Earlier this week, New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo predicted that Uber's biggest impact on the world would not be in transforming transportation, but in changing the labor market and the way we think about work. He may be right. Uber's explosion is the envy of employers everywhere. And those employers are well aware that Uber became a $40 billion company by operating as if its drivers are not Uber employees.
The Sundance documentary Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is far from a traditional biopic. Directed by Brett Morgen, the filmmaker behind movies like The Kid Stays in the Picture and the Rolling Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane, it eschews conventional narrative in an attempt to bring audiences inside the mind of Cobain through his paintings, personal recordings, journals, and some disturbing home video footage. I saw a lot of documentaries at Sundance this year, and Montage of Heck was my favorite by far.
I sat down with Morgen during the festival to talk about the origins of the project, the absence of Dave Grohl (he appears only in archival footage), and a striking animated sequence which uses Cobain’s recorded recollection of...
You may have seen this earlier today in much blurrier form, but now HBO is giving it a proper release. The first trailer for Season 5 of Game of Thrones has just been put up to stream on the show's Facebook page, and you can watch it in the embedded box below. The series returns on April 12th.
Doesn’t it seem a shame for Apple, Samsung, and all those other manufacturers who’ve spent millions of dollars developing ultra-high resolution LCD screens, when you see a game like Combo Queen? Big chunky pixels just look so much better than flowing curves, but it seems like such a waste of their hardware. Or is that just me?
Perhaps it’s something that only us aging retro-philes appreciate to such an extent that we wish for low res displays once again, but it’s impossible not to fall immediately in love with the rich visual style oozing from Combo Queen. It makes the entire game a delight, which is a little surprising, since the gameplay is actually a bit of a chore.
At its heart this is probably aiming to be a hack ‘n’ slash. And in some respects that’s exactly what it is. But saying hack ‘n’ slash suggests some furious button mashing and a flurry of exchanged blows when you come face to face with an enemy, and that’s not really the way Combo Queen works.
The eponymous Queen sprints across the gorgeous, pixelated landscape until an enemy of some manner blocks her way. This is when the fight commences, as you’ve rightly assumed, although the mechanics of battle probably aren’t what you were expecting. They work much like quick time events in console titles, only with a single button rather than having to correctly hit one of four, or eight or more on a joypad.
A square reticle zones in on the enemy you’re fighting, and you must tap the right-hand side of the screen at the precise moment it shrinks to target him. Miss, and you might get another go, but eventually it’s going to be his turn. Defense works the same way, only this time a plus sign flies in from the right side of the screen for you to tap as it reaches your character.
The more successful hits you can chain together, the more effective your attack and the less time your opponent will have to fight back. But the reticles speed up and slow down very rapidly, and with almost no margin for error, so you’ve done extremely well if even three blows land in a row.
There’s also an element of the infinite runner here in Combo Queen, as you’ve no control over movement (not that you need it) and she just keeps sprinting from fight to fight. Furthermore, take a couple of hits and you’re dead, and it’s right back to the beginning in a new game. You do collect up XP and other items if you can keep moving long enough, which allows you to level up your character and build on her abilities, but the core combat mechanics remain the same: very unforgiving.
If Combo Queen didn’t have its dazzling good looks, it’d be a hard game to recommend. And while graphics, a game do not make, in this case they’re it’s saving grace and ensure that anyone who downloads it will appreciate the value that Combo Queen does have buried deep inside. With better balancing of its fighting mechanics, this would be a superb arcade-based distraction, but right now its frustration levels are a little too high to make it un-put-down-able.
The post Combo Queen Review: Too Tight on the Tap appeared first on Gamezebo.
HBO has officially greenlit Lewis and Clark, a six-hour miniseries that will chronicle the pair's exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. Starring Casey Affleck as Meriwether Lewis and Matthias Schoenaerts as William Clark, Lewis and Clark has even bigger names serving as executive producers. Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, and Edward Norton are among seven people backing the miniseries. It's based on the book Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, who also wrote Band of Brothers — another project Hanks famously helped bring to HBO in collaboration with Steven Spielberg.
Production is scheduled to start sometime this summer, but there's no word yet on when it will begin airing on the network. Late last year, it was reported that HBO was putting...
HBO has officially greenlit Lewis and Clark, a six-hour miniseries that will chronicle the pair's exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. Starring Casey Affleck as Meriwether Lewis and Matthias Schoenaerts as William Clark, Lewis and Clark has even bigger names serving as executive producers. Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, and Edward Norton are among seven people backing the miniseries. It's based on the book Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, who also wrote Band of Brothers — another project Hanks famously helped bring to HBO in collaboration with Steven Spielberg.
Production is scheduled to start sometime this summer, but there's no word yet on when it will begin airing on the network. Late last year, it was reported that HBO was putting...
With the FCC pretty much laughing off Marriott's request for permission to block guests' access to external Wi-Fi networks, the hotel chain has decided to withdraw its petition in a late attempt to save face. "We thought we were doing the right thing asking the FCC to provide guidance, but the FCC has indicated its opposition," Bruce Hoffmeister, Marriott's chief information officer, says in a statement.
"We thought we were doing the right thing."
Marriott filed its petition with the FCC last year, requesting that it be allowed to "monitor and mitigate threats" to its network, even if that meant interfering with guests' devices. The FCC and many others read this as Marriott wanting to block guests' Wi-Fi hotspots and access to other...
Beginning this weekend, about 200 IMAX theaters are presenting HBO's Game of Thrones experience. It's a chance to see the final two episodes of last season — episodes that were particularly epic in scope, even by GoT standards — on some of the biggest screens out there. Plus, HBO promised some a sneak peek at Game of Thrones' upcoming fifth season (which, of course, has already leaked). I was excited enough by the event to brave Times Square — ostensibly the gaudiest, most stressful part of New York — to catch its first screening Thursday night at AMC's Empire 25 theater. And it was absolutely worth it.
February is often considered a slow month for gaming, but it usually offers up a couple of high profile releases and a sleeper hit or two. Last year we saw Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Thief in the former category and Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc in the latter. What does February 2015 have in store for gamers? Quite a few promising-looking titles actually...
Evolve
Platforms: PC, PS4, XO
Release Date: February 10th (Worldwide)
I was fortunate enough to play Prison Architect at a games convention a year or so ago, and can confirm that it rawks. Of course, you don’t need me to tell you that. Just look at the fact that it’s clocked up over 1 million sales, and that’s before its official launch.
The news of its 1 millionth punt comes while the game is still only available via Steam’s Early Access service and its own official website, and is currently on the 29th alpha build. UK-based developer Introversion Software has promised a launch date somewhere within 2015 for the PC version of Prison Architect, but more excitingly it’s announced that work has begun on a mobile version. And a console version, for that matter, but it’s the touchscreen tease that we’re interested in, natch.
In case you’re new to Prison Architect, which would be a small surprise given that it’s reportedly brought the small development team over $11 million through its alpha release, it’s in much the same style as construction and management games like Dungeon Keeper, or Theme Park and Theme Hospital.
Only in this game you’re tasked with building an inescapable fortress while also caring for the inmates, staff and finances. So not only are you the architect of your own prison, but you must also learn how to become its warden.
It’s easy to see how Prison Architect will work on a smartphone or tablet, and in many ways will benefit from more organic touch-based controls. There’s no info yet on a launch schedule for this long-awaited mobile version, but we’ll keep you posted right here on Gamezebo about its progress.
But for now, lights out!
The post Prison Architect Being Renovated for Mobile appeared first on Gamezebo.
Square Enix has announced two “Ultimate” collections that each bundles together three major titles from the publisher.
The first is entitled “Ultimate Action Triple Pack” and includes Tomb Raider (2013), Sleeping Dogs, and Just Cause 2. The second is entitled “Ultimate Stealth Triple Pack” and includes Thief (2014), Hitman: Absolution, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
It entirely depends on your gameplay and genre preference when deciding between the two packs. In terms of reviews, both packs are close to each other and feature incredible titles.
In case you haven’t played either of the pack, it’s a good time to get both for your personal library.
Both bundles will launch on March 31 in North America and cost $29.99 each on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The bundle was already offered to Europe last year.
The post Square Enix Announces Ultimate Triple Packs for NA appeared first on SegmentNext.
2K Games’ upcoming console game Evolve is a multiplayer affair that’s all about dogpiling. Four player-controlled hunters take on a considerably larger, spikier player-controlled monster. While the hunters technically shouldn’t be more than a mouthful to some of the alien beasts available for play, some pretty wicked weapons balance out natural fire-breathing powers quite well.
Evolve is due out for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows on February 10 — but hunting bipedal dragons with teeth like railroad spikes takes a bit of a warm-up, and that’s what Evolve: Hunters Quest is all about.
This match-three / battle game requires you to make matches of three or more in order to do damage to big alien jerks. It plays quite a bit like GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons, another game that revolves around allied warriors taking down nasty threats with the power of colored jewels.
Playing Evolve: Hunters Quest earns you “Mystery Points,” which you can use to rank up your player in the console / PC game. How does it work? We don’t know yet. That’s part of the mystery!
Evolve: Hunters Quest is free to download for iOS and Android.
The post Evolve: Hunters Quest Lets You Maul Monsters with Match-Three Mayhem appeared first on Gamezebo.
Comedian and Parks & Rec star Aziz Ansari will join forces with Netflix to release his newest comedy special, Variety reports. Aziz Ansari: Live at Madison Square Garden will be available exclusively on Netflix beginning March 6th.
Available March 6th
This isn't the first time Ansari has teamed up with Netflix. His 2013 special Buried Alive debuted with the streaming service, but was later available as a $5 download (something Louie C.K. knows a thing or two about). According to Variety, Live at Madison Square Garden tackles topics like gender inequality and the food industry. The 50 Cent grapefruit joke is dead.
Netflix's current comedy selection is pretty stacked. Right now, you can stream stand-up specials from the likes of...
A new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D has been released. Called ‘The Time Has Come’, the trailer showcases plenty of gameplay footage in a montage, highlighting the re-mastered graphics and sound for the 3DS version.
The original Majora’s Mask was released way back at the start of the millennium in 2000. The game received wide claim, and because of its popularity is being re-mastered in 3D for Nintendo’s handheld 3DS console.
The game is scheduled for release in two weeks’ time – on February 13.
The post Watch the Latest Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Trailer, Showcasing Gameplay & More! appeared first on SegmentNext.
The Philae lander had quite the exciting end to its 10-year journey to Comet 67P last fall. Now the ESA has just released this GIF of the lander tumbling towards the comet as it left its resting place aboard the Rosetta spacecraft. The 19 images that make up the GIF were taken over the span of four hours on November 12th. Philae disappears from view just hours before the lander's harpoons failed to fire, which sent it skipping across the comet's surface.
Back in November, the ESA released this low-res GIF of Philae's initial impact.
It's unclear why the images are being released now, but the ESA has been slow to release hi-res imagery from the Rosetta mission since the landing. That reticence has stirred a broader debate in the...
The Chinese government has announced new set of guidelines that will look over the sale of video game consoles in the country.
In contrast to the original requirement that allowed companies to sell their consoles in Free-Trade Zones, the Chinese government is now allowing the manufacturing and sale of consoles across the whole region.
This is terrific news for companies like Microsoft and Sony, that now have a green-pass to serve China’s $10 billion worth video game industry. The country itself is the world’s second-largest economy and is just starving for someone to bring all of those pretty games from the west and into the region.
According to a report from Bloomberg, local Chinese governments need to draft rules for game console business within their borders and submit them to the Ministry of Commerce by tomorrow, January 31.
Microsoft launched the Xbox One in China in September last year to sales of 100,000 units in the first week. Sony on the other hand was supposed to launch the PlayStation 4 in the region on January 11.
That plan was then delayed to a new release date, which currently has not been announced.
Nintendo has so far not announced any plans to sell its games and consoles in China. This is the first time since 2000 that video game consoles are going to hit Chinese market.
Chinese government previously had banned game consoles in sight of potential harm to the physical and mental development of children.
Source: Bloomberg
The post China Announces New Console Sale Rules, Good News for Everyone appeared first on SegmentNext.
A new video released by Square Enix for Final Fantasy Type-0 HD showcases the contents included in its Collector’s Edition.
Those who choose to purchase it will be proud owners of a 200-page Type-0 Manga that explores the origins of Class Zero. This is the first time that the manga will be made available outside of Japan.
There’s also a hardcover Art book entitled “Class Zero 842″ that features exclusive illustrations done by Yoshitaka Amanthe covered in eighty pages. Alongside that is a Soundtrack CD featuring fifteen tracks chosen by the original soundtrack composer Takeharu Ishimoto.
Finally, the Collector’s Edition also boasts five life-size replicas of the iconic cards used by Class Zero’s Ace. The game itself comes encased in a beautiful Golden SteelBook.
The Collector’s Edition of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD can be pre-ordered now from participating retailers or the official Square Enix Store for $99.99/£79.99/€99.99.
Pre-ordering from Square Enix has its own incentive in the shape of an exclusive sleeve, with a “unique artwork layout and deluxe print finish.”
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD will be released on March 20.
The post Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Collector’s Edition Showcased in New Video appeared first on SegmentNext.
A new video released by Square Enix for Final Fantasy Type-0 HD showcases the contents included in its Collector’s Edition.
Those who choose to purchase it will be proud owners of a 200-page Type-0 Manga that explores the origins of Class Zero. This is the first time that the manga will be made available outside of Japan.
There’s also a hardcover Art book entitled “Class Zero 842″ that features exclusive illustrations done by Yoshitaka Amanthe covered in eighty pages. Alongside that is a Soundtrack CD featuring fifteen tracks chosen by the original soundtrack composer Takeharu Ishimoto.
Finally, the Collector’s Edition also boasts five life-size replicas of the iconic cards used by Class Zero’s Ace. The game itself comes encased in a beautiful Golden SteelBook.
The Collector’s Edition of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD can be pre-ordered now from participating retailers or the official Square Enix Store for $99.99/£79.99/€99.99.
Pre-ordering from Square Enix has its own incentive in the shape of an exclusive sleeve, with a “unique artwork layout and deluxe print finish.”
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD will be released on March 20.
The post Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Collector’s Edition Showcased in New Video appeared first on SegmentNext.
Unlike collectibles like Notes or Battle Journals which only provide you a brief introduction of NPCs and advice on how to play the game in an effective manner, collecting Flags provides a more fruitful reward.
For more help on Dying Light, read our Weapon Blueprints Locations, Weapons Guide and Side Quests Guide.
Like the name suggests, Flags are hang up in secluded and tall places scattered around the land of Harran. Players must be familiar with parkour and climbing skills in case they wish to get all the Flags that can be found in the game.
For each successful capture, players receive a small Agility XP bonus which allows them to receive Agility Perks and make this challenge a tad easier with each captured Flag.
There are a total of 30 Flags that can be captured in Dying Light, 15 of which are located in Slums and the other 15 can be found in Old Town.
Do note that 2 of the Flags can only be accessed via the Portal to the Slums Antenna area. Check out the videos provided for locations of all Flags that can be found in Dying Light:
Dying Light Flags Locations – Slums
WORK-IN-PROGRESS!
The post Dying Light Flags Locations Guide – Slums and Old Town appeared first on SegmentNext.
Unlike collectibles like Notes or Battle Journals which only provide you a brief introduction of NPCs and advice on how to play the game in an effective manner, collecting Flags provides a more fruitful reward.
For more help on Dying Light, read our Weapon Blueprints Locations, Weapons Guide and Side Quests Guide.
Like the name suggests, Flags are hang up in secluded and tall places scattered around the land of Harran. Players must be familiar with parkour and climbing skills in case they wish to get all the Flags that can be found in the game.
For each successful capture, players receive a small Agility XP bonus which allows them to receive Agility Perks and make this challenge a tad easier with each captured Flag.
There are a total of 30 Flags that can be captured in Dying Light, 15 of which are located in Slums and the other 15 can be found in Old Town.
Do note that 2 of the Flags can only be accessed via the Portal to the Slums Antenna area. Check out the videos provided for locations of all Flags that can be found in Dying Light:
Dying Light Flags Locations – Slums
WORK-IN-PROGRESS!
The post Dying Light Flags Locations Guide – Slums and Old Town appeared first on SegmentNext.