News::The beautiful and delightful 'Badland' now has a sequel for iOS

Badland is one of the biggest gaming successes to ever hit the App Store. Its distinctive and beautiful visual style, challenging gameplay and high attention to detail all reinforced the notion that iOS is a great platform for unique and excellent games. Now, some two and a half years after making its debut, Badland 2 has arrived for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The game will feel immediately familiar to the millions who played the original -- the character you guide and the obstacles you dodge are still primarily rendered in silhouette, with beautiful, hand-painted backgrounds providing most of the eye candy.

Via: cult of mac

Source: Badland

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News::Playdate: 'Star Wars' week celebration, episode two!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is nearly upon us, and Engadget's gaming crew can barely contain itself. Life for Sean, Tim and Jess has been a constant struggle between the pain of being patient and the fear of encountering spoilers out there on the internet. How does one cope with such stress, such anticipation? By playing old Star Wars games, of course! Today we'll be taking a look at the PlayStation 4 ports of Star Wars: Racer Revenge and Super Star Wars, as well the classic Tie Fighter space sim on PC and, if there's time, the cinematic adventure of Rebel Assault II.

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News::Mozilla makes it easy to create VR websites with 'A-Frame'

With the launch of A-Frame today, Mozilla is trying to make it easier for developers to craft virtual-reality websites. Mozilla's VR research team, MozVR, created A-Frame as an open-source framework that allows developers to use familiar HTML markup in their designs, rather than the complex WebGL API. A-Frame operates within WebGL, meaning it works across desktop, iPhones, all Cardboard devices and Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 headsets, with Android support "coming soon." It'll eventually support additional VR devices, such as HTC's Vive.

Via: Road To VR

Source: A-Frame

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News::Roland taps iconic 808 sounds for rhythm-based gaming

Roland revived the iconic sounds of the TR-808 with last year's AIRA TR-8, and now its leveraging those tones for mobile gaming. With TR-REC, the audio company uses sounds from both the TR-808 and TR-8, as players recreate rhythms played by the app. As the game moves on, tones are layered on top of the original rhythm to create a piece of dance music. In order to progress to the next stage, you must correctly tap out the sequence before time runs out. If that sounds too intimidating, don't worry: the game starts with the basics. You can think of it like Guitar Hero, but for a drum machine.

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News::The brain hacks that make climbing in VR feel real

When I talk to friends and family about VR, their most pressing questions are usually about immersion. Once they've finished asking about the possibility of vomiting, the conversation turns to: "And how real does it feel?" "Do you believe you're really there?" Truth be told, I've never had that sensation -- a complete and utter submission of my senses -- although developers are getting better at tricking my brain for a few fleeting moments.

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News::'League of Legends' is now fully owned by China's Tencent

After buying most of the studio behind League of Legends in 2011, Tencent now owns it outright. California studio Riot Games told employees that the Chinese internet giant behind WeChat had purchased the remaining equity in the company. There was no word about the price, but League of Legends reportedly makes $1 billion a year via in-app purchases. Tencent should be able to afford it, though, as it was recently valued at $200 billion, ahead of China's Alibaba. Tencent also owns big stakes in Activision Blizzard, the maker of World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, and Gears of War developer Epic Games.

Via: Polygon

Source: Riot Games

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News::'Xbox Fitness' no longer requires the Kinect

The Kinect, once such an integral part of Microsoft's Xbox One story, just lost a big toehold. You no longer need the depth sensor for Xbox Fitness, a key non-gaming app. The device brings gamification to workouts and forces you to think about form, so the app is more like a streaming service without it. However, dropping the requirement certainly opens it up to more users. Folks who compete with friends might also be disappointed to know that non-Kinect rivals still get a score just for watching the videos. Kinect users can score higher, though, and new workout titles will continue to support the camera. There's no word on whether Microsoft might offer smartphone body tracking like it does with Just Dance Now.

Source: Microsoft Studios

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News::You can search for 'Mario Maker' levels on the web next week

Crafting truly brilliant Mario Maker levels isn't easy, but finding them soon will be. Nintendo just announced its "Super Mario Maker Bookmark" portal will go live on December 21 so you can search for levels to play from a computer or mobile device instead of just on your Wii U. Better yet, you'll be able to flag those primo levels from whatever device you're working with — they'll appear in the Course World tab so you don't have to worry about finding your favorite works all over again.

Source: BusinessWire

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News::Xbox One adds 'Halo: Reach' and 15 more playable 360 titles

Microsoft's Xbox One has had a stellar release slate over the last few months, packed with exclusive games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and multiplatform hits such as Fallout 4 and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Still not satisfied? Well, there's now an additional 16 games from the Xbox 360 era that you can play on your Xbox One via backwards compatibility. Some of the highlights include the head-scratching puzzle-platformer Braid, indie darling Spelunky, Portal and Fable 3.

Source: Major Nelson

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News::Razer debuts its 'Leviathan Mini' portable soundbar

Razer introduced a smaller, portable version of its popular Leviathan sound bar on Thursday. Dubbed the Leviathan Mini, this 24-watt system ditches the original's subwoofer for a pair of 12-watt drivers. And while it may not have the ear-bursting power of its predecessor, the Mini still packs an auditory punch -- and a couple of cool tricks to boot.

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News::ICYMI: We've gone full Leia in honor of Star Wars

Today on In Case You Missed It: Many of you will be leaving work as quickly as possible to catch an early screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We're helping you prepare for the glory of what awaits with a round-up of some of our favorite Star Wars moments and characters with all the products, amazing DIYs and games that are rocking our galaxy.

We'll be back to normal for tomorrow, so if you see any interesting science or tech videos, please share with us! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.

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News::Microsoft's mixed reality is for developers, not the public

HoloLens, the augmented reality headset Microsoft's been touting as a future pillar of its Windows business, isn't "fun" to use. At least, it wasn't for me during my whirlwind round of developer-focused demos at Microsoft's flagship store in New York. That's to say, any and all comparisons to emerging virtual reality tech and related gaming or entertainment applications should be excised from the conversation for now. It's not "immersive" as one Microsoft rep stressed to me, clearly keen to avoid the confused commingling of AR and VR buzzwords. It's "complementary."

If anything, HoloLens is very much a powerful tool for business, science and education -- both Volvo and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are actively experimenting with it. And as Microsoft demonstrated at its brand new HoloLens developer experience, set to open on the upper floors of its Fifth Avenue shop this Thursday, it's armed with enough proof of concept to make good on its enterprise promise.

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News::Word-puzzler 'Scribblenauts Unlimited' returns to mobile

Scribblenauts started as a handheld game, and now the adorable interactive dictionary puzzler is making its way to Android and iOS after an extended break from mobile. 2012's Scribblenauts Unlimited (which appeared on 3DS, PC and Wii U) is available right now on Google Play and as a universal app on iTunes for the cool price of $4.99. A version's heading toward the Amazon Appstore on Android as well.

Source: Google Play, iTunes

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