Monthly Archives: September 2016
Pokemon Sun and Moon Features Prof. Oak’s Mulleted Cousin
A new Japanese trailer for Pokemon Sun and Moon featured a familiar face, revealing that the new games will include a cousin of the original PokeProfessor.
Fans noticed a split-second shot of what looked like Professor Oak in beach casual clothing and sporting a mullet, but 4Gamer (translated by Siliconera) reveals that it is in fact one Nariya Oak.
Nariya Oak in all his Tommy Bahama glory.
Endless Space 2 Shows A Lot of Sci-Fi Strategy Potential
The problem with space games, in the words of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is that “space is big.” Space is empty. This was the problem with the first Endless Space game, a strategy game with some good ideas but a distinct lack of personality. Developer Amplitude remedied that in a big way with the award-winning fantasy game Endless Legend, which was nothing but personality. Now with Endless Space 2, Amplitude is heading back into the void.
In Endless Space 2, this starts with the different races. As with most other science fiction grand strategy games, you start as a single race on a single planet, just beginning to explore the stars. What separates the Endless games is that the different races are tremendously different. Endless Space 2 has races with extreme focuses on science, militarism, and commerce, with traits like the warlike Cravers exhausting and destroying planets, forcing them to move on. There’s also the vampiric Voydanoi, who don’t actually live on planets, instead enslaving the races below.
World of Warcraft: Legion Sells Over 3 Million Copies Day 1
Blizzard has revealed it sold over 3.3 million copies of the latest expansion for World of Warcraft, Legion, on the first day of release.
The company also said this figure matches the record achieved by previous expansions, and claims it is "one of the fastest-selling PC games ever."
In addition, Blizzard says the "launch-week player concurrency climbed to its highest point since the 2010 launch of the Cataclysm expansion." Back in 2010, World of Warcraft reached 12 million subscribers, however Blizzard doesn't disclose this kind of information anymore.
Legion is the sixth expansion to World of Warcraft, which originally launched back in 2004. As well as new locations, dungeons, and quests, it raises the level cap to 110. However, it took one player just five and a half hours to reach it.
WoW Secret Hunters Accidentally Unleash World-Eating Boss
Blizzard has previously promised that World of Warcraft's Legion expansion would come with some deep secrets to find, but a group of treasure hunters found something (literally) bigger than they expected after solving a complex puzzle.
Members of the Wowhead community - searching for the Reins of the Long-Forgotten Hippogryph item that should unlock an unreleased Mount that was last seen back in 2007 - discovered a set of well-hidden caves (for reference, "hidden-in-the-middle-of-the-ocean-behind-some-kelp-inside-a-hole-inside-a-sunken-ship" levels of hidden) with mysterious orbs inside.
Super Mario Run Will Easily Hit 1 Billion Downloads, Says Analyst
Video game analyst Dr. Serkan Toto has predicted that Super Mario Run will reach 1 billion downloads in its lifespan - twice that of Pokemon Go at time of writing.
The noted game consultant made sure to clarify that his prediction for Nintendo's second fully-owned iOS game was based on the ability to download it for free, before paying for full access later, so that doesn't denote a billion sales.
Includes my prediction for Super Mario Run downloads (entire lifecycle): 1 billion+. https://t.co/p6uPiU9Rdz
— Dr. Serkan Toto (@serkantoto) September 8, 2016
Interplay Selling Earthworm Jim, Descent, Freespace and More
Interplay has announced it is selling its library of video game assets and intellectual property.
What this means is the likes of Earthworm Jim, Freespace, Clayfighter, Descent, and Battlechess are up for sale. In total, the sale represents 70 titles and dozens of game characters.
"With the proliferation of mobile, augmented reality, virtual reality and other new forms of consumption, we believe that consumers are ready to experience and interact with Interplay's characters, stories and game play in ways never possible before," said Eric Caen, President of Interplay.
"We look forward to seeing how this unique portfolio of interactive entertainment icons will evolve for the worldwide audience."
LEGO Harry Potter Collection Coming to PS4
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 are being remastered on a single disc for PlayStation 4, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games announced today.
The LEGO Harry Potter Collection will launch on October 21 with "enhanced graphics, environments, lighting, and visual effects." Two downloadable content packs will also be available. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 focused on the story of the first four books and films, while LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 builds upon Harry's early years at Hogwarts and concludes with the epic battle against Lord Voldemort.
LEGO Harry Potter Collection
Comic Book Reviews for September 7, 2016
September kicked off with a fresh wave of DC Rebirth comics, including the debut of the new Cyborg comic and stellar conclusions to the first story arc of Batman and Superman. DC also brought Fables back into the spotlight with the sequel series Everafter. Marvel continued to expand on the events of Civil War II while beginning a new era for Doctor Strange and delivering a particularly strong issue of Moon Knight. Elsewhere, Image debuted Glitterbomb and Eclipse and Frank Cho kicked off his latest creator-owned project at Boom Studios.
Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and many other new releases, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.
Avatar: James Cameron Says Sequels Will Be a ‘Family Saga’
Toruk is a Cirque du Soleil sequel to Avatar which will be at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for a few more nights, and director James Cameron says there are clues about the themes of the movie sequels in the show.
According to Variety, even though Toruk won't directly tie into the movies, there will be some thematic overlap. “The storyline in the sequels really follows Jake and Neytiri and their children,” said Cameron, who has been serving as a consultant on Toruk.
"It’s more of a family saga about the struggle with the humans," Cameron continued. "But thematically, ‘Toruk’ manages to land very very closely to the feeling of where the sequel stories are going.”
Meet the Ryders – Mass Effect’s New Main Characters Revealed
Following last night's first Mass Effect Andromeda gameplay, Bioware has revealed that the male and female player options are brother and sister - and we've also seen their father before.
Previously in the series, players assumed the role of a single Commander Shepard, who could be either male or female. In Andromeda, however,whichever sex you choose designates which sibling you’ll play as, with the other placed elsewhere in the story.
The family revelation comes from BioWare creative director Mac Walters who was narrating last night’s Andromeda demo with PlayStation Access.
"We're seeing our male character, at E3 we got to see our female character. A little surprise here: These two are actually brother and sister.