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SEGA Genesis Mini pros and cons: laggy audio, but great games
A few YouTubers got their hands-on the SEGA Genesis mini and reveal some interesting tidbits about the micro-console. Is it worth buying? Maybe.
The SEGA Genesis Mini is due out next month for $80, and aims to scratch that nostalgia itch with some blast processing awesomeness. The micro-console comes packed with a huge 42-game library, two controllers, and a bunch of nifty features like save states, and full Japanese variants of specific games. But there's also some unwelcome surprises too.
According to YouTuber Game Sack, the Genesis Mini has some audio issues, namely with sound effects being delayed. It's apparently not a huge deal, but it's noticable in a lot of games. The music and sound effects are also lower quality than a base Genesis--it's hard to get that authentic rocking sound down--and the model can ship with broken controllers. That last part is just chance and there's no telling when you'll get a dud, but it's worth mentioning.
Continue reading: SEGA Genesis Mini pros and cons: laggy audio, but great games (full post)
SEGA Europe's President: game makers can't make good movies eg 'Sonic'
When it comes to movie adaptions of games, it certainly has been a rocky success rate. With many hardcore fans of the game characters it makes it difficult to recreate the amazement the players experienced when playing the game, on the big screen.
SEGA Europe's President, Gary Dale might agree as when he was recently speaking to gamesindustry.biz during E3 he touched on SEGA and Paramount's upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog movie. He said "Obviously we have a very deep knowledge of the character and the brand. [Paramount] has a very deep knowledge of how to make movies. The trick is just to bring those two skillsets together to make the best film we can."
When asked about the not-so-long-ago confirmation that Sonic would be getting a re-design after community backlash, he said "To be fair, Paramount has been open to listening to feedback from the community around Sonic, which of course has got such a tremendously loyal fanbase with people with very specific views of who Sonic is, how Sonic should behave, how Sonic should look."
Continue reading: SEGA Europe's President: game makers can't make good movies eg 'Sonic' (full post)
Nintendo return to old ways, striking/banning their music off YouTube
Nintendo has a long history of being extremely protective of their IP being recorded and uploaded to YouTube, and just when you thought the company has chilled down, they have begun banning and removing again.
Recent reports have come out regarding popular YouTube Channels who used Nintendo copywritted music in their videos. Channels such as GilvaSunner and BrawlBRSTMs3 have said they have been issued with copy-write claims by Nintendo for the music they have uploaded to their channels. While Nintendo is completely within their rights to issue these copy-write strikes against channels, it does suck for people who enjoy the incredible music game tracks that Nintendo have created.
Keeping in mind that since game-tracks are hard to come by in CD form (unless you import it in) and Nintendo doesn't have their own platform for you to enjoy their music, most people result in using YouTube as a source. While this might rub Nintendo the wrong way as they don't want other people generating income off their IP (totally fair enough), it doesn't make the listeners life any easier, in fact it makes it harder. Hopefully Nintendo upload all of their game-tracks to a platform such as Spotify or Apple Music so their fans can enjoy the incredible musical pieces Nintendo has solidified in gaming culture.
Continue reading: Nintendo return to old ways, striking/banning their music off YouTube (full post)
4 billion years ago a planetary embryo collided with baby Jupiter
Planetary scientists have estimated that at some time in the extremely distant past that a planetary embryo collided with Jupiter's core, disrupting its development process.
A new report has been published in the Nature's International Journal of Science, this report shines a new light on the past events of Jupiter's formation. According to the paper, scientists are now giving educated guesses towards a planetary embryo once having a head-on collision with an early stage of Jupiter's core. The paper says that since the Juno mission (a space probe sent out to observe Jupiter) has returned recent data, the once assumptions of Jupiter's core structure and gravitational fields have changed.
The new data sent back from Juno also indicated that Jupiter's core composition had a change throughout its development, scientists estimate that this was caused by the colliding planetary embryo. Scientists ran a simulation with this new found data, the simulation consisted of this embryo planet colliding with Jupiter's core and mixing its heavy elements into Jupiter's inner envelope, resulting in a diluted core. The simulation findings were representative of Jupiter's core. The same scientists expect that Jupiter isn't unique in this regard, as they say that Saturn could have experienced similar events.
Continue reading: 4 billion years ago a planetary embryo collided with baby Jupiter (full post)
343 Industries leaves Halo Wars 2 dead in the water, support canceled
Gamers are passionate, and it really doesn't matter what game you are looking at because you will always find a group of people really wanting support for their favorite game. Unfortunately, those development support cries aren't always fulfilled by the developers.
Halo Wars 2, the Halo RTS undoubtedly has one of those passionate communities and to prove that point fans started a petition that asked developers to add several updates to the game. The petition was signed by over 2300 Halo Wars 2 players and requested that developers 343 Industries brought the game over to Steam and added new features such as: replays, a UI design for PC, keyboard and mouse support for Xbox One players, new content such as skins/maps and random bug fixes.
In response to this petition, 343 Industries has flat out declined any further support for Halo Wars 2, despite the company sharing most of the same views as the players who signed the petition. Tyler Davis, the community support and engagement coordinator for 343 Industries said "It is always awesome to see the passion of fans wanting to see change come to the games they love in a positive manner. As awesome as all of these requests are, and as much as we personally share these same desires, the unfortunate reality is that we currently are unable to commit to any future Halo Wars 2 continued development or support at this time."
Continue reading: 343 Industries leaves Halo Wars 2 dead in the water, support canceled (full post)
Dream Chaser Space Plane hitches ride on rocket for ISS cargo mission
NASA will be allowing the private Dream Chase space plane to hitch a ride on their new Vulcan Centaur rocket to the International Space Station (ISS).
According to a new announcement out of the Sierra Nevada Corp, their space shuttle-like vessel that resembles much like a plane, is scheduled to launch with the new Vulcan Centaur rocket that's headed to the ISS. Dream Chaser will be transporting more than 12,000 lbs (5,400kg) of cargo to the space station over the course of six mission, the first of which will begin in late 2021.
ULA Chief Executive Tory Bruno told reporters that "I have been a fan and a supporter and a cheerleader of this amazing vehicle from the first moment I saw it. To be able to make Vulcan's commercial debut with this block of missions underneath the Dream Chaser is just truly exciting." The first test flight is scheduled to begin in 2021, and if the Vulcan Centaur rocket isn't ready to launch by then, Bruno has said that they can always fall back on the already prepared Atlas V. "We're on time with Vulcan, but if something should arise, we're going to make sure that you fly when you're ready."
Continue reading: Dream Chaser Space Plane hitches ride on rocket for ISS cargo mission (full post)
Nightwolf's fatality in Mortal Kombat 11 is heart stoppingly playable
The second DLC character to be released in Mortal Kombat 11 has made his entry, even though the character needs no introduction we have now been blessed by Nightwolf's ancestors.
Mortal Kombat 11 players who picked up the Kombat Pass will now be able to enjoy the likes of NetherRealm's newest returning character, Nightwolf. Nightwolf was last playable in a Mortal Kombat game back in 2011, and originally made his debut into the Mortal Kombat series back in 1995's Mortal Kombat 3.
From the trailer we can see that NetherRealm has kept most of what made Nightwolf awesome in the previous games. We can see that he still has his classic attacks with his hatchet, his trusty bow, the deadly shoulder charge and of course the spirit animal enhancements. There is also his projectile reflecting aura, machete, and ranged lighting attacks. For those that didn't pick up the Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack, Nightwolf will be available to purchase separately sometime next week. Mortal Kombat 11 is currently available on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
Continue reading: Nightwolf's fatality in Mortal Kombat 11 is heart stoppingly playable (full post)
Dying Light 2 new extended gameplay reveal scheduled for this month
If you have been following the news, Techland, the developers of the Dying Light franchise are gearing up for their biggest game release yet, Dying Light 2.
Firstly, Dying LIght 2 is one of my most anticipated games for 2020, I'm excited for the new improvements in the movement system, the build your own story adventure, interactive NPC's/environments and everything else that we have been introduced to. While all of that sounds fantastic, Techland are planning on giving fans just a bit more features to sink their teeth into closer to the end of the month.
According to the above Twitter post on the official Dying Light Twitter page, Techland plan on revealing Dying Light 2's official "extended gameplay" demo on August 26th. The gameplay trailer will be live-streamed at 8PM CEST / 11AM PDT. If you are a Dying Light fan and are excited for the sequel I would highly recommend tuning into this livestream as I would expect that Techland will be diving into some much more in-depth detail than what they have previously. Dying Light 2 is expected to launch in the first half of 2020.
Continue reading: Dying Light 2 new extended gameplay reveal scheduled for this month (full post)
Microsoft will STILL have humans listen in on Skype and Cortana chats
Services that have voice assistant software have been under fire as of late, as it was discovered that many of these services have manual, or human reviewing.
Microsoft is one of the companies that many users of Skype and Cortana have concerns with as it wasn't clearly indicated in their privacy policy that humans would be reviewing some conversations. Since these concerns arose, Microsoft has gone over their privacy policy and updated it, but still human workers will be listening in on some conversations and voice commands to improve the service quality.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Motherboard that "We realized, based on questions raised recently, that we could do a better job specifying that humans sometimes review this content." Microsoft's new privacy policy states "Our processing of personal data for these purposes includes both automated and manual (human) methods of processing."
Continue reading: Microsoft will STILL have humans listen in on Skype and Cortana chats (full post)
F1 2019 patch 1.08 released, improves car visuals and more
Codemasters has just pushed out a new update to F1 2019 that improves the visuals to the cars in the game, live on both the PS4 and PC with the Xbox One update coming soon.
The update will spruce up the visuals not just cosmetically on the outside, but the covers, wing endplates, engine covers, and more. It is a nice visual overhaul in a patch for F1 2019, which will also see the '90 Years' logo on the Ferrari vehicles in the game.
Continue reading: F1 2019 patch 1.08 released, improves car visuals and more (full post)
Blair Witch's new 4K game trailer will give you the chills
I'm old enough to have been caught up in the huge hype train that was The Blair Witch Project, the original found footage movie from 1999 that went mega viral before going mega viral was even a thing. Now there's a new game coming to the PC and Xbox One, with a 4K trailer below:
The new game is simply called Blair Witch, with the new Tour Through the Woods trailer showing off the creepy woods and environment that I'm sure a few new pairs of underwear will be needed. There's not much known on the story, but the gameplay will be interesting since it's a psychological horror game that "studies your reactions to fear and stress".
Oh great, so the more scared and stressed out I get playing the Blair Witch, the game will only adapt and make more more scared and more stressed. Awesome. I swear, if I wake up to a bunch of sticks outside of my room in the morning, I'm walking out, setting my house on fire, and going off the grid.
Continue reading: Blair Witch's new 4K game trailer will give you the chills (full post)
DOOM Eternal new trailer details BATTLEMODE, the demons vs slayer mode
DOOM Eternal is getting a little closer to release and just before Gamescom 2019, id Software and Bethesda have released a new multiplayer trailer detailing what to expect, and a bunch of BATTLEMODE goodness. Check it out:
The new BATTLEMODE in DOOM Eternal looks like a blast, seeing a 2-v-1 game of cat and mouse between a DOOM Slayer and demons. There will be 5 playable demons, and 6 different arenas to take battle on. Better yet, any future maps and demons will be free to DOOM Eternal players.
id Software details BATTLEMODE as: "Play as either a fully loaded DOOM Slayer, or on a team of two player-controlled demons. The Slayer and the demons' objective may be the same - destroy the other side - but their playstyles are entirely different".
Continue reading: DOOM Eternal new trailer details BATTLEMODE, the demons vs slayer mode (full post)
Need for Speed Heat is official: open-world racer drops on November 8
Need for Speed Heat is now official, with EA and Ghost Games dropping a new trailer for the open-world arcade racer. It's shaping up really well, with the trailer for Heat below:
In the game you'll be customizing and racing through the fictional streets of Palm City, which looks like a Miami-esque city with money-focused daytime races blended with the underground scene at night that is all on your reputation.
The cops in Need for Speed: Heat will be after you during the day, but once the sun sets there is a "rogue police task force" that is hunting you down. Need for Speed: Heat is sound like old school Need for Speed games, with a huge injection of new school Need for Speed, with a blend of Fast and the Furious (new, and old movies).
Continue reading: Need for Speed Heat is official: open-world racer drops on November 8 (full post)
4A Games working on next-gen Metro game, story written by Metro author
Metro Exodus was enough of a hit that developer 4A Games is already into making the next one, and now the author of the Metro novels has taken to his personal Instagram to announce he's writing the story to a new Metro game.
Deep Silver and 4A Games went through some controversy with Metro Exodus and its exodus from the Steam Store over to the Epic Games Store as an exclusive, but it was successful on Epic's new platform. We should expect that the new Metro game will be an Epic Games Store exclusive, and at least 2-3 years away.
The new Metro game will most likely be the largest leap in graphics yet, as it should deploy on next-gen consoles in the Xbox Scarlett and PlayStation 5 as well as next-gen GPUs in 2021-2022 and beyond. Hell, by then Intel will be in the game and AMD will hopefully continue its momentum from the Navi GPU architecture, and whatever NVIDIA is cooking up next is going to be beast.
Continue reading: 4A Games working on next-gen Metro game, story written by Metro author (full post)
Apex Legends super legendary item costs a whopping $170
Respawn kicked off its new Iron Crown Collection event for Apex Legends recently, with a bunch of new in-game items and skins that are up for grabs... with one of the crown jewels being the Raven's Bite, which costs $170.
EA locks the Raven's Bite behind a huge paywall, because while the axe costs $35 on its own you can't just buy it outright. You have to have collected all 24 items in the Iron Crown Event, but once you have them all you gain access by the loot box gods to purchase the Heirloom.
In order to get all 24 cosmetic items you'll need to purchase 24 separate Iron Crown Event Packs (each of which includes an Epic or Legendary cosmetic in each pack, and you won't be hit with a duplicate -- EA isn't totally ripping you off here). If you complete the challenges that of 'Deal 25,000 Damage' and 'Complete 20 daily challenges' you're given two Iron Crown Event Packs... so even if you do that, you still need to purchase 22 packs.
Continue reading: Apex Legends super legendary item costs a whopping $170 (full post)
Driver busted in the US with 8 separate phones playing Pokemon GO
We all know that you should have 100% of your concentration on the road and its surroundings when driving, and are all aware of the distractions of smartphones in the car. But I think we have a new winner for distracted driving, with a driver recently busted playing Pokemon GO on 8 separate smartphones.
A new tweet from Washington State Patrol Sergeant Kyle Smith, talking about a driver they recently caught playing Pokemon GO on 8 separate phones. The driver "agreed to put the phones in back seat and continued with commute with 8 less distractions".
I'm sure he put them in the back seat, and had them out soon enough -- this wasn't some random bust, this is a pro Pokemon GO addict. Even worse is that Washington state and its Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act, which passed in 2017, and sees motorists that use their smartphone behind the wheel slapped with big fines. That obviously didn't scare this driver.
Continue reading: Driver busted in the US with 8 separate phones playing Pokemon GO (full post)
PS5 rumor: GPU is nearly as powerful as RTX 2080, GPU clocked at 2GHz
A new rumor has surfaced and sounds exciting for the PlayStation 5, with rumored power that will see it being a fast as NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card. Now that $1050 pre-order price on the PS5 doesn't seem so crazy.
Kimachi leaked the Oberon sample clocks, which is the APU being made for the PS5 -- where Gen2 has a 2GHz GPU clock. This would be quite the beast, pushing the GPU clock above the Navi 10-powered Radeon RX 5700 XT which sits at around 1900-1950MHz on custom cards that are now rolling in from MSI and SAPPHIRE.
Here, I have the purported PlayStation 5 with an RTX 2080-level GPU in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 4K Ultra settings - if this is true, the world of 4K 60FPS opens up as I've been saying for a long time now. 4K 60FPS gaming is where next-gen consoles need to hit, and with RTX 2080 level graphics from a custom Navi GPU it'll happen in 2020.
Continue reading: PS5 rumor: GPU is nearly as powerful as RTX 2080, GPU clocked at 2GHz (full post)
Overwatch update features new gravity-manipulating hero Sigma
Blizzard has just introduced yet another exciting hero into the Overwatch hero list, with the gravity-manipulating Sigma now available in the game versus only being playable in the PTR. Check out Sigma in the trailer below:
Included in the latest Overwatch update is also Role Queue -- a new system that will lock players into groups of three. This means there'll be two tanks, two supports, and two damage heroes in both Quick Play, and Competitive Play matches.
The way this works is that before you load into the game through matchmaking you choose which of the three classes you want to play, and then when you join the game you choose your specific hero. This works and makes sense, but the battles change so quickly in the game that you might need three DPS in one particular section, and can't switch out.
Continue reading: Overwatch update features new gravity-manipulating hero Sigma (full post)
G2A won't pay Subnautica dev for fraudulent chargebacks
UPDATE: Subnautica dev Charlie Cleveland admits G2A isn't to blame for the stolen keys. "It does appear that G2A is right," Cleveland told Kotaku."They weren't the source of these original $30k keys. It doesn't LOOK like they were selling gray-market keys at the time we had all those chargebacks. But they've been doing it ever since."
A bit ago G2A promised to pay devs 10x the money they lost from fraudulent keys. Now they're being called out, and G2A is dodging culpability.
Under its own promise to compensate developers for lost cash due to fraudulent chargebacks, G2A apparently owes indie studio Unknown Worlds a whopping $300,000. According to studio director Charlie Cleveland, Unknown Worlds had to pay $30,000 out of pocket for thousands of Natural Selection 2 game keys that were purchased with stolen credit cards from G2A (thieves use stolen credit cards to buy keys, sell them on key resellers like G2A, and devs are held liable and have to reimburse those affected for the fraudulent purchases).
Continue reading: G2A won't pay Subnautica dev for fraudulent chargebacks (full post)
Diablo III won't die any time soon, seasons to continue indefinitely
Going strong after 7 years, Blizzard hints Diablo III could have a long life ahead of it and possibly live alongside Diablo IV.
Right now the bulk of Blizzard's Diablo team is knee-deep in Diablo IV's development, but a core live team is still crafting tweaks and rotating seasonal content for Diablo III. A new blog post shows the studio isn't ready to give up on Diablo III just yet--nor should they be given the game's tremendous engagement levels--and we should see the game supported with maintenance-style content up to and possibly past Diablo IV's release.
Although Diablo III's seasons should continue well into 2020, we shouldn't expect any premium paid content. That ship has sailed. No more expansions or characters should come to Diablo III, and the game is essentially winding down for its mainline successor. Here's what Blizzard says: "Our crew is hard at work crafting additional Themed Seasons, a new set for each class, dozens of Legendary powers, and some class balance changes. Quality of life and the occasional gameplay system updates are also within scope, as we evaluate how we can keep bringing new magic to the world of Sanctuary. These updates won't arrive all at once, so if you don't see something for your class right away, don't worry; there's something coming for everyone."
Continue reading: Diablo III won't die any time soon, seasons to continue indefinitely (full post)





















