| Capcom Looking for Solution Over Resident Evil: Revelations 2's Lack of Offline Co-op Posted: 27 Feb 2015 03:48 PM PST  PC version was initially advertised to have offline co-op
If you were one of those PC gamers who purchased Resident Evil Revelations 2 for its advertised offline co-op, then you already know that the PC version has no such feature. Owners of the game soon discovered that the feature was missing despite it being advertised on the Steam store page. However, Capcom says that it is "currently looking into the matter" in regards to the lack of offline co-op in Resident Evil Revelations 2. "We apologize to our Resident Evil Revelations 2 PC players who purchased the game and expected to have local co-op as a feature," said Capcom in a statement. "The feature wasn't intended for this version and that caveat was mistakenly omitted from the product description on the Steam page earlier, and then included as soon as we were made aware. This was an unintentional error and again, we apologize for the confusion this may have caused." Resident Evil Revelations 2 is an episodic action-adventure, survival horror title that follows Claire Redfield, one of the survivors of Raccoon City, who appears in a number of games in the Resident Evil franchise. The feature was initially advertised on the Steam store page and was quickly removed. But, at the very least, this incident has resulted in Capcom looking for a way to make it up to PC gamers as the statement adds, "We are currently looking into the matter and potential solutions and we hope to have new information to share very soon, so please stay tuned. Thank you for your patience and understanding." While it doesn't sound as if Capcom will include offline co-op mode, it did announce that the game's Raid mode will support online co-op when it releases a patch "shortly after launch." But in the meantime, feel free to check out our list of The 22 Best Co-op PC Games if you are looking for a co-op game. Follow Sean on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| GDC 2015: What to Expect Posted: 27 Feb 2015 02:58 PM PST  VR is going to be big
The Game Developers Conference is taking place just around the corner between March 2-6 and we'll be in San Francisco covering it. There will, of course, be a bunch of game discussions and demos as usual, but we wanted to approach it from a hardware/PC perspective. Having said that, this year is going to be an interesting show for hardware with Valve finally pushing the Steam Machines again along with its VR system. On that notion, expect Valve and VR to be the talks of the show. Seriously, guys, this is going to be the year of VR. Below are our predictions for what you'll see at GDC 2015. Let us know what games or hardware you're most excited to see in the comments below! |
| IBM Announces it will Reach $40 Billion in Annual Revenue by 2018 Posted: 27 Feb 2015 02:00 PM PST  "Strategic imperatives" will help reach this goal
Last year, we saw some interesting sales and investments by International Business Machines Corp. IBM had announced that it was selling off its chip business, revealed plans to invest $3 billion for semiconductor research and development, and selling its x86-based server business to Lenovo. Now, IBM is looking to reach an annual revenue of $40 billion. The high target was set by IBM executives at the company's annual investor meeting that took place on Thursday in New York where IBM CEO Ginni Rometty announced the new long-term goal. Rometty expects the revenue to come from areas IBM has designated as "strategic imperatives" which includes the cloud, analytics, social, mobile, and security software. The $40 billion amount would represent around 44 percent of $90 billion in total revenue that analysts are expecting from IBM in 2018. Last year, the businesses that IBM is relying on to reach that target generated $25 billion in revenues which was 27 percent of the company's $93 billion in sales. To help achieve its goal, IBM will be shifting $4 billion in spending to its "strategic imperatives" this year in order to hit $40 billion annual revenue by 2018. Do you think this is a feasible goal for IBM? Sound off in the comments below! Follow Sean on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| VLC Player 2.2.0 is Available for Download Posted: 27 Feb 2015 01:33 PM PST  Popular media player just got better
When it comes to watching videos on your PC, there are a number of media players out there that can get the job done. But one of the more popular software happens to be VLC Media Player. The open source video player is popular due to its ability to play all kinds of file formats and its versatility (check out our editorial about getting the most out of VLC). Today, VLC Media Player 2.2.0 was released and includes a selection of new feature, fixes, and mobile support. According to the press release, the new update is the result of over one year of volunteer work that fixes thousands of bugs and increases the scope of formats supported. In addition to the PC version of the software, new versions of VLC for iOS, Android, Android TV, WinRT, Windows RT, and Windows Phone were released at the same time. One new feature for the PC version is the ability to resume playback that was, until now, only available on mobile versions. Users can now open a video file, which they were watching previously, and will be prompted by a question at the top of the screen when re-open a file. The new version also includes improved compatibility for Ogg, MP4, and WMV files and experimental support for interactive menus of BluRays. For a full list of new features and improvements, be sure to check out the official website. Follow Sean on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Actor Leonard Nimoy, Spock of Star Trek, is Dead at 83 Posted: 27 Feb 2015 12:58 PM PST  He lived long and prospered
Today is a sad day, as the universe just lost Leonard Nimoy, the actor best known for his role as Mr. Spock on Star Trek. According to reports, he passed away at his home this morning as the result of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Nimoy announced last year that he was battling the disease, blaming it on years of smoking, which he had given up around three decades ago. Nimoy's grandson confirmed the news on Nimoy's verified Twitter account. "Hi all, as you all know, my Grandpa passed away this morning at 8:40 from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was an extraordinary man, husband, grandfather, brother, actor, author-the list goes on- and friend. Thank you for the warm condolences. May you all LLAP. - Dani "P.S. I will be putting special shirts up on our site, SHOPLLAP.com, where all of the proceeds will go to the COPD Foundation. I hope to hear from you all." Star Trek premiered on NBC on September 8, 1966. Nimoy had been a star ever since, forever attached to the enduring character with long, pointy ears who served aboard the starship Enterprise, often offering Captain Kirk a logical outlook on situations without the interference of emotions. As his grandson points out, Nimoy was also many other things, including a writer, photographer, film director, producer, singer, and of course a Twitter user. His last tweet posted last Monday reads, "A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP." Nimoy is survived by his wife, Susan Bay Nimoy; children, Adam and Julie Nimoy; a stepson, Aaron Bay Schuck; six grandchildren; one great-grandchild, and an older brother, Melvin. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB DDR-1866, MSI GTX 970 GPU, and More! Posted: 27 Feb 2015 12:32 PM PST |
| Intel's Next NUC Could Feature Respectable Graphics Performance Posted: 27 Feb 2015 09:22 AM PST  Get ready to game on a NUC?
Pint sized PCs are a thing now. Not that they weren't before, but with increasingly faster and energy efficient hardware coming out of Santa Clara, little boxes like the NUC (Next Unit of Computing) are fast becoming viable candidates for primary PC duties. That's especially true of Intel's fastest NUC yet, the forthcoming NUC5i7RYH equipped with a 5th Generation Intel Core i7 5557U processor. The chip is a Broadwell part that will power Intel's NUC 2.0 models, otherwise known as Rock Canyon, based on the literature FanlessTech got its hands on. It's a dual-core part clocked at 3.1GHz to 3.4GHz with 4MB of cache and a 28W TDP. The real treat, however, is the integrated Intel Iris Graphics 6100, which Intel says will make its upcoming NUC "perfect for immersive gaming and applications that leverage the GPU." That's a bit of marketing fluff, though the Iris 6100 should prove capable of respectable gaming performance, depending on the title, resolution, and settings. The 6100 is the fastest GPU Broadwell currently has to offer, with 48 execution units and a 300MHz to 1,100MHz frequency. We've seen claims that it should be slightly faster than a GeForce GTX 820M. The NUC5i7RYH will also support up to 16GB of DDR3-1866 RAM and feature four USB 3.0 ports, internal support for an M.2 SSD card, internal SATA 6Gbps for a 2.5-inch drive, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mini HDMI 1.4a and mini DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, and a few other bullet points. No word yet on when exactly the new NUC will come out or how much it will cost. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Lenovo Promises No More Bloatware Starting with Windows 10 Posted: 27 Feb 2015 08:49 AM PST  Moving on from Superfish
What a month it's been for Lenovo, the world's top supplier of PCs and generally a well liked company. The OEM put both of those traits at risk by pre-loading adware onto its consumer laptops and desktops, adware that was later discovered to be a serious security threat. We might never know for sure how savvy Lenovo was to the software's nefarious methods of serving up ads, but in the wake of it all, there have been apologies, explanations, a software tool to remove Superfish, a class action lawsuit, and now a promise -- Lenovo wants to be the leader of clean PCs. In yet another statement, Lenovo again waxed remorse for the Superfish situation. This time, however, the OEM also said it was offering its customers affected by the issue a free 6-month subscription to McAfee LiveSafe service, or a 6-month extension to existing subscribers. More details will be made available within the next week, but McAfee? Yeah, that's not going to smooth things over. What might, however, is Lenovo's promise to stop installing bloatware and only including software that's necessary for included hardware, like a webcam application. "The events of last week reinforce the principle that customer experience, security and privacy must be our top priorities," Lenovo said in a statement. "With this in mind, we will significantly reduce preloaded applications. Our goal is clear: To become the leader in providing cleaner, safer PCs. "We are starting immediately, and by the time we launch our Windows 10 products, our standard image will only include the operating system and related software, software required to make hardware work well (for example, when we include unique hardware in our devices, like a 3D camera), security software and Lenovo applications. This should eliminate what our industry calls 'adware' and 'bloatware.' For some countries, certain applications customarily expected by users will also be included." The bolded text for emphasis was done by Lenovo to drive the point home. In addition to eliminating crapware, Lenovo said it will begin posting information about any and all software that comes preloaded on its machines and clearly explain what each one does. "We view these actions as a starting point. We believe that these steps will make our technology better, safer, and more secure," Lenovo said. This is all well and good by Lenovo, and now it needs to follow through. It will be critical for the company to avoid another situation like this, not just because of the "fool me once" saying, but also because it's flat out saying this won't happen again. The good news for Lenovo is that it has an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade. What started off as a sour situation could take a sweet turn of events, if in fact Lenovo follows through and becomes a leader in clean PCs. It will have competition, of course, mainly from boutique vendors like Maingear that tout zero bloatware. Where Lenovo has the advantage is in price, assuming it can continue to keep costs down without the aid of third-party software. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
