American Idol Will End After Season 15
Fox has confirmed American Idol will end following the conclusion of Season 15, which starts in January, 2016.
The network has revealed host Ryan Seacrest and judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick, Jr. will all be back for the "season-long celebratory event".
Though it may seem surprising to some given the huge impact the show has had on popular culture, the writing's been on the wall for some time. At its peak back in the good old days, the show would grip families across America, but the last two seasons saw numbers fall beneath 15 million for the first time.
This year in particular saw American Idol fall to a new low with a 1.4 rating in the demo, pulling in around 9 million viewers.
Nintendo’s Next Console May Be Region Free
There's a good chance Nintendo's next platform won't be region locked, if recent comments from company president and CEO Satoru Iwata are any indication.
While Nintendo has no intention of removing Wii U or 3DS region locks, the possibility of not having such restrictions tied to its next console are being investigated. "Removing region-locking from current game machines presents various issues, so we don't consider that to be very realistic," Iwata said during Nintendo's latest Q&A with investors (via NeoGAF).
Fallout 4 Cinematic Trailer Allegedly Made by Del Toro Studio
Fallout 4 is set to be revealed via a cinematic trailer created by director Guillermo del Toro's production company, it would be appear.
The news comes courtesy of the LinkedIn page (via Videogamer) for one of the employees of Mirada Studios. The artist involved has previously contributed to cinematics for The Elder Scrolls Online, Far Cry 4 and Forza Motorsport.
Nintendo: No NX, Smartphone, or QOL Announcements at E3
Nintendo will not be sharing any details about its upcoming NX console, nor will it be discussing its Quality of Life or mobile initiatives at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo.
During Nintendo's latest meeting with investors, company president and CEO Satoru Iwata confirmed that the company will be laser focused on Wii U and 3DS content for E3 2015. As such, the mysterious NX console that will allegedly "change video gaming life" won't be discussed in any way, shape, or form at the event.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Sold Early by Retailers
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been sold early by a number of retailers in the United Arab Emirates.
Not due for release until May 19, some gamers have managed to get hold of the title early and began to stream the open-world RPG over the weekend.
Developer CD Projekt Red has spent the last 48 hours locking threads on its official forums and taking videos down from YouTube, while also imploring anyone who may have an early copy not to post any spoilers.
"Please, don't discuss the contents of any leaked information you may find," a moderator wrote. "If you see anyone posting information from the leak on the forum, remember to use the Report Post button and let us know."
SEGA Laments ‘Weak’ Sales as Alien: Isolation Sells 2.1 Million
SEGA has released it's full-year financial results for the 12 months ending March 30, 2015, revealing sales of packaged software have risen 41 percent year-on-year.
Despite this, the company is apparently disappointed with its 12.3 million sales, branding them "weak", even though it's 1 million units more than were forecasted in February. Both Alien: Isolatation, which sold 2.11 million, and the 620,000 combined sales of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal were cited as examples. The Persona series has now also managed to sell over 6 million units.
Overall, the company earned ¥111 billion ($925.7m) in revenue, up 11 per cent year-on-year. ¥44.8 billion of this came from physical sales and ¥44.7 billion from digital. Operating income rose to ¥4 billion ($33.4m), around double the previous year. As a whole SEGA earned ¥355 billion ($2.96b) in revenue, down 6.1 percent year-on-year. A new loss of ¥11.3 billion ($94m) makes up the bottom line, which isn't ideal considering last year's profit of ¥30.7 billion.
Australians Will Have to Pay Tax on Steam and Netflix
The Australian Federal Government confirmed today that it will introduce the “Netflix Tax,” meaning Australian consumers will have to shell out an extra 10 percent for goods purchased from digital services like Netflix, Google, Steam and Amazon.
Treasurer Joe Hockey revealed during a press conference today that the 10 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be charged to all digital products and services bought online, such as games, movies and books. Australians currently don’t pay GST on physical online purchases under AU$1,000, and Hockey said that won't change after the adjustment.
"What we’re doing is going to digital providers overseas and saying ‘can you apply the GST to the products you provide into Australia?’," Hockey said according to IT News. "They are agreeable to it. It’s not their profits
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Revealed on Classification Site
A listing for Gears of War: Ultimate Edition has appeared on the Brazilian Advisory Rating System website.
That's the same website that outed Dishonored Definitive Edition.
It's possible Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is in reference to the rumoured remaster that's reportedly happening at Dirty Bomb-developer Splash Damage, despite the denial of a 'Marcus Fenix Collection' from the new Gears of War developer Black Tusk Studios.
Blue Martian Sunset Captured by NASA’s Curiosity Rover
Using its Mast Camera (Mastcam), NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured a sequence of images of the sun setting on the mission's 956th Martian day, or April 15, 2015.
The sequence was taken from the Gale Crater in between dust storms, according to NASA, causing some dust to remain suspended in the atmosphere. NASA explains that Martian sunsets make the blue more prominent, while normal daylight brings out the red rusty color of the dust.
Steam Breaks Its Concurrent User Record Again
Steam broke its peak concurrent user record over the weekend when more than 9.5 million users logged in at the same time.
According to the Steam and game statistics page, the figure peaked at 9,502,661 users around midday pacific time on May 10. Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are currently the top two played games on the platform, with Grand Theft Auto 5 long bumping Team Fortress 2 off its usual position of third.