PS4 3.50 Beta live tomorrow

PS4 3.50 Beta live tomorrow

3.50 Beta Goes Live Tomorrow Delivering Much Anticipated Features to PlayStation®4 Leading features of the next major system software update make it even easier for players to connect spontaneously and play with friends on PS4™

Auckland, New Zealand, 2 March 2016:  Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) today revealed the features included in the beta for the next major system software update 3.50, codenamed MUSASHI, for PlayStation®4 (PS4™). As part of the beta phase, players can schedule gameplay events with friends directly through their console. Players can also receive specific notifications as selected friends appear online. Heading the list of  features is full support for PS4 players to set-up and arrange gameplay events in console as well as via PlayStation®App (PS App), making it easier for like-minded gamers and friends to arrange gameplay together.  The feature gives event hosts the ability to edit events after they’ve been scheduled, with invited friends and community members notified of any changes. In addition, players can now be notified as friends come online, bringing more visibility to when friends are available to play and inspiring more immediate interaction between gamers. This much-requested feature allows gamers to tailor notifications for individual friends, meaning it can be activated for a select group of close-friends, rather than the entire friends list. Whilst playing together is at the heart of the beta, the trial also brings functionality and improvements for those wishing to enjoy an uninterrupted experience on PS4. The ability to appear offline is included to allow gamers full immersion in their play experience, whilst still offering them the full suite of PS4 features. We wanted to detail some of the other features we’re adding to PS4 in this update. We’re making it easier to connect and play together with friends and the wider community, as well as introducing some much requested features:   Remote Play (PC/Mac) – We’re bringing PS4 Remote Play to Windows PC and Mac. This feature won’t be available to test in the beta, but you can look forward to it soon. PlayStation Plus – A new option in the PlayStation Plus destination will allow you to easily check and manage your online storage Dailymotion, New service partners in Share feature – Dailymotion, an additional live streaming service, will become available for PS4 users to enhance their broadcast experience. Like other live streaming services available on PS4, users will enjoy the following features: Activity Feed, What’s New Broadcast Info Tile, Live Detail and Live from PlayStation. All of these features are currently being trialled as part of the beta by community members who chose to sign up when PlayStation invited players via the PS Blog. The final features list will be revealed when the system software update goes live.

New Trailer, Characters and Power Discs Unveiled for Marvel Battlegrounds

New Trailer, Characters and Power Discs Unveiled for Marvel Battlegrounds

NEW TRAILER, CHARACTERS AND POWER DISCS UNVEILED FOR MARVEL BATTLEGROUNDS,

MULTI-PLAYER ARCADE BRAWLER GAME FOR DISNEY INFINITY 3.0

ANT-MAN, BLACK PANTHER, AND VISION JOIN ROSTER OF MORE THAN 25 PLAYABLE MARVEL CHARACTERS; NEW LINE-UP INCLUDES COSTUMES INSPIRED BY CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

MELBOURNE, Aust. – (March 2, 2016) – Disney Interactive today unveiled new trailer, characters and Power Discs for the Marvel Battlegrounds Play Set launching for Disney Infinity 3.0 in Australia and New Zealand on March 24. 

Joining the roster of more than 25 playable Marvel characters, including Captain America – The First Avenger, Hulkbuster, Ultron and all of the characters from Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes are:

·        Ant-Man, who shrinks to the size of an ant but increases his strength to pack a whopping punch

·        Black Panther, the leader of Wakanda who defends his homeland with acrobatic skills and his legendary claws

·        Vision, a brave and noble synthetic warrior who will fight to bring peace to the world

The new line-up of characters includes costumes inspired by the upcoming film “Captain America: Civil War,” releasing in local cinemas on April 28, 2016.

Additionally, a new Marvel Battlegrounds-themed Power Disc Pack will be sold separately and contains:

·        Cosmic Cube Blast – Unleash a powerful energy blast on nearby foes

·        Darkhawk’s Blast – Blast obstacles with a powerful energy beam

·        Nova Corps Strike – Call upon the Nova Corps to unleash a tactical strike from above

·        Ghost Rider’s Motorcycle – Take a ride on the wild side with Ghost Rider’s flaming motorcycle 

Developed by United Front Games, in partnership with Avalanche Software, Marvel Battlegrounds is the first Play Set to introduce four-player arcade brawler gameplay to Disney Infinity.  Players engage in the ultimate rumble as Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains struggle to gain control of Wakanda’s most valuable resource, Vibranium. The ever-growing clash creates factions as the war stretches to the cosmic battlegrounds of space. Players can choose from more than 25 Marvel characters found inside Disney Infinity, and battle through 12 levels across eight dynamic arenas.

Armageddon Expo Manukau is coming

Armageddon Expo Manukau is coming

Manukau will be beseiged this weekend with the inaugural launch of the Armageddon event!

Running over Saturday and Sunday 5th / 6th March., here's the full details of what's ahead!

Armageddon – the entertainment expo of New Zealand! And we're heading to Manukau for the very first time! 
http://www.armageddonexpo.com/nz/

Armageddon is a weekend-long event at the Vodafone Events Centre featuring sci-fi, gaming, anime, collectibles, TV and movie stars and comics. This is a massive family-friendly event not to be missed.
Schedule

MAIN STAGE
Saturday 
9.45am - Song of a Fifth Grade Samurai
11am - Supernatural Panel with Ruth Connell
Noon - Stargate Panel with Richard Dean Anderson, Christopher Judge and David Nykl
1pm - Ash VS Evil Dead panel with Ray Santiago
2pm - Star Trek: The Next Generation panel with Marina Sirtis
3pm - Trinity Treasures presents – Cosplay Parade
4pm - Fear Factor Contest
4.30pm - IPW Wrestling with Haku

Sunday 
9.45am - Song of a Fifth Grade Samurai
11am - Stargate Panel with David Nykl
Noon - Stargate SG-1 and MacGyver panel with Richard Dean Anderson
1pm - Stargate SG-1 panel Christopher Judge
2pm - Kamehameha Contest with Mike McFarland
2.15pm - Trinity Treasures presents – NZ Cosplay Cup
3.30pm - Ice Cream Eating Challenge 
4pm - IPW Wrestling

STAGE TWO
Saturday
9am - Animation Screening – Persona 4: The Golden Animation
1pm - Animation Panel with Mike McFarland and William Salyers 
2pm - Comic Panel with Dean Rankine, Charles Soule and Christian Gossett
3pm - Animation Screening – Angelic Layer Series Collection
4pm - Trinity Treasures presents – Leveling Up Your Cosplay with Monika Lee and Riddle

Sunday
9am - Animation Screening – Giovanni’s Island
11am - Animation Screening – The World God Only Knows: OVA Collection
1pm - Trinity Treasures presents - Translating Props and Costumes
2pm - Wrestling Panel with Haku
3pm - Animation Screening – Ping Pong

PHOTOS
Saturday
10am - Richard Dean Anderson - $45 
Noon - Marina Sirtis
12.30pm - Ruth Connell
1pm - Christopher Judge
1.45pm - Stargate SG-1 Duo – Richard Dean Anderson and Christopher Judge - $90
2pm - Stargate Trio – Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks and David Nykl - $120
2.15pm - Ray Santiago
3pm - Haku
3.45pm - David Nykl

Sunday
10am - Richard Dean Anderson - $45
11am - Christopher Judge
1pm - Ruth Connell
1.30pm - Haku
2pm - Stargate SG-1 Duo – Richard Dean Anderson and Christopher Judge - $90
2.15pm - Stargate Trio – Richard Dean Anderson, Christopher Judge and David Nykl -$120
2.30pm - Ray Santiago
3.30pm - Marina Sirtis
4.15pm - David Nykl

SIGNING TIMES
Richard Dean Anderson - $35
3.30pm to 5.30pm Daily

Media Guests - Christopher Judge, David Nykl, Ruth Connell, Marina Sirtis, Ray Santiago, Haku
2.30pm to 5pm Daily

Animation Guests - Mike McFarland, William Salyers
Saturday - 11am to 12.30pm and 3pm to 5pm
Sunday - 11am to 1pm and 3pm to 5pm

Comic Guests - Dean Rankine, Christian Gossett, Charles Soule
11am to 1pm and 3pm to 5pm Daily

Cosplay Guests - Monika Lee and Riddle
Saturday - 11am to 2pm and 5pm to 6pm
Sunday - 11am to 1pm and 3.30pm to 6pm

Hail, Caesar!: Film Review

Hail, Caesar!: Film Review

Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Alden Ehrenreich, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen

The Coen Brothers return to Hollywood with Hail, Caesar!

In a playful ode to Hollywood past, it's the story of Capitol Pictures head Eddie Mannix (a brilliant Josh Brolin) and how his life plays out over one day inside the studio system.

Mannix is a fixer, and his skill-set is needed when George Clooney's Baird Whitlock, the star of the studio's prestige picture, Hail, Caesar (The Tale of The Christ) is kidnapped. With only a brief ransom note purporting to be from The Future, Mannix is racing against the clock to ensure the production's not shut down and Capitol Pictures isn't plunged into anarchy and infamy.

Hail, Caesar! is The Player through a Coens-shaped prism.

Brolin's is hands down the star of the film, the thread that ties together what are essentially a series of well-executed cameos that occasionally threaten to overwhelm the thinnest of narratives to the casual viewer.

Talk of communism that echo Trumbo, the death of the movies with the advent of television and a long debate about spirituality sit alongside a brilliantly executed dance number with Channing Tatum channelling Gene Kelly. It's a flick of polar opposites in many ways, and as light a feast as the Coens have ever served up to us.

And yet on the surface, the film is a frothy ode to 1930s era surroundings; a film that revels in its gloriously recreated ethics and which delights in its re-staging of motifs you'd recognise from the pantheon of Hollywood's finest. A water set dance number with Scarlett Johansson oozes with panache and prestige but sits at odds with the drama that's unfolding around it; and while Mannix's push to solve everyone's problems is the main drive of the film, the zigzagging and meandering means the journey to the end is nothing short of occasionally frustrating.

Thankfully, some of the motifs of the latest Coens' film stays with you after the lights have gone up and once the thrill of Clooney playing Charlton Heston and Brolin playing a version of a real life Hollywood fixer has washed over you, the themes begin to surface and the perception that it's a patchwork pastiche of a collection of cameos and scenes subsides.

In its own perverse way, it's escapism of the purest level, as the studio's desires to detract from the depression and the threat of the Cold War are recreated for us to behold.

Hail, Caesar! is something more than a love letter to Hollywood though; it's an iceberg of a film, an under the surface look at the politics and ideology of the times with a few dance numbers thrown in and talk of the H Bomb to distract you.
It's a smoke and mirrors kind of film that is as frothy as it comes and dawdles on its way, lacking some of the tightness and pay-off you'd expect, but works thanks to grizzled Brolin's determination and whose arc sees him being tempted outside of Hollywood as he deals to the daily concerns. (Something many of the time would have faced with the impending demise of Hollywood, a threat we know never came to pass but whose image would be tarnished with the problems).

Not every journey is as successful and some off camera resolutions feel forced, slight and narratively cheating. Of the cast, Ehrenreich is perhaps the revelation as Hobie Doyle, a John Wayne-esque simpleton of a hillbilly chosen for his looks, his lassoing ways and his sex appeal. The scenes where Ralph Fiennes tries to direct him are a joy to behold, dripping in frustration and working against the clock.

Ultimately, Hail, Caesar! may not at initial sight be among the Coens' finest efforts, but thanks to its cohorts of cameos, its perfect casting and spot-on recreations as well as its scratch-the-surface message, it's still a cinematic sweet treat, if you're willing to forego and forgive its excesses and flimsinesses.

Rating:

Gods of Egypt: Film Review

Gods of Egypt: Film Review

Cast: Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Geoffrey Rush, Rufus Sewell, Courtenay Eaton, Elodie Yung
Director: Alex Proyas

It's possible that the latest swords and sandals film will fall short, but it is not through lack of trying and digital ambition.

Essentially a throwback to the Ray Harryhausen FX pics of yore, Gods of Egypt centres around the age old rivalry between god brothers Horus (Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster Waldau) and Set (Gerard Butler).

When Set murders his father Osiris (Aussie Bryan Brown) on the day of Horus' coronation and rips out his eyes (the source of his power) Egypt is plunged into chaos.

Entering the fray is mortal thief Bek (an utterly underwhelming Brenton Thwaites) whose plan to raid the tomb and restore Horus' sight renders his nubile missus Zaya (Courtenay Eaton) dead as they flee.

Hoping Horus can save her from the afterlife, Bek strikes a bargain with the god and the mismatched buddies set off on a mission of redemption.

Gods of Egypt's creature ambitions out-strip its budget and the result is an FX addled character-less mess that lacks the charm of the likes of Clash of the Titans, but is reminiscent of what makes them successful.

Gerard Butler, complete with Scottish brogue, chews every piece of crumbling masonry in every scene he appears in, imbuing his Set with the tyrannical edge that's needed, but very little else. Equally, Coster-Waldau manages to convey a degree of misery and pity as the wronged god but he does little to give the character an edge that's needed. 


Worst offender is Brenton Thwaites, whose acting is in the very loosest sense of the word - it's like he's reading the script for the very first time and doing little with it.

Geoffrey Rush shows up to cash his cheque as the sun god Ra in a side story that sees him effectively manning a spaceship of the gods and fighting off a smoke monster (no doubt left over from Lost) determined to plough the Nile into its belly.

In between the slow-mo shots and some slightly shonky looking CGI, director Alex Proyas (who did such a masterful job with the much under-rated Dark City) does what he can, but there simply is little in reserve to carry this through. 

Digital wizardry left over from the Hobbit has these gods taller creatures than the men around them, but it's an image that never quite manages to succeed thanks to a script that fails to deliver any kind of dimension to the proceedings or any kind of stand out moments, thanks to characters that are weak and severely dramatically malnourished.

Ultimately, Gods of Egypt's FX are where the film rises and ironically falls. The scope of ambition and the design is impressive, there's no doubting the evocative nature of the era is well-realised, but it's all background dressing. With hammy dialogue, a weak story and visuals that are redolent of both Tomb Raider and the Mummy, Gods of Egypt is a mess of mythical proportions and a missed opportunity to stake its own place in anything other than infamy rather than cinematic mythology.

Oscars winners 2016 full list

Oscars winners 2016 full list

Here is the Oscars winners 2016 full list

Best picture: Spotlight

Best Actor: Leonardo Di Caprio

Best actress: Brie Larson

Best director: Alejandro G Inarritu

Best original song: The Writing's on the Wall, Sam Smith
Best original score: Ennio Morricone

Best foreign language film: Son of Saul
Best live action short film: Stutterer
Best documentary: Amy

Best documentary short feature film: A Girl In The River
Best supporting actor: Mark Rylance

Best animated feature: Inside Out

Best animated short film: Bear Story
Best visual effects: Ex Machina
Best sound editing: Mad Max Fury Road
Best film editing: Mad Max Fury Road
Best cinematography: The Revenant

Best make up and styling: Mad Max Fury Road
Best production design: Mad Max Fury Road
Best costume design: Jenny Beaven, Mad Max Fury Road
Best supporting actress: Alicia Vikander. The Danish Girl
Best original screenplay: Spotlight
Best adapted screenplay: The Big Short

Mahana: Film Review

Mahana: Film Review

Cast: Temuera Morrison, Akuhata Keefe
Director: Lee Tamahori

Lee Tamahori returns to the New Zealand screen with a film that reunites him with his Once Were Warriors star Temuera Morrison.

Based on Witi Ihimaera's Bulibasha, and set in provincial Gisborne in the 1960s, it's the story of the Mahana family, who are ruled with an iron fist by grandfather Tamihana, a traditionalist (played by Temuera Morrison).  There's a long-standing rivalry between the Mahanas and their fellow sheep-shearing family, the Poatas and the vendetta runs deep even if no-one talks about it.

But for Akuhata Keefe's 14 year old Simeon Mahana, life is a drudge of continually doing chores and trying to get out from under the yoke of his grandfather and become his own man. However, that brings clashes and things take a turn for the worst when Simeon uncovers more about the deep-held family secret and the anguish that has bound the families inextricably together in resentment....

Mahana is a film of two pieces, wildly meshed together.

At times, it's a dark family drama that plays nicely on the rifts between families and the enmity within as well as hinting at pre-colonial lifestyles and practices. But then other parts of it veer wildly into more traditional lighter elements such as concluding the film with a sheep-shearing contest that's as predictable as the day is long.

And unfortunately, there's a wild mix of acting talents too; at times, Temuera teeters dangerously into over-acting and is not well served by the overly bombastic soundtrack of the film being cranked up at the moments of extreme drama to emphasise that bad things are about to happen. Yet, there are moments when he gives the monster some more human edges that soften his on-screen Tamihana.

If anything, Keefe's the star of the film, giving a turn that has the subtlety that's needed for Simeon, a boy on the cusp of being a man and the awkward teen struggles that come with age and the desire to become your own person.

Tamahori makes good fist of the Gisborne scenery and there are some moodily evocative shots that stand out of mist settling in the valleys and hinting at the discord ahead. But equally, there are puzzling directorial choices that frustrate. One offender is the swirling camera around the exterior of a house as the reason for the conflict is revealed. Granted, it's more about creating a mood and evoking horror, but tonally, it sits at odds with the moment it's revealed - during a shearing contest.

All in all, Mahana is at times, a muddled film which sits at odds with what it intends to do.

By mixing the light with the dark, the film's missed its chance to stamp itself irrevocably on the NZ cinematic landscape; had it been more daring, it could have been a bold and blistering film. As it is, it  sadly feels parochial and limited, when its scope should have been wider.