Oculus PC bundles shipping faster than early Rift pre-orders

While early Oculus Rift adopters wait in uncertain limbo for shipping confirmations, retailers have ample supplies of Oculus Rift PC bundles and have started to ship orders.

Oculus PC bundles shipping faster than early Rift pre-orders

Even if you bought an Oculus Rift just minutes after pre-orders went live, everyday consumers can actually get a Rift before you. Since retailers like the Microsoft Store and BestBuy secured their Rift stock early on, buyers can completely circumvent the massive line of frustrated early adopters by purchasing an Oculus Rift PC bundle.

"Placed order for Oculus Rift ASUS G11CD-WS51 bundle at Microsoft Store today morning. Received shipping notification about two hours later," reads a post on the Oculus Reddit. This isn't an isolated incident; the subreddit is full of similar cases, with early adopters chiming in on how they feel completely betrayed by the company. Some first-day pre-buyers have yet to be charged or given any kind of order updates on their Rifts.

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Persona 5 release date listed for July 8 across PS4 and PC

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 23, 2016 10:35 AM CDT

UPDATE: The Persona Channel website has been hacked, and the apparent release date leak was fake. Sorry for the inconvenience. Persona 5's mysterious countdown timer is still up, and we should still get a major update on May 5.

Persona 5 release date listed for July 8 across PS4 and PC

Original story is as follows.

Persona 5 will see a simultaneous release in July according to the official Persona Channel website.

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Borderlands 3 confirmed, gets new writer and art director

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 23, 2016 10:21 AM CDT

At a PAX East panel, Gearbox Software confirmed it will begin development on Borderlands 3 once Battleborn and all its accompanying DLC packs are completely finished.

Borderlands 3 confirmed, gets new writer and art director

"It's no secret, obviously there's going to be another Borderlands," Gearbox's Randy Pitchford said during the panel. "We don't even know if we're going to call it Borderlands 3. We could call it Borderlands 4 for all we know." Mike Neumann will be the lead writer for Borderlands 3, taking the mantle from Anthony Burch, and Scott Kester will helm art direction.

Pitchford went on to tease that we could see Borderlands 3 easter eggs in Battleborn. "There's already a lot of Borderlands easter eggs in Battleborn, but they're all from previous Borderlands games. So what if we put easter eggs for future stuff in the DLC?"

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These new Witcher 3: Blood and Wine screens are absolutely enchanting

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 23, 2016 9:00 AM CDT

CD Projekt RED drops a new batch of Witcher 3: Blood and Wine screenshots, showing even more of Toussiant's enchanting world.

These new Witcher 3: Blood and Wine screens are absolutely enchanting

Blood and Wine isn't only the last DLC pack for The Witcher 3, but it also concludes the story of Geralt of Rivia. In order to send off the legendary witcher out with a bang, CD Projekt RED promises that Blood and Wine will be "even better than the main game". Considering how magnificent Witcher 3 already is, this is a pretty hefty claim.

"I can already tell you Blood and Wine is a fascinating story, with every sort of twist and turn you'd expect from our writers," CD Projekt RED's Marcin Momot said in a new update. "Toussaint, the new realm we're creating for the expansion, is unlike anything you've seen in Wild Hunt - carefree and colorful, but your gut never stops telling you that there's some real dark stuff happening underneath all that."

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Steam to start accepting bitcoin as valid payment option

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 23, 2016 7:00 AM CDT

According to a leaked post on Steam's official developer forums, Valve will start accepting Bitcoin crytocurrency as a valid payment option for purchases on the digital storefront.

Steam to start accepting bitcoin as valid payment option

"We are excited to announce that Steam is going to start accepting payments via bitcoin," Valve wrote on the leaked forum post. "We're using an external payment provider to process bitcoin payments to help partners reach more customers on Steam. Bitcoin is becoming an increasingly popular online payment method in some countries, and we're enabling a system that insulates partners from risk and volatility while still providing value to the end customer."

The way it works is Valve will charge users like normal, and the third-party payment provider then converts the charged currency into bitcoin based on a daily currency-to-bitcoin exchange rate. The provider keeps the bitcoin and pays Valve the traditional currency value. This way Valve never holds any bitcoin, and the provider essentially converts and exchanges money for bitcoin.

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AMD stock rises 52%, biggest gainer and most active stock on NASDAQ

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Apr 23, 2016 6:54 AM CDT

AMD has had a great week, topping it off with a huge 52% rise in stock to $3.99. This is the highest gain in a single day since AMD stock was listed, all the way back in 1979.

For the day, AMD was the biggest gainer and the most active stock on the NASDAQ exchange - with 140 million AMD shares traded. This is 10x the 50-day average of 12 million or so. Why the sudden and huge spike in AMD shares? The company just landed a joint venture deal to sell high performance enterprise x86 processors to the Chinese market.

This move will see AMD compete with Intel on a grander scale, as it has AMD providing the technical knowledge, while THATIC provides the resources, and financial support. The licensing deal should see AMD secure $293 million, plus royalties.

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Blizzard 'failed horrifically' with mysterious Project Titan MMO

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 23, 2016 4:15 AM CDT

After seven years of development, Blizzard cancelled its ambitious Project Titan MMO in 2014. Now Blizzard dev Jeff Kaplan sheds some light on why Titan collapsed, and how the "devastating failure" inspired the team to create Overwatch.

Blizzard 'failed horrifically' with mysterious Project Titan MMO

"You had a really amazing group that was working on Titan. They were really talented individuals, but we failed horrifically in every way ... In every way that a project can fail. It was devastating," Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan said in a recent interview with GameSpot.

"You had these people who either came from other companies or from within Blizzard, and were used to working on games that were very successful like a World of Warcraft, for example. To go through such a complete and utter failure is very hard for people who are used to experiencing success."

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AMD to 'regain GPU share in 2016' from NVIDIA with its Polaris cards

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Apr 23, 2016 12:52 AM CDT

The last time we reported on the GPU market share, NVIDIA dominated with 82% of the dGPU market in November 2015.

During AMD's Q4 2015 earnings call, company CEO Lisa Su said: "We have clear opportunities to regain GPU share in 2016 based on the performance per watt of our new GPUs and software leadership". AMD has teased just a few hours ago that their Polaris 10 will be for the gaming PC and high-end notebook market, while the Polaris 11 will find its way into standard notebooks.

Now, for AMD to regain GPU market share, it would have to hit NVIDIA where it hurts: the mainstream video card market. This is the GeForce GTX 950/GTX 960 and GTX 970 markets - where AMD didn't do too much with the Radeon 300 series last year. The Radeon 300 series were mostly rebrands, but the new Polaris 10-based Radeon 400 series should be something completely different.

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iPhone 8 reportedly using a 7nm processor, includes wireless charging

While the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus are the current flagship smartphones from Apple, we're months away from the purported iPhone 7 - and years away from the iPhone 8. That however, doesn't stop the rumor mill from spinning out rumors on the iPhone 8.

The iPhone 8 will reportedly feature a system-on-chip on the 7nm process, which should deliver a huge jump in performance, and hopefully, battery life. The iPhone 8 will reportedly feature wireless charging, and the lack of the TouchID-based home button.

Barclay's analyst Mark Moskowitz has said that there might not be an 'S' cycle next year, with Apple skipping the 'S' series smartphone and jumping directly from the iPhone 7 to the iPhone 8. Moskowitz said: "Silver lining - there might be no "S" cycle in C2017. Our conversations with industry participants suggest Apple could skip the "S" cycle next year and instead jump to IP8. The jump could showcase major form factor changes, including OLED, no home button, and wireless charging. In our view, these potential changes could drive a mega cycle, underpinning our C2017 iPhone unit growth estimate of 10.3%, vs. 6.3% previously".

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Horizon: Zero Dawn reportedly delayed into 2017

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 22, 2016 11:03 PM CDT

Upcoming PS4-exclusive RPG Horizon: Zero Dawn may be delayed into 2017 if an industry insider can be believed.

Horizon: Zero Dawn reportedly delayed into 2017

It's practically a tradition in the games industry today for high-profile titles to get delayed, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Guerrilla Games' post-apocalyptic RPG Horizon: Zero Dawn may not release in 2016. According to renowned industry insider Shinobi602 will be delayed into 2017, with a release on Sony's new PlayStation Neo console (PS4K/PS4.5).

"Well...Horizon: Zero Dawn's getting delayed to early 2017 from what I'm told. Going to look splendid on PS4k though," reads Shinobi602's Tweet.

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