10 Franchises That Deserve A ‘Battlefront’ Style Spin-Off

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2015 is a year full to the brim with Star Wars mania.

mania. This December sees the release of the hugely anticipated Episode VII: The Force Awakens , the first film in a whole new trilogy. The massively popular sci-fi phenomenon is also going to hit the video game world in a big way with the DICE-developed Star Wars: Battlefront . During the recent Star Wars Celebration, news spread about the title’s tantalizing teaser trailerand its November 17 release date.

The Battlefront series is one of the most successful adaptations of an outside franchise into the video game sphere. The original games, released in 2004 and 2005, were well-loved classics, and held up as great examples of Star Wars gaming. Along the way, other IPs have tried to use the Battlefront template with mixed results, including 2009’s Lord of the Rings spin-off Lord of the Rings: Conquest .

That doesn’t mean that the Battlefront style will only work for the Star Wars universe, however, and there are a number of IPs that could benefit from a spin-off in the vein of the series. Here are our picks of ten franchises that deserve a Battlefront -esque project.

Borderlands

Borderlands has become one of the most popular game franchises in recent years, with Gearbox Software’s loot-based combat winning fans over the course of two console generations. The series promotes co-operative gameplay in pursuit of treasure troves of new goodies, and its eye-catching cel shaded graphical style and unique sense of humor help set the series apart from its contemporaries. As it stands, Borderlands could easily make the transition into a multiplayer, objective-based shooter.

The franchise benefits from a number of ideas that would be perfect for a Battlefront spin-off. There are already a number of strong factions in place, with violent bandits, vicious creatures, and the occasional cheery yet homicidal robot. Different skill trees and character classes will allow for Battlefront’s class choices and customization, and the series even has an explanation in place as to why combatants can respawn, with Pandora’s New-U devices.

Transformers

The Transformers series could truly benefit from a Battlefront -esque release, as the story of Optimus Prime and Megatron has a number of elements that are seemingly perfect for the gameplay style. The sheer malleability of the Transformers themselves is a major factor, as the robots in disguise are capable of on-foot combat, vehicular warfare, and even air-to-air battles. With the addition of truly iconic personalities capable of acting as special playable characters, the franchise seems ideal for a multiplayer game release.

There are, of course, some major stipulations as to how Transformers: Battlefront would work. The battlefields themselves would need to be massive in nature, with enough room for players to partake in all different kinds of combat. Meanwhile, a Transformers spin-off could perhaps work best away from Earth, with the Autobots and Decepticons battling across different planets. After all, the most successful Transformers game for many is War for Cybertron , and it would be a shame not to emulate High Moon’s success with the title.

Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat certainly doesn’t need any radical formula changes. NetherRealm just released the highly anticipated Mortal Kombat X , to great critical and commercial success. The title stays close to the franchise’s roots, with vicious one-on-one combat filled with gory fatalities and outrageous moves. There was, however, one new game mode that hinted at the potential that the Mortal Kombat series had to move beyond its origins: the Faction Warsgame mode, which pits teams of players against one another vying for combat supremacy.

The new game mode isn’t the only reason that Mortal Kombat is ideal for a spin-off. The game’s universe is ripe for a Battlefront -esque release, with a number of violent parties constantly jostling for power over the IP’s various realms. Add in a selection of iconic characters available as unlockable specials and a number of varied stages, and Mortal Kombat: Battlefront seems all the more enticing.

StarCraft

Blizzard’s real-time strategy title is one of the most popular multiplayer tactical games in the history of gaming, with fierce competitions still taking place around the world. The developer has had huge success with the game and its sequel, StarCraft II , winning over strategy nuts with three factions fighting for control of the galaxy. Recently, Blizzard has stated that, although the Starcraft story will concludewith StarCraft II’s final expansion,  the universe itself is not going to be retired.

That leaves space for the developer to branch out Starcraft into different gaming genres. Blizzard has already tried to make StarCraft into a more action-oriented game, with the failed development of spin-off title StarCraft: Ghost . The game was highly anticipated by fans, who were left disappointed when news about Ghost dried up. With the developer cutting its multiplayer shooter teeth with Overwatch , perhaps there is room for massive, player-on-player battles between Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss in a Battlefront -style shooter.

Fire Emblem

Starcraft is not the only tactical series that could work in a more action-focused setting. Fire Emblem , Nintendo’s turn-based tactical RPG series, also has potential to move beyond its current genre. The games already have the positive of being set in larger combat environments, with players commanding a number of troops through strategic gameplay.

What’s more, certain Fire Emblem characters have already made the leap into other, more combative genres. For example, both Marth and Roy joined the Super Smash Bros. roster with Super Smash Bros. Melee , and the most recent iterations of Nintendo’s fighter have involved Ike, Robin, and Lucina. Perhaps it’s time for Fire Emblem to make another step towards real-time action.

Up Next: More Battlefront Makeovers

McDonalds to Introduce VR Headsets Made Out of Happy Meal Boxes

There is no denying that Virtual Reality getting ready to be unleashed upon consumers, not only in gaming but for entertainment in general.

There is no denying that Virtual Reality getting ready to be unleashed upon consumers, not only in gaming but for entertainment in general.  McDonalds in Sweden are taking part in the VR boom by having specialty Happy Meal boxesthat can be folded into simple goggles that you can slip you smart phone right into, called Happy Goggles.  It’s a similar model to the Google Cardboard, although you have to make these goggles with specially made Happy Meal boxes.

Of course being the cost of a Happy Meal, these googles aren’t going to have astounding graphical capabilities.  As shown in the video above, the main app for the Happy Goggles is a simple little skiing game “Se up I backen” or “Watch out for the slopes” in English.  The Happy Goggles are meant to be more of a fun distraction than a state-of-the-art interactive experience, much like the toys they already put in Happy Meals.  The Happy Goggles will have a limited run of 3,500 at 14 McDonalds restaurants in Sweden.  Hopefully kids in America can experience the Happy Goggles soon.

Even though it’s kind of a gimmick, this could be a great way for consumers to ease themselves into Virtual Reality technology.  Not to mention, widespread popularity of simple VR goggles like this could lead to a huge market of virtual reality phone apps to be made by independent developers.  So if someone is still wondering about dropping $700 for an Occulus Rift, maybe you can go get some Happy Goggles and some McNuggets to get a little taste of what the future of VR holds.

Blizzard Announces $199 BlizzCon Tickets

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There are few developers out there with a fan base as passionate as Blizzard Entertainment .

. From World of Warcraft to Hearthstone , the company has built a reputation around shipping extremely polished games that aren’t rushed out the door on a whim. It’s this dedication to both its games and its community that has Blizzard often listed among the very best developers in the business.

Blizzard has been able to cash in on the love between the developer and its fans through its Blizzcon celebration almost every year in California. The event itself is a two-day gathering that brings in Blizzard fans from all around the world, but it’s also the event Blizzard uses to announce new gamesand the latest updatesto its existing titles.

Now, Blizzard has released the first details on the 2015 edition of Blizzcon. The event will take place November 6 and 7 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Los Angeles. Tickets will go on sale next month, and if past years are any indication, fans will have to be quick to snag some tickets.

Tickets will be sold through Eventbrite at two different times, the first at 7 p.m. PDT on April 15, and the 2nd at 10 a.m. PDT on April 18. Tickets are set to retail for $199 each, which is the same price as last year’s event. That said, demand is usually so great for Blizzcon tickets that Blizzard has created a “ ticket purchasing guide” to help fans maximize their chances of getting through the queue.

Blizzard notes in the guide that this year the barcode emails used to claim badges will be emailed out immediately after purchasing tickets, an improvement over past Blizzcons. Eventbrite has also made some improvements in the past year that should make the experience smoother for all buyers.

If fans miss out on the tickets or they don’t have the funds to make it to California, Blizzard will again be selling “Virtual Tickets” that are set to let those who can’t attend in person watch a stream of the convention online. Pricing and availability for these Virtual Tickets will be released closer to Blizzcon, so all hope is not lost for gamers on a budget.

This year’s Blizzcon will of course feature discussion panels with developers, contests and limited-edition merchandise, in addition to announcements about Blizzard’s existing games. The 2015 World Championship for Starcraft II and Hearthstone will also be decided at the convention as well.

Blizzard’s list of games to cover at the show has expanded quite a bit over the last few years, with the success of Hearthstone as well as the upcoming official launches of Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch . And don’t forget that World of Warcraft may now be on an annual schedule for its next expansion. An announcement about what comes after Warlords of Draenor is certainly possible.

What do you want Blizzard to announce at this year’s Blizzcon? Let us know in the comments!

Source: PC Gamer

Free Origins DLC Coming to Affordable Space Adventures this Week

KnapNok Games has issued a press release detailing their upcoming DLC patch for Affordable Space Adventures dropping November 12 in the EU eShop.

KnapNok Games has issued a press release detailing their upcoming DLC patch for Affordable Space Adventures dropping November 12 in the EU eShop.  Players will now be able to enjoy 5 new longer and more challenging levels directly from the main menu.  While the new content is accessible to either newcomers or those that have completed the game already, the developers strongly suggest that players complete the story first due to the difficulty of the added levels.

The new set of levels is bundled under the menu item “Origin Story” suggesting we might get more insight into the origins of UCraft or some of the mysteries found on the planet Spectaculon.

The patch also brings with it several bug fixes and improvements based on user feedback.  What those are exactly weren’t disclosed.  To celebrate the launch of the DLC, KnapNok Games will be discounting the game by 20% off.  The NA eShop will also be seeing the discount once the DLC drops in that market at a later date.

We gave the game a stellar reviewwhen it was first launched and this DLC will add even more to the game.  Have you had the chance to try out Affordable Space Adventures yet or will this DLC  + discount be the perfect time to pick it up? Drop us a comment and let us know!

Written by Jason Lepine

Jason’s professional and cool-headed style masks what’s really going on inside. His ridiculous work intensity will drive him to spend 12 hours perfecting a video if need be.

This guy’s probably a notch away from exploding.

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The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes Review for 3DS

This year at E3, Nintendo announced that its theme was transformation, or change.

This year at E3, Nintendo announced that its theme was transformation, or change. Change can be good in order to discover great new things or to fix what is broken.  In the case of the Zelda series, it has a rich history and a strong brand that few would say needs fixing so we’d hope that change here would be to discover great new things.  Enter The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes , a 3DS game emphasizing a new 3-player style cooperative play. Just how well does this change to the legendary franchise play-out?  Not as great as I had hoped for, but it still manages to bring something fun to the table.

Let’s get started with the basics: fans of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds will instantly recognize the familiar visual style and mechanics in Triforce Heroes .  The game was built on top of the same platform so controlling Link and exploring the land will feel exactly like it did in A Link Between Worlds .  That’s about as far as the similarities go however.

Instead of the familiar land of Hyrule, players will be venturing in the kingdom of Hytopia.  In this kingdom everything revolves around fashion. So much so that the plot of the story focuses on the stylish princess Styla being cursed to wear the most unstylish outfit possible. Due to this the kingdom is devastated and calls out for heroes to find the evil witch and lift the curse on their kingdom. Overall it’s a pretty weak story that’s just there to introduce the outfit mechanic of the game.  After the initial setting of the plot, there’s no progressing the story aside for when you encounter the witch near the end.

While players start out in Hytopia, most of the time is spent in the Drablands fighting monsters and solving puzzles in order to find the witch.  Hytopia itself is quite small consisting of the castle and 4 shops in the village.  The castle serves as a “hub” for players to select which levels to play in either single player or multiplayer or face off friends in the Coliseum.  Each house in the village serves a specific purpose. The main house is Madame Couture’s which, aside having a super catchy theme to it, lets players craft costumes based on items they’ve collected.  Each costume has its own unique abilitiy like allowing you to swim faster or shoot 3 arrows at once instead of 1. Next to that house is a shop to buy crafting items. Below them is a house to post pictures to miiverse and finally a house that gives you a chance at winning a crafting item each day you visit it. Aside from having a little charm the town feels small and there’s no sense of exploration to it.

Lastly before we bite into the meat that is the gameplay,  a small note on the game’s soundtrack. The Legend of Zelda has a reputation for making timeless music  and memorable themes and Triforce Heroes is no different.  The game carries its own unique atmosphere that has a Parisian feel to it thanks to the use of the accordion and violin in its tracks. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the themes introduced here showing up in future Symphonies of the Goddess performances.

And now onto any game’s critical component: the gameplay!  In Triforce Heroes you can, and are strongly encouraged, to play with 2 other friends through dozens of dungeons. This can be done through an online connection or local play (regardless if your friends have the game or not).  Should you have no friends or internet connection nearby however there’s always single player mode where you play with two dummy dolls instead.  Regardless of game mode, you’ll get to pick one of 8 themed worlds to play in and then select 1 of 4 courses.  Each course has 4 sections in it consisting of one or two puzzles each. So in total you’re looking at essentially 128 rooms to play through. Once you complete a world, you’ll unlock 3 special challenges for each course providing tons of replayability.

The game really shines in its multiplayer mode. Teaming up with 2 friends to beat enemies and figure out puzzles introduces a charm that was previously impossible with past Zelda titles.  Each character wields a sword and an additional weapon in each course which is decided based on which of the three items you pick up.  For example, one course would provide a bow and arrow and 2 bombs. Each player would only be able to use the one item they chose throughout the rest of the course.

Aside working together to make the best use of items and solve puzzles, players can also carry each other to form a 2 or 3 player high totem formation.  This lets players throw another player to a higher ledge or attack enemy weak spots that are higher than them. This new mechanic ensures that the puzzles you encounter in Triforce Heroes will feel fresh and will make you re-think how to solve classic Zelda style puzzles.

Communication is important in order to progress through each dungeon and while Nintendo has stepped away once again from voice chat, the stand in commands work fine.  On your touch screen you’ll find 8 commands which you can send to your teammates with a simple touch.  These commands range from calling them over, to indicating a throw, use of an item or just cheering them on.  It works perfectly to fill the necessity of communicating together but it does leave out that fun chaotic chatter you might find in local multiplayer.

Once the dungeons are complete, players can then open one of three chests which usually contain two common items and one rarer item.  These items can be used to craft new outfits to provide your hero enhanced abilities as mentioned earlier. Additionally each time you play with a unique friend locally, you’ll gain Friendly Tokens.  These are unique items that can help you craft unique gear.

As I mentioned previously if you can’t play with 2 other players, which was the case for me most of the time while reviewing the game, you can go the single player route.  The levels are the same however your two teammates are replaced with dolls which you can control by selecting them on the touchscreen.  You can only control one character at a time meaning you’ll be switching between the 3 dolls constantly.  In single player mode the gameplay feels more similar to the Stone Tower Temple in Majora’s Mask where you must use three Link dummies to solve puzzles.

The problem with moving three characters around in a game that was designed for 3-player coop play makes the game quite tedious in some parts.  Often times I found myself dying or frustrated because I had to constantly switch between characters and perform precise and well timed moves which if missed led me to have to restart the whole process. This simply just wasn’t fun and I often walked away from my 3DS frustrated with the game, something I hadn’t experience in the Zelda series since the classic NES title, The Adventure of Link .

Understandably Triforce Heroes was designed for 3-player play and the fact that Nintendo still managed to deliver a single player mode is quite welcomed.  However, traditional fans of the series going into Triforce Heroes expecting a single player experience as satisfying as past games will find themselves disappointed. The game isn’t meant to be a traditional Zelda experience, it’s a fresh new formula designed for those on the go or who are seeking a more social experience with the Zelda franchise. If you’re looking for some fun and hectic gaming moments with your friends then Triforce Heroes along with its clever puzzles, fun visuals and beautiful soundtrack is sure to please.  For those interested in the game because of its Zelda association just be prepared for a less fulfilling experience than you’re used to.

Written by Jason Lepine

Jason’s professional and cool-headed style masks what’s really going on inside. His ridiculous work intensity will drive him to spend 12 hours perfecting a video if need be.

This guy’s probably a notch away from exploding.

Pros: Fun and unique multiplayer experience Memorable soundtrack Clever puzzle design

Cons: Tedious single player mode Weak story No sense of exploration

Final Score: / 10

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Microsoft Demos Minecraft On Oculus Rift, A Building Block Dream

A major shift in gaming is about to take place.

A major shift in gaming is about to take place. Whether or not anyone is ready, or has pooled enough fund for the colossal pries coming our way, Virtual Reality gaming is on the edge of bursting into the market.

Previously announced by Microsoft, it appears that the Windows 10 version of Minecraft will be Occulus friendly. Meaning, if you can bankroll yourself into owning one, you will get to play the building fantasy phenomenon in Virtual Reality.

And this is no hype train. It’s already very real.
At a gaming event last week, Tuesday in San Francisco, Oculus and Microsoft showed off the fruits of their labors with an amazing demonstration. Those at the event were lucky enough to try the technology and game out for themselves. Chris Kohler, with WIRED magazinewrote on his experience playing on the Rift, saying:

When asked for a statement at the event, Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey stated in an interview with VentureBeat:

Microsoft’s HoloLens Dev Kit Now Available For Pre-Order

Teased for over years of development after a stellar demo at a Windows 10 event, Microsoft’s HoloLens is available for pre-order as of today (for major developers only).

Priced at a staggering $3,000, the augmented reality kit will begin shipment on March 30th. Those looking to unload a burdensome 3k can apply for pre-order via Microsoft’s website here.

Currently, the HoloLens will be producer for English audiences first, with developers in North America and Canada receiving priority at this time.

Half-Life And Left 4 Dead Demos Hidden In Valve’s VR Program

Hot on the heels of Sunday’s announcement of the HTC Vive’s price Valve has released the S teamVR performance test to help people see if their set up is VR ready.

to help people see if their set up is VR ready. Since then the good people over at SteamDBand ValveTimehave been digging through it’s code, and they found some interesting things, Kotakureports.

As stated above, the SteamVR performance test does just that but instead of running a program that checks the specs of your PC it drops players into a two minute demo from Valve’s Aperture Robot Repair VR demo. From there the program will do all the system checks and tell the user whether or not their PC can handle VR, and if not what they will need to replace. But for a two minute demo there is a lot of hidden content.

Using the current and previous versions of the VR test SteamDB and ValveTime found what could have been Valve’s testing grounds for SteamVR. Along with various assets and other bits of code which I’ll get into later, they also found several different unfinished demos for games like Half-Life , Portal and Left 4 Dead.

First up is a Portal demo which spawns the player in a room, there isn’t much there except Atlas in a looping death animation.

Pro ‘StarCraft 2’ & ‘CS:GO’ Players Get Bans; Embarrass eSports

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The world of eSports is no stranger to controversy.

The world of eSports is no stranger to controversy. From questions of whether or not it should be considered a form of sportto the possible introduction of scholarships, the competitive scene is representative of the ever-evolving video game medium. In the latest slight against its image, a number of professional StarCraft 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players have been banned from competitive play.

With theFragbite Masters Season 3 tournament well underway, the first high-profile ban occurred this past Friday during one of the event’s qualifying matches. Professional player Mihaylo Hayda was met with a disqualification from the tournament after Tweetingthat he would “rape” his upcoming opponent, referring to competitor Madeleine Leander.

Following the recent instance of Paranautical Activity developer Mike Maulbeck stating over Twitterthat he would “kill Gabe Newell,” this represents yet another case study in the necessity to carefully police oneself on social media. A single statement can undo one’s success and in this case will likely follow Hayda for the remainder of his career. He has since apologized but nonetheless, this stands as another instance of misogynist statementspermeating eSports culture.

It’s unfortunate that this is still an issue that continues to present itself, but it’s encouraging to see that the event organizers promptly dealt with the situation by removing Hayda and requiring him to apologize. In the end, this only serves to add fuel to the fire that has been damaging the industry over the past few months. The disciplinary action helps in holding perpetrators responsible, but a level of self-restraint will also need to be practiced if things are to get better.

Turning to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive , the issue in turn becomes one of hacking. Earlier this week, three players – Hovik “KQLY” Tovmassian, Simon “smn” Beck, and Gordon “Sf” Giry – found themselves on the receiving end of in-game VAC bans following their use of third-party software for the purpose of cheating. This all comes just days before the kickoff of DreamHack Winter 2014 which will see CS:GO taking the event’s spotlight.

As arguably the most recognizable name among the bans, KQLY announced on his Facebook page (translated from French) that he had been using the software in question for seven days. He states that the choice was his own and that it was unfair to leave his team in this situation, but the damage has evidently been done as team Titan have been disqualified from the upcoming tournament.

In a videoposted by eSports commentator Duncan “Thooorin” Shields, an explanation of the hacks in question is provided in addition to a plea to put an end to the “cheating witch-hunt.” He claims that these hacks do not “have anything visible on the screen. The only way you’d know if someone did it is if you caught them at the point they installed it on that machine and activated it.” With this being the case, it bring to light the uncomfortable idea that these nigh-undetectable hacks could be commonplace within the competitive scene.

If a recent stream featuring Simon Beckspeaking out about his ban is any indication, between 30 and 40 per cent of the professional scene uses hacks of some sort. This is in no way to be taken as fact, but the accusation is a bold one nonetheless. If hacking is something that is so prevalent within the competitive scene, it could seriously damage the reputation that fans, participants and promoters have been working so hard to cultivate for eSports. Did we mention that there are odds and gambling in eSports as well? That’s going to make the issue even bigger.

Controversy or not, eSports clearly has a great amount of momentum behind it. With Blizzard planning to integrate its culture into World of Warcraft and cracking down on bots in Hearthstone , it’s evident that despite some high-profile instances of cheating, companies like Blizzardare still highly committed to ensuring that the playing field is fair for all players.

Do you feel that these recent bans are at all indicative of a serious issue within eSports? What do you think can be done to combat future instances of these issues?

Follow Ryan on Twitter @ ThatRyanB.

Source: PC Gamer, Deadspin, FeedMeSC2, Kotaku, KQLY, Thooorin, Reddit

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void’ – New Story, Unit, & Beta Details

‘StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void’ – New Story, Unit, & Beta Details
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The wait between Starcraft II campaigns has been excruciating for fans of Blizzard’s strategy series.

campaigns has been excruciating for fans of Blizzard’s strategy series. The developer made the decision to split Starcraft II’s story of galactic warfare into three separate parts, and players had a long wait for the second part of the Starcraft II trilogy, 2013’s Zerg-centric Heart of the Swarm . The expansion pack continued the quality of the first game, and StarCraft players were left wondering exactly what the title’s final expansion would bring – and when they would be able to see it.

At the end of last year, it looked as though Blizzard was able to unveil further information on the finale of the StarCraft II trilogy, titled Legacy of the Void and set to focus on the inscrutable Protoss. The developer released several cryptic audio clipson the official StarCraft II Soundcloud page, hinting at further details on the title. The audio clips were followed up by the release of a trailer and multiplayer update videos.

Now, the developer has spoken out once more, this time focusing on Legacy of the Void’s role in the StarCraft story. In an interview with IGN , Blizzard has dropped the news that Legacy of the Void will not only conclude the StarCraft II trilogy, but the franchise’s overarching story as a whole. “The storyline that was setup in StarCraft I and continued in StarCraft II will resolve in Legacy of the Void ,” said a Blizzard representative. “All of those main characters will reach a nice satisfying conclusion.” However, Blizzard plans to revisit the StarCraft universe again in the future.

The plan for the Starcraft universe to live on is an intriguing one, and brings up a number of questions about just where Blizzard can take the setting. A move to a StarCraft MMO is little too obvious, and with World of Warcraft topping 10 million subscribersthanks to the recent Warlords of Draenor expansion it seems there’s life in the old dog yet. Perhaps Blizzard’s upcoming title Overwatch will give the developer a taste for gunplay. Who knows, those disappointed to never see StarCraft: Ghost release could one day play a spiritual successor – after all, the game has never officially been cancelled.

The developer has also been able to share details on the new units that will launch with Legacy of the Void . One example is the Protoss Adept, a core gateway unit with a Psionic Transfer ability. This allows the Adept to create a copy of itself that is controlled independently, but cannot attack or be attacked itself. The unit has a ground-only ranged attack and has a normal movement speed.

Blizzard has also revealed its plans for the Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void closed beta. The beta will begin on March 31, with Blizzardinviting an initial group of players for the beta testing process. The developer has stated that the Legacy of the Void beta will run for a “longer period than usual,” as well as warning players that things will feel “rough” at the start of the testing process. This is likely due to the beta’s focus on nailing down the mechanics of units. Full details of the beta changes can be found at Battle.net .

Sources: IGN, Battle.net

7 Game Franchises That Would Make Great MMOs

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For some time now, hybrid MMOs have been quickly rising in popularity.

For some time now, hybrid MMOs have been quickly rising in popularity. The genre is no longer only found on PCs and it’s certainly not a niche one either with the interest surrounding games likeandhaving disproved that.

Part of that is because gamers enjoy teaming up and taking on the world together. Yes it’s exhilarating to get scared by yourself hiding in a locker inor to save the world by yourself as the Dragonborn inbut there are also many great experiences to be had with your friends. There are also plenty of experiences where you’re sharing a world with hundreds of other players going about their business or fighting their own battles and it feels like the world is alive and buzzing.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn andare fantastic examples of existing franchises that have successfully made the jump to the MMO genre, but there are so many other series that would be a great fit. Here is a list of the ones that we think would work best:

Fallout

A nuclear wasteland is a deadly place, but do you know what’s deadlier? A nuclear wasteland full of thousands of other players.

In aMMO, players would no longer be fearing just the bandits, the mirelurks by the water, or indeed the radiation in the water itself. Instead they would have to navigate these dangers as well as each other. If you throw survival elements into the mix (like DayZ ) where you’re also keeping tabs on your food, water and energy levels, then you’ve got a recipe for some frantic PvP battles as players wage war to save lives. Furthermore, as the Fallout games have been big on factions ( New Vegas had over two dozen) it would be interesting to see if that was encouraged in a Fallout MMO. Factions could encourage followers by offering rations and safe houses and there could even be faction stronghold assaults.

Unfortunately, when Interplay Entertainment attempted to make a Fallout MMO with Fallout Online , it was shut down after a lengthy legal battle with Bethesda. But the interest in such an MMO is still high that it might not stop Bethesdafrom pursuing it themselves.

Mass Effect

Thegames have spanned just about the entirety of space. We’ve traveled amongst the stars dealing deadly melee punches to aliens and shacking up with our team members. And while nothing can replace the vast single player experience of ME ‘s world, the potential is certainly there for an MMO experience.

The many boss battles of Mass Effect would make for some fantastic team-based play as players could break into small, large or massive squads (depending on the strength of the opponent). Players could use the game’s biotic powers to think strategically about the battle at hand. Do you need more grenades? Better armor? Or do you just need someone to push enemies out of the way with the force of their mind? Potentially, you could put out recruiting calls for which sort of biotic powers you need or what sort of skills players should have, which would make battles less difficult to face even if you don’t know each other.

On top of this, the way that Mass Effect encourages harvesting elements and the fact that you spend quite a bit of time on your ship could make trading and ship combat a possibility. EVE Online has this but it’s incredibly difficult to master or become halfway decent at, so Mass Effect could definitely make that a more understandable (and enjoyable) experience.

Red Dead Redemption

Rockstar is not done with the Red Dead franchise ( confirmed) so instead of asking if Rockstar is going to make good use of the license, we should instead be asking what they’re going to do with it. Makingis tricky since the first game focused on the end of the golden age of cowboys; it’s going to be difficult to make a chronologically correct cowboy game if horses are being replaced by automobiles.

That’s why it seems easier to make a Red Dead MMO. Cowboys roving the Wild West in packs? That’s what we’d like to see. Some players could gallop about the place with lassos in hand while others could ride in carts and pick off rival players; combat-wise the limit doesn’t exist. Outside of combat, guilds of cowboys could even maintain or run business such as farms, ranches, saloons or arms dealing, having to keep an eye on trade routes and on supply and demand.

StarCraft

As a massively popular game that sees two players control entire armies and face off against one another,has all of the components for a brilliant MMO. As the game is now, players take control and command which forces of their army to go where, thinking strategically about enemy positions and which enemy type is going be strong or weak against their own units.

But what if players were able to be the units rather than just controlling them? In a StarCraft MMO, one player could provide the orders from above and those on the ground could loadout and attack accordingly. Not only does this give players a real chance to actually carry out the battles that they see unfolding but it could also encourage more people to play StarCraft ; players who aren’t interested in just telling units where to stand on a map.

Furthermore, you could even have the PC and console versions of the StarCraft MMO connect with one another. For example, the strategist could be playing on PC and could watch from their computer while the players controlling the units on the ground could play on PS4 or Xbox One.

Page 2: 3 More Franchises That Would Make Great MMOs

Inside Project McQueen, Apple’s plan to build its own cloud

For the past several months, Apple has been working on “Project McQueen,” a plan to become more reliant on its own data center infrastructure and reduce its dependence on public clouds such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, a source familiar with the matter tells VentureBeat.

Above: Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Image Credit: Jordan Novet/VentureBeat

Apple isn’t happy with the fact AWS is not able to very quickly load photos and videos onto users’ iOS devices, according to VentureBeat’s source. Apple has bought land in both China and Hong Kong to build out data centers, the source said. Nearly all of iTunes is currently outsourced to other infrastructure, primarily Azure, according to the source. That said, the company certainly could be using Google’s public cloud in addition to Azure and AWS, in line with a report yesterday from CRN, the source said.

Project McQueen kicked off after a conversation between a Microsoft employee and an Apple employee, the source said. Azure won’t be able to handle the growth of Apple’s workloads in the future, meaning Apple would have to pay much more in order to help Microsoft cover the cost of expanding Azure’s data center infrastructure, the Microsoft person told the Apple person.

Apple executives believe that building out the company’s own infrastructure footprint to cover its cloud computing and storage needs will pay for itself within three years, the source said. ( Re/codereported some of these details earlier today.)

Executing on the plan would put Apple on the same path that Dropboxrecently took, and Facebook’s Instagrambefore it. While public cloud infrastructure has allowed many startups to get their applications up and running, and while larger corporations are increasingly adopting cloud infrastructure, it’s not always sensible. Dropbox and Instagram both stored many photographs on AWS, and the monthly bills for the S3 storage to hold them grew larger as more users came onboard and increased their usage. This is the type of cost that could push Dropbox to take on more venture capital. Hence the move to build its own data centers. And it’s the type of thing that inspired Facebook to move Instagram off of AWS and into its own data centers.

Apple has previously built data centers to support iCloud. But certainly the company could build more data centers around the world. Doing that would mean it would take less time for Apple to deliver content to users. Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Yahoo run their own infrastructure to support hundreds of millions of users. Now Apple, which runs many Web-based services for hundreds of millions of users around the world, wants to do it.

Apple wouldn’t have to worry about cloud vendors profiting off its operations through prices that are marked up above cost. Apple would be able to run its software on the best possible infrastructure for its needs, at the lowest possible cost — and perhaps most importantly, improve the user experience.

Unlike Amazon and Microsoft, Apple does not offer a complete suite of cloud infrastructure and services that app developers — of which the company has many — could use to power their applications. Project McQueen could enable that sort of initiative without forcing Apple to generate revenue for its competitors in the process.

Of course, Project McQueen is a plan, nothing more. Apple could end up setting it aside and keeping its applications running in their current configuration. Or Apple could take a different route and acquire a cloud infrastructure provider instead.

Apple and Amazon declined to comment. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Apple designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. Apple software includes:... read more »

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Top 10 Coolest Video Game Armors

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Look to any major video game franchise character these days, and you’re likely to find one thing: the adventures and hardships they endure are lethal to the average human being.

Look to any major video game franchise character these days, and you’re likely to find one thing: the adventures and hardships they endure are lethal to the average human being. While we’d wager most video game heroes are exceptional in most aspects, some of their invincibility must be credited to the armor they usually wear into combat.

Whether their second skin is simply strong, bestowed with superpowers or an artificial intelligence, or just pleasing to the eye, a video game hero’s armor is likely to become every bit as famous as their name.

There are endless suits to choose from, but here’s our list of The 10 Coolest Video Game Armors .

Alan Wake Reaches 4.5 Million in Sales

Nearly half a year after its release, Finnish developer Remedy’s Alan Wake series has achieved an impressive 4.5 million in sales.

The news was announced by Remedy’s CEO, Matias Myllyrinne, via Twitter, in which he wrote” Happy on behalf of the team: Alan Wake franchise is past 4.5m units.”

The figure includes sales from both the original Alan Wake and its non-canon spin-off, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare .

Released exclusively for the Xbox 360 on May 2010 and later on the PC on February 2012, Alan Wake was highly praised for its atmospheric Stephen King-like premise and satisfying gameplay, which made creative use of light and darkness.

Here’s what AlphaGo’s historic win means for the enterprise

March 15, 2016 brought us a milestone in artificial intelligence 10 years earlier than experts expected: AlphaGo, the AI-based computer created by Google DeepMind , beat world champion Go player Lee Sedol at the game.

Above: The world's top Go player Lee Sedol (R) puts his first stone during the last match of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match against Google's artificial intelligence program AlphaGo in Seoul, South Korea, in this handout picture provided by Google and released by Yonhap on March 15, 2016. REUTERS/Google/Yonhap

, beat world champion Go player Lee Sedol at the game. Go is among the most ancient of games — simple in concept, yet spectacularly complex to master. The final score in the five-game match was 4-1, but after AlphaGo took a 3-0 lead, it was clear we were in a new era. Sedol himself said after the match, “I never imagined I would lose. It’s so shocking.”

This may sound familiar, bringing you back to IBM’s Deep Blue beating chess champion Kasparovin 1997. But under the covers, AlphaGo is as different from Deep Blue as the DVDs introduced in 1997 are from a Netflix movie download. Deep Blue’s strength came from brute forcecomputing — literally evaluating the likely result of each possible move. When playing Go, brute force search is not an option. The number of possible plays is simply too vast, even in comparison to chess. There are about 10 170 legal playson the Go board. To put this astounding number into perspective, our entire universe contains only about 10 80atoms. This is why Go has been seen as the holy grail for artificial intelligence (AI) research. Winning at Go is not about evaluating every possible move, it requires strategy — and according to Sedol himself, AlphaGo’s strategy was “excellent.”

But enough about games. There are broader implications here. We can expect similar advances in commercial applications, such as self-driving cars. Demis Hassabis, who heads Google’s machine learning team, previously said, “The methods we’ve used are general-purpose; our hope is that one day they could be extended to help us address some of society’s toughest and most pressing problems, from climate modelling to complex disease analysis.”

These machine learning methods will also have significant impact on how we perform unstructured and complex business processes and decision-making tasks in day-to-day work.

Businesses already use AI and machine learning to deliver millions of valuable recommendations and observations every day. Well-known examples include product recommendations by Amazon, movie recommendations from Netflix, and personalized search results from Google. In the enterprise, examples include customer targeting, lead scoring, opportunity risk analysis, sales forecasting, and churn prediction. So with AI already delivering daily business value and AlphaGo’s victory in the news, a natural question for those of us in enterprise computing is, what should we expect next from AI and machine learning in the enterprise?

What’s new in AlphaGo?

What differentiates AlphaGo from previous technology is its learning capability. AlphaGo learns using two complementary deep neural networks: One decides which moves are more promising (data scientists say this “reduces the width of the search space”), the other learns an “intuition” about how likely it is a potential play will result in a win (“reducing the depth of the search space”). These two networks learn — or we could say are trained — first by analyzing many past matches played by professionals. This is known as “learn by example” or “supervised learning.” Based on that foundation, AlphaGo then improves by playing games against itself — millions of games at a dazzling speed most of us can barely imagine. This self-play is known as “reinforcement learning.” If you remember the 1983 movie War Games, in which a computer “decides” not to start World War III by playing out different scenarios at lightning speed only to learn that every scenario results in world destruction, you’ve got an image of this sort of self play. AlphaGo is not fed the winning patterns of Go. Instead, it abstracts and summarizes patterns from actually playing Go. In this way, AlphaGo is truly “intelligent” about playing the game.

What new capabilities can a learning system offer?

Not long ago, even the most advanced supercomputer could not keep up with a four-year-old child in identifying cats in photos. No longer. With rapid advancement in AI, we are seeing breakthroughs on many tasks considered formidable challenges for computers — not just object recognition in images, but self-driving cars, question answering through natural language, composing newspaper articles, even painting and drawing.

Replicating actions humans consider trivial is only the start. AI routinely considers options ignored by human beings. For example, in AlphaGo’s first three games, it made “surprising” movesa typical human professional would not consider. At the time, some observers identified the moves as mistakes. Yet 20 more steps proved these surprising moves to be brilliantly innovative tactics. I believe Go professionals will study these moves and, in doing so, expand the set of options they consider in future human-only championships. In this sense, AI is creative , helping humans achieve more.

Surely there are limitations? Absolutely.

Although research in AI started in the 1950s, true learning systems are still in their infancy. It’s true that AlphaGo learned quickly. It took only five months for AlphaGo to move from beating a level-2 Go professional to beating Sedol, a level-9 champion. That progress would take a talented human years. But if we compare AlphaGo to that talented human, the path is quite different. AlphaGo was able to play tens of millions of games in that five month span, where a person can only play 1,000 or so games per year. So AlphaGo, and AI in general, is data inefficient in terms of learning. You may think this is a moot point because an AI system is capable of playing millions of games. But keep in mind that for many applications outside gaming, self-play is not practical, making learning a significant hurdle. So it remains an area of intense study for AI scientists.

Moreover, Go is a relatively simple task for AI because, even with its daunting set of options, it is well defined. Each player has complete information about the state of the game, past moves, and available future moves — no uncertainty. Contrast this with a game like bridge, where each player must make guesses about unknown cards, or poker where a player’s ability to bluff adds new twists. And for games like Go, each move is deterministic and the final rewards are explicit, either a win or loss. In the real world, especially for many situations in an enterprise, only partial information is available, and the final reward is difficult to quantify.

What is AlphaGo for the enterprise?

As I mentioned in a recent post, Data Science, Self-driving Applications, and the Rise of Conversational UI , “self-driving” enterprise applications — able to seek out data, apply intelligence, and present findings in a useful way — are the new frontier. With the addition of AI, many enterprise apps will act more like human assistants. They will detect relevant context changes (location, target customer, timing) and deliver relevant information at the moment it is most helpful. The interaction between a user and their applications will be more natural, more like talking to a trusted human assistant than enduring endless typing and clicking. And value grows over time as the AI analyzes the results of ongoing operations, such as marketing campaigns, lead conversions, sales meetings, email flows, interactions with customer success teams, or customer churn.

You may find yourself thinking, “Sure, if I had infinite time to pore over reports, I could see useful trends too.” That, of course, is the point. AI allows tedious tasks to be handled by machines, allowing people to concentrate on tasks better suited to us as humans. This brings us back to the point that AI systems, like AlphaGo, excel where “codified rules” exist. Go options may be so numerous as to seem infinite, but the rules of the game are clear. Even the 10 170possible moves do not include throwing off your opponent by showing them pictures of your cat. Letting machines handle the tedium means people can make the leaps of creative intuition still far out of reach for AI.

The real world requires the complementary nature of artificial intelligence and human intelligence. AI thrives at computation, memorizing, and even reasoning as long as the problem space is constrained. Human beings excel at perception, decision making, disruptive creativity, and interpersonal relationships. Success in the enterprise requires so many mundane tasks:  updating data records, monitoring databases for changes, evaluating real-time results in marketing campaigns, detecting which customers are likely to churn, etc. All of these are candidates for automation and, in particular, candidates for AI because they require a system able to learn the difference between critical observations and irrelevant anomalies. As a result, human beings can focus on tasks requiring the unique spark of human intelligence: creating an unprecedented campaign, meeting one-on-one to win over clients, or designing the next generation of AI. Palintir, a company creating analysis software for U.S. government anti-terrorism efforts and the financial industry, offers a sophisticated example, building what they call “man-machine symbiosis.”

Before leaving the topic of human/AI teamwork, we should acknowledge that people and machines also make mistakes. So the power of teaming is not just to reach new heights but also to reduce errors. The protection machines can offer range from the trivial, such as an email system that warns you when message content implies an attachment should be included, to the life saving, like the loud “stall” warning in the cockpit of a commercial jet. And no one who has used voice recognition or auto-correct on their phone needs to be reminded that computers make mistakes. Machines and humans must work together to deliver optimal results.

As impressive as the AlphaGo victory is, we’re early in the development of AI systems. That means we’re also early in understanding the best ways for people and AI systems to join forces. But just as AlphaGo made innovative moves in Go that will ignite new thinking and creativity among the best Go players, we are confident tomorrow’s AI will spark new innovation among those who embrace its value.

Lei Tang is Chief Data Scientist at forecasting and predictive analytics company Clari.

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Killer Instinct Season 3 Launches; Includes New Single-Player Campaign

Killer Instinct Season 3 officially launched on Xbox One and PC with a plethora of new content.

Season 3 officially launched on Xbox One and PC with a plethora of new content.  Right now players can download any of the four new fighters including Rash from Battletoads , The Arbiter from Halo , Kim-Wu, and Tusk.  Each fighter comes with their own set of alternative costumes.  Season 3 will also have new fighters like Mira (along with four costumes) in April and Killer Instinct 2’s final boss Gargos in May.

Another interesting addition to Killer Instinct Season 3 is the new Shadow Lords single-player campaign.  As described on KI’s official website, Shadow Lords is “part ladder, part arcade mode, part story mode, and part rougelike, all rolled up into one experience.”  Players will choose their “main” fighter along with a team of any other available characters to stop Gargos’ invasion of Earth.  As new characters are added to KI, new content is added to Shadow Lords, so even if you beat the campaign you can still go back for more.  Now I understand that most fighting game’s put their focus into online multiplayer lately, but for me a good single-player mode is a huge selling point.

Blizzard Creative Officer Rob Pardo Exits After 17 Years

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World of Warcraft , Diablo , and StarCraft all owe their existence to the longtime PC juggernaut Blizzard Entertainment ; a company that has put an emphasis on team development (rather than on high profile talent), but has nevertheless created a few superstar developers along the way.

; a company that has put an emphasis on team development (rather than on high profile talent), but has nevertheless created a few superstar developers along the way. One of the most recognizable names on the Blizzard roster for the last 17 years has been Rob Pardo, but after nearly two decades of service at Blizzard, player may have seen his name in the credits for the last time.

At the age of 44, Pardo has spent the bulk of his creative career working on Blizzard titles, with the chief creative officer now boasting a resume that would make many PC gamer drool (including work on the original StarCraft , StarCraft: Brood War , Warcraft 3 , Diablo 3 , and of course, World of Warcraft ). Although his fans were probably looking forward to seeing his touch on both Warlords of Draneor and the long-rumored next MMO to come out of Blizzard, Pardo took to the WoW forums this week to deliver a farewell message to the Battle.net community.

“After 17 years at Blizzard, with long and careful contemplation, I have made a difficult and bittersweet but ultimately exciting decision to pursue the next chapter in my life and career.”

If the rumors are true and Blizzard plans to pull the curtain back on a new IP at BlizzCon this year, it is definitely sad to see Pardo step away so soon before that announcement. It seems likely that he has been involved in any planning that has already taken place, so it’s a bit of a shock to see him depart prior to its unveiling. That said, we’re sure a creator with his kind of resume won’t have any trouble settling into a new position.

Pardo briefly touches on the future in his farewell message, but isn’t quite ready to reveal what’s next:

“I’m looking forward to new challenges in my career, but I will always cherish the time I spent with you all and the amazing and collaborative teams at Blizzard… It was both satisfying and humbling, and it made me a better developer and a better person. I look forward to playing Blizzard games as a player for many years to come. Most important, now I have plenty of time to learn how to build a competitive Hearthstone deck.

“As to what I will be doing next, I don’t have an answer for you yet… but I will ‘when it’s ready.’ My priorities are to enjoy the summer with my family, play plenty of games, and think about what’s next. The game industry is such an exciting place right now with PC gaming thriving, the new consoles, mobile games, and virtual reality becoming an actual reality. It’s like having an empty quest log and going into a new zone for the first time.”

Although he doesn’t reveal any specifics, we certainly know what types of games he has the most experience with. His strengths and interests were initally focused on real-time strategy games, but over the last two decades that skillset has sprawled to include work on MMOs, MOBAs, and even digital card games. Pardo has always been passionate about PC gaming (and mobile more recently), so a position in the same space seems most likely.

Does Pardo’s departure make you worry about Blizzard’s future, or do you think the company will carry on as usual without him? What kind of game would you like to see him work on next? Let us know in the comments.

Follow Denny on Twitter @ The_DFC.

Source: Battle.net

Blizzard’s ‘Heroes of the Storm’ Gets New Battleground

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It’s hard not to be excited about Blizzard at the moment.

It’s hard not to be excited about Blizzard at the moment. News about their popular titles is coming thick and fast. World of Warcraft players will have the Warlords of Draenor expansion this fall, and the addictive Hearthstone will have its own single-player expansion launching on July 22. That’s without even touching on the rumored new MMO, potentially set to be unveiled at BlizzCon 2014.

Somewhere in the midst of all these exciting titles sits Heroes of the Storm , currently still in alpha. Blizzardcalls it a “hero brawler” — although there are striking similarities to the MOBA genre. Heroes of the Storm allows players to take control of characters from the Diablo , Warcraft and Starcraft franchises to try and defeat the opposing side in fierce battles. Blizzard hopes to separate their free-to-play hero brawler from the pack, and one of the ways they are trying to do this is with interesting and unique battlegrounds.

Over at the Battle.net blog, Senior Technical Designer Meng Song gave insights into the latest arena to be revealed — the mysterious Garden of Terror. The map is a three-lane battleground and boasts a very interesting dynamic: a day/night cycle that is controlled by the players. During the night cycle, players will have their visibility limited, and will have to be wary of creatures known as Night Terrors. The day cycle will not resume until all the Night Terrors have been defeated.

One of the selling points of Heroes of the Storm is that Blizzard is attempting to vary the tactical approach players can take in each map, and the Garden of Terror is no different. The ability for players to switch from night to day is bound to lead to some real tactical choices — when will it be good to preoccupy the other team with Night Terrors and strike?

Not only that, but after collecting 100 seeds in the Garden of Terror, players will have the chance to unleash and control the Garden Terror, a creature with masses of health and power, and a wealth of special abilities, including an Overgrowth ability that disables and damages all enemy buildings. Players who become the Garden Terror will, however, have to contend with a time limit — so use that advantage effectively.

Heroes of the Storm may not be making the waves of other news from Blizzard, such as the departure of Creative Officer Rob Pardoand the imminent release of, but there is plenty of potential for it to be a useful addition to the world of MOBA titles. Let’s see if it can compete with the likes ofand.

Heroes of the Storm is currently in alpha. Players can sign up to the beta over at Battle.net.

Chibi-Robo! Ziplash Unboxing 3DS + Amiibo

We were lucky enough to receive a review copy of the upcoming Chibi-Robo!

We were lucky enough to receive a review copy of the upcoming Chibi-Robo! Ziplash 3DS game and amiibo bundle.  So you can get a quick glimpse of what the packaging will look like before it hits store shelves we’ve created the following unboxing video.

One noticeable difference from previous amiibo packaging is that the Chibi-Robo package is much smaller  and has no pin hole for collectors to hang them on their wall.  If you’re an amiibo collector, will this have any effect on your collection?

Chibi-Robo! Ziplash is a 2D action adventure game releasing on the 3DS October 9, 2015 in North America.  Will you be picking up the game this fall?

Written by Jason Lepine

Jason’s professional and cool-headed style masks what’s really going on inside. His ridiculous work intensity will drive him to spend 12 hours perfecting a video if need be.

This guy’s probably a notch away from exploding.

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Is the Donkey Kong IP as Great as Mario, Zelda & Metroid? – Nintendo Files

Welcome to the launch of our latest show: Nintendo Files.

Welcome to the launch of our latest show: Nintendo Files.  The new show will explore historical facts and theories about Nintendo and its related IPs.  In this premiere episode we take a look at Nintendo’s big 4 IPs namely, Donkey Kong, Mario, Zelda and Metroid and take a look if Donkey Kong stands toe to toe with the other 3 franchises.

Give our new show a watch and let us know what you think, is Donkey Kong as great as the other 3 franchises?

Written by Jason Lepine

Jason’s professional and cool-headed style masks what’s really going on inside. His ridiculous work intensity will drive him to spend 12 hours perfecting a video if need be.

This guy’s probably a notch away from exploding.

Share with others

Alan Wake’s Return Is A Video Series, Not A New Game

Kotaku had a chance to speak to Sam Lake, Remedy’s Creative Director, who said that the trademark wasn’t for a new Alan Wake game, but for an in-game video series in Quantum Break .

Last week we reported that Remedy filed a trademark for Alan Wake’s Return and we all hoped that it was a sequel to the cult classic, sadly it was not to be.

. Remedy did something similar to this with Lord and Ladies in the Max Payne games, except instead of still images Alan Wake’s Return will be live action, starring Lake himself.

Lake went on to say that there really isn’t any new Alan Wake news, following it up with reassurance that they working on some ideas for a potential sequel, but the game is not actively in development.

While this isn’t exactly a trailer for Alan Wake’s Return , you can get a feel for what the series is all about in the video below.

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void’ Trailer & Multiplayer Updates

‘StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void’ Trailer & Multiplayer Updates
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It seemed like a perfect solution when Blizzard first announced their plans for StarCraft II : instead of holding off release until the game was completed, it would be split into three campaigns – one focused on the Terrans, another on Zerg, and finally, the Protoss.

: instead of holding off release until the game was completed, it would be split into three campaigns – one focused on the Terrans, another on Zerg, and finally, the Protoss. The first two installments proved to be full-sized games in their own rite, but the wait for the final chapter in the trilogy has been excruciating to fans.

Thankfully, that wait is almost at an end, as Blizzard has unveiled its first trailer for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void , the Protoss-centric conclusion to the story. With the trailer comes a fresh batch of details on new game modes, returning enemy types, videos detailing the multiplayer updates to all factions, and a promise that the finished expansion“standalone game experience” will, again, be worth the wait.

Following on the story told by Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm , the upcoming conclusion brings past characters Artanis and Zeratul to a massive battle prophesied years before, with the weight of the Protoss race behind them. But that also means a chance to see the lives of Terran Jim Raynor and Queen of Blades Kerrigan brought to a close as well (for now?).

Fans who have followed the series back to Brood War and before will need no further convincing that a reunion with the mighty Artanis and the reclusive (but no doubt vengeful) Zeratul is in order, but Blizzard also took the opportunity to release a new batch of videos detailing the updates to multiplayer that will be introduced alongside Legacy of the Void .

For the Zerg, that means the addition of the Ravager, a variant of the Roach with an emphasis on long range damage thanks to its Corrosive Bile ability. Updates are also coming to the Lurker and Corruptor. Take a look:

Zerg swarms will welcome the return of the Lurker, a classic creature from the original StarCraft that lays waste to infantry with deadly spines that burst from the ground. The Protoss field a new weapon called the Disruptor, which can use massive energy spikes to wreak havoc through swaths of ground forces. And the Terrans have engineered some new technology, such as Tactical Jump, which allows their Battlecruisers to teleport to any location on the battlefield.

For the Terrans, those looking to stop a Zergling rush in its tracks will likely be interested to see the newly added Herc, an armored unit able to grapple onto targets at range, and cover the distance in a heartbeat (not to mention its other potencies in combat). There’s also the Cyclone, a long range unit capable of tracking targets on the move, as well as new tweaks to existing units as well:

Finally, there’s the stars of the show, the Protoss. Adding the Disruptors (capable of invulnerability and splash damage) and the punishing Immortals, some new approaches are going to be need. See for yourselves:

Blizzard also announced a number of multiplayer modes intended to change up the formula further, allowing players to work together with a friend… or potentially grow to loathe them.

Archon Mode, a competitive multiplayer mode unveiled at BlizzCon, is a new way to enjoy StarCraft II with friends. In Archon Mode, two players share control over a single base and units as they take on an enemy duo in multiplayer action. By sharing the responsibility of commanding troops and managing resources, players can focus on their own areas of the battle and execute more intricate strategies.

Allied Commanders is another gameplay mode new to StarCraft II. In this objective-based, cooperative experience, players can team up and take on the roles of powerful commanders from the StarCraft saga. Each commander offers unique abilities and upgrades and bestows special bonuses on their armies. Players are able to battle through a series of special scenarios together, leveling up their commanders’ capabilities as they progress.

Some theorists may see some similarities between the gameplay, progression and teamwork coming to Allied Commanders are an opportunity to emulate the Dota formula, but until we see more of it in action, that’s merely speculation.

Which of these updates has you most excited? The chance to see the story ( apparently in the works for years) wrapped up in the campaign, or the dose of new content coming to multiplayer?

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is currently without a price or release date.

Follow me on Twitter @ andrew_dyce.

Quantum Break Coming To Xbox One In 2015

Remedy Entertainment’s upcoming Xbox One exclusive third-person shooter, Quantum Break, will be making its way to Xbox users in 2015, creative director Sam Lake announced in a video today.

In Quantum Break, players will be playing as the main character Jack Joyce and it will be set in a fictional Rivenport University, located in the Northeastern US. The game features time manipulation powers with one of the features is being able to rush forward while the whole world is frozen, but that was due to a time-based science experiment that had gone horribly wrong. Players will be able to play as Jack Joyce and Beth Wilder, who are the ones to fight against the corporation called Monarch Industries, while also trying to balance and fix the errors in time.

Sam Lake announced in the video that Remedy and Microsoft will be showing the “time-amplified action gameplay” of Quantum Break at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, which happens in August 14-17.

MasterCard showcases ecommerce payments through virtual reality at PGA Tour golf event

MasterCard is showcasing new ways for people to pay for goods this week, as the company lets visitors to the Arnold Palmer Invitational (API) PGA Tour event in Florida pay for items through virtual reality (VR) glasses.

Above: MasterCard VR Payments

For the initiative, MasterCard has teamed up with Wearality, an Orlando-based company that develops VR glasses and other wearables, to show consumers a new way to peruse and pay for goods. Though much of the experience is about future-gazing and giving a glimpse into what the ecommerce of tomorrow could look like, the technology is good to go now and people will be able to use it at the PGA event.

MasterCard has enlisted the help of professional golfer Graeme McDowell for some Priceless GolfVR fun, with willing buyers able to identify an item, such as the shirt or shoes that McDowell’s wearing, and buy it there and then. MasterCard will also be offering a preview of how consumers could soon be using augmented reality (AR) technology in-store, and will be showing how something like a golf glove could be used to initiate payment.

Above: Buying goods

It doesn’t take a tremendous leap of imagination to see how such technology could infiltrate ecommerce. With VR gearing up to be the hot tech trend of 2016, and countless VR headsets and glasses coming to market, it surely won’t be too long before many mainstream consumer companies launch VR apps in addition to mobile apps, letting people traverse virtual stores; peruse clothes, gadgets, and more; and then pay — all without leaving the virtual world.

Specific to golf, it’s feasible that games could integrate with ecommerce — you could be playing virtual golf with Tiger Woods or Graeme McDowell and buy the same clubs or trousers that they’re sporting.

Though VR and AR is nothing new, from a practical consumer-focused perspective it’s still very much a nascent technology, especially as it moves beyond gaming— but that is fast changing. In 2016 alone, we’ve seen the opening of VR roller coastersand a VR movie theatre, while Nokia just launched its professional-gradeVR video camera. And earlier this week, Sony announced that its PlayStation VR headset will cost a not-too-silly $400.

Specific to finance, Capital One announced a tie-upwith Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo devices last week — which will let customers manage their bank account using their voice — and the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) is another burgeoning technology trend.

Elsewhere, payments processing giant Vantiv recently opened its APIs to 800 developersin a hackathon to establish the practical application of VR technology in ecommerce. “Once the head gear gets commercialized and every consumer has one, I believe then e-commerce will be a ripe area in the payments industry to really optimize that experience and quick buying power,” said Matt Ozvat, Vantiv’s VP of developer integrations.

With all these new experiences entering the fray, virtual realty is fast becoming much more than a fad.

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Remedy’s Ideas For Alan Wake 2 Are Getting Better, Still No Word On A Sequel

The release of Remedy’s Quantum Break is around the corner and the question on everyone’s mind is obvious, when is Alan Wake 2 coming out?

coming out? Remedy’s Creative Director Sam Lakehas never been shyin the past about the company’s intentions with Alan Wake. They haven’t forgotten, they’re waiting for the right time. Now it seems that Lake has let a few more details slip.

In case you are unfamiliar, Alan Wake is a horror game in the vain of Twin Peaks and is heavily influenced by the works of Stephen King. The player takes control of troubled writer Alan Wake in his search for his missing wife in the mysterious town of Bright Falls. Sales weren’t great at launch, but was well received by critics and average gamers alike. The games has since sold more than 4.5 million copies.

DualShockersattended a class at Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris where Lake spoke about the sequel to Remedy’s cult classic. According to Lake, production began shortly after Alan Wake was finished, you can check out a conceptual prototype over at Polygon. Sadly nothing they did seem to fit for the sequel.

It was through those prototypes and discussions with Microsoft, who published the first two games, that they had the idea for Quantum Break .

Scottish startup eeGeo raises $5 million to 3D-map the world

Founded in 2010, eeGeo is setting out to revolutionize the digital mapping realm with a 3D representation of the world that’s geospatially accurate and includes detail down to the level of buildings — including interiors.

Above: eeGeo: Scotland in 3D

Image Credit: eeGeo

Scottish startup eeGeohas raised $5 million from a range of investors, including NetSol Technologies, as it looks to continue growing its 3D mapping platform globally.

Founded in 2010, eeGeo is setting out to revolutionize the digital mapping realm with a 3D representation of the world that’s geospatially accurate and includes detail down to the level of buildings — including interiors. While the company offers up a number ofmobile apps to help demonstrate how 3D maps can improve virtual navigation of cities such as Londonand New York, eeGeo’s cross-platform software development kit (SDK) gives any company access to its maps, similar to how the likes of Google, OpenStreetMap, Here, and TomTom let third parties use their respective mapping smarts.

Though eeGeo only officially launched last year, it has already worked with a number of big-name clients, including Cisco, which tapped eeGeo to create a mobile appthat guides visitors through its Customer Experience Centers (CXC) using interior maps.

Above: Cisco Interior Maps

Using the app, anyone visiting Cisco can see where they are in the building in real time and navigate to where they need to be, whether that’s the reception desk, restroom, or any other point of interest. Elsewhere, Samsung also turned to the startup to create immersive city-guide apps for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Samsung app for Rio and Sao Paulo, now live in Play Store. Fly a copter over amazing 3D maps! https://t.co/GfuSYngraK pic.twitter.com/T1fIK03RRZ

— eeGeo (@eeGeo) June 20, 2014

Scottish tech companies have experienced mixed fortunes in recent times. Edinburgh-based flight search engine Skyscanner recently raised $192 million, reportedly raising it to the much-coveted “unicorn” status and making it one of Britain’s most valuable companies in the process. Elsewhere, fantasy sports site FanDuel — which was also founded out of Edinburgh but operates entirely in North America — is currently facing a number of legal entanglementsin the States that are threatening its very existence.

As for eeGeo, it counts a 25-strong team based at its headquarters in Dundee, Scotland’s fourth largest city, on the east of the country. But it has expanded beyond Scotland and now counts staff in London and San Francisco too.

Company CEO Ian Hetherington has an impressive background in the gaming realm, as he played a pivotal part in the early years of Lemmings, Grand Theft Auto, and Sony PlayStation. Hetherington cofounded a company called Psygnosis back in 1984, which he later sold to Sony — this was to be the genesis for the launch of the now-famous games console. In a funny coincidence, VentureBeat recently covered a fledgling startup from Hetherington’s Psygnosis cofounder Jonathan Ellis — but Yubl is an entirely different proposition than eeGeo.

Though the $5 million cash influx isn’t eeGeo’s first outside funding, it is the first that it’s choosing to publicly announce — and it will be used to expedite development of its 3D mapping platform, extend its coverage around the world, and “build a range of market-specific products that customers can personalise,” the company said.

“Following the official company launch in 2015, we have seen an increase in customers and partners wanting to implement our mapping technology as part of their business offerings, in order to better engage with their end-users, maximise efficiency and create additional revenue streams,” said Hetherington. “This strategic funding will put us in a position to serve a much larger market, whilst delivering new features and making our solution widely available.”

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eeGeo is a developer of a Stunning, Interactive 3D Mapping platform based in in Dundee, Scotland. At eeGeo our mission is to enable our customers to create intuitive and engaging experiences, by delivering a new approach to mapping. Ou... read more »

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