2014. It’s been a busy year! We got wearable technology moving into the primetime, ‘selfie sticks’, and Facebook went on a buying spree. We still did get a lot of great games, tech and movies. Lets rewind the year by taking a look at January to March in our 2014 Rewind. It was a pretty big time with Xbox One getting it’s first blockbuster game, Android Wear was announced and we took a look at wearables too. Let’s get cracking.
REVIEWS:
Titanfall
Titanfall exploded onto Xbox One this year from EA and the founding fathers of what we know Call of Duty as today. Think Zone of the Enders mixed with COD and you’re halfway there. It’s ton of fun, check out our review for more.
Dead Rising 3
You can’t have a next-gen launch without explodable teddy-bears right? Check out what we thought of Konami’s zany zombie game here.
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
Sony launched the first of three compact ‘z’ series phones this year. Find out what we thought of the first right here.
There’s more!
Samsung Galaxy Gear
Canon EOS 100D
Tearaway – PS Vita
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
NEWS:
Facebook buys WhatsApp for $16 Billion in cash and stock
Facebook surprised everyone by buying Whatsapp this year. While not much has changed in the app, it remains to be seen whether Facebook will change the experience much from what it is today. While video calls are rumoured to arrive, apart from that, the app is the exact same as last year. Find out more inside.
Facebook buying Oculus Rift
Facebook really caught us off guard with this one. Oculus was bought by the blue giant this year in a deal that shocked many. We couldn’t quite figure out how this makes the world more connected by covering our eyes but Facebook are supporting the development and commercialisation of VR quite well it seems. We already have the ‘Samsung Gear VR Powered By Oculus’ device (catchy name) with more expected next year. Find out more inside.
Google Officially Announce Android Wear
Google launched Android Wear at their Google I/O event this year. Featuring some neat features, Android Wear devices are on the wrists of many already (I can count three in the Effect team!).
Satya Nadella announced as new Microsoft CEO
Poor Ballmer, we miss you. When Satya took over, many expected large changes. Would Xbox be sold off? Is Office becoming free? While not many of these rumours materialised, Satya outlined a great vision for the company over the coming years. Find out more inside.
Notable mentions:
Sony announces ‘Project Morpheus’ aka Playstation VR
PlayStation Now Announced
Uber officially launches in Dublin
Konami Code Easter Egg is Found in Google Search
OPINION
Wearable Is The New Black
2014 was arguably the year of the wearable with Android Wear, Apple Watch, Microsoft Band, Fitbit and Jawbone launching new products. See what we thought at the start here.
Not So Next Gen
This gen wants to immerse you more than ever before into games. See what Joe thought on this and why controllers rock here.
That’s it for part one! We’ll be back next time with part two which looks at April, May and June. What did you think? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook or Twitter pages. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for reviews, previews, hands-ons and more.
