Monthly Archives: August 2015
13 Comics to Restore Your Faith in the Fantastic Four
Usually the release of a big-budget superhero movie is good news for fans of the franchise. Unfortunately, Fox's new Fantastic Four reboot just opened to scathing reviews and underwhelming box office returns. Apparently even the fourth time isn't the charm for the FF's Hollywood prospects.
The good news is that Marvel's First Family still have decades of great comics to fall back on. More than any other franchise, the Fantastic Four helped shape the Marvel Universe into what it is today. As a reminder of that fact, we've compiled a list of must-read FF comics. These are the comics any FF lover should have on their bookshelf, including both single issues and longer storylines and spanning from the classic Stan Lee and Jack Kirby run to modern stories. And if you've only seen the movies and have been wondering what's so special about the Fantastic Four in the first place, then picking up any of these comics will show you why they're so amazing. Also, reading a few of these classic tales might just help you forget the new movie.
36 More Forza Motorsport 6 Cars Revealed
Turn 10 has unveiled another 36 new cars that will be available in Forza Motorsport 6 when it's released next month.
The seventh week of car reveals brings with it the completely mental and yet completely street legal 2014 BAC Mono, Marcos Ambrose’s 2015 #17 Xbox Racing Ford Falcon FG X V8 Supercar, the Lotus F1 Team’s 2015 E23, and a snarling pile of American muscle, amongst others.
The rest of this week’s confirmed cars are below, as revealed via the Forza website:
- 1970 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
- 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator
- 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona HEMI
DC Offers Big Discounts on Batman & Injustice Comics
DC has announced a new series of digital comics bundles aimed at making it a little more affordable to get caught up on the publisher's big franchises. These "evergreen bundles" are geared towards specific characters or series and offer discounts as high as 27% on digital graphic novels.
Right now, DC is offering ten of these "evergreen bundles," with the promise that more will follow in the future. Among the bundles is the Essential Batman Vol. 1 collection that includes the graphic novels The Killing Joke, Hush, The Court of Owls, Batman Eternal Vol. 1 and Batman: Earth One Vol. 1 for $75.99 (a 14% overall discount). Each of the first three years of the Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic is available in a bundle ($28.99 for Year One and $22.99 each for Year 2 and Year 3). And to celebrate the recent conclusion of the long-running Vertigo series Fables, DC has a "Complete Fables" bundle that includes all 22 volumes of the main series for $237.99 (a 15% overall discount).
PS+ Pre-Orders Get 10 Extra Rock Band 4 Songs
Harmonix has announced that digital pre-orders for Rock Band 4 are available on PS4 now and confirmed that PlayStation Plus members who pre-order via PSN will receive 10 bonus DLC tracks for Rock Band 4 upon release, as well as an immediately downloadable Rock Band 4 theme.
The offer is currently only available in North America, South America, and Central America but in a reply below the announcement on the US PlayStation Blog Harmonix associate community manager Criss Burki revealed Harmonix would be extending the program to Europe soon and that fans should stay tuned for details.
This Man has Grown an Ear on his Arm
An Australian artist who simply goes by the name 'Stelarc' has grown an artificial ear on his arm.
He originally came up with the idea in 1996, but it took him 10 years to get a team of experts to agree to the procedure. An ear "scaffold" was inserted under the skin of his left arm, and tissue and blood vessels began to grow around it.
Image credit: ABC News Australia
Now, he has told ABC that he wants to connect the ear to the Internet using a microphone. "This ear is a remote listening device for people in other places," he said. Additionally, he will be adding a GPS tracker, so people will know where he is.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 Announced
Larian Studios has announced Divinity: Original Sin II.
Starting from August 26, Divinity: Original Sin II will be seeking funding on Kickstarter. Fans can suggest which rewards they would like to see from the campaign now on the game's website.
A prototype version of Original Sin II will be playable at PAX Prime.
Details are thin on the ground at the moment, but Larian has said that it will be revealing more information of its "most ambitious RPG ever" with the launch of the Kickstarter on August 26.
While you wait, you can check out IGN's review of the first Divinity: Original Sin. An Enhanced Edition is headed to Xbox One, PS4, and PC later this year.
ESL Will Test its Players for Cannabis
The Electronic Sports League has announced the details of its anti-doping policy.
Back in July, the ESL made the announcement that it would be drug testing its players after a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player admitted his team had been taking performance-enhancing drugs during an event.
The full list of banned substances is one that has been defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency. As well as other banned drugs, ESL will be testing for the usage of marijuana, but only during the competition. In a statement on the CS:GO Subreddit, the ESL writes that "this means that recreational use of it outside (before) the event days will not be punished."
Blizzard Will ‘Consider Warcraft’ RTS Once StarCraft 2 is Done
Blizzard has revealed its RTS team may indeed revisit the Warcraft franchise once the last chapter in the StarCraft II story is complete.
Speaking to IGN at Gamescom, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void producer Tim Morten admitted that while the potential is certainly there for StarCraft III focusing on all-new characters, it's not the only option available to them.
"This isn’t the end of StarCraft, but it’s the end of this story for these characters," he said. "We don’t have any specific plans, but I’ll say that the universe has so much potential for more stories, clearly other stories could be told.
"It’s very rewarding for us to hear that there’s demand out there for more RTS content in the Warcraft universe so once we’re done with Void I think we’ll get together as a team and talk about what would inspire us to work on next. There’s no question, though, that we’ll consider Warcraft, StarCraft, or even new ideas. Anything is possible."
Cloudhead Claims VR Nausea is a Thing of the Past
Cloudhead Games claims to have made virtual reality nausea "obsolete".
The Vancouver Island-based developer is made up of former Bioware and Relic employees, and has introduced the Blink VR locomotion mechanic. Using an "elastic VR playspace", Cloudhead claims to be delivering a "100-percent nausea-free play experience."
According to the press release, it combines three systems: Cinematic Blink, Precision Blink, and Volume Blink. "The locomotion mechanic ensures player safety, deep traversal and complete spacial
awareness in both the virtual and real world."
Nausea in virtual reality is usually caused by the player seeing motion that their inner ear isn't mimicking. "Blinking" - or teleporting - across short distances should overcome this problem.
Funcom is Seeking Investors or Acquisition
Following the disappointing performance of LEGO Minifigures Online, the developer is now reviewing its "strategic options."
According to GamesIndustry.biz, Funcom has announced that it is "actively seeking interested parties for discussions surrounding a possible investment, acquisition, merger, or any other available options."
We first learned about LEGO Minifigures Online in 2012. It was released in 2014 as a free-to-play game, and this year it has been transformed into a pay-to-play model. However, the switch has not improved sales.