For the first, and likely only, time on the blog, we have some video from Vanity Fair. The entertainment magazine is doing a Game of Thrones themed cover shoot ahead of the fourth season premiere. For this edition of Fridays of Ice and Fire, the cast of Game of Thrones examine their characters and the state of Westeros.
Geek Links of the Week
Even with a solid security system in place, the human factor can undermine even the best software. That was how credit card data was stolen from Target. It wasn’t the system but the people using it that allowed data to be stolen. [Businessweek]
EA Sports’ old slogan was “if it’s in the game, it’s in the game.” However, in the case of the Madden series, some features are too real for the NFL’s liking and they had them pulled from the game. [Extra Mustard]
Speaking of “it’s in the game,” that was a top priority for Trey Parker and Matt Stone when it came to the development of South Park: The Stick of Truth. [Eurogamer]
Are you ready for a vintage-style baseball game. MLB has taken it upon themselves to develop an in-house multiplatform baseball game that will be the return of RBI Baseball. Someone had to get baseball back on the Xbox. [Polygon]
The PS4’s monthly sales winning streak is about to come to an end in March as Titanfall moves Xbox Ones. For now, the PS4 is still the sales king. [Engadget]
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Little Racers Street Review: Top-Down, Bottom-Up
If you race it, chances are that I’m going to try to review it. That includes the recent release of Little Racers Street, former an Xbox Live Indie Game that was ported over to PC on Steam. I haven’t had the best of luck with top-down racing games but maybe this will be the one to change things for me. Maybe…
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League of Legends Pro Player Attempts Suicide After Revealing Matchfixing Scandal
Former League of Legends pro player Cheon Min-Ki attempted to committed suicide on Wednesday night shortly after revealing that his former team, AHQ Korea, was involved in matchfixing orchestrated by the team’s manager, Noh Dae Chul.
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The Worf of Starfleet
Who need Leo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese and perfect hair when you can have Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes and Klingon drinking songs? While The Wolf of Wall Street had a pretty good trailer, it doesn’t top this trailer for The Worf of Starfleet.
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Critics Corner: Dark Souls II
What happens when the most hyped game of the generation (so far) is beaten out on critical acclaim by the sequel to a mercilessly difficult cult hit? Well, I doubt it’ll lead it to being a sales blockbuster like the most triple of triple-As but I’d imagine that the critical acclaim of Dark Souls and Dark Souls II along with the praise from gamers would result in more copies of DS2 ending up in consoles than DS1.
While there was some talk about making Dark Souls 2 friendlier for new players, that doesn’t mean that the game is easier than its predecessor. There is more clear language in what various weapons and abilities do but that doesn’t make the game a cakewalk. Other than that and a little work on exposition, if you loved the first Dark Souls, chances are you’re coming right back for more.
But enough of what I have to say. Here’s what the critics think of Dark Souls II.
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Hearthstone Officially Launches
While it seemed like enough people were in the perpetual Hearthstone beta that it seemed like it may as well been considered released, Blizzard announced that it’s free-to-play card game was officially open for business to all gamers.
On Tuesday afternoon, Blizzard officially announced that the inn was open and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft was launched for all gamers to play.
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Who Wants a Project Spark Beta Key? UPDATE: ALL GONE!
You know what we haven’t done in our 15 or so months of operation? A giveaway! I think it’s time to correct that.
I recently got five Project Spark beta keys and since I don’t have (or know anyone else who has) Windows 8 or an Xbox One, I’m giving them all away.
All you have to do is drop your name, email and preferred platform in the form below and that’s it. It’s first come, first serve so claim yours quickly. Also, I should come up with a better way to do giveaways in the future.
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Portal Board Game Coming This Fall
Being a big Portal fan and a big board game fan, I think this news is the sort of thing that combines the best of both worlds to make the best news ever. A design team at Valve has partnered up with board game company Cryptozoic Entertainment to make Portal: Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game.
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Critics Corner: Titanfall
All the teaser videos, all the previews, and all the hype comes down to this. Hype doesn’t make great games. Even I’ve helped feed the machine with my column about how Titanfall could be transformative for the FPS genre. I might have been reaching since early reviews suggest that the story campaign seems tacked on. Mind you, I doubt anyone is buying a multiplayer-only game for the story mode.
Titanfall didn’t quite set the world on fire with the critics. Sure, it got a lot of 90s but a game with this much hype is the sort where you have your expectation set at 100. If you love multiplayer FPS game, you’ll probably love it. If you’re on the fence, it looks like it comes down to whether you prefer story or shooting. One will cause you to buy it and the other will cause you to pass.
Also, Polygon’s review indicates that Titanfall was reviewed in an enclosed environment, not in the live, retail environment so the reviews may not necessarily reflect the current state of the game.
et geekera 