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AMD to power 360 degree VR news broadcasts and documentaries
AMD is partnering up with the Associated Press to bring an unprecedented level of interactivity to the world of news reporting with "next generation VR journalism".
With the help of AMD's Radeon graphics hardware, the Associated Press will report news on a new VR channel, allowing viewers to seamlessly enter real-time news broadcasts with full 360-degree field of views. The plan is to breathe new life into news coverage and documentaries using the immersive power of virtual reality, which could revolutionize the world of news reporting altogether.
AMD will leverage the power of its Graphics Core Next Radeon graphics technology in conjunction with LiquidVR to render environments for documentaries and news coverage. AMD is confident that it's tech will deliver "spectacular VR visual experiences to engage audiences both emotionally and intellectually". The AP promises that its new VR channel will immerse viewers with a new dimension of news reporting, allowing them to actually experience major news stories rather than just watching.
Continue reading: AMD to power 360 degree VR news broadcasts and documentaries (full post)
26k WordPress sites attacked with a clever layer 7 DDoS attack
It seems no one is safe from the mighty DDoS anymore, and you don't even have to use anyone's bandwidth to accomplish that feat either. A flaw in WordPress's pingback feature has allowed a layer 7 (the application layer) DDoS take down, and effect, nearly 26,000 different sites using the CMS.
The attackers are flooding the sites with HTTPS requests, in this case pingbacks, that the server will log to the database and try to process. Being HTTPS means that more resources are being used to establish an SSL session, which devotes those resources to those tasks. Enough requests and the site can slow down to a crawl because the physical server just isn't fast enough. Not as much network bandwidth is needed to send these packets, so at the network layer it may look like normal traffic. But even 10,000 HTTPS requests per second can take offline even a modestly powerful server.
Thankfully the solution is relatively simple. Just turn-off pingbacks on your site altogether. At the very least change your .htaccess file to whitelist only the known and good IP addresses that are within your own community, those that aren't part of a botnet. Apparently the application layer DDoS attack accounts for around 13% of all DDoS attacks according to Sucuri. That's a lot more than you might think.
Continue reading: 26k WordPress sites attacked with a clever layer 7 DDoS attack (full post)
Fallout 4's season pass dominate's Steam's top sellers list
Bethesda recently dropped a megaton nuke onto the Commonwealth by revealing the first wave of Fallout 4's DLC packs. The announcement not only triggered a wave of anticipation but also rocketed Fallout 4's season pass to the number one spot on Steam's best-seller list.
There's a very simple reason Fallout 4's season pass is selling like hotcakes. Bethsoft made some key changes to the game's all-access pass to reflect its new expanded DLC roadmap, hiking the price to $50. But the price isn't instantaneous, and gamers still have up until March 1 to grab the pass at $30, which accounts for the huge influx of pass purchases.
Bethesda's grace period strategy has worked out quite well, and pretty much every Fallout 4 player wants to grab the season pass for $30 before it jumps to $50. The devs promise that "more than $60 worth of Fallout 4 add-on content" is planned for 2016, and if you buy the pass at $30 you still get access to the full shebang--the first three DLC packs and every pack afterwards.
Continue reading: Fallout 4's season pass dominate's Steam's top sellers list (full post)
Surface Pro 4 and Book update finally fixes the power-drain problems
The newest Surface line of devices has been marred by a few unsettling problems. They just didn't seem to enter into the deepest of sleep states, which means the battery would run down far faster than you'd expect. Sometimes even being dead when you really wanted to use them. Some new firmware updates have been pushed out by Microsoft that finally solve those long-standing power drain issues.
The CEO of Microsoft, Panos Panay himself, actually posted in a blog post to communicate how thankful they are of patience from those affected. "Today's updates include a set of Microsoft and Intel driver and firmware updates for Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 that will help you get the most of the power management options that Surface is designed to offer and continue to make your Surface more productive," Panay wrote in the post. "We love our Surface customers. You are our early adopters and our fans and you keep inspiring us with what you are able to do with Surface. You keep pushing us to make Surface even better."
Power management was one of the first issues noted by some of the early adopters, and this update is long in the making. It was one of the most requested updates despite it largely being ignored until now. Battery life could potentially be reduced to around 3-5 working hours, sometimes even being completely drained once arriving at some far off destination. It didn't quite work as advertised, and was incredibly frustrating. And this is just in time for our long-term gaming focused review of the Surface Book. How delightful.
Continue reading: Surface Pro 4 and Book update finally fixes the power-drain problems (full post)
Multiplayer only version of Call of Duty: Black Ops III now on Steam
Activision knows that the multiplayer is what really sells the Call of Duty series, so they've taken the multiplayer-only approach from the older consoles and released a Multiplayer Starter Pack for Black Ops III for $14.99.
Even though have quite the large budget for creating a truly spectacular single-player productions, with triple-A actors and a story that could rival many good movies (but admittedly aren't always fun to play), the true fun is in the competing with your friends, and insult-hurling strangers across the Internet.
This lowers the price of entry into the competitive world of Call of Duty and lets you play the fun bits without having to have the extra large single-player campaign taking up precious hard-drive space. Of course, you won't be able to enjoy the delightful Zombies game mode, either.
Continue reading: Multiplayer only version of Call of Duty: Black Ops III now on Steam (full post)
NVIDIA secures Tomb Raider and other Square Enix games for GeForce Now
NVIDIA is on a roll when it comes to game franchises arriving on their GeForce Now service, with Tomb Raider launching on GeForce Now... and even better, it's completely free.
NVIDIA adds that this is "the first of many Square Enix titles coming to SHIELD", teasing that "Sleeping Dogs, Lara Croft Guardian of the Light, Quantum Conundrum, Murdered Soul Suspect, and more that will be released soon on SHIELD for GeForce NOW members. Keep an eye out for SHIELD Tuesday updates!"
Right now, GeForce Now features over 80 games that you can play right now on Shield, with more major publishers stepping on board. Janet Swallow, Vice President of Licensing Worldwide for Eidos Label at Square Enix explains: "Square Enix is delighted to join the NVIDIA SHIELD platform and enable instant access for gamers to stream our award-winning franchises like Tomb Raider with GeForce NOW".
Continue reading: NVIDIA secures Tomb Raider and other Square Enix games for GeForce Now (full post)
Classic styling is back with the Lian Li PC-7N chassis
Announced recently in a press release, Lian Li has shown off its 'classic design' PC-7N chassis for those looking for a break from the mainstream flashy offerings.
The PC-7N chassis comes packed with four drive bays that feature vibration-dampening rubber washers and are mounted in a way to encourage simple installation procedures. Further supporting CPU coolers up to 170mm tall, video cards up to 370mm long and ATX power supplies up to 270mm in length, this new release comes packaged with two 120mm front intake fans and a 120mm exhaust fan on the rear panel.
Set to hit the market at the end of this month, expect to pay $99 off the shelf. More information on this model can be found here.
Continue reading: Classic styling is back with the Lian Li PC-7N chassis (full post)
NVIDIA announces its The Division game bundle with GeForce cards
NVIDIA has made it official, announcing that its partners will be bundling free copies of The Division with certain GeForce video cards. It all kicks off this week and lasts for around a month with the deal taking place throughout the US, Canada, most European countries, and a few Asian countries.
Which GeForce cards will include a free copy of The Division? You'll be glad to know the GeForoce GTX 980 Ti, GTX 980 and GTX 970 will include a free copy, as well as the GTX 980 for notebooks, and the GTX 980M and GTX 970M-powered notebooks. The expensive GTX Titan X isn't included, and neither are the GTX 960 and GTX 950 nor are the GTX 965M and below for notebooks.
Earlier today we reported that NVIDIA has over 100 million GeForce gamers, with the company excited for the future of VR gaming. The company also announced record quarterly, and full-year revenue riding a huge wave of success in nearly every aspect of its business.
Continue reading: NVIDIA announces its The Division game bundle with GeForce cards (full post)
Valve wants to make hardware 'more like software'
While speaking to The Guardian, Valve's veteran coder and designer Robin Walker, who has been working on the Steam Controller for three years now, explained that the company has been trying to make its hardware "more like software".
Walker said that the design team at Valve tried to visualize the controller as a piece of physical software, where it could be adjusted and tweaked to perfection. Walker added: "We're very interested in trying to make hardware more like software. With a traditional controller, people think of it as a solely physical object: you build the hardware, you build a thumbstick and the thumbstick says 'I'm being pressed right', and that information goes to the game".
She continued: "But there's actually a huge software layer that's doing a lot of work: how you interpret and filter for things like my thumb slipping off the pad; or if you want a character to move sideways, well, the reality is no one moves their thumb perfectly horizontally, so how do you adjust for that? It's all software work".
Continue reading: Valve wants to make hardware 'more like software' (full post)
Warren Spector, the creator of Deus Ex, is working on System Shock 3
The original Deus Ex was one of the best first-person RPGs of all time, with its creator Warren Spector becoming a household name amongst gamers. Well, the legendary game designer has joined the developer of System Shock 3, Otherside Entertainment.
Spector joins Otherside Entertainment as the Studio Director, after being the founder of Ion Storm in the 90s, creating Deus Ex. He also worked on other iconic PC games like Wing Commander, Ultime, and even Thief. In 2005, Spector joined Disney to work on Epic Mickey, a steampunk Nintendo Wii title. Now at Otherside, Spector will be working on both System Shock 3, and Underworld Ascendant.
Spector talked with GamesIndustry.biz, where he said he was excited about working on System Shock 3. He said: "I've loved working with students as Director of the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy in the University of Texas' Moody College of Communication. But when the opportunity to have a bigger role in bringing Underworld Ascendant to life, as well as playing in the System Shock universe once again, helping to bring these games to a 21st century audience, I just couldn't say no. Working on System Shock was one of the most fulfilling things I've done in my career and it's hard to describe how much I'm looking forward to sharing with players what SHODAN has been up to since the last game was released".
Continue reading: Warren Spector, the creator of Deus Ex, is working on System Shock 3 (full post)