Author - Jerry Paxton

Boysenberry Festival Returns to Knott’s this Spring

2017/02/24
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News

Buena Park, CA (Feb 2017) – This spring, join Knott’s as it celebrates the flavorful berry that started it all, the boysenberry, during the much anticipated Knott’s Boysenberry Festival. For the first time ever, the mouthwatering festival is expanding to three weeks, April 1–April 23, with delectable food and drinks, and festive live entertainment. The 23-day food festival features over 70 one-of-a-kind boysenberry inspired dishes, drinks and more, plus foot-stompin’ entertainment, Wine and Craft Brew Tasting Garden, featuring boysenberry and wine, and family fun that everyone will love!  For festival goers with a hankerin’ for some live entertainment, the options are endless with live music throughout the park, a nighttime dance party, and brand new shows like, Snoopy’s Boysenberry Jamboree at the Calico Mine Stage. Calico Park in Ghost Town is home to a good ol’ fashion hootenanny featuring pie eating contests, line dancing and country fair festivities with the local Ghost Town townsfolk. The limited-time festival is included with admission to Knott’s Berry Farm.

The year was 1920 when Walter and Cordelia Knott moved to the community of Buena Park Calif. to farm 20 acres of rented land which included harvesting, and selling the first boysenberry, a cross between a loganberry, red raspberry and blackberry, and named the new berry after its originator, Rudolph Boysen. Today, all boysenberries in the world can trace their roots back to Knott’s Berry Farm.

For 2017, the mouthwatering line-up of boysenberry inspired dishes will feature irresistible boysenberry pizza made with arugula and goat cheese, the unforgettable and delicious newravioli dish packed with boysenberry flavors, freshly-baked boysenberry fry bread and lip-smacking corn on the cob with boysenberry butter and mayo, each dish will leave guests wanting for more.  Other must try items include crispy deep fried alligator bites paired with farm-made zesty boysenberry aioli, finger-lickin boysenberry BBQ wings, savory boysenberry meatballs, sweet boysenberry cream soda, creamy chocolate covered boysenberry cheesecake on a stick and many more delicious treats. Additional fee for tastings.Guests who want to take home the exquisite Boysenberry BBQ sauce, Boysenberry Butter, Boysenberry Dressing and Boysenberry Chipotle Sauce can do so by stopping by the Berry Market located in the California MarketPlace and General Store located in Ghost Town. Select items are available on the online Berry Market store.

Guests can purchase boysenberry inspired products throughout the winding streets of the Old West at the Crafts Fair. This year’s boysenberry products include boysenberry soap, lip balm and the devilishly good rock candy. Festivalgoers can also watch special demonstrations including a chainsaw wood sculpting, glass blowing and blacksmithing.  From day to night, Ghost Town has never looked so lively.

This year, in honor of the famous berry, Ghost Town’s Town Hall will feature a fascinating film which shares the story of how Walter and Cordelia Knott settled here in Buena Park and helped the world discover the amazing boysenberry. Guests can pull up a seat and catch a 10-minute showing of the historic film offered exclusively during the festival.

The Knott’s Boysenberry Festival also features an extensive line up of live entertainment. Join Snoopy, Charlie and the entire Peanuts gang as they present an all new interactive, musical revue called Snoopy’s Boysenberry Jamboree! at the Calico Mine Stage. This new show will have families singing, dancing, and playing along with the beloved Peanuts characters and talented performers during the whimsical, high energy celebration of springtime. Country music and the aroma of deliciously good food will fill the air as the Ghost Town Miners take the stage in a fun, musical performance at the Firemen’s BBQ stage. Just across the Fireman’s stage, the Legendary Bird Cage Theatre pays tribute to Knott’s past; for the first time in over 20 years, the theatre will be the home of musical comedy melodrama, with a special presentation of the Old Time Melodrama. America’s longest running Melodrama returns with an original, interactive, comedy with a surprising boysenberry twist! In the evening, a group of krazy talented performers will have guests kicking up their heels with vine dancing, a down home jug band and dueling fiddlers and banjos!  At the Wagon Camp stage, get krazy when Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies mount their toe tappin’, knee-slappin’, gut-bustin’ country comedy show that will have audiences clamoring for more!

The fun continues with new additions exclusively for the Boysenberry Festival. Brand new this season, The Old MacDonald Petting Zoo pays tribute to one of Knott’s original attractions. Young ones and young at heart are invited to cozy up to the cutest critters on the farm including horses, sheep, goats and other furry friends.

Springtime fun has also taken root in Camp Snoopy and Fiesta Village. During the limited-time event, the whole family can meet the Easter Beagle at his Camp Snoopy home, blooming with colorful springtime décor. The meet and greet location is the perfect place for shareable moments with the boisterous beagle and his friends – Charlie Brown, Lucy, Sally, and Linus. Camp Snoopy Theatre will showcase the PEANUTS pals singing, dancing, and sharing stories for all to enjoy. Everyone in the family can join in the Camp Snoopy activities.  The theater will be filled with the sweet sound of little ones as they singing-along to the cheerful tunes! Guests don’t have to be experts at dancing to enjoy a nighttime Fiesta with DJ Cruz in Fiesta Village. The night comes alive with music and dance as everyone will be sure to take to the floor and dance to the rhythmic beat of popular music.

The Boysenberry Festival is included with admission to Knott’s Berry Farm, additional cost for food tasting experiences within the event, which also offers a full day of thrilling coasters and family fun rides.  Knott’s will have extended hours, 10am to 10pm, from April 1 –  April 23, allowing guests extra time to take advantage of all of the limited-time offerings.

Join the conversation and share your day of boysenberry fun by using #BoysenberryFestival on Twitter and Instagram. For information about the day you plan to visit and available discounts, visit www.knotts.com, or download the newly updated Knott’s Berry Farm mobile app for your smartphone.

PREY Mimic Madness Trailer

2017/02/23
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

February 23, 2017 – We’ve just released a new gameplay video for Prey titled, ‘Mimic Madness’. In this video, see just a few ways you can use to use the Mimic’s power against the alien force that has taken over Talos I. Check out Bethesda.net to learn more!

When you awaken aboard the Talos I space station, you that find you are the key subject of an experiment meant to alter humanity forever – but things have gone terribly wrong. Talos I has been overrun by an alien force, and you must stop the Typhon threat from destroying humanity. As Morgan Yu, and mankind’s last hope, fend off the alien infestation armed with the tools found on the station, your wits, weapons, and mind-bending abilities.

One of the first alien powers you’ll learn is Mimic Matter. Acquired from the diminutive (and aptly named) Mimic Typhon, this power allows you to take the form of just about any appropriately sized object aboard Talos I. You’ll start small – a coffee mug, a teapot, a lamp, a banana – but as you level up this ability, you’ll soon be able to mimic more complex objects, including an impressive array of security turrets and Operator robots.

Set to launch worldwide on Friday, May 5, 2017 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, Prey is the highly-anticipated first-person sci-fi action game from Arkane Studios – creators of the award-winning Dishonored series which includes the 2012 ‘Game of the Year’ and the critically-acclaimed follow-up, Dishonored 2.

Prey has not yet been rated by the ESRB. For more information about the game please visit prey.bethesda.net.

Wartile Early Access Date Revealed

2017/02/22
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, Windows PC News

Copenhagen, Denmark – February 22nd, 2017 – Lead your figurines, into battle on miniature battle boards, with Wartile, Playwood Projects’ visually stunning medieval real time tabletop inspired game played out on digital diorama themed Battle boards. Launching on Steam Early Access on March 17th, Wartile features single and multiplayer modes in which you engage in hand-to-hand or ranged combat with rendered Viking figures, each with special attributes and abilities that counter each other, emphasizing the need to have a solid strategy to win.

We created Wartile to be a living, breathing tabletop video game that invites the player into a beautifully rendered miniature universe full of small adventures and challenges that require real time strategical decisions”, said Michael Rud Jakobsen, Founder and Creative Director of Playwood Project. “The digital diorama aspect gives the game a totally unique graphical look and feel that strategy and tabletop fans will love”.

Wartile is a single player and multiplayer real time tabletop inspired game for PC with a strong turn based flavor to it. The game replicates the feeling of playing a tabletop game but with faster, more immediate combat. Each Battle Board is an intricately realised digital diorama complete with tiles that allow players to strategize their tactical moves and attack in real time. Units are fully customizable with armor, weapons and new stat tokens that players can pick up throughout the game by completing special challenges. Stat tokens provide points that players can add to their characters stats which unlock when players level up, stat tokens can be discovered in each of the various Battle Boards in the game. Players can add a tactical edge to their combat by utilizing Ability cards and Godly cards as their figurine gains more experience, and by completing special battle board objectives. Godly cards and abilities can be assembled by the player before engaging in battle and used during combat, these cards can easily change the course of the fight should the odds be stacked against their favor.

A wide range of detailed environments is planned for the game, including Norwegian mountains, murky swamps, rocky English coastlines, dark dungeons and sweeping grasslands. Wartile also allows players to unlock and collect an array of different characters, all with different combat abilities to provide a choice of tactical options before they embark on each quest.

Wartile’s impressive digital dioramas and innovative game mechanics aim to bring a wholly unique and refreshing perspective to the RTS genre. Players will be challenged to lead a group of Viking warriors through a series of battle boards, each board has its own story and lore. Wartile will be making an eagerly awaited appearance at EGX Rezzed in London’s Tobacco Dock in the Unreal Showcase Zone from the 30th March through to 1st April.

Anarchy Online Now on Steam

2017/02/22
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, Windows PC News

Oslo, Norway – February 22nd, 2017 – The world’s first ever science fiction massively multiplayer online game is now on Steam! Almost sixteen years after the first human gamers planted their feet on the alien planet of Rubi-ka, a wormhole opens up for a whole new audience. Set 30,000 years into the future, Anarchy Online sends you off into space and puts them on a faraway planet filled with monsters, warring factions, and other players.

“Anarchy Online is one of the longest living online games in the world and millions of players have made the planet of Rubi-ka their home,” said Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “Bringing the game to Steam is something we have wanted to do for a while and we hope this will bring in new players as well as inspire veterans to come back now that it is easier than ever to travel to Rubi-ka again.”

Today, the game is free to play with optional membership and in-game purchases.

Anarchy Online launched in 2001 and has since seen many updates and expansions, including Notum Wars, Shadowlands, and Alien Invasion. With Anarchy Online, Funcom pioneered both features and business models that have since become commonplace in the genre including randomly generated dungeons and going from subscription to free-to-play. Anarchy Online even was the first MMO to feature a band concert delivered live on a video feed inside the game. Today, Anarchy Online is one of the most content-rich and challenging MMO experiences available, and still hosts a dedicated community that carry on the torch for either Omni-tek or the Rebels.

For more information on Anarchy Online please visit www.anarchy-online.com or visit the Steam page.

Belko VR – The Escape Room Experience Gets A Trailer

2017/02/21
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

Los Angeles – “Belko VR – The Escape Room Experience” is being released for free, for one day only, March 3, 2017 in celebration of “National Employee Appreciation Day”. The game was inspired by the upcoming horror thriller, Orion Pictures’ THE BELKO EXPERIMENT, to be released in theaters by BH Tilt, on March 17, 2017.

Belko VR – The Escape Room Experience, created by filmmakers David Yarovesky and Dan Clifton, will be available to play on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets through the Steam Platform.
Exploring the themes in THE BELKO EXPERIMENT, the Belko VR – Escape Room Experience provokes the question: “What does it take to survive at work?” Players are prompted to solve a series of challenging puzzles in order to escape from their office before a microchip in their head explodes.

“We felt that we had a unique opportunity to do something a little crazy by taking the core idea of being trapped in the Belko Industries building and distilling that down to a Roomscale experience,” states Dan Clifton, who co-produced the film and also developed the game. “Players will become a Belko employee and be immersed into a fight for survival. It’s fun, at times threatening and scary and fully interactive.”

“Because I was there for the shoot in Bogota, Colombia and worked extensively with director Greg McLean and the cast and crew, it felt very natural for us to extend the experience and story into a VR game. The film leaves you with the question, “What would I do?” and we knew we could have some fun building that into a VR experience.”

David Yarovesky, who also served as a post-production consultant on the film, is the co-creator of the game. “Having been an extremely early adopter of Vive, I was thrilled that Orion Pictures and BH Tilt were bold enough to allow Dan and I to run with this idea. Other films have done 360 Video experiences, but this is a truly interactive standalone playable game set in the extreme Belko universe.”

Yarovesky added, “We were tired of VR experiences that felt like tech demos. We wanted to make something that was fun and engaging and set a new bar for how VR and film can work together.”

James Gunn said, “The Belko VR – Escape Room Experience is scary as hell with lots of insane puzzles and moral choices. As an active gamer, I’m so excited about where VR is going, and this is a step in the right direction. David Yarovesky and Dan Clifton did an amazing job capturing the film’s unique tone and the game is just as twisted and fun as the movie.”

John Hegeman, President of Marketing of BH Tilt noted, “The Belko VR – The Escape Room Experience is complete insanity and to have the game available for free on Employee Appreciation Day is an incredible treat.”

To bring their vision to life, Clifton and Yarovesky partnered with developers Paper Crane Games out of Los Angeles, CA, who recently developed the Call of Duty Jackal Assault VR Experience for Playstation VR.

Clifton and Yarovesky previously collaborated on The Exorcist 360 Experience for 20th Century Fox Television in the fall of 2016.

Presented by Orion Pictures, an arm of MGM, THE BELKO EXPERIMENT is directed by Greg McLean (The Darkness, Wolf Creek), written by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) and produced by Peter Safran (The Conjuring, Annabelle) and Gunn. The film stars John Gallagher, Jr. (“The Newsroom,” 10 Cloverfield Lane), Tony Goldwyn (“Scandal”) and Adria Arjona (“True Detective”), John C. McGinley (“Stan Against Evil,””Scrubs”), Melonie Diaz (Fruitvale Station), Josh Brener (“Silicon Valley”) and Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy). Director of Photography is Luis Sansans, A.M.C. (“Narcos”). Production designer is Carlos Osorio (“Homeland,” “24”). Costume designer is Camila Olarte Suárez (The Wind Journeys).

ABOUT ORION
Orion, an arm of MGM, is focused on distributing films across multiple platforms.

Castle Rock Hulu Series Announced from Stephen King, Warner Bros, and Bad Robot

2017/02/21
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, Halloween, Movie News, News

SANTA MONICA and BURBANK, Calif. (February 21, 2017) — Hulu is taking viewers into the chilling world of acclaimed, best-selling author Stephen King in the new Hulu Original drama series Castle Rock, from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television and executive producers/writers Sam Shaw & Dustin Thomason. Hulu has ordered a 10 episode first season of the on-going series, with production set to begin this year. A teaser trailer for Castle Rock has been viewed more than one million times since it was released on Friday, Feb. 17.

A psychological-horror series set in the Stephen King multiverse, Castle Rock combines the mythological scale and intimate character storytelling of King’s best-loved works, weaving an epic saga of darkness and light, played out on a few square miles of Maine woodland. The fictional Maine town of Castle Rock has figured prominently in King’s literary career: Cujo, The Dark Half, IT and Needful Things, as well as novella The Body and numerous short stories such as Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption are either set there or contain references to Castle Rock. Castle Rock is an original suspense/thriller — a first-of-its-kind reimagining that explores the themes and worlds uniting the entire King canon, while brushing up against some of his most iconic and beloved stories.

Castle Rock reunites Hulu, King, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television, which previously collaborated on event series 11.22.63, based on King’s novel. The series will stream exclusively in the U.S. on Hulu and Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution will distribute globally.

Castle Rock is based on characters and situations created by Stephen King. Sam Shaw & Dustin Thomason developed the project for television and serve as executive producers along with J.J. Abrams, Ben Stephenson and Liz Glotzer. The series is from Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason recently worked together on the critically acclaimed drama series Manhattan, which ran for two seasons on WGN America. Shaw created the show and served as an executive producer/writer; Thomason also served as an executive producer/writer.

Stephen King is one of the world’s most successful writers, having published more than 50 books in an illustrious career spanning more than 40 years. His works have been adapted for theatrical motion pictures and television more than 50 times. Two feature films based on King’s books are scheduled to be released in 2017, The Dark Tower and IT.

J.J. Abrams co-wrote, produced and directed the blockbuster hit film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and he is also producing the next chapters of the Mission: Impossible and Star Trek film franchises. Ben Stephenson serves as head of television at Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions. In addition to Castle Rock, Bad Robot produces Warner Bros. Television’s acclaimed hit drama series Westworld (created for television by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy) for HBO as well as 11.22.63 for Hulu and many other series.

Dungeons 3 Announced

2017/02/21
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

Ridgewood, NJ – February 21, 2017 – The Dungeon Lord returns! Kalypso Media and Realmforge Studios are proud to announce Dungeons 3, the biggest and best entry yet in the acclaimed Dungeons series, set to make its first appearance at GDC 2017 in San Francisco. Attendees of the show will be able to see the first ever gameplay demos of the game and have the opportunity to speak with Benjamin Rauscher, one of the evil masterminds behind the Dungeons series. As well as PC, Mac and Linux versions, Kalypso Media is excited to confirm that Dungeons 3 will also launch on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One – the first time that a Dungeons title has appeared on a Microsoft console. Dungeons 3 is currently planned for a Fall 2017 release.

In Dungeons 3, the Dungeon Lord has successfully united the forces of evil and established the roots of his dark empire, leading him to the next step in his diabolical quest: expansion!

Through enticing the dark elf priestess Thalya from the fluffy clutches of the surface world to become his chief lieutenant, the Dungeon Lord has found a way to direct his campaign of conquest from the confines of his underground lair. With Thalya on the front line, and the united forces of evil to support her, players will have to use every trick in the book to best those do-gooders of the overworld, once and for all!

To celebrate the announcement of Dungeons 3, Kalypso Media has prepared a short teaser trailer showing the new (and familiar) faces you can expect to see, and a glimpse at some of the new features to expect when the game is unveiled in full at GDC 2017.

Han Solo Star Wars Story Begins Production

2017/02/21
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, Movie News, News

February 21, 2017 – The adventure-filled past of the iconic scoundrel and everyone’s favorite Wookiee is going before cameras this month when principal photography on the untitled Han Solo Star Wars Story officially began February 20th at Pinewood Studios, London.

The movie will explore the duo’s adventures before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, including their early encounters with that other card-playing rogue from a galaxy far, far away, Lando Calrissian.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are directors co-piloting the movie, with a cast that includes Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Thandie Newton, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, with Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca.

“Watching such inspired people from all over the world, with such unique voices, come together for the sole purpose of making art, is nothing short of miraculous,” Lord and Miller said. “We can’t think of anything funny to say, because we just feel really moved, and really lucky.”

Written by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan, it will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur, Simon Emanuel and co-produced by Kiri Hart, Susan Towner and Will Allegra. Lawrence Kasdan and Jason McGatlin will executive produce.

Crewing the ship will be some of the industry’s top talent, including Academy Award nominee for his work on “Arrival,” Bradford Young (Director of Photography), Chris Dickens (Editor), Dominic Tuohy (SFX Supervisor), Rob Bredow (VFX Supervisor) and Brad Allan (Action Designer).

They will be joining returning Star Wars veteran crew members Neal Scanlan (Creature & Droid FX Creative Supervisor), Neil Lamont (Production Designer), Dave Crossman and Glyn Dillon (Co-Costume Designers), Jamie Wilkinson (Prop Master), Lisa Tomblin (Hair), Amanda Knight (Make-Up) and Nina Gold (UK Casting Director).

The untitled Han Solo Star Wars Story is slated for release on May 25, 2018.

Punch it.

NieR: Automata Arsenal of Elegant Destruction Trailer

2017/02/21
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

LOS ANGELES (Feb. 15, 2017) – SQUARE ENIX® introduced the unique array of weapon types, fluid combo system, and fast-paced battle mechanics of NieR: Automata™ in a new action-packed trailer.

The game will feature four weapon types available to protagonist 2B (small swords, large swords, spears and combat bracers) that can be switched mid-combo to maximize 2B’s range of abilities and effectiveness. Players can also unlock a diverse arsenal of weapons and upgrades to the player’s “Pod” support system to enhance their gameplay.

NieR: Automata, developed by SQUARE ENIX and PlatinumGames Inc., will release in North America on March 7 for the PlayStation® computer entertainment system and Steam® in 2017.

Players can download a free demo for the PlayStation®4 system from the PlayStation®Store at: http://bit.ly/NieRDemo.