Monthly Archives: January 2016
Star Citizen Focusing on VR in 2016
Virtual reality support for Star Citizen will "get up to speed" in early 2016, says CEO Chris Roberts.
In a December livestream by Roberts Space Industries—and transcribed on RoadtoVR—Roberts says that the goal is to have VR support for all major VR headsets.
The development team has been focusing heavily on releasing Alpha 2.0, leaving VR implementation in the background. According to RoadtoVR, some parts of Star Citizen do have support for the Rift DK1, but the game has not caught up to more recent developments in VR technology.
"It’s a little more complicated because we’ve changed the engine so much," Roberts says. "We’ve changed the rendering pipeline to enable us to do a lot of things that we need to do so it’s not very easy."
Disney Infinity Now Most Popular Toys-to-Life Series
Catapulted by both anticipation and Star Wars: The Force Awakens' release in December, Disney Infinity Star Wars games and toys have raked in over $200 million in sales this fall.
Thanks to revenue from the Disney Infinity: 3.0 The Force Awakens play set, released on the same day as the film, the franchise has now passed both Skylanders and LEGO Dimensions in the toys-to-life category, according to Fortune. In December, John Vignocchi, VP of production at Disney Interactive Studios, confirmed the game's number-one ranking in the genre.
SuperData Research CEO Joost van Dreunen said the positive reception to The Force Awakens helped sales for Disney Infinity, stating that because Star Wars is one the most recognizable franchises "it allows Disney to demand a higher minimum guarantee as part of the various licensing agreements."
Midseason TV Preview
With 2015 now in our rear view, it's time to settle in for a whole new slate of new and returning TV shows. A massive amount (is there any other kind of 'amount' these days?) ranging from huge properties like Game of Thrones and Marvel's Daredevil to the miraculous return of FOX's The X-Files.
The Walking Dead, Agents of SHIELD, Gotham, Empire, Once Upon a Time, and more come back from their multi-month winter hibernations while new shows like Colony, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Billions, Hap and Leonard, Shadowhunters, and The Shannara Chronicles make their debuts. All while Mythbusters, American Idol, and Banshee air their final seasons.
Midseason also means the return of Better Call Saul, The Americans, Always Sunny, The 100, Black Sails, Vikings, Shameless, and Marvel's Agent Carter. Plus, on the wrestling front, Lucha Underground is back for a second season while TNA's Impact Wrestling and WWE's Smackdown both change networks (and nights).
Star Wars Battlefront Sells 12 Million Copies in First 2 Months
Star Wars: The Force Awakens may be breaking box office records, but it's not the only Star Wars property that's been successful in the past few months. EA's Star Wars Battlefront has sold 12 million copies since its release in November.
The first-person shooter sold approximately 6 million copies in November and an additional 6 million in December. At an average retail price of $55, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told Fortune he believes the game has generated close to $660 million in earnings.
Although many of these sales came before The Force Awakens' release, Randy Nelson, content manager of Sensor Tower’s store intelligence platform, believes the movie's success has played a huge role in generating "buzz around all things Star Wars."
Don’t Expect the Next Game of Thrones Book Anytime Soon
George R.R. Martin has provided an update on the status of his next book in his popular A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, the basis for Game of Thrones, confirming Winds of Winter is not done, with no set date on when it will be finished or released.
"I won't make excuses. There are no excuses," Martin said in a post on his LiveJournal. "No one else is to blame. Not my editors and publishers, not HBO, not
David
& Dan
. It's on me. I tried, and I am still trying."
The author went on to say he's not sure when it will be done or published, noting he's still months away, "and that's if the writing goes well." Martin also said he has no intention of setting another deadline for himself "to trip over."
There’s a Mystery Waiting to Unlock in Steam’s Winter Sale
If you think you have what it takes to unlock a mystery, the Steam Winter Sale is awaiting your attempts right now. An alternate-reality game, the purpose of, and ultimate prize for unlocking, have yet to be determined, is now running its course on Steam.
Cue the X-Files theme music, because things are about to get mysterious. A subreddit dedicated to the cracking the case has a good breakdown of what is known so far.
On day 1 of the Steam Winter Sale, which began December 22, a comic showed up on the front page of the Steam storefront with a barcode on the cover. Scanning the barcode returned the same code as the one tattooed on Hitman 47 from the Hitman series.
Recreate Star Wars Melee Battle With New Hot Toys Figures
You've seen the movie, and you've seen the memes, and now you can recreate one of the most epic melee battles in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the comfort of your home or office.
If you haven't seen the movie, you might want to just go ahead and skip over this story, as it contains mild spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The figures from Hot Toys are 1/6 scale and depict former Stormtrooper Finn and his melee rival, the unnamed Riot Control Stormtrooper the internet has dubbed "TR8-TOR." The two meet in battle during The Force Awakens and Finn is nearly out-classed by his former peer, but is saved by a well-placed shot from Han Solo.
Daily Deals: South Park for $13.37 and The Cheapest amiibo Ever
South Park: The Stick of Truth for $13.37
Is "1337" still a thing all the cool kids say? If so, this price is totally that.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate: Gold Edition for $40.63
That's over half of the normal list price of $89.99. The PS4 and Xbox One versions are also on sale, but it's the PC edition that's ranking in at the lowest price as of this writing.
32 Games to Keep on Your Radar in 2016
There are a lot of games to look forward to in 2016, but with all the big-name titles to anticipate, it can be easy to let some of the smaller gems slip under your radar.
Here are 32 great looking games you shouldn't overlook in 2016.
This Telltale-style adventure game from iNK Stories follows a young photojournalist named Reza as he experiences and gets caught up in the events leading up to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, a complicated era mostly overlooked in the realm of video games.
BB-8 Recreated with 3D Printing
A former Ubisoft Montréal employee has recreated BB-8, the cute robot companion from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with 3D printing.
Measuring in at about half the size as the real BB-8, J.R. Bedárd, a Canadian software engineer, was inspired to make the robot after seeing it at Star Wars Celebration last April. You can watch his creation in action in the video below.
"I've completed a couple of 3D-printing projects before and wanted to create my own (remote-controlled) version of this droid, on wheels," Bedárd told Live Science. "Being on wheels meant that I could add more 3D details and elements on the shell of the robot, as it doesn't need to be flat for rolling."