Play 5 New GTA Online: Cunning Stunts Races Today + New Vehicles, Bonuses and More

Play 5 New GTA Online: Cunning Stunts Races Today + New Vehicles, Bonuses and More

Play 5 New GTA Online: Cunning Stunts Races Today + New Vehicles, Bonuses and More

Today, five new Stunt Races join the roster of GTA Online: Cunning Stunts, taking you and your appetite for high-flying, daring, stunting action everywhere from the peaks of Mount Chiliad to the shores of Vespucci. And next week, the official launch of the Stunt Race Creator tool will harness the talents of the amazing Creator community to usher in a whole new era of player-made mayhem. Check out a brief overview of this week's new Stunt Races below, and read on for details on three new vehicles, this week's bonuses and more.

Chiliad (Super)
Mount Chiliad has inspired artists, hippies and death cults for generations, but until now it's offered precious little for the key Los Santos demographic: reckless Super car enthusiasts. All that changes with this towering Stunt Race over the iconic peak of San Andreas.

H200 (Sport)
After a long day in the office hoping the IT guy won't check your search history, there's nothing more invigorating than the touch of the ocean breeze and the smell of salt water as it washes over a race track and floods your engine. Stunt Race for Sports cars. Pro tip: bring your bikini bottoms.

Over the Bridge (Bike)
Sure, 2000cc superbikes weren't designed to spend this much time flying through the air above industrial docklands, but every step of evolutionary progress is tough on the pioneers. Jump-heavy Point to Point Stunt Race.

Vespucci (Super)
The Los Santos coastline is about so much more than golden sand, contaminated water and steroid abuse. It's also a perfect backdrop for laps of a winding Stunt Race where any mistake will send you and your million dollar Super car to the bottom of the sea. Hey, it beats the Ferris wheel.

The Wave (Bike)
Who said you have to venture out into the middle of the Pacific in a force ten gale to feel so seasick you want to die? That special inside-out feeling is available right here on this coastal Stunt Race for Bikes.

NEW VEHICLES: BRAVADO SPRUNK BUFFALO, MTL DUNE & VAPID CONTENDER
Three new vehicles, the Bravado Sprunk Buffalo, MTL Dune and Vapid Contender, have also been added to GTA Online today. Tackle Stunt Races with Sprunk guzzling pride in the branded livery-clad Buffalo, or dial up your friends at Pegasus to motor through the Blaine County off-road in the MTL Dune. The Contender offers formidable size and balanced suspension to tackle a variety of terrains - an asset for active Executives and VIPs.

PREMIUM RACE: H200 (Friday 7/29 - Sunday 7/31)
This weekend's Premium Race is the new "H200" Stunt Race for Sports class cars. Ante up and try to take down all comers in a mad dash for that GTA$100,000 top prize.

BONUSES: DOUBLE GTA$ & RP PLAYLIST, FREE GOLD JUMPSUIT & MORE
From Wednesday July 27th through Friday July 29th, ALL Stunts Series Races will dish out Double GTA$ and RP. In addition to being accessible from the pink Stunt Series blips on the map, you can jump into the Stunt Series directly right on the GTAV loading screen. High rollers, keep an eye out for a Premium Race this weekend, where you can ante up and try to take down all comers in a mad dash for that GTA$100,000 top prize.

You can add to your racing wardrobe this week with the flamboyant Gold Jumpsuit, available just by logging in to GTA Online at any point between now and Monday, August 1st. Add some color to your fleet with 20% off all vehicle Resprays and Neons. And for those who like to grab sustained air-based transportation, the Buckingham Nimbus Jet and Volatus helicopter are both 30% off at Elitás Travel. 

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 launch on Playstation®4 and Xbox One

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 launch on Playstation®4 and Xbox One

Super Hero action RPGs also return to Steam for Windows PC

Activision Publishing, Inc., in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment, is this week making the classic Super Hero action RPGs Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 available digitally on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One for the first time, as well as once more on Windows PC via Steam. The pair of critically praised titles can be purchased separately or together in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Bundle today via the PlayStation®Store and Steam, and on July 28 through the Xbox Games Store.

Featuring a cast of over 22 playable characters, the first Marvel: Ultimate Alliance lets players create their own teams of heroes from the Marvel Universe, or recreate their favourite existing ones, like the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four and more. Experience a story starring more than 140 legendary characters, including Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, Loki, Wolverine, Doctor Doom, Ultron and many others. Customise and upgrade these mighty squads of champions to unleash upon the single-player campaign, or in cooperative and competitive online and local multiplayer for up to four players.

Set within the climactic events of Marvel Comics’ Civil War story arc, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 throws players into the struggle for or against the infamous Superhuman Registration Act. The missions, challenges, and threats players face are affected by which side of the conflict they choose. Like its predecessor, the game lets players assemble and level up their own Marvel Universe dream teams from over 24 playable characters, each with specialised abilities that can be combined for amazing results. Play alone in single-player, or battle together in online and local co-op with up to four friends.

Both Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 are rated M (moderate violence).

KONAMI and FC Barcelona announce three-year agreement as PES 2017 publisher becomes Premium Partner of Catalan giants

KONAMI and FC Barcelona announce three-year agreement as PES 2017 publisher becomes Premium Partner of Catalan giants

KONAMI and FC Barcelona announce three-year agreement as PES 2017 publisher becomes Premium Partner of Catalan giants

                                   

Sydney, 27^th July - Konami Digital Entertainment B.V., creator of the award-winning PES series of football simulations, has announced a top-level partnership with FC Barcelona, the first of its kind for a video game publisher.

"This is a real statement of intent for us,” explained Tomotada Tashiro, President of Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. “By working closely with a team of Barcelona’s stature we can introduce the PES series to a huge global fan base. This partnership will deliver access to the very best players in the modern game and to one of the world’s most respected and ambitious clubs. The PESseries is famed for its realism and control, so the fit between such a skilled team and a game that celebrates such ability is perfect.”

KONAMI and FC Barcelona has entered a Premium Partner agreement, which will see KONAMI granted extensive access to the club’s stars and have a visible presence within the match day experience. KONAMI will have a prominent advertising presence within and around the club’s Camp Nou stadium, and will also receive exclusive rights to recreate FC Barcelona’s legendary home within its PES titles, starting with PES 2017 and within all related PES-branded releases, including mobile titles.

“We are delighted to have signed this agreement with KONAMI, who is now an official Premium Partner of the Club" added Manel Arroyo, FC Barcelona Vice-President of Marketing and Communications. "KONAMI is a strategic partner that will allow us to bring FC Barcelona to millions of users of its game. We hope to see the club, the players and Camp Nou, perfectly recreated in the next and future versions of the PES series."

FC Barcelona was founded in 1899 in Barcelona, Catalonia. The team is widely known to fans by their nickname ‘Barca’, and since their formation has won the UEFA Champions League five times, the Spanish League 24 times, and many other honours. FC Barcelona is one of the best-supported clubs in the world, with almost 145,000 Socios, (members) and the top sport club on social media, with nearly 250 million followers. FC Barcelona will also be represented faithfully within the series, with KONAMI’s proprietary Team ID and Player ID systems used to ensure the PES side perfectly reflects the overall and individual playing styles of the Catalan side and its many stars. The club’s famed ’offensive, playing style will be fully implemented, as will the club anthem ’Himno‘. Konami will also be using advanced 3D photo-scanning techniques to implement the faces and expressions of key players, and will also release in-game versions of the club’s historical kits for use in the games. There will also be special promotions within its hugely popular myClub mode that will allow fans to add Barca stars such as Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr and Luis Suarez to their home-grown squads. In addition PES 2017 will include FCB Legends also available in myClub.

Doglegs: NZIFF Review

Doglegs: NZIFF Review

The idea of a film about a disabled Japanese wrestling league may provoke reactions within the audience, but Doglegs is a sensitive and intriguing peek into a world hitherto unwitnessed.

And given the tragic events in Japan earlier this week when a care worker stabbed at least 19 disabled people in a centre west of Tokyo, this film’s taken on another level.

Director Heath Cozens follows a few founding members of the Doglegs wrestling group, set up by a collection of self-described misfits. Becoming a lifeline for the marginalised, the group would settle scores between each other in the ring (and in one clash, two rivals clash over a woman) and gradually became a close knit community.

It’s into this world that Cozens ventures, following the likes of “Sambo” Shintaro who has cerebral palsy and who wants to retire. But not without one final fight against a long term rival – the able bodied Kitajima. And in a twist that shakes Shintaro, Kitajima says he will fight but only the winner will be allowed to retire.

Elsewhere, there’s another fighter whose path of self-destruction is tragic and disturbing. And into that mix, is footage over years thrown in of the wrestlers taking on each other and empowering themselves but potentially likely to unsettle viewers.

What Cozens has managed to do with Doglegs is concoct a doco that forces you to make your own decisions and judgement as the story transpires and may see you shrinking away uncertain on how you feel.

But Cozens has equally managed to handle the situation with sincere aplomb; there’s no judgement here and there’s clearly been a desire to let the camera capture it warts and all. So what emerges is an intriguing look at pride, pathos and shame within the Japanese culture.

Shintaro becomes the clear focus of the majority of the story – and it’s hard to see how he can ever win against an able bodied opponent determined to humiliate him in the ring. In many ways, it’s a traditional underdog story with non-traditional contenders.

However, by focussing on life outside of the ring (Shintaro’s quest for love, his relationship with his mother and with others in the Doglegs group), what comes from it all is a film that is a conflict; it has a bizarre joie de vivre and will leave a divisive feeling in viewers.

Are the audience of the fights laughing at the contenders or are they enjoying the sport? Cozens makes no judgement on them, and perhaps it may have been interesting to get their point of view into proceedings, but he does nothing to humiliate his subjects or glorify them either.

It’s a smart move to make Doglegs so non-exploitative and challenge perceptions, but it is perhaps one of the more unsettling films at the festival this year – but as an insight into a different world and ruminations on people’s place in the world, it’s a fascinatingly assured movie that earns your respect with its honesty and sincerity. 

Personal Shopper: NZIFF Review

Personal Shopper: NZIFF Review

Olivier Assayas reteams with Kristen Stewart after last year's NZIFF outing The Clouds of Sils Maria, a surprising film that won the erstwhile Twilight star a prestigious acting award.

This time, Stewart plays Maureen, a twin whose other half Lewis has died from a heart condition which she shares. However, Maureen is a medium too, who spends her night trying to contact her dead brother, believing his spirit still to be in the house.

By day, Maureen is a personal shopper for a model, who's never home and who exchanges notes with her charge. But Maureen's unhappy with her lot, decrying that spends her days "doing bullshit".

Her life changes though when she encounters a spirit in the house - and then starts to get anonymous texts...

Mixing a concoction of atmospheric ghost story (via the likes of The Others and The Orphanage) with a psychological sideline in stalking proves to be an intriguing proposition for Personal Shopper. It's a film that very much benefits from Stewart's performance and subtleties.

As the medium  negotiating the spiritual world, she's very much a Ghostbuster, desperate to connect to ensure closure as she begins to give way at the edges. Spending nights alone and days equally alone in her haute couture job, her dissatisfied detachment from the world around her is well played by Stewart, who uses fraying mentality and fragility to beneficial effect. She conveys the degradation of her mental condition with the slightest of tics, twitching fingers et al.

Sequences in the home at the start of the film are well orchestrated by Assayas who creates a soundscape and atmosphere that's easy to buy into - even if occasionally frustratingly, he decides to cut a scene short by fading to black unexpectedly. But the unease and discord that's unleashed on Maureen early on is nothing compared to how suspenseful a text conversation becomes in Assayas' hands.

With the deftness of simply holding the camera on the phone as messages fly back and forth with various pauses, the whole thing becomes a bizarre masterclass in the art of suspense as this portrait of grief and yearning for more (both in this life and the next) unfolds.

Stewart's unease is palpable within the looping rhythms of tedium within her day and while some may feel in comparison to the broader emotional strokes that Assayas achieved in Clouds of Sils Maria this is lacking. But that's to dismiss Stewart's presence throughout and to do a disservice to Assayas' tale of disconnection.

It's essentially a spooker of a film, a film that builds to crescendo within its oeuvre and a film that defies convention or easy definition.

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie: Film Review

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie: Film Review

Cast: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks, Kathy Burke
Director: Mandie Fletcher

There is perhaps something commendable about the way the Ab Fab film arrives decades after the show finished.

And given it opened big in wake of the BREXIT decision at the UK Box Office, there's still clearly an audience desperate for the nostalgia, the light-hearted silliness and for the beehived Patsy and the deluded Edina.

Tottering around the semblance of a plot too thin to ultimately bother with (loosely, the duo go on the run after Jennifer Saunders' Edina knocks Kate Moss into the Thames, drowning her), the film's MO is to simply provide a nostalgic blast of Ab Fab, an extended episode of the TV show stuffed full of cameos (some of whom are too young to have remembered the original.)

It's fair to say the jokes are spread pretty thinly from the get go, but Joanna Lumley as Patsy utterly owns her time back on screen with every scene devoured by her snarling, smudged lipstick look. Her opening sequence where she's injecting Botox as part of a morning routine is everything you'd expect from the character 

Saunders does her usual pratfalls and selfish antics as Edina, a monstrous mum clinging desperately to the ghost of PR past and unwilling to go into the dark of the night unless she has champagne and her hare-brained friend with her. There's the inevitable sappiness too that always hit parts of the sitcom with the relationship between her and daughter Saffy (Julia Sawalha).

There's no disputing the slapstick caper could do with a swathe more laughs as parts of it feel scrappy and underwhelming, but there's equally no denying that the film is faithful to the show's ethos of excess and no learning policy. 

It carries on wilfully and regardless in gloriously OTT fashion, and while the model cameos may feel reminiscent of Zoolander 2 given their volume, they serve little purpose other than to exist. Perhaps the best of them come towards the end at a swimming pool in Cannes, revelling in the anarchic sense the show used to have and embracing the zaniness of a Brit-com on the continent that fuelled so many 70s TV series' movie outings.

The catch with Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is that the film's broadness will appeal probably more to fans of the original show; its faithfulness and desire to resurface all the characters from the 90s sitcom is laudable, but its desire to wilfully ignore the satire it could hit in a world where we all do our own PR online is a minor disappointment. (There are several jabs at the UK media obsessions and 24 hours news which provoke a guffaw or two - a scathing admission from Saunders perhaps how times have changed.)

This tale of women behaving badly may be a film of indulgence and cameos, but it lacks the sparkle of a Bolly in many ways. That said though, fans of the original series will adore its reverence to the source material and think it's still Absolutely Fabulous.

LEGO® Dimensions™ Expansion Packs Revealed for November 2016 Release

LEGO® Dimensions™ Expansion Packs Revealed for November 2016 Release

LEGO® Dimensions™ Expansion Packs Revealed for November 2016 Release

Holiday Assortment Includes Fantastic Beasts, Sonic The Hedgehog,

Gremlins, E.T. and Adventure Time

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment at San Diego Comic-Con revealed details around six highly collectable expansion packs for LEGO® Dimensions, the LEGO® toy and videogame hybrid, that will be available in the Wave 7 product release on November 18, 2016.  Led by the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them™ Story Pack and the Sonic The Hedgehog™ Level Pack, the new packs broaden the selection of the world’s most popular entertainment brands allowing players to customise their experience by mixing and matching favourite characters and universes with full compatibility.  LEGO minifigures included in all of the wave 6-9 expansion packs will come with special, golden Toy Tags which unlock a Battle Arena within the Adventure World of the corresponding entertainment brand. All-new Battle Arenas will offer first-to-LEGO videogames competitive split-screen local gameplay for up to four players. Each Battle Arena has four gameplay modes and comes with its own traps, special powers and interactive environments that make every battle arena unique.

The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Story Pack will provide a complete movie-based gameplay experience with six action-packed levels and new LEGO Gateway bricks to build the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) atop the LEGO Toy Pad.  Players can build the Newt Scamander LEGO minifigure and help him find his escaped magical creatures in New York City and use a variety of spells, including Diffindo, Reparo and Lumos.  The pack will also come with a 3-in-1 Niffler which can be rebuilt into the Sinister Scorpion and Vicious Vulture. The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Story Pack will be the exclusive construction toy offering this holiday for the exciting expansion of J.K Rowling’s Wizarding World.

Fans can also add the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Fun Pack with a Tina Goldstein LEGO minifigure. She can cast Aguamenti to help solve puzzles and Protego to keep her safe from enemies. Players in need of rescue can build the 3-in-1 Swooping Evil which can be rebuilt into the Brutal Bloom and Crawling Creeper.

The Sonic The Hedgehog Level Pack includes a complete level of Sonic The Hedgehog gameplay where players can race as the Blue Blur at lightning speeds through some of his most iconic locations including Green Hill, Emerald Coast, Labyrinth and many more. Players can build the Sonic the Hedgehog LEGO minifigure and use his Acrobat ability to swing off poles and avoid the Badniks, then use his famous grind rails move to make a quick escape.  The pack also includes a 3-in-1 Sonic Speedster which can be rebuilt into Blue Typhoon and Motobug, and a 3-in-1 The Tornado which can be rebuilt into Crabmeat and Eggcatcher.

Players wanting to bring Gremlins™ to life in LEGO Dimensions can add the Gremlins Team Pack which includes popular rivals Gizmo and Stripe LEGO minifigures. Gizmo’s Combat Roll and Dash Attack abilities can be used to get him out of sticky situations and Stripe uses his claws with his Vine Cut ability. Players can rebuild the 3-in-1 R.C. Racer vehicle into the Gadget-o-matic and Scarlet Scorpion and the 3-in-1 Flash ‘n’ Finish into a Rampage Record Player and Stripe's Throne

The E.T.™ The Extra-Terrestrial Fun Pack includes an E.T. LEGO minifigure with Illumination and Fix-It abilities, as well as special Stealth and Telekinesis skills to make his way around the LEGO multiverse.  Players can build E.T.’s iconic Phone Home device, then rebuild it into the Mobile Uplink and Super-Charged Satellite for additional in-game abilities.

Developed by TT Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. LEGO Dimensions is now available for PlayStation® 4 and PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Nintendo´s Wii™ U system.

LEGO DIMENSIONS Videogame software © 2016 TT Games Ltd. Produced by TT Games under license from the LEGO Group. LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Brick and the Knob configurations and the Minifigure are trademarks and/or copyrights of the LEGO Group. © 2016