Bethesda may be making Game of Thrones video game

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Aug 27, 2017 6:22 PM CDT

Retailer Target has a curious listing for "Bethesda: Game of Thrones" that has the gaming world buzzing.

Bethesda may be making Game of Thrones video game

Bethesda Games Studios, who is known for its staggering open-world RPGs in the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchise, may be making a Game of Thrones video game. After the abysmal first Game of Thrones console game, the series skipped a mainline RPG release and has stuck to quicker and smaller properties like the Telltale series of games. This new listing may indicate that BGS is currently developing a Game of Thrones game that may be revealed soon. Bethesda may also publish the game--if it is a video game.

The listing is in Target's BMMV category, which includes video games, board games, game-related figures like amiibos and more, so there's no guarantee the listing is for a video game--it could just as easily be for a board game. Also remember this listing could simply be an error (which is increasingly likely.)

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PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds tops DOTA 2's peak players

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Aug 27, 2017 4:16 PM CDT

Early Access titan PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds shows no signs of slowing down, and has now become the top game on Steam in terms of peak player count.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds tops DOTA 2's peak players

Bluehole's battle royale shooter PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is a bonafide gaming sensation. The game, which launched in early access in March for $30, has smashed all expectations to consecutively beat Valve's top all-time hits like DOTA 2 and Counter-Strike: GO in terms of playercount. At the time of writing, PUBG sits at the top of the concurrent player watermark with 877,844 concurrent players logging in and playing today, beating out Valve's first-party games on its own storefront. In fact, PUBG is beating DOTA 2's all-time peak players by 39,325 players, or 4.68% more than DOTA 2's numbers.

As this article goes live, PUBG's active playercount has dropped by 53% of today's peak to 410,391 users. In fact, 6.35% of the 13.82 million peak Steam users who signed in today played PUBG.

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GIGABYTE offer free X299 Xperience Pack

Shaun Grimley | Motherboards | Aug 27, 2017 6:20 AM CDT

GIGABYTE are feeling generous, having today announced customers who have purchased a GIGABYTE X299 motherboard from qualified retailers will be eligible for a free gift!

GIGABYTE offer free X299 Xperience Pack

This offer is only valid until September 14 2017 and for purchases between June 19 to August 31, 2017. However, the 'X299 Xperience Pack' is definitely worth it, to claim your free pack, submit a completed registration here.

Inside the X299 Xperience Pack:

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Divinity: Original Sin 2 to feature full voice acting

Shaun Grimley | Gaming | Aug 27, 2017 4:28 AM CDT

With less than 3 weeks until the launch of Divinity: Original Sin 2, Larian Studios prove they're still hard at work making their turn-based RPG as epic as possible.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 to feature full voice acting

Kickstarter Update #42 heavily focuses on the audio aspect of the game, Larian Studios are really striving to immerse players in the game and create an unforgettable experience. Swen Vincke, founder of Larian Studios, introduces their composer, Bobby. Who talks about recording an orchestral music score in Budapest with fantastic results. Check out the video below that includes a documentary of Bobby working with the orchestra.

The biggest inclusion in this update however, is the announcement that Divinity: Original Sin 2 will be fully voiced! Swen explains; "About halfway through production, we realized just how big this game was getting. We thought there would be no way, either time or budget-wise, to voice it all. So, we started small, hoping to improve the soundscape by voicing some one-liners and voice barks. But it just didn't feel right. We wanted to hear our beloved characters talk. Really talk. So, we crunched some numbers, poured some coffee and decided: Oh heck, why not. Let's fully voice Divinity: Original Sin 2!"

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Antec announce their latest mid-tower case, the Antec P8

Shaun Grimley | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Aug 27, 2017 2:37 AM CDT

To celebrate their 31st anniversary, Antec have released their latest mid-tower case from their award winning Antec Performance One Series, The Antec P8. This is as good reason as any to release a sleek and outstanding tower.

Antec announce their latest mid-tower case, the Antec P8

The Antec P8 offers a stylish design that is packed full of excellent features and terrific cooling performance. The chassis is made from steel/ABS and features an attractive tempered glass side panel. This mid-tower is compatible with micro-ATX / ATX/ ITX motherboards and supports up to 390 mm VGA cards. Boasting two convertible tool-less 2.5" / 3.5" HDD drive cages, four 2.5" SSD drive cages as well as seven expansion slots, the Antec P8 offers great value at only $84.99.

The Antec P8 features two pre-installed 120mm white LED fans at the front as well as a 120mm white LED in the rear. If you require additional airflow, the P8 has room for 3x120mm or 2x140mm case fans in the front, 3x120mm or 2x140mm at the top and 1x120mm fan in the rear. A PSU chamber is used to isolate the PSU from the other components, this is to minimize heat production, system noise and to create a the perfect build. Water cooling is welcomed for this mid-sized tower, allowing installation of a 240mm radiator on top, a 360mm radiator in the front and a 120mm in the rear.

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ASUS announce gaming focused RT-AC86U Wi-Fi router

Shaun Grimley | Networking | Aug 27, 2017 1:32 AM CDT

Today ASUS have announced a September release for their gaming-friendly AC2900-class Wi-Fi router, the RT-AC86U. Powered by a 1.8GHz 32bit dual-core processor, the RT-AC86U features concurrent dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, boosted by NitroQAM™ and MU-MIMO technology that is able to deliver bandwidth of up to an impressive 2166Mbps on the 5GHz frequency band and 750Mbps on the 2.4GHz band.

ASUS announce gaming focused RT-AC86U Wi-Fi router

The RT-AC86U delivers the ultimate gaming experience, with built-in WTFast® game accelerator that optimizes game server connections and Adaptive QoS to proritze game traffic and ensures priority to online gaming in the network queue, The RT-AC86U truly delivers lag-free online gaming and ultra-smooth 4K UHD streaming.

Offering commercial-grade security, thanks to the in-built ASUS AiProtection that is powered by Trend Micro™ Smart Network, the RT-AC86U is able to detect and neutralize internet threats before they can reach the network. ASUS AiRadar 2.0 beamforming technology and ASUS RangeBoost allow the RT-AC86U to provide ultrawide coverage and long-range performance, eliminating dead spots and allow users to enjoy mobile gaming, even in remote corners of the house.

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AOC's 1440p 144Hz FreeSync 2 monitor drops in April 2018

Anthony Garreffa | Displays & Projectors | Aug 26, 2017 11:00 PM CDT

AOC has just unveiled its next-gen gaming displays, with two 27-inch models under their AGON gaming brand that will be coming out in April and May 2018 for the FreeSync 2, and G-Sync versions respectively.

AOC's 1440p 144Hz FreeSync 2 monitor drops in April 2018

The big surprise here is that both monitors feature a super-fast 0.5ms response time, which is an incredible feat considering both panels are 2560x1440 native resolution displays with 144/165Hz. The AOC AG273QCX is a 27-inch 1440p HDR display with a native 144Hz refresh rate, TN panel, and 0.5ms response time - this is the FreeSync 2 powered display which will debut at around $700.

AOC also announced a new NVIDIA G-Sync version of the display, the AG273QCG that rocks the same native resolution, 0.5ms response time, but increased 165Hz refresh rate. The AMD FreeSync 2-powered display rocks HDR support, which would probably explain the drop to 144Hz from 165Hz. I'd rather have a HDR-capable display @ 144Hz than a non-HDR display @ 165Hz, but the G-Sync variant will cost $824... $120 more than the FreeSync 2 model.

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AMD ships over 25,000 Radeon RX Vega graphics cards

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Aug 26, 2017 9:47 PM CDT

You can't knock AMD for getting Radeon RX Vega onto the market, and while it might have been late and not received as well as some thought, the cards are here - and there are tens of thousands of them so far.

AMD ships over 25,000 Radeon RX Vega graphics cards

I spoke to an industry source who didn't want to be named today, who said that AMD have shipped over 25,000 cards in the last two and a half weeks since Radeon RX Vega hit the market. Remember that AMD has only launched Radeon RX Vega 64, and not the Radeon RX Vega 56, which will be the more popular card of the two.

AMD will be launching Radeon RX Vega 56 very soon, and as we get closer to it, I will be doing much deeper testing into the real-world gaming performance of it. We'll be doing tests with DOOM, Quake Champions, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and more at 1080p, 1440p, and 3440x1440.

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PUBG: 800,000 concurrent users, 8 million copies sold

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Aug 26, 2017 9:03 PM CDT

It was just two weeks ago that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds reached 617,000 concurrent gamers on Steam, but since then there have been hundreds dof thousands of people who have purchased the game, pushing those peak users up to a huge 810,000.

PUBG: 800,000 concurrent users, 8 million copies sold

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Palmer Luckey: should I buy Vive?

Oculus founder and VR pioneer Palmer Luckey may make an offer to buy HTC's virtual reality division.

Palmer Luckey: should I buy Vive?

Due to consecutive losses from its smartphone division, Taiwanese tech giant HTC may sell off its Vive VR subsidiary in an attempt to stabilize, sources say. Palmer Luckey, who sold Oculus to Facebook for $2 billion, has expressed interest in making an offer for the Vive VR branch--if HTC ends up selling, of course. "What do you guys think, should I buy Vive?" Mr. Luckey asked the official Oculus subreddit, to which most users responded in the affirmative.

While demand and hype for enthusiast-grade PC-powered VR has cooled down in terms of sales, key OEMs and HMD-makers are ramping up for the next generation of VR headsets. This new generation is expected to include major benefits over the initial wave including wireless HMDs with self-contained hardware, use of more advanced and efficient chips and technologies, and some will even blend Augmented Reality (AR), which projects simulated images over the real-world, in an attempt to tap the Mixed Reality market.

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