ASUS has two Steam Machines and one is incredibly compact
Computex has a heavy PC gaming flavor to it in places. Between the likes of NVIDIA and ASUS’ ROG brand, it acts as a gentle primer to PC-based gaming hardware ahead of E3 – which is next week, if you forgot. Alongside a frankly ridiculous 4K gaming laptop, ROG’s announced two new Steam Machines with varying footprints and specifications. The GR8 takes up just 2.5 liters of space, and ASUS ROG is talking up the size:power ratio as the best it’s ever made, with a Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750Ti inside. Meanwhile, 4K output and Miracast support could well make this a plausible, portable ‘console’ PC – you’ll just need a screen.
Slightly more powerful (and bigger), the G20 gaming desktop still packs high-end 4th generation Core i7 processors, but upgrades the GFX to the GeForce GTX 780. Interestingly for a gaming rig, there’s no visible exhaust events, with a hidden airflow tunnel apparently offering heat management and (really?) near-silent operation. ASUS has it pegged at 25dB at idle. Even without the ports, If you still like your gaming PCs at least a little garish, there’s still built-in lighting, that will cycle through millions of color shades. Millions!
Both units will launch as Steam Machines, bundled with Steam controllers, although in traditional Computex style, ASUS hasn’t got prices to share just yet — expect them to appear alongside Valve’s next announcement about Steam Machines.
Valve’s simplified VR prototype ditches the QR code-laden room
We’re pretty excited about Valve getting into the virtual reality game. What we weren’t excited about, was the cumbersome solution used by the original prototype to track head movement. Basically it required you sit in a special room painted with QR codes since cameras mounted directly on the unit were used to track your movement. The latest edition, which made a brief appearance a Boston VR Bender, has dots all over it that presumably are tracked by an external, just like the Crystal Cove prototype demoed by Oculus Rift at CES earlier this year. This model is also a little more polished looking, with much fewer exposed components hanging off of it. It’s still not ready for prime time, but at least now it’s a self contained system that can be moved from place to place.
[Image courtesy of @maryannerodis]
Source: Road to VR, Reddit
Mortal Kombat X heads to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC in 2015
An official teaser for Mortal Kombat X landed on YouTube this morning, which raised as many questions as it answered. Yes, a new installment in the ultra-violent series from Netherrealm Studios is on track for release sometime in 2015. Yes, it’s headed to the PlayStation 4, PS3, Xbox One, 360 and PC. And yes, that’s Wiz Khalifa bringing his quick-witted lyrics to the original sound track. But what can we say about the game itself? Some of the teaser video almost has an in-game feel to it, with plausible graphics, fantastical moves (including the use of weapons from the environment) and hints of gruesome Sniper Elite-style forensic sequences — but it’s probably all just conceptual at this point. In any case, have a gander for yourself, and be advised that the video isn’t for youngsters. But hey, after nine MK titles, you probably guessed that already.
Forza Horizon 2 is the next exclusive racer on Xbox One and 360
Filed under: Gaming
Source: IGN
Watch this guy shred through four decades of video game music
Sure, some video games require lightning-fast fingers, but even the most insane combos in Street Fighter don’t quite compare to running up and down a guitar’s fretboard lickety-split. To pay tribute to 40-plus years of gaming history, YouTuber FamilyJules7X put together an epic 17-minute performance (embedded after the break) of music from the medium’s past and present. If you ever wanted to hear heavy metal versions of classic game-themes like Space Invaders, Phozon and Tetris alongside those of Donkey Kong Country, Earthbound, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Fallout 3, this should be right up your alley. Most impressive? Jules shot the video, mixed the audio, programmed the drums and performed the guitar and bass parts himself in eight days — all during his last week of college finals. If you want to download an MP3 of the track, hit the YouTube page. Now, if you’ll pardon us, we have some head-banging to do.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: YouTube
Funding push would put Reading Rainbow on phones and game consoles
LeVar Burton had no trouble crowdfunding Reading Rainbow for the web; now, he’d like your help bringing it to living rooms and pockets everywhere. His team has announced a $5 million stretch goal that, if reached, will port his literary initiative to mobile devices, game consoles and set-top boxes. Yes, that would return the program to TV (if not quite in the traditional sense) after an eight-year hiatus. The goal would also expand free student access to from 1,500 classrooms to 7,500. Burton already has over $3 million as we write this, but there’s still some distance to go — if you’re interested in putting Reading Rainbow on your kid’s Android tablet or Xbox, you’ll want to make a pledge at the source link.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Internet, HD, Mobile
Via: Polygon
Source: Kickstarter
Google’s hacking game trades exploits for cake
Everyone knows the best way to teach children is to make the learning process fun and engaging; and if we’re honest, that methodology works just as well on us big kids, too. Now, even hunting through code for cross-site scripting (XSS) bugs can be entertaining, thanks to a game developed by a playful group of security experts at Google. The browser-based game is intended to test the skills of web developers, with levels challenging you to find and exploit XSS vulnerabilities — which can be an open door for hackers — in realistic scenarios. Of course, it’s not intended to train up a new generation of hackers, but to make devs aware of bugs so they can avoid them. It’s no casual Chrome experiment, so as an extra incentive to complete all six levels, you’re promised “cake at the end of the test.” Now, where have we heard that before?
[Image credit: 9to5Google]
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Google
Via: 9to5Google, Florian Kiersch (G+)
Source: Google XSS game
Headshot: Watch new Unreal Tournament devs play first deathmatch
In three weeks time, what can you accomplish? When we last heard from the Unreal Tournament team at Epic Games, they’d only announced that the project was a thing. Well, now there’s video of them playing a round of deathmatch in an early build, as spotted by Joystiq. It isn’t much to look at, what with the lack of complex textures and level geometry, but, it’s a totally playable game and there are definitely people running around and shooting at each other with frickin’ lasers. What’s more, you can join in on the work-in-progress mayhem for yourself if you’re paying the $19 per month for a subscription to Unreal Engine 4. You can leave feedback in the official forums with a free account, too. Like Tappy Chicken before it, this fast progress by a small team shows just how flexible and easy the new development tools are to use. Who knows, maybe we could see a beta version sooner than expected — better dust off those Flak Cannon skills just in case.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Software, HD
Via: Joystiq
Source: Epic Games
E.T. and other Atari games rescued from New Mexico landfill to be sold
At this point some 1,377 game cartridges for the Atari 2600 have been rescued from the New Mexico landfill where they were unceremoniously dumped over 30 years ago. Of those, 700 will be appraised, certified and eventually sold, some of which will pass through the New Mexico Museum of Space History. While many carts will go to the film’s producers and museums like the Smithsonian, some will be sold to the public along with a certificate of authenticity. The details are still being worked out by city officials, but you could soon own a piece of gaming garbage history. The carts that will be commanding the most money will clearly be the 171 copies of E.T. that were unearthed, but titles like Centipede, Missile Command and Asteroids have also been dug up. There are still over 700,000 games buried the in landfill outside of Alamogordo, NM, but they’ll stay there… for now. The hole has been refilled, and the cartridges going on sale will be priced to reflect their rarity. Of course, if the city decides it needs more cash, that could always change.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Alamogordo Daily News
‘BioShock’ series lives on with help from the second game’s dev team
The news that BioShock and BioShock Infinite developer Irrational Games was winding down was a punch to the gut for many last year, but it turns out there is a bit of silver lining. The franchise will live on with developer 2K Marin, the studio that handled BioShock 2, according to GameSpot. Someone at the Cowen and Company analyst conference apparently made a remark that the BioShock series hadn’t quite reached its commercial potential yet, and Take-Two Interactive head Strauss Zelnick agreed, saying that the NorCal team would be responsible for its “shepherding going forward.” BioShock 2 did pretty okay critically and commercially, but many (including myself) felt its tour through Rapture was little more than a retread and that it lacked the first game’s magic. With how Infinite ended, it’s anyone’s guess where the series’ fiction could wind up next.
The rest of the event was fairly interesting, too — especially if you want a look inside how the publisher does business. Zelnick said that because it doesn’t flood the market with unwanted sequels, the publisher has a chance to focus more on higher quality games.
“The risk of just [releasing more games] is that you end up just bulking up your release schedule and that isn’t really what consumers want. Consumers want better, not more,” Zelnick said.
He also cited “permanent franchises” like Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands as being examples of this, with a hint that Red Dead Redemption could be one, as well. Considering that developer Rockstar Games (which Take-Two Interactive owns) doesn’t typically do much in terms of E3 announcements, we’ll likely have to wait a little longer before any more info about a new open-world Western surfaces.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Via: DualShockers
Source: GameSpot
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