Rockstar owner sues the BBC over upcoming GTA drama
When the BBC announced it was making a docudrama about Rockstar Games and the Grand Theft Auto franchise, we assumed it had the blessing of the games’ creators. Not so. As IGN reports, Rockstar Games, via its parent company Take-Two Interactive, has filed a lawsuit against the broadcaster over trademark infringement. In a statement, the company says Rockstar Games “has had no involvement” with the project and that it’s attempted “multiple times” to resolve the matter with the BBC. The show is being developed under the working title “Game Changer,” and it’s safe to assume Rockstar, its pivotal employees and the franchise itself will be named in the show. Daniel Radcliffe has already been cast as Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser, alongside Bill Paxton as Jack Thompson, a former attorney that famously campaigned against the game franchise. If the one-off TV drama is to go ahead as planned, it’s vital that the BBC settles this legal dispute quickly.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment
Source: IGN
YouTube now supports 60 fps live streaming
YouTube blew more than a few minds last October when it rolled out 60 frame-per-second video playback on the site. Gamers especially flocked to the frame rate as it allowed for jutter-free playback of fast-paced titles like Call of Duty or Titanfall. Today, YouTube announced a new feature that is sure to make gamers even happier: 60 fps live streaming which will allow people to broadcast their online exploits in real-time. The new frame rate is still an early preview, mind you, and will only be available on HTML5-compatible browsers. However, YouTube will encode these streams in both 720p60 and 1080p60 formats as well as automatically knock it down to 30FPS for devices that can’t handle full speed.
What’s more, YouTube is also rolling out HTML5 playback which will enable viewers to not only rewind in the middle of a live stream but also play it back at up to double speed in order to catch back up to the broadcast. And for producers, the video-sharing site has collaborated with Elgato and XSplit to ensure that products like Elgato Game Capture, XSplit Broadcaster and XSplit Gamecaster will continue to work with the site.
Nintendo kills off the basic Wii U in Japan
Nintendo is about to halt production of its 8GB Wii U Basic in Japan, according to a notice on its product site. The white-clad product has been around since 2012, but was never super popular since the 32GB version is typically only $50 more. In fact, the rumor mill had it being killed off two years ago after it went out of stock at GameStop and Best Buy, though Nintendo later called that a “misperception.” Somehow the model has hung on until now, but has gradually become harder to find.
There’s no word on whether Nintendo plans to kill the basic version in the US and Europe, but a Japanese death often presages a similar fate elsewhere. However, the company plans to launch a white version of the 32GB Premium model, so at least you won’t get too nostalgic for the color.
Source: Nintendo
Windows 10 beta on Xbox One coming ‘post-summer’
Want a taste of Windows 10 on your Xbox One? It’s coming sooner than you might’ve thought. Xbox boss Phil Spencer tweeted today that a beta of the program that ties your console in with your desktop computer is coming “post-summer.” Exactly what features it’ll entail or a concrete timeframe (game streaming from Xbox to desktop, the Xbox Game DVR and Xbox Live) are anyone’s guess at this point. That’ll almost positively change come next month’s Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, though.
@dave125norco It will be post-summer.
– Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) May 19, 2015
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Via: Microsoft News
Source: Phil Spencer (Twitter)
White ‘Halo’ Xbox One bundle coming to the US
It’s no secret that people love white gadgets. And in case you missed out on the Xbox One Sunset Overdrive bundle from last year, now’s your chance to get one. Microsoft just revealed a kit that’s loaded with a white version of the console, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, 500GB of storage and a 14-day Xbox Live Gold trial. The special edition is only available in the US and costs $350, which would save you about $50. But you better hurry if you want it — as usual, this will only be up for grabs in limited quantities.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Xbox
Gaming cooperatively makes you more sociable, say scientists
Gaming has well known dark sides, but it can also improve spatial skills, reduce stress and even bring families together. Two new studies may further confuse you about the benefits, with one concluding that gaming makes you friendlier in the real world, and another implying it could ruin your brain. First the plus side: Texas Tech researchers think that cooperative gameplay, whether in violent or non-violent games, makes people nicer. “We found that playing with a helpful partner increases the expectation of others to reciprocate that pro-social behavior,” said author John Velez. He added that teaming up even makes you “nicer to the other team… that just tried to beat you.”
Playing cooperatively, rather than alone — even online — can stimulate gamers’ empathy so much that it negates the aggressive effects of violent games and even carries over into the real world. Velez found that players were more likely to help out pals in social situations and less likely to be hostile to friend and foe alike. “What we found was cooperative play seems to have the biggest effect in terms of decreasing aggression toward other people,” he said.
What we found was cooperative play seems to have the biggest effect in terms of decreasing aggression toward other people.
On the downside, because of the way that gaming stimulates your brain, it may increase your risk to neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s Disease. Researchers from the Douglas Institute and Université de Montréal found that gamers tend to navigate their environment using the brain’s reward center (the caudate nucleas), rather than using spatial memory from the hippocampus like non-gamers. The results were hardly conclusive, and the team said that further studies should focus on specific games. But the study shows that while gaming may make you more attentive visually, that might be outweighed by the negative effects on your brain.
Filed under: Gaming
Via: Science Daily
Source: Texas Tech University, EurekAlert
A video for Konami fans who need a laugh, courtesy of Mega64
Konami has made some major, mysterious changes this year. It canceled Silent Hills, a horror game from Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, even after the exceptionally warm reception to its PlayStation 4 teaser, PT. Kojima himself is, in all likelihood, going to leave Konami after production wraps on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Plus, Konami delisted itself from the New York Stock Exchange and wants to aggressively pursue mobile game development. Put all of that together and you get a PT spoof from nerdy-comedy video crew Mega64. Watch the video below.
Image credit: Mega64
Source: Mega64
Twitch brings on-demand video streaming to its mobile apps
Missed out on a live game tournament stream when you were at home, but want to catch up when you’re on the road? As of now, you can. Twitch is pushing out updated Android and iOS apps that include video on demand, giving you highlights and past broadcasts when you’re stuck on the bus. Both releases are available today, although it’s important to note that you can’t simply update the Android version — a security fix requires that you install a brand new app, and the old one will stop working as of today.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Internet, Mobile
Source: Twitch, App Store, Google Play
Epic Games challenges VR devs to make sense of big data
We’ve seen a handful of neat ways to visualize big data and make it useful, and the folks behind Unreal Engine, Epic Games, think virtual reality is the next step for that. Currently a half-dozen international teams are taking part in the Big Data VR Challenge, and hope their expertise with games and VR will help ’em “find new ways to manipulate and interrogate” the massive amounts of info generated by science studies. As of now, projects include putting together a digital edition of one of medical history’s largest collections of patient consultations (some 80,000 participants) from the 16th and 17th century and a cohort study of kids born between 1991 and 1992.
Perhaps the one best suited for VR is The Genome Browser, however, which aims to aid scientists working with genomes. The big idea here is to give data context and make it usable – after all, numbers without information to describe them are kind of pointless. The prize? A cool $20,000 and the winner will be announced at Develop:Brighton this July.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Science, Alt
Source: Unreal Engine (YouTube), Epic Games
Xbox One Digital TV Tuner hits the US and Canada today
The Xbox One is already an entertainment powerhouse. But, starting today, those of you in the US and Canada will have the chance to get even more out of it. Microsoft has announced that the official TV tuner for its Xbox One, which lets people watch over-the-air channels directly from the console, is now available in these two countries. As a refresher, this feature first hit Europe last year, so it’s taken a decent amount for it to arrive in North America. You can get the Hauppauge Digital TV Tuner for $60, though you’ll also need an HDTV antenna for it to work as intended.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Peripherals, HD, Microsoft
Source: Xbox
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