Saturday, October 8, 2016

News:: 'Luna' is a whimsical puzzle game that takes place in the stars

Not every VR game involves battle or fighting. Some titles, like I Expect You to Die or Fantastic Contraption, are more fun puzzles than violent shoot-em-ups. At the Oculus Connect event last week, I played around with Luna, a game that's more reminiscent of the former. It's a title by Funomena, a San Francisco-based independent studio, and even though it was on display at PAX a couple of months ago, this was the first time I've seen it in person.

The premise behind Luna is as whimsical as its quirky origami style. It all starts when an owl tricks a young bird into swallowing the last piece of a waning moon. The bird is then blown away by a storm, and is lost and confused. It is the player's job to recollect the bird's memories through untangling constellations of stars, unveiling bits and pieces of the bird's home. Using the Oculus Touch controllers, I crafted shapes from stardust by dragging lines from one glowing point to another. When I was done, a victory song would play and a piece of nature would emerge from the constellation, like a tree or a leaf.

Luna: First look

And once you've uncovered all the parts of the bird's memories, you're brought to a terrarium to build up the bird's memories even further with those nature objects. Plant trees, leaves and grass and scatter floating water lilies around, populating the small little world with life. You can make them big or small, and as you brush through them, they'll even play a little tune. The whole experience is beautifully charming, like a children's book brought to life.

Luna will be available for the Oculus Rift -- though not an exclusive -- and will be one of the titles to launch with the Touch later this year. If you're tired of the blood and the gore of Killing Floor:Incursion or Arktika.1, check Luna out -- the peace and serenity will have you feeling like a child again.



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News:: Bill Gates loved the Gears of War chainsaw gun

Gears of War 4 is out and getting rave reviews across the internet. I haven't played it yet, nor do I own a system that would allow me to do so, but I do have extremely fond memories of making my way through the first Gears of War back on the Xbox 360. My roommate in college had the system (I had the Wii) and over the course of two weeks between classes we conquered the shit out of that game.

Turns out, things could have ended up much differently, according to Did You Know Gaming's coverage of the groundbreaking title. If not for the developer fighting against it, we might have had a love story forced on us, and probably not the Dom/Marcus imaginary romance that inspired volumes of highly erotic and entirely unreadable fan fiction.

Good job Cliff and company for sticking to your guns. Specifically, your chainsaw guns!

Bill Gates loved the Gears of War chainsaw gun screenshot

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News:: Darkest Dungeon Ruins Its Endgame

I love Darkest Dungeon, which is why I decided to never finish it.

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News:: Rumor: Images of Overwatch's Sombra may have leaked

For months, Overwatch fans have been piecing together information about Sombra, a shadowy hacker who will apparently be the twenty-third hero to join the roster. There have been hints and clues left in game files, and an augmented reality game that has ties to the character has been a popular topic of discussion on message boards.

Earlier today, images of the new character may have leaked out online. This tweet from @AllGamesDelta shows an olive-skinned female in a purple trenchcoat, cradling an Uzi-style semiautomatic weapon under her left arm. 

The figure appears to have wires running to both gloves, though their purpose is anyone's guess. She's also shown with some mutitions on her belt, similar in appearance to Tracer's Pulse Bomb. One of the popular theories about Sombra is that she since she's supposed to be a hacker, she might have some sort of short range electro-magnetic pulse as part of her kit.

A later tweet from @sssniperwolf looks to confirm that this is indeed Sombra, comparing the posted model's design to official art released by Blizzard.

While I'd be happy if Sombra finally drops, I really just want Blizzard to flip the switch on its Halloween content, already. I can't wait to fly Witch Mercy around dodging Zenyatta pumpkin bombs.

@AllGamesDelta [Twitter]
@sssniperwolf [Twitter] 

Rumor: Images of Overwatch's Sombra may have leaked screenshot



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News:: The hackers that ruined Christmas 2014 have been arrested

I actually have quite a fond memory of Christmas morning in 2014. My cousin had come over with his family and his son wanted to play NBA 2K15. I figured, why not? I'm never going to touch the game (which came as a pack-in with my PS4), so why not at least let someone have fun with it? That wasn't meant to be.

I'm not sure what the introduction sequence for NBA 2K15 is, but without an internet connection, we were locked into playing with teams we didn't want and with a score that was already in favor of the opposition. Try as we might, we couldn't get to a main menu to play a pick-up game. Fun times.

Turns out, that internet black-out was due to some hackers DDoSing the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. Anyone who wanted to play a game online that day was out of luck. While the group didn't exactly hide its identity (confirming via Twitter that it was Lizard Squad), it looks like their days of anonymity have come to an end.

The United States Department of Justice has released a statement with the names of two of the hackers involved with Lizard Squad. Zachary Butcha (from the US) and Bradley Jan Willem van Rooy (from the Netherlands), both 19-year-olds, will be charged with conspiracy to damage protected computers.

It seems their downfall was being involved with a website that allowed users to pick anyone of their choosing to be phone bombed. This would involved repeated calls at random times to harass a target. One such call (quote in the statement) contained threatening remarks. These arrests are, apparently, the most recent in a series of arrests by the Department of Justice. In May of last year, six teenagers from Lizard Squad were caught in the UK.

While DDoSing a site isn't that extreme of an attack, I'm not a fan of people who need to ruin someone's day. Are you so lonely and sad that the only modicum of joy you can wring out of life is through the suffering of another person (even if said suffering is simply not playing online)?

Members of Hacker Group Behind 2014 Holiday Attack on PSN/Xbox Live Arrested [GameSpot]

The hackers that ruined Christmas 2014 have been arrested screenshot



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News:: Samsung Galaxy Punishes TSM In Second Meeting At Worlds 2016

After a tough fought forty five minute match that left everything on the table, South Korea’s Samsung Galaxy came out on top against North America’s Team Solo Mid.

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News:: The VR reading library Oculus hid at its developer conference

Oculus' annual developer conference serves as a touchstone for its community; a time to see how far virtual reality has come in the last year and to inspire, motivate and help developers build the VR experiences of tomorrow. Most of that comes in the form of announcements, panels and software showcases, but in the media demo rooms, the VR company hid dense sources for inspiration in plain sight. Stacked just above the TV in at each demo station was a small collection of books -- all of them about either games, game development or the effect of virtual reality on our culture.



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News:: Manly matador Miguel joins Tekken 7

The already expansive roster for Tekken 7 keeps expanding. Today, developer Bandai Namco dropped a fresh trailer confirming Spaniard Miguel Caballero Rojo for the cast. Miguel's inclusion brings the roster count up to 33 fighters. Tekken 7 is set to launch for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC in early 2017.

Manly matador Miguel joins Tekken 7 screenshot

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News:: Top Smash Player Saves Partner With Lightning Quick Thinking

The Big House 6 tournament is utterly stacked, and the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 2 vs. 2 “doubles” bracket is no exception.

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News:: Miguel Caballero Rojo is the latest character announced to appear in Tekken 7.

Miguel Caballero Rojo is the latest character announced to appear in Tekken 7. The Spanish fighter was revealed at the by Bandai Namco at the Barcelona Games World event, and will be entering the fray to avenge the death of his sister from the previous game.

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News:: Some cool happen to you in Mafia III?

Some cool happen to you in Mafia III? Pull off a unique celebration in FIFA? Get an unbelievable kill streak? We wanna see it! Our show Highlight Reel is looking for great clips. Send your amazing gaming moments to Highlightreel@kotaku.com and tune in for more!

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News:: Tales of Symphonia and Sniper Elite 3 are both free on Steam this weekend.

Tales of Symphonia and Sniper Elite 3 are both free on Steam this weekend. That means that for approximately the next 24-32 hours, you can download either game and try it out. Shooting Nazis in the face is always fun, and Symphonia on PC should be a less broken now after months of patches.

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News:: Counter-Strike Pro Obliterates Other Team Without Using Crosshair

We all knew Spencer “Hiko” Martin had mad skills. Despite losing to his former brother in arms, Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev, in last weekend’s semifinals where Team Liquid fell to the eventual ELS One New York champions, Natus Vincere, there are few people more terrifying to meet in a lonely CS:GO alleyway.

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News:: PS4 Slim bargains and 20% off Mafia III in Weekend Deals

We've still got some time before the holiday season, but decent PlayStation 4 deals are popping up on the web making a pre-holiday season purchase worth considering for those on the fence. This weekend the PS4 Slim has two hot offers, the first of which is the Uncharted 4 bundle showing up on eBay deals for $310 ($10 more than usual) with two "free" games: Overwatch and Star Wars: Battlefront.

The second deal is the same PS4 Slim Uncharted 4 bundle for $269.99 after coupon at Jet - the first valid discount we've spotted. If you're willing to go for an older unit, the PS4 Black Ops 3 bundle comes packaged with this week's release of Mafaia III on eBay Deals for $299.99 (essentially a free copy of Mafia III).

Speaking of Mafia III, earlier this week 2K put the hammer down on digital retailer deals - and pretty much stripped the discounts in the US. However there is WinGameStore is the holdout with a 20% off code on Mafia III. There you can cut price to $47.99, which is surprisingly rare/good as all other retailers are mum on discount.

Releasing next week Tuesday is Gears of War 4, and if you're considering paying full price for an Xbox One download code, you might as well head over to the Microsoft Store and snag a bonus $10 gift code. The gift code arrives via email and is redeemable on Xbox Live while your Xbox One game code also arrives via email shortly after purchase. Pre-load is live and with a massive 54GB file size for Gears of War 4, you're best to take advantage of pre-load now before the game goes live on Tuesday, October 11.

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PS4 Slim bargains and 20% off Mafia III in Weekend Deals screenshot



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News:: Saturday's Best Deals: Anker String Lights, Floating Bluetooth Speakers, Harmony

In today’s best deals, Anker makes string lights, touchscreens come to your universal remote, and bluetooth speakers float.

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News:: The Weekend In Esports: More Worlds 2016 and Rocket League Mayhem 

There’s a ton going on in pro gaming this weekend, starting with the concluding matches of Worlds 2016's first phase, followed by major tournaments across the fighting game community stretching from Dearborn Michigan to southern Malaysia.

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News:: This Week in the Business: Custom-fit VR forecasts

STAT | $11.2 billion - The amount people will spend on all VR in 2020, according to a forecast by IHS Markit.

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News:: Overwatch Player Dunks On People Telling Him Not To Play A Character

Before a match begins, a good Overwatch team will negotiate what roles people take during the round. While that’s expected, plenty of fans still manage to be huge dicks about telling other players who they ‘should’ or should not play.

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News:: These Fate/Extella PlayStations look amazing

I've always found limited edition consoles to be a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them can look pretty great, while others are nothing short of an abomination.

On the Japanese PlayStation Blog, Sony announced that it will be releasing two limited edition consoles based on the upcoming Musou-like game Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star. Thankfully, both of these consoles fall under the former category.

The first of these two devices is a PS Vita that features chibi representations of both Artoria Pendragon and Nero Claudius, two Saber-class servants from the Fate franchise. Both of these characters are featured quite heavily in the marketing for Fate/Extella.

It's also the single most adorable console I have ever laid my eyes upon. I really want one, despite the fact that I already own a fully functional Vita.

The Fate/Extella PlayStation Vita will set you back ¥20,980, or approximately $200 USD.

The second console is a PlayStation 4 Slim unit. Like the Fate/Extella PS Vita, its design also features Artoria and Nero quite prominently. Unlike the limited edition Vita, the depiction of the two Sabers on the outer shell of this PS4 is much closer to their in-game appearances.

For as much as I like the aesthetics of it, I'm a little disappointed that Sony isn't producing a limited edition PlayStation 4 Pro that features a similar design. Or better yet, a design that shows off the single greatest character from the Fate franchise; Iskandar, King of Conquerors. It's not like he won't be featured in the game, after all.

The Fate/Extella PlayStation 4 Slim will retail at ¥33,480 ($325 USD) for the 500GB model or ¥38,480 ($374 USD) for the 1TB unit.

Both of these consoles will be released in Japan on November 10, launching alongside Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star. There is currently no confirmation as to the availability of these devices in Western regions, although I wouldn't be surprised if they remained Japan-exclusive. On the plus side, both the PS4 and Vita are region-free, so there should be no negative repercussions to importing them.

It should also be noted that while both of these consoles will have a theme based on Fate/Extella pre-installed on the devices, neither of them will be bundled with the game itself.

Now, can we please get an Iskandar-themed PS4 Pro? Thank you.

These Fate/Extella PlayStations look amazing screenshot

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News:: PREPARE TO FRIENDSHIP: Dtoid's Master Gaming Contact List

[As flu season arrives, remember to ward it away with a dose of companionship! (NOTE: THIS IS NOT HOW VACCINES WORK). the List will be updated in perpetuity. -Panda]

[It is my pride and joy that people make friends for life on this site, easily the best thing I have accomplished in my ten years here! I hear it time and time again, and it never gets old. Thanks for making the Dtoid Community so special -Niero]

Good morning/afternoon/evening my friends/robots/Gardevoir

It has recently been made aware to me that, just perhaps, you all enjoy video games. It might even be said that you... like to game with others? Now now, don't be that way, I don't mean to lump you into some sort of box. You're all just such lovely folks, it pains me to watch you, struggling in vain to connect with each other, striving to engage in...

PREPARE TO FRIENDSHIP: Dtoid's Master Gaming Contact List screenshot

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