The RoboCop remake just got much more interesting. There's a new addition to the cast, and it's an actor we all know and love. It looks like Joel Kinnaman will be sharing the screen with one of the stars of this summer's The Dark Knight Rises.

The official synopsis for Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Pacific Rim has just been released, and we're throwing the gauntlet down right now: this already sounds like it could be the most colossal sci-fi blockbuster of 2013.

This gun-happy sequel to G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra has been high on geeks' want-to-see meter ever since two things happened: The Rock signed on to crack heads and that trailer gave us a mountain-side ninja fight. We've been waiting for a while ... now it looks like we're going to have to wait a lot longer.

What happens when a bunch of suburban yahoos stumble upon an alien invasion while doing the rounds on their neighborhood watch? Comedy happens, that's what! Or, at least, that's what this trailer for the new flick starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill wants you to think.

Fans of the Xbox 360 may be out of luck soon, as a new court ruling could see the popular videogame console yanked from store shelves—that is, unless President Barack Obama saves it. Huh?

The Marvel superhero films have all done pretty well, but with The Avengers breaking box office records left and right, the studio is doubling down on Earth's Mightiest Heroes—beginning with Iron Man 3.

A new TV spot for the Total Recall reboot has made its way online, showing off some new footage of Colin Farrell (Doug Quaid) kicking butt and taking names as he tries to figure out who he is and which memories are actually his own.

Gamenguide
Building a sci-fi TV show through an MMO (and vice versa)
Ars Technica (blog)
Building a massively multiplayer game on top of an existing science fiction universe is nothing new, as anyone who has played The Matrix Online, Star Wars Galaxies, or Battlestar Galactica Online can tell you. But with Defiance, MMO developer Trion ...
Defiance featurette crosses the lineTG Daily
Trion's Defiance ambitiously attempts to merge an MMO and TV showThe Verge
Defiance Making Of TrailerGamers Hell
Gamespy.com -MPOGD.com -VG247
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The Internet is packed with speculation right now over which DC Comics character is about to be re-introduced as gay. The DC publicity machine isn't ready to open the closet just yet, but there's a rumor going around that the character in question is one of DC's oldest superheroes.

The Walking Dead is kicking off season three the right way—with Michonne! AMC has unveiled the first official photo of Danai Gurira as the badass, sword-wielding zombie slayer. And judging from this photo, she's everything we wanted her to be and more.

After spending much of her literary career writing about vampires, Vampire Chronicles series author Anne Rice has tackled the other classic horror staple for her latest book: werewolves. But, don't worry, she says her new novel The Wolf Gift is a very different animal than recent hits like Twilight.

Apparently you're not the only ones who idly wondered who'd win in a fight between the Dark Lord of the Sith and the Servant of the Secret Fire: The masterminds behind the Super Power Beat Down web series have given it lots of thought ... and have shot a rather well-done video to show who'd be victorious.

DURING Ridley Scott's absence from science fiction, a generation of film-makers and game developers have worshipped at the shrine of Alien and Blade Runner and adopted its tone and style for their own endeavours.

Like a copy of a photocopy, the freshness of his future worlds started looking overly familiar.

Scott knew that when he eventually found a sci-fi project worth working on, something different was called for.

"Over the past few decades, we've been 'action filmed-out' and 'monster filmed-out' and almost 'science fiction filmed-out'," says Scott. "So the baseline question is: how original are you going to be?"

The answer was to tackle the sort of big issues inspired by Swiss author Erich Von Daniken decades ago in books such as Chariots Of The Gods? and The Gods Were Astronauts: That the human race has ties with extraterrestrials.

Scott sat down with screenwriter Jon Spaihts and Lost veteran Damon Lindelof to hammer out an original idea which used Alien as a springboard to examine one very simple, universal question: Where did the human race come from?

"Out of the creative process in developing the picture emerged a new, grand mythology, in which this original story takes place," explains Scott.

"The keen fan will recognise strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, far-reaching and provocative.

"Prometheus is the singular genre tale I'd been searching for."

Once the title was revealed, fans worldwide brushed up on their history lessons in the hope of gleaning some hints about the movie.

"The film's central metaphor is about the Greek Titan Prometheus, who defies the gods by giving humans the gift of fire, for which he is horribly punished," Scott explains.

"When you talk about the myth on which the title is based, you're dealing with humankind's relationship with the gods - the beings who created us - and what happens when we defy them."

In his 20th movie, a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey aboard the eponymous spaceship to the darkest reaches of the galaxy.

They land on an alien world and expect to find a benevolent race. But what they discover is beyond their worst nightmares and threatens Earth's very existence.

In April, following assorted teaser trailers, Scott proudly revealed 13 minutes of footage to a captive audience which filled in a few of the blanks.

Those present also met three of the Prometheus's crew - Noomi Rapace's God-fearing scientist Elizabeth Shaw; Charlize Theron's ice maiden Company official Meredith Vickers, and Michael Fassbender, who provides much-needed comic relief as blond robot servant David. For a full report of that Q&A, click here.

Though the film's style and marketing may be cut from the same cloth as Alien, those hoping this will be an obvious prequel to that blockbuster may be disappointed.

Scott explains that "the actual connection to the original Alien is barely in its DNA. You kind of get it in the last seven minutes or so".

At the heart of Alien was one unforgettable scene: the moment crew member Kane collapsed during dinner and a creature burst out of his chest.

Many are wondering if Prometheus will feature something equally as disturbing.

"There is a scene that could be called the equivalent of that in this film," teases Scott, cryptically.

"But that was private, no one witnessed that."

Nobody, that is, apart from a small crew who shot it on a closed set with actress Noomi Rapace. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo star has admitted she suffered two weeks of bad dreams after filming that scene so it's certain that some sci-fi horror thrills are in store for viewers.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Prometheus was filmed on five stages at Pinewood Studios - home of Aliens and Alien 3, including the 007 Stage; the latter had to be reconstructed after it burnt down in 1984 while Scott was filming Legend. One of the biggest in Europe, it was increased by a third just to accommodate the scope of Scott's vision.

Peter Jackson's company Weta, who also worked on The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, provided some of the special effects.

As a youngster, Scott's son Jake doubled as one of the astronauts in Alien. He went on to make a string of pop promos; the films Plunkett and Macleane, and Welcome To The Rileys, and recently directed a viral video promoting Prometheus.

All of the robots' names in the Alien saga have been alphabetical: Ash, Bishop, Call and now David.

Ridley Scott will re-team with Michael Fassbender for a version of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Counselor.

Prometheus is released in cinemas on Friday, June 1.

Warner Bros. Animation is swinging for the fences and turning Frank Miller's landmark graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns into not one, but two animated movies. And to play the aged—but not obsolete—Bruce Wayne, they've scored one of science fiction's most beloved actors.

REALISING like Madonna that the key to enduring success is constant reinvention, Kylie Minogue has revealed she "stripped herself of being Kylie" for her role in a new sci-fi fantasy.

The Aussie pop star appears in French director Leos Carax's surreal offering Holy Motors and said she wanted to be as open as possible for the role.

Speaking at the Cannes International Film Festival, she said: "It felt good to be back on set.

"I took it very seriously, I basically banned my entire entourage of coming with me. I kind of stripped myself of being Kylie and wanted to go back to being as basic as possible and pretty much be a blank canvas for Leos."

Holy Motors follows a man, played by Denis Lavant, who travels between multiple parallel lives, occupying various roles. At one point he's a monstrous creature that gate-crashes a photoshoot and kidnaps a model (Eva Mendes).

Asked by a reporter what he wanted this scene to say to the public, Carax was controversially candid: "I don't know. Who is the public? All I know is they are a bunch of people who will be dead very soon. I don't make public films, I make private films. I invite whoever wants to come and see it."

Former Neighbours actress Kylie said working on the movie was a "very open, very beautiful experience".

"Obviously, I'm kind of used to a different world which is the pop music world, but I began acting at the start of my career so it was nice to come back to that," she said.

"There was a song in the film and I think I said to Leos: 'Oh, so that will be pre-recorded and then we'll mime it in the scene?' And he said: 'No, we'll do it live in the scene', and that was just magic to me.

"I don't think that happens very often so it really was a chance to combine the two, but in a way to try to take everything away and just be as open as I could."

To this point, all we've really known about the fifth season of HBO's hit vampire soap True Blood has been the tidbits we could glean from the oh-so-brief teasers—but all that changes with the newly released synopses for the first three episodes. Spoilers ahead!

The number of active series we're following these days is dwindling a bit as we watch the fall shows end and wait for the summer shows to begin, but there's still plenty to talk about. This week, Grimm finished its first season with a strong finale, while Supernatural broke even in the final week of its seventh season.

Presented without comment.

We know how it goes: You're replaying GTA IV for the 87th time, a little ho-hum about blowing up yet another limo full of gangsters, and you wonder "How can I spice this up?" Might we suggest playing as Luke Skywalker's handy Astromech droid?

CBS News
Back to basics for sci-fi Kylie
The Press Association
Kylie Minogue said she "stripped herself of being Kylie" for her role in a new sci-fi fantasy. The Aussie pop star appears in French director Leos Carax's surreal offering Holy Motors and said she wanted to be as open as possible for the role.
'Back To basics' for sci-fi KylieNinemsn
Kylie rolls into CannesThe West Australian
'Holy Motors' steals 'On the Road' thunderFRANCE 24 (blog)
Daily Mail -Evening Standard
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