Mary Janes, The Hobbit, Mars, and a new NWN MMO

Time for an update on entertainment news that has piqued my interest...

It has been confirmed that Kirsten Dunst will in fact be returning to the role of Mary Jane in Spider-Man 4 (IMDb). Tobey Maguire had already agreed to return for a fourth and fifth installment of the blockbuster franchise, but director Sam Raimi had said Dunst was reluctant to sign on for the threequel sequels. They are still looking for the perfect villain, with producer Todd Black saying "Trust me - people will appreciate who we pick, because it'll be a big part of New York." I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean... the villain will be the Empire State Building? Anyway, the third Spider-Man movie was a tad disappointing, so I hope they can pick it back up and make the fourth one good again.

Speaking of Spider-Man, we mustn't forget about Spider-Man: The Musical (more properly called Spider Man, Turn Off the Dark). Turns out that Evan Rachel Wood is going to star as Mary Jane in the stage musical, after all (IMDb). First there were substantial rumors that Wood (who worked with Spider-Man: The Musical's director Julie Taymor in the movie musical Across the Universe) had been cast, then Taymor denied this saying that she was still working on casting MJ, and now this. Apparently Peter Parker has yet to be cast.

Everyone kind of already assumed that this would happen, but Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, and Ian McKellen have all been confirmed for the cast of The Hobbit, reprising their roles as Elrond, Gollum, and Gandalf, respectively (IMDb). We are still awaiting to hear who will play the titular hobbit Bilbo himself (Ian Holm, who played Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, is too old to come back for the younger prequel role, unlike the other three whose ageless or semi-ageless roles let them get away with it). Here's hoping director Guillermo del Toro finds someone great. I'm a bit anxious waiting.

Wolverine stars Taylor Kitsch (Gambit) and Lynn Collins (Kayla Silverfox) are both set to star in Walt Disney Pictures' John Carter of Mars, a fantasy epic based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs series that began with the novel "The Princess of Mars" in 1911 (Variety). Wall-E writer-director Andrew Stanton will be directing the film as his first live-action pic. The story is about a damaged Civil War veteran named John Carter (Kitsch) who is mysteriously transported to Mars where his interactions with the warring races of the dying planet, which presumably include meeting the Princess of Mars (Collins), help him to rediscover his humanity. I don't know what to think of the casting (I actually haven't seen the Wolverine movie yet), but I have great respect for Stanton (I loved Wall-E) and the period-piece-meets-sci-fi-epic aspect of the project is very intriguing. I'll be watching for this one.

Lastly, in gaming news, recent Atari acquisition Cryptic Studios is working on developing an MMO for Atari property Neverwinter Nights (Variety blog). This is really big news for me. For those who don't know, Cryptic Studios is the company behind (among other games) Champions Online, the game currently in its beta testing stage that recently became the first MMO I had ever played. Neverwinter Nights is a Dungeons & Dragons-based Forgotten Realms-set series of computer RPGs. I played through the single-player campaigns of NWN and its two official expansions as well as NWN2 and one of its expansions. But one of the most distinctive features of the Neverwinter Nights series, which I never took advantage of, was the multiplayer component that allowed players to design their own missions in their own persistent worlds--essentially hosting their own mini-MMOs (would these be called "not-so-massively multiplayer online" games or something?). Anyway, there were plenty of people who did take advantage of this feature, making NWN quite a popular success. The news that a proven MMO developer is planning to create an MMO for Neverwinter Nights is intriguing indeed, though they have a tough road ahead of them, since even MMOs based on strong franchises sometimes fail to catch on. Word is they are hoping for a 2011 release... 'round 'bout the time that BioWare is planning to release The Old Republic (more history for those who aren't gamer geeks: BioWare, which developed the original NWN but not the sequel, will not be involved in the NWN MMO). I'd say I see conflict ahead, but I'm already fairly certain I'd pick TOR if forced to choose. But there's time. We'll see how the NWN MMO develops.

Schedule conflict: Champions Online and SYTYCD

Oh dear. I have just realized that my only summer TV show, So You Think You Can Dance, has its performance episodes on Wednesdays 8-10pm, smack dab in the middle of my Champions Online Beta play tests! Oh no! Two precious hours of my twice weekly play test lost to a TV show I can't miss. I can probably find all the SYTYCD clips from the show online, but it's annoying and not the same as watching the entire episode while it airs. I don't think they like to put SYTYCD conveniently on Hulu, unfortunately. Silly Fox. DVR, I have never wanted you as much as I do now!

Still, I am excited about watching SYTYCD. I don't like almost all reality TV shows and competitions, but I love to watch dancing and this show has some great dancing. It's like the dance version of American Idol, except that I find the talent pool more consistent and the judges more helpful and less gimmicky (OK, so Mary likes to scream and put people on the "hot tamale train" if they're really good, but I don't mind it as much as some other people seem to). The show actually started a few weeks ago, but I haven't been watching because I don't enjoy the audition episodes as much. Like American Idol, it seems that for every amazing person they find at auditions, there's some truly awful contestant who is just hopeless. And I have yet to acquire a taste for watching people's dreams get dashed on national TV.

But tonight is the Top 20 episode. This is when the real spectacle starts, with lighting, staging, costumes--the works. One of the greatest things that SYTYCD has going for it is its phenomenal team of choreographers from all sorts of different disciplines: contemporary, jazz, hip hop, salsa, foxtrot, disco, jive, swing, waltzes, etc. Some of my favorites have been Wade Robson's jazz, Mia Michaels' contemporary, and Tabitha and Napoleon's lyrical hip hop, but last year there was also an amazing Bollywood style dance, and there are too many other great dances to name. And starting tonight, the top 20 contestants are paired up (10 girl-boy pairs) and each pair is given a different style of dance to perform, choreographed by one of the superb choreographers. This is where the growth really starts. Dancers specializing in one discipline may be stuck performing a completely different style, and they are forced over a grueling week to learn to adapt. And the result is more often than not remarkable. The dances as well as this growth are thoroughly entertaining to watch.

Well I can't wait for the show, but for now, Champions Online awaits!

I sold my soul to Champions Online Beta

MMORPGs consume the soul. I have made this accusation before several times on my blog as well as many times in real life. But it is true. I mean, have you seen The Guild? To be fair, I am sure there are plenty of people who get into MMORPGs but manage to keep their sanity and their social lives. But I have always stuck to single-player RPGs with the belief that doing so allowed me to maintain some sort of moral or at least social superiority--as well as my soul. I have said, however, that there would probably be a day when I would finally give in to the demon MMO.

Well, that day has come. I have officially crossed into the world of MMORPGs. The world of "Hey, I wanted to kill that baddie" and "Well I'll just stand here until that guy respawns". The game that finally corrupted me is Champions Online, a superhero-themed MMO by the people who did City of Heroes/Villains that is still in its beta testing stage. How did I get pulled in? My brother has been in on the Champions Online beta, and he got an extra beta key which he gave to me. So not only is this my first MMO, but it is also my first time playing a game in its preview testing state. I have been dutifully reporting any bugs I find, but most of them have just been annoying little visual bugs (icons not displaying, etc.), not anything to completely disrupt the gameplay.

The playtests are only on Wednesdays and Fridays at this point, which is both good and bad. The upside is that I cannot spend my entire week glued to my computer. The downside is that this means that I feel compelled to milk the playtest sessions for everything they're worth. In other words, I stayed up until 3 am Saturday morning playing Champions Online, since they don't shut it down until midnight West Coast time. I am not accustomed to staying up that late anymore, nor am I used to sleeping in until 11:30. I've had the beta key for a week, and my soul is already being sapped away.

So far the game has been pretty cool. There are a LOT of character appearance options. The costumes can be quite detailed and elaborate--shirts, jackets, vests, tights, skirts, pants, shoes, gloves, bracers, belts, capes, wings, etc., and everything comes in multiple styles, colors, and patterns. Customization is great, but it's a bit overwhelming to the new player; I will not admit to how long it took me to design my first character, and she didn't even look very good.

The gameplay is fun. I'm still trying to get the hang of it, and I haven't yet gone far enough into the game to get more than three or four different skills. But I think my favorite thing so far--something I haven't experienced in any previous game I've played--is the travel powers. Every hero gets to choose one--flight, rocket boots, ice slide, superspeed, teleport, and more. So far, I've only tried out the teleportation and the ice sliding, and they are really fun! I'm talking real "Wheeee!" moments here. Good times.

The devs had to clear all the characters after yesterday's playtest, so we'll all be starting over with new characters on Wednesday. Sad. But that gives me four days to plan my next superhero...