'Star Wars: Rogue One' sizzle reel loves practical effects

If you fell in love with Star Wars: The Force Awakens' gorgeous melody of practical sets and VFX, then good news: Rogue One seems to be following in its footsteps.

A new sizzle reel released at Star Wars: Celebration looks behind the camera to highlight the film's use of practical effects, props and stunts. It's nearly three minutes of explosions, sets on moving hydraulics, fantastic creature costumes and gorgeous shooting locations.The short video lauds the use physical sets, the creative doors opened by levering the advantages of each specific location and the realism achieved by having the actors perform stunts in a fully realized world, rather than just on a green screen. Director Gareth Edwards expanded upon the method at the film's Celebration panel -- explaining how shooting in the Maldives and at London's Canary Wharf station let the crew depict a fantastic, futuristic world without relying exclusively on digital effects.

 The reel may not have been the trailer we expected to come out of the convention, but it's still an awesome look at how the film is shaping up. However Star Wars' first standalone film turns out, at least we know it's going to look gorgeous.

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Pokemon go adds billions to Nintendo's market value

Pokémon Go is the latest hotness in mobile gaming and Nintendo is basking in its glow -- to the tune of $7.5 billion in additional market value. Nintendo stock closed up 25 percent on Monday, and by the end of last week, when Pokémon Go hit mobile devices across the US, Australia and New Zealand, the company's stock was already up 9 percent.

Nintendo added $7.5 billion to its market value on Friday and Monday alone, Reuters reports. Nintendo didn't directly develop or publish Pokémon Go, but it holds a large stake in the series' licensor, The Pokémon Company. Pokémon Go was developed and published by Niantic Labs, Google's former AR division that was responsible for the Ingress mobile game. Nintendo and Google invested an estimated $30 million in Niantic while it was working on Pokémon Go.

The stock boost is great news for Nintendo, which has been struggling to save face and money since 2011.Its living room console, the Wii U, hit shelves in November 2012 and it didn't sell nearly as well as the company expected or needed it to. Nintendo executives predicted they would move nearly 100 million Wii U consoles, but they've sold just 13 million since 2012. Nintendo lost money annually between fiscal years 2011 and 2014, largely banking on legacy titles like Mario, Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros. Of course, market value doesn't translate directly to profit for Nintendo, but rising stock is a sign that investors still believe in the house that Mario built. Nintendo will need all the support it can get ahead of its next console launch, which we expect in March 2017. The Wall Street Journal reports that Pokémon Go will hit Europe, Japan and other Asian nations within a few days, citing people with knowledge of internal plans.