Joystiq weekly wrap-up: Fire-breathing lizards, big bad wolves and giant robots
Welcome to the first edition of the Joystiq Weekly Wrap-up, where we present some of the best stories and biggest news from our beloved sister-publication. After the break you’ll find, among other things, Pokémon, the Big Bad Wolf and the final word on Titanfall’s ongoing multiplayer examination. Our brothers and sisters in arms are on the ground in Boston this weekend for PAX East too, and you can find all of that coverage right here. Pour a frosty beverage and join us for the week’s gaming news, won’t you?
News
Arguably the biggest news this week came from Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros-themed Nintendo Direct broadcast. The franchise hits the 3DS this summer and the Wii U this fall with two online modes (For Fun and For Glory) and a unique spin on series-staple Adventure mode, Smash Run. Perhaps the biggest news, though, is the addition of all around bad-ass Charizard to the game’s roster.
One of the more intriguing games shown at Microsoft’s E3 press event last year was indie-puzzler Below. It’s being developed by Capybara Games (Super Brothers Swords and Sworcery EP) and news hit this week that if you don’t feel like shelling out $500 for an Xbox One — it was previously announced as a platform-exclusive — that the game is coming to Steam, too.
In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel you’ll travel to the moon when it releases this fall for PS3, PC and Xbox 360. The last-gen title takes place between the first two games, and you’ll be fighting for antagonist Handsome Jack this time around.
If you’ve beaten Bastion countless times while waiting for developer Supergiant Games’ follow-up Transistor to hit, it’s almost time to let The Kid rest. The action-RPG releases on the PS4 and PC for $20 on May 20th.
Reviews
This week Joystiq reviewed Xbox One exclusive Kinect Sports Rivals and episode three of Telltale Games’ The Wolf Among Us. Critic Jessica Condit lamented Rivals is another instance of Kinect’s crippled functionality.
The Xbox One Kinect is more responsive than its predecessor, but it still doesn’t seem ready for this level of gameplay. My set-up meets the requirements – a clear, open floor and seven feet of playable space from Kinect to the front of my couch. Still, Kinect had trouble deciphering who was playing if anything moved in the background or just off to the sides, and it tracked motions inconsistently.
Joystiq‘s managing editor Susan Arendt was much more positive in her look at Biggby Wolf’s latest chapter. Although The Crooked Mile narratively occupies the middle of Telltale’s Fables yarn, that shouldn’t be held against it she says.
Taken by itself, it’s unsatisfying and half-missing, but of course it’s not meant to be taken by itself. It’s the centerpiece of a larger whole, the lock that will let everything eventually make sense.
Original stories
Road-trip season will be here before you know it, but with the price of gas still pretty high, getting out and exploring the open road can be an expensive proposition. If you’d still like to see some of the US though, Ubisoft’s The Crew will let you do just that, virtually. The constantly-connected racer lets you and three buddies drive from San Francisco to Salt Lake City and other cities (including Detroit), completing challenges and collecting cars. Joystiq‘s video preview gives an overview of the game’s look and feel.
As part of its ongoing look at crowdfunded game development, Joystiq notes that the month of March continued the space’s continued slump. What’s more, March was the second-worst month of pledges in the prior 10 (when Joystiq started the series).
PC gamers are a proud people: they tend to invest heavily in their rigs and expect the best possible experience from their games as a result. For them, playing a console game that’s been ported can be a crap shoot in terms of performance. With the brutally difficult Dark Souls 2, however, that isn’t the case. The PC version is prettier than its PS3 and Xbox 360 counterparts, and is the best version of the game that’s available.
In the wake of games like Battlefield 4 and its still-rocky performance, Joystiq has started an ongoing look at how a game’s multiplayer fares in the first month after launch. With Titanfall, the outlet says that despite a few brief outages, the experience remains solid, dubbing the game’s state of service “good.”
That’s it! Be sure to check back next Sunday for another recap, or if you’re impatient, click over to Joystiq and catch the news as it happens.
[Image credit: Miguel Angel Garrido / Flickr]
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo
Source: Joystiq
Weekends with Engadget: GS5 and Fire TV reviews, Sony’s Yoshida on VR, and more!
Welcome to Weekends with Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines from the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. For even more action, subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Samsung Galaxy S5 review: a solid improvement, but don’t rush to upgrade
Samsung’s latest handset, the Galaxy S5, has a slightly larger screen and squared edges, but nontheless recognizable as part of the Galaxy family. Packing a heart rate monitor, fingerprint scanner and extensively revamped TouchWiz UI, it’s a solid upgrade from the GS4. But is it worth an early upgrade?
Getting to know Microsoft’s new Xbox lead, Phil Spencer
There’s a new sheriff in Xbox town, and his name is Phil Spencer. While most of us know him as the E3 guy who speaks about games during Microsoft’s keynote, Spencer is a longtime Redmond employee who worked his way up from the bottom.
The Micro is a $200 3D printer that can make a teacup in an hour
If you’ve been expectantly waiting for 3D printer that wouldn’t require you to wring out your wallet, now might be your chance to pick one up. This week, M3D’s Micro hit Kickstarter — for only $200.
Lightroom mobile arrives for iPad with touch-friendly interface, realtime sync
Lightroom mobile for the iPad is here! Adobe’s latest companion app brings photographers most of the most of the funtionality found in the desktop version, and any changes you make will be pushed to your Lightroom cloud.
Neil Young on digital audio: You’re doing it wrong
Neil Young has a plan to serve up high-resolution audio, and it’s called Pono. But why would anyone spend $400 on a somewhat chunky media player and re-buy all of their music library in FLAC format? We sat down with the rock icon to find out.
My First Time on the World Wide Web
Do you remember the first time you cracked open the treasures of the World Wide Web? Our editors sure do. Read on for a look into the lives of Engadget’s biggest nerds and their first experience with the “internet.”
Amazon Fire TV review: the set-top that tries to do everything
Is it a gaming console? Is it a media streamer? Well, Amazon’s Fire TV is a little of both. Sure, the $99 set-top box is lightning fast thanks to its “ASAP” technology. But in an ecosystem all to its own, will the Fire TV be able to attract enough development and content to stay afloat in an already saturated market?
Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida loves that Facebook bought Oculus, says it helps validate PlayStation’s efforts
Most of us were surprised (maybe even appalled) once we learned that Facebook bought Oculus VR for $2 billion. Shuhei Yoshida, head of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios, however, was thoroughly excited.
Play Nintendo’s rarest game on your Wii U
Back in the 90s, Nintendo released 90 copies of a three-part, competitive play cartridge called Nintendo World Championships. In the spirit of nostalgia, the company’s adding said game into its next iteration of NES Remix for the Wii U.
Amazon phone reportedly coming in September with glasses-free 3D
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon’s planning to release its own smartphone this coming September. What’s more, the handset’s reported to have four cameras with retina-tracking tech, making it possible to project 3D images without needing glasses.
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Filed under: Misc
IRS tastes its own medicine, will pay Microsoft millions for Windows XP support
Usually, the Internal Revenue Service is the one getting paid this time of year, but Uncle Sam will be lining someone else’s pockets this tax season because of its attachment to Windows XP. In case you hadn’t heard, support for XP officially stopped on April 8th, meaning that Microsoft will no longer provide support or security updates for the venerable OS. However, governmental computers can’t be left vulnerable, so the IRS will be paying Microsoft millions of dollars for custom support to keep their machines secure and functional. Right now, over half the agency’s PCs still run XP, despite Microsoft telling the whole world that it would stop support for the OS in 2014 six years ago. The plan is to have all IRS machines running Windows 7 by the end of the year — at which point the clock starts ticking on the transition to Windows 8. No rush, though, Microsoft has pledged to support Windows 7 through 2020. Let the governmental procrastination begin!
[Image Credit: Alamy]
Filed under: Microsoft
Microsoft tests Live Tiles you can use without leaving the Start screen
Even Microsoft knows that Windows Live Tiles have so much potential to be a lot better, especially on touchscreen devices. In fact, a group of the company’s researchers in Asia have apparently been working on making Live Tiles interactive. As you can see in the videos after the break, the experimental tiles expand when touched, showing you its contents right on the Start screen instead of launching the app. For instance, touching the mail app automatically shows a list of your emails in an expanded view, which looks very similar to an Android widget.
That’s not all, though: the team has also designed a feature called Desktop Interactive Tile, which lists the programs open on desktop mode, making them easily accessible from the modern UI. This tile can be accessed from the sidebar on desktop mode, as well, providing an easy way to launch programs or attach files to emails. Alas, Microsoft took down the project’s page after briefly showcasing it on its website, but not before ZDNet managed to grab a copy of its official description:
This project features an Interactive-Tile UI system that enables users to access and manipulate Live Tiles in an interactive way with touch gestures. Interactive Tile’s UI is responsive and flexible to an app’s content and function. Users can provide quick input to the Interactive Tile on the Start screen. With a perception of Start as an entrance page, Interactive Tiles were introduced to empower the start screen with an intermediate access level to applications.
As one of the company’s experimental ventures, this might not make it to production at all. But if it does, we’d love to see how it’ll play with Windows 8.1′s upcoming classic Start menu.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: ZDNet
Xbox One Titanfall bundle now costs £349, the same as a PS4 in the UK
Next-gen console price wars have officially hit the UK, and they’re getting serious. Going one better than their US counterparts, British retailers have slashed the cost of the Xbox One Titanfall edition by £50, with both Amazon and Asda currently offering the bundle for £349. For those keeping track, that means you’ll get an Xbox One and its most popular game for the same price as a standard PlayStation 4. Microsoft originally charged £429 at launch, but dropped its recommended retail price to £399 around three months later. The PS4 may still have an slight lead over its rival in terms of sales, but with recent price reductions and the appearance of weaponised mechs, Microsoft will hope it can begin to reverse that trend.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Via: Joystiq
Age of Empires: World Domination is going to be conquering Android in Summer 2014
I fondly remember many a night in my younger years playing Age of Empires II on PC, one of the best strategy games of its time. Well, Microsoft and KLab have decided to revive the strategy series on mobile, calling the game Age of Empires: World Domination. Following the historical themes of its predecessors, World Domination will let you play as some of the world’s greatest historical armies such as the Celts, Vikings and Huns. Check out the trailer that was released today:
The game is supposed to be released sometime in Summer 2014 for Android, iOS and Windows Phone, and looks like it will be inheriting the real-time strategy gameplay of its forefathers. The mobile platform doesn’t usually lend itself to strategy games very well, however it looks like they may have adopted sufficiently simple game mechanics to allow it to be played on the smaller screens. There aren’t may more details than that at the moment, but you can sign up for any updates on the World Domination website (link is down below).
Are you excited to hear that Age of Empires: World Domination is going to be on Android? What are your fondest memories of playing Age of Empires games? Share your nostalgia with us in the comments.
Source: AOEWD via TalkAndroid
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Daily Roundup: Getting to know Xbox’s Phil Spencer, Nintendo’s rarest game and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Google will protect your phone by looking for sketchy apps you’ve already installed
Google has been alerting users when downloading apps of questionable origin for some time. But now the company’s taking its security a step further by checking up on your apps after you’ve already installed them.
Getting to know Microsoft’s new Xbox lead, Phil Spencer
There’s a new sheriff in Xbox town, and his name is Phil Spencer. While most of us know him as the E3 guy who speaks about games during Microsoft’s keynote, Spencer is a longtime Redmond employee who worked his way up from the bottom.
Facebook is trying to save you from embarrassing posts
In an effort to keep you on top of your privacy settings, Facebook’s giving its existing controls more visibility. By rolling out a new “Privacy Checkup” box in the near future, the company hopes people will become more aware of their sharing habits.
Play Nintendo’s rarest game on your Wii U
Back in the 90s, Nintendo released 90 copies of a three-part, competitive play cartridge called Nintendo World Championships. In the spirit of nostalgia, the company’s adding said game into its next iteration of NES Remix for the Wii U.
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Filed under: Misc
Getting to know Microsoft’s new Xbox lead, Phil Spencer
When Phil Spencer was appointed the new head of Xbox following the departure of longtime lead Marc Whitten, he promised a re-focus on gaming across all Microsoft platforms. That wasn’t a huge surprise, of course –most folks know Spencer as the Microsoft Studios guy; the guy who makes game deals; the guy who speaks at E3 about games during Microsoft’s keynote. While that’s all accurate, Spencer is also a longtime Microsoft employee, starting as a programmer and working his way up. In an interview with Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, Spencer detailed that 26 year history and how it led him to the lofty position he’s in today.
Beyond the history lesson, Spencer teased out at least one juicy tidbit: “we’ve got a game we haven’t announced yet, we’re gonna show on stage at E3.” Unannounced games at E3? Get right out! Joking aside, he said it’s got a “fantastic setting” and a “soulful” feeling (comparisons were made to indie darlings Limbo and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons). Color us intrigued.
Join us below for a bulleted list of quick facts about the man charged with running Microsoft’s gaming division, and the full video interview from Microsoft.
Quick facts about Phil Spencer:
- Joined Microsoft at age 20 as a programmer
- Has never left the company (for 26 years!)
- Worked with Ed Fries and the original Xbox group on creating Microsoft’s game platform
- His favorite game? Voodoo Vince for the original Xbox (yes, really)
- Some major franchises Spencer’s played a key role in: Halo, Gears of War, Forza Motorsport
- The most important “moment” for him in the history of Xbox: the launch of Xbox Live
- His favorite type of games are fun, story-based, and involve group play
- He’s got a pretty killer haircut
[Image credit: Flickr user ‘Criisi’]
OneNote team goes off-key with Les Mis parody
Sometimes, it’s easy to get so excited that you spontaneously burst into song. After all, that’s the logic behind most musicals, no? Microsoft’s OneNote team took that idea and ran with it, cribbing from Les Miserables in the process. See, after setting its note-taking app free last month, the team had reason to celebrate. Naturally, it picked an upbeat song (“One Day More”) from one of the saddest musicals of all time to do so. Video evidence of the team’s “Weird Al” skills is after the break, but try not getting the track stuck in your head — it’s for the good of everyone, really.
Filed under: Internet, Microsoft
Via: The Next Web
Source: YouTube
Pre-orders for the Surface 2 with LTE are now open in the UK
Microsoft’s LTE-equipped Surface 2 has only been available in limited markets since it was formally announced, but today the company has said it’s opening pre-orders in the UK. As per the company’s usual sales approach, the 4G tablet is already live on the Microsoft Store for £539, with shipments making their way to doorsteps by May 8th. From that date, Microsoft says customers can also pick up the Surface 2 (4G) from a number of high-street retailers, including Dixons, complete with 200GB of free OneDrive storage for two years and a year of unlimited Skype WiFi calling and landline calls.
Filed under: Microsoft
Source: Microsoft Store (UK)
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