General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


Danish Retailer Tips Holiday Release for Grand Theft Auto V on PC

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 10:14 AM PDT

Grand Theft Auto VPsst, Rockstar Games -- release GTA V to PC already!

Hype was high leading up to the launch of Grand Theft Auto V, and just like with previous releases in the series, it launched to console first with nary a word from the developer when it would land on PC. Heck, we still don't know when GTA V will finally be ported over to Windows, though some hints have emerged. A Danish retailer recently listed GTA V shipping to PC on November 14, 2014, though now it says something different.

We caught wind of the potential November release through our sister site, PC Gamer, which took a screenshot of the initial listing. It was surmised that it could simply be a place holder, though maybe not since games typically release on Fridays in Europe, and November 14 falls on a Friday this year.

We headed over to the online shop (called Cool Shop) to see for ourselves, but it's not listing GTA V as having an "expected release" on December 31, 2014. That makes us less confident that the shop knows what it's talking about, but hey, at least it seems the game is close to launching.

Rockstar Games previously confirmed GTA V would eventually to ship to PC and next-generation console, it just didn't say when. When it does, it will have an enhanced video editor and a number of visual quality enhancements.

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Device Authentication Could Make Passwords Obsolete

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 09:56 AM PDT

Keys on KeyboardPerhaps one day you won't need a password to log into your accounts

Everyone knows you're not supposed to use the same password for multiple websites and services. If you follow that advice right down to the letter, then you're juggling numerous passwords, depending on how many banking sites, forums, auction portals, and everything else you're signed up for. It's a pain, and perhaps an unnecessary one -- device-based authentication could render passwords a thing of the past.

At least that's what Christopher Mims over at The Wall Street Journal believes. In fact, he's so confident about the irrelevance of passwords that he shared the one he setup for his Twitter account. It isn't a dummy account, either, but an active Twitter account that he's been using to post more than 51,000 tweets since 2007. His password is simply "christophermims."

He's willing to give it away because he uses a device-based authentication method that requires not only a password, but verification on his iPhone.

"If you want to sample the early version of a post-password future, all you have to do is switch on a common security feature of every major Web service. It's available across all the web giants, including every account offered by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and dozens of others, and yet surveys suggest more than half the public hasn't heard of it. It's called two-factor authentication," Mims explains.

It's not unlike an ATM, in which the first factor is your PIN (or password), and the second is your debit card, a physical thing that you keep in your wallet or purse. Without it, the PIN is useless, and so are passwords without a physical device in a two-factor authentication scheme, Mims argues.

What's your take on all this? Do you think device-based authentication will render standalone passwords obsolete? Give Mims' article a read and sound off!

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MakerBot 3D Printers Infiltrate a Dozen Home Depot Stores in Three States

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 09:29 AM PDT

MakerBot at Home Depot3D printers could end up in a hardware store near you

The 3D printing craze continues to gain steam, as well as attract attention outside of the technology sector. To wit, MakerBot and The Home Depot announced a collaboration to bring MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printers on the hardware store's website and a dozen brick-and-mortar Home Depot stores in California, Illinois, and New York beginning today. It's considered a pilot program and could expand to more stores if received well by the public.

"MakerBot 3D Printing and Scanning products will be showcased inside The Home Depot stores in specially designed kiosks that will encourage visitors to experience the wonder of 3D printing firsthand," MakerBot said (PDF). "Trained MakerBot retail staff will provide continual 3D printing demonstrations and offer 3D printed keepsakes for interested customers to take home with them, as well as help with purchase decisions."

Half of the stores showcasing the Replicator are located in California, with an additional four in Illinois (three in the Chicago area), and two more in New York. If you don't happen to live by one of available locations, you can browse Home Depot's selection of MakerBot printers and accessories on its website. At present, Home Depot's website carries the Replicator, Replicator 2, Replicator Mini, 3D Scanner, and both red and blue filament.

For many, price has been a prohibiting factor to make the leap into 3D printing territory. However, this collaboration is a neat way to introduce the technology to people who might otherwise overlook it.

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Microsoft Reportedly Expands Free Windows License Program to Boost Hardware Sales

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 08:41 AM PDT

Windows 8.1 LogoMore affordable Windows tablets could be on the horizon

Here's a bit of potentially good news for Microsoft's hardware partners. Word on the web is that Microsoft may expand its free Windows license program to include tablets priced below $250. Up until now, tablets less than 9 inches qualified for the subsidized pricing, though unconfirmed reports suggest the program will cast a wider net in order to get more Windows-based tablets out in the wild.

Microsoft's partners already pay a reduced rate for Windows 8.1, and ever since June, they've paid nothing for installing Windows 8.1 on smaller size tablets. Giving Windows away like that reduces their cost by $10 to $15, and with sometimes razor thin profit margins ruling the day, it's been enough of an incentive to attract additional vendors into the Windows space.

In addition, Digitimes reports that Intel has been aggressively promoting its CPUs for mobile devices in China. The hope is that by offering its processors at cheap prices, it will attract white-box players to join the fold.

As it stands, some 70 percent of whitebox vendors cooperating with Intel planned to release Android-based tablets in the second half of the year. However, between the expansion of the free Windows license program and cheaper Intel CPUs, that number is set to drop to 50 percent in the third quarter.

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Freshly Baked Raspberry Pi Model B+ Emerges From the Oven with More USB Ports, Improved Audio

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 08:16 AM PDT

Raspberry Pi Model B+The final evolution of the original Raspberry Pi

At some point in the future, there will be a brand new version of the Raspberry Pi, likely dubbed Raspberry Pi 2. For now, however, the Raspberry Pi Foundation decided to tweak the original model one final time by implementing several requested upgrades, and what emerged is the Model B+. It uses the same BCM2835 application processor as the Model B and still has 512MB of RAM. Heck, it even costs the same (or at least it's supposed to) -- $35. So, what's new?

There are now four USB 2.0 ports compared to two in the Model B, and they feature better hotplug and overcurrent behavior. You'll also find that the GPIO header has grown from 26 pins to 40 pins, lower power consumption thanks to replacing linear regulators with switching ones, improved audio with a dedicated low-noise power supply, and a push-push microSD card slot to replace the old friction-fit one.

All of this comes wrapped in a neater form factor -- the Raspberry Pi team aligned the USB connectors on the Model B+ with the board edge, moved composite video onto the 3.5mm jack, and added four squarely-placed mounting holes.

"We think you're going to love Model B+, but to ensure continuity of supply for our industrial customers we'll be keeping Model B in production for as long as there's demand for it," Raspberry Pi Foundation said.

Otherwise, if you're ready to make the leap, the Model B+ is available now. Adafruit has it for $40, slightly above the $35 price tag Raspberry Pi announced.

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Newegg Daily Deals: AMD FX-8320 Vishera, Intel Core i5 4460 Haswell, and More!

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 06:14 AM PDT

AMD FXnewegg logo

Top Deal:

Imagine if Jack had traded his mother's cow for a chip instead of three magical beans. Not just any chip, mind you, but an 8-core chip carefully crafted on a 32nm manufacturing process. Had it been thrown out the window, it might have grown into a towering AMD system, and who knows where the story would have gone from there. Want to find out? Then consider today's top deal for an AMD FX-8320 Vishera 8-Core Processor for $150 with free shipping (normally $160 - use coupon code: [EMCPCWP26]). We don't recommend tossing it out the window, but it sure would go nicely with a socket AM3+ motherboard.

Other Deals:

Intel Core i5-4460 Haswell Quad-Core 3.2GHz LGA 1150 Desktop Processor for $180 with free shipping (normally $190 - use coupon code: [EMCPCWP97])

Rosewill THOR V2-White Edition, THOR V2-W Gaming ATX Full Tower Computer Case for $100 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code: [EMCPCWP44])

Asus 24-inch 2ms Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor for $145 with free shipping (normally $180 - use coupon code: [EMCPCWP59]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate)

G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory for $153 with free shipping (normally $170 - use coupon code: [EMCPCWP36])

Microsoft's Cortana Voice Assistant Correctly Predicts World Cup Winner

Posted: 13 Jul 2014 10:45 PM PDT

Cortana in action during the World CUp

The voice assistant was spot on with 15 out of 16 knockout match predictions

The quadrennial soccer extravaganza that is the FIFA World Cup just got over in Brazil, with the Germans beating the Argentinians for the title by scoring the only goal of the match in the second half of extra time. But they weren't the tournament's only winners. The final also saw Microsoft's Windows Phone voice assistant Cortana cap off an overall brilliant tournament by once again correctly predicting the winner prior to kick off.

During the knockout matches she was spot on with all her predictions, save for the Brazil-Netherlands third place playoff, where her mojo deserted her and she ended up favoring hosts Brazil instead of the actual winners, the Dutch.

Here's an excerpt from a post on the Bing Blog explaining how the predictions work: "The process of predicting outcomes of sporting events is unlike voting show predictions [another thing Cortana does], as popularity and some sentiment signals do not play similar roles in determining who wins a contest.  Rather, the actions and performances of a handful of individuals solely determine who wins, loses, or ties.  For the tournament, our models evaluate the strength of each team through a variety of factors such as previous win/loss/tie record in qualification matches and other international competitions and margin of victory in these contests, adjusted for location since home field advantage is a known bias.  Further adjustments are made related to other factors which give one team advantages over another, such as home field (for Brazil) or proximity (South American teams), playing surface (hybrid grass), game-time weather conditions, and other such factors.  In addition, data obtained from prediction markets allows us to tune the win/lose/tie probabilities due to the 'wisdom of the crowds' phenomenon captured by the people wagering on the outcomes. You can read more about the model on the Next Blog here."

Image Credit: Bing Germany

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Cheaper Chromebooks in the Offing

Posted: 13 Jul 2014 10:23 PM PDT

Chromebooks

Use of inexpensive ARM SoCs could pave the way for sub-$200 Chromebooks

When Acer recently introduced the C720 Chromebook, a Haswell Core i3-toting device, we couldn't help but wonder if users would be comfortable shelling out $350 or more for a Chromebook. This is an especially pertinent question because if there's one thing that has helped these nifty little devices carve a niche for themselves, it is their greater affordability compared to entry-level Windows machines. The good news is that Chromebooks are likely to get even more affordable in the near future.

This is because inexpensive ARM-based SoCs from the likes of MediaTek and Rockchip could end up powering future Chromebook models. Taiwan-based MediaTek, in fact, has already begun its efforts to get in on the Chrome OS action.

"A new experimental ARM Cortex A7 board named Moose has recently been added to the open-source Chromium OS repository by MediaTek," Google's François Beaufort revealed in a Google Plus post Saturday.

With A7 chips from the likes of MediaTek being cheaper than even the ARM-based Exynos chips Samsung currently uses in a couple of its Chromebooks (the only company to do so), any device based on such SoCs will no doubt be cheaper than existing ARM- and X86-based Chromebooks, albeit while being considerably slower as well. However, all such dirt cheap devices are still quite far off — that is, if they show up at all.

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Adobe Now Guarantees Access to Lightroom Photos Even Beyond Subscription Expiry

Posted: 13 Jul 2014 10:04 PM PDT

Lightroom

Lightroom 5.5 update addresses "lingering concern"

Over a year back, Adobe abandoned its pay-once, use-forever Creative Suite in favor of a subscription-based app distribution model. Despite the ensuing furor, the company's recurring annual revenue from Creative Cloud subscriptions has grown to over $1.20 billion. That being said, the company seems willing to address some of the gripes of its over 2.4 million Creative Cloud subscribers  — well, especially where Lightroom users are concerned.

Last month, it made the once promotional $9.99 per month (annually) Creative Cloud Photography bundle, which includes access to Photoshop and Lightroom, a permanent part of its product portfolio, giving users of its popular photography apps a more affordable alternative to the $50-per-month Creative Cloud annual subscription. (Note: A perpetual license option is also available but the standalone Lightroom bought thus does not come with any mobile capabilities.) Now the company says it has addressed a major issue that has been bothering those who happen to access Lightroom under one of the subscription plans.

"With the latest update to Lightroom 5.5 I believe we've also addressed a lingering concern in the community: What happens to my photographs after my membership ends?  With Lightroom 5.5, at the end of a membership, the desktop application will continue to launch and provide access to the photographs managed within Lightroom as well as the Slideshow, Web, Book or Print creations that we know many photographers painstakingly create," Tom Hogarty, principal product manager of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, said in a blog post Thursday.

"The Develop and Map modules have been disabled in order to signal the end of the membership and the need to renew in order to receive Adobe's continuous innovation in those areas. Access to Lightroom mobile workflows will also cease to function. We hope this meets the expectations of our customers and we look forward to an ongoing dialog."

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MMO Updates

MMO Updates


MechWarrior Online vid talks upcoming changes

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 09:00 AM PDT

Filed under: , , , , , , ,

mwo
In a new MechWarrior Online video, members of the dev team take time to discuss the upcoming overhaul to the module system, gameplay updates, community warfare, and new maps. One of the neat features coming to the game is the match rejoin feature, which will give players a grace period to get back into a match and get rewards if they are disconnected for some reason.

There's a ton of preview drops in this 13-minute video, and it's all yours to enjoy after the jump!

Continue reading MechWarrior Online vid talks upcoming changes

MassivelyMechWarrior Online vid talks upcoming changes originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jul 2014 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Braben: We 'would be stupid not to' look at Elite on consoles

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 08:00 AM PDT

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Frontier is considering console versions of Elite: Dangerous, according to Eurogamer.

"I don't want to do something that constitutes an announcement," studio boss David Braben said, "but we would be stupid not to support other platforms, including console."

Frontier has experience making both Sony and Microsoft first-party games, and Elite uses the same engine as Xbox One launch title Zoo Tycoon. A possible Elite console port will take a while, though, as Frontier is currently laser-focused on the PC release. "We will then do the game on Mac and during that time we will be looking at other platforms as well," Braben said.

MassivelyBraben: We 'would be stupid not to' look at Elite on consoles originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jul 2014 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE documentary A Tale of Internet Spaceships now playing

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 07:00 AM PDT

Filed under: , , , , , , , ,

Crowdfunded EVE Online documentary A Tale of Internet Spaceships is now viewable on YouTube. The 56-minute film was shot during Fanfest 2013 and it seeks to both introduce EVE to the uninitiated and to illuminate the period around the game's Incarna expansion (as well as the player revolts that followed).

Continue reading EVE documentary A Tale of Internet Spaceships now playing

MassivelyEVE documentary A Tale of Internet Spaceships now playing originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What's your favorite Secret World deck outfit?

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 06:00 AM PDT

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Before I get to the traditional question that powers the Daily Grind, I'd like to give a pre-emptive heads-up to any Massively newbs in the audience. Yes, it was a slow news day when this piece was published (8:00 a.m. EDT). Yes, this is pure fluff meant for fun and perhaps discussion over a cup of coffee.

With that out of the way, let's talk The Secret World. More specifically, let's talk about the game's spiffy deck-based outfits. I just finished collecting all of them on my Templar. Some of them are truly butt-ugly, but a handful of them make my character look even more badass than he actually is (which is pretty badass, don't get me wrong). Anyway, which deck outfit is your favorite?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

MassivelyThe Daily Grind: What's your favorite Secret World deck outfit? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    MMO Week in Review: ESO's slash-and-burn update

    Posted: 13 Jul 2014 06:00 PM PDT

    Filed under: , , ,

    ESO
    At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post.

    This week, The Elder Scrolls Online team revealed plans for its third major patch; due in August, the update will include the first part of a slash-and-burn overhaul of the unpopular veteran ranks system. Meanwhile, Massively ESO columnist Jef Reahard opined on why immersion is so important for ZeniMax's MMO.

    Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories.

    Continue reading MMO Week in Review: ESO's slash-and-burn update

    MassivelyMMO Week in Review: ESO's slash-and-burn update originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      Ask Massively: Seven seriously spectacular reasons to hate clickbait

      Posted: 13 Jul 2014 04:00 PM PDT

      Filed under: , , , ,

      Hehe
      Oh hi! Welcome to our clickbait article, and thanks for clicking! No really, let's talk about clickbait. Massively reader Avaera recently posed to me a question that dovetailed nicely with a few complaints I've seen in our comments. He wrote,
      Does Massively make a deliberate effort to minimize the number of perceived "clickbait" opinion pieces? That is, to make sure that any controversial topics or unpopular opinions are discussed only sparingly, so that the perception and reputation of the site is kept relatively neutral? I can completely understand trying to manage a certain tone for the community; I'm just curious if that is an explicit factor in some editorial decisions.
      I'll tell you, but first you have to click to find out!

      Continue reading Ask Massively: Seven seriously spectacular reasons to hate clickbait

      MassivelyAsk Massively: Seven seriously spectacular reasons to hate clickbait originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Jul 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        Elder Scrolls' Sage explains new Champion alternate advancement

        Posted: 13 Jul 2014 12:00 PM PDT

        Filed under: , , , , , , , , , ,

        Elder Scrolls Online creative director Paul Sage released a lot of interesting info about the future of the game on a recent ESO Off the Record videocast. Sage talks about everything from the new Dragonstar Arena in Craglorn to an Imperial City three-vs.-three PvP map to guild management and class balance additions to extensive VR changes.

        The veteran rank tweaks are so huge that they'll be rolled out in phases, the first of which debuted earlier this week and featured "lower difficulty" in existing VR zones. Phase two will remove veteran points in favor of normal XP and will also include increased PvP XP. Phase three will completely replace the current VR system with the Champion System, which involves alternate advancement that Sage compares to the AA system in EverQuest II.

        That's not all, either, as Sage's interview runs for nearly two hours. You can watch the whole thing after the cut. If you don't have time for that, Dulfy has published a summary transcript.

        Continue reading Elder Scrolls' Sage explains new Champion alternate advancement

        MassivelyElder Scrolls' Sage explains new Champion alternate advancement originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Jul 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        MMORPG News

        MMORPG News


        Das Tal: Alpha Testing to Kick Off on July 20th

        Posted: 14 Jul 2014 08:05 AM PDT

        Alpha Testing to Kick Off on July 20th

        Last month, Fairytale Distillery and the Das Tal team announced that alpha testing would commence sometime in July. That sometime has now been announced as officially happening on July 20th. The initial pool of testers will be selected from over a thousand applicants. The first round of alpha testing will be focused on PvP with hints of the story behind the game.

        General: Google's Ingress Now Available on iTunes

        Posted: 14 Jul 2014 07:54 AM PDT

        Google

        Google's 'real world' MMO, Ingress, is now available on iTunes and can be played by those with any iOS system. As players move through the real world, they are given hints about a mysterious energy that has been released in the world and have the ability to collect items, align with other players to capture territory and much more.

        Firefall: Just How Much Has Changed for Launch? A Lot.

        Posted: 14 Jul 2014 05:48 AM PDT

        Just How Much Has Changed for Launch? A Lot.

        If your first reaction to reading the title of this article was, "Wait, Firefall hasn't been released yet?" I don't think anyone would blame you. Originally announced way back in 2010, this MMO shooter has been struggling for the past few years to finally grasp hold of its original vision. From the overly convoluted original progression system, to a hampered PvP mode, nearly all facets of the game have undergone extreme renovations in the past couple years.

        General: This Week's Live Stream Schedule

        Posted: 14 Jul 2014 05:40 AM PDT

        This Week

        We've published this week's MMORPG.com Live Stream schedule that is packed with MMO action, including a special Carbine-MMORPG.com stream to be held on Wednesday. Check it out and make your plans to be there!

        The World 2: Steam Greenlight Campaign a Success

        Posted: 14 Jul 2014 04:45 AM PDT

        Steam Greenlight Campaign a Success

        We Are Good has announced that The World 2 has successfully completed its Steam Greenlight campaign. According to press information, The World 2 will now be produced in an offline single-player mode in PC, Mac and Linux flavors.

        World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Beta Sweepstakes! (Week 2)

        Posted: 13 Jul 2014 01:21 PM PDT

        Warlords of Draenor Beta Sweepstakes! (Week 2)

        MMORPG.com is very pleased to present this exclusive sweepstakes event! We have partnered with Blizzard Entertainment to give away 1,000 beta access keys for the new World of Warcraft expansion: Warlords of Draenor!

        General: Rainbow Saga Reveals Classes

        Posted: 12 Jul 2014 11:04 PM PDT

        Rainbow Saga Reveals Classes

        Hong Kong-based publisher NGames will "soon" be adding to its considerable stable of free-to-play online games with the upcoming arcade style MMO, Rainbow Saga. This week the company revealed three playable classes from the cartoony fantasy RPG.

        TUG: New Partnership with Yogscast

        Posted: 12 Jul 2014 11:16 PM PDT

        New Partnership with Yogscast

        Open-world, social-science experiment/RPG TUG is following up its recent alpha launch on Steam Early Access by collaborating with "The UK's kings of YouTube", Yogscast.

        General: Dark Horse Comics to Publish The World of the Witcher

        Posted: 12 Jul 2014 11:27 PM PDT

        Dark Horse Comics to Publish The World of the Witcher

        Dark Horse Comics and CD Projekt Red are working together to bring fans of the Witcher series a collector's quality hardbound book featuring never-before published art.

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