News::Mortal Kombat eSports tournament has a $500,000 prize pool

If you need any more proof that eSports is getting bigger, here it is. Warner Bros. is launching a huge Mortal Kombat X eSports program in April, and the prize pot is just as big: $500,000. The project includes the third season of ESL Mortal Kombat X Pro League, which will pit the best players around the world against each other starting on April 3rd. The top sixteen players will then compete in front of a live audience on June 12, and the final eight finalists will play for a chunk ($200,000) of the prize pot.

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News::Orbital survival simulator 'Adr1ft' floats to Vive in May

Folks who (digitally) lined up to buy the HTC Vive have another game to add to their wishlist: Adr1ft. Publisher 505 Games announced today that the game inspired by its creator's Twitter freakout will hit HTC and Valve's room-scale VR platform this May for $20. It's already available for Oculus Rift and has been confirmed for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, albeit in non-VR form.

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News::'Call of Duty: Black Ops III' second DLC arrives April 19

Treyarch announced on Thursday that the second DLC pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops III, dubbed Eclipse, will be released on April 19th. The new content, which will initially be available only on the PlayStation 4, features four new maps as well as a new Zombies storyline set on a remote, WWII-era island somewhere in the Pacific.

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News::Twitch shows love for mobile eSports with 'Vainglory' deal

Twitch has made a deep foray into touchscreen eSports with a deal to broadcast and promote the Vainglory Championships. The streaming company partnered with the app's developer, Super Evil Megacorp, for three years, with each company investing multi-millions of dollars to support the tournament. As a reminder, Vainglory first appeared when Apple used the title to show the power of its A8 chip. It went on to become the fastest growing mobile Twitch game last year and is available on Android or iOS.

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News::'Disney Infinity' drops support for its Apple TV version

Apologies if you bought Disney Infinity 3.0 for your Apple TV, but the game's development team has stopped supporting the platform. On the Disney Infinity forums a user posted about an issue where Baloo and Marvel Battlegrounds figurines weren't working in the game, but Zootopia figures were. Turns out that the reason for that is because there was already support in the game for the latter, but that an update was needed for the other characters. Except that update isn't coming any time soon.

Via: Touch Arcade

Source: Disney Infinity forums

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News::Everything we learned at the 'Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV' event

We have a release date , this is not a drill. Square Enix put on an entire soiree last night to preview the heck out of what we'll be getting come September 30th. It wasn't enough to merely say when it's launching, but also reveal a companion anime, full-length movie and two limited edition versions of the game. There's also a new platinum demo, available now. But before you play that, here's all the important bits, if you just had to sleep.

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News::'Pokemon Snap' strikes a pose on Wii U next week ...in Japan

It's been almost 17 years to the day since Pokemon Snap released on the Nintendo 64 and we still haven't seen a sequel. The quirky on-rails first-person "shooter" that had you taking pictures of the pocket monsters in their natural habitat released just as Poké fever was catching on here in the States, but since then fans' imaginations have been the only place for a follow-up. Next week on April 4th Nintendo is releasing the game on the Wii U Virtual Console. In Japan. Where it'll cost a paltry ¥1,028 ($9.15).

Via: Kotaku

Source: Nintendo (Japanese)

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News::The 'Final Fantasy XV Platinum Demo' is available now

The long-awaited Final Fantasy XV will not arrive until September 30th, but gamers can get a taste tonight, with the Platinum Demo now available on PS4 and Xbox One. You can find it or this link (PlayStation, Xbox) or on the console's stores (we had to search for the game to get it to show up). According to the description you can "Join young Noctis and his magical guide as you explore the fantastical world of his dreams." Sounds exciting.

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News::'Final Fantasy XV' lands September 30th, ten years in the making

Final Fantasy XV hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 30th, Square Enix announced during its Uncovered live event in Los Angeles. The release date may not be a surprise for everyone, considering it leaked a tad early, but this announcement marks official confirmation. A new teaser for FFXV launches tonight, called Platinum Demo, and it's free to download on PS4 and Xbox One. PC players, you're out of luck -- for now. FFXV director Hajime Tabata told Engadget that the studio isn't currently working on a PC version of the game. But, Tabata said he was "aware of the big call for a PC version."

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News::'Final Fantasy XV' is getting a movie and an anime series

You like Final Fantasy, right? Well get ready for a surfeit of entertainment options as Square Enix is serving up not only an anime series, but also a movie alongside the almost decade-old (still not here!) Final Fantasy XV. While the movie will be released digitally later this year, the anime will start streaming today, tonight, on YouTube -- and it's entirely free.

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News::Watch the live 'Final Fantasy XV' event right here

Square Enix is calling today's big event in Los Angeles Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV, so prepare for some serious revelations. The game has been in development for a decade, and it hasn't been a particularly smooth ride. It was originally called Final Fantasy Versus XIII and it was under the direction of longtime Final Fantasy contributor Tetsuya Nomura, but more than half-way through development it changed names and directors. Final Fantasy XV as we know it is directed by Hajime Tabata, the director of Final Fantasy Type-0, Agito and Type-0 HD.

Final Fantasy XV has been a long time coming and today we might figure out exactly (and officially) when, how and why it will finally arrive. Watch the Uncovered event live with us, right here at 7PM PT (10PM ET).

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News::'World of Warcraft' to get a book series aimed at kids

World of Warcraft has been around for more than a decade, fleshing out the world of Azeroth with new lands, stories and characters. Its subscriber base is slowly shrinking, but the Warcraft brand continues to evolve through games like Hearthstone and an upcoming feature-length movie. Now, developer Blizzard is teaming up with Scholastic for a new book series aimed at 8 to 12-year-olds. It's called World of Warcraft: Traveler and the first novel will be launching in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand this November. The second instalment is due in 2017.

Source: Scholastic

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News::Anyone can turn their Xbox One into a software dev kit

The dream of turning your Xbox One into a software development kit is finally real. Phil Spencer announced today during the Build keynote that it'll be pretty simple too. Essentially, download the Xbox Dev Mode app, register as a developer and that's about it. From there you can swap back and forth between a retail game, Microsoft's Ashley Speicher was playing Forza Motorsport 6, and whatever app you're working on be it a game or otherwise.

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News::Microsoft's HoloLens starts shipping to developers today

We knew Microsoft would be shipping the first wave of HoloLens pre-orders to developers today, but now we're getting a look at what that kit will look like. Inside the box, you'll of course find the mixed-reality headset, along with a sleek carrying case for when you want to take it to a friend's house. There's also a device called Clicker, which is designed to help you navigate the user interface. If you missed out on Wave 1 of pre-orders, Microsoft says it'll be fulfilling the rest over a period of 2-3 months for each.

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News::'Minecraft' on mobile to offer mods and command blocks

On the desktop, command blocks are useful tools for experienced Minecraft players. Enter a forward slash in the chat window and you can enter some pseudo-programming to teleport, change the weather and more. They're not available in the Pocket Edition, a separate version for phones and tablets, but that will soon change. In an interview with CNET, Minecraft lead developer Jens Bergensten confirmed that command blocks are coming to both the mobile and Windows 10 versions of the game.

Source: CNET

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News::Australia: Steam's old no-refund policy broke the law

Were you unhappy that Valve didn't offer refunds on Steam until last June? Neither was Australia. The country's Federal Court has ruled that Valve violated consumer law by denying Steam gamers refunds under any conditions. You're entitled to get your money back on shoddy products, the court says, whether they're digital or physical. The penalty has yet to be determined, but it may be muted given that Valve has already changed its tune.

Via: Gamasutra

Source: ACCC

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News::'Quantum Break' live action trailer introduces its villains

Remedy's Quantum Break is an ambitious project, and we wouldn't blame you if you're still in the dark when it comes to the game's time travel-focused plot. Who's Paul Serene? Why is Jack Joyce trying to stop him? You aren't going to get all the answers just yet (that's why you're supposed to buy it), but the developer at least wants to give you an inkling of what's going on. It just released a trailer from the live action side of the title that helps illustrate the sinister machinations of Serene (played by Aidan Gillen from Game of Thrones), his right-hand man Martin Hatch (Lance Reddick from Fringe) and Monarch Corporation.

Source: Xbox (YouTube)

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News::'Killer Instinct' arrives on PCs

The PC hasn't exactly had a wealth of top-tier fighting games (Street Fighter V is more the exception than the rule), but that's changing today. As promised way back in June 2015, Double Helix has released Killer Instinct for Windows 10 gamers alongside Season 3 of the Xbox One title. Both versions share the same combo-laden fighting game mechanics and characters (including new additions like Halo's Arbiter), and players on one platform can duke it out with rivals on another. Like you might expect, though, the PC version can look as good as your system allows -- it'll run at 4K if you have both the display and graphics hardware to match.

Via: Destructoid

Source: Xbox Wire, Microsoft Store

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News::Razer made a game capture card designed for livestreaming

Livestreaming games is a big business these days, and Razer knows it. The gear designer has unveiled the Ripsaw, a capture card that's all about sharing your console and PC gaming exploits on the likes of Twitch or YouTube. It's built to work "out of the box" with common streaming apps like Open Broadcaster Software and XSplit, and its combination of a USB 3.0 connection and audio inputs should do justice to both the video (you'll get uncompressed 1080p, 60FPS footage) and your commentary track. You get all the cables you need, too. The aim is to create a box that meets the needs of veteran streamers, but won't intimidate newcomers.

Source: Razer

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News::Run for president in Sandra Day O'Connor's educational game

If you think it's too late to change careers, consider 86-year-old former senator and Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who recently became an app developer. Her educational company iCivics has launched a new version of Win the White House, a timely game that teaches kids how presidential campaigns work. Unlike the real-life Jerry Springer-like primary, the game teaches pupils how to run civilly on issues from gun control to alternative energy. "A quarter of students cannot demonstrate a proficient knowledge of how our government works," Day O'Connor told the New York Times.

Source: iCivics, The New York Times

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News::Nintendo's Miitomo app launches in the US on March 31

Nintendo has announced that Miitomo, its first smartphone game, will be launching in the US and Europe on March 31st. The company had previously promised a "March" release outside of Japan, so, with only a few days remaining, we were starting to wonder if the app had been delayed. Clearly there was no need to worry. It'll be available on iOS and Android, with the option to import a Wii U or 3DS Mii using a QR code.

Source: Nintendo (PR)

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News::Pre-order your PlayStation VR core bundle at 10AM ET

Already have the camera and controllers you need to make full use of PlayStation VR? Your moment is at hand: as of 10AM Eastern Time today, March 29th, you can pre-order the PlayStation VR core system ahead of its October launch. Plunk down $400 and you'll get the headset, a demo disc and nothing else. Sony has warned that hardware is likely to sell out quickly, so you'll probably want to move fast if you're bent on trying the PlayStation 4's VR experience as quickly as possible.

Source: PlayStation.com

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News::'Quantum Break' has an audio setting just for streamers

YouTube and Twitch have come under fire for overzealous blocking of copyrighted music in video games, but Quantum Break developer Remedy Entertainment has a way around that. For folks who want to stream its latest game and not get their videos flagged for violations on YouTube, or have the audio muted wholesale on Twitch, there's a setting in the game's audio options that allows you to turn off licensed music playback. This is something that's been done on the indie scale before, but perhaps not in a AAA tentpole game like Quantum Break and not one published by Microsoft.

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News::Fans persuade Blizzard to pull sexualized 'Overwatch' pose

Sometimes a beta test is more than a glorified demo that the marketing department pushes for to drum up pre-orders. Fans of Overwatch, Blizzard's colorful new shooter, discovered just that recently. Over on the game's official forums, a user noticed that one of Tracer's -- more or less the figurehead for the game -- victory poses put her in a position that forum-goer "Fipps" thought wasn't befitting of the character. In it, she's glancing over her shoulder, her butt framed by a few straps over her leggings.

Via: Polygon

Source: Battle.net

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News::Spin-jump your way to 'Flappy Bird' in 'Super Mario World'

To date, we've seen the infamous Flappy Bird show up either cloned or otherwise in roughly 853 different places. That's a slight exaggeration, but you probably weren't expecting to find it in a game that's rapidly approaching 30 years in age. YouTube user "SethBling" says that by executing a glitch on a standard Super NES with no modifications, he was able to trick the game into letting him upload code for the airborne fowl's namesake game into Super Mario World. Your homage in Super Mario Maker just got even less impressive.

Source: SethBling (1) (YouTube), (2) (Google Doc)

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News::What's on your HDTV: 'Archer,' 'The Walking Dead' season finale

This week Archer season seven premieres on FX, while The Walking Dead prepares for its season finale. Of course, VR games have arrived including Adr1ft, while the new Rollercoaster Tycoon comes to PCs via early access, and Resident Evil 6 arrives on the new generation of consoles. We also have a day-and-date Ultra HD Blu-ray release, as Concussion is available in 1080p or Ultra HD and, of course, the new Star Wars movie will be available via digital outlets starting Friday, before the Blu-ray arrives next week -- I have a (legit) early copy, and it's as excellent as you would expect. 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::'Contra' for phones looks just as tough as the console versions

The Contra game series is notoriously tough (there's a good reason it's synonymous with the Konami code), and it doesn't look like it'll be any easier in its smartphone version. Konami and Tencent have released a trailer for Contra Mobile which shows that it'll be just as frenetic as the console versions you've played in the past, complete with larger-than-life boss battles and turrets aplenty. There's even a player-versus-player mode if you don't think the AI is cutthroat enough.

Via: Polygon

Source: Contra: Neocity Warehouse (YouTube)

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News::Oculus takes you into the colorful alien world of 'Farlands'

High-end virtual reality is here, by way of the long-awaited consumer Oculus Rift. But to get the most out of that headset, you're going to need entertaining VR experiences. Thankfully, Oculus has you covered. Along with the launch-day game lineup it revealed a couple weeks ago, at GDC 2016, the company's now unexpectedly introduced Farlands. This virtual reality adventure, built with Unreal Engine 4 and designed specifically for the Rift, lets you visit and explore a planet filled with exotic life.

Source: Oculus

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News::Xbox One grabs 360 games 'Halo Wars' and 'Soul Calibur 2 HD'

The Xbox One is beefing up its library via backwards compatibility, allowing players to boot up some of their favorite games from the Xbox 360. This week, Xbox One users get Halo Wars, Soul Calibur 2 HD Online and The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match. It's a fighting game fiasco with a side of real-time alien-shooting strategy.

Source: @majornelson

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News::Sony is open to bringing PlayStation VR to PCs

PlayStation VR is one of the more affordable advanced virtual reality headsets hitting stores, but it has a big catch: you need to own a PS4 (and a PlayStation Camera) to use it. What if you'd just like to try it with your computer instead? You may well get that chance. According to a translation of a Nikkei interview with Sony's Masayasu Ito, the company is "considering plans" to let you use PlayStation VR with a PC. After all, he says, the PS4 and PCs share similar parts (namely, similar processor and graphics architectures) -- it wouldn't be a big stretch to support both.

Via: Reddit, Polygon

Source: Nikkei (translated)

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News::Oculus Rift review: High-end VR is here -- if you can pay

Phones and tablets are getting boring. And the excitement around smartwatches was, to put it kindly, short-lived. And then there was virtual reality. What used to seem like a science fiction pipe dream has, in the span of a few years, become the next potentially groundbreaking technology platform. So saying that the Oculus Rift has a lot to prove is an understatement. If it fails, it could destroy the virtual reality market before it even gets started. No big deal.

But after spending a week with the Oculus Rift, I have no doubt that its approach to virtual reality is indeed the real deal. It's well built and easy to set up, and there are already a few games and apps that'll make VR believers out of the most ardent naysayer. The only problem: It's $600 and requires a powerful gaming PC. Just as with every new technological milestone, it has the potential to change the world. But at this early stage, only a few can afford it.

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News::In a world of smartphones, Nintendo's 3DS reaches five years old

Nintendo's (not quite) first steps into 3D were shaky. Some of us complained that the 3D effect hurt our eyes, while others found the battery life on the first-generation 3DS just awful. (It was.) However, with bigger (and some flatter) iterations along the way, the handheld has started to hit a groove. Five years since it hit stores in the US, there's now a strong stable of quality games, and the company is bringing back some older SNES hits , as long as you've got the newer hardware.

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News::You can use a tube of lipstick to play 'Counter-Strike'

Chloe Desmoineaux isn't playing Counter-Strike, the renowned first-person shooter game from Valve, like everyone else. Instead of using traditional PC-gaming controls, she's turned a tube of lipstick into a trigger for her Counter-Strike weapons, thanks to a Makey Makey. This is the same kit that's been used to create a Play-Doh gamepad for Super Mario Bros, for example, since it lets you turn almost anything into a button.

Via: Motherboard

Source: Twitch (Lipstrike), YouTube (Lipstrike)

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News::Oculus founder flew to Alaska to deliver the first consumer Rift

Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus, took it upon himself to deliver the first consumer version of his company's virtual reality headset, the Rift. Ross Martin, a VR enthusiast and indie developer from Anchorage, Alaska was the lucky recipient of the device, which will arrive on other customers' doorsteps starting tomorrow. Martin, who documented part of his experience with Luckey on Twitter, is the first person to have the device in hand and he'll likely never forget this moment. "So grateful to Palmer Luckey and Oculus for coming all the way to Alaska," he said in a tweet. "You guys are super cool!"

Via: Polygon

Source: Ross Martin (Twitter)

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News::GameCenter CX - Episode 137 - Kung Fu Heroes

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News::Oculus reduces latency with shiny new tech

Today Oculus announced that its SDK for the Rift supports Asynchronous Timewarp (ATW). While that sounds like something that keeps the TARDIS from smashing into a star, it's actually going to make virtual reality seem so much smoother.

Source: Oculus

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News::A 'Star Trek' Holodeck in Steam VR was inevitable

Let's face it: if you grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, you probably see virtual reality as just a stepping stone toward the Holy Grail of simulation, the Holodeck. It's no surprise, then, that Reddit users illogical_cpt and Bradllez have found a way to bring the Holodeck to VR. Thanks in part to work from Psyrek, they built a Holodeck grid for Steam VR that serves as an extremely appropriate background while you're between games. It's not going to be as vast or immersive as the "real" thing, and you'll need a compatible headset (like the HTC Vive) to even give this a try. Still, it's a pleasant reminder that science fiction and reality are much closer than they used to be.

Via: Kotaku

Source: Steam (1), (2), Reddit

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News::Fighting depression in the video game world, one AFK at a time

Matt Hughes took his own life in the fall of 2012. He was a freelance reporter covering the video game industry, and before he committed suicide, he sent emails to some of his editors, noting that he wouldn't be able to turn in more stories for one simple reason: He'd be dead.

His suicide surprised nearly everyone who worked with him. Speaking with Kotaku days after Hughes' death, his former editors said things like There weren't any red flags and This was a complete shock. Hughes wasn't the only person in the video game industry to take his own life that year, and as the tragedies piled up, it became impossible to ignore their commonalities. Complete surprise. No one knew. She seemed fine.

For Russ Pitts and Susan Arendt, two editors who had worked with Hughes and regularly interacted with dozens of other freelance reporters, these suicides were more than a shock. They were a wakeup call.

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News::Rock Band 4 for PC will offer every DLC song ever for $2500

Unlike on other platforms that have access to most every song in the franchise's archives, Rock Band 4 for the PC comes with no previous DLC content. As such, Harmonix has added an additional tier to its fan-funded Fig campaign that would give backers at that level every single song in the Rock Band DLC library. The only hitch: you're going to have to shell out a whopping $2,500 for it. Well, that and the campaign still needs to raise another 2/3rds of its $1.5 million funding goal in the next 11 days.

Via: Polygon

Source: Harmonix (Fig)

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News::'Street Fighter V' gets two much-needed updates this month

When Street Fighter V launched last month, it was criticised by the press and fans alike for its lack of in-game content. The engine and mechanics were solid, but it lacked the story mode, tutorials and several online features present in Street Fighter IV. While not a complete fix, a free patch dropping on March 28th should add some of the worst omissions. A new Challenge Mode, for instance, will add "demonstration" tutorials aimed at beginner, intermediate and advanced players. These will culminate in "trials" designed to test your knowledge of basic and pro combos.

Source: Capcom Unity

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