News::Amazon locks top games behind a Prime paywall

For many, Amazon is the go-to place to buy video games. Now, the company is using that influence to incentivise Prime by requiring a subscription for select game orders. As VideoGamer reports, this applies to top titles such as FIFA 16, Far Cry Primal and Battlefield Hardline on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the UK. Similar restrictions are also live in the US -- we've spotted the Amazon Prime label on Grand Theft Auto V, for instance. The requirement is only in place, however, if you want the order to be fulfilled by Amazon. At the moment, you can sidestep the problem by selecting a third-party merchant on the site instead.

Via: VideoGamer

Source: Amazon

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News::'Ark: Survival of the Fittest' brings dinosaur combat to PS4

What would happen if you combined The Hunger Games with Jurassic Park? That's the idea behind Survival of the Fittest, a standalone game based on ARK: Survival Evolved. The so-called "Multiplayer Online Survival Arena" title launched on PC last month, and now it's headed towards the PlayStation 4. Starting on July 19th, console players will be able to fight for supremacy using the resources on an ever-shrinking arena. The aim is to quickly collect materials, craft better gear and, if you're lucky, tame some dinosaurs to ravage your opponents. It's a whacky concept, for sure.

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News::Blood flows in PS4's 'Shadow of the Beast' on May 17th

You'd be forgiven if you didn't play Shadow of the Beast when it first came out on the Amiga in 1989, but don't make the same mistake with the upcoming PlayStation 4 version. The absolutely brutal side-scroller looks like a throwback to beat 'em ups of yore like Streets of Rage, however the combat appears to have a fair bit of depth to it. Protagonist Aaraborn may start out in chains but he's far from helpless: there are a pair of positively massive claws attached to his hands he uses to rip enemy creatures apart. Combat is heavily timing-based and, well, vicious.

Source: PlayStation Blog

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News::Make your own ladders and leagues with Gfinity's Xbox One app

Gfinity is backing eSports heavily: if it's not a gaming arena, its an app that lets you arrange your own tournament, ladder or league. It's a first for consoles (and it's just Xbox One for now), but it lets you create and manage tournaments from the Microsoft game box. The company is hoping it'll see use both at the professional level as well as to settle scores in the office and at home.

Source: Gfinity

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News::Stop nuclear devastation at the heart of a neverending Cold War

One of the most famous works of graffiti on the Berlin Wall is a depiction of former Soviet Union General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev kissing the ex-leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, full on the mouth. In the painting, called "My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love," Brezhnev's profile commands a majority of the frame, as if he's sucking the life out of Honecker. It's based on a 1979 photo of the two statesmen locked in a fraternal kiss, a common form of greeting among socialist leaders at the time.

Fast forward to 2016 and artist Rafal Fedro of inbetweengames has updated this iconic painting to feature US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin sharing a fraternal kiss. In the studio's' latest project, a spy tactics game called All Walls Must Fall, the new painting represents a wide range of scenarios: heightened tensions between two countries that were once at the heart of the Cold War, fraying international relationships, or the subconscious desire to love our enemies, to name a few interpretations.

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News::Esports will be a $500 million industry in 2016

The eSports industry is poised to make a cool $463 million in revenue in 2016, according to a new report from PwC (the financial services firm formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers). As testament to the rapidly expanding industry, that's a 43 percent rocket jump from 2015.

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News::Sega to support modded Genesis games on Steam

Sega's Mega Drive console (or the Genesis, depending on where you lived at the time) still boasts an impressive library of 16-bit games. Many of those are now available on Steam and Sega, hoping to attract some new collectors, has developed a virtual playground for them called the Mega Drive Classics Hub. Notably, this also comes with Steam Workshop support, allowing PC players to share "modified versions" of their favorite games from the early 90s. That's pretty unusual, given most developers and publishers are opposed to fan-driven emulation and modification of classic games -- no doubt because of its relationship with piracy.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Sega

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News::'Mirror's Edge Catalyst' gets delayed once again

EA will release Mirror's Edge Catalyst on June 7th in North America and June 9th across Europe, a delay of two weeks. This is the second time Catalyst has been delayed; the first re-scheduling pushed the game's release back three months, from February 23rd to May 24th. In the first instance, DICE Senior Producer Sara Jansson said the team needed more time to polish the game's mechanics. This time around, Design Director Erik Odeldahl says DICE needs more time to work on Social Play features.

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News::Acer reveals new Predator gaming desktop notebook and display

Acer is made a truckload of PC announcements at its NYC event today, and new gaming gear was part of the news. The company pulled the wraps off of a trio of Predator series devices, including the Predator 17X gaming notebook, Predator G1 gaming desktop and Predator Z1 monitor. The trio joins Acer's gaming line that already includes a pair of gaming laptops, desktops, displays and even an 8-inch tablet. Let's take a closer look at each of the new machines, shall we?

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News::The definitive 'Ori and the Blind Forest' hits PC next week

Alongside Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of the Tomb Raider, the Xbox One played host to a smaller but no less special console exclusive last year: Ori and the Blind Forest. The 2D platformer won a bucketload of awards and high praise from the press for its tight controls and gorgeous art style. The game was also made available on PC and now, a month after the Definitive Edition's arrival on Xbox One, Microsoft is prepping a similar release for the Windows crowd. The updated version arrives on April 27th, adding new areas, music, story elements and abilities to the original game.

Source: Xbox Wire

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News::Nintendo is bringing 'Splatoon' gear to its 'Miitomo' app

Since its launch, Nintendo has held back from offering video game-related clothing in Miitomo. You can quickly earn a Mario hat, but otherwise there are few items to show off your love for a particular franchise, like Star Fox or The Legend of Zelda. That's now changing, however, as Nintendo readies its first batch of Splatoon-themed gear. From April 27th through to May 29th, users will be able to unlock inkling shoes, shorts, t-shirts and hairstyles through the app's Miitomo Drop mini-game. Colorful squid pins will also be redeemable using regular coins in the Miitomo Shop.

Via: Polygon

Source: Nintendo

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News::HBO Now comes to the Xbox One

It's already available on all of the devices that cord cutters like to shove under their TVs, but HBO Now was underrepresented in the console stakes. Now, however, that's set to change after the Game of Thrones maker announced that its on-demand platform has come to the Xbox One. Much like the other platforms the service has already come to, users can pay $14.99 and get all of that premium TV content from John Oliver through to Veep without a cable subscription. And look, HBO made the announcement just in time for that show everyone loves (to pirate) comes back.

Via: NeoGAF

Source: Microsoft

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News::'Hearthstone' update brings drastic changes to the card game

Hearthstone is undergoing some changes in the interest of keeping the digital-trading-card game fresh. But in introducing the "Whispers of the Old Gods" -- expansion out on the 26th -- developer Blizzard is tweaking a bunch of cards and, based on the 5,000-plus comment Reddit thread, this isn't exactly for the better. Fan favorite cards like Molten Giant have gotten a casting cost increase up to 25 from 20, while the Knife Juggler card has had its attack decreased by a point.

Via: Polygon

Source: Blizzard (1), (2)

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News::VLC media player is coming to Xbox One

The promise of Windows apps on Xbox One has been hanging out there for quite a while, but now that it's really happening we're seeing some results. One of the big names that will arrive on the console this summer is VLC, a popular desktop media player that already has versions for other connected TV platforms. Maintainer Thomas Nigro says that making it a UWP app means a beta version will hit Windows 10 Mobile next week before its official debut in May and an official version for Windows 10 desktop is due in mid-May.

Source: Thomas Nigro

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News::'Rocket League' basketball update lands on April 26th

Rocket League's quest to include every major sport continues. Psyonix has revealed that its game's promised basketball mode, Rocket League Hoops, will arrive as part of a free update on April 26th. For the most part, it's exactly what you'd expect: instead of shooting horizontally to score (as with the existing football/soccer and hockey modes), you have to toss the ball down into a giant hoop. That definitely changes the game mechanics, though, as those fanciful aerial and wall shots are now much more important. The only catch is that it's a two-on-two mode, so it won't be quite as wild as you might like.

Source: Rocket League (YouTube)

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News::Latest 'Division' exploit delivers unlimited damage

Just days after The Division community was warned they could be banned from the game for exploiting shoddy code comes one doozy of an exploit for Ubisoft's hit game. Due to a bug in the "Competent" talent, players can build up a short burst of obscenely high damage in the 1,000,000-plus DPS range.

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News::PlayStation Network is adding two-factor sign-ins

It's about to get much harder for someone to compromise your PlayStation Network account. Sony has confirmed that it's working on two-factor authentication for PSN, preventing intruders from getting into your games (or worse, going on a spending spree) simply because they have your password. It's unclear just what that second identifying factor will be, but the odds are that you'll get an SMS-based code to type in the first time you sign into a device or website.

Source: Polygon

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News::Watch the 'Star Fox Zero' animated short here at 6PM ET

Ahead of the launch of Star Fox Zero on Wii U, scheduled for April 22nd, Nintendo this week teased an animated short with ties to the game's story. Titled Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins, the film will be premiering worldwide today at 6PM ET/3PM PT, featuring the fabled characters you've come to love from the franchise. You definitely won't want to miss it, so make sure you're tuned into Nintendo's stream at the times mentioned above -- link is right here.

Source: Nintendo

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News::'Exploding Kittens' is now on Android

Exploding Kittens, the most-funded game ever to cross Kickstarter's funding goal line is now available on Android. The multiplayer card contest, illustrated by The Oatmeal, works a lot like another classic party game: Russian Roulette. Each of the up to five players takes turns pulling cards from a central deck. Whenever someone pulls an Exploding Kitten card, they have to use another card from their hand to defuse it before the cat goes kablooey. Whoever is left standing last, wins. The game is available for both iOS and Android for $2 and can be played across platforms.

Source: Kickstarter

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News::'Shadow Complex Remastered' hits the PS4 on May 3

Sony announced on Wednesday that is bringing the last-gen hit sidescroller Shadow Complex into the modern gaming era and release a remastered version of it on May 3rd for the PS4. For those not familiar with the title, Shadow Complex follows the exploits of one Jason Flemming who must rescue his girlfriend (guh, cliche much?) from a faction of high-tech soldiers in a secret underground bunker. It utilizes the same sort of 2.5D gameplay as Super Metroid, wherein the environment is 3D but the player can only move in two dimensions -- enemies are not, however, similarly restricted and can attack from anywhere.

Source: PlayStation Blog

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