Leaked Windows Blue build 9364 reveals multiple Live Tile sizes

March 24th, 2013, 20:22 Posted By: wraggster

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Intel's Pentium Chip Turns 20 Today

March 22nd, 2013, 23:26 Posted By: wraggster

"Intel's Pentium processor was launched 20 years ago today, a move that led to the firm becoming the dominant supplier of computer chips across the globe. This article has some original iComp benchmark scores, rating the 66MHz Pentium at a heady 565, compared with 297 for the 66MHz 486DX2, which was the fastest chip available prior to the Pentium launch."

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...turns-20-today

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Blizzard unveils free-to-play Warcraft game

March 22nd, 2013, 23:23 Posted By: wraggster

Collectible card game to be released cross-platform on Windows, Mac and iPad

Development giant Blizzard is taking its first foray into the free-to-play market with its new game, collectible card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.
The new game is being designed as a cross-platform title for Windows, Mac and iPad.

Users will be tasked with building card decks based on one of nine character classes from Warcraft to do battle in turn-based gameplay.
Although no release date has yet to be set, Blizzard said the title would be entering beta testing "very soon".
Develop revealed in February last year that Blizzard’s next major title would be embracing the ever-popular free-to-play business model, with the latest announcement now confirming the report.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...-WarCraft-game

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Microsoft discontinues Office 2010, retailers hike prices

March 22nd, 2013, 23:18 Posted By: wraggster

As Microsoft discontinues sales of Office 2010, retailers have moved to raise the price of multi-license suite.
Despite the introduction of Microsoft 2013, buyers have maintained interest in the suite's predecessor as it grants users the right to install the software on multiple PCs – a feature that was withdrawn from this year's edition of the suite.
Launching in January, all three retail SKUs of Office 2013 provide just a single license.
Whilst initially limiting these products to a single installation, Microsoft has since provided users with the option to transfer this license on a 90-day basis following a backlash from users who condemned the restrictions.
The implementation of the single license within Office 2013 is a move widely believed to be a result of Microsoft wanting to enhance the appeal of its Office 365 software, which is offered on a subscription basis.
Whilst Microsoft has discontinued Office 2010, retailers have taken note by raising their prices for the software.
Online giant Amazon increased its initial list price for the full package of Office 2010 by $20 immediately following the news, offering the software at $170, an increase of 13 per cent.
Despite Microsoft discontinuing the sale of Office 2010 through its own online store, retailers are still moving their existing stock of the product, and are hoping to benefit from the suite's continued popularity amongst buyers.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-prices/030574

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Tablet boom continues to boost retailers

March 22nd, 2013, 23:16 Posted By: wraggster

European retailers continue to celebrate strong tablet sales as the must-have devices continue to outsell both laptop and desktop PCs.
Newly released figures from consultancy firm Context have revealed that during the first two months of 2013, tablet sales had increased by 350 per cent on the same period of the previous year.
“While in the past we saw many tablets, such as the Kindle, sold exclusively via online channels, vendors such as Amazon are now taking advantage of the traditional bricks and mortar stores to complement their direct route to market by selling through supermarkets and stores, enabling consumers to touch, play with and buy their devices”, said Adam Simon, global managing director of retail research at Context.
"At the same time, click and collect purchases have helped retailers such as Argos post good trading results, the latter particularly helped by the increase in tablet sales," Simon continued.
Distribution continues to be dominated by Android-based tablets, with the devices accounting for 60 per cent of all tablets sold, whilst Windows 8 devices accounted for just 2 per cent as Microsoft maintains its focus on enterprise and business users.
The figures also highlighted that across Western Europe, Samsung tablets proved to be the most popular in both January and February, with the firm's seven-inch and ten-inch editions of the Galaxy Tab topping sales along with Samsung's Nexus 7 device.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...tailers/030577

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New Skyrim PC patch 1.9 "effectively removes the overall level cap"

March 22nd, 2013, 02:46 Posted By: wraggster

Skyrim patch 1.9 has been released in its final form on Steam. "For console players out there, we're hoping to release 1.9 later this month," wrote Bethesda on its blog.Since the patch went into beta testing on Steam, there's been clarification (on Reddit) about how the new Legendary skills effectively do away with Skyrim's level cap (81).If you have a skill at 100, you can opt to have it become Legendary by using the Book of Waking Dreams. This resets the skill to 15 and reimburses you all invested perk points in that tree. A little Imperial dragon symbol is displayed underneath the name of the skill tree.You're now free to level that skill again to 100, and in doing so can gain another character level. With each new character level - level 82 and beyond - you gain a new perk point and ability point.Theoretically you can rinse-repeat this process an indefinite amount of times, gaining as many new perk and ability points as you can bear to grind out.Each time you opt for that skill to become Legendary, another Imperial dragon symbol is displayed. These symbols, I think, do nothing but serve as a memory marker for how many times you've Legendary-d a skill.Skyrim patch 1.9 adds a new Legendary difficulty to make this worth your while.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...rall-level-cap

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Modders release high-res Sonic Unleashed PC conversion

March 22nd, 2013, 02:45 Posted By: wraggster

Fans have done what Sega won't - clever-clogs modders have released a version of Sonic Unleashed for PC.The free download works as a total conversion mod for Sonic Generations. You'll need a Steam copy of that game for it to work, and the 2.34GB download file from ModDB.The new version includes support for unlimited resolutions, new higher-quality textures and 60 FPS gameplay.Eight modern sonic stages have been "re-adapted" from Sonic Unleashed with a number of improvements. There are "no mandatory RPG elements, no medal collection, no Werehog", the creators have promised.Modders have even gone through and fixed a number of bugs and glitches in the game.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-pc-conversion

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Star Wars: The Old Republic gained 2 million players since going free-to-play

March 22nd, 2013, 02:28 Posted By: wraggster

Over two million people have signed up to Star Wars: The Old Republic since the game went free-to-play.

That's according to the game's executive producer, Jeff Hickman, who says "player feedback, in general, has been very positive about the new things in the game".The Old Republic switched from a subscription-only MMO to a free-to-play model in November 2012, allowing players to play through the stories of all eight classes in the game and develop characters to level 50 without paying a subscription fee."Last spring, there was some uncertainty surrounding Star Wars: The Old Republic as we were starting to lose subscribers and players were growing frustrated," said Hickman in a statement today. "In fairness, many of the complaints and worries were justified. In an effort to try to address everything, we just weren't sufficiently focused on improving the core experience," he added, before noting improvements to several key areas of the game since then.Hickman went on to confirm that "several new features" are in the works for the game, including an update this summer that will add "a new customization feature, which will allow you to change your character's hair style, eye color, body type, or even species (including the upcoming Cathar!) using Cartel Coins".Also, set for release in spring 2013, the new 'Rise of the Hutt Cartel' DLC expansion will introduce new story content, a fresh planet called Makeb, and raise the level cap to 55.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-free-to-play/

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Warner launches free Hobbit browser game

March 21st, 2013, 23:41 Posted By: wraggster

The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age is now available to play for free in browsers.
The Facebook game is developed by Kabam and draws heavily on the license recently popularised by the first of Peter Jackson’s films.
It’s the second game to be released via the collaboration between Warner and Kabam following last year’s iOS and Android title The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth.
“We’re eager to bring The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age to the millions of Middle-earth fans who engage online,” Warner Interactive’s senior VP of digital games Greg Ballard stated. “The Facebook and browser-based portals are key locations where The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film fans can regularly engage with Middle-earth in a shared interactive environment.”
Facebook’s director of games Sean Ryan added: "The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age from Kabam and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is a great example of the type of high quality games being built on Faceboo.
“Kabam’s first strategy game Kingdoms of Camelot launched on Facebook in 2009 and became a major franchise, and we’re excited to see Kabam build their latest game on Facebook. As the Facebook games ecosystem grows, we look forward to seeing more highly engaging experiences from Kabam."

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/warne...r-game/0112848

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Heart of the Swarm rushes to 1m sales in two days

March 21st, 2013, 23:26 Posted By: wraggster

More than a million fans also tune in to Major League Gaming eSports tournament

Real-time strategy title StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has rushed to more than 1.1 million sales in just two days.
The number of copies for the expansion sold includes sales made through both retail and digital channels.

As well as reaching the impressive sales milestone during its opening couple of days, Blizzard also announced that more than 1.1 million viewers tuned in to the developer’s day of launch events and community celebrations, with the number of concurrent viewers peaking at 125,000.
More than 1.1 million viewers also watched the Heart of the Swarm Major League Gaming Winter Championship tournament that took place in Texas last weekend, with peak concurrent viewership hitting 157,000.
“We want to thank the global StarCraft community for the incredible passion and support they've shown for Heart of the Swarm,” said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...es-in-two-days

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Microsoft offers bulk Surface orders to UK enterprises

March 21st, 2013, 15:37 Posted By: wraggster

Companies can now place bulk orders for both the RT and Pro models of Microsoft's flagship Surface tablet device.
Despite initial stock shortages of the 128GB model of the Surface, it would appear that Microsoft has overcome the issues as it offers the device to firm's looking for a company wide rollout.
However, whilst offering the bulk buying scheme, Microsoft maintains a warning that some customers may still face delays.
"Lead times for delivery and order requirements may vary depending on inventory," reads a company statement.
Microsoft has ado advised that existing enterprise customers will be given preference, over new business partners, who will have to endure a longer wait.
"If you don't currently have a volume licensing agreement with Microsoft, there may be additional processing time to setup account and credit terms."
Whilst the enterprise orders site is now live, only the Surface RT is available at present, as UK buyers continue to wait for the Surface Pro's release within the country. In addition to the tablets, customers are also able to buy associated Microsoft accessories through the new service.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...rprises/030551

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Further evidence of Windows Blue leaked

March 21st, 2013, 15:35 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has offered up more information on its upcoming update to Windows 8, which currently is known only as "Blue".
Within a video obtained by MSFTKitchen, Eric Rudder, chief technical strategy officer at Microsoft discusses Blue, and all but confirms it as the codename for the firm's upcoming update to its Windows 8 operating system.
Rudder discusses Blue as "extending touch in even more dramatic fashion," which would indicate that the update is set to introduce a host of new features to Windows 8, whilst further developing the OS' touch capabilities.
Fresh Paint, the firm's design application offered on the Windows 8 platform, is also demonstrated in the leaked video, as the app's new features to be included with the Blue update are showcased.
Whilst there has yet to be any official word on the Blue platform, it is believed that Microsoft is switching to a yearly update cycle with its software, which would see Blue release towards the end of 2013.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-leaked/030557

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SimCity update 1.7 released, improves traffic congestion

March 21st, 2013, 02:32 Posted By: wraggster

EA has released SimCity update 1.7, which is designed to improve traffic congestion issues.

Nonsensical traffic jams have been the topic of much debate since the game's release, and developer Maxis recently acknowledged that improving path finding

was a priority

.Update 1.7

• Traffic Improvements: Tuned traffic congestion and fixed some intersection traffic issues.
• Traffic improvements: Emergency Vehicles will drive in empty lanes to get around traffic at intersections.
• Traffic improvements: Emergency and Delivery vehicles get priority over regular traffic when leaving garage.
• All units and buildings can now be demolished using the bulldoze tool.
• Performance improvements for low spec systems.
• New Server: Asia 2 will be released Tuesday afternoon (PDT)!

Despite a turbulent launch, EA said this week that SimCity sales have cleared 1.1 million copies in two weeks.It also revealed a choice of games it's offering SimCity players for free as compensation for the server issues which ruined the game for many customers post-launch.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ic-congestion/

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Steam 'Early Access' lets you play games still in development

March 21st, 2013, 02:17 Posted By: wraggster

Valve has launched a new 'Early Access' section of Steam which allows gamers to play early versions of games that are still in development.

The new section, launched today, lets you pay to gain access to early or 'alpha' versions of games. The service has gone live with 12 games available, most of which offer gamers access to the current alpha version with continuous updates, and the rights to download the final game when its finished.Many of these offers also present themselves as discounts on what will eventually be the final price of the game when its launched, rewarding players who make the pledge early."The goal of Early Access is to provide gamers with the chance to 'go behind the scenes' and experience the development cycle firsthand and, more importantly, have a chance to interact with the developers by providing them feedback while the title is still being created," explains Valve."To support the interaction between Early Access players and developers, Steam offers easy and automatic updating of games, letting developers iterate quickly to respond directly to bug reports and feedback from customers."Here are the first games to support Early Access play:

• 1... 2... 3... KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby)
  
  
• Arma 3
  
  
• Drunken Robot Pornography
  
  
• Gear Up
  
  
• Gnomoria
  
  
• Kenshi
  
  
• Kerbal Space Program
  
  
• Kinetic Void
  
  
• Patterns
  
  
• Prison Architect
  
  
• StarForge
  
  
• Under the Ocean
• http://www.computerandvideogames.com...n-development/

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NVIDIA's GRID VCA now available to graphic crunching pros at a cool $24,900

March 21st, 2013, 02:01 Posted By: wraggster

While it won't supercharge Crysis or other games like its upcoming Cloud Gaming device may, NVIDIA's GRID Visual Computing Appliance is now up for grabs to designers, animators and visual production types for $24,900 plus a $2,400 yearly software license fee. That sum will merely get you the starter model consisting of 8 GPUs, 16 threads of CPU and 192GB of RAM to service up to 8 users, while the 16 GPU model -- which doubles all that up -- is hitting the dreaded "contact us" price point. For reasonable-sized studios with multiple designers or artists, though, it'd allow humdrum machines to link up via a network and still crunch complex models -- making the price rather beside the point for us individual users. For more info, hit the PR after the jump.


http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/20/n...now-available/

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OnLive: We didn't go bankrupt, we didn't shut down, we just restructured

March 20th, 2013, 23:57 Posted By: wraggster

The new chairman of streaming games firm OnLive has criticised the press for what he says was misrepresentation of OnLive’s “restructuring” last year.
Things appeared to have gone very wrong for OnLive back in August 2012, with significant job losses and a change of ownership as well as the loss of former boss and founder Steve Perlman.
Tales of woe swiftly followed, with claims that OnLive had just 1,600 concurrent users.
The events of August were later described by then new CEO Charles Jablonski as a “transition”, stating: “I’d never minimise both the emotions and the pain when you go through a transition like that.”
However, in a new blog post by chairman and majority owner Gary Lauder – his first since taking the job – plays down the events of last year.
“When the restructuring of OnLive happened in August, many misunderstood it to mean that the service and company were shutting down,” he wrote. “Neither occurred, nor did we go bankrupt. We should have communicated better.
“As Mark Twain wrote, ‘The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’. Same with us. Our service continued without interruption both in the USA and overseas, and we have about 90 employees.”
Lauder is also optimistic about the year ahead, adding:
“It has been seven months since I jumped in to save OnLive from a financing mishap, and I have had the opposite of buyer’s remorse: buyer’s elation! 2013 is shaping up to be a great year at OnLive, and I want to share some of our good news.
“We have already delivered some significant milestones for the OnLive Game Service, in particular, being incorporated into our first third party device, the VIZIO Co-Star, and into Google TVs, starting with the impressive LG G3 Series – with more to come.
“We continue to bring new game publishers and games into the mix, and released Witcher 2:Assassins of Kings Enhanced release from CD Projekt RED on Thursday, February 28th with a special promotion, which includes a free a digital download copy of the game for PCs with purchase of a Full PlayPass. We are busy exploring other new ways to serve our users’ and publishers’ interests capitalizing on our unique abilities.
“We’re expecting great things in 2013, and with Don’s vision and expertise to fuel us, you can trust that it’s only the start.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/onliv...ctured/0112768

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OnLive appoints new head of engineering

March 20th, 2013, 23:40 Posted By: wraggster

Don Gordon to drive cloud gaming push for tablets and Smart TVs

Cloud gaming outfit OnLive has appointed the founder of Smart TV technology firm Bulldog United as its new senior VP of engineering.
Don Gordon will be responsible helping driving the integration of OnLive gaming into tablets, Smart TVs and other devices.

He will also be tasked with improving OnLive Desktop which aims to bring the desktop experience to tablets, as well as bringing the firm’s upcoming ‘enterprise solutions’ to market.
“I am excited to have Don back on my team as we break new ground in our gaming, computing, and enterprise cloud solutions,” said OnLive Chairman Gary Lauder.
“Since I first encountered Don while chairman at ActiveVideo Networks, I have been impressed with his natural leadership and ability to drive change.”
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...of-engineering

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Origin 'Player Appreciation Sale' offers discounts on over 200 games

March 20th, 2013, 01:59 Posted By: wraggster

EA has launched an 'Origin Player Appreciation Sale' offering up to 70 per cent off over 200 games sold via its PC/Mac digital delivery service.

Starting to day, the sale runs for one week, concluding on March 26 at 10:00am PT (5pm UK), and spans download games for PC and Mac, add-on content and packaged titles PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and Wii U.Games like Dead Space 3 and Crysis 3 are half-price, at $29.99 each, as is Battlefield 3 Premium (which comes with all five map packs) at $24.99. Mass Effect 3 is just $9.99, and the entire The Walking Dead series (five episodes) is $10.00.EA says the sale is a way "to say 'thank you' to its 40 million registered users worldwide".Check out the sale for yourself on EA's Origin website.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ver-200-games/

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NVIDIA reveals Volta next-gen GPU platform

March 20th, 2013, 01:50 Posted By: wraggster

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Resident Evil 6 and Left 4 Dead 2 spring crossover planned

March 20th, 2013, 00:07 Posted By: wraggster

Valve and Capcom are forming an undead alliance as they plot to merge the worlds of Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead.The crossover is specific to PC, but will see Left 4 Dead 2′s four protagonists invade Resident Evil 6′s Mercenaries No Mercy mode through a free download on April 5 – the PC version of Resi 6 is due for release March 22.The game’s enemy roster will also be bolstered with L4D’s Witch and Tank infected variants. Left 4 Dead 2, meanwhile, will add three as-yet unspecified Resi enemies through the Steam Workshop sometime later this spring.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/resi...sover-planned/

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