Ex-‘StarCraft’ developers raise £18.4million for Unreal Engine 5 RTS

EXCLUSIVE: Actress Tara Reid (Van Wilder, American Pie) has launched development on Mikey and Miguel, an adult animated LGBTQ+ sitcom, in which she will also star.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterA live-action “Blade Runner” sequel series is in development at Amazon, Variety has learned.Titled “Blade Runner 2099,” the series will serve as a follow-up to the “Blade Runner” sequel “Blade Runner 2049.” Silka Luisa will write and executive produce, with Ridley Scott set to executive produce via Scott Free Productions. Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson of Alcon Entertainment are also executive producing along with David W.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon’s Undone and Netflix’s Apollo 10½ producer Submarine is developing a drama based on the Baader Meinhof Gang, the notorious German terrorist organization, with Oliver Stone collaborator Moritz Borman’s Krautpack.

Dave Chappelle is rejecting the notion that he did anything that wasn’t in the best interest of Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he lives, when he threatened to pull his investments over a potential new housing development in the area.  The comedian voiced his concerns over a $39 million housing development at a Yellow Springs Village Council meeting on Monday, where he told the council that he would withdraw plans he has for the area if the development was approved.  In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, representatives for the comedian explained the decision and why he believes it was in the best interest of the community.  "Dave Chappelle didn't kill affordable housing. Concerned residents and a responding Village Council ‘killed’ a half-baked plan which never actually offered affordable housing," said Carla Sims, a spokesperson for Chappelle.  Dave Chappelle discussed a housing development he's opposed to in Ohio.

Riot Games has addressed issues surrounding toxicity within Valorant and its chat systems, outlining what it’s already done and what’s still to come.In a blog shared today, Riot Games has shared its thoughts on abuse and toxicity within Valorant.“While we can never remove the bad conduct itself from individuals, we can work to deter behavior such as insults, threats, harassment, or offensive language through our game systems,” explained the blog, whilst adding that there’s also room to “encourage “pro-social” behaviour”.Outlining what the studio already does to combat toxicity, the blog states that Riot currently uses player feedback to identify when some individuals are deemed particularly toxic, so it can punish them faster. It also touches on the game’s recently-added muted words list, which aims to let players choose which words and phrases they do not want to see or hear in the game.On the topic of punishments, Riot says it has issued 400,000 voice chat and text bans and 40,000 bans in January alone.Looking ahead, Riot shared its plans to expand its efforts to tackle toxicity in voice chat, on which it said the following:When a player experiences toxicity, especially in voice comms, we know how incredibly frustrating it is and how helpless it makes us feel both during the game, as well as post game. Not only does it undermine all the good in Valorant, it can have lasting damage to our players and community overall.

K.J. Yossman Canadian content-creation company BGM Inc. has tapped ex-Cineflix exec Kim Bondi as senior vice-president of development.Bondi, who will oversee development strategy and BGM’s premium factual production slate, takes over from development head Sean Connolly.She is the second high-profile hire over the past year for BGM, which was acquired by Sphere Media in 2020 and is bolstering its international ambitions by bringing on top unscripted talent.

Dave Chappelle threatened to pull his investments in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he lives, over a potential new housing development in the area. Chappelle's father worked at a college in the Ohio village and the comedian spent summers there growing up. In 2020, news also broke that Chappelle would purchase a former Miami Township fire station in the area and convert it into a comedy club.

HBO has closed a deal for Doomsday Machine, a limited series about Facebook starring Emmy winner Claire Foy as embattled tech giant COO Sheryl Sandberg and executive producing as well. Anonymous Content (Spotlight, Mr. Robot) and wiip (Mare of Easttown, Dickinson), which took the project to the marketplace in October, will co-produce with HBO.

Ed Meza @edmezavarThe Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market is gearing up for its second virtual edition with an improved online infrastructure for exhibiting companies and a wide-ranging conference program that focuses on a transforming industry and the changes that are shaping its future.For Dennis Ruh, who took over as EFM director in 2020, it’s the second market that has been forced online due to the pandemic — a disappointing development after physical space at the Gropius Bau and Marriott Hotel, the event’s main venues, had been nearly completely booked.“The biggest challenge was to switch from a hybrid to an online event — to make this decision,” says Ruh.With Germany and much of Europe hit by the Omicron onslaught in December and January, a physical event was no longer feasible. “We had to make this decision by the beginning of January and that was not an easy one,” he says.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTV5Monde, the global French-language entertainment network, has appointed Patrice Courtaban to the new position of executive VP of global growth and business development. Courtaban has also been named CEO of TV5 USA, and will succeed to Jean-Luc Cronel who is retiring from the company.Courtaban will continue to be based in Los Angeles which serves as the headquarters for TV5 USA.

Gran Turismo 7 Polyphony Digital has announced a collaboration with Sony, and will soon demonstrate its resulting “breakthrough” AI advancements.A short YouTube teaser (which can be viewed below) announced the collaboration.According to a tweet, tomorrow (February 9) will see a full announcement of the “breakthrough project in AI” between Polyphony Digital and Sony Interactive Entertainment. It’s likely that whatever AI tech is revealed will be included in Gran Turismo 7.At a glance, this AI system might be something similar to the Forza Drivatar system at Xbox.

The Swindle, has shared details on an upcoming spacefaring game currently in development.Dan Marshall, the developer behind The Swindle and Lair Of The Clockwork God, has appeared on the latest episode of the Eurogamer Podcast, where he revealed his new game. Marshall mentioned that several prototypes were toyed with, one of which involved a little T-Rex throwing people into walls, but many of them don’t see their way to becoming a complete game.“But again, same problems, same thing – it was the same game,” Marshall said.

Chace Crawford is teaming up with his brother-in-law Tony Romo for a new show!

Yacht Club Games – the developer of Shovel Knight – newest title has already exceeded its Kickstarter goal after less than 24 hours.The indie developers announced a new game last night (January 1) and simultaneously opened up its Kickstarter funding only for the goal to be exceeded by the next morning.A requested total of around £230,000 has already been surpassed, and as of publication around £265,000 has been raised with 29 days left for backers to pledge.Called Mina The Hollower, this new game aims to emulate the 8-bit aesthetic of Game Boy Colour titles like Link’s Awakening, whilst running at 60 FPS and in widescreen.A series of stretch goals have also been announced for Mina The Hollower, now that it has reached its funding goal. Some of the tiers include a copy of the game, a CD of the soundtrack, and official pin, a design works book and even the opportunity to help design an NPC.“The biggest risk is that Mina the Hollower may take longer than anticipated,” said the developers in a post.

Criminal Minds,” the CBS procedural which wrapped in 2020 only to have a second life due to pandemic binge-watching on streaming services and memes on TikTok, was set to have a revival in 2021. However, star Paget Brewster set fans up for heartbreak when she tweeted that the new series was “dead” a few months later.

Video game developer Hazelight Studios will team with Sonic The Hedgehog co-producer Dmitri M. Johnson and his dj2 Entertainment to bring It Takes Two to screen.

Mattel’s live-action Masters of the Universe based on its iconic 1980s muscular action figure toy line is determined to live on.

A major developer behind plans for 900 homes in Salford has gone into administration.

NME, Project Zomboid developer Chris Simpson has shared that in terms of multiplayer, The Indie Stone is taking “a lot of cues” from GTA RP, a popular mod for Grand Theft Auto 5 that lets players roleplay as a citizen of Los Santos.Simpson, who is a coder and managing director at The Indie Stone, said that the popularity of GTA RP, and the community that has formed around it, has helped to shape what he envisions Project Zomboid‘s multiplayer as offering in the future.“One big thing I’d like to see is really lean into the roleplay aspect and maybe have some kind of Dungeon Master-y type functionality to aid in storytelling and multiplayer. It’s basically to really push the creative storytelling in the game in various ways.