General Gaming Article

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• How to Use Adobe Photoshop
• Newegg Daily Deals: Seagate Hybrid Drive 1TB MLC/8GB, WD Elements 4TB USB HDD, and More!
• Intel Pushes for Bigger Size 2-in-1 Hybrid PCs
• IBM's z13 Mainframe is the Culmination of $1 Billion and 5 Years of Development
• Gartner: Tablet Demand Already Peaked, Consumers Now Turning Back to PCs
• Samsung Thumbs Nose at Android, Launches Low Cost Tizen Smartphone

How to Use Adobe Photoshop Posted: 14 Jan 2015 02:49 PM PST Not sure where to start in Photoshop? Here's a crash course on the basics Photoshop is a powerful application that can be used for a variety of purposes, from editing photos or other images to graphic design and 3D art to light videography work. But Photoshop's power and versatility can also make it incredibly intimidating. The program's main window is strewn with 20 different tools plus a ton of filter effects and image layers to top it all off. While Photoshop may be as understandable as Sanskrit to a novice, we're going to show you how to get started with the basics. Getting Started There's a lot going on when you first launch Photoshop, but it's not as incomprehensible as you think. On the left side, you'll find the program's tools. You'll use these to manipulate your work, such as resizing and flipping images, cloning pixels, and drawing shapes. The right side, meanwhile, holds a quick menu to access the image adjustments; directly below that is your layer palette. Working in layers One of the things that makes Photoshop such a powerful image editor is the ability to stack layers on top of each other. For example, you might want to insert a new graphic into one layer, while another darkens a small portion of the image, and yet another adds more color saturation. Additonally, you can set each layer's opacity and blend them altogether with effects. But more importantly, working in layers means you can isolate any changes you make to pixels in a that particular layer without affecting the whole image. So, every image you edit could easily have 10 or more layers. Professional editors will often create an image with 25 or more layers. The layers palette is located on the bottom-right of your screen; hit Control + J to create a new one. Think of your layers as a stack of paper. Make sure to organize each one accordingly, to avoid hidden elements. There are also plenty of ways to blend layers together, but we'll come back to that later. All the filters Filters are the second, if not the most, instrumental part of Photoshop. Unlike those color-shading Instagram filters, these will let you do some truly cool things with your images such as distorting the whole frame, adding various blur effects, and turning the image into a pixelated jumble—on purpose! There's a lot to dig into here, so take yoru time and play around for awhile in the filters menu. On the next page, we're going over pratically every tool in Photoshop Tools the Trade See that long tray on the left? (Pictured here to the right) That's your tool set. It might look overwhelming, but it's actually well organized into different sections. The top section has tools to select and move around parts of the images. One step down is holds brushes to add or remove elements of the image. Below that are tools to add text, shapes, and lines. Bringing up the bottom are navigation instruments and color swatches. We're not going over every little tool but here are most them. Each is important in its own right. Transformative tools Move Tool (V): This essentially allows you to move around objects with a simple click-and-drag. To move something, it has to be in an unlocked layer that's also not the background layer. Transform (T): Though this isn't featured as part of Photoshop's main menu, it's an indispensable tool that lets you change the size of your image and rotate it. Selection Tools Selection tools are the key to creating a great image. But before we start delineating the various tools, there are a couple of keyboard commands you should know. Shift + Left Click: Add to your current selection. Alt + Left Click: Conversely, this shortcut will subtract from your current selection. Control + D: one of the most important key combinations you should use to deselect Control + Shift + D: refocus on your last selection. Shift + Control + I: Inverse selection. A neat trick is to isolate an object from its flat background by selecting every pixel around it and then hitting Control + I, so you have a perfect outline around your subject. Control + D: Deselect everything. Now, with further ado, all of the selection tools. Marquee tool (M): This tool lets you highlight rectangular and circular parts of your canvas. Hitting the shift key while you're moving the cursor will also cause this selection tool to morph into a perfectly square or round shape. Lasso (L): The Lasso tool is a free-form selection tool that lets you draw lines over the image. When using the regular lasso option, you can create curved lines as long as you're holding down the mouse button. Once you let go, it completes the shape with a straight line that connects with your starting point. Alternatively, there's also the Polygonal Tasso Tool, which sketches out only straight lines. Lastly, the Magnetic Lasso will automatically latch on to edges. Magic Wand (W): One of the easiest selection tools to use because it will select the area you click on as well as any similar pixels around that spot. It can be further fine-tuned by decreasing the tolerance, or if you want to select more of the area, increasing the tolerance. Crop Tool (C): As the name suggests, this will crop your images. You can either click and drag the exact framing you want or click on the image to create a box over it, which you further adjust by shrinking the sides. Holding down shift while using either method will also preserve the image's original aspect ratio. Eye Dropper (I): Want to re-create the same color from part of the image? You can! Move the tip of this tool to the exact pixel you want to copy. Fixer-uppers The next set of tools is a more focused on editing pixels and adding spot-on images. Like the Selection tools, there are a few nuances to these tools that it really helps to know. For example, a brush can have a soft head, which means its effect will gradually fade away on the edges rather than coming to a hard stop. Also, keep in mind you can change the overall size of your brush as well as its shape. Healing Brush (J): This brush lets you fix small imperfections in your images such as acne or wrinkles, spots of dust, and other small fixes. Clone Stamp Tool (S): Similar to the healing brush, this tool effectively clones an area. This could be useful for removing a cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky. To use the tool, you'll first have to press the Alt key and click on the area of pixels you want to replicate. After that you can just dab the clone tool on the part of the image you want to fix. History Brush (Y): Made a mistake? No sweat, this brush lets you paint back in time. For example, if you made the entire picture darker, you could use this brush to selectively peel back your last edit in certain spots. Blur/Sharpen/Smudge: This is one of Photoshop's three-part editing tools. Blur rubs out details, making them fuzzier, and soften textures. Conversely, the sharpening tool accentuates the details, making them crisper. Smudge is a interesting tool because it melds pixels together, which makes it almost completey useless for real-life photos. However, the smudge tool might be more applicable for blending colors in art, or perhaps creating wisps of smoke. Gradient Tool (G): Use the Gradient Tool to create (you guessed it) gradients of color. Once the tool is selected, click and drag the resulting line in the direction you want the color shift to go in. But if you want to mix in more than one color, use the drop-down menu bar toward the top of the screen. This lets you set up complex gradients that span multiple colors; you can also set the gradient pattern. Burn/Dodge/Sponge Tools (O): Another trifecta of editing tools. Burn and dodge will affect the lighting in your image, adding more shadows or more light, respectively. The sponge tool, on the other hand, can be used to change the saturation in your image, making colors richer or grayer. Eraser: Last but not least, the eraser lets you clean up any nasty edges or mistakes in your images. If you're working with layers, a sure-fire tip is to use this tool with a soft brush to smooth out the edges between each element of the image. Image elements Pen Tool (P): Usually more useful for artists sketching up vector graphics and other art, the pen allows the users to draw freeform and straight lines. Text Tool (T): Who says Photoshop is only about images? Add some words to the picture. Shapes tool (U): Add in an assortment of shapes, including rectangles with rounded or sharp sides, circles of all proportions, polygons, lines again, and other custom shapes. Navigation tools Hand Tool (H): Giving you a hand getting around the frame, just click and drag to explore the canvas if you're viewing the image at a high magnification. Zoom Tool (Z): Speaking of magnification, this is an indispensable part of working in Photoshop. A regular click will zoom into the image, whereas holding Alt while hitting the mouse button will zoom out. With either option you can also hold down the mouse button for a smoother pull and push zoom. Shades of the rainbow Picking colors adds a whole other subset of options. Once you hit your color swatches on the lower-left of a screen, a new popup window will show an entire color gamut for you to choose from. In the image above, you see a large box that displays red in a wide array of intensities, from washed-out white in the upper-left, plain old black in the bottom-left, and the brightest version in the upper-right. Next to this, there's also a bar showing all the different hues to chose from. Of course, you can also manually dial in exactly what color you want to work with. History The History palette is a magical time machine located in the upper-right of the Photoshop interface. Photoshop records every little move you make; navigating to this small menu allows you to you jump back in time and revert to any changes you made in the past. Read on to see a few things you can do with Photoshop. Now that we've gotten though the tools, we're going to put everything we've learned to good use and start photoshopping some images. A basic Photoshop One of the most basic things you can do with Photoshop is joining together two images. Let's start with creating a selection around the object we want to shop into our main image. Instead of using any old Marquee Tool, we're going to use the Pen Tool (P), which we'll use to draw a path around the object. After the shape is complete, press the A key to bring up the Direct Selection Tool. Click on the image and select Make Selection in the contextual menu. This will create the selection; now, hit the copy shortcut (Control + C). Next up, lets bring up our main image, then paste (Control + V) the object into it. Because it's been added in as a new layer, we can easily move it around. Lastly, we're going to clean up any harsh edges using a soft-brushed eraser. Create a toy box image One of the other cool things you can do simply in Photoshop is simulate the toy box effect typically created with a very expensive tilt-shift lens. This little trick lets you turn an image of the real world into a miniature toy set. Images shot from a tall building or some other elevation down onto a subject area work best. Once you've got your image, here's how to do it in a few simple steps. After you've opened your image, go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Tilt-Shift This brings up a new overlay of three bars, as well as a round center point on your image. This center point should be position over the subject you want to keep in focus. You can also tweak the miniature distortion and blur levels with the settings on the side. To orient the effect, you can rotate the bars or adjust the spacing between them. Once you've picked a pleasing effect, go ahead and click OK. These next few steps are for an extra bit of gloss, but they'll make your images pop. For a bit of vignetting fakery, you could add a new fill layer (found under the Layer menu). Make sure to pick a solid color, preferably black. This will in turn cover your image with a completely opaque layer of black paint, but don't fret. Simply hover over to the layer's opacity and bring it down. Next, use the eraser tool with a large soft brush and erase any spots you want to be bright in the final image. Lastly, go to the adjustments menu and shake up some of the brightness and saturation to really make the image pop. Voilà! You have a great-looking (but fake) miniature photo But wait there's more We've barely scratched the surface of all the power behind Photoshop. There's much more that you can do with the program, such as generating vector art and adding selective color to your photos, for a few examples. But this was only a crash course to give you a starting point for all you great projects. Now, get photoshopping!

Newegg Daily Deals: Seagate Hybrid Drive 1TB MLC/8GB, WD Elements 4TB USB HDD, and More! Posted: 14 Jan 2015 10:38 AM PST Top Deal: We all know the score in storage -- hard disk drives have the advantage in price per gigabyte, and solid state drives win in performance. Want the best of both worlds? Pick up an SSD for your OS and an HDD for storage chores. Want the second best of both worlds? Then check out today's top deal for a Seagate Hybrid Drive 1TB MLC/8GB SSHD for $70 with free shipping (normally $80 - use coupon code: [ESCAKKP38]). It's a 1TB hard drive with 8GB of NAND flash memory to speed up access of frequently used programs. It also boasts 64MB of cache and a SATA 6Gbps interface. Other Deals: Acer G6 Series 27-inch 6ms Widescreen LED Backlight Slim Bezel Monitor 300 for $180 with free shipping (normally $200 - use coupon code: [EMCAKKP34]) WD Elements 4TB USB 3.0 3.5-inch External Hard Drive for $115 with free shipping (normally $130 - use coupon code: [EMCAKKP22]) G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory for $128 with free shipping (normally $143 - use coupon code: [EMCAKKP27]) Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 Video Card for $330 with free shipping (after $10 Mail-in rebate)

Intel Pushes for Bigger Size 2-in-1 Hybrid PCs Posted: 14 Jan 2015 10:17 AM PST Get ready to see 12.5-inch 2-in-1 PCs in the near future If you own a low-cost 2-in-1 hybrid device (or convertible laptop, if you prefer to call it that), chances are you're rocking a 10-inch display, or thereabouts. Going forward, don't be surprised to see vendors start churning out bigger size models. That's because Intel has reportedly expanded its 2-in-1 reference blueprint to now include 12.5-inch display products, paving the way for larger 2-in-1 models. According to Digitimes and its sources within the notebook industry, you'll see these 12.5-inch machines sporting both Intel's 14nm Core M processors and its newer 5th Generation Core processor series (newer Broadwell parts). Intel's Core M chips are primarily intended for low-power fanless systems, while the 5th Generation Core parts will add a performance punch to mobile devices. The timing couldn't be better -- apparently vendors like Asus and Acer are starting to see a decline in demand for 10-inch 2-in-1 products after an initial flurry of sales. To compensate for that, vendors are working on larger models with faster processors, with pricing expected to range from $350 to $400 for Atom, Celeron, and Pentium models, and under $700 for Core M variants. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

IBM's z13 Mainframe is the Culmination of $1 Billion and 5 Years of Development Posted: 14 Jan 2015 10:02 AM PST The mainframe is dead, long live the mainframe For IBM, there is no debating whether or not the mainframe is dead. If IBM felt it was, the company wouldn't have gambled $1 billion, five years of development, over 500 new patents, and collaborative efforts with more than 60 clients in the z13, IBM's newest mainframe and, according to Big Blue, one of the most sophisticated computer systems ever built -- high self praise. IBM says the z13 is the first system that's able to process 2.5 billion transactions a day, which would be the equivalent to 100 Cyber Mondays every day of the year. The z13's transactions are persistent, protected, and auditable from end-to-end, and with continued development, IBM estimates it will grow to 40 trillion mobile transactions per day by 2025. Other notable "unprecedented new capabilities" include practical real-time encryption of all mobile transactions at any scale, and embedded analytics providing real-time insights on all transactions, which IBM pitches as a capability that can help guarantee running real-time fraud detection on 100 percent of business transactions. In addition, IBM says it delivers on-the-fly analytic insights that are 17 times faster than competitive systems, and at a fraction of the cost. "Every time a consumer makes a purchase or hits refresh on a smart phone, it can create a cascade of events on the back end of the computing environment. The z13 is designed to handle billions of transactions for the mobile economy. Only the IBM mainframe can put the power of the world's most secure datacenters in the palm of your hand," said Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president, IBM Systems. "Consumers expect fast, easy and secure mobile transactions. The implication for business is the creation of a secure, high performance infrastructure with sophisticated analytics." The z13 includes new support for Hadoop. It's also capable of running up to 8,000 virtual servers, or more than 50 virtual servers per core. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Gartner: Tablet Demand Already Peaked, Consumers Now Turning Back to PCs Posted: 14 Jan 2015 09:04 AM PST Market research firm notes quiet and steady growth in PC sector Ever since the first iPad came out, we had to hear analysts and market research firms predict a future in which we'd all ditch our traditional PCs for slates. Once again, however, time is the ultimate judge, and now that tablets are seemingly everywhere, consumers are turning their attention back to PCs, Gartner says. As such, Gartner notes a 1 percent increase in worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2014, which translates into 83.7 million units. That's in the ballpark of IDC's 80.8 million PC shipment figure, though IDC pegged the industry at a 2.4 percent year-on-year decline. Gartner is also decidedly more optimistic about the state of PCs compared to IDC's outlook. "The PC market is quietly stabilizing after the installed base reduction driven by users diversifying their device portfolios. Installed base PC displacement by tablets peaked in 2013 and the first half of 2014. Now that tablets have mostly penetrated some key markets, consumer spending is slowly shifting back to PCs," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. Both IDC and Gartner have Lenovo retaining its lead as the top PC vendor in terms of volume, though the gap is a little bit wider with the latter's figures. According to Gartner, Lenovo shipped 16.28 million PCs in the fourth quarter of 2014 en route to a 19.4 percent share of the market, up from 15.15 million PCs and an 18.3 percent share a year prior. Meanwhile, HP shipped 15.77 million PCs for an 18.8 percent share, up from 13.6 million PCs and a 16.4 percent share a year ago. As for the holiday period, Gartner called it the best for PC sales in recent history. The market research firm credited mobile PCs, including regular notebooks, thin and light laptops, and 2-in-1 devices for the strong finish, further underscoring its belief that consumers are turning their attention back to PCs. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Samsung Thumbs Nose at Android, Launches Low Cost Tizen Smartphone Posted: 14 Jan 2015 08:31 AM PST Low cost device represents a significant mobile play Entry level handsets launched in emerging markets don't typically elicit too much attention, though in this case, there's a reason why some people are making a big deal out of Samsung's latest smartphone. The Samsung Z1, launched today in New Delhi, runs the company's own Tizen operating system, which is indicative of Samsung wanting to groom new users and markets on something other than Android. This is part of a larger push in favor of Tizen, which is also found on other electronic devices and, as announced recently, will be featured on every single smart TV that Samung launches this year. The strategy is an interesting one, not just because Samsung is attempting to push Tizen into different product categories, but also due to its focus on a market segment (first time smartphone buyers in India) that isn't being fiercely contested by rivals. According to the press release, the Samsung Z1 will be priced at under $100 (5700 Indian Ruppees, or about $92 in U.S. currency). The timing of the low-cost release comes at a time when Samsung is undergoing a bit of internal restructuring due to sliding profits and the failure to sell as many flagship Galaxy S5 devices as it hoped it would. Samsung has tried on more than one occasion to push its Tizen platform as a viable alternative to Android, though it hasn't really caught one, especially in the smartphone category despite several different Tizen-based handset launches last year. What's different this time around is that Samsung isn't relying on wireless carriers and app developers to push its product -- it's selling the Samsung Z1 directly through its retail networks using web versions of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the Wall Street Journal reports. Samsung also plans to heavily promote its brand name to help offset the fact that many people have never heard of Tizen. Looking longer term, Samsung hopes it can build a bit of a following in India, which in turn would give Tizen some street cred and attract more consumers and developers. As to the hardware, the Z1 is a fairly basic device -- 4-inch WVGA display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 768MB RAM, 4GB internal storage + microSD card slot (up to 64GB), VGA front-facing camera, 3.1-megapixel rear-facing camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, USB 2.0, GPS, accelerometer, 1500 mAh battery, and of course TIzen 2.3. "The smartphone market in India is rapidly evolving, with many consumers using their device as their screen of choice for content including videos, television programs and video games, as well as a range of apps," said Mr. Hyun Chil Hong, President and CEO, Samsung India Electronics, "We have customized the Samsung Z1 to meet these unique, entertainment-focused needs of local Indian consumers for a personal and reliable mobile experience." Availability in India begins today with white, black, and "wine red" color options. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

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MMORPG News

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• Elder Scrolls Online: Understanding Champion Points
• World of Warcraft: 6.1 Datamining Yields New Quests, Twitter Integration & More
• General: MapleStory 2 - Three PvP Forms for CBT1
• EVE Online: Proteus Update Released
• War Thunder: Gaijin Releases Game Soundtrack
• General: Shadowrun: Hong Kong KickStarter Funds within Hours
• Marvel Super Hero Squad Online: Juggernaut Plows His Way Into Game
• General: Why Heroes Charge is Nobody's Hero
• Elite: Dangerous: Open-Ended, Vast & Procedurally Generated
• H1Z1: Smedley Predicts 150-200 Early Access Servers
• General: Is Star Citizen Indie?
• Crowfall: First Screenshot Shows Character Creation
• Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: New Trailer Teases 'Before the Fall' Update

Elder Scrolls Online: Understanding Champion Points Posted: 13 Jan 2015 02:22 PM PST At the end of December Zenimax announced what players are going to receive when the champion system is released, 30 champion points. If you had at least one character veteran rank 1 or higher you'd receive 30 champion points when 1.6 goes live. It doesn't matter if you've spent the last 9 months playing the same veteran 14 character, or even had eight veteran rank 14 characters, you'd still receive 30 champion points. As you can see there is a major flaw in this.

World of Warcraft: 6.1 Datamining Yields New Quests, Twitter Integration & More Posted: 14 Jan 2015 12:44 AM PST Busy little dataminers have been combing through the World of Warcraft v6.1 patch that is currently live on the public test realm. Among expected new items, quests and achievements, is the interesting tidbit that Twitter integration will be included, new video display options, and that Garona will become a player's legendary companion.

General: MapleStory 2 - Three PvP Forms for CBT1 Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:19 PM PST MapleStory 2 will be entering its first phase of its Korean closed beta testing later this month. Included in the CBT will be three forms of PvP: 1v1, Free-for-All and Shadow World. MapleStory 2's first round of beta testing will run from January 21st to January 25th.

EVE Online: Proteus Update Released Posted: 13 Jan 2015 02:19 PM PST The EVE Online Proteus update has been deployed and players can now begin exploring the changes made to the game in the form of graphical enhancements, new mining locations, rebalanced recon ships and more.

War Thunder: Gaijin Releases Game Soundtrack Posted: 13 Jan 2015 02:11 PM PST Gaijin Entertainment has released over fifty pieces of music from War Thunder. The music has been split into two albums, Ground Forces and Air Forces and can be purchased at a wide variety of online retailers for approximately $10 per album.

General: Shadowrun: Hong Kong KickStarter Funds within Hours Posted: 13 Jan 2015 02:05 PM PST Harebrained Schemes started a KickStarter project to fund a tactical cyber punk cRPG called Shadowrun: Hong Kong, a stand alone project. Hong Kong will feature a brand new set of heroes and an upgraded engine alongside all the features fans of Shadowrun expect.

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online: Juggernaut Plows His Way Into Game Posted: 13 Jan 2015 01:49 PM PST Marvel Super Hero Squad Online players can now unlock the awesomeness that is Juggernaut and bring his frontline battle prowess to bear. Juggernaut has the highest health both at the start of the game and at maximum level so he's a nearly unstoppable force.

General: Why Heroes Charge is Nobody's Hero Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:24 PM PST Heroes Charge is a dreadful game in some ways. It just is. I'd rather not waste your time and, frankly, my time, with attempting to flower this several-hundred-word column with attempts to describe the game's systems and finer points. It's a Sunday, my normal day for writing these articles, and the Golden Globes are on in the background. My dog is begging me for food as I type this up. I'm having a Hostess Apple Pie.

Elite: Dangerous: Open-Ended, Vast & Procedurally Generated Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:48 PM PST Elite: Dangerous is a direct call to my childhood and to an arguably more ambitious time of gaming. Open ended, vast, and procedurally generated. The march of technology since the first Elite has only served to let Frontier Developments create the sort of game that they, and I, spent years imagining.

H1Z1: Smedley Predicts 150-200 Early Access Servers Posted: 13 Jan 2015 08:43 AM PST John Smedley has taken to Twitter in a big way this morning with his prediction that H1Z1 will need 150-200 early access servers to accommodate all of the interested players. In addition, he mentions that even "disgusting PvE Carebear servers" will be part of that number.

General: Is Star Citizen Indie? Posted: 11 Jan 2015 04:00 PM PST What defines an indie game? This is a question that has many answers depending on who you ask. To some it's indie if it has a tiny budget and non-traditional funding source. To others a game can be considered indie if the studio that made it was put together specifically to make that game. While others will disqualify a game from being indie simply because it has a major industry veteran at the helm. What indie means is different for every person.

Crowfall: First Screenshot Shows Character Creation Posted: 13 Jan 2015 08:05 AM PST The Crowfall team has released a pair of new images from the forthcoming title by Artcraft. The first is a screenshot showing the character creation screen. The second image is a concept art shot showing 'city siege'. Both come with some explanations of what is seen and the design process behind each.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: New Trailer Teases 'Before the Fall' Update Posted: 13 Jan 2015 07:47 AM PST Final Fantasy XIV fans will be happy to know that patch v2.5, "Before the Fall", is headed into the game soon. To tease players with what they can expect, Square Enix has released a brand new trailer. Check it out!

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