Perception Channels BioShock and Blair Witch for First-Person Horror
A horror game where the protagonist is blind might seem detrimental to the effort to scare the heck out of you, but let me assure you that is not the case in Perception, a new first-person horror adventure from Boston-area startup The Deep End Games. First, the PC game’s art style cleverly allows for tricks to be played on your own eyes; the teenage heroine Cassie uses a white cane to tap the floor and “see” via echolocation, hauntingly rendered in a black-and-blue outline style that’s often renders objects there one second and gone the next. That means that, occasionally, something that’s not there (or is it?) will blink in for just a split second, like a huge spider hanging in a doorway or a crouched ghoulish man in a corner facing the wall, Blair Witch-style. Insert full-body shudder here.
The Jungle Book: Shere Khan Gets a Poster
Disney will unveil a brand new triptych poster this week for their forthcoming live-action retelling of The Jungle Book. The second part of the new poster, seen below, features the villainous tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba).
The first part of the poster debuted yesterday and features King Louie (voiced by Christopher Walken) and the serpent Kaa (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
The third and final part of the poster will be released Thursday, January 7th, at 9am PT along with our sneak peek at some of what we learned on the film's set last year.
Homefront: The Revolution Release Date Leaked
Homefront: The Revolution could be releasing on May 17 in the United States.
That's according to an image taken at the retail store Target, seen below, sent in to Xbox Achievements. The $1 reservation card shows the May 17 release date in two separate spots. The first-person shooter is set to release on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Nintendo to Unveil NX ‘Concept’ Before E3, Says Analyst
Official details on Nintendo NX are allegedly not far off, as a new report claims Nintendo will reveal the console during the first half of 2016 and launch the device before year's end.
According to Nomura Securities analyst Junko Yamamura (via Barron's Asia), Nintendo plans to unveil the "concept" sometime between March and May, followed by a full console reveal in June. Yamamura's also claims that NX will launch in either October or November of this year.
With the impending release of NX, Nomura Securities expects the console's launch to cannibalize 3DS and Wii U sales, and as such has lowered its projections. "We have lowered our estimates for current consoles to reflect the present situation, fiercer competition, and what has happened in the past when new hardware is announced," Nomura said.
A Boy and His Blob PS4, Xbox One Release Date Announced
Majesco has revealed A Boy and His Blob is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on January 19.
The announcement comes via a new trailer, which shows off the numerous ways players traverse levels by feeding the extra-terrestrial blob jelly beans to turn it into an assortment of useful tools or weapons.
First revealed last August, the high-definition re-release of the 2009 Wii game developed by WayForward, the studio responsible for the Shantae series, features an alien blob who comes to Earth looking for help from a young boy to save its homeworld, Blobolonia, from an evil emperor.
HBO Prez Takes Blame for True Detective: Season 2
According to many fans, True Detective's second season wasn't nearly as good as the first. The numbers show it, too—the finale ratings couldn't match up to Season 1. HBO's President of Programming Michael Lombardo says it's his fault, and that he put too much pressure on True Detective's creator Nic Pizzolatto to deliver too much, too fast.
Lombardo doesn't necessarily think the second season of the show was a failure, but he does recognize that it was rushed to air. He says he "became too much of a network executive" after the show's massive success and was determined to repeat that in the next year. Pizzolatto, Lombardo says, is a "soulful writer," who, with the second season of True Detective, "had to reinvent the wheel."
Oculus Rift Price and Release Date Window Revealed
Pre-orders are now open for the Oculus Rift, and it'll cost you $600 / £500 / €700.
The VR headsets are to be released in waves. The first one is scheduled for March, but this allotment has now sold out. The listing currently says that the "expected ship date" is April 2016.
You can pre-order now from the Oculus shop, where orders are limited to one per customer. The price tag "does not include tax and shipping."
The package includes a headset, sensor, Oculus Remote, cables, an Xbox One Controller, and the games EVE: Valkyrie and Lucky's Tale.
Founder of Oculus Palmer Luckey has Tweeted that "Rift+PC bundles are starting at $1499. Might be able to build on your own cheaper, but good option for normal people."
TMNT Mutants in Manhattan Achievements Appear Online
Achievements for an unannounced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan game have been posted online.
Although the game still hasn’t been announced officially, the achievements do give us some idea of what the game actually is. Most notable is one achievement which points to the game having some sort of online component. Oh, and zombies for some reason.
As the achievements contain spoilers, we won’t be posting them here. You can, however, read them on the Xbox Achievements website.
We first learned about the possible Platinum Games-developed Turtles game in November when the game appeared in the Australian Classification Board’s ratings database. Next to no info is known currently, but we’ve reached out to the game’s publisher Activision and will update should we hear anything back, which we probably won’t for now.
CES 2016: Razer’s New Stealth Laptop Features a 4K Display and Expandable Desktop GPU
Razer is coming out with its most affordable laptop ever. The Razer Blade Stealth features a 12.5” 16:9 aspect ratio touch screen with a resolution of up to 3840 x 2160 (aka UHD or 4K). All models come with PCIe SSD of various sizes and can be configured with either a quad-HD screen (2560 x 1440) or the aforementioned UHD display. All models will come with an Intel Core i7 CPU and 8GB of RAM. The laptop comes in at a svelte 2.75 lbs for portability.
The Razer Blade Stealth also has a party trick up its sleeve in the form of the Razer Core. This little box lets users plug in a desktop graphics card via its Thunderbolt 3 port. The Core supports single, double-wide, full-length PCI Express x16 cards. The Core comes with a built-in 500W power supply, but can only support 375 watts of power draw from a GPU. The Core also features 4 USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and Chroma (RGB) lighting. Validated graphics cards can be plugged and unplugged without the need to reboot the laptop.
Blizzard Releases Reference Kits for All 21 Overwatch Characters
Blizzard has released a reference kit for each of the characters in Overwatch that show off every artistic detail.
The reference kits are found on the Media page of the Overwatch website, among the trailers, screenshots, artwork, and wallpapers.
Each one is a five-page .pdf file that first gives you an image of the character with some close ups of their weapons and prominent armor pieces. In addition, you are given the exact hex color code of every part of the character.
Scrolling down gives you more images of a whole range of poses, and weapons and accessories seen from all angles. It's an artist's and cosplayer's dream.