Odd.
This is gaming news for the week of September 8, 2014.
Don't make another E.T.
SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute is funding its very own game jam in Mountain View from October 17-19. Termed " SETI-JAM," the event will take advantage of SETI research to create games themed around the Drake Equation, used to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the universe.
"By giving game developers direct access to our scientists and research we hope to kick-start a new effort using games to bring real science to the public. We can't wait to see what the devs can come up with!" said Karen Randall, Director of Special Projects at The SETI Institute.
PS4 still outselling Xbox One
At this point I chart my life and the passage of time by how long the PlayStation 4 has outsold the Xbox One: eight months. Eight months in a row. And that's despite an Xbox One price drop, the dissolution of all always-online plans, and the exorcism of the Kinect hardware.
Maybe Forza Horizon 2, Sunset Overdrive, and Halo 2 Anniversary will reverse those fortunes this fall
Watch Dogs on Wii U
"No, we definitely care about Nintendo. We promise! We're going to release Watch Dogs on the Wii U six months after it came out everywhere else!"
So yeah, Ubisoft is putting Watch Dogs out on the Wii U in November for whatever reason.
iPhone 6 = Next-gen
EA exec Frank Gibeau says the recently announced iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are "on par with next generation consoles" according to GamesIndustry.biz . I think Gibeau meant that to sound like "Wow, those iPhone 6 models sure are powerful!" but to me it just sounds like, "Wow, those next-gen consoles sure are running outdated, underpowered hardware compared to gaming PCs!"
Light at the end of the tunnel
The release date for Techland's spiritual successor to Dead Island, the zombie parkour game Dying Light, has been...pushed up That never happens!
Indeed, the game will now release January 27 a.k.a. the same day that Grand Theft Auto V releases on PC. Maybe February 2015 would've been a safer bet after all.
It was his Destiny
Paul McCartney wrote the end credits theme for Destiny. People don't seem to like it. Maybe you'll like it You probably won't like it.
Unfortunately I don't hear any references to "moon wizards" in this theme.
More reading
I spoke with Atari recently and found out the company is rebooting the arcade game Asteroids as a survival game. Dreadnought is like World of Tanks meets Battlestar Galactica. Microsoft may buy Minecraft developer Mojang, and may also stream Xbox One games to your PC. John Carmack talked with us about virtual reality and plans for the future.
Also we have an extensive round-up of some of this year's best gaming mice.
And Grand Theft Auto V is now delayed until January on the PC, which is funny since just last week they said it wasn't ...