Nintendo’s Majority Stake of the Seattle Mariners Is for Sale
Nintendo of America has announced that it plans to sell its majority stake in the Seattle Mariners baseball team.
Chairman and CEO Howard Lincoln announced that he will retire from his position as part of the deal. His role as CEO for day-to-day operations will shift to minority owner John Stanton. Lincoln will continue as a member of the FAE Board of Directors as a representative for Nintendo’s interest.
Nintendo of America currently owns 55 percent of the Mariners. Ownership of the Major League Baseball team was transferred to Nintendo of America by former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2004. Yamauchi originally purchased his stake of the team in 1992. The team is currently valued at $1.4 billion USD.
NASA Releases 4K Footage of Mid-Level Solar Flare
NASA has released a new video showing a solar flare that was recording at 8:30 pm EDT on April 17.
Last Sunday, our Sun emitted what NASA says was a "mid-level," or M6.7 class, solar flare. The event occurred on an active area on the Sun’s right side, but from here on Earth, it simply looked like a bright flash of light.
The flare was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which has been constantly observing the Sun since 2010 in order to help scientists understand what causes these bursts of radiation.
According to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, it only caused brief radio blackouts, but they can be powerful enough to cause disturbances to the layer of the Earth’s atmosphere where GPS and communications signals travel.
Legends of Tomorrow Showrunner: Season 2 Feels Like Its Own Show
DC's Legends of Tomorrow is getting close to the end of its Vandal Savage arc, and the team behind the show is already busy conceiving what Season 2 is going to look like.
To preview the end of Season 1 and tease what's ahead for Legends' second season, showrunner Phil Klemmer got on the phone to talk about the return of Carter Hall, the ripple effects of Arrow's big death and what comes next after Vandal Savage. He also discussed whether big DC names like Jonah Hex and Constantine will return in Season 2, the plan for crossovers between Legends, The Flash and Arrow and whether the Waverider could ever jump dimensions.
Minecraft Now Available on Gear VR
While Minecraft for Oculus Rift is still in development, Mojang and Oculus have announced Minecraft for Gear VR, available today.
Minecraft: Gear VR Edition is available for $7 through the Oculus Store. The creative first-person action game is compatible with Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, Note 5, S6, and S6 edge with use of the Gear VR headset. Minecraft: Gear VR Edition has all the same features as Minecraft Pocket Edition, including Creative and Survival modes, skins, and multiplayer.
"Experiencing
in virtual reality changes it from an abstract activity to a visceral one," Oculus CTO John Carmack said. "It goes from a sense of playing the game to one of being inside your world, and spinning around to find a creeper sneaking up on you leaves a powerful impression."
Death and Life Clash in Justice League’s Darkseid War
Justice League fans finally got to read the penultimate chapter of "The Darkseid War" this week, and it was quite an eventful comic.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Justice League #49!
What began as a colossal war between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor has now evolved. Darkseid himself has fallen, with his power now residing in the body of Lex Luthor. And the Anti-Monitor's true self has been revealed - the ageless being known as Mobius. And even as these two all-powerful titans clashed in this issue, the Crime Syndicate prepared for the birth of Superwoman's child.
Will Ferrell Drops Out of Reagan Movie
Update: In response to public backlash, Will Ferrell has dropped out the Ronald Reagan movie.
According to Variety, the former president's family and supporters expressed their disapproval over the film's focus on Reagan's struggle with dementia during his time in office. Michael Reagan posted the following message on Twitter:
#Alzheimers is not a comedy to the 5 million people who are suffering with the decease,it first robs you of your mind and then it kills you
Why Nintendo Is In Real Trouble
I love Nintendo.
But there’s no denying that the company is in real trouble. Although it’s only April, it is now looking increasingly likely that 2016 will be remembered as the worst year for Nintendo since it first shifted its focus to video games in the 1970s.
2016 itself may be a lost cause, but it’s clear Nintendo is positioning the year as a rebuilding period. “Let’s take a beat, take some deep breaths, and come out swinging in 2017” the company seems to be telling its most diehard fans (and likely its internal teams and investors).
Blizzard Had Help From Black Ops 3 Dev on Overwatch
Developer Blizzard Entertainment had a bit of help getting Overwatch's shooting just right. Being the studio's first first-person shooter, Blizzard called in Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 team for help.
Treyarch assisted in one particular area—aim assist. "If you're not familiar with the terminology, aim assist isn't 'auto aim,' it's just the game making it a bit easier to keep your crosshairs on the target," assistant game director Aaron Keller told GamesRadar.
Aim assist is frequently used in console shooters, Keller added, making it something the Black Ops team is "quite familiar with."
Witcher 3 Dev Banking on ‘Rockstar Model’
The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt is looking to secure its place as a top game studio with its next release, Cyberpunk 2077.
CEO Marcin Iwiński said the studio will never be "a 10 project studio," but will focus on "certain things" as it grows. "The Rockstar model is nice," Iwiński told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview.
Unlike with Rockstar, the studio is not interested in losing its independence by being tied to a major publisher. Instead, it wants to focus on its strength and "deliver
vision in terms of the creativity and the development, but also in terms of how
Horror Scribe Penning Dennis the Menace
The Boy scribe Stacey Menear has been tapped by Warner Bros. to pen the studio's upcoming Dennis the Menace film.
As Variety reports, little is known about the Gil Netter-produced film at this time and Warners has yet to make any announcements regarding a director or the cast.
Dennis the Menace
First introduced as a comic strip in 1951, Dennis the Menace went on to become the subject of multiple live-action adaptations, including several straight-to-DVD films. The character's sole big screen appearance came in the Nick Castle-directed 1993 film, Dennis the Menace.