Archive - 2016

Rock Band Rivals Pre-Order and New Game Mode Trailer

2016/07/19
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Xbox One News

BOSTON, MA – July 19, 2016 – Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. and Performance Designed Products LLC (PDP) today announced Rock Band™ Rivals, a new expansion pack for Rock Band 4, is now available for pre-order. Rock Band Rivals will be available either as part of a new set of hardware bundle offers at select retailers worldwide or as a digital upgrade for existing Rock Band 4 players. Rock Band Rivals will introduce two all-new game modes as well as multiple new venues and Rock Shop items, and will be available for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One this October.

Rockudrama is an all new campaign mode and the world’s first playable music documentary. Featuring a mix of live-action video, in-engine footage and classic Rock Band gameplay, Rockudrama dynamically tells the story of your band’s epic, and often hilarious, rise to fame. As players progress through their band’s memorable and winding road to glory, they will be introduced to a series of new venues and character assets that will be unlocked for play across all of Rock Band 4’s gameplay modes.

“No exaggeration, greatest expansion in the entire history of Rock Band. Mind blown, no doubt.” offered “Kool” Terry Terman, ex-guitarist of Skratch ‘N Snyf and amateur band enthusiast.

Rivals mode will introduce the biggest evolution to the Rock Band meta game in the franchise’s history. In Rivals, players will form crews of up to ten people to take on other crews around the world in a structured and ongoing series of unique gameplay challenges. Regardless of skill level, players will be able to make meaningful contributions to the fate of their crew and impact their crew’s weekly rise and fall against their chosen rival groups. Additional details about Rivals mode will be revealed at PAX West this September.

Following the precedent set by Rock Band 4, Rock Band Rivals will be supported with regular, free monthly updates following launch. Including the release of synchronous online multiplayer in December.

“Rock Band 4 was designed to be the ultimate social and party game for your living room. With the Rivals expansion, we’re entering new territory and giving people fresh and fun ways to play with other Rock Band players and our gigantic music library both in their living rooms and online,” said Daniel Sussman, Rock Band product manager. “With our innovative new modes and our amazing pre order offers we expect to see Rock Band fans new and old loving what Rock Band Rivals will offer this October.”

For players interested in pre-ordering Rock Band Rivals, Harmonix and PDP have prepared a compelling suite of pre-order rewards, starting with a ten-song bonus DLC pack that will be delivered for free at launch. Pre-order bonus songs* include:

Bring Me The Horizon – “Happy Song”
Capital Cities – “Safe and Sound”
Eagle-Eye Cherry – “Save Tonight”
The Neighbourhood – “Sweater Weather”
Of Monsters And Men – “Little Talks”
Pharrell Williams – “Happy”
Semisonic – “Closing Time”
Sia – “Chandelier”
Skillet – “Feel Invincible”
Weezer – “King of the World”

In addition to the ten song package, select retailers are offering additional pre-order bonuses. Players who pre-order either the Rock Band Rivals Band Kit ($199.99) or the Rock Band Rivals Wireless Jaguar Bundle ($89.99) from Amazon will receive two additional songs at launch:

Maroon 5 – “One More Night”
Matchbox Twenty – “3AM”

Players who pre-order at GameStop will be able to purchase a limited edition of the Rock Band Rivals Wireless Jaguar Bundle with a Charcoal Gray Fender™ Jaguar™ guitar controller exclusively during the pre-order period.

Players who already have hardware and are interested in pre-ordering digitally will also have an opportunity to snag some unique content. In addition to the ten song bonus DLC pack, players who pre-order the Rock Band Rivals Digital Bundle ($59.99) will receive an exclusive Cheeseburger Tee in the Rock Band 4 Rock Shop, ensuring that their characters look as delicious as they do stylish.

Existing Rock Band 4 players who pre-order the Rock Band Rivals Digital Download ($29.99) will receive both the ten song bonus DLC pack and the Cheeseburger Tee as well as an exclusive Golden Sword Guitar.

Fans interested in learning more about Rock Band can visit: http://www.rockband4.com/

For information about Rock Band controllers: PDP.com/rockband-rivals

Xbox One S Release Date Revealed

2016/07/18
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, Tech News, Xbox One News

in a new Microsoft blog post, the company has announced that its upcoming Xbox One S game console will be launched on August 2, 2016.

From the post:

Last month, we revealed a new member of the Xbox One family, the Xbox One S. Today, we’re excited to announce that the highly-anticipated 2TB Xbox One S launch edition will begin hitting shelves in select regions on August 2. That means that all pre-orders will arrive on August 2 and, for those of you that haven’t yet, you can still pre-order a 2TB Xbox One S launch edition through microsoftstore.com and select retailers. Availability is limited and demand is high so you’ll want to check with your local retailer for more information and pre-order your console soon…

Star Wars Thrawn Book Announced with Zahn at the Pen

2016/07/18
boothby
Book News, Geek News, News

At the Star Wars Celebration Europe, Del Rey Books announced that one of the most well-known Star Wars Expanded Universe writers of all time, Timothy Zahn, would be brought into the fold to write Star Wars Thrawn, which will bring Grand Admiral Thrawn in from out of the Expanded Universe cold as well!

Farming Simulator 17 to Feature Female Farmers

2016/07/15
boothby
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Screenshots / Photos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

July 15, 2016 – Farming Simulator 17, the latest game from GIANTS SOFTWARE, will be available on October 25, 2016 on PlayStation®4, Xbox One and PC. This new entry in the series brings even more content than before, with new vehicles and branded machinery, new animals to care for, new crop types and for the first time, as announced at E3 2016, the availability of Mods on consoles. Finally, the long-awaited option to play as a female farmer will be made possible in the new addition to the popular franchise.

As requested by the passionate Farming Simulator community, the ability to play a female farmer reflects the diverse and ever-expanding industry of agriculture, making Farming Simulator 17 more realistic and rewarding than ever before. As illustrated in the images released today, players will now be able to select their avatar’s gender at the beginning of the game, along with customizing their clothes. This exciting new option will also appear among the workers you can hire: both men and women will give you a hand with the many tasks that a farmer sees throughout the day!

More new features will be unveiled the coming weeks and Farming Simulator 17 will be present at Gamescom 2016 in Köln on August 17-19th.

Screenshots

The Square Enix Experience Returns to San Diego Comic-Con

2016/07/14
boothby
Geek News, News, SDCC

LOS ANGELES – July 14, 2016 – SQUARE ENIX® is once again giving fans the opportunity to participate in the Square Enix Experience, a themed outdoor area at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 celebrating some of the company’s leading franchises. The Square Enix Experience returns for 2016 with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided® – The Icarus Dash, FINAL FANTASY® XV – The Royal Race and aRise of the Tomb Raider® Glacier Climb.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will host the Icarus Dash; FINAL FANTASY XV will allow fans to speed around a go-kart track; and Rise of the Tomb Raider will challenge participants to conquer Lara Croft’s snow-covered wall climb. The Square Enix Arcade presented by Turtle Beach, featuring numerous Square Enix games and a beer garden await those who make it out from these challenges.

  • Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – The Icarus Dash
Enter the dark world of Deus Ex Mankind Divided and become covert agent Adam Jensen without the trench coat and fashionable shades. Showing off the Icarus Dash move, participants will have to run as fast as they can with a bungee cord on their back while shooting a laser gun at targets.
  • FINAL FANTASY XV – The Royal Race
Fans can race each other in this themed, go-kart race that takes them through the various landscapes of FINAL FANTASY XV. Visitors can also have a photo taken to commemorate their race.
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider Glacier Climb
The Rise of the Tomb Raider Glacier Climb, inspired by the opening sequence of the game, will allow fans to test their skill and will against the hostile environments Lara faces. The 30-foot glacier wall covered in snow, offers an incredible opportunity for fans to experience Lara’s world. Climbers can have their photo taken while on the wall to capture their adventure. This obstacle challenge is the latest event in the Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration (#TombRaider20), a year-long salute to the iconic heroine.

Participants can share all of the action on Twitter at https://twitter.com/squareenix, Facebook athttps://facebook.com/squareenix and Instagram at https://instagram.com/squareenix.

The Square Enix Arcade hosts numerous kiosks featuring Square Enix’s premier games and Turtle Beach’s EAR FORCE® PX24 gaming headsets, which offer players game changing features like Superhuman Hearing™, Virtual Surround Sound, Bass Boost and much more. Visitors can enter and experience some of the most highly anticipated and recently released games for the first time. Also on display will be an exciting new product line from Razer.

After an exhausting sprint with a bungee, a go-kart race and a treacherous wall climb, visitors can relax in the beer garden and enjoy music with an ice-cold beer. The beer will be offered after a donation to charity for those 21 years and older.

The Square Enix Experience will be located at 7th Avenue and Market Street in the heart of San Diego’s Gaslamp District, June 22-23 from noon until 10pm.

In addition to the Square Enix Experience, the company will host the following panels:

20 Years of Tomb Raider: Lara Croft’s Multimedia Empire 
Room 24ABC – Saturday , July 23, 3:30-4:30 p.m.In 1996, Core Design unleashed Lara Croft on the world when they released the first Tomb Raider video game. Over the past two decades, Tomb Raider expanded to all facets of pop culture and entertainment – from critically acclaimed video games to record-breaking Hollywood movies; from best-selling comic series and chart-topping singles. Join major Franchise contributors on Saturday, July 23, for a conversation about Lara Croft’s multimedia empire, presented by the top-tier talent who brought her to life across different mediums.Panelists: Greg Miller (Moderator), Camilla Luddington (Voice and Performance Artist for Lara Croft), Noah Hughes (Franchise Creative Director) Andy Park (Comic and Concept Artist) and Debbie Lash (Eidos’ Lara Croft model manager and marketing executive).

Deus Ex and Open Bionics: Bridging the Gap between Fiction and Reality
Room 8 – Saturday, July 23, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Greg Miller hosts as Eidos-Montréal and Open Bionics discuss their collaboration to create affordable, functional and fashionable 3D-printed prosthetic arms, inspired by the Deus Ex Universe.

Panelists: Greg Miller (Moderator), Jonathan Jacques-Belletête (Executive Art Director, Deus Ex Universe), Samantha Payne (Co-Founder and COO, Open Bionics) and Joel Gibbard (CEO, Open Bionics)

KINGSGLAIVE: FINAL FANTASY XV
Room 7AB – Saturday, July 23, 7:30-8:30pm

The FINAL FANTASY franchise returns with KINGSGLAIVE: FINAL FANTASY XV, the fully CG animated movie and FINAL FANTASY XV, the highly-anticipated video game. The talented cast and team behind the movie will share exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, debut the brand new, full-length movie trailer and provide fans with a rare opportunity to hear about the franchise from their perspective.

Panelists: Takeshi Nozue (KINGSGLAIVE director), Liam Mulvey (KINGSGLAIVE Voice, Motion Capture Actor and 3D Base Model), Andrea Tivadar (KINGSGLAIVE Motion Capture Actor and 3D Base Model), Dan Inoue (Lead Writer) and Mat Kishimoto (Square Enix US Senior Marketing Manager).

KINGSGLAIVE: FINAL FANTASY XV will be in select theaters nationwide August 19th and is currently available for Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital pre-order.

Participants can share all of the action on Twitter at Twitter.com/kingsglaiveffxv, Facebook atFacebook.com/FinalFantasyMovies and using #Kingsglaive

At Booth #3829 in the San Diego Convention Center, attendees will also have the opportunity play several Square Enix titles including DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED, DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS,FINAL FANTASY XV, I AM SETSUNA, KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER and WORLD OF FINAL FANTASY.

Fallout Shelter Quests Update and PC Launch Trailer

2016/07/14
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, Mobile News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

July 14, 2016 – Today Bethesda Softworks released Fallout Shelter Update 1.6, the biggest update yet for the smash hit mobile game by Bethesda Game Studios that has thrust more than 50 million players into the role of Overseer to build their own Vault, manage dwellers, and adventure through Fallout’s iconic wasteland. Update 1.6 introduces an exciting new Quest system with a new combat mechanic, as well as two new items for Overseers in a hurry: the Starter Pack allows players to jump-start a new Vault, and Nuka-Cola Quantum speeds up Dwellers returning from the Wasteland and certain Vault tasks.

In addition, Fallout Shelter launched today on PC, bringing the game to an all-new platform, and can be downloaded now, for free, via the Bethesda.net launcher.

QUESTS AND NEW COMBAT SYSTEM

Across more than 5 billion game sessions, Overseers have sent more than 715 million Dwellers into the Wasteland to explore, battle enemies, gather resources and items, and discover new recipes for crafting weapons and armor. In Update 1.6, players now have more substantive Quests to conquer and can take control of their Dwellers while they travel to abandoned buildings and decrepit Vaults, as well as locations familiar to Fallout 4 fans like the Red Rocket Fuel Stop and the Super Duper Mart. Players can assemble a group of Dwellers to take on challenges outside of the Vault, uncover legendary loot, and face off against new enemies like Radscorpions, Ghouls and powerful bosses.

While in the new Quests, Overseers can use the new combat system to gain control over Dwellers in a fight, allowing players to select opponents and direct attacks and even play a quick mini-game for a critical hit. Impatient Overseers who would like to instantly return Dwellers after a quest or complete Barbershop customizations or crafting, can now use a refreshing Nuka-Cola Quantum.

Update 1.6 can be downloaded by visiting the App Store or the Google Play store.

FALLOUT SHELTER LAUNCHES ON PC

Fallout Shelter also launched today for PC, bringing the action to larger screens and an even wider audience. The PC version of the game offers the full Fallout Shelter experience that fans have come to love on mobile, complete with all of the updates added over the last year – Pets, Crafting, Scrapping and Junk, additional rooms, Fallout 4 characters, and special Dweller customization options – as well as all of the new content in Update 1.6.

The game is now available for free, only via the Bethesda.net launcher. To download and install Fallout Shelter for PC, please download the Bethesda.net Launcher at the following link: http://download.cdp.bethesda.net/BethesdaNetLauncher_Setup.exe.

For more information on Fallout Shelter, please visit www.FalloutShelter.com.

Razer Unveils iPad Pro Mechanical Keyboard Case

2016/07/14
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, Peripherals News

IRVINE, Calif. – Razer™, a world leader in connected devices and software for gamers, today announced the Razer Ultra-Low-Profile Mechanical Switch, a first in the world of keyboard mechanical switches. The switches will be initially outfitted into the Razer Mechanical Keyboard Case for the Apple® iPad Pro.

Each Razer Ultra-Low-Profile Mechanical switch features a true actuation and reset point. Presses are registered with 70 grams of force, mimicking the feel of full-size mechanical keyboards in a form factor that’s slim enough to accompany a mobile device.

Razer invested in its own exclusive keyboard switch production lines earlier this year to raise the bar on keyboard and keypad durability and performance. The investment into switch research and design by Razer led to new keyboard technology that made the extraordinarily thin design of the Razer Ultra-Low-Profile Mechanical Switch possible. This also helped standard Razer Mechanical Switches set the benchmark for durability with an industry-best 80 million keystroke lifespan.

“We’re commonly thought of as a company that makes phenomenal products for gamers, but to design the very best products, we’ve had to innovate from the ground up – even from each individual component such as mechanical switches,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. “We’re excited about the potential of our Ultra-Low-Profile Mechanical Switch and look forward to exploring other applications in addition to the mechanical keyboard we’ve designed for the iPad Pro.”

The Razer Mechanical Keyboard Case for the Apple iPad Pro is equipped with Bluetooth technology for simple connecting and a metal kickstand. The case is available now at RazerStore.com. For more information, visit http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-keyboards-keypads/razer-mechanical-keyboard-ipad-pro

Price:

U.S. $169.99 / EU €189.99

Availability:

Razerzone.com –Immediate

Worldwide – Immediate

Product features:

  • Razer™ Ultra-Low-Profile Mechanical Switches
  • Optimized actuation and reset points
  • Slim Chiclet keycaps
  • Designed for Apple iPad Pro
  • Metal kickstand
  • Detachable polycarbonate protective case
  • Connectivity: Bluetooth
  • Battery life:

–       Approx. 10 hours on a single charge at maximum brightness

–       Approx. 600 hours on a single charge with backlighting turned off