Monthly Archives: May 2015
House of Cards Intro Recreated in GTA 5
Using the Rockstar Editor, a YouTuber named El Serpe recreated House of Cards' iconic opening credits in Grand Theft Auto 5.
Like the show's intro, the video includes a montage of time-lapse shots overlooking the city. Of course, instead of the chilly streets of D.C., we get a series of buildings and landmarks from all around Los Santos.
Even so, the mock opening comes complete with moody, fast-moving shadows and clouds, cars speeding through roadways and underpasses, and even a shot of the "White House."
Rockstar Editor is a feature included only in Grand Theft Auto 5 on PC.
If you have the game on PC, you can learn the basics of making your own Grand Theft Auto movies with our Rockstar Editor wiki.
AMD’s New GPU Coming This Quarter
New information coming from AMD's financial analyst day confirms a Q2 2015 release date for its latest line of desktop GPUs, along with more conclusive spec details.
The upcoming AMD Radeon graphics cards will be the first to utilize high-bandwidth memory, which allows for performance rates three times that of the currently used GDDR5.
This memory standard also offers a 50% boost in power saving over GDDR5.
You can find images from AMD's presentation below, but note that the GPU depicted on the last slide is a placeholder. AMD isn't showing off the new card yet.
According to AMD CEO Lisa Su, HBM-supported GPUs featuring memory on-die instead of on-card could also allow for some "interesting form factors." Su did not clarify beyond this.
Arrow Photo Preview
Oliver Queen is one step closer to no longer Oliver Queen. He's finished his training as Al Sah-him and only has to complete a couple more tasks to become the next Ra's al Ghul. Photos from Season 3's penultimate episode, "This Is Your Sword," remind us that one of those tasks is marrying Nyssa.
But Team Arrow still isn't giving up on Oliver. Everyone from Atom to Black Canary to Merlyn is present in Nanda Parbat, and they look ready for a fight.
We've seen this episode of Arrow and can tell you a lot happens by the end of the hour - including some events that will make the wait for next week's season finale all the more difficult. Oh, and yes, seeing Katana (Rila Fukushima) in her full comic book-based costume is awesome, as quite a few characters get to team up this week.
Supergirl TV Show Officially Ordered
While it was generally considered a lock to move forward among the new crop of pilots in contention at the network, CBS has now picked up the Supergirl TV series. Multiple sources, including The Wrap are reporting the news that the new DC Comics-based show will be a part of the 2015-2016 season.
Supergirl is the latest DC series from executive producer Greg Berlanti (Arrow, The Flash), who's joined on the project by fellow EPs Ali Adler (Chuck) and Sarah Schechter (The Flash). Berlanti, Adler and Andrew Kreisberg (Arrow, The Flash) co-wrote the pilot, starring Melissa Benoist (Glee, Whiplash) as the title character, which was directed by Glen Winter (Smallville, Arrow, The Flash).
Guitar Hero Live’s New Instrument Can Be Used in Future GH Games
During today's Activision Blizzard investor call, CEO Bobby Kotick shared some good news for future owners of Guitar Hero Live.
Guitar Hero Live's controller will be forward compatible with future games in the series. Kotick didn't confirm or elaborate on sequel details, but if/when one comes around, Guitar Hero Live players will be ready.
Kotick added that the guitar itself will be even easier for casual players to use, but more challenging than ever for advanced players.
Guitar Hero Live is coming in Fall 2015 for $99 USD. Confirmed artists include The Black Keys, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Gary Clark, Jr., Green Day, Ed Sheeran, The War on Drugs, The Killers, Skrillex, The Rolling Stones, The Lumineers, Pierce the Veil and Blitz Kids.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker Review
Some of the best games for each console come out just as the systems are on their deathbed, cursed to be overlooked as people abandon the old to embrace new systems. Such was the case with Devil Survivor 2, a wonderful Nintendo DS strategic role-playing game that released in early 2012, just in time for shiny new 3DS offerings to overshadow its release. It’s taken its sweet time, but Devil Survivor 2 has now come to 3DS with a host of enhancements in tow. And by “enhancements,” I mean a lot more than just some 3D retroactively applied to an old game--Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker is essentially two games in a single package, both of which are terrific games in their own right.
The Devil Survivor games are strategy RPGs with a twist. Like many games of this sort, you move characters around a grid-based map, carefully utilizing turns and positioning to gain a tactical advantage over your foes. However, Devil Survivor adds another layer to this. Instead of just controlling a squad of individual units, each unit represents a team of three characters. When combat is initiated, the view switches to a battle screen where you choose commands for all of your characters. By cleverly exploiting enemy weaknesses and targeting vital parts of teams, you can earn extra combat turns to perform additional actions. But the enemies can also do the same to you, which can be devastating when you encounter hordes of fiercer foes.
Careful decision-making is a must at all times. Do you target the weaknesses of the flanking troops to get extra turns or go for the tougher leader to take down the whole squad at once? Will attacking an easy mark put you in range of something more dangerous? Should you substitute in weaker demon companions to earn bonuses like added range and movement? There’s a tremendous amount of depth to the combat, and it’s put to the test in some of the best boss fights of the genre. In these battles, you’re faced with terrifying, all-powerful beings who possess attacks that can absolutely decimate you--fierce long-range fire cannons, repeated multi-hitting strikes, multiple parts that regenerate after a set amount of turns--and you truly have to use your wits to figure out just how to take them down. Fortunately, you can use an infinite number of free battles to strengthen your team, along with access to an auction site for demon contracts and a function to fuse demons into even stronger forms. You need to make heavy use of these to succeed.
The game is split into two scenarios: the Septentriones and the Triangulum. You choose the scenario you want when you start the game. The Septentriones scenario is essentially the entire original game, tasking you and your friends in Tokyo with surviving and quelling a world-rending disaster with the aid of a mysterious demon-summoning phone app. The Triangulum scenario picks up after the end of the Septentriones story, restarting the cycle of destruction, despair, and chaos with a new set of cosmic invaders in a world that’s been transformed in some very significant ways. What is the meaning of the almighty beings and the all-consuming forces attacking mankind? Can the seemingly endless cycle of destruction ever be halted? You must answer those questions during these two quests.
Because the original game is more than three years old at this point, you’ll probably want to jump into the Septentriones scenario first if you haven’t played it for a while--or at all. Veterans will immediately see some significant changes here. The first is the difficulty selection, which offers you both easy (“Blessed”) and hard (“Apocalypse”) settings. (The original game only had a single difficulty setting, which roughly corresponds with Record Breaker’s Apocalypse setting.) You can switch difficulty levels on the fly, which is a nice touch--this allows you to do things like grind easy optional battles to build up your demon army’s skills while saving the big challenges for the crucial story fights. The other major addition is full voice-over for nearly every line in the game that’s not spoken by the lead (whose words you always control via a menu during conversations). Devil Survivor 2 may have the most voicework I’ve yet heard in a 3DS game, and it’s very impressive, with some standout performances for characters like the hero’s awkward, uneasy BFF Daichi and egalitarian organizer Ronaldo.
The Septentriones scenario itself is lengthy, taking around 50 hours to complete--and that doesn’t take into account the four different endings you can acquire by making different choices and taking sides with certain characters. It’s familiar territory if you’ve played Devil Survivor before, but the big draw in Record Breaker--the Triangulum scenario--is not just a tacked-on afterstory. Taking place after the “true ending” of Devil Survivor 2, it’s both a direct follow-up and an alternate universe story to the Septentriones plotline (given what happens at the end of that particular scenario). The cast of heroes reunites to face an all-new threat in a world that is both the same and very different: characters have different backgrounds, someone very important is missing, and a strange new person has taken their place. On top of that, your companions have recurring nightmares about pasts they don’t quite remember and visions of strange things happening to the hero’s body. While it’s not quite as long as the original quest, it’s still quite lengthy--I clocked in at about 35 hours on my Triangulum playthrough. Much like the Septentriones quest, there are also three possible endings, so you’ll be playing for a while if you want to see everything.
There’s a tremendous amount of depth to the combat, and it’s put to the test in some of the best boss fights of the genre.
The addition of the Triangulum story elevates Record Breaker from the rest of the intergeneration re-releases that have become popular in the market as of late. While most games are content to offer just an HD (or, in this case, a 3D) upscale, the developers of Record Breaker created what’s essentially an entire second game for this package. While that’s impressive and commendable, it’s brought down a bit by the fact that there’s not really much new in terms of gameplay in the second half--you’re controlling (mostly) the same cast with the same traits, fusing similar demons to what you had before, and fighting similar enemies. There are a few new bosses, which offer some exceptionally challenging and satisfying fights, but for the most part, it’s just more Devil Survivor 2. That’s not a terrible thing, given that the core game is so solid, but it’s still a smidge disappointing given just how much went into creating a whole new story for the game.
The other major issue is that the requirements for getting the “true endings” are too obtuse in both scenarios. While a few very clear paths lead to obvious conclusions, just getting the option to see the “best” endings requires you to make a lot of correct choices and talk to the right people at the right times. If you mess up just once, sorry buddy, better luck next time. The presence of only five save slots doesn’t really help either, especially if you want to run both scenarios. By the time I understood the requirements for getting the true ending in the Triangulum story, every save I had was at a point where it was impossible to go back.
When it comes down to it, though, these complaints seem relatively minor. Devil Survivor 2, in both the original and Record Breaker incarnations, is a great strategy RPG, delivering a potent mix of intense, brilliantly designed combat and a fantastic, endearing cast of fellow survivors. If you missed out the first time around, you should absolutely hop on board for this extended trip to the Apocalypse. If you’re coming back for seconds, you’ll have a terrific time welcoming our new Triangulum overlords with Megido blasts right to their stupid geometric faces.
Destiny Hits 20 Million Players
Destiny has hit 20 million players, according to publisher Activision.
The number came from the company's Q1 earnings call, which combined player numbers for Destiny and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft for a grand total of 50 million. Blizzard recently announced 30 million players for Hearthstone, leaving the other 20 million taking up arms in Destiny.
It didn't mention a timeframe for those 20 million players, so it's unknown if those are currently active players. We last heard that Destiny had 16 million players in February, so it's added another 4 million in the last three months. Activision did state that the average daily playtime is 3 hours, which it calls a "remarkable amount of engagement from a passionate player base."
Activision Further Teases Huge Third Quarter Destiny Update
During its first quarter conference call with investors, Activision teased a huge new update for Destiny "across all modes" slated for later this year.
"We'll have a major release which is the biggest addition to the Destiny universe yet," said Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, adding that the company is confident it will "be compelling not just to current Destiny fans, but to people who have not yet see the Destiny universe."
Is this the Comet: Plague of Darkness expansion to Destiny leaked back in January? Or is it the Taken King expansion, first noticed in a copyright filing? Perhaps it's something different entirely. Only time will tell.
Here’s HBO’s Plan to Prevent More Game of Thrones Leaks
HBO is making a change to its review distribution aimed at curbing episode leaks.
Variety reports that HBO has been providing DVD copies to critics for years, but will now shift to a streaming-only policy. The new policy applies to all of its programming, but seems especially geared toward avoiding problems like last month's Game of Thrones leak, which spoiled almost half the season before it even premiered.
The first round of streaming review copies will start with the next batch of Veep episodes, which will be made available to critics through a secure streaming site. Switching to streaming for press access has become more common as the HD quality of streams has grown more reliable. Currently, ABC and FOX both exclusively use streaming.
Activision Blizzard Reports $1.28 Billion in Revenue for Q1
Activision-Blizzard released its first quarter earnings report for 2015 and it showed the company earned $1.28 billion USD in revenue for the quarterly period ending March 31, 2015.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick praised his company's teams, crediting their work for "over 150 million active users around the world," in the last 12 months, totalling more than a billion hours per month spent playing the company's games.
Kotick also said spectators have watched "over a billion hours of linear programming" based on Activision-Blizzard games.
Activision said that combined, Destiny and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft have over 50 million registered players and a life-time revenue of over $1 billion. Interestingly, Destiny numbers were combined with Hearthstone's, rather than broken down by game.