Online Gaming:Lord of the Rings Online: Big numbers since conversion to free-to-play in September. At this week’s GDC Online, Turbine’s Kate Paiz revealed some impressive numbers for Lord of the Rings Online since its conversion to free-to-play in September. The game has scored over a million new accounts and doubled its monthly revenue. Additionally, peak concurrent player numbers have risen exponentially along with the return of a large number of former subscribers. mmorpg.com.
Comics: Preview of Tomb of Terror#1, from Marvel Comics. Marvel’s most terrifying monsters star in four tales of harrowing horror! Jack Russell, the Werewolf by Night stalks a killer werewolf in the mountains while searching for a cure that will end his curse. The mal-formed Man-Thing, temporarily in possession of his mind, attempts to save a man from certain death at the hands of racist hunters. And Son of Satan battles a possessed child killer along with the murderous voices in his head. All this and much more in this all-new, all-black-and-white one-shot in the spirit of the Mighty Marvel Magazines of yore, but ALL-NOW in style! ComicMonsters.com.
Creators: Robert Kirkman becomes Image Partner. Kirkman, creator of Image’s flagship titles The Walking Dead and Invincible, has partnered with the company that has given him the room to create the comics he wanted to do. Image Comics.
Movies:Emma Stone has been cast as the female lead in Columbia and Marvel’s new Spider-Man movie. Despite speculation that the red-headed star of “Easy A” and “Zombieland” would play red-headed Spider-Man love interest Mary Jane Watson, she instead is playing blond-haired tragic love interest Gwen Stacy. The casting process reportedly involved looking for actresses for both Gwen and Mary Jane, and Columbia was into Stone — a favorite after starring in the studio’s “Superbad,” “The House Bunny” and “Zombieland” — for both roles. But as the search elongated, it decided to focus on casting Gwen, the more important role.
Sources said Mary Jane will not appear in the first movie, so a Gwen story line could provide and extra dose of gravitas, depending on how closely the studio and filmmakers hew to Marvel Comics lore.
The Hollywood Reporter.
