General Gaming Article

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• Nvidia Announces Project Shield Release Date, Price
• Google Co-Founder Larry Page Diagnosed with Vocal Cord Paralysis
• Hitman Absolution review
• Going Full Circle: Google Users Get 15GB Shared Across Gmail, Drive, and Google+
• Far Cry 3 Review
• Newegg Daily Deals: Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13, AMD FX-8350 Vishera, and More
• AVADirect Puts the Quiet Smackdown on Custom Workstation Rigs
• Flashback Fun: Type "Atari Breakout" Into Google Image Search
• Haswell Notebooks to Hit Retail by End of the Month

Nvidia Announces Project Shield Release Date, Price Posted: 14 May 2013 07:27 PM PDT Company now accepting pre-orders for the handheld from the most eager "fans" At a time when dedicated handheld gaming devices are struggling to remain relevant, Nvidia is pressing ahead with plans to launch a handheld of its own. The chipmaker on Monday made its Tegra 4-powered Project Shield (codename) handheld available for pre-order to those who took the trouble of signing up for Shield-related updates by clicking 'Notify Me' on the official Shield website. The upcoming Android-running device, which it unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, will now be known simply as Shield and set consumers back $349, the company announced today. Nvidia will start taking pre-orders from the general public through Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center, Canada Computers and the Shield website on March 20, 2013, with the first units expected to reach customers in late June. Shield runs what Nvidia says is "pure" Android (Jelly Bean). With Nvidia deciding against locking down the OS (à la Amazon Kindle Fire), gamers will have access to all the latest and greatest games and apps in the Play Store. In fact, a couple of games will come bundled with it. However, it would be foolish to think that its console-esque controller is merely aimed at making the many touch-unfriendly Android games out there a touch (pardon the pun) more playable. Shield's controller is sure to come in very handy when gamers choose to stream their favorite PC games from their GeForce GTX GPU-powered PCs to the handheld. Here's a quick rundown of its specs: Processor: NVIDIA Tegra 4 Quad Core Mobile Processor with 2GB RAM Controller: Console-grade controller with dual analog joysticks, a full-sized D-Pad, left and right analog triggers,   full-sized bumpers and A/B/X/Y buttons Display: 5-inch, 720p retinal multi-touch display Audio: Integrated stereo speakers with built-in microphone Games and Apps: Android titles in the Play Store and PC games via GeForce game streaming Bundled Software:  Google Play, TegraZone, Sonic 4 Episode II THD, Expendable: Rearmed, Hulu Plus, TwitchTV Storage:  16GB Flash Memory Wireless: 802.11n 2x2 Mimo Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS Connectivity: Mini-HDMI output, Micro-USB 2.0, MicroSD storage slot, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack with        microphone  support Motion Sensors: 3 Axis Gyro, 3 Axis Accelerometer Battery: 28.8 Watt Hours Has Nvidia put paid to Shield's chances of success by pricing it in line with home consoles, or do you think that the handheld has enough juice to justify its hefty price tag? Do tell us what you think.

Google Co-Founder Larry Page Diagnosed with Vocal Cord Paralysis Posted: 14 May 2013 12:44 PM PDT Larry Page shares his story in a Google+ post. Larry Page, co-founder and chief executive officer of Google, has been diagnosed with vocal cord paralysis, a nerve problem that causes the vocal cord to not move properly. Page disclosed his ailment today on his Google+ page, adding that symptoms first showed up to his left vocal cord 14 years ago when he "got a bad cold," one that made his voice hoarse. Such things happen, and so he didn't think too much of it at the time. Imagine his surprise when a doctor dropped the bombshell. Doctors were never able to identify a cause, only a diagnosis. It could have been the result of virus-based damage from his cold, but in the end, it doesn't really matter. Page is upbeat about his condition, even after a follow-up check-up last summer revealed that his second vocal cord had limited movement as well, something his doctors previously told him would be "extremely rare." "Thankfully, after some initial recovery I'm fully able to do all I need to at home and at work, though my voice is softer than before. And giving long monologues is more tedious for me and probably the audience," Page explains. "But overall over the last year there has been some improvement with people telling me they think I sound better. Vocal cord nerve issues can also affect your breathing, so my ability to exercise at peak aerobic capacity is somewhat reduced. That said, my friends still think I have way more stamina than them when we go kitesurfing! And Sergey says I'm probably a better CEO because I choose my words more carefully. So surprisingly, overall I am feeling very lucky." Though his condition is rare, Page says there are a significant number of people who develop issues with one vocal nerve, and he wants to help. Page is funding a research program through the Voice Health Institute, which he plans to lead. He's also put together a survey to gather information from others who with similar conditions. Our thoughts and best wishes are with Larry Page. While it's unfortunate, here's hoping some good ultimately comes out of it. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Hitman Absolution review Posted: 14 May 2013 12:43 PM PDT Hitman Absolution review: Equal parts frustration and fun It's been a while since we've heard anything from IO Interactive's popular stealth hero, Agent 47 (no pun intended). The star of the popular Hitman franchise is back for a fifth installment with Hitman: Absolution, and it's about time, as the last game—Blood Money—was released way back in 2006. This time around, the agency employing Agent 47 is tired of paying for his benefits package, so they decide to assassinate him. This sets Agent 47 on a mission to dispose of his would-be disposers, taking him, and you, through 20 wide-ranging missions in an effort to stay alive while simultaneously sending the folks who are conspiring against him to the morgue. The premise is great, but we found the game's execution—again, no pun intended—to be a mixture of awesome and awful. You'll need to use your environment well to effectively hide from your enemies. Like the previous titles, the game consists of missions that require you to assassinate predetermined targets. To help you accomplish your objectives, you're given a range of weaponry, intel, and abilities, and it's up to you to put all three to good use. The most useful is a powerful stealth skill called Instinct, which helps you blend into your surroundings, see through walls, and sneak past guards. At the beginning of each mission, you're given a small amount of this ability—your supply can be monitored on the HUD—which depletes as you use it, but is replenished by incapacitating foes and reaching checkpoints. Instinct's X-ray vision comes in handy when planning assassinations, allowing you to gaze through a wall at a potential target from relative safety. It's a really fun skill to use, especially when it lets you slow down time and kill multiple enemies quickly. We were disappointed, however, with how quickly it was depleted—the quick drain forced us to stray from our mission priorities and kill people randomly just to replenish our stores. In addition to Instinct, there's an array of weaponry lying around the levels that you can use to your advantage, ranging from a simple kitchen knife to a 50-caliber sniper rifle (both the kitchen knife and sniper rifle provide one-hit kills, whether up close or from a distance. Good times.). Our favorite killing tool was Agent 47's signature weapon, the Fiber Wire, which we used to garrotte scumbags and then quickly drag them out of sight in order to remain undetected. We also enjoyed his other signature weapon, the Silenced Silver Baller. Its rapid fire-rate combined with the Instinct ability let us take down multiple targets quickly and with plenty of panache. While we preferred the game's stealth weapons, they aren't the only options by a long shot. Attention-getting weapons such as a shotgun or 45-caliber handgun are also available. Be warned, however, that using any of these loud hand cannons will almost always result in the arrival of a ridiculous amount of enemy backup—which we consider a flaw in the game's design. In addition to the weapons provided, you can also use random objects lying around the environment, including a rusty screwdriver, a kitchen knife, and a doctor's scalpel, to name just a few. We favored the knives because they are silent and reusable from one kill to the next. In addition to the usual indoor environments, Absolution also has several huge outdoor missions, like this one in a sprawling refinery. Easily our biggest complaint about Absolution is that it's not just difficult, it seems unfairly difficult. We were frustrated by the sense that we were playing missions over and over—in what is billed as an "open environment"—just to get through the missions the way the developers apparently felt we should. There's a tutorial, but it's of little use once the game drops you into a "real" mission, where you have no idea where enemies or objectives are located. We found that it took almost six hours to really get the hang of the gameplay and the assassination moves necessary to be successful, and getting to that point was a mostly trial-and-error exercise that was simply monotonous. We had to play one of the game's early missions around 20 times to make it to one of the checkpoints, and almost rage-quit the game many times because it was so aggravating. The game's main campaign took us nearly 14 hours to complete, and once we had, there was little reason to return to it, unlike in Dishonored, where there are many ways to progress through the levels, as well as totally different endings according to our playing style. Hitman tries to add replayability by giving you a ranking at the end of each level based on how many people you killed and how many people spotted you, and it automatically uploads your score to a global leader board. This peer-pressure tactic could compel some people to redo levels to get a better score, but we had so much trouble finishing the levels the first time that we had zero desire to try them again. The game also climaxes early, which made the last half of the game drag on way too long. In Absolution, you often have to use large crowds to conceal yourself. Aside from the main campaign, there is also a Contracts mode that lets you play missions that you or other players create using the built-in mission editor. This mode is always available, and lets you participate in ranked assassination attempts, but in order to unlock all the necessary weaponry and gadgets, you'll need to progress through the main campaign first. All in all, it's an excellent addition to the game, as there are thousands of user-created missions available through the game's online lobby, which lists them with descriptions and popularity rankings. The graphics in Hitman are impressive, with sharp textures and a variety of well-made environments, ranging from a dirty inner city to the dusty deserts of the Deep South. The game also played very well on our overclocked Intel Sandy Bridge system with an Nvidia GTX 660 Ti video card, averaging 88fps with all settings maxed-out at 1080p. In the end, Hitman: Absolution is a challenging stealth action game with impressive visuals, but it's marred by a steep learning curve, too much trial and error, and a campaign that drags on too long. We liked the open-ended nature of the missions and the variety of options and weapons available to us, but ultimately found ourselves so frustrated we just wanted to finish the game and never play it again. We appreciate the added Contracts missions, but found the overall experience of this game to be underwhelming. $60, www.hitman.com

Going Full Circle: Google Users Get 15GB Shared Across Gmail, Drive, and Google+ Posted: 14 May 2013 11:54 AM PDT One storage container to rule them all. A cloud of common sense just landed on Google, and instead of offering users separate storage caps for Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+ photos, the sultan of search has decided to offer up 15GB of unified storage for free. In doing so, users are in complete control of how much each of Google's cloud services can hold, which is particularly great if you're deeply invested in Drive and/or Google+ Photos, two services that were previously limited to 5GB combined. "With this new combined storage space, you won't have to worry about how much you're storing and where," Google stated in a blog post. "For example, maybe you're a heavy Gmail user but light on photos, or perhaps you were bumping up against your Drive storage limit but were only using 2 GB in Gmail. Now it doesn't matter, because you can use your storage the way you want." As an added bonus, Google's shared approach means there's no longer a 25GB data cap in Gmail. So, if you pony up $4.99/month for 100GB or $9.99/month for 200GB, you can use as much as of your available storage for any of the three services. There's also a $2.49/month plan that nets you 25GB. All three paid plans include 25GB of Gmail storage, which doesn't count against your cap. You may not see the plan changes right away, as Google said it will roll them out over the next couple of weeks. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Far Cry 3 Review Posted: 14 May 2013 11:30 AM PDT Far Cry 3 review: The best Far Cry game yet—but it's not without flaws There we were, driving down a bumpy, pothole-ridden dirt road, when the onscreen indicator for enemies suddenly lit up like the muzzle flashes from the car we had just driven past. Several of the other car's passengers fired some rounds into our beater car's engine block, forcing us to bail out while the aggressors flipped a U-turn to come back and finish the job. Tagging enemies shows their location and status, and planning these ambushes is the best part of the game. We watched as the car full of enraged maniacs approached, and then giggled as it careened over the edge of the rocky path, its driver unable to control the car's rapid acceleration on the narrow road. Curious about their fate, we sauntered over to the area where the vehicle swerved off the path and suddenly heard the engine of another car coming toward us from just up ahead, so we instinctively ducked into the bushes since we were low on ammo. As we watched the second car stop right next to our now-burning vehicle, we saw the bad guys dismount to have a look-see; then our car suddenly exploded, which caused their car to explode as well, killing all of them and creating a massive, bloody fireball. As we stared at the smoldering wreckage and bodies strewn everywhere, we were just about to congratulate ourselves for a well-executed skirmish when from out of nowhere a royally pissed-off Cassowary—think Big Bird, but blue—appeared and mistook us for a human scratching post. After putting him down as fast as we could, we took his pelt then leapt off the nearest cliff, gliding in our wingsuit to a camp down below to replenish our ammo. Blowing up enemy vehicles with a grenade launcher is an orgy of explosive carnage. Of course, none of this was scripted or even part of the game's main story; it was just a random encounter we had while en route to an actual part of the game, and it's what makes Far Cry 3 one of the most entertaining—and unpredictable—games we've played since Skyrim. This is one game that, like Skyrim, will be different for everyone who plays it, and the game excels at the times when it lets you do whatever the heck you want to do, which is about 90 percent of the time. Sadly, you can't always do whatever you want, and are forced to jump through very specific hoops a lot of the time, or sit through cutscenes and boring dream sequences way too often throughout the game's lackluster main storyline. Once the main story cuts you loose, you get back to the real meat of the game—hunting wildlife and clearing enemy outposts. However, in order to unlock all of the game's special skills, such as running faster, taking less falling damage, etc., you must progress through the game's story, which by the end leaves you cold and ready to leave Rook Island, never to return. To put it bluntly, this is a game that starts out extremely strong, and slowly gets worse as you progress through it, though it is punctuated with some of the best first-person combat we've ever experienced on the PC. The game begins with one of the best opening sequences in recent memory, as it shows you and your friends living it up on a tropical island, only to pan out to discover you're watching a video of your exploits from the confines of a bamboo tiger cage, held captive by an extremely well-acted psychopath named Vaas. After a harrowing escape from the prison camp and some hand-holding by one of the locals, you're set free to pursue the main quest, or just explore on your own. And explore you will, as you must climb radio towers to remove scrambling devices that obscure the island's map, which also allows the local gun shops to receive new shipments. Pirates control local outposts, too, so you have to clear those in order to buy new weapons, replenish your ammo, configure your weapon loadouts, and fast-travel from base to base. Clearing outposts is easily the most thrilling part of the game, and you can clear them at your leisure, too, or not—the game doesn't punish you either way, but creeping up on a base undetected, tagging all the enemies with your camera, then moving in stealthily to take them out one by one before any of them hits the alarm—or disabling the alarms first—is the highlight of this game. And each of the 34 outposts are a serious challenge and a thesis on open-world gameplay done right. In addition to clearing outposts, climbing radio towers, and the main quest, you also must hunt wildlife in order to upgrade your ammo packs, wallet, holsters, arrow quiver, and syringe holder. Each lets you hold more ammo, health syringes, grenades, Molotovs, and more. This isn't Deer Hunter, either, as hunting is a challenge—you have to bag leopards, Cassowarys, rabid dogs, tigers, bears, and lots more. Additionally, clearing outposts opens up Wanted Dead and Path of the Hunter quests that require you to kill certain animals with specific weapons and take down a nearby kingpin using only your knife, but sadly, once all the outposts are clear, not only is the world devoid of bad guys but there are no more of these quests, either. Just like real wildlife, the animals in the game don't take too kindly to strangers. The main problem with the game is that you spend the first half of it going on epic adventures to upgrade your packs, open the map, and increase your skills, but by the time the game is half over, we found ourselves almost maxed out completely in every area possible. We had a huge wallet that was constantly full, all the weapons that were available, and almost every skill on the three separate trees, giving us little motivation to keep exploring. You can also find 120 scattered relics and 20 randomly located letters from WWII-era Japanese soldiers, and compete in contests such as knife-throwing, shooting, and driving, but they provide little benefit aside from a test of skill and extra money, which is usually unnecessary. The game also provides a dozen side missions that are so boring a lot of them left us wondering why the developers even bothered including them. We absolutely loved this game for the first 15 hours or so, and were even considering it as the Game of the Year. But after plodding through the second half of the game, repeating a lot of the same tasks over and over, and suffering through the game's hackneyed story and deplorable ending, our opinion changed. We still highly recommend it; just savor your time on the first island—it's one of the best FPS experiences we've ever had. $60, ubi.com

Newegg Daily Deals: Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13, AMD FX-8350 Vishera, and More Posted: 14 May 2013 09:24 AM PDT Top Deal: Everybody's doing yoga these days, even Lenovo, which is the topic of today's top deal. It's for a Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 13.3-inch Touchscreen Convertible Ultrabook for $1,000 with free shipping (normally $1,100; Free Lenovo A2107 tablet with purchase). The Yoga 13 stretcheds in every which direction, and who can argue with a free tablet? Other Deals: AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz Eight-Core Desktop Processor for $180 with shipping for $1 (normally $200 - use coupon code:[DIYSMMR27])  Thermaltake Chaser A41 Mid Tower Computer Case for $90 with free shipping (normally $110 - use coupon code:[DIYSMMR14]; additional $20 mail-in rebate) Corsair CX750M 750W Modular Active PFC Power Supply for $85 with free shipping (normally $100 - use coupon code:[DIYSMMR18]; additional $20 mail-in rebate) Cooler Master Seidon 120XL All in One Liquid/Water CPU Cooler for $75 with free shipping (normally $92; additional $15 mail-in rebate)

AVADirect Puts the Quiet Smackdown on Custom Workstation Rigs Posted: 14 May 2013 09:09 AM PDT Bringing a bit of peace and quiet to the workstation. Quiet computing is an art form that isn't easily mastered, but once achieved, you'll wonder how you ever managed to tolerate a roaring PC. AVADirect claims you won't have to with its whisper quiet workstation configurations. There are two models to choose from, one with a single Xeon processor and other with two Xeon parts inside, both of which have been carefully constructed to keep a low noise profile. "Using a series of supported, low-noise cases and noise reduction accessories, AVADirect has created state-of-the-art Quiet Workstation Configurations at the disposal of all end-users seeking a powerful, yet quiet solution that was once thought to be impossible," AVADirect stated in a press release. The custom PC builder said its quiet machines utilize noise reduction accessories such as rubber washers, screws, fan brackets, power supply brackets, low noise fans, and several hand-selected silencer kits. Pricing starts at around $1,916 and includes a Fractal Design Define XL R2 full tower chassis, Intel Xeon E5 2603 quad-core processor, Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. C air cooler, Gigabyte GA-X79S-UP5-WIFI motherboard, 16GB of Crucial DDR3-1066 RAM, Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti graphics card, Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black hard drive, Seasonc X-850 power supply, 24X DVD burner, and Windows 7 Ultimate. If a workstation isn't up your alley, AVADirect also offers a line of silent desktop configurations, all of which are available now. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Flashback Fun: Type "Atari Breakout" Into Google Image Search Posted: 14 May 2013 08:28 AM PDT Google goes old school. The wily programming nerds at Google are all about Easter eggs, and if you type "Atari Breakout" into Google's image search, you'll spy the latest one. This isn't just a random flashback to an old school arcade game, it's also a shout out to the 1976 title's 37th anniversary, though the timing is a little curious. Breakout (PDF) originally debuted in April, so if someone knows the significance of today's date specifically, feel free to enlighten us in comments section below. Regardless, Google's Easter egg is a fun excursion into arcade gaming from nearly four decades ago. You may not have been alive back then or even heard of Breakout, which was developed by Atari and heavily influenced by Pong, which came out four years prior. It's also a historically significant title, as it influenced Steve Wozniak's design for the Apple II computer. Here's what Wozniak was quoted as saying about the Apple II: A lot of features of the Apple II went in because I had designed Breakout for Atari. I had designed it in hardware. I wanted to write it in software now. So that was the reason that color was added in first — so that games could be programmed. I sat down one night and tried to put it into BASIC. Fortunately, I had written the BASIC myself, so I just burned some new ROMs with line drawing commands, color changing commands, and various BASIC commands that would plot in color. I got this ball bouncing around, and I said, 'Well, it needs sound,' and I had to add a speaker to the Apple II. It wasn't planned, it was just accidental… Obviously you need paddles, so I had to scratch my head and design a simple minimum-chip paddle circuit, and put on some paddles. So, a lot of these features that really made the Apple II stand out in its day came from a game, and the fun features that were built in were only to do one pet project, which was to program a BASIC version of Breakout and show it off at the club. Pretty neat, eh? As the late Paul Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Haswell Notebooks to Hit Retail by End of the Month Posted: 14 May 2013 07:57 AM PDT A new generation of notebooks is right around the corner. Generally speaking, there's always something newer, faster, and shinier in the pipeline, and if you keep waiting for the next best thing, you'll never upgrade. That said, when the stars align just right, every once in awhile it's worth waiting for something that's just around the corner, and this happens to be one of those times. Haswell is about to launch, and you may even see laptops based on Intel's next generation architecture by the end of May, which is when you'll want to start shopping if you can hold off until then. If you're in the market for a new laptop and can survive with what you've got for few more weeks, you might as well hang tight and see what Haswell brings to the table. According to Digitimes, Haswell-based products have mostly shipped and should show up in retail in the coming weeks, though new models are likely to carry higher price tags that what's currently available. Whether or not the pricing premium will be worth the additional performance is something that will become clearer once Haswell actually ships, but even if you decide Haswell isn't for you, Haswell's launch could lead to price drops on current hardware and notebook models as vendors look to clear out inventory. Despite Haswell making a debut, notebook ODMs aren't expecting a huge increase in shipments, at least not right away. Vendors are also looking at the situation conservatively and are refraining from ordering scores of units until they see how the market reacts. One of the things we're looking forward to is seeing how well Haswell's integrated graphics perform. Intel says select SKUs of its Haswell line will sport Iris graphics, which promises up to twice the performance of today's fastest mobile Intel HD Graphics solutions. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

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