Latest News - Page 2484

A handy new extension is now available for Chrome users known to browse Steam from time to time. It's called Fair Steam and it saves you the trouble of looking up gameplay videos from YouTubers by integrating their videos directly into the Steam website. The videos available on a given game page are determined by an algorithm that prizes gameplay-heavy, personality-light videos, so you just get the meat. As of now, there are 13491 videos in the database, with more added daily.

A few notes: more features are planned for Fair Steam, though they are not known yet. For now, the focus is on gameplay videos; if you're in the minority and don't use Chrome, Firefox and Opera versions are coming soon; for those that use Enhanced Steam extension, Fair Steam is compatible with it.

To download it, head this way.

GDC 2016 - Sony has announced the pricing of the PlayStation VR after all this time, with PlayStation VR launching in October for $399.

Comparatively, the Oculus Rift costs $599 while the HTC Vive costs $799. Now, with the PS4 priced at only $349 - this means playing VR with Sony hardware will only cost $750. Not too bad at all, Sony. Now, what about the hardware inside of the PlayStation VR?

We're looking at a 5.7-inch OLED display with 960x1080 per eye at 90-120Hz. It has around 100-degree field of view, less than 18ms of latency, and works with the DualShock 4 and PS Move controllers. PlayStation VR has 360-degree head tracking thanks to its nine LEDs, too.

Razer just unveiled their newest iteration of their Hacker Development Kit as part of the Open Source Virtual Reality program. And there are quite a few subtle but great improvements to help kick one of the most complained about problems in VR.

For HDK 1.4 they've put a diffusion film over the existing optics that's supposed to help reduce the screen-door effect considerably. That's the one aspect that a majority of people have complained about. It hurts immersion and just generally looks bad altogether.

Razer has also cooked in native support for CryEngine by partnering with Crytek. That means that the SDK is a part of the latest version of CryEngine, so any VR game made in the game engine can potentially easily support the OSVR HMD. All the tools they'll need to communicate with it are all there. This is a step in the right direction and a similar one to what AMD is doing by partnering with Crytek as well. AMD is also an OSVR supporter as well.

Water cooling can be a pretty fun process, but also somewhat scary if you don't quite know what you're doing. And that's why ASUS partnered with INWIN, Bitspower, Kingston (HyperX), NVIDIA, Intel and Cooler Master during the ASUS Australia 2016 PC water cooling event in Sydney, Australia at the University of Sydney this past weekend to give Australian retailers and Sydney-based PC enthusiasts all the info they need to be water cooling professionals. We prepared a video from the event, embedded below.

The whole event had a great turnout, with a lot of different examples of water cooled PC's, from the more extreme, modded variety all the way to the other end of the spectrum with modest examples of what can be done with proper water cooling parts.

It was all about showing off the different ways in which it can be used and how efficient it can be, and how complicated it is not. Really, the scariest part is wondering if the tubes you connected were done so with a proper seal. But other than that, water cooling, as this event showed, is a splendid idea for everyone. And now a variety of retailers all have the knowledge and power to help just about anyone plan their build, no matter how complex it might be.

Battlecursed is an upcoming roguelike action RPG where you're in control of a four person party with real-time, first-person perspective battles.

It's like the usual RPG's you've probably played (think Elder Scrolls) but on crack. That is, every dungeon you enter is procedural generated, with not only a different layout, but different loot, traps and enemies lurking around. It'll take some swift thinking and calculated strategies to manage the whole party and successfully navigate the dangerous dungeons below.

Initial hero classes that you'll be able to play as include the Huntress, Cleric, Grave Knight and Necromancer. The shrewd Huntress stealthily takes down opponents using her agility to dodge attacks and dexterity to strike with fatal precision. The Necromancer taps into undead sorcery, binding all manner of evil creatures to carry out the party's bidding. The Grave Knight plows through enemies with his superior strength and surprises many with his deadly frost spells. The Cleric, empowered with divine magic, will serve as the primary healer and protector of the party.

Blizzard is on a role lately, taking care to make sure that even their older gamesget the love that they deserve as well. Warcraft 3 follows in Diablo 2's footsteps with a new update coming up this week.

It's been nearly 14 years since the game was released, and it still remains a popular game, and genre. World of Warcraft doesn't quite replace the majesty that was the RTS. Patch 1.27 is coming on March 15th and will include a few new features. One of the biggest, and most welcome, changes is the addition of actual matchmaking, and another confirmed feature is that of improved in-game communication. They're playing a bit coy with the actual details outside of that, however.

Robert Bridenbecker, the lead person for Blizzard Classic Games, made a YouTube video that announced the new update. What we can gather is that aside from what's explicitly said, balance tweaks and massive bug fixes to make it more compatible with modern operating systems. In the Back2Warcraft video, Bridenbecker had a lot of great things to say.

GDC 2016 - Razer has just announced its new Blade gaming notebook, with an injection of specifications and a better price point. The new Blade sports the new sixth-generation Intel Core i7 processor, alongside the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M with 6GB of VRAM.

Storage wise the new Blade has a PCIe-based SSD which will ensure you can be pushing the speed limit when it comes to transferring data on the Blade. The new Blade has 16GB of DDR4 RAM in quad-channel, and a beautiful 14-inch IGZO-based 3200x1800 QHD+ display. The screen and its internals are found in a CNC-milled aircraft grade aluminum chassis which looks quite stunning.

The new Razer Blade has individually backlit RGB keys, making it the second laptop in the world after the Razer Blade Stealth Ultrabook. Razer is also keeping the price on the Blade nice and tight, with the previous Blade with the QHD+ display starting at $2399 while the new Blade starting at $1999.

Square Enix started life as the architect of the JRPG, a genre that has grown immensely since they released the first Final Fantasy in 1987. And they're going back to those roots with I AM SETSUNA, the premier game from one of their new studio, Tokyo RPG Factory.

What that means is that they're going to take the impactful, deep storytelling aspect of the typical JRPG, mixing in complex and near endless character development with a modern graphics engine the new immersive tools at the disposal of developers. This is going back to the roots of what RPG's began as, and remaking that into something more. They're saying that the battle system is inspired by Chrono Trigger, which has one of the most refined of such systems.

No information on the release date just yet, but if they want tor bring back the authentic JRPG gameplay and dig deep into their archives for I AM SETSUNA, then who are we to complain? It has some beautiful art design and they promise to give us a sorrowful and impactful story. Stay tuned for more information on this one. A masterpiece in the making. Potentially.

The Coalition have announced just that the first round of beta testing for Gears of War 4 will commence on April 18th, but only for those that have played Gears of War: Ultimate Edition on the Xbox One, or through the Windows Store.

If you did play the latest remaster of Gears of War, then you should start getting a beta token through the Xbox Live messaging system that you can redeem for the early access to the beta. The good news is that everyone that has an Xbox Live Gold membership and an Xbox One will be eligible to try out the beta just a bit later, on April 24th running through May 1st. They're extending the timeframe in which you have had to log in and play Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, moving the deadline from March 1st all the way until April 11th.

The beta will be all about the multiplayer aspect and should include some fun levels to romp around in. Just remember that it's a beta and isn't at all complete. There will be bugs and other glitches, and some things in some certain situations might not work as you'd expect. Don't be a stranger to reporting any bugs, so they can fix them before it's released.

The new remake of the classic Battlezone is getting a very well done single-player campaign. But it isn't going to be entirely written and structured by humans, though. Instead, it'll have elements of procedural generation to keep thing unique for everyone. The new trailer gives us a glimpse inside the cockpit, as well as what that campaign might look like.

The dynamic nature of procedural generation means that there will be endless opportunities for replayability. You'll rarely get bored if this type of action is something you've been waiting for. The enemies, objectives and seemingly the levels can all change drastically, making for new and exciting experiences. If the AI is up to snuff, then that'll just be icing on the cake.

The game itself is looking really good. The cockpit is almost ergonomic, if it were real, and the windscreen doesn't seem to pose an issue with visibility at all. The remaster is looking splendid and really brings back memories of the original Atari classic. The sound effects alone are a pretty good homage to the original. I'm certainly excited to see how it actually plays out, is anyone else looking forward to this?

The remastered version of System Shock 1 has finally been shown in full, working form for the first time since it was announced. The remake, they say, is going to stay true to the original, attempting to capture the same parts of our imagination that it originally did. so take a look below, see if it feels at all familiar.

Night Dive Studios is remaking System Shock 1 using the Unity game engine. The in-game trailer is a showcase of all the work they've done in translating the original into the new engine and in how they've remade the UI. The want to keep the classic System Shock, but update it and make it much more visually striking, allowing it to be a better representation of the original intent.

The remastered version is going to be available on the Xbox One and the PC starting sometime in 2017, so you'll be able to have your chance at reliving the nightmare very soon.

Microsoft is turning to a very interesting platform to help improve research in artificial intelligence. Minecraft is being used by researchers at Microsoft, and by select academic researchers through a private beta program, in its unstructured mode, as a sort of testing ground for testing AI theories and programming.

Now how would they go about doing that? The AIX platform which is being developed by a Microsoft lab in Cambridge, U.K., that they're using can potentially be programmed to learn in a similar and, well, general way that humans do, to program the Minecraft avatar to go forth and do stuff. It's a closed environment where researchers can look easily observe what the character is doing, and in a safe environment. The constructible world allows for a number of different variables that let them test in a lot of different conditions. All without actually sacrificing real, and expensive, robots.

"Minecraft is the perfect platform for this kind of research because it's this very open world," Katja Hofmann, the platforms developer, said. "You can do survival mode, you can do 'build battles' with your friends, you can do courses, you can implement our own games. This is really exciting for artificial intelligence because it allows us to create games that stretch beyond current abilities." Even trying to get your character to do simple tasks, like walking, is very beneficial to AI research.

Nearly two years on from telling Variety that there was "no plan for a fourth Iron Man", it seems not much has changed for Robert Downey Jr.

On the eve of the release of the Captain America/Iron Man grudge match in 'Captain America: Civil War', Downey Jr. was asked by USA Today whether he'll return for a fourth stand-alone film, responding "I don't think that's in the cards", likening the third Captain America to "my little Iron Man 4".

'Captain America: Civil War', which also gives the first look at the new Spider-Man, begins its 2D, 3D and IMAX worldwide release from April 28 in Australia.

It's been 20 years since the blockbuster 'Independence Day' blew up screens across the world and in honor of the film, Twentieth Century Fox has set a new 20th anniversary Blu-ray edition for release in May which comes with the previously DVD-only extended cut.

According to IGN, the upcoming 2 disc edition will come with the 4K restored original theatrical cut and a 10 minute longer extended cut. It's being accompanied by a whole disc of bonus features, including the new 30 minute retrospective documentary 'A Legacy Surging Forward', probably joined by the previous DVD extra features including an alternate ending. Fox will also release an 'Attacker Edition' giftset in the United States, which comes with a limited edition alien ship replica and a collectible booklet.

The film's sequel, the eagerly anticipated 'Independence Day: Resurgence' hits 2D, 3D and IMAX cinemas worldwide from June 23.

Google's DeepMind AI first set its sights on European Go champion Fan Hui, defeating it soundly before taking the crown from world champion Lee Sedol (while there's still one game to go in the series, it currently sits at 3-1, favoring DeepMind). With that achievement in its pocket, we're left to wonder what's next. Asked just that at the Structure Data event in San Francisco today, Google Senior Fellow Jeff Dean pointed to StarCraft, calling it their "likely next target."

StarCraft presents a different and possibly greater challenge for DeepMind, as a lot of information is hidden from it unlike with Go where the opponent's moves are laid out in front of it. Due to that and the more visually stimulating nature of video games, the prospect is very exciting. Of it, a Blizzard said to us, "We're reaching out to learn more about what Google has in mind. For now, let's just say... challenge accepted!"

After dominating the five-game Go tournament series 3-0 and looking invincible in the process, Google's DeepMind AI has finally fallen to its human opponent; world Go champion Lee Sedol made the series 3-1 over the weekend after seeing weaknesses in Deepmind's game and mounting a surprising comeback. The match was described as "long and complicated."

The fifth and final match will begin late tonight or early tomorrow morning depending where you live, and can be viewed here. It's highly anticipated, and for good reason.

"It seems Lee Sedol can now read AlphaGo better and has a better understanding of how AlphaGo moves," said Song Taegon, 9-dan, Korean commentator. "For the fifth match, it will be a far closer battle than before since [they] know each better."

GDC 2016 - AMD has been hinting at their dual-GPU for the better half of a year, but today is the day that we've been introduced to their dual-GPU: the Radeon Pro Duo. Up until now, we thought it would be called the Radeon R9 Fury X2, as well as the tease of Gemini, but AMD landed on the name of Radeon Pro Duo.

AMD's new Radeon Pro Duo has 16TFlops of compute performance, compared to the 8.6TFlops on the Radeon R9 Fury X. The Radeon Pro Duo in AMD's words is "guaranteeing the highest level VR experience for developers who love to game", and is "the platform of choice for Crytek's VR First initiative - enabling today's and tomorrow's generation of VR content developers with the most powerful hardware".

The Radeon Pro Duo is watercooled, just like its single-GPU cousin, and with the price set at $1499 it won't be for casual or even most enthusiasts - this is a card for the die-hard enthusiasts who need 120FPS+ at 2560x1440 or 60FPS+ at 4K. Past that, it's a card built for VR and its 90FPS+ requirement, and developers are going to snap this up for game development thanks to its beefy horsepower.

GDC 2016 - AMD has just launched its new dual-GPU known as the Radeon Pro Duo, continuing its push into becoming the leader of VR. AMD has teamed with Crytek to push its momentum of VR, with AMD becoming Crytek's exclusive GPU technology partner for its Crytek VR First initiative.

AMD is also working with over 10 universities across the world in order to push VR into areas outside of the gaming industry, with AMD reiterating that VR will "transform entire industries beyond gaming and entertainment", with industries like education, medicine, and countless other mediums being affected by VR.

The 83% number is interesting, because AMD doesn't have that much discrete GPU market share - with NVIDIA heavily swayed when it comes to dGPU market share. Could AMD be including PlayStation VR as part of their VR dominance, thanks to the PS4 being powered by an APU made by AMD? We'll be asking AMD for clarification on this shortly.

The Bank of Korea wants to follow in Iceland's footsteps and achieve a cashless society by 2020, replacing paper entirely with credit cards and other means of payment like Samsung Pay.

It's well on its way as more Koreans than ever are choosing non-cash options for purchases than ever: 40 percent say they use credit cards more than anything else, up from last year's 30 percent; Koreans carry an average 74,000 ₩ this year versus last year's 77,000, and the central bank is issuing 12.3 percent fewer 10,000 ₩ banknotes, 5.9 percent fewer 5,000 ₩ notes, and 3.7 percent fewer 1,000 ₩ notes this year.

Lee Hyo-chan, the head of the research center at the Credit Finance Institute believes ditching paper will cut costs by somewhere between 0.1 and 1.1 percent of GDP (1.305 trillion USD in 2013). Lee notes the value of transparency, too: having a greater understanding of the underground economy gives the government and banks much better economic data to work with. Additionally, he touts decreased cash-related crime and the adoption of monetary policies like a minus interest rate to stimulate the economy, forcing citizens to spend more if they want to avoid interest.

There's a lot of cool and interesting ideas that are coming out of the VR revolution, and not all of them are the hardcore super immersive experiences, either. Some, like Disco Flux which is coming to the PlayStation 4, are taking on a much lighter and more playful take on what VR can do for gaming.

Disco Flux is one of those games that breaks the bounds of one genre and adds in another that ends up being something completely unexpected. A music game that's wrapped with shooter mechanics? Oh yeah, this is a thing, and after watching the video above, this is a very good thing too. Just look at how awesome it looks, and how challenging it might possibly be, forcing you to use hand-eye coordination while rocking out to some of your favorite retro music. It looks like a blast, pun fully intended.

It's a music-driven shooter, that has four different modes that the game will switch through dynamically as you play more. They're already including some retro disco-esque music, but in the future you'll be able to import your own music that it'll analyze so targets can pop-up to the beat. This minimalist style of game would actually be very well suited to mobile. It doesn't seem to necessarily require a whole lot of processing power, and it would work well with the GearVR or similar headset.