Thursday, August 27, 2015

News::Sony isn't intentionally keeping 'Until Dawn' off of Twitch

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Right now, there's a bit of an issue going on with Twitch and the PlayStation 4's horror-movie-director simulator, Until Dawn. Yesterday the Twitch Support Twitter account posted that if you were using PS4's built-in Twitch sharing functionality that Sony had disabled archiving. Based on the response we got from Sony, it doesn't seem like it was for a nefarious reason or anything, mostly just forgetting to flip a switch.

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Source: Twitch Support

Tags: gaming, hd, hdpostcross, horror, sony, streaming, supermassivegames, twitch, untildawn



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News::Expect a 'limited number' of HTC Vive VR headsets this year

According to HTC, reports that the commercial launch of its Vive virtual reality headset is delayed until next year aren't telling the whole story. The company provided a statement to Engadget saying "We'll have a limited number of units by the end of the year, with more to come in Q1 2016." It seems unlikely there will be enough to satisfy all potential buyers of the "first complete VR system" it's making with Valve's help, but there's still a chance you could get one, and developers have had it since the spring. The Vive headset is coming to PAX Prime in Seattle with demos like Fantastic Contraption -- once we know more about when you can have one we'll let you know.

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Tags: hdpostcross, headset, htc, PAXPrime2015, valve, VirtualReality, Vive, vr



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News::Playdate: We're screaming through the teen-horror of 'Until Dawn'

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By now you've (hopefully!) read our review of Sony's latest PlayStation 4 exclusive, Until Dawn. I'd also like to think that you've gazed upon its faces and gorgeous cinematography too. If you're still on the fence about buying it though, well, maybe our Twitch stream starting at 6 pm ET / 3 pm PT will change that. We'll be broadcasting two hours of the teen fright-fest today and I'd like to you join Sean Buckley and myself because the decisions we make in the game will be entirely up to you. That's right: You'll choose who lives and who dies, the paths we take through a Canadian mountainside and a whole lot more this afternoon. Are you ready for that kind of responsibility? Perhaps the better question is if you're ready to hear my shrill screams. Let's find out. Together.

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Tags: gaming, HaydenPanettiere, hd, hdpostcross, horror, peterstormare, playstation, playstation4, ps4, sony, supermassivegames, twitch, untildawn



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News::'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5' was designed with YouTube in mind

Secrets have always been a big part of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. However, when players get stuck trying to find Easter eggs in any game now, they don't turn to glossy strategy guides like they did in the 1990s and early 2000s -- they open Twitch or YouTube on their smartphone. Developer Robomodo had this in mind when creating Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5. Lead designer Patrick Dwyer says that his team's tucked away the hidden skateboarding DVD -- a series staple -- pretty well this time around and that's a direct result of how the community responded when the studio released Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD back in 2012. "The day it came out there were videos of how to beat all of our missions," he says. "How's that possible? It's weird hiding stuff knowing that."

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Tags: activision, gaming, hd, hdpostcross, patrickdwyer, robomodo, tonyhawksproskater, tonyhawksproskater5, tonyhawksproskaterhd, twitch, youtube



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News::'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5': something new, something borrowed

"It's like making a new Star Wars movie," says Patrick Dwyer, lead designer on developer Robomodo's upcoming Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5. "The originals are great and then the rest weren't as good." He's referring, of course, to the high bar set by the first four games in the storied extreme sports franchise as compared to the middling releases that followed. The idea, as Dwyer explains it, is to treat anything that released past 2002's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 as if it never existed. And that's including the horrible pair of plastic skateboard peripheral-based games he worked on: Tony Hawk Ride and its follow up, Shred.

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Tags: gaming, hd, hdpostcross, joshtsui, patrickdwyer, playstation, playstation4, skateboarding, TonyHawk, tonyhawksproskater, tonyhawksproskater5, xbox, xboxone



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News::'Rapture' game soundtrack pulled from out-of-touch UK charts

'Everybody's Gone to the Rapture' is a post-apocalyptic game with a difference. Instead of a nuclear wasteland, you're tasked with exploring an idyllic, but empty town in the middle of the English countryside. There's little dialogue, but the sweeping soundtrack sets a wonderfully melancholic tone. Composed by the game's director Jessica Curry, these original tracks are excellent examples of modern classical music. And clearly they've resonated with people -- earlier this month, the soundtrack placed eighth in the UK's "Official Classical Artist Albums Chart." Curry and the rest of her studio, The Chinese Room, were delighted. That is, until it disappeared from the chart the following week.

According to the UK's Official Charts Company, its inclusion was a mistake. The rules for this particular chart, which were drawn up in partnership with the classical music industry, state that original soundtracks performed by single and various artists are ineligible. The decision applies not just to Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, but to all video games and movies. Curry and The Chinese Room have been voicing their disapproval on Twitter -- the developer has called it "bullshit" and "snobbery in action." Fans of the game have, understandably, leapt to their defence and even Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, has called the decision "unfortunate."

To make matters worse, the Official Charts Company has made another blunder in the Official Classical Artist Albums Chart. In this week's listings, The Complete Harry Potter Film Music by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra is ranked 29th. Just like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, this is an original soundtrack. A spokesperson for the Official Charts Company told us: "It's an error. It shouldn't be in there either and will be corrected (taken out) this Friday. We're already aware of it." For fans of the game and Curry's music, however, its inclusion has only added to their sense of anger and frustration.

But even once the Harry Potter soundtrack is removed, the greater question remains: why are original scores ineligible? We're yet to hear a definitive answer. Whatever the reason, it means these albums are represented elsewhere; in the Official Soundtrack Albums Chart and the Official Classic FM Chart, which is a combined classical chart published on the radio station's website. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture features in both, but you could argue that the level of recognition they offer isn't quite the same. To confuse matters further, the Official Charts Company has told Eurogamer that it considers Curry's record "a bona fide classical album." That's why it features prominently in the Classic FM Chart -- but again, this doesn't explain its ineligibility for the Official Classical Artist Albums Chart.

No matter where you stand, the reality is that this decision doesn't affect the quality of our favourite soundtracks. It's just a shame all classical music can't be treated equal -- whether it's written specifically for an album, or to accompany a movie, TV show or video game, it either fits the genre or it doesn't. If you think these composers are being treated unfairly, the best course of action -- as always -- is to support their work with your wallet.

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Source: Jessica Curry (Twitter)

Tags: classicalmusic, EverybodysGoneToTheRapture, jessicacurry, OfficialChartsCompany, OriginalSoundTrack, ost, soundtrack, thechineseroom



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News::Dell revives the Alienware 18, upgrades its smaller gaming laptops

It's a rare, satisfying feeling when a community rallies together to ask a company to bring back a discontinued product and it actually works. Today is one of those days: Dell announced at PAX that it's bringing back the Alienware 18 -- the most powerful portable gaming machine the company's ever made. The revived 18-inch rig is being touted as a 'special edition' and will pack in a 4th Generation Intel i7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD (with an optional 512GB SSD) dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M or 980M graphics, depending on the configuration. Too big? Too much? No worries --- Alienware is refreshing its 13-, 15- and 17-inch laptops, too.

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Tags: Alienware, alienware13, alienware15, alienware17, alienware18, alienwaregraphicsamplifier, alienwarex51, dell, gaming, gaminglaptop, gamingpc, pax, pax-prime



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News::'Assassin's Creed Syndicate' hits PCs on November 19th

'Assassin's Creed Syndicate' co-star Jacob Frye leads a fight against the Templars

If you're determined to play Assassin's Creed Syndicate on your sweet PC gaming rig, you're going to have to wait a while longer than everyone else. Ubisoft has announced that the Windows version of its Victorian stealth action game will arrive on November 19th, or nearly a month after the console edition's October 23rd debut. This is to make sure PC players get a "stable, optimized" version of Syndicate right from the start, the developer says -- clearly, Ubisoft is still feeling the sting of Unity's botched launch.

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Source: Ubiblog

Tags: assassinscreed, assassinscreedsyndicate, gaming, pc, ubisoft, windows



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