It’s not something that you would think of as a hot button human rights issue but a US court has ruled that using the Like button on Facebook constitutes exercising the right to free speech and is deserving of the same protections as afforded other substantive speech.
Now that Kickstarter has opened up their crowdfunding platform to projects based in Canada, we’ve seen a massive influx of groups looking for money to make projects real. The one that has piqued my interest is a new game from a new indie studio based out in BC.
Hinterland Studio has brought together a core team that includes developers whose previous work experience includes time at BioWare, Volition, Relic, Riot and more triple-A games and studios to make a first-person survival sim called The Long Dark.
Alright, here’s the review roundup you guys were looking for this week. I know you weren’t that interested in Greater Toronto Area V or whatever that other game is called. This week saw the North American release of The Wonderful 101, another Wii U exclusive that Nintendo hopes will convince people that there actually are games available for the Wii U. I won’t call it a system seller because those Mario Kart and Smash Bros. games in the pipeline will move consoles while a new IP isn’t likely to do that unless it’s a GOTY candidate.
Well, I guess that is unless you’re at Gaming Age who have deemed this a killer app for the Wii U. They’re one of three outlets to give the game a perfect score. Not all praise is that high. The scores bottom out at 55% and go all the way up to 100%. Reviewers agree that they like the charm and fun of the game but there are bugs and control issues that hold the game back.
There aren’t that many surprises in the games industry any more but EA certainly caught people off guard with their choice of a new CEO. Andrew Wilson, the current Executive Vice President of EA Sports and EA’s Origin digital distribution client and store, has been named Electronic Arts’ new Chief Executive Officer.
It’s not just the NSA and the United States government that are monitoring your data. Ahead of this week’s wireless airwave license auction, the Canadian government has required all phone companies bidding to agree to allow the government access to data transmitted on their networks, including the monitoring of phone calls.
AMC’s got a fever and the only cure is more spin-offs. Looking for new high-quality, and highly viewed, programming led to AMC ordering the Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul. Now, AMC is going to another of their big series for a new show. This time, they’re working on a new spin-off series for The Walking Dead.
This week is a tricky one to give recommendations for because there aren’t a lot of new comics. Most of this week’s notable comics are continuing series with Image and Dark Horse as the only two major publishers launching new series this week. Image has Zero #1 which is about a spy who likes to shoot first and ask questions later. Dark Horse, meanwhile, launches Kiss Me Satan, a new series about supernatural creatures in New Orleans, including the werewolf mafia.
The big two have their universe-wide story arcs continuing this week. Infinity #3 comes out this week which brings us to the halfway point of Marvel’s big six issue summer event.
Over on the DC side of things, Batman and Superman have some villain comics that you might be interested in. This week’s Batman series feature The Penguin in Batman #23.3, The Scarecrow in Detective Comics #23.3 and Ra’s al Ghul in Batman and Robin #23.3. As for Supes, Lex Luthor gets his moment to shine in Action Comics #23.3.
Since I’ve looked at a bunch of GTA5 related stuff to start the day, let’s segue to something a bit more comical.
The Saints Row series was originally considered to be a GTA clone though SR4 certainly distanced itself from Grand Theft Auto. That doesn’t mean that they can’t still have a little fun at GTA’s expense.
Today, Saints Row is getting the GATV DLC pack which is a Johnny Gat themed customization pack. If you missed it the first time, re-read that DLC’s name slowly, though, if you’re like me, you probably did a double-take to make sure you read the DLC’s name correctly. I thought this was worth a bit of a chuckle.
It’s currently available for free on Steam for a very limited time. If you have SR4, get on that now.
Source: CVG
Given how much we all focus on the scores that games get in their reviews, it’s generally a good idea to know how outlets come up with their scores. Sure, you could look that up yourself but where’s the fun in that when you can get industry insiders to tell you how it works. During Rev3 Games’ PAX panel, Anthony Carboni explained the agreed upon industry-wide methodology behind review scores.
Because we can’t embed with a specified starting time, click forward to 37:56.
Bill Nye is on Dancing with the Stars. While I don’t encourage you to watch it, I do encourage you to vote for Bill Nye. For science!
et geekera 