SDCC 2014: In Other News...

Source: Confused Matthew

Our ICYMI-style guide to all of the Comic-Con you may have overlooked!
The inevitable reality of weekend-spanning entertainment events such as Comic-Con is that keeping up-to-date with every featured panel and the plethora of announcements which each studio brings to their showing is a terrific challenge, if not damn near impossible these days. Here at On-Screen, we've done our best to showcase the reveals which took convention-goers by storm in San Diego last week, but doing so ultimately meant allowing some engaging news-bytes to temporarily fall by the wayside.

As the industry moves past Comic-Con and its vast fandom begins to anticipate those releases which are still to come this year, then, we thought it high time that we recap some of the major news which may well have slipped your notice first-time round yet which wholeheartedly warrant a look all the same. Have we peaked your curiosity yet? If so, then in the (paraphrased) words of Django Unchained's deliciously terrifying antagonist, Calvin Candy, we'll now strive to grab your attention:

• FIREFLY ONLINE CASTING DETAILS & NEW TRAILER RELEASED - Spark Plug Games and Quantum Mechanix have announced via a dedicated ComicCon event that their online RPG video game Firefly Online will feature the voices of the hit Fox series' original lead stars including Michael Fairman, Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion. Taking place in the same continuity as the classic cult TV show, Online's multi-path narrative tasks players with rounding up crew members and commandeering their starships into the depths of outer space. A new gameplay trailer for Firefly Online (which will retail on PC, Mac OS X, iOS and Android handsets in Spring 2015) can be seen at the bottom of this feature article.
• MORE MASS EFFECT 3 SEQUEL DEVELOPMENT DETAILS ANNOUNCED - One would be forgiven for assuming that after their development update at E3, BioWare would refrain from announcing further news on the in-the-works follow-up to 2012's Mass Effect 3. Quite to the contrary, though, they've gone ahead and revealed a host of new details on the project at Comic-Con such as that the Mako will return as the player's central mode of multi-terrain transport (although there'll be no weapons attached to the six-wheeled 4x4-turned-tank this time around), that the narrative's setting may be an entirely different galaxy and/or point in time to Shepherd's three adventures (with "cooperation" now apparently a central focus for BioWare) and that the product is still "years away" from release. In which case, those who've pre-ordered the title in the hope of acquiring it sometime in 2015 might want to re-consider their advance investment...
• HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION CINEMATIC TRAILER & HALO NIGHTFALL FIRST LOOK TEASER RELEASED - Evidently intent on promoting their one and only remaining first-party exclusive of 2014, Microsoft and 343 Industries have released a new trailer for their upcoming first-person-shooter video game compilation Halo: The Master Chief Collection based around Blur Studios' truly marvellous CGI-powered cinematic sequences. Housing graphically-enhanced HD remakes of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, the Collection will additionally feature upscaled versions of both Halo 3 and Halo 4, though fans who've picked up the latter pair of high-octane instalments would benefit from keeping in mind that neither of them will receive major technical overhauls in order to run on the Xbox One. We've even thrown in the teaser trailer for Halo: Nightfall, a compelling TV prequel to Halo 5: Guardians which will feature as part of the aforementioned package, below to send fans of all things Sierra-117 into an absolute frenzy - in the words of Guardians of the Galaxy's marketing team, you're welcome! Halo: The Master Chief Collection blasts onto One consoles everywhere this November 14th.
• SKULL ISLAND & GODZILLA 2 ANNOUNCED - Legendary Pictures mightn't have exactly had the upper hand upon their entrance into ComicCon, but that didn't stop them from announcing not one but two major franchise continuations for a pair of beloved fantastical icons. Godzilla 2 and Skull Island are both officially in-development, with the former motion picture set to be directed by upcoming Star Wars helmer Gareth Edwards and to feature classic antagonists such as Mothra, King Ghidorah and Rodan in an ambitious storyline that should pick up right where this Summer's shockingly-beloved blockbuster Godzilla left off. Meanwhile, Skull Island will probably act as a reboot for the King Kong series (which last reared its disproportionate CGI-rendered head in cinemas with a one-off instalment starring Jack Black and directed by Peter Jackson back in 2005), and more intriguingly still, may even connect with Godzilla's ongoing narrative continuity in a manner not entirely dissimilar to Marvel Studios' ludicrously successful Marvel Cinematic Universe as part of an overarching plan by Legendary to reap the same levels of acclaim as their superheroic competitor(s). Whilst Godzilla 2's official release window is still to-be-confirmed, all being well, Skull Island will commence its furious rampage in cinemas worldwide in 2016.
• DAREDEVIL BROADCAST WINDOW CONFIRMED - Just a quick tidbit of news to finish this monolithic round-up off: Daredevil, a street-level TV superhero drama which stars Charlie Cox and forms the latest small-screen addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will première its adrenaline-fuelled first season on Netflix in May 2015.

Keep it On-Screen in the weeks ahead for the latest and greatest coverage of the entertainment industry's hottest developments (not to mention those which too often go cruelly unnoticed by the majority of news sites)!