Zen Studios Announces Star Wars Pinball: The Force Awakens
Zen Studios has announced its next virtual pinball pack is based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Star Wars Pinball: The Force Awakens Pack will include two new tables based on the events from the record-breaking movie, according to Zen Studios' blog. The two-pack will be released on January 12 for consoles, PC, and mobile devices.
The first table in the pack, The Force Awakens, features heroes Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron as they battle through various locations from the film through 12 story modes.
The second table, Might of the First Order, focuses on the First Order’s push to dominate the galaxy. It includes a two-level playfield and players can control a Star Destroyer.
Microsoft Announces Two New Xbox One Bundles
Microsoft has unveiled two new Xbox One console bundles releasing this month.
The first bundle, which is now available at retailers for $400 (£370), includes a 1TB Xbox One, along with Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, as well as digital versions of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas and Vegas 2.
Meanwhile, Microsoft's "Name Your Game" bundle will be available later this month and retail for $350 (£320). The package includes a 500GB Xbox One and your choice of one of the following titles as a full-game download: Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition or Rare Replay.
Those in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand and the U.K. will be able to pick up the bundle starting January 12, while those in the United States, Brazil and Canada will have to wait until sometime in "late January."
New Jungle Book Poster Teases King Louie and Kaa
Disney will unveil a brand new triptych poster this week for their forthcoming live-action retelling of The Jungle Book. The first part of the new poster, seen below, features King Louie (voiced by Christopher Walken) and the serpent Kaa (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
The second part of the new triptych poster will drop tomorrow, Wednesday the 6th, at 9am PT. 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.
Kojima to Be Inducted to Hall of Fame at DICE
Hideo Kojima has been inducted as the 21st member to The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame.
The Metal Gear creator will be presented the 2015 Hall of Fame Award during DICE's 19th Awards ceremony by film director (and spiritual partner-in-crime) Guillermo del Toro.
“Hideo Kojima’s career-defining works have shaped much of how the video game industry approaches cinematic storytelling and player engagement,” said AIAS president Martin Rae in a statement. “As one of the most well-loved and well-respected designers of our time, it is a great honor for the Academy to induct him into our Hall of Fame. Hideo is a game creator whose eyes have always looked towards the future, and we look forward to his thoughts on the D.I.C.E. Summit stage.”
Over 35.9 Million PlayStation 4 Systems Sold
Sony announced today that it sold more than 5.7 million PlayStation 4 systems throughout the 2015 holiday season. This brings the total units sold to over 35.9 million, as of January 3, 2016.
It's not only the system that sold well, the company says. Thirty-five million PlayStation 4 games were sold in retail stores and through digital download over the past few months.
Adding to its success, the company notes that 60 percent more users subscribed to its PlayStation Plus service at the end of 2015, compared to the same time last year.
“We are absolutely delighted that so many customers have selected PS4 as the best place to play throughout this holiday season and that the PS4 community is growing more than ever,” says Andrew House, President and Global CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.
Fossil Adds Another Incognito Smartwatch to Its Q Wearables Lineup
Fossil is adding another smartwatch to its Q series of wearables. The new Q54 Pilot offers notification alerts and fitness tracking in a package that looks like a normal watch. This is the smartwatch for people who don’t want to look like they’re wearing a computer on their wrist.
The Q54 Pilot is Fossil’s third smartwatch, with the Q Grant and Q Founder coming before. While the Q Founder is Fossil’s only smartwatch running Google’s Android Wear operating system, both the Q54 Pilot and Q Grant are incognito smartwatches disguised as a regular watch.
PC Release Date Announced for Rise of the Tomb Raider
Square Enix has announced that Rise of the Tomb Raider will be coming to PC on January 28.
Rise of the Tomb Raider was released in November for Xbox One and 360, but we knew that it would be coming to PC in "early 2016." It should also be coming out for PS4 in "Holiday 2016," but we don't have a firm release date for that yet.
“The PC release of Rise of the Tomb Raider continues the positive momentum from our highly successful partnership and collaboration with Microsoft for the launch on Xbox One and Xbox 360,” said Scot Amos, co-Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics in a statement.
Redemption as Former Donkey Kong Champ Regains Record
Wes Copeland has regained the Donkey Kong Arcade world championship with a score of 1,190,000.
As DonkeyKongBlog reports, within minutes of Copeland’s high-score feat, former champ Robbie Lakeman took to Twitch in the hopes of repeating history. Back in September of 2015, Lakeman – the then record holder – lost his title to Copeland when Copeland racked up a score of 1,170,500. Following Copeland’s win, Lakeman set out to regain his lost crown, and within just six hours of Copeland beating him, had set a new world record of 1,172,100.
UK Deals – Rise of The Tomb Raider under £20
The Movies that Influenced The Hateful Eight
Quentin Tarantino is a filmmaker who both wears his influences on his sleeve and plasters them all over his movies. So when IGN sat down with the writer-director to discuss new film The Hateful Eight, we asked what audiences should watch to prepare for his brutal and bloody western. Two of his choices were easy and obvious, being violent oaters that take place in the snow. And the third was a book that he was in the process of reading, but by an author whose work is an obvious influence on the Hateful Eight script.
But we’ll let QT explain, and also reveal the somewhat dubious Poirot-inspired nickname that Samuel L. Jackson picked up during the shoot…
“If they wanted to prepare a little bit, one of the things about this western is… I do like dealing in genres, but I also like dealing in sub-genres. So there’s westerns, and then there’s spaghetti westerns. In this case there’s also the sub, sub-genre of snow westerns. And snow westerns – there’s not that many of them, but they’re there.”