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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 TheEffectDotNet Review 5Titanfall 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

Dead-Rising-3-TheEffect-2You 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

01_Xperia_Z1_CompactSony launched the first of three compact ‘z’ series phones this year. Find out what we thought of the first right here.

There’s more!

NEWS:

Facebook buys WhatsApp for $16 Billion in cash and stock

whatsappFacebook 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

OculusRift1Facebook 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

android-wear-pizzaGoogle 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

Satya Nadella Microsoft CEO 2Poor 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:

OPINION

Wearable Is The New Black

fitbitflex2014 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

playstation-consoles-headerThis 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.

David McGinley

Irish Writer, Ad man and lover of tea, all things digital, gaming, coffee, photography, gadgets, writer @TheEffectDotNet. Views are my own.

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