Epic's PC exclusivity buy-ups aim to disrupt 70-30 split

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 10:18 AM CDT

Epic boss Tim Sweeney explains why his company's new fledgling PC storefront keeps buying up exclusivity rights, and acknowledges its shortcomings.

Epic's PC exclusivity buy-ups aim to disrupt 70-30 split

Right now there's only one reason to use the Epic Games Store: it's the only place to buy and play certain games on PC. This is a huge advantage that Epic isn't about to give up any time soon. Epic is using its Fortnite billions to win over indie developers and even big-name players like Ubisoft, Deep Silver, and Take-Two. But for Epic, this strategy isn't necessarily about making money, or at least directly: it's about making a more sustainable industry for devs.

"We believe exclusives are the only strategy that will change the 70/30 status quo at a large enough scale to permanently affect the whole game industry," Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said on Twitter.

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Is Final Fantasy VII: Remake fully exclusive to PS4?

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 8:14 AM CDT

Final Fantasy VII: Remake might be a full-on PlayStation 4 exclusive after all, at least according to recent comments from Square Enix.

Is Final Fantasy VII: Remake fully exclusive to PS4?

Despite issuing a press release hinting otherwise, Square Enix appears to rescind its earlier confirmations that Final Fantasy VII: Remake is only timed-exclusive on the PS4. "The highly anticipated FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE will debut first on the PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system on March 3rd, 2020," reads the pre-E3 press release.

Xbox Germany recently erroneously announced the Remake for Xbox One, seemingly confirming our suspicions of a release on PC and Xbox. Now the games-maker says they flat-out don't have plans for other platforms. "As previously announced, Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be released for the PlayStation 4 on March 3rd 2020. We have no plans for other platforms," Square Enix told IGN. But it literally previously announced that the Remake will only release first on PS4, not that it's exclusive to PS4.

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Ed Boon teases DLC character Nightwolf for Mortal Kombat 11

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 5:00 AM CDT

The Mortal Kombat 11 director, Ed Boon has taken to Twitter to tease the new DLC character Nightwolf that is on his way to Mortal Kombat 11.

Ed Boon teases DLC character Nightwolf for Mortal Kombat 11

This isn't the first time Boon has teased the upcoming DLC fighter, the first image that he released not to long ago showcased the characters hatchet. This time, Boon has released an image of the characters face and we can see the some of Nightwolf's facial features and color.

Judging by these teasers and how much Boon is teasing the character, we can assume that sometime soon we will be getting a reveal trailer for Nightwolf, so stay tuned. Mortal Kombat 11 is available on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC.

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Sonic the Hedgehog movie character design should please fans

Jak Connor | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Jul 12, 2019 4:00 AM CDT

Remembering back to May, we learned that the design of Sonic in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie was not good enough for fans. In response to Sonic's design, the movies director understood that a design change had to happen, and now we are hearing about what they have in-store.

Sonic the Hedgehog movie character design should please fans

The first trailer for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie was released back in May and was met with heavy criticism by fans as Sonic's design was somewhat unsettling. Paramount and director Jeff Fowler took the criticism on-board and delayed the movie by about three months with a goal of changing Sonic's design to better accommodate fans desires. According to Tim Miller talking to Variety, a producer of the movie, "I think fans will be pleased" with Sonic's re-design.

Miller also touched on how everyone responded to fans criticism, saying "Look, I was with fans and so was Jeff. When the s**t hit the fan, I went over there and said, 'The most important thing to do, man, is say, 'I f**ked up. He'd already sent a tweet out an hour before I got there. He's a good man. It was exactly the right way to handle that. The fans have a voice in this too. There's a right way to listen." Many fans, including myself were extremely happy to hear that the decision was to postpone the movie so the studio had time to rework Sonic.

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NASA Hubble Telescope finds black hole gravitational anomaly

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Jul 12, 2019 3:00 AM CDT

There is many black holes throughout the observable universe, and as humans attempt to try and discover physics behind these strange matter eating giants we are constantly thrown off track by new information. Today is one of those days.

NASA Hubble Telescope finds black hole gravitational anomaly

NASA has been using its Hubble Telescope which is designed to view deep into space at objects that are many, many light years away, such as black holes. At the heart of the NGC 3147 galaxy, which is 130 million light years away, the Hubble Telescope spotted a black hole that was acting differently than expected. Supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies are matter swallower's, as their huge mass has been pulled into an infinitely small space, where their gravitational pull becomes infinite and space-time curves inwards infinitely.

Keeping this in mind, active galaxies feed these supermassive black holes which are at the center of galaxies. Black holes having such a large gravitational pulls usually produce a ring of space debris that circle the hole until it is swallowed. Galaxies that are less active and have smaller black holes don't have the gravitational pull to produce these material rings. The black hole that is in NGC 3147 shouldn't be one of those producing a ring, as scientists assumed the hole was starving. That wasn't what the Hubble revealed though.

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Phenomenal Zelda & Link art encapsulates franchise legacy

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 2:00 AM CDT

Being a gamer and coming across a piece of gaming art that truly captures the excellence of the desired game or franchise is always a pleasure. Today is one of those days, as we take a look at the legacy The Legend of Zelda franchise has created.

Phenomenal Zelda & Link art encapsulates franchise legacy

The above image was created by John Su, who is an programmer at Blizzard Entertainment and an art hobbyist. Looking at the image now, we are taken back to the roots of what The Legend of Zelda franchise has done for gamers. We can see the design progression of both Zelda and Link as the franchise paved its way forward, and while there is always certainly going to select fan favorites I believe each of the drawings provides some level of satisfaction for fans.

John Su has also posted in the Twitter thread other fun ideas he had when designing this piece, we can see that the Super Smash Bros. smash orb was jokingly placed in the middle of Zelda and Link and also a rupee. While this art piece is obviously incredible, I can't help but float the idea across that Ganon and his design progression would be a welcomed addition. Nice snag Destructoid!

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Co-created Halo sci-fi title 'Disintegration' teaser trailer

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 1:00 AM CDT

One of the biggest gaming franchises ever released is no doubt the Halo franchise, and while you might not know the names behind the series other than Bungie, a decorated co-creator of the franchise has teased a new title.

Co-created Halo sci-fi title 'Disintegration' teaser trailer

The big name behind the new title which is called 'Disintegration' is Marcus Lehto, he was the creative director at Bungie for years as the Halo franchise was being rolled out. Disintegration seems to be taking the same route as the Halo, as the title is a sci-fi shooter and judging from the trailer players will be taking to the stars for an adventure.

Lehto will be developing the game with his own indie studio V1 Interactive and is also partnering with 2K Games' Private Division label for publishing purposes. There isn't much else to talk about for Disintegration, other than that more news is going to be released at this years GamesCom on August 19th. The trailer says that a "full reveal" will be happening on this date, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled for Disintegration if you are a fan of Halo.

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Valve Steam Labs: a much needed change for Valve and gamers

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 11, 2019 11:29 PM CDT

Valve is not a company known for being transparent with gamers so the news of the new project Steam Labs is an interesting move, as the normal way concepts work is that a company (Valve in this case) is always making something new.

Valve Steam Labs: a much needed change for Valve and gamers

Not all things worked on are finished, and those that are aren't the same when they are finished, and some new things are great. Steam Labs will see Valve offering gamers an early look at early concepts that might, or might not end up in the public version of Steam. Some of these new concepts include Valve using micro trailers that go for 6 seconds when you hover your mouse icon over the in-store graphic.

Valve has teased the first three experiments in Steam Labs are:

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1TB in your hands? Samsung will do it with Galaxy Note 10

Samsung will be unveiling its new Galaxy Note 10 smartphone next month, which will be found in two variants: the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ handsets. We should expect internal storage to range right up to a huge 1TB.

1TB in your hands? Samsung will do it with Galaxy Note 10

The new reports on the Galaxy Note 10 tease that it will pack a huge 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage, so if you throw in 5G connectivity the next-gen Note 10 5G will have it all: 1TB storage, 12GB of RAM and 5G connectivity. The normal non-5G models of the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ versions will offer 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage models with 4G LTE connectivity, the 5G model should most likely ship with the largest battery, too.

Samsung is reportedly not including a microSD card slot on any of the Note 10 and Note 10+ models, a disappointment considering the previous-gen Note handsets had a microSD card slot and it was a big deal being able to expand the storage by such a large percentage. Although, I can see Samsung pushing the new Note 10 handsets (especially with the 5G model) to use the cloud more thanks to their surely fastest-phone-ever speed and already large storage.

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President Trump is not a fan of Bitcoin or other cryptos

Anthony Garreffa | Cryptocurrency & Mining | Jul 11, 2019 9:43 PM CDT

President Trump has come out and talked about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with POTUS saying that he is "not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air". His full tweet:

President Trump is not a fan of Bitcoin or other cryptos

Interesting to see POTUS slamming Bitcoin yet the price of it didn't go down with many traders on Twitter thinking its bullish, and that directly after Trump's tweet the price of Bitcoin rallied and is still going higher -- at the time of writing. Right now, the price of one BTC is $11,400 or so, up from its lows of sub $4,000 just 6 months ago.

Trump talked about the price of Facebook's upcoming Libra virtual currency, with the President saying Libra "will have little standing or dependability" adding that Facebook should work with a banking charter and get regulated like traditional financial institutions. There are major concerns by House Democrats, and now President Trump, that officially asked Facebook to hold its Libra layout plans as it should be investigated for its possible risks to the entire global financial system.

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