Monthly Archives: May 2015
Bowser Is Nintendo’s New Vice President of Sales
Nintendo of America has appointed Doug Bowser as the new Vice President of U.S. sales (sorry if we got your hopes up).
Bowser joins Nintendo after having previously worked for EA as Vice President of Global Business Planning. Nintendo notes that Bowser brings "decades of experience" to the company, "not fire breath."
“Effective today, Doug Bowser (no relation to the King Koopa and Mario’s longtime nemesis) will oversee a variety of sales-related functions, including Sales, In-store Merchandising, Retail Strategy and Retail Marketing," reads the Nintendo press release.
At EA, Bowser was responsible for console, PC, and mobile games forecasting.
For more on the world of Nintendo, you can read our Puzzles & Dragons: Super Mario Edition review, which we found to be "the shining star alongside the less successful Z."
Octodad: Dadliest Catch Wobbling Onto PS Vita Next Week
Developer Young Horses has announced that Octodad: Dadliest Catch will be coming to PlayStation Vita on May 26.
Octodad will be a cross-buy title, so if you already own the game on PS4, you will automatically gain access to it on Vita. However, it will not have cross-save support.
In addition, there is a new feature allowing local co-op play on one device, with one player on each side of the console.
You can read IGN's review of the PS4 version of Octodad: Dadliest Catch right here, where we said that "Young Horses has done an excellent job taking the diamond in the rough that was the original Octodad student project and turning it into a short but charmingly absurdist physics game. While it doesn’t quite take the extra step that would cement its place as a classic, lovers of physical comedy owe it to themselves to check Dadliest Catch out."
US Air Force Launching Mystery Space Mission Today
The US Air Force's space plane, X-37B, is going into orbit today for the fourth time.
It's launching aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, which will take off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The Air Force is still remaining quiet about the purpose of the X-37B, and while some speculate it might be some type of space weapon, officials have denied such reports, reaffirming that the launch is to test new space technologies. It's also worth noting that NASA has an experiment aboard the rocket.
Coincidentally, this is also the day that the solar powered spaceship LightSail will get a test flight.
Report: Apple Ditches Plans for Apple TV Sets
Apple’s long-awaited TV set won’t be happening any time soon, sources close to the project believe.
According to the Wall Street Journal, via CNet, Apple has quietly dropped plans to continue developing an ultra-high-definition television set, which was reported to include a camera for video calls and other “cutting-edge” features.
Those features, whatever they were, simply weren’t compelling enough to impress Apple executives, the Journal reports.
Recruit A Friend To Xbox, Get 12-Months of EA Access Free
Microsoft is offering you 12 months of free EA Access for referring a friend to buy an Xbox One console.
Select Xbox One owners have been allocated a voucher code via email. If a friend uses your code to purchase a Xbox One console, Forza Horizon 2, and a three-month subscription to Xbox Live via the Microsoft Store before June 21, they'll get the lot for £315 and you'll each get a free 12-month subscription to EA Access.
Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX Gets Delayed
Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX will launch on September 8 in North America, and September 11 in Europe.
The rhythm game which is exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS was originally supposed to launch this month.
In North America, a special physical launch edition will include the game, premium packaging, and a wallet chain designed after Hatsune Miku's belt.
Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX will be available in stores and digitally for $40. Check out some of the details we have on the game here on IGN.
Hellblade Gameplay Reveal Coming Next Month
Ninja Theory, the studio behind the PS3 exclusive Heavenly Sword and the somewhat polarizing Devil May Cry reboot, is teasing a June 10 gameplay reveal for its upcoming action game Hellblade.
News of the forthcoming debut was announced at the conclusion of the studio's latest entry in its developer diary series, which provides an in-depth look into the Ninja Theory's design process and the challenges it's faced along the way.
Hellblade was first announced last year at Gamescom as a PlayStation 4 title, but Ninja Theory has since confirmed a PC version will be coming as well.
There Was a Witcher Movie in 2001?
Sorry, Netflix. Before the games, but after the books written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher was adapted into a movie, and a TV series. Netflix is now developing the franchise into a new TV show starring Henry Cavill as monster-hunting hero Geralt.
The original film was known as Wiedźmin in Poland, which translates into The Witcher in English, although the film was renamed The Hexer internationally.
As the story goes, the film was released in 2001 and was panned by critics. The biggest problem being the movie wasn’t actually a movie, it was a 13 episode TV series that had been squished into a two-hour feature film, which in turn made it into a nonsensical mishmash.
Chinese Building Looks Exactly Like the USS Enterprise
The headquarters of NetDragon Websoft, a Chinese gaming and mobile Internet company, have been built to look exactly like the USS Enterprise from above.
NetDragon chairman Liu DeJian actually licensed the rights from CBS in order to construct the replica. The project cost $160 million, and took six years to build, finishing last year.
This YouTube video shows off the building in closer detail using drone footage.
China Hopes to be the First to Land on Dark Side of the Moon
China is planning to land its probe, the Chang'e-4, and its accompanying rover, on the far side of the moon for the first time in human history.
"Other countries have chosen to land on the near side of the moon." Wu Weiren said to China Central Television. "Our next move probably will see some spacecraft land on the far side of the moon."
An ideal landing spot would be the South Pole-Aitken basin, a massive impact crater which could offer more information about the moon's history.
The planned launch for the Chang'e-4 is 2020. The Chang'e-5 probe will launch in 2017, before the Chang'e-4, and will return from the moon from lunar samples. China is also planning a research mission to Mars in 2020.