Monthly Archives: June 2015
GameStop Scoops ThinkGeek Out From Under Hot Topic’s Nose
GameStop will buy online geek-culture company ThinkGeek's parent company, Geeknet Inc., for $140 million USD.
The bid beats out mall-standard retailer Hot Topic, which had pledged $122 million to buy all outstanding shares of the company at the end of last month.
GameStop believes the acquisition will provide "significant expansion" to the company's global business. GameStop CEO Paul Raines said the company is excited to leverage ThinkGeek's expertise in product development to broaden GameStop's own offerings in the collectibles market.
Nolan to Princeton Grads: Chase Reality, Not Dreams
Christopher Nolan delivered an uncharacteristic commencement speech to the students of Princeton during yesterday's graduation ceremony, telling the attendees to chase reality rather than their dreams.
"In the great tradition of these speeches, generally someone says something along the lines of 'Chase your dreams,' but I don't want to tell you that because I don't believe that," The Dark Knight director said during his speech, according to THR. "I want you to chase your reality."
Nolan then referenced the ending of his film Inception, noting that dreams are merely "subsets of reality," and thus something we shouldn't consume ourselves with. "The way the end of that film worked, Leonardo DiCaprio's character Cobb — he was off with his kids, he was in his own subjective reality," he explained. "He didn't really care anymore, and that makes a statement: perhaps, all levels of reality are valid."
Bethesda Teases Big Fallout Reveal Coming Tomorrow
Bethesda has launched a new website almost certainly confirming Fallout 4 will be announced tomorrow.
The site bears a countdown timer that currently looks like it'll run out tomorrow, June 3 at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm GMT.
While we don't know how robust the reveal may be, the most exciting thing about this is that it definitely isn't another fake. For a start, Bethesda tweeted it and, given the URL of "http://fallout.bethsoft.com/", it should be pretty clear what title's about to be revealed.
Though yet to be officially announced, last week a site reported a demo lasting between 20 and 30 minutes would reveal the game at this year's E3. Now it seems we may get a tantalising glimpse even earlier, perhaps of the cinematic trailer allegedly being made by Guillermo del Toro's studio?
LEGO Dimensions: Simpsons, Ghostbusters and More Confirmed
Warner Bros. has confirmed a number of the sets that'll be available as part of LEGO Dimensions when the toys-to-life title launches later this year.
As previously outed by a number of instruction manuals, toys from lines including The Simpsons, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Portal, Jurassic World, Midway Arcade, LEGO Chima and Scooby-Doo will all join the title alongside previously announced franchises like DC Comics, The Lord of the Rings, The LEGO Movie, The Wizard of Oz, LEGO Ninjago and Back to the Future.
Nintendo Denies NX Platform Will Use Android OS
Nintendo has denied recent claims its upcoming NX platform will make use of the Android operating system.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a company spokesperson denied the rumours we heard yesterday that the Japanese company was looking into using the system to give “developers more flexibility in making content that can also be on smartphones and tablets.”
A statement reads: "There is no truth to the report saying that we are planning to adopt Android for NX."
Lego Worlds Collide in Lego Dimensions
There was a moment, probably even as short as a second, in the Lego Dimensions demo where I saw Superman flying high above the Emerald City in Oz. It’s really all I wanted to see from the game to know it was headed in the right direction. Happily, during my time playing the game and discussing its vision with Traveler’s Tales CEO John Burton, I discovered even more reasons to be encouraged about the direction of Lego’s first digital toys-to-life experience.
Last year’s The Lego Movie, for which Burton served as producer, proved that mash-ups of competing properties could work, both critically as well as commercially. It’s a dream that Burton has been chasing for eight years. While working on the Indiana Jones game, the TT team wanted to bring forward playable characters from the previous Star Wars games. Unfortunately, the licensees didn’t like the idea of seeing characters playing in each other’s worlds, which meant Harry Potter, Batman, and Gollum had to stay in their own -- this, despite mixing being key to the Lego DNA.
This Week’s Xbox Deals With Gold Titles Revealed
Microsoft has revealed the discounted titles Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners can grab this week.
As usual, Major Nelson posted the latest offers available now until June 8, with NBA 2K15 acting as one of the best deals on both consoles, while the Metro titles have some strong discounts on Xbox One, and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Dark Souls II offered on Xbox 360.
The full list of discounts is below:
Xbox One
- NBA 2K15 – 50%
- NBA 2K15 Promo Bundle – 50%
- NBA 2K15 – 200,000 VC – 60%
The Witcher 3: Here’s What’s in This Week’s Free DLC
CD Projekt Red has announced the contents of the fifth and sixth free DLC bundles coming to The Witcher 3 later this week.
So far we received a Temerian Armor Set and an array of additional beards and hairstyles for Geralt in the week following launch. This was then followed by a new Witcher Contract quest and skin for Yennefer.
Now we've got a new Nilfgaardian Armor Set for Geralt, along with an Elite Crossbow Pack. The armor and one of the crossbows come from the Baron's Quartermaster in No Man's Land, with more crossbows found at the Skellige Kaer Trolde Castle Blacksmith and the Novigrad Fancy Shop Owner.
Sony Reveals New PS Now Games Coming in June
Sony has revealed five new games making their way to the PlayStation Now service this month.
At the time of writing, the company has announced the library of games available to stream now consists of over 125 titles, with the latest additions being Puppeteer, Braid, Way of the Samurai 3, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 and Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know!
Earlier this year, Sony revealed its plans for the PlayStation Now subscription service, and we've wasted no time in getting to grips with it in North America where it's already available. So far it's looking like a service with plenty of promise, though visual fidelity sometimes takes a hit.
Two New PS4 Models Leak, One With 1TB Hard Drive
Sony will apparently release two new PS4 models, one of which comes with a 1TB hard drive.
That's according to certification documents spotted on the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) site and picked up by DualShockers.
The new models, numbered CUH-1215A and CUH-1215B, are variations of the same model, with the difference essentially being the hard drive size. While the CUH-1215A variant has a 500GB HDD, the CUH-1215B version has a 1TB hard drive.