Fully Charged: Star Wars: Episode VII gets a title, Toy Story 4 announced, and Ubisoft removes new Assassin's Creed and Far Cry from Steam

Star Wars: Episode VII titled, finishes shooting

The seventh Star Wars movie will be called Star Wars: The Force Awakens when it debuts in cinemas on 18 December 2015 – yes, still more than a year away – Disney announced yesterday. The official title was revealed to mark the end of principal photography after about six months of shooting.

Now it’s really real. There’s a new Star Wars movie that’s been shot and named, and now just needs to be cobbled together and laced with visual effects while fans breathlessly await its release. The Force Awakens is directed by J.J. Abrams and features series stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill alongside newcomers like John Boyega and Adan Driver.

[Source: Star Wars]

Toy Story 4 announced for 2017

Surprise! Although Toy Story 3 ended beautifully and concluded a perfect trilogy of modern animation, Disney and Pixar can’t stay away. Toy Story 4 is coming, and it’s been dated for 16 June 2017, with Woody, Buzz, and “the rest of the toys” returning, says Disney’s official blog.

John Lasseter, who heads both Pixar and Disney Animation Studios and directed the first two Toy Story entries, will return to helm the fourth. Interestingly, the script is being written by Rashida Jones (Parks & Recreation) and Will McCormack, who also wrote live-action dramedy Celeste and Jesse Forever together.

[Source: Oh My Disney]

Ubisoft pulls its new games from Steam

Planning to purchase Assassin’s Creed Unity, Far Cry 4, or The Crew on Steam in the coming weeks? Yeah, about that… Ubisoft seems to have pulled its upcoming titles from the leading PC distribution service, perhaps in an effort to drive sales to its own Uplay service.

Unity is due out in a week and is one of the biggest games of the holiday season, with Far Cry 4 arriving not long after. A Ubisoft rep told PCGamesN that the company is “in discussions with Valve about Assassin’s Creed Unity” appearing on Steam, but that’s a curious response, seeing as it was already listed on Steam a day prior. Power play or mere misunderstanding? We’ll hopefully know soon.

[Source: PCGamesN via Polygon]

READ MORE: Assassin’s Creed Unity preview

Classic Winamp recreated in HTML5

If you were a PC user 15-or-so-odd years ago, chances are you have fond memories of seminal music player Winamp. The utilitarian rectangle design. The amazing array of skins. DJ Mike Llama. Excuse us, we’re getting a little weepy in our nostalgia.

But it doesn’t have to be simply fond memories. Someone has gone ahead and recreated Winamp 2.9 in HTML5, letting you open up an online-stored file or drag-and-drop a local one to begin playback. It looks and acts much like the real thing, which is what triggered this nostalgia spiral. Go on, give it a shot.

[Source: Gizmodo]

About

Andrew writes features, news stories, reviews, and other pieces, often when the UK home team is off-duty or asleep. I'm based in Chicago with my lovely wife, amazing son, and silly cats, and my writing about games, gadgets, esports, apps, and plenty more has appeared in more than 75 publications since 2006.