PC gamers can now play PlayStation games by streaming them with PlayStation Now.

Last week Sony unveiled its plans to bring PlayStation titles to PC with Playstation Now streaming. Sony made good on its promise sooner than expected by launching the new platform on PC last Tuesday, Aug. 30.

To celebrate the launch, Sony has added six new games to the PlayStation catalog, including the previously PlayStation-exclusive titles Heavy Rain and Ni No Kuni. Also announced: the company will bring Castlevania: Harmony of Despair to PlayStation Now come this October.

Sony also offers the PlayStation Now annual pass for $100 for a limited time, which is roughly 55 percent less than the regular monthly rate.

Blizzard unveils its new streaming feature for their Battle.net client.

Blizzard games have a large audience in the online streaming community. It’s no surprise that the company is dipping its toes into the streaming market with its own built-in streaming system for its Battle.net game client.

Using the new system is as easy as opening the Battle.net client, opening your game of choice and then clicking on the stream icon to bring up a menu to start. The feature currently only supports streaming via Facebook, meaning a user will have to log in with a Facebook account.

Though far easier to set up than more traditional streaming applications like Open Broadcast or Gameshow, Blizzard Streaming still relies heavily on your computer’s performance.

So unless you have an above-average gaming computer, expect Blizzard’s higher-end games to look a little blurry and lag quite a bit on stream.

Free Overwatch for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 gamers next weekend.

From Sept. 9-12 console players can download and play Blizzard’s popular FPS Overwatch for free. The free weekend will include every aspect of the game, with the full roster of 22 playable heroes, 13 different maps and full access to loot boxes and a customization gallery. Any in-game progress will carry over if players choose to purchase the full game.

Xbox One players will need an active Xbox Gold subscription to play, but PlayStation 4 players will not need a PlayStation Plus subscription for the duration of the free weekend. Also keep in mind that the game does not feature any form of cross-platform play.

You can check out the Emerald’s double-take review of the launch version of Overwatch here.

Red Wagon Creamery will open a new location on campus next Tuesday, Sept. 6, on the bottom floor of the EMU.

Red Wagon started as a pushcart that sold ice cream in Kesey Square back in 2011, but now operates out of a scoop shop in downtown Eugene and runs Oregon’s smallest dairy processing plant. The creamery focuses on creating ice cream using seasonal ingredients sourced from the Willamette Valley, as opposed to processed ingredients.

The EMU invited the local company to open an ice cream store on campus after it was favored highly by polled students.

Red Wagon’s location in the EMU will carry the two flavors that were most requested by University of Oregon students: Saturday Morning, a cereal-and-milk-flavored ice cream, and Tracktown Brekkie a honey-flavored frozen yogurt with housemade granola.

The new location will also be participating in the upcoming Flock Party on September 23, during which it’ll trade free buttons and stickers in exchange for an Instagram follow.

Playstation Now streaming service to expand to PC soon.

Sony has announced that its premium cloud gaming service  PlayStation Now will soon be expanded to the PC platform. This will allow PC gamers running Windows 7 or higher access to a catalog of more than 400 PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 games that they can stream directly to their PCs for play. This includes many titles that are otherwise exclusive to Sony consoles, such as The Last of Us and Journey.

For those unfamiliar with the logistics of cloud gaming, the PlayStation Now servers run most of the game and stream it to one’s console through an internet connection, thus saving hard drive space and eliminating the need for a disk. This also means that one could play higher-end games on devices with lower specifications than normally required.

To further promote their foray into the PC gaming market, Sony will be releasing an official Bluetooth adapter for the Dual Shock 4 Wireless Controllers, which will allow players to use PlayStation controllers via the PC without hassle. The adapter is currently priced at $24.99.

A PlayStation Now subscription is $20 a month with a seven-day free trial. You can download the PC client and find the full system requirements on the PlayStation website.

No Man’s Sky’s player base plummets by roughly 85 percent less than two weeks after release.

No Man’s Sky received a harsh reception from the gaming community when it launched two weeks ago. It was absolutely grilled online for boring gameplay, game-breaking bugs, obviously reused game tropes and a lack of delivery on the features advertised. There have also been accusations about whether alleged gameplay demos released, which were released during its development, showed real gameplay or simply pre-rendered footage meant to deceive players.

It’s no surprise that throughout the controversy, the game’s player-base has taken a nosedive. According to the gaming data website SteamSpy, the game has fallen from its peak of roughly 126,000 hourly players on August 14 to only 19,000 hourly players as of August 24.

No Man’s Sky came out on August 4. Read the Emerald’s review here.

Many players have taken advantage of the Steam refund system to get their money back after being disappointed with the game, however, console gamers are facing some difficulties while trying to go through the same process. According to Eurogamer, Sony is refusing to refund the game unless the circumstances fit in with the refund policy, which allows gamers to refund game within 14 days of purchase, provided they have not downloaded or streamed the game in the meantime.

You can check out a detailed list of the game’s missing features by Reddit user Cymen90 here.

Buggy launch and intrusive microtransactions in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has fans upset.

Many fans of the classic Deus Ex franchise are upset over the release of the latest title in the long-running series Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Much like its predecessor, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the game has launched with many game-breaking bugs that are causing everything from game crashes to areas with missing assets.

This has many players worried as it took more than a year of update patches and a director’s cut re-release to finally make it so Human Revolution was mostly bug-free. The overarching sentiment is that the bugs and a lack of communication from the development team are once again ruining an otherwise exceptional game, as Human Revolution now has a Very Positive rating on Steam, as well as a 91/100 rating on Metacritic despite its own poor launch.

To add insult to injury, the game also includes what many players consider unreasonable microtransactions. Players can purchase large amounts of in-game currency and upgrade points to improve their character with real money. Many players see this ability to directly “buy power” as a slap in the face that tarnishes the reputation of Deus Ex as a hardcore and difficult game franchise.

Unless you’re a diehard fan, you may want to hold off on this title for the time being.

New Overwatch short for the robotic hero Bastion.

Yet another of Blizzard’s beautifully animated Overwatch shorts has debuted this week, this time starring everyone’s favorite unstoppable killing machine: Bastion. After he awakens from a long deactivated slumber, he advances towards his last known target but gets sidetracked along the way by the wonders of nature and his infamous green bird friend, Ganymede.

Besides the beautiful scenery and a heart-melting story, the short also drops a few tidbits of the game’s drip fed lore. For the first time, we get to see the scale of a battle during the Omnic Crisis and get a brief glimpse of Eichenwalde, the game’s first new map, which features an abandoned German castle-town.

The release of the short also coincides with the end of Overwatch’s first competitive season. Season Two is expected to release next month, but may be delayed as Blizzard wishes to address many concerns fans have regarding competitive matchmaking and ranking. They specifically wish to address how having a teammate leave during a match leaves players at a major disadvantage and are considering changing one’s ranking from being based on games won to being based on in-game performance instead.

Facebook teams up with Unity to make a Steam-like gaming platform.

Facebook is no stranger to the gaming market with popular games like Farmville, Words With Friends and a slew of other browser-based games you could enjoy on a lunch break easily accessible through Facebook’s website. On August 18, Facebook announced it would be teaming up with Unity, a company that provides game engine technology and assets to game developers, to create a new Steam-esque games distribution platform for PC to cater to its 650-million users who regularly play games via their Facebook profile.

Few details about the platform have been revealed so far, but Facebook has claimed its goal will be to streamline the publishing process and allow game developers to publish and profit from their games with ease. Currently, only a select group of developers have been invited to participate in the alpha stages of the platform, but Facebook has made applications available for anyone who wants to get involved later down the line in the development process.

Facebook also states that they distributed more than $2.5 billion to its game developer partners in 2015 alone, which shows just how profitable a move like this might be for the social media giant.

Twitch.tv acquires popular game addon provider Curse.net.

The popular video game streaming site Twitch.tv has recently acquired Curse Incorporated, a company devoted to enhancing PC gaming by providing PC gaming services like secure voice chat servers and an add-on download manager for popular games like League of Legends or World of Warcraft.

Twitch.tv blog writer Evan Freitas wrote that Twitch has admired the services Curse has provided for years and is looking forward to the things the two companies will be able to achieve together. Moving forward, the two companies hope to provide a wide variety of services to gamers and to improve the PC gaming experience overall.

System Shock 2 is getting a remake.

Nightdrive Studios started a Kickstarter earlier this month to remake the classic PC game System Shock 2, which concluded on July 28. System Shock is the granddaddy of all RPG shooters and serves as the inspiration for many classics like the Bioshock and Deus Ex series. The studio itself is based in Portland and was founded in 2012 to bring classic games that would otherwise be unavailable to modern platforms.

The Kickstarter succeeded in raising roughly $1.3 million for the game. Due to an overwhelming amount of requests, the game will be coming to PS4 in addition to PC, MAC, Linux and Xbox One.

The game is planned to release in December 2017 with the PS4 version planned for spring 2018. If you’re looking to get a taste of the game before that, you can download the free demo from Steam, GoG or the Humble Store right now or even pick up the original for $10.

New Professor Layton game features a new female protagonist, Lady Layton.

Fans of the popular Professor Layton puzzle game series may have been dismayed to learn that the 2013 title Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy would be the series’ final game to feature the titular character. Instead, the mantle of the puzzle-solving professor has been taken up by his daughter in the series latest installment, Lady Layton and the Millionaire Ariadone’s Conspiracy.

The game’s story is set to follow Katrielle Layton as she searches for her missing father and solves an assortment of mysteries and puzzles along the way. The game will have similar gameplay to previous titles and so far seems to feature a mostly original cast of characters.

The reception of the new female main character has been positive so far, though some fans have shown concern about the apparent lack of returning characters and the apparent tonal shift the series will be taking. The game is set to release for Nintendo 3DS, IOS and Android sometime next year.

Pokémon Go accessory delayed until September, but the game has big plans for the future.

The Pokémon Go train is still chugging along, but the game’s Bluetooth accessory Pokémon Go Plus has been delayed until September. The accessory was originally planned for an end of July release for roughly $35. With the game itself being unstable and a huge increase in demand, the release has now been pushed back to the end of September.

The Pokémon Go Plus is a Bluetooth device that connects to one’s phone and lights up and vibrates when passing a PokéStop or when a wandering Pokémon crosses your pass. It allows players to instantly catch Pokémon they’ve caught before and visit Poke Stops with the press of a button instead of having to pull out their phone.

Additionally, based on the video game website Polygon’s coverage of Comic Con 2016, the game’s developers estimate they’ve only released roughly 10 percent of the game’s planned content.

This means there’s a lot to look forward to for the game’s future. Future plans include adding more Pokémon, player-created in-game locations, trading between players and improvements to the game’s competition.

Nintendo stock has almost doubled thanks to Pokémon Go.

Nintendo’s stock price has almost doubled since the release Pokémon Go earlier this month and the game has become the company’s greatest killer app since the release of Wii Sports back in 2008. This marks Nintendo’s highest stock price since 2010 and the company has even broken several records in the Tokyo stock market from their recent gains. The game itself hasn’t even debuted in Japan, the franchise’s home country, and it has quickly become the most popular and highest grossing mobile game ever.

While it might be too late to dump your life savings into Nintendo stock, this will likely set the tone for how Nintendo moves forward, especially when it comes how they treat the mobile platform. The game itself has been a complete social phenomenon despite its launch being plagued with technical issues and constant server crashes due to too many people trying to play at once. Regardless, the game has gained a huge following and Nintendo has even started negotiating deals with companies like McDonald’s to capitalize on the game’s popularity.

Legendary Entertainment to make new live action Pokémon movie about detective Pikachu.

To add to the recent Pokémon Go hype, Legendary Entertainment, producers of the recent Warcraft movie and the upcoming Dead Rising film, have secured the rights for a new live action Pokémon movie, featuring the Great Detective Pikachu from the Japan-only 3DS title of the same name.

This will be the franchise’s first live action movie and likely the first Pokémon film set to release in US theaters in over a decade. There have been many Pokémon films created over the years, but most have only been available through home video or television debuts in the US because of the franchise’s historically poor reception at the US box office. With Legendary at the helm and the massive resurgence in popularity, we might just see the popular franchise get one more shot at the big screen.

If the stars align, maybe the internet can get Danny DeVito to voice Pikachu.

Valve bans CS:GO item gambling after rampant abuse and illegal dealings by famous players.

Valve has finally taken a stance on the emerging Counter Strike: Global Offensive gambling market after years of neutrality on the topic. After numerous scandals involving popular YouTubers and CS:GO players endorsing pseudo-gambling websites that they themselves own, Valve has seen fit to ban all forms of gambling regarding virtual items on their popular gaming platform Steam.

If you aren’t aware of the situation, many of Valve’s games have randomly obtained in-game cosmetic items that have a corresponding real world value based on their rarity in-game. These can be traded on Valve’s Steam Marketplace with funds added to one’s steam wallet. Many of these items are worth significant amounts of money, with some selling for as much as $15,000. Over the years, certain websites began offering gambling services where you could bet these items during tournament matches or even sell the item to the site, essentially allowing people to “cash-out” of the Steam trading system.

The problem with this system is that it is basically online gambling, which is heavily regulated in the US and easily accessible to minors who are legally not allowed to gamble. This led to an investigation by the FCC similar to the sports draft website investigations earlier this year.

Whether it was to protect their underage customers or simply to protect themselves, Valve has finally decided to step in and will be reevaluating their terms of service to squash any future shady dealings.

Bars and pubs often serve as go-to destinations for weary college students and faculty looking to socialize or relax after a long day of class and schoolwork. Since there hasn’t been such a destination on campus since basement coffeehouse The Buzz closed last spring, a new Falling Sky Brewery location aims to fill the vacancy.

When plans for the EMU renovation were made, its planning document proposed a new pub destination to “facilitate social gatherings” at the EMU and make it a central hub of activity on campus. After polling students and staff as to which local establishment they would most like to see at the EMU and reviewing proposals from several local breweries, Falling Sky Brewery was selected to open a new location, a pizzeria and pub, on campus.

The new pub was designed by several current and former UO professors, who also designed Falling Sky’s other two locations. Art professor Sylvan Lionni and sculpture professor Amanda Wojick served as aesthetic consultants in designing the pub’s colorful transparent entryway, as well as much of the interior aesthetic and color. Former UO architecture professors Glenn Wilcox and Anca Trandafirescu, both of whom now teach at the University of Michigan, helped design the pub’s unique light fixtures and its furniture, which was built by local craftsmen.

The biggest challenge the design team faced was how different the new space was compared to their previous two locations, which featured an open area and an abundance of natural light, as opposed to the current spot on the bottom floor of the EMU. To offset the pub’s confined location, the team used brightly colored panes of glass to go for a colorful and transparent aesthetic in an attempt to retain a warm and welcoming environment for patrons.

According to EMU Director, Laurie Woodward, the decision to include a pub in the building renovation was a response to students’ requests. One of the goals in mind for the restaurant is to keep students on campus and to provide a safe environment for them to drink and socialize. So far, the pub has received a positive reception from both students and faculty.

“Falling Sky is a place where students might have a beer or two with friends, folks will model responsible consumption, and the emphasis will be on food, entertainment and socialization,” said Woodward. “Everyone has been positive about the idea of a pub on campus, and I have every reason to believe that it will enhance our campus community.”

Falling Sky co-owner Rob Cohen decided that opening a place where students and faculty could get craft beers and pizza on campus would be a great opportunity and would complement Falling Sky’s other two spots in Eugene: a brewhouse in the Whiteaker district and a deli on Willamette Street. These locations specialize in craft beer and a variety of pub-friendly foods, such as pastrami and bread, respectively.

“They wanted someone who was beer-and-food focused, and we fit that niche pretty well.” said Cohen. “It means a lot in a university community to have this kind of meeting place where people can have good quality food, a beer or a soda and have a place to meet that isn’t just a university dining hall.”

The pub is currently open from 11 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. during the summer term and will expand its hours in the fall. Its opening is among a sequence of new eateries popping up in the new EMU expansion, with further plans to open up shops from local Eugene businesses Red Wagon Creamery and Townshend’s Teahouse.

Mathew Brock:

Whether you’re tossing folks around as a jetpacking gorilla, shifting through the shadows as a shotgun-toting vampire or projecting weaponized tranquility as a robotic zen master, Overwatch fulfills the fantasy of being a zany superhero better than any other game to date. Yes, that includes all actual superhero games.

Overwatch is a hybrid team-based first-person shooter that features a roster of 21 unique heroes with their own personal sets of weapons and abilities. Both the characters and their abilities seem more at home in a multiplayer online battle arena than an first-person shooter, but the combination creates an almost unique new experience. Knowing which characters work well together and which counter one another is a vital part of the Overwatch experience.

It’s been a very long time since a game has captured my interest, both thematically and competitively, as much as Overwatch has. I’m usually not one to ride the hype train, but with Overwatch, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the ride ever since the first cinematic trailer debuted at Blizzcon 2014.

The game world is enthralling. Chances are you’ll immediately question why Saint Basil’s Cathedral is being guarded by an army of giant robots or why you’re hauling some strange device from a trashed military convoy down Route 66. The characters are as diverse as they are interesting, from a bulky female bodybuilder to a pro gamer that pilots a mech suit.

Much of the game’s story is presented outside of the game through a variety of comics and Pixar-esque short animations. They serve to flesh out the already fascinating world of Overwatch and slowly reveal more about the heroes and their stories.

I do have to say I am disappointed that Overwatch did not launch with a competitive game mode. However, I am confident that when the feature finally makes it into the game, it will have enough polish to be worth the wait. My only other criticism is that the game’s cosmetic-based progression system feels a bit like a treadmill. But in the end, it makes getting all those rare skins or emotes all the sweeter.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot more Overwatch to play.

_____

Chris Berg:

Blizzard isn’t a studio that tends to tread new ground or invent new genres. Rather, it has a reputation for perfecting them. Overwatch is their first new intellectual property since 1998 and brings the iconic strategy and RPG developer into the realm of multiplayer shooters. While plenty of games out there may look similar to Overwatch, it’s hard to imagine any of them topping this sublimely constructed package.

At the core, Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer FPS with class-based mechanics, similar to Team Fortress 2. Players currently have 21 characters to choose from, each with unique skills. Teamwork is essential to success in Overwatch, with emphasis on selecting a well-balanced crew. Regardless of how you like playing shooters, there’s somebody in Overwatch for you to master.

Action is fast but strategically involving. The basic rotation of game modes will be instantly familiar to any aficionado of multiplayer shooters. But it’s in the characters that Overwatch’s hidden depth is uncovered. Every hero is designed with strengths and weaknesses that can be exploited against other players. Having trouble with the turret-based antics of the moss-covered robot Bastion? Unleash the sword-wielding Hanzo or Genji. Tired of being sniped by Widowmaker? Transition to the acrobatic ape Winston and lay down the pain. There’s a wise balance in everything to Overwatch.

Part of Overwatch’s charm is that regardless of how you play, there’s a sense of contribution to the objective. Points for completing objectives, making kills, healing, or contributing to a kill are all scored on the same system. So even if you’re not the greatest at landing incredible headshots or frantic map control, you may still be honored with the ‘Play of the Game’ – which stylishly presents the highest-scoring moment of play to the whole server. Every moment of Overwatch has been polished to a mirror shine, making up for the lack of overall content.

At $60 ($40 on PC), Overwatch commands a high price for a multiplayer shooter. There’s no single-player mode to be seen, and the total package feels a bit light. Yet Blizzard has promised that all future content for the game will be free of charge. This is an exciting proposition, and it’s easy to see Overwatch growing and expanding over the next few years into one of this generation’s most memorable experiences.

Information about Microsoft’s new console leaks

The internet has been abuzz with the news that a new Xbox One variant, currently known as the Xbox One Slim, will be coming sometime within the next year or two. Few details have been released so far except that it’s more compact and roughly four times more powerful than the current iteration of the console.

Many speculate that the Xbox One Slim will make its debut at the 2016 E3 conference alongside another iteration of Microsoft’s $150 gaming controller, the Xbox One Elite, and be released sometime later in the year or early next. It’s anyone’s guess at this point, but this is likely an attempt by Microsoft to compete with Nintendo’s new console, currently codenamed the Nintendo NX, and Sony’s rumored new console iteration, rumored to be called the Playstation 4 “Neo.”

The Pac-12 announces plans to embrace eSports in the near future

To the shock of some and joy of others, the Pac-12, the collegiate athletic conference of the West Coast, has announced it will be moving into the world of competitive gaming.

After reviewing the growing interest of the competitive gaming world, the presidents and chancellors of the Pac-12 have decided that eSports would be a perfect fit for many of the more technology- and media-based universities in their conference. They’ve yet to announce what games they intend to host in their prospective tournaments, but they have stated they will be hosting head-to-head studio matches, organized tournaments, and even championship events.

The Pac-12’s interest in eSports stems from the growing culture and passionate fan base of the relatively young competitive scene. They also see it as an opportunity to get involved in more of the artistic and tech-based departments in the conference’s universities.

We can expect the new program to start sometime later this year and hopefully more information will be released before then.

HP has unveiled a new line of gaming hardware called OMEN.

The Hewlett-Packard company isn’t exactly the go-to computer vendor for new gaming hardware, but with the release of their new OMEN line of gaming-focused products, they might be making their way into a market they’ve been known to ignore.

HP tends to be the brunt of jokes when it comes to PC gaming. While they are known for providing affordable personal computers, their products have never been geared towards gaming. They plan to change that with a new line of gaming-specific laptop and desktop computers, each with a different price and level of performance.

Nintendo reveals Pokemon: Sun and Moon’s new starters and legendaries

One thing fans always look forward to with the announcement of each new Pokemon game is the debut of the newest trio of starter Pokemon. This time around, we’ve been treated to an owl Grass-type called Rowlet, a catlike Fire-type called Litten, and a circus seal Water-type called Popplio. The unnamed Legendary Pokemon for this generation are a white lion for Pokemon: Sun and a large bat for Pokemon: Moon. While some of the reveals are getting more attention than others, reception has mostly been positive.

Alongside new additions to the ever growing PokeDex, the new setting features the Pokemon world’s equivalent of the Hawaiian islands, the tropical Alola region. With palm-filled beaches, tiki statues, and new resort-like architecture, the series continues to diversify the Pokemon world.

Few additional details have been revealed about the games.

Blizzard completely revamps Heroes of the Storm’s ranked play system.

Blizzard’s popular Heroes of the Storm will receive a large update on June 14. The game has long received criticism that its matchmaking and ranking system has been difficult to progress in, as well as for not starting a competitive season since its launch last year.

The new revamp will replace the current ladder system with a league progression system similar to Blizzard’s other popular multiplayer game, Starcraft 2. Players will progress through different ranked tiers, starting at Bronze and ending in Diamond. High-level players will be granted a master rank that will display their ranked mode points and their placement in the regional rankings.

The game will have rewards for each season and feature separate rewards for solo and team ranked play. This includes mounts, skin variations and portrait icons.

Paradox trademarks “Vampire Bloodlines” after acquiring RPG book publisher White Wolf Publishing.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines was a cult-classic video game adaptation of the popular pen-and-paper RPG World of Darkness by White Wolf Publishing. Over the years, several studios tried to create another game set in the World of Darkness universe, but none advanced to the final stages of development.

The game is so beloved by its fan base that gameplay mods and total conversions of the game are still being created to this day.

Paradox Interactive has now trademarked the name “Vampire Bloodlines,” leading many hopeful fans to cross their fingers for a long-awaited sequel. The company has made no statement as of yet.

Paradox Interactive, the studio behind the mind-bogglingly in-depth Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis series, purchased White Wolf and all the rights from Crowd Control Productions, the developers of the popular space MMO EVE Online. This included all the materials related to CCPs failed attempt to create a World of Darkness MMO.