Monthly Archives: December 2015
The Voice of BB-8 Is Who?
Two surprising names showed up in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens credits—Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz as the "BB-8 Vocal Consultants" for the film.
And what does that entail, exactly?
Hitfix reached out to Hader about his role in The Force Awakens. The actor/comedian said his part as the voice of BB-8 consisted of "J.J. f--king around with this sound effects app on his iPAD that was attached to a talk box operated by me. It looked ridiculous, but it made BB-8's voice."
Hader said he tried to do a voice, but it just sounded too human.
The Banner Saga PS4, Xbox One Release Date Announced
The Banner Saga, a turn-based tactical RPG centered on a Viking saga, has a release date for PS4 and Xbox One.
Both the PlayStation Blog and Xbox Wire report, The Banner Saga will launch on January 12, 2016.
According to the developer, bringing The Banner Saga to consoles required some redesign to allow the game to play better with console controllers.
Last year, at PlayStation Experience 2014, The Banner Saga was one of seven games announced for PS Vita. It does not appear the PS Vita version will release on January 12, but publisher Versus Evil’s community director Lance James responded to a comment on the PS Blog inquiring about the PS Vita version.
Hardware Rivals Blasts Onto PS4 in 2016
Green means go for vehicle combat game Hardware Rivals, which will land on PlayStation 4 and PSN on Jan. 5, 2016.
After hosting a beta for Hardware Rivals in October, the title will launch exclusively on Sony's console for $20 USD.
A follow-up to PlayStation 2's Hardware: Online Arena, Hardware Rivals pits vehicle against vehicle in an explosive deathmatch, with new maps and contenders like Sledgehammer (a tank) and Nomad (an FAV) being added alongside the vehicles available in the October beta.
Customizing your vehicles is a key component of Rivals, and you can do anything from adjusting handling and weapons systems to sticking a hula skirt on your tank.
See Fallon and Force Awakens Cast Sing Star Wars Medley
In celebration of Star Wars: The Force Awakens' impending release, the latest episode The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon featured an a cappella tribute to Star Wars featuring The Roots, the film's cast, and Fallon himself.
The wonderfully charming performance features a number of the Force Awakens cast, including Daisy Ridley, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie and Lupita Nyong'o. Check out the clip below:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters this Friday and has already made over $100m in advanced ticket sales. Disney held its premiere earlier this week, in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt attended dressed as Yoda.
Ex-Rare Developers Talk About Working With Kinect
Chris Sutherland and Gavin Price of Playtonic, formerly of Rare, have spoken about Rare's transition into Microsoft's premier Kinect developers, and their time working with the technology.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Sutherland and Price shared their memories of early Kinect demos. "It was definitely about games," said Price. "Everyone asked the designers to go away and think up different ideas for this device."
Kinect Sports was originally supposed to be more complex. Gavin Price said: "But I remember at some point, the feedback came down from Don Mattrick I believe, and it was: 'No, just give us Wii Sports with Kinect.'"
Tomb Raider Dev Names New Studio Heads
Ron Rosenberg and Scot Amos have been appointed the new co-studio heads for Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics.
According to the studio's announcement, Amos and Rosenberg took over in heading the studio a couple of months ago to ensure a smooth transition.
"I’m thrilled to take the next steps of growing our studio and expanding our portfolio, while continuing to foster an environment where our developers can learn and grow as they craft beloved products," Amos said of his new role at Crystal Dynamics.
Rosenberg also shared a few words, saying: "We’re always working to make the best game we can for our players, and I’m excited to take this even further in my new role."
Spotify Will Find Your Musical Star Wars Match
Spotify is the next company to jump in on the Star Wars: The Force Awakens action, giving its users the chance to match with a Star Wars character based on their musical tastes.
Though no one really knows what music Jar Jar Binks or Yoda are into, Spotify makes some guesses. Listen to a lot of teen pop? So does Luke Skywalker. What about hair metal? That's Chewbacca's jam.
To see who your Star Wars match is, open Spotify Star Wars and log in. Spotify takes it from there. If you don't have a Spotify account, you can log in as a guest. You'll be prompted to choose five artists from a list, from which Spotify will determine your match.
Google Chrome Has an Extension That Blocks Star Wars Spoilers
If you're trying to avoid Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers, the Internet is not a good place to be.
However, Google Chrome can help you out a bit by offering extensions that block potential Star Wars spoilers for you.
The likes of Star Wars Spoiler Blocker and Force Block: the Star Wars spoilers blocker both protect you from spoilers by blurring the webpage or giving you an alert before you continue.
Force Block has been updated recently with a number of "instant-blocking keyphrases, sourced from people who have seen the film." It also has the ability to whitelist websites in the case of false alarms.
Pokken Gets a JP Release Date, Special Controller
Pokken Tournament will release on Wii U in Japan on March 18, and it’s getting its own arcade-style controller.
The Japanese release date lines up with the Western release window of “Spring 2016,” mentioned back in August when Pokken was first announced.
As for the Hori Erio controller, which features front-facing ZR and ZL buttons, it comes as part of a Pokken Wii U bundle, or is sold separately for 3,480 yen (around $30 / £20).
New Auto-Kicker Targets Rainbow Six Siege Team Killers
Update 1.1 for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is out, bringing with it a visual update, gameplay balances, and an auto-kicker for team killers.
Ubisoft says that 1.3 percent of matches had intentional team killing at the start of the open beta, which went as high as 7.8 percent by the end. After full launch, the number is lower at around 1.8 percent, but Ubisoft still believes this is an issue.
"We have set some parameters that will cause an automatic kick of a griefer within a match," Ubisoft says in the patch notes. "We are trying our best to make the distinction between accidental team killing and intentional team killing. Same goes for intentional hostage killing while playing as Defender."