Yearly Archives: 2018
NASA Is Sending One Very Old Rock Back to Mars
American space agency NASA is sending an ancient meteorite back to its home planet, and then blowing it up. The meteorite, not the planet.
A small piece of a larger meteorite that crashed to Earth millions of years ago is headed back to Mars, where it originated. It's part of NASA's 2020 Mars rover mission.
The part about it getting blown up? That's completely true, but it's not just to make an example for the other Mars rocks. It's actually part of the calibration process for the rover's hyper-sensitive laser measurement device, known as SHERLOC.
While the rock is quite rare here on Earth, with only 200 or so positively identified chunks of Mars having ever been found, it's no big deal on Mars, because Mars is made of... Mars rocks.
Stardew Valley Might Get Multiplayer Beta This Spring
Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe) is planning to launch the game's multiplayer beta this spring.
Barone revealed progress on the game's multiplayer update is coming along nicely. This is thanks to Tom Coxon, who's helped Barone with completing all the network coding to turn Stardew Valley into a multiplayer game.
As such, work on the new features is finished with the new text currently being translated into different languages. Once Barone receives the new text, the next step would be QA testing and then, hopefully, the launch of the beta.
"Once we’ve received the translated text and integrated it back into the game, we’ll begin a serious QA phase involving thorough testing of all new features in both multiplayer and single player contexts," Barone wrote. "When that is finished, the update should be ready for a public beta. I am still shooting for a spring release for the beta."
New Game Scoop! Podcast: Sea of Thieves, AC Origins, Lootboxes, and More
Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN's weekly video game talk show. This week we're discussing games-as-a-service, lootbox prohibition, Sea of Thieves, and more. Watch the video above or download the podcast below.
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PSVR Gets Big Price Drop for a Limited Time
PlayStation VR is getting a limited time price drop in a few days.
As detailed on PlayStation Blog, the standalone headset will cost $200 USD from February 18 to March 3. It's originally priced at $300 USD. Additionally, two PSVR bundles are getting substantial price cuts during the same time period.
The PlayStation VR Doom VFR Bundle will cost $300 USD (originally $400 USD). The bundle comes with a PSVR headset, a PlayStation Camera, the PSVR Demo Disc 2.0, and a copy of Doom VFR. In IGN's review of Doom VFR, we call the game a "brave shooter that proves that VR games don’t have to be conservative with movement to work."
11 Things We Learned About KH3 at D23 Expo Japan
Even after a presentation at D23 Expo Japan, we still don’t know exactly when in 2018 Kingdom Hearts III is coming, but during the presentation a lot of new information about the game has come to light. Many of this got lost in translation since the presentation was not streamed and only in Japanese, but IGN Japan was in the room, so let us tell you all the cool new things we learned about the game.
Let’s start with the obvious stuff. In the newly revealed trailer, Monsters, Inc. was introduced as the second Pixar world introduced for the game after Toy Story. Sora, Goofy and Donald are clad in monster-like outfits, and they will be teaming up with Sully and Mike to traverse through a world with gimmicks, obstacles and foes that match the setting of the Monsters, Inc. universe.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Cast in Kung Fury Movie
Arnold Schwarzenegger joins the cast of Kung Fury, the feature-length sequel to the cult short film of the same name.
No word yet on who Schwarzenegger will play in the movie, but he'll star alongside the recently cast Michael Fassbender and David Hasselhoff. David Sandberg, who wrote and directed the original 2015 Kung Fury, will also star in and produce the sequel under his Laser Unicorns' banner.
Kung Fury's story takes place in Miami in 1985, and follows the titular cop and his Thundercops police force fighting crime in the streets of Miami. However, after a fellow Thundercop tragically dies, a new villain emerges to help Kung Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, attain the ultimate weapon. Kung Fury must find a way to defeat Kung Fuhrer by traveling through space and time itself.
Path of Exile’s Bestiary Expansion Is Targeted at the Hardest of the Hardcore
As far as free to play games go it’s hard to keep and maintain an audience. Getting something for free means no risk on the consumer’s part; they can come in and get out relatively quickly if they don’t like it. It says a lot about a free game that’s managed to not only regularly increase its player base, and also crank out enough regular content to keep the most hardcore players occupied, but that’s exactly what Grinding Gear Games has been able to do with Path of Exile.
This spring it will receive a new update – titled Bestiary – that adds tons of new activities, items, recipes, and challenges for high-level players...all for the low price of free. We got a chance to see some of the content players can expect from the update.
Black Panther Tracking to Beat Deadpool’s Box Office Record
Excitement for Black Panther continues to climb, as do estimates for its opening weekend at the box office.
Less than a month ago, director Ryan Coogler's upcoming MCU movie was tracking to have an opening weekend in the ballpark of $100 million. Now, just hours ahead of its domestic debut, Box Office projections for the four-day holiday weekend have increased to a range of $190 million to $215 million.
As such, Black Panther is on track to surpass Deadpool's domestic debut, setting a new box office record for both Presidents Day weekend and the month of February in North America. In 2016, Deadpool garnered $152.2 million over the four-day holiday weekend.
Steam’s Lunar New Year Sale Now Live
Steam's Lunar New Year sale has officially begun, and it features discounts for a variety of games.
As detailed on the Steam Store, the sale will run from now until February 19. Some of the discounted titles include NBA 2K18, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Cuphead, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Okami HD, Tekken 7, Nioh, Pyre, and many more.
Below are some specific deals and you can visit the Steam Store to see the full list of currently discounted titles.
NBA 2K18 is 35 percent off and is priced at $39 USD; Pyre is 50 percent off and costs $10 USD; Nioh is 30 percent off and costs $35 USD; Hellblade is 30 percent off and is priced at $21 USD; The Witcher 3 is 50 percent off and costs $20 USD; Okami HD is 30 percent off and is priced at $14 USD; Cuphead is 15 percent off and costs $17 USD; and Tekken 7 is 50 percent off and is priced at $25 USD.
Why Everyone’s Watching ER on Hulu Instead of New TV
ER wasn't the only medical drama to premiere in the fall of 1994. It wasn't even the only medical drama set in Chicago to premiere that year. But it's easily one of the best television series ever produced, and its pilot should be taught to anyone who wants to tell stories for a living, regardless of the format. The show gave us a world you could truly sink into every week.
All 331 episodes of ER are finally streaming on Hulu, and the difference between it and its descendants is striking if you happen to segue directly into another show. Perhaps the most jarring experience is going from the ER pilot to Fox's recently premiered The Resident, an endpoint to the genre's evolution that began with ER.