Sign-up list opens for Titanfall’s mech-filled beta tonight at 9ET
Titanfall has become something bigger than a multiplayer mech game. It’s the reason many people decided to invest in an Xbox One, and the reason why many others decided to postpone their next-gen console purchase altogether — the finished title won’t arrive until March 11th, and it’s coming to the PC and 360 (slightly delayed until March 25th) too. In the meantime though, the developer behind Titanfall, Respawn Entertainment, is providing early access via a beta and you can sign up for access starting tonight at 9PM ET. The good news is that you don’t need to pre-order the game to get in, but the bad news is that it’s not open to all, so we don’t know how many slots there are to go around. Go ahead and try your luck at the sign-up page — we’ll let you know the URL once it’s posted “shortly before” 9PM ET, according to Respawn founder Vince Zampella.
Tonight at 6pm PST there will be a website to sign up for #titanfall beta access. The website will be announced shortly before 6.
– Vince Zampella (@VinceZampella) February 11, 2014
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
Source: Vince Zampella (Twitter)
Abandoning Olympus: Mega Man’s creator on going indie
Keiji Inafune’s been making games for nearly 30 years. He’s the man behind one of gaming’s most iconic characters (Mega Man) and several huge franchises (Dead Rising, Onimusha). After 23 years working at Capcom, one of Japan’s largest game publishers, he suddenly quit back in 2010. “Settling down means death for a creator. As long as you are a creator, you cannot settle down,” he announced on his blog. Just six months after being appointed Capcom’s Global Head of Production (overseeing the company’s entire gaming catalog, from Resident Evil to Street Fighter), he quit.
With that, he set off on his own and created two new companies: Comcept and Intercept. When we talked with Inafune last week at DICE 2014, he spoke of his plans for Comcept in detail. “I was a publisher for 20 years, so you’d be right in thinking I brought some ideas from there into Comcept,” he said. That means, first and foremost, retaining ownership of IP. That’s a major component of going with Kickstarter for the latest Comcept game, a Mega Man-esque action game titled Mighty No. 9.
The project sailed past its target goal of $900K and took in $3.8 million. Without a publisher, of course.
For the game industry, such freedom for mid-level studios is unprecedented in recent years. Comcept’s last major project, Soul Sacrifice on the PlayStation Vita, is an original work by Comcept that is wholly owned by Sony Computer Entertainment. That isn’t meant to demonize Sony — it’s standard business for game publishing, and more than likely that Sony shared non-financial resources in the process — but to contextualize the importance of self-publishing. Inafune puts it best himself:
“At Capcom, makers didn’t have rights for the game. But now independent, we’re able to make what we want…which makes us into a publisher. It’s more to be a games maker, you become a publisher. You need to think as both a developer and a publisher.”
He even said it’s harder now for studios than it was just 10 years ago. “More than publishers giving out money, they’re looking for hits (like Call of Duty), for investing into definitive things.”
Of course, even with his years of experience and current projects, he can’t speak for the entirety of Japanese game development. He’s been asked to do as much many times in the past. Part of that is assuredly due to his outspoken nature — a rarity among Japanese game devs — and another part is due to his own speeches/rallying cries for innovation in Japanese game development. Inafune sees another factor as well: “I think it’s the press that made me into this ‘representative.’” Touché.
As Comcept grows in the coming years, Inafune’s got high but reasonable hopes: “a company that creates games where we hold onto the rights…not a games maker that’s ordered to make a type of game.” His studio and games may be labeled “indie” for now, but Inafune’s goal remains the constant it’s been his entire career: to have the freedom to make great games.
Watch Valve’s vision of our virtual reality future (and other Steam Dev Days talks) right here
We did our best to break down and explain talks given by Valve’s virtual reality leaders at Steam Dev Days, but there’s no replacing the real deal. As such, we’d be silly not to share news that Valve’s published to YouTube all 28 talks given at its first ever developer’s conference — including the two virtual reality talks from Michael Abrash and Joe Ludwig, not to mention Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey’s talk. We’ve embedded all three of those below, but the whole shebang is available right here for your marathoning pleasure.
Filed under: Gaming, Wearables, HD
Source: Valve
Xbox One’s second big update focused on multiplayer ahead of Titanfall’s March arrival
For better or worse, Microsoft is clearly aware that the Xbox One‘s party system and online multiplayer functionality is lacking. An update aimed at bringing parity between Xbox One’s party system and the Xbox 360 arrives this March — the second half of this Spring’s big XB1 update, the first of which will launch this week — and it features some fairly run-of-the-mill alterations.
The headline feature, for instance? “Get to your friends list faster,” which simply bumps the friends list to the main homepage within the Friends app (the current version is seen above). The rest of the list is along the same lines: party chat will automatically engage when in a party, you’ll be able to chat with people in games you’re not playing, invites to party up can be sent from in-game menus, and a recent players filter is being added to the Friends app as well. Longtime multiplayer gamers will no doubt recognize all this functionality as already available on Xbox 360; we’re thankful it’s coming back, but shouldn’t this have been in the Xbox One at launch?
As previously promised, the multiplayer-focused update is set to arrive just ahead of Titanfall’s March 11th launch. Should today’s news not be too thrilling for you, it sounds like multiplayer isn’t the only aspect of next month’s update: Microsoft says it’ll “continue to share more details in the days and weeks ahead.”
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
Xbox One stereo headset and adapter arrive in March
The DualShock 4 just has a simple 3.5mm audio jack baked right into its body. The Xbox One controller, on the other hand, has a small proprietary port that wasn’t designed for connecting a headset too… at least not without some help. In early March, Microsoft will start selling an adapter that will let you connect your favorite pair of cans to your controller for $25. The small adapter finally opens the console to third-party headsets, be they Turtle Beach or Steel Series. The tiny matte plastic accessory even has buttons for controlling volume and muting your microphone. The latter will definitely come in handy for privately cursing the weak link on your Titanfall team without taking your hands off the controller. If you don’t already own a headset though (and don’t want to settle for the monophonic chat accessory) you can pick up an Xbox-branded one, with the nearly universal adapter included, for $80. Either way: if you’re a multiplayer FPS adict, you’re probably going to want to pick up of these when they hit shelves early next month.
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Microsoft
Source: Xbox.com
Flappy Bird’s creator says he pulled the app for your own good
If you were hoping Flappy Bird would find its wings and fly back onto the App Store or Google Play, its creator has some tough news for you. Less than 48 hours after he pulled the explosively popular game, developer Dong Nguyen briefly emerged from his self-imposed exile to talk to Forbes about why that little bird will flap no more. According to Nguyen, the game was designed to help people relax, let players blow off some steam when they had a spare few minutes. Instead, Flappy Bird became an “addictive product” that was causing him, and its players, issues. Nguyen became the subject of intense media scrutiny, while players became enraged by their tragically low scores. “To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever,” he told Forbes, shortly after he’d had an impromptu sit down with Vietnam’s deputy prime minister.
Since it disappeared, owners of the app have put their phones and tablets up for bidding on eBay, with prices reaching $1,000 for an iPhone with the app pre-installed. Despite its popularity, and reports that Flappy Bird was reportedly making $50,000 a day in ad revenue, Nguyen says he has no regrets: “I don’t think it’s a mistake,” he said. “I have thought it through.” If you didn’t manage to grab the app before it was pulled, there’s no shortage of Flappy clones on the App Store or Google Play — just in case you need a Flappy Angry Bird fix.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Forbes
Never fear, Flappy Bird is still available — on eBay, for a thousand bucks
Less than a day after the explosively popular game Flappy Bird vanished from the App Store and Google Play, it’s become available on eBay — for hundreds of dollars. Lucky owners of the Flappy Bird app have put their phones and tablets up for bidding, with prices ranging from $460 for a black iPhone 4s with an “updated” version of the game to $1,000 for a Galaxy Tab 3 with the app pre-installed.
It’s unclear if any devices have sold, though there are a few bids in the running. Maybe wait a day or two before pulling the trigger, though; some say this is all a huge publicity stunt and the app will be back up soon, while others say the developer is avoiding being sued by other game makers. You could also check out Flappy Bird clones such as Ironpants. It’s free; it offers similar gameplay, if you can live without the bird character; and it doesn’t require remembering your eBay password.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Mobile
Via: Slash Gear
Source: eBay
New PlayStation Vita coming to North America this Spring for $199, packs in Borderlands 2 and 8GB memory card
Thinking of coughing up your tax return to import one of those new, slimmer PlayStation Vitas? Hold up: Sony just announced that the revised handheld will see a North American release soon. According to Sony’s John Koller, the portable is slated to arrive sometime this Spring, complete with a copy of Borderlands 2. The company’s new home console can expect more than 100 PS4 releases during 2014, he says, and the current stable of games is already being put to good use: PS4 owners collectively spend 34 million hours playing games every week.
Developing…
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Twitter
Worms Battlegrounds and Nutjitsu are the first self-published games on Xbox One
Microsoft caught everyone’s attention back when it introduced ID@Xbox. Now, nearly six months after the indie developer program was revealed, we’re finally seeing the first titles to come out of it: Worms Battlegrounds and Nutjitsu. At this point, there are no specific details on when either game will be available on Xbox One — all we know is that they’ll land sometime in 2014. However, Joystiq does point out that ID@Xbox is expected to launch in Q1 of this year, which means the games’ debut on Xbox One probably isn’t far off. Oh, and don’t fret if you’re a PlayStation 4 owner, because Worms Battlegrounds is also headed your way.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Phil Spencer (@XboxP3)
Over one million people are streaming gameplay on Twitch every month
With the inclusion of Twitch streaming functionality in the PlayStation 4 (and soon in the Xbox One), it’s no surprise that the service is now achieving over one million “monthly active broadcasters.” What that means in human speak is over one million people are streaming out gameplay via Twitch every month — that’s a ton of opportunity for both informative broadcasts and rampant nudity!
Should there be any doubt that the new game consoles are goosing the numbers, Twitch already confirmed that PS4 activations account for at least 100,000 new accounts thus far. With Xbox One support coming in the not-so-distant future, we only expect that broadcaster number to grow ever higher. Perhaps two million by summer? At the rate these consoles are selling, it’s not hard to imagine.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software, HD, Sony, Microsoft
Source: Twitch
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