News::Playdate: Giving away the Force

It's been a long wait, but today's the day: Star Wars is back in theaters. We've seen it. No, we're not going to talk about it (well, not much. Spoilers, you know) -- but we are celebrating its release by playing our favorite games from the series now-defunct expanded universe. We're closing out our Star Wars week with games from the Dark Forces and Jedi Knight franchises, the Star Wars: Force Unleashed games as well as the past and present of Star Wars: Battlefront.

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News::Play 'Threes' for free in your browser right now

Threes, the adorable number-squishing, tile-sliding puzzle game, is available to play for free (and without ads) in browsers via desktop and mobile devices. The game is otherwise free (with ads) on Android and iOS, or you can spend $2 for a version without commercial breaks. Designer Asher Vollmer and illustrator Greg Wohlwend announced the browser edition during a Reddit AMA on Thursday.

Via: Polygon

Source: @AsherVo, Reddit

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News::HTC Vive to demo a 'very big' breakthrough in VR at CES

Regular folks who are eager to get hold of the HTC Vive would have been bummed by the news that it's been pushed to April 2016, but in return, we'll actually be getting a much improved version. At today's Vive Unbound developers forum in Beijing, CEO Cher Wang teased that two weeks ago, Valve and her team made "a very, very big technological breakthrough" with their virtual reality system, so big that they decided to just skip the original version and ship this new one, albeit missing the Q1 date. "We shouldn't make our users swap their systems later just so we could meet the December shipping date." That said, Wang remained mum on what this upgrade is all about, except that it'll be unveiled at CES early next month.

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News::Square Enix Montreal gets what makes mobile games great

Apple recently named Lara Croft Go its game of the year, and deservedly so. But the back-to-basics 2D puzzler wasn't developer Square Enix Montreal's first stab at mobile gaming. The studio was initially formed to work on a now-cancelled Hitman project for consoles and then transitioned to making premium smartphone and tablet games.

Since releasing Hitman Go in 2014 the team has been quietly kicking a lot of ass in the space, launching the excellent Hitman Sniper and Lara Croft Go within roughly two months of each other. It's this type of repeat success that's afforded lead programmer Antoine Routon and his mobile-exclusive team at Square Enix Montreal the freedom to tinker with publisher Square Enix's biggest properties in fresh ways.

"We have a lot of creative freedom we acquired by delivering good games," he says. "What's the opposite of street cred? Exec cred?" he asks, laughing.

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News::Nintendo's 2015 was the best of times and the worst of times

Let's face it: In the world of video games, Nintendo exists in a state of constant scrutiny. More often than not, the Japanese company is targeted for being "behind the times" or "out of touch" with what its fanbase wants. Looking back, however, we see a more dynamic mish-mash of good and bad decisions. In 2015, Nintendo teased us by promising to build mobile apps, but pleased us by adding some unexpected classics to its digital game library and announcing a new game console. The company had breakout hits like Splatoon, but also fumbled on launch dates, failing to deliver Star Fox Zero and Zelda Wii U by year's end. How is Nintendo doing, really? Let's take a look back at the highs and lows of Nintendo's year and find out.

Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images
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News::Street Fighter V is coming to SteamOS

Capcom's Street Fighter V is coming to Valve's SteamOS with full support for the company's Steam Controller. The franchise's first new series since 2008 will also be the first to make an appearance on the Linux-based operating system. The decision is quite a coup for Valve. It's positioning SteamOS and Steam Machines as the friendly face of PC gaming; a legitimate living-room replacement for a console.

The long-awaited brawler is due to hit PlayStation 4 and PC on February 16th. It's unclear when the SteamOS port will be ready, or if it'll be able to take advantage of the cross-platform multiplayer features already announced for PC and PlayStation 4. One thing we do know is that Steam Controller support is baked into the Street Fighter V beta, which runs from today through to December 20th.

Via: Gamasutra

Source: Capcom

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