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Canon confirms a high-speed EOS R3 mirrorless camera is on the way
Canon has confirmed a rumor that it's developing the EOS R3, a "high-performance, high-speed" full-frame mirrorless camera designed for news and sports, along with three new lenses.
Google Nest lets you read to your kids even when you're apart
The bedtime story is a cherished ritual between parents and their children, and one that hurts the most to miss when mom or dad are away. But now, Google Nest is launching a new Assistant action that will help keep story time on the agenda, no matter how far away you are from your kids.
Google lets developers sell in-app purchases through Assistant
Google has taken steps recently to make its voice-controlled Assistant easier to use, and now it's rolling out features to developers to help them integrate the same levels of intuition into their apps. Launching today is support for digital goods and subscriptions, plus Google Sign-In, which will give users a seamless path for voice-controlled purchases. In other words, you'll be able to buy app upgrades, expansion packs or new levels while in conversation with Assistant, without having to transition into touch.
Sonos IFTTT recipes let your smart home control your music
Last month, Sonos promised to open up its API to third-party companies, and it's off to a great start by partnering with IFTTT. IFTTT lets you automate smart home devices like door locks, thermostats and lights, which opens up some interesting possibilities. For instance, you can have Sonos play your radio station of choice when you unlock your door, program Hue light colors to playlists, or play a specific song when your Dominoes pizza goes out for delivery (like, I don't know, William Tell Overture).
Solar-powered action camera charges itself in about an hour
Mountable action cameras are pretty cool, but almost all of them share the same fatal flaw: limited battery life. At best, most cameras will only record continuously for a few hours before calling it quits for the day. What if you could get more recording time without swapping out batteries? That's the idea behind the Activeon Solar X -- a solar-powered action camera.
'Transistor' takes its sci-fi swordplay to iPhone and iPad
Dig Transistor's blend of hack-and-slash action, role-playing elements, and sci-fi storytelling? You no longer have to sit down in front of your console or PC to give a shot. Supergiant Games has released Transistor as a universal app for both iPhones and iPads, so you can carry on the adventures of Red and her giant, intelligent sword when you're on the move. The mobile title has a new touch-oriented control scheme, although there's also an optional "Classic Controls" option if you'd prefer gamepad-like input. There's no mention of an Android version, but we wouldn't count on one when Bastion hasn't received an Android port so far.
Marvel Heroes plans for a more awesome team-up system
While it's all groovy to have a sidekick to run around with your superhero in Marvel Heroes, apparently the team and the community felt as though the team-up system needed more work. That's why Gazillion has a major revamp of team-ups planned for Q1 2015. According to a new dev diary on the subject, the revamp will cover a range of improvements to the system. Team-up characters will see more customization, expanded power trees, a level cap of 60, increased survivability, synergy bonuses, and new powers on top of improvements to old powers. Players will also gain more control over what their team-up companions do on the battlefield. In addition to the developer diary, there's also a forum FAQ to deliver even more information on the planned revamp.
On my iPad: Helix
This is On my iPad, a quick look at an iOS game we think you'll enjoy. We can't seem to put down Michael Brough's Helix. Here's a brief video explaining why the retro-inspired avoidance game is special to us. The challenging, "hectic piece of momentary action" is available on iPhone and iPad for $2.99. [Image: Michael Brough]
Marvel Heroes hands out free cows and plans team-up revamp
The Cow King is on the move in Marvel Heroes, and a call is going out for all supers to join the most ridiculous battle in the universe. During the weekend Cowtastrophe event, players will get an 40% XP bonus and a portal to the game's bovine levels, where they can slaughter beef for better loot. Marvel Heroes is even giving out a free mini-cow pet for any players who log in on Saturday. In other Marvel Heroes news, one of the next big projects for Gazillion is a revamp of the team-up system. While all of the details of this revamp are not clear as of yet, we do know that the revamp will allow players to customize team-up's power pools much like main characters.
Pre-orders for Marvel Heroes' Winter Soldier are now open
After years of being mostly notable for being supposedly dead, Bucky Barnes turns out to have actually been kept alive as an elite assassin known as the Winter Soldier. You know, as comics do. The important things to note about the character for our purposes are the fact that he's coming to Marvel Heroes and you can pre-order him right now. You can also hear David Hayter voicing him as a closely related cousin of Solid Snake in the video past the cut, but that probably shouldn't influence your purchase. The hero pack is at a 10% discount before the character is released and includes the character himself, two costumes for Bucky (comic and MCU incarnations), an extra hero-specific inventory, six Fortune cards, and a retcon token. With the discount, it's just a hair over $16; if that sounds like a bargain for playing a mildly psychotic unfrozen Hydra assassin, you can pick it up now.
Geocannon lets you travel anywhere and conquer the city
You can conquer the world if you try hard enough. I'm sure some adult told you that at one point when you were younger. It seems like kind of a stretch though, doesn't it? Well, conquering the physical world is probably best left off your bucket list. It might be nice to conquer the world in virtual form instead. That's cool, right? Less casualties, too. With Geocannon, that power is in your hands. Pick any location on Earth and battle it out with other players on a real map to claim that area as your own. The game is free with in-app purchases for iPhone and iPad. Did you know that every single city in the world is actually covered with giant crates? It's true, well, at least in the game of Geocannon. These crates are the secret to slowly but surely conquering the world. Visit any city and Geocannon loads a 3D version of its satellite imagery as a playing field. The technology is just mind-blowing. Being able to visit any city in the world alone is just stunning already, but add a gaming layer to that and the concept gets slightly better. Your initial weapons are just a magnet and a bomb. Crates are scattered all around the territory. Launch the magnet (green) to collect as many of these crates together as possible. Then tap the pin to switch from the magnet to the bomb (red) and destroy them. The more you're able to bomb in one shot, the higher your score is. Geocannon plays online or offline, but offline is boring. When you log in with Facebook, you battle against every other Geocannon player to own that city. Whoever scores the most points during their short visit in that city claims ownership. It's also important to monitor your "geopower" which is basically a number representing how likely you are to score well relative to other locations. Your geopower is at its greatest when you're closest to your current location. It's wise to start off playing in cities nearby to strengthen your abilities and geopower, then expand outward. When you get to level three, you unlock another important weapon: black hole. This acts like the magnet by gathering crates wherever you launch it, but takes the functionality a step further by sucking them up and dumping them right where you place your pin. That, as well as the ability to move your pin around the city, are two free upgrades. Other upgrades are available for in-app purchases of US$0.99 and up. They mostly just enhance what is already possible though. It took me a little bit to really get into this game, but it has a very peculiar charm to it. The game isn't even in my preferred genre, but there's no denying that visiting cities all around the world and earning points is entertaining. Collecting crates and bombing them also has a soothing effect too, almost a stress reliever. My one real gripe with Geocannon is it takes too long to level up. I've been playing for days and own multiple cities, yet I'm still on level one. It's kind of disheartening. Geocannon is free with in-app purchases and is universal for iOS devices.
Marvel Heroes gets Omega event, level 52 Hulk review
Another weekend, another event in Marvel Heroes! This time it's Operation Omega, back for its first appearance of 2015. You'll get a 24% boost to XP, SIF, and RIF, as well as login rewards, harder enemies, and a faster leveling experience. Gazillion has also published Hulk's level 52 review as well as a new ultimate costume for the green monster.
Lucha Amigos is Angry Birds meeting a cultural game of pool
What would you get if you crossed Angry Birds with a classic game of pool? There's no real answer, but if I had to place a bet, my money would be on something similar to Lucha Amigos. It's a Mexican-inspired game starring "Wrestlers Turtles" and evil cacti. These supernatural turtles crawl into their shells and ricochet toward the evil cacti to destroy them relying on your aim. The multiple stages make for a natural progression of both ability and difficulty, too. Lucha Amigos is available for iPhone and iPad for US$1.99 in the App Store. Lucha Amigos is all about aim. It's essentially a puzzle game. The first few stages are easy enough to get a feel for how everything works, but eventually the real challenges kick in. Various walls and other objects separate the turtles from shooting directly at the evil cacti, so you have to strategize. You propel the turtles using one or multiple slingshots. You're given three turtles per round, so use them wisely. Try to also defeat the evil cacti while gliding through stars to collect all three. Yes, it sounds a lot like Angry Birds. The similarities don't end there either. Some turtles even have special powers as well. Shortly into the game, you're introduced to the red turtle which, when tapped after already in motion, fires off in another direction to cover two bases. Colored turtles outside of green have their own unique abilities, up to seven of them. When you're playing, you have an aerial view of that stage. Dragging the slingshot back to prepare for release projects three lines forward which foreshadow which path the turtle will take when you remove your finger and fire away. This is the aspect of Lucha Amigos that reminds me of pool because the placement of the cacti are like cue balls and the slingshot is like your pool cue. Compared to Angry Birds, I would say that this game is a bit more difficult as it requires more concentration. In Angry Birds it's pretty easy to get lucky if you're aim is inadequate because you might topple over one structure that ends up destroying the rest of the pigs easily. In Lucha Amigos, there's really nothing to help you except for the seven special powers various turtles possess. I definitely recommend Lucha Amigos as a game to play if you're looking to temporarily take your mind off something. Since it's packaged up in short stages it won't take up too much of your time, plus it requires focus and strategy which sucks you right in pretty quickly. It's also formed around a "comical plot" according to the developers, but it's not essential to the gameplay. The storyboard format and the graphics overall are pleasing to the eye though. For $1.99, Lucha Amigos isn't a great value. It'd be better off priced at $0.99 or even free with in-app purchases. Playing was just past the line of enticing for me, but I seriously mean it was barely over the line. It grabs your attention short-term, but I don't know that I'd be able to complete all 100 rounds without eventually getting bored. Lucha Amigos is a universal game for iPhone and iPad in the App Store.
Spell World is a hard, confusing adventure powered by words
Spell World takes you on an adventure that only moves forward with the power of your vocabulary. At its core, it's just a grid of letters with words hidden in them and you are only able to create words out of letters that are either diagonal or adjacent to each other. Throw in a story line and more enticing objectives and you have Spell World in its entirety. Completing the puzzles and moving forward helps save the "Dudes" from their evil king. The game is free with in-app purchases for iPhone and iPad and requires iOS 7.0 or later. Above the grid of letters is a progress bar. Every time you form a word, it fills a bit and turns green. As time passes when you're trying to figure out words though, the progress bar slowly depletes and turns from green to red. This is my hell in Spell World. It puts the pressure on you to not just find a word in the grid, but do it in a timely fashion. Finding a word is hard enough. I'm not joking - this game is seriously difficult. It doesn't seem like it would be, but trying to find patterns in the letters only diagonal or adjacent on such a small grid doesn't immediately come naturally. SpellTower executes this far better. Words only need to be three letters long, but my instinct is to always go for the longer word to gain more points, but that actually seems to put one at a disadvantage. Spell World isn't difficult in a cutesy, addictive way. It's frustratingly difficult. Although once you start to aim for the smaller words, the game gets a bit easier, but even then that progress bar remains to haunt you and starts to drain faster with each round. Of course there's also the storyline of the game to follow along with. At the very top is a small Dude making his way through the level with your guidance. It's a side-scroller but the only way he moves, defeats enemies and reaches goals is through the words you make. The longer the word, the farther he moves each time, though making smaller words more frequently is also effective. There are some in-game tools to help you out. Along the bottom are three colorful squares, but I promise they're more than just shapes. These buttons are for swapping out for an entirely new board of letters, picking out one letter and swapping its place with another or even finding a word for you. When you run out of the few cheats you get to start with, you have to buy more stars to get more cheats. A pack of five stars is US$0.99, which is a little pricey. The game also has other in-app purchases like packs of lives for when you fail or bonus letters in the grid. The current version of Spell World crashed every other time I played the game, at least. That was as frustrating as the game itself. Plus, even though many apps have not updated with support for iPhone 6, the graphics here look particularly fuzzy. Spell World tries to be too many things at once and ultimately falls flat. The word game portion passes enjoyable addictive territory into just plain annoying, the storyline is less than exciting and the in-app purchases are on the expensive side. It's an interesting attempt, but doesn't fare in the end. The game is available for iOS in the App Store.
Hess Space Cruiser is a solid companion to the Toy Truck
Hess Space Cruiser is an action/adventure game in space where as pilot of the space cruiser, you must dodge asteroids, collect coins and power-ups and head straight to the goal to hopefully receive a medal. Play in quick mode for some brief travels through the universe or choose the full game to browse through the levels and universes. The game is completely free and available for iPhone and iPad. The game is in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary Edition Hess Toy Truck, which originated in 1964, so the brand is unsurprisingly sprinkled throughout. Your Hess coins you collect through the game add up over time to unlock new power-ups for your interplanetary vehicle. Some sounds that the latest truck makes are included in the game as well, which is a nice touch for users who are pairing their ownership of both the truck and the app. If you choose a quick match, the truck launches your space cruiser into space where the game begins. The controls vary from swipes to taps. Swiping in any direction moves the cruiser in that direction temporarily to dodge an asteroid. Tilting the phone itself moves the vehicle just enough to maneuver slightly, but it's a very fluid and responsive motion. There are also some basic power-ups that recharge every so often during the game. On the bottom right is a repulsor charge switch to eliminate surrounding obstacles for a few seconds and on the bottom left is a power booster to speed up. This could technically make it harder to avoid the asteroids, but if you want to get that gold metal, you need to reach the end goal as swiftly as possible. If you go through the full version of the game, you get the privilege of being a bit more picky with how you play and what you play with. To do this, tap "Choose Universe" instead of the quick mode. Easily the coolest universe and perhaps most impressive in Hess Space Cruise is the "Your Space," which overlays the game on the rear-facing camera view for an augmented reality effect. After you pick your universe, choose the difficulty - either easy, medium or hard - and even the ship. The default is the space cruiser but opting for the smaller "Scout" vehicle swaps out the repulsor charging power for teleportation. When you collect enough Hess coins, trade them in for additional powerups like shield generators, repulsor charges, extra armor and more. I didn't come in to playing Hess Space Cruiser with high expectations. I just assumed it was probably a gimmicky way to increase brand awareness for Hess and the toy trucks, but I was wrong. It's a pretty decent game. For what it is, the graphics are solid. Plus there aren't any in-app purchases, which is always refreshing. Hess Space Cruiser is great for Hess Toy Truck owners, but even by itself it's more than capable of squeezing in your folder of time-killing apps. The game is free in the iOS App Store.
Closers Online meets J the Fighter
Just because a game's in open beta doesn't mean that it's finished adding key pieces. Case in point: Closers Online, which recently added a new playable character. The new character is, ahem, J the Fighter, a fists-and-feet brawler who kicks butt while maintaining a sense of style. If you like up-close-and-personal encounters with your foes, then J might be the character for you. Check out his fighting style in a preview video after the break!
Closers Online goes into open beta
The "grand opening" of Closers Online's open beta test happened this past week, although it looks as though the game is still just in Korean. Of course, this being beta, not all of the features -- nor all of the game's characters -- are available for play. Steparu.com did all of us a solid by not only pointing us at the new animated trailer but by whipping up a video to show off the various characters for this cel-shaded title. You can check out both after the break!
Get the full scoop on Marvel Heroes' Venom
The most recent addition to Marvel Heroes' roster, Venom, isn't merely a Spider-Man reskin. Gazillion put some thought into making this 43rd playable character unique as it uses its symbiote power to do nasty things to nasty people. Gazillion said that it wanted to go "all out" on Venom's looks and animations. Venom also has an interesting resource builder. "Unique to Venom, ichor serves as his primary resource, replacing spirit entirely, and accumulates as Venom uses powers that drain his own health – representing the host's constant battle with the symbiote," said Systems Designer Michael May. You can check Venom's trailer out after the break! [Source: Gazillion press release]
The Daily Grind: Do you log into games you're not currently playing?
I haven't played Marvel Heroes in about two months. Blame Elite: Dangerous, ArcheAge, and a pile of single-player games, I guess, but I just haven't been able to fit it into my rotation here lately. That said, I've logged into the game for 122 straight days, entirely because of Gazillion's penchant for giving away nifty login prizes like an Ultron pet and dozens of others. What about you, Massively readers? Do you log into MMOs or MMO-lites for prizes even though you're not currently playing? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Assassin's Creed director's next game is 'historical action'
Former Assassin's Creed series Creative Director Patrice Desilets discussed the direction of his upcoming game this week. The game will be of the third-person, "historical-action-survival" variety, as noted in a press release found after the break. Desilets launched Panache Digital Games just over one month ago, a Montreal-based studio consisting of "industry veterans that got together to tell stories that we feel are original and cool," according to the developer's website. "Indeed AAA Games, I believe in them," Desilets added. "I believe wholeheartedly that this medium we call 'video games' can be a positive force for change in our society and that AAA quality gaming experiences have unmatched strength to achieve this." The statement complements Panache's mission, per its website: "We make AAA quality third-person action-adventure games, with a narrative twist. We're not a 'me-too' company. We don't do trendy game models or content." To thank "first and beloved supporters" that showed immediate interest in Panache's ambitions, Desilets said the team decided to give those fans a "full copy" of its next game. "Let's call it a free to play game that's not a 'free-to-play' game," he added. Desilets was let go by Ubisoft in May 2013, marking his second departure from the company. The Assassin's Creed director first left the publisher in June 2010 to take a "creative break from the industry" before joining THQ Montreal one year later, following the expiration of the non-compete clause in his contract. THQ Montreal was acquired by Ubisoft in January 2013 along with Desilets' project at the time, 1666. Just two months after Desilets officially re-joined Ubisoft, the publisher suspended development on 1666. He filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft in June 2013 with the option to acquire the rights to the game. [Image: Panache Digital Games]
