Monthly Archives: December 2015
Steam Controller December Updates
Valve's Steam controller got a hardware update in December, and it's been highlighted in the monthly update. The company listened to players since the controller's release and have implemented changes straight from the Steam community.
Increased gyro support allows players to fine tune their movements, tilting the controller to move the camera view. Valve found that players who used the gyro input with the trackpad "were much more competitive than they were expecting."
Valve also updated its mouse-like joystick feature, which gives players the ability to "play with gamepad input and still enjoy mouse accuracy." The controller was released with the feature, but Valve took a tip from a NeoGAF user to improve the function.
Daily Deals: Fallout Anthology, Free Amazon Credit for Playing a Free Game, Big Xbox One Sale
$50 off an Xbox One Plus Two Free Games
This is close to a return of the Microsoft Store's Black Friday sale: all Xbox Ones are $50 off, plus you get a free game of your choice and a copy of Assassin's Creed: Unity.
7 of the Best ‘Buy Once and Play’ Mobile Games
Pop-up ads. In-app purchases. Freemium and free-to-play and free-to-start, with microtransactions added on. Let's face it – pricing schemes for mobile games have gotten weird. Sometimes you just want to take a break from all that money-making madness and play a game that you bought the old-fashioned way: making one payment up front, and that's it.
We hear you, friends, and so we've compiled this list of excellent non-freemium options for you. No microtransactions here! These are the best games you can buy and fully play, without fear of being nickel-and-dimed – the best "Buy Once and Play" mobile games.
- See it in Apple's App Store for $2.99
Square Enix to ‘Remain Tenacious’ in eSports Involvement
Square Enix has made a few attempts to breach the eSports bubble, and in an investor briefing president Yosuke Matsuda discussed their current efforts in the eSports landscape.
The November 6 briefing highlighted that Square's efforts on PC eSports games in Japan had been "struggling to produce adequate earnings."
"We are less-experienced in the new genre of e-sports, which prevented us from gaining player acceptance in some cases," Matsuda said.
Still, Matsuda reinforced the company's plans to enter the eSports realm.
"Because of the strategic value of the e-sports genre, we will remain tenacious in our efforts in that space, including considering offerings for consumer game consoles, as well as global roll-outs," Matusda said.
Overwatch Won’t Have Progression Like Diablo or World of Warcraft
Blizzard won't be rewarding Overwatch players with fancy weapons or power-ups through its progression system.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan said the developer plans on trying different things during the break from the recent beta to figure out the game’s progression design.
“Unlike World of Warcraft or Diablo, where the progression is one of the main motivating factors in those games, whether it be what your level is or your gear, Overwatch is different in that sense,” Kaplan said. “We don’t want the progression system to be burdensome in the fact that it’s telling you what to do or how to play.”
IGN UK Podcast #309: The Best and Worst TV of 2015
As 2015 draws to a close, Gav, Chris and Dale review the year's television, talking Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Mr Robot and Better Call Saul. It was a year when second seasons were either very good, or very bad, with Fargo falling into the former camp, and True Detective and Broadchurch very much the latter.
As far as comedy was concerned, Broad City was unexpectedly hilarious, and Peep Show went out with a bang. Mad Men also had a impressive finale, while documentary The Jinx blew our minds.
So prick up your ears for our 2015 television special, and as ever, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Counter-Strike: GO’s R8 Revolver Nerfed
Following community backlash, Valve has rebalanced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's overpowered R8 Revolver.
"On Tuesday we shipped some major gameplay changes in CS:GO including the R8 Revolver, and players have been voicing legitimate concerns over the balance of the weapon as shipped," Valve acknowledged in a blog post, adding: "it’s clear that we got the damage wrong and can respond immediately."
As such, the team is "updating the R8 Revolver to bring its values to be more in line with other weapons" by reducing its damage and decreasing its rate of fire. The latest update also features a few other gameplay tweaks, including pistol and rifle rebalancing.
TowerFall Ascension Coming to PS Vita Soon
TowerFall Ascension and its Dark World DLC have a release date for PlayStation Vita and PS TV.
A year after it was revealed at PSX 2014 that TowerFall Ascension would be released on PS Vita, the archery combat platforming game will launch on December 15, according to the PlayStation Blog.
The game will be cross buy, so anyone who purchased the PS4 version will automatically gain access to the game and the DLC on PS Vita. Developer Matt Thorson also stated a patch to implement cross save is incoming as well.
VanCamp on Sharon Carter’s Role in Civil War
Captain America: Civil War will further explore the relationship between Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter, according to Carter actress Emily VanCamp.
"I can say that she’s openly going to be Sharon Carter in the next movie," VanCamp told ET. "In the comic books, Cap and her have a love affair we get to sort of explore. I can’t say if we go to that extent of it, but they’re certainly getting to know each other and they know who each other are. There are die-hard fans that want to see him with different people, all the different camps. So hopefully people are happy."
Final Fantasy Explorers Summon Beasts Shown Off
Square Enix has released a new infographic showing off the 12 summons that will be part of its new game, Final Fantasy Explorers.
The action RPG is scheduled for release January 26, 2016 for 3DS and includes summons, or eidolons, from previous Final Fantasy games, as well as two wholly new additions, the "flower-like Dryad and the mysterious Amaterasu."
In addition to the two new summons, Final Fantasy Explorers features the likes of Bahamut, Ifrit, and Alexander, and others. For a full list, with art and descriptions, check out these huge infographics. The first is below and shows off the art, while the second appears at the bottom of this story. Click on them for the full-sized images in all their high-res glory.