Tag: ubisoft

Friday 4-13-18: Call of Juarez, Spy Party, and Star Wars Ewoks

On April 13, 2018

News in the morning?? What?! I’ll explain that below, for now: the news.

Ubisoft Responds to Call of Juarez Delisting
Spy Party Launch
Play as Ewoks in Star Wars

Delisting of Juarez

A while back, I was told about Call of Juarez: Gunslinger disappearing from Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation marketplaces. I emailed the PR director at Ubisoft for more information, and they’ve finally gotten back to me. The game’s licensing has ended and it has been given back to Techland. Temporary delistings due to license shifting are common, so we can expect it to come back online shortly enough. I’ve contacted Techland for more information.

Spy Party

What is Spy Party? It’s an asynchronous multiplayer game where one player is a spy at a ritzy party, trying to perform a particular list of actions, while the other is a sniper wanting to identify the spy and kill them. I watched a Twitch stream of the game, and it looks like a good time with a friend. Well, the game has now formally launched, after eight years in development. Congrats to developers Chris Hecker and John Cimino. More information can be found on their website.

Ewok Hunt

Setting aside the absolute mess that was the Star Wars Battlefront 2 launch, the game is still being worked on and updated. The most recent update introduces Ewok Hunt, a new game mode that has players fighting each other as either Imperial Stormtroopers or as Ewoks on the forest moon of Endor. It’s a traditional invading/defending mode and will be available on April 18.

So why the morning. I’ve been experimenting with my schedule lately, and I’m trying to find what works better. I still have a day job at a warehouse, and more times than not, I’m left exhausted by it. This makes it hard to complete my evening responsibilities. I initially did news in the evening so that I can report on the happenings of that day, but I would often forget to do the news, due to fatigue. Today, and perhaps next week, I’m going to try posting the daily news post in the late mornings (10am~11am). We’ll see how it goes, it may become the new norm.

Stay tuned! I have a special announcement to make on Monday, it’s a big project, and I look forward to its launch.

Check back Monday for a weekend wrap up. Otherwise, have a great day!

Monday 2-26-18: Blockchains, Zenyatta, and Girl Streamers

By Branden

On February 26, 2018

In daily update, News

Welcome to another week! It’s Monday and boy do I have news. Here is that news.

Ubisoft is Interested in Blockchains
Overwatch lets Zenyatta Walk
Twitch Offers a Grant for Girls

Blockchains and Business Buzzwords

You read it correctly, Ubisoft is interested in blockchains. Their research facility, Strategic Innovation Lab, recently expressed interest in using the complex information storage system to track user-owned content. Imagine if you owned your DLC the same way you would own Bitcoin. It’s an interesting idea that I don’t really understand, to be honest.

Zenyatta Uses His Feet

Overwatch’s social media game has always been fairly on point. Their public relations too. I recall when last Christmas they had Jeff Kaplin sitting in a chair for 8 hours, which quickly went viral. Now they’ve found a new way to upset their fans in the best way. They released footage of Zenyatta using his feet to walk, instead of his usual floating. You can see it for yourself, if you dare.

1,000 Dreams Fund’s Twitch Broadcasther Grant

That’s not a typo from me. According to the website, it’s “Broadcasther” grant. I get it’s supposed to be broadcast-her, but I’m reading it as a “th” sound. I digress. This grant is a new program between Twitch and 1,000 Dreams Fund to encourage more female livestreamers. They will reward 2 high school/college students with $2,000 for the purpose of furthering their live stream career. If you’re an up and coming female streamer, or just want to learn more about this program, you can visit the 1000 Dreams Fund website. Applications will open Thursday, March 1, at 9 AM EST.

Thanks for your patience with my missing days. The new computer is working fantastically. With any luck, I can start casually live streaming. No, I’m not going for that grant. Check back tomorrow for another post full of nifty news! Otherwise, have a great night!

Tuesday 12-26-17: Ubisoft AI, Super Mario ROMs, Switch’s Golf Game Gone, and ARMS’ Final Update

By Branden

On December 26, 2017

In daily update, News

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you had a good gift-giving season and will have fun on New Years. Heres some news from the last few days.

Ubisoft starts up an AI research facility
Super Mario Land 2 DX releases
The Golf game hidden in the Switch is removed
ARMS updates for the last time

La Forge, Ubisoft’s AI Facility
Ubisoft is looking to merge together the gap between gaming AI research, and scientific AI research with their new facility, La Forge. The gimmick here is that Ubisoft staff and academics will work together to help make advancements in AI. some of which will be used on their games, some of which that will be released academically. This is supposed to be mutually beneficial, though it’s too soon to know how well it works.

Super Mario Land 2 DX
Super Mario Land 2 was considered much better than the more popular predecessor, but it was still flawed. Fans have banded together to create a ROM hack of the game that has some notable changes. The biggest one being that it has been converted into full color. They also fixed the input lag and even added Luigi as a playable character. I always love seeing passion projects completed. You can see the ROM for yourself here.
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3784/

NES Gone
A while back, gamers discovered that by performing certain actions, a motion control version of the classic NES Golf could be played within the Nintendo Switch’s software. Many believed this to be a homage to the late Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata. In a recent firmware update, that easter egg has now been removed. The removal as equally unknown as its inclusion.
I actually have a copy of NES Golf, its one of my favorite NES games. After Iwata’s passing, I wrote his name and dates on the back as a tribute. Rest in Peace Iwata, you are missed.

ARMS update
The popular Switch fighting game, ARMS, had updated to version 5.0. This new version includes a new character, the Scientific CEO madwoman, Dr. Coyle (she’s my favorite for sure). Unfortunately alongside this update is the announcement that from here on out, ARMS would only receive balance patches and no more additional content. This is a shame for ARMS players, what few there are.

Thanks for reading again! no news yesterday because its Christmas, the same can be assumed for next Monday on New Years, depends on how free I am.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more of the latest and greatest in gaming news. Until then, have a great night!