Monthly Archives: March 2015
Evolve Adding Two New Free Maps
Evolve is getting two new DLC maps, both free of charge.
A blog post announces the addition of Broken Hill Mine and Broken Hill Foundry, available on Xbox One on March 31 and then on PS4 and PC on April 30. Both maps are available for Hunt, Nest and Rescue modes, through Skirmish, Custom matches and Evacuation campaigns.
The Broken Hill Mine map takes place in a labyrinth of caves beneath the surface of Shear. There's three key areas: a rock quarry, a venom hound nest and then a final zone featuring a huge conveyor belt. In the center of all of these is a drill chamber. Hidden, destructible entryways allow the Monster to shortcut through the map or lead Hunters down the wrong path. As you'd expect, stealth and close-quarters fighting will be a prominent component of matches here.
New Characters Revealed in Mortal Kombat X’s Story Mode
At GDC, I got to play the first chapter of Mortal Kombat X's story mode. Surprise, surprise: it plays pretty much exactly like the story mode for MK 9 and Injustice (except with a few QTEs thrown in), with chapters focused on a specific character's story. What's much more interesting though is just how many characters made cameo appearances, some of whom we know are in the game as combatants, and others who we have yet to receive confirmation on. Still, the fact that they are showing up this early in the story mode is a promising indication that they'll be playable in some form.
The Warm Oceans of Ice Moon Enceladus Could be Home to Life
Saturn’s sixth-largest moon Enceladus is believed to the most habitable body ever discovered outside of Earth, according to new research published in the journal Nature.
Data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft allowed scientists to confirm that the ice moon’s south pole may resemble deep oceans on Earth with a heated ocean exhibiting ongoing hydrothermal activity.
“These findings add to the possibility that Enceladus, which contains a subsurface ocean and displays remarkable geologic activity, could contain environments suitable for living organisms,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in a statement. “The locations in our solar system where extreme environments occur in which life might exist may bring us closer to answering the question: are we alone in the Universe.”
Star Wars is Getting The Secret Cinema Treatment
Before The Force Awakens in December, Star Wars is heading to a secret London location for three months of sci-fi action.
Secret Cinema – who have been organising experiential screenings in the UK since 2007 – will show The Empire Strikes Back from June 4 to August 2.
The organisation say they are “seeking rebels from around the world to join the Rebel Alliance and head to a Secret City where they will be taken on a journey through the world of Star Wars."
BBC Working on New Drama About Origins of GTA
The BBC has revealed it's working on a new drama focused on the people behind the creation of Grand Theft Auto.
BBC News reveals the "new drama based on Grand Theft Auto" will come as part of a concerted effort to get the UK more interested in coding and technology. Other aspects of the scheme include giving a million Micro Bits - stripped down computers similar to a Raspberry Pi - to students starting secondary school this year.
Former Gamespot UK editor-in-chief Guy Cocker is involved, and has revealed it's a 90-minute feature focusing on the people who made the game - the Houser brothers.
Disney Considering Virtual Reality Theme Parks
Disney lovers may soon no longer need to leave their homes if they wish to experience the magic of one of the company's theme parks, as The Walt Disney Company is looking into recreating its magical worlds for virtual reality.
"If you think about the way we approach technology in general, The Walt Disney Company is about creating content," imagineering creative technical design lead Bei Yang told GamesBeat. "It’s about creating connections among friends and family through stories. We can do that through any number of mediums. VR is just one of those mediums."
Star Citzen’s Client May be 100GB, Close to $75M in Funding
The client for Roberts Space Industries ’space exploration sim Star Citzen may be a 100 GB download, director of game operations Jeremy Masker posts on the developer’s official forum.
“As I have already said, I would not count on this. The game compression and asset removal is unlikely to yield such high gains that we will be able to reduce our client size to 30-40 GB,” he writes. “The size and number of assets that are left to deliver means that our client size is much more likely to be 100 GB.”
Masker adds that the patch sizes for the could range in size from an indie game to a full AAA release. “Also, yes we are optimizing game patching for speed and to only deliver diffs, but this is unlikely to reduce actual patch size. Again, each patch has 100s of assets, each of these assets are at times 200 MB, this leads to 2-6 GB patches, and if we end up doing a file type re-factor and have to re-download 30-40% of the assets on the hard-drive, then the patch will be 14-20 GB."
Comic Book Reviews for March 11, 2015
Comics!
Things are heating up as we grow closer to Marvel and DC's big events -- Secret Wars and Convergence, respectively -- plus the world of indie comics just keeps on delivering more fresh, unique books for us to gobble up.
Marvel's Howard the Duck comic debuted from the guy who draws Sex Criminals, we got the next chapter in the rip-roaring Star Wars series, and in New Avengers #31 we finally got the reveal of the big villain "Rabum Alal."
At DC, we got the Batman: Arkham Knight prequel comic, a couple finales, and then the next chapter of Mortal Kombat X -- a game we can't wait to play.
From the other publishers, we got another terrifying chapter of Rachel Rising, the debut of Ninjak's solo series (finally!), a new comic written by Becky Cloonan called Southern Cross, and Spawn: Ressurection #1, which is designed as the ideal jumping-on point for those who want to get some Spawn in their life.
Mad Catz Is Making Officially Licensed Street Fighter 5 Controllers
Mad Catz has announced a partnership with Capcom for a new line of Street Fighter V related controllers for PlayStation 4.
The video game peripherals company plans on launching an assortment of its FightPad controllers and arcade FightSticks in time for the release of Street Fighter V on PS4. Mad Catz has been producing Capcom licensed controllers and FightSticks since Street Fighter IV’s release in 2008.
Mad Catz Community Manager Mark Julio also mentioned that the company is working on a new controller, tentatively named FightPad PRO, which is catered specifically to gamepad users, according to a post on the Mad Catz blog. Mad Catz is also soliciting suggestions and feedback regarding the Street Fighter V controllers from users on both its blog and its official Twitter account.
Here’s How Much Space Battlefield: Hardline Takes Up
Battlefield: Hardline takes up to 43 GB on latest generation systems, the IGN team found when we installed the game on an Xbox One today.
Its install size is up there with last year’s biggest releases of Dragon Age: Inquisition, Grand Theft Auto V, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Wolfenstein: The New Order. The titles range from an install size of 41 GB up to 47 GB, and Hardline's heft adds to the trend of increasingly growing install files.
The recommended minimum hard drive space for the title on PC is 60 GB, according to the latest specifications. Although the actual install size may be a lot less, it's a leap on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's recommended space of 50 GB.