PS4 Update 3.55 Live Now With Minor Changes

PS4 update 3.55 is officially live, but there’s not a whole lot changing this time around. The update, which comes in at 300 MB, allegedly “improves the quality of the system performance”. How the performance is improved specifically isn’t revealed.

Unlike the last update, which added a number of notable features such as Remote Play support for the PC and offline mode back in April, PS4 update 3.55 seems to be rather minor.

Have you noticed any performance improvements with the latest update? If so, let us know in the comments.

PS4 Update 3.55 Live Now With Minor Changes

Criterion Games Extreme Sports Title Canceled, Developer to Pursue Star Wars License

Criterion Games, known for their Burnout franchise, was working on an extreme sports game that would allow for open world gameplay and a variety of extreme sports. The game was first shown at E3 2014 in the prototype phase with no title, and has since gone MIA.

Now, the game is back in the news, thanks to a comment from EA confirming that the game is no longer in development. A representative for EA told GameSpot earlier today that Criterion was no longer working on the game, and that the studio would shift their focus to the Star Wars franchise.

“While they’ve moved on from the previous project they’ve spoken about and aren’t pursuing it, they are continuing to build new ideas and experiment with new IP for EA, in addition to continuing to collaborate with other EA studios,” the representative said when speaking to GameSpot.

Criterion had previously worked on the speeder bikes in Star Wars Battlefront, and will also be contributing to the development of EA’s Star Wars Battlefront VR game.

If you’re looking to get your open world extreme sporting fix, no need to fret. While the development on Criterion’s untitled project has ceased, Ubisoft has stepped up to the plate with Steep, a game with a similar premise that was announced at E3 this year.

We’re mourning the loss of what could have been a great new IP, but we’re excited to see what Ubisoft can do with Steep. You can watch the trailer for the game released at E3 below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do5d4PAz4rA

Criterion Games Extreme Sports Title Canceled, Developer to Pursue Star Wars License

Microsoft Confirms New Xbox One Hardware, Xbox One S and Project Scorpio On the Way

Microsoft has been dealing with a lot of leaks leading up to E3, but as it turns out, the two biggest seem to have become a reality. Microsoft will be releasing a sleeker version of the Xbox One, called the Xbox One S.

The Xbox One S is pretty much what you’d expect; it’s smaller, lighter, and it comes with a few minor improvements. It’s a smaller, (arguably) cheaper version of current Xbox One consoles. The version of Xbox One S that was shown off at the beginning of Microsoft’s conference will retail for $299 with a release date of August, and, apparently, not include a controller. That kind of defeats the purpose of picking up the new and better version of an existing console, no?

That wasn’t the only new piece of hardware that Microsoft announced, though. As rumored, they were in fact working on an upgrade that would allow for better compatibility with virtual reality and 4K. Even the name Project Scorpio stuck, which is odd given manufacturer’s tendencies to develop consoles under code names.

Likewise, the specifications for Scorpio matched what earlier reports had revealed. During the press conference Microsoft referred to it as “the most powerful console ever”.  It will run at 6 teraflops, and feature a new GPU with increased power and speed.

A number of developers appeared in a clip beforehand talking about Project Scorpio, including Todd Howard, who teased virtual reality support for the console.

While Xbox One S will be available in August, Project Scorpio is shooting for a Holiday 2017 release. Microsoft promises all consoles will be able to run games on equal footing, but only time will tell whether or not they’ll hold to that.

Are you thinking about picking up one of the new Xbox One consoles? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to stay tuned to SGO for more news from E3 2016.

Microsoft Confirms New Xbox One Hardware, Xbox One S and Project Scorpio On the Way

May 2016 NPD Sales Results: Uncharted 4 Takes the Lead

We’re almost halfway into June, and the May 2016 NPD sales results are here. Surprisingly, Uncharted 4 takes the top spot for software sales, with Doom and Overwatch trailing behind. What’s interesting about these results is that Uncharted 4 is exclusive to the PS4, while Doom and Overwatch not only make an appearance on Xbox One, but PC as well.

Most games from the April results have fallen from the top 10, with Dark Souls III seeing the steepest drop (previously #1), but you’ll still find the usual suspects. Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, NBA 2K16, and MLB The Show 16 continue to stay strong. Likewise, game sales are up 4% from this time last year.

Hardware sales are only seeing a 10% drop this month compared to last year, but like usual, console manufacturers refuse to share their numbers. It’s safe to say that PlayStation is still on top, especially given the success of the latest addition to the Uncharted franchise.

In the handhelds department, the 3DS continues to do extremely well thanks to a 2DS price cut. That console has seen a year over year improvement of 148%, or 38% month over month. Not bad!

And now, here are the software rankings:

1. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (PS4) – It’s either the best or second best selling Uncharted game. I think the text is implying second best after Uncharted 3, but I can’t tell 100%. Either way it’s a relatively large number.


2. Doom (PS4, Xbox One, PC)


3. Overwatch (PS4, Xbox One, PC)


4. Battleborn (PS4, Xbox One, PC)


5. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)


6. Minecraft (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)


7. NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)


8. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)


9. MLB 16: The Show (PS4, PS3)


10. Dark Souls III (PS4, Xbox One)

What games did you pick up in May? Let us know in the comments!

May 2016 NPD Sales Results: Uncharted 4 Takes the Lead

EA Play to Give Campaign Will Donate $1 Million to Charity During EA Play

Starting this weekend, EA will be hosting their own E3 event called EA Play. To celebrate the occasion, they’re giving $1 million to charity through their new Play to Give program. The program will make donations to the following charities:

Code.org

Code2040

HeForShe

National Center for Women & Information Technology

SpecialEffect

The goal of the contributions from EA is to give back to the community, and support a more inclusive environment in gaming, along with helping future creators. To commemorate the event, EA is offering up some in-game challenges to allow you to show your support.

Games with challenges include FIFA 16 and Madden 16, with Battlefield 4, Battlefield Hardline, Star Wars Battlefront, and Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes representing the core audience. Each challenge will offer special rewards for their respective games. You can find a list of the games and their rewards below, via the blog post from EA. More details on the challenges will be revealed soon.

Battlefield 4™ and Battlefield™ Hardline

Earn a Gold Battlepack by providing supplies to your teammates in need. As a community,Battlefield 4 players are challenged with getting a 45 million total re-supply score and Battlefield Hardline players are challenged with getting a 5 million re-supply score from June 12-17. By achieving either of those goals, contributing players will get rewarded with an extra Gold Battlepack via Battlelog.

Star Wars™ Battlefront™

Players who complete any multiplayer match from June 12-14 can participate in the 3X Score Event, earning triple score and credits.

Star Wars™ Galaxy of Heroes

Deploy a squad of some of the most powerful female characters in Star Wars™ against the droids.

FIFA 16

Participate in the Play to Give Cup in FIFA Ultimate Team during EA PLAY. Win the tournament and you will receive an untradeable Rare Mega Pack. Any future tournament wins in the Play to Give Cup will get you a Premium Coins Pack.

Madden NFL 16

Play Madden Ultimate Team in Madden NFL 16 from June 12-19 and complete a short objective list to receive 2,040 coins and a Pro Pack.

It seems like EA really wants to support the community. It’s great to see that they’re interested in making gaming more inclusive. Will you be participating in any of the challenges? Let us know in the comments.

EA Play to Give Campaign Will Donate $1 Million to Charity During EA Play

NBA 2K16 Free for PlayStation Plus Subscribers This June

If you’re one of the few peopel that hasn’t gotten around to playing NBA 2K16 yet, it’s time. The PS4 version of the game will be free for June 2016 as part of the PlayStation Plus subscription.

Gone Home will also join NBA 2K16 as the other PS4 game this month. Echochrome and Siren: Blood Curse will be the free games for PS3, with God of War: Chains of Olympus and Little Deviants rounding out the freebies for Vita.

Don’t own a PlayStation 4, but still want to get into NBA 2K16? That’s alright, because the game will also be seeing a discount of 40% until June 6 on the Xbox One.

 

NBA 2K16 Free for PlayStation Plus Subscribers This June

E3 Live Offers a Small Slice of E3 to the Public

There was a time where E3 was accessible to the public. That time has, sadly, long passed. Nowadays the only way to gain entry into E3 is to be press or industry, which is a bummer for fans who want to take an early look at the latest installments of their favorite franchises.

That’s still the case, although this year the ESA is bringing the public a little slice of the E3 excitement with E3 Live, where the ESA plans to open up L.A. Live to bring fans a small look at some of the festivities that E3 has to offer. It’s not the full E3 experience, but it’s probably as close as you’re going to get outside of the show itself.

Interestingly, this move comes as a number of companies are pulling out of E3 in favor of more public events around E3 that they have more control over. EA, for example, will be replacing their dominant presence at the trade show with EA Play. That event will take place in Los Angeles alongside E3, and it will be open to the public.

Nintendo has long replaced their press conference at E3 with Nintendo Direct streams taking place during the show, but Activision will also be opting out of their booth at E3 this year. Regardless, E3 Live should be reason for gaming enthusiasts to celebrate. While it might not be full-on access to the trade show, it’s another step in the right direction, allowing fans to be a part of E3 even if only on a small scale.

By the time you read this, however, the tickets will probably already be gone. As you’d expect from an E3 event sanctioned by the ESA and open to the public, the tickets went incredibly fast. Of course, if you can’t manage to score a ticket, it’ll also be streamed live. If you’re curious, here’s a list of the exhibitors:

• Alienware


• Facebook/Oculus


• Frito-Lay


• HTC Vive


• Loot Crate


• Monster


• Twitch


• Ubisoft


• Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment

Not much has been revealed about what games we’ll see there, but there you have it. It’s nice to know that the ESA is open to the idea of bringing part of E3 back to the public, even if it’s not the show itself. I look forward to seeing how it goes.

Did you manage to score a ticket? Let us know in the comments.

E3 Live Offers a Small Slice of E3 to the Public

NPD Sales Results for April 2016: MLB The Show 16 Knocks It Out of the Park

We’re almost halfway into May, and the NPD sales results for April 2016 are here. The results are actually pretty surprising, with Dark Souls III taking the #1 spot for software sales, followed by Ratchet & Clank, and MLB The Show 16 which seems to have made quite the climb, moving up from #6 last month.

Once again Sony tops the charts for hardware sales with their PS4, though hardware sales continue to decline, with a 21% drop from this time last year. You’d think that two PlayStation exclusive titles in the top three software slots would make for better console sales, but perhaps that’s just a testament to the market penetration that Sony has managed to achieve with this hardware cycle. Of course, it’s hard to say, since we don’t have the exact number of consoles sold.

Interestingly though, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One seem to be doing much better than their predecessors, with a 40% higher trend in cumulative sales compared to the same 30-month period for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

And now, here are the actual software rankings:

1. Dark Souls III (PS4, Xbox One)


2. Ratchet & Clank (PS4)


3. MLB 16: The Show (PS4, PS3)


4. Tom Clancy’s The Division (PS4, Xbox One, PC)


5. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)


6. Minecraft (Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3)


7. Quantum Break (Xbox One)


8. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)


9. NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)


10. Star Fox: Zero (Wii U)

What games did you pick up in April? Let us know in the comments.

NPD Sales Results for April 2016: MLB The Show 16 Knocks It Out of the Park

NBA LIVE Moves to 2017, Will Focus on Mobile

NBA LIVE has been struggling to achieve the level of success and recognition among basketball fans that 2K has with their NBA 2K franchise. As a result, it seems like EA is making some additional changes to the latest entry and moving it back a few months.

Rather than release NBA LIVE 17 within the typical window of the Fall season, they’re pushing it back into early 2017, as revealed in their quarterly results report published yesterday.

We’ll see whether or not that increase in development time makes for a better and more polished game next year, but for the time being, it looks like we won’t be seeing NBA Live 17 this year.

With this news in mind, Sean O’Brien who serves as Executive Producer on NBA LIVE took to the blog over at the NBA LIVE website to briefly discuss what this move will mean for the franchise.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to note is that while NBA LIVE is committed to supporting consoles, NBA LIVE 17 will apparently have a large emphasis on mobile. That’s not a bad decision, given the state of NBA LIVE right now. At least the game will continue to find a home on consoles, for those who enjoy it.

You can find the full post from Sean O’Brien below.

Hey LIVE fans:

I want to share some important updates on what’s next for NBA LIVE and give you an overview of where we’re going with the franchise over the course of this year.

It’s important that you know that we are committed to NBA LIVE in the console space.  While we won’t be shipping a product this Fall, we will be back on the courts with something new and exciting for you to experience in early 2017. 

Our focus this year is to deliver an amazing, high-quality basketball game to a global audience. The best way to do that is through the fastest growing, largest, and most accessible gaming platform…mobile.  As a team, we’re really excited about taking the franchise to new places with the worldwide release of our mobile game later this year.

More details to follow in the coming months!

Sean O’Brien 
Executive Producer, NBA LIVE

Do you think pushing the release of NBA LIVE 17 into early next year will allow for a better game? Let us know in the comments.

NBA LIVE Moves to 2017, Will Focus on Mobile

Xbox 2016 First Quarter Earnings Report Released Today

Today, Microsoft reported the earnings for the quarter that just ended on March 31.

So, how did the Xbox division do?

Xbox One and 360 sales fell by 26 percent during the quarter. Microsoft attributed the downturn to fewer 360s sold and lower prices on the Xbox One. This past March dropped $50 off the price of the Xbox One. However, that price only lasts through April 30.

On the flipside, Xbox Live revenue went up by 22 percent. The growth was attributed to more Live subscribers and a rise in money spent per transaction and more digital purchases overall.

Microsoft also reported that overall gaming revenue had risen by $64 million, a 4 percent rise over the same period last year.

Xbox 2016 First Quarter Earnings Report Released Today

PlayStation 4.5 Codenamed NEO, Offers Improved Specs

For a while now there have been rumors circulating that Sony is working on an upgraded PlayStation, which some are calling PlayStation 4.5 or PlayStation 4K. Yesterday, Giant Bomb posted an article allegedly offering details about the system’s specifications, along with a new codename: NEO.

According to the article, the console will feature an improved CPU, GPU, and memory. Also of note is the fact that starting in October, PS4 games will be required to ship with a mode for the original PS4, and a mode for NEO consoles. In NEO mode, games will be able to take advantage of the upgraded hardware for better performance.

It will also feature support for 4K as previously speculated. However, games are not required to run natively in 4K, which means games that do make use of 4K will probably do so through upscaling until 4K becomes more widespread.

Outside of the new hardware upgrades, NEO will supposedly run alongside the PlayStation 4, making the upgrade entirely optional — at least for launch. No games will be exclusive to NEO, and PS4 gamers will be able to play together as they would on a launch PS4. That also means that NEO players won’t have access to any exclusive perks that you wouldn’t have access to on a launch PS4. Virtual reality functionality will also remain the same, to further ensure parity between consoles.

Giant Bomb also offers the following specifications, with a comparison between NEO and the PS4.

	Original PS4	NEO
CPU	8 Jaguar Cores at 1.6 GHz	8 Jaguar Cores at 2.1 GHz
GPU	AMD GCN, 18 CUs at 800 MHz	Improved AMD GCN, 36 CUs at 911 MHz
Memory	8 GB GDDR5, 176 GB/s	8 GB GDDR5, 218 GB/s

 

What do you think about the upgrade? Are you interested in picking one up? Let us know in the comments below.

PlayStation 4.5 Codenamed NEO, Offers Improved Specs

March 2016 NPD Sales Results: UFC 2 Cracks Top 5

The March 2016 NPD sales results are in, and overall there isn’t a lot of new movement compared to the previous year. March 2016 generated $964.1 million worth of sales in the United States, compared to the $968.4 million from last year. It’s a slight decrease, but nothing major.

As you’d probably expect this far into the cycle, people are more interested in buying software and accessories than consoles. While hardware has gone down by 19% since last year, retail game sales have gone up 8%. Below is a list of the top selling software for the month.

Software:

1. Tom Clancy’s The Division (PS4, Xbox One, PC)


2. Far Cry: Primal (PS4, Xbox One, PC)


3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U)


4. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)


5. UFC 2 (PS4, Xbox One)


6. MLB The Show 16 (PS4, PS3)


7. Pokken Tournament (Wii U)


8. NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PSe)


9. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)


10. Minecraft (360, PS4, Xbox One, PS3)

Interestingly, Tom Clancy’s The Division comes out on top. According to NPD analyst Liam Callahan, the game marks the best launch month for any Tom Clancy game to date, selling 40% more than the next best-selling title, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2.

Between the strong results of The Division and Far Cry: Primal, Ubisoft sits on top as the number one publisher for the first quarter of 2016. They saw a unit sales increase of around 130%, with a dollar sales increase of over 200%.

As for portables, it’s not looking good. Unit sales and revenue were down 19% and 16% respectively, compared to last year. That’s probably no big deal for Sony, however, as the PlayStation 4 was the #1 platform for software sales. Nintendo meanwhile had Zelda and Pokken Tournament to fall back on as number 3 and 4 by SKU respectively.

Of course, there are a number of sports games still doing good as well. NBA 2K16 continues strong sales, remaining at #8. Newcomers UFC 2 and MLB The Show 16 enter at #5 and #6 respectively.

Hardware:

PS4: #1 platform

The PlayStation 4 takes the top spot for hardware sales this year, with portable sales achieving the highest decline in hardware sales compared to last March, followed by current-gen consoles. Seventh generation consoles also had a steep decline of 78%, but it’s worth noting that those numbers are only 2% of the total sales for the month.

 

March 2016 NPD Sales Results: UFC 2 Cracks Top 5

Codemasters to Bring On Evolution Studios Employees

Last month, it was announced that Sony was shutting down Evolution Studios, the studio responsible for MotorStorm and Driveclub. As is typical with studio closures, that means the employees of Evolution Studios would be searching for a new job. Thankfully, Codemasters has stepped up.

Starting on April 25th, the team at Evolution Studios will become a part of Codemasters. This puts them in good hands, as the developer and publisher has a long history with racing games with a number of running franchises including GRID, DiRT, and F1.

Mick Hocking, who co-founded Evolution Studios, will take on the role of VP Product Development at Codemasters. The Evolution team will now be working on multi-platform titles, though whether that will be on an existing franchise or something new has yet to be revealed.

Codemasters to Bring On Evolution Studios Employees

PS4 Update 3.50 Now Live, Adds PC Remote Play

PS4 Update 3.50 is now live and available for download at just under 300 MB, and it brings with it variety of new features including PC remote play, the ability to appear offline, and friend notifications. You can check out the full list of changes below.

Main features in system software update 3.50

•  You can now create events. Select [Events] > [Create Event], set the date and time, number of players who can join, and other details, and then send invitations to players you want to play with. You can also create events in [Messages].


• Play Together has been added to [Party]. For online multiplayer games that support the Play Together feature, you can automatically invite other players and start game sessions immediately.


• Notification messages are now displayed when Friends go online. You can change the setting in [Settings] > [Notifications] > [When Friends Go Online].


• You can now change your online status to offline, even if you are actually online. When you log in to the PS4 system, select [Log In With Online Status ‘Appear Offline’] from the options menu. You can also change your status from your profile screen or the quick menu.


• You can now use Remote Play on a computer (Windows PC or Mac) that has
  
  PS4 Remote Play installed. Download PS4 Remote Play, install it, and then connect to your PS4 system.


• You can now broadcast gameplay on dailymotion.

Other new or revised features in version 3.50

• You can now send event or party invitations to groups or communities.


• You can now share other players’ activities. In What’s New, for example, select an activity to share, and then select ‘Share Activity’.


• When uploading screenshots or video clips, players can now tag others they’ve played games with. To choose who can tag you, select  [Settings] > [PlayStation Network/Account Management] > [Privacy Settings] > [Sharing Your Experience] > [Tags].


• Depending on the content, verified accounts are now displayed on the content info screen so that you can follow the accounts more easily.


• PSN Status: to quickly check the status of the PlayStation Network Services, you can view this via Settings > Network.


• Teen Account Creation: Teens (aged 13 – 17 years) can now create their own account and start playing in offline mode until parents approve the account and complete the parental control set up at their leisure.


• PlayStation Plus Hub: Plus members can now enjoy easy access and management of their online storage. You can also see from your PS Plus Games which of your friends also play your monthly Plus games.

If you’d rather watch a video, PlayStation Access also has a video detailing the new features in the update. What do you think of PS4 Update 3.50? Let us know in the comments.

PS4 Update 3.50 Now Live, Adds PC Remote Play

Sony Shutters Driveclub Developer Evolution Studios

Sony is shutting down Evolution Studios, the team behind PlayStation exclusives Driveclub and MotorStorm. As of today, the studio will be no more, as confirmed by Jamie Bradshaw, the Sr. Community Manager at the company on twitter.

https://twitter.com/PhenomEvolution/status/712302746825842688

Driveclub wasn’t exactly a smashing success, but it was a decent game and an interesting idea. It’s unfortunate to see Sony closing down shop for the studio behind the game, but it’s another in a long line of closures in the industry. We’re wishing the best to all of the people at Evolution Studios, and we hope they land new work soon.

Meanwhile, the move has left everyone wondering whether or not Driveclub VR will see a release. It would be interesting if not, as the game was just shown off at GDC last week.

Sony Shutters Driveclub Developer Evolution Studios

PlayStation 4 Update 3.50 Detailed, Beta Soon

The upcoming PlayStation 4 update 3.50 has been detailed by Sony, with plans to move the update into the beta phase soon. The firmware update which has been code named MUSASHI will primarily focus on social features, with a couple small additions thrown in. Dailymotion streaming will be making an appearance, which is cool if you’re into that.

As for the meat of the update? Sony has put together a list of the big improvements, which you can find below. The highlight is probably the ability to finally turn off notifications, a feature which the PS3 has had for a while now. Oh, and you can also appear offline, which is pretty cool when you just don’t want to be bothered. You’d think that would be in a standard feature in software nowadays, but nope!

New Social Features

• Friend Online Notification – Want to know the moment your friends come online? With this update, you can, as we’ve added an option to be notified when members of your friends list sign on the network.


• Appear Offline – Sometimes you want to play a game or watch a movie without being bothered by friends. Now it’s easier to go incognito as we’ve added the option to appear offline. You can designate if you would like to appear offline when you log-in or at any time from your Profile or the Quick Menu.


• User Scheduled Event – Time for a play date! We’ve added the ability to schedule a future gameplay session with your friends on the system. When your event starts, users who registered for the event will automatically be added to a party so you can start playing right away.


• Play Together – This features allows all members of a Party to see what each person is playing so that you can easily join a friend’s game, or start a new game together.

Other New System Features

• Remote Play (PC/Mac) – We’re bringing PS4 Remote Play to Windows PC and Mac. This feature won’t be available to test in the beta, but you can look forward to it soon.


• Dailymotion – With this update, you’ll be able to live stream directly to Dailymotion on PS4. We’ll also support archiving live broadcasts, like we do for other streaming services.

The beta for the PlayStation 4 update 3.50 will start tomorrow, with an official release to be determined. Have you been selected for the beta? Let us know in the comments.

PlayStation 4 Update 3.50 Detailed, Beta Soon

Kanye West is Allegedly Naming His Next Album After a Gaming Console

Kanye West just put out a new album. It’s called The Life of Pablo. You might have heard of it thanks to his recent shenanigans on twitter where he got into an entertaining feud with Kendrick Lamar, among other things. He’s been in the news a lot.

Kanye took a couple years in between the release of Yeezus and The Life of Pablo, but it seems that he now has other plans as he says he plans to release another album this Summer. Oh yeah, and the working title for the album is currently TurboGrafx 16.

If that doesn’t ring any bells for you, the TurboGrafx 16 was a gaming console released back in 1989 in North America. It didn’t fare as well in North America as it did elsewhere, but the games themselves eventually ended up on Nintendo’s virtual console, where you can still pick them up.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/702566224304152576

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/703446573552967680

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/703447172050788352

Whether or not Kanye will actually go with the name Turbo Grafx 16 for his new album remains to be seen. Kanye changed the name of his most recent album a few times, moving from So Help Me God, to SWISH, and Waves before ultimately settling on The Life of Pablo. Here’s to hoping the name sticks! Either way, more Kanye is a good thing.

Kanye West is Allegedly Naming His Next Album After a Gaming Console

EA Sports releases full UFC 2 Roster

Today, EA Sports released the full roster for the upcoming UFC 2.

There are a ton of names on the list, but some of the notable fighters include Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, Robbier Lawler and Luck Rockhold.

Bruce Lee returns as one of the nontraditional fighters. For UFC 2, fans who preorder will get Day 1 access to the Iron Mike Tyson pack. The pack features a current day and a young version of Tyson. It also comes with Bas Rutten and “The Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba.

UFC 2 will be available on March 15 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

EA Sports releases full UFC 2 Roster

Video Games Made a Lot of Money in 2015

The results are in, and video games made a lot of money in 2015. Seriously. I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise, since a new record for sales seems to be set with each consecutive release of major franchises. How much money did they make last year exactly? Somewhere in the ballpark of $23.5 billion, according to the Entertainment Software Asssociation, the trade asssociation that presents E3 every year.

More than half of that is software sales alone, coming in at $16.5 billion. That’s a 7% increase over last year’s total of $15.4 billion. Seems like healthy growth! Video games don’t seem to be going anywhere in the near future. Now we’ll just see if 2016 can top it. Seems pretty like if you ask me, and the president of NPD thinks so, too.

“The ubiquitous nature of playing and purchasing video games makes it more important than ever to track these activities accurately,” said Joanne Hageman, president at the NPD Group. “The industry’s sales performance helped to make 2015 a banner year for video games; and we anticipate continued growth in multiple industry sectors for 2016.”

Video Games Made a Lot of Money in 2015

Take-Two Interactive Sued by Tattoo Artists Over Portrayals in NBA 2K

If you’re ever thinking about getting a tattoo, you might want to consider the implications. The art on your body might not belong to you, as in the case with the latest lawsuit between creators and tattoo artists. Yes, this has happened before with EA and their Madden franchise, and yes, it’s happening again.

This time, it’s happening to Take-Two Interactive and Visual Concepts, the companies responsible for the dominant NBA 2K franchise. We liked NBA 2K16 so much that we awarded it with Game of the Year for 2015! Unfortunately, one company wasn’t too happy with the success of the game, thanks to eight of their tattoos making an appearance unlicensed. This has become a major issue in recent history, stretching back to 2011 when Mike Tyson’s tattoo artist sued Warner Brothers to stop the release of The Hangover Part 2.

That lawsuit was thanks to an appearance of the tattoo on a character other than Tyson who appeared in the first film, and unfortunately, brought the issue of tattoo ownership to the forefront. It’s a scary thought, especially for people that appear in media. After the issue with Madden, you’d think that publishers would know better than to make the same mistake, but here we are.

The lawsuit against Take-Two Interactive and Visual Concepts which was filed on Monday in New York comes from a company called Solid Oak Sketches. According to ESPN and Hollywood Reporter, Solid Oak Sketches is suing Take-Two Interactive and Visual Concepts on the basis that several of their tattoo designs have made their way into the NBA 2K franchise without being licensed, notably two tattoos on LeBron James that were featured on the cover of NBA 2K14. 

Of course, the lawsuit also claims that six other tattoos were used without license. Kobe Bryant, Kenyon Martin, DeAndre Jordan, and Eric Bledsoe have all had ink done by Solid Oak Sketches which has appeared in the games. The company initially did the math based upon the case between Christopher Escobedo and THQ to determine that licensing of the designs in question would come out to a total of $819,500, offering a perpetual license to Take-Two Interactive for the price of $1,144,000.

It seems that they opted not to license the tattoos, because the case is now headed to court. In the end Take-Two will probably settle. Maybe they should have payed attention to the EA case! Hopefully this won’t have an affect on the appearance of tattoos in NBA 2K in the future, but if the EA situation is anything to go by, it’s very possible that it will.

If you’re into that sort of thing, you can check out the complaint in greater detail over at Hollywood Reporter. What do you think of the situation? Let us know in the comments.

Take-Two Interactive Sued by Tattoo Artists Over Portrayals in NBA 2K