News::Blizzard's huge 'World of Warcraft: Legion' expansion hits beta this year

Blizzard ended 2014 with a promise to release bigger, better expansions faster -- and today at Gamescom it finally showed off the goods. The next World of Warcraft expansion is called Legion, and like its name, its additions to the game world are many. Legion will bump the max player level up to 110 (from 100) and introduce a new continent: the Broken Isles. Here players will search for the Tomb of Sargeras, and prepare for the invasion of an all-powerful demon army. How do you fight demons, you ask? With an all-new Demon Hunter Hero Class, of course.

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Via: Polygon

Source: Youtube (1), (2)

Tags: blizzard, Gamescom, gaming, video, videogames, warcraft, worldofwarcraft, wow

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News::JXE Streams: digging through the 'Rare Replay' vault

More than any other artistic medium, video games have a dire need to preserve their history. Unlike movies, books or music, it's incredibly hard to enjoy a classic game years or even decades after its release because of how quickly the technology powering gaming advances. Lately though, the influx of HD remasters and digital distribution have made it really easy to enjoy works from years gone by. So when Microsoft announced Rare Replay at this year's E3, the idea of 30 (!!!) games from developer Rare's past being playable on a modern console struck a chord with many people. But how do games from the UK studio's storied history hold up to? Join us at 3PM PT / 6PM ET on Twitch.tv/Joystiq, right in this post or on the Engadget Gaming homepage to find out as we broadcast two solid hours of classic Rare weirdness.

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Tags: battletoads, gaming, hd, hdpostcross, jxe, jxestreams, microsoft, rare, rarereplay, rareware, twitch, xboxone

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News::The surprising joy of Time's virtual reality cover starring Palmer Luckey

It's amazing to see Palmer Luckey -- creator of the Oculus Rift and custodian of the tech industry's current obsession with virtual reality -- on the cover of Time magazine this month. It's another sign that virtual reality has a real shot at entering the mainstream conversation, following previous signals like Facebook buying Oculus for $2 billion in 2014, and Sony, Valve, HTC, Samsung and dozens of other companies revealing their own VR headsets. As amazing as Luckey's Time cover is, it's also really, really odd. Why is he on his tippy-toes? Does he really need to be squatting like that? What are his hands doing? Where's the controller? And why the hell is he in front of a fake beach? The world may never know, but through the power of photo-editing tools, we certainly can imagine. See some of our ideas below and please add your own chops in the comments.

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Tags: facebook, hdpostcross, PalmerLuckey, photoshop, time, TimeMagazine, VirtualReality, vr

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News::'Call of Duty: Black Ops 3' looks like 'Dota 2' with new features

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is banking big on eSports with a handful of new, updated and returning features that make the professional game stand out from everyday matches. Arena, for example, replaces Black Ops 2's League Play as an online ranking system where players compete to reach the top division. CODcaster Mode returns, allowing spectators to commentate over the top of live matches and control some of the visual cues of the game. That's all fine and dandy, but Black Ops 3's real eSports meat comes in the form of Specialist Draft and the "Ban and Protect" systems, which serve to make the professional game play out more like massively successful pro games League of Legends or Dota 2.

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Source: PlayStation Blog, Call of Duty

Tags: Activision, blackops3, CallOfDuty, callofdutyblackops3, esports, hdpostcross, ProfessionalGaming, ProGaming, Treyarch

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News::Crystal Dynamics is putting the 'tomb' back in 'Tomb Raider'

2013's Tomb Raider was a reboot of a game that defined the 3rd-person adventure genre. It represented a change in direction for the series, one that took cues from successful titles like Uncharted to breathe fresh life into what had become a tired franchise. But while critics rightfully praised the game's many strengths, the core of the original's gameplay -- tomb raiding -- was pushed to one side, with most of the game consisting of stealth, combat, and survival. For the timed Xbox exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider, developer Crystal Dynamics is bringing back tombs in a big way, and making some intelligent design decisions to update the old gameplay for the modern era.

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Tags: CrystalDynamics, gamescom-2015, hdpostcross, laracroft, microsoft, riseofthetombraider, tombraider, xbox, xboxone

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News::Microsoft Studios lead talks Kinect and the future of Xbox

You might not know who Microsoft's Kudo Tsunoda is, but you know his work. He was the driving force behind Kinect and HoloLens. And more recently, he's taken control of a large part of Microsoft Studios, the company's in-house video game publishing and development arm. As part of his position, Tsunoda leads Rare, Lionhead and other first-party studios, and also oversees the development of key Xbox exclusives published by Microsoft, such as Scalebound, Quantum Break and the new Crackdown. I sat down with Tsunoda for a chat at Gamescom, and quizzed him on the future of Xbox, HoloLens and gaming at Microsoft.

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Tags: crossbuy, gamescom, gamescom-2015, gamescom2015, hdpostcross, hololens, interview, kinect, KudoTsunoda, microsoft, MicrosoftStudios, uk-feature, win10, windows10, xbox, xboxone

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News::How the TV show in Xbox One exclusive 'Quantum Break' works

When Remedy released Alan Wake on Xbox 360, few people questioned the live-action cut scenes sprinkled throughout the campaign. It turns out those moments were the seedlings for a grander vision: to develop a game interwoven with a full TV show.

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Tags: gamesCOM, gamescom-2015, gamescom2015, hdpostcross, microsoft, quantumbreak, remedy, tv, tvshow, xbox, xboxone

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News::Nicki Minaj and Jason Statham are getting their own mobile games

Hip-hop fans have had a lot to deal with lately: Dr. Dre shelved Detox, there's that whole Meek Mill and Drake feud that's spilling out all over Twitter and Run the Jewels might not be hitting your town on this fall's tour. There's a bright spot, though: Nicki Minaj is getting her own game courtesy of the folks behind Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Glu Mobile announced that Minaj has lent her likeness, voice and creative directorship exclusively to the company for a game expected to launch next summer. Also joining the lady who kissed a girl and liked it is The Transporter himself, Jason Statham.

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Via: The Verge

Source: Glu Mobile (1), (2)

Tags: gaming, glu, GluMobile, hiphop, jasonstatham, katyperry, mobile, mobilegaming, mobilepostcross, mobuile, music, nickiminaj, sniperxkillconfirmed, vanitygames

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