Props to any of you reading this, the inaugural Missing Pieces of 2015. Being able to fasten your eyes to these words means you survived the holidays, you survived your New Year's hangover, and you survived CES. That's quite an accomplishment, and one worth rewarding by rounding up the week's gaming news.
This week: Far Cry smells napalm in the morning, Xbox Avatars return from the dead, and Bud Light brings Pac-Man to life in Los Angeles.
Prepping for Bloodborne
Another month, another set of sales figures: Sony announced it's up to 18.5 million PlayStation 4s sold. (Thanks Reuters.) That's already a quarter of all PlayStation 3 sales across the console's entire lifespan.
No sales figures from Microsoft yet. Whether that's good news or bad news for them, I don't know.
Far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit
According to Eurogamer, Ubisoft has been sending out polls to Far Cry 4 players asking where they'd like to see the series go next. Vietnam? A Spaghetti Western? Vampires? A Jurassic Park-style island filled with dinosaurs?
And no, I'm not joking. These were the actual options on the poll. If Far Cry 4 is any indication, there was probably also an option for "Just Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V the same game again, but like, in Russia" or something.
Running on empty
YouTube channel Ampisound, which created this incredible live-action Mirror's Edge video a few years ago, is back with a new first-person parkour promotion for upcoming zombie game Dying Light:
New (old) heights
Activision is putting on a tournament for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and pledging a one million dollar prize pool that it claims will "boost e-sports to new heights."
Apparently it will boost e-sports to the lofty, unreachable heights of 2011, considering that's when the first Dota 2 International was held and thus when a one-million dollar prize pool stopped (in my mind) being something impressive. Consider this: The International 2014 boasted a prize pool of over ten million dollars.
Moving pictures
Remember when Gore Verbinski was supposed to direct a BioShock film? Below is a piece of concept art from that failed endeavor, courtesy of artist Kasra Farahani, and you can find another batch of images here:
Kasra FarahaniIn other news, the Assassin's Creed movie got pushed back to a December 2016 release date this week, which I think is code for "You'll be lucky if this movie ever comes out."
You thought they were dead
Do the words "Microsoft has exciting plans for Xbox Avatars" give you horrible flashbacks to 2008? Too bad, because those are actual words uttered this week. DualShockers discovered two job listings seeking the following:
"As we cross the threshold to a unified operating system and product experience across Microsoft, it is time to for Xbox avatars to also advance to the next level. Come with us, as we take Xbox avatars on their biggest adventure yet with higher fidelity and a bigger stage in new Xbox experiences."
Pac-Mania
According to the LA Fashion District Facebook page, there's an enormous, real-life version of a Pac-Man level in Los Angeles right now:
The stunt is courtesy of Bud Light, which is using the set as part of its Super Bowl ad, set to air in February.
More reading
First up, CES:
- Razer unveiled a new Android microconsole and an open-source virtual reality headset.
- Origin showed off its new EON15-X and EON17-X laptops with full desktop processors crammed inside . Also, new living room PCs.
- Alienware's refreshing its 15 and 17 inch laptops.
- Valve announced...nothing. But more news regarding Steam Machines is apparently coming at GDC in March.
Okay, now let's get out of CES:
- The Internet Archive made 2000+ MS-DOS games available to play in your browser.
- Valve added a built-in frame rate counter to Steam.
- Two filmmakers in Miami made a virtual reality-enabled tour of Havana to show to Cuban refugees.
- Two members of the Lizard Squad group that took down Xbox Live/PSN for Christmas have been arrested.
- CD Projekt revealed The Witcher 3's system requirements.
- We round up the state of MMOs in 2014.
And last but not least, don't forget that Awesome Games Done Quick is speedrunning games for charity through this weekend, if you're sitting around and need something to watch. We'll be back next week with more!