General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


You Can Pre-Order Windows 10 on Amazon Right Now

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 04:26 PM PDT

Windows 10 Boxshots

What we already know about Windows 10 is that customers currently running Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 will have a year to upgrade to Windows 10 for free when the new platform launches on July 29. Customers with the "Get Windows 10" app sitting on their system tray are now encouraged to reserve a spot in the digital rollout.

But what if you're building a Windows 10 machine from scratch? Customers who already own Windows 7 will need SP1 installed first before taking the upgrading plunge. Customers with Windows 8 will need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 before installing the new OS. In both cases, Windows 10 relies on the customer's genuine serial code that comes with Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1. Remember, the free upgrade to Windows 10 will last a full year.

However, for those who don't have Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, they will need to purchase Windows 10 outright. The cost for the Home Edition will be $120, the Pro Edition will set you back $200, and the upgrade from Home to Pro will cost $100. The box art appears above, with the Home version in blue and the Pro version in purple. The boxes will likely be the same for the disc-based versions and the USB versions.

That brings us to the heart of the topic. Amazon is currently taking pre-orders for Windows 10 in USB form: the Home version here and the Pro version here. Both listings state that these copies of Windows 10 will ship to consumers on August 16, 2015. Both listings also use the box art that was leaked last week and clarifies that the operating system will be free to Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 customers for a year.

Windows 10 is expected to launch on July 29, so the August ship date is rather interesting. Will these USB sticks arrive after the disc-based copies, or is that the availability for all physical media? Perhaps the August 16 date is just a placeholder for now.

"We're all working super hard here to deliver the best Windows ever, and are preparing everything that needs to be in place for our public release," said Microsoft's Gabe Aul on Wednesday. "We cannot wait for all of you, and your friends and family who reserved their upgrade, to see the result."

Windows 10 should offer customers a better Windows experience when it's released, providing tools like Cortana and Microsoft Edge. The platform promises great things for PC gamers and Xbox One owners alike, as the platform will include DirectX 12 and means for streaming Xbox One games to the Windows 10 PC screen.

Fun stuff.

MORE:
The New Settings 'App' in Windows 10
This is Windows 10's Cortana Virtual Personal Assistant
Windows 10 Start Menu: The Details
Windows 10 Vs. Windows 8.1: The Major Differences
This is Windows 10's Edge Browser
The Top 7 Reasons to Upgrade to Windows 10

Everything We Know About Windows 10

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 03:00 PM PDT

Free, Surface Hub, Cortana and Hololens

UPDATE: We've updated the story to include more info on Microsoft's PC gaming initiative and talked more about the tweaks to Windows 10.

Microsoft held a Windows 10 press conference today and revealed a massive amount of details from the upcoming OS

and much more. After many rumors, Microsoft confirmed that Windows 10 will be free to Windows 8.1, Windows 7 (SP1) and Windows Phone users...for the first year. The company views it as an incentive for users to quickly jump on board to the Windows 10 platform. Microsoft believes this will solve one of its biggest OS issues for developers, and that is OS fragmentation. Beyond the initial year, however, customers will be paying $119.99 for the Home Edition, $199.99 for the Pro Edition and $99.99 to upgrade from Home to Pro.Cortana
Another rumor that Microsoft confirmed is that Windows 10 will include Cortana, which the company is pitching as the platform's personal digital assistant. In short, Cortana is based off the character from the Halo games and is Microsoft's answer to Apple's Siri. With Cortana, Microsoft is saying "she" is really tailored for the PC experience and you will be able to use voice commands to search for locally stored files or files on your One Drive account. These file types will include documents, pictures, music, and more.In the live demo that Microsoft gave on stage, Cortana was able to provide information on the weather, flight information, and more. What's quite impressive about Cortana is that her voice sounds extremely realistic, much more so than either Apple's or Google's equivalents. Microsoft is also saying that Cortana will be able to get smarter and learn about you. For instance, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore asked her what she thinks the Super Bowl score will be. Knowing that Joe is from Seattle, she jokingly said that the Seattle Seahawks would win in dominating fashion. If you're a little creeped out by this, you'll be able to clear some of her history about you. She will also be able to tell you more about any particular web page you're browsing and you'll be able to right-click on words to get definitions and more.
For our hands-on with Cortana by way of the Windows 10 Technical Preview, check out our feature right here.Microsoft Edge
To go along with Cortana, Microsoft is also creating a new browser. Codenamed Project Spartan, Microsoft's new browser will use a new rendering engine and will support note taking with either a stylus, a mouse's on-screen cursor or a person's finger. Project Spartan will also let you click on words/phrases and leave comments. You'll then be able to share pages with your comments on them on the various social media outlets. Project Spartan will also enable saving web pages to view offline, much like the Get Pocket app.
Since the presentation, we've learned that Project Spartan is actually called Microsoft Edge, a browser that will be on the cutting edge of the latest web technologies. In brief, Edge does have "Make a Web Note," which allows users to draw and type on any web page. There's also a Reading View mode that temporarily eliminates all the flashy stuff so that users can focus on the text.We take Microsoft Edge for a spin, which can be read right here.Gaming
Microsoft wants to push gaming with Windows 10. "We will treat gaming on Windows 10 with as much passion as on Xbox One," said Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft's Xbox division. In addition to supporting DirectX 12, which the company vaguely stated will run up to 50 percent faster than DX11 equivalents, the company announced that users will be able to stream Xbox One games to any Windows 10 PC over a local network. This includes Windows 10 tablets/convertibles. Currently, the build that the company is using only supports 30fps/720p streaming, but Microsoft hopes to up that to 60fps/1080p by the official release date of Windows 10.
Those who are on older systems but want to upgrade to Windows 10 should check out the hardware requirements.
Microsoft also revealed the Xbox app, which will allow you to capture and record the last 30 seconds of gameplay in any PC game, much like Nvidia's ShadowPlay feature. This includes games from Steam, Uplay, or Origin. In addition, you'll be able to cut and trim the beginning and ends of clips and share them with your Xbox Live friends on the Xbox app. When we asked if there were plans to integrate the Xbox friends list with Steam's friends library, the company said it certainly wasn't against it and said it was in talks with Valve.

Currently, the software only records the last 30 seconds of gameplay, but when we asked if there were plans to be able to up the time limit, the company said that was possibility down the road.

Microsoft also announced that Fable Legends would no longer be Xbox-exclusive, and will come to PCs. Even better, PC gamers and Xbox One owners will be able to play together online. This is a start of a strategy in which Microsoft envisions cross-platform play. The company confirmed that Xbox achievements will be making their way to PC titles as well.

Another sector that Microsoft said it was interested in improving in the PC gaming space pertains to battery life. With gaming laptops becoming more popular, Microsoft says it's working on optimizing the OS for gaming battery life.
The Start Button
Beyond the gaming stuff, Microsoft went over a multitude of other OS updates. Windows 10 will work across a wide variety of devices including phones, tablets, desktops and laptops, and would even eventually come to the Xbox One in some form. Power desktop users worrying that their OS will be compromised with a mobile OS (a la Metro) needn't worry, because the Start button is indeed back and fully configurable. There is, however, a tablet mode where the start button opens up and shows many more touch-friendly icons, but unlike Metro which was quite in-your-face, users can ignore this altogether if they so desired. Other features include the melding of the control panel and settings menus. The company said looking at the data, users were confused by which tool did what.
4K ScalingOne of the biggest issues with current versions of Windows is 4K scaling. Everything either looks too tiny, or certain programs aren't optimized for the resolution and look blurry. Microsoft said it is working hard to solve this issue both internally and with third-party developers. Considering that 4K seems to be a mere stepping stone for UHD panels at this point, Microsoft also told us that Windows 10 will support 8K.

The company's various software suites will be getting updates as well. Outlook will be getting Microsoft's popular ribbon tool, allowing you to properly compose and format letters from your email client. Power Point will support hardware acceleration for fancier transitions. Microsoft is also introducing a new photo-organizing tool, which will collect your images and categorize them by location and time. This photo tool can also enhance images automatically to remove red-eye, and delete duplicate images.

The company also announced Surface Hub, which is a Windows 10 PC integrated into an 80-inch 4K TV with a mic, cameras, and touch screen. Using it, you'll be able to use a stylus to draw on PowerPoint presentations, etc. The Hub is being designed for enterprise in mind and will cater to professionals who use Skype video conferencing.
Hololens
Microsoft's last announcement was arguably the most exciting: Hololens. Many suspected that Microsoft would release a head-mounted display for VR to compete with Oculus Rift/Project Morpheus, however the company opted to go the augmented reality route. Hololens is a head-mounted display, but unlike VR headsets, the Hololens grants you full vision of your surrounding with a clear glass overlay in front of your eyes. In the glass, you'll have a video feed that beams on to it in real time. The end result is you looking at virtual objects lying around your real living room space. Furthermore, you'll be able to use the company's new HoloStudio program to easily build 3D models with your hands. Microsoft is calling it the best print preview for 3D printing out there.

We got a chance to try the headset and can say we walked away incredibly impressed. Expect a more detailed write-up on it soon. There's still a lot that we don't know. For instance, we don't know how it will interact with Windows 10 PCs considering it is it's own dedicated, wireless device. We will say that we were pleasantly surprised by it and like VR, it has the potential to be transformative if it's pulled off right. While no release date was given, Microsoft told us that it would come out during the Windows 10 launch timeframe.

With all that said, when is Windows 10 releasing? The company says it will launch on July 29. As of early July, the schedule shows that a first wave of Windows 10 devices will arrive in August followed by another wave in September. 
What did you think of Microsoft's various announcements? Let us know in the comments below. Before taking the plunge, check out the full details of the most critical parts of Windows 10:What you need to run Windows 10The New Settings 'App' in Windows 10Windows 10 Start Menu: The DetailsWindows 10 Vs. Windows 8.1: The Major DifferencesThe Top 7 Reasons To Upgrade to Windows 10

Cougar Gives Birth to 550M Gaming Mouse, Cranks Hype Dial to 11

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 01:24 PM PDT

Not your ordinary mouse (or is it?)

Cougar 550M

Cougar is calling its new 550M mouse a "flagship gaming" rodent, which is an odd descriptor considering that Cougar also offers at least two seemingly higher end options, the 600M and 700M.

The hype doesn't stop there. According to Couger, the 550M "is the result of years of continuous work with a single objective: creating the most perfect gaming mouse the world has ever seen." Not just perfect, but most perfect, mind you.

We're not sure if Cougar took liberally from its bag of hyperbole when announcing the 550M or if the company truly believes it perfected the mouse (for gamers, anyway), a peripheral that's been around for several decades.

Either way, there are three main things Cougar wants potential buyers to know about the 550M. The first is that it spent a lot of time tweaking the ergonomics. Cougar says it collaborated with several international gaming teams when conceiving the "unique shape" of the 550M, and that the design allows gamers to perform at a high level for extended periods of time without worrying about fatigue.

Second is the SDNS-3988 optical sensor. It boasts a 6,400 DPI and 1,000Hz (1ms) polling rate, which doesn't sound overly special. However, it's easy to find hardcore gamers who scoff at ultra-high DPI mice. But is the SDNS-3988 all that and a bag of sea salt and vinegar chips? We'll let you know when we get a chance to test one out.

Cougar 550M Side

Moving on, the third thing Cougar wants gamers to know is that the 550M includes the functionality that gamers actually want and "stays away both from gimmicks and from other mice that hide their lack of basic functionality under claims of 'purity' or 'no-nonsense design'," the company says.

Here's a look at some other specs;

  • Onboard memory: 512KB
  • Switches: Omron gaming switches
  • Profile LED backlight: 2 zone, 16.8 million color options
  • Frame rate: 12,500 FPS
  • Maximum tracking speed: 200 IPS
  • Maximum acceleration: 50G
  • Interface: Gold-plated USB
  • Cable length: 1.8m braided
  • Dimension: 135 (L) x 70 (W) x 45 (H) mm
  • Weight: 120g

The Cougar 550M will be available starting around late July and early August for $59 MSRP. There will also be a toned down 500M for $39.

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Newegg Daily Deals: Intel Core i7-4790, Samsung 850 Evo 1TB SSD, and More!

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 12:48 PM PDT

Core i7-4790

Do you know what sucks about the playing the waiting game? No matter what technology you wait for, there's always something faster, shinier, and overall better on the horizon. Every. Single. Time. The only way to win the game is not to play at all. Of course, we're close enough to Skylake that you might want to hold off for a couple more weeks, but who knows what actual availability will be like. With the right parts selection, you can build a fast PC right now, one that will last a long time. To get started, check out today's top deal for an Intel Core i7-4790 Desktop Processor for $290 with free shipping (normally $310 - use coupon code: [EMCAVKT23]). It's a quad-core Haswell part clocked at 3.6GHz, and if you already own DDR3 RAM, you're ahead of the game.

Other Deals:

Samsung 850 Evo 2.5-inch 1TB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $342 with free shipping (normally $380 - use coupon code: [EXLAVKT22])

Crucial MX200 2.5-inch 250GB MLC NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $95 with free shipping (normally $103 - use coupon code: [EMCAVKT25])

G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory for $84 with free shipping (normally $94 - use coupon code: [EMCAVKT92])

MSI X99S SLI Plus LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 ATX Intel Motherboard for $180 with $4 shipping (normally $220 - use coupon code: [EMCAVKT37])

Batman: Arkham Knight PC Won't Be Fixed Until Fall

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 12:06 PM PDT

Batman Arkham Knight

Oh what a mess. Kotaku Australia has supposedly received a leaked email meant for the eyes of EB Games staff members stating that the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight won't be fixed until this Spring, or in the case of North America, this Fall.

According to the report, prior to the email, EB Games had pulled the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight from store shelves. Now EB Games is facing a recall from Warner, meaning that all copies will be returned to the publisher. Yes, apparently the game is that broken.

"As previously advised, we have stopped sales of Batman: Arkham Knight PC while Warner and Rocksteady work on addressing performance issues with the game," the email states. "The latest information from Warner is that the updates won't be available until Spring. Due to this we have made the difficult decision to recall all PC stock from stores to return to the vendor until an acceptable solution is released."

Batman: Arkham Knight was ported over to the PC by Iron Galaxy. Since its release, gamers have reported numerous critical performance problems such as crashes, stuttering and wild framerates. Developer Rocksteady Studios issued a small patch, but many performance problems continue to plague the game.

"Rocksteady is leading our team of developers and partners as we work on the PC performance issues that players have been encountering," the developer said at the end of June. "The work is significant and while we are making good progress on improving performance, it will take some time to ensure that we get the right fixes in place."

"While we work on improving performance, we will also continue to make interim patches available to address issues for those still playing the game on PC," the studio added.

As it stands now, the game won't be fixed until the September – November window here in the United States.

Earlier this month, a quality assurance tester who supposedly worked at Warner for years claimed that the publisher knew there were issues with the PC port before it shipped to gamers and retailers. The individual, along with another source, claimed that Warner believed that the game was good enough for public consumption and had no intention of "screwing over" customers.

"I will say that it's pretty rich for WB to act like they had no idea the game was in such a horrible state," the individual told Kotaku. "It's been like this for months and all the problems we see now were the exact same, unchanged, almost a year ago."

Thankfully Batman: Arkham Knight is not an example of the state of PC gaming. Based on the provided information, the game is one title that fell through the cracks and one that is now receiving serious attention. Of course, that won't stop console fans from laughing at PC gaming from the comforts of their couches.

So this is the question we had to ask: if the game was in bad shape before the ship date, should Rocksteady and Warner have delayed the release of the PC version?

Windows 10 Build 10240 Released, RTM Close

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 12:06 PM PDT

Windows 10 Boxshots

Hot on the heels of an unnamed source claiming that Windows 10 Technical Preview 10240 would be the RTM build, Microsoft released 10240 to Windows Insiders on Wednesday… and it's not the RTM. At least, there are no glaring signs pointing to the possibility.

News of the new 10240 build arrive after Microsoft halted the updates for a 24 hour period. This was to move the distribution from the "fbl_impressive" development branch, which was created specifically for the Technical Preview updates, over to the TH1 branch, which will be used to distribute the RTM and consumer builds.

"Besides builds, over the next 2 weeks you'll also see some Windows Updates and app updates in the Store, so make sure to keep checking for updates daily to make sure you're running the latest and greatest code," Windows Insider boss Gabe Aul said Wednesday evening.

So what is in the new build? the blog points to Microsoft Edge, which according to Aul, the browser is getting even edgier. He brags that Edge is 112 percent faster than Chrome on WebKit Sunspider, 11 percent faster than Google on Google Octane and 37 percent faster than Chrome on Apple JetStream. OK, we get it…. Edge is fast.

Aul also gave a shout out to those who have been testing the new Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint mobile apps on Windows 10.

"You may have already noticed that on PCs and tablets we've added "Mobile" to the app names (to help distinguish them from the Office desktop suite), while on phones we simply call the apps Word, Excel and PowerPoint," he wrote. We will also remove "Preview" from the app names and in about one week, you will need an Office 365 subscription to edit on Windows 10 PCs and larger tablets."

The blog doesn't really explain what's in the new Technical Preview build, but does reveal that Microsoft is rather anxious to show the world its latest platform. This build is likely similar to past releases over the last couple of weeks: just as bunch of squashed bugs and some spit shine on the overall experience.

"This is going to be an exciting couple of weeks, but it is also only the beginning," Aul wrote. "Windows as a service means that we'll continue to keep Windows up to date with improvements and features, and our Windows Insider Program will continue so you can get early builds and share your feedback with us."

Time to go install the latest build…

MORE:
The New Settings 'App' in Windows 10
This is Windows 10's Cortana Virtual Personal Assistant
Windows 10 Start Menu: The Details
Windows 10 Vs. Windows 8.1: The Major Differences
This is Windows 10's Edge Browser
The Top 7 Reasons to Upgrade to Windows 10

Falcon Northwest Tiki Review

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 11:18 AM PDT

Good luck finding a more powerful PC in a smaller package

Back in the day, in order to get an exorbitant amount of PC power, you really needed a hulking desktop. The more likely it was to break your back upon liftoff, the more bad-ass it would be. While a bigger box may give you more legroom for power, little Mini-ITX systems are giving these behemoths a run for their money in performance. On that notion, Falcon Northwest set out to deliver "godlike power" in its Tiki micro tower. After testing it in our Labs, we think even Zeus would be proud.

In terms of offering performance per cubic inch, Falcon Northwest asserts that there is no better Mini-ITX case than its Tiki chassis. The box measures about four inches across, is made of steel and sandblasted aluminum, and has a big single billet aluminum base at the bottom which keeps it stable. While it certainly will keep the Tiki from easily toppling over, some might not like its ornate aesthetics. It looks a bit like a trophy stand your dad would have sitting in the living room. In addition, it doesn't allow you to lay the Tiki on its side. This is most likely intended, however, considering that there are vents on both side panels. There are also vents on the top of the case. Ours came in a burgundy red color, which may not be for everyone, but the box also comes in black and a variety of other colors. Falcon Northwest indicated to us that those who want to order the Tiki with the original granite base can still do so.

Falcon Northwest Tiki New

Despite the case's small stature, Falcon Northwest was able to cram in Intel's top tier 5960X CPU along with 16GB of 2400Mhz RAM in our configuration. All of this sits atop Asrock's x99E-ITX mobo, which Asrock flaunts as being the first X99 Mini-ITX motherboard. No compromises were made in the graphics department either, as our system came with Nvidia's top-of-the-line GeForce GTX Titan. This bad boy has a GPU clock of 1102MHz, Memory clock of 1803MHz, a boost clock of 1176MHz, and comes with 12GB of VRAM. And just because this box is heavy on processing power doesn't mean it's light on storage. Our box came with Intel's 750 Series 1.2TB PCIe SSD, which garnered ridiculous sequential read and write speeds of 1,527MB/s and 1,299MB/s, respectively in our CrystalDiskMark benchmark. That's boggles-the-mind fast. Unfortunately system boot up time with the drive was lethargic at 42 seconds. It looks like there are still some kinks to work out with PCIe SSD bootup times. But just because we've got over a terabyte of SSD space doesn't mean there isn't a massive storage drive. On the contrary, Falcon plopped in a whopping 6TB Western Digital Red drive in here. On paper, this system is such a tiny little beast. We could cry little tears of joy...if we weren't so manly.

When it came time to perform, the Tiki stepped up to bat. It's Asetek-watercooled 5960X beat our zero point's equivalent 5960X by roughly 4-8 percent in our CPU tests. It didn't perform as well compared to our ZP in gaming tests, losing by about 40-45 percent, but that's to be expected considering we're running three 980s in SLI. Perhaps the best real-world question you should ask of this system is, "Can it game at 4K?" And the answer is yes. As a matter of fact, it can technically play most games at 4K on max settings. It won't be able to do it at silky smooth 60 fps, but even running the Witcher 3 at 4K on max settings (an extremely taxing game), it managed to garner averages fps in the low 30s, which is impressive. While that's technically playable, we would opt to decrease the graphical settings for a smoother experience.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Tiki, however, is that it stayed eerily quiet under our benchmarks. At idle, it's damn near silent. Generally, when you cram this much power into such a small form factor, these little boxes tend to scream for air. Falcon must have employed some black magic to this box, or applied good thermal engineering, but we prefer to think it's the former.

The Tiki isn't perfect, however. We had some small gripes with it in that its audio ports aren't labeled, there's no eject button for the slot-loading optical drive, and the case is kind of a bitch to open and close. Plus, the box is going to run you around $5,622 with the default black paint job, which isn't cheap. But in the end, it delivers so much power in a small, beautiful form factor that stays quiet. There's not much more you can ask for.

www.falcon-nw.com, $6,022

Benchmarks

0-pointFalcon Northwest Tiki percent difference
Lower is BetterStitch.Efx 2.0 (sec)806.07684.9%
Lower is BetterProshow Producer 5 (sec)1,472.01,3638.0%
Higher is Betterx264 HD 5.033.835.44.7%
Higher is BetterBatman Arkham City GOTY (fps)204.0122

-40.2%

Higher is BetterTomb Raider (fps)87.550.5-42.3%
Higher is Better3DMark Firestrike8,016.04381-45.3%
Higher is BetterShadow of Mordor70.151.3-26.8%

Our desktop zero point PC uses a 5960X CPU, three GTX 980s, and 16GBs of RAM. Arkham City tested at 2560x1440 max settings with PhysX off. Tomb Raider at Ultimate settings. Shadow of Mordor at Max settings.

Specifications

Processor3GHz Intel Core i7-5960X
MoboASRock X99E-ITX/ac
RAM16GB of DDR4/2400MHz
GraphicsGeForce GTX Titan X
Storage1.2TB Intel 750 Series PCIe SSD/6TB HDD
OpticalTEAC DV-W28SS-B
Slot-Loading DVD Super Multi Drive
Case/PSUCustom/600-watt

Oculus Scoops Up Pebbles Interfaces for VR Hand Tracking Technology

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 09:42 AM PDT

I can see my hands!

Pebbles Interfaces Hands

It's hard not to get excited about Oculus Rift, especially with all the moves Oculus VR has been making. The latest play is an agreement to buy Pebblies Interfaces, an Israeli startup that specializes in depth sensing technology and computer vision.

Using various sensors and algorithms, Pebbles Interfaces is able to take real world objects and dump them into the virtual world. That includes body parts, like your hands and fingers, which the company's technology is able to track.

"At Pebbles Interfaces, we've been focused on pushing the limits of digital sensing technology to accelerate the future of human-computer interaction. Through micro-optics and computer vision, we hope to improve the information that can be extracted from optical sensors, which will help take virtual reality to the next level," said Nadav Grossinger, CTO of Pebbles Interfaces. "We've always believed visual computing will be the next major platform in our lifetime, and we're excited to join the Oculus team to achieve that vision for the future."

This takes things to a whole new level for Oculus, its headset, and developers who ultimately take advantage of the technology. There's a world of opportunity in being able to see and use your body parts in VR rather than generically rendered bits or controller accessories like the Oculus Touch, which have limited capacity for movement and interaction. Have a look:

Pebbles Interactive will join the hardware engineering and computer vision teams at Oculus. They'll be tasked with advanced VR, tracking, and human-computer interactions.

Oculus Rift is scheduled to launch to consumers in the first quarter of 2016.

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Intel to Disrupt Annual Tick-Tock Cycle By Delaying Cannonlake to 2017

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 09:17 AM PDT

Cannonballing into Cannonlake will have to wait

Intel Engineers

If you were hoping for a 10-nanometer successor to Skylake in 2016, Intel has some bad news. Challenges with the new manufacturing process have prompted Intel to delay its Cannonlake release until "the second half of 2017," according to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.

Cannonlake was supposed to replace Skylake in 2016 as the next "tick" in Intel's annual "tick-tock" cycle, meaning that it's a die shrink with a few tweaks, not a major new architecture. However, we're at the point in chip fabrication technology where continuing to shrink things gets increasingly difficult.

According to ComputerWorld, Intel is adding a new 14nm chip codenamed "Kaby Lake" to its roadmap to account for the delay. It will be "built on the foundations" of Skylake, but include performance tweaks to hold users over until Cannonlake comes out.

This bump in the road means a disruption in the tick-tock cycle, which now places Intel on a tick-tock-tock schedule -- a first for the world's largest semiconductor player. In this case, Skylake is the tick and both Kaby Lake and Cannonlake are tocks.

The delay also stretches Moore's Law, which predicts that transistor counts will double every two years (it originally predicted a doubling every year in 1965, but was revised in 1975).

"These transitions are a natural part of the history of Moore's Law and are a by-product of the technical challenges of shrinking transistors while ensuring they can be manufactured in high volume," Krzanich said.

While the delay might be disappointing for some, it's part of the game. Intel faced similar challenges when going from 22nm to 14nm, which also prompted delay.

"The lithography is continuing to get more difficult as you try to scale," Kraznich added.

In the meantime, Skylake is rumored to launch on August 5 with the introduction of the Core i7-6700K and Core i5-6600K.

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MMORPG News

MMORPG News


Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: Heavensward - A Compelling, Well-Polished Expansion

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 02:32 PM PDT

Heavensward - A Compelling, Well-Polished Expansion

I grew up with the Final Fantasy series so it always pulls at my nostalgic heartstrings whenever a new one is released. Disappointed with the release of XIV in its 1.0 state I was amazed at how Square Enix was able to right the ship with the release of A Realm Reborn. XI was a great MMO and now SE has been able to turn XIV into a worthy, if not direct, successor.

General: Crossout Headed to Closed Beta Later in 2015

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 10:04 PM PDT

Crossout Headed to Closed Beta Later in 2015

Gaijin Entertainment has announced that is forthcoming post-apocalyptic vehicular MMO will be entering closed beta testing later this year. As part of the ramp up in information, the team has released a bit of lore from the game.

Guild Wars 2: Revenants to Gain Shiro Legend Dual Wielding

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 04:53 AM PDT

Revenants to Gain Shiro Legend Dual Wielding

ArenaNet's Roy Cronacher has taken to the Guild Wars 2 site to reveal the Shiro Legend for Revenants. Titled "Slashing, Devastation, and a Memorable Assassin", Revenants will be able to gain the same abilities as Shiro Tagach.

World of Tanks: v9.9 Launches with New Features & Updated Content

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 06:39 AM PDT

v9.9 Launches with New Features & Updated Content

Wargaming has announced the deployment of the latest World of Tanks update, v9.9. The patch brings changes to maps, armor mechanics, changes in Clan Wars and graphics upgrades. In addition, the patch brings a pair of new events and two new vehicles to the game. Check out the video below to find out more.

General: Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor - Martyr ARPG Announced

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 07:59 AM PDT

Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor - Martyr ARPG Announced

Neocore Games, developers of the Van Helsing III series, has announced that a new action RPG based on the Warhammer 40K universe is now in development and is due out sometime next year. Neocore is working in collaboration with Games Workshop on the project

Star Citizen: Game On #69 - Derek Smart Speaks Out on Star Citizen

Posted: 14 Jul 2015 06:14 PM PDT

Game On #69 - Derek Smart Speaks Out on Star Citizen

This week on Game On, Chris sits down with Derek Smart to talk about the troubling state of Star Citizen. Derek has worked on similar games for 20+ years and shares his unique perspective on why he thinks the game will never release the way it's being promised and, more importantly, why he's waging a war for accountability. This is an interview you won't want to miss.

ArcheAge: Latest Producer's Letter Reveals Choice Nuggets of Info

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 04:41 PM PDT

Latest Producer

ArcheAge Producer Merv Lee Kwai has posted a lengthy note on the game site to give players a bit of a heads up about what is coming in both the immediate and more distant futures. Firstly, however, he reviews all that has happened with ArcheAge since 2015 began and it's a pretty impressive list, with a major nod going out to players for being agents of change in the game.

World of Warcraft: Flying Lands on PTR & New Mercenary System Detailed

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 04:32 PM PDT

Flying Lands on PTR & New Mercenary System Detailed

Folks willing to give World of Warcraft devs a hand with testing the upcoming flying feature for Draenor will want to check out the Public Test Realm where the patch is now live.

General: Webzen Blazing Summer Festival Item Giveaway!

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 04:27 PM PDT

Webzen Blazing Summer Festival Item Giveaway!

MMORPG.com has partnered with WEBZEN to bring our members a special summer pack, the key will unlock many useful items for any of WEBZEN games, including Archlord 2, CONTINENT OF THE NINTH SEAL (C9), MU Online, Flyff and Rappelz. The choice of the package is in the player's hands, and each key will give them a free item package for the selected game.

DC Universe Online: The Bombshells Are Coming!

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 08:05 AM PDT

The Bombshells Are Coming!

DC Universe Online continues to be one of Daybreak Games' most successful titles, with a host of players specifically on the PS3 and PS4 versions. Later this summer, Episode 15 is bringing one of the comics' new favorites, The Bombshells, into the game with "The Bombshells Paradox". Read on for more details.

EVE Online: Controlling Nullsec & What's New Shines in New Video

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 01:08 PM PDT

Controlling Nullsec & What

CCP has released a brand new video for EVE Online that shines the spotlight on recent changes, including today's Aegis part two, on how the lawlessness of nullsec has undergone some pretty significant changes to bring more strategic battle for resources into play. The video gives a lot of details and the EVE Online site has several tutorial videos as well. Enjoy!

General: Dragomon Hunter Announced by Aeria Games

Posted: 13 Jul 2015 05:29 PM PDT

Dragomon Hunter Announced by Aeria Games

Aeria games has announced a brand new anime styled, monster-hunting MMORPG called Dragomon Hunter. The game will be available beginning sometime in the fall of 2015. Players can take part in the game as a Scout, Mercenary, Mage or Cleric.

Neverwinter: Strongholds Module to Launch August 11th

Posted: 13 Jul 2015 05:21 PM PDT

Strongholds Module to Launch August 11th

Cryptic Studios has announced that the forthcoming Strongholds module for Neverwinter will launch on August 11th. Strongholds is the largest playable map in the game and in its first iteration, the focus will be on PvE. Later, guilds will be able to wrest control of locations within the zone to build fortresses and will be able to engage in GvG warfare starting in September.

General: Call of Champions, a Mobile MOBA, Begins Beta Testing

Posted: 13 Jul 2015 05:25 PM PDT

Call of Champions, a Mobile MOBA, Begins Beta Testing

Spacetime Studios, creators of Arcane Legends and Pocket Legends, has announced that its forthcoming mobile MOBA, Call of Champions, has officially entered its beta phase of development. Players will be able to take part in Call of Champions via iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Camelot Unchained: The Consequences of Destruction

Posted: 13 Jul 2015 08:01 PM PDT

The Consequences of Destruction

Back in my day a vine was a thing I used to swing over crocodiles in Jungle Hunt. Nowadays it's a place where you could watch someone playing Jungle Hunt for 6 seconds. Word on the e-street is it's all the rage with the younglings (likely because their attention span is about 5.5 seconds)-note I put that barb a few lines in knowing full well none of that generation read past the first sentence! Ha!

Marvel Heroes 2015: Ant Man Coming July 17th, Preorders Begin

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 08:21 AM PDT

Ant Man Coming July 17th, Preorders Begin

Marvel Heroes 2015 players can start preordering Ant Man for his imminent arrival into the game on July 17th, the same day the film debuts in theaters. Check out Ant Man in the fantastic trailer below and leave us your thoughts.

Elder Scrolls Online: Imperial City DLC Coming August 31st for PC/Mac

Posted: 15 Jul 2015 08:16 AM PDT

Imperial City DLC Coming August 31st for PC/Mac

Elder Scrolls Online will be getting a new DLC called "Imperial City" very soon. PC/Mac users will be able to grab it on August 31st; XBox One on September 15th; and PlayStation 4 on September 16th. Players can get a look at the DLC for free on the PTR in the very near future.

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