News::Warren Spector is in charge of 'System Shock 3'

Word broke late last year that the legendary System Shock franchise would get a modern sequel, but no details about what the game will look like were forthcoming. We still don't know much about the game itself, but we do know it's in good hands: System Shock co-creator Warren Spector is rejoining Otherside Entertainment in a full-time capacity to lead development of System Shock 3. He's been a "creative advisor" to the studio for years, but he'll now be a full-time studio director working on both Underworld Ascendant as well as the System Shock sequel.

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News::View-Master VR keeps one foot planted in the real world

Last year View-Master made the leap to virtual reality, packing a Google Cardboard experience into an affordable, kid-friendly headset. With the introduction of the View-Master Viewer DLX at this week's Toy Fair, the brand remains fully committed to VR, while still finding ways to incorporate its analog roots.

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News::The original 'Rayman' makes its way to mobile tomorrow

The original, 1995 version of Rayman is heading to iOS devices tomorrow, February 18th, according to the series' official Twitter account. "Rayman's going old school on mobile! Look for #RaymanClassic on the App Store tomorrow!" the relevant tweet reads. That same account teased the game last week.

There's no word on how the side-scrolling platformer will translate to touchscreens -- previous mobile Rayman games Fiesta Run and Jungle Run are endless runners, which is a clever way to deal with that pesky touch-control situation. However, the original Rayman is a true-blue platformer with traditional gamepad mechanics. Even if the controls are subpar, maybe think of them as part of an extra-hard difficulty setting (and try not to throw your phones in frustration).

Source: @RaymanGame

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News::What to do when you're done building 'BioShock'

Forrest Dowling is the man who made sure BioShock Infinite's world was both complex and logical. As the lead level designer on the third BioShock installment, he was in charge of every archway in the floating city of Columbia and each tunnel in the underwater Art Deco metropolis of Rapture. After 10 years in the gaming industry, Dowling knows how to lay out the oceans, the skies and everything in between. So when BioShock's studio, Irrational Games, shuttered two years ago, he had enough experience to go independent.

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News::Coming to terms with my game backlog

I used to be scared of the RPG genre. Growing up, I played plenty of video games like any other kid, but I stuck to stuff I could pick up and put down. Mario, GoldenEye, Doom. I lacked the dedication, the loyalty and the skill to tackle an intimidating dozens-of-hours role-playing adventure. And yet I would ogle screenshots in GamePro or exotic box art like on the SNES game Secret of Evermore or even just mysterious, enticing names like Chrono Trigger.

The idea of these cartridges, and the fantastical little universes they contained, had a pull over me: They promised a story-based experience that's unique to the medium of the video game. Sure, I made some stabs at playing the games, but even the high-school-freshman version of me was too busy for the commitment. I had just gotten a car and a part-time job. I played sports, there were girls to date. You know, non-nerd stuff. But oh, how I longed for the nerd stuff.

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News::'Minecraft' gets its own official monthly swag box

Monthly subscription boxes are a curious idea: subscribers pay a fee to receive things like t-shirts, toys, merchandise, makeup or food that they have no choice over. Companies like Loot Crate, Fancy, Graze and Dollar Shave Club all utilise the model, but there's a new entrant on the scene: Mojang. That's right, Minecraft now has its own swag box.

Via: Mojang Blog

Source: Mine Chest

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News::'Pong' comes to the Apple Watch

Tennis season is coming, and what better way to celebrate the sport than by playing it on your wrist? That's the idea behind A Tiny Game of Pong, a version of the Atari classic designed to run on the Apple Watch. It was created by developer Matt Wiechec in order to learn how to design apps for the wearable. Once installed, you can use the watch's digital crown to push your paddle back-and-forth across the display. Should you wish, you can also switch the theme colors from black and white to match those of your strap.

Via: Pocket-lint

Source: A Tiny Game of Pong, ProductHunt

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News::OpenGL's successor is ready to improve gaming graphics

Games on devices of all kinds could soon be running better because Vulkan, the successor to OpenGL, has finally been released officially. The new standard gives developers low-level access to discrete and on-chip graphics, helping them avoid the layers of hardware overhead that normally slow things down. Khronos, the open-source group behind the standard, says it also reduces CPU overhead and improves multi-threaded performance. Delayed for several months, the version 1.0 driver is based on AMD's proprietary Mantle standard. Similar technology is used in the Xbox One and PS4 consoles to help them make the most of their relatively modest specs.

Source: Khronos

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News::Claim your Nintendo account username now

Nintendo's new cross-console (and phone) account system is live. You can register with your existing Nintendo Network ID, or with Facebook, Twitter and Google login details. While this is where Nintendo's debut smartphone game, Miitomo, will debut, there's not much else to do until it launches sometime next month. (Well, you can assign your Mii as your profile pic, but that's no great shakes.) The most important part: land grab that username, before it's too late. The service is now live, globally.

Source: Nintendo account

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