Monthly Archives: January 2015
Badland: GotY Edition Coming in Spring 2015
Action adventure game Badland is getting an enhanced Game of the Year Edition across PS4, PS3, Xbox One, PC/Mac, and Wii U in Spring 2015.
The game -- originally released for tablets in 2013 by a then two-person development team -- offers physics-based puzzle play that places you within flying creature Clony as it traverses an "ominous" forest, solving puzzles and triumphing over obstacles. The Game of the Edition is set to feature four times the content originally offered in the launch title, complete with 100 single-player levels, 100 co-op challenges and 27 multiplayer deathmatch stages, too.
"Our original goal in making Badland was to create a console quality game for tablets," writes developer Frogmind's Teemu Mäki-Patola on the PS Blog. "Back then we were a team of two with too few resources to enter the console market. But we hoped to bring Badland here. Luckily, it did well and we can finally make this dream a reality."
Warner Bros. Announces LEGO Marvel Avengers
Warner Bros. and TT Games have officially revealed LEGO Marvel Avengers.
The new movie tie-in is set following the events of both Avengers films, namely Avengers, and the forthcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron.
No specific release date has been given as of yet, but it’ll be available in Fall 2015 for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, 3DS, and Windows PC.
In case you missed it, Warner Bros. is lifting the lid on what the company has in store for 2015. One of the other big announcements was the confirmation of LEGO Jurassic World, which – like Avengers – will let players experience every single film.
Ivan Reitman Talks About Draft Day and the Comedy Greats
Director Ivan Reitman was the king of comedy back in the day, kicking off his career at the National Lampoon before helming gut-busting classics like Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters and Twins. This week sees the DVD release of his new film Draft Day in the UK, a sports drama that stars Kevin Costner as the General Manager of an American Football team trying to hold it together on the most important day of the season.
Here he talks to IGN about the movie, about sport, about the potential of future Black Panther Chadwick Boseman, and about his working relationship with screen legends Kevin Costner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Murray and John Belushi.
Reitman on the Draft Day set.
LEGO Jurassic World Has Been (Finally) Revealed
Warner Bros. and TT Games have officially unveiled LEGO Jurassic World.
Details are scarce at the minute but we do know the game will follow a similar route taken by LEGO Star Wars in that players will be able to play through Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Jurassic Park III, and of course the LEGO video game version of the forthcoming Jurassic World in their entirety.
LEGO Jurassic World is currently scheduled for a June release for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, 3DS, and Windows PC.
We first learned about Jurassic World back in November via the credits of LEGO Batman 3. Before that, LEGO had announced it would be releasing licensed sets themed around Jurassic World, which are set for release in May, ahead of the film’s opening on June 12.
New Update is on its Way for Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies
Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies will receive a new update in January.
The update, which is scheduled for release at the end of January, brings with it a training mode, new weapon types, a guaranteed weapon recipe, and an increase to weapon enhancements from five to eight.
Also coming is the inclusion of two news classes, namely Criss and Yuri, as well as a new costume box, which will award one of 26 different – and permanent – costume items.
You can view the full breakdown of what to expect through this link.
If you’re a fan of the Counter-Strike eSport scene you’ll probably have heard of the issues the industry is currently dealing with. In November of 2014, allegations of cheating at the Dreamhack Winter 2014 tournament shook things up. That was followed by further allegations that a top team intentionally threw a match to receive a large payout from betting odds. After that last revelation, Valve got involved, advising partners not to allow members from the teams in question the opportunity to participate in further Valve-sponsored events.
Inventor of the Laser Charles Townes Dies at Age 99
Charles Townes, the inventor of the laser, has died at age 99, the University of California at Berkeley has announced.
Born in 1915, in Greenville, South Carolina, Townes first conceived the idea of a short-wavelength, high-frequency beam while sitting at a park bench in Washington DC during the spring of 1951.
With the help of fellow scientists and students James P. Gordon and H. J. Zeiger, Townes was the first to create a device capable of harnessing ammonia molecules to amplify microwave frequencies to around 24.0 gighertz. The device in question was dubbed a maser, which stands for Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Comic Book Reviews for January 28, 2015
Uncanny Avengers sees its big relaunch this week, with Marvel also delivering the next chapter in the search for the new Juggernaut, an illuminating issue of New Avengers that gets up one step closer to Secret Wars, and the followup to that crazy cliffhanger in Uncanny X-Men.
Over at DC, there was a huge twist in Batman (we talked to writer Scott Snyder about it!), another creepy issue of Gotham By Midnight, and one of the last few issues of Red Lanterns.
On the indie scene, we got the return of Casanova, the debut of a new Jonathan Hickman series called The Dead and the Dying, and another issue of Bitch Planet.
Nintendo Rolls Out Beta Affiliate Program for YouTube Creators
The Nintendo Creators Program, a service where Nintendo gives users a part of the advertising proceeds it receives from YouTube for Nintendo-related videos, is now available in beta.
“In the past, advertising proceeds that could be received for videos that included Nintendo-copyrighted content (such as gameplay videos) went to Nintendo, according to YouTube rules," a statement on the program's website reads. "Now, through this service, Nintendo will send you a share of these advertising proceeds for any YouTube videos or channels containing Nintendo-copyrighted content that you register.”
Steam Workshop Content Creators Have Raked in $57m
Valve has revealed today that, since the launch of its Steam Workshop service in late 2011, users who have created and contributed in-game items sold in Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have collectively pocketed over USD$57 million. Valve explains this money was earned by over 1,500 contributors across 75 countries.
“When we launched the Workshop late in 2011, we expected that it would grow, but not that it would grow this much, this quickly,” writes Valve’s Alden Kroll.
Valve has also announced that revenue-generating Workshops will no longer to be limited to in-house Valve games; the first curated Workshops for non-Valve games have now opened. Dungeon Defenders: Eternity and Chivalry: Medieval Warfare are the first games to join the program but Valve expects more curated Workshops “to become available for creators and players in various games over the coming weeks and months.”
Podcast Unlocked: Is the Xbox 360 Dead?
DOWNLOAD PODCAST UNLOCKED EPISODE 180
The Xbox's sales are down year over year for the fourth quarter, largely due to dwindling Xbox 360 sales. So it's time to wonder: is the old console toast? Also, IGN tech editor Alaina Yee joins us to share her first-hand, behind-the-scenes account of the Windows 10/HoloLens event she attended last week at Microsoft Campus. Plus: EA makes bank, the Xbox One's controller gets a firmware update, and we give you an In-N-Out Burger history lesson you absolutely didn't ask for.