ellen-page
Latest
Ellen Page, Willem Dafoe join LittleBigPlanet in Beyond: Two Souls DLC
Those hoping to one day dress an inexplicably adorable lump of burlap as Willem Dafoe will see their bizarrely specific fantasies come to life later this week, when LittleBigPlanet adds costumes based on Quantic Dream's Beyond: Two Souls. Included in the pack are costumes based on protagonist Jodie Holmes, Nathan Dawkins, Cole Freeman and Ryan Clayton. Those first two are the most notable inclusions, as they're characters portrayed by and modeled after Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, respectively. While our review of Beyond: Two Souls was middling, the PlayStation.blog claims that "[t]hese costumes will allow any Sackboy or Sackgirl to portray these wonderful characters in their very own adventures." No price point is mentioned for this DLC, but these new costumes will join the LittleBigPlanet DLC roster once the PlayStation Network Store undergoes its weekly update. That should occur at some point on Tuesday, March 25, though the past few weeks have seen Sony miss its usual mark by as much as 24 hours. [Image: Sony]
Beyond: Two Souls sales topped 1 million in 2013
Quantic Dream's Beyond: Two Souls has exceeded one million in sales in 2013, the developer has revealed. Feel free to press X to guitar, Jodie – you've earned that shredathon! Beyond: Two Souls centers around Jodie Holmes, a girl who has a unique connection with a spiritual entity known as Aiden. After being abandoned by her foster parents, Holmes is raised by a pair of researchers working in a fictional supernatural studies group within the US government. Over 70,000 copies of Beyond: Two Souls sold in the studio's native country of France, Quantic Dream co-founder Guillaume de Fondaumière revealed on Twitter. That's better than Quantic Dream's previous game, Heavy Rain, did in its first 12 weeks of availability there, Fondaumière added. Beyond: Two Souls, perhaps best known for its A-list talent in Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, launched in October of last year. In our review, we said the game "lies somewhere between vicariousness and voyeurism," and that ultimately "you're just the ghost in a ghost story, only appearing when the scene calls for a cheap scare."
New URLs stoke rumors of Last of Us film adaptation
Few planned film adaptations of video games ever make it off the ground, but new domains registered by Sony indicate that the company is at least working toward a big-screen version of Naughty Dog's apocalyptic hit The Last of Us. GameSpot recently discovered the two domains, TheLastOfUsMovie.net and TheLastOfUs-Movie.com, despite Sony taking pains to obfuscate these sites. Instead of registering the domains through Sony or one of its many subsidiaries, the two URLs were registered by a corporation called MarkMonitor which grabs websites like these for clients who would prefer that their name stay out of the same media spotlight we're now shining at them. That said, it's possible that Sony is acquiring these URLs as a way to protect any future plans it may or may not have to make a Last of Us film. Corporations plan these things long in advance, and there's any number of reasons why a company might want to lock down valuable intellectual property. On the other hand, The Last of Us was one of the best games of 2013, has sold more than three million units in half a year, and generated more critical hyperbole than most publishers could ever hope for. With all that built-in momentum, Sony just needs to find a talented, young lead to play Ellie. Maybe that girl from Juno is available.
Pre-order Beyond: Two Souls at GameStop, get Special Edition free
Placing a pre-order for Beyond: Two Souls at GameStop before its October 8 launch date will upgrade your order to the game's Special Edition for free, the PlayStation Blog has detailed. The Special Edition includes a 30-minute scene focused on guiding protagonist Jodie and her ghostly friend Aiden through a series of test-room puzzles. A soundtrack consisting of the game's four themes will also be paired with "making-of" videos featuring Ellen Page, Willem Dafoe and Beyond's writer, David Cage. A dynamic theme for the PS3 and PSN avatars round out the offering, all of which will be packaged in the Special Edition's metal case. We recently discussed the game's cinematic direction and found it to be an interesting approach to storytelling.
Watch Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe talk about their roles in Beyond: Two Souls
We've played bits of Beyond: Two Souls, had some mixed views views on it, talked with Quantic Dream's David Cage about multiplayer and how Jodi can die, but it's arguably two Hollywood actors that get closest to selling me on the PS3 game. Actors are good at that. Willem Dafoe, who plays scientist Nathan Dawkins, and Ellen Page, starring as Jodi, do an excellent job of talking up Beyond here. As do the game clips, to be fair, switching from Jodi's childhood to her teen and adult years, giving glimpses of how the young hero copes with the presence of supernatural companion Aiden. Beyond spans Jodi's life between the ages of 8 and 23, and like Heavy Rain player choices will guide how that life progresses. Beyond: Two Souls will be one of the last major PS3 games out before the PS4's launch in November, arriving for the current-gen console on October 8 in North America.
New Beyond: Two Souls trailer premieres at Tribeca Film Festival [Update: Gameplay video]
Quantic Dream showed off its upcoming mysterious action-adventure game Beyond: Two Souls in a two-hour screening at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on Saturday. The latest trailer for the game shows a young Jodie Holmes and her encounters with an unseen being she calls Aiden, which sets the tone for her struggles into adulthood.The game stars Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, the latter having been officially revealed as part of the game's cast in March. Beyond: Two Souls will launch on October 8 for PS3.Update: GamesHQMedia has the 35-minute gameplay video from the film festival, which can be found after the break. Be warned: the video contains some spoilers. %Gallery-186984%
Beyond: Two Souls discussion with Ellen Page and David Cage
There was a lengthy panel on Beyond: Two Souls back at SDCC, which revealed Kadeem Hardison will also play a starring role in the game. Immediately following the panel, both David Cage and Ellen Page sat down with the PlayStation Blog for the video interview above.Within, Page discusses her own relationship with games and how Heavy Rain really got her on board with what Cage is trying to do in Beyond: Two Souls. There's also a good deal of mo-cap footage, giving us a glimpse at some of the more physical acting Page has done so far for the game.
How Ellen Page is transported into Beyond: Two Souls
You can get a behind-the-scenes look at the complicated process of turning Ellen Page into virtual Ellen Page for Beyond: Two Souls, in this footage from yesterday's Comic-Con panel. It involves prop suitcases! And prop supine bodies!
Beyond: Two Souls features 160 actors, Ellen Page in a submarine
Watching a video of herself in a full performance-capture suit and reclined in a bucket seat on the set of Beyond: Two Souls, Ellen Page announced to the audience at Quantic Dream's San Diego Comic-Con panel, "And that's the submarine. Oh, shit."Quantic Dream founder David Cage laughed off the flub and Page continued to describe her experience with Beyond as "incredible" and "completely fulfilling.""My brain didn't even know how to process this opportunity," Page said. Once she met Cage at a bar in L.A. to read his script, however, her mind was made up, and filming turned out to be an incredible experience, she said. "It completely exceeded my expectations and was completely fulfilling as an actor."Beyond took 10 months and 160 actors to film, and that's after Cage spent one year writing the script. During that year, he referenced a photograph of Page with a shaved head from Mouth to Mouth, a movie she did when she was 16, for the main character, Jodie Holmes. He ended up using Page in later movies as models for Jodie as she aged through the game. By the time he finished writing he said he couldn't picture another actress in Page's place.Page seemed satisfied with Cage's decision as well: "What David has written is so powerful and so beautiful," she said. Beyond: Two Souls is due out in 2013 for PS3.
Rumor: Willem Dafoe co-starring in Beyond: Two Souls
Willem Dafoe is slated to co-star alongside Ellen Page in Quantic Dream's Beyond: Two Souls, BroGamer reports, citing an anonymous source. Dafoe is known for his roles in movies such as Platoon, The Boondock Saints, Spider-Man and Antichrist.We reached out to Sony for clarification, and received the following response: "We don't typically comment on rumors or speculation about our products so nothing to share at this time."Quantic Dream announced Page's leading role at E3 this year and showed us an action-packed demo that highlighted the studio's performance-capture technology. During the demo, Quantic Dream's David Cage didn't hint at Dafoe making an appearance, though he did recall fondly his first experience in snagging a high-profile celebrity for one of his games:"I was fortunate enough to have worked with David Bowie on my first game," Cage said. "When you've done that in your career, you say, 'I can get anyone.'"Cage also confirmed that the police officer in Beyond's E3 trailer is portrayed by the same actor who played Paco, "the man with the strange jacket in the club," in Heavy Rain.
Beyond: Two Souls puts the 'act' back in 'action' with Ellen Page
Quantic Dream snagged actress Ellen Page for its new PS3 game, Beyond: Two Souls, and premiered a trailer during Sony's E3 press conference to show off her high-profile, performance-captured video game debut. Naturally, the video Quantic chose featured Page's character sitting absolutely still, not talking and looking like Sinead O'Connor's reaction gif to Two Girls One Cup.The demo Quantic Dream mastermind David Cage showed the press the following day went a long way to demonstrate Page's proficiency in a video game world, though it still didn't highlight any deep dialogue or empathetic scenes.Executive Producer Guillaume de Fondaumière played a half-hour action sequence filled with train-top rain battles, stealing motorcycles from cops and exploding helicopters -- but Beyond is much more than a single demo can contain."There is also emotion," Cage said. "We just showed you one walkthrough. But you could have played it in many different ways. In the entire scene, there are scenes inside the scenes that we didn't show you."Sceneception.
