 |  The last video game that I played (a crippling Freecell addiction notwithstanding) was called Heroes Of Karn, and came on a cassette tape for the Commodore 64. Each page of the text-based fantasy adventure took about half an hour to load, and you had to pass back and forth through dozens of the buggers to, for example, get the shovel you stole from the dwarf back to where the wizard was trapped behind fallen rocks, accompanied by the frog who turned back into one of the lost heroes when kissed. But even I was fascinated by our Greatest Games feature , wherein thousands of you shared your memories of playing the best computer games ever made. It turns out that not only have you all defeated hordes of aliens, zombies and orcs; not only have you rescued princesses and saved civilisation, but some of you have also got married to people you met in games, or bonded with family members, or endured heartbreak based purely on what happened to your character. If you haven't done so already, read it and weep - or laugh at the n00bs (as I believe they're called) who get pwned (as I believe the saying goes). Helen O'Hara
Deputy Online Editor, Empire
 
Guardians Of The Galaxy!
Inside The Summer's Coolest, Craziest Superhero Gamble!
Marvel's new space epic is our cover star this month, and we've got an in depth feature bringing you all the details on the galaxy's weirdest heroes (also known as "a bunch of A-holes"). If you want a talking raccoon, a bald Karen Gillan and "an outer-space Liberace", we've got your fix right here. Find out more about what's inside the new issue. VIP print and digital packages Subscribe to Empire magazine: 6 issues for only £15! Buy single iPad editions on the App Store View all subscription offers
  Nicolas Cage In New Outcast Trailer
Last month we had David Gordon Green's Joe to remind us how great Nicolas Cage can be when given some decent material. Since then, however, we've had trailers for The Rage and Left Behind to yank us back into Cage WTF territory. And now here's another, in the form of Nick Powell's Outcast. Cage stars alongside Hayden Christensen and Yifei Liu as a battling medieval Crusader called The White Ghost. It's Season Of The Witch all over again... but in 12th-century China. More: First Teaser For The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death She never left... First Trailer For Men, Women & Children Take a look at Jason Reitman's latest. New Trailer For Open Windows Voyeurism 101 with Elijah Wood. New Trailer For In Order Of Disappearance Stellan Skarsgård has a revenge mission. New Trailer For Acclaimed Aussie Horror The Babadook He's creepy and he's kooky, he's Mr. Babadook.
  This cocktail set for The Love Punch came with glasses for two, a jug and a big furry blanket. BUT NO ALCOHOL. This will make drinking responsibly at least 23 per cent easier.
 There's nothing more entertaining than a masturbating hedgehog.  We don't know how Chris knows this, and we don't want to know.
The 100 Greatest Video Games Of All Time
You voted, we counted, and here they are: your favourite beat-'em-ups, shoot-'em-ups, RPGs, JRPGs, MMORPGs, RTSs, first-person shooters, over the shoulder shooters, platformers, sims, point and click puzzlers, and much, much more. | |
|  | | The Empire Podcast #125: Luc Besson, Marion Cotillard
Not one but two people of the French persuasion come to lend the Empire Podcast a touch of class and a certain I-don't-know-what (as the French say) this week, namely Two Days, One Night's Marion Cotillard and Lucy's Luc Besson. Also here to sully proceedings is the outgoing editor of Empire, Mark Dinning, who enjoys his very own exit interview at the hands of the podcast team. |
|  | | Film Studies 101: Movie Movements
Scaling the heady peaks of auteurship and sliding down the scree slopes of wanton hackery, Empire's Film Studies 101 has tackled everything from the birth of cinema to the technical wizardy of great cinematographers. We've explained what a key grip does and revealed why an on-set honeywagon is a really terrible place to look for a snack. Now it's time for things get real - neoreal, even - with a guide to the key movements that have defined cinema from the silent era to the present day. Don your brainiest specs and follow us on a journey. A journey through time. |
|  | | Who Shot First? The Complete List Of Star Wars Changes
Like a very rich schoolboy picking at a scab, George Lucas became famous for tinkering with the Star Wars saga. Over the years he made innumerable visits to the Skywalker Ranch editing room to refine and revise all six films, from the addition of modern CG effects in the original trilogy to Greedo shooting first. With news that the theatrical cuts of the original trilogy may finally be making their way to Blu-ray in a cleaned-up but unaltered form, we've charted the complete history of Star Wars alterations, from the major to the almost unnoticeable. |
|  | | The 24 Best Film-Related Ice Bucket Challenges
By now you're probably getting sick of ice-bucket challenges, at least if you spend any time on social media. But they keep spreading exponentially, and some huge names have gotten involved, successfully raising awareness of and money for ALS (for the equivalent UK charity, the MND Association which offers help to ALS sufferers has taken up the cause; you can donate here ). Now it's not really impressive when sports people take ice baths - they do it all the time to prevent muscle swelling - and it's pleasant but not relevant to this site when politicians do it, but pampered movie types? That's more of a result - and here are some of the best... |
|  | | Daniel Radcliffe Talks What If
Like Monty Python's parrot, the rom-com isn't dead, it's merely been resting. And here to rouse it from its slumbers with a firm shake and a nice cup of tea are Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan's What If, a old-fashioned slice of romantic comedy that asks questions like: 'Can you be friends with someone you're attracted to?', and, 'Are deep-fried pickles really an acceptable foodstuff?'. We chatted to Radcliffe about all this and more. If you're looking for a Daniel Radcliffe interview that involves the phrase "nursed by gaffers as a child", this is that interview. |
|  | | Who Is Mack Bolan? Your Guide To Cinema's New Action Man
Author Don Pendleton created his iconic hero Mack Bolan in 1969, and saw him through 37 of his first 38 adventures in 11 years. Now that's prolific. Eventually he sold the rights to the character and, until his death in 1995, consulted on the hundreds of books that followed. The series and its spin-offs are still going strong, and it's now headed (again) to Hollywood, with Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper and Shane Salerno chasing it to the screen. Here are the facts on cinema's latest prospective hero... |
|  | | Gamescom 2014: The 10 Most Exciting Games
Gamescom 2014 concluded this weekend, leaving in its wake several hundred thousand gamers from around the world exhausted after a week-long bacchanal of new title announcements and world-first hands on experiences. Empire saves you flying out to Germany with our pick of the ten most exciting games on show this year. |
|  | | Win A Film Download, Takeaway Every Sunday With Fox Searchlight!
Throughout 2014, Empire will be giving readers the chance to win a Digital HD copy of a Fox Searchlight film, plus a £25 hungryhouse.co.uk voucher to order their favourite takeaway online. Just head to Twitter each Sunday (make sure you're following @empiremagazine ) and answer the quiz question posed, tagging your tweet with #SearchlightSundays. In addition, there will be a chance to win flights to Utah and hotel accommodation during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival! Click here for full details |
|  | | Exclusive: Luc Besson Talks Lucy
From Luc Besson's 1980s genesis as a Cinèma du Look pioneer to now, 15 features and one documentary later (maritime doc Atlantis is a point of pride for the ocean lover), the Frenchman has been zephyr-like in his choices. As a director, he's skipped merrily from biopics (The Lady) to comedies (The Family) to matinee fare (Adèle Blanc-Sec) in recent years, while his EuropaCorp stable has turned out lucrative genre franchises like Taken and The Transporter. With Lucy, he's back with a sci-fi that loops back to themes familiar from early actioners Nikita and Lèon. Its box office success ($109m and counting) makes it Besson's second biggest hit to date, but as the man himself explains, "the real life of a film comes ten years later". |
|  | | Lists Of Our Lifetime: Empire's Greatest Battles
As we celebrate our 25th anniversary year, we're taking a long look back over the last quarter century of cinema. We already looked at the greatest opening scenes and greatest romantic gestures , but this month we look the brawls that were brawled. These were the fights and fisticuffs that shaped the last 25 years... |
|  | | Empire Presents the New York Film Academy
New York Film Academy has built a reputation as one of the premier film schools in the world. With its innovative hands-on approach to teaching, students find themselves completely immersed in their course of study, surrounded by award-winning faculty and working with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. Learn Filmmaking, Acting for Film, Photography, Musical Theatre, Game Design, Animation and more. |
 Coasters, waterproof phone covers and self-stirring mugs (so they create a sort of funnel inside, you see) for Into The Storm. Now we just need some wellies, some rope and a concrete bunker and we're set for tornado season.
 
Jeremy Irons can do the NY Times crossword but doesn't do Sudoku. 
William Fichtner loved playing pinball as a kid. 
Pierce Brosnan is a fantastic dancer. 
Rhys Darby agreed to appear in What We Do In The Shadows after Jemaine Clement promised him that it was a really manly role. 
Kaya Scodelario enjoys watching Wimbledon.
 |  | |  | |  | |  |  | | If Michael Bay directed Up. | | Gilbert Gottfried, Independence Day: the perfect combination. | | Nick Offerman presents genius shower thoughts. | | Call off the search for the Person With The Most Blinging Name, because he's been found. |
If you have any timewasters to share, then e-mail them in to us. |  A USB fridge, T-shirt and bottle opener for What If. We now have a single chilled can in the office, and a lot of arguments about who gets to drink it.
 
Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For 
A Dame To Kill For shares some of the downsides of the first, particularly dubious female characterisation. But this retains the gritty, gruelling vice-grip on graphic-novel noir that made Sin City so enjoyable. Also Out
 
Captain America: The Winter Soldier 
It may climax with an overly formulaic splurge, but The Winter Soldier benefits from an old-school-thriller tone that, for its first half at least, distinguishes it from its more obviously superheroic Marvel cousins. Also Out
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