Try not to Shatter

South Park: The Fractures But Whole Delayed

2016-09-17T06:39:00.005-07:00

South Park: The Fractured But Whole will now launch on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC, calendar Q1 2017. The development team wants to make sure the game experience meets the high expectations of fans and the additional time will help them achieve this goal.

Source

Rumor: Red Dead Redemption HD on its way to PS4, X1, and PC

2016-09-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

The Korean video game website, Gamefocus.co.kr, has reported that a remastered version of the 2010 game Red Dead Redemption is coming next year to Playstation 4, Xbox 1 and PC.

The game would be getting a full Korean localization this time, as the original game was released with English subtitles and a physical copy of the script translated to Korean. While they mention that their source confirmed that the PS4 and PC version would be released in Korea, they weren't sure about the Xbox 1 version even though it exists.

The website also reports that the remaster will be announced this week, with September 7th (Playstation Meeting) being a likely date for the announcement.

Source: http://gamefocus.co.kr/detail.php?number=62952&thread=22r02

Pokemon GO: Buddy System coming soon!

2016-09-03T17:15:00.002-07:00

Niantic revealed yesterday their next upcoming feature for Pokemon Go, a buddy system!

"You will be able to pick your favorite Pokémon from your collection to become your buddy, opening up unique in-game rewards and experiences. Buddy Pokémon will appear alongside your Trainer avatar on your profile screen, adding helpful bonuses such as awarding Candy for walking together. You’ll also have the ability to change your Buddy Pokémon at any time."

Sounds great for people like myself, who don't live in urban areas and get a limited number of Pokemon spawns. Maybe I'll finally be able to evolve my starter Charmander. What Pokemon are you going to choose to be your buddy?

Overwatch Season 2 Has Begun

2016-09-03T17:06:00.001-07:00

GENERAL UPDATES

General

When activating the "Ultimate Status" communication, Symmetra now reports the number of charges left on her teleporter
When activating the "Needs healing" communication while targeting a teammate, Ana, Lúcio, Mercy, and Zenyatta will now tell allies to group up to receive healing. A marker will also appear above the player's head, allowing teammates to locate the healer more quickly
Added Torbjörn as an AI-controlled hero in Practice vs. AI, Play vs. AI, and Custom Game modes
Sit and laugh emotes are now unlockable for all heroes
New Legendary skins have been added for Reinhardt

Competitive Play

Skill rating is now measured on a 1-5000 scale instead of the former 1-100 scale
Skill Rating Tiers
- Players will now be assigned to a tier, depending on their skill rating
  - Bronze - 1-1499
  - Silver - 1500-1999
  - Gold - 2000-2499
  - Platinum - 2500-2999
  - Diamond - 3000-3499
  - Master - 3500-3999
  - Grandmaster - 4000-5000
- In Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond tiers, a player will not drop out of their tier even if their skill rating falls below the cutoff
- In Master and Grandmaster tiers, a player whose skill rating falls below the tier's minimum will be moved to a lower tier
- Players that have reached the Master and Grandmaster tiers must be within 500 Skill Rating of their groupmates
- Players that are Diamond-tier and below must be within 1000 Skill Rating of their groupmates
Skill Rating Decay
- Players in Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster tiers that haven't participated in a competitive match for 7 days will lose skill rating
- Players with a skill rating above 3000 (Diamond tier or higher) will lose 50 rating points every 24 hours, but their rating will not fall below 3000
- Competing in a single match will halt skill rating decay
- Players that haven't participated in a competitive match for 7 days will immediately drop out of the top 500
Map Changes
- Several refinements have been made to the time bank system for Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, and Volskaya Industries
- The time bank system has been added to Dorado, Hollywood, King's Row, Numbani, Route 66, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar
- Time granted for taking objectives on Dorado, Hanamura, Hollywood, King's Row, Numbani, Route 66, Temple of Anubis, Volskaya Industries, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar has been reduced from 5 minutes to 4
Competitive Points
- Existing competitive points saved from Season 1 will be multiplied by 10
- After winning a competitive match, players will now receive 10 competitive points (instead of 1)
- Players will now receive 3 competitive points for a draw
- The cost of golden weapons has also been multiplied by 10 - from 300 to 3000
- A soft cap is being placed on the number of competitive points that can be saved
  - Players with more than 6000 points at the start of season 2 will no longer accrue points by playing competitive matches
  - End-of-season rewards will still be granted to players at the soft cap
Instead of going into Sudden Death, tied competitive matches will now result in a draw
Players must now win at least 50 competitive matches to be eligible for a spot in the top 500
Players must now complete more matches to clear their penalty status for leaving a competitive match early

HERO BALANCE UPDATES

General

Ultimates that consume the ultimate meter when activated will now drain the meter more quickly (.25 second instead of 1 second)
Reverted a recent change that reduced the size of heroes' projectiles
Most hero abilities will no longer interrupt quick melee attacks
Ultimate abilities will now interrupt quick melee attacks

Developer Comments: Altering the size of projectiles in flight had too many unintended side effects to keep in the game, at least in its current form. We will continue watching this and make additional changes if necessary. We’re also making quick melee more consistent when interacting with enemy abilities.
D.Va

Defense Matrix
- After being activated, Defense Matrix will begin regenerating following a 1-second delay (formerly .5 seconds)

Developer Comments: Defense Matrix was too efficient when tapped repeatedly, instead of being held. Now, the recovery delay matches the ability cooldown.
Hanzo

Hanzo will now experience a 30% decrease in speed while aiming (formerly 40%)
Maximum projectile speed has been increased by 30%
Arrow size has been reduced by 33%

Developer Comments: Hanzo has the potential to deal a lot of damage, but he can feel really inconsistent, even at a medium distance. By increasing the projectile speed, we’re extending his reliable range, making it easier to land shots without having to perfectly predict enemy movement. To compensate for the increased projectile speed, we’ve decreased the size of his arrows, meaning his shots now require a bit more accuracy.
Genji

Double jump no longer resets when wall climbing
Swift Strike
No longer deals damage to traps like Widowmaker's Venom Mine or Junkrat's Steel Trap
- No longer bypasses Junkrat's Steel Trap
- No longer interrupts quick melee attacks
Dragonblade
- Duration of Genji's ultimate has been reduced from 8 seconds to 6 seconds

Developer Comments: Genji was a little too difficult to pin down, and these changes will balance his speed. Swift Strike no longer cancels the recovery time from a quick melee attack, so players will no longer be able to get a free melee attack before using Swift Strike. Lastly, Dragonblade's duration was long enough that it often felt too difficult to reasonably counter.
Lúcio

Amp It Up
- The boosting of movement speed has been decreased by 30% (from a 100% increase to a 70% increase)

Developer Comments: Thanks to Lúcio's speed increase, he was almost a must pick in every lineup.
McCree

Deadeye
- Now drains over a .25-second period (instead of displaying a 50% reduction on the ultimate meter when activated and 0% when confirmed)

Developer Comments: If players managed to counter or avoid McCree's ultimate, it would often regenerate very quickly since only half of the ultimate charge was spent. Now, this ultimate works like every other ultimate that has a duration.
Mei

Blizzard
- Projectile now pierces barriers
- Radius has been increased from 8 meters to 10 meters

Developer Comments: Mei has an interesting toolkit, but her ultimate often felt like it was too difficult to use effectively. Consequently, it felt weak compared to many other ultimate abilities. The freeze effect has been piercing barriers for some time now, but the projectile would still be blocked. Now, you can throw it down exactly where you want it, so it’s much easier to utilize the full radius effectively.
Mercy

Caduceus Staff
- Healing Beam
- Healing-per-second has been increased by 20%
Resurrect
- Resurrected allies will be able to maneuver after 2.25 seconds (reduced from 3 seconds)

Developer Comments: Resurrection now allows teammates to jump back into the fight more quickly, which should help Mercy survive after activating her ultimate. Mercy's healing is also getting a boost to solidify her role as a strong, single-target healer.
Roadhog

Chain Hook
- If the hooked target isn't in Roadhog's line of sight when retracting the hook, they will be moved back to the position where they were originally hooked

Developer Comments: This change means that hooked targets will be less likely to slide along walls, potentially ending up in an odd place after they've been reeled in.
Soldier: 76

Heavy Pulse Rifle
- Bullet spread now happens more quickly when unloading fully-automatic pulse fire
- Significantly Increased bullet spread recovery time

Developer Comments: These changes will make burst-firing feel more reliable and increase his effectiveness at longer ranges.
Zenyatta

Orb of Discord
- The amount of damage amplified by a target with Orb of Discord has been decreased from 50% to 30%
Orb of Destruction
- Damage has been increased from 40 to 46

Developer Comments: Zenyatta is in a far better place since the last update, but the strength of Orb of Discord has turned him into an almost mandatory pick. These changes reduce Orb of Discord's effectiveness, but his damage-dealing potential has been increased. The amount of damage that he delivers should feel largely unaffected by the change.

MAP BALANCE CHANGES

Watchpoint: Gibraltar

Watchpoint: Gibraltar’s first checkpoint has been removed

Developer Comments: The balance changes that were implemented in previous patches have eliminated the need for Watchpoint: Gibraltar to have an extra checkpoint.

USER INTERFACE UPDATES

General

A new "Allied Health Bars" option has been added (Options > Controls)
Contextual menus have been added on the hero selection screen, giving players the ability to report or group up with other players
Matchmaking UI is now purple in the Competitive Play queue
Made several minor adjustments to typography in the Spectator UI

BUG FIXES

General

Fixed a bug that allowed the kill participation metric to go above 100 percent
Fixed a bug in the Custom Game settings preventing the Ability Cooldown modifier from affecting Ana
Fixed a bug causing players to incorrectly see gains in experience points when completing Custom Games
Fixed a bug that caused heroes to die when first spawned in a custom game if Health and Damage modifiers were used simultaneously

AI

Fixed a bug that could cause AI Bastion to become stuck, continuously healing himself in the spawn area
Fixed a bug preventing Torbjörn from placing his turret in viable locations

Heroes

Appropriate sound effects now play when Ana shoots barriers, shields, and armor
Ana’s scope now correctly displays all custom reticle options
Ana’s attacks and abilities now activate the controller’s rumble function
[XB1 Only] Fixed a bug preventing bullet shells from being rendered in Bastion’s “Bullet Rain” highlight intro
D.Va no longer communicates her ultimate status for Self-Destruct while charging her Call Mech ultimate
D.Va’s Boosters are no longer auto-cancelled if activated while her primary fire is active
D.Va’s ultimate charge status is no longer reset to 0% if she falls to her death while piloting a mech
Hanzo's “Spirit Dragon” unlockable voice line now correctly plays when using his Okami and Lone Wolf skins
Fixed various issues with Junkrat's emote and highlight animations
Fixed a bug that kept Junkrat’s ammo from being refilled when he was resurrected
The alternate fire on McCree’s Peacekeeper ability now activates the controller’s rumble function for all six shots
Fixed an issue causing Mei's Ice Wall to push herself to the side when cast at her feet
Fixed a bug preventing Mei's Ice Wall from being destroyed by a moving payload
Fixed a bug that prevented Mei's Ice Wall from appearing at the target location when cast
Fixed a bug allowing Reaper to reach unintended map locations using Shadow Step
Fixed a bug causing Reinhardt's shield to jitter when turning in third person
Fixed an issue that prevented Roadhog's chain from displaying correctly in some situations
Fixed a bug causing Roadhog’s chain to become permanently extended if his target disconnected from the match
Fixed several issues with Symmetra's emotes and highlight intros
The scarf on Tracer's Slipstream skin is no longer stiff in the Hurdle highlight intro
The names of Tracer's Sprinter and Track and Field skins now display correctly
Fixed a bug preventing overtime from being triggered while Zenyatta is using Transcendence

Maps

Fixed an issue preventing Genji and Hanzo from reliably climbing a specific crate on Watchpoint: Gibraltar
Fixed several issues that allowed Reaper to reach unintended locations on Watchpoint: Gibraltar

User Interface

Competitive play leaver messaging no longer overlaps with the PvP HUD at the top of the screen
Fixed a bug causing the end of season banner to pop up while the player is in a match
Fixed a bug preventing the hero list in Custom Game settings from being organized alphabetically
The spectate option now becomes unavailable (the button will be greyed out) when all spectator slots have been filled in a Custom Game lobby
[PC Only] Fixed an issue causing in-game statistics to run off the edge of the screen in 16:10 aspect ratio
[XB1 Only] Fixed a bug preventing the Network Quality notifications from functioning
[XB1 Only] Fixed a bug on the main menu that caused the Hollywood background to appear brighter than intended
[XB1 Only] Fixed a bug in the Hero Details page that occasionally caused some information to be pushed partially off screen
[XB1 Only] Fixed a bug preventing the Button Legend in the Options Menu from repositioning when display margins were altered

Spoiler-y Portal 2 prop made for sake of science

2011-05-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

Prop master Harrison Krix made a fabulous, full-sized replica gun from Valve's hit, Portal. That was years ago, and with Portal 2 wowing critics and gamers, it's time for an upgrade.

Yup, that's the GLaDOS Potato, attached to Krix's prop. And she's looking pretty good. More can be seen over at the Volpin Props Flickr account.

In Portal 2, bots have more trust.

2011-03-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

Run a Katamari over any Webpage

2011-03-13T19:16:00.001-07:00

Are you browsing this page on Google Chrome right now? Well, you're going to want to. Some saint of a coder has developed an utterly delightful hack that rolls up all of a Web page's text and pictures, Katamari-style.

How's it work? Pasting a piece of JavaScript into Chrome's address bar activates the hack, which reloads the page and separates all of its parts - words, images, etc. - into individual items. Just like the game, as the Katamari gets bigger it's able to roll up larger items. The Katamari hack will provide you with hours of time-killing, frustration-dissipating fun on any Web page - your least favorite news network, your least favorite celebrity's Twitter, your most favorite site whose redesign you dislike, anything!

Did we mention there's a multiplayer feature? By going to the Katamari Hack Web site and pasting in a URL, you create a game session (listed on that site) which allows other people to join in.

GamePro, which spotted the hack yesterday, noted that the creator "has seemingly taken great pains to remain anonymous." The page was originally hosted on an anonymous Amazon Web Services site. He seems to be out in the open now, as the code has moved to the URL kathack.com, whose owner, a Seattle programmer, is identifiable by a WHOIS lookup.

If that page goes down to a surge of traffic, too, here's the Javascript.

javascript:var h='http://174.129.249.239/js/',i,n,ss=['http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.5.1/jquery.min.js',h+'Renderables.js',h+'Game.js'];for(i=0;i<ss.length;i++){n=document.createElement("script");n.src=ss[i]+'?'+Date.now();document.head.appendChild(n);}

Microsoft penalizing users of illigitmate Microsoft Points

2011-03-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

A few days ago a forum user, on the website ‘The Tech Game’, told all the other users how to generate codes for Microsoft Points on the Xbox Live service.
Since this Microsoft have looked into it and they are looking to punish those who participated in obtaining the free codes. Microsoft has now invalidated the codes generated illegitimately and come out with the following statement:
“Codes obtained legitimately by users will not be impacted”. Microsoft found out about the generator within hours but a reported $1.2 million worth of codes were generated and used. Microsoft has said that the figures are far too high adding “We can’t share specific numbers”.
Microsoft’s full statement:

“We are aware of the situation and have taken steps to invalidate the codes obtained illegitimately. We take safety and security very seriously and require that Xbox LIVE members use the service in compliance with applicable laws and specifically prohibit people from engaging in illegal activity as a part of our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct. Our Policy and Enforcement team is evaluating whether or not certain individuals have violated the Terms of Use for Xbox LIVE and will take the appropriate enforcement on an individual basis. Codes obtained legitimately by users will not be impacted.“

It has not been revealed yet how Microsoft are going to penalize the users who used the points but bans may be put in place and Microsoft’s ‘Terms of Use’ changed.

Mortal Kombat: Raiden Story/Gameplay trailer

2011-03-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

The new Mortal Kombat game is looking to be pretty good. The demo is currently available for Playstation Plus subscribers and will soon be available on Xbox Live.

Xbox Live Labs - Trading time for avatar items

2011-03-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

Microsoft wants to enlist your help in testing the Xbox Live network, rewarding volunteers willing to donate up to six hours of Xbox 360 time with crazy mad scientist goodies once the testing's done. To participate, simply scroll to your Xbox 360's community section and download the tiny Xbox Live Labs app from the ad there. Once downloaded and installed, you just turn it on and leave it running.

The three levels of testing - 30 minutes, one hour, and six hours - are each associated with zero point achievements that will score testers three Xbox 360 avatar items: A lab coat, a brain helmet, and crazy mad scientist hair.

Kinect + Garry's Mod?

2011-03-10T07:44:00.000-08:00

Definitely the most entertaining video of a Kinect mod I've seen so far. Wonder how much more we'll be able to do with it once Microsoft releases the official pc SDK?

Epic reveals next gen graphics with Unreal Engine 3

2011-03-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

The trailer, called Samaritan, showcases the power of UE3 and DirectX 11 together. IGN says that Epic is releasing this updated Unreal Engine development kit today, March 9th.

Nyko doubles 3DS Battery

2011-03-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

What you're seeing here is actually two products Nyko has lined up to support 3DS gamers when the system hits North America on March 27. The first is the Power Pak+, a high capacity battery that hooks onto the back of the 3DS, adding extra power at the cost of added bulk. They say the device will double the battery life of the 3DS, effectively transforming three to eight hours into up to 16 hours. Then there's the Charge Base. Arriving a week after launch and packed along with one of the Power Pak+ units, the charge base will allow players to drop their 3DS unit inside for a little juicing up while not in play. Considering the base and Power Pak+ combo is only $29.99, it might be worth waiting a week to get both.

CyanogenMod 7 appears for Samsung Captivate

2011-03-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

CyanogenMod Forum post for SGS phones now contains the instructions to flash/update CM7 as well as the links to the latest versions for the files. If you are already running CM7, you just need to download the latest cm7-captivate-update-xxxxxxxx.zip and flash it via CWM. It still has some problems, but is relatively stable and usable.