GameStop brings HTC Vive VR demos to their store, gives everyone a try

Virtual Reality might look very appealing on paper and when reading, or even watching videos, about the technology, but living vicariously through the lives of others isn't a replacement for getting to test something for yourself. In this case that's a very large issue, because, in order to truly appreciate the value proposition and how wonderful VR actually is, you have to actually experience.

GameStop wants to fix that issues, and is partnering with HTC in order to let those that aren't able to travel to player-focused events play with VR right in their store. Most of the public, the people who might need a bit of convincing, haven't quite had the chance to actually take a look, so this could serve as a crucial means for helping gamers understand the experience and potentially helping to sell the idea to more people.

They're also partnering with Microsoft and plan on having the tech available in their physical stores as well. The first stores that'll have the VR demos available are the New York City flagship store, one in Bellevue Square in Washington State and one in City Creek Center located in Utah. There are plans to have the demo available in 30 stores this year. GameStop will have the demo available in 10 different locations by the middle of April. You should be able to go to the HTC Vive website and check availability of said demos. This is a big push for VR by HTC, to help cover the development costs and to simply help you see why it's such a large deal now.

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Uncharted 5 could be a reality if a new developer takes it up

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Apr 7, 2016 8:03 AM CDT

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End isn't even fully out just yet, but we're hearing ruminations from the director of the series that we could see a return of Drake, or a continuation of the series at the hands of another developer.

Naughty Dog does want to make clear that Nathan Drake wouldn't be returning to take center-stage, which would inevitably be considered the end of the series, as he is the series and part of the reason why the franchise became as great as it did. Without the main character, would it be Uncharted? Or just some other game with a similar yet slightly related story?

A movie is already in development, despite seeing some setbacks, and there also appears to be a distinct opportunity to continue with Uncharted 5, and the director fo A Thief's End, Neil Druckman, does mention that he'd be very happy if another studio wanted to take over, but only if they were able to actually capture the essence of what makes Uncharted what it is. And without Drake, that essence is harder to emulate. And of course, Naughty Dog would want to play a big part in it's creation to ensure it follows the dictates of the universe they created.

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Butt Pose replacement revealed for Overwatch, pretty much the same

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Apr 7, 2016 7:02 AM CDT

Overwatch has been caught in the midst of some controversy regarding a victory pose that's made by one of the characters, Tracer, late last month. In a bid to better represent the character, as well as appease the angry fans, Blizzard has announced the new victory pose animation, which is pretty much the same thing, with only slight differences.

The new animation is mostly similar though the focus as changed from Tracer's backside to instead be put on her athletic skills as she stands on one leg, on her toes in fact. The original version was more a showcase of the derriere and was said to not accurately represent the character, so it was thus changed today.

The controversy around that victory animation started in a thread where a very astute individual laid their case out regarding why such a pose was not acceptable. It was not necessarily that it was a more overt sexuality-based gesture, but instead that it hadn't anything to do with the actual character. The games director, Jeff Kaplan, replied to that thread, stating that he actually agreed and that the team had another animation that would be better suited.

Continue reading: Butt Pose replacement revealed for Overwatch, pretty much the same (full post)

Fans go crazy for first 'Star Wars: Rogue One' trailer

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Apr 7, 2016 6:55 AM CDT

It's barely been 3 months since 'Star Wars' fans were treated to the first film in a decade in 'The Force Awakens', but now we have the December opening of the next film 'Rogue One' to look forward to. And based off this first look trailer, it's going to be a long, long wait.

Fans go crazy for first 'Star Wars: Rogue One' trailer

Set just before the events of 'A New Hope', 'Rogue One' is set to follow the band of courageous Rebel troops who stole the plans for the first Death Star, which allowed the alliance to pinpoint its weakness. Starring Felicity Jones,

Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn and Donnie Yen, the film will serve as the first film outside of the numbered episodes which make up the Skywalker saga.

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Huawei reveals their new high-end phones, the P9 and P9 plus

Huawei might be a relative newcomer in the US given their presence is only just recently more popular due to their design-win with Google and the Nexus 6P, but they're actually one of the largest phone makers in the world and are making more waves with the announcement of their newest phones at an event in London, the P9 and P9 Plus.

Huawei reveals their new high-end phones, the P9 and P9 plus

These new phones are being targeted squarely at the high-end market, and have the specs to match. The P9 has a 5.2-inch screen, a Leica partnered 12-megapixel camera, 3,000mAh battery, USB-C port for connectivity, 3GB of RAM, and the company's own octa-core Kirin 995 processor inside of a very nice looking aluminum body. The P9 Plus has all of the above except has a much larger 3,400mAh battery, 4GB of RAM and a 5.5-inch screen instead. Both of them will have a fingerprint sensor located on the back of the chassis.

The most interesting spec is the camera, even though the resolution is rather normal at 12-megapixels, it's the partnership with Leica that means it could potentially be a powerhouse of a secondary, or dare I say, primary photo-taking device. There's a second 12-megapixel monochrome sensor that's supposed to be able to improve contrast within photos, and likely add a few more levels of dynamic range by tripling the amount of light that the whole camera can take in.

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Lian Li PC-J60 is a case that helps you organize those pesky cables

Jeff Williams | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Apr 6, 2016 7:46 PM CDT

Lian Li just announced a new mid-tower case that's part of a new line of cases coming from them. The new aluminum case from them keeps the general classic lines that they're known for but modernizes it with a nice red accent on the side, a subtle but nice touch. It's designed around helping keep cable clutter under control in an easy to do fashion.

The J60 is a mid-tower chassis that can fit up to an ATX-sized motherboard inside. It has room inside for a full 210mm PSU's in the bottom and can accommodate seven 410mm (16.1-inches) GPU's, which means that there's no GPU too long to fit inside. To help with airflow and keeping things cool, the PSU and HDD's are contained in a compartment that's sectioned off below, with a 140mm fan that brings in air from the main case to be exhausted out of the PSU. That shroud is what's there to help any build look immaculate on the inside, even if it's a bit messy underneath that. The idea is that you can hide the PSU and the cables coming from it to have a much more clean look.

Two 120mm fans are on the front and the top panel can fit an additional three 120mm fans, or maybe even be a good place to put a radiator, up to 430mm in length. That flourish on the edge? It actually serves a purpose other than helping to look good, it's slotted to help bring in air from the outside. In the compartment below you can mount two HDD cages that can each hold five 3.5" drives and one 2.5" drive. The new case can be had with or without a window, though if you're going to great lengths to tidy up inside, why not show it off?

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'Star Wars' fan builds full scale AT-ST from 'Return of the Jedi'

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Apr 6, 2016 6:36 PM CDT

I love 'Star Wars' just as much (if not) more than your average nerd, but my lack of any real life skills means I have to passively consume media, while some dedicated fans have the capacity to build. And that's what someone has done in building a full size replica of the Empire's AT-ST walker seen in 'Return of the Jedi'.

According to The Verge, the builder requested to remain anonymous, but allowed some video and photos to be taken of his impressive creation. Standing at over 8 metres tall and constructed from "timber, plastic, and bits of scrap metal" the walker has a ladder which leads to a cockpit built for two, its own movable turrets and, in a nice touch, movie quality sound effects.

The owner also doesn't seem to have any Ewoks on the premises - this AT-ST must have finished them off.

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DOOM getting an open beta next week for those that missed it

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Apr 6, 2016 6:04 PM CDT

The new DOOM's multiplayer beta was only available for a limited number of people who pre-ordered Wolfenstein: The New Order, which came out two years ago, so it wasn't exactly a "closed" affair, though it wasn't that inclusive either. Thankfully id Software and Bethesda are about to be open to anyone who dares from April 15th through the 17th.

So far the beta hasn't exactly been the most enjoyed or successful of tests. The general consensus is a a bit mixed about it, likening it either to the fast-paced rocket-powered FPS action of Quake 3 or even comparing it favorably to the Halo franchise, but there's also been plenty of complaints. Specifically when it comes to a lack of PC specific features and how smoothly it runs. This is a beta test, meaning that it won't exactly be the best or final representation of the revitalization of DOOM, but we expect it to at least be somewhat of a showcase. There's also concern that this isn't a DOOM game, and strays from the usual formula that's made it so successful.

Opening up the game to more people will let them test that network infrastructure and any new fixes on a much larger scale, which is good, and something all fans of the originals should at least take a look at, to see for yourself whether it does indeed follow the DOOM idioms of yesteryear, or even those from Doom 3. You'll get to play through two levels and two different modes; Heatwave, Infernal and team deathmatch and warpath respectively.

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DOTA 2 getting an alluring VR capable spectator mode

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Apr 6, 2016 5:02 PM CDT

VR is here to stay and definitely a large part of the future of gaming. Not only can you get more into a game than ever before, but VR is also being used in non-standard ways to help re-define what being a spectator of an eSports match might be. Valve teased what might just be a cool new VR interface for spectating DOTA 2 matches, in VR.

Inside you'll be able to see the game itself unfold right in front of you, but if you happen to look around you then you'll get to interact with the stats for each competitors heroes. It also looks like there's a dynamic map that updates with more info than you could ever possibly need. The whole setup looks very well done and ups the ante for how we watch games. This could just be the beginning of a movement to do similar things for other spectator sports, even other more physical sports too.

Being a part of Steam, this might require the use of the HTC Vive to actually work, but the idea is still incredibly interesting concept. This combined with 360-degree footage of the event might let you transport yourself to the event without actually having to fly all the way out. And it might end up being a better experience the just being there anyway.

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Latest Windows 10 Preview build adds dark mode, tons of other features

Sean Ridgeley | Software & Apps | Apr 6, 2016 4:28 PM CDT

Last month, the Windows 10 Twitter app offered up a dark mode, and now the whole OS is doing it. If you're a Windows Insider, you can grab the new 14316 build and try it out for yourself now. Note that some UWP apps won't be affected by dark mode.

That's far from all: also included is notifications customization (choose priority level and amount of notifications per app), native Bash support (for you Linux lovers), more cross-device Cortana syncing, a 'Find my phone' feature (locate your phone with your PC), a slew of bug fixes, and much more.

If you want the nitty gritty, hit the source.

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