Minecraft PC and Mac Sales Hit New High Over the Weekend
Minecraft sales have passed 22 million copies over the long holiday weekend. The figure, while impressive, is made even more so by the fact the 22 million figure is only for the PC and Mac versions of Minecraft.
According to Minecraft's own stats page, an additional 14,000 gamers bought the game in the last 24 hours alone.
It's easy to see why Microsoft made the investment in the purchase of Mojang, as Minecraft's popularity and pop-culture relevance show no signs of slowing down. In June of 2014, the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Minecraft eclipsed the sales generated by the PC version. At that time, sales across all versions totaled 54 million.
FF15 Draws Storytelling Inspiration From The Last of Us
Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata recently discussed the storytelling goals of Square Enix's upcoming RPG, citing Naughty Dog's The Last of Us as a source of inspiration.
In an interview with Examiner, Tabata said the studio is aiming to deliver a narrative "where the gameplay and storytelling are really one in the same," noting "it's important that the story progresses through the gameplay in a very unforced way, in a similar way that it was done with The Last of Us."
The director also shared a few details on the story itself, saying "a really big part of the game" centers around the "emotional journey" of Noctis as he "goes from being a young prince in waiting to becoming the king of the country."
Oculus Rift Pre-Orders Open This Week
Those waiting to get their hands on a virtual reality headset will soon be able to reserve their spot, as Oculus has announced that pre-orders for their Rift headset will go live on Jan. 6, 2016.
At 8 a.m. Pacific, the Oculus website will open pre-orders for the first consumer version of the Rift. Each Rift will come packaged with Lucky's Tale, a VR platforming adventure from Playful, and a copy of CCP's EVE: Valkyrie.
Mark Zuckerberg to Create Jarvis-Like AI for His Home
Mark Zuckerberg says his personal goal for 2016 is to build "a simple AI" to run his home, kind of like Iron Man's J.A.R.V.I.S.
The Facebook CEO gives himself a personal challenge at the start of each year, and this year's theme is invention. He'll start by exploring already available technology and teach himself to use that. From there, Zuckerberg will move on to voice control, using it to "control everything in our home—music, lights, temperature, and so on."
His AI butler will, ideally, read guests' faces when they ring the doorbell and let them in automatically. He wants the AI to be able to function without explicit instructions from him or his wife, Priscilla Chan.
ReCore is Also Coming to Windows 10
The upcoming post-apocalyptic action-adventure game ReCore will be coming to both Xbox One and Windows 10, according to an Xbox official blog entry.
Among a number of other games set for 2016, Armature Studio and Comcept's ReCore is still set for an unannounced date in 2016, but Xbox lists it as coming to both the Xbox One and PC through Windows 10.
Details on ReCore are still vague, but you can learn more about protagonist Joule and her journey through the wasteland in IGN's interview with Armature Studio's Mark Pacini and Comcept CEO Keiji Inafune.
Crash Bandicoot Getting Unofficial Unreal Engine Remake
YouTube user Anisotropic is working on an unofficial Crash Bandicoot game, and they're developing it in Unreal Engine 4. Check out some prototype footage of the crate-smashing, mascot platforming below.
The work-in-progress footage is incomplete, as the creator is still sharing new updates throughout the week, but it's an impressive first look at early work of a fan project.
At the PlayStation Experience last year, we wondered if Crash could ever make a comeback. Check that out below, as well as our look at Crash as an amazing icon in his definitive era.
Scalebound Delayed to 2017
Scalebound has been delayed to 2017, PlatinumGames announced.
The upcoming Xbox One exclusive was originally set to release later this year, but according to an update on the studio's official site, development is going to require a bit more time.
"In order to deliver on our ambitious vision and ensure that Scalebound lives up to expectations, we will be launching the game in 2017," PlatinumGames explained. "This will give us the time needed to bring to life all the innovative features and thrilling gameplay experiences that we have planned."
Rainbow Six Siege DLC Delayed to February
The Operation Black Ice downloadable content pack for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege has been delayed until February 2 for Season Pass holders.
Ubisoft confirmed the slight delay on the Siege Twitter page in response to a fan question.
Operation Black Ice was originally supposed to come out this month as the start of Rainbow Six Siege's four "seasons" of content over the coming year.
The first content pack will include two new operators from the Canadian Joint Task Force 2 counter-terrorism unit and a new map, along with some new weapon skins and gameplay tweaks.
Everyone will get access to the map and operators, but Season Pass holders will have early access to the operators for seven days and can instantly add them to their roster upon release. If you want to know more, IGN has all the information about the Rainbow Six Siege Season Pass for you.
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Play Kai Arts Reveals Final Fantasy 7 Remake Figures
Square Enix and Play Arts Kai are working on a line of new figures based on the Final Fantasty VII remake.
Prototypes for the Cloud Strife and Barrett Wallace figures were shown off at Japan's Jump Festa in December, and they are impressive. Unfortunately, there is no information yet on what they'll cost and when they'll be released. For now, all we know is from what can be seen from the photos posted to toy enthusiast NonSoloHobby's Facebook page and as posted on ToyArk. See for yourself in the slideshow below.