Rise of the Tomb Raider Will Use Much More Detailed Motion Capture

New Tomb Raider motion capture will use 7000 points of reference instead of 90. Rise of the Tomb Raider will use a much more detailed motion capture technology than the one used in the previous Tomb Raider. The news comes from voice actress Camilla Luddington, who plays Lara Croft in the most recent iteration of the long running franchise. As she explained on her Twitter account, whereas normal motion capture uses dots placed on the actor's face for points of reference (about 90 points, according to Luddington), Mova, a performance facial capture company for feature film and games, uses a fluorescent paint that is sprayed all over, resulting in more than 7000 points of reference. This allows for a much more realistic capture, Luddington says, and can conveniently also only be seen under a blacklight. Square Enix and developer Crystal Dynamics announced Rise of the Tomb Raider during the Microsoft E3 2014 press conference. We don't know much about the game at this point other than the fact that it'll be on Xbox One, it's a direct sequel to the previous Tomb Raider game, and it's coming "holiday 2015."

Games News Rise of the Tomb Raider Will Use Much More Detailed Motion Capture

New Tomb Raider motion capture will use 7000 points of reference instead of 90. Rise of the Tomb Raider will use a much more detailed motion...

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Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Completed in an Unbelievably Short Time

<b><br />A speedrun of the skateboarding game shows that navigating menus is just as important as playing the game itself.<br /><br />A speedrun of the skateboarding game shows that navigating menus is just as important as playing the game itself.<br /><br />I spent a lot of time playing the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, and I was very rarely able to complete levels with anything resembling style. But there will inevitably be someone who will absolutely master a game, and Pro Skater 2 is no exception. YouTube user GeorgeThePlushie has just posted a speedrun of the game, and it's almost unbelievable.<br /><br />He managed to beat Pro Skater 2 in 3 minutes and 26 seconds, making it through the objectives and the levels at an absolutely blistering pace. To score high enough to complete the score-based goals, he continually jumps and does tricks as he rides through the level. Almost more impressive than the way he plays, though, is the way he navigates through the menus. It's so quick and efficient that it's difficult to follow what's going on.<br /><br />The speedrunner does utilize glitches in maps and he clips through some walls, but that doesn't take away from how impressive this run is.<br /><br />Have you ever attempted a speedrun like this? Let us know in the comments.</b> <iframe width="750" height="462" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xcFSFMUwKrU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Games News Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Completed in an Unbelievably Short Time

A speedrun of the skateboarding game shows that navigating menus is just as important as playing the game itself. A speedrun of the skateboa...

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Blizzard to Announce World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Release Date Next Week at This Epic-Looking Venue

Blizzard to officially announce street-date for upcoming World of Warcraft expansion on August 14.<br />During a special event in Los Angeles next week, Blizzard Entertainment will announce the release date forWarlords of Draenor, the latest expansion for genre-defining MMO World of Warcraft. The event will take place Thursday, August 14 at 9:30 AM PDT and you can watch it live online or in-person, Blizzard said todayin an announcement on its website. We know Warlords of Draenor will be out by the end of the year, but the official release date remains under wraps.<br /><br />In addition to the release date for Warlords of Draenor, Blizzard will premiere the expansion's cinematic during the event. Blizzard executives Mike Morhaime (CEO) and Chris Metzen (SVP of creative development), along with World of Warcraft designers Ion Hazzikostas and Brian Holinka, will attend the event, where they will talk about the upcoming expansion.<br /><br />On top of that, the special LA event will serve as the first place to see the debut episode in the new animated World of Warcraft mini-series called Lords of War. The event itself is being held at the Theatre at Ace Hotel, a really epic-looking entertainment venue with a capacity of 1,600. If you attend the event in-person (even if you don't get in), you'll receive a beta key for Warlords of Draenor. People 12 years of age or under need to be accompanied by an adult.<br /><br />Warlords of Draenor is World of Warcraft's fifth expansion, following The Burning Crusade (2007), Wrath of the Lich King (2008), Cataclysm (2010), and Mists of Pandaria (2012). The expansion introduces new zones and raises the level cap to 100. It also comes with an instant character boost to level 90, which you can unlock right now by pre-purchasing the expansion.

Games Music News Software Tutorials Videos Blizzard to Announce World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Release Date Next Week at This Epic-Looking Venue

Blizzard to officially announce street-date for upcoming World of Warcraft expansion on August 14. During a special event in Los Angeles nex...

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Star Citizen's Massive Funding Proves There Is a Market for PC-Only Space Sims

<br />Chris Roberts says if he had approached a publisher and asked for $50 million to make a space sim for PC, he would have been told, "Get out of here."<br /><br /><img height="225" src="http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/mig/3/3/6/3/2013363-684995_20121009_002.jpg" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />Star Citizen's massively successful crowdfunding campaign--which currently stands at $49 million--proves there is a market for PC-exclusive space sims. That's according to the creator of the project, Chris Roberts, who says he thinks traditional publishers would have never gotten behind a project like Star Citizen.<br /><br />"If I had gone up to any publisher and said, 'Hey, will you give me $50 million to do a space sim on PC only?' everyone would say, 'Get out of here,'" Roberts told The Verge in an interview publisher today. "But we're in a situation where we're getting to do that."<br /><br />If funding for Star Citizen continues at its current pace of $1 million every three weeks, the game should reach $50 million by the end of the month. More than half a million people have contributed to the campaign so far. Star Citizen is the most successful crowdfunded project of any kind in history. The most-funded Kickstarter project ever was the Pebble Watch, which attracted $10.2 million.<br /><br />Though Roberts does not have a publisher to report to, that does not mean he's just breezing through development, feeling no pressure at all. "The biggest amount of pressure comes from myself," Roberts said. "I can see this game. I've got a very clear picture of what I want it to be, and I get frustrated when we're not moving as quickly as I want us to move. I want it to be the best thing I've ever played."<br /><br />Overall, Roberts said he expects Star Citizen's focus on detail to be what will set the game apart from the competition. "For me, it's all about feeling like I'm in the world," Roberts said. "There's an attention to detail you need to suspend that disbelief and for me that is the motto of Star Citizen. We're going for that extra level of detail, so there's a real tactile sense to your environment. It feels like it's lived in."<br /><br />Star Citizen, developed by Roberts and his studio, Cloud Imperium Games, is expected to launch in 2015, and support for virtual reality is planned. Parts of the game, including the dogfighting mode, are currently available in beta form.<br /><br />For more on Star Citizen and Roberts himself, check out part one and part two of GameSpot's interview with the legendary designer.

Games Music News Software Tutorials Videos Star Citizen's Massive Funding Proves There Is a Market for PC-Only Space Sims

Chris Roberts says if he had approached a publisher and asked for $50 million to make a space sim for PC, he would have been told, "Get...

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Sandbox Survival MMO Sounds Like Minecraft Meets Rust Mixed With Eve Online

<br /> Oort Online is a massively multiplayer, open-world, crafting survival game that's playable in its prototype state right now.<br /> <br /> There have been many survival and crafting games since Minecraft exploded in popularity. Wonderstruck Games, composed of ex-Lionhead and EA developers, has decided to join the trend and is making a sandbox survival game called Oort Online. But where Minecraft worlds are limited, Wonderstruck promises that the Oort Online universe is expansive, populated by many players all working to craft materials and survive.<br /> <br /> Wonderstruck describes the game on its website as "a massively multiplayer game set in a sandbox universe of connected voxel worlds." In other words, it's an open-world MMO with a 3D pixel-art style. Players are tasked with discovering resources, exploring, and fighting the Protectors, a mysterious race of creatures who inhabit Oort's worlds. If you gather enough resources, you can build portals which take you to different, potentially rewarding places.<br /> <br /> The website also emphasizes player interactions and how alliances and commerce will emerge. Exploration also seems to be geared toward bringing players together, and hints at the same sort of alliances and wars between players that appear in the multiplayer survival game, Rust. "Travel to different worlds and survive in a new environment with real players and challenges," the website states. "Stockpile abundant resources from your world and trade them with players in other worlds."<br /> <br /> Of course, a lot of the game focuses on crafting and building. In order to prevent people from potentially destroying other players' creations, Wonderstruck has created Beacons. Each player is given a certain number of these, which allow you to claim land and determine who can and cannot enter. Once you own land, all of the resources contained within are yours, and you can set up shop and sell your wares. In the style of EVE Online, players will be able to set up their own businesses to try to make money off of the loot and supplies they collect.<br /> <br /> <br /> <img height="225" src="http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_small/1539/15391776/2616180-in-game-1.jpg" width="400" /><br /> Oort Online is being crowdfunded through its website and it is following a similar development pattern toStar Citizen. If you pay $95, you can get access to the game's prototype build right now. As funding increases, the developer will gradually add more and more features, growing the game over the course of its life cycle. The campaign has made over $22,000 at the time of this writing.<br /> <br /> Wonderstruck is currently targeting late 2015 for a release of the game through distribution platforms such as Steam. It is currently only planned for a PC release, although the developer is considering moving to mobile devices later. Right now, you can reserve a launch copy for $15, beta access for $25, and alpha access for $50. The alpha is tentatively scheduled for early 2015 and the beta for mid 2015.<br /> <br /> The studio has also worked on two other games: Polycraft, a tower defense game, and The Marvelous Miss Take, a "streamlined stealth game," according to its website. You can play Polycraft for free here.<br /> <br /> Do you think that there are too many survival games already, or does Oort Online sound like it can stand out? Let us know in the comments!

Games Music News Software Tutorials Sandbox Survival MMO Sounds Like Minecraft Meets Rust Mixed With Eve Online

Oort Online is a massively multiplayer, open-world, crafting survival game that's playable in its prototype state right now. There ha...

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