Star Wars’ cinematic universe tale focused on young Han Solo has a name, and we found out thanks to director Ron Howard, who announced it using a placard in a video shared on Twitter. The name, in case you were wondering, is “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
It follows the “A Star Wars Story” model set by Rogue One, the first spin-out movie set in the Star Wars universe but occurring outside of the main franchise. These movies occur within canon or Star Wars fictional history, but they don’t center around the Skywalker family and its ongoing saga.
Howard also informed us via the video that primary shooting on Han Solo has wrapped, meaning it’ll now go into editing ahead of its May 25, 2018 release date. The movie actually lost its original directors, if you’ll recall, after The Lego Movie‘s Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (pictured with the cast above) departed the project citing creative differences with Lucasfilm president and Star Wars universe commander in chief Kathleen Kennedy.
The movie, which stars Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover and more, will hopefully still deliver the goods when it debuts next year.
Minecraft players will now be able to easily save their in-game creations as 3D models. A new update adds the capability, but it’s among the few features that can only be enjoyed by players on the Windows 10 edition of the game.
The feature was teased in a beta a couple months back, but is now a main-branch feature for the game. Exporting is done by putting a special block down near your sculpture, house or what have you, and giving it a few parameters: how many blocks in this direction to capture, etc.
The game then exports the resulting model directly to Remix 3D, Microsoft’s new platform for sharing 3D models and animations. From there you can share it with others or export again to Paint 3D, where you can further decorate it or export (yet again) to other, more interoperable formats.
(If that seems like too many steps to you, or a little too much Microsoft, feel free to use one of the third-party apps that have done this for years.)
Minecraft long ago made the switchover from niche indie game to global platform, and so far the various versions have more or less maintained feature parity. Versions running on Windows, however, have generally had the lead in advanced features like mods, app integrations and so on.
Windows 10 players should find the new feature next time they boot up the game.
Speakers from Minecraft, King and PopCap will take the stage at Mobile Games Forum Seattle 2017 during its two-day run on October 24th and 25th.
The event will host a number of talks and panels from members of the mobile games industry, along with a developer showcase and plenty of opportunities to network.
Speaker roster
Speakers include Minecraft‘s Product Marketing Lead Emily Orrson, King's VP of its Z2 studio Lou Fasulo and PopCap's Lead Producer Arjun Balaram.
Orrson will discuss how cross-platform play is working for Minecraft, while Fasulo will be giving a talk on using live ops and a game's community to improve their games.
Balaram will close out the conference with a case study on how PopCap moved from premium to free-to-play with its game Plants vs. Zombies 2.
Other speakers include Super Evil Megacorp's Taewon Yun, Game Insight CEO Anatoly Ropotov and Stugan's Jana Palm.
If the above sessions float your boat, we've got a special 20% off discount code for the event: just enter SeattlePG20 as your promo code when purchasing your ticket on the official MGF Seattle website, where you can also find out more information about the event.
As first revealed at The Washington Post, Valiant is proud to present the first lettered look inside QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – the FIRST ISSUE of the ALL-NEW and UNTRUSTWORTHY ONGOING SERIES from rising star Daniel Kibblesmith (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and explosive artist Kano (Daredevil)!
Consider yourself warned…This winter, the world’s worst superhero team is careening back into action! On December 20th, on the heels of X-O MANOWAR (2017) #1, SECRET WEAPONS #1, BLOODSHOT SALVATION #1, and NINJA-K #1, Valiant’s “ICONS” initiative throws the comic book industry’s sense of propriety straight into the wood chipper for the most heartfelt, most eye-popping, and most punching-est superhero-action-family-drama-buddy-comedy throwdown of the year!
Sometimes…you embrace your destiny. And sometimes…you and your trouble-making adopted brother find yourselves trapped in a scientific lab explosion that grants you $@&%ing awesome super-powers. As a result of their accident, Eric and Woody Henderson – aka Quantum and Woody – must “klang” their wristbands together every 24 hours or both dissipate into nothingness. Which makes superhero-ing pretty awkward when you’re not on speaking terms at the moment. See, Eric has been keeping a pretty big secret: He knows who Woody’s birth father really is…and where he’s been hiding all these years.
“They can’t really break up. They’re joined at the hip. Almost literally,” writer Daniel Kibblesmith told The Washington Post. “Part of that tension is, how long can you really keep up the silent treatment when you have to see this person every day?… You have this extremely practical reason that they’re fighting and it’s sort of two stubborn people playing the role of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.”
PLUS: In honor of Quantum and Woody’s upcoming overthrow of comic shops everywhere, Valiant can now “proudly” reveal that each of the new series’ first 12 issues will also feature EXTREME ULTRA-FOIL VARIANTS — a dynamic, new(ish) cover treatment featuring artwork by superstar artist Geoff Shaw (God Country) EMBOSSED and ENHANCED with AUTHENTIC COMICS FOIL FROM THE ‘90s!
Available at the standard cover price with no minimum order qualifications for retailers, relive the face-melting radditude of the era that gloriously birthed Beavis and Butthead Ren and Stimpy Quantum and Woody into comics history with the best foil covers ever produced by a major comics publisher* as Valiant’s EXTREME ULTRA-FOIL VARIANTS kick nostalgia in the nards!
THEN:Don’t relax, we’re not through here yet… Fans and collectors can get their chase on with Valiant’s EXTREME ULTRA-FOIL CHASE VARIANT subset! Each month, in the tradition of comics’ most highly sought-after oddities and error editions, Valiant will produce a single, STRICTLY LIMITED-RUN VARIANT of Geoff Shaw’s EXTREME ULTRA-FOIL artwork with A RARE, SPECIALIZED and SUPREMELY WACKY ‘90s FOIL!
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 is also saying something it can’t take back with THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! – an unholy and experimental combination of comic book history’s most noted, notorious, and obnoxious cover gimmicks – chromium, lenticular, embossing, die-cutting, iridescent ink, and more – on one highly limited, meticulously crafted variant cover! In honor the latest ongoing series from Valiant “ICONS”, Valiant is COMBINING AT LEAST EIGHT OF THE MOST POPULAR COVER ENHANCEMENTS EVER PRODUCED ONTO ONE COVER to create a singular piece de resistance that will forever enshrine the world’s worst superhero team in the record books for now and all time!
(Makes Italian kissing sound with fingers)
Featuring all-new cover artwork by Valiant superstar Clayton Henry (ARCHER & ARMSTRONG) and a cabal of top-secret special guests, THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! will be the first-ever embossed, lenticular, die-cut, individually hand-numbered, and chromium-enhanced comic book cover – all before being hand-stickered with a randomized fourth Valiant hero, and printed with two unique foils and iridescent fifth ink!
On December 20th, the Valiant Universe gets the adjective-worthy superheroes it deserves, only in QUANTUM AND WOODY (2017) #1 – featuring covers by Julian Totino Tedesco (Hawkeye), Geoff Shaw (God Country), Nick Pitarra (The Manhattan Projects), comics legend Neal Adams (Green Lantern/Green Arrow), and Clayton Henry (HARBINGER WARS) alongside every single gimmick known to man!
QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 Written by DANIEL KIBBLESMITH Art by KANO Cover A (Standard) by JULIAN TOTINO TEDESCO (OCT171904) Cover B (Extreme Ultra-Foil) by GEOFF SHAW (OCT171905) Pre-Order Edition by NICK PITARRA (OCT171909) Extreme Ultra-Foil Chase Variant by GEOFF SHAW (OCT171906) Q&W Icon Variant by NEAL ADAMS (OCT171907) The Most Variant Cover of All Time! by CLAYTON HENRY, SPECIAL GUESTS & EVERY GIMMICK KNOWN TO MAN! (OCT171908) $3.99 | 32 pgs. | T+ | On Sale DECEMBER 20th (FOC–11/27/17)
QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1-4 PRE-ORDER EDITION BUNDLE Written by DANIEL KIBBLESMITH Art by KANO Covers by NICK PITARRA (OCT171909) $15.96 US [4 issues] | 40 pgs. each | T+ | Issue #1 On Sale DECEMBER 20th
Up until now, if you wanted to play your current save file on Minecraft for Wii U, you were basically stuck playing it on the Wii U. Today, Nintendo fixed all that by announcing that you can officially transfer your data from the Wii U version over to the Nintendo Switch version. The update has actually made the transfer a pretty simple process. First, you must own the game on the Switch. Next, connect both devices to the internet and that they are both properly updated and have the correct account info on both. Next, go into the Wii U version, select your save file, and click “Transfer to Switch” followed by the prompts to get it transferred. That’s it.
This is just another step of Minecraft and Nintendo to incorporate the game better with cross-play, as they already are making headway on their “Better Together” system that will allow you to use the same version of your game on other consoles and systems, with the exception of anything owned by Sony. Whenever that launches, it will be a big step forward in making it so every system can start experiencing cross-play, with the exception of some people still having their heads in the sand.
A recent “Minecraft” sculpture contest showcased an intricate creation, which also held a profound interpretation.
Called “The Perfect Marionette”, the sculpture was created by Minecraft player Dr. Bond. According to his post on Planet Minecraft, his creation took four days to build. He created the sculpture to portray the theme of “human achievement.”
“I turned the theme into a question and I asked myself over and over, ‘What is it that humans desire to achieve?’ The answer that came to me was ‘perfection,’” wrote Dr. Bond.
At the center of Dr. Bond’s creation sits a girl holding a crystal ball. The glass ball represents whatever a person desires or considers an achievement. Above the girl hovers the puppeteer which represents all the “many conditions and emotions one is controlled by as they embark on their own odyssey.”
“The Perfect Marionette” ended up winning first place on the Apex Events 2017 Invitational builder contest.
Image: Builder’s Refuge/Apex Events Invitational build contest web site
Second and third place were no slouches either. “AWAKENING Null Bomb” by UDVIO depicted the duality of progress as a symbol of achievement and source of destruction.
Image: Builder’s Refuge/ Apex Events Invitational build contest web site
On the other hand, “A Dream of Future” by THOMASESC focused on the ancient past of humanity.
Image: Builder’s Refuge/Apex Events Invitational build contest web site
“Minecraft” debuted in 2011 as a sandbox video game for the PC, Mac OS X and Linux platforms. It featured a retro, blocky look but allowed players to build various 3D constructs using cubes. The game was like a big digital Lego set. Since then various creations have been uploaded to the internet. Other projects even involved creating a game within the “Minecraft” sandbox. JB
