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Amazon just released 'The Expanse' season four a few hours early
If you were planning to dive into season four of The Expanse later tonight, then you may need to adjust your plans -- it's available on Amazon Prime Video right now. Following the early release of Jack Ryan in October, Amazon has posted up its first original season of the show it saved from cancellation. Unlike the Syfy broadcast, this one is a bingeable full season drop so you can jump through all ten episodes right away. This release is coming so early that a pre-release marathon of the three previous seasons is still ongoing over at Twitch. Apparently the early drop is becoming Amazon's move -- we'll see if Netflix ever recreates its surprise primetime Orange is the New Black season three release in response.
Amazon orders William Gibson series from the creators of 'Westworld'
Amazon's push into sci-fi increasingly entails some of the biggest names in the business, both on-screen and off. After months of waiting, Amazon has ordered a Prime Video series adaptation of William Gibson's sci-fi novel The Peripheral that will be executive produced by Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan (shown above) as well as A Simple Plan's Scott Smith. The mystery/thriller hybrid revolves around a woman struggling to deal with a broken family until she witnesses what she think might be a horrific murder. After that, the future "comes calling for her" -- or rather, futures.
Apple TV+ adaptation of 'Foundation' will star Jared Harris and Lee Pace
Apple isn't cutting corners with its TV+ version of Isaac Asimov's Foundation. The tech giant has cast its first two stars for the show, choosing Chernobyl's Jared Harris (above) to play math genius Hari Seldon and Halt and Catch Fire's Lee Pace as the Emperor of the Galaxy, Brother Day. The show already had some pedigree behind it through showrunner David Goyer, who wrote Terminator: Dark Fate and is working on Netflix's The Sandman.
Adidas readies an entire collection of Star Wars basketball shoes
If you're both a Star Wars fan and a hypebeast, the next month might a dream come true. Adidas is releasing an entire Star Wars x Adidas collection of basketball shoes starting on November 1st, catering to both your particular fandom and your footwear style in a bid to create buzz for The Rise of Skywalker. There are R2-D2 and Stormtrooper versions of the Nite Jogger, for instance, as well as a Pro Next 2019 with Light Side and Dark Side graphics on each half (above). You can expect more 'generic' Star Wars designs if you don't want to declare particular allegiances, although their bright colors (we've seen blue, green and purple so far) won't be subtle.
'Star Trek: Picard' debuts January 23rd, 2020
New York Comic Con has proven kind to Star Trek fans this year. To begin with, CBS has confirmed that its All Access series Star Trek: Picard will premiere on January 23rd, 2020. You won't have to wait too much longer to see what has happened with Starfleet's best-known captain since his last outing. CBS will dribble out one episode every Thursday until the 10-episode first season is complete. Thankfully, you'll have some fresh material to watch before then.
Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ returns to theaters in October
While the official 40th anniversary of Ridley Scott's Alien was back in May, horror junkies and film buffs alike should mark their calendars for this October. The classic movie that started a hit-or-miss franchise of Xenomorphs, space jockeys and milk-blooded androids will be hitting the big screen in select theaters across the US.
A fourth 'Matrix' movie is happening
Yes, you read that correctly. About 16 years after the last movie in the series, Warner Bros. has confirmed work on a fourth movie in The Matrix universe. And it doesn't appear to be a spinoff -- Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss will star in the picture. Only one of the Wachowski sisters (Lana) is involved, but she'll direct, co-write and co-produce.
'The Man Who Fell to Earth' will get a TV remake on CBS All Access
CBS is continuing its habit of reviving classic franchises as streaming shows. The broadcaster has ordered a series version of The Man Who Fell to Earth based on both Walter Tevis' novel and the legendary movie starring David Bowie. The premise remains largely the same -- an alien lands on Earth at a "turning point" for humans and learns what our species is like while trying to protect his own. There's no casting or release info at this stage, but the show will have strong production talent.
Amazon renews rescued sci-fi series 'The Expanse' for fifth season
Amazon clearly has a lot of confidence in its revival of The Expanse -- the internet giant has renewed the gritty sci-fi show for a fifth season months before season four's December 13th premiere. That's not completely surprising when the Prime Video series both has a devoted following from its Syfy days and an experienced team. Nonetheless, it's likely to be comforting for fans worried that Amazon might resurrect the show only to axe it soon afterward.
Amazon's 'The Expanse' season 4 premieres December 13th
Fans of The Expanse finally know when they can expect Amazon to continue the cult-hit sci-fi series. The internet giant has confirmed that the fourth season of The Expanse will debut on December 13th. As you might have surmised, it's a direct continuation of the narrative you saw on TV. Now that the Ring Gates have opened to more planets, there's a "blood-soaked gold rush." The crew of the Rocinante is in a particularly dire mess -- it's entangled in a fight between an Earth mining company that claimed a planet and the Belt colonists that were there first.
'Westworld' season 3 trailer shows robots venturing beyond the park
HBO has released the first full trailer for Westworld's third season, and it's clear that there's much, much more to see than what you caught in the teaser. The clip shows a future city where the park robots have slipped into human society, with Dolores well aware that she and her fellow bots are prime targets. She'll clearly be involved with Caleb, the construction worker played by Aaron Paul. We also see Maeve in a WWII-themed park -- as if Westworld's robots weren't dangerous enough.
LA museum's sci-fi car exhibit includes HoloLens tours
There's a chance you've seen a movie car or two if you've visited a convention, but the Petersen Automotive Museum's offering should be more... elaborate. It's opening a "Hollywood Dream Machines" exhibit that will showcase 40 vehicles from sci-fi games and movies. Some of them are practically expected, like the DeLorean from Back to the Future, Deckard's sedan from Blade Runner and a lightcycle from Tron: Legacy. Others, however, are harder-to-see items like the GM Ultralight from Demolition Man as well as Lexuses from Black Panther and Minority Report. And how many times are you going to see life-size recreations of a Warthog from Halo or a Sparrow from Destiny?
Blacklight: Retribution loses studio, continues on anyway
It turns out that the worst news for an online game -- having its studio close -- may not be the end of the world after all. Zombie Studios, the devs behind multiplayer shooter Blacklight: Retribution, announced today that it's closing shop and that a new studio has arisen from its ashes to take care of the game: "Now it is time for us to part ways and close our doors [...] We want to congratulate and wish nothing but success to Builder Box, the new studio starting up that has acquired some of the work Zombie is parting with, including all rights to Blacklight: Retribution. The new studio is comprised of past Zombie employees that put their hearts into Blacklight and we have no doubt will continue to do so." Builder Box's Facebook page also posted a notice, reaffirming the game's future: "What does this mean for you the fan? While ownership of the game has changed, the people behind the scenes who have been constantly contributing to the Blacklight universe for the last four years remains intact. Builder Box will be working with Perfect World so that, as a fan, you can look forward to more updates and exciting changes in the coming year."
Space strategy MMO AD2460 launches on December 29th
After two months in open beta, space strategy MMO AD2460 has announced its official launch for December 29th. The spiritual sequel to 2000's Planetarion, AD2460 is playable in-browser, meaning it works on mobile too. Players will be spending their time developing alliances and empires and fleets, and once the game is out of beta, they can expect to pay $1 a week in sub fees. Fifth Season's Christian Lassem dropped by our comment section earlier this fall to dispel confusion about the game and show off a slice of combat via video, which we've included below.
Players power direction of Oort Online's development
Oort Online's dev team is not content to make this voxel sandbox in the isolation of its ivory tower (or the corner of a deserted warehouse, whatever may be), but it has been asking for constant input from backers for the direction of the game's development. "As the game currently stands, the playable features are quite contained as we've been focusing on establishing the core MMO services and game engine," the devs posted. In a recent backer survey, 43% of those surveyed asked for the devs to prioritize the creation of character races out of the four options presented. In addition, the team said that some of the biggest priorities for a 1.0 release include resource gathering, crafting, and PvE combat. At the bottom of the list? "Real money purchases -- I want short cuts!" Oort Online is a "universe-sized" sandbox that's currently in alpha testing and has raised over $123,000 in crowdfunding. [Thanks to Jose for the tip!]
Descendants Kickstarter promises 'real freedom of choice'
One thing you can say about Descendants, a new space sandbox that's asking for fan donations via Kickstarter, is that it's certainly not lacking in ambition. This creators of this sci-fi title promise that players really will make a difference: "Our main goal is to create exciting game mechanics with real freedom of choice." The rundown of Descendants' proposed feature list is staggering: The game will have 20 playable races, 50 base classes, 20 prestige classes, crafting, land ownership, and a full-fledged political system. Cities can be built and spaceships designed from the inside-out. Of course, this sort of ambition doesn't come cheaply; Descendants is asking for $900,000 to get this game cooking. The team created a 40-minute overview video of the project that you can watch after the jump to see if this is a game worthy of your interest -- and your dollar.
The Game Archaeologist: Four online sci-fi titles no one remembers
In the MMO industry, science fiction has always taken the role of the overlooked little brother to big sister fantasy's popularity. Sure, there have been several online games that eschewed dungeons and dragons for spaceships and solar radiation poisoning, but even today the fantasy genre continues to be the dominant one in the genre. So not only have we had fewer online sci-fi games, but the ones that have attempted to make in-roads are all too soon forgotten. Over the years that I've been researching and writing The Game Archaeologist, I continue to come across these little games that have been all but forgotten by modern gamers, and many of these titles are indeed of a sci-fi bent. This week I'll be taking a look at four such games, including one that never even made it to launch, in an attempt to acknowledge their place at the family dinner table.
Space strategy title AD2460 jumps into open beta
The stars and beyond are the limit for AD2460, a new science-fiction strategy MMO that just went into open beta this past week. AD2460 places players in charge of a homeworld and space-faring fleets in an effort to research technology, conquer worlds, and form alliances. This so-called "WMMO" ("W" stands for "web-based") is playable in a PC browser as well as on tablets and capable smartphones. While developer Fifth Season welcomes any and all players into the open beta, it urged participants to log bug reports to help the title become more polished. When it goes live, AD2460 will offer a 14-day trial followed by a subscription model of $1 a week. AD2460 is the spiritual successor to Fifth Season's Planetarion, and if you're interested, you can check out the story trailer after the break.
WildStar's megaservers shouldn't impact addons much
Carbine Studios took to the forums earlier today to address how player addons may have been affected by WildStar's recent megaserver merge and name changes. The good news is that "most third-party addon users" will not be impacted whatsoever. For addons that were impacted by the transition, Carbine posted tips on how to bring broken addons up to par. The team encouraged those dealing with broken mods by saying that the data is still there and that recovering it won't be difficult at all. This post is somewhat technical and relevant only to addon creators, but important to everyone who's mods are borked.
Sevencore launching globally on November 4th
Sevencore might not be your typical Cinderella comeback, but the tenacious little science-fiction title will have a fairy tale moment when it releases globally next month after being shut down in 2013. Sevencore's previous provider, Route Entertainment Korea, Inc. will be merged into Webzen, which will then operate the title worldwide through its game portal. There will be two servers for this launch, one in English and one in Spanish, although there are plans for other languages. Focusing on mounted combat as players explore an alien world, Sevencore features three races, three classes, and "incredible depth" of customization. [Source: Webzen press release]
