News::'Astroneer' is a planetary exploration game on a grand scale

Games like Kerbal Space Program are great at depicting the challenges of getting to another planet, but there isn't usually much to do when you arrive beyond planting a flag. Wouldn't it be nice to really, truly explore those alien worlds and make them your own? System Era may just give you that chance. Its upcoming Astroneer has you exploring and harvesting resources from vast, procedurally generated planets. You not only have to brave hostile conditions (including The Martian-like storms) and build up your base, but shape the very surface you're walking on. You can level hills, carve out tunnels and dig out artifacts buried in the soil -- think of it as Minecraft in an unfamiliar, unforgiving landscape.

Via: Shacknews

Source: Astroneer

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News::'Indivisible' is a hand-drawn JRPG that needs your help

The folks behind Skullgirls are at it again, and this time they're taking to crowdfunding platform IndieGoGo for a hand in creating a gorgeous hand-drawn role-playing game, Indivisible. As BoingBoing points out, perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of the whole deal here is how it's being funded. The game's total budget is $3.5 million, and if the IndieGoGo campaign reaches its $1.5 million goal, publisher 505 Games (Adr1ft, Abzu) will kick in the balance. If you're hesitant about throwing money down, there's a demo prototype available that you can download for Windows.

Via: BoingBoing

Source: IndieGoGo

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News::'Star Wars: Battlefront' beta opens wide Thursday at 1PM ET

You watched our stream of Star Wars: Battlefront but you didn't win one of the early access codes we were giving away and you feel a little left out. That's understandable, but know this: Come Thursday at 1PM ET / 10AM PT, you can play for yourself regardless of luck. Make sure you have at least 8GB of free space on your PlayStation 4 and Xbox One or 11GB open on your PC's hard drive though. Word comes via the game's community manager on Twitter. Need something to do until the beta unlocks for you? The embedded Playdate video below will make your wait just over two hours shorter.

Source: Sledgehammer70 (Twitter)

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News::Everything Twitch does is for its community

Twitch would be nothing without its broadcasters and viewers, and the livestreaming service is fiercely protective of both. So much so that to prevent its first-ever TwitchCon conference from transforming into a promotional event for exhibitors, rather than a meet-up for its community, the company was willing to turn down exhibitor support. The goal, as Matt DiPietro, Twitch's VP of marketing, explained it, was to keep the show laser focused on community so it doesn't turn into something like Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) and the Game Developers Conference (GDC) have: huge but at the expense of their initial focus. "What TwitchCon has to be about is the broadcasters and their fans," he said in an interview from the show. "Everything we do, we think about the broadcasters first because that's what brings the fans and creates the content."

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News::ICYMI: HoloLens gaming, walking talking robot phone and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: The RoBoHon is a 7-inch tall smartphone robot that can also dance, walk and talk and basically simultaneously creep out and amaze all your family and friends. Microsoft is busy dreaming up the next HoloLens game that we really want to play: Code-named Project X-Ray, it sends robots to do battle with you, right in your living room. And a virtual reality headset app wants to help train surgeons in a way that doesn't endanger any real people.

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News::HP's newest gaming notebook is for more casual users

After taking a long break from making gaming notebooks, HP finally got back in the saddle last year when it unveiled the Omen, a slim gaming laptop priced at $1,500. It generally earned respectable reviews on account of its stylish design and decent performance, but had lots of competition at that price, and its rivals often won when it came to sheer horsepower. To cover its bases, then, HP announced the Pavilion Gaming notebook, which starts at a more palatable $900 -- and might have fewer competitors at that price.Slideshow-324979

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