Oculus VR has announced that the Oculus Rift's Touch controllers won't be launching alongside the VR headset, and have been delayed to the second half of 2016.

In a recent blog post, the VR pioneers at Oculus said they need more time to perfect the wireless VR peripheral. Luckily, this delay won't affect the main attraction: the Rift is still on schedule to release in Q1 2016 with pre-orders following in the new future.

"On the path to perfecting Touch, we've decided that we need more time before release, and we'll now be shipping Touch in the second half of 2016. Pre-orders will open a few months prior to launch," the announcement reads. "On Touch hardware, we've made significant advances in ergonomics, and we're implementing many changes that make Touch even more comfortable, reliable, and natural. We're also implementing changes that improve hand pose recognition.The Oculus Touch originally made waves as the first-ever controller made specifically for a VR headset, and like the Rift, the hardware has gone through many changes and variations."

The $32 million collaboration between the Google-owned Boston Dynamics team and DARPA has been put on the backburner indefinitely, as the US Marines Corps has decided not to go forward with the LS3 "robotic mule" produced by the project. The main reason: it's too damn loud. Repairs and squad integration were also concerns.

The purpose of the creatures was to carry up to 400lbs worth of equipment, though judging from the look of them, enemy intimidation was part of the appeal as well.

It's not all for naught, though: Boston Dynamics and DARPA explain this was a research opportunity from the start more than anything else.

Fans have been waiting almost a decade for Final Fantasy XV, and Square Enix has finally locked in a 2016 launch for the open-world adventure.

In a recent blog post, beloved Final Fantasy director Hajime Tabata rang in the new year with some great news: Final Fantasy XV will release in 2016. "We will finally release FFXV this year, in 2016! In development, previous phases required wisdom and strength. However, moving forward the final phase will focus on effort and willpower."

'Star Wars' creator George Lucas has issued an apology for a bizarre comment on the Charlie Rose U.S. talk show, where he likened Disney, the new owners of the 'Star Wars' franchise to "white traders" before wisely abandoning that train of thought.

In a somewhat grovelling statement published by The Hollywood Reporter, Lucas says he "misspoke and used a very inappropriate analogy and for that I apologize". Providing further contrition to the house of mouse, he went to say "Disney is doing an incredible job of taking care of and expanding the franchise. .. I am thrilled that Disney has the franchise and is moving it in such exciting directions in film, television and the parks. Most of all I'm blown away with the record breaking blockbuster success of the new movie and am very proud of JJ and Kathy."

I guess it's going to be a while before Lucas does media again, and forever if Disney had anything to say about it, I'm sure. Meanwhile, 'The Force Awakens' continues to smash records, overtaking 'The Phantom Menace' to become the eighth highest grossing film of all time.

Due to surging demand, Microsoft's premium customizable Xbox One Elite controller is projected to be in limited supply until March 2016.

Despite the peripheral's steep $149 price tag, gamers everywhere want to get their hands-on the Xbox One Elite controller. Microsoft has had a hard time keeping up with demand since launching the new gamepads, leading to shortages throughout November. Now the controller's popularity has grown even more, and supply is expected to be scarce for three months into the new year. The sleek chrome-and-onyx gamepad is sold out across multiple retailers, including the Microsoft Store.

"While the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller is sold out in many retailers around the world, we are working quickly to get more units in the hands of fans," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to the press. "We expect more units to arrive at retailers each week, but supply may be limited through to March 2016."

The RTS, particularly the true 3D environment kind where you can use the entire map (and astronomical objects) to your advantage kind, doesn't get as much love as it should. One indie project headed up by a small team is making some stellar (pun intended) progress with theirs, Shallow Space.

They've got an influx of new ship models to help round everything off. The MFC Vindicator is featured above. Previously they were using placeholders from the Unity store itself until they could get their project Omega off of the ground. The new ships have their own design flavor that's reminiscent of ships found in Jupiter: The Nexus Incident, of which Shallow Space is the spiritual successor.

Also coming soon are some new maps and areas so that you can take those aforementioned ships and duke it out with the opposing factions. Just AI for now. But in those maps you'll find a huge expanse occupied by NPC traffic and lots of enemies strewn about an objective laden area. Zooming in and watching the ensuing dogfights is going to be a lot of fun.

Valve writer Chet Faliszek has stated on Twitter that virtual reality (VR) means a sales boom for high-end computers in 2016.

"Thanks to VR," he says, "In this coming year we will see a resurgence of high-end PCs in the home."

This comes just after NVIDIA stated VR requires seven times more powerful computers.

Samsung has a new "bio-processor" that's able to track up to five different biometrics at any one time to help keep tighter tabs on your state of health.

The little processor that they've developed is designed to be able to give more metrics and more data to the user. It'll support biometric impedance analysis, ECG readings, skin temperature, galvanic response and a whole lot of other metrics so that you can actually have real measurements of important health data. This should be far more efficient and accurate than any previous non-specific processors for the job. Theoretically at least.

Could you imagine being able to predict a heart attack before it gets to a critical point, letting you get to a doctor well before any permanent damage. That would be a very useful feature. Samsung envisions being able to put this type of technology in their future wearables like the Gear Watch S2.

Despite some rather strained enthusiasm for the first 'Star Wars' film he had nothing to do with, creator George Lucas has dismissed 'The Force Awakens' in a recent interview, and used some particularly loaded language.

Speaking to Charlie Rose on his long-running talk show (via Collider), Lucas said "They wanted to do a retro movie. I don't like that. Every movie I work very hard to make them completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships, make it new." Lucas even compared new 'Star Wars' owners Disney to the slave trade, in a particularly unwise analogy, saying "I sold them to the white slavers that takes these things, and.." before deciding not to finish his sentence.

Lucas also went on to describe how he parted ways with Disney after they decided to abandon his story outlines for the sequel series. "They decided they didn't want to use those stories, they decided they were going to do their own thing. They weren't that keen to have me involved anyway. But if I get in there, I'm just going to cause trouble, because they're not going to do what I want them to do. And I don't have the control to do that anymore, and all I would do is muck everything up. And so I said, 'Okay, I will go my way, and I'll let them go their way."

Chinese telecommunications company Huawei has had a killer 2015, with year-on-year revenue up 35% to 390 billion yuan (approximately $60.1 billion USD). In the third quarter, it passed Xiaomi as the #1 smartphone seller in China and became the #2 Android phone seller in Europe (thanks to its Honor sub-brand).

9 to 5 Google expects 2016 will be even bigger, given the impressive Nexus 6P and Huawei Watch devices, and goes so far as to say it may soon overtake Samsung as the #1 Android phone seller globally. Huawei shipped 100 million smartphones this year versus Samsung's 400 million, and it hasn't even launched the Honor brand in the US yet (it will in 2016). Seeing the massive success in Europe, it's likely to do great there as well.