FINAL FANTASY XV Royal Edition & Windows Edition Out Now + Launch Trailer

FINAL FANTASY XV Royal Edition & Windows Edition Out Now + Launch Trailer

FINAL FANTASY XV ROYAL EDITION

AND WINDOWS EDITION AVAILABLE NOW

SYDNEY, 7^th March 2018 –   Square Enix Ltd., have released FINAL FANTASY XV ROYAL EDITION for the Xbox One and PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, and FINAL FANTASY® XV WINDOWS EDITION for STEAM®, Origin, Windows 10, and select Australasian retailers. Both editions are packed with features and brand-new content in addition to the base game, including all current Season Pass content released since launch, an expanded map, new areas to explore and more.

To celebrate the release a new launch trailer was released today and is available here: https://youtu.be/LQ6HotlD4yM

FINAL FANTASY XV ROYAL EDITION and FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION feature*:

• Expanded Map: Insomnia City Ruins – all-new side quests and enemies such as Cerberus and Omega available through the expanded map of the Crown City of Insomnia.
• Fully-controllable Royal Vessel boat, expanding the world of Eos allowing players to explore the area between Cape Caem and Altissia.
• A new accessory that can activate the new action “Armiger Unleashed” – after collecting all of the royal arms, unleash powerful attacks while the Armiger is summoned
• A new first-person camera mode, experience the game from Noctis’ perspective.
• More than a dozen pieces of downloadable content including weapons, Regalia car skins and item sets
• All current season pass content including EPISODE GLADIOLUS, EPISODE PROMPTO, MULTIPLAYER EXPANSION: COMRADES** and EPISODE IGNIS
• Archive – “Cosmogony” stories scattered throughout the FINAL FANTASY XV world allows players to discover more about local myths and legends
• Quest to obtain and strengthen Regalia Type-D
• The FINAL FANTASY XV base game, with new trophies/achievements

*Internet access is required
**FINAL FANTASY XV MULTIPLAYER EXPANSION: COMRADES on console requires a subscription to an Xbox Live Gold membership or a PlayStation®Plus subscription.

Owners of the original console game can purchase the FINAL FANTASY XV Royal Pack and access the new content (excludes Season Pass content) via the Xbox Store and PlayStation® Store.

FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION also features:

• High-resolution options and visuals compatible with native 4K (3840 x 2160), graphical options can also be configured to support up to 8K
• HDR 10 support

• Mod Support - As a preview of what players will be able to do with mod support, players who own FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION on Steam (including boxed versions) can find the Half-Life Pack items in the Steam Workshop. Further mod support details to be announced at a later time.

• Tobii Eyetracking Integration - For more information on how players can control cameras, auto-aim, warp to locations and more via eyetracking, refer to the blog post here:http://www.tobiigaming.com/Final-Fantasy-XV-Eye-Tracking
• AlienFX Integration – Allows for a more immersive experience with lighting effects tied directly to in-game action on Alienware peripherals.

Additionally, a free update to FINAL FANTASY XV MULTIPLAYER EXPANSION: COMRADES is also available today, introducing several new gameplay areas, quests and other content, including:

• Comrades Quest (Beginner - Intermediate) - Players can now earn exclusive avatar items through a new Comrades Quest where they take control of Noctis, Gladiolus, Prompto and Ignis and complete a thrilling series of Escort, Defense, and Hunt quests in medley form.
• Chocobo Breeding (Intermediate - Advanced) - Up to 10 wild chocobos can now be raised, used to develop new power routes and pitted against ferocious foes at the Caem Colosseum after a sequence of events at Cape Caem are completed.
• Royal Sigils (Advanced - Master) - Players can now unlock an extremely challenging multiplayer quest after completing a sequence of events at Galdin Quay and collecting the six remaining Royal Sigils.
• Hidden Harbor - A new outpost is now unlocked after completing a sequence of events at Galdin Quay, functioning as a “mini-Lestallum” complete with Mission HQ, Power Station, Glaive Barracks, a Remodeling Station and new Chocobo Stables. The new mini-outpost Norduscaen Garrison can also be unlocked.

• Additional Content:
  • Higher Avatar Character Level Cap - From Level 50 to Level 99
  • Higher Weapon Level Cap - From Level 99 to Level 120 (requiring special Meteorite component)
  • Ability to Dismantle Armaments - Available after obtaining the Engine Schematics
  • New Guest Chefs at Camp - Including Libertus, Gentiana, Cor, Aranea and Iris
  • Exchange Gil for Meteorshards - Visit Navyth at a certain outpost
  • New Hunt, Escort and Defense Quests
  • New Armaments, Weapon Abilities, Remodeling Components
  • New Avatar Items - Modeled after familiar faces from FINAL FANTASY XV

The Mercy: Film Review

The Mercy: Film Review

Cast: Colin Firth, Rachel Weisz, Ken Stott, David Thewlis
Director: James Marsh

The name Donald Crowhurst may not mean much to many.

But The Theory of Everything's director is aiming to change that with this intriguingly melancholy and cautionary tale of hubris.

A failing inventor and salesman in the 1960s, a contemplative Crowhurst (a sincere Firth) decides to take on the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race to prove something to himself and to leave a legacy.

The round-the-globe race would see the amateur sailor granted fame and his family and help boost their family out of the financial mire.

So, with a not sea-worthy boat and a headful of doubt, as well as saddled with debt, Crowhurst sets out to fulfill his burning desire to do something with his life.

And along with a publicist plotting everything on land (a bullish Thewlis), Crowhurst finds the pressure building...

The thing about The Mercy is, much like Robert Redford's flashier All Is Lost, it's essentially all about the demons of a man left at the mercy of the elements and with only his own thoughts to spend time with.

Whereas All Is Lost was a little more of a traditional film, complete with danger, The Mercy's melancholy is the one over-riding element, as it washes over in the final back half of the film.

The tragic atmosphere's greatly helped by Marsh's sound team, who amplify the creaking of the mast, the lapping of the sea and the constant drip of water to maximum effect, building a soundscape which goes some way to giving an insight into Crowhurst's descending state of mind.

Whereas the first third of the relatively short film devotes an inordinate amount of time to telling backstory and simply presenting it with clunking ease, the rest of the film allows the actors the time to shine.

Particularly Weisz, whose initial appearances as a supportive wife are thankless at best - and superfluous at worst.

Aside from one awkward CGI presentation of great swells which appears to be cast offs from Mark Wahlberg's The Perfect Storm, the simplicity of the presentation of life on the sea gives the ever-reliable and always relatable Firth the chance to offer a subtle and nuanced turn as the woefully inept Crowhurst starts to face the reality of his situation.

Despite what Thewlis' PR person bellows early on, ("it's a story of derring do, waiting to be told,") The Mercy is not that kind of film.

Maudlin and with some narrative edges that will require leaps if you're not familiar with the events that transpired for Crowhurst, it's a once over lightly psychological piece that skirts with the psyche of sailing rather than fully diving deeply in. Something which becomes deeply more evident in the film's final straight.

The Mercy never quite achieves the insight into Crowhurst that perhaps it's aiming for, but in translating the smaller details to the bigger screen, it's a little more successful than you'd expect, but also a little more disappointing if you're after something more substantial as it strays from its course.

Tekken 7 Melbourne ESports date revealed

Tekken 7 Melbourne ESports date revealed

TEKKEN 7 SPREADS ITS WINGS AND TAKES FLIGHT TO GREATER ESPORTS HEIGHTS

BATTLE ARENA MELBOURNE CONFIRMED AS AUSTRALIAN TEKKEN WORLD TOUR EVENT

Leading interactive entertainment media publisher and developer BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. in conjunction with partners at Twitch, Red Bull, and TBS are bringing TEKKEN™ 7 tournament events around the country and delivering the game’s hard-hitting action into living rooms throughout the nation. Through a variety of live events, TEKKEN 7 fans and serious fighting game players will be able to participate in a multitude of tournaments or simply revel and cheer for their favorite players - at the highest levels of competitive play - on TV and online.

2017 marked the official return of TEKKEN 7 to a global stage with BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.’s TEKKEN World Tour. The tournament series held regional tournaments throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia in search of the best players in each respective region. The competition and heated-action culminated in an explosive finale at the TEKKEN World Tour Finals, held in San Francisco, California, where a diverse collection of highly-skilled competitors from around the globe fought to take home a large cash purse and most importantly… world-wide bragging rights.

In 2018, TEKKEN 7 will soar to greater esports heights as BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. continues to support the passionate TEKKEN fighting game community through exciting partnerships with the biggest esports content provider brands such as ELEAGUE and Red Bull. BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., in partnership with Twitch, also returns with the TEKKEN World Tour for 2018 featuring bigger regional tournaments and a new global leader board system which will surely heat-up the competition around the world. These partnerships and tournaments are part of a long-term strategic plan within BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. to drive esports growth through developing and publishing competition-ready game content and continued grass-roots support of the growing esports community.

“TEKKEN 7 has emerged to become one of the premier fighting games driving the esports growth we are experiencing in the video games industry,” said Eric Hartness, Vice President of Marketing at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. “As esports continues to grow in popularity, relevance, and reach around the globe, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment will continue to develop more blockbuster titles like TEKKEN 7 to provide exciting content for esports fans everywhere.”

TEKKEN World Tour 2018

Coming off last year’s stellar tour and earth-shaking finale, for 2018, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. continues its partnership with Twitch to raise the bar for this year’s TEKKEN World Tour. The tournament series will take-on a truly global format which will pit players from the Americas, Asia, and Europe against each other through a world-wide leader board system with competitors accruing Ranking Points (based on their results) on a global basis. For more information about the TEKKEN World Tour Ranking Points system, please visit: http://tekkenworldtour.com/

TEKKEN World Tour kicks off its eight-month season for 2018 on March 16 at Final Round in Atlanta, GA. with additional regional events taking place in Peru, Thailand, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Korea, Italy, Australia, Taiwan, and more. The top 19 players who have accrued the most Ranking Points will automatically qualify to compete in the TEKKEN World Tour Finals event which will be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands in November 2018. One additional finals slot will be open for the lucky winner of a Last Chance Qualifier tournament which will take place at the TEKKEN World Tour Finals. For more information about the TEKKEN World Tour world-wide event schedule, please visit: https://tekkenworldtour.com/schedule/

The TEKKEN World Tour event for Australia takes place at Battle Arena Melbourne 10, on May 18^th to May 20^th, 2018. BAM10 is held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, bays 1-2 (Opposite Crown Casino) 1 Convention Centre Pl, South Wharf, Victoria. More information and Registration via www.couchwarriors.og/bam10. You can join the Facebook event here and follow CouchWarriors on Facebook and Twitter for regular #BAM10 updates.

TEKKEN 7 is available now in the Americas for the PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and PCs via STEAM®. For more information about TEKKEN 7 or other titles from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. please visit:https://www.bandainamcoent.com, or follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BandaiNamcoUS, or join the conversation on Twitter at: https://www.twitter.com/BandaiNamcoUS.

Win a double pass to see A Quiet Place

Win a double pass to see A Quiet Place

You can win a double pass to see A Quiet Place in cinemas

Produced by Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller

Story by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck

Screenplay by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck and John Krasinski

Directed by John Krasinski

Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Noah Jupe & Millicent Simmonds

If they can’t hear you, they can’t hunt you.

A Quiet Place hits cinemas April 4.
  To win a double pass, all you have to do is email  your details to this  address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Include your name and address and title your email SHHHHHHHHHHH!
Competition closes April 4th

Win a Sherlock Gnomes prize pack

Win a Sherlock Gnomes prize pack

Starring James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Ashley Jensen, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant, Mary J. Blige and Johnny Depp

The beloved garden gnomes from GNOMEO AND JULIET are back for a whole new adventure in London.

When Gnomeo and Juliet first arrive in the city with their friends and family, their biggest concern is getting their new garden ready for spring.

However, they soon discover that someone is kidnapping garden gnomes all over London.

When Gnomeo and Juliet return home to find that everyone in their garden is missing – there’s onlyone gnome to call… SHERLOCK GNOMES.

The famous detective and sworn protector of London’s garden gnomes arrives with his sidekick Watson to investigate the case.

The mystery will lead our gnomes on a rollicking adventure where they will meet all new ornaments and explore an undiscovered side of the city.

Sherlock Gnomes hits cinemas April 12th

  To win a prize pack, all you have to do is email  your details to this  address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Include your name and address and title your email SHERLOCK!
Competition closes APRIL 12TH

Thor Ragnarok: DVD Review

Thor Ragnarok: DVD Review

Director: Taika Waititi

Increasingly, Marvel's cinematic universe appears to largely be abandoning its dramatic edges and opting for humour to wow the crowds.

In a trend majorly signalled and kick-started by Guardians of the Galaxy's first outing, humour has become a crutch for the last batch of films, and is threatening to overthrow any dramatic investment you may have in the ongoing series.

It's a leaning followed - perhaps to the very extremes of the spectrum - by Kiwi director Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok, the latest Marvel film to hit and the third stand-alone for Chris Hemsworth's golden-haired god.

Troubled by visions of Asgard falling and Ragnarok destroying all, Thor returns home to find Loki's Odin imposter ruling the roost (and allowing Anthony Hopkins to play fast and loose with the king of the gods).

But when the real Odin passes on, the true threat to Asgard rises, in the form of the missing Hela (Cate Blanchett, all emo and Maleficent style-costuming). Angry at being written out of the planet's history, Hela decides to re-ignite her appetite for destruction.

However, when Thor rises up to face the challenge, he finds himself stranded on the planet Sakaar, as a prisoner and forced to fight against The Hulk, gladiator-style at the whim of the Grandmaster (an obtusely eccentric Goldblum).

The day-glo blast of colour and 80s matinee style vibe of Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok is a colourful distraction.

Waititi continues to bring clarity and a distinctive edge to the dealing out of action scenes, handling CGI and clear-cut action as masterfully as he did Hunt For the Wilderpeople's final chase sequence.

And he's infused the trappings of the Marvel with a lighter touch, that, in all honesty, at times threatens to over-power the final mix. There's so much Kiwi humour in this that it feels, at times, more hokey-pokey than Marvel hokum.

Unfortunately, the dramatic edges are frayed under the strain of too much humour; stakes never feel woefully threatened enough and the eccentricities and lighter feel veer dangerously close to overwhelming.

Once again, the villain of the piece (in this case, Blanchett's Hela) never feels like too much of a threat, with the familial feeling all too familiar.

While Waititi's film manages to keep things intimate in some sense of scale and action, the price of the comedy for Thor: Ragnarok's dramatic raison d'etre is threatening.

It's easy to understand why Hemsworth found the latest Thor iteration appealing - essentially, it gives him a chance to showcase his comedic side (and also helps him to stray away from the po-faced Thor we've experienced before). Coupled with Ruffalo's Hulk, the pair form a buddy movie in the middle part of the film as they try to escape.

It's not that the 80s drenched, synth-scored and candy blast of colours Thor: Ragnarok isn't fun by any stretch of the imagination. And it certainly isn't that Waititi's not to be commended for his eye behind the camera.
As a scavenger, Tessa Thompson is perhaps the film's MVP - a booze-swilling swagger disguising a secret. Her turn gives the film a frisson of cool that's needed and grounds it in a slightly stronger edge.

Ultimately, it's the story-telling which lets Thor: Ragnarok down a little. With the drama not as strong as it could be, the fun elements are Waititi's trademark unlikely characters in mundane settings.
And while it's a comedic tour-de-force for Hemsworth, it's certainly a Marvel film that doesn't potentially quite stand up to repeated viewings.

Waititi deserves saluting for the crowd-pleasing elements of Thor: Ragnarok overall, and there will be many who feel the fun edges make it a cinematic night out worth taking, but in this mind, it feels like Marvel's reaching a crisis point as it's gone as far as it can on both fronts, and is in danger of humour being the constant crutch and hook.

With a plethora of more releases planned and scripts to be written, it almost feels like we're bordering on breaking point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A new direction needs to be found quickly if the continued cinematic saturation isn't going to be too much for repeat viewers and audiences to bear, and those searching for dramatic nourishment don't go wanting.

Oscars 2018 winners

Oscars 2018 winners

Here is the full list of the 2018 Oscar Awards aka the 90th Academy Awards:

The full list of 2018 Oscar winners is:
Best Picture:
The Shape of Water

Lead Actor:
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Lead Actress:
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Supporting Actor:
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Supporting Actress:
Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Director:
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

Animated Feature:
Coco

Live Action Short:
The Silent Child

Adapted Screenplay:
James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name

Original Screenplay:
Jordan Peele, Get Out

Cinematography:
Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049

Documentary Feature:
Icarus

Documentary Short Subject:
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405

Animated Short Film:
Dear Basketball

Foreign Language Film:
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)

Film Editing:
Lee Smith, Dunkirk

Sound Editing:
Alex Gibson & Richard King, Dunkirk

Sound Mixing:
Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, and Gary A. Rizzo, Dunkirk

Production Design:
The Shape of Water

Original Score:
Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water

Original Song:
Remember Me from Coco by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez

Makeup and Hair:
Darkest Hour

Costume Design:
Phantom Thread

Visual Effects:
Blade Runner 2049