Epic paid $10.4 million for Control exclusivity on PC

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 20, 2019 2:14 PM CDT

New earnings reports from 505 Games parent company Digital Bros. reveals how much Epic paid for Control's timed exclusivity on PC, and it's a lot.

Epic paid $10.4 million for Control exclusivity on PC

Epic Games paid 9.49 million euros (roughly $10.4 million USD) to keep Control off of Steam for a year, Digital Bros.' latest quarterly earnings report states. That's roughly a third of Remedy's total 30 million euro budget for the game, making it extremely lucrative for Digital Bros. and its wholly-owned publisher 505 Games. The document doesn't outright state these revenues are from an exclusivity deal, but the figures show as much: Control made 9.49 million euros directly from Epic Games as of June 30, over a full month before the game actually came out.

This corroborates recent reports that Epic is "paying through the nose" for exclusives, pulling many indie devs over with sign-on funding bonuses and the promise of more cash with every sale.

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Pokemon franchise made $92 billion, tops all other media franchises

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 20, 2019 12:13 PM CDT

The Pokemon franchise is the best-earning media franchise of all time with over $92 billion in total revenues, most of which is from merchandise.

Pokemon franchise made $92 billion, tops all other media franchises

Pokemon is the king of media, toppling titans like Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, and even Mario by a substantial margin. When game sales and merchandise are included, Pokemon has made the mighty sum of $92.12 billion in total media.

Merchandise like plush dolls and figures makes up the lion's share with $61.1 billion, or about 66% of total revenues. Pokemon Video games, including the massively popular handheld titles and Pokemon Go mobile game, have made $17.14 billion.

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Shenmue 3 backers may not get free Steam keys after all

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 20, 2019 9:31 AM CDT

In a Kickstarter update, Ys Net says it's still uncertain if Shenmue 3 backers will get their promised free Steam keys.

Shenmue 3 backers may not get free Steam keys after all

Following the switch to the Epic Games Store, Ys Net offered to give Shenmue 3 backers an extra Steam key once the game's one-year exclusivity ends. Now the devs say the Steam keys may not be sent out. Negotiations with Valve are still underway and Ys Net isn't sure if it can deliver.

"As negotiations with Valve are ongoing, we are not able to make a firm commitment at this point concerning the availability of the Steam keys," Ys Net wrote in the Kickstarter update.

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GRID Autosport releases on Nintendo Switch with 60FPS support

Jak Connor | Gaming | Sep 20, 2019 6:18 AM CDT

Feral Interactive has officially announced that that GRID Autosport, the triple A racing game has skidded onto the Nintendo Switch.

GRID Autosport releases on Nintendo Switch with 60FPS support

GRID Autosport which was developed and published by Codemasters is a "full-on racing simulator" and according to the press release is the "first full-on racing simulator to come to Nintendo Switch." The game will be arriving on the Switch in three different optimization modes; Graphics Mode, Performance Mode and Energy Saver Mode.

Graphics Mode will bump up the games graphics quality will decreasing the amount of FPS you receive, capping it at 30FPS. Performance mode will decrease the graphics and grant the player more FPS, bringing it up to 60FPS. Energy Saver Mode will put the game at its lowest graphical quality while also dropping frames to 30FPS. GRID Autosport is currently available on the Nintendo eShop for $34.99.

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A Total War Saga: TROY officially announced, Achilles and Hector fight

Jak Connor | Gaming | Sep 20, 2019 5:13 AM CDT

After the leaks and rumors surrounding the next Total War game, we finally have an officialy confirmation that the next game will be based in the Greek Mythology world of TROY.

A Total War Saga: TROY officially announced, Achilles and Hector fight

Above we see the officialy trailer announcement that has been released onto the Total War YouTube Channel. Its a cinematic trailer and we are introduced to the two main combat characters of the era, Hector of Troy and Achilles of Greece. Developers Creative Assembly have chosen to delve into the Homer's Illiad and Oddyssey which are the books that detail the events of the siege of Troy and what caused the initial war.

From the trailer we can see that players will be able to take control of both the Greeks and the Trojans, as the game will hone in on the events that caused the Trojan War. According to the trailers description, "In this legendary age, heroes walk the earth. Yet it takes only a single impulsive act to spark a conflict that will shake the world. The Greeks set course for Troy, towards inevitable war and slaughter. For there, on the battlefield before the great city, legends will be born..."

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Breaking Bad movie 'El Camino' to have 10 secret TV cameo characters

Jak Connor | Gaming | Sep 20, 2019 4:08 AM CDT

Netflix dropped their Breaking Bad movie teaser trailer titled 'El Camino', it showcased Jesse Pinkman's drug dealer Skinny Pete being interrogated about Jesse's whereabouts.

Breaking Bad movie 'El Camino' to have 10 secret TV cameo characters

Judging by what the teaser trailer showcased, the El Camino Netflix movie concentrates on the events after the Breaking Bad TV show. Skinny Pete is being interrogated about the location of Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), so we can assume that the movie will revolve around the police attempting to find Jesse.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Jones will continue his role of Jesse's drug-dealer friend Badger in the movie. THR extends on the list of returning actors from the TV show, saying that El Camino will feature "more than 10 familiar characters from the show." For those that are wondering who is writing and directing the movie, sighs of relief can start now as Vince Gilligan, the writer for the Breaking Bad TV show will also be writing and directing the El Camino movie.

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RuneScape player harms family by spending $61,000 on microtransactions

Jak Connor | Gaming | Sep 20, 2019 3:11 AM CDT

Elrond says in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring, "I was there Gandalf, I was there 3000 years ago when the strength of men failed". Just like Elrond, I was there when Jagex first introduced microtransactions into the live game.

RuneScape player harms family by spending $61,000 on microtransactions

I have been playing RuneScape for over 10 years now and never have I seen a community more fired up and worried at the same time then when Jagex first introduced microtransactions into their game. Ultimately, this plus the introduction of Evolution of Combat killed RuneScape, and resulted in the company polling their players opinions on re-rolling the servers back to 2007scape, which is what we now know as Old School RuneScape today.

At first the microtransactions weren't that big of deal because they weren't worth the real-world money for the in-game items or chance through the Sequel of Fortune. That later changed when Jagex started leaning much more towards promotions for the Sequel of Fortune (basically an in-game slot machine) and rewarded players exponentially with experience boosters, gear etc etc. This caused the community to be outraged as players who had extra real-world money to spend had a clear and unsettling advantage over players who just put the time into reaching their set goals.

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These wireless earbuds can unlock your phone with your ear canal

Jak Connor | Audio, Sound & Speakers | Sep 20, 2019 2:07 AM CDT

A massive part of the push for the ever-growing technology industry is undoubtedly the want for the most convenience possible. So how about some wireless earbuds that can unlock your phone via reading your ear canal.

These wireless earbuds can unlock your phone with your ear canal

A team out of the University at Buffalo noticed that most of youth that was walking around campus started adopting wireless headphones, which made them wonder what else could be done with this technology. Computer scientist Zhanpeng Jin who is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences said "We have so many students walking around with speakers in their ears. It led me to wonder what else we could do with them."

So Jin and his team took the earbuds and came up with something that has been called EarEcho. EarEcho is a biometric tool that uses modified wireless earbuds to authenticate users' smartphones, which is done through the reading of the users unique geometrical ear canal. According to this month's Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies journal, the prototype EarEcho had a roughly 95% success rate on the users it was tested on.

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NASA head wouldn't bet his child's birthday on Moon landing by 2024

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Sep 20, 2019 1:03 AM CDT

With NASA in full swing towards meeting their White House imposed goal of landing back on the Moon by 2024, one of the companies heads has actually doubted the projects success.

NASA head wouldn't bet his child's birthday on Moon landing by 2024

Kenneth Bowersox, who is an acting associate administrator for human exploration spoke to a Congressional subcommittee, saying that "I wouldn't bet my oldest child's upcoming birthday present or anything like that." For those that don't know, the Trump administration urged NASA back in March to speed up its Moon-landing plans by four years, solidifying the now 2024 landing date.

Bowersox continued and said that even though he doubts that NASA will be able to achieve the goal of landing back on the Moon by 2024, its still good that the space exploration company has a "aggressive goal." Speaking to U.S Rep. Bill Posey, R-Florida, Bowersox said "There's a lot of risk in making the date, but we want to try to do it."

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Police testing Spider-Man-style take down that would wrap up baddies

A new technology is being trialed by police departments in the United States with a Spider-Man-style device that shoots out a tether, which fires out fast and entangles and restrains the suspect -- all without harm.

Police testing Spider-Man-style take down that would wrap up baddies

Tasers killed 49 people in 2018 so it makes sense to use a harmless method to subdue people, with the new 'BolaWrap' portable device firing an 8-foot (2.4m) bola-style tether that entangles a suspect at the waist, or around the legs.

Wrap Industries is behind the BolaWrap with company president Tom Smith explaining: "Whether it is a Taser, pepper spray, baton ... there's been this gap created by the courts requiring that a higher level of force be used at the appropriate time. This tool fits perfectly into that gap giving the officers another option to use before having to use that high level of force to end that conversation very early, very safely".

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