Monthly Archives: December 2016
New Nintendo Switch Patents Show VR Headset Accessory
A new set of Nintendo patents for its upcoming home-handheld hybrid Switch console show what appears to be an accessory allowing for virtual reality play.
Spotted by NeoGAF user Rösti, the accessory is referred to as an "HMD (head mounted display)", and appears to work similarly to Google and Samsung's smartphone VR solutions - the core Switch tablet is placed into a headset, which features lenses to create the 3D effect.
Assassin’s Creed Movie Creating First Ever Live TV Ad
Assassin's Creed will soon make television history, as a commercial for the upcoming movie will feature the world's first live TV ad.
The commercial (as reported by Eurogamer) will air in the UK on Sunday, December 18 at 9:10pm on Channel 4, during which stuntman Dave Grant will perform a 100 foot freefall.
This maneuver will imitate the "leap of faith" performed by the various protagonists in the Assassin's Creed games, as well as Michael Fassbender's Callum Lynch, who travels back in time to 15th Century Spain to experience the life of his ancestor Aguilar in the upcoming movie.
Lionhead Tracked Down a Teenage Fable Leaker and Threatened to Tell His Mother
Sam van Tilburgh, formerly of Lionhead Studios and now of Gfinity, has revealed the tactics employed to stop Fable leaks being posted back in 2003.
On a recent BAFTA Games Panel titled "Who Rules Games?", van Tilburgh recounted the time a young hacker got hold of screenshots and other information about Fable that was never meant to be released (the story begins at 34:12 in the video below).
The group, called Kibitz, was a small group of hackers, and one of the screenshots "was the hero of Fable stabbing a little kid through the head. It was never meant to be released, for obvious reasons."
Comic Book Reviews for December 14, 2016
Multiple publishers got into the holiday spirit this week thanks to new releases like DC Rebirth Holiday Special #1, Gwenpool Holiday Special: Merry Mixup #1 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #65. However, the big news involved the start of Inhumans vs. X-Men, the end of Suicide Squad's first story arc, the launch of a new Optimus prime comic and the debut of Marvel's latest Hawkeye series.
Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and various other new releases, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.
DC COMICS
Life and Limb Are Ravaged in New Extremity Comic
What if you lost what was most precious to you? Would that drive you to take vengeance? That’s the question explored by new comic book series by writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson at Skybound, an imprint of Image Comics.
Protagonist Thea loves to draw, a peaceful hobby to have in a post-apocalyptic world that sees folk scavenging on the ground where monsters roam and others taking to the atmosphere with advanced machines. But her precious drawing skill is taken from her -- gruesomely chopped off, as you can see from the cover below -- when a rival tribe descends to her home on the ground to teach them a lesson of sorts. This kick-starts the adventure that sees her seek out revenge with her warrior father and meek brother along with the rest of their people.
New WWE Championship Title Announced
WWE has announced the United Kingdom Championship.
During a press conference today at the O2 Arena, London, Triple H revealed a 16-man tournament, set to air on the WWE Network in January, will take place to determine the first ever UK Champion.
Accompanying Triple H at the event were the first ever WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor, NXT GM William Regal, and British wrestling legend Nigel McGuinness (aka TNA’s Desmond Wolfe). McGuinness will work alongside RAW’s Michael Cole to provide commentary for the tournament.
Doom’s Last Piece of Paid DLC Out Now
Doom’s final piece of DLC, Bloodfall, is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
As well as the DLC, there’s also a double XP weekend going down in Doom’s multiplayer, which ends on December 19.
Bloodfall, which costs £11.99, includes three multiplayer maps - Empyrian, Boneyard, and Outbreak - a player-controlled demon in the Spectre Pinky, a Grenade Launcher, Lateral Thrusters (for short directional boosts), hack modules, and some new customisation options.
In our review of id’s surprise success, we said the following:
New Shenmue 3 Screenshots Released
In celebration of PC pre-orders going live, developer Ys Net has released three new screenshots of the long-awaited Shenmue 3.
While the dev's Kickstarter update makes clear that these visuals are still work-in-progress, they look like an improvement in quality since previous batches of screens (although Ryo's face is... interesting):
The update also sheds some light on where development of the hugely successful crowdfunding project is up to.
Man in the High Castle’s Villains Tease Season 2
Expect to see even more complexity in the portrayals of two of Man in the High Castle's antagonists, Trade Minister Tagomi and Inspector Kido, when the Amazon series returns with Season 2 on Friday, December 16th.
Spoilers for Man in the High Castle's Season 1 finale continue below.
When Man in the High Castle returns in Season 2, it's not going to immediately resolve the big cliffhanger ending that it concluded Season 1 with. But with Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) catching a glimpse of a world he never could have imagined, expect to see even more complexity to the character than what was depicted in Season 1.
How I Met Your Mother Spinoff in Development (Again)
After How I Met Your Dad failed to get on the air, a new series in the same vein as the canceled HIMYM spinoff series is now in the works.
According to Deadline, the ensemble show is titled How I Met Your Father, and—much like the planned premise for How I Met Your Dad—will tell the story from a female perspective.
The project will reportedly offer an entirely new take on the concept, complete with new characters. Additionally, Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger—the writing team and co-executive producers on This Is Us—are "under an overall deal" with 20th TV to pen the show.