Nintendo says Wii U isn't dead, company will keep up platform support

Michael Hatamoto | Gaming | Feb 15, 2015 8:10 AM CST

Nintendo won't throw in the towel on its Wii U gaming console, hoping that it can sell more units in the United States and European markets.

"I believe the Wii U business still has considerable room for growth, as a number of software titles that are compatible with the console are slated for release in 2015," said Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, in a statement published by Nikkei.

Iwata believes many Japanese consumers enjoy using smartphones and Nintendo 3DS for mobile gaming, while gamers in the western world still prefer to have devices connected to their TVs. However, some critics believe Nintendo is fooling itself into thinking there is hope for the Wii U - and should consider preparing a next-generation console to compete against the Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4.

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Intel claims Apple would be lost without their chips

Chris Smith | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Feb 15, 2015 7:25 AM CST

With over 10 years of cooperation, Intel have been a mainstay in Apple hardware - taking over from Apple's co-designed chips with PowerPC due to them reportedly having issues with slimming down their laptop range, turning to the processor giant for some help.

In a recent interview with Business Insider, Intel's CFO Stacy Smith stated "for a customer like Apple you'd have to take a big step off performance to step off our architecture. That is what in essence enables us to win across different customers."

This is a rather big statement from Intel, but lets be honest here - Intel is at the top and it will stay that way for a long period of time no matter what happens.

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Ryanair looks to create solutions for passengers wearing smartwatches

Michael Hatamoto | Wearable Computing & Fashion | Feb 15, 2015 5:20 AM CST

Ryanair wants to give smartwatch wearable owners additional features, such as boarding gate information, digital boarding passes, and post-landing information. A prototype app offering will be unveiled after the Apple Watch launches in the spring, according to company officials.

Additional details about the custom smartwatch offering will be released in the coming months.

"In the future, Ryanair wants to be able to provide information throughout a passenger's journey, from the second you go to bed in a hotel, to when you land and need to find your car, or book a taxi," said John Hurley, CTO of Ryanair, in a statement published by The Telegraph. "People want micro-moments, micro pieces of information."

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Raspberry Pi 2 reacts badly to Xenon flashes, freezing and crashing

Chris Smith | Computer Systems | Feb 15, 2015 4:32 AM CST

Every tech site has been signing the praises of the brand new Raspberry Pi 2. Featuring double the RAM of its predecessor, a quad-core processor and more, you can basically build a fully-functional general-use machine running on the new Windows 10 platform for a tiny investment.

You've purchased a Pi 2 for yourself, set it up and pulled out your camera to take a few pictures and share them on your favorite forums - big mistake! According to recent findings, any camera containing a Xenon flash will cause the system (whilst in operation) to freeze or turn off.

No - we're not joking. There hasn't been an official statement yet from the manufacturers, but plenty of users have reported the same fault upon testing their own units. Apparently due to shielding issues, if you've got a Raspberry Pi 2 and a Xenon-flash equipped camera, we'd love you to share your results with us.

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EA chief creative officer wants to dumb down video games

Chris Smith | Gaming | Feb 15, 2015 3:06 AM CST

Speaking at the D.I.C.E Summit in Las Vegas, EA chief creative officer Richard Hilleman stated that games are "too hard to learn," explaining that basic titles which will take users hours to learn to operate are not optimal.

He added that "our games are actually still too hard to learn. The average player probably spends two hours to learn how to play the most basic game. And asking for two hours of somebody's time--most of our customers, between their normal family lives...to find two contiguous hours to concentrate on learning how to play a video game is a big ask."

Shared on Hot Hardware, many users are outraged by these statements coming from one of EA's most senior developers. Besides the PC Master race comments, many users claim that their fun gaming experience comes from mastering a game and learning all of the tips and tricks involved. Other users agree, with them using games as relaxation - wanting something they can easily jump in and start playing without learning involved.

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$12 can get you a lot of Star Wars right now at the Humble Bundle

Chris Smith | Gaming | Feb 15, 2015 1:26 AM CST

$12 is all it takes to get your own copies of 12 classic Star Wars games through the Humble Bundle - including smash hits like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, Star Wars Republic Commando and Star Wars Battlefront II.

Donating to charity has never been cooler, thanks to the release and upkeep of the Humble Bundle. This project allows you to give a small donation to charities, the developers and Humble Bundle themselves - spreading the love around to all. We've seen plenty of bundles come and go, ranging from large-scale developer offerings to small indie brands with basically every bundle guaranteed to offer you 20+ hours of game play enjoyment.

As with all bundles, you can spend what you wish - however the more your donation is, the more games are unlocked for you to play. The smallest of donations will see you get the three basic titles of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Star Wars: Dark Forces. Expanding this to above the average donation amount of $11.54 will see you open the doors to a further six games - with finally a $12 or higher donation seeing you unlock the full 12 titles.

Continue reading: $12 can get you a lot of Star Wars right now at the Humble Bundle (full post)

Math Military Modding supercharges his own MSI GTX970 KRAIT Edition

Chris Smith | Modding | Feb 15, 2015 12:04 AM CST

If MSI's GTX970 KRAIT edition didn't already look awesome enough, Math Military Modding has given it an all-white makeover.

This graphics addition would certainly look great on our previously covered sticker-bombed black, white and grey project by Corsaronero333.

It's possible that this video card will be placed within Math's new carbon fiber project, however there's no being sure just yet. We will certainly cover the build as it progresses to completion.

Continue reading: Math Military Modding supercharges his own MSI GTX970 KRAIT Edition (full post)

Hackers tricked bankers into installing malware, stole $300 million

Anthony Garreffa | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Feb 14, 2015 11:25 PM CST

According to some security researchers at Kaspersky, a group of hackers have used tricky malware to steal at least $300 million from bankers throughout 30 countries across the world.

The hackers tricked bank staff into installing a virus, or malware, through a spoofed email, where they spied on staff to learn their behavior. From there, they were able to mimic bank staff, to learn telltale signs that money is being taken from the bank, and transferred to various accounts. The attacks did just that, transferring money to other bank accounts, but some of it is sent to ATMs where criminals are monitoring specific ATMs.

The banks that were hit are now aware of the attack, but Kaspersky cannot name the banks due to non-disclosure pacts. Some of the firms don't want to admit they were hit, as they would be looked at as victims, and that their security has failed them. As for the breaches of security, the hackers injected malware into banks in the United States, Russia, Japan and many more countries.

Continue reading: Hackers tricked bankers into installing malware, stole $300 million (full post)

Season premiere of Better Call Saul is free on the Google Play Store

Anthony Garreffa | Internet & Websites | Feb 14, 2015 10:36 PM CST

Two of the most talked about shows have their season premieres for free right now, with the season premieres of Better Call Saul and Game of Thrones free on the Google Play Store.

Any device that supports Google Play can watch these episodes, including your desktop, smartphone or even Chromecast. There are purchase options for the rest of the episodes, or the entire season run, too. Better Call Saul episodes are $1.99 each, or $16.99 for the entire season (with the first two episodes only available right now obviously).

Game of Thrones is a bit more expensive at $2.99 per episode or $28.99 for the entire season, of which there are four to secure. As for your region, you'll have to make sure that they're free before grabbing them, because for as far as we're aware, it's for the US only. If you find out it's free for you too, let us know in the comments below.

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HTC One M9 will reportedly have 8-core processor and 1080p display

We should expect to see the HTC One M9 unveiled very soon at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but before then we're seeing more detailed leaks on HTC's upcoming flagship smartphone.

The HTC One M9 should feature a 5-inch screen, with a resolution of 1920x1080, which is a bit of a let down compared to its competitors with 1440p displays. We should see an 8-core processor, 3GB of DDR4 RAM, 32/64GB of on-board storage, support for LTE Category 6 (300/50Mbps), Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with Sense 7.0, a 20.7-megapixel rear-facing camera, 4-megapixel UltraPixel front-facing camera, BoomSound, Bluetooth 4.1, a microSD card slot and a 2840mAh battery.

Some of you might have noticed in those specifications that we've written DDR4 RAM, which is an interesting addition to the mix. The Full HD display will provide additional battery life compared to those with a QHD panel, so while HTC won't win at display resolution, it should have a decent amount of battery life compared to competing handsets.

Continue reading: HTC One M9 will reportedly have 8-core processor and 1080p display (full post)