Gaming - Page 1140

CES 2015 - Gaming peripheral company Mad Catz launched the TRITTON Swarm wireless mobile headset, designed for use with PCs, mobile and smart devices.

Swarm is a gaming headset but also can be switched as a method to receive and answer phone calls, since the headphones can be paired with two separate devices at the same time.

"TRITTON is known for its outstanding audio quality and we believe now is the time to further broaden the appeal of the brand," said Darren Richardson, president and CEO of Mad Catz, in a press statement. "We believe the Swarm will resonate with today's fashion conscious gamer, who typically plays across a variety of devices."

CES 2015 - Gaming peripheral company Mad Catz launched its F.R.E.Q. Stereo Gaming Headset, designed for Microsoft Windows PCs and Mac OS X. As part of the company's Tournament Edition range of gaming products, F.R.E.Q. was created with help from professional e-sports gamers.

The padded ear cups support precision 50mm speakers and the microphone is a uni-directional Boom Mic. The headset doesn't require any drivers or complicated software, a welcome decision as many gaming peripherals ship with occasionally complicated software.

"Our Tournament Edition range appeals to the passionate gamer who plays at a professional level," said Darren Richardson, President and CEO of Mad Catz, in a press statement. "By focusing on quality and only the features needed to win at a competitive level, we believe the F.R.E.Q. will prove a common fixture at LAN tournaments and allow us to grow our share in the rapidly growing e-sports arena."

CES 2015 - Gaming peripheral company SteelSeries has introduced the Apex M800, a product that the company says is the world's fastest, most customizable mechanical gaming keyboard.

SteelSeries says the keyboard has 25 percent faster actuation than current mechanical gaming keyboards, able to respond to every keystroke from PC gamers. Each key has a surface-mounted LED, and colors can be customized based on each gamer's particular needs.

The SteelSeries Apex M800 has a $199.99 MSRP.

In a case of 'why didn't Valve do this sooner' the creator of Half-Life has just unveiled a new in-game FPS counter that is baked into Steam. Gamers across the world, myself included, will be loving this new feature which allows for a much easier way of keeping an eye of your frame rate in-game, without using third-party software.

If you want to use the new in-game FPS counter, you're going to need to opt into the new Steam beta, something that can be done through the Steam client's settings menu. The beta of Steam is pretty damn stable these days, with options like this placed inside of Steam to play around with them before it hits the final version.

The in-game FPS counter is enabled by going to the in-game menu, and then clicking the box to add the in-game FPS counter - simple!

It's been a tough few months of connection and lag issues for Blizzard. If you're trying to login to their Battle.Net service to play any game they have on offer, it might be worth giving it a few hours.

As confirmed on their Customer Service Twitter account, Blizzard's login servers are experiencing connection issues and are developing long queues for users. Even more unfortunate for them was commenting on a time they expect the servers to be operational - four hours ago they stated a 90-minute wait, followed by a Tweet two hours ago claiming only 60 minutes until the servers are operational.

As you can see, their latest Tweets simply tells everyone to stay posted for updates, here's hoping they will be fixed soon.

To make up for a few days of PlayStation Network disruption because of the Lizard Squad distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, Sony has announced it a "holiday thank you" to gamers.

"Happy New Year! Since access to PlayStation Network was impacted during the holidays, we wanted to show our appreciation for your patience by offering all PlayStation Plus members that had an active membership or free trial on December 25th a membership extension of five days."

The extension will be automatically applied, and additional details will be published on the official PlayStation Blog. Also, all PlayStation Network gamers can receive a 10 percent discount code for a one-time purchase from the PlayStation Store. The discount is applicable towards new releases, indie games, game add-ons and season passes, along with select movies and TV episodes.

RAM drives and RAM caching have long been a secret of the gaming and overclocking elite to attain the fastest load times and smoothest gameplay possible. The advent of the SSD has reduced usage of RAM caching due to the SSDs similar performance, and overall simplicity. RAM drives and RAM caching have several hindrances, they require a lot of DRAM because they cache the entire OS, along with everything else, into the DRAM. RAM is also susceptible to power loss. For those with overclocked gaming rigs an errant BSOD can cause massive data loss and require complete reinstallation of the OS. This is not a tradeoff many are willing to make.

Enter Dimmdrive. This new program, which will be available for $34 on Steam today, takes a different approach that removes many of the disadvantages of typical RAM caching. Dimmdrive allows users to specify exactly which data is cached into the DRAM, so users can load just a single game into the RAM. This reduces the amount of RAM required, and also helps minimize exposure to data loss from any type of BSOD or power loss. It is much simpler to reinstall a game than an entire operating system. Once the game is loaded into RAM users can expect speeds up to 13 GB/s for any cached data.

Details are slight on how deeply the program is integrated in Steam. It will be available for purchase, and the best implementation would be for users to simply select a game in the dashboard to accelerate performance. If the program works separately the user will have to manually select the game folder.

A group called H4LT reportedly released the Microsoft Xbox One software development kit onto the Internet, to help "end 2014 with a bang." The leaked SDK could potentially open the door for developers to create their own apps and games for the Xbox One - but they will still be required to register with Microsoft beforehand.

H4LT noticed there is no "definite exploit" for the Xbox One, but hopes this will help coders to begin working on their own homebrew solutions.

"We leaked it to the community because if something is shared then... progress is achieved faster than alone.... The SDK will basically allow the community to reverse and open doors towards homebrew applications being present on the Xbox One."

After some Origin users reported fraudulent activity on their accounts, Electronic Arts launched an investigation to try to determine if a data breach occurred. The DerpTrolling hacker group said they compromised up to 1.7 million Origin accounts and passwords, which is why some users could be reporting unauthorized game purchases.

On gaming forums and Twitter, users are reporting Origin receipts in German and Russian appearing in their email inbox - it would seem likely that this isn't a direct breach of Origin's network, and the fraudsters accessed the stolen information posted online by DerpTrolling.

"We found no indication at this point of a breach of our Origin account database," an EA spokesperson told PCGamer. "Privacy and security of user account information are of the utmost importance to use. We encourage our players to use Origin user ID and passwords that are unique to their account, and to report any activity they feel may be unauthorized to EA customer support at help.ea.com."

Microsoft is currently tweaking its latest SDK for the Xbox One, something that Dying Light developer Techland has gotten its hands-on. We've heard that Dying Light will be running at 1080p and 30FPS on the Xbox One and PS4, but it looks like the Xbox One side of things received its 1080p 30FPS target thanks to the latest update.

The update in question provides developers with the ability of tweaking the Xbox One's eSRAM usage, where performance can be improved. The Lead Game Designer on Dying Light, Maciej Binkowski explains "We were using the latest version just prior to the new release that came out on December 12th. In terms of advantages, the main thing is just how much the ESRAM control has improved. The new API allows you to do a lot more with the ESRAM, things devs have always wanted to do but were not easily accessible. This together with better tools (PIX) allowed us to really improve performance and tweak ESRAM usage."

PIX, or Performance Investigator is a software tool used by developers on the Xbox One to analyze and debug their code in order to increase the performance of their titles. There have been a few developers that have been doing this, squeezing out as much performance as they can from the current (at the time) SDK. These developers include Bungie with Destiny, and Rockstar with Grand Theft Auto V, so Techland isn't the only one doing some tweaking with Dying Light.

As confirmed by Nintendo's UK Twitter, the age-old classic Game Boy Tetris will be pulled from the eShop durng the last day of 2014.

This marks the end of an era, with Tetris on the original Game Boy being a title that helped define handheld gaming globally and showcased exactly how exciting and awesome potable devices could be. If you ask anyone about a gaming title they might know, Tetris is always one of the first to mind - a timeless classic that still facilitates global competitions and events being conducted to this very day.

There has been no confirmation from Nintendo America or other regions as to if this game will be pulled from the e-shelves in their respective regions. Some news outlets are speculating that this game was pulled due to Nintendo's recent 3DS release of Ubisoft's Tetris Ultimate. Currently avilable for the bargain price of $3.99, please don't let this news ruin your fun - go and pick yourself up a piece of gaming history. We really hope that Ubisoft isn't at fault for this ordeal, it certainly couldn't do too well in improving the current markets public opinion of the big-name developer.

As seen on the official Halo Twitter account, Halo 5's multiplayer beta has been opened up to the public, ending on the 18th of January 2015.

Anyone who has purchased the Halo: The Master Chief Collection automatically should have access to this beta, with the full game set for launch this fall and exclusive to the next-gen Xbox One console.

This sequel is said to continue the story of Master Chief and introduce Spartan Locke, a brand new addition to the series. Once again you'll be fighting against peace-shattering invader aliens, seeing Spartan Locke on a mission to find the somewhat-elusive Master Chief alongside solving a complicated mystery that threatens the entire galaxy.

If you're running a previous generation console and are looking for a few cheap titles to place in your collection before the new year rolls around, Xbox are offering up a plethora of deals running right until the clock hits 12:00 am on the 1st of January.

Whether you're interested in FIFA 15 for only $29.99 or Game of Thrones for $2.49, this comprehensive list has games on offer for almost any console fan.

There are a few 'filler' titles on the list, however Microsoft have done a fairly good job of offering up some solid gaming offerings at reasonable prices. If full games aren't you thing however, you can purchase things like the World of Tanks Currency Mega Pack and other similar items.

Fan-made mods are simply breathtaking in this age of gaming. We've recently seen things such as the Skyrim Enderal mod adding a whole new game within a game, another Skyrim fan-update offering 4K resolution textures, bug fixes and more and various community made Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitive maps and add-on's. All of these additions are what help keeps a title active, strong and relevant for months, or years, to come.

Thanks to Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes coming out on PC, some modders have taken to the model of developer Hideo Kojima that is on offer - adding him as the main playable character of the campaign. Thanks to the game engines capabilities, multiple models can be implemented as the main character on offer.

Stay tuned for more game modding news. It seems that we can only go up from here.

Known globally for their massive $78,000 season 17 incorporating American and European teams, ESEA have decided to further expand to the Asia-Pacific. This inclusion will see the prize pot increase to a sum of $100,000.

European teams being included in ESEA's online league and finals is still a rather new addition, seeing this competition gain massive global respect as many of the top CS:GO teams are located in European nations. It seems that the inclusion of Asia-Pacific is helping ESEA solidify their place as one of the world's largest tournament providers.

Along with this new region inclusion, ESEA are offering up a new recruitment section to assist teams and players in joining together for tournaments in preparation for their season 18 signup closure, set to happen on January the 5th next year. Over the next few weeks ESEA will be announcing further rule sets, map rotations and other essential tournament information. If you're interested in competing in this event, you'll have to head to their registration page before the cut-off date.

If you're not already aware, the Steam Sales Tracker is a brilliant tool, offering up an easy-to-see list of the current sales on offer, their time left of sale, the communities verdict on the game and also a handy extension to help link it to your personal steam account.

Steam are doing what they do best, churning out yet another sale period and drying up many other-enthusiastic gamers wallets. We've had a quick browse and consolidated some of the coolest game specials on offer right now.

As according to the Steam Sale tracker 'Community's Choice' section, the hottest titles available today include a 66 percent saving on Mercenary Kings, the indie side-scrolling puzzle game Gunpoint for only $4.99 USD and the addictive and simply designed LUFTRAUSERS game for half price.

Boyd Multerer, the engineer who was responsible on leading development for Xbox Live and the XNA game development tools for Xbox, has left Microsoft after working with the Redmond-based giant for 17 years. Multerer announced he was leaving the Xbox team on Twitter, where he said "Goodbye Microsoft. It was a good run. Xbox was Great! Time to do something new."

Multerer joined the company in 1997, where in 2000 he was hired to lead development on the online side of the original Xbox console, which was called Xbox Online at the time. Multerer then hired the Xbox Live development team, leading the design of what would soon become Xbox Live. He not only lead the design, but the direction and implementation of Xbox Live, too. Multerer was the very first person to use Xbox Live, where he emphasized security and anti-cheating measures to be installed.

The engineer would later turn into the product manager on XNA, in order to meet "the pent-up demand of independent game developers" and build "the first open marketplace on a console." The all-rounder engineer eventually becvame the director of development for Xbox, where he was part of the Xbox One team and overlooked technical design and development of Microsoft's then next-gen Xbox. During a technical roundtable discussion, Multerer said "The last one, the box was fixed," explaining that the Xbox One can access "a growing number of transistors that are not that far away" that will allow the console push out "bigger world's, and take some of the things that are normally done locally and push them out."

Sony can't catch a break lately, with their internal servers being breached by North Korea - well, at least the United States government and FBI is claiming they did - while their PlayStation Network was slammed down on Christmas Day by hacking group The Lizard Squad.

Sony's PSN service still experiencing "intermittent connectivity issues," something the company has taken to its PlayStation Knowledge Center to talk about. Some are able to sign onto their PS3, PS4 and PS Vita devices, but aren't able to sign into, or access the PlayStation Store, or get their Friends list to display.

The company is now asking gamers to attempt tweaking their MTU settings in their console's network configuration options, which could fix the problems they're having accessing the PlayStation Network.

Are you able to log onto Microsoft's Xbox Live service? Days after being dropped by the Lizard Squad on Christmas morning, it appears problems are surfacing again. On Saturday afternoon, the Microsoft service website saying Xbox Live is down once again, with Xbox One and Xbox 360 gamers confirming the news.

Although the Xbox Live Status website reports the core services, purchase and content usage, website, TV music and video, and social gaming aspects are reported to be working again - many users are reporting they are unable to game and access content.

Multiplayer titles such as Destiny and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare require active Internet service, but titles such as Far Cry 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition - which are largely played in single-player - still access third-party server connections.

Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network are clawing their way back to full functionality, a couple of days after crippling distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks by the Lizard Squad hacking group.

The Xbox Live service, which has almost 50 million global users, was working significantly better by Friday evening - but the PlayStation Network, supporting almost 110 million users, still had significant problems, preventing users from logging on.

In a tweet issued Saturday morning, Sony had this to say: "Update: PS4, PS3, and Vita network services are gradually coming back online - thanks for your patience." A follow-up statement noted: "We are seeing reduced reports of network issues. We'll continue to monitor."