'Deadpool' has already grossed 8x its budget

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Feb 21, 2016 9:41 PM CST

For a film that studio 20th Century Fox were incredibly reticent to make, 'Deadpool' continues to be as unstoppable as Colossus at the worldwide box office, adding to its largest R-rated opening weekend and biggest opening day in February .

According to BoxOfficeMojo, the Marvel feature film is edging to a $500m worldwide gross - which is nearly 8.5 times the film's economical $58m budget. Fox is said to be incredibly pleased with the result, which is why they've moved to quickly greenlight a sequel.

Stay tuned for our review coming very soon.

Continue reading: 'Deadpool' has already grossed 8x its budget (full post)

John Wick: Chapter Two will be released on 2/10/17

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Feb 21, 2016 9:31 PM CST

John Wick was one of the biggest surprises of 2015, with Keanu Reeves really getting fired up over his dog, but the universe portrayed in John Wick was enthralling - leaving cinemagoers, myself included - wanting oh-so-much more.

According to Exhibitor Relations, the sequel will be called John Wick: Chapter Two, which is nice and simple. John Wick: Chapter Two will drop on 2/10/17 - so we only have around 12 months until Keanu Reeves starts kicking ass again. John Wick: Chapter Two will see Keanu Reeves in the titular role, joined by Bridget Moynahan, John Leguizamo, Lance Reddick, and Ian McShane from the first movie, and newbies Common, Ruby Rose, Peter Stormare, and Laurence Fishburne.

Laurence Fishburne is an interesting addition, as Reeves and Fishburne were in The Matrix Trilogy together as Neo and Morpheus, respectively.

Continue reading: John Wick: Chapter Two will be released on 2/10/17 (full post)

GTA 6 rumored to have female lead character, would launch in 2019

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 21, 2016 7:53 PM CST

We're finally hearing more about Grand Theft Auto 6, with the latest rumor is that Rockstar Games is set to shake up the GTA universe by offering a female lead character in the game. The last time we heard about GTA 6, Rockstar teased it "had some ideas" for its next game.

According to GTA co-creator Dan Houser, who once said that the idea of a female lead character didn't feel right, but since then he's said that it could be an interesting idea. Houser said: "In the future, could we do a game with a lead female character? Of course! We just haven't found the right game for it yet, but it's one of the things we always think about".

The next rumor for GTA 6 is that Hollywood star Ryan Gosling could add his voice talent to the next game, with the map side of things pointing to a multi-map environment on a scale that hasn't been seen before. Rumors are floating that every map that's been used in all previous GTA titles would be bought back, and revamped in next-gen graphics thanks to GTA 6 - but other rumors point to Rockstar returning to their London roots.

Continue reading: GTA 6 rumored to have female lead character, would launch in 2019 (full post)

Microsoft has much higher hopes for HoloLens than it did for Kinect

Microsoft has much higher hopes for its wearable headset, HoloLens, than it did for its Kinect camera. HoloLens creator Alex Kipman said during a TED talk in Vancouver that HoloLens might be consumer ready, but Microsoft wants to have plenty of things to actually use with HoloLens before it hits the market.

The company doesn't want a repeat of Kinect, and even though it had big sales of around 10 million units in two months, the sales dived, and ultimately this was because of the lack of software and uses for Kinect. Kipman said: "It was not a pleasant experience", adding that Kinect "was just not ready". He hopes that HoloLens can't steer away from the brick wall that Kinect hit, with developers diving into the HoloLens market and pushing for longevity with the headset.

Kipman continued: "If a consumer bought [HoloLens] today, they would have 12 things to do with it. And they would say 'Cool, I bought a $3,000 product [Note: That's the price of a development kit, not a final MSRP.] that I can do 12 things with and now it is collecting dust". He added: "When I feel the world is ready, then we will allow normal people to buy it. It could be as soon as we say 'yes,' and it could be as long as a 'very long time".

Continue reading: Microsoft has much higher hopes for HoloLens than it did for Kinect (full post)

HP's Elite X3 isn't just a phone, it's a full blown office companion

Jeff Williams | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Feb 21, 2016 6:02 PM CST

HP is back in the phone business after their brief encounter with WebOS and the Palm Pre series of sliders. But this time, they're infusing top-end hardware into a Windows 10 phone to make it an all-in-one ecosystem for businesses.

The phone itself is a svelte matte-black brick of a case with a 5.96-inch 1440p display that's been stuffed with the Kyro cored Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset that has four total custom designed 64-bit cores with two operating at a blistering 2.15GHz and two more cores, for the less busy tasks humming along at 1.6GHz. It'll be paired with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM 64GB of storage, standard. In case that isn't enough storage it can be expanded by 1TB through the microSD card that's on board. Two SIM cards can be populated letting world travelers just keep in their favorite destination's carriers SIM just in case.

But the really interesting bit is the inclusion of a laptop dock, similar to the one that was being marketed with the Motorola Atrix from 2011. This lapdock is a 12.5-inch screen with a full-sized keboard, trackpad and a 48WHr battery attached, letting you use Microsoft's Continuum to display on the larger screen. The phone is being marketed towards businesses, where this one device can theoretically replace both laptop and phone, becoming the only device you might need to be productive. But just how would that work?

Continue reading: HP's Elite X3 isn't just a phone, it's a full blown office companion (full post)

Quantum Break requires 44GB of HDD space on the Xbox One

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 21, 2016 5:32 PM CST

The gaming community has been pretty excited over the news of Quantum Break being released on the PC, and not being an exclusive to the Xbox One. It'll require Windows 10 and be powered by DirectX 12, with Remedy Entertainment announcing that Quantum Break has recently gone gold - meaning it's ready for its mass production in physical form.

Quantum Break can now be pre-loaded on the Xbox One, with the game's page on the Xbox Store noting: "You may pre-download this game, but it will not be playable until 12:01 AM EST on the release date". As for the size, it was revealed on the Quantum Break page on the Xbox Store, listed as 44.09GB. The PC version of Quantum Break, which will be exclusive to the Windows Store and not making it over to Steam, should be the same 44GB or so.

Keep in mind that if you buy Quantum Break on the Xbox One, you'll be pre-order bonuses of Alan Wake's American Nightmare, the Xbox 360 game that's playable on the Xbox One. You'll also receive a 'Free Quantum Break Windows 10 game' that will be included with the pre-order for the Xbox One digital version.

Continue reading: Quantum Break requires 44GB of HDD space on the Xbox One (full post)

Answer the Bat-Signal in our 'Batman: Bad Blood' Blu-ray giveaway

Ben Gourlay | Contests & Giveaways | Feb 21, 2016 4:07 PM CST

To celebrate this week's release of the latest DC Universe Original 'Batman: Bad Blood' on Blu-ray HD and DVD, we have ten Blu-ray prize packs to give away thanks to our friends at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Justice runs in the family. The Gotham City night sky erupts in flames as Batman battles Firefly, Tusk and Killer Moth. But when the smoke clears, Batman is missing and the mysterious Batwoman is the only witness to the events. Now with the Bat Signal going unanswered and a city on edge, Nightwing and Robin form an uneasy alliance with Batwoman and newcomer Batwing. Together, they'll fight to uncover a sinister plot that involves mind control and a monstrous new villain known only as Heretic. It's an all-new, epic chapter from the DC Universe that proves that when it comes to Batman, justice truly does run in the family!

To go into the running to win a prize, simply correctly answer the following question:

Continue reading: Answer the Bat-Signal in our 'Batman: Bad Blood' Blu-ray giveaway (full post)

HTC could be shipping out Vive headsets starting on April 1

HTC will reportedly begin taking pre-orders for its Vive headset on February 29, with the first VR headsets from HTC and Valve hitting consumers on April 1 - days after the Oculus Rift begins shipping to consumers on March 28.

Then we have news from Japanese site S-Max that HTC will announce the official Vive pricing at Mobile World Congress, which kicks off in Barcelona, Spain in a few hours time. HTC will unveil a slew of new smartphones, but I think MWC is going to be a very big deal for them this year thanks to the Vive.

Now, for price. The Oculus Rift is priced at $599 and only includes an Xbox 360 controller, not the awesome Lighthouse controllers and sensors that are included with the HTC Vive. The only rumor we have on the pricing for Vive has it hovering at the $1500 mark, which sounds extremely high, but isn't that high considering what you get in the box. The Vive ships with the awesome Lighthouse controllers, which could be sold separately for hundreds of dollars. Oculus won't be shipping its Touch controllers for the Rift until later this year, and the Rift is still $599 - the Touch controllers should cost somewhere between $199-$299, according to our estimates.

Continue reading: HTC could be shipping out Vive headsets starting on April 1 (full post)

Samsung Galaxy S7 matches 'high-end games consoles', says Epic Games

We've known for a while that smartphones are rapidly catching up to console-grade graphics, and by 2017, we'll have phones that are better than a PS4. But what about today's phones?

Samsung Galaxy S7 matches 'high-end games consoles', says Epic Games

According to Epic Games' founder Tim Sweeney, Samsung's new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge duo are gaming powerhouses that actually match the performance of higher-end games consoles: "Features that were only possible on high-end game consoles now run on a device that fits in your pocket," Sweeney said in a recent promo tweet.

Both the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge pack Qualcomm's new beefy Snapdragon 820 SoC, which includes the powerful Adreno 530 GPU. The Adreno 530 is optimized to support next-gen API's like Unreal Engine 4 and Vulkan to enable photorealistic 3D environments, and sports enhancements across the board including 64-bit Virtual Addresses and other key architectural changes. These new upgrades will play quite nicely with Samsung's mobile Gear VR headset, adding in a new power boost to improve immersion.

Continue reading: Samsung Galaxy S7 matches 'high-end games consoles', says Epic Games (full post)

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, surprising refinement from last year

Jeff Williams | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Feb 21, 2016 2:29 PM CST

The follow-on to last year's highly sought after Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge have finally been announced today at MWC. They're continuing to refine the forumla they began back with the more premium handsets last year with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

Image courtesy Anandtech

The two new devices will ship with the most recent version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow and will pack one of two different chipsets under the hood, as is tradition for Samsung. The US will receive a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 with two Kyro cores operating at 2.15GHz plus an additional two lower power cores working at 1.6GHz. While the rest of the world will have access to Samsung's own Exynos 8 processor. The Exynos 8 is the first fully custom CPU from Samsung on their own 14nm LPP process. Paired to that is 4GB of LPDDR4-1800 RAM and 32GB of NAND with the microSD slot finally making a much-needed return.

Continue reading: Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, surprising refinement from last year (full post)