Monthly Archives: September 2016
How Virtual Reality Could Change Dating
When we think of the term “social,” a specific image comes to mind: having conversations, being part of a group, sitting with friends, meeting people for the first time. But what if we could redefine what “social” means? What if we could fundamentally change what it is and how we use it with new technology?
Those are some of the questions virtual reality developers and innovators are asking as they continue to refine the technology, expanding on the different ways it can be harnessed to provide people with new means of communication and interaction with others. Romance and the way people meet and date one another could eventually get a major overhaul too. In fact, eHarmony predicts by the year 2040, VR will become a norm in online dating practices.
Xbox Live Games With Gold for October Announced
Microsoft has announced its lineup of free games that will be available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers next month through its Games With Gold program.
According to a post on Xbox Wire, Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings will be available as a free download throughout the month of October for Xbox One owners. Additionally, The Escapists will be free of charge on the platform from October 16 to November 15. For our thoughts on Team 17's prison escape game, read IGN's The Escapists review.
On the Xbox 360 front, MX vs. ATV Reflex will be free from October 1 to October 15, at which point it will be replaced on October 16 by I Am Alive, which will remain free of charge until the end of the month.
Dragon Ball Fusions Coming to the West
Dragon Ball Fusions will release for Nintendo 3DS in the west on December 13, 2016, Bandai Namco has announced.
The upcoming handheld action-RPG features a battle system that has both strategy and real-time action elements, combining fighting with customization for a new type of experience unique to the Dragon Ball franchise.
In Dragon Ball Fusions, players will be able to traverse the world and find various items to collect, as well as fighters to ally with and fuse together to create more powerful characters. Additionally, players will be able to customize their own avatar and, using "Photo Fusions," take pictures with their friends and fuse them together to create a Dragon Ball character.
New Zelda: Breath of the Wild Video Shows Link Cooking
Nintendo released a new video for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild yesterday.
The video was posted to the official Zelda Facebook page, with the caption "What's for dinner tonight, Link?"
Link approaches a campfire to light a torch, which he then uses to light a fire under a cooking pot. He then selects which items to make into food, they're thrown into the pot, and a few seconds later, a tasty meal appears.
Miyazaki Not Ruling Out Working on “Dark Souls-Like” Games
Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has previously said that, for him, "Dark Souls is over", but has said that another From Software developer could convince him that they deserve to make another. That doesn't seem quite like the end of the story, however.
In an interview with IGN at Tokyo Game Show, Miyazaki explained that while he doesn't feel like making another Dark Souls game right now, that doesn't rule out the idea of using the iconoclastic series' ideas elsewhere:
"It doesn't necessarily mean he's not going to work on a Dark Souls-like game," explained a translator, "so he would definitely bring some of the good things - that could be some in-game elements, some of the product development experience - he would definitely bring those to a new Dark Souls-like game or Dark Souls-like franchise in the future."
Major Character Returns in Amazing Spider-Man #18
More key developments unfolded in Amazing Spider-Man this week as the series continues its buildup to The Clone Conspiracy.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man #18!
Marvel has made little secret of the fact that Otto Octavius will be returning during Clone Conspiracy. This issue took a step back to explore what the former Doctor Octopus has been up to lately and how he laid the groundwork for his resurrection during the Spider-Verse crossover. Otto currently exists as a digitized backup stored within the memory banks of his old robot butler, The Living Brain. That backup was created at the climax of Spider-Verse, after Otto's discovery that he was doomed to lose possession of the body he stole from Peter Parker. Because of that, this version of Otto has no memory of what transpired during the final months of Superior Spider-Man.
The Future Looks Bleak in Civil War II
The newest chapter of Marvel's Civil War II offered another foreboding glimpse of things to come.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Civil War II #5!
Marvel's heroes finally came to blows in this issue as the philosophical war over the Inhuman Ulysses became physical. For now, this fighting hasn't added to a body count that currently includes War Machine and Hulk, though Vision did accidentally destroy Star-Lord's ship and severely damage the Triskelion during the battle.
From Software Working on 3 Games, One Is Armored Core
From Software president and Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has said that his studio is currently developing three games, and that one of them will be a new entry in the Armored Core series.
In an interview with IGN at Tokyo Game Show, Miyazaki gave hints as to what each of the three games will be:
"So there are several titles that we are currently working on
Some of those are dark fantasy, some of those could be a mech
- that's one thing. The second thing is that one of the new titles I've been working on will probably comply with the expectations from the fans in straightforward manner.
"The last thing is that another title will probably be a little bit weird. When we actually announce the title, probably fans will react with 'oh, what the hell is this very weird game that Miyazaki has created?'"
Microsoft Exec: PS4 Pro Not Powerful Enough to Run True 4K
Microsoft’s Albert Penello claims the PS4 Pro’s 4.2 teraflops of power isn’t enough to render ‘true 4K’ natively.
In an interview with Eurogamer, he said “I think there are a lot of caveats they're giving customers right now around 4K. They're talking about checkerboard rendering and up-scaling and things like that. There are just a lot of asterisks in their marketing around 4K, which is interesting because when we thought about what spec we wanted for Scorpio, we were very clear we wanted developers to take their Xbox One engines and render them in native, true 4K.
Oculus Touch Controllers Reportedly Cost More Than Expected
The Oculus Touch, the upcoming motions controllers for the Oculus Rift, reportedly cost way more than people were expecting.
Engadget's Nick Summers noticed a pre-order sign for the Oculus Touch, stating you can order now for launch day delivery for £189.99 in the UK.
You will be getting an extra camera in the bundle, as well as the two controllers, which may account for the unexpected price.
For comparison, the HTC Vive costs £759 in the UK. If this pricing is correct, an Oculus Rift and Touch together will cost £738.99, coming in just below its competitor.