Diablo-Themed Heroes Coming to Heroes of the Storm
Two new characters have been announced for Heroes of the Storm.
First up is Xul, the necromancer from Diablo 2, who will be summoning skeletons and cursing enemies. We'll also be seeing Li Ming, the wizard from Diablo 3.
According to an interview with HotS game director Dustin Browder on Meta Bomb, Li Ming will have three core builds, and you'll be able to mix and match between them. Magic Missile will be used as a good midrange build, the Arcane Orb will be for poking, and the teleport build will be a risky one as you'll be diving into the action.
More information about these new Diablo themed characters will become available during the coming weeks. As for what's next, Browder said in the interview that they "definitely want to bounce around a lot... We'll definitely do some new universes going forwards, but we'll bounce back to Diablo, and just try to keep it as fresh as possible."
Comic Book Reviews for January 20, 2016
It was yet another big week for comic book lovers. DC delivered a crucial new chapter of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman (click here to see both creators talk about in-depth about that issue). Marvel launched new volumes of Captain Marvel and Silver Surfer while also introducing us to the Deadpool of the year 2099. In the indie realm, we saw the debut of Brian Azzarello and Juan Doe's American Monster, Rick Remender and Jonathan Wayshak's Devolution and Ted McKeever's Pencilhead.
Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and many other new books. And be sure to let us know your favorite comics of the week in the comments below!
Penn Jillette and Randy Pitchford Will Open D.I.C.E.
The 2016 D.I.C.E. summit will open with a presentation by Penn Jillette and Randy Pitchford discussing "Assumptions and Expectations with Interactivity and Magic."
Jillette, who is perhaps one of magic's most recognizable names as one-half of Penn and Teller, will join Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford in a magic trick "that will move from the live theater to virtual reality."
The magic trick will come at the end of a session exploring many of the most crucial aspects of stage magic, including misdirection, disrupting expectations, and "just plain old-fashioned lying."
In addition to the keynote from Jillette and Pitchford, other topics will further explore the "art of engagement." Chief creative director at EA Rich Hilleman will lead "Automobiles, the Next Mobile Platform," exploring "innovations in open computing systems, new transportation service models," along with self-driving automobile technology and gaming's role in "this evolving platform."
10 Things We Learned on the Set of X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Apocalypse will be hitting theaters on May 27, telling the story of mutantkind in 1983 when Apocalypse awakens and uses his uber powers to threaten the world. I visited the set in Montreal, Canada, along with a small group of press and learned some key information about the upcoming X-flick.
Warning: There are no explicit spoilers in this piece, but if you’re spoiler-sensitive, then best steer clear because there will be a lot of information revealed about the context of the movie and what to expect from certain characters.
Before we get to the juicy details, here are two new photos from the set.
Pylocke (Olivia Munn) and Storm (Alexandra Shipp). CREDIT: 20th Century Fox
We’re Not a ‘Corporate Beast’, Says Electronic Arts’ CEO
Electronic Arts’ CEO Andrew Wilson told attendees at a recent conference that the publisher was not a "corporate beast".
Speaking at the B.C. Tech Summit (via Vancouver 24 Hrs), Wilson acknowledged that though some people may assume the company was fixed on "taking money from them while people play our games", that wasn't the case.
“If you understand the video game business, EA — the branding is this corporate beast that just wants to take money from them while people play our games. That’s not actually what we’re trying to do.”
Talking about EA Access, EA's Xbox One-exclusive subscription service, Wilson added: “For the longest time in civilization, we would spend money as human beings, then we would spend time where we spent our money. That’s reversed now."
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Our Solar System May Have a Ninth Planet Again
Astronomers believe there is evidence for a large distant planet in our solar system that hasn't been spotted yet.
Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown of the California Institute of Technology published their findings in The Astronomical Journal. The so-called Planet X, or Planet Nine, is thought to have 10 times the mass of Earth.
They have been observing the Kuiper Belt, a distant band of objects beyond Neptune. A grouping of objects within the belt have very distinct alignments, which they say point to a large planet. The team says that there's only a 0.007 percent chance that this grouping is a coincidence.
Assetto Corsa Coming to PS4 and Xbox One in April
Respected PC racing simulator Assetto Corsa will arrive on April 22, 2016 developer Kunos Simlazioni has confirmed.
Assetto Corsa exited Steam Early Access back in December, 2014 and amassed a loyal following of racing sim fans. Assetto Corsa’s key focus is “pure physics realism” over car collecting, though the console versions will include over 100 cars and 20 different track configurations. DLC released over the past 12 months for the PC edition will be included in the console versions when they launch.
According to Kunos Simulazioni’s Marco Massarutto, co-founder to the Italian studio (which is actually based at Italy’s Vallelunga racing circuit), the PS4 version will run at full HD and the Xbox One version at 900p.
Nintendo Confirms Twilight Princess HD Amiibo Functionality
Nintendo has released a new amiibo-centric trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, detailing how its line of Zelda figures will work with the upcoming Wii U remaster.
The video, released by Nintendo Deutschland, confirms reports earlier this week that Link and Toon Link replenish the player's arrows, Zelda and Sheik restore their hearts, and Ganondorf makes the game more difficult by increasing the damaging Link takes.
Street Fighter 5 Limited Edition PS4 Consoles Coming to Japan
Sony has announced a range of Street Fighter V limited edition PlayStation 4 consoles coming to Japan.
According to the Japanese PS Blog (via Gematsu), four variations of black and white consoles will be released. A Street Fighter V logo and a Chun-Li and Laura edition will come in white and a Ryu and a Necalli and Ryu edition will come in black.
In addition to the consoles, each model comes with a custom PlayStation 4 theme and an original sleeve. The game will not be included with the console.