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‘Stanley Parable’ and ‘Gone Home’ devs team up to form Ivy Road studio
Annapurna Interactive will release the first game from Davey Wreden and Karla Zimonja's studio.
Toyota adds Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to its trucks and SUVs
Toyota dragged its heels on smartphone integration for years, but it's making up for that in style. The automaker is introducing Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support to its 2020 trucks and SUVs, including the Tacoma (above), Tundra, 4Runner and Sequoia. Yes, you too can navigate with Google Maps or stream Apple Music while you're off-roading. They also support Alexa in case you'd like to bark commands to Amazon's voice assistant.
'Tacoma' brings space-sleuthing to PS4 on May 8th
Last August, Gone Home developer Fullbright released Tacoma on Xbox One, PC, Mac and Linux. It was an ambitious adventure game set on an empty space station in 2088; you played as a sort of space detective with access to immersive 3D recordings and personal files on crew-member computers. Now, Fullbright has announced that it's bringing the game to PlayStation 4 on May 8th. The experience will be identical save for a new "Developer Commentary Mode" that includes two hours of writer, designer, artist and programmer insight. If you're interested, the title is available for pre-order now with 20 percent off the usual asking price.
Indie game award finalists include 'Cuphead' and 'Night in the Woods'
The Independent Games Festival has revealed the finalists for its 2018 awards, and this year there are a few definite favorites. Infinite Fall's relentlessly witty adventure Night in the Woods is on the short list for not just the Seumas McNally grand prize, but also the narrative and visual art prizes. And to no one's surprise, StudioMDHR's almost fanatical devotion to classic cartoons in Cuphead has earned it some nods: it's up for audio and visual art prizes in addition to getting an honorable mention for the grand prize.
The evolution of video-game cyberpunk: 'Ruiner' and 'Tacoma'
What does it even mean, cyberpunk?" It's a strange question coming from Magdalena Tomkowicz, the narrative designer of Ruiner, a top-down action game that takes place in an anime-inspired cyberpunk world. It just landed on Steam, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this week from Polish studio Reikon Games, but fans of gritty sci-fi shooters have been looking forward to this one for months. The thing is, Tomkowicz and Creative Director Benedykt Szneider never intended to create a cyberpunk game. They're simply products of the 1980s, pulling inspiration from their favorite childhood stories -- Alien, Die Hard, Ghost in the Shell -- to create something of their own. Tomkowicz is also a former journalist who covered emerging technology and consumer trends, and her professional curiosity informed Ruiner's aesthetic far more than any desire to re-create the world of, say, Blade Runner. Besides, the traditional Blade Runner version of cyberpunk -- dense, dark city streets coated in smog and grime, eerily illuminated by walls of neon -- is out of touch with today's reality, according to Szneider and Tomkowicz. This aesthetic made sense in the '80s, but sci-fi is all about extrapolating from current technological and social trends, not clinging to 35-year-old ideas about the future. Blade Runner completely missed the advent of cellphones, after all. "It's like it's actually a retro-futuristic genre and something that is locked in its bubble," Tomkowicz says.
What we're playing: 'Tacoma,' 'Final Fantasy' and 'A Dark Room'
Welcome back to Gaming IRL, a monthly segment where several editors talk about what they've been playing in their downtime. This month, we've enjoyed (to varying degrees) two flavors of Final Fantasy, explored Fullbright's new game, Tacoma, and lost ourselves in a "button-tapping mash-up between an idle-clicker and a text adventure." To open proceedings, UK Bureau Chief Mat Smith talks about how, when it comes to Final Fantasy XII, third time's a charm.
Watch the first 10 minutes of Fullbright's 'Tacoma'
Tacoma feels a lot like its predecessor, Gone Home, even though its environments couldn't be more different. Rather than leading players on an emotional journey through an abandoned family house, Tacoma places players on an abandoned space station. The feeling of familiarity comes from the game's design and mechanics: Players are encouraged to explore all the nooks, crannies, notes and recordings scattered around the station, while the layout of the winding metal hallways and air locks quietly guides them through a mysterious, dangerous storyline.
'Gone Home' follow-up 'Tacoma' pushed back to 2017
Fullbright, the studio behind the critically acclaimed Gone Home, has delayed its new game Tacoma. The sci-fi mystery was penciled in for the second half of this year, but it's now been pushed back to 2017. The reason for the delay is quality control. Tacoma has been in development for two years now, and was pretty far along (and enjoyable) when we tried it out last summer. It played out similarly to the narrative-driven Gone Home, but added additional gameplay in the form of gravity-based puzzles, and more than a little of System Shock's eerie tension thrown in for good measure.
Indie darling 'Gone Home' hits UK consoles next week
It's been an agonising wait, but Gone Home will soon be available on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in the UK. The game's console debut was originally slated for mid-January, however some last minute certification issues meant its European release was put on hold. (It was still released in the US, however.) Those problems appear to have been sorted now, as The Fullbright Company today confirmed it'll be arriving on the continent, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Russia, on February 12th.
Virgin-Tesla takes you to space in Gone Home studio's 'Tacoma'
Fullbright struck a nerve with 2013's Gone Home, its emotionally haunting tale of a 20-something who returns from Europe in 1995 to find her family home deserted. That indie game darling not only became a critical success for the small Portland, Oregon-based studio, but also won a BAFTA in 2014 for best game debut, and two VGX awards -- one for best PC game, the other for best independent game. For Fullbright's follow-up, the near-future, set-in-space sci-fi tale Tacoma, the studio has some undoubtedly high expectations to meet. It's a good thing then that Microsoft, which has partnered with Fullbright to make the game an Xbox One exclusive, is there to lend a deep-pocketed helping hand. Tacoma is very much still in development and won't be out until mid-2016. But that didn't stop Fullbright co-founder Steve Gaynor and level designer Tynan Wales from trotting out a short 30-minute demo that gives a glimpse of the augmented reality and artificial intelligence that pervades Tacoma's world. I recently had a chance to chat with both Gaynor and Wales about avoiding the sophomore slump, their sci-fi inspirations, a possible HoloLens demo, killer AIs and why space could be a very gay place.
The 2016 Toyota Tacoma has a GoPro mount as a standard feature
Considering a new truck for your next off-road excursion? Well, if you also fancy chronicling your adventures with a GoPro camera, Toyota is hoping a new feature on its 2016 Tacoma will help entice you to buy one. The automaker is including a mount for GoPro's line of action cameras as a standard feature, so if you spend tens of thousands on a new truck, you can pocket the $40 you'd spend on an extra accessory. "We're not in the business of selling cameras, and we're not in the business of dictating to our customers what they have to use," Tacoma chief engineer Michael Sweers told Bloomberg. "It just made sense to try to team up with GoPro because that's what our customer base is using." Of course, the new Tacoma won't arrive with a camera already in the cab, but surely more than a few dealers will offer one as an extra if you buy a new truck. [Image credit: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images]
Microsoft reveals a slew of Xbox One indie games at E3
Microsoft's massive E3 press conference wasn't just about big-budget shooters -- the company also took some time to highlight the many smaller titles coming from indie developers. The highlights include Tacoma, the next game from Gone Home studio Fullbright, which is about a woman who finds herself stranded on a space station; Ashen, a stylized adventure game that seems to have the scale of Shadow of the Colossus; and Beyond Eyes, a painterly looking game about a young girl exploring the outdoors. We also got a quick look at several other titles in a promo video, which you can check out below.
Tacoma, the next game from Gone Home developers
The next game from Gone Home developer Fullbright is called Tacoma, and it's a decidedly sci-fi, Rapture-esque journey due out in 2016. Fullbright debuted the game and fresh teaser trailer at The Game Awards tonight. The game has a site and a Twitter account. The YouTube description reads, "What mysteries await you, 200,000 miles from Earth?" Welcome to Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma, everyone :-) - Tacoma (@TacomaGame) December 6, 2014
WoW Archivist: WoW's craziest TV ads
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Nefarian swallows a truck. Two women duke it out in a supermarket. A trio of singers shouts, "No means no!" Mr. T introduces a new race and Chuck Norris roundhouse-kicks a kodo. Those responsible for advertising World of Warcraft have hit on some crazy ideas. This week, Blizzard debuted its first TV ads for Mists of Pandaria. As I'm writing this, I've just watched them air live on Monday Night Football. That's a big-time slot for a commercial here in the States and runs a cool $325,000 per nationally televised spot. The ads feature clips from the official trailer. If only the Bengals had put up as much of a fight as that panda. But not all of WoW's commercials through the years have been quite so ... straightforward. Let's take a look!
Comcast delivers 29 HD channels in Seattle / Tacoma, Washington
It's officially the holiday season, and Comcast is officially in the giving mood. Hard though it may be to fathom, the carrier has just unloaded no fewer than 29 new high-definition channels in the Seattle / Tacoma, Washington area. We won't even bother boggling your mind by listing all 29 here, but those ready for an HD overload can hit the read link and prepare to be wowed. 29 new high-def stations in a single day -- that's almost too many to digest at once. Almost.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Seattle / Tacoma Comcast users gain four more HD channels
Although there's been no official announcement from Comcast, it seems that subscribers in the Seattle / Tacoma region have recently been blessed with four more HD options. According to tipster Cameron, the operator informed customers via postcards that it would be adding A&E HD, History Channel HD, USA HD and National Geographic HD as of December 6th. Comically enough, Comcast also sent out a friendly letter informing users in the area of price hikes that were coming in 2008, but we suppose you've got to pay to play, eh? As for channel numbers, you can catch the aforementioned additions on 670, 671, 672 and 673, respectively.[Thanks, Cameron]
