“I refuse to be some sniveling crybaby, this is my life!” Yay! Sony Pictures Classics has debuted the official trailer for one of other favorite Sundance 2015 films, this one being The Diary of a Teenage Girl, the big breakout debuts of both director Marielle Heller and actress Bel Powley. Both of them are amazingly talented! Bel Powley stars as Minnie in an adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner’s book, about the coming-of-age story of a kick ass, free-spirited girl living in San Francisco. The cast includes Alexander Skarsgård, Kristen Wiig and Christopher Meloni. This is such a great film, and it comes highly recommended from all of us who saw it at Sundance – here’s our review. And the trailer doesn’t give away too much! Take a look. ›››
If funding reaches $3 million, Bloodstained will be ported to Wii U. Development on this version will be handled by Armature Studio, founded by former Metroid developers. The studio has a long history of ports, including Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel for the recently released Borderlands: The Handsome Collection.
“When we were approached with the opportunity to assist with Bloodstained on Wii U, we were ecstatic,” Armature said. “This style of game is one we are intimately familiar with from our Metroid Prime days, and it’s exciting to once again put our familiarity with Nintendo hardware to good use. We have extensive remastering experience–our remastering projects include the Metal Gear Solid Collection for PS Vita, Injustice for PS Vita, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel for PS4/XB1. We look forward to the challenge of making sure that the Wii U edition of Bloodstained stands proudly with its brethren on Unreal Engine 4.”
The PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 versions of Bloodstained, meanwhile, will be developed by Inti Creates. They are “going to continue developing the game as before, without compromise,” the developer said.
Thinking about preordering a copy of Rocksteady’s upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight? Warner Bros. has revealed a new perk to nudge you in that direction.
Spotted on the game’s Steam product page is the “Gotham’s Future” skin pack. This comes with a pair of skins, one of which is based on the animated show Batman Beyond and the other inspired by Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Check out both skins in the image below.
So far, the Gotham’s Future skin pack has been announced only for the PC edition of Arkham Knight. Another preorder bonus is a DLC mission that lets you play as Harley Quinn. This bonus is available across all platforms.
The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red’s PC online store, GOG, has announced a new publishing deal with Telltale Games to bring The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones studio’s past and future games to the platform. The first of these games, Game of Thrones, is now available–and at a nice, 40 percent discount.
That means you can buy the six-episode series, normally $30, for just $18. As with all GOG games, there is no form of DRM applied to Game of Thrones.
GOG notes that this is the first time Telltale titles are being released without DRM. The games will also include support for GOG’s new, Steam-like GOG Galaxy. They will take full advantage of the platform’s new features, including one-click installation, automatic updating, achievements, and more.
The 40 percent launch discount for Telltale’s Game of Thrones runs through May 30.
The fourth episode in the series, Sons of Winter, was released earlier this week. GameSpot critic Alexa Ray Corriea wrote in her 5/10 review: “As Telltale’s Game of Thrones passes its halfway mark, it takes a bit of a dip, staging a set of scenes that feels less like something you can control and more like something you can only passively watch. There’s no sense of agency in the choices you are offered; you simply spin a conversation in a certain direction before arriving at a pre-determined outcome.”
At the time, head of 343 Industries Bonnie Ross said the developer is giving these items to players for free to thank them for sticking with Halo: The Master Chief Collection during its troubled launch.
“This has been a humbling experience and highlighted how we as a studio can – and need – to do better for Xbox fans around the world,” Ross said. “We are so grateful to our fans who have stood by our side and we appreciate all of your patience as we worked through these issues.”
Previously, 343i said the updated version of Halo 3: ODST’s campaign and a reimagined version of the Halo 2 multiplayer map Relic should be added to Halo: The Master Chief Collection in May, but offered nothing more specific than that window.
The company on Tuesday announced that a Windows 10 companion app will be available for iOS and Android devices alongside the main version for Windows devices.
“A real challenge people face is figuring out how to make everything work together,” Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore wrote on the Windows blog. That’s why we’re announcing a ‘Phone Companion’ app built-in to Windows 10, which will help you connect your Windows PC to whatever phone you own–whether it’s a Windows phone, Android phone, or iPhone.”
Once you sync up your iPhone or Android device, you’ll be able to access your files and content across PC and phone. Check out the full blog post for a detailed breakdown of how this works.
In addition, Microsoft announced today that Windows 10’s Siri-like digital assistant Cortana–named after the Halo character–will also be available for iPhones and Android devices. Cortana can fetch net-based data such as web results and weather reports, among many other things.
However, there will be some limitations.
“Although the functionality will be very helpful, because it’s “just an app” there will be certain things that Cortana does on Windows phones that won’t work on Android devices or iPhones,” Belfiore said. “Some features require access to the system that aren’t currently possible with iOS or Android, so things like toggling settings or opening apps won’t initially be available in the Cortana companions for those platforms. Similarly, the ability to invoke Cortana hands-free by saying ‘Hey Cortana’ requires special integration with the device’s microphone, so that feature will be limited to Windows Phones and PCs.”
An upcoming patch for the Xbox One edition of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will lock the game at 30fps. That’s according to CD Projekt Red community lead Marcin Momot, who offered the following statement.
@stay_scialla The lock should be there in the upcoming patch.
A Digital Foundry tech analysis published last week found that the Xbox One edition could, at times, achieve a resolution higher than 30fps. That might sound nice, but the frame rate was also found to be quite unstable. Sometimes it dipped below 30fps, leading to an undesirable stuttery experience.
As with the PC version last year, those who preorder The Elder Scrolls Online for Xbox One or PS4 will receive the Explorer’s Pack, a bonus that provides some in-game content and gives you more flexibility when creating a character.
The Explorer’s Pack, available with digital and physical preorders, consists of three parts: bonus treasure maps, a vanity pet named Warty, and the ability to play as any race, regardless of your alliance.
That last part is arguably the most important. When you choose from the three alliances–Ebonheart Pact, Daggerfall Covenant, and Aldmeri Dominion–it restricts what races you’re allowed to choose from. Of the nine total races, only three are available to each alliance. These races represent not only significant cosmetic differences, but each also has its own unique bonuses.
This can be problematic if you want to join the same alliance as a friend, but you each want to play as races from different alliances. With the Explorer’s Pack, this isn’t a problem–assuming you preorder. If the PC version is any indication, the Explorer’s Pack won’t be sold separately. We’ve asked Bethesda if there will be any way to avoid the race restriction in the future, and will report back with anything we learn.
