Earlier this week it was revealed in the German magazine GameStar that a new game in the popular “SimCity” series was in the works.  Although no worldwide announcement has followed, a host of details are already available.

The game will be called SimCity, with no number or subtitle following it.  The graphics have been reworked, leading to more intricate and beautiful details, such as signs plastered up around town and on buildings along with people walking around and going through their lives, occasionally visiting eateries and other stores.

These details also add an extra element to the gameplay: it is now possible to see how a factory is running based on its animation.  At this point, however, there are no screenshots that actually depict how the finished game will look, as currently the only thing available is concept art.

The camera can also now be repositioned, moved around, and zoomed in and out, meaning fixed viewpoints are a thing of the past.  It is possible to zoom in on individual buildings and people, and doing so has a quirky effect: the closer the camera is zoomed in on the city, the louder the noises of the streets and people will become, but the farther out it is, the more quiet everything will seem.

The grid format the series has become associated with is getting redone, and it is now possible to create curved roads, as opposed to only straight ones, which will give the game a more realistic appearance.

Multiplayer has also been added, enabling trade between friends for different materials and resources, as well as leaderboards to show how individual players rank in terms of things like finance.  In addition, prices for resources in single-player may be regulated by the actual online economy of the game (although GameStar was vague here, leaving room for the possibility that the economy will be actually fluctuate based on events that happen in the real world).

Other bits shown reveal that buildings do not stay the same over the course of the game.  As time goes on buildings can unlock new powers, like a fire station being able to put out a fire that much quicker.  Graphs and charts telling the player the status of their city have also been simplified and made more modern in order to help make them more player-friendly.

At this time there is little other information available, but stay tuned for more details in coming months.

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The Mission Impossible franchise has been waiting for its new installment for six years now.   Tom Cruise will again star as the IMF agent Ethan Hunt as he and his team will plunge into deep cover in Russia.  Brad Bird is directing while Tom Cruise, and J.J. Abrams will produce.

Ghost Protocol follows Ethan Hunt and his Impossible Mission Force  (IMF) team after a bomb has gone off at The Kremlin (the place of residence of the President of the Russian Federation.)  IMF,  a secret part of the CIA, is being blamed for the bombing so they send Hunt and his team in deep cover in order to clear its name.

The series is well known for its iconic theme song, explosive action sequences along with Tom Cruise starring as the main role.  For the fourth installment, new cast members have been added like, Jeremy Renner from The Hurt Locker, for the role of Brandt.  Along with him, comes Josh Holloway, a usual in the works of J.J. Abrams.

Halloway is best known as Sawyer from Lost.  Ving Rhames (Dawn of the Dead, Pulp Fiction will be returning to the cast for the fourth time along with Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Star Trek) for his second time.

Ghost Protocol is Brad Bird’s first live action movie.  Coming from an animation background in Pixar, Bird has directed Ratatouille, and the Incredibles. J.J. Abrams, commented on Bird’s style to MTV News.

“It’s so weird to watch scenes for a movie by a director that feels so of that director’s style, and yet you realize you’ve never ever seen a live-action film by that director.  You watch moments where you go, ‘That’s so Brad Bird!’ And then you realize, oh, it’s so weird to have seen a Brad Bird moment with actual flesh and blood actors.’”

When the trailer leaked there did not seem to be many moments that seem like they were directed by Bird, but being that its only the trailer, it’s far too early to judge.

J.J. Abrams has had a history with the Mission Impossible Franchise.  As director of the third installment, Ghost Protocol will have that certain Abrams feel to it.  Tom Cruise, having produced the last three installments is also on board producing.

The movie was shot, and will be playing in IMAX. Many fans feel like it will be worth the money to see it.  One scene shot on the IMAX cameras is when Hunt is climbing the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.  The shot is so intense that seeing that shot in IMAX would be breathtaking.

Mission Impossible fans have been waiting six years for a new piece of the franchise to come out.  With new IMAX cameras being utilized the cinematography will be a sight for sore eyes.

The only thing that is intriguing people is how will Brad Bird transition from animation to live action?  Protocol is about 4 months away, releasing on December  21 and the hype is starting to set in.

Ethan Hunt has been in trouble before but will he be able to get himself out of trouble again?

Chris Harvey / Shutterstock.com

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After Universal Studios Inc. initially approved the making of at least one feature length film adaptation of author Stephen King’s The Dark Tower Series, they pulled funding for the film because it was too risky. Ron Howard was set to direct the film, with Javier Bordem as the Gunslinger, Roland Deschain. Howard envisioned three feature length films with a two-season television series to help finish off the story.

Problems first arose several months ago when Universal began talking about trying to reduce the budget and maybe just doing one film. Negotiations continued until Universal finally decided that the endeavor was simply too uncertain to put their money behind.

The seven-book series is not very kid-friendly and the audience would not be as widespread as other projects they were considering. The story focuses on Roland Deschain’s quest to reach The Dark Tower through many struggles and setbacks.

Despite Universal’s decision to back out of this project, Howard is still dedicated to seeing King’s series come to life. As Entertainment Weekly reported on July 19, Universal’s first right of refusal is now expired, and so Howard is free to try acquire support from other studios. Howard is determined to get The Dark Tower Series to the big screen and he has not given up yet.

Neither has the author of the series, Stephen King. In an email to Entertainment Weekly he reported that he has “no ill will, and trust[s] Ron Howard to get Roland and his friends before the camera somewhere else. He’s very committed to the project.”

King does not seem too worried about this latest setback, but is instead looking toward the future.

Over the years, a large number of King’s books have made it to the big screen with varying degrees of success. Films such as The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile or The Shining did well both at the box office and with critics and Kathy Bates from Misery even managed to score an Oscar for her performance.

Other films have not fared so well, most notably, Sleepwalkers and Maximum Overdrive. Both were slammed by numerous critics for plot holes and bad acting. Additionally, they did not make very much money at the box office.

Considering the hit or miss factor to films based off of King’s books, it makes sense that Universal would be leery about not only making one movie, but dedicating large amounts of money to three films and a television series.

Spending the kind of money it takes to finish The Dark Tower film adaptation will take millions of dollars and the willingness to risk not making it back in profits. King’s series is a huge undertaking and the quality of the story certainly makes it something that a number of people would be excited to see come to life on the big screen.

Only time will tell if Howard will be able to keep his promise and find a new studio willing to take the risk.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.facebook.com/stephenkingwriter

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Facebook keeps surprising us, and it is incredible all the comforts and facilities that it keeps providing to its users. People have the chance to interact by diverse ways such as sending messages, posting walls, chatting, showing photos, tagging, linking videos, creating groups, events, and much more. But the company is always thinking one step ahead, and now, “the users will be able to stream and share music through the social network” (Matthew Perpetua, Rolling Stone Magazine).

“Listening to music is something that people do with their friends,” Mark Zuckerberg stated. “Music, TV, news, books — those types of things I think people just naturally do with their friends. I hope we can play a part in enabling those new companies to get built, and companies that are out there producing this great content to become more social.” Facebook wants to bring its users all kind of applications they can imagine. And it is thinking of how to make it possible for its users to share their favorite multimedia, such as songs, albums, series, news etc.

The New York Times says: “Facebook, which has nearly 700 million users, would not comment on its plans. But analysts and media executives said the company’s move into media was part of its ambition to become a hub for all types of activities on the Internet. And as the company sees it, people increasingly define themselves through the media they consume, they said”.

All the procedures and developments are confidential information, and Facebook is not providing too much details, they only stated that: “We’re always looking for better ways to help people discover the most relevant content on Facebook but have nothing to announce.”

On the other hand, a Spotify spokesman said:” We’re continuously working together to make the social experience on Spotify the best it can be and welcome relationships with any company looking to innovate by building more social value into the user experience.”

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