Monthly Archives: March 2014

Next-Generation Unreal Engine, Unity and Oculus Rift All Unveiled at GDC

It wasn’t just Sony using this year’s Game Developers Conference to unveil new wares to the public. There was big news from the folks behind the Unity engine, Unreal Engine 4 and Oculus VR (aka Oculus Rift). At GDC 2014, they all unveiled big news about their products and made them available to the gaming community.

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Did I Mention that Lando Calrissian is on Dancing with the Stars?

He might be 77-years-old, had two hip replacements and has an arthritic back but that isn’t stopping Billy Dee Williams, better known as Lando Calrissian, from giving it a go on Dancing with the Stars.

Billy Dee’s age and bad everything means he isn’t the best dancer on DWTS this season but Lando still has the crowd in the palm of his hand. He’s still a charmer 31 years on from Return of the Jedi. People still love him and hopefully the crowd reaction makes Abrams and company write Lando into Star Wars: Episode 7.

Anyway, here’s Billy Dee dancing a cha cha to Meco’s Star Wars disco. Regardless of what you think of the dance, it’s great to see Lando being Lando again.

Sony to Add More Video Sharing and Recording Features to PS4

ps4-console-headerWe knew it was going to a happen, it was just a matter of when not if it would happen. In a post on the official PlayStation blog, Sony Computer Entertainment America announced that a firmware update coming in the next few weeks would see the HDCP copy protection on PS4 games removed which will make video content producers (and the people who watch them) very happy.

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Infamous: Second Son’s Lead Designer Leaves Ahead of Launch

infamous-second-son-bannerWhile it’s not unusual for employees to leave game developers around the launch of a game after their services are no longer required, the latest development over at inFamous: Second Son developer, Sucker Punch Productions, was certainly unexpected.

Very quietly, the lead designer on inFamous: Second Son, Jaime Griesemer, has left Sucker Punch Productions only days before the release of the game.

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Blizzard Closes the Diablo III Auction House

diablo-iii-auction-house-bannerThe gavel has banged for the final time in the controversial Diablo III auction house. The feature, whose addition was blamed for Diablo 3 having an always-online requirement, was closed on Tuesday ahead of next week’s launch of the Reaper of Souls DLC.

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Sony Officially Unveils Its PS4 Virtual Reality Headset, Project Morpheus

sony-ps4-project-morpheusSony kicked of the 2014 edition of the Game Developers Conference by revealing the current worst kept secret in gaming. Shu Yoshida used the company’s innovation-themed GDC keynote to officially unveil Project Morpheus, Sony’s virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 4.

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The Rise of Video Game Economies

Money is something that we talk about a lot on et geekera (and it’s something that is likely to come up again soon in an upcoming beta impressions post). However, we never really talk about some of the theory behind the rise of virtual economies in video games. Fortunately, PBS’ Offbook YouTube channel brought in a Cornell business professor and a Rutgers law professor to explain the theory and rise of video game economies.

Twitter is Testing a New “Fave People” Timeline

Apparently Twitter is a firm believer in the old Red Green adage of “If it ain’t broke, you’re not trying.” The social media / microblogging (how long has it been since someone called it that?) is currently testing another change to the service. Some users of the Android app now have a “Fave People” feature added to the app that highlight tweets from specific accounts.

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BioShock Infinite: Burial At Sea – Episode One Review: Beyond the Sea

bioshock-infinite-burial-at-sea-episode-one-bannerAs someone who has BioShock on their personal top ten games of all-time list and top three of 2013, I had to go back to play the DLC that marries the two worlds of Rapture and Columbia together. But is Burial at Sea capable of properly combining two memorable stories and two memorable settings into one cohesive whole or does Burial at Sea come off as nothing but BioShock fan service for the sake of nostalgia?

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Comic Book Pull List for March 19, 2014

buffy-the-vampire-slayer-season-ten-1This week, everybody launches everything in the pull list. Marvel relaunches a couple of iconic series with first issues of Daredevil and the All-New Ghost Rider. DC can’t match that in terms of launches but they do have a new American Vampire story in American Vampire: Second Cycle #1.

Meanwhile, over at Dark Horse, they have a couple of new licensed series for you. Joss Whedon gets another new Dark Horse series to go along with the Serenity series with Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Ten #1. They also have a video game series with the debut of The Witcher #1. It’s a five-issue miniseries that would have been perfect if CD Projekt Red didn’t just delay The Witcher 3 to 2015.

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