contrary, its potential for success has never been better. The trick is bringing in all the right elements from the show and adapting them to the big screen. So, without any further adieu, here's what we'd like to see in a potential movie for The Legend of Korra...

Stick with Animation

If there's one thing we learned from 2010's The Last Airbender, it's that the world isn't ready for another live-action Avatar movie. It's not just that the fans are reluctant to see a sequel -- and trust me, they're flat out terrified of that idea -- but the prospect of any Avatar film, Shyamalan-helmed or otherwise, is still a bit of a box office gamble.

Fortunately, a Korra movie has the perfect out in animation. While there's no telling what kind of approach the studios would take with an animated feature adaptation, it's likely that it would maintain at least some resemblance to the current series. CGI is by no means out of the question, but a more traditional, hand-drawn style seems in keeping with the spirit of the show -- and with Paramount wanting to keep the budgets of these new films under $100 million, this is assuredly within the realm of possibility.

In any case, I think most of us can agree that The Last Airbender's visual interpretation was lacking, to say the least. Remember when it took six earthbenders to move a single rock at two miles per hour? Imagine, instead, the aesthetic scope of an animated Korra movie. If nothing else, it would definitely open up the doors to more fluid action sequences and fully realized set-pieces.

Tell an Original Story

Another big problem with The Last Airbender was that it attempted to condense 20 half-hour episode's worth of story into 90 minutes. Needless to say, in Korra's case, it would be pretty useless to adapt the show's first season -- or any season -- into a feature film, especially an animated one. Naturally, the best course of action would be to tell an original story that we haven't seen yet.

As for the content, a Korra movie could go in one of several directions. One option could be a totally separate adventure told within the continuity of the Korra television series (a la Star Wars: The Clone Wars). For this, the film could take place during a hiatus -- the six months in between Book One and Two, for example -- sending Team Avatar off on a standalone journey that begins and ends within the span of the movie.

The more plausible option, though, is to have it take place after the fourth and final season of Korra, perhaps examining some of the universe's more expansive themes and characters. This would also be a great platform to explore an even bigger crossover with the original Avatar series, revisiting the likes of Avatar Aang, Fire Lord Zuko and the rest of the gang.

Conversely, the movie could act as a prequel, bridging the 70-year gap between both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Here, you could have Tenzin, Lin, Pema and Bumi as the younger, principal cast members, with the original series' adult counterparts mixed into the overarching plot. After all, we've still only learned bits and pieces of what's occurred between the end of the Hundred Year War and the birth of Korra; maybe a movie could provide some context for that particular era.

Limit the Creative Outsourcing

It's true, there's never any guarantee that a TV-to-film adaptation will be any good, but specific measures can be taken to avoid hitting a brick wall. First and foremost, you have to land a competent creative team, one familiar with the source material and a passion for good storytelling. Usually, this sort of project would require a whole new lot of industry folk to bring the show to life on the big screen.

However, since this would be an animated movie anyway, why not give showrunners Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko a crack at the script? It's obvious from years of experience that these dudes know what's up in the Avatar universe, and they've been developing and delivering top-shelf content for nearly a decade. Surely, at this point, they've earned the right to a little more creative input than a name-only producer's credit. Given the time and resources, these guys could turn out an excellent two-hour film.

What's more, there's really no sense in recasting the voices either. Janet Varney, J.K. Simmons, Mindy Sterling, P.J. Byrne, David Faustino and Seychelle Gabriel are all more than qualified to reprise their roles for a feature. If anything, the production could tap a few celebrity voices for new villains or allies. Fortunately, if Nickelodeon's previous animated movies are any indication, this may be the best chance we get at a faithful continuation of the Legend of Korra franchise, both in tone and talent.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Lasseter Sheds Light on Dia De Los Muertos

While Pixar's upcoming Dia De Los Muertos is still years out from release, we've already learned about a few key components of the film. For one, the feature will be helmed by Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkirch. It will also explore the Mexican culture's uplifting view of death. (The film's title, translated in English, means "Day of the Dead.")

Now, Disney and Pixar CCO John Lasseter has revealed a few more tidbits on the project, describing it as a "really a fantastic story of family." While no other details have been divulged, /Film speculates that the movie could center on a human protagonist who suffers from a death in the family and explores the ritualistic heritage of the Mexican holiday as a call to action -- an interesting theory, although this is purely based on an educated guess.

In the meantime, the studio still has several other projects lined up to come out before this one, including Monsters University, The Good Dinosaur and Pixar's untitled film set in the human mind.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

How The Dark Knight Rises is Like a Rocky Sequel

First, this is a good-natured jab at The Dark Knight Rises, a movie we gave a positive review to so please don't take the following feature as some sort of attack on Christopher Nolan's final Batman movie. But it's been mentioned to us by a few people now how TDKR reminded them of a Rocky movie, specifically Rocky III. Here's a breakdown of the (admittedly superficial) similarities between TDKR and some of the Rocky sequels. Be advised that this article contains major SPOILERS for all the films mentioned!

The Physically Superior Villain

In Rocky III, Rock was pitted against a brutal thug of a fighter named "Clubber" Lang (the one and only Mr. T). With his signature hairdo and feathered earrings, Clubber was a visceral force of nature who pummeled Rocky to win the belt. Rocky had become soft from celebrity and wealth, and his defeat at the hands of Clubber -- and Mickey's subsequent confession that Rocky hadn't really been pitted against "real" contenders for his title -- shook Rocky's self-confidence. Rocky had to hit his lowest point in order to ... wait for it ... RISE and defeat his seemingly unstoppable foe.

Rocky IV gave us Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), a towering Russian so badass he killed Apollo Creed in the ring! The robotic and relentless Drago has come to America to defeat its champion, Drago would admire Bane's single-minded dedication to destroying the decadent American city of Gotham and its famed protector. Both men challenge the people's long-held notions (Drago and his Russian handlers denounce American exceptionalism, while Bane reveals the truth about Harvey Dent). Drago is also seemingly invincible, a beast who Rocky doesn't seem capable of beating. Bane breaks Batman and tosses him aside like a rag doll, a comment that's also made about Drago at one point. Oh, yeah, and both Bane and Drago have exotic foreign babes on their side: Bane has Talia Al Ghul (Marion Cotillard) and Drago has his wife Ludmilla (Brigette Nielsen).

Terrifying Trash Talk

Bane and Rocky's scariest nemeses, Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago, are as good with poop-inducing trash talk as they are with their fists:

Losing the Old Man

Rocky III sees Rocky's grizzled, elderly trainer Mickey (Burgess Meredith) die after threatening to quit Rocky. Mickey told Rocky he wasn't strong enough anymore to beat such a physically superior foe and didn't want to be a party to his destruction. Sound familiar? Alfred said much the same thing to Bruce when he wanted to become Batman again to fight Bane. But instead of dying from a villain-induced heart attack, Alfred simply quit and went away on holiday. In both cases, the hero was left without his father figure/mentor/conscience to guide him in his ultimate battle.

Broke, Broken and Bearded

Spiritually and physically beaten, their self-confidence rattled, and finding themselves in a remote land far from home, both Rocky and Bruce must repair and retrain themselves physically and mentally in order to defeat their physically superior adversary. This requires time -- long enough for both of them to grow scruffy beards -- and lots of unorthodox exercise routines, whether it's doing chin-ups and pushups in your prison cell, scaling a rock wall to climb out of your literal pit of despair, or jogging through the woods, lifting carts full of your loved ones, chopping wood, and '80s montage-ing your way back into peak physical condition. Rocky V saw Rocky Balboa lose his entire fortune due to a shady accountant, forcing him to go back to his roots in order to once more face his demons. In TDKR, Bruce loses his family fortune due to the criminal activity of John Daggett and Bane, but a penniless Batman is still a capable one.

The sixth film, Rocky Balboa, finds the old champ widowed and basically living in the past until he's drawn out of retirement for one last bout. TDKR finds a physically incapacitated Bruce retired from being Batman and still mourning the loss of his beloved Rachel Dawes. He lives in hermit-like exile within Wayne Manor until the arrival of Bane and Catwoman prompt him to step back into the ring as it were.

Local Heroes

Batman and Rocky Balboa are their respective hometown heroes, symbols of hope to The People. Philadelphia loved Rocky so much they gave him a statue of himself he could visit whenever an ego boost or wistful moment was needed. Gotham City only erected a statue to Batman after he "died" saving the city from a nuke.

Source : ign[dot]com