ASUS unveils its new ZenFone Zoom smartphone with 3x optical zoom

CES 2016 - ASUS is back at the Consumer Electronics Show, announcing its new ZenFone Zoom smartphone with an impressive 3x optical zoom, compared to the virtually no zoom on normal smartphone cameras.

ASUS unveils its new ZenFone Zoom smartphone with 3x optical zoom

The ZenFone Zoom features a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with optical image stabilization, and a laser-assisted autofocus system that provides faster, more accurate focusing compared to contrast detection methods, and dual-tone flash.

Engadget reports that ASUS teamed with Hoya for the 10-element lens in the ZenFone Zoom, with Hoya known for its lens filters. For the image sensor, ASUS worked with Panasonic and used their SmartFSI image sensor.

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Corsair unveils new angular Carbide SPEC-ALPHA Mid-Tower ATX case

Derek Strickland | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Jan 4, 2016 9:00 PM CST

CES 2016 - Corsair today announces its new ultra-sleek and angular Carbide Series Spec-Alpha Mid-Tower ATX case aimed at professional gamers.

The Spec-Alpha case itself sports a striking form factor--the red and white color scheme is doubly eye-catching--and its oversized window is perfect for showing off a matching motherboard and GPU setup. Corsair has outfitted the case with all the amenities befit an enthusiast-grade, meeting style with performance. Three 120mm fans offer Direct Airflow Path cooling to housed components, and all three fans are controlled by a three-speed switch at the front.

The case has a roomy interior that's compatible with GPU or CPU liquid cooling solutions with front radiators up to 240mm in length. Tool-free drive setup makes installation a breeze, and users can hide snaking cords through the case's cable routing cutouts to maintain sleek cable management. Two USB 3.0 ports are also mounted at the front, and the case supports SSD mounting for high-performance memory.

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New Maingear AIO gaming desktop rocks liquid cooling, 18 core Xeon CPU

Derek Strickland | Computer Systems | Jan 4, 2016 8:00 PM CST

CES 2016 - Maingear has announced a new AIO desktop that packs quite a bit of enthusiast-grade muscle with liquid-cooling support, 4K display options, and workstation-class AMD FirePro and NVIDIA Quadro GPUs and Intel Xeon processors.

New Maingear AIO gaming desktop rocks liquid cooling, 18 core Xeon CPU

As all-in-one desktops are traditionally made for office work spaces, the builds are quite lacking when it comes to gaming performance. Maingear wants to reinvent AIO's with its new Alpha 34 gaming desktop, which can fit full-sized gaming and workstation video cards and CPU's for blistering performance.

The Alpha 34 sports a curved 34-inch 3480 x 1440p display, and comes in three different flavors: the H110/Z170 build for performance gamers, the X99 build for enthusiast gamers, and the titanic Professional grade that sports Intel Xeon CPU support and workstation graphics. The cheapest option--the Z170 tier-- starts at $1999, and adding top-tier GPU's will boost the price quite a bit. For example, a Alpha 34 Z170 with an AMD Radeon R9 390 and an Intel i7 6700K CPU and 16GB of DDR4 RAM will cost around $2,600.

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Rumor: Next Assassin's Creed set in Egypt, coming in 2017

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 4, 2016 6:47 PM CST

The rumor mill has pushed out yet another report; this time focused on Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise. According to the rumor, the next AC game is codenamed "Empire, it will skip 2016 and instead release in 2017, and it'll take place in Egypt.

Rumor: Next Assassin's Creed set in Egypt, coming in 2017

According to the reports, a dev who's working closely with the project recently posted some interesting tidbits on 4Chan:

"[It'll take place in] Egypt. There won't be an AC in 2016. You may screencap this and refer to it when nothing is shown in E3 2016. You'll have to wait until 2017 for it. The reason: It will be a complete revamp of the series. The game is going for a Witcher feel, with player progression, freeform combat system. Horse is back, and boats too. It's made by the Black Flag team. You play as a slave or ex-slave. He looks a lot like Altair, but with a darker skin. He is not edgy, from my understanding. He's a nobody that barely speaks. The biggest difference about this one is how colorful it looks. Like holy fuck, blue skies, lush vegetations and desert sequences where you get mirage and shit. Also, you have a pet eagle you can control."

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Rumor: Watch Dogs 2 coming this Fall, set in San Francisco

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 4, 2016 6:27 PM CST

A new rumor suggests that Ubisoft will release a sequel to 2014's bullshot disappointment, Watchdogs, later this year.

Rumor: Watch Dogs 2 coming this Fall, set in San Francisco

According to reports from Kotaku, Ubisoft's annual Assassin's Creed franchise will skip 2016 with a new release in 2017 instead, leaving room for another game to come in and pick up the slack.

If rumors can be believed, that game will be Watch Dogs 2, which will reportedly take place in San Francisco and release in Fall 2016. Watch Dogs 2 will likely see a cross-platform release across PS4, Xbox One and PC, but let's hope Ubisoft has learned its lesson and won't deliver any bullshots at E3 2016.

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NVIDIA announces its GeForce GTX VR ready program

CES 2016 - NVIDIA has jumped on the VR bandwagon in a much stronger way, announcing its new GeForce GTX VR program, with its aim of getting PCs, notebooks and GPUs ready for VR.

NVIDIA has a list of add-in cards (AICs) and system builder partners that are good to go when it comes to VR. NVIDIA designates its GeForce GTX 970, GTX 980, GTX 980 Ti and Titan X as GPUs ready for VR gaming, with NVIDIA's partners meeting the company's standards able to display a "GeForce GTX VR Ready" badge on their systems and video cards.

The company is aiming at the combination of GeForce GTX GPUs, NVIDIA Game Ready drivers, GameWorks VR and DesignWorks VR technologies - alongside the new GeForce GTX VR ready program, that it will provide gamers with the best solution for VR gaming.

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Michael Bay to direct 'Transformers 5' after all

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Jan 4, 2016 4:41 PM CST

He's previously said no, and then played coy about returning to the franchise for a fifth time, but according to a new profile in Rolling Stone magazine, Michael Bay is set to go back to the 'Transformers' universe one last time.

"I'm doing Transformers ... 5, is it? I've taken on a lot of work." Bay told Rolling Stone while shaking his head. "It's fun to do a movie that 100 million people will see. But this is the last one. I have to pass the reins to someone else. J.J. [Abrams] told me, 'You're the only guy that could do this.' But it's time to move on. One more."

The article also confirms the film will be delayed from the once mooted 2016 release date to 2017. Hasbro and Paramount pictures are currently developing four different 'Transformers' feature films, which means the series will be alive well into the next decade.

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Oculus Rift preorders are open starting this Wednesday

The actual release date for the Oculus Rift VR headset hasn't been announced aside from a generic "Q1 2016" date, but they're opening it up to pre-orders starting this Wednesday, January 6th at 8AM Pacific.

Of course we're hoping for more than just a pre-order date at CES and something more concrete to look forward to. The delay of the Oculus Touch controller shouldn't be too much of a detractor for those wishing to get their hands-on final hardware. If early development kits combined with controllers has been any indication, then VR is more than viable without a VR-specific input method.

So if you've been dreaming of trying out the consumer model as soon as it hits the streets, before anyone else has a chance to plop it on their heads, then you might want to be one of the first in (digital) line when the pre-ordering begins.

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25th anniversary Sonic the Hedgehog game might be in the works

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Jan 4, 2016 1:08 PM CST

Something rather exciting might be happening with the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise this year. A new game could be in development, if certain now deleted Facebook posts are to be believed.

A band that has worked closely with Sonic the Hedgehog and have provided music for some of the later games, Crush 40, posted on Facebook that "We are planning a few performances to commemorate the anniversary of Sonic," but that wasn't the exciting part. They continued "We might participate in writing new songs for the anniversary game...stay tuned." indicating the existence of a new anniversary game. The post was promptly deleted, though not before we were able to see it. Even better is the graphic released by Sega commemorating the occasion, shown above.

It doesn't necessarily mean an entirely new game is being commissioned, but it might point towards something else. Whether that be a web-based game, a new mobile game or something on an even smaller scale. The formula for a successful Sonic the Hedgehog game seems to be directly tied to the older games. The newer more free-roaming and 3D titles were never quite as accepted, though they didn't do that poorly either. Our bet is on a remake of the original, given the logo that's come out.

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First Rainbow Six Siege DLC delayed until February 2nd

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Jan 4, 2016 12:02 PM CST

The first DLC for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, as part season one or Operation Black Ice, has been delayed for season pass holders until February 2nd, a slight delay if anything.

Originally the new content, which includes new operators from the Canadian Joint Task Force 2 Counter-Terrorism unit, a new map and some new weapon skins, was originally planned for release on January 26th for those that have purchased a season pass.

Ubisoft confirmed the slight delay on Twitter while answering a question from a fan, and they reiterated that season pass holders merely have early access to the new content, and everything will be available for free for all players of the game. If you're a PC gamer, we highly recommend downloading the Ultra HD texture pack while waiting for the DLC to arrive.

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