Fan-made ‘GTA V’ interactive map app puts Rockstar’s to shame
Grand Theft Auto V really seems like the gift that keeps on giving. The latest present? An unofficial map app (Android, iOS and web) that’s been updated with collectibles locations from the current-gen releases like Peyote plants that let you play as sharks, eagles and more — yes, flying around as a bird of prey is bizarre as it sounds. The differences between this and the official app are pretty major, too. As VG24/7 reports, you can add personal notes to the map, track your collectibles progress and even switch between atlas and satellite views of the terrain. Future plans include making streets searchable by name. Interested? Hit the source links below to grab it for your device of choice.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile
Via: VG 24/7
Source: Google Play, iTunes, GTA 5 Map
China will lift its nationwide game console ban
China technically lifted its longstanding ban on game consoles last year, but only for companies that registered in the Shanghai free trade zone. Needless to say, that put a damper on sales in the world’s most populous country. However, the gloves just came off — China’s Ministry of Culture has approved the manufacture and sale of consoles anywhere in the nation. Companies like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony no longer have to hold back (or rely on black market sales) when doing business. They’ll still have to grapple with heavy censorship of the games themselves, but that beats a lack of official options.
The question is whether or not these set-tops will take off. Thanks in part to the console ban, China’s gaming culture revolves around PCs and (more recently) smartphones. It may be tough to convince locals that an Xbox One at home beats an internet cafe full of friends, especially when game systems are relatively expensive (China’s nominal GDP per capita is just over $8,100). You’re still likely to see more Chinese console gamers, but there’s no guarantees that they’ll embrace the concept with the same gusto you see in Europe or North America.
[Image credit: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Wall Street Journal
ICYMI: Power-ballad singing tech, foldable bridge and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: A computer-like display, singing power ballads from the ’90s, simply must be seen; Japanese engineers unveiled an emergency bridge that can unfold in five minutes; and the game Half-Life gets hacked to work on an Android Wear watch.
We also run through the biggest headlines of the week but think this Stephen Hawking goes searching for ET story is the most shared over brunch worth (after you’ve already touched on Chrysler).
And from the whatever you do, don’t miss this files: A new kitten app “Cat Shake” gives you an endless stream of cats. Guess I just found what I’m doing for the weekend.
If you come across any interesting videos, we’d love to see them. Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Meta, Robots, Transportation, Science, Internet, LG
Recommended Reading: The Jeep hack that led to a massive recall
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you’ll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.
Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway — With Me in It
by Andy Greenberg
Wired
This piece from Wired actually sparked a recall that affects 1.4 million Fiat Chrysler vehicles. During the test, hackers were able to use an exploit to “kill” the engine, disable the brakes and track location. Pretty scary stuff.
|
For the Love of God, Bring Back the EA Sports ‘NCAA Football’ Games “Nobody should have to endure another summer without this game dropping into July to save us from the real world.” That’ll preach. |
Meet The Chuck II, The First New Converse All Star Design In 100 Years While the first new pair of Chuck Taylor All Stars in 100 years may not look that much different, new features like Lunarlon footbed tech from Nike offer enhanced comfort. |
|
Sex Abuse Survivor Finds Comfort In Video Games Final Fantasy VII comforted an abuse victim when it “helped him realize characters, like people, could be deeply flawed and still live fulfilling lives that weren’t completely defined by past trauma.” |
Game Design Deep Dive: The Save System of ‘Alien: Isolation’ Napper, a veteran game designer, weighs in on Alien: Isolation’s method for saving, which requires a player to locate terminals before logging progress. |
[Image credit: Jeep/Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]
Recommended Reading: The Jeep hack that led to a massive recall
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you’ll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.
Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway — With Me in It
by Andy Greenberg
Wired
This piece from Wired actually sparked a recall that affects 1.4 million Fiat Chrysler vehicles. During the test, hackers were able to use an exploit to “kill” the engine, disable the brakes and track location. Pretty scary stuff.
|
For the Love of God, Bring Back the EA Sports ‘NCAA Football’ Games “Nobody should have to endure another summer without this game dropping into July to save us from the real world.” That’ll preach. |
Meet The Chuck II, The First New Converse All Star Design In 100 Years While the first new pair of Chuck Taylor All Stars in 100 years may not look that much different, new features like Lunarlon footbed tech from Nike offer enhanced comfort. |
|
Sex Abuse Survivor Finds Comfort In Video Games Final Fantasy VII comforted an abuse victim when it “helped him realize characters, like people, could be deeply flawed and still live fulfilling lives that weren’t completely defined by past trauma.” |
Game Design Deep Dive: The Save System of ‘Alien: Isolation’ Napper, a veteran game designer, weighs in on Alien: Isolation’s method for saving, which requires a player to locate terminals before logging progress. |
[Image credit: Jeep/Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]
Summer is watching people beat games ridiculously fast for charity
Video game speedruns are always impressive feats of memorization, skill and flawless gameplay — but twice a year they’re also a conduit for altruism. Next week is one of those times. Starting on July 26th, Summer Games Done Quick will kick off seven full days of Twitch-streamed speedrunning. The goal? Raise as much cash as possible for Doctors Without Borders and have a ridiculously good time.
The event is always fun, and it’s getting more successful each year. At the Games Done Quick January event, the group raised over a million dollars for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Want to get in on the fun (and charity)? Check out the Twitch stream below and take a look at the event’s schedule: over the course of the next week, GDQ’s speedrunners will be making short work of all your favorite franchises, including more than half a dozen Mario and Sonic games (each!), two Resident Evil games, six Legend of Zelda games, a ton of Mega Man titles and dozens of other games spanning the last 25 years.
Check it out, join in and have some fun — there are even raffle drawings and a ton of prizes, including a 500GB PlayStation 4, action figures, classic games and more. The fun starts at 1 PM, EST this Sunday.
http://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick/embedWatch live video from GamesDoneQuick on www.twitch.tv
Source: Games Done Quick, Twitch
Nintendo’s awkward TVii service will shut down on August 11th
Remember Nintendo TVii, Nintendo’s weird television hub for the Wii U? Don’t worry, most people don’t — and in a few weeks you’ll never have to think about it again. Nintendo just announced that the service is shutting down on August 11th.
If you never used TVii in its heyday, it was sort of like a universal remote-control with a native second screen experience. The Wii U Gamepad was used to browse a channel guide (generated by entering your zip code) and comment on TV shows. If you found a program you wanted to watch, the Gamepad’s IR blaster would send a signal to your TV or set-top box to change the channel.
It was pretty novel way to tack TV-integration on to the Wii U without actually connecting the console to your set-top-box — but it was also kind of slow, laggy and generally lacked support. Is anything of value going to be lost in its shut-down? Let us know what you think: the comments below await.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Nintendo
Source: Miiverse
Nintendo redesigned Miiverse because you were using it wrong
You know how everyone completely loses it every time Facebook pushes a redesign live? It’s happening again — except this time it’s happening on Miiverse, Nintendo’s quirky social network. On July 29th Miiverse will be given its first major overhaul: a total redesign that adds new features, changes how game-specific communities work and, weirdly, imposes a daily post limit on all users. Why all the changes? According to Nintendo, the community has been using Miiverse, well, wrong.
“Miiverse is created for gamers to talk about games,” Nintendo spokesperson Erika said on the social network’s announcement forum. “But over time, some people have started using Miiverse for other things, such as long chats that are not strictly game-related.” The redesign was cooked up in an effort to keep Miiverse “game-centered,” and is the reason users will be limited to making 30 posts a day. To the casual user, that seems like more than enough — but the community’s heaviest users have grown accustomed to participating in long RP (roleplay) threads and interactive Miiverse drawing competitions.
These are probably the “long chats” that Nintendo is trying to shut down, but that hasn’t stopped fans of these threads from voicing their objections on Nintendo’s official Miiverse posts. Despite the reaction, Nintendo does seem to be trying to make Miiverse a more organized place: the July 29th redesign will add a private screenshot album (the contents of which can be embedded in other Miiverse posts), a “Play Journal” category for posts made from the in-game Miiverse menu, and separate categories for drawing and discussion posts. Finally, users will no longer be able to post directly to their activity feed, though your existing activity feed will be preserved indefinitely.
It’s a big change, and pretty weird — Nintendo has always been careful about how it allows its users to communicate with each other online, but the “tone policing” of this Miiverse revision feels just a little strange. On the other hand, the social network is sort of a mess, as is. The added categories and sorting options will certainly be a welcome change.
Via: My Nintendo News
Source: Miiverse (1), (2), (3)
Free mobile game ‘Fallout Shelter’ hits Android in August
Fallout Shelter is a nifty little mobile game that puts you in charge of your very own post-apocalyptic Vault in the Fallout universe. It’s your job to make sure the Vault Dwellers are as happy, healthy and protected as possible — which is sometimes trickier than it sounds. Fallout Shelter launched for iOS on June 14th directly after Bethesda’s E3 2015 conference, and now we know when it’s coming to Android devices: August 13th.
Bethesda announced Fallout Shelter during a conference dominated by big, new games, most notably Doom and Fallout 4. As a free iOS game (with in-app purchases, of course), it was a pleasant surprise for many hungry Fallout fans. Fallout Shelter wasn’t the only mobile-focused announcement to come out of that conference, either: The Pip-Boy Edition of Fallout 4 comes with a real-life Pip-Boy made to fit smartphones (well, most smartphones) loaded up with a new companion app.
Very excited for Android users to begin playing #FalloutShelter on August 13th. pic.twitter.com/FYXvyIzaAj
– BethesdaGameStudios (@BethesdaStudios) July 24, 2015
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Mobile
Source: @BethesdaStudios
‘Rick and Morty’ Instagram game is an interstellar treasure hunt
Adult Swim has added one more weird experience to its warehouse of silly yet generally entertaining video games based on its television shows: Rick and Morty Rickstaverse, a hidden-object game that takes place entirely on Instagram. This is a true point-and-click game — In Ricktaverse, players click on photos of the literal Rick and Morty universe (the starting point is in space with a naked Santa) and tap the tags that pop up on each photo to be transported to a new area. There are secrets, collectibles and mini-games to find, each played out by tapping photos on Instagram. Find and follow the accounts of five Garblovian Bootleggers, for example, and they may post exclusive Rick and Morty clips in the future. Welcome to the golden age of user-driven advertising.
Adult Swim has invested heartily in the video game market, with a trippy VR experience, a hat-based partnership with Valve, and some silly games for Vita and PC. The company has even gotten into the Instagram game before with Rick and Morty, in 2014 offering entire episodes in 15-second chunks. And then there’s Paul Robertson’s Super Dino Boys, a series of adorable animated shorts done up in a retro side-scrolling style. Stay weird, Adult Swim.
Via: Mashable
Source: Rick and Morty Ricktaverse
AIVAnet 