News::'PS4.5' report: 4K output will play nice with older console

The PS4.5 rumors have gotten a bit juicier. The "NEO," as it's being referred to internally, features upgraded specs (an 8-core processor running at 2.1 GHz versus the standard model's 1.6GHz, a stronger GPU and faster RAM) and 4K image output, according to documents obtained by Giant Bomb. But from the sounds of it, Sony is adamant that the NEO should not divide the 35 million-plus userbase of the original PlayStation 4. That means using the same PlayStation Network store, same user interface and keeping any purchases made on the base system.

Source: Giant Bomb

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News::Horror game 'The Park' reaches consoles May 3rd

Funcom's The Park has become a bit of a sleeper hit among PC gamers thanks to its combination of parenthood-themed horror and its Let's Play-friendly game mechanics, and now it's ready to come to consoles. The studio has revealed that The Park will be available on May 3rd for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The exploration title isn't expected to change much in the conversion, but that's fine -- really, it's all about the short-but-scary experience of losing your child in a theme park gone horribly wrong.

Source: Funcom

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News::Someone turned 'Fallout: New Vegas' into an interactive video

If you have a soft spot for Choose Your Own Adventure stories but wish they were set in your favorite video game universes... well, you'd better clear your schedule. Many A True Nerd has turned Bethesda's Fallout: New Vegas into an interactive video (a Choose Your Own Apocalypse, as it's called) that you play solely through YouTube. As you might imagine, it boils down the action role-playing game's experience into simple this-or-that choices -- the route you take and the people you befriend determine whether or not you'll make it to New Vegas in one piece.

Via: Kotaku

Source: Many A True Nerd (YouTube)

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News::Nintendo teases 'Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins' animated film

This week, Star Fox Zero will finally make its debut on the Wii U, after being delayed last year. In celebration of that, Nintendo created an animated short called Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins. The film was produced in collaboration with none other than Shigeru Miyamoto, as well as Production IG and WIT Studios. Its world premiere is streaming live on Wednesday, April 20th, just a couple days before the game hits Nintendo's latest console. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer, which features cameos from all your favorite members of the Star Fox squad.

Source: Nintendo (YouTube)

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News::Virtual Desktop is a glimpse at a future without monitors

I can trace my computing history along a path of display milestones. The 10-inch VGA monitor that came with my Packard Bell desktop in the '90s was a huge leap forward from the low-res Apple II displays I used in school. Then there was the 20-inch Sony Trinitron flat CRT that I brought to college with my first custom-built desktop, which served as my dorm entertainment center for years. These days, I rock two 24-inch 1080p LCDs at home, and I'm eyeing an ultra-wide screen upgrade at some point. After spending several hours with Virtual Desktop, a $15 app developed by Guy Godin for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive that brings the full Windows experience to VR, it seems like we're close to yet another display revolution.

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News::Ubisoft to ban 'Division' players who exploit its shoddy coding

A community manager for Ubisoft's hit game, The Division, warned players against exploiting in-game glitches to gather extra end-game loot. The issue first appeared last week with the debut of the game's Falcon Lost expansion map pack, which offers large-scale raid missions and valuable rare items for players that beat the dungeon. That loot was only supposed to drop once a week; thereby requiring users to play through repeatedly to collect the full armor/weapon sets.

Source: ArsTechnica

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News::Overhauling every town in 'Skyrim' took one dev four years

Skyrim came out in 2011 but earlier this month, a modder released Holds: The City Overhaul, an expansion that renovates every village and town in the game. Even among a mod community that refuses to let the game die, this addition was a Herculean task, taking the modder an average two hours a day over three years to finish. That's a labor of love.

Via: Polygon

Source: Nexus Mods

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News::'BioShock' creator takes on 'The Twilight Zone' interactive film

Ken Levine, best known as the mastermind behind Take-Two's BioShock series, is working on an interactive live-action film based on The Twilight Zone, Wired reports. Levine will write and direct the project, and audience members will be able to control the actions of certain characters using technology from Interlude. That's the company currently rebooting WarGames as a short drama produced by Her Story creator Sam Barlow.

Source: Wired

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News::GameStop starts its own game publishing wing

Now that GameStop has dipped its toes into game publishing, it's ready to jump in with both feet: the retailer has launched GameTrust, its own publishing division. The new wing will initially handle titles from existing partner Insomniac Games (of Ratchet & Clank fame) as well as Frozenbyte (Trine), Ready At Dawn (The Order: 1886) and Tequila Works (Deadlight). As you might guess, this isn't a traditional publishing business. GameStop is taking a hands-off approach to the actual content. Instead, it wants to create "exclusive real estate" online and in physical stores to help people discover indie games that might otherwise get missed.

Source: Wired

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News::There was gonna be a 'Guitar Hero' MMO

In the five years following the first Guitar Hero, Activision sought to flood the market with variations on the theme. But if the company hadn't swung the axe in 2011, we were even going to get a massively multiplayer online version of the title. Unseen 64 has unearthed footage from the early stages of Hero World, a planned replacement for DJ Hero 3 that was designed to unify the entire World series in one place. It should come as no surprise that, as the bottom fell out of the plastic-musical-instrument genre, the idea was axed, even if it did have some pretty exciting ideas.

Via: Kotaku, Gamasutra

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News::'Edge of Nowhere' and 'Song of the Deep' land in the summer

Edge of Nowhere and Song of the Deep sound like perfect games for the summer. Edge of Nowhere is a single-player VR game about the secrets hiding in Antarctica's ice sheets, and Song of the Deep is a 2D sidescroller that takes place under the sea -- that makes two cool titles coming out at the height of the year's heat index. Insomniac Games and Oculus Studios will release Edge of Nowhere on June 6th for the Oculus Rift, and Gamestop will publish Insomniac's Song of the Deep on July 12th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

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News::Oculus and 'Ratchet and Clank' studio reveal two more VR games

Insomniac Games and Oculus Studios have partnered to create Feral Rites, a 3D brawler set on a mystical island, and The Unspoken, a player-vs-player spellcasting game, both exclusively for the Oculus Rift VR headset. They're based in disparate realms of fantasy, from lush jungle temples to the mysterious shadows of big-city alleyways.

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News::Coder brings 'Counter-Strike' to Android

To be successful at Counter-Strike, you need tremendous reflexes and hand-eye coordination. That's why the shooter has always thrived on PC, where players can use tricked out monitors, keyboards and mice. In comparison, if there's one platform that's ill-suited for the game, it has to be Android. Still, that hasn't stopped one plucky developer from making a port anyway. It's based on Counter-Strike 1.6 -- Global Offensive will have to wait -- and requires not only a copy of the original game, but also some technical trickery. If you're up to the challenge, you can grab the APK here.

Via: Kotaku

Source: GitHub

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