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Make your space fortune in 'Astroneer' on December 16th
If you felt a little let down by No Man's Sky, perhaps Astroneer can restore your faith in procedurally generated universes. System Era's space exploration game is finally nearing completion, and will be released on Steam Early Access, as well as Xbox One and Windows 10 Game Preview, on December 16th. The title actually has a lot in common with No Man's Sky, apart from the third-person viewpoint reminiscent of Lifeless Planet. You are an explorer out to make your fortune, but to do that you must hunt down the resources required to build vehicles, bases and conduct research needed first for survival, then for prosperity.
'Super Mario Run' arrives on iPhone and iPad December 15th
At the iPhone 7 event, Apple and Nintendo revealed that Mario would make his way to iOS devices this December. Well, today Nintendo revealed the exact date: December 15th. That's the day Super Mario Run will be available to play on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The app can be downloaded for free, but you'll only be able to play parts of the game's three modes without handing over additional funds. To unlock the full game, you'll have to pay $10.
WHSmith will sell video games again with GAME's help
Magazine and stationary retailer WHSmith is to start selling video games in-store again, thanks to a partnership with GAME to trial concessions in a small number of locations. WHSmith pulled games from shelves six years ago due to competitive pressure from more specialist retailers like GAME and HMV. Once adversaries, the two now appear to have found common ground. For WHSmith, it'll mean being able to offer games to its customers again -- new and high-profile console releases, we imagine -- and for GAME, increased exposure on the high street, however small that increase might be.
A game about butt-sniffin' pugs is coming to PS4 and PC
Butt Sniffin Pugs, a fun simulator featuring cute pugs exploring New Yorkie City (get it?), rescuing citizens in danger and sniffing food and butts, has conquered crowdfunding pledgers' hearts. It has successfully reached its goal on Kickstarter, and it's now scheduled to be released for PS4, Windows and Mac in the first quarter of 2018. Inspired by cute, open-ended games like Kirby and Animal Crossing, it was designed to cater to everyone, from people who barely play to big AC fans.
UK games retailer charges for its PSVR demos
Still not sold on VR? Got a PS4? But still not sure? Then you should probably test it out before laying down the hundreds of dollars (or pounds) the peripheral costs. But you probably shouldn't have to pay to do so. But that's exactly what UK retailer Game is doing, charging £5 (just over $6) for ten minutes of neck-craning and open-jawed gaming. You can also pay £15 for 30 minutes. Deal?
'Amnesia' games to scare a new generation of players on PS4
Horror fans on the lookout for bone-chilling titles on the PS4 have something to look forward to in November. The whole Amnesia collection developed by Swedish studio Frictional Games and British developer The Chinese Room is finally arriving on the console on November 22nd. It consists of the same PC games that became Let's Play favorites among streamers a few years ago, namely Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010), its expansion Amnesia: Justine (2011), as well as their sequel Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (2013).
'Pokémon Generations' YouTube series dives deep into game lore
If you love the world of Pokémon, but can't stand the official anime's whiny protagonist, stay tuned: the next Pocket Monster animated adventure has nothing to do with him. On September 16th, a series of shorts will launch under the title Pokémon Generations -- with each episode diving deep into the stories of the original games. Better yet, the show will be launching for free on YouTube.
Playing solitaire and tic-tac-toe is as easy as a Google search
A Google search is handy for getting info on nearly anything, but now the company is making it easier to play two timeless games on both mobile and the web. When you search for "solitaire" or "tic-tac-toe," you'll be able to play them both from the comforts of your browser on the desktop or inside the Google app on your phone or tablet. The company has been keen on adding these bits of whimsy to its search tool for a while now as these games follow animal sounds and a coin flip. You know, in case you need to decide who's picking up the check in today's cashless society. There's also those Google Doodles that have been a mainstay for years, most recently offering Olympic-themed games.
'Overwatch' test patch turns troll talk into funny lines
Blizzard has rolled out an Overwatch test patch that could make playing on the game's Public Test Realm (PTR) either hilarious or infuriating, depending on which camp you're in. A bunch of Reddit and NeoGAF users have noticed that when you type in "gg ez" in chat, the game automatically changes it into either very polite messages or hilarious ones that insult the user. The term "gg ez," as you might know, means "good game, easy win" that's meant to insult the losing party in an online match. Well, Blizzard isn't having any of that behavior.
G2A attempts to appease game publishers with royalty payments
After coming under fire for how it handles sales of illegal video game keys, reselling website G2A has introduced a number of new policies that it hopes will appease developers affected by the practice. The company announced that it will let game makers apply for royalty payments for any titles that appear on its marketplace. It comes after SpeedRunners publisher TinyBuild accused G2A of failing to act on $450,000 in potential lost sales, after scammers used stolen credit cards to buy legitimate keys and auction them off for profit.
Now anybody can register a '.game' top-level domain
The menagerie of content-specific top level domain (TLD) names grew once again on Tuesday when registry service, Uniregistry, opened up .game to the public. It joins other custom TLDs like .beer and .nyc, which have already been around for years.
Cracker Jack ditches toys in favor of augmented reality
Ah yes, Cracker Jack. The classic American snack food and ballpark staple that offers the thrill of finding a cheap plastic toy at the bottom of the box. Well, I should say offered, since PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division is modernizing snacking by nixing the toy in favor of a "baseball-inspired mobile digital experience." What does that mean exactly? Rather than unwrapping a plastic figurine or trinket, you'll find a sticker that you scan with your phone's camera to "bring the ballpark to life" with a mobile game or photo treatment. Oh yeah, you'll have to download the Blippar augmented reality app first.
Nintendo's 'Miitomo' app passes 10 million users
Nintendo dropped a pile of news on our laps this morning. Along with its earnings, the Japanese game company gave us a release date for its new NX console, announced a pair of new mobile apps and delayed Zelda into 2017. Buried in among these bigger items is the detail that its first mobile app, Miitomo, now has over 10 million unique users.
Nintendo delays new 'Zelda' to 2017, announces NX version
There's good news and bad for Nintendo's upcoming Legend of Zelda open-world title for the Wii U console. First the bad: It's been delayed again, so it won't arrive now until 2017. The good news is that it's going to come out on the next-gen Nintendo NX console, which, by the way, Nintendo just revealed. In a (roughly translated) tweet, Nintendo Japan says that it pushed back the game "for further quality improvement," adding that it will be released "simultaneously" on the Nintendo NX.
'Rock Band 4' for PC fails to get crowdfunded
Labels may have wanted to keep Rock Band 4 from making the leap to PCs over piracy concerns, but not even a crowdfunding campaign could help jumpstart the effort. Harmonix held a month-long campaign on Fig in hopes of offsetting the development costs for porting the Xbox and PlayStation title to the PC, but as time expired, the project had only raised $792,817 or 52 percent of the $1.5 million goal. By the way, 27 people pledged $2,500 to nab every Rock Band song for the PC title. That's dedication.
Twitter will stream Thursday night NFL games
Twitter is frequently pilloried by investors for not being as successful a social network as Facebook, but that's not really what the site is about. The service is reportedly strengthening its case for being a broadcasting platform instead of a social network after signing a landmark deal with the NFL. According to Bloomberg's anonymous sources, Twitter has purchased the digital rights that'll enable it to broadcast Thursday night football games online. The news wire's anonymous sources believe that the company won out against other internet giants such as Yahoo, Amazon and Verizon -- while Facebook itself dropped out of the running a week ago.
Uber recruits engineers with coding puzzles during rides
Uber knows it has a captive audience during rides, and is trying to pick out the coders among them with a new app feature called "Code on the Road." It pops up in the main app and offers "hacker challenges" that are basically 60-second timed coding and debugging tests. Some riders offered the quizzes (like Twitter user Graham Gnall, below) actually work as engineers, but Uber assures Business Insider that it's not tapping any personal info. Rather, it's rolling out the feature in cities with large numbers of tech workers, so you might see it in places like Boston, Seattle and Portland.
ICYMI: Space junk reboot, biological machine v2 and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-763516{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-763516, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-763516{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-763516").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: NASA thinks it can extend the life of even dead satellites orbiting Earth with a new solution from the agency and Orbital ATK. Mission Extension Vehicles should go up in 2018 and give the sats battery power for as long as another 15 years. A game developer is trying to make older, classic Nintendo games 3D with an emulator that uses a custom algorithm to separate flat backgrounds into 3D objects. And the National Science Foundation funded work to create a biological machine that can be controlled with electrical or optical signals-- while using it's own muscle tissue for power. We also wanted to make sure you saw the ostrich chase video that is making the rounds. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
Google's DeepMind AI will take on a Go champ tomorrow night
Google's DeepMind AI is already the first computerized system to best a champion Go player, and you can watch its next big game in less than 24 hours. The AlphaGo program will take on Lee Se-dol in the first match (of a planned five game series) at the Four Seasons hotel in Seoul, Korea tomorrow, at 1PM local time (10:30PM ET). The match will be broadcast live on YouTube, and you can find the stream right here.
The FBI teaches teens about extremism with a game that defies logic
The FBI recently fired up a new site urging teens and other young internet people not to "be a puppet," which in this extremely specific case requires recognizing and understanding violent extremism. Fine! Great! As incidents of extremism continue to tear lives apart lives the world over, young people deserve to understand the mindset that leads some to make tragic decisions. Then the FBI tried to make a Flash game starring a goat avoiding blocks and all logic just flew out the window.
