Culture
3 CommentsJapan's Retro Games Master tries to catch every original Pokémon before Sun and Moon launch
Nintendo is collaborating with Game Center CX, a popular Japanese variety show, on a new video series, in which the series' host will embark upon the ultimate challenge: catching every Pokémon in the original Game Boy games. From now until Nov. 18 — when the series' latest games Pokémon Sun and Moon launch — the "Retro Game Master" Shinya Arino will attempt to add new meaning to his title.
The first episode premiered on Nintendo Japan's Topics blog, which hosts news and stories about gaming culture. You can watch the half-hour installment above to see how successful Arino is on his first Pokémon outing. It's in Japanese without English subtitles, but longtime Pokémon fans should be able to follow along with ease.
Arino is playing Japan-only Pokémon Green on Nintendo 3DS; the Virtual...
Culture
8 CommentsArtist recreates all of Star Wars: Episode IV in 123-meter long illustration
A Swiss graphic designer has taken all of the events that occurred in Star Wars: A New Hope and recreated it in a 123-meter long illustration.
Inspired by a series of infographics he had seen, Martin Panchaud created the image using Adobe Illustrator. The exact image works out to be 10.6 inches by 4845.3 inches in length. On his website, Panchaud said one of the reasons he wanted to create such an elaborate image was because of how tired he grew of the internet's inability to pay attention to something. He wrote that internet culture likes "short stories and summaries" and wanted to do the complete opposite with the project.
Panchaud added that he chose Star Wars for multiple reasons, including that the franchise has had one of the most profound effects on pop culture and wanted to...
Culture
5 CommentsLive-action Uncharted 4 took two drone pilots, was done in one shot and looks amazing
This video takes a bit of explaining.
The video above by Freakin Rad isn't just a live-action take on Uncharted 4 — since that would just be a movie using the same characters and settings — but an attempt to replicate the visual language of the game in real life. Which is a much more ambitious undertaking than it may seem at first.
The entire thing was filmed in a single take using a Dji Inspire 1 drone, with one person flying the device and another person controlling the camera. That smooth camera motion where the angle changes while the view stays locked on the character required a steady hand on not one, but two sets of controls.
You can watch the behind-the-scenes video to see how it was all done, but this is a really neat piece of filmmaking, and required an intense amount of...
Culture
14 CommentsOverwatch artists bring a young fan's character to life
A young Overwatch fan sketched out her own character for the shooter, which launches on Tuesday, and Blizzard's artists were so charmed they whipped up concept art for what she might look like in the game.
This is Birst, designed by the daughter of Shane Hickey. It's important to note she is not being added to the game, this is just a fanart mockup by Blizzard staffers, tipping their caps to Hickey's kid. Still, it's fun to see a fridge-door drawing get A-list treatment, like it was on the conference-room whiteboard all along.
Here is Birst's design document:
"Her name is Birst. And she has a Boomer rang. She has lasers on her suit. You can make her kill or [heal]. She has things in a bag on her dress and she has a [healing] Box in her Bag. She can also fly...
Culture
3 CommentsDancing Warcraft player now takes on Rocket League with a guitar controller
That guy who played World of Warcraft on a dance pad and got all the way to level 100 is at it again. This time, he is playing ranked Rocket League matches on a guitar controller.
Rudeism, the delightful Kiwi who "plays games wrong" on purpose, got started on this latest project about 10 days ago. It's hard to tell which controls on the guitar (which appears to be an early model Guitar Hero guitar) correspond to what action in the game. But you can see he gets around easily, and with a lot less effort than when he was stomping the dance pad in Azeroth for a month.
How does he do this? Well, Rudeism (real name Dylan) uses the app Xpadder which remaps game controllers of all flavors. Ten years after its developer first released it, Xpadder is still put to good use.
Down the road,...
Culture
117 CommentsIt's been 10 years since Half-Life 2: Episode 3 was announced. Here's Gabe Newell not talking about it.
No, numerologists of the Interwebs, this is not confirmation of Half-Life 2: Episode 3. It's a compilation of interviews given and questions taken by Valve boss Gabe Newell in the decade since the infamous finale to the Half-Life trilogy was first announced.
That happened May 24, 2006. Valve and Newell were, for a time, very happy to discuss plans for Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Ten years ago, Valve was even happy to give the game a launch window — "by Christmas 2007." Perhaps not coincidentally, 2008 is when Newell starts clamming up about it.
The posture changes from "we're still working on it, of course," to a very strict "we have nothing to say about Half-Life." At least in this video's chronology, the last time Newell was on camera saying the game was even still in development was...
Culture
20 CommentsRovio wants theatergoers to use their phones during the Angry Birds movie
Angry Birds is coming to theaters tomorrow, May 20, and developer Rovio is asking fans to whip their phones out during the credits to watch a bonus clip. In a press release, the creator of the popular mobile games detailed how audience members will be required to use their smart devices in the theater to unlock some extra "Movie Magic."
We'll let Rovio explain themselves:
By going to see the The Angry Birds Movie in the cinema during the opening weekend and sticking around for the credits, audience members with the game open on their device get treated to more Movie Magic — a whole new area of the game to explore and an additional exclusive movie clip that can't be seen anywhere else but inside Angry Birds Action!
There's a watermark hidden during the credits sequence that the...
Culture
8 CommentsWalking Dead attraction at Universal Studios set to open in July
The Walking Dead attraction at Universal Studios that's been a Halloween staple of the amusement park for a couple of years will finally be open all year round starting July 4.
The theme park company released a video today detailing what visitors of the exhibit can expect to experience out of the revamped attraction. Greg Nicotero, legendary FX artist and one of the principal artists on The Walking Dead TV series, talks about the new attraction in the video above, and how they went about moving moulds for the zombies from the set of the show to the theme park.
"After six years of working on The Walking Dead, we have a great opportunity to take The Walking Dead out of the studio, off the soundstage and into an attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood where guests can come face-to-face...
Disney's first official Vive and Oculus app is barely worth the free download
Working the red carpet at a major film premiere looks exhausting. The photographers yell your name, you have to stand in front of the appropriate logo to have your picture taken, someone else yells your name so you turn a bit and face them, they thank you and you get to walk past. It's a part of the promotional cycle though, so no matter how much you were paid or how important you are, you walk. You smile. You turn.
When I realized I didn't know how much of this I would be watching in the Disney Movies VR app, out now for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, I tried to escape the 360 degree video. I'm not sure if there's a command to do so. I took the headset off and came up here to write this. Jon Favreau is still down there posing for all I know.
The program is free, and The "Trust in...
Culture
2 CommentsWatch how Super Mario 64 is teaching millions the nitty-gritty of game design
YouTuber pannenkeok2012 uploaded a new video in his series of Super Mario 64 programming lessons yesterday. Watch above to learn how the random number generator (RNG) works in the classic Nintendo 64 game, making Bob-ombs blink and determining the speed of coin drops.
To those not well-versed in computer science or game design, the lesson may be informative — or inscrutable. But pannenkoek2012 has already racked up more than 43,000 views on the new video. The user's channel is full of similarly educational pieces, all of which are highly technical in nature. That doesn't stop them from attracting thousands of views, however.
In January, a video showing how to collect a star in Super Mario 64 without fully pressing the A button racked up over one million views. Unlike the RNG video,...
Culture
1 CommentWorld of Warcraft meets Wu-Tang Clan in new mixtape from Phill Harmonix
Phoenix-based rapper Phill Harmonix released a new album today that combines the world of gaming and hip hop, creating a Wu-Tang Clan-inspired album dedicated to Blizzard's World of Warcraft.
WuCraft, as the album has been dubbed, features an array of classic Wu-Tang Clan songs — including "C.R.E.A.M." — with the lyrics all changed to reflect major moments or fan favorite events in the MMO. For example, the tale of Ben Schulz' Warcraft character Leeroy Jenkins as he bravely and foolhardily runs into battle by himself screaming his own name, is paid homage to on the track "Leeeeeeroy!"
The album is produced in conjunction with chip hop star Mega Ran, best known for licensing official music from Capcom to use in his own songs. It's available to download right now on Soundcloud, Bandcamp...
Culture
21 CommentsJust how historically accurate is Battlefield 1?
Battlefield 1 is taking fans of the first-person-shooter franchise nearly 100 years back in time to World War I. Millions have watched — and liked — the game's first trailer, which debuted one week ago. (See it for yourself below.) But is the first footage from the game historically accurate?
In the video above, the hosts of video series The Great War analyze Battlefield 1's trailer beat-by-beat, comparing its vision of World War I with the facts. As researchers who started the project to recount that period in detail, The Great War's narrators are trustworthy judges.
Whether you care if Battlefield 1 is faithful to the First World War, the nearly 15-minute video is a fascinating insight into a major moment. Using Electronic Arts' new FPS as a framing device, this lesson is certainly...
Culture
3 CommentsDota 2 tournament Epicenter provides a preview of this year's multimillion dollar competitions
Dota 2 tournament Epicenter has been going for the better part of a week, and it's been a hell of a show so far. With a $500k prize pool, the Moscow LAN has drawn almost every major team ahead of next month's Manila Major. This in and of itself is unusual. Non-Valve sanctioned tournaments are often seen as a waste of time for more successful teams in an era where Valve's own Majors carry minimum prize pools of $3,000,000.
But everyone seems to be at Epicenter. This is in part because of its prize pool, and also because of the major reshuffling happening in the professional Dota 2 scene over the last eight weeks, in advance of roster cutoff dates for The 2016 International Dota 2 Championship. Teams with lineup changes are desperate to get their acts together, and figure out a brand new...
Opinion
11 CommentsDead parents, Steven Universe and processing grief
Steven Universe is a show known primarily for its bright colors, fantastic music and handling mature themes about love, gender and consent with a surprising deftness for an action cartoon series aimed at a young audience. But when folks are listing the Cartoon Network hit's virtues, there's one that doesn't get nearly enough attention.
A lot of Steven Universe is about presenting how its characters deal with grief.
Throughout the Crystal Gems' adventures, their familial foibles and attempts to relate to the humans around them, there is a continuous, quiet acknowledgement of loss. The empty space left when their former leader Rose Quartz "gave up her physical form" — died — in order for her half-human son, Steven, to be born, is ever-present.
To Steven's family members, Rose was a...
Recap
47 CommentsGame of Thrones tackles death, the return of a major character and farts in a strong episode
Spoiler alert!
This recap is intended for folks who've already seen the episode, and will include a description of its events!
Jon Snow saw nothing after death. But some force more powerful than death itself brought him back. It's hard to square those two thoughts.
Clearly there's something going on beyond the mortal coil, but what that might be remains obscured. We see through a glass darkly.
"I did what I thought was right. Then I got murdered for it. Now I'm back. Why?" Jon Snow asked, in a bit of dialog that was maybe a bit too on the nose. Davos isn't really interested in that question, much less the answer. What's important is that Snow is back, and he must pick up the fight where he left it. He accepts the magic he sees with his own eyes with only a small bit of shock and...
Movies
1 CommentStar Wars: Rogue One trailer redone in Lego is pretty rad
Two things about this Lego-ized adaptation of the Rogue One trailer make in intriguing. The first is, of course, it's a nice Lego recreation of a familiar video. The second is that Brotherhood Workshop put it together in about three weeks.
With a publishing date of May 4 (Star Wars Day; sorry, we missed this) that means the Worskshop got cracking on it right after the original trailer debuted April 7.
And while we may get a bit jaded by Lego-fied versions of everything, you do have to hand it to these animators, that sequence with the Death Star's satellite TV installation is pretty damn good. The lip sync could use a little work, heh heh, but the AT-ATs are baller. Nice job.
The original trailer is below.
