This is the new Zombies mode in ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 3’
It was known Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 would have a Zombies mode, but Treyarch hadn’t revealed any more details beyond that — up until now, at least. Today, as part of the San Diego Comic-Con festivities, the game developer introduced Shadows of Evil, a survival co-op experience that will be in Black Ops 3. What’s more, Treyarch managed to cast some celebrities for the project, such as Jeff Goldblum (Independence Day, Jurassic Park), Heather Graham, Neal McDonough, Ron Perlman and Robert Picardo. The latest edition of the Call of Duty franchise is set to be released on November 6th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. But while you wait for it to come out, here’s the Zombies Shadows of Evil trailer for your viewing pleasure.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Call of Duty
JXE Streams: Things get wild in ‘Life is Strange’ ep. 3
Life is Strange is an emotive sort of time-travel tale, starring angsty teenagers, viral videos and friendships tested again and again. The game stars Max, a high school girl who returns to her hometown to find a lot of things have changed, including her former best friend, Chloe, who is now rebellious, cold and searching for a missing girl. Blackwell Academy, their school, is packed with political drama and ominous happenings, and the tepid Northeastern weather starts shifting in odd, extreme ways. Oh, and Max can reverse time. You know, normal high school things. We dive into Episode 3: Chaos Theory live at 3:30PM ET (12:30PM PT) right here, on Twitch.tv/Joystiq or on the Engaget Gaming homepage.
These are our favorite video game soundtracks
Music can tame the most savage beast, but when you’re slinking around a cargo ship as a super spy, playing cowboy or making your way toward a massive mountain in the distance, sometimes you don’t want calm. You want dirty, wistful or haunting tracks to fit the action onscreen. The best video game scores stick with you long after you turn the TV off, though, and that’s what we want to highlight here. We’re pretty big fans of how they’ve progressed throughout the years from simple beeps and boops to full-blown symphonic masterpieces that’ve traveled through concert halls around the world. Just below you’ll find the scores the Engadget Gaming crew’s most fond of and one that we don’t particularly care for but felt like calling attention to anyhow. Have a favorite of your own that didn’t make the list? Hit the comments below.
Did any of our picks match yours?
[Image credit: WIlliam Hook/Flickr]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Microsoft’s pushes the Halo Channel app to the Play Store, brings loads of content for Halo fans
There’s still a few months to go until Halo 5: Guardians launches on October 27th for the Xbox One. Until then, you can immerse yourself in the Master Chief’s universe by downloading and installing Microsoft’s Halo Channel app on your phone and tablet.
The Halo Channel app includes community created content, the back-stories about Halo characters in the Halo Universe as well as original programming that includes Halo fiction and behind-the-scenes documentaries. You can also pick up playing tips, multi-player strategies and even walk-through guides that will help you if you get stuck at any point.
“The Halo Channel is your home to experience award-winning original Halo programming, the best in community-created content, tips to improve your game, and the ability to access to deep background information about the Halo universe and story – all through a custom-designed and personalized digital network.”
Looking at the Play Store reviews, you can see that the video player apparently needs some tweaks with videos either stuttering or freezing on user’s devices. Microsoft will hopefully fix these teething pains relatively soon. Apart from that, the Halo Channel appears good to go. The app is free to download from the Google Play Store via the QR code and link below.
Come comment on this article: Microsoft’s pushes the Halo Channel app to the Play Store, brings loads of content for Halo fans
Survey shows boys think women are underrepresented in video games
A recent exploratory study conducted by Time has found that 47 percent of middle-school and 61 percent of high-school-aged boys believe that female characters in video games are too often treated as sex objects. The survey was conducted to examine issues of sexism in video games and asked over 1,400 students about their feelings surrounding how women are depicted in the medium. What’s more, 70 percent of girls surveyed said that the gender of a protagonist doesn’t factor into them playing a game while a surprising 78 percent of boys said the same. And 58 percent of boys who identified as gamers think there should be more female heroes in game, like Bayonetta up above, for example. Oh, and reassuringly “very few” of the respondents knew what Gamergate was. Phew.
Like Time writes, as interactive entertainment grows and becomes more and more mainstream, it’s important to note the changing attitudes of the future audience. The findings also help dispel the notion that gamers are just horny boys looking for fleeting titillation when a joystick’s in-hand. Looking back at this E3’s bevy of announcements regarding female representation in big-budget games, it seems like the industry is paying attention too.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Time
’Batman: Arkham Knight’s’ Batgirl DLC trailer looks better than the main game
Who would have thought that the best way to improve Rocksteady’s series of blockbuster Batman games would be to get rid of the caped crusader himself? Anybody who’s watched the trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight’s first DLC pack, that’s who. The teaser for Batgirl: A Matter of Family pits Barbara Gordon (Batgirl herself) against Gotham’s greatest villain in a high-stakes, action packed thriller. The Joker is holding her father captive, and if Batman shows up, he dies.
The prequel storyline mission (set before 2009’s Arkham Asylum) looks fun in its own right, but the trailer absolutely shines as a showcase for some of Gotham’s best written characters. In addition to Batgirl, we get glimpses of giddy, delightful Joker, a classically dress Harley Quinn and enough action to make me wish this was a trailer for a stand-alone Batgirl game. It look like everything I could possibly want from a Batman game, minus Batman. I’m surprisingly okay with that.
Batgirl: A Matter of Family will be available to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players on July 14th for $7. Prefer to play on PC? You’ll have to wait: Rocksteady is still patching the PC version of the game up after major glitches forced it to pull the game from Steam last month. Batman: Arkham Knight (and hopefully, the new Batgirl DLC) should return to digital platforms again sometime this Fall.
Source: Youtube
YouTube millionaire PewDiePie responds to his haters
Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, made a lot of money last year. His company, PewDiePie Productions, brought in about $7 million in revenue, mainly off of Kjellberg’s YouTube videos where he plays video games and reacts in silly ways. With those videos, he’s also raised more than $1 million for charity over the years. Kjellberg has 37.7 million subscribers on YouTube and about 9 billion views overall — considering that he receives ad revenue based on the number of views his videos get, it makes sense that he’s making serious bank. However, When news of Kjellberg’s revenue hit the ‘net, quite a few people responded with anger, outrage or thinly veiled jealousy, as they do any time that PewDiePie’s revenue goes public. This year, Kjellberg made a video addressing the money issue, including a brief description of his not-so-glamorous life before YouTube.
“Whenever it comes out how much I made a certain year, people just get so shocked,” Kjellberg says. “A lot of people also, which I saw, were very, very angry. They thought it was unfair. They thought I just sit on my ass all day and I just yell at the screen over here — which is true.” He laughs. “But, there’s so much more to it than that.”
Before hitting it big on YouTube, Kjellberg worked at a hot dog stand. He started making videos because he saw a hole in the YouTube market — no one had the video game audience on lock — and because he thought it was fun, he says.
“I am just as happy as I am now as I was five years ago,” Kjellberg says. “I’m very happy that I don’t have to worry about paying rent, because that was a huge issue…. To see so many people being upset about this whole thing, it’s so sad. It’s such a waste.”
Hear more of Kjellberg’s thoughts on money and haters below (and watch him read some of the weirdest comments he’s received over the past few days).
‘Dragon Quest’ spin-off borrows a few blocks from ‘Minecraft’
Square Enix has just revealed Dragon Quest Builders, a version of its fantasy RPG set in a Minecraft-style world. The company didn’t provide many details other than the screengrab above, which bears a strong resemblance to Minecraft‘s Lego-like world. However, it did say that it’ll be a “block-building RPG” set in Alfegard, the (blocky) 8-bit playground from the original 1986 Dragon Quest NES title. That, plus the ‘Builders‘ title, definitely makes it sound like the spinoff will marry sandbox-type gameplay with Dragon Quest role-playing. If so, we’re not sure if that’s a brilliant idea or a cynical money grab, but it’ll be coming to PS4, PS3 and PS Vita at an as-yet unknown date.
Filed under: Gaming
Via: Kotaku
Source: Square Enix
I played ‘Minecraft’ with Microsoft’s HoloLens
“Try to look straight,” a Microsoft employee tells me in a bright, cheery tone. I’m staring through an unusual pair of binoculars — the kind that’s normally used to test your eyesight in an optometrist’s office. My gaze is locked on the piercing white light inside, but I can feel my sleep-deprived eyes beginning to tire. “Oh, you’ve moved again,” my guide mutters with a hint of disappointment. I’m sitting in a small meeting room deep inside London’s Excel Exhibition Centre, waiting for the distance between my eyes to be measured. It’s not even 9AM, but already the first Minecraft fans are spilling through for the second day of Minecon — a fan convention that celebrates the blocky building game invented by Markus “Notch” Persson. Once an indie darling, the imaginative sandbox title is now a global phenomenon played by millions of children and adults around the world. But today, instead of queuing for pictures with creepers and famous YouTubers, I’m waiting to play Minecraft on HoloLens.
While Oculus, Sony and Valve are busy working on virtual reality (VR), Microsoft is focusing on something else entirely: augmented reality (AR). With the HoloLens headset, you can visualize and manipulate digital images overlaid on the physical world. One of its most impressive showings to date was at E3 in Los Angeles this year, where Microsoft demoed an AR version of Minecraft. The player was able to project the game onto a wall and later place the entire world on a coffee table. Unsurprisingly, the crowd went nuts. Now, here at Minecon, I’ve been given the chance to try the same demo for myself.
Once the distance between my pupils has been calculated, I’m guided into a second room that looks like a library. A comfy sofa is set up at one end, with a perfectly square coffee table in the center. The walls are painted to look like bookshelves, with a few hanging pictures and a clear space on one side where I’ll be projecting the virtual screen.
A rep demos HoloLens’ gesture control at Microsoft’s Build Developer Conference 2015.
HoloLens looks like a product that’s ready to be sold on store shelves. The design is sleek and lightweight, with arched plastic straps that wrap comfortably around your head. There are no wires, no loose-hanging components or anything that normally screams “prototype.” However, I’m unable to simply grab the HoloLens and strap it on. One of Microsoft’s employees is always at my side, telling me where I should be touching it, guiding it over my head and tightening the straps. The adjustments don’t take long, but later, one rep will swoop back in to readjust the device and make sure the visor is at the right height.
The assistance feels a little much, but in fairness, VR headset demos are usually the same. However, the attention to detail does make me a little concerned. Right now, HoloLens doesn’t feel like a device that’s ready for anyone and everyone to strap on themselves.
Holographic 3D makes the screen feel like a window into the Minecraft world.
When the demo kicks in, I can see Minecraft blocks tumbling into the room. As I glance left and right, they’re bouncing off the table, the walls and the Microsoft employees that are watching my every move with trepidation. It only takes a few moments for HoloLens to map everything inside the room — then the fun begins. For starters, I’m shown how to pin the game to a wall and resize it with a couple of voice commands. I’m then handed an Xbox 360 controller and shown how to play the game in a first-person perspective, just as you would in the regular game. Everything is bright, crisp and detailed, regardless of where I’m standing in relation to the wall.
I can use a command to switch to regular 3D, which adds a small amount of depth, or enable holographic 3D, which makes the screen feel like a literal window into the Minecraft world. In this mode, I can walk up to the screen and peek left and right, revealing parts of the level that would normally be obscured by the TV. The effect doesn’t change the gameplay in any meaningful way, but it does help to foster a sense of immersion.
The highlight of the demo is, unsurprisingly, the final gameplay mode where I can place Minecraft on a table. After muttering “place world,” the wooden surface transforms into a blocky sandpit, which quickly gives way to the level I was just playing in. As you probably saw at E3, this is basically a digital, interactive version of Lego. Minecraft is running just as it would on a console or PC, so I can see another player running around the map and interact with the environment. A crosshair sits in the center of my vision and as I adjust my gaze, the blocks become a little lighter to indicate that I’ve highlighted them. I can also shout “lightning strike” at any time to create gaping holes and turn piglets into lethal zombie pigmen. Other voice commands allow me to track fellow builders and change the magnification of the play area. They all work flawlessly and with no noticeable delay.
While I’m playing on the table, I don’t need a controller. In addition to voice commands, I can raise my right hand and extend my index finger to signal a “click.” Bringing my finger down is like clicking on a mouse button; a quick down-up motion selects a block or action, or I can hold my finger in position to drag the world around. Similar to Kinect, this type of motion control can be a little cumbersome. Sometimes HoloLens doesn’t notice my finger, or it fails to track my hand properly as I try to yank the world up for a better view. It doesn’t feel broken, but neither is it particularly accurate or responsive.
Once I had my Minecraft world on the table, I didn’t want to take it off.
At the moment, the sticking point for HoloLens is its narrow field of view: It can only project images into a small widescreen box in the center of the visor. So if you walk up close to the wall or the coffee table, parts of the projection will be cut off. If you glance left and right, you’ll see the images again, but everything in your peripheral vision is gone. It’s a disappointment and hampers the experience. I’m constantly reminded that the “holograms” are an illusion and, as I walk around the room, I find myself walking back and constantly adjusting my position to keep everything inside the box.
At one point during my demo, HoloLens crashes. One of the Microsoft employees quickly scurries into another room — to retrieve a new device or fix the current one, I don’t know — and, within a few minutes, I’m back up and running again. Of course, this is still early hardware and probably has no bearing on the final product, but for transparency’s sake, I think it’s worth noting.
Minecraft demoed for HoloLens at E3 2015.
Make no mistake, HoloLens is an impressive piece of kit. Unlike most VR headsets, all of the AR processing is done onboard the device. Given its polished design, that’s a huge technical achievement. Sony’s Morpheus, for instance, needs a separate, smaller box connected to the PlayStation 4. But the narrow field of view desperately needs expanding. Inside that small frame, HoloLens can create unique and breathtaking experiences. Once I had my Minecraft world on the table, I didn’t want to take it off. But the images need to fill your entire field of vision. Before that’s achieved, I don’t think HoloLens should be sold to the public.
Microsoft has suggested that this is close to final hardware, and I think that’s a shame. Sony, Oculus and Valve’s VR platforms will all be available in 2016, so perhaps that’s put some pressure on Microsoft to release HoloLens sooner rather than later. Even as a “gen one” device for early adopters, there’s really no reason to rush it out the door. HoloLens is unique, and games such as Minecraft will only benefit from a refined user experience.
[Images: Microsoft (Minecraft/HoloLens top image); Bloomberg via Getty Images (HoloLens Build demo); Associated Press (Minecraft/HoloLens E3 demo)]
These were E3 2015’s best games
E3 is (thankfully) over, and that means the press that cover the event have recently cast their votes for what they thought were the best games from the show. You know those blurbs on box art saying “winner of over 90 awards” and the like? This is partly where they come from. Collectively known as The Game Critics Awards, the governing body for them is made up of staff from over 30 editorial outlets, including Engadget, that attended gaming’s Paris Fashion Week. For a game to even be up for consideration though, it has to be playable — a stage demo or non-interactive trailer won’t cut it. What’s it mean for you? In the end, a better idea about what it’s like to actually play the biggest games from E3, because we got to go hands-on with them. Without further adieu, the winners are in the gallery below. Spoiler: Fallout 4 was pretty successful.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo
Source: Game Critics Awards
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