CM Storm Sonuz Gaming Headset Review
Read More ...
Impressive Voice Cast Revealed for Dishonored
Voice casts for video games have certainly changed over the years. Sure, there are some famous voice actors like Nolan North, but major Hollywood actors and actresses do not always lend their voices to a game. However, that has seemingly gone out the window of late, especially for Bethesda productions. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim features several Academy Award nominees like Christopher Plummer, Max Von Sydow, and Joan Allen, and now Dishonored can say the same. Bethesda revealed the voice cast for Arkane Studios' Dishonored today during QuakeCon, and the names on the list are extremely impressive. Academy Award winner and five-time nominee Susan Sarandon ("Thelma & Louise"), Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Brad Dourif ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy), Emmy Award nominees Carrie Fisher (original "Star Wars" saga) and John Slattery ("Mad Men"), Michael Madsen ("Resevoir Dogs"), Lena Headey ("Game of Thrones"), and more lend their talents to Dishonored.
Susan Saradon voices Granny Rags, an old blind woman who has gone crazy after living on the street. Brad Dourif takes on the role of the inventor Piero, who creates protagonist Corvo's iconic mask, and Carrie Fisher can be heard spreading propaganda over loudspeakers throughout Dunwall. John Slattery voices Admiral Havelock, a Loyalist who helps Corvo on his quest, and Michael Madsen assumes the role of the mysterious assassin Daud. Chloë Grace Moretz ("Kick-Ass") plays the role of Young Lady Emily, the daughter of the Empress who is kidnapped after her mother's death, while Lean Headey voices Calista, Emily's caretaker.
Music for Dishonored is being handled by composer Daniel Licht ("Dexter"), who should set a wonderful mood for the game. The voice cast and composer for Dishonored is certainly impressive, and we only have to wait until October 8th to hear everything come together and pull us into the game's virtual world.
Read More ...
New Theory for Majorana Fermion Discovery
In particle physics there are different families of particles including bosons and fermions. Bosons, like photons, can coexist at the same point without issue, but fermions, like electrons, protons, and neutrons, are forbidden from such an existence. It is also not uncommon for bosons to be their own antiparticle, but fermions often have separate antiparticles (positron, anti-proton, and anti-neutron, for example) and a collision between these and the normal-matter counterpart results in a flash of energy. Majorana fermions, first described in 1937, however are a class of fermions that are their own anti-particles but do not annihilate upon colliding.
This unique stability has had researchers searching for these particles for some time, but so far they have not been discovered. Researchers at Dartmouth College believe they have found another environment these particles could appear at; a topological superconductor. Topological superconductors, like topological insulators, have different electrical properties between their surface and interior, but in this case the surface is a conductor while the interior is a superconductor. According to the researchers' prediction, Majorana fermions could exist either on the surface or at the interface between the outer surface and the interior.
The stability of Majorana fermions makes them very interesting to researchers working on quantum computers as a building block. They also could help explain phenomena such as superconductivity, which they are often linked to in theories, including this one.
Read More ...
Another High Level Employee at LucasArts Departs
It has barely been a month, but already two high level LucasArts employees have left. The middle of July saw Clint Hocking, former creative director at LucasArts, take a position at Valve and now LucasArts president Paul Meegan has left as well. Meegan had been with LucasArts since 2010, where he oversaw the launch of LEGO Star Wars III and the reveal of Star Wars 1313. The studio announced all production on current titles will stay on track, but still it is odd to have two high level employees leave in such a short time. LucasArts has yet to name a replacement for Meegan, but said Kevin Parker and Gio Corsi have stepped up to co-lead for the time being. Parker will oversee the business operations while Corsi will focus on game production.
Meegan thanked everyone at LucasArts for having the opportunity to work there and said there are other exciting projects in the works, with the big one being Star Wars 1313. He did not reveal exactly where he will be landing next, but I cannot imagine Meegan will be looking for work for very long. Meegan previously worked for Epic Games China and Ubisoft.
Read More ...
Intriguing Quantum Phase Transition Discovered
Since the first observation of a quantum mechanical phenomenon, researchers have been trying to determine where the division between quantum and classical mechanics is. Superconductivity, entanglement, superposition, and tunneling are all quantum phenomenon that are could revolutionize many technologies if they could exist at room conditions. Now researchers at Duke University have found a new transition point when studying resonant tunneling that they had not expected.
Tunneling is a means for a particle, like an electron, to skip past a barrier that it cannot overcome. This would be akin to walking through a tunnel in a mountain, instead of climbing over the mountain, with one difference being that the particle never actually exists within the barrier. Resonant tunneling is slightly different as it gives a place for a particle to exist within the barrier, to make the process easier, like a rest stop or gas station. In this case it was a carbon nanotube that served as the stop and the researchers found its position was more important than they thought. Only when the nanotube was exactly in the middle of the barrier did the electrons in the experiment tunnel through the barrier. When the nanotube had a bias to either side, the electrons would not tunnel.
Typically quantum phase transitions require very low temperatures, which can be difficult to obtain. By having the mechanical trigger of just moving the nanotube, this research could lead to new studies concerning where quantum phase transitions are able to occur.
Read More ...
Corsair Partners with EA for Gamescom 2012
Corsair has announced that it was selected by Electronic Arts as its official gaming PC supplier for Gamescom 2012. Corsair will supply 250 PCs for game demo stations featuring Corsair components and Vengeance peripherals. Almost the full PC except for the CPU, GPU, and motherboard can be provided by Corsair, as the company has continued to branch out in recent years from its core market of memory. The PCs are being built by German company MIFcom and will feature AMD FX processors, ASUS motherboards, and Sapphire GPUs. Corsair representatives will be on hand to help answer questions and show the latest hardware.
Read More ...
New Way to Produce Negative Refraction Achieved
It took some time for scientists to accept that light is an electromagnetic phenomenon, but now we know that because it must obey mathematical laws we can make it do unnatural things. Metamaterials are any man-made material that exhibit properties impossible to find in nature, but are normally associated with light as researchers use them to create invisibility cloaks. Now researchers at Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have found a new way to create a metamaterial that has quite extreme properties.
Key to the creation of invisibility cloaks is making materials with a negative index of refraction. This means that when light enters the material it bends in the opposite direction one would expect from natural materials. Normally this is achieved in metamaterials via magnetic inductance but the Harvard researchers decided to try using kinetic inductance. The result is a metamaterial with a refractive index of -700 (water's is 1.333) and the ability to squeeze light to ultra-subwavelength sizes. Normally there is a diffraction limit that prevents light from being squeezed to smaller than half its wavelength.
The researchers did this proof-of-concept work with microwaves at 20 K, but believe it can be replicated with terahertz waves at room temperature. Graphene will also be needed at the high temperature as a 2D conductor, instead of a 2D electron gas the microwave design was using. Room temperature operation combined with the ultra-subwavelength scale of the light could allow for advance photonics to be integrated into chips.
Read More ...
Valve Gets Left 4 Dead 2 to Run Faster on Linux than Windows
Linux users will soon have access to Steam, as Valve is working tirelessly to get its service running smoothly on the open source OS. The first game that will be available is Left 4 Dead 2, and recently some interesting information was posted on the Valve Linux Blog. The engineers at Valve have managed to get the Linux version of Left 4 Dead 2 running faster than the Windows version using the exact same hardware. When the studio first started out, L4D2 only managed a measly 6 FPS in Linux. Now, it can reach 315 FPS on an Intel Core i7 3930K, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, and 32GB of RAM, while the Windows version baseline is 270.6 FPS. Valve was using the 32-bit version of Ubuntu 12.04, however it plans to switch to 64-bit before long. The Windows version used was Windows 7 SP1 64-bit, which uses Direct3D compared to Linux's OpenGL.
The developer was able to modify L4D2 to work better with the Linux kernel and OpenGL, plus it optimized the graphics driver to get the best performance. An interesting sidenote to this was Valve was able to enhance the OpenGL performance in Windows to increase L4D2's FPS to 303.4, which still does not match the Linux version. The studio is still working to improve the Windows performance, so perhaps soon L4D2 and other Source games will run even faster.
The improvements Valve is making will affect the entire Linux community, as it is working closely with AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel to improve graphic driver performance. This should go a long way towards making Linux a viable gaming platform, plus it would not hurt having the entire Steam library available.
Read More ...
Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC Confirmed - Single Player Content Arriving Later this Summer
Mass Effect 3 will soon be receiving a new single player DLC in the form of Leviathan. This DLC seeks to explore the origin of the Reapers, the massive sentient machines bent on destroying or subjugating all life, and it is up to Shepard to find "the most closely guarded secret in the galaxy." The Reapers are also looking for this Leviathan and wish to silence it forever, so Shepard and the crew of the Normandy must find it first. The events of the Leviathan DLC take place during the story of Mass Effect 3, so you may need to get a new character going. The DLC takes players to the darkest corners of the galaxy while unraveling the mystery behind the Leviathan, which is said to be capable of destroying Reapers. You will be able to explore uncharted worlds, new parts of the Citadel, meet new characters, and unlock a couple of weapons along the way.
The Leviathan DLC for Mass Effect 3 will arrive later this summer for $10. It will be available on the PC, PS3, and 360. There is also a new Firefight single player weapons pack arriving on August 7, which adds two powerful new weapons and five bonus weapons to the campaign.
Read More ...
Team Fortress 2 Getting Items from Sleeping Dogs
Valve has announced the next game that will have items based on it included in Team Fortress 2, and that game is Sleeping Dogs. The new items can be obtained, likely in genuine quality, by purchasing Sleeping Dogs before August 14, and the game is currently 10% off. The bundle can also be purchased in the Mann Co. Store for $19.99 and will also drop in game. Every class gets a piece of the action, with some items available to all nine. A new King of the Hill map, Kong King, will also be released soon.
Read More ...
Check Out the Game Engine of Assassin's Creed III in Newest Trailer
Ubisoft has some pretty big plans for Assassin's Creed III. Huge battles between the Continental Army and British Army, varied landscapes to explore on the Frontier, recreations of Boston and New York, oh, and a protagonist that is part Native American. Needless to say, AC3 is shaping up to be the best entry in the series yet, but how does the game look? There is a new game engine powering it all, and Ubisoft released a trailer showing off the AnvilNext engine. I heavily advise you to prop your jaw against something because it will drop while watching the trailer below. We get to see just how large the battles can be, what the different parts of the Frontier will look like (I dig the snowy mountains), and the cities of Boston and New York look like something straight out of a painting. Throw in some ship warfare and those sweet assassin moves Connor can employ, and I say this fall will be a good time for video games.
Assassin's Creed III arrives on October 30 for the PS, PS3, and 360.
Read More ...
Classic 'Rise of the Triad' Being Remade
Earlier this year we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Wolfenstein 3D being released. That was a day of recollection for me as I remembered playing that game when I was probably too young for it. If I was too young for Wolfenstein 3D though, then I was probably also too young for Rise of the Triad (ROTT), with its over-the-top weapons and violence. That did not stop me from playing though and experiencing the Flamewall, Drunk Missile, or God Mode, and soon we will be able to play it anew.
Apogee has announced that ROTT is being remade with Unreal Engine 3 by Interceptor Entertainment. Apogee is the original publisher of ROTT and Joe Siegler, the original level designer, currently works for Interceptor, so we can trust this will be as true to the original as possible, when it comes to gameplay.
The new ROTT will be a PC exclusive and available on Steam, which will enable achievements and Steamworks for sharing mods of the game, like we have for Skyrim. It also will support multiplayer and feature a heavy metal version of the original soundtrack.
Read More ...
Stimulating Neural Reorganization for Rehabilitation
The brain is an amazing organ as it retains a level of plasticity for so long. This is what allows stroke patients, for example, to regain the abilities that had been controlled by now-damaged areas of the brain. Researchers at the University of Texas, Dallas have found a way to accelerate plasticity in rats and hope it can be applied to humans in the future.
The researchers found that when they stimulated the vagus nerve within the rats and paired it with movements of the forearm, the rats' brains would reorganize in response. Those that did not receive the stimulation, but just the movement treatment, saw no reorganization during the five day period.
The movements the rats underwent were similar to those used when rehabilitating stroke patients, which is why the researchers hope this could be used to improve the patients' treatments. This could reach beyond stroke victims though as many other disorders could be treated by reorganizing the brain, including schizophrenia, autism, dyslexia and potentially Alzheimer's. If this cannot be used to treat the patients though, this research could lead to a better understanding of the conditions, and different treatments in the future.
Read More ...
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dawnguard is Now Available on PC!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dawnguard will set you back $19.99 on Steam. PlayStation 3 users will receive the DLC at a later date once Bethesda is certain the performance is up to par.
Read More ...
Hair May Give Robots Sensitive Electronic Skin
Since the first robots were made to pick up delicate objects, we have been trying to give them a sense of touch. Touch is an important sense for humans not only to prevent us from breaking objects, but also hurting ourselves. Replicating it with technology has been proving difficult but researchers at Seoul National University, as reported by New Scientist, have devised a hairy solution, literally.
The researchers realized that there are examples in the human body of cells interlocking to translate force into an electrical signal nerves can interpret. This led them to developing polymer nanohairs that are woven together such that they bend and twist against each other. Contact between the hairs creates an electric current, which is interpreted as a change in pressure, shear, or torsion and displayed on a computer in real-time.
This synthetic skin approach is actually more sensitive than our own skin as it detected the jumping motion of a water droplet on a hydrophobic plate. Having already survived over 10,000 test cycles as well, the researchers believe this skin could one day be used on robots and even prosthetic limbs.
Read More ...
Subscription Fees Do Not Fit MMOs, According to ArenaNet
There has been an incredible shift recently from subscription-based MMOs to free-to-play titles, with some major games counted among them. PlanetSide 2, Age of Conan, EverQuest, and most recently Star Wars: The Old Republic are all F2P or soon will be (plus plenty more too numerous to fit), with few subscription-only MMOs still operating. ArenaNet global brand manager Chris Lye believes the subscription fees do not fit MMOs in many cases. He says developers need to look long and hard at susbcription fees to see if it will help the game be successful, and it does not often fit. Lye says there could be a game where a subscription works, but he has not heard of one yet. World of Warcraft is still making money as a subscription-based MMO, however Lye sees that as one of the few exceptions.
ArenaNet's upcoming Guild Wars 2 has no monthly subscription, but it will require a one-time purchase just like the first game. It arrives on the PC on August 28.
Read More ...
Available Tags:Gaming , EA , Valve , Linux , Windows ,
No comments:
Post a Comment