Entertainment

For those who’ve gotta catch ‘em all, trawling through the source code of Pokémon GO can be as important as walking around and actually finding the pocket monsters hidden throughout the land. Don’t throw that caught Magikarp away, it might evolve into something far better later on (like a Gyarados). Combing through the source code with such an attitude helped to reveal the Pokémon and McDonald’s team-up before it was officially announced. Now the code has revealed something else: A Buddy System. Perhaps fearing the repercussions of: “If the buddy system can fail, I don’t know what to believe in.” This time, developer Niantic has been very quick to officially announce the Buddy System for Pokémon GO. Players will be able to select their favourite Pokémon from those that they’ve caught. The Buddy Pokémon will then follow their avatar around (much like Pikachu in the cartoons or in Pokémon Yellow). ...

The Empire now has its own version of R2-D2. The droid, called C2-B5, will be seen in the new Star Wars anthology film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which set for a mid-December 2016 release. Officially unveiled by Lucasfilm, C2-B5 (aka “the evil R2-D2”) naturally has a paintjob worthy of the Dark Side. As revealed on The Star Wars Show, Imperial astromech droid C2-B5 from Rogue One. pic.twitter.com/XCywIn2fAK — Star Wars AUNZ (@StarWarsAUNZ) August 31, 2016 More official news of all things Rogue One and beyond is covered in The Star Wars Show: Since things are going rogue amidst an anthology of interest, whether Dark or Light Side one Star Wars droid sidekick deserves another:

Actor Mark Hamill has apparently finished filming his Luke Skywalker part for Star Wars: Episode VII. Meaning it’s time to part with his Jedi beard. He tweeted as much, but may have also triggered the spoiler alert for his potential involvement in Episode IX. Haven’t seen my chin since May ’15, so #FarewellFacialFur & #ByeByeBeard (at least til #EpisodeIX) @popculturequest pic.twitter.com/gaScz1okk6 — Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) August 30, 2016 Accident, out of balance gag, Jedi mind trick, or genuine spoiler? Realistically Hamill’s remarks may not be that big of a leak for Episode IX. Being Star Wars, if true, Luke Skywalker could appear as anything from alive, in flashbacks, or as a Force ghost. And since his beard was cut off, maybe Skywalker will get a new robotic prosthetic beard that’s kept as a hidden secret artefact for future Jedi to discover. No, that idea is probably about as welcome as ...

The Legendary Pokémon, Articuno, reportedly surfaced in Pokémon GO, only to subsequently be removed from players’ accounts by the game’s developer Niantic. One such claim of owning Articuno, came from gamer Kaitlyn Covey in Ohio, USA. Purporting that Niantic gave her the Legendary Pokémon, Articuno. Videos of Articuno have been posted to both Facebook and Twitch to offer up proof of the rare Pokémon’s existence. Discussion on Reddit, along with screenshots, has also sort to corroborate (or falsify) the legitimacy of Articuno’s appearance. However, the claims have been questioned, including that it’s a standard hoax, in addition to suggesting that the Pokémon GO code may have either been hacked or the appearance of Articuno was a glitch. Niantic subsequently released the following statement to IGN about the matter: “We recently noticed that a few Legendary Pokémon got into a few accounts when they shouldn’t have. To preserve the game’s integrity ...

There’s secret sauce and secrets in the source code of Pokémon GO. Hinting that the app, developed by Niantic, may have Pokémon GO partnering with McDonald’s in the near future. For those who’d like fries with that, evidence of the order is evolving. Spotted by industrious Redditors using Reddit (obviously) and reported by Gizmodo, the Pokémon GO game code makes reference to “Sponsor.MCDONALDS.POKEMON_STORE” as shown below: Image Credit: Bryan Menegus / Gizmodo The Pokémon GO app is free to download (available from the App Store and Google Play), and is what Niantic describes as a “real world game” requiring players to walk around physical locations for the full Pokémon catching experience. Niantic’s CEO John Hanke has previously mentioned the use of sponsored locations as part of the monetisation strategy used on the business side of things for Pokémon GO, in addition to the more traditional in-app purchases. While Hanke was ...

Pokémon GO has unwittingly caused some woes for players who have signed in with their Google Accounts. Amongst the early adopters, some unknowingly gave the game’s developer Niantic full access to their Google Accounts. While it is false that Niantic can send emails from players’ Gmail accounts, giving Pokémon GO full account access does allow Niantic to do almost all other things across someone’s Google Account with the exception of the ability to change their passwords. Niantic has since released patches for both Android and iOS users to fix this. However, some players may be unaware of the need to manually revoke Pokémon GO’s “Full account access” status and reset the app’s permissions to “Basic access” status. The latter means Niantic can only access the player’s name and email address. To revoke the Pokémon GO app’s full access status to your Google Account do the following: First, log in to ...

Censorship works a little bit different in China. Make that a lot different at times. To the point that new Ghostbusters (2016) movie is unlikely to be released in China at all because of Chinese censorship laws. For a potential Chinese cinema release, Sony Pictures have reportedly already renamed the rebooted Ghostbusters to 超能敢死队 which is rather literally, wait for it: Super Power Dare Die Team Surely the ghost escaped from that title because the body didn’t want it, and something got lost in that slimed translation. Or someone really did cross the streams. Regardless of the double good fun awesome winning name change, it’s still unlikely to be enough to appease Chinese censorship standards. Sources speaking to Variety have indicated: “Though Ghostbusters hasn’t officially been screened for Chinese officials, its subject matter will likely run afoul of the country’s censors. The state-controlled film board does not approve of films ...

Actor Mark Ruffalo has shown off a pair of Hulk fists from the set of Marvel’s Thor: Ragnorak, currently filming in Australia. Mark Ruffalo also offered a sentiment shared with Kermit the Frog, that it’s not easy being green. Though the actor seems to be enjoying it much more than the Muppet. Hello from the set of #Thor3! As you can see, I’ve got my hands full. It ain’t easy being green….@thorofficialhttps://t.co/PnYTnX8n96 — Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) July 12, 2016 The Thor: Ragnorak (2017) movie plot is rumoured to be a mix of the Ragnorak and Planet Hulk storylines. Apart from the titular Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth), this also allows Marvel to bring the Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo) into this Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film and avoid the distribution issues related to Universal holding such rights for standalone Hulk films. Hulk may smash such inconveniences, but the more Bruce ...

Pokémon Go is being praised for many things. Apart from the game itself, it’s also encouraging people to go outside and walk around, actively searching for Pokémon in the augmented reality (AR) experience of Pokémon GO. Indoors and outdoors, video games and physical activity, are all somehow coming together nicely. The official release of Pokémon Go has also been thanked for the near 9 percent jump in Nintendo’s (TYO: 7974) share price on Friday, 8 July 2016. If only cause and effect were so easily established in the real world where it’s not like the simple but random matter of evolving an Eevee, but that’s beside the point. At hand is a fourth choice. A fourth way. A fourth starting Pokémon. And that starting Pokémon is none other than Pikachu himself. (Assuming Pikachu is a male. The issue of an individual Pokémon versus collective Pokémon gets a bit muddled, and ...

The third movie in the rebooted Star Trek franchise has had another reveal. Star Trek Beyond has the character Hikaru Sulu in a same-sex relationship, and the couple have a daughter together. This makes Sulu the first openly LGBT (or LGBTQIA) character in the series. It was done as a nod, or an homage, to George Takei, who played Sulu in the original Star Trek television series which debuted on NBC in September 1966 in the USA. George Takei come out publicly as openly gay in 2005, and was aware that the character Sulu would be depicted as gay in Star Trek Beyond in 2016. From there, it gets a little more complicated. Actor John Cho, who plays Sulu in the rebooted movies, has indicated the direction of the character in the new film is not a major plot point. Speaking to the Herald Sun, Cho said: “I liked the ...