General Gaming Article |
- GameSpy to Discontinue Multiplayer Services May 31st
- 35 Cool Gmail Tips You Probably Don't Use (but Should!) - Updated!
- Microsoft Teams with Geek and Sundry to Offer Surface Pro 2 Gaming Bundle
- Chromebooks Notched 2.1 Million Shipments Last Year, Majority Landed in North America
- Column: The Story Among Us
- Delayed Dig for Atari E.T. Cartridges Clears Regulatory Hurdles
- Sapphire Announces Overclocked Radeon R9 290 Vapor-X OC Graphics Card
- Newegg Daily Deals: Intel Core i5 3570K Ivy Bridge, AMD A10-5800K Trinity, and More!
- Battlefield 4 Review
GameSpy to Discontinue Multiplayer Services May 31st Posted: 04 Apr 2014 05:46 PM PDT Hundreds of games to be affectedGameSpy Technology has announced that it is suspending its services on May 31st on its website. Currently owned by Glu Mobile, the company provided multiplayer and matchmaking services for a multitude of games from developers and publishers such as Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Activision, and Bohemia Interactive. "Effective May 31, 2014 GameSpy will cease providing all hosted services for all games still using GameSpy," the statement reads. "Thanks for a great ride!" The announcement has affected many developers and publishers with IPs that use GameSpy's services. On its official forums, Bohemia Interactive addressed the issue saying, "This is going to affect multiplayer in our games that use Gamespy for matchmaking, cd keys authentification, and NAT traversal from Arma: Resistance to Arma 3. We are planning to introduce an alternative solution using Steam to Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead and Arma 3 users." Games developer and hardware manufacturer Nintendo had already announced, back in February, that it would cease its Wi-Fi services for the DS and Wii. Both devices had used GameSpy's server and matchmaking services, unlike the company's current 3DS and Wii U that uses Nintendo's own in-house system. Other companies with games that will be affected by the shutdown include SEGA, Capcom, Rockstar Games, Volition, and Namco Bandai when May 31st rolls around. |
35 Cool Gmail Tips You Probably Don't Use (but Should!) - Updated! Posted: 04 Apr 2014 02:38 PM PDT 35 awesome Gmail tips and tricksTo those of you who might have had this article bookmarked, you'll notice it's a bit longer than before. Why? Well, we originally wrote this piece back in 2009, and quite a bit has changed since then, so we thought we'd add to it. After all, it's been five years, which might as well be an eternity in technology time. For example, the amount of free space Google gave Gmail users to play with in 2009 was less than half of what it is today. That's partially the result of Google merging storage across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+ Photos. Whereas you used to have 7GB of storage for Gmail, you now have 15GB per account, and you can spread it out through those three services however you wish. Storage isn't the only thing that's different. There are some new tips and tricks to share, like Streak, a Chrome extension that lets you see who viewed your email, at what time, and from where. We've added Streak to this article and cover it in a bit more detail on the following pages, as well as added other groovy tricks. We've also updated existing ones as needed. The bottom line is there's something here for everyone, whether you've read through this article before or this is the first time you're seeing it. Let's get started! Learn to Use Keyboard ShortcutsYou've heard the expression that you need to learn to crawl before you can walk, and when it comes to Gmail, you'll be ahead of the game if you learn how to use keyboard shortcuts before diving into more advanced options. To enable keyboard shortcuts, click on Settings and mark the 'Keyboard shortcuts on' radial button. Now that you have this feature turned on, here's a sampling of what you can do with it:
There's a lot more shortcuts to learn, all of which you can reference here. In the original version of this article, we showed you how to fire up a game called Old Snakey using a Gmail shortcut after enabling it in Gmail Lab, a place where you can find "some crazy experimental stuff." Unfortunately, this fun little time waster slithered off into retirement a couple of years ago. The guy who wrote it -- Dave Cohen, a developer at Google -- said too many people thought they had to beat it before getting to see their mail. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted! Import Your Contacts from Outlook (and other Mail Apps)Kudos to you if you can remember the email address for everyone in your Address Book. That gets pretty difficult when you start dealing with dozens of contacts, let alone hundreds or even thousands, and who wants to sit around and retype all that info? The good news is, in most cases you won't have to when making the switch to Gmail. Like many email clients and services, Gmail supports the Comma Separated Values (CSV) file format. This makes it easy to transfer your Outlook contacts over to Gmail. In Outlook, click on File>Import and Export. Choose 'Export to a file' and press Next. Choose 'Comma Separated Values (Windows),' which should be the second entry down, as depicted above. By default, Outlook seems to assume you want to export your mail and automatically scrolls down to your Inbox. But what we're after are all the email addresses, so scroll up and highlight Contacts, and then click on Next. Choose a location for the file you're about to save and give it a name, like OutlookContacts. Click Next>Finish and wait a few seconds while Outlook composes the file. Now that you have your CSV file, sign in to Gmail and click on Contacts. You'll see some buttons listed above your contact. Click on More and select Import. Then click on Choose File and locate the CSV file you saved from Outlook. Once you've found your file, just click on Import and let Gmail do the rest! Use this same method for any service or client which allows you to export your contacts to a CSV file. If you have a Yahoo email account, for example, click on Contacts and then Actions>Export. Select the Yahoo CSV radio button and press Export Now. Then it's just a matter of importing the file into Gmail as outlined above. Sign Out Remotely (and Discover Who's Been Using Your Account)It doesn't matter whether we're sitting at the library or fixing Uncle Pete's PC. If we're sitting in front of a computer, we're probably going to check our Gmail to see if we have any urgent messages. That's fine, but what if you forget to sign out? The next person that uses the PC will able to jump into your account and read all of your conversations. Even worse, that person could send out emails on your behalf and create all kinds of chaos. And all because you forgot to sign out. Don't sweat it, Google has your back. Scroll down below your inbox and take note of the Details URL. Right next to it, Google tells you when the last account activity took place, and from which IP it originated from. When you click on the Details link, a new window pops up with more detailed information about any recent activity that occurred on your account, including the IP address, date and time, and even the access type (browser, mobile, POP3, SMTP, and so forth). In addition to your armchair investigation, this is also where you're able to sign out of your account remotely. Just click on the 'Sign out all other sessions' buttons and it will be like you never forgot to log off at all! Add Your AIM Buddies to GmailThis one's a little tricky because Gmail no longer plays all that nice with AIM since Google decided to focus on its own Hangouts. If you're using Hangouts in Gmail, the first thing you need to do in Gmail is revert back to the old chat. You'll find the option to do that by clicking on your mug in the chat section on the left-hand side. After you revert to the old chat, use AOL's import tool found here. It will ask you to log into AIM and then share your Gmail login information. After you do that, AIM will import your contacts. Leave the browser open as it's working -- it could take a minute or so to complete. You can also chat with your Google buddies through AIM. To do that, log into AIM, click on Settings, and select Third Party Accounts. Next, select the Add Google Talk Contacts option and click Accept in the pop-up window. Mute or Ignore Conversations the Polite WayEver get caught up in a lame group conversation that you want no part of? You basically have two options when this happens. First, you can send off an insulting email letting the other participants know you have no interest in their topic of conversations and to remove you from the current discussion. The problem in doing that is you're bound to piss someone off and it will all be for naught. Why? Because some bonehead will inevitably reply to an older email from which your name hasn't yet been removed, putting you right back in the thick of things. The other solution is to simply put up with it and delete the emails as they come in. If you're thinking there's got to be a better way, you're absolutely correct. One of the coolest features in Gmail is the ability to mute or flat-out ignore a conversation. Here's how you do it. First you need to turn on keyboard shortcuts as we outlined earlier (Settings, Keyboard shortcuts on, Save). Once this is enabled, simply press the 'm' key to mute a conversation. By doing so, new messages added the conversation skip your inbox and stay archived. That is, unless you're the direct recipient, in which case it will still show up in your inbox so you don't have to stress over missing any urgent emails. The downside to this is your muted messages can quickly become lost, making them difficult to track down if you ever need to reference one of them. However, there's an easy way to sort through them all. In the search field, type is:muted. What you won't find is an unmute button, but that's okay, you don't need one. To unmute a conversation, open it up and click on Move to Inbox. Configure Outlook to Access GmailWe're not going to debate which is the better email protocol, IMAP or POP3. We don't need to, because Gmail supports them both, as does Outlook. So rather than spark a flame war over which one is better (*cough* IMAP *cough*), we'll show you how to configure each one. Configure Gmail in Outlook with POP3 Before you do anything, sign in to your Gmail account and click on Forwarding and POP/IMAP. There are a few different options for enabling POP3, and we recommend checking the second one, 'Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on.' If you want Outlook to also download mail that you've already received and read, click the other radio button. Press Save Changes. In the same section, decide and choose whether you want Gmail to keep a copy of messaged accessed via POP3 on Google's servers, archive them, or delete them. Now fire up Outlook and navigate to Tools>Account Settings and be sure the Email tab is selected. Click on New, select the first radio button (Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP), and press Next. Fill in the account setup form, including your Gmail email address and password. Once you're finished, click on Next and see if Outlook is able to automatically configure your account. If not, you'll need to go back and mark the 'Manually configure server settings or additional server types' checkbox. Click Next and select the Internet E-mail radio button. In the next window, fill out the fields as follows:
Now click on the More Settings button and select the Advanced tab. Fill out the following:
Configure Gmail in Outlook with POP3 Sign into Gmail, click on Forwarding and POP/IMAP, and mark the Enable IMAP radio button. Press Save Changes. Load up Outlook and create a new account using the same steps above, only this time don't even attempt to let Google auto detect the settings. Mark the 'Manually configure server settings or additional server types' check box, click Next, and fill out the fields as follows:
Now click on the More Settings button and select the Advanced tab. Fill out the following:
Back up and Use Gmail OfflineThe reason it always seems like your Internet connection goes out at the worst possible time is because when you stop and think about it, there's really no good time to be without Internet access. Whether we're trying to play an online multiplayer game or collaborate on a cloud project, losing an internet connection sucks. That doesn't mean you can't still be productive, however, because Google has made it possible to use your Gmail account offline (provided you use Chrome). Here's what you need to do. Log into your Gmail account, click on the Gear icon in the top-right corner and select Settings, and then click on the Offline link. If you see a blank page, select the Install Gmaill Offline option and proceed to do so. After you install the app, launch it and follow the prompts. The first one will ask whether or not you want to allow offline mail. By choosing the Allow offline mail option, Gmail will save copies of recent mail for your account to your PC. You can then choose to download from the past week, 2 weeks, or month by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right corner. At this point, the synchronization process will kick in. Depending on how much email you've acquired through the years, this could take a long while, even on a fast connection. Once it's finished, however, you'll be able to access all your mail offline. Gmail Backup What if you're not using Google's Chrome browser? You can still backup your Gmail and view them offline in a third-party email client. Here's how: Download and install Gmail Backup from here. Run the program, input your username and password, and choose a directory to save your mail. When you're finished, click the Backup button and Gmail Backup will do the rest. Should you ever need to view these messages offline, you can do so in Outlook and other clients that support the .eml file format. But what's even cooler is that you can restore your local emails back into Gmail just by clicking on the Restore button. Integrate Gmail into Google AppsGoogle does a lot more than just email, and that can mean wielding different accounts, tabs, or browser windows. If you're heavy into Google Apps, that can quickly become a drag, so here are a few ways you can integrate Gmail with other Google services.
Google Calendar To integrate Google Calendar with your Gmail account, log into Gmail, click on Settings, and select the Labs tab. Scroll down and enable the Google Calendar gadget, and then click Save. Google Voice Player There's no need to navigate back and forth from Gmail to Google Voice in order to play back your voicemails. Enable 'Google Voice player in mail' under the Labs stab and you'll be able to play back your voice messages from your email notification. Set up Automated Canned Responses for Quick Fire EmailsWe admit it, we're hypocrites, but hear us out. Sure, we despise as much as the next person receiving an automated response to a customer support inquiry, so why in the world would we advocate setting up Google's so-called Canned Responses? Put simply, we can be much more efficient and less burnt out by composing pre-set replies to common questions we receive all the time. To take advantage of this feature, head back into the Labs tab (under Settings), enable Canned Responses, and mash the Save button. Now let's say you placed a For Sale ad on Craigslist or your local Classifieds and the item sold, but you continue to receive inquiries. It can get pretty old typing out the same response over and over, and it's bad etiquette to just ignore the email. After all, you may be shunning a future buyer for other items you may list for sale. This is where Canned Responses come in. Type in your response. In our example, we wrote, "The 2008 Pontiac GTO I listed on Craigslist is sold. Thank you for your interest." It's short, polite, and to the point, and it's also generic enough to be used no matter what the question is regarding the car that was recently sold. To save this message as a Canned Response, click on the Canned Respond link in the upper right corner, select Save, and give it a name. The next time an email comes in asking about the car, we can simply click on the Canned Response link and insert our pre-composed reply. To take it a step further, we can automate the process of sending Canned Responses by using Filters. To do this, click on the Create a Filter link next to the search box. In this example, we want to filter emails that contain the words 'Craigslist,' 'Pontiac,' or 'GTO.' We'll write these down in the 'Has the words' field with each word separated by the search operator 'OR' (in all caps). When you're finished, click Next. In the next step, mark the 'Send canned response' checkbox and select the appropriate one from the pull-down menu. You can also choose to mark the email as read, delete, archive it, and a few other options. When you have it configured the way you want, mash the Create Filter button and let Gmail handle the rest! Send and Receive Blocked FilesThank virus writers and malicious malware miscreants for the restrictions most ISPs and email services place on potentially dangerous file types. That includes Google, which blocks you from sending or receiving executables, as well as some other file formats, even if they're sent in a one of these compressed file types: .zip, .tar, .tgz, .taz. .z, and .gz. The easiest workaround is to amend the file extension to fool Gmail into allowing the file, and then let the recipient know they'll need to rename the file. For example, let's say you coded a simple app and wanted to share it with your mentor. Open up the directory where the file is located and press the Alt key to bring up the menu bar. Click on Tools>Folder Options, select the View tab, and uncheck 'Hide extensions for known file types.' Hit OK. Now you can edit your file's extension. Right- click the blocked file and select Rename. Add .REMOVE to the end of the file, so for example CustomApp.exe would become CustomApp.exe.REMOVE. A pop-up window will appear letting you know that if you change the extension, the file might become unusable. Click Yes, as once the recipient changes it back. it will be fully usable again. Now you're free to send your file! Protip: If you have a lot of blocked file attachments to send, compress them into a single .zip file and then change the .zip extension in the same manner above. If you're not comfortable thwarting Gmail's virus scanner, you still have other options. One of our favorites is Hightail (formerly YouSendIt). Once you register, this free service will allow you to send any file type up to 250MB in size (by contrast, Gmail limits messages to 25MB). If you need more than that, there are also several subscription plans available starting at $16/month. To use the service, just log in, attach your file, and fire away!
Host Your Domain's Email at GmailIf you own a website, chances are you also want to use your personalized email address (you@yourdomain.com, for example). At the same time, Gmail's feature set typically trounces all over most other email services, including the one that comes prepackaged with your domain. One solution is to simply forward your email to a Gmail account, but that isn't exactly elegant. Nor is it necessary, because Google allows you to host your domain email at Gmail, giving you the best of both worlds. To get started, you need to register with Google Apps for business by following this link. Fill in the required info and hit Next. Then, choose the "Use a domain name I have already purchased" radio button and type in your domain name in the specified field. Next you'll need to create a Google apps account by filling in the fields for your username and password, then click "Accept and signup." This will take you to the Google Admin Console, and thus begins your 30-day free trial to Google Apps for business. You still need to verify that you own the website you just registered. Start the process by clicking on the Gear icon and selecting "Setup," and then select the "Verify domain ownership" option on the left-hand side. You can do this in one of two ways - either by uploading an HTML file to your website, or changing the domain's CNAME records with your domain host. It doesn't matter which one you choose, though if you choose to go the CNAME route, Google provides specific instructions for several popular hosts here (scroll down and expand 'Specific instructions for popular domain hosts). The easiest way is to upload an HTML file. Google holds your hands through the process. When prompted, download the HTML file Google provides and upload it where specified. Once you've verified your site, you'll need to configure your domain's MX (Mail Exchange) records. How you get there will depend on which host you're using, and so will the records you need to input. Find your host here and follow the instructions exactly as Google lays them out, or if you don't see your host listed, follow these general MX record instructions:
It might take a little while for all the changes to take effect, but when they do, you'll be able to log into your email account by navigating to http://mail.google.com/a/YOURWEBSITEHERE.COM/#inbox, where YOURWEBSITE.COM is the name of your domain. After you log in, spend some time familiarizing yourself with the Dashboard and the different settings available. For example, you can create up to 50 email accounts, set up groups, enable contact sharing, and more. Track Which Sites are Sharing Your Email AddressInterested in learning which sites are sharing your email address? There's an easy way reveal which sites and services aren't living up their privacy promises. All you have to do is append your email address with +xxx, replacing xxx with whatever you want. For example, if your Gmail address is JohnDoe@gmail.com, you could use the email address JohnDoe+BestBuy@gmail.com when registering at Best Buy. Emails sent to JohnDoe +BestBuy@gmail.com will still show up in your regular inbox, and if you start receiving all kinds of unsolicited junk mail at that addy, you'll know the culprit. Discovering who's sharing your email isn't the only thing this trick is good for. Pre-labeled emails also come in handy for sorting your messages and using a unified account in place of several email addys. If you wanted to keep your work messages separate from your day-to- day email, just append the word 'work' to your email addy. To use our above example, you would use JohnDoe+Work@gmail.com when communicating with co-workers. Take it a step further by creating labels and setting up filters to automatically sort your work, personal, and any other types of email addresses you set up. Sorting with Labels and FiltersFew email services come close to offering the same flexibility and management options as Gmail, and it's mostly due to Google's implementation of labels and filters. In short, labels act like folders, while filters act like, well, filters. If you're using Gmail, you've probably already created a few labels. Here are some good ways to utilize them:
Our Top 5 Must-Have Labs Add- OnsGmail owes much of its flexibility to Gmail Labs. These add-ons are essentially beta services that, for one reason or another, haven't been implemented yet as a permanent feature. But don't let the experimental status fool you - there are a lot of good Labs features that both run stable and improve the overall Gmail experience. Here's a list of our favorite five, in addition to the ones we've already covered previously in this writeup (like Canned Responses). Right-Side Chat Don't like having your Hangouts on the left side of Gmail? Enable Right-Side Chat and it will appear on the right side instead. This isn't groundbreaking, by any means, though it does open up more space on the left side for custom labels without having to minimize your chat contacts. Unread Messages Icon It's been a couple of hours since you checked Gmail and the messages are starting to pile up. You can only put it off before there are so many messages that it becomes overwhelming. How long? That varies by user, but with this handy Lab enabled, you'll know exactly how many unread messages are waiting for you. Mark as Read Button Buttons or pull-down menus? If you frequently perform a particular action, the button wins out every time. And if you find yourself marking emails as read on a consistent basis, this just might become your favorite add-on. Custom Keyboard Shortcuts We showed you how to enable keyboard shortcuts earlier in this article, but if you don't like the way Google has them configured, enable this Lab to make changes. Maybe you think "W" for "write email" is easier to remember than "C" for "Compose." Once you enable this Lab, you'll find a Keyboard Shortcuts option in Settings. Head over there and make any changes you want. Undo Send Probably the best Labs feature ever, Undo Send gives you a moment to reflect on that angry email you just sent your boss, and should a cooler head prevail, unsend the message and maybe even save your job! Have a favorite Labs feature that didn't make the list? Be sure to post it in the comments section below! 5 Essential Gmail DownloadsGmail Notifier It's tough to imagine using Gmail without Gmail Notifier. This little utility sits unobtrusively in the systray and lets you know when there's a new message in your inbox. It also serves as a gateway to your inbox - just right-click and select View Inbox. Free, toolbar.google.com/toolbar/gmail-helper/ Fuser The hardest part about being a social butterfly in cyberspace is managing all those different accounts. It's easy to waste an entire morning just catching up on current events through Gmail, MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendster, and Twitter. That's where Fuser comes in, which is a catch-all front-end that combines all those accounts (including multiple accounts through the same service) into a single, manageable inbox. Free, www.fuser.com Gmail S/MIME Send and receive signed and encrypted messages in Gmail with this Firefox add-on. Once installed, you'll notice a padlock icon when composing an email. Give it a click to lock and encrypt your email, and rest easy knowing your top secret message will stay that way. Free, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/592 Email This! We like any tool or service that makes our lives easier and streamlines common tasks, and one such utility that fits the bill is the Email This! Firefox add-on. Once installed, Email This! will appear in your right-click context menu making easy work out of emailing the title, link, and any highlighted text through your Gmail account. Free, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3102 Gmail Manager This Firefox add-on is like a supercharged version of Gmail Notifier. Probably the best feature is the ability to add multiple accounts, but you can also configure how often Gmail Manager checks for new messages, display new mail snippets from the inbox, play a sound when new mail arrives, hide your email alias, and more. Free, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1320 Let's Streak!Whoa, put your pants back on! We're not talking about that kind of streaking. No, the "Streak" we're referring to is a handy extension for Chrome that supercharges your Gmail experience. You can use Streak to schedule emails to send out later, create and add snippets of redundant text to emails, track bugs, and more. Have a look at one example: One of our favorite features of Streak is being able to track emails. If you enable this feature, you can tell when someone has read an email you sent, when they read it, and even where they were when they read it. Get Creative with Capitizlization and DotsLet's say your Gmail address is Username@gmail.com. If you don't like how that looks, feel free to tell people your email address is User.Name@gmail.com. You're probably already aware that capatilization doesn't matter, but did you know that the dots don't affect things as well? They don't, so even U.s.E.r.N.a.M.e@gmail.com will deliver email to username@gmail.com. The dots are simply irrelevant. Take Gmail to TasksIt's hard to stay organized with to-do lists. Will you remember everything you're supposed to pick up at the store? What about little Johnny's concert -- will you remember that as well? You could tie a string to your finger, but a to-do list is even better. You can make them in Gmail using the Tasks function. You'll find Tasks by clicking on Gmail, or you can press the "G" key followed by the "K" key to open up a Tasks windows. You can also add to Tasks from within emails by pressing Shift+T. Temporarily Hide Your EmailsBoomerangs are fun, and if you've never played with one, you're missing out. Equally awesome is Boomerang -- not the thing you throw, but an extension for Chrome and Firefox. With Boomerang, you can schedule an email to send out at a later time. Just write it up and tell Boomerang when it should send out. In the meantime, if you change your mind -- maybe it's a breakup letter -- you can always go back and nuke the email. The second thing Boomerang does is offer followup reminders by archiving your emails and bringing them back later. This gives you a cleaner inbox in the short term, but ensures you won't forget about an important email that may not be relevant until next week. Use Advanced Search ParametersOver the years, we tend to accumulate a lot of email. It can quickly become overwhelming trying to search for a particular email that may have been sent years ago and is now buried amid a sea of communications. What's a power user to do? To start with, identify some distinct characaters of the email you're looking for. Once you've done that, use Google's advanced search terms to track it down based on specific criteria. For example, are you looking for an email that's larger than 1MB, older than two years, and isn't labled? Simple! Just search for: size:1000000 older_2y has:nouserlabels Check Multiple Gmail Accounts Using a Single LoginIf you only have a single Gmail account, move along, there's nothing to see here. But if you have multiple Gmail accounts, this tip absolutely applies to you. By taking advantage Gmail Delegation, you can merge multiple accounts to a primary account and check all email at once. This feature is really intended for business types so that supervisors can share their inboxes with personal assistants, but it's also great for power users who own multiple Gmail accounts. Check it out. If you're not able to view the embedded videw above for any reason, just follow these steps:
Be advised that it could take some time for Google to sync the accounts, so be patient. Organize Your LabelsUsing labels is a great way to organize your emails, but as the number of labels grow, they too may need organizing! Lucikly, Google makes this easy to do in Gmail. Navigate to the Settings section (found withing the gear icon) and select Labels. This will show you all the default labels plus the ones you've created over the years. If you wish to keep certain labels to archive your mail but don't want them cluttering up your inbox, click on Hide and they'll disappear from view. You can also select which ones are viewable in IMAP. One in particular you may want to hid from view is All Mail, especially if you're setting up a new IMAP account in Thunderbird or Outlook for an email address that's been collecting email for several years. |
Microsoft Teams with Geek and Sundry to Offer Surface Pro 2 Gaming Bundle Posted: 04 Apr 2014 11:35 AM PDT Score two free games and a wireless Xbox controller with purchase of a Surface 2 ProMicrosoft is hoping to convince gamers to purchase a Surface Pro 2 tablet by giving away some free games and accessories. In partnership with Geek and Sundry, PC gamers who purchase any variant of the Surface Pro 2 will also receive two free downloadable games -- War Thunder Mustang Advanced Pack and Farming Simulator 2013 -- plus an Xbox Wireless Controller for Windows. According to Microsoft, the bundle saves gamers over $104 if they were to purchase each item separately. "The Surface Pro 2 Geek and Sundry bundle celebrates the awesome gaming experience on Surface Pro 2 – and the new G&S Unplugged web series featuring Surface," Microsoft explains. "Get a Surface Pro 2, Xbox Wireless Controller for Windows, and free downloadable content for two games: Farming Simulator 2013 and the Mustang Advanced Pack for War Thunder. This limited-availability bundle is only at MicrosoftStore.com and saves you over $104." Microsoft's bundle is only available at MicrosoftStore.com.The promotion runs until May 1, 2014, or while supplies last. At the time of ths writing, Microsoft is out of stock of the Surface Pro 2 with 512GB and 8GB of RAM, which sells for $1,799. However, all three other models are shown as being in stock, including the Surface Pro 2 with 64GB/4GB ($899), 128GB/4GB ($999), and 256GB/8GB ($1,299). All Surface Pro 2 models feature a 10.6-inch Full HD 1080p multi-touch display, Core i5 processor, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0, microSDXC card reader, mini DisplayPort, 720p HD front and rear-facing cameras, and a few other odds and ends. |
Chromebooks Notched 2.1 Million Shipments Last Year, Majority Landed in North America Posted: 04 Apr 2014 10:18 AM PDT Nearly 9 out of 10 Chromebooks sold in 2013 ended up in North AmericaLaptop shoppers in North America are willing to sacrifice features, performance, and overall functionality in exchange for lower priced systems, or so it seems based on data provided by market intelligence firm ABI Research. According to ABI Research, of the estimated 2.1 million Chromebooks shipped in 2013, nearly 89 percent reached North America. Looking ahead, the intelligence firm predicts Chromebook shipments will grow to 11 million units in 2019. "ABI Research tracked Chromebooks across six regions and found the average selling price (ASP) to be $338," says research analyst Stephanie Van Vactor. "This truly budget-driven device is a disruptive force to the portable PC market." The average selling price is actually a little higher than we expected, and while ABI Research remains optimistic about the growth of Chromebooks, we can't help but think pricing might have to come down in order to compete with increasingly affordable and more fully featured Windows laptops. According to ABI, customers are still undecided but certainly "intrigued" by Chromebooks. It's hard not to be when you can pick up a Chromebook for $199 (Acer C720 with Intel Celeron 2955U processor, 2GB of DDR3L RAM, 16GB SSD, and 11.6-inch display). However, once you approach $338 (the average selling priced, based on ABI's research), it becomes a much tougher sell over a similarly priced Windows laptop. |
Posted: 04 Apr 2014 10:18 AM PDT How the golden age of TV is affecting gamingIt took me a while to warm to Telltale Games's The Walking Dead, an entire game series built around two of my least-favorite mechanics: quick-time events and dialog trees. Yippee. Pass the digital Ambien. What eventually brought me around, and prepared me for an even better use of the system in The Wolf Among Us, was a change in thinking. A lot us make pleasing noises about narrative and character elements in gaming, but the truth is that gameplay comes first. The telos (purpose, or end) of a game is the play. The narrative is what gives the play resonance and depth, and forms the binding element, but the key thing is what you do. Telltale's latest work inverts that, finding a way to place the narrative first, while making the gameplay merely a driving element. All of the screen-scanning, gathering, talking, and fighting work are just fine, as long as they stay out of the way. Make it more complex, and the narrative stalls. Place it in a game with poor writing and no cinematic sensibility, and the gameplay is merely laughable. Serial, episodic games are a welcome addition to videogame storytelling. But place it at the service of storytelling skill that is equal to the best we're seeing on television these days, and it works like a dream. Television is the most appropriate analog, particularly as it's grown more sophisticated in the post-Sopranos, post-Lost, Breaking Bad era. Television's embrace of serial storytelling—lavish plotlines, deep characters, and serious world-building spread out over dozens of hours—is giving the medium new heft. The Wolf Among Us nails this sweet spot, creating a noir mystery light on action and heavy on character, atmosphere, and story, then ending with that most tantalizing tease: "Next time on…." We're seeing the flowering of something great here: a game you return to once a month or once a week for a new two-hour installment. As TV matures in its mastery of this serial format, so will games, and at some point, the two will merge into new forms of mainstream entertainment. |
Delayed Dig for Atari E.T. Cartridges Clears Regulatory Hurdles Posted: 04 Apr 2014 09:40 AM PDT The search for millions of unsold copies of E.T. will proceedEnvironmental regulators in New Mexico have given Microsoft, Lightbox Entertainment, and Fuel Entertainment the green light to dig up a local landfill that might contain millions of unsold E.T. cartridges for the Atari 2600, along with other games, peripherals, and even consoles. The proposed dig had been put on hold when the New Mexico Environmental Department deemed that the initial excavation plan was too vague, but whatever concerns the agency harbored have now been settled. We read a copy of the NMED's approval letter, which lays out a handful of conditions, one them being that the agency must be notified at least five working days prior to the dig. E.T. is considered by many to be the worst game ever made. It suffered from a rushed production time as Atari tried to capitalize on the feature film, and while branding alone helped spur initial sales of around 1.5 million copies, word of just how atrocious the game was effectively halted further sales. There are reports of truckloads of unsold cartridges and other Atari gear being hauled to the desert and dumped into the landfill, which has since been covered with concrete. If the legend proves true, there could be millions of E.T. cartridges buried beneath the ground. The excavation will be filmed as part of a documentary about video game culture. |
Sapphire Announces Overclocked Radeon R9 290 Vapor-X OC Graphics Card Posted: 04 Apr 2014 08:21 AM PDT Factory overclocked and custom cooledAMD's Radeon R9 290 graphics card already runs fast, but kicking things up a notch is Sapphire, which just launched its R9 290 Vapor-X OC with a custom cooling solution. It has 2,560 Stream Processors, 4GB of GDDR5 memory running at 1,400MHz (5.6GB/s effective), and an overclocked GPU that's been goosed to 1,030MHz, up from a maximum clockspeed of 947MHz on reference cards. To keep things stable, Sapphire combined its vapor chamber cooler with its Tri-X fans. The vapor chamber is mounted between the GPU itself and the base of the heatsink and cooler assembly to pull the most amount of heat away from the GPU and into the cooler. Sapphire's Tri-X cooling solution consists of three 90mm fans with dust repelling ball bearings and five heat pipes, including a 10mm core heat pipe flanked by two 8mm pipes and two 6mm pipes snaking through the cooler. "The stylish fan shroud also contains molded guides to control the airflow across and through the cooler, including over the Power Control circuitry," Sapphire explains. "The combination of Vapor-X and Tri-X technologies results in GPU temperatures between 5 and 10 degrees cooler than with Tri-X alone – delivering industry leading cooling for this generation of graphics cards." No word yet on when the Sapphire R9 290 Vapor-X OC will be available or for how much. |
Newegg Daily Deals: Intel Core i5 3570K Ivy Bridge, AMD A10-5800K Trinity, and More! Posted: 04 Apr 2014 07:15 AM PDT Top Deal: If you get tired of Doritos, try mixing things up with a bag of kettle cooked sea salt and vinegar (or substitute cracked pepper for vinegar - both are tasty). Mmmm. This is making us hungry. It's also made us forget the point -- something about chips. Ah well, we're sure it will come back to us. In the meantime, speaking of chips, check out today's top deal for an Intel Core i5 3570K Ivy Bridge Processor for $215 (normally $230 - use coupon code: [EMCPFPG34]). It's not for eating, but it might deliver some tasty overclocks thanks to its unlocked multiplier. At stock, you'll enjoy a quad-core CPU clocked at 3.4GHz (3.5GHz Turbo) with 6MB of L3 cache. Other Deals: Sapplire TRI-X OC Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Video Card for $480 with free shipping (normally $495 - use coupon code: [EMCPFPG28]) AMD A10-5800K Trinity 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) for $110 with free shipping (Free Saints Row IV game w/ purchase) WD Green WD40EZRX 4TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive for $155 with free shipping (normally $165 - use coupon code: [EMCPFPG36]) G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory for $40 with free shipping (normally $46 - use coupon code: [EMCPFPG39]) |
Posted: 04 Apr 2014 06:43 AM PDT Epic battles. Epic bugs, tooStop. Any review you previously read about Battlefield 4 was flat-out wrong. Wrong, we tell you. That's because any short review based on near-gold code or just a few hours or even a day's worth of play can't be complete. In fact, we don't even consider this review anywhere near done yet, even though by the time you read this, we'll have logged days of in-game play. To pronounce a verdict on a game this sprawling, this complicated, this organic—and this frakking bug-filled—would be irresponsible. The Commander Mode is back, with a tablet version promised for the loneliest job in the game. This shouldn't be news to anyone who has been a fan of the Battlefield series, though. It's hard to believe, but it's been almost 12 years since Battlefield 1942 hit the store shelves with its unique blend of first-person and vehicle combat that revolutionized military-themed shooters. Unfortunately, there was this little game franchise called Call of Duty released a year later that minted money faster than, well, the US Mint, and the two have been competing ever since. The last couple of versions, Battlefield has been chasing CoD and it's no different here. Developer DICE again invests resources into a CoD-like single-player storyline that we honestly think few will ever play. We can burn a paragraph or two describing the plot but it's easily summed up as a bad Michael Bay action movie seen through the eyes of South Park: "Booosh!" "Fwraaash!" "Craaaw!" "Kraaaaasssshhhh!!!" Slow-motion helicopter crash. "Caawwwshhh!!!" To be fair, the single-player's graphics are fairly stunning and more polygons are expended on single-player than multiplayer. The AI is passable and the save-points less offensive to us than they were in Battlefield 3, but we don't really care about the single-player mode and we'd guess the vast majority of long-time Battlefield fans don't either. We actually suspect that DICE is finally acknowledging that too, so it's good to see that multiplayer gets some nice buffs that help justify the franchise's reputation for being the thinking man's CoD. Battlefield 2 players belly-ached for years when squads got whittled down from six to four, and Commander Mode and voice com were axed in Battlefield 3. With Battlefield 4, DICE ups the squad size to five, which gives them a little more effective fire teams. Squads are also helped with the return of voice com and a Commander Mode, too. No review of Battlefield 4 can go without mentioning the Levolution feature—which means a lot of things crumble and fall apart. It's the natural evolution of the already destructible environments first tested in select Battlefield 3 maps, and it's quite impressive. We've been in matches where the fighting practically stops while players rush out to get a glimpse of the towering skyscraper crumbling to the ground. Don't be fooled, though—not everything can be flattened. We'd also be remiss if we didn't mention the stunning water and weather physics DICE has implemented, which are reminiscent of the epic sea battles of the original. It goes without saying that Battlefield 4 is an intense game on hardware resources. The min spec is a dual-core Core 2 or Athlon X2 with 4GB of RAM and Radeon 3870 or GeForce 8800GT and up, or— get this—Intel HD4000 graphics with a 512MB allocated for the frame buffer. The recommended spec is a quad-core Intel or six-core AMD part, 8GB of RAM, Radeon HD 7870 3GB or GeForce GT 660 3GB or better. Our experience says that if you want to play on Ultra at 1080p with a constant 60fps, you'll want an eight-core AMD part or Hyper-Threaded Intel quad-core part with a current-gen $300-tier GPU, and even then, you'll hit patches of 40–50fps in multiplayer on some maps. Let's just say you need real hardware to play this game in all its glory. Of course, it's hard to say what game hardware works best, as you need a fairly stable platform to even get a feel for it. And right now as we go to print, Battlefield 4 hasn't been stable. And that gets right into the most controversial part of Battlefield 4: the bugs. Of course, no release of Battlefield has arrived without bugs, but Battlefield 4's launch has been particularly rough. At launch, players were beset with crashes, lost stats, as well as annoyingly constant server crashes and disconnects. Others complained of poor "netcode" failing to register hits on opponents and being shot through walls. Our own experience initially resulted in crashes and disconnects every other match or three. Multiple server-side patches reduced that to the point where we could play for maybe two hours without a crash or disconnect, but they still occurred on occasion and we were victims of the shot-through-the-wall-problem on occasion. DICE has since patched the server code again and issued a 1GB client patch to address the crashes. Unfortunately, that patch caused more issues, including more crashing, server disconnects, an inadvertent blurring effect, and lower performance for some players. For what it's worth, our experience with the patch was a big improvement in server disconnects and crashes. We played a solid four hours with but one game crash and one server crash. We did, however, get the annoying blur. We won't even get into the minutia of the odd weapons balance. One grenade upgrade, for example, gives you three smaller grenades that have a smaller blast radius than the single basic grenade you start with, but we'd swear the smaller grenade actually has a larger blast radius. Two engineers repairing the light helicopter make it invulnerable to direct multiple long strings of anti-aircraft fire, too. And many of the weapons seem to be chosen straight from Jane's Compendium of Obscure Small Arms of the World rather than the familiar armory from Battlefield 3. So, where does that leave us? Kind of torn, honestly. From the hours we've logged, we do love the game. It's fun and the immense three-dimensional battle space is everything a Battlefield player wants and needs. Let's just say we won't be playing much Battlefield 3 from now on. But that's contingent on Battlefield 4 working—and often it isn't. Yet we have faith that DICE will make it right. Battlefield 4, after all, isn't about getting your $60 today and moving you along PT Barnum–style. No, it's about getting your $60 today, and another $50 for the DLC, plus $28 for all of the weapon-unlock packs—right up until Battlefield 5 comes along. Call us suckers, but we'll probably be there too, lined up with our 60 bucks in hand. $60, www.battlefield.com; ESRB: M |
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