Monthly Archives: July 2015
The Beano Pokes Fun at Inside Out
Ever since Pixar animation Inside Out was announced, people have pointed out that the premise sounds similar to a strip in British comic The Beano – and now that comic has hit back in the best possible fashion.
Inside Out – which hit UK screens last week – revolves around five tiny creatures that live in the head of a child, guiding her through life. The Numskulls – a strip that first appeared in comic Beezer in 1962 before transferring to The Beano in the 1990s – concerns five tiny creatures that live in the head of a child, controlling both body and mind.
The comic had hitherto been silent on the subject, but yesterday a new issue hit stands in which The Numskulls – via human vessel Edd – go to see Inside Out and clock those similarities. They also take the opportunity to poke funny at the British bottling up of emotions, and bemoan the amount of money comics make compared to movies.
Massive Miiverse Update Arrives Today
Nintendo has announced a massive Miiverse update is rolling out to users today.
The update, first detailed at the start of the month, brings a big redesign to the 3DS and Wii U feature.
A new Play Journal feature allows you to record your thoughts on games as you play them. It's accessed by opening Miiverse when you're playing, doing so will also take a screenshot to show what was happening in the game when you did so, unless the game doesn't support screenshots. The Play Journal is a replacement for posting to your activity feed, so you won't be able to do this any longer once the redesign launches.
Ex-Dead Island 2 Developer Files for Insolvency
Yager Productions GmbH has filed for insolvency in order to secure its staff's wages.
The studio had been working on Dead Island 2 until publisher Deep Silver removed it from the project earlier this month. The early termination of the contract was due to the "respective visions" of each company falling "out of alignment."
Despite Yager Productions GmbH filing for insolvency, the wider organisation of Yager should remain unaffected, according to a statement managing director Timo Ullmann gave to GamesIndustry.biz.
PlayStation Store Summer Sale Begins Today
Sony has kicked off the annual PlayStation Store Summer Sale with a host of deals.
The sale will be taking place for a month in total, though things are working out differently depending on where you live. Those of you in North America, Sony will be changing the deals offered every week. Europeans, on the other hand, will have two waves of offers. The first wave of discounts are only available until August 12. After that, expect to see new titles having their prices knocked down until August 26.
The full list of titles is pretty extensive and can be found over on the PS Blog now, but be sure to look at the North American version or the European one depending where you live. In addition, Sony has reiterated PS Plus members will be getting even greater discounts.
A Brief History of Metal Gear Solid
This is an extract from A Brief History of Videogames by Richard Stanton, available now. (It's rather good.)
Metal Gear Solid is one of video gaming’s longest-running, most critically acclaimed and commercially successful series. Hailed by fans as the greatest games ever, scorned by detractors for narrative indulgences, and leaving many in the middle baffled either way, Metal Gear Solid is also notable for its indelible link to creator/director Hideo Kojima. The auteur theory is always dodgy ground with modern big-budget video games, which are made by teams of hundreds, but in this case the stamp of one man’s personality is all-pervasive and impossible to ignore.
Blizzard Creates Moving Tribute to Employee Who Passed Away
Blizzard has revealed a key feature of Diablo III's upcoming patch 2.3.0 was created to honour a former employee who passed away from cancer last year.
The patch is set to introduce something called Kanai's Cube, the precursor the Horadric Cube introduced in Diablo II and used to upgrade items. In Diablo III it will offer you a huge range of options when it comes to item customisation and holds the potential to extract a Legendary power from an item. All in all, it sounds pretty cool.
Twisted Horror Title Fran Bow Has A Release Date
Twisted horror title Fran Bow is coming to Windows, Mac, and Linux on August 27.
For those yet to hear the name, Fran Bow is a “creepy” adventure game that follows a young girl dealing with a mental health condition and an “unfair destiny.”
“After witnessing the gruesome and mysterious loss of her parents, found dismembered at their home, Fran rushes into the woods, together with her only friend, Mr. Midnight, a black cat that Fran had previously received as a present from her parents,“ reads the press release blurb.
“In the forest, Fran goes into shock over the loss of her parents and when she recovers, she’s at Oswald Asylum, an oppressive mental institution for children, and Mr. Midnight is nowhere to be found."
Here’s What Windows 10 Does For Gamers
Microsoft has outlined what the upcoming Windows 10 update will bring to gamers, including details on the new Xbox App.
In a post on the Xbox Wire, Microsoft details some "of the many" key reasons the new Xbox App will improve gaming for Xbox One players who also have Windows 10 devices.
"Windows 10 is kind of a big deal," states Microsoft. "With countless improvements and pantloads of new features, it’s putting a whole new face on the personal computing world. But of course, what we’re most excited about are gaming features – and fortunately, Windows 10 is bringing with it a renewed focus on gaming. One of the most visible elements is the new Xbox app."
IGN’s UK Daily Deals: Bloodborne £24.95
We hand-pick the very best gaming deals for you, every day, so you can get more of the things you want without crippling your bank balance. But don't hang around, because these bargain prices won't last forever...
Bloodborne is the cheapest it's been at The Game Collection for only £24.95.
Wii U Sales Pass 10 Million, Splatoon Hits 1.62 Million
Nintendo's first quarter financials reveal a mixed bag of news for the Wii U, as lifetime sales for the console edged past the 10 million mark but fell year-on-year.
For the three month period ending June 30, the company sold 470,000 units of the Wii U compared with 510,000 last year. In terms of breakdown, sales in Japan shot up from 60,000 last year to 150,000 this year, though the opposite was true in the rest of the world.
In the US sales fell from 280,000 last year to just 190,000 in this period. Similarly sales in other territories went from 170,000 to 130,000.
This drop is despite the launch of Splatoon, which has sold 1.62 million units despite launching at the end of May. Wii U software sold a total of 4.55 million units worldwide.