Star Wars Battlefront gets updated for Xbox One/PS4/PC

Chris Hare
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Star Wars Battlefront gets updated for Xbox One/PS4/PC
DICE is updating Star Wars Battlefront today for a new patch for the game.
The patch will be released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One and full details of what will change in the game itself below.
Star Wars Battleground

Here’s the full patch notes:

Additional Content/Functionality

– General: Jakku DLC Content is being patched into the game, downloading it separately via platform storefronts is no longer required and can be deleted from your hard drives
– New Map: Twilight on Hoth added to Walker Assault, Supremacy, Turning Point, Blast, Fighter Squadron, Drop Zone, and Heroes vs. Villains
– New Mission: Survival in the Ice Caves added to Survival Missions
– Turning Point: Jundland Wastes, Forest of Endor, Outpost Beta, and SoroSuub Centroplex maps added to the playlist
– Attract Mode: GNK Droid added – GONK!
– Settings: Turning off music in the Sound menu now turns off music everywhere in the game
– Settings: Added a Film Grain setting slider in the Video menu

– Credits: Updated Game Credits list

Weapon and Star Card Changes

– Primary Weapons: Damage against air vehicles increased by 10%
– Bowcaster: Explosion damage increased from 10 to 15 per projectile and explosion radius decreased from 3 to 2.5m
– Bowcaster: Full charge direct hit from 20 to 40 per projectile and a normal direct hit increased from 20 to 30 per projectile
– Barrage: Damage increased from 50 to 55
– Barrage: Cooldown reduced from 40 to 35s (normal) and from 35 to 30s (upgraded)
– Barrage: First volley of grenades no longer disappear if the user uses the Refresh Power-up and then fires a second volley
– Homing Shot: Lock time decreased from 1.5 to 1.2s
– Homing Shot: Players in the AT-GAR turret now receive on-screen notification when locked on
– ION Torpedo: Speed increased from 350 to 380m/s and turning angle increased from 120 to 125 in order to more easily hit air vehicles
– Pulse Rifle: Movement speed while aiming decreased by 30%
– Tusken Cycler Rifle: Movement speed while aiming increased by 40%
– Tusken Cycler Rifle: Bullet speed increased from 300 to 450m/s
– Orbital Strike: Fixed bug where it sometimes would not trigger on button press

Vehicle changes

– A-Wing: Increased hit box size
– A-Wing: Now properly takes damage when colliding with an AT-ST while having the Shield active
– Slave I: Players can now see the Shield icon on Rebel vehicles when a Shield is active
– AT-ST: T-47 Airspeeder kills with a missle while firing the primary cannons at the same time now properly awards a kill (previously registered as a suicide)
– AT-AT: Fixed bug where the Orbital Strike ability would sometimes not have the aiming reticle move
– T-47 Airspeeder: Players will no longer receive an out of bounds message on Graveyard of Giants during Turning Point when a control point is captured

Multiplayer Game Mode Changes

– General: Pre-Round timer lowered from 30s to 20s
– Walker Assault: Fixed Power-up spawns on SoroSuub Centroplex
– Walker Assault: AT-AT health increased by 18% on Outpost Beta, 8% on Jundland Wastes, 20% on Forest of Endor, 4% on SoroSuub Centroplex, and 5% on Graveyard of Giants
– Walker Assault: Spawning as an Imperial Hero after the AT-ATs just pass the second set of uplinks no longer despawns one of the AT-ATs
– Walker Assault: The second AT-AT no longer bumps into the wreckage of the other on SoroSuub Centroplex when the first AT-AT is destroyed during the first Uplink
– Droid Run: Correct Objective Notification is now displayed to all players if someone is killed while trying to claim the Droid
– Droid Run: Improved spawn zones on Dune Sea Exchange
– Supremacy: Fixed Power-up spawns on Jundland Wastes, Forest of Endor, and SoroSuub Centroplex
– Supremacy: Improved spawn zones on Jundland Wastes, Outpost Beta, and Forest of Endor
– Heroes vs. Villains: Planted turrets on Dune Sea Exchange will now disappear in-between rounds
– Hero Hunt: Improved spawn zones on Ice Caves
– Fighter Squadron: Players are now protected while spawning on Graveyard of Giants

Mission Changes

– General: Both players will now properly see Charge Card pick-ups if Player One is using a 3rd Star Card Hand without a Charge Card
– General: Player 2’s changes to control settings no longer update Player 1’s controls when playing Split-Screen
– Battle: Fixed AI Spawn issues on Tatooine
– Survival: Wave 10 on Sullust will now always spawn if the player / co-op team dies and restarts the round or if a player picks up a Collectible during the Wave 9 transition
– Survival: Partner spawns on Sullust will no longer fail if the currently alive player is in a confined area
– Survival: Co-Op players can now unlock the “Complete on Hard Difficulty without spending a life” if one player dies and then waits until the other player completes the wave so they get a free respawn

Hero changes

– General: Heroes no longer get stuck in a stunned animation state
– Princess Leia: Endor outfit updated – Congrats on completing the Lead the Rebellion challenge!
– Princess Leia: Trooper Bane now only knocks back primary target, not nearby enemies
– Luke Skywalker: Increased Saber Rush’s damage against other Heroes from 2% to 6-8%
– Luke Skywalker: Lightsaber swing hit radius is reduced from 0.3 to 0.25m
– Han Solo: Zooming in no longer sometimes displays a gun scope
– Emperor Palpatine’s Shocktroopers: Modified primary weapon damage to match Leia’s Honor Guards’ primary weapon damage over time

Misc. Bug fixes

– General: Lighting, textures, audio, user interface, text, and collision fixes
– Controls: Legacy control schemes have had their layouts more clearly defined
– Colourblind: Enemy players highlighted with Scan Pulse now have the correct Deuteranopia or Protanopia settings on Graveyard of Giants and Goazan Badlands
– PC only: Fixed a bug where a player would lose functionality with an Xbox 360 controller after inviting a player to a Private Match and then starting the game
– PC only: Air vehicle sensitivity lowered from 0.9 to 0.45 for easier mouse control
– Achievements / Trophies: Updated text on “Impressive. Most Impressive.” and “Survivor” to clarify the requirements
– Achievements / Trophies: “Playing the Objective” now properly awarded

In addition to the above, Princess Leia will also get a new default skin for Endor as the community once again stepped up to the challenge and reached 105,331 hours played. This marks the third straight challenge that the community has bested, unlocking everything from new outfits to double XP weekends.

Review: BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend

phillvine
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0
Review: BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend

How far do you get through that title before you realise you’re not going to finish without stopping? I always start strong and then stumble at Phantasma and usually say Extended accidently. What’s the fun if you can say the name of a game easily or if you know from the title how many there are? Japan has a fine heritage when it comes to video games. Especially when you look at the console sector it’s fair to say Japan was in no small way responsible for the shape of the industry today. But as with most things there’s a need to modernise, change and push forward when the time is right. Chrono Phantasma is very Japanese in just about every possible way. Plus it’s a fighting game so expect sparks, energy balls and/or beams and piles of over excited voice acting.

The first glaringly obvious case of heel dragging is the fact that the original version of Chrono Phantasma was released on arcades in Japan way way back in November 2012. The arcade market still runs strong in Japan so that’s understandable but I seriously thought we’d got over this ridiculously staggered release date system. A PS3 version hit Japan in 2013 but western versions only hit in 2014. Now it’s 2016 and the PS4 version has reared it’s weighted, sluggish, lazy head. It’s one of the parts of playing Japanese titles I do not miss. There’s a sting to playing a game with the knowledge that not only is it essentially 4 years old but that you’re PS4 will be sat there using miniscule amounts of all that lovely power.

Before I go any further I suppose it’s time to declare ignorance, something I find myself doing far, far too often. But I’m not what you would call a big BlazBlue fan so knew very little about the franchise going into this other than it’s a 2D fighter. And that just about sums it all up to be honest. There’s the usually array of characters ranging from the unsubtle ‘baddies’ to the heroes and the outright crazy with a few teabag sized skirts thrown in for good measure. Extra content for this console friendly version adds a career mode which lets you get to know the characters a little as you concentrate on destroying your enemies.

Other than that and a few menu tweaks there isn’t a whole lot in the way of extra content and ‘Extend’ really just means isn’t on an arcade machine. I could see how making people buy a fully sized arcade machine may have hindered sales a little so fair enough on that one. Having a menu and a limited single player section really shouldn’t warrant extra words in a title but hey, when in Rome.

BlazBlue-Chrono-Phantasma-Extend_2015_03-05-15_001
I couldn’t agree more.

The character roster is solid offering you 26 characters that I’m reliably informed make a return from Continuum Shift. Thank goodness. Lord knows I would have missed (pauses to glance at Wikipedia) Bullet or…Yuuki. Even with no prior knowledge the characters are good fun to play through and learn with a limited but noticeable variation on offer for each. Without anything too earth shattering the usual archetypes make a show along with a few creative designs too.

The actual narrative of the story mode is a complete loss for anyone like me experiencing BlazBlue for the first time. The gameplay is fine but don’t expect to know who’s who, what’s what, where’s where, when’s when and especially what the hell that thing is. From what I managed to piece together with extra research and a few cut scenes providing some exposition from the previous games the story is actually surprisingly good for a fighting game. I suppose you could argue that the fact I wasn’t able to understand without prior knowledge is a good thing really – at a stretch.

Outside of the narrative Chrono Phantasma is surprisingly accessible. There is a very nice tutorial that actually helps you learn the game which is rare in fighting games and even rarer in arcade titles. The controls are responsive too so when something goes wrong you tend to feel like it was a mistake that was your fault rather than just bad luck or playing against someone with the ability to ‘count frames’ ala Street Fighter. Chrono Phantasma is a well implemented fighter that works with you to create fun and avoids the trap of becoming elitist and off-limits. Although inherently this may leave a gap for hardcore players I suspect they will likely stick with their chosen title as is.

BlazBlue-Chrono-Phantasma-Extend_2015_03-05-15_007
I think there’s something there on the right…

My favourite fighting game has always been Tekken which is really the only one I play any more than casually. Absolutely the reason for that is the characters. The best example is my love for learning the fine details of Lei Wulong’s different stances and creating my own devastating combos. There’s nothing like changed stances to confuse your opponent. Chrono Phantasma does little that can provide this level of depth and so even with some solid characters the roster is what ultimately lets you down eventually. Chrono Phantasma really plays surprisingly like a story based game.

Some dated but fairly good-looking visuals with nice audio. Then everything is fleshed out with an excellent tutorial and a strangely good story mode – although the narrative excludes newcomers. Chrono Phantasma Extend goes quite a long way to throwing off a few of those horribly dated features and surprised me with providing a very well refined fighter. A better roster and a little more accessibility for new players would have gone a long way towards improving my experience. It’s a bit of a shame to tell such a great story and make it enjoyable only by a relatively small group of gamers.

The Walking Dead: Michonne – first episode tomorrow

Chris Hare
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0
The Walking Dead: Michonne – first episode tomorrow

Here is the launch trailer for ‘In Too Deep,’ this is the first episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne – A Telltale Miniseries.

The Walking Dead: Michonne – A Telltale Miniseries will premiere its first of three episodes, ‘In Too Deep,’ this February 23rd on PC/Mac via the Telltale Online Store, Steam, and other digital distribution services, the PlayStation Network for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, and the Xbox Games Store for Xbox One and Xbox 360. The episode will also be available starting February 25th for compatible iOS devices via the App Store, and for Android-based devices via Google Play and the Amazon App Store. The second episode, ‘Give No Shelter,’ will follow in the month of March, and the miniseries will conclude with the third episode, ‘What We Deserve,’ in April.

All three episodes in the miniseries will be available for purchase at the cost of $14.99 USD or equivalent when the first episode debuts, including access to the second and third episodes as they become available.

Halo the Arbiter coming to Killer Instinct Season 3

Chris Hare
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0
Halo the Arbiter coming to Killer Instinct Season 3

It’s official, the Arbiter is taking some time out from his fight alongside Master Chief to step into the Killer Instinct arena for Season 3.

Arbiter can be seen delivering a number of his devastating hand-to-hand maneuvers, while also wielding his Energy Sword. He also cloaks himself throughout battle, allowing him to get the drop on opponents or jump across the stage to mix up his combos.

KI will also be undergoing some major changes for Season 3, next month on Xbox One, which is when Iron Galaxy’s fighter will also make its debut on PC.

Review: Far Cry Primal

Sean McCarthy
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1
Review: Far Cry Primal

I have always enjoyed the Far Cry series with its large sandbox playground and freedom to explore that world and tackle story missions in any way the player wants. The series has recently taken players to a wondrous tropical island and the peaks of the Himalayas but now the series is going old school, very old old school as players will be taken back to 10,000 BCE to a time of cave paintings, fierce wildlife and fighting to survive a harsh land. It is time to take Far Cry…Primal!

Far Cry Primal puts the player in the role of Takkar, a member of the Wenja people and hunter. It opens with Takkar being taken on his first Hunt for Mammoths when the hunting party is attacked by a vicious sabre tooth tiger. The leader of the hunting party, Dalso, is gravely wounded and gives Takkar a final command with his dying words. That command is for Takkar to go to the land of Oros and find his Wenja cousins.

This really forms the main drive of the game, to find and gather the scattered Wenja people in Oros and to bring them together. Takkar will meet characters who will team him the skills needed to survive Oros. Each of them will their own quest line of missions to follow which teach Takkar how to craft new weapons, how to Hunt and how to craft tools and weapons using the resources of the land. In true Far Cry fashion, how and when you undertake these missions will be free for the player to decide.

After setting up a cave as your home in Oros the player will have the opportunity to grow it into a homestead for the Wenja people as you gather them during the game. Each Wenja you save will be joined to the population and will increase the amount of resources the tribe will gather for you. The main characters you meet will want their own hut to call home, building them will open new skill tree upgrades and new missions to go on. By upgrading the huts the homestead increases and more Wenja will come to call it home.

Far Cry Primal 2-800x451

The greatest skill Takkar will learn will be the ‘Beast Master’ skill from Tensay the Shaman. This skill will allow the player to actually tame the wild beasts of Oros who will then become your companion. It is an ability that can be upgraded to learn to tame more ferocious animals. Each beast companion has an ability to aid Takkar from helping to hunt or more powerful attacks in a fight. Going into battle with a companion can be exhilarating as you send your breast into attack or having them defend you out in the wild. As you tame more animals they will become available to summon at any time and because they can aid in different ways, which one the player chooses becomes an extra strategy to use. I came to rely on mine quite often which made it heart breaking if one fell during battle and if you fail to reach them to revive them, they can die and you will need to tame another to call on.

The first of the beast master skills you learn is that of the Owl, a giant bird who pretty much serves as your own personal spy drone. Summoned by pressing up the D pad, the player will take control of it and gain a bird’s eye view of the immediate area, helping to track wildlife and enemies and scout outposts to help form a plan of attack. The Owl skin can be upgraded to increase its ability to tag enemies and even attack. Due to the setting of the world removing the modern vehicles and weapon arsenal Far Cry titles usually have, Beast Master helps to even the odds and for me the most fun element of Primal, especially when you learn to ride the larger beasts.

This element will come in handy often as not only will you encounter dangerous wildlife as you explore Oros but other less friendly tribal groups too. The most dangerous of these by far is the Udam tribe and their leader, ULL, becomes the main big bad of the story. The task will be to learn more skills and upgrade weapons and abilities to take on the Udam and ULL who will be no push over.

far cry Primal 1-800x450

All the aspects of Far Cry that I enjoy the most have been highlighted and heightened in Primal. The freedom to explore the huge land of Oros and the same freedom to take missions when you choose are great gameplay mechanics. I found that by taking away the modern setting strips back the often ‘too easy’ approach to tackling situations. I am a big fan of using the bow and when you go on the Hunt, using your hunter instinct to track animals can be immensely satisfying. The different regions of Oros have differing environments and the variation in materials available in each one will encourage more exploration to find much-needed resources for upgrading and crafting.

Oros has a day and night cycle which sees the wildlife become even more aggressive at night with packs of wolves on the prowl. Such detail has been put into the wildlife that if you stop to observe them you will appreciate the animation of their behaviour. Whether it be predators or normal wildlife, they all help to make the world feel alive and vibrant and it is a beautiful one to be in. The missions are varied enough to always be interesting with some particular nice surprises which will certainly raise a laugh and a smile at times. Primal filled to the brim that on my review playthrough of just shy of twenty hours I had completed all the main story missions but still had a tonne of things left to complete.

Far Cry Primal takes the story back to basics in many ways but it keeps almost everything that makes a Far Cry game so much fun to play. With no Co-op or competitive multiplayer, Primal focuses on delivering a full and solid single player experience that not only celebrates the best of the Far Cry series but the freedom to be in a World setting so far away from the modern-day is just so refreshing amongst other titles right now. Primal provides a fantastic gaming experience which cleverly takes the player to a simpler time yet offered great gameplay.

Sometimes it just feels great to go all Primal!

 

Win All Roads Lead to Rome on DVD

Andrew Edney
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113
Win All Roads Lead to Rome on DVD

To celebrate the release of All Roads Lead to Rome on, we’re giving away three copies.

roads

Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City, I Don’t Know How She Does It) makes a much-anticipated return to romantic comedy after a five year break as Maggie, a stressed, uptight single mother and college writing teacher from New York City. In a last-ditch effort to reconnect with her troubled teen daughter Summer (Rosie Day – TV’s Outlander, Misfits), she books them a holiday to a Tuscan village which holds fond memories of her youth. However, the chance for some much-needed mother-daughter bonding hits a road bump almost immediately, as they run into Maggie’s handsome former lover Luca (Raoul Bova– Sorry, If I Love You, The Tourist) – still a bachelor and living with his eighty-year old mother (Claudia Cardinale – Once Upon a Time in the West, The Leopard).

With Luca and Maggie attempting to navigate the ghosts of relationships past, Summer, who is missing her wayward boyfriend in NYC, and Carmen, secretly planning a wedding against her son’s wishes, find a common ground. Impulsively stealing Luca’s car to race to Rome, the pair are quickly pursued by Maggie and Luca – forcing the mismatched pair to spend some ‘quality time’ together, confront exactly what drove them apart the first time, and come to a new understanding…

How to enter to win

We have three copies of All Roads Lead to Rome to give away on DVD.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The contest ends at 12.00AM on Tuesday 8th March 2016.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME – arriving on digital platforms from the 8th February, 2016 and on DVD from the 29th February, 2016 courtesy of Signature Entertainment.

Win Dark Places on Blu-ray

Andrew Edney
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125
Win Dark Places on Blu-ray

To celebrate the release of Dark Places on DVD and Blu-ray, we’re giving away three copies on Blu-ray.

dark places

Libby Day (Theron) was only eight years old when her family was brutally murdered in their rural Kansas farmhouse. Almost thirty years later, she agrees to revisit the crime and uncovers the wrenching truths that led up to that tragic night, but what happens when you try to find light in dark places?

DARK PLACES features an all-star leading Hollywood cast including; Charlize Theron (Prometheus, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Mad Max: Fury Road) as Libby Day, the protagonist;  Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, X-Men: Dys of Future Past, Kill Your Friends) is Lyle Wirth, the leader of the Kill Club, a club fascinated with true crime;  Christina Hendricks (Drive, I Don’t Know How She Does It, Mad Men) is Patty Day, Libby’s mother; Corey Stoll (House of Cards, The Good Lie, Homeland, Ant-Man) as Libby’s brother, Ben Day, and Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, Hugo, Dark Shadows, Carrie) plays a young Diondra Wertzner, Ben Day’s secret girlfriend.

How to enter to win

We have three copies of Dark Places to give away on Blu-ray.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The contest ends at 12.00AM on Tuesday 8th March 2016.

DARK PLACES is available on Blu-ray and DVD from 22nd February 2016, courtesy of Entertainment One.

Win Paranormal Activity The Ghost Dimension on Blu-ray

Andrew Edney
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119
Win Paranormal Activity The Ghost Dimension on Blu-ray

To celebrate the release of the terrifying Paranormal Activity The Ghost Dimension, available to own on Blu-ray and DVD on 29th February 2016 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, we’re giving 2 lucky winners the chance to bring home a Blu-ray!

Screen Shot 2016-02-14 at 09.13.23

From Blumhouse Productions (Ouija, The Purge and Insidious) and directed by Gregory Plotkin (The Fracture and He’s Just Not That Into You) Paranormal Activity The Ghost Dimension follows a new family, The Fleeges, who discover a video camera and a box of old VHS tapes in their garage which they have not seen before. When the family start to use this mysterious camera paranormal activity begins to take over their home, in particular targeting their young daughter, Leila.

Paranormal Activity The Ghost Dimension explores the family’s realisation that an evil spirit with a sinister plan is controlling their home and their desperation to protect their daughter.

How to enter to win

We have two copies of Paranormal Activity The Ghost Dimension to give away on Blu-ray.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The contest ends at 12.00AM on Tuesday 8th March 2016.

Paranormal Activity The Ghost Dimension, is available to own on Blu-ray and DVD on 29th February 2016 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

©2015 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved

Review: Layers of Fear

Sean McCarthy
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0
Review: Layers of Fear

There is something about the horror game genre that makes it standout more than any other medium horror features in. Whilst a book may encourage the readers imagination to create imagery or a film telling a gruesome tale on the big or small screen, it is the interactivity of a video game that perhaps really brings the genre to life. But the classic jump scare tactic is growing tiresome as a gameplay style so new titles must push every limit to deliver the best and most frightening experience possible. The latest title from developer Blooper team has gone full tilt with their latest title Layers of fear, first available as early access on STEAM but now released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Can it offer something different and memorable to the genre?

The player takes the role of a painter, returning to his mansion on a stormy night with one task, to complete a painting that is incomplete. A short audio message to the artist plays ending with just two words ‘Finish it’. What happens next is perhaps one of the most mind twisting games in the genre Iv yet to play. It is not a genre I find appealing usually as I find the over use of jump scares to be a very tired gaming vehicle but Layers of Fear uses far more intelligent ways to take the player on a very mind tripping story.

From the moment you enter the house you can already see how the world of Layers of Fear is going to be. The Victorian mansion is beautifully drawn and built and you move around it in first person view. You can open doors and drawers using the right trigger and analogue stick to pull them open. Just this little detail pulls the player more into its world as you are opening the doors instead of it simply being an automatic reaction to pressing a button. As you explore the house you will discover notes and clues about who this painter is and how he came to be in this situation. These clues help to paint a picture (sorry) of a formerly successful and highly respected artist who has lost his way and began a fall into alcoholism. There are more but I will spare any further spoilers, but it is worth having a good look around drawers, desks and tables for such clues.

Discovering the unfinished painting is the moment the game kicks it up a gear. Layers of Fear main focus is to try and disorientate, confuse and ultimately make the player feel uneasy about venturing into every room in the house. In this regard not felt very similar to the now infamous P.T. demo on PlayStation 4. I will admit that I entered Layers of Fear expecting a similar experience but how the developers have taken it to a new level is very clever indeed. The house will literally change around you and in front of your eyes. You can enter a room, turn around and find the door has vanished. You can walk down a corridor to a room, find that the door is locked and turn around only to find a different looking corridor. This leads to the player never really knowing where they are at times and generates a real sense of uneasiness about opening a door.

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It also means that rooms can also change depending on how the player moves the camera, messages can appear on walls where previously it was merely a blank space. Due to the character being a painter, the walls of the corridors and rooms can be adorned with many beautiful paintings, which even at a distance can look intricately recreated for the game. Get too close and the paintings may start to melt right in front of you or overtime become distorted from their original look and now looking twisted and sinister. All of this depicts the idea that the painter is beginning to lose his mind and as the madness takes over the way in which the game intensifies the mind games steps up a gear.

The music and sound effects are also key in Layers of Fear and used really well. The music is very atmospheric and the sound effects all blend together with the visuals to help mess with the player. This is extremely impactful when wearing a headset and later stages in the game can be freaky enough on their own to make the player feel uncomfortable.
With a short gameplay time of under five hours, it felt as though it was really meant to be one of those game experiences that you talk about with friends rather than a game you keep returning to. It is by no means an on the rails title but it will guide you in the right direction when needed to keep the flow of the gameplay going. After a while you do end up waiting for the audio cues to point out what direction or door to go through and what chest you need to look inside. The game does have puzzles but these are never really there to stomp the player but merely to provide something to do as there are no combat elements to count on. Once the player begins to know what to wait forming terms of direction cues it dampens the effectiveness of the techniques used till now but the sense of the mental state of the painter getting worse never leaves and entering a room still held enough intimidation to use caution.

Sadly though the experience is tainted by terrible framerates right from the very moment you take control in the game, making moving feel very sluggish and slow. I was forced to turn off the head bobbing option to try and improve it. I also found some of the tactics used to scare felt very cliché at times which took away from the shape shifting environments. Using creepy dolls is a tired gimmick in horror games, and yes they can be effective, their placing at times just felt over used.

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Not being a big fan of the genre, I was pleasantly surprised by what Layers of Fears delivered here. Though I felt it was purely a play through once for the experience game, I could see how effective the techniques used to mess with the player’s mind would be to fans of horror games. It has a dark and at times uncomfortable themes to the story but it at least dares to do something fresh with game mechanics used so often by so many.

If the framerate issue can be resolved it will be a much smoother experience but for me, it has certainly put me off going on any painting courses for some time!

MWC 2016 Sony announces three new Xperia lineup

Chris Hare
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0
MWC 2016 Sony announces three new Xperia lineup

The three Android smartphones Xperia X, Xperia XA and Xperia X Performance have 5-inch displays and see how the predecessor of the Z5 series from. A “predictive autofocus” to focus on faster moving objects.

Sony has presented in Barcelona three new smartphones from high-end to mid-range: The Xperia X, the Xperia XA and the Xperia X Performance differ mainly in equipment but not in size: all have 5-inch displays and almost identical case dimensions.

While the Xperia X Z series inherits the Xperia XA is a weakly-equipped middle class smartphone. The most expensive and most powerful of the three, which X Performance, comes the time being not to Germany. All three run on Android 6.0 marshmallow.

Sony Xperia X

The Xperia X should follow the presented year only six months ago Xperia Z5, but stands of visually and technically barely starting. The case looks almost identical, the display is 5 inches minimally smaller (Xperia Z5: 5.2 inches). It has the same resolution (1920 × 1080) and the same colour space, which is well above the usual sRGB, and there should be very bright (700 cd / m²). As the Z5 series has the Xperia X a narrow fingerprint sensor, which is integrated in the on / off switch at the edge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtUBeFiWi8Q

The camera takes still photos with a maximum of 23 megapixels, but to have been technically improved. Especially Sony emphasizes the autofocus, the calculated movement of objects, where he focuses. Sony calls the “predictive focus”, it should automatically adjust even in continuous shooting and better sharpen. The front-side camera, Sony has also improved: now takes pictures with 13 megapixels and has a 22-mm wide-angle focus.

xperia-x-colours-press

The built-in flash memory of 32 GB can be expanded via MicroSD, incorporated are 3 GB RAM and a non-replaceable 2620 mAh battery, which in my Quick Charge according to Sony takes only 10 minutes to load for 5.5 hours of run time.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 is more attributable to the middle class and not as efficient as the Snapdragon 820 in LG G5.The 156-gram Xperia X will be available for 600 euros in Germany since the end of May, in the colours black, white, rosé gold and an unusual “Lime Gold”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRwBDRtRfQ8

Sony Xperia XA

Also, the Xperia XA is coming into these four colours to Germany in May, but it costs only 300 euros. It has a very narrow frame on the left and right of the display. At the edges of the glass pane is slightly rounded front display, the display itself is not bent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6hllDE7VJg

The equipment is worse than the Xperia X: It has a 13 megapixel camera on the back and a wide-angle camera with 8 megapixels front. The forecasts focus of Xperia X is absent. Of the 16 GB internal memory are only 10 available, they can be expanded via microSD. The battery has 2300mAh.

The Mediatek processor Helio P10 also positioned rather in the middle class, peak performance is therefore out of the XA rather not tease. Also at 5-inch display Sony has saved: It shows only a maximum of 1080 × 720 instead of Full-HD and only the sRGB colour space.

It is just under 9 mm thicker than the other two smartphones, has the new Qualcomm Snapdragon built 820 and has the same Full HD display as the Xperia X – the 4K display of Z5 premium Sony has thus renounced again after all the criticism , Even otherwise, many specifications are identical to the Xperia X: It also has the 23-megapixel camera with the new autofocus and is offered with 32 GB of memory. The battery is 2700 mAh, although larger than the the X (2620 mAh) and XA (2300 mAh), but smaller than the the Xperia Z5.

Xperia X, Xperia X Performance and Xperia XA each have a range of matching Style Covers and will roll out in four elegant finishes; White, Graphite Black, Lime Gold and Rose Gold, from Summer 2016.

MWC 2016 Samsung announces the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge

Chris Hare
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MWC 2016 Samsung announces the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge

Today Samsung has announced its flagship Galaxy S7 smartphone at its Galaxy Unpacked 2016 event in Barcelona.

With a 5.1-inch Quad HD (2560×1440 pixels) 577 PPI Super AMOLED display, similar to the S6, but this has always-on feature. It is powered by a Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8 Octa 8890 processor depending on the market, runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), has a 12-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, OIS and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.

Samsung-Galaxy-S7

The Dual pixel rear camera promises brighter and sharper images, even in low light.

The Galaxy S7 3D glass and metal design and IP68 ratings water and dust resistance. It also has internal cooling system that keeps the device from overheating.  It has hybrid dual SIM support that lets you use the second slot as a micro SD expansion slot when required.

Samsung-Galaxy-S7 - 1

Samsung Galaxy S7 specifications

  • 5.1-inch Quad HD (2560×1440 pixels) 577 PPI Super AMOLED always-on, pressure sensitive display
  • Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 processor / Octa-Core Exynos 8 Octa 8890 (2.3GHz Quad + 1.6GHz Quad) processor
  • 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, 32/64GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 200GB with microSD
  • Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
  • Hybrid SIM (nano + nano / microSD)
  • 12MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.7 aperture, Smart OIS
  • 5MP front-facing camera, f/1.7 aperture
  • Heart rate sensor, Fingerprint sensor, Barometer
  • IP68 ratings water and dust resistance
  • Dimensions: 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9mm; Weight: 152g
  • 3000mAh battery, Fast Charging both on wired and wireless (WPC and PMA) charging
  • 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS with GLONASS, USB 2.0, NFC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyohHyQl-kc

The Samsung Galaxy S7 comes in Black Onyx, Gold Platinum, White Pearl and Silver Titanium colours and will be available starting 11th March, 2016. Samsung is offering a free Gear VR headset with the pre-orders in select countries.

Also at the event Samsung announced the Galaxy S7 edge smartphone. It has a 5.5-inch Quad HD (2560×1440 pixels) 535 PPI Super AMOLED always-on display, is powered by a Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8 Octa 8890 processor depending on the market, runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), has a 12-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, OIS and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The Dual pixel rear camera promises brighter and sharper images, even in low light.

has 3D glass and metal design and IP68 ratings water and dust resistance. It also has internal cooling system that keeps the device from overheating. It has hybrid dual SIM support that lets you use the second slot as a expansion slot when required.

Samsung-Galaxy-S7-edge

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge specifications

  • 5.5-inch Quad HD (2560×1440 pixels) 534 PPI Super AMOLED always-on curved edge display
  • Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 processor / Octa-Core Exynos 8 Octa 8890 (2.3GHz Quad + 1.6GHz Quad) processor
  • 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, 32/64GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 200GB with microSD
  • Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
  • Hybrid SIM (nano + nano / microSD)
  • 12MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.7 aperture, Smart OIS
  • 5MP front-facing camera, f/1.7 aperture
  • Heart rate sensor, Fingerprint sensor, Barometer
  • IP68 ratings water and dust resistance
  • Dimensions: 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7mm; Weight: 157g
  • 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS with GLONASS, USB 2.0, NFC
  • 3600mAh battery, Fast Charging both on wired and wireless (WPC and PMA) charging

With the same colours at the normal S7 for the S7 Edge Black Onyx, Gold Platinum, White Pearl and Silver Titanium colours.

MWC 2016 Huawei announces the Matebook 2 in 1 PC

Chris Hare
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0
MWC 2016 Huawei announces the Matebook 2 in 1 PC

Huawei just announced MateBook, it’s latest 2-in-1 running Windows 10. It has a 12-inch (2160×1440 pixels) IPS display with screen-to-body ratio of 84%, is powered by 6th Gen Intel Core M processor, has 4GB or 8GB of RAM, 128/256/512GB SSD, 5-megapixel front-facing camera and also has a fingerprint sensor that supports 360-degree sensitive identification. It offers the fastest fingerprint recognition in the industry.

Huawei Matebook

It also comes with MatePen stylus pen that offers 2,048 levels of sensitivity for capturing users’ subtle and diverse pen-tip actions with zero delay. It also supports graphics and mathematic functions, and can be used as a laser pointer for delivering presentations.

It has a separate keyboard case that is environmentally friendly, soft PU leather, features a 1.5mm keystroke and a chiclet keycap design. It has built-in touchpad with multi-touch technology. It weighs 640 grams, comes with dual microphones and dual speakers. The 4430mAh battery promises up to 9 hours of work, 9 consecutive hours of Internet use and 29 hours of music playback. It can charge up to 60% battery strength in just one hour and charge fully in two-and-a-half hours.

  • Huawei MateBook specifications
    •12-inch (2160×1440 pixels) IPS display
    •up to 3.1GHz Dual Core 6th Gen. Intel Core M processor
    •4GB / 8GB RAM, 128GB / 256 / 512GB SSD
    •Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro
    •5MP Front-facing camera
    •Dimensions: 278.8×194.1×6.9mm; Weight: 640g
    •Sensors: Ambient light sensor, fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, Hall effect sensor
    •Dual microphones, dual speakers
    •Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac MIMO, Bluetooth 4.1, USB 3.0 Type-C
    •4430mAh battery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V48iPX23r6w

The Huawei MateBook comes in Grey and Golden colours and the keyboard case comes in Black, Brown, Orange and Beige colours.

It will be available in Asia, Europe and North America in the coming months.

  • Pricing for MateBook SKUs and accessories
    •6th Core m3 with 4GB RAM, 128GB storage – $699 (excludes tax) / €799 (includes tax)
    •6th Core m3 with 4GB RAM, 256GB storage – $849 (excludes tax) / €949 (includes tax)
    •6th Core m5 with 8GB RAM, 256GB storage – $999 (excludes tax) / €1,149 (includes tax)
    •6th Core m5 with 8GB RAM, 512GB storage – $1,199 (excludes tax)/ €1,349 (includes tax)
    •6th Core m7 with 8GB RAM, 256GB storage – $1,399 (excludes tax) / €1,599 (includes tax)
    •6th Core m7 with 8GB RAM, 512GB storage – $1,599 (excludes tax) / €1,799 (includes tax)
    •Keyboard – $129 (excludes tax) / €149 (includes tax)
    •MatePen – $59 (excludes tax)/ €69 (includes tax)
    •MateDock – $89 (excludes tax) / €99 (includes tax)

Sorry no UK pricing just yet at the time of writing.

MWC 2016 LG announces the LG G5

Chris Hare
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0
MWC 2016 LG announces the LG G5

The LG G5 has a 5.3-inch display, a little smaller than the LG G4 which was a 5.5 inches, but at the same 2560×1440 resolution, and uses the same IPS Quantum technology. For its latest smartphone, LG has adapted the dual display technology of the V10 into an “Always-On” display, allowing a portion of the screen to be lit-up to show the time and notification icons even when the device is asleep the LG G5’s always on display only drains 0.8% per hour.

LG-G5

 

Operating system Android 6.0.1
Processor Snapdragon 820
Display 5.3-inch IPS quad-HD quantum display (2560×1440, 554 dpi)
Storage 32GB UFS ROM, microSD up to 2TB
RAM 4GB LPDDR4
Rear camera 16MP main, 8MP wide-angle (135 degrees)
Front camera 8MP
Battery 2800 mAh removable
Modules LG Cam Plus (camera grip with 1100 mAh)
LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play
Dimensions 149.4 x 73.9 x 7.7mm
Weight 159 grams
Networks LTE/3G/2G
Connectivity Wifi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
USB Type C, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2
Colours Silver/Titan/Gold/Pink

 

LG G5 includes Quick Charge 3.0 support, this will allow you to charge from 0% to 80% in just 35 minutes. LG has also made the move over to USB Type-C now and touts a rear-mounted speaker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anyW8UY9ELg

LG has included a few special hardware features this time around. First, there’s a circular fingerprint scanner on the rear, similar to the sensor found on the LG V10.

LG-Friends

LG Cam Plus – The LG CAM Plus is a versatile camera module that can be attached through the battery slot to deliver a comfortable grip and convenient control of a standalone camera. The LG CAM Plus provides physical buttons for power, shutter, record, zoom, LED indicator and comfortable grip.

LG-CAM-Plus

It also offers intuitive auto focus and exposure lock, features usually found on standalone digital cameras. When attached to the LG G5, it provides an additional battery capacity of 1,200mAh to allow for longer shooting times for more fun and enjoyment.

LG 360 CAM – is a compact 360-degree angle camera equipped with two 13MP 200-degree wide angle cameras, 1,200mAh battery and 4GB internal memory, which can be supplemented by a microSD card. The LG 360 CAM can be easily connected to the LG G5 allowing users to create 360-degree content. The LG 360 CAM provides 2K video and 5.1 surround channel recording on three microphones to help users effortlessly create high-quality 360-degree contents. Thanks to the partnership with Google, images taken with the 360 CAM can be uploaded to Google Street View and YouTube360, adding the fun of sharing creative contents with others. The images will also be available to view on the LG 360 VR or other smartphones or devices that are capable of 360-degree content.

The LG Hi-Fi Plus – with B&O PLAY is an innovative portable Hi-Fi DAC audio player developed in collaboration with B&O PLAY to meet the needs of those who seek to enjoy top-notch sounds that have traditionally only been available through high-end audio devices. LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O PLAY stands out for its simple yet elegant Scandinavian design as well as premium sound technology.

LG-HiFi-Plus

In addition to the 32-bit Hi-Fi DAC upsampling technology first introduced on the LG V10, LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O PLAY also supports 32-bit 384KHz high-definition audio playback. LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O PLAY can be used either as a module with the LG G5 or as a separate Hi-Fi DAC by connecting to any smartphone or PC.

The LG G5 comes in Silver, Titan (Grey), Gold and Pink.

 

LG says it will announce pricing information in the last week of March, with a release sometime in early April, no pricing just yet from LG.

Street Fighter Merchandise from Numskull now available

Andrew Edney
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Street Fighter Merchandise from Numskull now available

With the latest release of Capcom’s biggest fighting game of all time imminent, Numskull fights back with two brand new lines of gaming gear. Whether you’re an old school arcade gamer with Street Fighter II, or at the forefront with Street Fighter V, now Numskull brings the perfect combo of Street Fighter merchandise.

SFV jacket

The Street Fighter range includes everything from t-shirts to key rings, hoodies to jackets, and everything in between.

The full range of Street Fighter merchandise can be found at http://www.numskull.co.uk/capcom/capcom-products/

If you are a fan of Street Fighter you should check out the range now!

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