General Gaming Article

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• The 10 Worst PC Ports
• Google's Testing a Smart Contact Lens for Diabetics
• Valve Lends Oculus Rift a Hand in Driving VR Technology Forward
• California Woman Dodges Ticket for Driving While Wearing Google Glass
• Nvidia Now Selling DIY G-Sync Upgrade Kits for Asus VG248QE Monitors
• Newegg Daily Deals: Your Chance to Stock Up on Storage and RAM!

The 10 Worst PC Ports Posted: 17 Jan 2014 12:57 PM PST Games PC Gamers got burned on When big blockbuster games get ported to PC, we tend to be cautious about our excitement, as PC gamers have been shafted over the years with tons of bad console ports. Our blood boils when we see crucial missing options like Vsync, Anti-Aliasing, and high-resolution textures. Worse even is when the games flat out don't work as they should. We've put together a list of ten titles that run poorly on the PC because they're lazy console ports. Hopefully with the next-gen systems using x86-based hardware, a lot of these bad porting issues will be resolved moving forward. Regardless, what's your most-hated console port? Let us know in the comments below.

Google's Testing a Smart Contact Lens for Diabetics Posted: 17 Jan 2014 11:18 AM PST Smart contact lens measures glucose levels Chances are high you know someone with diabetes. My dad is diagnosed with it and gives himself an insulin shot each day. I have a young nephew who suffers from it as well. People with diabetes have the daily challenge of keeping their blood sugar levels in check, which means monitoring what they eat, when they eat, and how much they eat, among other things. It's a bum rap, but to make things easier, Google has begun testing a smart contact lens that measures glucose levels using a miniaturized sensor embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material. There are tears in the contact lens as well as a wireless chip to transmit data. It's still early in the game, but already Google says it's completed multiple clinical research studies that are helping to refine its prototype. "We're testing prototypes that can generate a reading once per second. We're also investigating the potential for this to serve as an early warning for the wearer, so we're exploring integrating tiny LED lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds," Google stated in a blog post." Google's hope is that this will become a tool for people with diabetes to manage their disease. For now, the search giant is in discussions with the FDA, though "there's still a lot more work to do" before this becomes a usable technology. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Valve Lends Oculus Rift a Hand in Driving VR Technology Forward Posted: 17 Jan 2014 10:08 AM PST Valve and Oculus Rift team up It was thought that Valve was building its own VR headset and even rumored that its current product is way better than the Oculus Rift. Turns out that's not the case. During the second day of Valve's Steam Dev Days conference, the publisher announced that it is "working together with Oculus to drive PC VR forward," adding that the two companies have collaborated on tracking. Valve also said that it has no plans to release its own VR hardware, though left to the door open to the possibility by saying that decision "could change." For now, however, Valve's interested in backing frontrunner Oculus Rift, which has been making headlines ever since its successful Kickstarter campaign. That's not to say Valve hadn't been working on a VR headset. According to Eurogamer, there were a few developers at Valve that were developing a head mounted display, but they were let go. Those same developers later reemerged with their own set of VR glasses called CastAR. Looking ahead, Valve believes it's possible for a VR headset to have 20ms latency, 3ms pixel persistence, 95Hz refresh rate, 110-degree field of vision, 1,000x1,000 resolution per eye, and high quality optics with capable tracking by 2015. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

California Woman Dodges Ticket for Driving While Wearing Google Glass Posted: 17 Jan 2014 09:07 AM PST Court victory could lead to more legal challenges A software developer who received a citation for wearing Google Glass while driving was found not guilty by San Diego County Traffic Court Commissioner John Blair. The ticket was issued to Cecilia Abadie on October 29 after being pulled over for speeding while driving along Interstate 15. In addition to speeding, she was cited for "Driving with monitor visible to driver (Google Glass)." It's illegal in California to drive with a video or TV screen turned on and visible to the driver. However, Blair ruled that there was no evidence to prove Glass was operating while Abadie was driving, the Associated Press reports. What he did not do, however, is rule that it's legal to drive with Glass turned on, adding that the device does indeed fall under California Vehicle Code 27602, explained above. The decision is an interesting one as some say the lower court ruling avoids setting a precedent, but does open the door to future challenges. Abadie is believed to be the first person to receive a ticket for wearing Glass while driving. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Nvidia Now Selling DIY G-Sync Upgrade Kits for Asus VG248QE Monitors Posted: 17 Jan 2014 08:23 AM PST Available for a limited time only Nvidia in October of last year unveiled its G-Sync monitor technology intended to reduce stutter, lag, tearing, and other unwanted effects associated with synching a monitor's refresh rate with the GPU. The company's goal is to integrate G-Sync into third-party monitors, though for a limited time, Nvidia is offering a G-Sync DIY upgrade kit that works with (and only with) Asus's 24-inch VG248QE display. Word of warning -- this requires a proficiency with modding. "We strongly recommend that you're technically skilled with system modification," Nvidia says in a 15-minute instruction video." The mod requires physically opening up your VG248QE monitor and popping the front panel off of the frame. This itself requires working your way around the frame with a screwdriver, being careful not to scratch or break anything. From there it gets more intense, though certainly doable if you're handy and/or experienced with taking apart electronics. One other caveat is price. Nvidia is selling the G-Sync DIY upgrade kit for $200 plus shipping. That's on top of the cost of the Asus VG248QE monitor, which streets for around $265. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Your Chance to Stock Up on Storage and RAM! Posted: 17 Jan 2014 06:34 AM PST Top Deal: Want to give your system an immediate speed boost? It's easier than you think if you're still rocking a mechanical hard disk drive (HDD). Swap it out for a high performance solid state drive (SSD) and you'll breathe new life into your machine. Towards that end, check out today's top deal for a PNY XLR8 Pro 2.5-inch 240GB Internal SSD for $160 with free shipping (normally $180 -- use coupon code: [EMCPWWD24]; addtional $30 mail-in-rebate). This drives offers transfer rates of up to 550MB/s for sequential reads and up to 520MB/s for sequential writes, as well as random IOPS of up to 85,000! Other Deals: Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB 7200 RPM Enterprise Internal Hard Drive for $105 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: [EMCPWWD44]) Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory for $77 with free shipping (normally $93 - use coupon code: [EMCPWWD38]) G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1866 Desktop Memory for $73 with free shipping (normally $85 - use coupon code: [EMCPWWD42]) Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory for $73 with free shipping (normally $75 - use coupon code: [EMCPWWD39])

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