Gaming news round-up: Lego Star Wars, EA's Super Bowl 50 prediction and Doom release date

Here's your weekly round-up of the biggest video game news stories from the past seven days, featuring the leaking and then announcement of a new Lego game based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a (slightly illegal) Pokémon soundtrack vinyl and the winner of Super Bowl 50... according to Madden 16.

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is happening - BB-8, Rey, Finn and Poe star in first trailer

A new Lego game based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released this summer but before Warner Bros got the chance to reveal the big news, a product page leaked the game's existence. A trailer was also leaked.

The listing on the Xbox store, which offered a set of screenshots, a description and a release date, ruined the surprise. However, Warner Bros later confirmed the game will be out on 28 June and will be available on Xbox One, PS4, PC, Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita.

New Doom gets May release date and new campaign trailer

Bethesda's new Doom game will be released globally for PS4, Xbox One and PC on 13 May, Bethesda has announced. Id Software has also revealed a Collector's Edition that comes with a 12in statue of the Revenant demon and costs a £99.99.

There's a new trailer too, showing off a ton of new footage from the bloody and brutal campaign, that takes the series back to its fast and furious roots. There's a glimpse of just about every iconic enemy type and both the game's Mars and Hell-based environments.

Who will win Super Bowl 50? Madden NFL 16 predicts Carolina Panthers victory over Denver Broncos

EA has released its annual Super Bowl prediction video, which has used the new Madden NFL 16 video game to predict who is to win the big championship game. This year, Super Bowl 50 sees the Carolina Panthers take on the Denver Broncos in what is sure to be one of the year's most-watched sporting events in the world.

Highlights of the match are presented in the gameplay video, depicting an incredibly dramatic game that sees the Panthers lead 17-0 at half-time before a 20-point surge from the Broncos sees them pull ahead until the final minute, at which point the Panthers score the game-winning touchdown to win 24-20.

Credit: IB Times

Photos credit: www.youtube.com

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The Incredible Hulk!What is behind him?

Jack Kirby was a witness when a woman moved by the force of arms a car, to draw her child trapped below. He was fascinated by the power that can issue a man, as they violated the most important thing in life, so he was inspired by establishing: The Incredible Hulk!

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10 Essential Games for Windows 10

Looking for games? The Windows Store has them: puzzle games, simulations, shooters, racing games, sandboxes, card games, board games and more. We selected 10 of our favorites to help you start building your collection.

Candy Crush Soda Saga

Candy Crush Soda Saga

Candy Crush Soda Saga is the latest game from the makers of the legendary Candy Crush Saga. New candies, more divine combinations and challenging new game modes brimming with purple soda and Candy Bears!

Get the Candy Crush Soda Saga app

Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta

Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta

Build anything from makeshift shelters to the grandest of castles! Create and explore your very own world where the only limit is what you can imagine, just be sure to build a shelter before night comes to keep yourself safe from monsters. Find materials and craft tools, items, food, and weapons to survive. Millions of crafters around the world have smashed billions of blocks - now you can join in the fun on Windows 10! Join in the development process with beta access to Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition and provide your feedback to shape the game in future updates!

Get the Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta app

Star Wars: Commander

Star Wars: Commander

The Galactic War rages on. Where does your allegiance lie? Will you side with the Rebellion or the Empire? Join the fight, build your base, recruit and train your army, strategically plan your defenses, and lead your troops to victory on war-torn worlds throughout the galaxy!

Get the Star Wars: Commander app

Lara Croft GO

Lara Croft GO

Lara Croft GO is a turn based puzzle-adventure set in a long-forgotten world. Explore the ruins of an ancient civilization, discover well-kept secrets and face deadly challenges as you uncover the myth of the Queen of Venom.

Get the Lara Croft GO app

Microsoft Solitaire Collection

Microsoft Solitaire Collection

Check out the new look and feel of Microsoft Solitaire Collection on Windows 10! Solitaire remains the most played computer game of all time, and for good reason. Simple rules and straightforward gameplay make it easy to pick up for everyone. Solitaire has been part of Windows for more than 25 years, and the Microsoft Solitaire Collection makes it the best experience to date with five different card games in one.

Get the Microsoft Solitaire Collection app

Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo: Spartan Assault brings the excitement of Halo combat to touch-based devices for the very first time. Battle your way through 30 action-packed missions against the Covenant as you explore the origin of the Spartan Ops program and Halo 4's Spartan Commander, Sarah Palmer. Earn Xbox achievements, complete mission and weekly challenges, unlock new customizations for your Halo 4 career, and compete against your friends for the top scores in the leaderboards.

Get the Halo: Spartan Assault app

Slot Machine

Slot Machine

Play the slots with Slot Machine for Windows 8, the most fun you can have without going to the casino! With the most machines of any slots app on Windows 8, and bonus features, you are sure to have a good time! Slot Machine currently has 17 machines with more being added all the time!

Get the Slot Machine app

Sonic Dash

Sonic Dash

How far can the world’s fastest hedgehog run? Play as Sonic the Hedgehog as you dash, jump and spin your way across stunning 3D environments. Swipe your way over and under challenging obstacles in this fast and frenzied endless running game.

Get the Sonic Dash app

Crossy Road

Crossy Road

Join over 100 million players worldwide and experience Hipster Whale's massive viral #1 hit!

Get the Crossy Road app

Hungry Shark Evolution

Hungry Shark Evolution

Take control of a very Hungry Shark in this action packed aquatic adventure. Survive as long as possible by eating everything that gets in your way! Many different sharks to collect and evolve, including the Hammerhead, Great White and Megalodon!

Get the Hungry Shark Evolution app

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10 of the best apps to spook on your smartphone

 10 of the best apps to spook on your smartphone

It’s that time of year when things go bump in the night. Spooky things, obviously, rather than just your partner/neighbour/cat thumping the wall in anger when they fail at a Candy Crush Saga level, which is a year-round thing.

Yes, Halloween is here with its army of ghosts, witches, werewolves, zombies, vampires and monsters – all knocking on your door demanding chocolate with their parents hovering apologetically in the background.

There are apps for that too (Halloween, not hovering apologetically) with a range of games and apps offering suitably spooky thrills. Here are 10 worth trying out.

You might think an app to make your photos and videos look like they’ve got ghosts in them is a niche, yet this one has been downloaded more than 8m times so far. It’s neatly done: you choose from a selection of backgrounds and filters then shoot your own mini ghost clips or shots. Basic features are free with others unlocked by in-app purchases. 

Alright yes, surely now everyone who wants Minecraft has got it, given its 70m sales across all platforms. Yet just in case, Halloween might be the perfect time to pick up Mojang’s wonderful sandbox. Not only does it come with zombies, skeletons and eerie Endermen as standard: it’s just added a Halloween Costumes skin pack as a 79p in-app purchase to spook up your character.

If you’re new to the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, you may want to start with the first game and work your way through. The fourth and final game was released this year, and is arguably the best. All see you pitting your wits against horrific-looking animatronic toys – initially in the shop where they’re installed, but in this game, the action moves to your own house.

This is part game, part story and part fitness app, and it remains one of the most inventive ideas on the app stores. It’s an app to get you running in the real world, with the carrot (or stick) being a horde of zombies chasing after you – at least, according to your headphones. But there’s also a proper story here from novelist (and – disclosure – Guardian columnist) Naomi Alderman to keep you interested.

The Hunting Part 1 (Free)

Has mobile found its Blair Witch Project? The Hunting is one of the apps hoping to fulfil that role: “the world’s first interactive zombie movie app” as the blurb puts it. It’s a film shot from a first-person view, which sees you deciding what to do in order to survive. There are plenty of frights, and while this first part is short, it’s a free taster for the second and third episodes.

Toca Boo (Free - £2.68)

Here’s an app for anyone who’s ever run around their house with a sheet over their head giving it their best “woooooo” – i.e. everyone. This children’s app from developer Toca Boca gets kids to control Bonnie, a little girl who dresses up as a ghost and floats around her house stalking family members then jumping out at them from behind the furniture. It’s great fun.

With The Walking Dead back on TV screens for a new series, this brand new tie-in game is providing fans with a new way to put themselves into the story. It’s an absorbing roleplaying game (RPG) with a mixture of turn-based battles and careful team management. Weekly challenges promise to keep you playing beyond the current TV season too.

Deathless: The City’s Thirst (£2.33 - £2.49)

There’s some fascinating stuff happening around the interactive fiction genre – see this recent roundup of book-apps for examples – with publisher Choice of Games one of the leading lights. This is a suitably-spooky sample of its work: a 150k-word novel by award-winning author Max Gladstone with all manner of undead, necromantic goings on. Your choices drive the story, but this is something you’ll enjoy reading as much as playing.

Skullduggery! (£2.29)

Finally, the best action game featuring “semi-organic autonomous skulls” that money can buy on the app stores. Admittedly, it’s the only one. But this is a well-crafted game blending action and puzzles, as you ping your skull through a series of platform levels by stretching its brain out and then letting it go. It works beautifully on the touchscreen, and while it’s not specifically a children’s game, my two sons (aged six and eight) enjoyed it as much as I did.

Audio Defence: Zombie Arena (£1.49)

Somethin’ Else is the company responsible for the Papa Sangre audio-only games, which were critically acclaimed on iOS in their day. Audio Defence used the same technology, with you playing a blind warrior caught in the midst of “Dr Bastard’s zombies” – fighting them off by moving, swiping and tilting. “It’s oculus thrift!” claims the developer, but this is anything but cheap.

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Toys R Us at 30: Three decades of top toys

Britain’s biggest toy megastores is celebrating its 30th anniversary – after selling a staggering 3 billion toys to 360 million customers over the last three decades. For thirty something’s it will seem like only yesterday when they set foot in a Toys R US store for the first time becoming Britain’s first Toys R Us kids. 
The toy giant opened their first five stores in the UK in 1985, when Transformers (Robots in Disguise) ruled the universe and a slow and unwieldy Amstrad Home Computer System was considered the ultimate state-of-the-art computer game. Now the 92 store chain has set up a ‘Toy Timeline’ to show how kids choice of toys has come full circle with Turtles, Thunderbirds and Barbie along with long term popular classics like Star Wars and LEGO appearing yet again in top toy predictions for Christmas 2015.
Toys R Us was founded over 70 years ago in the USA and now operates in 33 Countries but Toys R Us in Britain was the first company owned venture outside North America. Company spokesman Mike Coogan said: “When we opened people just knew us for Toys – we are now so much more. Our product range has broadened massively over the years. As well as toys, we offer baby care products, bikes, video games and so much more”. 


 

 

 

 

 

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Xbox 360 gets big update with 2GB cloud storage and other new features

 

© Provided by The Verge

These days most of Microsoft's gaming focus is on the Xbox One, but today the company proved that it hasn't forgotten about that console's predecessor. The Xbox 360 has received a pretty big update that adds a host of new features, led by a bump to 2GB of cloud storage for your game saves. Previously the 360 offered 512MB of cloud space, but now gamers are getting a lot more room for those occasions when they switch between consoles or visit a friend. The added storage is particularly useful since Microsoft is preparing to add backwards compatibility to its Xbox One. You can pull down your saved game progress when playing older titles on Microsoft's newer console, as noted by Major Nelson.

Second, the Xbox 360 can now successfully connect to the internet at hotels and other public locations where users must agree to terms of service (through a web portal) before they're granted access. Xbox Live will first test for a usable connection and then instruct you to open Internet Explorer, which you'll use to agree to the fine print and get online.

Other new features have been in testing with Microsoft's Preview Program members for some time; these include an Activity Feed that lets you view the activity of your Xbox One friends and like or comment on their screenshots, game clips, and other content. (Xbox 360 also now displays activity of Windows 10 users on your friends list.) Finally, the new update adds Groove Music and Microsoft Movies & TV apps to the console.

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