The New Guitar Hero Wants to Give You Stagefright
Guitar Hero looks totally different. The bright, caricatured rockstars of yesteryear have morphed into real-life musicians playing in front of live audiences. The assault of colour-coded inputs racing towards you is still there, of course, but it’s evolved into a more elegant system. It immediately looks like a more contemporary incarnation of the familiar Guitar Hero experience, but there's more to its new appearance than a desire to look modern.
“We thought of it as a clean slate," Jamie Jackson, the creative director tells me. "One of the briefs I gave the team early on was to think of it just as a name. Think of it as a music game with a guitar peripheral, but pretend that nothing else has ever been done. We want to come back with some big innovation and to do that we almost felt like we needed to start from scratch.
Guitar Hero Live Announced With 2015 Release Date
Activision has announced Guitar Hero Live, the latest installment in the popular franchise, will be released in autumn 2015.
Developed by FreeStyleGames, whose previous credits include DJ Hero and DJ Hero 2, Guitar Hero Live costs $99.99 and is currently planned for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U. Additionally, select mobile devices will support the game.
A new controller has been revealed with two rows of three buttons, while artists confirmed to join the tracklist include The Black Keys, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Gary Clark, Jr., Green Day, Ed Sheeran, The War on Drugs, The Killers, Skrillex, The Rolling Stones, The Lumineers, Pierce the Veil and Blitz Kids.
Oculus Rift Uses Binaural Sound To Entice Holidaymakers
South African Tourism has used Oculus Rift technology to target UK holidaymakers.
During April, selected bars in London and Manchester will offer a five-minute taster of the sights and sound of an action-packed vacation, including cage-diving with sharks and abseiling down Cape Town's Table Mountain.
Visitors to the VR pods will also be able to sample South African street food, music, and wine.
"We want to surprise the UK travelling public," said Juan Herrada, South African Tourism’s UK manager, "and Oculus Rift is the ideal partner for us to reach a young, tech-savvy market."
"This is the first time Oculus Rift and binaural sound have been combined to create a unique, immersive holiday experience for the UK public."
Kingdom Hearts 3 Director Gives Development Update
Kingdom Hearts III development is progressing "smoothly" according to the game's director.
Tetsuya Nomura spoke to Famitsu (via Gematsu), where he also revealed we should expect to see lots more about the title at Japan's D23 Expo this November, and even hinted at a smartphone addition to the series.
"We have some interesting things planned," he said. "There will be Kingdom Hearts III news, and various things
, I think. Kingdom Hearts III development is going smoothly, but there will also be new announcements connected to it. As one of those new announcements, I think we should be able to announce a smartphone-specific development for the series in short order.”
The Flash Preview: Felicity and Ray Pay a Visit
It's time for another Arrow and The Flash crossover. This time around Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) brings Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) to the team at STAR Labs to get assistance with perfecting the Atom suit. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) will probably be thrilled to get his hands on another suit.
While Ray and Felicity are in Central City, a new villain appears on the scene and Barry (Grant Gustin) needs all the assistance he can get to stop her.
Emily Kinney on Her Villainous Flash Role
Brie Larvin (Emily Kinney), also known as Bug-Eyed Bandit, uses a horde of robotic bees to attack her former co-workers. See photos from the episode in the below gallery.
Google Fiber Expansion Forcing TWC to Increase Its Speeds
As Google continues to expand its high-speed Fiber internet service, competitors are being forced to up their game, as Time Warner Cable has announced it is increasing its internet speeds free of charge for those in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In an effort to hold on to subscribers following the announcement that Google Fiber would be coming to Charlotte, TWC revealed that consumers in the region will soon be able to enjoy internet speeds that are up to six times faster without paying an extra cent.
Game of Thrones Star Gets World of Warcraft Tattoo
Game of Thrones star Kristian Nairn has revealed a new tattoo featuring World of Warcraft character Sylvanas Windrunner.
The actor, who plays Hodor on the hit HBO show, revealed the new tattoo of the Banshee Queen on Twitter, with the boys at Blizzard responding they "love it!"
@Warcraft a wild banshee queen appeared on my arm !! pic.twitter.com/oeJk86lhsJ
— Kristian Nairn (@KristianNairn) April 14, 2015
This Week’s Deals With Gold Include Evil Within, Metro
This week's Deals with Gold have been revealed, with The Evil Within and the Metro titles serving as the main draw for both consoles.
As listed on Major Nelson's blog, the Xbox One versions of Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux will be available for 40 percent less than usual, while the Metro Redux Bundle has 50 percent off. The Xbox 360 editions of Metro 2033 and Last Light also have 50 percent off.
Other than that, The Evil Within and NHL 15 are available on both consoles at a discount of 50 percent each. The final title available is Defense Grid 2 on Xbox One, which is 75 percent off.
The Next Oddworld Remake Will Be Abe’s Exoddus
Oddworld lead Lorne Lanning has confirmed that a remake of Abe’s Exoddus is currently in development.
Speaking to KindaFunnyGames, Lanning says the team polled fans as to which game they wanted to see next, with the answer being Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus. That said, the game is still the in the early stages of development, so don’t expect too much news any time soon.
Keeping in line with Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, Lanning mentions that the name of Abe’s Exoddus will be decided by the fans, whatever that may be. Furthermore, when Abe’s Exoddus does launch, the marketing will be stronger than what we’ve seen for past titles, and should the new title sell well, the title after that will be AAA in scope and quality.
Star Ocean 5 Announced For PS4 and PS3
Update: Shortly after posting this, it's been revealed in the latest issue of Famitsu (via Gematsu) that Star Ocean 5 is in development for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.
Officially called Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness, the game is being developed by Tri-Ace and published by Square Enix.
Set on an uncivilized planet called Fakelead, 6,000 light years away from Earth, the battle system will be seamless and take place in real-time.
We're still waiting on an official reveal, or any news of a Western release. As the original story notes below, the full reveal is coming tomorrow, so be sure to check back then for more.