Author - boothby

Moons of Madness Gets A Creepy ARG Just in Time for Halloween

2019/10/15
boothby
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

OSLO, Norway – Oct 15th, 2019 – Funcom have teamed up with alternate reality game (ARG) experts Alice & Smith to create an eerie and unique experience ahead of the launch of cosmic horror game Moons of Madness. The result is CyranoStory.com, where players from all over the world already have discovered hidden parts of the narrative and backstory of the highly anticipated game.

The ARG, which will continually be updated with new content till Moons of Madness launches on PC October 22nd, utilizes Google AI in an innovative fashion – giving it control over the storyline and player interactions.

“This is by far the most advanced ARG we have ever created,” explains Andrea Doyon, Chief Storyteller at Alice & Smith. “We have basically put Google AI in charge of the game universe. You interact with it through words, like with any other AI, but it will reply using emotions, sounds, visuals or even creepy ghost whispers.”

Fear is central to CyranoStory.com, and Doyon reveals that they have taught the AI 298 human phobias for this game. This will allow the AI to identify the players worst fears based on what they input. It will also allow the AI and storyline to evolve as the game reaches new stages.

And while it may be creepy, courageous gamers may find themselves greatly rewarded. Funcom and Alice & Smith are giving out 2000 keys for Moons of Madness, The Park and The Black Watchmen, as well as a grand prize trip to visit a NASA space center. The grand prize includes tickets for two people to Space Center Houston®, including Lunch with an Astronaut, Level 9 VIP Tour (Including Space Center Admissions; winners must be 14 or older to participate), round trip air transportation and hotel accommodations for three nights; all provided by Funcom Oslo AS*.

No Purchase Necessary. Void where prohibited. Restrictions apply. Visit www.CyranoStory.com after Noon EST 25 October for Official Rules and complete Terms and Conditions.
*Funcom declares no affiliation, sponsorship, nor any partnerships with any registered trademarks unless otherwise stated.

Moons of Madness is a first-person, story-driven cosmic horror game where the scientific exploration of Mars meets the supernatural dread of Lovecraft. The game is due to launch on PC in time for Halloween on October 22nd and on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One January 21st, 2020. For more information, check out the Moons of Madness Steam page.

Iron Danger Teaser Trailer Released

2019/10/15
boothby
Geek News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

HAMBURG, Germany — Oct. 15, 2019 — Publisher Daedalic Entertainment today announced it has partnered with independent developer Action Squad Studios to launch Iron Danger, a tactical combat RPG with simultaneous turns and time manipulation, in early 2020 for Windows PC, Mac and Linux. Iron Danger has already received accolades for its unique mechanics and atmosphere.

Get right up close to the action in Iron Danger’s brand-new teaser trailer:

Iron Danger is set in a world of magic and machinery that draws from both the Nordic myths that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy and from modern steampunk and tech noir. Players take on the role of Kipuna, a sharp-minded village girl who becomes imbued with an ancient power that grants dominion over time and death. Drawn into war, players must master their powers in order to protect mankind against total destruction.

With Iron Danger’s engaging time-control mechanic, players can rewind time for up to five seconds at any point in order to try different strategies and move combinations to find the right one for the job. Time manipulation gives traditional tactical combat a puzzle-like element, as players can continuously test new approaches and synchronize character actions for the perfect outcome.

Key Features:

  • Unique time-rewind mechanics combine the best aspects of real-time and turn-based combat.
  • Highly interactive environments provide advantages to succeed against impossible odds.
  • Adventure in a world of steampunk fantasy, meeting unique inhabitants inspired by Finnish folklore and fantasy.
  • Fight epic boss monsters.
  • No grinding! Character progression pace is controlled by the story, ensuring every fight matters.

For more information, visit https://irondanger.com, and wishlist the game on Steam at https://store.steampowered.com/app/899310/Iron_Danger.

D&D Classics Gets Console Release

2019/10/15
boothby
Geek News, News, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Xbox One News

Oct. 15, 2019 (LOS ANGELES) – Skybound Games and Beamdog have announced that enhanced editions of several classic Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing videogames – including Baldur’s Gate, the Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear expansion, Baldur’s Gate II, Planescape: Torment, and Icewind Dale – are now available on modern consoles for the very first time. Available today globally, these boxed versions can be purchased at major retailers for $49.99 each on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch:

  • Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition Pack: Celebrating the series’ 20th anniversary, the original Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and its sequel, Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition, return with all DLC and restored quest content, as well as the Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear expansion, featuring new original content developed by Beamdog to bridge the two games.
  • Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition / Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: Two must-play games and all their DLC in one package – the chilling Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, plus its expansions, and the enhanced edition of 1999’s RPG of the Year, Planescape: Torment.

These titles are also now available for digital download on the PlayStation®Store, Microsoft Xbox One Store, and Nintendo eShop.

Tailored for a natural gameplay experience on consoles, these enhanced editions give longtime fans and newcomers alike the opportunity to play these critically acclaimed adventures from a golden age of RPGs in a whole new way. Beamdog has upgraded each title with support for high-resolution widescreen displays, controls optimized for console controllers, new content, new characters and classes, expanded character creation options, redesigns of the UI and UX, bug fixes, balance changes and more.

Skybound Games and Beamdog will also release fellow all-time classic RPG Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition on consoles on Dec. 3, 2019. Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition is available to pre-order now at major retailers and the Skybound Shop: www.skybound.com/neverwinter-nights-enhanced-edition.

Football Manager 2020 Release Date

2019/10/14
boothby
Geek News, News, Windows PC News

October 14, 2019 – It gives us great pleasure to reveal that Football Manager 2020 will launch both digitally and physically for PC and Mac on November 19th. Fans who pre-purchase Football Manager 2020 from a participating digital retailer will receive a 10% discount and access to the pre-release Beta version, which will be available circa two weeks prior to release. There is also a 10% discount for those pre-ordering from participating physical retailers. More details regarding the Google Stadia launch will follow very soon. Thank you for your patience.

Football Manager 2020 Touch (Steam, iOS & Android) and Football Manager 2020 Mobile (iOS and Android) will also launch on November 19th. Check www.footballmanager.com for device compatibility and stay tuned for a Football Manager 2020 Touch for Nintendo Switch release date announcement very soon.

Haunted Little Tokyo Announces The Block Party for Saturday Oct. 26

2019/10/14
boothby
Geek News, Halloween, News

Throughout the eerie month of October, Haunted Little Tokyo presented by the Little Tokyo Community Council has unleashed a chilling array of Halloween festivities from pumpkin patches to haunted tours and film screenings. Dare to join the Little Tokyo community as it unwraps the ultimate end to the month-long celebrations with a frightfully-fun block party, costume contest, and trick-or-treating at Haunted Little Tokyo: The Block Party on Saturday, October 26 from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. in Downtown LA.

DETAILS:
Halloween enthusiasts of all ages are invited to dress their best and Go Little Tokyo for a one night Halloween extravaganza oozing with devilish desserts and delicious bites from local food vendors, bone-chilling drinks from the haunted beer garden, and hair-raising musical entertainment and activities. Haunted Little Tokyo: The Block Party is closing down 2nd Street between Central & San Pedro Street in the oozing heart of Downtown LA for this highly anticipated Halloween bash featuring the ultimate costume contest with cash prizes. Spooky festivities from games and adventure races to free STEM lab activities will fill the night with ghoulish fun for witches and warlocks of all ages. The grown and mischievous can keep the party going until sunrise with the Haunted Little Tokyo 21+ after-party hosted by Little Tokyo Vibes at Noy Pitz Bar and Grill.
WHEN:
Saturday, October 26
Trick-or-treating, 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Haunted Little Tokyo: The Block Party, 6:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.
Haunted Little Tokyo After Party, 11 p.m. – 2 a.m.

LOCATION:
Trick-or-treating and Haunted Little Tokyo: The Block Party will be located at 2nd Street in between Central Ave. and San Pedro St. in Downtown Los Angeles. Haunted Little Tokyo After Party will be held at Noypitz at 333 S Alameda St Suite 115, Los Angeles, CA 90013.

 
PRICES:
Trick-or-treating and Haunted Little Tokyo: The Block Party are free to attend!
Activities range from free – $30 depending on activity.
Haunted Little Tokyo After Party tickets begin at $10 and are available at https://thealliance.ticketleap.com/haunted-little-tokyo-after-party-2019/dates/Oct-26-2019_at_1000PM.
PARTNERS:

Haunted Little Tokyo: The Block Party is presented by the Little Tokyo Community Council and sponsored by Council District 14: Councilmember José Huizar, Wolf and Crane, Go Little Tokyo and Metro Los Angeles, Cafe Dulce, Japanese Village Plaza, LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics), Little Tokyo Business Association, Little Tokyo Public Safety Association, Pikunico, Prime Pizza.

Beer Garden Sponsored by Wolf and Crane, Brunswig Square, The Mermaid, Bintang, Kirin Ichiban, and Soto Sake. Costume Contest Sponsored by Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council Arts District and Little Tokyo. Trick Or Treat Co-Presented with KIDZGEN and sponsored by Glico, Hi-Chu, and Meiji.

Food Vendors: Azay, Buttery Popcorn Co., Cafe Dulce, Hello Stranger, KASIH, Pikunico, Rice and Nori, Takoyaki Tanota, Tokyo Doggie Style, Steamy Bun Truck, and Takuma Burgers.

Vendors: Anime Jungle, Japan LA , JBS Radio, Lumica, and Asobi Rin – Virtual YouTuber.


Stage: DJs – KeyKool, Phatrick, plus a special guest anime DJ sponsored by Lumica USA.

Warhammer Vermintide 2 Winds of Magic Coming to Consoles

2019/10/14
boothby
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Xbox One News

October 14, 2019 – The wait is over – Vermintide 2 Winds of Magic expansion is heading for Xbox One and Playstation 4 in December.

The first expansion for Warhammer: Vermintide 2 brings a brand new enemy faction and new challenges to the game. As a meteor crashes down in the Reikland, Beastmen emerge from the depths of the Reikwald forest and rush to the epicenter to claim it as a Herdstone. It is up to the five heroes to stop them before a dreadful disaster strikes the Empire.

 

SK Hynix Gold S31 1TB SSD Review

2019/10/14
boothby
Geek News, Hardware News, Hardware Reviews, News, Reviews

SK hynix, the world’s second largest memory manufacturer, has long been a supplier of OEM and enterprise SSDs and only recently began marketing its own drive to the consumer space. Enter the SK hynix Gold S31: A solid-state drive boasting reliability, speed, and efficiency – all while not costing too much. Installing the SK hynix Gold S31 was very straightforward. If you have ever installed a 2.5″ solid-state drive before, you won’t have any difficulties. If not, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube so be sure to use them if you need to.

The drive itself has a relatively simple and standard 2.5″ SSD design. It’s housed in an aluminum body with the SK hynix gold logo on the top side. On the rear side of the drive, you’ll find the standard power and data ports. In terms of its design, that’s about it. SK hynix is pulling ahead of the pack by boasting a five year manufacturer warranty on the Gold S31! Although, it is important to note that the company is based in South Korea, so it could take a little longer than with a warranty from a US-based entity. Either way, five years is very impressive and shows a great pride and belief in their product and is way longer than most SSD makers feature.

I played through some very disk-heavy games on the SK hynix Gold S31 and, thankfully, switching back and forth between games didn’t take too long thanks to the drive’s impressive read and write speeds. I played Ghost Recon: Wildlands as well as DCS World and neither had any stutters while loading terrain from the disk. In copying files back and forth from the drive, I was also impressed with its high access rates. The manufacturer boasts an up to 560MB/s read speed and sequential write speeds of up to 525MB/s which is better than the average for this kind of drive – although much better than most at its price point and storage capacity.

Overall, the SK hynix Gold S31 solid-state drive is a terrific performer for a very reasonable $120 dollars (give or take a few dollars depending on where you’re purchasing from). I wholeheartedly recommend this drive – not only an OS drive but, also, a drive more than capable of running your favorite games that require a lot of disk reads and writes. As a gamer, I have no regrets about selecting this unit for my high disk-use games. The SK hynix Gold S31 is available now! You can find out more at their official website.

Disney’s Jungle Cruise Official Trailer

2019/10/11
boothby
Geek News, Movie News, News, Trailers / Videos

October 11, 2019 – Join the adventure of a lifetime and watch the action-packed new trailer for Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE and feel free to share it and the brand-new poster with your readers!

The trailer was launched via a fun-filled Instagram Live featuring Dwayne Johnson, interacting with a boat full of skippers from the Jungle Cruise attraction at the Disneyland Resort.

Inspired by the famous Disneyland theme park ride, Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE is an adventure-filled, Amazon-jungle expedition starring Dwayne Johnson as the charismatic riverboat captain and Emily Blunt as a determined explorer on a research mission. Also starring in the film are Edgar Ramirez, Jack Whitehall, with Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti.

Jaume Collet-Serra is the director and John Davis, John Fox, Dwayne Johnson, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia and Beau Flynn are the producers, with Doug Merrifield serving as executive producer.

Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE opens in U.S. theaters on July 24, 2020

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood PDXCon Teaser

2019/10/11
boothby
Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

Lesquin, France, October 10, 2019 – Announced for the first time at E3 2019, Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, developed by Cyanide and published by Bigben, will be unveiled at PDXCON on October 18, 19 and 20 in Berlin. On Saturday fans will be able to watch an exclusive game trailer and then Julien Desourteaux, Game Director at Cyanide, will take the stage to reveal more information about the game during a keynote speech.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is the first action-RPG game adaptation of the iconic role-playing game. Become Cahal, a banished werewolf, forced to return to aid of his endangered Tribe and master the devastating Rage within him to punish all those that would pollute, destroy, and corrupt our Mother Earth, Gaïa. On his bloody quest for redemption, Cahal will play a pivotal role in the Great War of the Garou against Pentex, a powerful corporation whose activities are upsetting the balance of nature.

Stela – Xbox One Release Date Trailer

2019/10/11
boothby
Geek News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

VANCOUVER – Oct. 11, 2019 – SkyBox Labs, co-developer of Halo Infinite, have released Stela on Apple Arcade. The cinematic platformer following a young woman in the last days of a mysterious ancient world comes to Xbox One on Oct. 17 and PC in early 2020.

Guide the sole survivor of the dying planet across ruined landscapes populated by ravenous creatures. Explore the remnants of civilization and solve puzzles which focus on scale in colossal environments.

Sneak past strange entities to complete puzzles before deftly escaping their clutches for good. Navigate once-thriving regions, uncovering their secrets while seeking new paths toward potential salvation in a monastery atop a snow-capped mountain.

From an abandoned farm to misty forests, fiery wastes, and mysterious monuments, Stela’s landscapes evoke a constant struggle against a once beautiful but now dangerous world.

Each area is handcrafted with muted aesthetics and employs massive scale to reinforce the foreboding atmosphere of the world and create a cinematic experience. The narrative unravels through interaction with the environments, all set to an ambient soundtrack from Wandersong and Rogue Legacy audio veterans A Shell in the Pit.

“Our focus on creating an in-depth narrative with no dialogue and minimalist controls has created an accessible experience that still carries great emotional weight sure to delight our fellow fans of cinematic platformers,” said Shyang Kong, co-founder, SkyBox Labs. “Apple Arcade is the perfect platform for Stela, putting our tale of a young woman’s journey in the hands of fellow travelers.”

Stela is available now on Apple Arcade devices for all subscribers and will be $19.99 USD on Xbox One.

For more information, please visit the Stela website or follow the studio on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.