Latest News - Page 2532

Thankfully LucasArts and Raven Software released the source code for Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy letting modders have the power to do some pretty amazing things with an already great base game. And already people have been re-exploring the game with some interesting results.

One of the most interesting mods to come from the generosity of Raven Software is Jedi Fighter, a mod that transforms the game into something that plays homage to some of the more classic fighting games, like Street Fighter II. It's a battle of good versus evil, with five different locations from a TIE hanger bay to Hoth and more. They've added in 10 characters from the expanded universe, ones that might be familiar. And of course it has the obligatory dynamic camera so you can have a cinematic view of the action.

It's the Star Wars fighting game we've been waiting for, the one we never knew we really wanted. It's fast paced and looks quite nice actually. In order to play the mod, you'll have to download the OpenJK engine to get it to work.

Frontier Developments, the developer behind Elite: Dangerous, just released a new developer diary that gives a pretty nice inside look into Planet Coaster, the roller coaster theme park simulation game that they're working on. And the work they're doing seems to be pretty fantastic so far.

David Braben took the stage at the PC Gamer show at E3 last year to dropped a small nugget to an enthusiastic crowd. Roller coasters are fun in real-life, and who doesn't want to make their own theme-park in glorious 3D and use VR to explore it?

The new five minute dev diary shows off some of the tools that you can use to build your own personal nightmare machines.They also explain how you can share your creations with others by publishing them online. The game engine, Cobra, looks great, and is shared with Elite: Dangerous. It's nice to see how adaptive it is. The game itself looks like a lot of fun, with the way you can create nearly anything with real-world physics too. The shared underlying engine means that VR is a distinct possibility.

Final Fantasy Explorers is finally out for the 3DS in the west, and it lets you take on some familiar roles while you quest for that blasted Grand Crystal that seems to always be needed.

The quest for the Grand Crystal, a recurring theme in Final Fantasy lore, is crucial for the stability of the world. And you certainly can't go it alone, so you'll be able to take up to four different players, other humans via the Nintendo Network or even locally. Connect, then go forth and explore the world.

There'll be 20 classic and highly customizable jobs that you can choose from. Be a Dragoon (like the legendary Kain), Black Mage, Paladin and much more. You'll be limited to eight skills that you'll be able to use, though. But those skills you use? They can be available in other jobs too, when you master them. And if you're feeling frisky and like a fight, you'll have the chance to turn into some legendary Final Fantasy heroes from other games, like Cloud and Tifa.

Microsoft isn't holding back anything from their upcoming Word Flow iPhone keyboard app. The new app is going to be a replica of the Windows smartphone keyboard, but it'll feature a unique one-handed mode that's different and very usable compared even to the Windows 10 Mobile version of the same.

Photo credit: The Verge

The one handed mode on the Windows 10 Mobile version has been an unbridled success for Microsoft. People love it and it's surprisingly useful. As phones become larger in size, one-handed convenience is sacrificed. The Windows version just makes a compact keyboard on either side, which is effective yet still somewhat limited.

Homefront: The Revolution is going to be supported with new content for at least a year, the studio told Gamespot.

Fasahat Salim, whose a game designer at Dambuster Studios, had a lot more to say, too. There's definite plans for DLC for at least a year, meaning deeply integrated story content that'll be well worth the the download. They have a unique way in which they'll introduce it too. When they're finished making new missions, they'll be released to the public to play. No waiting for a full DLC pack, and no paying for it either.

You read that right. There are no plans for a traditional season pass, or map packs do be bought later. Everything that's available in the game will be free. That doesn't mean you won't have to work for it though. But all content will be free. Even the microtransaction-based loot drops will only contain items that can be obtained in the game for free.

Platinum Games is making a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game--yes, really--and it looks absolutely incredible. In fact, I might go so far as to say that Mutants In Manhattan looks like the best TMNT game I've ever seen, and that's not something anyone should take lightly.

Activision has just officially announced TMNT: Mutants In Manhattan with a new reveal trailer, showing off some serious turtle power action. Platinum's distinct cell-shading graphics are carried over from their last Transformers venture, and the style is a perfect blend of classic Mirage and IDW comic styles.

What makes the footage so utterly captivating is the action-packed chaos that our shelled heroes inflict. Leo, Mike, Ralph and Mikey wreak some serious havoc on the streets of Manhattan, with a ton of fast-paced ninjutsu combos and attacks that dominate foes.

Ubisoft is very proud of their creation, Tom Clancy's The Division and with how they've handled a more open development cycle this time around. They certainly don't want to repeat some of their past mistakes.

To help bring back consumer confidence, they've posted the patch notes for the version we'll be playing in the upcoming closed beta. And Ubisoft tells us that they and their alpha testers have found and fixed nearly 10,000 different bugs and glitches. So the closed beta should be mostly a smooth experience. Or at least you won't find yourself suddenly floating over Manhattan.

They're turning a new leaf, it would seem, when it comes to development. Despite the negativity that persists due to historically buggy and "bad" releases of games, Ubisoft's corporate culture wants to change so that it can better support the developers and their actual goals of making awesome gaming experiences.

Since Sony's PlayStation 4 is utterly dominating the current console market with tons of global sales, it's only natural for the Japanese console-maker to invest pretty heavily into the brand's future. To ensure the momentum keeps going, Sony has announced a new division that's totally dedicated to the PlayStation brand.

The new division is called Sony Interactive Entertainment and it will serve as the headquarters for everything PlayStation, according to Sony President Shawn Layden. "We are announcing the formation of a new company called Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) that will serve as the headquarters for everything PlayStation. This new company will power the next 20 years of PlayStation innovation. It will be headquartered out of the United States in San Mateo, California, joins the forces of both Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Sony Network Entertainment LLC, combining the strengths and talents of both companies."

Sony Interactive Entertainment will focus on the next two decades of PlayStation hardware and content, including PlayStation VR virtual reality gaming, the upcoming PlayStation 5 console, and expanded content offerings like Sony's TV-streaming-over-PS4 service PlayStation Vue.

When you think of gaming monitors, ASUS would be a brand that lights up like a neon sign in your head. Well, it should come as no surprise that ASUS holds a huge 40% of the gaming monitor market worldwide.

The news is coming from unnamed supply chain sources talking with DigiTimes, with the source estimating that worldwide monitor shipments hit 800,000+ units in 2015. Out of these 800,000+ units, ASUS accounted for 40% of them, with strong sales throughout the United States, Europe and Taiwan.

ASUS makes some incredible gaming monitors, with the ROG Swift PG279Q being the latest example. The ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q rocks a QHD resolution of 2560x1440, but cranks along at 165Hz with NVIDIA's G-Sync technology backing it up. It all started with the original ROG Swift PG278Q, which had the same QHD panel, but 'only' 144Hz. This year, we can expect the new ROG Swift PG348Q - a new 34-inch UltraWide monitor with a 3440x1440 resolution, 100Hz refresh rate, and NVIDIA G-Sync technology, later this year.

The eSports world continues to expand, with research firm Newzoo and its new '2016 Global eSports Market Report' out, saying that 2015's total worldwide eSports revenue was $325 million.

$325 million might sound like a lot, but Newzoo expects the eSports economy to grow 43% to $463 million this year. The research firm attributes the 43% growth to an audience of 131 million, eSports enthusiasts along with another 125 million "occasional viewers who tune in mainly for the big international events". Newzoo said that global and local eSports markets should generate around $1.1 billion in 2019.

Digging deeper into the research, Newzoo said that investment into and advertising around eSports continues to expand rapidly. Newzoo said: "This year has been dominated by the amount of investors getting involved in eSports. An increasing amount of traditional media companies have become aware of the value of the eSports sphere and have launched their first eSports initiatives. With these parties getting involved, there will be an increased focus on content and media rights. All major publishers have increased their investment into the space, realizing that convergence of video, live events and the game itself are providing consumers the cross-screen entertainment they desire from their favorite franchises".

Dying Light: The Following - Enhanced Edition is being worked on by developer Techland, with the Enhanced Edition being a new package that will include all of the content from Dying Light, as well as something new.

The Following expansion will include all of the previously released content and DLC, but the Enhanced Edition will spruce up the visuals and draw distance in Dying Light, as well as improve the performance on the console versions of the game, improve the overall gameplay, and more.

Techland has been working on Dying Light: The Following - Enhanced Edition for 1.5 years now, but have been unable to get the Xbox One version of the game above its current rendering resolution on the normal version of Dying Light: 1536x1080. The PS4 version of Dying Light for comparison sake runs at 1920x1080. During an interview with GamingBolt, Lead Producer on Dying Light Tymon Smektala said: "It's still 1536×1080. We believe a smoother frame-rate is more important than the exact resolution".

Lance Perkins was surprised to see $8206 charged to his credit card for something he didn't remember buying, as it was his 17-year-old son buying copious amounts of in-game FIFA goodies.

Perkins' son had spent $8206 in FIFA, so he attempted to have his credit card company drop the bill - so that he didn't need his son charged with fraud. Well, that didn't work, and his next option - asking Microsoft to drop the bill - didn't work, either. But, after a little while, Microsoft ended up budging, refunding the massive FIFA microtransaction bill.

Speaking with CBC, Perkins said he was "very pleased" with the outcome. He added: "Let's thank them for making that choice". But for me, doesn't this open a can of worms? Can't I go and buy $8000+ worth of microtransactions, and just blame one of my kids? Where would it end?

The open world RPG iteration of Five Nights at Freddy's has been removed from sale on the Steam store after the developer received a bevvy of complaints about the the game being in an unfinished state.

The decision to remove it from sale was made by the developer, Scott Cawthon, despite the mostly positive user reviews it was receiving. He simply wasn't satisfied with the end product and agreed that it was released prematurely. He's also worked with Valve to ensure that you can get a refund for it no matter how long it's been owned.

There's a lot of work to be done to make sure it's not only playable, but actually a polished and fun product for everyone. And when it's finally re-released, it'll be completely free, and hosted on GameJolt.

A peer-reviewed study was just published in May at the annual Association for Computing Machinery's Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in San Jose, and this novel study shows that both Bitcoin users and non-users have some surprising misconceptions about the digital currency.

Simply put, the researchers found that people that didn't have experience with Bitcoin found it intimidating to use, and similarly those that are familiar with it were also not so well informed as to how it works. One of the most surprising findings was that those surveyed had misconception as to the ability of Bitcoin to actually protect someone's identity and help them remain anonymous. And they trust the security methods more than they should, and mostly without understanding how the underlying Bitcoin transaction process actually works.

Furthermore, at least half of the participants felt that the government should regulate, the currency or at the very least provide some sort of assurance against any fraud, which can occur. But overall the studies participants seemed to feel that a currency to Bitcoin would be ideal in a perfect world, because of the features it does have.

The long-awaited Final Fantasy XV is finally set to get a release date in a few months, and Square Enix is whetting our appetites with a few small snacks in screenshot form.

Square Enix's new batch of FFXV screenshots show off Noctis and company battling a variety of interesting baddies in open-world Lucis, and show off a glimpse at the devastating firaga spell. We also get a look at the most recently Active Cross Battle system display screen, which looks quite sleek and compact. Even still, I find the HUD lacking and too clean-cut, and it really doesn't remind me I'm playing a Final Fantasy game.

Apart from the new screens, the devs will be holding a brand new Active Time Report on Saturday,January 30 starting at 8:00PM PST on the Square Enix YouTube channel. The new show's theme will focus on magic, new battle system updates and footage, and the political strife between Lucis and the Niflgaard Empire.

Passwords are sometimes the first and last defense for your precious data. We probably mostly try to make them complex and full of symbols, numbers and non-words. But as it turns out, a lot of people still have easy to remember, and easy to hack passwords.

The top 25 passwords have been compiled by a company called SplashData to help show how insecure and unserious so many happen to be about password security. The list for 2015 is both surprising and also very sad. Despite the increase in security breaches and the ready availability of rainbow tables and brute force password lists, simple passwords still seem to persist.

So if you use one of the passwords listed below, you might want to consider changing it. Or you'll be extra vulnerable.

With the VR boom steadily inching forward on the horizon, search titan Google has reportedly made plans to enter the new arena with its very own consumer-grade virtual reality hardware. A few new job listings suggest that Google wants to bolster its not-so-secret virtual reality division with key talent, and has even recruited ex-Vine exec Jason Toff to work on VR.

Google Cardboard isn't on anyone's minds when VR is mentioned; instead it's all about the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or the PlayStation VR. Even Samsung's Gear VR headset beats the no-frills Cardboard. It looks like Google wants to change all that and become a leading competitor with its own mass-produced VR hardware. Google has posted a few recent job listings that give clues about the division itself.

According to RoadtoVR, the company is looking for a whole manner of VR specialists, including a Hardware Engineering Technical Lead Manager, an Engineer Project Specialist, an Electrical Hardware Engineer, and a PCB Layout Engineer.

Fallout 4 is a huge game, but after more than two whole months of play, the Commonwealth is wearing thin. Console gamers are running out of things to do. So what about those console mods that Bethsoft promised us? Bethesda teased a response, saying that we'll hear official word sometime in the near future.

Bethesda confirms that it'll be sharing new info on Fallout 4's console mod support "soon". "We'll be sharing more details soon. Stay tuned," the developers replied to a Twitter question concerning mods. Before you get excited, remember that Bethesda has yet to release Fallout 4's official modding tools on PC, and that playable console mods can only be created on PC.

So that means that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players will only be able to download mods created by PC gamers, and there's obviously going to be a delay between the release of the modding tools and console mod support, so the community has an array of content built up.

Capcom just announced that they're going to be releasing an extended story mode for Street Fighter V coming up this June. This updated and extended story mode will be different then what'll be in the game when it releases.

The new story mode coming in June will add a lot of backstory to all the exuberant characters that are found in the game, letting even new players get fully acquainted with Street Fighter V. Capcom will have a mixture of real-time in-game engine cinematic's as well as over an hour of animated scenes to help bridge the gap between Street Fighter V and III, which will somehow be connected.

The main focus of the story will be on Ryu and M. Bison, though they haven't released any of the juicy details just yet on what direction the story will take. Hopefully they can cohesively explain the universe in a greatly connected fashion. Capcom plans on supporting Street Fighter V for a few years, which means we might see other story expansions in the future.

Earlier today we reported on the newly rumored iPhone 5se, Apple's latest smartphone that's said to feature a 4 inch screen, 8 megapixel camera, and an A8 CPU. Now some more specs have rolled in courtesy of sources close to 9 to 5 Mac, and they're juicy.

First, the phone is now expected to include A9 and M9 chip variants, not the A8 and M8. Beyond improved performance, this means the device will support always-on Siri activation. The default capacity is said to again start at 16GB, but secondary capacity should start at 64GB (versus the 32GB found in the 5s). All told, this should run you what the 5s did: $199 (to start).

If you're confused about all the models, allow us to lay it out. The 5s will be discontinued when the 5se releases (as soon as mid-March); at this time, the lineup will be the 5se, 6s and 6s Plus, and the tentatively named 7 and 7 Plus.