Video game history could’ve gone a totally different way if Nintendo’s corporate headquarters were somewhere else. “If Nintendo wasn’t located in Kyoto, I wouldn’t have been there,” the man who lead the design of the Nintendo Entertainment System said last night. Good thing Masayuki Uemura’s parents never relocated to another part of Japan. It’s entirely possible that none of us would have any video games to play.
The complete soundtrack for Halo 5: Guardians is now available online.
Developer 343 Industries released the collection of music, composed by Kazuma Jinnouchi, on Soundcloud. Give it a listen to below.
The release of Halo 5 is just over one week away. In anticipation of 343 Industries' Xbox One-exclusive shooter, be sure to check out all of our recent coverage, including a look at the game's first mission on Legendary difficulty.
As we all know too well Sega’s swan song was brought to an abrupt end before it got to show off its full potential. Following the Dreamcast's discontinuation, large number of games in development were halted and many cancelled, however, yet again we’re seeing for the first time another previously lost title in action - Colin McRae Rally 2.0.
With the new Star Wars Battlefront title just a few weeks from release, we thought it was time to return to this little gem – some early alpha footage of Star Wars Battlefront III that was leaked after the game was cancelled in 2008.
As you can see from the video, the game implements a lot of the elements that were cut from the upcoming Xbox One and PS4 title, which is being developed by DICE for EA. Features like the ability to jump in and out of starfighters, play as multiple heroes from across the series, and… well, what looks like a single-player campaign, are all sadly lacking from DICE’s title, which favours huge battles and a multiplayer focus.
Let’s just remind ourselves of how awesome the game could have been…
History lesson! In 2006, Free Radical Design (originally formed by members of the Rare team that worked on games like GoldenEye 64, now known as Crytek UK) were tasked with creating a new Battlefront title. After two years of development the game was close to being finished, to the point that an early alpha was playable. But LucasArts pulled the plug on the game, and Free Radical went into administration. Later, Free Radical Design co-founder Steve Ellis was quoted as saying the game was “pretty much done” in 2008 – whether it was cancelled due to LucasArts budget restraints or Free Radical missing deadlines on the game isn’t clear.
Previously undiscovered games are turning up all the time, and it seemed that we might have another on our hands as a forum user claimed to have found an incredibly rare Mega-CD game, Advanced Star Fighter Training. All over the cover was the “King Of Pop” himself, Michael Jackson.
The game seemed to be a follow-on from Jackson’s appearance in a Sega flight simulator video, Scramble Training. The video had been produced at a time when the company had a good working relationship with the singer, who was also working on music for Sonic 3. However, when a highly publicised child abuse scandal involving the singer came to light, the simulator video and Jackson’s involvement in Sonic 3 were both quietly binned.
It’s always worth exercising a degree of caution over such discoveries though – particularly when someone shows a seemingly complete and sealed copy of a game that Sega itself doesn’t acknowledge. With no footage, telltale signs of photo editing and a cover that showed a dubious grasp of Japanese, this apparent discovery has been deemed a fake. Darn, and indeed blast. Still, here’s a video of that simulator ride.
Following its announcement of a 4D Mass Effect theme park attraction, Electronic Arts has now revealed that it's creating a "new digital experience" based on Plants vs. Zombies for the Carowinds theme park in North Carolina. Slated to open in spring 2016, this "intra-active 3D game experience" is called Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare: 3Z Arena. It represents a world's first, EA said in a statement.
The attraction is based on the Garden Warfare shooter franchise. But what does intra-active even mean?
EA explains: "The attraction allows players to interact with the opposing team's screen. Guests will step inside the state-of-the-art Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare: 3Z Arena complex decked with 3D technology, massive screens, surround sound, and motion-based seats, to enjoy outrageous and imaginative encounters with their competition. Teams will compete in the Plants vs. Zombies universe during an almost five-minute backyard battle, where they'll shoot screens with blasters and track their scores as they go."
For a closer look at the new 3Z Arena, click through the work-in-progress images in the gallery above. You can also see a bullet point breakdown of the attraction below.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 launches in spring 2016 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Video game publishers are increasingly turning to theme parks to extend their franchises. Earlier this year, Nintendo announced a partnership with Universal Theme Parks, while Ubisoft is building its own theme park in Malaysia with Assassin's Creed and Rabbids attractions.
Last month, an event called Bitva o Fort went down. That’s Battle of the Fort in English, and it saw hordes of Lord of the Rings fans converge on the village of Radíkov in the Czech Republic to recreate an epic battle between the forces of men, elves and some very well-dressed orcs.
This week-end @ BackToRetro exhibition in Arlon/Belgium
Artist : Elso from Uruguay https://www.facebook.com/ElsoCraft
Oooo! These look great! What is the Ghost & Goblins-esque game?
rogue legacy
Both Indiegogo and Kickstarter have proved to be invaluable sources for retro-themed projects over the coming years, allowing both small ideas to flourish and industry veterans to revive brands such as Shenmue. One of the more ambitious projects as of late though has fallen flat on its face after an embarrassing campaign.
The Star Wars saga has been nipped and tucked at for years by its maker, but to fans, the words “Special Editions” are uttered like venom—a perversion of iconic films. But with recent rumors of plans to finally release the theatrical cuts, we thought we’d take a look back at what Lucas changed, and how some of these changes actually made Star Wars better.
If you’ve ever once felt that the classic consoles were missing out on brand new titles, think again. The impressive Steam and Xbox One retro-platformer Völgarr The Viking has just been given an official port to the Sega Dreamcast and released online for free as a downloadable game disc.
Rare has revealed all sorts of info about its cancelled Xbox game, Conker: Gettin' Medieval.
In development after Conker: Live & Reloaded launched in 2005, Gettin' Medieval was to be an online multiplayer third-person shooter.
The main character would have been Death, while Conker was set to have a guest appearance. Many of the characters were going to be medieval versions of Future War characters. For example, the Sky Jockey would have been the Sky Knight, the Demolitioner would have been the Battle Mage and the Long Ranger was turned into the Musketeer.
For the month of October, Xbox Live Gold members will receive four new free games – two on Xbox One and two on Xbox 360 – as part of the Games with Gold program.
On Xbox One, Xbox Live Gold members can download Valiant Hearts: The Great War ($14.99 ERP) for free during the month of October. The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season ($24.99 ERP) will be available as a free download from October 16th to November 15th.
On Xbox 360, starting Thursday, October 1st, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes ($19.99 ERP) will be free for Xbox Live Gold members through October 15th. Then on October 16th, Xbox Live Gold Members can download The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season ($24.99 ERP) for free through October 31st.
Read more about October Games with Gold titles over at Xbox Wire.
*Titles are available as free downloads for qualifying Xbox Live Gold members in all markets where Xbox Live is available. Some regions may offer different titles depending on market availability.
Oliver Kalkofe und Jan Böhmermann sprechen über ihre gemeinsame Vergangenheit im Haifischbecken Unterhaltungsbranche und geben der Killerspieldebatte ein Medipack, ein bisschen Ammo und endlich die dringend benötigte inhaltliche Tiefe. Time Life präsentiert: Die Super Hitler Brothers – http://neomagazinroyale.de
Kurz bevor hier das iPhone 6s (Plus) aufschlägt und ich auch mit diesem Telefon frisch starte, möchte ich in aller Kürze festhalten, welche Apps sich im September 2015 auf meinen zwei iOS-Geräten befinden.
Zuletzt habe ich das im März getan, in der unregelmäßigen Artikelserie, die ich Homescreens nenne.
Things (9.99 €), 1Password (Laden), VSCOcam (Laden), Instapaper (Laden), Instashare (Laden), Editorial (9.99 €), Reeder (4.99 €), Sonos (Laden), Overcast (Laden), YouTube (Laden), Twitterrific (Laden) und Spark (Laden).
Facebook (Laden), Slack (Laden), Messenger (Laden), Quip (Laden), Instagram (Laden), Twitter (Laden), Apple Remote (Laden), Scanbot (Laden), Pinswift (4.99 €), Fantastical (4.99 €), Parallels Access (Laden), Calcbot (Laden), Pocket (Laden), Droplr (Laden), Layout (Laden), Hue (Laden), iTranslate (Laden), Skype (Laden), Apple Store (Laden), Nike Running (Laden), WordPress (Laden), TextExpander (4.99 €), OneDrive (Laden), Automatic (US-Link), Foursquare (Laden), MetaRecorder (Laden), Elgato Eve (Laden), Airbnb (Laden), Alien Blue (Laden), FlightTrack (4.99 €), Dropbox (Laden), Deliveries (4.99 €), Evernote (Laden), Transmit (7.99 €), Netatmo (Laden), AnyFont (1.99 €), GoPro (Laden), Soulver (0.99 €), Box (Laden), Prompt 2 (7.99 €), Google+ (Laden), Inbox (Laden), Clips (Laden), Trailers (US-Link), Skitch (Laden), Burstio (0.99 €), GIF Toaster (Laden), Quotebook (4.99 €), Adobe Color (Laden), OneShot (Laden), Periscope (Laden), Google Maps (Laden), ParkMan (FI-Link), Speedtest (Laden), Chrome (Laden), Darkroom (Laden), Coda (9.99 €), Metapho (Laden), Skyscanner Flights (Laden), Viber (Laden), Kicktipp (Laden), Workflow (4.99 €), Hyperlapse (Laden), Freedome VPN (Laden), Pixelmator (4.99 €), WhatsApp (Laden), Terminology 3 (2.99 €), Threema (1.99 €), Kickstarter (Laden), Flickr (Laden), Reitit (2.99 €), Swarm (Laden), LongScreen (2.99 €), Air Video HD (4.99 €), Path (Laden), IF by IFTTT (Laden), Weather Line (3.99 €), Currencies (3.99 €), Netflix (Laden), Plex (Laden), DayOne (4.99 €) und Blink (4.99 €).
Things (19.99 €), 1Password (Laden), Instashare (Laden), VSCOcam (Laden), DayOne (4.99 €), YouTube (Laden), Editorial (9.99 €), Sonos (Laden), Reeder (4.99 €), Instapaper (Laden) und Twitterrific (Laden).
Transmit (7.99 €), Paper (Laden), Pocket (Laden), Fantastical (9.99 €), Comic Zeal (4.99 €), Slack (Laden), Coda (9.99 €), WordPress (Laden), Quip (Laden), Microsoft Word (Laden), Pinswift (4.99 €), Pixelmator (4.99 €), Droplr (Laden), Prompt (7.99 €), TextExpander (4.99 €), Freedome VPN (Laden), Twitter (Laden), Blink (4.99 €), Air Video HD (4.99 €), Facebook (Laden), Ulysses (19.99 €), Clips (Laden), Flickr (Laden), Speedtest (Laden), Keynote (9.99 €), PlayMemories Mobile (Laden), Soulver (0.99 €), Messenger (Laden), Google+ (Laden), AnyFont (1.99 €), Infuse 3 (Laden), BitTorrent Sync (Laden), Evernote (Laden), Chrome (Laden), Microsoft OneNote (Laden), Quotebook (4.99 €), Trailers (US-Link), Alien Blue (Laden), AirPort Utility (Laden), Netatmo (Laden), Skitch (Laden), Dropbox (Laden), Terminology 3 (2.99 €), Skype (Laden), Netflix (Laden), Workflow (4.99 €), Kindle (Laden), Metapho (Laden), Screens (19.99 €), Storehouse (Laden), MetaRecorder (Laden), Calcbot (Laden), OneDrive (Laden), Canon Easy-PhotoPrint (Laden), Relook (3.99 €) und Plex (Laden).
XCOM: EW (9.99 €), 80 Days (4.99 €), Alto’s Adventure (1.99 €), Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath (2.99 €), This War of Mine (14.99 €), Final Fantasy 7 (15.99 €), Lara Croft Go (4.99 €), Grim Fandango Remastered (9.99 €), Heroki (4.99 €), Transistor (9.99 €), Geometry Wars 3 (4.99 €), Final Fantasy 6 (15.99 €), Sneaky Sneaky (2.99 €), Papers, Please (7.99 €), Breath of Light (2.99 €), Chaos Ring 3 (19.99 €), Evoland (4.99 €), Halo: Spartan Assault (5.99 €), Halo: Spartan Strike (5.99 €), bit Dungeon II (2.99 €), Shadowrun: Dragonfall (2.99 €) und Thomas was alone (4.99 €).
It looks like the new Xbox One Elite controller will release on October 27. While Microsoft has yet to officially confirm the date, it's listed to launch then on a variety of major retailers, including Microsoft's own store. Previously, the $150 controller was confirmed only to launch sometime in October.
Xbox fans will no doubt recognize that October 27 isn't just a random Tuesday in October. It's the day that Halo 5: Guardians, one of Microsoft's biggest titles of the year and one with roots in the competitive gaming space, arrives on store shelves. It would appear that the two launching on the same day is no accident.
The Xbox One Elite controller, which also works on PC, is more than twice as expensive as the standard unit. For the premium price, you get a first-of-its-kind Xbox controller that features interchangeable rear paddles and hair trigger locks. It also lets you adjust the trigger minimum and maximum values, thumbstick sensitivity, and button assignments. In short, you can assign any of the controller's 14 different inputs to the ABXY buttons, paddles, D-pad, triggers, and thumbstick clicks.
Below is a list of everything that comes with the package.
You can then save your custom controller profiles (as many as you'd like) to a special app; two profiles can be loaded onto the controller, and you can switch between them with a new Profile Switch system.
For a closer look at the controller, which also will come bundled with the $500 Xbox One Elite hardware package in November, click through the images in the gallery above.
Xbox One controllers with buttons on the back are apparently now all the rage, as both Razer and PowerA have announced their own high-end Xbox One pads with increased functionality.
Damit hätten wir nicht gerechnet
Stirbt Mario auf der Verpackung von Super Mario Bros.? War Super Mario Bros. 3 nur eine Theateraufführung und wer ist eigentlich die Mutter von Bowser Jr.? Im unterhaltsamen Video klärt Shigeru Miyamoto Mythen des Super Mario-Universum auf.
Between 2006 and 2008 a war raged on between two optical disc formats: BD (Blu-ray Disc) and HD DVD (High Density Digital Versatile Disc), with Sony and Toshiba as their major backers, respectively. The war resembled an earlier conflict between Betamax and VHS and was, of course, eventually won by the Blu-ray format.
With the commercialization of High Definition (HD) televisions, there was a need for a new disc medium that could store the large amounts of data required for HD videos. In 2002, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) was founded by nine companies, including Sony (its initial name was the ‘Blu-ray Disc Founder Group').
Other companies in the DVD Forum (the group of DVD-developing companies) were split over the decision to join the BDA. Their main concerns were the high price of developing the discs and (at the time) the big visual differences between BD and DVD. They decided to create their own format: HD DVD.
When Sony announced the PlayStation 3 at E3 2005, the firm also announced that the system would be equipped with the brand new Blu-ray technology. Sony wanted to use the PS3 to promote Blu-ray in similar fashion to how the PS2 had made DVD more popular. Microsoft decided to stick with the DVD format for the Xbox 360 believing that the DVD's storage capacity would be sufficient. However, they would later release a HD DVD add-on to support the rival platform.
With the horrors of the costly format war between Betamax and VHS still on their minds, both parties got together to create a unified format. They both had different technical preferences, so the talks did not proceed smoothly. The cost and storage size of both formats were also issues. HD DVD could store less data (30 GB, whereas a BD can store up to 50 GB of data), but was also cheaper to make (DVD producing plants were also capable of making HD DVDs, whereas they required extensive changes to produce Blu-ray discs). Another major hurdle was the division of royalties that would be earned by the different companies. Members of the BDA felt like they missed out on too many royalties with DVD and so wanted to get more out of the next format.
Even though there was some promising initial progress, it was clear by the summer of 2005 that the attempt at creating a unified format had failed and both parties went their own way. War was coming. In September 2005 Toshiba announced that the HD DVD launch would be delayed from late 2005 to early 2006. The advantage of releasing earlier than Blu-ray would not be as strong because of this decision.
One month later, two film studios who were exclusive to HD DVD (Paramount and Warner Bros.) announced that they would actually be releasing their movies on both formats. At that moment in time, Universal Studios remained as the only major exclusive backer of the HD DVD format.
In March 2006 Toshiba announced yet another delay for its HD DVD players of one month. Despite the delays, however, HD DVD players still beat their Blu-ray counterparts to market. The first BD player (created by Samsung) was released in June 2006, two months later. On top of that, the Blu-ray players had a fair share of hardware issues. Because of this, and a higher price tag for BD players, HD DVD took an early lead.
However, things started to change and the tide began to turn when Sony released the PlayStation 3 in November 2006 (March 2007 in Europe). Not only was it the best Blu-ray player at the time, it was also the cheapest, despite its hefty price tag of 600 dollars (60GB version). Microsoft's HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 was not very popular and did little to increase the market share of the HD DVD format. After the release of the PS3, HD DVD quickly lost its lead in software sales, but Blu-ray didn't initially take like a duck to water either. BD sales did, however, increase faster than HD DVD sales over time.
Despite the increased popularity of Blu-ray, the format was dealt a big blow in the summer of 2007. Two studios - Paramount and DreamWorks - announced that they would only be releasing their movies in the HD DVD format. They cited the lower production costs of HD DVD and better technological opportunities of the format as being the key reasons behind the decision, although it was later discovered that both companies were paid handsomely for their commitment to HD DVD, receiving promotional campaigns and hard cash.
Still, Blu-ray struck an important first victory with the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix from Warner Bros. The movie was released on both formats, but the Blu-ray version proved the most popular version. This likely influenced a decision that would prove to be a huge blow to Toshiba and the other HD DVD backers.
In the beginning of 2008, Warner Bros. announced its intention to drop HD DVD support completely (rumor has it that Warner Bros. was paid hundreds of millions of dollars for this decision, but this has never been confirmed). This must have come as a huge shock to Toshiba - the company cancelled its appearance at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas which commenced a few days later. Toshiba openly expressed its disappointment over Warner's decision but remained committed to its format. The company also announced huge price cuts (up to fifty percent off certain players) in hopes of regaining lost market share.
Despite this aggressive strategy, Toshiba could not turn the tide of the war. The domino effect had well and truly begun. Other film studios followed Warner's example and abandoned the HD DVD format. Retailers began to back BD exclusively one by one and, at this stage, it was widely believed that Blu-ray had complete victory within its grasp.
Then, on February 19th 2008, Toshiba announced that it would stop manufacturing HD DVD players. Universal Studios, still backing HD DVD exclusively at that point, announced its decision to support the Blu-ray format as well. Microsoft later announced that it would cease the production of the HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, but mentioned nothing about a possible BD player add-on. The war was over.
Despite winning the format war, Blu-ray never managed to fully replace DVD. Even now, DVDs are still purchased by consumers in huge amounts, and Blu-ray also faces strong competition from streaming services like Netflix.
Looking back on it, Sony's commitment to Blu-ray, especially in the form of the PlayStation 3, gave it the extra edge needed to win the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war. Before the PlayStation 3's release, HD DVD was leading the race, mainly due to a lower price and more identifiable name. But, quite suddenly, millions of people owned Blu-ray players. Victory became almost inevitable after that.
This all came at a huge cost for Sony, though. Blu-ray technology was new and expensive to manufacture, so despite its expensive price tag of 599 dollars the company still made initial losses of about 200 dollars per PlayStation 3 system sold. The price tag also, of course, hit Sony in terms of console market share and the PS3 struggled to gather momentum early on in its life cycle. In some senses this proved a pyrrhic victory for Sony, if not for Blu-ray as a format.
Full Article - http://www.vgchartz.com/article/261124/a-brief-history-of-the-blu-ray-versus-hd-dvd-war/
LEGO master designer Nick "Nick Brick" Jensen has revealed his latest work. It's an impressive, life-size replica of the Halo 5: Guardians MA5D Assault Rifle. Built using more than 3,250 bricks, it weighs 5.5 pounds and measures 33 inches long; it even features four weapon attachments and a squeezable trigger.
The weapon attachments are a BR sight, DMR scope, Suppressor, and even an Energy bayonet.
This Halo 5 LEGO gun will be on display at BrickCon 2015 next month in Seattle. To see more of Jensen's work, which includes creations based on Destiny, Mass Effect, and Splatoon (among so many others), check out his YouTube page.
Halo 5: Guardians launches October 27 for Xbox One. For more, check out some recent stories below.
Via: GameInformer
