Monthly Archives: July 2016
Prey, Dishonored 2 Headline QuakeCon 2016 Lineup
Bethesda Softworks and id Software have announced the schedule of events for QuakeCon 2016.
QuakeCon 2016 will begin on August 4 at 10 am CT and run through August 7 at 12 pm CT. The event's annual welcome presentation will start at 3pm CT, and feature a "special look" at developer id Software's upcoming Quake Champions, along with an exclusive look at publisher Bethesda Softworks' Prey and Dishonored 2 gameplay.
Arkane Studios will return on August 5 at 2pm with an encore presentation featuring Prey and Dishonored 2.
Additionally, QuakeCon attendees will be able to try out DOOM multiplayer, Fallout Shelter for PC, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, and Bethesda VR on the show floor. A full lineup of exhibitors and sponsors — as well as an exhaustive schedule of panels— is available on the QuakeCon 2016 website.
NES Visual Compendium Returns to Kickstarter
After disappearing from Kickstarter abruptly, Bitmap Books' visual love-letter to the games of the Nintendo Entertainment System and Famicom has returned to the crowd-funding site.
The company, known for compendiums of classic systems like the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64, suffered a setback on the NES/Famicom version of its tried and true formula when Nintendo issued a Digital Millennium Copyright Act take-down.
The DMCA notice against the NES visual compendium boiled down to Nintendo having concerns with a third-party using, and profiting from, its intellectual property.
Luke Cage EP Compares The Defenders to Wu-Tang Clan
Though there's still some road left to pave on the way to Netflix/Marvel's The Defenders, viewers can already get some sense of how the four disparate Netflix heroes will come together — and it's thanks to the Wu-Tang Clan.
During IGN's San Diego Comic-Con livestream, Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker compared Marvel's Netflix plans of bringing its various series together to the Wu-Tang Clan — fans can appreciate every individual member for their solo work, but The Defenders is its own unique take on all of these characters.
"Each individual series has its own vibe, but then you come together with The Defenders, it's the supergroup," Coker said. "So if Daredevil is The Genius, and Jessica Jones is Raekwon and we're Ghostface Killah, we're all going to come together with The Defenders as Wu-Tang."
Juri Joins Street Fighter 5 Later This Month
This week at San Diego Comic-Con, Capcom announced that Juri will be added to Street Fighter V's growing roster of playable fighters next week on July 26.
According to an announcement post on Capcom's official blog, Juri's Story and Premium Battle Costume will also be available to download alongside the character this coming Tuesday.
Juri's V-Trigger is called Feng Shui Engine Type Alpha, which allows her to cancel any of her standard attacks and more easily chain together combos. In addition, the character's V-Skill Kasatsushu gives her the ability to rush at the opposing player and kick them from behind. Juri also has a Critical Art called Sakkai Fuhazan that allows her to hit the opponent multiple times with a slicing blast.
The Best Batteries for Pokemon Go
Pokemon Go is an absolute blast, but it can drain your phone's battery like a rampaging Electabuzz. If you want to go out on an all-day Poke-venture, you're going to need to keep charged, so we've rounded a bevy of portable smartphone batteries that'll have your phone humming like handful of happy Voltorbs.
Before we dish out the recommendations, here's what you should know about buying a smartphone battery: First, battery capacity is measured in milliampere-hours, or mAh. The iPhone 6s has a 1715 mAh battery, the 6 Plus has 2750, and the Samsung's Galaxy S7 has a 3000 mAh battery. The next stat to worry about is output, which determines how quickly a battery can charge your phone. This is measured in amps; while some batteries are only 1 amp, every battery in this round up is at least 2.1, so they can charge your phone at a reasonable rate, and won't take all day to charge larger devices like tablets.
Google Makes It Easier to Read Digital Comics
Comic fans who buy their books via the Google Play Books app will now have a new option for enjoying those books on smaller screens. Today at Comic-Con the company announced a new feature called "Bubble Zoom" that aims to make comics easier to read on smartphones and tablets.
Bubble Zoom is a function that enlarges individual word balloons on the page. Users can cycle through the story one tap at a time, making it much easier to read and navigate one-handed.
Invincible Iron Man art by David Marquez
Telltale’s Walking Dead: Season 3 Gets New Screens, Poster
Ahead of its debut later this year, Telltale Games has released a new poster and batch of screenshots from The Walking Dead: Season 3.
The poster pays tribute to the original art for The Walking Dead when the series was first shown back in 2011 at San Diego Comic-Con.
The studio will discuss later this summer how fans can get a copy of the limited edition poster, so stay tuned for additional details on that front.
The Walking Dead: Season 3 will feature a brand-new character who's never appeared in the comics or Telltale's game series. His name is named Javier and he'll be playable in addition to Clementine. For more on Telltale Games' upcoming third season ahead of its launch later this year, check out its E3 2016 reveal trailer below.
The NES Classic Edition Is Adorable in Person
If you've been living under a rock, you should definitely peek out from underneath of it once in a while and check out the NES Classic Edition from Nintendo. The rest of us are already aware of its surprising, and completely awesome, existence.
Nintendo has its all-in-one console on display on the floor of San Diego Comic Con, and we not only got to check it out, we grabbed photos so you can see it for yourself.
Next to the original NES, the difference in size looks almost as though it's the same percentage difference between Mario pre- and post-mushroom. Bigger doesn't equal better, as the old, trusty NES has no on-board storage holding 30 NES classics, as is the case with the Classic Edition.
Daily Deals: South Park Special Edition, Smartphone Batteries, 50-Inch 4K TV
Save 20% On This Exclusive Remote Control Cartman
This remote control talking Cartman is exclusive to Amazon, and comes with The Fractured But Whole, the season pass, and a Steelbook case, and it you can score it with a 20% discount if you're an Amazon Prime member. Add it your cart, you'll see the discount at checkout. And don't forget, pre-ordering any version of the game gets you a free copy of South Park: The Stick of Truth.
Pokemon Go Is Doubling Sales At Some Businesses
Pokemon Go’s explosive popularity is having an unexpected and overwhelmingly positive effect on real-world businesses.
For anyone returning from outer space or a weeks-long expedition into the deep wild, Pokemon Go is an augmented-reality (AR) game that requires players to physically explore the real world in order to find and catch Pokemon. Besides trying to catch ‘em all, Pokemon Go players will intentionally seek out PokeStops to stock up on in-game items or gyms to prove their Pokemon prowess. These in-game markers are always located at real-life points of interests, such as murals, churches, or other places of man-made, cultural significance.