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by Ian Pemberton Blizzard has leaked selective information about the anticipated new hero for Overwatch, Sombra. The elusive hacker-themed character has been teased by Blizzard for months now, feeding the community small bits of information through increasingly cryptic augmented reality games (ARGs). Despite the most recent ARG hitting a bit of a dry spell recently, fans may have unintentionally gotten confirmation of the new character's appearance. A piece of concept art that was signed by character designer and concept artist John Polidora was posted on the Blizzard gear store’s website earlier in the day and was deleted shortly thereafter. This piece of art pretty much all but confirms the leaked in-game still of Sombra that was floating around last month. Based off the image, Sombra definitely has ability to not just hack and control the sentient robotic omnics, but unmanned mech suits as well. As to how this ability plays out in the game, we will just have to wait and see, as Blizzard has stayed rather quiet on the mysterious hero and her kit. With the concept art being already prepared on Blizzard's website, an announcement could easily be right around the corner. With Blizzcon going on this weekend, it would not be too surprising to see the purple hacker make her first public appearance. Source: Blizzard
by Ian Pemberton RedVsBlue(RvB) continues its tradition of being the longest-running video game series on the web, and it’s one of the few shows I know that has made a successful transition from a largely character-based absurdist comedy to a serious plot and back and forth again. But its latest season took a different approach to Season 14: for the first time ever, it would be a series of shorts taking place in the series’ universe rather than a consistent narrative. "I've been here before." And then I got this sinking feeling of, 'I’ve been here before.' In kind of a bad way. As a fan of the series from Episode 1, I hungrily waited all summer long, holding off on watching any of it. Eventually, the last few episodes came out, and I binge-watched most of the entire season, start to finish. And then I got this sinking feeling of, “I’ve been here before.” In kind of a bad way. It’s not as though the series has changed so much that it wasn’t the same comfy blanket that I love cuddling up with on the start of a new school year; all the characters have the same sparkle of sarcastic loathing that the series is known for, and all the jokes hit their marks in the same way they always have. Rather, it’s just that this season bounced ideas off of a wall to see what stuck. Many stories to tell Every episode begins with a narration from Vic, the saucy (but helpful) AI from Red and Blue command, but that’s about the only similarity between episodes. From there, different characters and stories get their chance to shine. Many of the episodes are quite charming in their own ways, and provide origins for some of our beloved space-trooper idiots. Simmons, Grif, Sarge, and Tucker get their own episodes showing how they were specifically picked for being the worst soldiers that ever joined the RvB corps, allowing for a bit of one-on-one screen time. They’re put in situations where they expose their entire character in a nutshell, such as Sarge’s complete commitment to duty and ‘killing the Blues’ unintentionally killing his entire training squad, or Tucker’s interview to join the Blood Gulch squad (“[Where do I see myself in] 5 years? Ugh, hopefully I’m not dead.”). The episodes showing Felix and Locus as bounty hunters wanting to make a difference in the world are especially of note, having some fantastic fight choreography and spectacular music choices. As well, references to other RoosterTeeth shows are plentiful for any RoosterTeeth junkies to pick out. A little unfocused I kind of miss that ‘RvB feeling’... Every episode has a different story to tell, and that made the focus of the entire season feel diluted and unfocused. Because of the anthology narrative and the same basic character beats every episode, it feels like the entire season is the same episode with a different flavor. Every single episode is a different genre and tone, but the characters’ lack of change makes the entire season feel weightless. And because there’s no gravity to the situation, unlike previous seasons, it takes a lot of the fun out of it for me. A lot of the charm of the show is the fact that these bumbling buffoons of soldiers are put into such dangerous positions that were out of their control. As a whole, I felt disappointed by Season 14. The bar had been set so high by the previous seasons not only in their unique sense of humor, but also by the smart narrative. Every single part of the story wrapped with every other part of the story, and nothing was taken for granted. There was always an inherent understanding of peril in the show, but none of that really impacted their shenanigans. They were trapped in war zones and still trying to kill each other instead of their actual enemies, almost in spite of the seriousness of the situation! And all of that is still there, and I still admire the show’s willingness to experiment, but I kind of miss that ‘RvB feeling’ of having a uniquely twisted story tossed between these incompetent imbeciles. Taking out the intricate narrative makes this entire season feel like it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of the show. Not to mention that a lot of the ideas for the episodes have been borrowed from pop culture (including a stop-motion episode). While this season demonstrates the humor just as well as every other season, the humor by-and-large doesn’t really change: Grif is still fat and lazy, Sarge is still gun-ho to everyone he meets, Tucker is still a lady-killer, Caboose is still an idiot, Donut is still fabulous, etc. Yes, it’s still funny for fans of the show, and if you liked it before, you’d still like it now. But because there’s no change, it risks getting stale and predictable. Déjà vu I got the feeling of “I’ve been here before” not because of the show getting stale, but more because the entire season was inconsequential: nothing changed. The main characters didn’t grow or learn anything, and nothing was at stake. You could not watch season 14 and still be at pretty much the same place in the story you were before you watched it. That’s not to say that I didn’t like Season 14 overall; it’s still RvB, and it’s still got that charm and wit to it that not a lot of other shows pull off. While I don’t like the show getting repetitive, I called it a blanket because it is one: it’s a nice, comfortable show to watch with characters that I already like. It’s more that the blanket’s getting a little dirty, and it could probably use a wash to freshen it up. TL;DR Despite the difference in structure and style for each episode, it takes away from the show by adding more, like if you had a blanket that was two hundred feet longer than it needs to be. The same characters that you know and love are here, but don’t expect them to change anytime soon. But the good news is that if you really don’t like it, you can simply not watch it and still be caught up for Season 15, assuming they go back to a traditional narrative like Seasons 1-13. Even still, I’d say that Season 14 is worth your time, even if it is padding. If you’re a fan of the show (and I am), you’re gonna like it. If you’re not, it’s probably not going to change your mind. All images from: RooseterTeeth and Red vs. Blue: Season 14
by Ian Pemberton Hugh Jackman takes up his last appearance as X-Men’s Wolverine in the next installment in the franchise, Logan. The movie is set in the year 2024, and is based loosely off of the Old Man Logan story arc. Joining Wolverine will be his young clone, Laura (portrayed by Sienna Novikov), as they journey to defeat an unnamed corporation threatening the world. Patrick Stewart also reprises his role as Professor Xavier, apparently suffering from Alzheimer's and losing his memory. Nathaniel Essex opposes Logan, although comic book fans might know him more familiarly as Mister Sinister. Jackman has stated that he plans on leaving the franchise after Logan, saying in the past that the workout routine is very taxing. “I don't know how many more egg white omelettes I can eat,” he humorously said to an interviewer in 2015. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on March 3, 2017. Sources: ET
Dark Souls III has been unleashed upon its hollowed fans, and with this new entry comes a new perspective that comes only with time. We could look at Dark Souls, but the true story goes much farther back than that. However, the simple factors behind any Souls game boil down to three basic -concepts: the history, the world, and the gameplay.
Warner Bros. has been paying around "tens of millions" of dollars in order to reshoot DC's latest film, Suicide Squad, to make it have a more light-hearted and humorous tone. An anonymous source has told Birth, Movies, Death reporter Devin Faraci that the film’s recent trailer was a little more misleading than intended.
In honor of Women’s History Month, Byte is doing a month long Byteing Question about the most iconic female characters and why they matter. Every day two writers will look at two characters that are important to them in many different ways. Today, we look at Samus Aran and Marinette
Technology researchers at Johns Hopkins University have recently found a way to crack open the security encryption on certain iPhone apps, although it was fixed with the recent update iOS 9.3. The way that it worked was that they designed a program that guesses a bunch of encryption codes, and the apps (such as iMessage) are designed in such a way that they tell the program if any numbers in the guess were correct.
In honor of Women’s History Month, Byte is doing a month long Byteing Question about the most iconic female characters and why they matter. Every day two writers will look at two characters that are important to them in many different ways. Today, we look at Ashely Graham and Gwen Stacy
The upcoming film Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice is getting an R-rated Blu-ray release, despite the fact that the theater release will be strictly PG-13. It was confirmed in a bulletin from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) that the film was rated R for sequences of violence, but apparently only in one version that will most likely be for home release. The exact announcement was that the R-rated version was an “EDITED VERSION. CONTENT [in R-version] IS DIFFERENT FROM PG-13 VERSION,” in the official announcement.
Valve’s famous Team Fortress 2 (TF2) has been running strong for nine years, and now plans to take the classic shooter to the next level. Not long ago, Valve confirmed rumors of competitive matchmaking and new servers for it. Valve clarified how the company was going to go about this in a newly created competitive TF2 Steam page.
Monomyth Games, based in Adelaide, Australia, started the Kickstarter for its debut game, Need to Know, a bureaucracy-em-up along the same theory as Lucas Pope’s Papers, Please. Need to Know features the player as a new employee at the Department of Liberty, a highly enabled surveillance body that specializes in information-gathering and espionage.
In a new update to the Steam page for Dark Souls III, a season pass has been revealed with additional DLC for the game. The page dares the player to, “Challenge yourself with new maps, bosses, enemies and additional weapon and armor sets,” and to “Prepare yourself once more and embrace the darkness.”
After pulling the game from the Steam Store, Scott Cawthon agreed that his game was released too early. However, instead of putting the game back on Steam, he opted to put the game on Game Jolt for a free download. He posted an announcement on Five Nights 4 to clarify about taking the game away from Steam:
Have you ever wondered why you game? In a recent study run by Quantic Foundry, researchers split their 12 main reasons that gamers play into six categories. They’ve found that over time, the alluring competition of an intense game of Rocket League doesn’t last as long as the complex strategy of a game like chess.
Tech company Intel recently halted owners of non-K-series Skylake CPUs from overclocking (i.e. like running your car at a higher RPM) the chips in a microcode update that will effectively revoke this capability from the chip. Intel's company statement has always been that overclocking chips that weren’t designed for it, as well as attempting to use the standard warranty for damage caused by it (which doesn’t cover overheats or meltdowns from overclocking) is not permitted. K-series chips are designed for the intensive process, and anything other than K is not.
DOOM will come to us all… on May 13, for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, as Bethesda and id Software recently announced.
After a shareholders’ meeting, Nintendo announced their plans for the coming year. They urged their investors to hold fast and wait until the market reacts to their new mobile games coming to North America and Europe this March. The first of which is Miitomo (roughly translated to MiiFriends), a social creation that emulates Tomodachi Life. It’s been announced that users-to-be can register through their Nintendo account using your Nintendo Network ID starting February 17th. Miitomo will be free to download, but will include in-app purchases.
After the horrifying events of the 1992–96 Siege of Sarajevo inspired formerly PC exclusive This War of Mine, developer 11 bit studios is bringing the game to the console front. This War of Mine: The Little Ones takes a new perspective on the events and adds new elements to the game by forcing players to take care of children that depend on the player for food and warmth.
In EA’s new campaign to "Put Players First," a new event is being held independent from E3. Titled EA Play, the occasion is on the calendar from July 12-14, running just before E3’s showing. According to EA, the tickets are going to be sparse, and anyone who wants one should reserve it early. The company is showing games such as Mass Effect Andromeda, annual EA Sports franchises, last year’s Unravel as well as other projects that EA has yet to announce.