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Tesla's long-delayed Model X SUV is testing in California
It may look like a Prius that's been vomited on by Mad Max, but the vehicle you see in the clip below is probably Tesla's long-delayed Model X SUV. You see, when companies begin stress-testing vehicles, they dress them down with a dodgy paint job and go riding out a deserted airfield, like the one at the old naval base in Alameda. No amount of weird paint, however, could disguise the latest all-electric vehicle to roll off the production line, especially one as long-awaited as the X.
Team up with Chun-Li, Blanka-themed Palicoes in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Lest you somehow be underwhelmed with the crossover wardrobe planned for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's Felyne Palicoes, Street Fighter-themed outfits inspired by Chun-Li and Blanka are the latest garment options announced for your sidekicks. The above announcing trailer was shown during yesterday's Capcom Cup tournament, and yes, that Blanka Palico is wielding a giant fish for its weapon. Would you have it any other way? While the hunter outfits shown in the trailer's player cards resemble Dhalsim and Guile, Capcom Unity notes that they're "not a special bonus or anything" – rather, they "show how versatile the character creation system can be." If you're wondering what MH4U's crossover collection is up to at this point, announced hunter and Palico outfits will play tribute to Mario, Luigi, Link, Samus, Isabelle, Mr. Resetti, Sonic, Taiko Drum Master, Mega Man and the design strengths of Tetsuya Nomura. Hunters and Palicoes can start trying things on when MH4U reaches the States next year, complete with a collector's edition. [Image: Capcom]
Fan-made Persoronpa Q mash-up looks beary interesting
This fan-made recreation of the Persona Q opening with Danganronpa characters is a little old and it's also quite spoiler-ish, but we figured it's still worth highlighting because, well, it's fantastic. Also, since it's apparently open season on crossovers in Japan, maybe it will nudge Atlus and Spike Chunsoft in the right direction, hmm?
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's wardrobe involves Mega Man, Tetsuya Nomura
Lest you worry that your battle-accompanying Felyne (or Palico, as Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate refers to them) fight beside you without armor recalling your favorite classic series, Capcom has revealed another aesthetic crossover for MH4U. Players will be able to forge replicas of the Blue Bomber's iconic armor for their Palico friends, as well as arm them with a weapon seemingly made from the skull of Rush, Mega Man's four-legged robotic sidekick. For those more keen on Tetsuya Nomura's legacy of character design, MH4U will also feature a pair of outfits designed by the longtime Final Fantasy contributor. The crimson-hued suit of armor seen in its debut image also bares resemblance to two images tweeted by Hidemi Matsuzuka, director of Square Enix's Play Arts Kai brand of figures. At the time of this writing, pricing and release details for the figure are absent from Matsuzuka's feed and the Play Arts Kai store. We do know, however, that fans can hunt down Mega Man apparel when MH4U lurks onto the 3DS in early 2015. [Image: Capcom]
Peugeot's new hybrid concept is half SUV, half sports car
If you had any lingering concerns that hybrid cars were boring, Peugeot just smashed them to bits. Its new Quartz crossover concept blends the muscular, offroad-ready profile of a small SUV with green powerplants and aerodynamics that could give better hybrid sports cars a run for their money. The 270HP turbo gas engine is nothing special, but it's mated to two 114HP electric motors that either give you a heap of extra performance or else move the vehicle by themselves. Peugeot reckons that you'd get 31 miles of purely electric driving -- that's not spectacular, but it's solid for an all-purpose ride that's equally at home on gravel roads and racetracks. The French automaker isn't giving any hints that the Quartz will reach production, so don't expect to get the keys to this exact machine any time soon, if ever. If nothing else, though, the concept is proof that you don't have to give up speed or flexibility when you're getting an eco-friendly car.
Payday 2's Hotline Miami DLC sounds terrifying
Payday 2 will receive a special piece of Hotline Miami-themed DLC on September 30, Overkill Software announced in a Steam community update. The collaboration between the developer and Hotline Miami creator Dennaton Games will feature at least one heist mission, though Overkill has not spelled out what other gruesome events will take place in the DLC, nor has it mentioned a price for the pack. The developer did offer a rather terrifying live-action trailer to announce the downloadable cross-over, found after the break. The sequel to Dennaton's graphic top-down shooter, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, will launch later this year. [Image: Overkill]
Statham and Stallone star in Broforce spin-off, The Expendabros
What do you get when you mix Devolver Digital's Broforce with The Expendables 3? Why, "The Expendabros" of course, which happens to be a stand-alone crossover game that blends the run-and-gun action of Broforce with Expendables-inspired characters. Now available on Steam, The Expendabros is free to download and includes the likeness of characters from the upcoming action film sequel The Expendables 3. The game's seven playable characters include Broney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and Bro Christmas (Jason Statham), and has players gunning their way through Eastern Europe to take down arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks. While The Expendabros is free to download now, it will only be available through the end of the year, December 31. Those unfamiliar with Broforce should check out our archived stream of the game from April. [Image: Devolver Digital]
The Queue: The buffs, SoO with AQ, and linux
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today. This is my first Queue after being back from vacation. Did you all miss me? Let's talk about not-cheese and not-how awesome San Francisco was. TaxmanCDN asked: Do you think these short, temporary buffs for valor and black prince rep & items to collect is a test to gauge interest? Is there a chance they could make one or both of the buffs permanent to bring people back to play until 6.0?
Play It On A Mac: Spintires
In this weekly series I'll show you how to get your favorite Windows-exclusive PC games running on OS X. For more information on the programs used, check out the Play It On A Mac explainer. For suggestions and/or questions about any game, feel free to contact me on Twitter. Spintires is an off-road adventure game with ridiculously realistic physics and terrain deformation. You can actually see the mud and road debris wrap around the tires of your various Soviet-era trucks as you make your way through forests, streams, and the very rare paved roadway. The game was successfully Kickstarted a number of months ago and just recently debuted on Steam to rave reviews. Despite being gorgeous to look at, the game is actually built to run on a wide range of systems, which makes it a great candidate for the sometimes underpowered Macs many of us use for gaming. Let's put it to the test! CrossOver As Spintires is a brand new game, there is no official entry for it on the official CrossOver compatibility list. As there are no custom settings available for the game in CrossOver, I used the default settings for an "unsupported" game but was met with no success. Looks like we'll have to try something else. Parallels As expected, a Parallels install of the game was smooth with no issues or lockups. Upon starting the game, I found the FPS to be extremely low, thanks in large part to the game's decision to give me relatively high pre-set graphics settings as a starting point. With all the bells and whistles enabled I was getting roughly 15 frames per second during gameplay. For a game like this, that mark isn't going to work. I disabled motion blur, toned down the anti-aliasing, and put particle effects and textures on low. With these settings I was able to get an easy 30 frames per second, which makes the game 100% playable and still a treat to look at. After messing around with some of the Parallels settings, I found the following to be optimal for my particular Mac: Parallels 9 settings: CPUs: 6 (out of 8) Memory: 10GB (out of 16GB) Video memory: 1GB Performance: Faster Virtual Machine Power: Better Performance Depending on your own hardware these settings may or may not be your best bet, but it's a great place to start. Boot Camp There were no surprises with the Boot Camp install, and the game tossed me to the title screen instantly. Unlike a few of the other games I've tested, Boot Camp offers a noticeable boost in performance for Spintires. I was able to easily get a solid 30 frames per second with medium settings, as opposed to low, which was the only way to run the game at an acceptable rate in Parallels. This means you'll get the added bonus of some more fancy particle effects, greater draw distance for foliage like grass and trees, and an overall more enjoyable experience. Verdict You have a couple of options with Spintires, and while we'll have to wait and see if a decent CrossOver option emerges down the road, playing the game in either Parallels or Boot Camp is totally doable. Boot Camp will give you a boost this time around, which is great if you already have your computer set up for it, but if you're a Parallels devotee, there's still a lot of fun to be had.
Play It On A Mac: Outlast
In this weekly series I'll show you how to get your favorite Windows-exclusive PC games running on OS X. For more information on the programs used, check out the Play It On A Mac explainer. For suggestions and/or questions about any game, feel free to contact me on Twitter. Outlast is one of the scariest games I've ever played. It's a complete horror show from start to finish, and you rarely get a chance to stop and relax. Unfortunately for Mac gamers, Outlast hasn't made it to OS X in the time since its September 2013 debut on Steam, and with the newly-released "Whistleblower" add-on once again giving gamers a good scare, it's time for you to give it a go on your Mac. Here's how. CrossOver Outlast has a status of "Untested" on the official CrossOver compatibility list, so I gave it a spin myself. I managed to get it installed successfully under a generic bottle, but the game still refused to start up successfully. I'm guessing this is one of those games that will need some special attention and custom tweaks to be done in order to get it running in CrossOver, and unfortunately I'm not well-versed enough to make that happen. Parallels As usual, the install went fine with Parallels. After starting up the game using some modest Parallels settings it was clear that this game would require a little bit more "oomph" to produce a playable result. I changed things a bit and got it running well at about 15 to 20fps on "Very Low" settings. Definitely not ideal, but it is playable. Parallels 9 settings: CPUs: 6 (out of 8) Memory: 12GB (out of 16GB) Video memory: 1GB Performance: Faster Virtual Machine Power: Better Performance Boot Camp Wow, what a difference! The Boot Camp install of Outlast plays so much better than in a virtual machine, it's quite remarkable. Some games don't benefit that much from the switch between the virtual machine and a proper Boot Camp install, but this one definitely does. I was able to get 25 to 30fps on medium/high settings with little trouble. I'd advise turn off motion blur in the game's settings menu, and also enabling vertical sync, as the game has some pretty horrible screen tearing issues without it. Aside from that, it plays great in Boot Camp. Verdict If you're going to play this one on your Mac -- and you definitely should, because it's a fantastic game -- Boot Camp is definitely the best bet. Depending on your machine specs, you might find a Parallels version to be fine, but Outlast greatly benefits from the Boot Camp option.
Play It On A Mac: Final Fantasy VII
In this weekly series I'll show you how to get your favorite Windows-exclusive PC games running on OS X using a variety of options. For more information on the programs used, check out the Play It On A Mac explainer. For suggestions and/or questions about any game, feel free to contact me on Twitter at @MikeWehner. Unlike every Final Fantasy game that came before it, fan-favorite Final Fantasy VII has never made its way to an Apple platform. You can play Final Fantasy I through VI on iOS, but that's where Square's retro RPG love ends for Apple diehards. This cannot stand! Thanks to the Windows-exclusive Steam re-release of FFVII last year, complete with 1080p support, Mac users finally have a chance to play the game via several avenues. Let's get to it! CrossOver Unlike last week's Goat Simulator, CrossOver 13 users will find FFVII is supported, albeit unofficially. It currently holds an unofficial "Gold" rating, and plays faithfully. Testing revealed the game's framerate -- which, it's important to note, is locked to 30fps during exploring and 15fps during combat -- is solid in 1080p with no visible drawbacks. This one gets a big CrossOver thumbs up! Parallels A predictably quick download, quick installation, and quick boot-up provides a perfectly playable Final Fantasy VII experience via Parallels. The game is not particularly demanding in terms of graphics, thanks in large part to its locked frame rate and admittedly chunky character designs -- remember, this is a game born in 1997. Thanks to the start-stop-start nature of the gameplay, it's a great game to leave running in the background for whenever you have a few minutes to kill. The minimum settings our test machine required to run the game at its pre-determined frame rate with no issues are as follows. Parallels 9 settings: CPUs: 4 (out of 8) Memory: 4GB (out of 16GB) Video memory: 512kb Performance: Faster Mac Power: Better Performance This should allow you to run your (wink wink) "work" programs on your Mac along with Parallels and FFVII without issue. If you find any frame rate issues pop up, boost your available video memory a bit and they should smooth out. Additionally, turn of Linear Filtering in the FFVII settings menu. Boot Camp As you might imagine, a game that runs perfectly in both CrossOver and Parallels runs equally perfectly on Boot Camp. Zero issues on the graphics front and aside from the default keyboard controls, which are horrible and should be immediately changed as soon as you start the game, everyone's favorite Final Fantasy runs silky smooth. Well, at least as smoothly as a locked 15fps frame rate can look. Verdict Regardless of which method you choose, bit it CrossOver, Parallels, or Boot Camp, you'll find Final Fantasy VII to be just as you remember it on the original PlayStation, only this time in crisp HD resolution. Game on!
Play It On A Mac: Goat Simulator
In this weekly series I'll show you how to get your favorite Windows-exclusive PC games running on OS X. For more information on the programs used, check out the Play It On A Mac explainer. For suggestions and/or questions about any game, feel free to contact me on Twitter. If you aren't excited for Goat Simulator, there's something wrong with you. The physics-experiment-turned-viral-hit was recently released on Steam to much acclaim and many laughs. It was a game that, as its developer admits, was never even meant to be a game, but that doesn't mean it's not a blast to play. A Mac version is in the works, but there's no release date and you're probably tired of waiting, so here are your options for getting the barnyard animal simulator up and running on your trusty Mac. CrossOver Unfortunately, Goat Simulator is not officially or unofficially support on CrossOver. It has a status of "Known To Not Work" on the CrossOver compatibility list, with no ETA on a fix. It looks like we'll have to go an alternate route. Parallels After a quick Steam download and the usual first-time installation hiccups and almost-freezes, the game boots up just fine in Parallels 9. Despite being very simple in its approach, the game is pretty graphically demanding on the higher settings, so turn off things like dynamic shadows, light shafts, and motion blur, and turn the anti-aliasing off as well (it doesn't make a big difference anyway). At full 1080p resolution I was able to get between 25 and 40 frames per second constantly, even as I destroyed cars and sent pedestrians running for the hills. If you're willing to cut down your resolution a bit, this gets better, but it's certainly playable at 30fps given the sandbox style gameplay. When it comes to Parallels settings, I found that devoting between 50% and 60% of my available resources to the virtual machine produced the best results. Lower than that and the game suffers, but nothing over 60% provided a noticeable return. Parallels 9 settings: CPUs: 4 (out of 8) Memory: 8GB (out of 16GB) Video memory: 1GB Performance: Faster Virtual Machine Power: Better Performance Depending on your machine specs, this will differ, but this is a great starting point. Boot Camp Believe it or not, there's virtually zero benefit when booting directly into Windows this time around. I got the same 25fps to 40fps either way, and although the game seemed to load faster in between menus, the actual in-game performance was virtually identical. You might prefer Boot Camp if you'd rather not mess with micromanaging your virtual machine settings in Parallels, but there's no real benefit. Verdict Get amped, barnyard brawlers, because Goat Simulator is 100% A-OK in both Parallels and Boot Camp! Even on my decidedly underpowered Mac, the game is a ton of fun, and you should have no problem getting the game up and running on anything with similar (or better) specs. I noticed virtually zero difference between Parallels and Boot Camp this time around, so either one should suit you well.
Introducing Play It On A Mac
I'm a gamer who doesn't like compromises. I have a gaming PC that runs Windows, but I also have a few Macs around my house as well, and the fact that most PC games found on Steam are Windows-exclusive is a huge bummer. Play it on a Mac is a new weekly series that will offer puzzled Mac gamers the answers they're looking for. There are three main avenues to investigate when trying to get a Windows program running on OS X: Boot Camp, Parallels, and Crossover. Each method has its own nuances that can affect the performance of individual apps, and games are no different. Because of this, knowing whether or not a Windows-compatible game is even worth the trouble to install on your Mac is nearly impossible. So I'll test them all, and here's how. The Machine To offer the most realistic experience for the widest range of Mac users, the test system is modest in terms of power: Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 (1GB) OS: OS X 10.9.2 & Windows 7 Professional Benchmarking: FRAPS If I can get a game running with playable performance on this machine, there's a good chance it'll run on most Macs built within the last couple of years, and many more capable older machines as well. CrossOver CrossOver is the most lightweight solution for running Windows programs on OS X, allowing you to the applications in a more standalone manner than the alternatives. However, compatibility is a huge issue here, and whether an application (or game, in this case) is supported is a tossup. I'll give you the latest CrossOver details on each game I test. You can download a free trial of CrossOver 13 and purchase the full program from the official website. Parallels Parallels installs a virtual machine on your Mac, effectively conjuring a Windows PC inside your Mac using what I can only assume is a combination of black magic and human sacrifices. Compatibility usually isn't an issue here, but the amount of resources you dedicate to your virtual machine can have a big impact on how a game responds. I'll help you hit the right balance. You can download a free trial of Parallels 9 and purchase the full program from the official website. Boot Camp Boot Camp turns your Mac into a Windows computer using officially supported software. Boot Camp offers the most faithful Windows experience, but you need to boot straight into Windows and leave OS X temporarily behind. This can be a pain for multitaskers, and there's also the possibility that games perform no better here than in CrossOver or Parallels. I'll clear this up for each game I cover. You can find out more about Boot Camp and view tutorials on Apple's Boot Camp page. Verdict Each article will wrap up with a verdict and the overall outcome, so you can decide whether any of the available options is worth your time and money. If you have any suggestions for games to cover, questions about the process, or other input, feel free to nudge me directly on Twitter.
Hedgehog visits Hyrule in free Sonic: Lost World DLC
Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog crosses over with Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series in a free Sonic: Lost World DLC level available from the Wii U eShop starting today. Lost World's "The Legend of Zelda Zone" dresses Sonic up in Link's garb and pits him against familiar enemies from Nintendo's classic franchise. What starts off as a lighthearted trek through an approximation of Hyrule Field soon turns deadly, as Sonic must defeat Deku Scrubs, flee rolling Gorons, and face off against the most sinister enemies of all -- Cuccos. This isn't the first time that Nintendo has loaned out its franchise settings for Sega's latest hedgehog adventure. A Sonic: Lost World level based on Yoshi's New Island hit the Wii U eShop back in December, pairing Sega's mascot with Shy Guys and Piranha Plants against a pastel-colored backdrop. [Image: Sega]
MMO Mechanics: MOBAs vs. MMO battlegrounds
It may feel as if MMOs have always existed as a core part of our gaming repertoire, but the genre made its indelible mark on the industry just over a decade ago. MMO titans like World of Warcraft, EVE Online, and City of Heroes shaped the mechanics we now use as markers and basic standards for the quickly growing genre, and those mechanics have been reiterated and reforged by the countless additions to the MMO clan that we know and love today. This new MMO Mechanics column aims to navigate the mechanical minefield that is the modern MMO through in-depth opinion pieces, comparative analysis, and a little bit of Irish wit, starting with a peek at what distinguishes MMO PvP battlegrounds from Massively Online Battle Arenas. If women are from Venus and men are from Mars, MMOs and MOBAs must be from different galaxies altogether. Despite the similarities between MMO PvP arenas and MOBA matches, the two take very different approaches to progression, persistence, and matchmaking. This leads to two very separate yet equally engaging ways to test the mettle of your character against the might of a human opponent.
Fist of Awesome's lumberjack joining indie racer Super World Karts GP
Super World Karts GP, a 16-bit-style kart racing game from One Legged Seagull, will include a cameo from Tim Burr, the time-traveling lumberjack that stars in another indie game, Fist of Awesome. The news comes from an update on Super World Karts GP's Kickstarter page, which announced the crossover with Fist of Awesome developer I Fight Bears. The game boasts SNES-like, mode 7-style kart racing, bearing strong resemblance to Nintendo's Super Mario Kart, down to its name. Super World Karts GP is in development for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and Ouya, and is a part of Ouya's revised Free the Games Fund. As for Tim Burr, the lumberjack-turned-kart racer will be an unlockable character, available to use "once you've gotten a few tournament cups under your belt." Tim Burr joins three other unlockable crossover characters: Dr. Boom from Tuesday Knight Games, Turing from Read Only Memories and Lobodestroyo's Mutt. Read Only Memories recently found success on Kickstarter, and also participated in Ouya's Free the Games Fund. Super World Karts GP is seeking $16,000 AUS ($14,348.80 USD) by Monday, December 23 on Kickstarter to bring its brand of retro-style kart racing to players, of which the project has currently raised $7,536 AUS ($6758.28 USD).
Project X Zone crosses over into the US June 25
It appears that Namco Bandai has sneakily revealed a June 25 North America launch date for its crossover game with Sega and Capcom, Project X Zone. The date comes from Namco Bandai's official site, though the publisher has yet to issue an announcement or respond to our inquiries for confirmation on the release.Project X Zone is a strategy RPG for the 3DS co-developed by Monolith Soft and Banpresto, in which over 200 well-known faces from Namco Bandai, Sega and Capcom wage combat utilizing a custom "Cross Active Battle System" to chain together custom crossover combos. Project X Zone was originally announced for Japan, but Namco Bandai committed to localization for US and Europe earlier this year.%Gallery-176869%
Resident Evil 6's 'Napad' enters Left 4 Dead 2
While we've seen the Left 4 Dead 2 gang holding their own in Resident Evil 6, we've yet to see Valve's side of this crossover event on PC. Above you can see the Napad in Left 4 Dead 2, a tank variant you can add to your game through Steam Workshop. The Napad is a fusion of infected corpses, all mashed together in some horrifying, Akira-like monstrosity.The PC version of Resident Evil 6 launched on March 22. The Left 4 Dead 2 cast will be playable through a free update, available for download this Friday.%Gallery-182977%
Hey humans, check out this video that shows the making of Defiance
Defiance has been slowly working its way up the hype ladder lately. We here at the Massively offices are wondering whether it will be a smash hit or just a head-scratcher, but either way, you can color us intrigued. In a recent developer video, we learn about the Votan races, a general term for the different aliens who now inhabit the war-torn Earth. Remember, these are the creatures we have to get along with, so it's good that many of them are described as the "supermodels of the Votan races." That certainly helps relations run more smoothly. We also learn more about the Irathients, the sort of misfit toy race of the universe. Although they're described as violent and ferocious, they're also known to be very spiritual. That seems to us to be a prescription for trouble. We see the Indogenes as well, a smooth-faced batch of aliens who are obviously the brains behind the operation. There are even more races that we can mention here. Does that all make sense? No? Well, check out the video after the cut and maybe it will make more sense after.
Quirky's Crossover: finally, a truly unique iPhone 5 case
As you're probably aware, TUAW does a lot of reviews of iPhone cases. To be honest with you, most of the cases don't really catch my attention anymore. But this morning I got an email from crowdsource design firm Quirky about the Crossover (US$34.99), and it's so completely different that I had to write it up. Rather than the typical "stick the iPhone 5 into the case" approach, designer Richard Moreen had the idea of using a couple of big stretchy silicone bands that cross over (hence the name) the back of the iPhone. Want to turn the Crossover into a wallet case? Stuff your ID and some credit cards under the bands and you're done. The cool thing is that you can customize your case by selecting the color (there are 12 in all) for each band when ordering. For example, Colorado Rockies fans like me could select Wisteria Purple and Charcoal Gray for a nice tribute to our favorite baseball team... According to Quirky spokesperson Jaime Yandolino, today's the official release for Crossover, so you can order your custom "case" today.
