Hasta La Gadget!

After discontinuing its Rock Band weekly DLC, Harmonix has revealed its plans for a new game, only this time it doesn’t revolve around the Rock Band or Dance Central franchises. That likely means it’ll be a completely new take on the type of games that the game developing company is usually known for.

Harmonix took to Twitter to announce the news, saying that they’re “announcing a new game tomorrow,” and “it’s not Rock Band or Dance Central.” If it isn’t either one of those two, then it could be anyone’s guess as to what it is. Other than that one tweet, there are no details as to what to expect tomorrow.

However, Harmonix has always been about the music and rhythm games, so it could be that type of game, but will take a different approach than what we’ve seen in Rock Band and Dance Central, perhaps something similar to Audiosurf or Beat Hazard. However, we did hear back in August about the company hiring developers for a next-gen combat title, so that could be it.

Furthermore, Harmonix revealed last year that they were working on a few games, saying that not all of them would be music-related, but it certainly wouldn’t be Harmonix if we didn’t see a new music-inspired game from them at some point. However, it’ll be interesting to see what they pull out of their hats as far as a non-musical title.

Harmonix discontinued its Rock Band weekly DLC back in April, with the last downloadable song being Don McLean’s “American Pie,” which is quite fitting for the situation, as the classic song is good for the tearful goodbyes. Harmonix didn’t talk about the future of Rock Band, but seeing as they discontinued DLC, that’s a sign that the entire series might be quietly getting the ax.

VIA: Polygon

Harmonix game reveal tomorrow: Rock Band, Dance Central off limits is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve seen a Game Boy pillow before, but these “GameKid” pillows by Brazilian shop Verso are soooo much cuter. They come in different colors and are even printed with different games on the back. Here’s the original dirty white model putting on his best Old Snake impression:

The pillows have a suede cover and polyester fiber filling. Check out the other GameKids in the gallery below:

Awwww. Ain’t that a bundle of childhood memories and lawsuits. You can order them from Verso’s online store for R$ 120 (~$56 USD) each. Super Verso Land not included.

A couple of years ago we saw a Portal-themed bedroom that a father made for his son. Accountant/interior design nut/test subject Lauren recently shared her take on a Portal-themed bedroom on Reddit. It’s neat, creepy and very geeky. Doug Rattman would hate to stay here.

Lauren wanted to make it so her bedroom was filled with references to the game but still looked tidy and could be appreciated by someone who wasn’t familiar with the game. I think she didn’t quite succeed with the latter, but the room does look clean despite the grimy borders and the terrifying scrawl on her closet. The room really shines when its orange and blue LEDs take over though, especially the ones on the Portal guns and on Lauren’s infinity mirrors, which were made by her friend Steve Gilbertson.

Open a portal to Imgur or on Lauren’s website to see more pictures of her bedroom.

[via Reddit]

Microsoft talked about the television capabilities of the Xbox One during the console’s unveiling last week, and there weren’t that many games shown off, putting fear into many Xbox loyalists that Microsoft was focusing more television and home entertainment rather than the console’s main purpose. However, when the company discusses the Xbox One at E3, TV talk will be off the table.

Microsoft’s Xbox Live boss Larry Hyrb confirmed the news on Twitter, saying that the company’s press event at E3 “will have TV’s (or similar) on stage to show the games,” but “that should be the extent of TV talk in your #E3.” Hyrb confirms two things mostly: that there won’t be much TV talk, and games will be a big focus from the looks of it.

GTTV host Geoff Keighley also says that the E3 press events by both Microsoft and Sony will be filled with “lost of games and surprises.” He continues by saying that both press conferences by the two companies “will be the strongest in years.” This certainly makes sense, as this is the first E3 in years where Microsoft and Sony are showing off new gaming consoles.

During Microsoft’s reveal event for the Xbox One, the company talked a lot about new features that had nothing to do with gaming, such as watching TV and sports, thanks to that fancy NFL partnership. They also talked a lot about the Kinect and the different features that it has, most of which don’t even deal with gaming from what Microsoft showed off last week.

E3 starts next month, but seeing as it’s the last day in May, the gaming expo is just ten short days away. Apple’s WWDC is taking place the same week, with their keynote occurring during the same time as Microsoft’s press conference. Whether or not Apple is testing the loyalty of mobile game developers remains to be seen, but we can’t say that the overlapping events is a coincidence.

VIA: Kotaku

Xbox One E3 event won’t focus on TV is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s no secret that PlayStation 4 games will be playable while they are still downloading, a bit of information Sony had let out not too long ago. Not much was given about the feature in terms of how it would work, and how much content users would have to pull down before they could begin playing. Now details have been revealed about the feature as it applies to the game Killzone: Shadow Fall, giving us a glimpse at how it works.

Word has it Killzone: Shadow Fall is set to launch at the same time the PlayStation 4 is released, giving gamers a futuristic city in which they will fight against an invading force. The game appears to be much like other FPS games – linear, with players starting with the first level and then progressing to the next when the previous one is finished. In light of this, the small amount of data gamers have to download before they can begin playing makes sense – just the menu and Level 1.

Such a small amount of the game is surprising to some, but means those with a good Internet connection who choose to go the digital route won’t have to wait too long to begin playing. Once the Main Menu and first level are downloaded, the second level will be downloaded while the first is being played. Assuming it finishes before the level is completed, the next will begin while the second is played, and so on and so for. There’s a chance that – after the initial download – gamers won’t be aware of the rest of the downloading process.

This information was revealed by Michiel van der Leeuw, the technical director of Guerrilla, which developed Killzone, in a Developer Diary. “You’re going to download a chunk of the game, get the menu and first level, and while you’re playing the first level we can start downloading the second in the background. Then the third and so on.”

Of course, such might be a bit of a perfect-world kind of scenario, with those who are in areas with slower Internet services perhaps being stuck waiting a while after each level while the next loads. It is possible that if a slower Internet connection is detected, more of the game may be downloaded before it can be played, but that is speculation. There’s also no word on how this will work for games that aren’t linearly based on one level after the other.

SOURCE: Euro Gamer

PlayStation 4 game Killzone: Shadow Fall play-while-downloading details revealed is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.