Monthly Archives: January 2016
EA Announces Origin Access, a Subscription Service for PC
Electronic Arts announced the launch of a subscription service for Origin users on PC today, called Origin Access.
The service offers access to the EA Vault, which has a number of EA games available to play. Subscribers also get early access to EA titles before launch, and save ten percent on all Origin purchases.
The monthly cost of subscription to EA Access is $4.99 USD / €3.99 / £3.99 GBP a month.
Origin Access will launch with 15 titles available in the Vault:
- Battlefield 3
- Battlefield 4 Digital Deluxe Edition
- Battlefield Hardline Digital Deluxe Edition
- Dead Space
- Dead Space 2
Directors Guild Noms for Mad Max, Martian Helmers
The Directors Guild of America revealed their nominees today for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2015
The nominees include George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road), Ridley Scott (The Martian), Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant), Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), and Adam McKay (The Big Short).
This is the first DGA nom for Miller, McCarthy, and McKay, and the fourth each for Scott and Iñárritu, who won last year's DGA top honors for Birdman.
The DGA nominations have traditionally been viewed as a solid indicator of which directors will land Oscar nominations and which films could earn Best Picture nominations.
Kristen Bell, Ted Danson Team for Parks and Rec Creator’s New Show
Ted Danson and Kristen Bell are teaming up for the new NBC comedy series Good Place.
Good Place, which NBC gave a direct-to-series/13-episode order for last summer, comes from Michael Schur, co-creator of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks & Recreation.
Good Place is the story of Bell's character, Eleanor, who comes to realize that she's not the nicest person. In fact, she feels the need to relearn the difference between good and bad in order to repent for her previous actions.
Finding Paradise: Official To the Moon Sequel Announced
A sequel to the 2011 adventure game To the Moon is set to release sometime late 2016 to early 2017.
Called Finding Paradise,the game follows a similar structure to its predecessor, in which two doctors enter the mind of a patient to alter their memories and fulfill their dying wish. Check out Freebird Games' official website to learn more.
Finding Paradise will focus on the wishes of the aged protagonist from the indie short A Bird Story. Freebird Games' Kan Gao has assured fans they don't have to play the previous games to understand everything, although the added context will help.
To the Moon was a surprisingly emotional indie hit on PC that explored the nature of a fractured psyche and lost dreams. For more, check out IGN's reviews of To the Moon and A Bird Story.
Original Psychonauts Coming Soon to PS4
Double Fine's classic PS2 platformer Psychonauts is making its way to PlayStation 4 this spring.
Community manager James Spafford made the announcement in a post on PlayStation Blog, reminding fans there's even more Psychonauts coming soon, with the PlayStation VR exclusive Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin also slated to launch in 2016.
In addition to the PS2 original and upcoming VR-centric spinoff, Double Fine Productions is also hard at work on a proper sequel, which was unveiled last month. The crowdfunding campaign for Psychonauts 2 has proven to be a major success, as the game is already fully funded ahead of its expected 2018 launch.
New 3DS Bundle for Pokemon 20th Anniversary
The Pokemon Company has revealed ambitious plans for the franchise’s 20th anniversary this year.
Alongside the previously announced 3DS eShop re-release of Pokemon Red and Blue on February 27th, Nintendo will release a Pokemon-themed New 3DS Bundle. The system will come with Pokemon Red and Blue pre-installed as well as two cover plates (one for each version of the game) and an exclusive 3DS Home Menu theme.
Inside the Making Of Hotel Transylvania 2
There's a lot to making a visually engaging animated film, and that's exactly what's explored in this exclusive inside look at Hotel Transylvania 2.
In this featurette, director Genndy Tartakovsky and his animation team explain how lighting and color palettes were used to bring the world of Hotel Transylvania 2 to life. Tartakovsky discussed how he approached these in an animated movie in a similar way that people making live action movies do, and they used the colors to match the mood of various scenes throughout the movie.
This video is one of the many special features being included exclusively on the Blu-ray release of the film. The Blu-ray will also include deleted scenes, a sing along with "Monster Scary-Oke," how-tos on throwing the "ultimate monster party" and drawing the movie's characters, a making of the sounds of Hotel Transylvania 2 and featurettes introducing newcomers Vlad, Dennis, Kakie and more.
Homefront: The Revolution Release Date, Beta Details Revealed
Homefront: The Revolution will land in stores in North America May 17, while the rest of the world will get their hands on Deep Silver's upcoming FPS May 20.
The publisher also announced that players can sign up for a February closed beta that will run exclusively for Xbox One, and "a number of promotions" will run in the upcoming weeks to fill a limited number of places.
The official announcement comes after Homefront: The Revolution's release date was leaked via a promotion at Target earlier on in the month.
Deep Silver bought the rights to the Homefront franchise in 2014, after previous developer Crytek was going through financial troubles. Check out our thoughts on the open-world shooter from last year's PAX, as well as the new 'This is Philadelphia' trailer released today, below.
Final Fantasy 15 Dev Explains How Difficulty Works
Wondering how the difficulty system in Final Fantasy XV works? If so, you’re in luck.
While fielding fan questions over on the official forum, lead game designer Takizawa Masashi explained the difficulty system as follows:
“The equivalent to difficulty level settings in FFXV is a system where you can switch between different battle modes,” reads the answer.
“By having this ability to switch modes, we want to make it so that both players who like action oriented, technical gameplay and also those who want to fight at a slower, more relaxed pace can all enjoy the combat in their own style. This switching system is a key part of the gameplay that we decided to introduce based on the feedback we received from the Episode Duscae demo.”