Monthly Archives: April 2015
App Store Update: April 30
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.
Battledots – ($4.99)
A fast-paced strategic battle that takes place across five lanes filled with fighting dots. Take a look:
Is Microsoft HoloLens Ready for Prime Time?
Microsoft's Build conference for developers is in its second day, and one thing is clear: Microsoft wants you to know that Windows 10 is a "universal platform," and as such, HoloLens "is Windows 10."
First revealed at the Windows 10 Live Event in January, Microsoft's headset took a route different from other comparable headsets like Oculus Rift by augmenting reality rather than replacing it. And the company has been eager to show off what it sees as its potential strengths over VR or traditional input methods.
During a demonstration yesterday of the device, many hypothetical uses for the device were shown off, all of which fell into the "universal" and collaborative philosophy Microsoft has been touting since the beginning of its conference. An architecture firm was shown using the device to map out and share plans for a building, all supported by the robust Azure API, of course.
Daily Deals: Mario Party 10, KOTOR on iOS, Xbox Live for $32
Xbox One With A Free Year Of Live (and two Assassin's Creed Games, and NBA 2K15)
Well here's a rock solid Xbox One deal from Amazon. We've seen extra controllers, copies of Halo, or 3 months of Xbox Live tossed in with ACU bundle, but a full year of Live plus NBA2K15 makes this one of the best Xbox One deals we've seen in a while.
Power Rangers Movie Release Date Pushed to 2017
Originally scheduled to hit theaters July 22, 2016, Lionsgate and Saban's upcoming Power Rangers film has been pushed to January 13, 2017. Lionsgate didn't provide a reason for the delay.
Here's the official synopsis for the film:
"From a story by Executive Producer Roberto Orci (Transformers, Star Trek, Amazing Spider-Man 2) and screenwriters Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (X-Men: First Class, Thor) comes a modern reinvention of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a group of ordinary high school kids who find themselves infused with extraterrestrial powers and must harness those powers as a team to save the world."
Earlier this month a report surfaced stating Project Almanac director Dean Israelite is in talks to helm the film.
MS-DOS Games Are Playable When Embedded in Tweets
If you've ever wanted more of a reason to spend time on social media, it's now possible for you to embed playable MS-DOS games into tweets on Twitter.
To do so, just copy the URL of any game in the Internet Archive database and embed it in a tweet. Once it's posted, the game will run as well as it did back in the early days of PC gaming.
It's unclear how long this function has been available, but Wired made the discovery earlier today.
Visit the Internet Archive to grab the URLS of a number of classic games, including Wolfenstein 3D, The Oregon Trail, SimCity, Prince of Persia, and Street Fighter II.
Ellen DeGeneres Producing Green Eggs and Ham Series for Netflix
Netflix has ordered a thirteen-episode adaptation of Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham, with Ellen DeGeneres attached as an executive producer.
Jared Stern (Wreck-It-Ralph, The LEGO Movie 2) will pen the series and executive produce alongside DeGeneres. Jeff Kleeman, Mike Karz, and David Dobkin will also serve as executive producers.
According to DeGeneres, the series will feature "cutting-edge animation" that has "never been done on television before."
In true Dr. Seuss fashion, Netflix VP of Original Content Cindy Holland added:
Justice League’s Darkseid War Brings Back DC’s History
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Justice League #40!
Justice League #40 came with more than a few surprises, setting the stage for the upcoming Darkseid War that starts in June. We were surprised to see the Anti-Monitor as the mysterious universe-destroying villain at the end of Forever Evil, and now he returns again as we see him interact with the time-traveling Metron of the New Gods. Their conversation reveals many details about him that we've never known before, like his real name is Mobius and that he no longer wants to be the Destroyer of universes. Most interestingly, every single reboot of the DC was referenced as part of his story, apparently making all pre-New 52 DC stories canon again.
Laura Linney Joins Ninja Turtles 2
Laura Linney has joined the cast of Ninja Turtles 2.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Linney joins a cast that includes Megan Fox and Will Arnett, though specific details about her role have yet to be released.
She will also work alongside comedian Tyler Perry as scientist Baxter Stockman and Arrow's Stephen Amell, who will be playing Casey Jones.
It's an interesting casting choice; Laura Linney has been nominated three times for Oscars for her work in movies such as 2008's The Savages. However, now that she's a mother, she may be looking for projects geared more towards younger audiences, hence her casting in NT2.
Ubisoft Releases Free Child of Light Art Book
Ubisoft has released a free illustrated art book for Child of Light to celebrate the RPG's one year anniversary.
Called Child of Light: Reginald the Great, the art book is available to download for everyone and tells a tale about Robert's son. The story is aimed to further expand on the world of Lemuria.
“From the start, we wanted to explore Lemuria from different perspectives and protagonists," said Patrick Plourde, creative director at Ubisoft, in a statement. "The illustrated books are set a couple of years after the events of the game and follow the adventures of Reginald, the son of Robert and Margaret.
DirectX 12 Pushes ‘6 to 12 Times’ the Polygons of DirectX 11
During the Build conference today Microsoft showed off capabilities of its next iteration of DirectX, DirectX 12.
Running the 2012 Final Fantasy Agni's Philosophy demo on a positively beastly quad-SLI Digital Storm PC, Microsoft showed the demo running in real-time in Direct X 12. According to Microsoft, the demo was showing off 63 million polygons, or about 6 to 12 times as many as were shown on the same demo running DirectX 11.
Moving around the scene freely and adjusting lighting were shown off, as well as textures were at 8K x 8K. "Significantly more than we were able to do" with DX 11.