Archive - 2018

NBA 2K18 Hits Franchise Sales Record

2018/08/02
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Xbox One News

New York – August 2, 2018 – 2K today announced that NBA® 2K18 has now sold-in more than 10 million units, setting a new record for the franchise. Since its inception in 1999, the NBA 2K franchise has sold-in more than 80 million units worldwide and is the top-rated and top-selling NBA video game simulation series of the past 17 years*.

NBA 2K18 featured the Boston Celtics’ star point guard, Kyrie Irving and 2016 Basketball Hall of Famer, Shaquille O’Neal on the covers of the Standard and Legend Editions, respectively. This is a major milestone in 2K’s 19-year history of delivering the most thrilling NBA basketball action.

“NBA 2K18 is our highest-selling sports title ever, and a testament to the tireless hard work and innovation of the team at Visual Concepts,” said Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive.  “The ability to improve consistently upon an annual series and grow its audience reflects the team’s drive to remain on the leading-edge of pop culture and finding new and exciting ways to captivate and engage players.”

The NBA 2K franchise features all the exciting on-court action that comes from a real NBA game, and NBA 2K18 introduced The Neighborhood – an online, connected world inside NBA 2K, allowing players to immerse themselves in the off-the-court lifestyle of an NBA star.

“Without the tremendous passion, ambition, and dedication of the entire team at Visual Concepts, a milestone of this magnitude wouldn’t be possible,” said Greg Thomas, President, Visual Concepts. “It’s incredibly rewarding that the team’s hard work and desire to achieve greatness in NBA 2K has reached so many fans around the globe, and now we look forward to the challenge of setting new benchmarks with the upcoming release of NBA 2K19.”

In addition to the state-of-the-art simulation that NBA 2K is known for, the franchise has remained on the cutting-edge of pop culture by partnering with the hottest celebrities in film, music and pop culture, such as Michael B Jordan, Spike Lee, Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, Drake, DJ Khaled and Justin Bieber, and has featured in-game partnerships with top brands including Nike, Gatorade, Ruffles, Jordan Brand, Reese’s Puffs, Under Armour, Foot Locker, New Era, State Farm, Spalding, Tissot, Mountain Dew, Mitchell & Ness, JBL, Adidas and Kia.

NBA 2K is sold in over 122 countries and has reached local audiences with regional releases including NBA 2K Online and the upcoming NBA 2K Online 2 in Asia. In 2018, Take-Two formed a joint-venture with the NBA to form the NBA 2K League launching the first-ever professional eSports league built around a simulation sports video game.

Follow NBA 2K on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook for the latest NBA 2K19 news.

Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition to Launch at GenCon

2018/08/02
Jerry Paxton
Book News, Geek News, News

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (AUGUST 2, 2018) – White Wolf Entertainment, creators of the transmedia World of Darkness story universe, today announce that their iconic vampire tabletop roleplaying series moves into the 21st century with the release of Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition (V5). The beloved roleplaying game of personal and political horror launches on the GenCon 2018 show floor in Indianapolis, Indiana. Online purchase is now also available in digital format from worldofdarkness.com and in physical formats exclusively from distributor Modiphius Entertainment.

V5 is a return to the vision of the 1991 Vampire: The Masquerade, the classic that changed roleplaying games forever, and spawned a supernatural transmedia universe that’s influenced two-and-a-half decades of film, television shows, novels and video games. Rooted in the exploration of evil and morality, the Vampire series challenges players to confront — or channel — their inner monster and exploit the weaknesses of society to satiate their desire for power — and thirst for blood. Featuring a streamlined and modern rules set, beautiful full-color art and photography, and a rich story experience, this new edition of Vampire: The Masquerade will enrapture both new and returning players.

“With the launch of V5, today marks an incredible milestone in the history of Vampire: The Masquerade,” said White Wolf CEO Tobias Sjögren. “The fifth edition of Vampire is the culmination of 30 years of creative efforts by White Wolf, its partners, and of course, the passionate global community of players and fans. It’s an experience we expect longtime fans will find engaging, while similarly bringing newcomers into the World of Darkness.”

V5 consists of three main full color hardback books — the V5 corebook, the Anarch and Camarilla sourcebooks (the latter two available November 2018) — as well as an official V5 dice set, V5 storyteller screen and V5 notebook. All three books will also be available in a high quality slipcase along with a special edition of the corebook. For those wanting to mark the occasion of this new edition, a collector’s edition of the corebook as well as a limited-print luxury leatherbound Methuselah Bundle will also be available. Please visit the order page for more details: https://www.modiphius.net/collections/vampire-the-masquerade.

The physical V5 corebook is now available for purchase online from White Wolf distribution partner Modiphius Entertainment and in brick-and-mortar shops this month. Each physical corebook includes a complimentary digital copy. There is also a free V5 Quickstart Guide, intended to get players right into the action fast with minimal setup time available at worldofdarkness.com. Early hardback copies of the V5 corebook are available now for purchase from GenCon 2018 at the White Wolf booth (#509) and Modiphius booth (#2563).

Starting this winter, translated editions of V5 will become available in French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, with more languages to be announced.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season Story Builder Unveiled

2018/08/02
boothby
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., August 2nd, 2018 — Leading publisher and developer Telltale Games, along with Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment, today launched The Walking Dead: The Final Season Story Builder, an interactive, browser-based experience that allows you to relive the series’ most impactful story-branching moments. Your choices in the Story Builder produce a unique version of Clementine that can later be imported into the game itself. These choices will then be reflected in The Final Season. The Story Builder is available now and can be accessed here.

Upon completing the Story Builder, you will be given the option to sign in to your Telltale Games Account and save your results to the cloud. By logging into this same account when playing The Final Season on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, you will be able to download your Story Builder choices into the game. The Story Builder will also be available within The Final Season and will be localized in multiple languages for launch. Alternatively, you can import your existing series save files into the game. For more information about transferring existing saves, please refer to this blog.

In addition to building a custom choice profile, those who complete the online Story Builder will also receive a downloadable poster that reflects their individual choices, with 32 total poster variations available. These posters were created by Telltale’s Todd Pound, while visuals for the Story Builder itself were crafted by noted comic book artist Dan Panosian and animator Daniel Kanemoto. Kanemoto also animated the very first The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series trailer in 2012.

Episode one of The Final Season will be available for download starting August 14, 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One across all regions. The Final Season will also come to Nintendo Switch later this year. A free playable demo is available now on Xbox One and PS4. In addition, the game is currently available for pre-order on PC, PS4, and Xbox One for $19.99. All players who pre-order The Final Season will receive download access to each of the season’s four episodes as they become available.

Players who pre-order on PS4 and Xbox One will also immediately receive The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series Collection — which gathers all 19 existing episodes of the award-winning series into a single package — as a free pre-order bonus. PC players who pre-order on Steam, GOG, GamersGate, or the Humble Store will receive 10% off the full retail price. All pre-order offers expire August 14.

Season Description: Clementine, now a fierce and capable survivor, has reached the final chapter in her journey. After years on the road facing threats both living and dead, a secluded school might finally be her chance for a home. But protecting it will mean sacrifice. Clem must build a life and become a leader while still watching over AJ, an orphaned boy and the closest thing to family she has left. In this gripping, emotional final season, you will define your relationships, fight the undead, and determine how Clementine’s story ends.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season will be fully dubbed in French, German, Latin-American Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. It will also be subtitled in French, German, Latin-American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Russian, and both traditional and simplified Chinese. Episode one voice packs and translations will be available for download on launch day.

To date, The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series has sold more than 50 million episodes worldwide, earning more than 100 Game of the Year awards from outlets including Metacritic, USA Today, Wired, The VGAs, Yahoo!, The Telegraph, Mashable, Polygon, Destructoid, and GamesRadar. It also the received two BAFTA Video Games Awards for Best Story.

The Walking Dead is set in the world of Robert Kirkman’s award-winning comic book series and offers an emotionally-charged experience in which players’ actions and choices determine the course of the story across the entire series. For more information on the game, visit the official website and Facebook page, and follow Telltale Games on Twitter. For more information on The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, and all of his titles, visit Skybound.com.

Funcom Releases Second DLC for Conan Exiles

2018/08/02
boothby
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

OSLO, Norway – August 2nd, 2018 – Funcom today released the second DLC for Conan Exiles, the studio’s open world survival game which launched in May this year and quickly became the bestselling Funcom title of all time. The DLC, named Jewel of the West, introduces Aquilonia-themed building pieces, weapons, armor, furniture, and more. In Conan lore, Aquilonia is the center of the civilized world and the new content allow players to build homes and monuments in the grand style of this great nation.

For more information about the Jewel of the West Pack, check out the official blog and the Steam store. The DLC is available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 at $9.99. In addition to this new DLC, the development team is also hard at work on one of the biggest free updates to the game yet.

“The team is currently working hard on finalizing a massive free update that we’re aiming to launch in September,” says Creative Director Joel Bylos. “This update will introduce pets and taming, an entirely new gameplay feature. We’re also adding a new dungeon, a new religion, a new avatar, and more. This update will be free for all players on all three platforms.”

For more information on what the developers are working on, check out the official blog.

Conan Exiles is an open world survival game set in the savage lands of Conan the Barbarian. After a successful Early Access run starting in January 2017, the game launched in full on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on May 8th 2018 and became one of Funcom’s best-selling and fastest-selling games to date. For more information about the Conan Exiles, visit www.conanexiles.com.

Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn Mobile Launch Trailer

2018/08/02
boothby
Geek News, Mobile News, News, Trailers / Videos

MAPLEWOOD, N.J. – Aug. 2, 2018 – Saber Interactive has released Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn today on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets via the App Store and Google Play. Mobile gamers can play through the first level of Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn for free, with the complete game available to purchase for $4.99.

“It’s been a long time coming, but The Diesel is finally here to kick butt around the world on mobile,” said the game’s star, Shaquille O’Neal.

Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is a side-scrolling beat ‘em up featuring the notorious Shaquille O’Neal. With the world on the brink of disaster, play as the Big Diesel himself and journey to faraway locations to avenge your destroyed home and kung fu master. Use deadly combos and special power-up attacks to fight off enemy hordes and epic boss battles.

Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB. It is a co-production of Saber Interactive and Big Deez Productions, in partnership with Mad Dog Games. For more information, visit www.alegendreborn.com.

Insurgency: Sandstorm PvP Gameplay Trailer

2018/08/02
boothby
Geek News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

August 2, 2018 – Insurgency: Sandstorm is New World Interactive’s new game: a reborn, improved, and expanded sequel to indie multiplayer FPS hit Insurgency, coming September 2018 to PC and 2019 to consoles. See how close to the action you can get in the new trailer which features raw PVP gameplay from the Closed Technical Alpha. Focus Home Interactive and New World Interactive are also happy to announce Pre-order Beta Test 1 beginning next week.

From August 9 through August 13, players who have pre-ordered Insurgency: Sandstorm on Steam will receive exclusive access to Pre-order Beta 1.This will be the first official beta test, and the first time the game will be playable at home. New World Interactive is greatly looking forward to hearing what the wider Insurgency fanbase thinks and will be gathering as much feedback as possible leading up to the second Beta phase closer to the full release in September.

Available in Pre-order Beta 1 will be three maps from the final release build. Each is a complex maze of brutal interiors, deadly sniping lanes, and wide-open battlefields, each uniquely designed to make every moment of every game feel fresh. Whether your playstyle is run and gun, slow-paced, or more specialized, you’ll find plenty to study and learn across the maps. The four game modes – Firefight, Push, Checkpoint, and Skirmish – each change the accessible part of the map, drastically altering the available strategies.

Pre-order Beta 2 will begin August 30, just a few weeks before release, and have a further three maps available for play. This will allow players to test the full content of the launch version of the game. New World Interactive will be focusing their work during Beta 2 on bug fixing, server stability, and starting work on their extensive post-launch support plans.

Eager players can pre-order on Steam now for a 10% discount, reducing the price to €26.99 / £23.39 / $26.99. An additional 10% loyalty discount will be given to fans that own the original Insurgency, bringing the pre-order price down to just $24.99. This additional discount will be offered until the end of 2018, and all pre-orders will receive instant access to any ongoing beta tests as well as future ones.

As Pre-order Beta 1 will have no NDA and no streaming restrictions, those curious are invited to watch live gameplay on Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, and Facebook throughout the long weekend. Preview codes giving access to the beta are available on request to publications, content creators, and streamers.

Insurgency: Sandstorm releases on Windows PC in September 2018, with Linux and Mac support coming later, and on PS4 and Xbox One in 2019. Pre-order now on Steam and get bonuses, including exclusive access to both Pre-order Betas. Stay tuned for another announcement next week!

Plex Podcasts Out of Beta

2018/08/02
boothby
Geek News, Mobile News, News

Plex has announced that its Plex Podcasts feature is officially out of beta, with a number of updates, including:

  • Offline support
  • The ability to port your existing list of podcasts from any other app over to Plex in one shot
  • Listen on Sonos speakers, in the car—safely—with Android Auto, and you can now easily cast Plex Podcasts to any Chromecast-enabled device

You can find Plex’s official blog post on the Plex Podcasts launch here:

https://www.plex.tv/blog/podcasts-now-with-less-beta/

RØDE Unveils New Mobile Interview Kit

2018/08/02
boothby
Geek News, News, Tech News

August 2nd, 2018 Australian pro audio giant RØDE Microphones launches the brand new SC6-L Mobile Interview Kit, the latest Lightning connected recording solution for Apple iOS Devices.

The SC6-L is a compact duo-3.5mm TRRS-to-Lightning Mobile Interface that enables broadcast-quality audio recording with two RØDE smartLav+ microphones; a compact solution for on-the-go interviews and podcasts, both for audio only and filmed scenarios. It’s a pro-quality pocket podcast studio!

Thanks to the 3.5mm headphone jack, you can both monitor in real time and listen to playback. Download the free RØDE Reporter App to adjust input and monitor levels, along with a suite of other settings to reduce work in post – you can even share it immediately. The Mobile Interview Kit will also work with other iOS recording software. Simply plug-set-&-record.

The SC6-L Mobile Interview Kit comes packaged with the new SC6-L Interface, 2 x Clips, 2 x Windshields, 1 x Storage Pouch, and 2 x smartLav+ Microphones – RØDE’s professional-grade lavaliers. These discreet and portable miniature mics are made with omnidirectional condenser capsules and Kevlar® reinforced cables – the ideal choice for a wide range of film, TV, podcast and broadcast applications.

“We’re thrilled to announce the launch of RØDE’s new additions to iOS audio capture,” comments Damien Wilson, CEO of RØDE Microphones. “Following on from the VideoMic Me-L, the SC6-L Mobile Interview Kit is perfect for both media pros and emerging content creators, providing broadcast-ready audio on Apple devices at a stellar price. These products further cement our position as the choice for Today’s Creative Generation™.”

The SC6-L Mobile Interface and smartLav+ microphones are also available for purchase separately.

2018 San Diego Comic-Con Photo Gallery

2018/08/01
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, Screenshots / Photos, SDCC

Another San Diego Comic-Con is in the books and, albeit somewhat later than we would have liked, here is our photo gallery from this year’s festivities in San Diego, CA!

The Happytime Murders Inkhole Pop Up Tattoo Parlor Announced

2018/08/01
boothby
Geek News, Movie News, News

August 1, 2018 – STXfilms’ THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS is only a few weeks away from its eagerly anticipated theatrical release on August 24, but for four nights only from August 10-13, adult fans get an early peek into the NSFK world of puppet pleasures at the The InkHole, a one-of-a-kind pop-up tattoo parlor. Word on the street is The InkHole isn’t just a place for tattoos – there may be a hidden passage leading to a secret speakeasy. It is rumored that puppets from all walks of life, even prominent lawyer Fred, Esq., have been spotted at the popular hangout for the puppet underworld. So, if you’re looking for a good time and an experience you’ve never felt before, come and try your luck at a hand of Blackjack, grab a drink at the bar, and enjoy a variety of performances on the main stage, only at The InkHole!

STXfilms, a division of Robert Simonds’ global, next-generation media company STX Entertainment, marketing agency Giant Spoon and Henson Alternative have teamed up for this unique immersive activation that allows fans to rub shoulders with their favorite puppets and see who really pulls the strings.

THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS is set in the underbelly of Los Angeles where puppets and humans coexist. Two clashing detectives, one human and one puppet, are forced to work together to try and solve who is brutally murdering the former cast of “The Happytime Gang,” a beloved classic puppet show. Starring Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale and Elizabeth Banks with Brian Henson directing from a screenplay by Todd Berger. Based on a story by Todd Berger & Dee Austin Robertson. Producers are Brian Henson, Jeff Hayes, Melissa McCarthy, and Ben Falcone. (Credits not contractual)

Event Details:

  • Where: The InkHole, 1723 N. Hudson Ave, Hollywood, CA 90028
  • When: August 10-13
  • Hours: 8pm-12am
  • *Must be 21 or older to enter*

Admission is free – tickets available at:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-inkhole-tickets-48469144516