This is the ‘Halo 5: Guardians’ collector’s edition statue
$250 worth of static love from Master Chief.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
All the news you need to know from Day Two of E3 2015
Day Two at E3 2015 means there’s finally some breathing room between briefings, press conferences and literal breathing to play some of these rather exciting games. This year’s E3 has turned into a pretty good one, with strong games across all the major consoles and platforms. We’ve interviewed some of the most influential players in gaming, including Sony PlayStation’s Shuhei Yoshida, games maestro Keiji Inafune and a few more. We explored space in an Oculus Rift-based spacesuit, think there’s possibly a new king of the soccer games and took a deeper look at Xbox’s new Elite games controller. One more day to go, so many games left to play. We’ll sleep when we’re dead.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Filed under: Gaming
E3 Streams: ‘Volume,’ ‘Fortnite,’ ‘Elite: Dangerous,’ and more!
Onward into E3 2015! Our week in Los Angeles has left us wild and crazed. We interviewed the director of the Final Fantasy VII remake. We played Star Fox Zero. Now we’re going to give you a chance to talk to the developers of some of E3’s biggest games right here on JXE Streams. Join us starting at at 12:30PM ET/9:30AM PT on Twitch.tv/Joystiq for a chance to chat with developers like Epic Games, Elite: Dangerous creator David Braben, and a special early look at Volume with Mike Bithell.
Where can you watch these streams? Right here in this post! Want to chat with us? Go to Twitch.tv/Joystiq.
If you want to follow along with our E3 streams, here is our complete schedule for Thursday, June 18th:
12:30PM ET/9:30AM PT: Fortnite with Epic Games. The creators of Unreal and Gears of War have spent four years making this crazy blend of Minecraft and tower defense.
2PM ET/11AM PT: Skyhill with Daedalic Entertainment. Part roguelike and part noir, Daedalic’s Skyhill is an intriguingly stylized random mystery.
2:30PM ET/11:30AM PT: Elite: Dangerous with David Braben of Frontier Developments. David Braben spent the better part of two decades trying to create this modern version of the classic space sim.
3PM ET/12PM PT: Volume with Mike Bithell. The creator of Thomas Was Alone doles out his own version of the Robin Hood story in this slick stealth game.
[We’re playing all games in 720p via OBS.]
London councillor wants to ban ‘FIFA’ games after corruption scandal
Enough is enough. For one London councillor, the recent FIFA corruption scandal just crossed a line. He’s calling for radical action: a ban on FIFA video games in Camden. Awale Olad told the Camden New Journal: “We should start off by hurting their business by discouraging people from buying their popular video games and put a stop to FIFA video game tournaments popping up across the borough.” Exactly how a ban on local, independently-run FIFA competitions would affect football’s world governing body remains unclear, however. Even banning the game outright, if such a move was possible, would probably affect publisher EA more than FIFA. Nevertheless, Olad seems determined and will be bringing the matter up at a full council meeting on Monday. Perhaps the Camden councillor is onto something though; a global boycott of FIFA 16 could grab the organisation’s attention, and would it be so bad to give PES a chance this year?
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Camden New Journal
ICYMI: A new naval launcher, Halo on HoloLens and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: The Sandia National Labs robot that walked for two and a half hours on 350 watts of power; the amazing Halo 5 HoloLens demo that makes me want to pick up a gun (virtually of course); and the new electromagnetic aircraft launcher the Navy is having way too much fun testing out.
And from the cutting room floor, make sure you check out this gorgeous video from astronauts at the International Space Station. They’ve been shooting stunning Earth and space views but the best bits are the parts where they’re making and eating food. We also really wanted to address SnapChat CEO Evan Spiegel’s strange, low-resolution video but alas. Next time!
As always, let us know about any cool stories or videos that you stumble across by using the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Filed under: Displays, Misc, Gaming, Robots, Science, Internet, Microsoft, AT&T
Harmonix demos a music visualizer for Project Morpheus VR
Harmonix, the creators of the Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Dance Central franchises, is working on a new title for Sony’s Project Morpheus VR headset and… it’s odd. The company has basically created the VR equivalent of those gnarly music visualizers that people used to love in Winamp and Windows Media Player. Harmonix Music VR can take any song and generate a unique visualization. By choosing between a number of different “worlds,” you will have some control over what type of visualisation you see, but the idea is still for each track to look as different as they sound. “Sometimes fireflies show up to compliment a relaxing melody, and sometimes stars descend to engulf you in synthetic spirals of color,” explains creative lead Jon Carter. There’s no release date for Music VR just yet, but the Morpheus headset itself is set to launch in the first quarter of 2016.
Source: PlayStation Blog
‘Halo 5’ doesn’t have split-screen, but ‘never say never’
Halo 5: Guardians doesn’t have split-screen cooperative play. This is a drastic shift for the series — every console Halo game has featured local co-op, including the recently released Halo: Master Chief Collection, a bundle of the franchise’s major titles. Plenty of longtime Halo fans have hit Twitter with messages ranging from disappointment to some that promise to cancel their Halo 5 pre-orders. Microsoft doesn’t have any plans to launch the game with split-screen, but in a world of constantly updating consoles and streams of downloadable content, there’s a sliver of hope for couch co-op fans, according to Microsoft General Manager of Games Publishing Shannon Loftis.
“Well, we do listen to gamers,” Loftis says during a meeting at E3. “The priority feature for the release of Halo 5 was 60FPS, so that’s what the team has been focused on delivering. But, you know, never say never. The glorious thing about Halo and about Xbox is that we can deliver continuous improvements to any experience. But, no announcements being made here.”
To reiterate: Loftis did not announce the implementation of split-screen co-op in Halo 5, but the possibility is there post-launch. If Microsoft developers are listening to Halo players, here’s a sampling of the feedback they’re getting:
@Halo BRING BACK SPLIT SCREEN PLEASE I WANT TO PLAY WITH MY BROTHER BECAUSE I DONT HAVE THE MONEY TO BUY 2 XBOXES!
– Oscar Tovar (@oscartovar2004) June 17, 2015
I’ve been a loyal Halo fan forever, but you just lost my sale of Halo 5 by omitting local campaign co-op. I’m so disappointed. @Xbox #XboxE3
– Tim Fry (@_Kyabetsu) June 17, 2015
So there won’t be local split-screen co-op in Halo 5… But… But why? You are breaking my heart 343. My best and dearest moments (cont.)
– SieniMarsu (@TaoTaoLintu) June 17, 2015
@Halo No split screen at all on Halo 5??? Congratulations 343, you just killed Halo
– daniel (@danielbirchal) June 17, 2015
‘Yoshi’s Woolly World’ is the video game equivalent of a hug
I am not what you would call a “hardcore gamer.” I don’t enjoy shooters; I don’t have the time for RPGs; and my last dance with open-world gameplay was a 45-minute joyride through the faux-LA of Grand Theft Auto V. But, oh, do I love me some Yoshi’s Woolly World. The upcoming, cutesy Wii U title, due out this Fall, has a shared DNA. It’s a hodgepodge of past Yoshi’s Island games and the Wii title Kirby’s Epic Yarn. That last bit of pedigree makes complete sense when you consider that the game’s being developed by Good-Feel, the very same studio behind the aformentioned Kirby title.
Yes, the beauty of Yoshi’s Woolly World lies in its stunning, yarn-spun aesthetic, but the same can be said for the gameplay. As with most of Nintendo’s beloved franchises, the mechanics feel familiar, though not stale. When I demoed the title at the company’s E3 booth, I was able to immediately pick up and play without any coaching from the nearby rep — a factor CEO Satoru Iwata said the company would be stressing with the majority of its games.
For those not well-acquainted with the series, Yoshi’s Woolly World replaces the eggs that’ve long trailed Yoshi for balls of yarn. With the help of a wandering cursor, triggered by depressing the ZR button, players can set the angle of attack with ‘Y’ and let loose a yarn ball attack. This results in delightful animations, like a thread encircling and sealing shut the mouth of a piranha plant. Of course, players can always default to either jumping atop enemies or using Yoshi’s tried-and-true elastic tongue to suck them in and “transform” them (through digestion) into additional yarn balls.
It bears repeating that the game, unlike Star Fox Zero, is gorgeous. Nintendo’s Wii U may not be on par with the silicon juggernauts that are the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but the art style of Yoshi’s Woolly World more than makes up for it. The environments, characters and enemies all have a storybook quality and truly look as if they were spun from yarn, replete with telltale frayed threads.
The game also includes helpful support in the form of amiibo. By placing the made-from-yarn Yoshi amiibo on the GamePad’s NFC receiver, players can add a duplicate Yoshi into the world; one that’ll mimic your every movement. You can even ingest this amiibo Yoshi for an extra ball of yarn should you need it. What’s more, the game also supports a handful of other amiibo that’ll give your in-game Yoshi a makeover. So, for example, if you tap a Fox McCloud amiibo on the GamePad, Yoshi will adopt a Star Fox-themed look. It’s a thoughtful touch that should lend the game extra appeal and also give amiibo collectors something to do with all those figurines.
Yoshi’s Woolly World’s visual appeal is both a blessing and a curse. It runs the risk of condemning the game to a kiddie corner when, in actuality, the game boasts some difficult platforming elements. If you own a Wii U or plan on picking one up in the near future, you won’t want to miss this adorable spin on the platformer.
[Images: Nintendo]
‘Final Fantasy VII’: The challenge of remaking a classic
Almost 20 years later, Final Fantasy VII is being remade. It’s no prequel, sequel, gamified Advent Children thing. It’s a proper darn remake. The short trailer shown first at PlayStation’s E3 2015 event was fairly obtuse — we don’t even get to see the protagonists’ face, but there’s still a lot of excited people. A whole lot. How do you break the mold without breaking hearts? With some translation assistance, we asked its producer, Tetsuya Nomura, all about it.
After announcing that the PC version of FFVII was coming to PS4, why announce the remake now?
Tetsuya Nomura: The PC port, honestly, wasn’t really on my radar. I thought it was already on sale. Regardless, there’s really no relation between the PC version and this remake. Why now? This week at E3 we announced several titles coming to the PS4: not only FFXV, Kingdom Hearts 3, and World of Final Fantasy, but [also] a new Star Ocean and more. Rather than announce the remake after those titles went on sale, we wanted to give gamers something that would make them happy — open them up, perhaps, to buying into the PS4.
You’ve called it a remake, but what’s going to change? Will the story change?
TN: Hah! Well, that’s something that literally… [He gestures to his open laptop].
The trailer was vague; it felt like it could well be a sequel, or even a prequel.
TN: That’s exactly why I wanted to have the word “Remake” into the trailer — precisely to clarify that. At this point, I can’t talk to specifics. Or at least, I’m not allowed to talk about the specifics. But the original is out again: The “HD” PC version is coming to PS4 already. We don’t need two of the same thing. Even if we beautified and upgraded the visuals — something that’s bound to happen. If it’s a full remake, then of course, we want to take a different approach. If we actually just upgraded the visuals — there’d be no need for me to direct it.
“We don’t need two of the same thing.”
Well, I can’t honestly say. But things will change.
Just the price?
TN: [Laughs] We can’t comment on pricing. We haven’t even mentioned the true title of the remake.
Is there a comparable remake in gaming, movies?
TN: If I say anything, then that could reveal too much. If I say, “It’s a bit like this,” you’ll suddenly think: “Ah well, then that’s going to turn out just like that.” In the trailer, at the end, I try to reference that: “The reunion at hand may bring joy, but it may bring fear. But let us embrace whatever it brings.”
People will wonder how far the game will change and exactly what is going to change. Sure, at first there’s the joy that the game’s returning, but then the concern that what you liked in the original may change or disappear completely. People have different demands. But if we take everything literally the same, we’re turning into the HD port again.
So you could flip the genders of say, Yuffie?
TN: Nothing that drastic! But there will be changes. More than me, [Producer Yoshinori] Kitase and [scenario writer Kazushige] Nojima are more concerned about what gets changed. I’m not too worried about that. I’m often happy to cut out parts. Before meetings, the pair of them often discuss what’s happening. It’s very likely that not everyone is going to like everything.
The trailer seemed pretty serious in tone. Will the occasional humor the original game carry through?
TN: The comedy or the lighthearted parts — I like those. I don’t want to change it that much. But we can’t have these upgraded, beautiful 3D models of Cloud and Barrett, still lining up in a row, jumping forward to attack an enemy, then jumping back to wait for their next turn. That would be bizarre. Of course there will likely be changes there. But if we took away parts like the lighter moments of the game, then it would no longer be FFVII.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Filed under: Gaming
Windows 10 streams Xbox 360 games to Oculus, too
You read that headline correctly. With the Xbox 360 to Windows 10 game streaming out in the open, it stood to reason that you’d be able to play your collection of games from Microsoft’s second Xbox on the Oculus Rift too. We asked the virtual reality company if that was indeed the case and a spokesperson confirmed that indeed it was. So, Mass Effect in VR? That’s a definite.
[Image credit: pabuk/Flickr]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
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