News::Peek behind the developers' curtain with 'SpyParty' slider images

Most 3D games don't begin life as gorgeous, fully animated, shaded and colored products. They start with concept art and placeholder images that allow developers to fine-tune the mechanics and build out a full experience. Sometimes, these placeholder characters are unrefined. Sometimes, they look like a weird hybrid between a Lego man and one of the original Sims. That's the case for SpyParty, an intense game of one-on-one stealth, misdirection and sharpshooting that's been in development for roughly eight years. And, looking at its original art, we do mean rough (though the OG characters are beloved by many early players). In a blog update, SpyParty creator Chris Hecker shows off how his game has changed since its placeholder days, in a set of images with sliders comparing old and new, fancy graphics provided by artist John Cimino.

Source: SpyParty

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News::Microsoft's Xbox Beta app hits the Windows 10 store

A few days ago, Microsoft revealed that Windows 10 users could soon help it shape its Xbox app for the new OS. And well, that's happening today. The Xbox Beta app is based on the popular Xbox One Preview Program, which gives people access to features before they're released to the public and lets them provide feedback based on their experience with those. Similarly, Microsoft says the goal with this new application is to have fans provide early input on features and enhancements that are intended to come to the Xbox app for Windows 10. If you're interested in checking it out and being a part of the program, you can download Xbox Beta now from the Windows Store.

Source: Xbox Beta (Windows Store)

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News::Playdate: Racing into action with 'Skylanders Superchargers'

If you have an undying love of weird monsters, action-adventure video games, expensive collectible toys and wacky vehicles, you've come to the right place: Tim Seppala and I are about to play Skylanders Superchargers. That's right, the franchise that kicked off the toys-to-life trend is now in its 5th generation, enticing veteran players to dust off their figure collections for an all new gimmick -- planes, boats and automobiles. As for us? This is our first Skylanders game, ever. Come join us at 6 pm ET / 3 pm PT to find out if it's a good starting point for new players. As always, you can watch our broadcast on this very post, the Engadget Gaming homepage or, if you want to chat along with us, head over to Twitch.tv/joystiq. While you're there, hit the heart button below the streaming window to give us a follow.

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News::1TB PS4 lands in the US, but it's in an ugly 'Black Ops 3' bundle

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but orange and grey is so last season, every season. The 1TB PlayStation 4 officially arrives in North America on November 6th in a specially designed Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 bundle that includes the game, Nuk3town bonus map, console and matching controller. It costs $450 in the US and CAD$550 in Canada, and pre-orders are available today. Seriously though, we won't judge anyone for snagging this thing -- 1TB is a lot of storage, after all.

Source: PlayStation Blog

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News::Classic cyberpunk shooter 'System Shock' gets revamped on GOG.com

Twenty-one years after its launch on PCs, System Shock is back and revamped for modern systems. System Shock: Enhanced Edition is available on GOG.com and it's currently just $8 in a launch sale running through September 29th. System Shock is a cyberpunk, first-person shooter and role-playing game, and it was the first of its kind back in 1994. Both Warren Spector (the creator of Deus Ex) and Ken Levine (the creator of BioShock) had a hand in the series. The Enhanced Edition ups resolution support from 640x480 to 1024x768, with a native widescreen mode of 854x480, plus it adds remappable keys, bug fixes and mouselook mode. For all of the purists out there, the classic System Shock is included with the Enhanced Edition on GOG.Slideshow-322387

Source: GOG.com

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News::'Hitman' delayed to March 2016

IO Interactive needs a few more months to bulk out the new Hitman -- the studio has pushed the game's release date back from December 2015 to March 2016. The delay applies to all versions: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam. Wherever and whenever you end up playing Hitman, it's going to be a slightly different experience for the series. IO Interactive and publisher Square Enix plan to release Hitman in chunks, starting with a large initial launch. Afterward, the game's remaining locations will be released over time. The new Hitman's tagline is, "Enter a world of assassination," which feeds into the idea of a constantly updated, evolving landscape.

Source: Hitman blog

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News::Try to survive a sadistic circus in 'Penarium' for PC and consoles

Humans make for more complex strategy than code can. Take Penarium designer and producer Rick van Ginkel's story for example: His studio, Self Made Miracle, once tried to develop a strategy game that relied on complicated spreadsheets and algorithms. It "failed horribly," he says. "I was doing spreadsheet balancing all the time and couldn't get it right. That is why we decided to go for an action game where I could do game design based more on 'feeling' rather than mathematics." That new, feeling-based game is Penarium, a twitchy, bloody, pixelated romp about a man attempting to survive a violent circus attraction in the late 19th century. Instead of forcing strategy into the code or controls, Penarium puts the complexity in players' hands.Slideshow-322298

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News::'Allison Road' picks up where 'P.T.' left off

It's safe to say that Sony played gamers magnificently when it first revealed that Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro were teaming up for Silent Hills. An innocuous-looking game called P.T (short for Playable Trailer) emerged on the PlayStation Store and invited players to repeatedly explore a single hallway in a house full of puzzles and ridiculous jump scares. The final reveal with The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus helped people rediscover their love for the Silent Hill franchise, only for the project to be cancelled thanks to Kojima's now-famous falling out with Konami. However, with an obvious appetite for such a game, independent studios are attempting to keep the dream alive. Allison Road, which hit Kickstarter this week, aims to build on the foundations laid by P.T and give gamers the first-person horror title they deserve.

Source: Allison Road (Kickstarter)

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News::NVIDIA brings its top-end desktop graphics to laptops

You no longer need a huge, water-cooled rig to play the latest blockbuster shooters, with plenty of gaming laptops doing a fine job of marrying performance with portability. But a divide still exists, with even the best mobile GPUs defined as "desktop-class," which is a nice way of saying they aren't quite as powerful as the cards made for home office-hogging towers. That said, in what NVIDIA claims is an industry first, the company has today announced its top-end GeForce GTX 980 desktop GPU is headed to laptops. Not to be confused with the GTX 980M -- NVIDIA's previous flagship GPU for notebooks -- the GTX 980 for laptops is exactly the same as the desktop version, offering identical gaming performance.Slideshow-322349

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News::Google asks academia to help advance Cardboard VR research

Google announced its Cardboard VR headset basically as an afterthought at the end of its 2014 I/O conference, but since then the platform's grown into a viable means of experiencing virtual reality. Much like its peers have done in the past, Mountain View is reaching out to academia to submit research proposals that'll hopefully advance the medium. According to the project's Google+ page (naturally) the team's looking for research in areas including immersive audio; optics and displays; computer graphics and rendering and user input technology. Interested? You've got until October 15th to make your submission.

Source: Google Cardboard (G+)

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