'Gods walk the earth' in new Norse God of War, Ragnarok confirmed?

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jun 22, 2016 1:37 AM CDT

Sony Santa Monica's new God of War game is going to be a huge playground for Norse mythology, incorporating tons of amazing mythical events like the Ragnarok, gods, fantastic magic, and massive legendary creatures like the World Serpent Jörmungandr. Just don't expect any Vikings.

'Gods walk the earth' in new Norse God of War, Ragnarok confirmed?

The new God of War game was a surprising addition to Sony's E3 2016 press conference, and the reveal footage left fans with many questions. Luckily Sony Santa Monica has jumped in to explain a few things, emphasizing that the game is all about the pre-Viking era where gods and fantastic, world-breaking beasts roamed the Earth.

"It's a fun space to be in because it allows us to paint our own image of Norse mythology as opposed to anyone else's," Sony Santa Monica game director Corey Barlog told GameSpot.

Continue reading: 'Gods walk the earth' in new Norse God of War, Ragnarok confirmed? (full post)

Mass Effect: Andromeda embraces new 'shades of grey' morality system

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jun 22, 2016 12:18 AM CDT

Mass Effect: Andromeda's morality won't be clear-cut into "black" and "white": players will be able to embrace "grey" moral choices in their intergalactic adventures.

Mass Effect: Andromeda embraces new 'shades of grey' morality system

BioWare has revealed that the new Mass Effect: Andromeda will have a unique morality system that's not constrained to just Paragon and Renegade, giving players even more ways to handle specific encounters with "shades of grey" responses. Essentially the game won't separate choices into clear-cut good vs. evil, allowing gamers to reflect on the characters and the situations on a case-by-case basis.

"I think in general, with all this sophistication of games or engaging in any kind of entertainment right now, [gamers are] looking for more of those shades of grey," Andromeda's creative director Mac Walters told GamesRadar.

Continue reading: Mass Effect: Andromeda embraces new 'shades of grey' morality system (full post)

WB tease Justice League details, Superman isn't in the first half?

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Jun 21, 2016 9:31 PM CDT

With Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice not being received well (it was a mess), Warner Bros. are trying to change their tune with the follow-up, Justice League. The company has released the official synopsis for the movie, which seems to have Batman front and center.

Justice League has been teased as: "Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes--it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions".

The synopsis finishes with "Directed by Zack Snyder, this marks the big screen debut of the Justice League, featuring an all-star lineup: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher". Snyder began shooting Justice League in April from a script written by Chris Terrio - see ya, Jonathan Nolan, it was nice knowing you in the DCEU, but you screwed the pooch with Batman v Superman.

Continue reading: WB tease Justice League details, Superman isn't in the first half? (full post)

AMD Radeon RX 480 in 'strong' supply, large quantities for launch

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Jun 21, 2016 8:03 PM CDT

We're only a week away from the launch of the AMD Radeon RX 480, with its release on June 29, and now it's being reported that AMD has plenty of RX 480s on hand and that supply is "strong" on the first Polaris-based card to hit the market. NVIDIA recently dropped the price on its Maxwell-based range, including the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, GTX 980 and even the GTX 970.

NVIDIA has hit a huge snag recently with their GeForce GTX 1070/1080, with global shortages and price hikes on their GP104-based offerings. With NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 is $850+ right now, and even $1999 on eBay at one point for EVGA's GeForce GTX 1080 FTW ACX 3.0 card, AMD could really hit NVIDIA where it hurts if they have a strong supply of their Radeon RX 480, and can keep at the $199 price.

There won't be partner cards at launch, with AMD being the only one selling them on June 29 - AIB partner cards with custom PCBs and coolers will arrive in July. SAPPHIRE, XFX, and many others have cards planned - with samples floating down here to my GPU labs in the coming weeks.

Continue reading: AMD Radeon RX 480 in 'strong' supply, large quantities for launch (full post)

Three more 'Archer' seasons locked in

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Jun 21, 2016 7:17 PM CDT

Fans of the FX Network's long running animated hit 'Archer' will be happy today, with confirmation that the show will continue for at least another three seasons.

Despite falling ratings, the network is confident enough in the future of the show to keep it around for at least a total of 10 seasons, which will see it on the airwaves through to 2019. Nick Grad a, co-President of Original Programming for FX Networks told media "We can't say enough about what Adam, Matt and the entire Archer team at Floyd County have done to keep this series so insanely funny and vital through seven seasons. The move to Los Angeles this past season as private detectives was just the latest twist in Archer's legendary exploits and the next three seasons will to be just as amazing and unpredictable. We are thrilled to continue making great TV with our friends and colleagues at Floyd County." While the season order has been reduced to just eight episodes, that means that there's still 9 hours of the show on the way, and that's a very good thing.

'Archer' season eight is expected to hit screens mid 2017.

Continue reading: Three more 'Archer' seasons locked in (full post)

EVE: Valkyrie Carrier Assault out now -- experience a VR trench run

EVE: Valkyrie is the game that got me hooked on VR, and while it's an exceptional game that showcases the immersion VR is capable of, it's a little light on content. That recently changed, as developer CCP has released the first major, post-release update called Carrier Assault. And it's 100% free.

Unlike before, that giant carrier that's been mocking you is now open to attack, and it'll take coordination and some twitch dogfighting skills to wear it down and take it out. Here's how the battles unfold, as explained by the developers at CCP:

Stage 1: Skirmish

Continue reading: EVE: Valkyrie Carrier Assault out now -- experience a VR trench run (full post)

Agents of Mayhem is so good, I forgot it's not called Saints Row V

Jason Evangelho | Gaming | Jun 21, 2016 2:18 PM CDT

When the fine folks at Volition and Deep Silver scheduled me for a hands-on appointment with an "unannounced game" at E3, my heart started racing. "Saints Row V! Saints Row V" I shrieked to no one in particular. I even got my wife's hopes up. She's played through Saints Row IV about four times at this point and believe me when I say that's a testament to how ridiculously fun that game is. As you know, that unannounced game wasn't the latest insane adventures of the Third Street Saints, but an entirely new IP called Agents of Mayhem. I'll be honest: I was disappointed. But after 30 minutes with Volition's latest romp, I've done a complete 180.

If you had any concerns about the irreverent and bombastic Saints Row DNA disappearing because Volition's developed a new IP, you probably haven't seen the Agents of Mayhem trailer. Aside from the game being set in the larger Saints Row universe, believe me when I tell you that Volition's "secret sauce" is simmered to perfection here. 3rd person, over the top action? Check. Amoral characters with big personalities? Check. Plenty of colorful language and downright wacky scenarios? Check.

Agents of Mayhem takes place in an open world Seoul, Korea and follows the exploits of M.A.Y.H.E.M. (Multination Agency For Hunting Evil Masterminds) in their attempt to assemble the best damn heroes on the planet. Why? Because they have to stop L.E.G.I.O.N. (that's obviously the League of Evil Gentlemen Intent on Obliterating Nations) of course.

Continue reading: Agents of Mayhem is so good, I forgot it's not called Saints Row V (full post)

Overwatch's golden weapons look slick

Sean Ridgeley | Gaming | Jun 21, 2016 1:53 PM CDT

Last week we learned the upcoming Competitive Mode for Overwatch would feature golden guns among other things as rewards. Courtesy of the Korean Public Test Realm (PTR), we now know exactly what they look like.

Slick indeed. To see all of them, head here.

Korean player 'itstake' explains Competitive Mode rewards you with competition points, which you can then use to buy the weapons. Each will cost 300 points. It's assumed you'll be able to keep the weapons indefinitely once you've acquired them.

Continue reading: Overwatch's golden weapons look slick (full post)

Battlefield 1 will again feature Community Test Environment

Sean Ridgeley | Gaming | Jun 21, 2016 1:30 PM CDT

DICE's patch rate and polish with its Battlefield series had been lacking for years until the Community Test Environment (CTE) launched six months after Battlefield 4's launch. With it, it assigned its DICE LA outfit to attend to the long-term health of the game. They were helped in part by the community, which got to try out balance changes and new features among other things before offering its feedback. Once both parties were happy and quality assurance was complete, the results were released to all players. This process repeated many times, and the result is Battlefield 4 as you see it today, which is to say infinitely more polished than it was at its launch three years ago.

It'll no doubt come as welcome to the community then to know that the CTE is returning for Battlefield 1. YouTuber and long-time Battlefield fan XFactor Gaming (formerly known as rivalXfactor) confirmed this today in a reddit AMA while noting the CTE is a point of pride for DICE.

"I believe the relationship between gamer and DICE/EA is better than it has ever been," he said. "Let's face it. It was beyond horrible 3+ years ago. [The] game was broken and we had no communication between the developers. Now, we have developers that are open, honest, and transparent, and [we have] the CTE servers. DICE/EA know how big of a hit CTE was at not only helping fix their own game but building an actual relationship with the community. The developers take pride in this and it will be moving forward with BF1."

Continue reading: Battlefield 1 will again feature Community Test Environment (full post)

Coming soon: Virtual Reality replays, seats at Sacramento Kings games

Only days ago, I was chatting with our Senior Editor Anthony Garaffe about the uses of virtual reality beyond gaming. I suggested we're only a couple years away from being able to attend the Superbowl from the sidelines using a Gear VR or Google Daydream headset. His idea was a bit more ambitious: bounce around from seat to courtside at a basketball game, or even view the action from the rim! Well guess what? The Sacramento Kings' new stadium has had its wireless infrastructure built with that very idea in mind.

The Sacramento Kings' new stadium opens in October, and boasts a high capacity Wi-Fi system with 1000 access points that's capable of blasting out 225,000 Instagram photos per second, according to team vice chairman and co-owner Paul Jacobs (who's also executive chairman at Qualcomm). And while social sharing was obviously high on their priority list, Jacobs tells TechnologyReview that being able to experiment with virtual reality was a must.

"Whether they're way up in the high seats or they're in a box but not sitting courtside, you still want to give them that courtside experience," Jacobs said.

Continue reading: Coming soon: Virtual Reality replays, seats at Sacramento Kings games (full post)