Monthly Archives: April 2015
Did Amazon Strike a Deal With Crytek?
According to sources familiar with a deal between Amazon and Crytek to license CryEngine, the online retail behemoth dropped between $50 and $70 million USD to secure the game engine.
Speaking to Kotaku, the sources claim that Amazon is the company referenced early last month when Crytek announced it had struck a deal it described as "huge."
When Crytek made the announcement, it didn't release the name of the company with which it struck a deal, but it did say the deal had been in the works for quite some time. The news comes after reports from last year saying Crytek was suffering from financial difficulties.
Out This Week: April 6, 2015
With so many new games and movies coming out, it can be hard to keep up. Lucky for you, IGN is here to help with a weekly round-up of the biggest releases each and every week. Check out the latest releases for this week, and be sure to come back next Monday for a new update.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Struggling With Bloodborne? Leave Your PS4 On for 12 Hours
If you've been struggling with the boss fights in the recently-released action game Bloodborne, one player has found a unique workaround.
Reddit user meatballz has discovered that leaving Bloodborne on the PlayStation 4 running for over twelve hours leads to a possible memory leak issue that causes bosses to have a reduced move set in fights, thus making them easier to defeat.
"I just tested this yesterday by turning off the PS4 power saving options and leaving Bloodborne running all night," meatballz explains. "Sure enough, when I played in the morning Logarius had transformed from an intense spell casting maniac into a senile old man who did nothing but attack with his scythe over and over."
Microsoft Stops Producing Kinect V2 for Windows
In what it says is an effort to simplify its Kinect line, Microsoft will no longer be producing Kinect v2 for Windows. While the company will no longer produce the sensor, it promises support for the device on Windows 8 and 8.1 remains unchanged.
Microsoft has decided instead to continue to produce Kinect for Xbox One and recommends that developers interested in creating projects for Kinect on Windows instead use its proprietary adapter.
The adapter allows for the Xbox One Kinect to hook into a PC running Windows. Microsoft says that because Kinect for Xbox One and Kinect for Windows v2 are functionally identical, the Kinect for Windows SDK 2.0 "works exactly the same with either" Xbox One or PC.
Furious 8: Eva Mendes Reportedly Wanted Back
Vin Diesel recently teased that The Fast and the Furious 8 will be set in New York and its story will involve Kurt Russell's Furious 7 black ops guru Mr. Nobody. But Russell may not be the only past supporting player returning for the next installment.
Latino-Review's Umberto "El Mayimbe" Gonzalez reported the following rumor about Furious 8 today:
"With #fast7 now in the record books, the upcoming NY based #Fast8 story will depend on whether they can bring back Eva Mendes' character: US Customs Agent Monica Fuentes."
Rumor: WB Wants Lord & Miller to Direct The Flash Movie
A new rumor suggests that Warner Bros. wants hotshot directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller (of 21/22 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie fame) for the upcoming The Flash movie starring Ezra Miller.
Ezra Miller Explains How He Became The Flash
Said rumor comes from Latino Review's El Mayimbe (via Popcorn Talk), who broke the story on his Twitter account. Meanwhile, Lord and Miller are also reportedly being considered for one of Sony's Ghostbusters movies -- as well as pretty much every other movie in development, come to think of it -- so it's not surprising they might be up for one of WB/DC's heavy hitters.
Eliza Dushku Joins Banshee
It looks like Banshee: Season 4 is gonna slay.
According to Deadline, Eliza Dushku (Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse) has joined the cast of Banshee as "Agent Veronica Dawson" - a sexy and shockingly reckless FBI profiler.
Dushku's Dawson will team with Antony Starr's Lucas Hood to track down a serial killer. That is if she can overcome her own personal demons.
Eliza Dushku.
Uncharted 3 Comes to PlayStation Now This Month
Sony today revealed five new games coming to its game streaming service, PlayStation Now, this month.
Leading the pack is Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. With this addition, all three Uncharted games that appeared on PS3 are now available on PlayStation Now, allowing subscribers to play through the series in anticipation of next year's Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Check out IGN's Uncharted 3 review to learn more.
Super Stardust HD, Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and billiards game Hustle Kings are also joining the PlayStation Now roster this month.
Additionally, Sony revealed the streaming service, which costs $20 USD per month, or $45 USD for three months, is now available on 2015 Sony Blu-ray players in the US, and select 2014 Sony TVs in the US and Canada. For PlayStation 4 users, the PlayStation Now app is now installed on your system by default, and comes with a free seven-day trial.
Track Steam Game Activity With Steam Spy
Steam Spy is a new, free tool from games blogger Sergey Galyonkin that gathers and analyzes data from Steam's many users.
While it's still in alpha and may contain bugs, Steam Spy currently lets you sort through information ranging from games with the most or least players in a specific time frame, how many people own a game vs. how many people have actually played it, what countries a game's playerbase are from, and more.
"Steam Spy is designed to be helpful for indie developers, journalists, students and all parties interested in PC gaming and its current state of affairs," states the Steam Spy About page.
App Store Update: April 6
Every day hundreds of new apps make their debut on the App Store, and hundreds more are updated or reduced in price. We have sifted through the noise and highlighted those select few that might be worth your attention.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Tetrobot and Co. – ($2.99)
"Tetrobot is the world's most popular and reliable robot, but he's not perfect. That's why I, Maya, have built him a microscopic little brother, Psychobot.