News::What's on your HDTV: 'High Castle,' 'Jessica Jones,' 'SW: Battlefront'

This week two of the biggest releases come from streaming services. Netflix premieres its second Marvel series with Jessica Jones, while Amazon Prime has its adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel, The Man in the High Castle. Both have looked good in early previews, but until they launch Thursday morning, we're focused on the games. Star Wars: Battlefront is here, along with the final episode of Telltale Games' Game of Thrones series. Finally, movie fans may want to check for The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki on Blu-ray. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

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News::Playdate: Crushing the Rebel scum in 'Star Wars: Battlefront'

Not too long from now, on a Twitch stream in the very near future, Sean Buckley and myself will be blasting Rebel scum in Star Wars: Battlefront. The sci-fi shooter's the topic du jour on the latest edition of Playdate and you can tune in starting at 6 PM ET/ 3 PM Pacific to catch two hours of the hot Empire on Rebel action across Sullust, Hoth, and who even knows where else? And since we streamed the game's beta on PlayStation 4 we're giving the full version a go on PC today. As always, you can tune in here on this post, the Engadget Gaming homepage or Twitch.tv/Joystiq if you'd like to join us in chat -- it's your destiny.

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News::The original 'Valkyria Chronicles' heads to PS4 in HD (in Japan)

Valkyria Chronicles, Sega's strategy RPG that hit the PlayStation 3 in 2008, is getting an HD upgrade for a launch on PS4, Famitsu reports (as translated by Gematsu). The remake is confirmed for a release in Japan on February 10th, with no mention of North American plans just yet. Sega is also working on a new entry in the series, Valkyria: Azure Revolution, slated to hit Japanese PS4s in winter 2016, according to Gematsu. Valkyria Chronicles debuted on PC in November 2014, and while that wasn't an HD remake, it featured dual-language support, Steam Achievements, customization options and all previously released DLC -- not bad for $20.

Source: Gematsu

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News::Meet the high school dropout paving the way for indie eSports

It sounds like a classic Silicon Valley success story: A young, inexperienced entrepreneur drops out of school to pursue his dreams and ends up founding an influential, innovative company. Except, Alex Nichiporchik isn't from California; he's from Latvia. And he didn't drop out of college to follow his passion -- he dropped out of high school. Nichiporchik is the CEO and co-founder of tinyBuild GAMES, the studio behind No Time to Explain and SpeedRunners, and he's leading the indie charge into eSports. Professional gaming is new territory for small studios, which means Nichiporchik has made a lot of it up along the way, from hosting low-quality live streams to producing tournaments with the Electronic Sports League. "We didn't know what we were doing," he says, but "it took off" anyway.

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News::Getting out of the garage and into VR with 'Dungeons and Dragons'

When I was a kid, my best friend's garage was a magical place. My friends and I would gather around a dirty table on cold winter nights, huddled between unused sports equipment and the family's spare TV, to kill monsters with dice. It was where we played Dungeons & Dragons. Then I grew up; my friends grew up. We all got jobs and moved away. Now all the old building does is hold cars.

Over the years, our group has tried to recreate our adventures over the phone, through online chat programs and even over Skype, but nothing ever felt right. Tabletop gaming is a social activity that demands a sense of presence, which makes playing Dungeons & Dragons across state lines really hard. Recently, a company called AltspaceVR invited me to try an option I hadn't considered before: Playing D&D in virtual reality. Believe it or not, it might actually work.

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News::NVIDIA's new Shield Tablet is just like the old one, but cheaper

NVIDIA's first Shield tablet was a device that got almost everything right: The 8-inch slate had a crisp display flanked by twin speakers, a surprisingly precise built-in stylus and a powerful 192-core Kepler K1 processor. At the time, it was easily the best Android gaming device on the market, and a pretty darn good media tablet to boot -- but NVIDIA quietly put the Shield to pasture earlier this year. Is the company preparing to launch a new, more powerful Shield tablet? Nope: It's putting the same slate back on the market, albeit with a lower, $199 price tag and fewer bells and whistles.

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News::'Need for Speed' balances opponents and adds neon later this month

Need for Speed is one of this fall's best games (it really does deserve your attention) and it's about to receive some changes. First up are tweaks to the game's computer-controlled opponents. Developer Ghost Games says it's working to make the rubberband AI, what keeps the other racers close by you regardless of how much of a lead you've built, "more balanced." If you're a fan of the current system, hopefully this new addition will be an option rather than a requirement. The game's visual customizations are getting some newfound love as well: a look at neon lighting kits, functional mirrors, more pre-made vinyl sets (additional features for that, too) and a better color picking system. Ghost is increasing the level cap and adding a smattering of new achievements, too.

Via: Eurogamer

Source: Need for Speed

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