Monthly Archives: August 2015

Here’s When the Next Guild Wars 2 Expansion Beta Is

ArenaNet has announced that the second Beta Weekend Event for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns will be running from noon PST on Friday, September 4 until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, September 6.

These beta weekend events allow players to get a taste of what's to come from the first Guild Wars 2 expansion. The base game has sold upwards of 5 million copies to date.

If you have pre-purchased the expansion, you will see a button appear on the character creation screen which will allow you to create a fully geared level 80 beta character. You'll have four character slots to use, and if you previously created characters in the first beta weekend, they will still be usable.

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Divinity: Original Sin 2 Kickstarter Funded Already

Divinity: Original Sin II has already been fully funded on Kickstarter.

We only posted the news that the Kickstarter was live yesterday. It took under 12 hours for the RPG sequel to meet its $500,000 target. Now we can presumably be looking forward to some stretch goals.

Developer Larian Studios announced Divinity: Original Sin II earlier this month, and then responded to the reaction about its return to Kickstarter. The company is funding the project itself, but the extra money gained from Kickstarter will allow more than its budget allows for.

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YouTube Gaming Is Now Live

Google has launched its Twitch competitor YouTube Gaming.

YouTube Gaming acts as a hub for everything video game-related. The website (or downloadable app) automatically categorises YouTube’s gaming content by game, features a trending game section, lets users import their subscribed channel list, and showcases top videos from YouTube’s ever-expanding roster of gaming YouTubers.

Arguably the biggest new feature comes in the form of live streaming, which should be live in beta form today. Previously YouTubers could stream on YouTube, but to do so required scheduling in advance, rather than the on-the-fly method competitor Twitch uses.

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31 Konami Mobile Games Shutting Down in Japan

Konami has announced that it will be closing down 31 premium games and apps on iOS in Japan next month.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, the English versions will not be affected, although only some of the 31 games have actually been released in English.

However we did recently learn of a number of Konami mobile products being closed in Europe, starting from September 19.

The termination of the Japanese games will begin on September 10, and the full list of affected games can be found in English on Dr. Serkan Toto's website. The list includes the likes of Metal Gear Solid Touch and Silent Hill: The Escape.

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Facebook Launches Its Own Siri and Cortana Called M

Facebook is rolling out M, its answer to a virtual assistant, to select Messenger app users in the Bay Area, according to a Facebook post by Messenger head David Marcus.

Integrated within Facebook’s messaging app, M can complete lifestyle tasks and source information. It can suggest restaurants, make reservations, purchase gifts and locate nearby dog-friendly beaches and more.

Facebook M

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Kerbal Space Program Heading to Wii U

Space flight simulator Kerbal Space Program is coming to the Wii U via the Nintendo eShop.

A new trailer for the Wii U version of the Unity-based game was published on Nintendo's official YouTube channel. Details about its launch date or pricing information are yet to be announced. The confirmation follows more than a year after Nintendo revealed that over 50 Unity games were in development for the Wii U.

An Xbox One edition of Kerbal Space Program was just announced last week with limited launch details. It was also revealed during E3 in June that Flying Tiger Entertainment was porting the PC game to PlayStation 4.

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Marvel’s Secret Wars Will Rage for One Extra Issue

Marvel's Secret Wars series will be getting an additional ninth issue, says the comics publisher.

Secret Wars #9 will arrive in December and will cap off Marvel's massive crossover event that ended the Marvel Universe, replaced it with Battleworld, and promises to be the catalyst for relaunching the entire Marvel publishing line.

The launch of this issue will not, however, interfere with those post-Secret Wars All-New, All-Different Marvel books scheduled to release this fall, the first of which will be Invincible Iron Man #1 in October.

Marvel's reasoning for adding another issue to the Secret Wars arc was simply so creators Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic could provide a satisfying conclusion to the "cataclysmic" event.

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Why Did Lois Lane Leak Superman’s Identity?

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Superman #43!

We've known for months now that Superman's secret identity was leaked to the world by intrepid reporter Lois Lane, but thanks to Superman #43 we finally know why Lois Lane betrayed the Man of Steel. As it turns out, she was only trying to help him.

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For the past several issues of the series, Superman has been battling Hordr_Root, a faceless villain who runs a hacking collective that steals personal secrets to use as blackmail (sound familiar?). One of those secrets is Superman's double life as Clark Kent, forcing him to work for Hordr_Root in order to protect those closest to him. That's ultimately what motivated Lois to expose Superman's secret - not for fame or journalistic glory or money, but to take away Hordr_Root's power over Superman.

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Unlocked: Should Master Chief Be Unmasked?

DOWNLOAD UNLOCKED 209 (AUDIO VERSION)

Mitch and Ryan shake and bake their way through this week's Xbox show, tackling, among other questions: Will we ever see Master Chief's face? What are the odds of Xbox One actually getting original Xbox backwards compatibility functionality? Should you take Just Cause 3's $50,000 cash prize, or the mysterious actual real-life island they're offering? And much more! Polite College Duke Nukem stops by as well!

DOWNLOAD UNLOCKED 209 (AUDIO VERSION)

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