“A little bit of horror, a little bit of comedy; I’m always going to try and give you a big show.”
30.06.2022 - 11:47 / nme.com
Pokémon Go became a global sensation, with players collectively walking 8.7 million kilometres in its first year alone. Niantic, the company behind the mobile game, has since struggled to find another game as successful, and has now made the decision to cancel four projects which will cut around 85 to 90 jobs.Niantic Chief Executive Officer John Hanke reportedly wrote in an email to staff (via, Bloomberg) that the company was “facing a time of economic turmoil” and that it was already “reducing costs in a variety of areas”.
Hanke further commented that Niantic needs to “further streamline our operations in order to best position the company to weather any economic storms that may lie ahead.”The cancelled projects included Heavy Metal, a Transformers game announced by Niantic in 2021, and Hamlet, a collaboration between Niantic and Punchdrunk, the company behind the popular interactive play Sleep No More. It also included the code named projects Blue Sky and Snowball, of which no further information seems to be available.Surprisingly, given the success of Pokémon Go, Niantic has struggled to find similar success with its other efforts.
“A little bit of horror, a little bit of comedy; I’m always going to try and give you a big show.”
Martin Compston has dropped a major hint that Line of Duty may return for another season. The hit BBC one police drama finished its sixth and supposedly final season last year when it revealed the true identity of the hidden mastermind ‘H.’ However, Martin, 38, who plays DI Steve Arnott on the show has revealed that he has spoken with creator and writer Jed Mercurio about the potential next season. He admitted: “We sat down with Jed recently." "We’ve always taken a year or two between series.This is no different," he continued.
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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMixing “Jason Bourne” and “Mission: Impossible” adrenalin rushes with Korean cool, Netflix is teasing high octane footage of “Carter,” its first Korean original movie of the second half of the year.The action plays out two months into a deadly pandemic originating from the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. The outbreak has already devastated the U.S. and North Korea.
Carter & Richardson, the minds behind Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, have launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new card game called Halves.Halves utilises the player’s “superior intellect” to win points by guessing the word on their opponent’s card and stopping the opponent from guessing theirs. An arsenal of Trap cards designed to “deceive, disrupt and derail” players adds a twist to the game, and it’s described as “unfun for all the family”.During Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes’ first tour in 2016, Frank Carter and Dean Richardson came up with Halves on a plane to Ireland.
Pokémon Go’s Great League, Ultra League and Master League are permanent fixtures in the game that see trainers go head to head to battle it out and achieve Battle League points to garner huge rewards. From time to time, Niantic introduces special limited-time only cups with unique rules to keep trainers on their toes, and this week’s Kanto Cup is the latest installment.As the name might suggest, only Kanto region Pokémon, or the original 151 for those less familiar with the regions, are eligible to take part which adds a huge limit to any team options you might be thinking of putting together.Although the list of eligible Pokémon were all originally found in Kanto, regional variants are allowed to enter such as Alolan Sandshrew and Hisuian Electrode.
Brian Packham has recently been left single on the cobbles after his partner left Weatherfield in a sudden exit. The Kabin owner in Coronation Street, played by Peter Gunn, wanted a new life for him and Cathy Matthew in Cornwall. But it was clear it wasn't what his girlfriend wanted.
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EastEnders' Nancy Carter star Maddy Hill has announced that she has left the BBC One soap just one year after she reprised her role in Albert Square. During Thursday's episode, Nancy made a surprise departure from Walford after learning that her boyfriend Zack Hudson had cheated on her with Sam Mitchell. Prior to her exit, Zack proposed and Nancy considered forgiving him before a chat with her mother Linda Carter, where she spotted a bottle of vodka, made her realise that she can't trust anyone.
Steve Fickinger, a Tony Award-winning producer of Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen and, as a longtime creative executive with Disney Theatrical Group helped spearhead the development of such stage shows as Newsies and Aladdin, died suddenly at his home in Laguna Beach, California, on June 17. He was 62.
Closing their chapter. Kristen Doute and boyfriend Alex Menache have split after two years of dating.