News::The fabulous life of a professional 'Street Fighter' player

Darryl Lewis stows his luggage in the plane's overhead bin and settles into his seat, ready for another takeoff, another trip for work. He's seated next to an older man who's flying with his family. Eventually, the man turns to Lewis and asks him a standard question from the handbook of airplane small talk:

"What are you traveling for?"

Lewis pauses. He's a professional Ultra Street Fighter 4 player known as "Snake Eyez," and he's on his way to a competition where he could win thousands of dollars for playing a video game better than anyone else in the room. Will this guy get it? Does he even know what video games are or how big the industry is? Has he heard of eSports? Will he laugh? Oh, well. There's only one way to find out.

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News::Wilson's smart football brings the big game to the backyard

Wilson, which released a smart basketball last year, is expanding its connected sporting goods repertoire to the realm of football. The Wilson X Connected Football, as it's called, is embedded with sensors that can measure stats like distance, speed, spiral efficiency and spin rate. It's smart enough to know if it's caught or dropped and can transmit said information to a companion app via Bluetooth. In conjunction with the Super Bowl this Sunday, Wilson representatives dropped by the Engadget office in San Francisco to show off what it can do. The purpose of such a ball? According to Wilson, it's to bring video games to the backyard.

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News::'Godus Wars' developer kills microtransactions after outcry

Last week Peter Molyneux had to contend with a hacked Twitter account, but this week he's dealing with disgruntled gamers. His 22cans studio just released a Steam Early Access version of Godus Wars, the much-anticipated, more fighty sequel to Godus. However, buyers weren't happy to discover that the title, which is free to buyers of the original Godus and $14.99 for everyone else, included a $5 microtransaction package. As Steam user Mucker_2202 said, "to release this into early access and ask for any kind of payment should be a crime."

Via: Kotaku

Source: 22cans (Steam)

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News::Destiny's new 'Damage Referee' will punish laggy players

Destiny is in a state of limbo right now as Bungie struggles with the pressures of developing a sequel while keeping existing gamers entertained. Many Year One players have downed tools altogether, but for those who have stuck around and kept Crucible arenas well populated, things have slowly started to improve. With its February update, Bungie is using that momentum to further balance online skirmishes with its new "Damage Referee." It's a new system designed shift power to Guardians with reliable connections and punish those who don't.

Source: Bungie

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News::Registration opens for the 'Mirror's Edge Catalyst' test run

February 23rd, the date when publisher Electronic Arts originally promised Mirror's Edge Catalyst is coming up. But rather than mope until it finally releases in May, there's a reason to turn that frown upside down: We have news to share of a multiplatform (!) closed beta in addition to a pretty good looking new trailer. Wait, a beta for a game that doesn't have traditional multiplayer? Yep. Apparently EA and developer DICE, fresh off Star Wars Battlefront, want to ensure that returning protagonist Faith's asynchronous multiplayer modes work as smoothly as possible. Best of all, the test isn't locked behind a pre-order or console purchase -- nor is it exclusive to one console.

Via: PlayStation Blog (EU)

Source: Mirror's Edge

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