Monthly Archives: July 2017
Xbox Adds Custom Gamer Pics, Co-Streaming and More
Microsoft has announced a number of new features that arrive today in this month's update for Xbox One users.
As detailed on Xbox Wire, custom gamer pics, as well as club profile pics and backgrounds can be uploaded from your console or through the Xbox App. Additionally, up to three people can co-stream from their console using Microsoft's recently rebranded streaming service, Mixer.
Arena has also been updated so that Xbox One players can now create user-generated tournaments for Killer Instinct on their console.
Why Epic Mickey Is a High Point of Warren Spector’s Career
In addition to creating Deus Ex, Warren Spector is the designer behind Epic Mickey, a series that, despite its criticisms, he sees as a high point in his career.
"I am so proud of that game. Deus Ex and Epic Mickey are, without question, the high points of my career," Spector said on the latest episode of our monthly interview show IGN Unfiltered. "The opportunity to bring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney's first star, back to the world—the fact that that happened in a game, I mean, think about what that says about Disney."
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse in Epic Mickey 2
Playing Mario Kart in VR Is Awesome!
You’ve never feared Bowser like this. Pushing rudely in front of you at the start line, before the action kicks off, he is massive, twice the size of Mario, his spiked shell dripping with cartoon menace.
The friendlier faces of Luigi, Yoshi, and Princess Peach pop into view to your left and right as your opponent players don their HTC Vive headsets and enter the game, and before you’ve had the chance to fully drink in the magic of your colorful surroundings, the race is on.
Above: Thirty seconds of gameplay clips from Mario Kart Arcade GP VR.
We’ve all played Mario Kart, but playing Mario Kart Arcade GP VR is a whole new experience. As a game it’s fantastic, but it’s more than that. This is the very first time Nintendo’s flagship characters have been recreated in VR, and simply being among them is an incredible, truly moving experience.
Emmy Nominations 2017 Announced
The Television Academy has unveiled the 2017 Emmy Award nominees, and with the reigning Outstanding Drama champion Game of Thrones not eligible for this year's race, newcomers like Westworld, Stranger Things, This Is Us, and more were able to earn some nominations alongside past frequent nominees.
The Outstanding Drama category sees five newcomers nominated this year, with only Better Call Saul and House of Cards standing as returning series. The Outstanding Comedy Series nominations include many more familiar series, with Donald Glover's Atlanta standing out as the sole freshman-year show to receive a nomination. Westworld received the most Emmy nominations of any drama this year, with 22 in total. (Fellow newcomer Stranger Things came close with 18 nominations.)
Ni no Kuni 2 Delayed
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom has been delayed to January 19, 2018, developer Level-5 announced today. It was previously scheduled to be released on November 10 for PlayStation 4 and PC.
"We have decided that more development time is required in order to deliver the full Ni no Kuni II experience to our fans," said Level-5 CEO and Ni no Kuni II director Akihiro Hino in a video message. "I deeply apologize to those who have been looking forward to the game’s release."
In the message, Hino also clarified Ni no Kuni II will not feature any multiplayer content. "Please rest assured, however, that we will continue to strive to provide a deep and satisfying single-player experience that our fans can look forward to enjoying," he said.
Nintendo Ceases Production on Smaller New 3DS in Japan
Nintendo has ended production on New Nintendo 3DS in Japan.
While the company is no longer producing the smaller, faceplate-equipped model, the New Nintendo 3DS XL (or 'LL' in Japan) is still being made. As such, the New 3DS XL, 2DS and 2DS XL/LL are the models currently being made by Nintendo.
New Nintendo 3DS launched in Japan in October 2014. While this smaller version wasn't originally available in North America, it eventually made its way to the region with various special themed models.
7 Times Spider-Man Tried to Join the Avengers
Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we can finally see Spider-Man fighting alongside the Avengers on the big screen. And the MCU has taken full advantage of that fact since Tom Holland's Peter Parker made his debut in 2016's Captain America: Civil War. So far we've seen Spidey join forces with Iron Man's Avengers faction and be mentored by both Tony Stark and Happy Hogan in Spider-Man: Homecoming. And he'll be lending a helping hand when the team battles Thanos in next year's Avengers: Infinity War.
Frankly, the MCU Spidey is lucky he has such a smooth working relationship with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Historically, that hasn't usually been the case in Marvel's comic book universe. Let's take a look back at some of the key encounters between Spider-Man and the Avengers and why it took several decades for Peter Parker to finally gain his Avengers ID card.
Comic Book Reviews for July 12, 2017
It was another big week of comics. DC delivered another critical prelude to Dark Nights: Metal, brought back fan-favorite series The American Way and welcomed a new creative team on board Wonder Woman. Marvel continued to flesh out the Secret Empire conflict with various tie-in books and kicked off the long-awaited Spider-Men II.
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
Explaining the Multiverse of the Planet of the Apes
I love Apes. No, not apes per se, but Apes. The entire crazy, convoluted chronology of those damn dirty Apes and how they ascended to dominance over the Earth, then fell in an explosive cataclysm, then rose again (sort of), then proliferated into a pop culture phenomenon with films, TV shows, books, comics, toys, and ephemera of all kinds. I love Apes!
But even as the latest film in the saga, War for the Planet of the Apes, arrives, we must face one fact, Apemaniacs: There’s a gorilla in the room and it’s called “continuity.” While other fandoms bang their heads against countless inconsistencies, desperately trying to reconcile bits of dialogue here and references there so their beloved saga maintains a pristine order of events (which is always impossible), we’ve had to resign ourselves to the fact that the Apes saga is not a single strand but a glorious multi-threaded wonder of many timelines and branched events sequences. And that’s fine! But for the sake of conversation, just how confusing is it? Let’s take a look!
Original Power Rangers Team Reveal Coming
It turns out that Jason, Zack, Kimberly, Billy, and Trini weren’t the original team of Power Rangers. That revelation will be the subject of a standalone tale in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #20 by Kyle Higgins and artist Daniele Di Nicuolo from publisher BOOM! Studios, which takes us back to 1969 to meet the original squad.
While we don’t have an image of this new team, we are able to exclusively provide he official names and character descriptions for each member. Check them out:
- Igor – 21, male, Soviet KGB agent
- Jamie – 24, female, British singer/songwriter
- Terona – 21, male, war veteran
- Daniel – 18, male, student/protestor