A big day for The Division The debut of Tom Clancy’s The Division yesterday was a record-breaking launch for publisher Ubisoft, with the game selling impressively across retail stores and digital marketplaces, the company announced today.
Ubisoft did not provide any sales numbers except to refer in a press release to “millions of players’ enduring engagement in The Division’s game world," which suggests that the publisher sold more than 1 million copies of the game on its first day of release.

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Whatever the sales figures are, Ubisoft said it sold more copies of The Division within the game’s first 24 hours of release "than any previous title in the company’s history." That means it performed better on launch day than Ubisoft’s previous record-holder, 2014’s Watch Dogs, which ended up with more than 4 million copies sold during its first week of availability.
Ubisoft added that with The Division, Watch Dogs and 2007’s Assassin’s Creed, the publisher now has three of the top four launches of new brands in the history of the game industry. (The fourth — and the one that sits in the top spot on the list — is Activision’s Destiny, which debuted in September 2014.)
The Division also set records for the highest single-day sales of full-game downloads for Ubisoft across all three platforms on which it is available: PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One, according to Ubisoft.

The premium Outer Rim DLC is also due sometime this month Star Wars Battlefront has already rolled out its March update, barely two weeks after the last one. This free update, for PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One, also adds a new map and a new survival mission.
The new map is “Survivors of Endor," and it will host the Walker Assault, Supremacy and Turning Point game types. Players describe it as having a wider expanse in its middle, dotted with high vantage points and secret passages and other areas. Aerial views show a lot of post-battle damage and smoldering foliage.
The new survival mission, a solo or local co-operative play type, has been added to the existing Rebel Depot on Tatooine.
These are the only changes according to the official patch notes; no changes to balance weapons or vehicles were made this time.
Past updates have come at the end of the month; this one may be arriving early to make way for the Outer Rim expansion, the first of four premium DLC packages for those who bought Battlefront’s season pass. Outer Rim has been promised for March but has not been given a specific launch date.

There’s a bit of unpacking to do here The Oculus Rift will offer no support for any flavor of Apple computer when it launches, which is a situation that has frustrated and perplexed some would-be customers and even developers who create games on the Mac platform. You’ve likely seen the stories about how Oculus founder Palmer Luckey has “slammed" Apple or "attacked" the company by saying it doesn’t make good computers.
But that’s not really what’s going on here, and I doubt anyone in the tech industry thinks that Apple makes a poor computer … when taken holistically. What Luckey is saying, in his very blunt way, is that Apple’s design decisions and Oculus’ needs aren’t compatible.
So what was said?
Oculus founder CEO was asked about Mac support by Shacknews a few days ago, and his answer was honest, if a bit brutal.
"That is up to Apple, and if they ever release a good computer we will do it," he stated.
Luckey may or may be saying Apple makes a bad computer, he’s speaking in reference to his own product. Luckey was pointing out the fact that, at the very basic level, Apple doesn’t even sell a system that can meet the system requirements of the Oculus Rift as they exist today. How do you support something that doesn’t meet the basic needs of your product?
"It just boils down to the fact that Apple doesn’t prioritize high-end GPUs," Luckey continued. "You can buy a $6,000 Mac Pro with the top of the line AMD Fire-Pro D700 and it still doesn’t match our recommended spec."
Which is a problem: Oculus could spend the time and money on writing strong software support for the Mac, but why do so when the hardware can’t run the frickin’ games?
"We’d love to support Mac, but right now there’s just not a single machine out there that supports it," Luckey stated. "Even if we can support on the software side, there’s just no audience of people that can run the vast majority of software out there."
Your Apple is fine, just not for the Rift
This stance isn’t new, and Luckey has been upfront about his frustration with Apple’s GPU situation for a while. This Tweet is from December of 2015:

@janoc200 Linux support is on the roadmap post-launch, Mac support is on the roadmap post-decent Apple hardware release, whenever that is.
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) December 8, 2015

But we have to remember that what Luckey saying is that Apple doesn’t make good hardware for the Rift. There’s no reason a virtual reality headset couldn’t run on the Mac systems that exist today. Pick up your phone and look at it. It’s powerful enough to support VR. That PlayStation 4 hooked up to your TV? Even though it’s a slightly aging console, it can support VR.
Virtual reality is doable on damned near every existing computing platform you can imagine but — and here is the catch — developers have to be willing to create games for that hardware and accept its limitations. You have to raise or lower your aim and amount of optimization to match each platform.
Oculus has decided that there is a minimal level of power necessary to create and support the games that will show off the Rift, and right now Apple doesn’t sell hardware that matches those specs. That doesn’t mean that Apple products don’t work for VR, because VR isn’t a single platform or set of specs. It means that Apple doesn’t match up with the platform Oculus wants to sell.
Virtual reality is doable on damned near every existing computing platform you can imagine
And that’s likely to change; Oculus has said on numerous occasions that the recommended specs aren’t going to be adjusted for a number of years. "The recommended spec will stay constant over the lifetime of the Rift," an official blog post stated. "As the equivalent-performance hardware becomes less expensive, more users will have systems capable of the full Rift experience. Developers, in turn, can rely on Rift users having these modern machines, allowing them to optimize their game for a known target, simplifying development."
So the price of hardware will go down, but the spec won’t be raised. This could allow Apple to catch up, but overall it means that the gaming PC needed to run the Oculus Rift will fall in price, and developers will be able to maintain a consistent development platform for the medium- to long-term.
The Rift wants to treat your PC like a console, and to be let into the party you need to be able to hit the minimum power requirements. With no currently-existing hardware that can do so, software development for Apple laptops and desktops makes little sense.
Your phone can likely provide a passable VR experience, so it’s silly to think that a high-end Mac Pro would be unable to do the same. But it’s not worth the time and effort it would take to continue developing for Apple hardware when the hardware won’t be able to support the sort of games Oculus has decided are the visual minimum for its platform. There is nothing stopping other companies, or Apple itself, from making VR hardware that works with the company’s laptops and desktop systems, however. It just has to lower the minimum acceptable specs so companies can optimize their games and experiences.
This isn’t a matter of a wunderkind "slamming" or "annihilating" another company, it’s about creating a floor for VR development on the Rift. Oculus had to draw a virtual line in the sand in the course of simplifying VR development, and all existing Apple systems found themselves on the wrong side.

CBS CEO made the announcement today After its first season was met with critical acclaim and high ratings, Supergirl is on track to be renewed, according to Deadline.
Les Moonves, CEO of CBS, told investors during a call today that he and the network had plans to renew all five original series the network ordered this year.
Of the five shows — Limitless, Code Black, Life in Pieces, Angel from Hell and Supergirl — four are owned by the network. Supergirl is not.
The series, which Polygon has been covering week after week, debuted to an audience of more than 12 million people, but since then has dropped off substantially. The latest episode drew in just over 6 million live viewers, although even those numbers are pretty high for a network show in this day and age.
Supergirl stars Melissa Benoist as the titular character and airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Discounts and release dates on Alienation, Salt & Sanctuary and more PS4 games Sony’s annual Spring Fever PlayStation Store promotion is being renamed for 2016. This year, it will be known as Launch Party, and will see promotional discounts on six games coming to the PlayStation Store during March and April.
The six games being highlighted during the PlayStation Store Launch Party include Resogun developer Housemarque’s Alienation, Double Fine’s Day of the Tentacle Remastered and Ska Studios’ 2D Dark Souls-like Salt and Sanctuary. As part of the Launch Party promotion, Sony will offer a 10 percent discount on pre-orders of the six PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita games.
Here are the release dates and prices of the six Launch Party titles.

Salt and Sanctuary – March 15 ($17.99)

Day of the Tentacle Remastered – March 22 ($14.99)

Enter The Gungeon – April 5 ($14.99)

Stories: The Path of Destinies – April 12 ($14.99)

Invisible Inc. – April 19 ($19.99)

Alienation – April 26 ($19.99)

Day of the Tentacle Remastered is a cross-buy title, and the only game in the promotion that will be released for both PS4 and Vita.
For a look at the Launch Party slate in action, check out the trailer above. Developer Housemarque also released a new gameplay trailer for Alienation, a sequel of sorts to the zombie-filled Dead Nation, which you can watch below.

Following the events of the most recent episode of The 100’s third season, a group of loyal fans have started a fundraising campaign to bring more attention and support to the LGBTQ community.
For those that haven’t seen the episode yet, there will be major spoilers from this point forward. Consider this your official warning.
In one of the most intense moments The 100 has ever seen, beloved character Lexa was killed off after taking a bullet meant for her on-screen partner, Clarke. Fans were outraged that one of their favorite — and openly gay — characters on the series, was killed off. Especially mere minutes after finally giving her the romantic closure with Clarke that the writers had teased all season.
Fans were also upset because Lexa’s death falls into the archaic trope of having one character in a gay or lesbian relationship killed off, never allowing for the same happy ending that a heterosexual couple would enjoy. The trope, sometimes known as “bury your gays," has been around in fiction for quite some time. The widespread saturation of the trope has created a media environment where gay couples who get to stay together without one or the other of them dying a horrible death are vanishingly rare. With the already slim representation for LGBTQ characters in mainstream media, the death of a prominent gay character is a bigger loss for folks who don’t have many other characters like them to turn to.
Now, a dedicated group of Lexa fans (who refer to themselves as Leskru) have started a campaign for The Trevor Project. The goal is to bring more attention to not only the LGBTQ community, but also the representation of queer characters on television.
"Since the airing of episode 3×07 of the CW’s The100, many LGBT forums and SM outlets have been permeated with outcry over the mishandling of a beloved fictional character (Lexa) who served as a beacon in the lives of many young LGBT and non-LGBT persons," a statement reads on the fundraising page. "It also serves to reinforce the positive aspects of the minority it has CHOSEN to depict with a chance to break barriers the LGBT community would not otherwise be given."
Fans of the show expressed outrage on Twitter, calling out the writers for killing off one of the only characters that represented the LGBTQ community. The episode’s writer, Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost), thanked fans — even those attacking him for the episode — for their opinions and said that he was listening to everything they had to say.
The Trevor Project, which was founded in 1998, provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention support for LGBTQ youth and teens.

But the ‘Luigi Death Stare’ reels will live on Nintendo will take its Mario Kart TV website offline next month, according to a note on the video service’s homepage. The site, which hosts race highlight clips uploaded by Mario Kart 8 players and more, will shut down on April 4 at 11 p.m. PT.
Mario Kart 8 fans will still be able to share and watch their favorite moments within the Wii U game itself. Edited footage uploaded to YouTube through Mario Kart TV will remain available on that platform as well, according to Nintendo. These include the “Luigi Death Stare" clips compiled by players that became popular early in the game’s lifespan, like the one below.

Mario Kart TV launched alongside Mario Kart 8 in May 2014. Available both online and as an application for smartphones, the service allows users to post edited clips from the game to Mario Kart TV itself as well as Miiverse and social media. Mario Kart players can also see time trial records on the game’s various courses, including their own rankings when logged into the platform.

27 total suggested decks will be offered through the new system If you’ve never played a card game before, or just aren’t very good at them, building your deck can be the most intimidating process in the world. For its popular, new-player-friendly digital card game Hearthstone, Blizzard has relied on a mechanic where the game can suggest or even auto-create decks for you, but…well, they’re usually not very good.
Now a better method is on the way.
As announced in a post on the official Hearthstone blog, the game will soon receive a new system called deck recipes. Within a player’s card collection manager, they’ll be able to choose from three different deck recipes for each of the game’s nine classes — 27 recipes in total. Blizzard says one of those three recipes will be “classic," consisting of cards found only in the Basic and Classic sets, while the other two will be themed and can feature cards from other sets as well.

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Blizzard provides three examples of deck recipes that will be available. The rogue’s empowered spells recipe is more commonly known to players as the Malygos rogue deck; it’s a collection of cards built on giving your rogue a huge boost to spellpower, allowing them to do a ton of burst damage in a single turn or two. The hunter’s deathtrap recipe will focus on using the classes powerful secret cards. And finally, the shaman murlocs unleashed recipe will be all about flooding the board with murloc minions.
Deck recipes will clearly show how many cards from the recipe you currently own. For cards you are missing, the game will suggest other cards in your collection that could serve as a replacement (as pictured above).
Blizzard also notes that all deck recipes will be in the controversial new standard format, which will be introduced to the game with the next expansion. As the cards allowed in that format change, deck recipes will be updated and rotated.
The blog post does not provide a timetable for the release of deck recipes. Blizzard is planning a "special Hearthstone announcement" this Friday, March 11, which many believe will include news on the game’s next expansion. We’ll be covering that news as it hits, so stay tuned. In the mean time, you can check out our best (and absolute worst) Hearthstone decks in the videos on our YouTube playlist.

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You can do so much in Job Simulator, one of the games being bundled with the HTC Vive virtual reality headset, and most of your actions make you look like a jerk. A robotic, future jerk.
But still, why just pick up a donut when you can throw it at someone? Why not explore the environment until you find the virtual Flappy Bird clone before annoying everyone else around you by throwing paper airplanes?
There is actually a dystopian reason why you’re “simulating" the worst part of human jobs while surrounded by machines, and the game’s official description explains what’s going on:

The year is 2050.
Robots cook, clean, service, and rule organize the world with precision and speed. Human occupations are now memories of the past; long gone are the blue collar jobs that ran the old world. Humans raised in our perfect automated society must not forget their useless ancient ancestors and history.
This is why JobBot was born. JobBot created Job Simulator to teach humans what it is ‘to job’. All praise to JobBot, for he is the keeper of human history.

The short demo here should give you an idea of all the ways in which the game’s physics work, and it’s fun to just cut loose and see all the interesting tidbits developer Owlchemy Labs hid in the game. Everything does something, and it’s rather neat to pick up the virtual phone and hold it to your ear and listen to the conversation with positional audio, or to take your time lining up the perfect coffee cup throw to slam into your coworker-bots.
Be adventurous in virtual reality, it pays off!

League of Legends studio welcomes some well-known fighting game talent Riot Games is no longer a one game studio. The company behind League of Legends announced today it has acquired Radiant Entertainment, the Bay Area studio behind free-to-play fighting game Rising Thunder and survival game Stonehearth.
Radiant founders Tom and Tony Cannon, who are also known for founding the Evo fighting game tournament and creating networking code software GGPO, said the studio “will continue their mission of building incredible games that speak to us personally as players" at Riot Games.
As for Radiant’s own games, Rising Thunder and Stonehearth, it sounds like their fates will be different.
Stonehearth, the Cannons say, will continue development "full speed ahead."
"We’ll continue delivering Alphas at our current pace, with the aim of delivering the final game ‘when it’s ready,’" Radiant’s statement reads. "We’ll continue keeping you up to date on our progress through things like our Twitch streams and Desktop Tuesday blog posts."
The Rising Thunder team, however, will start work on a new game. The fighting game’s alpha will close on March 18.
Radiant unveiled Rising Thunder last year. The game pits giant robots against each other in one-on-one fights, and pursued a simplified approach to the complicated move inputs of other fighting games.
Riot Games was founded in 2006. The Los Angeles-based company released its first game, League of Legends, in 2009. League of Legends is played by more than 67 million people each month, according to Riot.