The Possession Burns Up the Box Office

Proving yet again that America loves itself some exorcism movies, producer Sam Raimi's The Possession did better than expected to win the box office crown this Labor Day weekend, dethroning The Expendables 2 after two weeks on top.

Here are the weekend estimates via Rentrak:

1. The Possession 17.7 million
2. Lawless $9.7 million
3. The Expendables 2 $8.8 million
4. The Bourne Legacy $7.2 million
5. ParaNorman $6.6 million
6. The Odd Life of Timothy Green $6.1 million
7. The Dark Knight Rises $5.9 million
8. The Campaign $5.4 million
9. 2016: Obama's America $5.1 million
10. Hope Springs $4.7 million

The re-release of Marvel's The Avengers into 1,700 theaters earned $1.7 million, ranking it in 14th place.

The worst news this weekend is for The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, the kid flick featuring Toni Braxton, Christopher Lloyd, Chazz Palminteri, Cary Elwes and Jaime Pressly. The $20 million film opened in 2,160 theaters earning just $448,000 or a mere $207 per theater average, making it the new worst ever wide release opening. Yes, even worse than Creature or Delgo.

Listen to Keepin' It Reel to find out how we did with our box office predictions!

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30 Days Until Resident Evil 6

With only 30 days to go until Resident Evil 6 is released on October 2nd, we count down 30 reasons why Capcom’s latest zombie infested survival horror game has us ready to destroy wave after wave of the bloody undead in terrifying new ways. You rolling with us? Pack a shotgun and never look back, this is the dirty 30 for Resident Evil 6. BRRRAAAAAIIINNNSS!!

30

The Zombies Are Smarter Than Ever Now

Like much, much, much smarter. They jump, spit acid and fight back with weapons. These things don't just grunt and groan. They eat brains and ace math tests. Run, man. RUN!

29

The Special Editions Rock

Why snag just the game when you can get copies of a bunch of classic Evils or even a hoodie? There are a ton of options, so stop being so boring.

28

That Logo Looks Like A Giraffe And A....

Love flourishes in the strangest of places. Sometimes a man loves a woman. Sometimes a woman loves a giraffe. Sometimes two fish smoke cigarettes after an argument. The Resident Evil 6 logo is like the world's most perversely inspiring rorschach test! Watch this Up At Noon bit for even more.

27

The Achievements!

There's an Achievement named "Duty Calls" in case you were worried there wouldn't be enough action to go with that survival horror. Plenty more Achievement spoilers at that link, if you're into that kind of thing.

26

Ada Wong Is Back, Baby

And yes, we missed her too. Don't lie, so did you.

25

This Mysterious Man

What is he doing? Maybe he's READING THIS VERY ARTICLE!

24

You Probably Have Better Skin Than This Guy, So Cheer Up!

23

Leon, Chris & Eminem In The SAME GAME!

22

That Title Screen Guy Will Totally Yell "RESIDENT...EVIIIIL. SIX!" When You Press Start On The Title Screen

He did it for every other Resident Evil game so why fire him now?

21

Resident Evil.Net Keeps The Game Going FOREVA AND EVA

Regularly updated new content and events? This makes us very happy.

20

We Couldn't Wait So We Did Awesome Break Downs Of The Resident Evil Games Leading Up To RE6

Our homie Lucas M. Thomas has been doing amazingly detailed breakdowns of all the Resident evil classics. Join us in celebrating our old, withered nostalgia.

19

The Amazing IGN Wiki Means You'll Never Get Stuck

We'll keep updating it with backstory, cheats and full walkthroughs but we'd love if you helped us, too.

18

That Whole Zombie Infection Thing? Yeah, It's Global Now

(Although once again, Greenland is safe from the rest of the world's problems)

17

It Has A Naked Human-Spider Boss Woman Thingy That We Can't Even Show You

We would probably get arrested for throwing a picture in here but that won't stop us from talking about it.

16

DAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW!!

SO CUTE!!!

15

It's F***ing Legit!

Or so says @GenaMarini and she's probably right.

14

This Game Has Some Weird-Ass Enemies, Man!

Zombie mutant prize claw people? What the hell?!?! Well, it's not like being populated with freakish weirdos is new for the series or anything.

13

***ZOMBIE CAT BREAK!***

Hey look, it's Albert Whisker! We're so, so sorry.

12

Multiple Story Campaigns

Oh, you want branching stories and entire campaigns with different lead characters? Here are three to start you off:

And that's not even all of them...

11

Some Crazy, Talented People Are Working On This

Just watch our making-of video for proof!

10

The Bio Ball

Hypodermic fun for the whole family!

9

It Takes Place In The Same Universe As Sleeping Dogs If You're A Fan Fiction Writer Or Crazy Conspiracy Theorist

It doesn't really, but we can pretend.

8

It Comes With An Umbrella Corporation Umbrella If You Pre-Order It

Never heard of an Umbrella Umbrella? Let our resident (see what we did there?) video hostess Naomi Kyle show you one in action.

7

The Game's Producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi Is No Slouch

From classics like Dino Crisis, Resident Evil 2 to Killer7 and Devil May Cry, this guy is a legend.

6

It's Not Resident Evil 5

Nuff' said.

5

It's The Only Game This Year With Crossbows

OK, so that's bullsh*t. There are thousands of games this year with crossbows. But we like this crossbow the best.

4

It Reminds Us Of Resident Evil 2...

3

...And The Village From Resident Evil 4

2

That CRAZY Plane Crash Scene

1

And Finally? Zombie Party Time!

Excited for Resident Evil 6 as we are? Well you absolutely should be by now. Be sure to let us know just how excited in the comments below.

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PAX: Gears of War: Judgment -- Free-for-All Madness

Normally, playing a match of Gears of War’s multiplayer involves taking a lot of cover. But in the recently announced free-for-all mode for Gears of War: Judgment, it just doesn’t work for me. When nine other players barrel down on me from every angle I find I become paranoid, constantly spinning around and looking for the next chaotic gunfight.

The average life in free-for-all Judgment match is short. With no teammates around to chase off a would-be executioner, you’re dead when you get downed (and in the case of the PAX build, you died immediately). Free-for-all matches thus end up making you feel much more vulnerable than you do in other Gears gametypes. No one is there to pick you up when you fall, and the other nine people are out for blood as much as you, so they aren’t going to watch your back or protect your flanks.

Maps have specifically designed for Judgment’s free-for-all mode as well. Unlike past Gears games, where they basically adapted various maps to whatever game mode you were playing, these maps have been tailored for 10 player insanity. If the match at PAX was any indication, they're also a bit smaller than you’d expect. The result is that you never go more than a few seconds without running into someone to shoot, and more often it’s the third player who rushes in to clean up two wounded fighters than scores big.

If you want to play team-based matches Judgment has those too, but free-for-all looks like the most approachable option for someone looking to learn Judgment’s mechanics. Anyone who’s hopped into an older Gears multiplayer match knows how hard it can be to get into. What often happens is that you queue up, you finally join, you run to cover and then you’re summarily blasted into pieces by a super-skilled player with a shotgun and get to be a spectator for a few minutes before repeating. In free-for-all, though, you can respawn a few seconds after being killed. Thus you can play a bit more reckless and experiment more, learning to use weapons you might normally try, or even going for melee kills just for the heck of it. Sure, you might not be the one who comes out on top in the end, but you’re not going to have to wait for long respawn timers or let down a team.

Even if you're a super seasoned Gears player you'll have a few new control changes to get used to in Judgment. While Epic hasn't messed with the now-iconic Active Reload, they have basically eliminated the need for you to use the D-pad. Switching between your two weapons has been moved to the Y button, and throwing grenades is now as simple as tapping the left bumper. As obvious as these changes sound to anyone who plays other competitive shooters on the Xbox, it's a bit odd to never reach awkwardly with your left thumb to switch beween your gear. It makes Gears combat feel a lot more flexible and makes reacting to different situations much easier, and fits perfectly with the amped-up pacing of free-for-all mode.

With many more modes yet to be announced, Gears of War: Judgment already looks like it has something for longtime fans and newcomers alike. Judgment releases March 19th, 2013.

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PAX: Halo 4 Updates Grifball and Oddball

If you've ever wanted to throw your skull before, you'll enjoy the changes planned for several multiplayer modes in Halo 4. 343 Industries announced today that players will be able to pass and catch the ball/skull/bomb in both Grifball and Oddball during its Halo panel at PAX.  This news comes a day after the announcement of Capture the Flag (CTF), and a new War Games map, Exile. Similar to allowing the flag carrier to carry a Magnum in CTF, you'll also be able to weild a pistol while carrying the ball in Oddball. Assassinations are also possible which apparently vaporzize your enemies.

Here's the two modes in action.

Both modes themselves are carry-overs from past Halo games, Oddball featuring classic "earn points each second you control the ball" gameplay, while Grifball arms players with Gravity Hammers and Swords in a bid to score points by carrying the ball to the other team's goal.

Including a weapon in CTF makes enough sense given how wide open t=most CTF-ready maps are, but I wonder about adding a pistol to the ball-carrier mix given the typically smaller-sized arenas best suited for Oddball. There's something about relying solely on melee attacks that's always balanced out the gameplay, so it'll be interesting to see how it plays (343 only showed the mode off via its presentation, it wasn't playable).

In case you missed it yesterday, here's what we thought of the new CTF mode.

Casey Lynch is Editor-in-Chief of IGN.com. Follow his non-sequitur ramblings about video games, '80s films and Protest the Hero on IGN and Twitter.

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Doctor Who: "Asylum Of The Daleks" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

With a hero, plots and a series mantra that's all about unstable, unpredictable change, it's remarkable that Doctor Who has always been quite so consistent when it comes to punching above its weight.

So it's somewhat fitting that as we edge ever closer to the show's legendary 50th anniversary, showrunner Steven Moffat has issued the writing staff a mission statement to "slut it up with big, huge, mad ideas", and to "write each episode like a movie poster".

While we may have the return of the Weeping Angels, the 'there's-no-way-this-can't-be-amazing' "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", a Whovian-goes-Western approach to Cowboys vs Aliens, and the ever-impending departure of the Ponds all all awaiting us before Christmas, Moffat himself came up with the idea big, bold and suitably crazy enough to kickstart Series 7 (or 33, depending on your nerdiness) with a bang.

“

still full of vibrancy, surprises and stuffed full of nods towards the Time Lord's future

For an episode focusing on the Doctor's oldest enemy, The Asylum of the Daleks was still full of vibrancy, surprises and stuffed full of nods towards the Time Lord's future. But more on those - or more particularly, her - later.

This season's movie-esque MO lends itself to compressed storytelling, and so it didn't take long before Rory, Amy and The Doctor found themselves individually Dalek-napped, and transported to a parliament almost as terrifying as our own - an amphitheatre chock full of every incarnation of the Dalek the Doctor's ever seen.

The key twist this time? While exterminating was still on the cards, they needed the Doctor and his companions to do them a little favour first - hop down to The Asylum (an intergalactic prison housing their craziest and deadliest), and save their alien bacon.

In modern Who-terms, The Asylum of the Daleks was a triumph. Witty, crazy and with a heartfelt emotional streak throughout, it catered first and foremost to the characters we've come to love. Matt Smith flip-flopped between ice-cool menace (as 'The Predator') and chirpy, charming freneticism (as 'Chinboy') with now expectant ease, but with just five episodes left, Moffat cast the main emotional spotlight on Rory and Amy.

While the initial melodrama-bombshell of their impending divorce was a surprise enough, the revelation of its cause (damn you Demon's Run and your fertility discombobulating ways), and their inevitable reconciliation was pulled off with sincere, and genuinely moving aplomb by Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill.

The biggest surprise of all though? It wasn't the divorce, the brief adventures of Indiana Rory, the episode's The Thing-esque transforming sleeper Daleks, or the particularly 'scrambled' spin on the Dalek's catchphrase (we predict a few fanboys/girls ordering tomorrow's breakfast in a whole new way).

“

Doctor Who may be a show edging ever-closer to its TV Quinquagenary, but it's still one of the smartest, funniest and freshest sci-fis around.

Nope - in a world full of spoilers, plot-leaks and internet reveals, Moffat and co magnificently kept the arrival of the Doctor's new companion completely under wraps. Jenna-Louise Coleman's Oswin/Souffle Girl debuted with an electrifying bang - smart, sassy, somewhat of a genius, and mildly bi-curious, she nearly stole the show. Not only that, she had a pathos-driven, super-twist of an end to an origin story that leaves us guessing not only when but how she'll reappear. Oh, and as what. While the thought of a 'Doctor/dead Dalek spirit guide' odd couple dynamic fills us with nerdy glee, even Moffat's not that crazy.

We think.

In fact, the only downside to the episode was that - with so much of the above going on - the much-mooted 'every Dalek ever' smorgasbord was underwhelming in its brevity, and while they certainly seemed the scariest they've been in years, it felt less a tale about the Daleks than an adventure that just happened to have them in it. That said, we're intrigued to see where their mindwipe reboot leaves their relationship with the Doctor going forward.

Doctor Who may be a show edging ever-closer to its TV Quinquagenary, but it's still one of the smartest, funniest and freshest sci-fis around.

Case in point? Bring on the Space Dinosaurs.

Matt Risley is IGN's resident Doctor Who expert. Follow him on Twitter.

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PAX: Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Demo Impressions

Today at PAX, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima unveiled the first gameplay of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, which he called a "prologue" to Metal Gear Solid 5.

The Fox Engine driven "current gen" gameplay demo first shown last week in Tokyo offers a first look at who is presumably Big Boss and new vehicle gameplay, but more importantly we now know what the next Metal Gear Solid game will look like running. Here it is if you haven't watched it already.

First and foremost, the demo shows off the muscle of Fox Engine, looking as next-gen as anything could (Kojima again reiterated that this was not a tech demo, but a true gameplay demo for current-gen systems). The non-gameplay but "in-engine" pre-roll introduces an unidentified man making his way through a high-security base, possibly a camp of the Les Enfant Terrible. The internet is already speculating that this man is Volgin. We want to throw another guess out there - could this instead be The Fury, who burned to "death" in Metal Gear Solid 3?

Volgin or The Fury? Someone else?

Regardless, we're next shown a child in a cage - Paz - who appears to have headphones plugged into her chest (she unplugs them, replugging them into an old walkman). She's betrayed the man somehow. He tells the girl to give his regards to her "Boss" (yes, capital B in sub-titles) as he leaves.

The scarred man pulls away in a jeep convoy, a helicopter buzzing overhead, both of which foreshadow the use of vehicles in Ground Zeroes.

Next up: Snake or Big Boss? He's credited and addressed as Snake in the demo, but it makes more sense based on the "prologue" timeline, that and his eye-patch is on his right eye.

Yes, it's been too long.

Being called Snake works for Big Boss as well considering that Snake is Big Boss' codename. It could be either, as they both appear to be eluded to in the below on-screen quote, "From 'FOX', two phantoms were born." We're going to go out on a limb and call him Big Boss.

Big Boss or Snake?

We see the stealth mechanics in play here for the first time, crouching through the base, avoiding spotlights and taking out a guard with a silenced pistol. We also see Big Boss grab a jeep, and quickly reverse himself out of sight. It's during this section that we see a high-tech tracking device, called a 1Droid in the upper left corner (in beta version 1.02, no less). One crazy theory we have is this could possibly imply either Vita second-screen options, or even crazier, Wii U possibilities. Or maybe iPad? Smart glass? Or it's just a fancy Metal Gear Google map. I know, we're nuts.

That's right: Droid, not Apple.

Grand Theft Solid.

The demo closes with Big Boss catching a lift on a chopper, which Kojima said would serve as a means to travel between missions, and even different countries in the game. The vehicles featured customize-able music, with "Flight of the Valkyries" providing a dramatic backdrop for the demo. Kojima noted that the volume of the music will effect if you're discovered.

Flares are your friend.

So what do you think? Will we be playing as Big Boss? Snake? If so, which ones? And who's the scarred man at the beginning? And why does Pax listen to her body with headphones? So many questions! Right or wrong, tell us what you think in the comments below and let's figure this out.

Casey Lynch is Editor-in-Chief of IGN.com. Hear about his love for PAX , metal, and Dark Souls on IGN and Twitter.

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PAX: Fifteen Minutes of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Gameplay

We just saw the first gameplay footage of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes at the PAX 2012 Metal Gear panel.

We are uploading the video. Tune back here in about 30 minutes and we'll have the video piping hot and ready to chew on.

Developing...

Casey Lynch is Editor-in-Chief of IGN.com. Hear about his love for PAX , metal, and Dark Souls on IGN and Twitter.

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