Monthly Archives: March 2017
Xbox Live Creators Program Announced
Today at GDC, Microsoft announced the Xbox Live Creators Program, a new initiative that provides a "totally open way" for developers to get their games published on Xbox Live.
Chris Charla, the director of ID@Xbox, outlined the program in a post on Xbox Wire, saying it "empowers anyone to rapidly publish Xbox Live-enabled games on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, in a totally open way."
Through the Xbox Live Creators Program, anyone will be able to "integrate Xbox Live sign-in, presence, and social features into their UWP games, then publish their game to Xbox One and Windows 10." In addition to Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, the program will also enable creators to bring their titles to Project Scorpio when it launches later this year.
NVIDIA Officially Reveals Its GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
Rumors of NVIDIA's newest flagship graphics card turned out to be true, with NVIDIA unveiling its GTX 1080 Ti.
The $699 graphics card promises 35% faster performance than the GTX 1080, and "is even faster in games" than the Titan X, according to NVIDIA.
Spec-wise, the card is pretty beastly, with 11 GB GDDR5X memory, 3584 CUDA cores and a 1582 MHz boost clock. For comparison, the $1200 Titan X has 12 GB GDDR5X, the same 3584 CUDA cores, and a boost clock of 1531 MHz. Both cards gobble up 250 watts of power.
As far as real-world testing is concerned, the promotional page for the GPU compares its performance to the company's own GTX 980, showing performance upgrades better than double, and even triple in some cases. However, it's a little misleading. While the GTX 980 is a great GPU, it's nowhere near the level of the 1080 Ti, and was already beaten by NVIDIA's own 10 series cards, so it's more of a comparison for dramatic effect.
Oculus Rift/Touch Bundle Gets Price Cut
Those looking to get an Oculus Rift and pair of Touch controllers can now do so for under USD $600, as Oculus has slashed the price of its Rift/Touch bundle by USD $200.
In addition to discounting its Rift/Touch bundle to USD $598, Oculus also announced that a standalone set of Touch controllers also just got much cheaper, thanks to a discount that halves the original price down to USD $99.
Additionally, Epic Games announced during its "State of Unreal" session today at GDC that its VR shooter Robo Recall is free on Touch and now available for download via the Oculus Store. The company also unveiled the Robo Recall Mod Kit, a free mod editor that allows players to create and share new weapons, characters and maps.
PlayStation Plus March Free Games Revealed
The lineup of free games available to PlayStation Plus subscribers in March has been revealed and includes PS4 titles Tearaway Unfolded and Disc Jam.
In addition to Media Molecule's adorable platform-adventure game (read IGN's Tearaway Unfolded review) and the brand new air hockey/tennis hybrid from High Horse Entertainment, a post on PlayStation Blog also confirmed that PS Plus subscribers will get Severed and Lumo for PS Vita, the latter of which is also available for PS4 via crossbuy.
Chris Hardwick Continues Talk Show Takeover with AMC
AMC and Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick have partnered for yet another pop culture talk show. Titled Talking with Chris Hardwick, the interview series will debut April 9 at 11pm on AMC.
The hour-long show will see Hardwick branching out from the world of The Walking Dead by interviewing a single pop culture figure or show/movie cast each episode. The series will only air during The Walking Dead's off season, allowing him to remain the host of its popular after-show.
Hardwick on AMC's Talking Dead
"Chris Hardwick is just the ultimate fan guide, advocate and conversationalist," said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV. "He took our desire to serve the fans of The Walking Dead with an hour of discussion and analysis following each new episode and turned it into the #1 talk show on television, and a model that has been widely emulated but never quite duplicated, because Chris is the key."
Ghost in the Shell: Meet the Section 9 Team
Scarlett Johansson's Major Motoko Kusanagi might be front and center in the Ghost in the Shell marketing, but she is just one key part of what makes the movie's Public Security Section 9 team so effective.
Paramount released character posters for each of the Section 9 members, which can be seen below. To find out more about them, continue reading for intel from our Ghost in the Shell set visit.
While on the New Zealand set of the film, IGN had a chance to meet the five members of Section 9, an organization in the film that is one of the most effective at fighting cyber terrorism. (The sixth member, Lasarus Rateure who plays Ishikawa, was not available to come to set that day.) It's Section 9, with Major at its head, which investigates the cyber terrorism actions of villain Kuze (Michael Pitt) that spurs the conflict in the film. Fun fact: the armor the Section 9 team wears was inspired by kendo fighting, which also extends to Major's armor as well.
Wrestling Wrap Up: Why Can’t We Get Sister Abigail for Real?
ARRRRGH! What's going on with SmackDown Live? It just doesn't feel like there's a real plan in place, and that things are getting shifted week to week. It may not be the case but it feels that way and I'm full of goddamn feels these days.
Also ARRRRRGGGGH! Why can't we just get a real life Sister Abigail female wrestler person? Good lord! Just cast her. Make her flesh. Let her be real. This has been going on so long.
Guardians’ Ego the Living Planet Explained
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is adding several new characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but none bigger than Star-Lord's estranged father, Ego. Literally. There's a reason they call him "The Living Planet."
But who is the Marvel character Kurt Russell is playing, and how can a planet have a human son? Scroll down to learn more about Ego the Living Planet, how his powers operate and what role he might be playing in the next MCU epic.
Kurt Russell is Ego in Guardians Vol. 2.
Street Fighter On Switch Release Date Announced
Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers will release for the Nintendo Switch on May 26, Capcom has announced.
Street Fighter's official Twitter account announced the release date and also revealed that the game will cost $40 USD.
Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers box art, via Street Fighter's Twitter account.
Xbox Game Pass Won’t Change Games With Gold
Xbox Games with Gold will remain unaffected by the new Xbox Game Pass programme.
Yesterday Microsoft announced its new Game Pass subscription service, offering you timed access to a library of games for monthly payments. It differs from Sony's PlayStation Now in that you download these games to your console rather than streaming them.
Kotaku has asked Microsoft to clarify some of the less in-depth points of the announcement, namely whether the new service will change how Games with Gold works.