Ubisoft at E3 2015: ‘Assassin’s Creed,’ ‘Just Dance’ and new IPs
Ubisoft (featuring Aisha Tyler, as always) has revealed quite a lengthy list of games at this year’s E3. It includes new entries in fan favorite series Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, as well as new IPs for those who’d rather try something fresh. We’ve listed them all below the fold along with their trailers, so you can get a quick glimpse of what the French gamemaker has in store for this year and next.
South Park: The Fractured but Whole
Ubisoft picked up where the Stick of Truth left off for this South Park superhero-themed game. It’s currently still in development, so there’s no release date yet. But, it’s now open for pre-order if playing a diminutive, foul-mouthed superhero’s your thing.
For Honor
For Honor is one of Ubisoft’s new IPs announced on stage this year and will be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. It’s a multiplayer game, where you can play a Knight, a Samurai or a Viking on the battlefield. The title features what’s called the “Art of Battle system,” which gives you more control over your character’s weapon.
The Crew: Wild Run
Wild Run is an expansion pack that promises to breathe new life into the action-driving game, The Crew. It will be available starting on October 17th this year for Xbox One, PS4 and Windows.
Trials Fusion: Awesome Level Max
Ubisoft calls Awesome Level Max its biggest DLC yet for Trials Fusion, adding an odd unicorn-riding cat and 30 new tracks to the game. It will be available from the Xbox Store, PlayStation Store, and as a digital download for Windows as soon as July 14th.
Tom Clancy’s The Division
This post-apocalyptic online shooter’s been a long time coming. It was first announced back in 2013, but the developers chose to wait until the game’s polished enough for release rather than letting an unfinished title hit the market. This year, Ubisoft has revealed that it comes with a multiplayer mode called DarkZone. The Division is now slated for release on March 8th, 2016 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, and you’re guaranteed access to the beta if you pre-order the game.
Anno 2205
Anno 2205 is a city builder — in space! It gives you the power to build sprawling metropolises in several locations on Earth and on the moon. You can get access to beta if you pre-order the game, which will be out in November.
Just Dance 2016
This Just Dance version doesn’t need motion controllers to work with the Xbox One, Wii U and PS4 — you can play, so long as you have a smartphone loaded with its accompanying app. Plus, you can subscribe to the Just Dance Unlimited streaming service to get new content as it comes out. The game will be available starting on October 22nd, 2015, but you’ll soon be able to try it out for free on its website.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
Ubisoft has revealed two new things about Rainbow Six: Siege on stage. First, “Six,” the team’s leader, will be voiced by actress Angela Bassett. Second, it will feature a mode called “Terrohunt,” which pits a solo player or multiplayer teams against AI enemies. The game’s beta will be available on all platforms starting on September 24th.
Trackmania: Turbo
This arcade racing game features 200 tracks and lets you play with friends either online or on a split screen when offline. You can also build your own tracks if you want.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
Syndicate is set in the midst of the Industrial Revolution in London and puts players in control of Jacob Frye, who uses a classy cane-sword (among other paraphernalia) as a weapon. It will be available on October 23rd, 2015 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC. As a nice bonus, you can also play as Jacob’s twin sister Evie.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands
Ghost Recon Wildlands is set in Bolivia, which has become the biggest cocaine producer in the world. It’s a military, open-world shooter, where you can play as one of the Ghosts: a US special forces team sent to take down the cartel. You can either play solo or as part of a 4-player coop on PS4, Xbox ONE and PC, though when you’ll be able to is still up in the air.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Filed under: Gaming
Netflix launches its long-awaited web interface revamp
You won’t have to wait long at all to try Netflix’s long-expected (and arguably overdue) web interface overhaul — it’s rolling out over the course of the next two weeks, starting today. No matter where you are in the world, you’ll get a much slicker experience that resembles what you see in the streaming video service’s dedicated apps. Richer visuals are the big deal, but it should also be easier to get a sense of what a show is like before you click on it. The front end is designed from the ground up for touch, too, so you won’t be left fumbling as you catch up on Orange is the New Black from your tablet. Just be sure to make sure you’re using a modern browser, since the upgrade also drops support for the “small number” of people running older web software.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Netflix Blog
Adobe Creative Cloud update boosts speed, adds stock photo library
Moving to a subscription-based plan of cloud-run apps allows Adobe to push regular updates, and the company is keen on at least one major update a year for the entire suite. In the 2015 installment, Adobe improved performance with speeds up to 10 times faster than CS6 in some apps. Besides that welcome tweak, the company also announced its own stock photography service: Adobe Stock. As you might expect, Stock is integrated with Creative Cloud apps so you can nab those images easily and CC subscriptions will save you 40 percent on photo purchases. You’ll be able to search the Stock library from within apps like Photoshop before placing selections in a mockup. And yes, there is an additional fee required. You’ll pay $10 per image or $30 a month for a collection of 10 ($50 if you’re not a Creative Cloud user).
Creative Cloud Libraries have been around for a while, allowing multiple people to grab assets to a project without having to send an email or shout across the office. Now, technology Adobe calls CreativeSync will carry files, fonts, settings and other items across devices so that you can pick up right where you left off — even if you switch from a desktop to a tablet or vice versa.
Those Creative Cloud Libraries are getting an update, too. When a colleague updates an asset that you’re using in another file, they’ll have the option of updating it in all of the files where it’s used. That means any Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign file will get all the changes automatically without you having to replace or update the file manually. As a designer, I can say that both of these cloud-syncing tools are welcome additions. Oh yeah: Creative Cloud Libraries make the jump to After Effects with this update, so motion graphics and video folks can take advantage there.
If you’re familiar with Illustrator, you may know that the app allows you to create multiple artboards in the same file to keep things organized. Well, now you can do the same in Photoshop. So if you’re working on a mobile app UI, you can lay out all of the screens side by side rather than having to toggle layers on and off. Speaking of Illustrator, designers have been clamoring for years for Adobe to boost the software’s zoom beyond the 6,400 percent. It’s now a whopping 64,000 percent (!!!). What’s more, Illustrator now has a recovery tool that restores a file if the app crashes before you can save. All you have to do is reopen the app and the document will appear just as it did before the software shut down. There are a ton of other new features across 15 Adobe apps, so for the finer points, grab the detailed info right here.
Filed under: Software
Source: Adobe
Adobe Announces 2015 Creative Cloud Updates, New Integrated Adobe Stock Service
Adobe today announced that all of its Creative Cloud desktop apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and more, will receive updates as part of the company’s 2015 Creative Cloud Update.
The updates bring new features and performance enhancements with “Adobe Magic” to all of Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps, notably including Linked Assets that will allow assets within Creative Cloud Libraries to be updated whenever a change is made, ensuring the update is available to all team members in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
Photoshop CC is gaining Artboards, letting artists create multiple design surfaces within a single document for a bird’s-eye view of all designs at once. There’s also a new preview feature called Photoshop Design Space, which lets users create design-focused desktop tool layouts that ignore unnecessary tools. The exporting experience has been improved, and the Spot Healing Brush and Patch tools are now 120x faster than the same tools in Photoshop CS6 thanks to Mercury Graphics Engine enhancements.
Both Photoshop and Lightroom CC are gaining new haze removal features that will allow haze to be added or removed to a photograph with click, and Photoshop now has the option to add noise to Blur Gallery effects.
Illustrator CC has been updated with significant performance improvements, making it 10x faster than CS6. Zoom magnification is now ten times higher, reaching up to 64,000 percent instead of 6,400 percent, and there’s a new Chart interface that makes it easier to create custom charts and graphics.
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Apple Discussed Delivery Deal With Uber Before Postmates Agreement [iOS Blog]
In late May, Apple began offering same-day delivery of certain products in its Apple Store app via a partnership with courier service Postmates. Before that agreement was in place, Apple was in talks with Uber about a similar partnership, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In recent months, Uber lost out on the opportunity to make deliveries in some cities for Apple Inc. and Starbucks Corp., which discussed tie-ups with Uber but then made deals with startup courier service Postmates Inc., according to people familiar with the discussions.
The deal with Apple would have been a part of Uber’s same-day delivery service, which it launched last year. The transportation company had plans to sign up dozens of retailers for the service but only ended up with 6 partnerships. It’s unclear why talks between Apple and Uber fell apart, but a Gilt spokesperson told the WSJ that Uber was unable to insure high-priced items and that it “fell short of expectations”.
Delivery with Postmates through the Apple Store app is currently only available within the Bay Area for a $19 delivery charge.
Sony invites PS4 gamers to invade each other’s ‘Dreams’
Leave it to Media Molecule, the Sony first-party studio responsible for the crafty Tearaway and level-creation bonanza that is LittleBigPlanet, to introduce something a little different at E3. Dreams, as the new title is called, takes a unique approach to gameplay, letting PlayStation 4 users create, explore and “remix” each other’s dreams. Alex Evans, studio co-founder, explained that by using the DualShock 4’s motion controls, players can easily “piece together a whole environment in moments.” There’s also the ability to animate characters of your own creation using performance capture.
But dream creation isn’t the only intriguing aspect of the game — there also seems to be a slew of gameplay modes, as the demo showed off a cutesy bear attacking zombies; a sci-fi jetski-like aerial fight and two adorable polar bears sliding down snowy slopes and snuggling. There’s no word on a release date yet, so you’ll have to sit tight.
‘Destiny’ expansion ‘The Taken King’ arrives September 15th
Destiny has been a massive hit since it debuted at the end of last year, and tonight during PlayStation’s E3 event, we got our first look at its next big expansion: The Taken King. It’s supposed to launch on September 15th, and will see players facing off with the dad of the big bad they killed in the game’s second raid. Known as Oryx, The Taken King is (of course) amassing a dark army of darkness that will need to be eliminated so players can get loot. It looks like players will face enemies from all of the groups seen so far in Destiny, and there will again be some PlayStation-exclusive content when the add-on launches.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/VFh5ArG46_M?rel=0
Source: Destiny
‘Final Fantasy VII’ is getting a genuine remake on PS4
Final Fantasy VII is being remade. It’s coming to PS4 (at least first) and it’s all beautiful and goosebumpy. That all-too PC version? Well, that’s probably coming too. But this is what I, er, you wanted. The trailer is suitably obtuse, but there are glimpses of a guy with a gun for an arm and some blonde guy toting an oversized “buster” sword. Whoever that is. Get ready to squeal — well, a little — after the break.
Sony adds a la carte channel subscription to PlayStation Vue
If you’ve been longing to ditch your cable provider for PS Vue, PlayStation’s streaming take on “television,” then you’ll like what Sony Computer Entertainment head Andrew House announced at E3 today. This July, PlayStation users will have the option to sign-up for à la carte programming. That’s right, individual channels will be made available for subscription, allowing users to opt-out of pricey programming tiers. The new subscription feature will launch with Showtime, Machinima and Fox Soccer Channel. What’s more, House confirmed that PS Plus subscribers will be privy to unspecified discounts for programming packages. And if that wasn’t enough good news, House also added that, starting tonight, PS Vue will be made available to PS4 users in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
‘Shenmue III’ will come to PC and PS4 with your help
Apparently, the running theme of Sony’s E3 event is “long-sought follow-ups to classic games.” Famed developer Yu Suzuki has revealed that he’s crowdfunding Shenmue III, the sequel to a much-admired action role-playing series that many thought had ended back in 2001 — or 2002, if you got the Xbox version of Shenmue II. The open-world title will pick up Ryo’s adventure where it left off, with a visit to China to hunt down his father’s murderer. It’ll be available on both the PC and PlayStation 4 if all goes well, and there are promises of new fighting mechanics in addition to familiar elements.
Shenmue III isn’t expected to ship until December 2017 if it makes its funding target, but the good news is that it won’t take much to get a copy of your own. A $29 pledge is enough to land a digital edition for your platform of choice, while $60 will net you a physical version. From there, it’s all about the perks: Higher pledges include signed art, the original Ryo press event jacket and even dinner with Suzuki himself. If you were a fan of the franchise’s groundbreaking gameplay, there’s a good chance that you’ll want to pitch in.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Source: Kickstarter
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