Monthly Archives: May 2015
R.L. Stine Didn’t Mean to Terrorize You as a Kid
R.L. Stine has quite a legacy, having scared at least a couple of generations of children half to death thanks to his many kid-lit horror books. Chief among the titles published by Mr. Stine is the undying Goosebumps series, which has sold over 350 million copies worldwide. Just how many freaked-out kids does that come out to exactly…?
With Mr. Stine gearing up for a Goosebumps panel at BookCon later this month, I had the chance to speak to the beloved author about a variety of topics, including: the upcoming Goosebumps movie, which stars Jack Black as Stine himself; how he shifted careers over 20 years ago to go from writing comedy to horror (while still finding the funny in the scary); just what it is about Slappy the ventriloquist’s dummy that makes him so iconic; and much, much more.
Destiny’s September Expansion Could be ‘The Taken King’
The big expansion planned to hit Destiny in September will supposedly be called "The Taken King".
NeoGAF user Kifimbo spotted the below trademark, which also includes a logo bearing a striking resemblance to that of The Hive. While details about who the eponymous king could be are thin on the ground, the smart money is on Oryx, the father of The Dark Below's Crota.
Adding credence to the idea this is the real deal is the fact the trademark was filed by Jim Charne, who's the attorney who did the same for both The Dark Below and House of Wolves.
Playtonic Games Explains the Origins of the Name Yooka-Laylee
Playtonic’s Steve Mayles discusses how the name Yooka-Laylee came about.
Speaking via the official site, Mayles explains that although the word – ‘Ukulele’ – splits perfectly into two separate names, there’s more to it than that.
“Actually,” Mayles begins, “someone on the team picked up a Hawaiian dictionary and apparently ‘’uku’ means ‘a small brained person’ and ‘lele’ means ‘to fly’ or, excitingly, ‘to get off of a vehicle’. That’s definitely not a coincidence either.”
Dubbed the spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, the Yooka-Laylee Kickstarter currently sits on just under £1.5 million, a feat that made the project the fastest game in Kickstarter history to reach the £1 million mark.
The Marvel Universe Has Come to an End
Marvel Comics has made it no secret that the Marvel Universe would be ending, and true to their word in today's Secret Wars #1 by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribic, it did indeed meet its end.
That's the what, but if you don't want to know how it happened, quit reading now to avoid spoilers.
The issue began as Doctor Doom, accompanied by Doctor Strange and the Molecule Man, confronted the Beyonders to stop them from destroying reality, but the outcome of their meeting is left up in the air.
Mortal Kombat X PC Patch Deletes Saves
Mortal Kombat X's PC troubles continue as the latest patch - designed to fix the bugs plaguing the title - instead wiped players' saves.
The game's Steam Page is full of complaints that the recent 15.8GB patch has removed players' progress, instead of fixing the crashes, netcode bugs and other issues that have kept the PC version behind the console editions.
At the time of writing, PC port developer High Voltage has pulled the patch offline saying, "We are temporarily removing the patch until we can pinpoint the cause of save data loss. We are actively working on this and will keep everyone posted as we work towards a fix. We sincerely apologise for this disruption."
Oculus Reveals the Consumer Oculus Rift and When It’ll Ship
The consumer version of the Oculus Rift is expected to begin shipping in Q1 2016, with pre-orders opening “later this year,” Oculus VR announced today.
The consumer model is based on the Crescent Bay prototype and builds upon its "presence, immersion, and comfort." It also features an improved tracking system that accommodates seated and standing experiences, according to Oculus VR, along with updated ergonomics and a tweaked industrial design.
The company will share more details of its hardware, software, input and unannounced speciality games in the coming weeks, beginning with its technical specifications next week.
NASA Wants Your Ideas For a Successul Martian Colony
NASA is inviting you to pitch your ideas on how to develop the systems needed to successfully establish a longterm presence on Mars.
“This could include shelter, food, water, breathable air, communication, exercise, social interactions and medicine, but participants are encouraged to consider innovative and creative elements beyond these examples,” the NASA announcement states.
“NASA seeks technical submissions that describe the development of capabilities and operational events necessary, in both the near- and long-term, to advance this bold journey.”
Person of Interest Producers Talk Season 4’s Big Finale
If you haven't watched Person of Interest's Season 4 finale, "YHWH," then you need to turn back. Massive spoilers await...
So THAT was a big shake up, to say the least! Elias and Dominic both dead! Control grabbed and shuffled off to Samaritan knows where. The Machine stripped and crunched down into a suitcase as our heroes scrambled to shoot their way out of a massive assault waged by Greer and company!
Person of Interest: "YHWH" Review
It's time to pick your jaws up off the floor because I spoke to executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman (who also co-wrote "YHWH") and asked them some burning questions about where Person of Interest and Team Machine goes from here.
Killzone: Shadow Fall Graphics Lawsuit Dismissed
The state of California has dismissed a class action lawsuit that claimed Sony misrepresented Killzone: Shadow Fall’s graphic fidelity.
Courthouse News reports US District Judge Edward Chen dismissed lead plaintiff Douglas Ladore’s lawsuit “with prejudice,” meaning the plaintiff is forbidden from filing another lawsuit on the same grounds.
Ladore and Sony apparently reached some kind of settlement and terms were not disclosed.
Back in August 2014, Ladore filed a lawsuit against Sony claiming PS4 launch title Killzone: Shadow Fall used shortcuts to achieve its 1080p resolution claims in advertising.
You Can’t Re-Download Silent Hills’ P.T. From the PlayStation Store
The "playable teaser" for Hideo Kojima’s cancelled horror game Silent Hills was pulled from Sony's online marketplace on April 29, after publisher Konami declared four days prior that its “distribution period” had expired.
Those who previously downloaded the PlayStation 4-exclusive title could reinstall it again from the PlayStation Store for a short period of time after its removal. Unfortunately, users began noticing recently that they couldn’t re-download P.T. on their consoles from the marketplace.
We verified this today when we deleted an installation of P.T. from a PS4 in North America. While we could see the game on the marketplace, we received “An error has occured (CD-32937-4)” when we attempted to reinstall it from PSN. Some users located in Europe and Australia are currently reporting that they can still re-download P.T.