Monthly Archives: May 2014

Dota 2’s The International Compendium Purchases Double the Prize Pool in Three Days

Last Thursday, Valve released their official digital program for this year’s Dota 2 world championships, The International. As was the case last year, a 25% portion of the sales of the program, The International Compendium 2014, will go towards funding the prize pool for this year’s International.

After only three days on the market, the prize pool had more than doubled to eclipse The International 3’s prize pool and set a new record for the largest prize pool in eSports history at over $3.4 million and climbing.

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Tags: Dota 2, eSports, MOBA, The International, The International 4, Valve

Apple to Buy Beats by Dre for $3.2 Billion

May 12

Posted by Steve Murray

Apple is on the verge of completing the biggest corporate acquisition in the company’s history is recent reports prove to be true. The company that made MP3 players and smartphones trendy and for the masses are going to buy the company that made ridiculously expensive and ostentatious headphones trendy and for the masses as Apple is nearing completion to buy Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion.

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Tags: Apple, Beats by Dre, Business

Geek Links of the Week

May 9

Posted by Steve Murray

Dozens upon dozens of companies and groups have written an open letter to the FCC advocating for the continuation of Net Neutrality than the ISPs’ idea of “open internet.” [The Consumerist]

And the FCC’s current so-called “open internet” proposal is already stopping the flow of investment into some new internet startups that may require fast internet connections. [BGR]

It’s not quite a cover piece but there ain’t nothing like making Rolling Stone. Notch gets profiled by the iconic pop culture mag. [Rolling Stone]

I’ve played a lot of Threes lately and it really is lightyears better than 2048. It all comes down to the design. [Wired]

A recent British poll says that about one-in-five people would be willing to have sex with a robot. Two-in-five think that would be creepy so it’s still a minority of people but it’s nice that some people are a bit more sexually liberated than others. [CBS News]

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Michelle Fairley and Richard Madden Cry During DVD Commentary of the Red Wedding

May 9

Posted by Steve Murray

There are always those TV moments where you remember where you were and who you were with when it happened. Last season’s Game of Thrones episode The Rains of Castamere would qualify as having one of those moments.

We’ve documented some of the reactions people had to the Red Wedding but there are two more reactions that you have to listen to. For the DVD release of the episode, Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark) and Richard Madden (Robb Stark) did the commentary with the episode’s director, David Nutter. It was the first time Michelle watched the episode and even though she was there on set, it still made an emotional impact on her.

By the way, if you haven’t watched the episode: Spoilers.

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Tags: A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, HBO, Rains of Castamere, Red Wedding

Disney Currently Developing Three Star Wars Spin-Offs

May 9

Posted by Steve Murray

We knew that Disney was planning on making some “spin-off” movies to cash in on the $4 billion price tag they paid for LucasFilm. We just didn’t know what movies they would make and how many they would make.

After a stockholders call with Disney CEO Bob Iger, it looks like the answer is many and as quickly as possible. Iger revealed Disney currently has three Star Wars movies in development beyond the next trilogy and want them on-screen starting in 2016.

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Posted in TV/Movies

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Tags: Disney, LucasFilm, Star Wars

Rumours Say Sony’s E3 Presentation Includes Uncharted 4, The Last Guardian, a The Last of Us 2 Tease and More

May 9

Posted by Steve Murray

We’re about one month out from the 2014 edition of E3. With all the next-gen console hype out of the way in last year’s edition, this is the first E3 where we get to see the games on the new hardware star.

For this year’s E3 keynote, Sony plans to unveil a whole host of new PlayStation 4 games with some gameplay footage of their already announced high-profile games. And while I’m sure they wanted to have a few surprises for E3, a new report running down the presentation means that we likely won’t be shocked.

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Tags: E3, E3 2014, Naughty Dog, PS4, Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment

Star Wars: Battlefront III Alpha Footage Leaks

First: No, this isn’t footage from the upcoming EA DICE-developed Battlefront game that is due out in 2015. However, with EA confirming that they would be showing more of the new Battlefront at E3 in June, this leak couldn’t have come at a better time.

Many years before EA revived the Battlefront franchise, Free Radical Design was working on a new Battlefront game, to be called Battlefront III, for LucasArts. After two years in development, LucasArts pulled the plug on the game and Free Radical quickly shut down.

Now, more alpha footage of that six-year-old, unfinished Battlefront III has been leaked by YouTube’s Gamer Spawn showing both ground and flight combat as well as hero characters, multiple playable races and some story content. It looks like a damn shame that this one was cancelled.

(more…)

Posted on May 8, 2014 | Video

Comcast and EA Working on Deal to Stream Games

May 8

Posted by Steve Murray

It looks like PlayStation Now might have some competition before it ever hits the market. Two two-time Consumerist Worst Company in America winners, Electronic Arts and current champion Comcast, are reportedly working on a deal to stream EA games to Comcast customers.

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Tags: Comcast, EA

The Force is Not with Steam’s Star Wars Weekend Sale

May 8

Posted by Steve Murray

To mark Star Wars Day (May the 4th, if you still need to ask), Valve had a special Star Wars sale on Steam in which all the Star Wars games in its collection were on sale. Even I rounded out my collection with some games that I have floating around on CD somewhere but would need a fair bit of work to get running again on modern hardware and software.

I ended up getting lucky with my purchases. While the Force can allow you to sense the future, Valve underestimated the popularity of the promotion and ended up short on keys for it.

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Tags: Business of Gaming, LucasArts, Star Wars, Steam

Game Trailers Roundup for May 7, 2014

May 7

Posted by Steve Murray

A little late but not short on content, it’s time for this week’s game trailers roundup featuring all the gaming hype from the last week (and a bit).

This week, we have a few game announcements that might strike your fancy. Since it’s the biggest franchise in gaming, you might be interested that after Modern Warfare comes Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare from Sledgehammer Games, the first release in the new three-year development cycle. Three years and they come up with Crysis meets House of Cards… Where do I sign up for a review copy? I’m serious. Follow through on the political intrigue and I’m sold. I doubt they will but that’s why we have reviewers to warn us that the story is underwhelming.

Elsewhere, Disney is leveraging their Marvel super hero lineup for this year’s edition of Infinity. I’m guessing that Infinity 2015 will feature the incorporation of the Star Wars license. And EA Sports’ first teaser for NHL 15 looks pretty damn good. Now, about a PC version…

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