TOSY Robotics was showing off their mRobo dancing bass robot at this year’s CES. Derek Hough, three-time winner of TV’s Dancing with the Stars, choreographed a dance-off between two of the speaker-equipped robots, and fun ensued. The mRobo will be available later this year for $199.
Looks like Game Informer magazine may have some info about the revelations of the forthcoming “next-gen” Microsoft and Sony video game consoles. In Game Informer’s February 2013 issue, the magazine claims that the companies are planning “Apple-syle press conferences” near the time of the Game Developers Conference in the last part of March, 2013. This would put the game console announcements a month and change ahead of the venerable Electronic Entertainment Expo in June – leaving E3 to be more about the game announcements rather than the hardware.
The full quote from the magazine report reads, “We hear that both Sony and Microsoft are targeting special Apple-style press conferences to unveil their platforms near the Game Developers Conference in late March…”
Only time will tell, but we will keep you in the loop as soon as we hear more.
January 14th, 2013 — Want a more personal look into the creation of the first big entertainment launch of 2013, Dead Space™ 3? In partnership with Treehouse Brand Stores, the Dead Space 3 development team at Visceral Games has assembled an insider look for fans into the clues, art and inspiration behind the highly-anticipated game that CNET says “is back and promises to be more terrifying than ever.” Available when Dead Space 3 launches on February 5, 2013, the Dead Space 3 Dev Team Edition delivers exclusive merchandise and is available for presale* with the game for $160 (North America only) or without for $100 at http://
“We’re super excited to team-up with Treehouse and make something extra special for gamers that have been supporting us since the first Dead Space game,” says Steve Papoutsis, VP and GM of Visceral Games. “We, as a development team, really wanted to put our personal touch on these exclusive items so that they feel authentic and meaningful to our passionate fan base.”
Dead Space 3 Dev Team Edition includes:
Winner of more than 15 critic awards at E3 2012 including Best of Show from Game Informer Magazine, Dead Space 3 cuts to the heart of deep space terror. The game is recognized by game critics worldwide for its incredible craftsmanship in horror, action, suspense and sound design. Players will embark on a thrilling ride through space that takes them to a hostile new planet, Tau Volantis. Fortunately, they are not alone this time around. The fully integrated drop-in/drop-out co-op feature gives players the option to play alone or team-up with a friend anytime. Players that choose to take down the terror together will experience additional story details, side missions and gameplay mechanics only found when playing as John Carver.
Dead Space 3 will be available on February 5, 2013 in North America and February 8, 2013 in Europe for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and the PC. Follow us on Twitter at:www.twitter.com/deadspace or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/deadspace. For additional information and news, visit www.deadspace.com.
Kalamazoo, MI – January 14, 2013 –S2 Games wasn’t short on ambition in 2012. The publishers and developers of the popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game Heroes of Newerth more than doubled its workforce last year, creating their very own mobile gaming division in the process. To make room for these latest additions and continued growth in 2013 and beyond, S2 has relocated its headquarters to a corporate suite in the Portage Trade Centre, outside Kalamazoo.
“Our Heroes of Newerth player base grew by about 50 percent in 2012 and we have high expectations with the launch of HoN 3.0 in 2013,” said Marc DeForest, CEO of S2 Games. “We’re constantly seeking ways to improve our games and the services we offer to the player base, and that’s why we’re investing in a top-notch workforce and a great space to do the work.”
The new S2 offices now accommodate all of the company’s 90 employees, 49 of whom were added in 2012 alone. The 18,000 square foot space – 6,000 square feet more than their previous location – features state of the art amenities, as well as a new 55-seat enrichment classroom that will help educate S2’s employees on not only industry-related information, but also valuable job skills and topics for personal growth.
“Our employees are our biggest strength,” DeForest added. “A productive, educated, and happy workforce mean our games will be that much better.”
With that future in mind, S2 Games proudly launched a new mobile games development division – iGames –on Jan. 2, 2013. iGames is a wholly-owned subsidiary of S2 designed to bridge the gap between casual players and experienced gamers while growing S2’s unique vision of online multiplayer gaming. The team’s goal is to push the boundaries of what mobile games are and can be by focusing on a balanced mixture of fun and intuitive mechanics with deep, engrossing gameplay that caters to players of all skill levels.
Information on employment opportunities with iGames can be found at www.igames.com.
REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 14, 2013 — Acclaimed game developer Chris Taylor and his award winning Gas Powered Games® (GPG) team is ready to take you on a “walk on the wild side” with a brand new and unique gaming experience. Gas Powered Games today announced the development of Wildman™, a combination of an action role-playing game (RPG) and real-time strategy (RTS) game that could only come from the creative (and wild) mind of one of the industry’s most entertaining figures.
Wildman will be funded with a Kickstarter campaign that also was announced today. The official Kickstarter page has a video interview with Taylor and members of the GPG team and includes information about the game including videos and some early artwork from the dev team. GPG has a goal of raising $1.1 million in pledges.
“Kickstarter and crowdfunding allows us to fundamentally change the way we develop games. I’m thrilled that we are finally entering a new era of gaming, an era that allows collaboration and unprecedented levels of transparency with our customers,” says Taylor, creative director at GPG. “It allows us to work together as a team, create games more efficiently and direct our energy at the things that the players care about most.”
The GPG team has a long history of making successful RPG and RTS games such as Dungeon Siege, Supreme Commander and Demigod™. And the team will be pulling some of the best features from each of them to create the unique Wildman experience that is a combination of both popular genres.
Imagine a game where you control a single hero unit—the “Wildman”—in the middle of a raging battle between opposing forces in a specially designed War Zone. You engage the enemy and see your opponent switching tactics, forcing you to reconfigure your army to counter. You push the enemy back to their base before facing your opponent’s champion. Over the course of this battle, you upgrade your armies with new technology, execute special abilities, construct defenses, change your army composition, and shape-shift into new forms that grant you new abilities. This is Wildman.
Now imagine that between these War Zone battles you can go on role-playing adventures. You can explore fantastical environments. You can discover ancient dungeons full of mystery and treasure. You can earn new skills. You can discover and equip new weapons and armor. You can collect materials. You can craft new items. You can fight relentless onslaughts of men and monsters. This is also Wildman.
“Wildman takes the elements that we’ve crafted over the years with our action role-playing games and combines them with the things we love about real-time strategy,” said Taylor. “It’s original, it’s unique and we think our fans will embrace this new approach. And if you like what you are seeing and hearing about the game, we hope you’ll back us on Kickstarter.”
Wildman will release as a PC only product. It will be single player game that includes co-op multiplayer play modes. For more information on the game go to www.wildmangame.com. The official Kickstarter page for Wildman is located at http://www.kickstarter.com/
EA Sports has released a new, official trailer for their upcoming EA Sports NHL 13, called “#StartYourSeason”. Check it out!
BURLINGAME, Calif. January 14th, 2013 – TECMO KOEI AMERICA announces today that a download only Wii U™ version of the second video game adaptation of renowned action manga ‘Fist of the North Star’, entitled ‘Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2’, will be released on February 7th, 2013. Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 will also be released on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system via the PlayStation® Network on February 5th, 2013.
‘Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2’ follows the storyline of the entire manga and offers players a variety of modes and new features:
Additionally, ‘Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2’ also features an episode dedicated to Ken’s faithful companions, Bat and Rin. This chapter, although part of the original manga, hasnever before been visualised and provides a brand new, original experience for players.
Corsair’s Vengeance C70 Mid-Tower PC gaming chassis features excellent steel construction, plenty of internal space, top-notch cable management, and lots of air flow – all in something that resembles a futuristic ammo box. Our Vengeance C70 was painted military green and the first thing I noticed when un-boxing it were the awesome ammo box-style carrying handles on its top. Clearly, the case was designed to be moved around with easy. This is a huge feature in its own right as I have used several mid-tower gaming cases that I rued having to move anywhere. Often ungainly and heavy, the Corsair Vengeance C70 gaming chassis is none of those things. Whether it is empty or fully-loaded, its steel frame is deceptively easy to move – thanks to those especially-glorious carrying handles. Additionally, accessing the side panels of the case is accomplished via a cool (again ammo box-like) snap system. Each side panel has two snaps on it that open and close with a solid, rugged feel. They are incredibly strong and far more user-friendly than the sometimes finger-pinching slide systems most chassis use.
Carrying Handle and Side Snap (closed position)
Air flow is a huge issue for PC gaming rigs, and the Vengeance C70 is no slouch in this department – especially once upgraded a bit. Stock, it comes with three respectable 120mm fans. However, for those of you who want to take it up a notch, the case has room for SEVEN more 120mm fans. In my setup, I already had an Antec Kühler H2O 620 all-in-one liquid cooler with its own 120mm fan. So, I removed the fan on the back of the Vengeance C70 and used the radiator’s fan instead. Then, I moved the Corsair fan to one of the fan spots on the side window. The other two 120mm fans which come stock on the case are located at the inside of the two drive cages, pulling air across the SATA drives and into the case. In terms of noise, the case fans were reasonably quiet except when running at high speeds and, even then, were not horribly-noisy. To help keep noise down, Corsair has included some nifty rubber gaskets on the stock fan screws. These help reduce any noise from vibration. For you serious liquid cooled gamers out there, the case will support a 240mm radiator at its ceiling and another one if you remove the lower hard drive cage.
Another aspect of PC gaming cases are their cable management capabilities. A lot of manufacturers are simply adding space in between the motherboard tray and sidewall in which to stuff your various cables. Thankfully, the Corsair Vengeance C70 goes several steps beyond that with three plastic cable clips on the backside of the motherboard tray. Additionally, the three rubber cable ports allow for lots of access to various computer components while also allowing easy channeling of cables away from the visible areas of the case. I am not a cable management master by any stretch of the imagination. One of my mates who works at a well known hardware company often ribs me over this point. In building this system, however, I was very easily able to do some decent cable management with next to no skill at doing so. The Corsair Vengeance C70 comes with a few zip ties as well for further organization of your machine’s various cables.
Corsair Vengeance C70 with Cable Management in Place
The biggest issue I had with the Corsair Vengeance C70 is the lack of USB ports on the front panel – the case only features two of them. I would have liked to see four ports on the front panel, minimum. Thankfully, the two ports are USB 3.0 ports – so that helps. Aside from the lack of front panel USB ports, I would have also liked to have seen a bit more pizzazz inside the case. There is no internal case lighting at all and I think some vibrant, green LEDs would have complimented its military styling well. Aside from the design aspect of this, I always appreciate seeing what is happening inside my computer case without having to shine a flashlight at it.
Overall, the Corsair Vengenace C70 Mid-Tower Gaming Case is an excellent chassis that will fit your needs, whether your are a novice at case-building or a veteran. Furthermore, the large internal volume of the case allows for easy installation of liquid cooling radiators and up to nine 120mm fans for as much air cooling as you can handle. With that many fans in the case, you better take care to anchor it down as it could achieve straight and level flight. 🙂 The Corsair Vengeance C70 gaming case retails for $139.99 and is available now at the company’s official website.
[easyreview title=”Corsair Vengeance C70 Mid-Tower Gaming Case Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″] Our Rating Scores Explained
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Derek Mears (right) puts the strangle on at the 2012 Eyegore Awards
We recently got the chance to interview the very talented Derek Mears. Who is Derek Mears? You may know him as the actor behind the hockey mask in 2009’s Friday the 13th reboot. Or, perhaps, as the actor inside the “classic Predator” costume in Robert Rodriguez’s Predators. Maybe you were out in L.A. and saw him performing improv comedy at ComedySportz LA? The point is, you have seen this man somewhere and that film or event was better for having him in it. Derek has worked on over 80 films or specials as an actor, stuntman, or crew person. At 6′ 5”, this large, well-built man might intimidate the un-introduced – but, don’t let that fool you. Underneath his intimidating frame is an extremely talented individual and great guy, with an incredible outlook on life. Recently, Derek has provided voice work for the HALO 4 Spartan Ops web series and has a big role in the upcoming Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.
Derek Mears: Take that, technology – boom!
Derek Mears: Cool, I have no problems embarrassing myself, so let’s do this!
[Laughing]
Derek Mears: Well my entire career I have felt like a fan representing the fans out there. I’m such a, in a loving way, nerd/fanboy. I love comic books, sci-fi, machinima – yup, that’s me! [laughs] With the HALO game, I guess my name was being tossed around somewhere and I was asked, “Hey, if you could work on the new downloadable content for HALO 4, would you want to be involved?” and I just said, “Yeah, are you kidding me?!?” I tried to hide the twelve year-old cheerleader in me that wanted to lose my mind and they said, “Great, we’ll talk to the game managers and work this stuff out”. It was super-flattering and super-fantastic to be apart of. I play a giant, human-hating elite named “Gek”.
Derek Mears: You know, it’s tough. I’m a horror-nerd and I know its cliché but Jason Vorhees is my favorite horror character and he gave me so many nightmares growing up as a child – being able to play him is unbelievable. It came out in 2009 and even today I get tingles thinking to myself, “I got to play Jason! How fricken’ cool was that?” That was an absolute blast. The runner-up to that character would be with Steven C. Miller who just did Silent Night the remake. We did a movie called The Aggression Scale and I played a character called “Chissolm”, which is a horrible, horrible-sounding name [laughs], but that was a lot of fun – the movie is kind of like Home Alone on crack, I’d say [laughs]. Don’t get me wrong, any role that I get I am just thrilled and feel very fortunate to play.
Derek Mears (right) as the Classic Predator in Predators
Derek Mears: Yeah, well it’s so crazy right now with everything going on – I recently got to touch on HALO again and re-visit Skyrim a little bit. I have been finding myself doing this crazy “new thing” called reading books [laughs], which is weird. Um, I do love the Resident Evil game series. When I play them I like to turn off all the lights, turn my surround sound up and get completely immersed in the game. I find myself doing things like trying to look around the screen with my own face instead of the character’s face – like I am actually going to be able to see around the corner that way [laughs]. I love the horror/survival games.
Derek Mears: No I haven’t yet, how are they?
Derek Mears: [laughs] Aw, dude, those are two of like my favorite movies right there! Based on that alone, I am sold.
Derek Mears: Well, I grew up in Bakersfield, California and I have a disorder called alopecia which basically means I don’t grow hair, though I do a little bit now. People are always like “Oh wow, you were the jock in school ’cause you’re muscular”, and I am like “Oh no, I was the nerdy kid reading comic books”. I got into acting because of Dungeons and Dragons. My Mom bought it for me and I was like, wow, I wish could actually make a career out of playing with my friends – acting was the closest thing. When I was in high school, I went and saw an improv comedy show called “ComedSportz” and it was similar to “Who’s Line is it, Anyway?” and I fell in love with it. There is no script, it’s just an amazing creative process happening in the moment and evolving. It’s like having a giant party on stage and asking the audience to join you. Afterwards, they offered classes on who to play the on-stage games and I thought it would be fun to do and, at 17, I took a class. My only intention was to have fun and play and the owner came up to me and was like “Hey, we think you’re funny. Would you like to join the main company?” and I was just like “But I’m only 17 and you guys are much older…” and he just said, “We know!” So, I joined the team. Eventually, I moved to Los Angeles to do acting and comedy and ComedySportz LA was like, “You don’t need to audition, you’re part of the main company here” [laughs]. So, in my film jobs I am mainly known for punching you in the face and throwing you through a window – doing fight scenes, but my background is all improv so in my free time I like to go goof around and have a great time.
Who is Jared Padalecki and Amanda Righetti afraid of? Derek Mears, that’s who!
Derek Mears: Yeah, it’s funny because all my buddies are comedy guys and seeing them in film and TV is awesome. I would love to do more.
Derek Mears: You know, it’s hard to say because for me it’s like playing with all my friends. I like to play and create and so I feel like my job in life is to tell stories. My life philosophy is that nobody is better than anyone else – we all have our different skills and areas. I used to teach martial arts and I remember I had a student come in at one point and he had his head all lowered and bowed his head toward me. He said he saw me in a film and it was really cool and all that and I was like why are you bowing? He said “Well, its cool but I don’t do what you do.” and I just said “Dude, everyone has their skills – nobody is better than anybody else”. I asked him what he did and he said he was “just a mechanic”. I said “we all work together as a society. I have no idea how to work on a car. If my car breaks down, I go to you – you help me. You need a story told in your life, some entertainment, that’s my job, that’s what I do. No one is better”. What he did was very important and he said he basically never thought of it that way. That’s just kind of my philosophy in general about things.
Derek Mears: It’s kind of part of the job now where it’s like me clocking into the office is me clocking into the gym or training in martial arts. I get my work from being the big bad guy so I don’t know how many times a week I work out – it varies as I kind of listen to my body. But I definitely have to maintain a certain level of fitness, not for vanity but for a certain level of marketability.
Derek Mears: No it just depends on what role I have coming up if I need to gain weight or lose weight or have, you know, functional strength. I definitely vary it up – I bounce between things like CrossFit, martial arts. Anything I can do for muscle confusion.
Derek Mears: I have been so fortunate, man, to work with some really great human beings out there. If I am a fan of a particular actor and I don’t know them before the shoot, I sometimes find myself hanging back and not engage as much with them because the fear is – it’s happened before where you meet somebody and they turn out not be a good person and then any film I see them in afterwards I am like sad because I can’t get into their character because I know that they are not a good person. There are so many people who really deserve their careers – Will Smith is a fantastic human being. Jared Padalecki who I worked with on Friday the 13th is phenomenal – like just a down to Earth, good guy. I could literally make a list of a ton of people that are rock stars and I am so happy for them because they deserve all the accolades they receive.
Derek performing at ComedySportz LA
Derek Mears: That’s a big question – I don’t know, that’s a good one… A lot of them are not so much, like, well-known people. I liked a lot of people for different aspects like in my relationships there are certain things that I admire about people that I really dig. Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon, for instance, are friends of mine. Dan created Community and Rob created Monster House and we’ve been friends since… Well, I have known them since I did ComedySportz in 1990 – since I was 17. Seeing them as creative individuals, constantly in different mediums, being open, and constantly creating – it’s so inspiring to me. I remember they kept getting close to these really big projects and commercial success which would end up falling through. I just kept telling them to keep going – that they are both so far beyond talented. I am so stoked to see the industry finally saying that they are really great and to see them blow up and get that love and respect they deserve. They just have that perseverance like a true artist. You know, whether I get paid or not I am going to be doing the exact same thing but from home because that’s what I am here to do. I really respect and admire them for that.
Derek Mears: Oh yeah, for sure. It’s weird because when it comes to actors, as a fan, I like actors that have a bit of madness about them [laughs]. Like you look behind their eyes and say “there’s something going on – there is some history there”. Like, I would love to work with Tom Hardy some day. He’s got that kind of “Hmm, what’s going on behind your brain” quality [laughs]. It’s hard to shoot from the hip on this answer – later on I am going to be looking through the article, I’ll read it and be like “Oh no, wait up, what I meant to say was –“.
[laughing]
Derek Mears: Yeah, I am so lucky, man. I have a lot of stuff coming out in the first quarter of this year. I have a small spot in Gangster Squad – have a fun little scene with Josh Brolin that’s cool. The big thing for me right now is I have a big character in the upcoming Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters. I really hope people like it because after reading the script I was like “Oh my god, I am the demographic for this movie”. It’s the writer and director from the Norwegian zombie movie called Dead Snow. This is their first big production, possible tent pole movie. How I tried to explain it to people was like what Evil Dead is to horror, Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters is to action-fantasy with a huge horror element and cool feel to it. So, you’ll see characters get their faces blown off – it’s at the point where the violence is so over the top where it becomes slapsticky and funny. When they first pitched it to me, being a fanboy, I was just thinking that this was another fairy tale movie. After reading the script, I was just thinking about how much comedy was in it was so off-the-wall, cursing comedy. It is so wacky and yet taken so serious. I really hope people dig that (Editor’s Note: I really think the studio should have re-thought their marketing campaign for this film. Derek’s description makes me want to see it ASAP, unlike the trailer they released for it). So I also have Hatchet 3 coming out in, I think, the beginning of Summer and that was fun. I just did a movie called Compound Fracture with Tyler Mane who played Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake.
Derek Mears: Well, as actors we are always taught to be creative – that’s really our job. The weird thing about this business – to make a career out of it, is that we are often not taught that business side of it. The business is changing so fast now because of all the new media and its accessibility. That’s really where I see the future of all this. I always tell people that so many of us just sit around and wait for that big call. I just think that if you are creative, stop wasting your talent waiting and start creating now with whatever means you have. Get a video camera, get an iPhone, shoot yourself doing whatever you do and post it online. It’s also great in a marketing sense because if, say, you are a can of great soda and you are not on the store shelves, no one knows you exist. If you have that can of soda and its a good product, put it on that shelf – the Internet in this case, so people can shop and see it. The talent, I think, always rises to the top… It also helps you get better and better at the skills you have producing this content that eventually you might have a job in the industry because of all that time you spent just creating.
Derek Mears in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Derek Mears: Aw, man, I wish. I really wish. I spoke to Brad Fuller a couple months back and we had lunch. He was saying how Friday the 13th was his favorite project to have worked on. It’s all in the studio’s hands at this point…If they green-lit it, we would drop whatever it is that we are doing and we would make part two. We have a script and we are ready to rock but it’s all just the studios deciding what they want to do. He had mentioned that they wanted me to come back as Jason if they did it. I was just telling him that, as a fan – even if I didn’t come back, I am a fan and I would want to see more from the series as we all love the iconic character, Jason.
Derek Mears: That means the world to me, man, thank you so much for that compliment. When we were shooting it, we were trying do just that. You have to be respectful to what happened in the past with such a loyal fan following but you also have to take a risk and try to do something new for the new generation of fans who might not know about the character’s past and put them together. It was a challenge to do it but I am so happy that people enjoyed it.
We would like to give a special thanks to the awesome Derek Mears and the good folks at Persona-PR for making this interview possible.
NZXT’s Respire series of CPU coolers features both a high-end and budget minded option. The T40 is the more robust of the two, with four 8mm direct touch heat pipes and and two 120mm fans. The T20 features one 8mm and two 6mm direct touch heat pipes and one 120mm fan. When many gamers are turning to all-in-one liquid coolers, is an air-cooled option something to consider? Read on! Read More
