Hot Pockets imagines its greasy place in the VR gaming future

Hot Pockets are the official food of those who have declared: “I’ve given up caring about my health and I just want radiated bread, cheese and ‘meat.’” But you can’t deny how easy it is to pop one in the microwave when you’re just the right amount of hungry, desperate and need something you can consume with one hand. Now the company is marketing Hot Pocket Snack Bites for those moments when you need to keep both hands free for important tasks like gaming while wearing a VR headset. The commercial doesn’t remind future gamers that it’ll probably be a good idea to take the face computer off before eating. Hot Pockets might not be the best food (or even “food”), but at least its better than accidentally putting whatever is lying on your coffee table in your mouth.

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Source: Hot Pockets

Lizard Squad member pleads guilty to harassing women gamers

The co-called Lizard Squad have established that they’re pretty terrible people, but one of the members has hit a sad new low. A 17-year old Canadian has pleaded guilty to 23 separate offenses against mostly young, female gamers, including extortion and criminal harassment, according to the Tri-City News. The teenager (who can’t be named because of his age) outed victims’ financial information online, placed false orders for services and repeatedly swatted victims, among other crimes. He reportedly targeted most of his victims on Twitter and while playing League of Legends.

In one high-profile incident, he called in a false police report on an Arizona student “claiming he had shot (her) parents with an AR15 rifle,” according to the article. As a result of that incident, police removed several members of the family at gunpoint and the victim eventually withdrew from University out of fear for her safety. The perpetrator harassed others elsewhere with a similar modus operandi, mostly targeting female gamers who spurned his friend requests.

The user — who went by the handle “obnoxious” on LoL — was caught when he posted an eight-hour swatting livestream on YouTube. He was arrested some eight days later thanks to tips to local authorities in British Columbia and admitted to numerous offenses, including harassment, extortion and uttering threats. He’s been ordered by a judge to undergo a psychiatric examination, and sentencing will continue next month.

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Via: Eurogamer

Source: Tri-City News

‘Shenmue’ and ‘Streets of Rage’ tunes are headed to vinyl

When it comes to classic Sega games, they don’t get much bigger (or better) than Shenmue and Streets of Rage. They were released more than eight years apart and on completely different consoles, but they share an important trait: incredible sound. Now, as Polygon reports, a London-based record label called Data Discs is planning to release both soundtracks on vinyl later this year. They’ll be priced at £19.99 (roughly $31) and pressed on 180 gram vinyl, complete with lithographic artwork prints. The company is also working with Streets of Rage composer Yuzo Koshiro to remaster the tunes from the side-scrolling beat ’em up, ensuring fans get the best experience possible on their turntables. Pre-orders start on May 30th and there are “exclusive editions” for those who spend their cash early, however the first wave of records isn’t expected to leave the warehouse until September.

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Via: Polygon

Source: Data-Discs

Help these 30-year-old Intellivision games live again on PC

One of the biggest problems facing video games as an artistic medium is one of preservation. Thanks to HD remasters, digital distribution and the Internet Archive that’s becoming less of an issue. But we still need to do more to keep a record and constant catalog of gaming’s past moments. That’s the idea behind the awkwardly named “Intellivision Gen2 Video Games for PC & Mac” on Kickstarter. As you might imagine, it’s modernized versions of Intellivision titles. Astrosmash, Nightstalker and Shark! Shark! will get the new pixel art, expanded levels and scope should the project reach its $100,000 goal.

If you want in, $15 will get you all three games and bumping up to $25 gets you the games and a year-long digital subscription to Retro Video Game Magazine. Should everything go according to plan, the team (comprised of former Intellivision folks) hopes to give Utopia, Sea Battle and B-17 Bomber the same treatment as the first trio. Surely at least a few readers have a soft spot for Mattel’s game console of yore, yeah?

[Image credit: Fidelramos/Flickr]

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Via: Retroaction Entertainment

Source: Kickstarter

‘Need for Speed’ reboot rolls out this fall

When EA’s quarterly report dropped earlier in May, it included a few tasty game-related tidbits, including a “holiday 2015″ launch window for a new Need for Speed. EA today confirmed that Need for Speed will launch on PS4, Xbox One and PC this fall — and it’s a full-on reboot of the series. “With more than 20 years of history in its rear view mirror, we’re bringing Need for Speed back with a reboot that delivers on what Need for Speed stands for — rich customization, authentic urban car culture, a nocturnal open world, and an immersive narrative,” EA Community Manager Ben Walke writes. The first teaser for the game is fairly gorgeous and EA says that all of its footage was captured in-game. Watch the video below, and keep your eyes here on June 15th for the first gameplay trailer and official announcement direct from E3 2015.

Image credits: EA

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Source: @NeedforSpeed

JXE Streams: going Jurassic with ‘theHunter: Primal’

How long would you last on an island full of dinosaurs when you’ve nothing but a rusty machete and the clothes on your back? That’s the question theHunter: Primal poses. It’s also my absolute childhood fantasy. You start the game with essentially nothing and need to find your way around a paradisical atoll full of thunderlizards that’d rather eat you than sing songs about the alphabet. We’ll be joined by folks from Avalanche Studios (Just Cause, Mad Max) so they can help guide me around the island and hopefully aid in uncovering the secrets of raptor-whispering. Oh! and we’ll be giving away download codes for the PC game as well; get your haikus ready.

Starting at 3:30PM ET on Twitch.tv/Joystiq, Engadget.com/gaming and right here in this post, we’ll be streaming a whole heap of theHunter: Primal. At 4PM ET, we’ll have the designers Björn Öjlert and Pär Kamfjord from Avalanche Studios on to talk about the game and answer your questions about the team.

Like the stream? Follow us on Twitch and bookmark Engadget.com/gaming to keep an eye on what we have coming up on the show.

[We’re playing theHunter: Primal on PC streamed at 720p through OBS.]

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TS Eliot and a tragic childhood in ‘Home is Where One Starts’

You stand on the edge of a strip of asphalt, in the middle of a breezy, weedy, Southern forest. It’s nearly sunset and the day’s final rays sprawl over hay rolls and a small pond across the road. Behind you, a long trailer home sits in a clearing, piles of old and discarded possessions heaped haphazardly around it. More hazy structures dot the horizon, and at your feet there’s a small, elephant-shaped backpack. You pick it up and turn it around. A woman’s voice calmly says, “I remember missing the school bus that morning.” True enough, the bus never comes and you’re free to roam around the immediate area, exploring the forest, trash, houses and cemetery around you, learning more about yourself and your past. This is Home is Where One Starts…, a short exploration game inspired by TS Eliot’s The Four Quartets and created by indie developer David Wehle. I spoke with Wehle about the poetic influences behind his game and the wider state of exploration-based games.

Explain your history with TS Eliot’s poetry and how his Four Quartets influenced this game.

I love TS Eliot’s ability to illustrate how the beginning relates to the end in a cosmic sense. This story is a memory to the narrator, but an actual experience for the player. How do those two perspectives fit together? Does the player’s experience contradict the narrator’s, and why would that be? There’s actually another TS Eliot quote hidden in the game that best sums up the story: “The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” This is an exploration game where you arrive at the beginning and see it with new eyes.

Did you grow up in an area similar to the one portrayed in the game?

I feel a lot of hate in the world could be extinguished if everyone simply had loving parents.

I grew up in Southern Virginia, and while I had a great upbringing, some of my friends in elementary school did not. I wanted to tell them in my little kid way that everything was going to be all right, but I just didn’t know how. As I prepare to start a family of my own, I’m reminded of those friends and how innocent and important childhood is. This game is basically me as a reflective adult telling those kids it’s going to be all right. I feel a lot of hate in the world could be extinguished if everyone simply had loving parents.

Is Home is Where One Starts… a game, an interactive experience or something else entirely? Do the labels matter?

To me it’s an exploration game, but I also like the term “secret box” game coined by Joel Goodwin in his fascinating article about why “walking simulator” is a useless name. I think labels can help gamers know what they’re buying, but one of my favorite things of the indie movement is this freedom from boundaries. I had never seen anything like Dear Esther when it came out, and it changed my life in some ways. Looking at labels and deciding how indie developers can change it is why being a gamer is so exciting in this day and age.

Why did you make Home is Where One Starts…? What about this situation, character or narrative style called to you?

My intention wasn’t to make a clear-cut narrative like Gone Home; it was to experiment using the environment to accentuate metaphors and symbols. The plot is vague because I wanted the player to infer what happened and decide for themselves how this story took place. I wanted the player to ask, “Why is this dirty toy duck under an abandoned bathtub,” or, “Why is this glass slipper near these pumpkins?” I carefully placed every object to tell an indirect story about hope and childhood, and I think exploration video games are perfect for that sort of storytelling. I love this genre of gaming, but I think to expand on this girl’s story would go against the intention of the game. I believe it resonates emotionally with people because of the gaps in the story, and the biggest compliment I can receive is that this game acted as a hopeful mirror for people who had a sorrowful childhood.

Home is Where One Starts… is available now on Steam and itch.io for $3.

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Pro gaming doesn’t need balls to be considered a ‘sport’

The hockey game on the flat-screen behind the bar had served as a pleasant background visual as I ate dinner. But with my plate cleared, the action on-screen drew my full attention. I took a sip of beer as players converged on the puck, white jerseys sliding into red and sticks slapping intently over a small, swift black dot. More furious movement and some of the athletes fell back as others rushed forward chasing their objective: Control the puck. I took another sip. Two men, one from each team, flew toward the black dot as it slid across the bottom wall of the rink and the rest of the players settled into position behind them, constantly moving, pushing for dominance of their immediate areas. Each person on the ice clearly had a specific role. And then halfway through my second beer, it clicked. “It’s like they’re playing League of Legends in real-life,” I thought, frozen in mid-sip. “Holy shit. I think I understand hockey now.”

Let’s back up a bit: I grew up playing sports. I tried everything as a kid — gymnastics, dance classes, art lessons, music training, hiking, baseball, basketball and volleyball, to name a few — but sports is what really stuck. (That, and Harry Potter.) I played volleyball, softball, football and basketball from elementary through middle school, and in high school I helped lead the tenor sax section in marching band. (And, yes, marching band requires a ridiculous amount of athleticism.) Up until eighth grade, my room was plastered in football pendants and I still have a Phoenix Suns-era Jason Kidd jersey hanging in a closet at my mom’s house. The point is: I’m not new to the sports scene. I’ve been there; done that. I enjoy sports.

But I love eSports.

Riot analysts discuss an imminent League of Legends game

Professional gaming, commonly referred to as eSports, is a rapidly booming industry thanks to online streaming sites like Twitch, and League of Legends is one of the biggest games in the business. It also happens to be my favorite game on the professional circuit. Twitch proudly hosts every League of Legends tournament, most of which feature ESPN-style analysts, commentators and giant touchscreen game-review boards. Other eSports games get similar livestream treatment, too, from StarCraft to Counter-Strike to Dota 2. For its part, League of Legends holds a seemingly permanent spot on Twitch’s Featured Games section, alongside other front-page regulars Hearthstone, Dota 2, Minecraft and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

For the uninitiated, League of Legends is a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game where two teams of five fight to take out opposing defenses and destroy the rival base. There are three lanes — bottom, middle and top — that converge across the map, generally populated by four players per team (two on bottom, one in the middle and one on top). The fifth player roams the winding jungle, slaughtering creatures and setting up ganks, opportunities to surprise and kill enemies. Riot, the developer of League of Legends, created characters specifically for each role in the game: damage-dealers, healers, spellcasters, tanks and utility champions. The characters themselves have rich backstories, featuring rivalries and alliances, and include princes and thieves, magicians and zombies, assassins and aliens. Watching professional players select their champions is just as engaging as the actual gameplay — there is immense strategy involved in crafting a strong, balanced team. It’s like a rapid-fire NFL draft that takes place before every game. (And suddenly, I think I understand the existence of the Draft subsection on NFL.com).

eSports make my heart sing, while traditional sports can only make it hum.

The excitement I feel while watching League of Legends is new, different and infinitely more visceral than anything I’ve felt while spectating hockey or football. Perhaps I relate more to a warrior princess or an eternally sad mummy than I do to Wayne Gretzky or Tom Brady. Maybe it’s easier to immerse my mind in a pixelated jungle than a real-life slab of ice. Whatever the impetus, one fact remains: eSports make my heart sing, while traditional sports can only make it hum. And I’m not alone here: 134 million people watch eSports worldwide and League of Legends generated around $1 billion in revenue in 2014 alone. The 2013 League of Legends championships sold out the Los Angeles Staples Center and brought in 32 million viewers. Over the past few years, China and the UK have even built dedicated arenas just for eSports.

With such a large, enthusiastic audience for eSports, it’s easy to suggest that it doesn’t matter what outsiders think of the activity. It shouldn’t matter what “other people” call the eSports that I personally love. It shouldn’t, but it does. Especially when those other people are ESPN President John Skipper, who dismissed eSports as “not a sport,” or ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd, who recently said: “If I am ever forced to cover guys playing video games, I will retire,” before equating eSports with a gunshot to the face. This was directly after ESPN2 aired a collegiate Dota 2 tournament, the first (but certainly not last) eSports match to ever hit live ESPN TV.

League of Legends is clearly more fantastical than something like hockey, but the parallels are there: Control the puck/control the dragon; hit the puck into the net/hit the tower; give the puck to the forward/give the kills to the carry; right wing, center, left wing/bottom, middle and top lanes. It’s a deeply strategic, rapid-reflex kind of game that is made more interesting — not sillier — by its fantasy elements. After all, Peter Jackson made six films and billions of dollars peddling the wars among elves, wizards and a giant, glowing eyeball; League of Legends is easily more accessible than JRR Tolkien.

There is no reason to write off eSports for being “childish” when our most beloved sports involve chasing, throwing and hitting balls of various sizes.

Besides, traditional sports can sound just as silly as eSports when stripped of their nuance and reduced to incomplete basics. Explain football in the simplest of terms and it becomes a game where you “catch a ball.” For baseball, it’s, “Hit a ball and run in a circle.” Soccer: “Kick a ball.” Hockey: “Hit a puck.” Tennis: “Smack a ball over a net.” League of Legends: “Play a video game.”

There is no reason to write off any eSports game for being “childish” when our most beloved sports involve chasing, throwing and hitting balls of various sizes. When these sports are presented in a structure with rules and records and dedicated players, they become something to be admired, as do eSports. Both require skill, practice, dedication, teamwork and strategy, though one is more the province of the body and the other that of the mind. Still, a skill is a skill, and watching talented, passionate people perform rigidly regulated tasks is one of humanity’s favorite pastimes. The main difference between sports and eSports, for now, is history.

The League of Legends championship trophy

But let’s get back to the bar.

As I finished my beer, I watched the hockey game play out with increased attention and intrigue. I didn’t know who the players were and I didn’t always know what they were doing or why, but I clearly understood one thing on the screen: The roaring, riotous, enthusiastic crowd. And I was a part of it.

[Image credits: Riot]

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