Rest in Peace, David Bowie January 11, 2016
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It is my unfortunate duty to report that David Bowie, one of the greatest entertainers of all time, has died of cancer. He was 69 years old.
I haven’t been able to take this news very well, which is why it has taken all day for me to report on it. I never knew the man personally, but I was a big fan of his work. His contribution to music is unquestionable, but many people probably don’t know about his contribution to the video game industry. His work was directly referenced in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, inspring Kojima’s team to give one of the game’s supporting characters the alias Major Tom. Songs of his like “Space Oddity” have been featured in games like Alan Wake and Rock Band. In fact, online personality Brentalfloss wrote his own parody version of that song from the perspective of the Star Fox team.
Bowie was also a great actor. While everyone remembers his role of Jareth in the Jim Henson movie Labyrinth, Bowie has made appearances in games like David Cage’s Omikron: The Nomad Soul on the PC and Dreamcast. While that was David Cage’s first game, he would go on to become a gaming superstar after producing later games like Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain, and BEYOND: Two Souls.
I’m sure many of you will have your own favorite songs from Bowie’s incredible catalog, but before we wrapped this up I thought I would list some of my favorites. Obviously “Space Oddity” has already been referenced, but that isn’t my only favorite. I could mention his song, “Under Pressure”, which he performed with Queen, or “Rebel, Rebel”, a great rock tune. My favorite song of his would have to be “Heroes”, a song he wrote in Germany during the Cold War. While visiting Berlin, a city deeply divided by not only ideals, but a monotithic wall, he witnessed two colleagues of his embrace in front of the Berlin Wall. Deeply inspired by the moment, he wrote the song. I don’t think was allowed to end a live show in Europe without performing it.
Rest in Peace, David.
Gears of War 4 Release Date May Have Been Pushed Up January 11, 2016
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Several media outlets including GameSpot and MSN are reporting that one of this year’s highly anticipated Xbox One exclusive titles, Gears of War 4, may be coming out a little sooner than expected.
First announced at E3 2015, Gears of War 4 was revealed with a projected release date of Holiday 2016. Recently, during an official Microsoft live stream, Microsoft announced that the game would be out a little sooner, and listed the game’s release date as Fall 2016, which could mean it might release a few months earlier than expected.
Of course these are just semantics, since the game has no specific release date. Fall games can generally be expected between September and November of any given year. A game specifically listed as a Holiday release could be expected to launch in either November or December. Both of those projections could easily still mean the game’s official release schedule has not changed, and instead has just been clarified, but that’s just speculation on my part.
Gears of War 4 is expected to launch an online beta this spring for any players who picked up Gears of War Ultimate Edition on Xbox One.
Gears of War 4 is coming Fall 2016 exclusively on Xbox One.
Oculus Rift Price Revealed January 8, 2016
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The headset poised to bring Virtual Reality into the mainstream now has a price, and it is very steep. The Oculus Rift, a PC-enabled wireless VR headset, will launch later this year at a price of $599 US. That puts it at the same price point as a premium launch model PlayStation 3 back in 2006.
The Oculus Rift package will include everything you need to get VR working on your PC including the VR headset, an Xbox One Controller, and various custom cables for the headset. The package will also include two free games including the highly anticipated launch game EVE Valkrie.
If you would like to order the Oculus Rift, you can place a preorder for it right here. Just be aware that as of this time, you may have to wait until June before your headset arrives.
If you had participated in the product’s Kickstarter and previously received Oculus Rift headsets due to the amount you donated to the company, don’t order one online! Kickstarter supporters can expect a final retail unit coming to your home at no extra charge. The Kickstarter version will include everything offered in the retail package.
Just be aware that the Oculus Rift will require support from a pretty powerful gaming PC to function properly. If you’re unsure if your PC will work with the Oculus Rift download the Windows app from the Oculus website.
Shinra Technologies is Being Dissolved January 5, 2016
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Over a year ago Square Enix announced they were venturing into online game streaming with their new subsidiary, Shinra Technologies. Named after the evil corporation from Final Fantasy VII, Shinra was poised to create entirely unique game titles which would take full advantage of cloud computing.
While online game streaming was a huge deal back when it was first revealed half a decade ago, it has been difficult for companies to monetize successfully. Shinra said their software would allow for enormous persistent game worlds capable of maintaining user interactions for extended periods while being accessed by thousands of simultaneous PCs and smart devices. On paper, it looked pretty impressive to me, but that didn’t seem to be enough to sustain investors.
Today, Square Enix filed that they will be cutting their losses on Shinra, essentially shutting it down. There was no mention of what would happen to the company’s assets, technology or software but it is likely they will either get sold to a potential buyer or absorbed by Square Enix. If you’re interested, you can read the official paperwork here.
FAIL: The Massive Plot Hole in the Movie PIXELS January 4, 2016
Posted by Maniac in FAIL, Site Videos.2 comments
Welcome back to FAIL, our ongoing video series where we take a look at Hollywood’s biggest blunders both behind the camera and in front of it.
By all accounts, the Adam Sandler movie PIXELS was a complete disappointment. While it had great special effects it suffered from unfunny jokes, constant plot holes and a completely miscast lead actor.
That’s right, this film has plot holes big enough to drive a truck through. In fact, most of the film’s plot holes are so huge, most of them have already been talked about by the online community. However, there is one glaring plot hole in this movie that nobody has seemed to notice up until this point and up to the time of posting hasn’t even been published as a goof on the movie’s official IMDB page.
We at GameXcess.net pride ourselves on finding errors that others miss, and oh boy do we have a big error to tell you about. So sit back and relax as Maniac tells you a story about the plot hole the Internet seems to have missed. Just be aware, there will be spoilers.
Crystal Pepsi Memories January 2, 2016
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Happy New Year everyone! It looks like the first announcement this website is going to be making in 2016 will be that Crystal Pepsi is coming back to supermarket shelves this summer!
For those of you who don’t know, Crystal Pepsi was a clear cola beverage released by Pepsi in 1993. It was expected to be a massive success for Pepsi, but for some reason it just didn’t sell as well as projected, and it was pulled from shelves within a few months.
However, there are still many people out there that fondly remember drinking it and have been demanding its return. For the past few years, online personalities like Brad Jones and the LA Beast have been petitioning Pepsi to rerelease the product. After years of asking, it looks like Pepsi will finally relaunch the product this summer!
I was a child of the 90s and I was lucky enough to try Crystal Pepsi back when it was first released. To celebrate the impending relaunch of this product, here are some of my memories about it.
Can’t wait to try it again.
Final Fantasy IX Coming to PC and SmartPhones December 31, 2015
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Square Enix made a huge announcement for New Year’s Eve! Less than half a month after we published a wish list of Final Fantasy games we would like to see Square Enix release, Square officially announced the formerly PS1 exclusive title Final Fantasy IX is going to be rereleased on PC and selected Android and iOS smartphones!
This is unprecedented news as, unlike the two other numbered Final Fantasy games to release on the PS1, Final Fantasy IX never received a PC release. This will be the first time the game is playable on a non Sony-branded platform.
The game appears to have the game’s original PS1 graphics assets. If you’d like to know a bit more about what this game is, watch the trailer below.
Final Fantasy IX is coming soon to PC, Android and iOS Devices. Square Enix cannot guarantee compatibility with all Android phones, but the game will require Android 4.1. iOS users will need an iPhone 5s or newer device running at least iOS 7.
So, does this mean we could see Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX playable on PS4?
Super Mario Maker Unboxing December 28, 2015
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Christmas has just wrapped up, and Maniac is finally getting around to unboxing his presents. Today, we’re going to be unboxing Super Mario Maker for the Wii U, a game we previewed at Best Buy during E3 2015.
Let’s take a look inside the box!
Super Mario Maker is out now exclusively on Wii U.
Do We All Live in a Pokémon World Essay Updated December 23, 2015
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Three years ago, we published the long form essay “Do We All Live in a Pokémon World” on this website, and it has sat in a place of honor at the top of our site ever since. It was a labor of love by our lead writer, as he tried to figure out all of the real-world logic behind how the world of Pokémon works.
The essay was an economist’s dream read and covered everything in the Pokémon world ranging from who could be funding the game’s Pokémon Centers, why Poké Marts were such a successful business model, the quality of education provided by Pokémon‘s in-game schools and a lot more.
While he was pleased with his work he had to admit that the original article was written in 2012 from the perspective of someone who had only played the first generation games. Since that time, Nintendo has been busy. A new generation of Pokémon games was released and an entire generation was remade in the past two years alone, so there was a lot of new content that wasn’t covered in the original essay.
Our writer has also changed some of his perspectives. Over the course of this year he’s completed the two most recent generation Pokémon games, including both games in generation five, and the recent generation three remake. He recognized a lot of the Pokémon world’s lore and history have updated and expanded in the past fifteen years, and that meant some of the information in the essay needed to be expanded.
So after much debate and soul searching we decided to update our essay, “Do We All Live in the Pokémon World?” It will conveniently remain readable by selecting the Pokémon World tab in the upper portion of this website but if you’d like to read it immediately you can click on this direct link. Enjoy.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Delayed December 23, 2015
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The most anticipated PS4 exclusive title has been delayed once more, but only by a month. Earlier today, Sony and Naughty Dog have officially announced the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will be delayed.
I honestly don’t have a problem with this announcement. Naughty Dog has delayed their games in the past and have used that time to release some of the most polished titles of the last generation. If they need an extra month, that’s okay with me.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is now coming April 26th, 2016 exclusively to the PS4.
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