3d illusion arts: Walyou

Walyou

Xbox One Controllers modded with Star Wars themes
15 Fantastic Lightsaber Tattoos
5 Biggest Video Game Fails Ever
Sony looks to the past with a limited edition PSOne themed PS4

Xbox One Controllers modded with Star Wars themes

Posted: 04 Dec 2014 10:56 AM PST

No matter what game you’re playing you could always use a little extra help from the Force (may it always be with you). These controllers might help you channel it at the right time.

It’s not like we ever stopped talking about Star Wars, but nowadays everyone is! And who can blame them, that last trailer for the upcoming Episode VII has sent our hype levels through the roof. What this means for us, though, is that we’re coming across more Star Wars related gadgets, mods and gear, and that we can’t wait to share all of that with you. In this case? In an Xbox One controller mod, themed after Darth Vader and Boba Fett.

This is the creation of Air Effex, who can be reached out at his Facebook page to get your own custom version, related to Star Wars or not.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Gravity-Defying Star Wars-esque Aero-X Hoverbike to Be Launched in 2017 and Star Wars X-Wing And Tie Fighter Rings: Engaged To The Cause.

15 Fantastic Lightsaber Tattoos

Posted: 04 Dec 2014 06:00 AM PST

The internet is still going crazy about the Lightsaber in the new Star Wars movie teaser trailer, so why not check out the people who think it’s an excellent idea to walk around with one on their body for their entire lives?

The popular way of doing it seems to be the fingers. It’s slim design makes it a perfect fit, and not everyone is about showing off their tattoo. Just having a small piece of colorfulness doesn’t piss of the parents too much, and doesn’t seem weird in a job interview.

But there are also those who go all out, and make it seem like there’s a huge lightsaber stuck in their neck, or coiled by a snake. There are also those who team up with someone else, if you’re into the whole Jedi-Sith roleplaying thing.

For a bit more on Star Wars Tattoos, check out these batch of raunchy ones. For tattoos of a different sort, check out these brilliant ones inspired by Tetris.

5 Biggest Video Game Fails Ever

Posted: 04 Dec 2014 04:00 AM PST

As more and more video games get released unfinished or unplayable we look at five of the biggest video game fails in history.

When you buy a new game, you expect it to work properly. Much less, you expect the game that you’ve just shelled out on to work as it was advertised.

Yet despite these humble wishes, more and more games are being released only to disappoint those who play them. Everything from a lack of quality assurance (QA) testing, the new generation of consoles and a developer’s unwillingness to fix problems could be to be blame, but one thing is for certain and that’s that broken games are unacceptable.

So, to point light (or simply just to point out) the broken games of recent times, we’ve put together this list. Have a look at the games that gave us the biggest headache and add some of your own in the comments!

1. Assassin’s Creed Unity

Released just a few weeks ago, Assassin’s Creed Unity was initially touted as the great big leap forward in the Assassin’s Creed series ever. There have been over a dozen entries in the franchise now and so new, more fluid free-running, the addition of a new co-op mode and the grand, picturesque setting of Paris during the revolution all hoped to soothe series stagnation.

Unfortunately, what we got on release day was a sorry state of code. Developer and publisher Ubisoft billed the game as 30 frames per second at 1080p HD but many reports suggested that the game dipped below 10 FPS, making Unity look absolutely awful. Other graphical issues included character faces suddenly going missing while at some points NPCs would just show up in the middle of a cutscene and start heckling the protagonist. There were also server connections that even prevented players from accessing loot chests.

Thankfully, Ubisoft has already released several patches (some problems are still being reported though) and are offering free DLC and games to apologise. As the biggest franchise they own you can’t help thinking that this never should have happened, though.

2. Driveclub

Another casualty of the new generation of consoles was Driveclub. Released back in October, the PS4 exclusive racer wanted us to ‘team up and throw down’, working with other players to be the best and beat other teams for fame and glory. The game seemed promising too and after several delays (it was set to be a PS4 launch title before being pushed back to early 2014 and then again to October 7th) many were excited for it.

That excitement soon dissipated however, as a slew of connection issues prevented the game from working as advertised. Players were forced into long multiplayer queues to solve the problem and give developer Evolution Studios a chance to fix the servers, they even opted for a one in/one out system where you couldn’t join multiplayer until someone else had left it. In addition, these server problems have also led the PlayStation Plus version of Driveclub to be delayed which is a shame as the free PS+ version (which was set to offer a slimmed down version of the game) had proved to be a huge draw to the service, the game and the PS4 console itself.

As it stands, ‘most’ of these problems have been fixed. There’s still no word on the PS+ Driveclub release date though.

3. Battlefield 4

Speaking of on-going problems – EA and DICE’s first person shooter Battlefield 4 is a prime example. Considered to be the only worthy competitor to last year’s Call of Duty: Ghosts, plenty were looking forward to the massive multiplayer battles. Sure Battlefield 3′s single player mode was rubbish and we weren’t expecting much from BF4′s offline campaign either but that could all be forgiven if the online side of Battlefield 4 was fantastic.

Sadly, it wasn’t. Rather, from launch people had their gameplay battered by netcode issues (problems with the network’s back-end, essentially), glitches and game-breaking bugs. Some of these include the ‘death shield’ bug which meant that corpses could block explosive damage, along with serious rubber banding which was lag that sent you all across the map (like a rubber band) after you’d moved around a bit.

Battlefield 4 is still facing bugs like these too. A year on from launch they are less prevalent but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t serious cracks to be smoothed over. It’s also no wonder then, that EA shareholders have taken the publisher to court over ‘misleading’ statements about the game’s quality.

4. Diablo 3

Also suffering from server issues was Diablo 3. One of the most highly anticipated games in recent history, the RPG suffered under the weight of all that popularity.

When the game launched in May, 2012 thousands of players hopped online hoping to take one of Diablo 3′s classes for a spin, but they were stopped in their tracks and greeted by the (now infamous) Error 37. What Error 37 meant is that the game’s servers were overwhelmed and couldn’t take anyone else online. Many players were left unable to play for several days, the problems were that bad.

Eventually they were resolved though as developer Blizzard set up a queuing system that eased the strain on their servers. There have also been few reports of big issues since (not even with the release of the Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls expansion pack earlier this year) so things seem to be going well.

5. SimCity

In SimCity, the idea is that rather than micromanaging your Sims and tailoring their lives the way you do in ‘The Sims’, here you can just build and control the world around them. One of the biggest draws is that you can demolish a city with natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods but here, the only disaster was the game’s launch.

Most of the problems pertained to the online requirement. That’s right, you could only play SimCity when you were connected to EA’s servers and there was no offline mode whatsoever. While this was straight up unseal for a mostly single player game (you can trade with your neighbours but most of the fun is by your lonesome) it was made all the more frustrating when EA’s servers couldn’t cope. You couldn’t connect to the servers and an offline mode didn’t exist and so for several days no one could play SimCity at all.

It took two weeks and several disabled features for the game to run smoothly server-wise; but SimCity still had a bunch of other features that didn’t work either. These included a massive AI problem where although Sims in SimCity were meant to be individual and even have their own homes, they were actually driving to the nearest home available instead. On top of that, Sims were meant to drive on empty roads but instead they were just taking the shortest path to their destination, leading to congestion and traffic jams in your city.

These problems do all seem to be fixed now though and after a year on sale, EA did finally release an offline mode for the game. Took them long enough.

Can you think of a broken game? Let us know in the comments!

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Sony looks to the past with a limited edition PSOne themed PS4

Posted: 03 Dec 2014 01:00 PM PST

Although no one can deny the impact of the Nintendo 64 in the mid 90s, it was the PS One the console that changed the world. 25 years after its initial release, Sony pays tribute to its first console with a special, limited run of grey PS4s. Are you ready to go back to 1995?

The 3rd of December of 1994 saw the release of the original PlayStation, a gray box that played games from CDs instead of cartridges (whoa!), and was the first dip of Sony in the video game business after their falling out with Nintendo. In order to commemorate this anniversary, Sony has created a limited run of 12,300 “20th Anniversary Edition” PlayStation 4 that sport the original shade of grey the PSX had back in the day.

This is a special, premium package with a price tag of $499 in the US, and comes with a 500GB hard drive, the PlayStation camera, the DualShock 4, and a vertical stand all in matching colors. Furthermore, the console even has the original color palette for the X, O, square, and triangle buttons, and sports the classic PlayStation logo just as it appeared in their first splash screen. Pre orders will be available this Saturday, December 6, but Sony will announce more details during the PlayStation Experience.

This type of tributes is not a new thing when it comes to video game consoles, but being that PlayStation has had such a long history now, and this fills us up with so much nostalgia, added to the fact that it’s a really small run so the console will become extremely rare marks this a very special chance to get our hands on a premium, collector’s item.

Via Ars Technica

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