The Call of Duty series has been embracing dark sci-fi settings in recent games, and that trend doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. Activision has posted a teaser for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare that gives you a hint as what's coming, and it's clear that you'll have to grapple with yet another dystopic future. A fearsome-looking representative of the "Settlement Defense Front" threatens to tear out his foes "from the history books" and otherwise usher in doom, complete with a brief glimpse of a city being wiped out. Ominous!

Via: GamesRadar

Source: Call of Duty (YouTube)

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Valve knows that players cheating on Steam is a serious problem, and it's taking action to address that in a few new ways. One is offering a matchmaking service for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that's only for folks who've linked their phone number to their Steam account, for two-factor authentication purposes, dubbed "Prime." Any cheating inside that space will result in your number being banned. The next step takes the previous one further and goes platform-wide. Because cheaters tend to have multiple Steam accounts (but typically one phone number), any account associated with a phone number flagged for by Valve Anti-Cheat will be banned for three months. Boom.

Via: Kotaku, PC Gamer

Source: Counter-Strike blog

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*Editor's Note: This article is a guest-post from our Public Access community content section, where readers, commenters and fans can all contribute stories on their thoughts, opinions and experiences on technology and how it has impacted with their lives. If you would like to read more from Public Access go here; if you would like to register to become a member go here.*

Imagine buying a burrito, and getting charged extra for gua-... wait, that's a bad example. Imagine receiving a car for free, but it can only drive at 20 miles per hour. If you wanted to accelerate, you'd have to invite at least five friends to visit the dealership. Alternatively, you could pay ten dollars to accelerate to 30 mph, or pay twenty dollars to accelerate to 50 mph. Hitting the break costs $2.50. Don't laugh - with autonomous cars just on the horizon, we may not be too far from such a reality.

The digital realm is peppered with similar examples of "Freemium" payment models - offering a mediocre product for free that can be improved by emptying your wallet (making it "premium"). Though it originated with shareware in the 1980s, it has been adopted by a variety of modern industries, the most crucial of which is video games.

Video game companies have come a long way since stealing quarters from kids who wanted another whack at Space Invaders. Aside from a few sympathetic publishers, it has not been uncommon lately for incomplete games to be released at full price, expecting customers to pay additional costs for downloadable content (DLC). Certain mobile games have even gone so far as to be nearly indistinguishable from gambling, preying on those susceptible to addiction with digital credit card micropayments.

Full games released at full price are few and far between, often losing the profit battle to the Freemium or DLC models. But even full games are prying open gamers' pockets in a different way... and the main culprits are sports games.

This is not a denouncement of franchises getting away with basically re-releasing the same game year after year with little more than a roster update (though that is problematic). Rather, my gripe is with something that has gotten out of hand in every major EA or 2KSports release in the last several years: advertising.

Mobile games often give the option of paying a one-time fee to permanently remove ads from an otherwise free game. In console and PC sports games, players are paying full price (upwards of $70 at release) for a game that will bombard them with ads for Gatorade, Nike, Sprite, Adidas, Sprint, KIA, and countless others.

How can game companies justify this visual and mental molestation? Every graphic, statistic, replay, jersey, and surface of every stadium is covered with brand names and logos.

"The Sprint Halftime Report: Presented by Sprint"

-NBA 2K15 (Xbox 360)

Some might say that it's all part of nailing the realism of televised sports; which similarly barrage your eyes with seizure-inducing ads. That may be true, but how far are gamers willing to go for the sake of realism? ESPN has commercial breaks every five minutes; should those be included in the game? Should there be inadvertent whistles by referees? Should NBA 2K17 include a feature where Jack Nicholson spills a beer on the Staples Center court, and players have to press X to clean it up?

Realism is a way to improve one's gaming experience... any addition that actually makes the game worse should not be included.

But maybe it's not about realism. Perhaps game companies justify in-game ads by claiming that the added revenue source allows them to take more risks and produce better games. This could very well be true, but not for sports games.

First of all, sports game franchises have established, loyal followings. Fans of EA's NHL games or the Madden NFL series tend to know what they're getting when they purchase the latest installment. These are not startup companies risking budgets on untested products. Second, non-sports franchises have succeeded in producing high-quality, top-selling games with zero in-game ads.

Game publisher Rockstar, for example, took an immense risk with its recent game, Grand Theft Auto V. With the highest total production cost of a video game to date, GTAV was quickly regarded as a behemoth, with unprecedented attention to detail, gameplay, and writing. Despite not having any in-game ads (not real ones, at least), it made back its budget within 24 hours of its release. If such a feat is possible, why can't sports games accomplish the same thing?

Granted, maybe comparing other games to Grand Theft Auto V is like asking why your toddler can't win a race against Usain Bolt. But other games have managed to be successful without the use of in-game ads. Why should sports games get a pass (no pun intended) under the guise of realism?

At the very least: why not pass the savings on to the customers, and charge less for a game featuring aggressive marketing? That seems like a fair compromise. And while you're at it, add that Jack Nicholson thing (I'd actually find that kind of funny).

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Mass Effect is traveling to a strange new world: California's Great America theme park. The Mass Effect attraction opens on May 18th at California's Great America in Santa Clara, featuring an interactive 3D presentation with 4D effects, all hosted by a live performer. Riders will travel to "a distant planet" to make a stand against "larger-than-life foes," though there's no word on which characters will make an appearance in the experience. The ride is made in conjunction with Mass Effect publisher EA, and developer BioWare announced it back in September.

Source: @CAGreatAmerica

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At what could be the height of the Dark Souls franchise's popularity, developer From Software is ready to move on.

Source: IGN

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That lasted long. John Romero and Adrian Carmack, founders of the Doom and Quake developer iD Software, have already pulled the plug on their new Kickstarter project. The Blackroom campaign had been running for four days when the pair decided to press "pause," citing the need to make a gameplay demo. That's most likely so that their new, rebooted campaign can adhere to Kickstarter's own rules, which require "explicit demos of working prototypes" for any proposed physical product. The pair say finishing an early slice of Blackroom will take longer than the current campaign, which is why they've decided to end it so prematurely.

Via: Rock Paper Shotgun

Source: Kickstarter

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Game developer Brendon Chung is an easygoing guy when it comes to the creative process. He doesn't make elaborate plans regarding the scope of his projects; instead he goes wherever the flow takes him. It's been working out for him: His completed games -- namely, Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving -- are quirky experiences heralded for their punchy, emotive narratives, and they each took about six months to complete. Chung assumed his latest game, Quadrilateral Cowboy, would take roughly the same amount of time.

That was in 2012.

"This game has been six months away from completion for about three years now," Chung says.

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While Gfinity is known for its eSports stadium in London, the company is also committed to building an audience online. In addition to streaming on Twitch, the company has now launched a new GTV player in open beta. With this, you can have multiple feeds open and change each window depending on what's important to you. During a Counter-Strike tournament, for instance, I could switch between the "main stream" shown on Twitch, dedicated feeds for each team, and a few player facecams. In addition, I could change the audio between full broadcast style commentary and strictly in-game music and sound effects.

Via: MCV

Source: Gfinity

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Atari founder Nolan Bushnell has teamed up with a small Amsterdam studio to develop and publish new mobile games. Bushnell created the iconic Atari brand in 1972, and oversaw the release of classic systems such as the Atari 2600. He was ousted from the company six years later and ran a bunch of other businesses before returning to Atari's board of directors in 2010. Spil Games, meanwhile, is a relatively unknown name that specializes in mobile and browser-based titles. Bushnell has signed on to develop three games with the studio, with the first scheduled for release in early 2017. We'll soon see if he still has some of that old Atari magic.

Source: Gamasutra

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"We always said we shouldn't have a narrative, but we should have a lore," says No Man's Sky mastermind Sean Murray. And honestly, with a procedurally generated universe that's staggeringly gigantic, it'd be impossible to create a traditional video game story with things like cutscenes. But to make the world feel more alive and less like a giant empty sandbox, Murray says the team at Hello Games turned to artist Dave Gibbons of Watchmen fame and scribe James Swallow who worked on the writing for Star Trek and Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Source: PlayStation Blog (EU)

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Last September, Microsoft released Forza Motorsport 6 for PC and Xbox One to feed the ultra-realist gamer's need for meticulously-detailed racing. But back in March, Microsoft announced a re-release of Forza 6 specially crafted to run on Windows 10 (and only Windows 10 -- sorry Xbox One owners). On May 5th, Microsoft will unleash Forza Motorsport 6: Apex's open beta for players to enjoy all summer, with a full release at an undisclosed later date.

Source: Turn 10 Studios

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He'd had a terrible morning and an even worse afternoon.

Exhausted by human interaction, Roger returned home, eager to slam a beer, throw on his bathrobe and lie back in his big leather recliner while Rhonda gave him one of her signature hand jobs. Unfortunately, Rhonda was programmed to make him dinner that night and, anticipating his mood, readjusted her earlier, more optimistic projections for the day's outcome.

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The unique shooter Superhot is coming to Xbox One on May 3rd. Ostensibly an FPS, the broad pitch is "time moves only when you move," but that's not quite accurate -- when you're standing still, things just move very slowly. You have to clear highly stylized levels of polygonal enemies using whatever tools you're given, while avoiding their one-shot-kill attacks. That's easier said than done, and as the challenges get tougher, you'll die a lot. Eventually, it plays out more like a puzzle game, with a few pre-determined paths leading to victory.

Via: Kotaku

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It's fitting that the morning I first experienced Deep VR at the Tribeca Film Festival, billed by its creators as a meditative virtual reality experience, I was already approaching peak anxiety levels. At 9:30AM, I was behind schedule (for reasons beyond my control) and huddled in a claustrophobic installation space made all the more overwhelming by various camera crews and the booming soundtrack of a heartbeat from the far corner. So when I first strapped the HTC Vive onto my head and a snug-fitting sensor around my diaphragm, I braced for the worst, assuming I'd be hit with a wicked bout of VR sickness. How wrong I was.

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Rovio has a lot riding on its new animated movie. Earlier this month, the Finnish company reported a €13 million ($14.8 million) operating loss for 2015, blaming "heavy investments" in future projects. The popularity of Angry Birds is waning, but a commercially succesful film could be its salvation. As such, it's developed a new app called Angry Birds Action!, which rewards players for seeing the movie on opening weekend. Players that open the app during the end credits will be treated to an "exclusive movie clip" and a new area of the game to explore. The feature is triggered by an "inaudible digital watermark" that plays in the background.

Source: Rovio

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Ah yes, Cracker Jack. The classic American snack food and ballpark staple that offers the thrill of finding a cheap plastic toy at the bottom of the box. Well, I should say offered, since PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division is modernizing snacking by nixing the toy in favor of a "baseball-inspired mobile digital experience." What does that mean exactly? Rather than unwrapping a plastic figurine or trinket, you'll find a sticker that you scan with your phone's camera to "bring the ballpark to life" with a mobile game or photo treatment. Oh yeah, you'll have to download the Blippar augmented reality app first.

Via: Polygon, San Francisco Chronicle

Source: Frito-Lay (PR Newswire)

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Both high-end gaming PCs and bitcoin mining rigs require an awful lot of power to operate at their best, so this next bit of news is a pretty natural fit: You can load your Steam wallet using Silk Road's favorite currency. Cryptocurrency payment processing outfit Bitpay says that Valve approached the company because the gaming juggernaut was looking for a way to process payments in emerging markets like Brazil, China and India. Meaning, countries where credit cards aren't easily accessible.

Source: Bitpay

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Nintendo announced that it will debut a new costume set and Event Course for its popular level creator, Super Mario Maker, based on Japanese pop-metal band, Babymetal. The "Mystery Mushroom" costume will feature all three band members mashed together in unison. It's apparently the same basic sprite structure that we saw in December when a Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam mashup came to SMM, though obviously with a different skin and sound effects. Of course, this isn't the trio's first foray into video games. Their first single (and breakout hit), "Gimme Chocolate" made it into the a recent Rock Band 4 DLC.

Source: Nintendo News

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Nintendo might not be axing the Wii U just yet, but that doesn't mean the console will stick around for very long. While discussing its finances, Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima has revealed that production of the one-of-a-kind system could stop by March 2018, or a year after the NX arrives. The timing wouldn't be surprising. While Nintendo has a habit of keeping old systems around for a while after a new device launches, that rarely lasts -- and the Wii U hasn't been a strong-enough seller to merit sales well after its successor appears. From all indications, Nintendo wants everyone to move on to the new hardware once the last wave of big Wii U games is out the door.

Source: Reuters

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What happens when an architect makes a video game? Block'hood, a new "neighborhood-building simulator" from one-man developer Plethora Project. It started life as a research project at the University of Southern California's School of Architecture, where its creator Jose Sanchez is an assistant professor, but has slowly transformed into an educational game published by Devolver Digital, which previously produced games like Hotline Miami and Broforce. With a focus on expanding upwards, rather than outwards, and a pared-down visual style, it's a different take on the building experience offered by SimCity or Cities: Skylines. It instead plays like a cross between Anno, SimEarth and reverse Jenga.

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Duelyst isn't an eSport -- yet. After six months in a free open beta, Duelyst launches today as a full title that's still free to download across PC and Mac. It comes from Counterplay Games, a studio packed with talent from Diablo 3, League of Legends and Rogue Legacy, and it's a brilliant blend of rapid-fire card gaming, complex tactical combat and squad building, all with a competitive edge. But right now, it isn't an eSport.

"We don't consider ourselves an eSport, since that's a very top-down approach and mentality that we don't believe in," Counterplay founder Keith Lee says.

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Oxenfree is an acid trip wrapped in an enigma and smothered in nacho cheese -- and on May 31st, it's coming to PlayStation 4. Oxenfree hit Steam and Xbox One in January, and both of these versions get upgrades on May 31st, too. Developer Night School Studio created a New Game+ mode for the Steam, Xbox One and PS4 editions, allowing those who have already finished Oxenfree to dive back in and experience a new, yet familiar, adventure. New Game+ includes fresh dialogue choices, new locations and alternate endings (on top of the game's multiple existing conclusions).

"We've heard emphatic, wildly differing opinions on how the game ended, both giddy and rage-filled," Night School co-founder Sean Krankel says. "So, without getting too spoilery, we wanted to make something that let those players push on the surreal rules that govern the island even more by holding up a proverbial mirror to the creatures they've been dealing with. This mode is definitely for the true fans."

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Even before Fallout 4 was released, Bethesda was keen to stress that the latest instalment of the post-apocalyptic franchise would officially support mods. In February, it told us that PC support would arrive in April, and sure enough, it's now delivered on that promise. The studio has released its first modding tool -- called the Creation Kit -- on Steam and launched a new hub where players can browse and download each others' tweaks.

Source: Bethesda

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Nintendo dropped a pile of news on our laps this morning. Along with its earnings, the Japanese game company gave us a release date for its new NX console, announced a pair of new mobile apps and delayed Zelda into 2017. Buried in among these bigger items is the detail that its first mobile app, Miitomo, now has over 10 million unique users.

Source: Nintendo

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Nintendo is working on smartphone apps based on two of its most beloved franchises: Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem. The company announced both projects in a tweet, revealing little about their gameplay or how they would be priced. Fire Emblem is a tactical role-playing game, giving you control of an anime army as it battles through increasingly difficult skirmishes. The latest iteration was Fates on the 3DS, which came in three different versions called Birthright, Conquest and Revelation. Animal Crossing, meanwhile, is a more casual franchise about living in a carefree village, performing menial tasks and furnishing a beautiful home.

Source: Nintendo

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Sony's President of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida has just announced that "a number of copies" of the upcoming game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End have been stolen in transit. A few copies have surfaced ahead of the game's official release on May 10th -- British site Videogamer reported yesterday that discs were appearing at second-hand stores in the country. Not acknowledging the irony, Yoshida says "Sony is continuing to to work with the police to resolve the matter, which is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation." He urges gamers to be vigilant for potential spoilers resulting from the theft, and says it will be "worth the wait" till May 10th.

Source: Sony

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There's good news and bad for Nintendo's upcoming Legend of Zelda open-world title for the Wii U console. First the bad: It's been delayed again, so it won't arrive now until 2017. The good news is that it's going to come out on the next-gen Nintendo NX console, which, by the way, Nintendo just revealed. In a (roughly translated) tweet, Nintendo Japan says that it pushed back the game "for further quality improvement," adding that it will be released "simultaneously" on the Nintendo NX.

Source: Nintendo (Twitter)

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We don't know what it looks like. We don't know how it plays. But now, we know when Nintendo's next system will be launching: March 2017. The company's mysterious "NX" platform was first teased more than a year ago, during an investor presentation that also outlined its smartphone ambitions. We've heard and read plenty of rumors since then, including a console-handheld hybrid, a system more powerful than the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and bizarre touchscreen controllers (including fake photos) based on old patents. Nintendo has stayed tight-lipped throughout, stating only that it will talk about the console later in 2016.

Source: Nintendo

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Do you miss the early, headier days of World of Warcraft, before endless changes turned it into a different beast? You're far from alone -- hundreds of thousands of people were playing on Nostalrius, a fan-run server that went back to basics, until Blizzard shut it down early in April over intellectual property jitters. However, the game studio isn't deaf to your cries. It's telling WoW fans that it has been mulling the idea of running its own "pristine" servers, without the boosts and tweaks that have slipped into the online role-playing title over the years.

Via: Polygon

Source: Battle.net

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New York federal court judge Jed Rakoff announced his verdict in the appeal of Nintendo's 3DS patent case against Tomita Technologies on Sunday. The judge found that the technology in question -- specifically, that "relating to displaying stereoscopic images on-screen for viewing with the naked eye, i.e., without utilizing glasses or other devices" -- performed differently in Nintendo's system than in Tomita's and did so in a manner which was not envisioned by the plaintiff's original 2008 patent. As such he ruled in favor of Nintendo, reversing the lower court's initial decision from 2013 and confirming the results of a 2015 retrial. What's more the decision invalidates Tomita's initial award of $30.2 million in damages.

Source: Nintendo (Businesswire)

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HTC is aiming to jump-start VR development with its new Vive X fund, an accelerator that will support and promote startups working in the new medium. Vive X is backed by a $100 million investment fund (mostly from HTC), and it'll kick off in Beijing next month (with San Francisco and Taipei to follow). As with most accelerator programs, it'll offer mentorship, work space and, naturally, some investment capital to a selected group of startups. After a few months, the chosen companies will show off their projects at celebratory demo days (again, something common to this type of program).

Source: HTC

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Today I learned that porn site YouPorn has its own eSports team. Unfortunately for the site, I also learned that the Electronic Sports League (ESL) has decided that Team YP can't compete in its eSport events, which include Street Fighter 5, Counter Strike and Starcraft. ESL told VentureBeat that "advertising pornography is not legal in the markets we operate in, and the vast majority of partners we're working with have strict 'no drugs, no alcohol, no pornography' rules that we've contractually taken on board."

Via: Kotaku

Source: VentureBeat

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An AI learning to walk through a Doom-inspired maze by sight is one thing, but how can it handle live multiplayer mayhem? That's what the "Visual Doom AI" competition this September hopes to discover. The first set of matches are limited to a dozen 10-minute rounds on a known map, with only one weapon: the rocket launcher. The AI "controllers" can pick up health packs and ammo, as well, and the winner will be picked by highest kill count.

Via: Popular Science

Source: Visual Doom

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This weekend the NFL Draft will spread across our TVs for three days, along with the continuing NBA and NHL playoffs. Of course, Game of Thrones is back, but on Showtime we also have the excellent Penny Dreadful back for another season (watch the premiere episode here, right now). CBS has the season finale of Limitless, while Netflix offers up the Ricky Gervais film Special Correspondents and the documentary Team Foxcatcher. For gamers, there's a new episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne, and Housemarque (Super Stardust HD, Resogun) is releasing Alienation on PS4. 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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Ubisoft and Patrice Désilets, the creative director of Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed 2, have reached an agreement that gives Désilets ownership of a mysterious original IP, 1666 Amsterdam. Désilets and Ubisoft have a rocky, winding history: Désilets is recognized as the creator of the studio's most famous franchise, Assassin's Creed, but he left the company in 2010.

Désilets joined THQ Montreal in 2011 where he started work on an original franchise that turned out to be 1666 Amsterdam. However, THQ famously went under in 2012 and sold off its assets in January 2013. The Montreal studio -- complete with 1666, Désilets and all -- was picked up by Ubisoft for $2.5 million. Désilets was right back where he started, but he didn't stay long.

Source: Panache Digital Games

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Australian indie game developer House House announced on Monday that its highly anticipated (and cringe-inducing) sports game, Push Me Pull You, is finally being released for the PlayStation 4 on May 3rd. The game pits two pairs of opposing players in a weird, soccer-ish game where each team is joined at the waist. No, literally, each team operates both ends of a single torso or, as House House describes it, "you and your partner must use a shared body to wrap, writhe, and wrestle the ball into your half of the court." Here, this new gameplay trailer might help explain.

Source: House House (Twitter)

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John Romero and Adrian Carmack helped found id Software in 1991, and by 1993 the studio had changed the video game world forever. That's when id released Doom, a genre-defining first-person shooter, and it was followed by Quake, another classic FPS, in 1996. Today, Romero and Carmack are back with Blackroom, a new FPS set in a future where lifelike holographic reality is the norm, but it's being overrun with sinister visions. The game stars Dr. Santiago Sonora, an engineer at the massive holographic company, Hoxar, as he investigates irregularities in the Blackroom military training system.

Source: Blackroom

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Wireless gamepads for the NES are nothing new (just ask anyone who bought an Akklaim Double Player), but what if you had your pick of controllers? Analogue and 8Bitdo want to make that happen. Their newly launched Retro Receiver lets you use a host of wire-free gamepads with Nintendo's classic console. You'll get the most authentic-feeling experience if you use one of 8Bitdo's peripherals, but the real party trick comes when you bring modern controllers into the fray -- you can use a Wii remote, a Wii U Pro Controller or even Sony's DualShock 3 or 4. Retro Receiver sells for $20, so it might be worth a go if you're determined to play some old-school Legend of Zelda without stringing an original controller across the room.

Source: Analogue

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You've had pretty slim pickings for major movie rentals on Steam (unless you really like Mad Max), but that's changing today. Lionsgate has reached a deal with Valve to put over 100 of its movies on Steam, including flicks you'll definitely recognize -- the Hunger Games, Saw and Twilight movies, for example. Availability might vary where you live, but the prices are at least right. You're usually looking at between $4 to $5 for a 48-hour rental, depending on how big a title you're hoping to watch.

Via: Variety

Source: Steam, Lionsgate (PR Newswire)

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One of Rock Band's biggest draws has always been local multiplayer. When four or five people are in the same room, jamming away on plastic instruments, it's hard not to crack a smile. Of course, it's not always possible to get people together, so developer Harmonix is working on bringing online multiplayer to Rock Band 4. It's due this holiday and will offer a "Quickplay-esque" experience for you and a few friends. So if someone can't make band practice -- or your group is miles apart -- you can still play together and prepare for that all-important reunion gig.

Via: Polygon

Source: Harmonix

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Because when there's VR and cosplay around the corner, a simple gaming keyboard is not going to cut it.

Source: YouTube (Logitech)

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PS4 owners aren't the only ones getting a treat in the Ark: Survival Evolved universe. Studio Wildcard is starting up an Official Mods Program that will fold user-made add-ons into the main game on PCs and the Xbox One. The move will not only give mods better recognition, but bring them to console gamers that don't always see this kind of content. It'll start off with The Center, a fantasy-themed map arriving in May, followed by the Primitive Plus mod (which forces you to rely on wood and stone) in the summer.

Source: Ark Community Forums

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When Rust creator Garry Newman introduced female character models to the open world survival game, he said the idea was rooted in a social experiment: He wanted to see if lady characters would be attacked more or less because players might perceive them as being weak or vulnerable, respectively. What actually happened caught him off guard. Despite internet rage about gender being randomly -- and permanently -- assigned to Steam usernames, it's actually increased the amount of players.

Source: Kotaku

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Developer Mojang might be best known for wildly popular and influential Minecraft, but it's no one-trick pony. Which brings us to Crown & Council, the studio's latest that, from the sounds of it, is a fast-paced strategy game in the vein of Risk or Civilization. In the tradition of Minecraft, the studio says that the game was developed entirely by one person, Henrik Pettersson. It uses a charming 16-bit style of pixel art and maybe best of all, it's absolutely free on Steam. Need something new to play over the weekend? Now you're all set.

Source: Mojang, Steam

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There's a chance Tekken X Street Fighter will never see the light of day. Or it could, but not anytime soon. In a recent interview with GameSpot, Tekken's game director Katsuhiro Harada revealed that development for the highly anticipated crossover is on hold until further notice. "When we develop fighting games, we try to keep the core community in mind as well as the wider audience that wants to play these games," he explained the circumstances behind the decision.

Source: GameSpot

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Even if you haven't played it yet, one thing is clear about No Man's Sky: It's stunning. The entire game hinges on the idea of procedural generation on a massive scale, meaning when artists at Hello Games create a patch of grass or a fluffy animal tail, these elements are mixed and matched in nearly infinite combinations across the entire in-game universe. But, it isn't all left to random chance -- there are complex algorithms working behind the scenes to make sure every planet is aesthetically pleasing in some sense. Controlled chaos, if you will.

Source: PlayStation on YouTube

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It's been happening in subtle increments, but the transformation is nearly complete. After launching private messaging, Party Chat and profile updates to Twitch, Amazon's livestreaming service will finally become a niche social network with today's announcement: Friends. Twitch users can add up to 500 friends to a list that shows who's online and allows them to send Whispers (private messages) with a click.

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Engadget is re-reviewing the current generation of game consoles, each of which has benefited from major firmware updates, price drops and an improved selection of games. We're kicking off this series by revisiting the Xbox One. Though we've changed our minds on some things and raised the score to 84, you can still find our original review here, if you're curious to read what we said at launch.

The Xbox One is the product of two different Microsofts. The console debuted in 2013 following a disastrous six-month-long PR campaign that ultimately led to then–Xbox head Don Mattrick leaving the company. Initially Microsoft said that the Xbox One would require an internet connection even for single-player, store-bought games. The company backpedaled on that ahead of the console's release, cobbling together bits of code to ensure that games played at launch. Even then, the Xbox One arrived with a sizable day-one patch.

Months of incremental post-launch updates added Twitch streaming, a controller battery-life indicator, custom wallpapers, party chat and some much-needed UI improvements. The biggest changes, though, have come since Phil Spencer assumed Mattrick's old position. The Kinect sensor is no longer a requirement for the system, nor is Microsoft packaging it with every console sold. Because of that, the Xbox One is now priced lower than its most obvious rival, the PlayStation 4: $299 with an included game and 500GB hard drive. At launch it cost $500 with just the 500GB console, a controller and Kinect in the box.

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It's rare -- unprecedented, even -- that Engadget re-reviews the same product. But game consoles are a curious exception. Though the hardware stays the same, these machines receive myriad firmware updates, sometimes long after launch, that make them even more valuable. That's especially true of the Xbox One, whose interface became much, much easier to navigate after a major software update last year. With our coverage of the actual games still going strong, we thought it high time we revisit the devices themselves. As such, we'll be rewriting, re-scoring and even re-photographing our original write-ups of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. (With news that the Wii U might not live past this year, an obituary might be more appropriate than a fresh review.)

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