Author - boothby

Crusader Kings II – Jade Dragon Feature Breakdown Trailer

2017/10/10
boothby
Geek News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

STOCKHOLM – 10 October 2017 – His most grand and royal eminence, the Emperor of China, has sent an ambassador with intelligence on what to expect once you make his acquaintance in Crusader Kings II: Jade Dragon. In a new feature video from Paradox Development Studio, Henrik Fahraeus, the Game Director for Crusader Kings II goes through some of the changes and new systems coming in Jade Dragon, the newest update to Paradox’s best-selling medieval strategy game.

Jade Dragon expands on Crusader Kings II by introducing the power of a meddling foreign emperor, whose great energies cannot be contained in China alone. Can you channel this imperial ambition to bolster your own kingdom? Maybe you will become strong enough to claim the Middle Kingdom for your own dynasty.

Paradox has also announced that Jade Dragon will be sold for a suggested retail price of $14.99. The expansion will be available later this fall.

Queen Mary’s New Ghosts and Legends Tour Begins Oct 20

2017/10/09
boothby
Geek News, Halloween, News

LONG BEACH, Calif., (Oct. ​9, 2017) –The Queen Mary, dubbed one of the top 10 most haunted places on Earth by Time Magazine, is pleased to unveil the newly-intensified and re-inspired Ghost and Legends, opening to the public on Friday, October 20. Offered year-round, thrill seekers and scare enthusiasts are invited to board the haunted RMS Queen Mary to test their fears in the world’s largest interactive and fully immersive haunted attraction. Experience the spirit legends of the Queen Mary first-hand with all-new special effects, cutting-edge technology and, of course, the chance to encounter paranormal activity for a one-of-a-kind, spine-chilling, fun time.

“The new Ghosts and Legends offers guests an entirely different level of the traditional haunted experience. We crafted terrifying original stories and characters based the ship’s well-known paranormal tales and hot-spots onboard the Queen Mary to create a truly thrilling, immersive, and unique encounter,” said Brian Luallen, Director of Entertainment Events, The Queen Mary.

The reimagined Ghost and Legends elevates scares with innovative interactive technology and special effects including a tesla coil firing 3.4 million volt bolts of lightning at a frightfully intimate distance, massive water effects, fog projections with state of the art CGI specters, and a hand-held ghost tracking tablet given to select attendees for the tour. To further enhance the frights, tour groups will also be given a flashlight to guide their way through the dimly lit attraction. Thrill-seekers beware – the flashlights will be controlled by the twisted minds of the Ghost and Legends producers!

Ghost and Legends haunted experience aboard the Queen Mary will open on Friday, October 20​ at 11 a.m. The year-round attraction will be open daily and runs every 30 minutes starting at 11 a.m., accommodating up to 30 guests per experience. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children and are available at http://www.queenmary.com/tickets/. For more information, including hours or to purchase tickets online, please visit queenmary.com

Ghost Recon Wildlands is Free This Weekend

2017/10/09
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Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

SAN FRANCISCO — October 9, 2017 — Today, Ubisoft® announced that Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon® Wildlands will offer a free weekend on PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One and Windows PC from October 12–15. In addition to having full access to the base game’s content, new players will get the chance to experience Ghost War, the new free PvP update for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, which will be available as a free update on all available platforms starting tomorrow, October 10.

New players will be able to pre-load the game starting today, October 9 on Uplay PC. In conjunction with this free weekend, there will be 50% discount on all editions of the game. Players who purchase the full game will see all their progress carry over from the free weekend. Please visit www.ghostrecon.com/freeweekend to register, pre-load the game on PC and get all detailed information about the free weekend.

Ghost War is a 4-versus-4 team deathmatch experience that builds on the tactical squad play from the main game, where strategy is equally as important as skill. Using one of the 12 distinct classes, each with their own varied characteristics, weapons, perks and customization options, players will engage with enemies across eight unique maps. Ghost War also integrates new PvP mechanics, including suppressing fire and sound markers, to create a strategic and intense team-based multiplayer mode.

Additionally, the development team is planning to expand the PvP experience by adding new classes, new maps and new modes over the next few months, while continuously working on balancing and quality of life updates. All new maps and modes will be free for all players. All new classes will be unlocked with Prestige Credits gained through progression and available free with a one-week early access for all Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands Season Pass owners.

Developed by Ubisoft Paris*, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is a military shooter entirely playable in up to 4-player co-op or single-player from beginning to the end. Players have total freedom of choice to accomplish their missions how they want and watch as the world reacts to their actions. Players can choose to move quietly in the night, go in hot at dawn, or work together to execute a sync shot that takes out enemies in one fell swoop. Each choice has a consequence, and players must improvise or adapt their plans to ensure the completion and success of each mission.

For more information about Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands and the latest beta news, please visit www.ghostrecon.com, follow us on www.twitter.com/ghostrecon or www.facebook.com/ghostrecon, and join the conversation by using #GhostRecon.

For the latest on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands and all of Ubisoft’s games, please visit www.ubiblog.com.

*In collaboration with Ubisoft Annecy, Bucharest, Montpellier, Milan, Belgrade and Reflections studios.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Trailer Premieres Tonight

2017/10/09
boothby
Geek News, Movie News, News

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. (October 8, 2017)—Lucasfilm announced today that the trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi will debut on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” on Monday, October 9, during halftime of the National Football League (NFL) game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears in Chicago. The game starts at 5:15 p.m. PDT/8:15 p.m. EDT.

Following the trailer launch, tickets to the highly anticipated cinematic event will be on sale everywhere movie tickets are sold.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in U.S. theaters on December 15.

Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor Celebrates Event’s Largest Opening

2017/10/06
boothby
Geek News, Halloween, News

Long Beach, Calif. –The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor opened on Thursday, September 28 unveiling a spectacle of new, terrifying attractions with more monsters and scares than ever before. Thousands of brave thrill seekers joined the cast of spirits and phantoms for a completely sold out opening weekend. The blood curdling terror of Dark Harbor will continue with themed entertainment and thrilling special events on select nights through November 1.

Dark Harbor offers hair-raising-fun entertainment and special ghoulish events throughout the frightful season. Nightly shows on the fire stage welcome the Queen Mary spirits showing off their terrifying talents with fire breathing, circus performances, monster dance parties, live music, and more. The Ariel stage holds nightly spine-tingling performances by the world-renown contortionist, a silk aerialist, magicians, nightly DJs and more.

Dark Harbor Sliders will skid fear down Monster Midway, showing-off their death defying tricks and popular Slider Olympics, with two shows per night. On October 14 and November 1, Dark Harbor will once again push the artistic boundaries of ‘sliding’ by bringing the top sliders from across Southern California together at the authentic haunt with Sliders Unite.

On Halloween night, October 31, Dark Harbor will celebrate the haunted holiday with its annual costume contest. Then November 1 will welcome the Dia De Los Muertos celebration. Thrill seekers are invited to don their best costume, dance with monsters, and sip specialty spirits for a frightful fete like no other.

Dark Harbor 2017 unveiled multiple new attractions including the gruesome new maze, FEAST, that tells the tale of the newest resident spirit, Chef, and his long-forgotten legend. FEAST is the 4th maze onboard the actual Queen Mary ship, venturing into previously unrevealed areas. Also new this year, the Chef’s Meat Locker unveiled the frozen depths of the one-of-a-kind ice bar experience taking guests into a 9-degree environment for a curated selection of flavored tasting flights.

Iconic Dark Harbor mazes Deadrise, B340, Lullaby, Soulmate, Intrepid and Circus returned, each with new enhancements and horrors, haunted by the spirits of The Captain, Half Hatch Henry, Scary Mary, Graceful Gail, Iron Master, The Ringmaster and more than 400 terrifying monsters.

For the first time, Dark Harbor offers three parking options for convenient and cost effective festival arrival and departure. General parking is located at the Long Beach Court House for $15 a vehicle and in the Aquarium of the Pacific Parking Structure for $3/hour or $16 per vehicle. General parking guests can hop on the FREE shuttle bus for complimentary rides to Dark Harbor from 4 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., or board the FREE Dark Harbor Express boat at Dock 4, operated by Aqua Link open 6 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Premium parking is limited and available onsite at the Queen Mary for $20 per vehicle.

Dark Harbor will be open on select night through November 1 from 7 p.m.-12 a.m. on Thursday and Sunday nights, and 7 p.m. – 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday evenings. Happy Haunting Hour is available 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. in the all-new Voodoo Brew in Voodoo Village before the gates open to Dark Harbor. Tickets to Happy Haunting Hour are very limited, start at $20 and include general admission to Dark Harbor with arrival prior to 8 p.m. General admission tickets start at just $24 online. For more information, or to purchase tickets visit www.queenmary.com/events/dark-harbor.

Everspace Encounters DLC Announced with Teaser Trailer

2017/10/05
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Geek News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

Hamburg, October 5, 2017 – Hamburg-based indie developer ROCKFISH Games announce the DLC EVERSPACE™ – Encounters for PC and Xbox. The major expansion will add over 10 hours of extra gameplay to the core game, and be released on Steam and GOG.com end of October, this year. As the project has to be migrated to UE4.17 to support Xbox One X, it will hit the Xbox One family in early February, 2018, together with a free update of the core game, supporting 4K and improved graphics at 1080p on Xbox One X.

The expansion will feature a new player ship, the Colonial Sentinel, a medium fighter class ship, which will impress with some serious electronic warfare capabilities and a special shield, featuring twice as much capacity as the standard model. Space pilots will also be able to use a plethora of new weapons, devices and consumables to fool, distract, and defeat enemies in new ways.

All-new factory space stations add further gameplay mechanics to the game experience, by offering special on-the-fly services, like refining and converting resources, upgrading ship capabilities or minor repair jobs. Furthermore, daring space pilots will even be able to pay the Okkar Homeworld a visit. Along their journey, they will also encounter new types of enemies and new story characters, who will offer individual questlines.

Thanks to the roguelike core game loop in EVERSPACE, all pilots will bump into them sooner or later, without having to finish the main story, first. Those who already beat the game entirely, will find a fresh motivation to get back into the game and find out about what these characters are up to and unveil further secrets in the galaxy.

Dual Universe Pre-Alpha Teaser Trailer

2017/10/05
boothby
Geek News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

Paris, France, October 4, 2017 — Independent game developer Novaquark announced today that Dual Universe has reached its public Pre-Alpha stage and that the game’s first live public playable build was available on September 30th. Access was granted to about 2,500 Kickstarter and crowdfunding backers that have pledged at Gold Founder level and above, prior September 7th.

Thanks to the support of its community, Dual Universe became the 3rd most funded video game on Kickstarter last year, with a total of subsequent crowdfunding reaching $1M pledged by 10,000 backers. Dual Universe is delivering the premises and foundations of the next generation of MMO gaming. The game’s incredible vision is illustrated in the new Pre-Alpha video teaser released today.

“Following up our recent global $7.4M mark in fundraising, this public Pre-Alpha milestone is very important to us and our community. Our proprietary CSSC (Continuous Single-Shard Cluster) and voxel engine technologies are now benchmarked for the first time with real players and not just bots.” explained Jean-Christophe Baillie, CEO at Novaquark.

He went on: “It is truly amazing to think that when you see a moon in the sky, it’s actually there, you can fly to it with a proper spaceship. And you could carve out half of it, given enough time, as the world is entirely editable. Everyone will see it. This kind of giant continuous world experience has never been seen before in gaming. We can’t wait to see what people are going to build over the next weeks.”

Check out Dual Universe Pre-Alpha Video Here

At the heart of Dual Universe is a truly innovative proprietary technology, which was developed to lay the foundations of the game. The CSSC (Continuous Single-Shard Cluster) manages one single universe with potentially millions of people interacting in it at the same time. Inside the CSSC is also a multi-scale voxel engine that enables players to physically modify the world; dig a hole, carve up a mountain or build anything they want, from space ships to orbital stations.

Novaquark is building a virtual world environment where they hope millions of people will be able to live exciting collective adventures within a vibrant and emergent universe where everything is possible. The company aims at creating a new form of entertainment, where participants are free to create their own stories and environment, economy, political systems, warfare, etc. The vision for Dual Universe is to create the first virtual online civilization, a vision close to Ernest Cline’s Oasis in Ready Player One.

Starpoint Gemini Warlords: Cycle of Warfare Launch

2017/10/05
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Geek News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

Haarlem, the Netherlands, September 28, 2017 – Publisher Iceberg Interactive and developer LGM Games are proud to announce new content for their acclaimed space sim Starpoint Gemini Warlords, titled ‘Cycle of Warfare’. Cycle of Warfare is the biggest content expansion ever developed by the studio and will be available on October 5th 2017 through Steam and other major digital retailers, with an SRP of $9.99.

About Cycle of Warfare
The Cycle of Warfare DLC brings several features that dramatically expand the game with over 100 hours of additional conquest and scenario gameplay. In this new expansion, players will be able to start their conquest over the Gemini system as one of three established factions, each with their own rivals and advantages: Iolian Pact, Korkyra, and Outerlands.

In addition, two new challenge scenarios are included. Play as the A’shriari, the unforgiving alien race bent on humanity’s extinction, or choose the life of an ambitious privateer and lead your clan to wealth and glory. Both challenges modify the game’s rules in different ways, moving away from empire management towards riskier gameplay.

The A’shriari are convinced that the only way to complete victory is a brutal scorched-earth military strategy. In the A’shriari scenario players will be able to:

  • Fly and command capital ships of an exclusive new alien ship line, from gunships to carriers;
  • Vanquish all human life from the Gemini system by shutting down all of the infrastructure;
  • Fire a massive weapon directly from their mothership, burning planets and vaporizing all means of sustaining life.

These conquest scenarios can be easily modified in-game to allow the players to customize their own starting advantage as they see fit.
Owners of the base game will also discover new content such as encounters with rare enemy alien ships that will drop epic equipment.
Key features:

  • Five new playable factions: Iolian Pact, Korkyra, Outerlands, A’shriari, and privateers
  • Three new conquest scenarios
  • Two new challenge scenarios
  • New ship line, a new weapon and new ability (as the A’shriari)

Warframe Plains of Eidolon Accolades Trailer

2017/10/05
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Geek News, News, PlayStation 4 News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox One News

LONDON, ON – October 5, 2017 – Independent game developer and publisher Digital Extremes is ready to open the flood gates of its cooperative online action game, Warframe®, to a whole new wave of players. With Plains of Eidolon‘s release hitting PC and Steam next week, Digital Extremes’ new Open Zone design offers a vast new geography packed with exploratory daytime activities and towering night-time battles unlike anything Warframe players have seen before. The Plains of Eidolon expansion will launch on PC first, on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One this November, and is free to play.

In Plains of Eidolon, players will discover a brand new experience vastly different from the maze-like tilesets they’ve known. For the first time in Warframe, players will see exquisitely lit vistas with an ongoing day/night cycle that creates an alluring continual emotional experience of dawn, day, dusk, and night. In the day-time, Tenno (players’ in-game name) will have the freedom to seek missions from colorful vendors in the makeshift colony of Cetus, including as many as 50 other players with which to socialize. Players will cajole and converse with an eclectic collection of vendors like mining experts, fish mongers, beast masters, mask makers, and weapon smiths, the latter of which enables players to create a series of modular weapons, customized to their tastes like never before.

Outside of town, solo or in squads of up to four, players can freely explore the Plains. Filled with stunning lush hillsides, busy lakes and rivers inhabited by schools of underwater creatures, and hidden cave systems, Tenno can entertain themselves with mini-games such as spearfishing and mining to gather resources, or engage in heroic land and air battles — using the reworked Sky Archwing — against an ever-belligerent Grineer presence.

Best of all, daytime activities are available to all players of any experience level! But once night falls, enemies scatter and hide as the plains are haunted by mammoth Sentients. Summoned by a mysterious force, the towering Spectral Sentients known as Eidolon ascend from the waters and threaten all living things in their paths. What do they search for every night? What will it take for your team to defeat them?

Additional key features include:

  • Debut of the Deadly Warrior: Witness the introduction of the 34th Warframe, Gara, who manipulates glass to fracture the resolve of her enemies. Gara’s unique Abilities comprise Shattered Lash, which thrusts forward a deadly glass blade, or performs a 180-degree sweep, damaging anyone in its path; Splinter Storm, which surrounds her target with swirling shards of glass; Spectrorage, which creates a ring of mirrors around a target area, and Mass Vitrify: an Ability that expands a ring of molten glass slowly crystallizing enemies who enter.
  • New Weapons: Gara wields a new arsenal of powerful weapons, including:
    • Astilla: The deadly Astilla shoots slugs that explode on impact, dispersing lethal glass shards in all directions
    • Volnus: The heavy Volnus deals a large amount of damage and can beat enemies to a pulp, providing you have the strength to wield it
    • Fusilai: The stealthy glass shurikens pierce through flesh and armor, taking down enemies unheard
  • New Reinforcements:
    • Argonak: Pick off targets by highlighting distant enemies using this Grineer rifle’s advanced laser sighting system. Deadly in both single fire and automatic modes
    • Krohkur: This hooked blade rewards critical hits to those skilled enough to strike with finesse
    • Dual Krohkur: Battlefield butchery becomes all too easy with a Korhkur blade in each hand
  • Fashionista: Indulge your Fashion Frame sensibilities with the Virago Helmet and Gara’s new signature Hyalus Syandana. All of Gara’s components can currently be found in-game while her Blueprint will arrive in a Quest later this month
  • Focus 2.0: Experience the reintroduction of the Operator-Warrior Focus Rework 2.0. This new system changes the Skill Tree to be more combat-focused, enabling you to equip your Operator with distinct Weapons and Armor found deep in the Caves of the Plains
  • And More!
    • Players can acquire the Mag Deluxe Skin, Deluxe Tonfa, and Deluxe Syandana or purchase them in the in-game market
    • Resource collecting and, new to Plains of Eidolon, ‘Stone Fish’ Collecting
    • Collect new ship decorations and a new Grineer weapon
    • New Mods and Stances

Visit the official Warframe website at www.warframe.com and download the game now for free. Join the community and the fun on PC, Xbox One or PS4. To keep up with the latest updates from the development team, be sure to follow Warframe on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight Volume 3 Out this Week

2017/10/04
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Comics News, Geek News, Halloween, News, Trailers / Videos

(Hollywood, CA-October 3rd 2017) Award winning comic publisher Storm King Comics announced its convention plans for this year’s New York Comic Con. Their latest Halloween anthology release John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight Volume 3 hits stores this week and Storm King will have their NYCC exclusive edition on hand with a cover by legendary comic artist Cat Staggs (Wonder Woman, Crosswind) available at booth 2304. The publisher’s full line of comics and graphic novels will be available as well as exclusive New York Comic Con 2017 Storm King Comics buttons. Each $1 button purchase gets you entered into a MYSTERY BOX raffle. 4 buttons to choose from and each MYSTERY BOX includes over $50 of goods, some signed by the creators. Make sure and download the New York Comic Con app as well to get the beacon password to get a FREE minicomic from the anthology entitled Everlasting Peace created by Sandy King (writer) and Jan Duursema (artist). Grab all the good stuff at the booth and check out the signing schedule for creators that will be on hand to make your NYCC souvenir a once and a lifetime event.

Unfamiliar with the new book? Check out the trailer: