IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 9/3/2013

Xbox One will also download games remotely
Last week I reported that the Sony PlayStation 4 would be capable of remotely downloading games, a very nifty feature that would come in handy in more ways than one. Well, Microsoft has now announced that it's next-gen console will also be capable of the same thing.

Xbox Corporate Vice President Marc Whitten confirmed the news, stating that the Xbox One will be capable of remotely downloading games purchased through smartphones and other devices on the Xbox mobile companion app.
The Xbox One will be available in the holiday season for $499.99.

Ask the Experts: GPU decisions: HD 7770 or GTX 650 Ti BOOST?
Our Ask the Experts section has a new question, where we have Debojit from Bangladesh in some need of help choosing between two GPUs.

Q: I have two choice in GPU:
1. Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 1GB
2. MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 1GB.
My specs:

Intel Core i3 530 @ 2.93GHz
Intel Desktop Board DH55TC motherboard
6GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
XFX GeForce GT 240 1GB
No-brand 500W PSU
Samsung 18.5-inch monitor

Help!
A: You can view the answer to Debojit's question right here.

Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch tracks your health, snaps photos
We're just days away from Samsung unleashing its Galaxy Gear smartwatch to the world at IFA, but Venture Beat has had a quick look at the upcoming Galaxy Gear smartwatch ahead of the ev ent.

One of VB's sources showed them a prototype of the Galaxy Gear, a prototype which was sent to developers and a few close partners of Samsung. Keep in mind that because this is a prototype, and Samsung of course has high levels of security around its smartwatch, that this won't be the final design of the Galaxy Gear, but it'll be awfully close.

Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch is part smart device, part fashion accessory, part camera and a health monitor. It features Bluetooth that will connect with all of Samsung's Galaxy S family of devices, but we might see it capable of connecting with all Android-based devices too. The Galaxy Gear also features Wi-Fi, allowing it to connect to the Internet and check your e-mail.
Samsung has crammed a 4-megapixel camera into the strap, as well as some small speakers. Health data can be measured through the camera, while the camera also does what a normal camera usually does - snaps photos. You can take photos of your food, tagging it as the exact food such as "grains" or "fat." As for specs, here's what we can expect to be inside of the Galaxy Gear:

Samsung S Voice for voice commands
Preloaded with Android apps for social media, health tracking, etc.
Integration with a companion Galaxy S phone or tablet
An easy-to-use swipe function to access apps, the built-in camera, and the photo gallery
Call logs (A cool use-case: You can initiate a call from the watch to a Samsung smartphone device)
Internet access
Power button on the side
Social media integration - you can share to your Facebook or Twitter account from the watch
10+ hours battery life

Go gangster in our Underbelly Squizzy Blu-ray competition!
Thanks to Roadshow Home Entertainment, we have three copies of the latest series in the popular Channel Nine franchise Underbelly Squizzy: Uncut on Blu-ray to give away to three lucky TweakTown readers.

Spanning the years from 1915 to 1927, Underbelly Squizzy tells the epic story of Squizzy Taylor's relentless quest for power, ultimately creating a public persona that made him the first superstar gangster of the 20th Century.
The two disc set includes all 8 episodes in full HD 1080p, along with exclusive deleted scenes.

To go into the running, correctly answer the following question:
Name the Australian city that the infamous Squizzy Taylor called home.
Send your answers to ben@tweaktown.com before the competition closes on Wednesday the 4th of September. The competition is open to the world, with TweakTown covering shipping.
Underbelly Squizzy: Uncut is available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from Roadshow Home Entertainment from September 5th.

HTC unveils the Mini+, welcome to the latest... laser pointer?
Frickin' laser beams, am I right? Yeah, well, Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has just announced the Mini+, a multifunctional device that is pretty much just a flashy-looking laser poniter.

It features a 1.5-inch white color 4 gray OLED display with a 128x128 resolution, and can do quite a few things with its features. It can 'stay connected' with calls, SMS and more, it can take control of what you see on the TV and 'facilitate presentation with remote control and laser pointer' in the words of HTC.
It features NFC technology and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, features PowerPoint controls, and a 320mAh embedded battery. Talk time on the Mini+ is rated at 9 hours while the standby time is a hefty 95 hours. The HTC Mini+ is compatible with HTC's One mini, Butterfly S, Desire 200 and Desire 500 smartphones. It costs just $50, which isn't too bad at all.

RumorTT: Samsung Galaxy S5 to feature higher quality exterior
This has been a long time coming, but Samsung should be moving away from the plastic chassis found in their smartphones and tablets to a magnesium- or aluminum-based chassis on the upcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone.

We heard about this earlier in the year, but now the rumors are getting stronger as we get closer to the Galaxy S5 launch. The news is coming from Korean news site, ET News, who is reporting that the South Korean company has kept with plastic until now in order to keep the price down on its products, on top of it being more durable and lightweight.
But, with HTC and Apple having more premium exteriors, Samsung now needs to play in the same league. We shouldn't expect Samsung to unveil anything that is non-plastic until at least 2014, with the Galaxy Note III to most likely use a plastic exterior. I think we'll see a refresh of the Note next year, with the Note IV, which will use this new chassis.
We shouldn't expect anything just yet, but Samsung is already way out and ahead of its competitors in terms of shifting smartphone and tablet units, but build quality is something it's been lacking for years now.

Sony creates new division for third-party games for its consoles
Sony announced during its PAX Prime 2013 panel a new division of the company dubbed Third-Party Production, which is a new division that will work on porting and localizing games for the PS4, PS3 and Vita.

The division was founded as a result of the Borderlands 2 port for the Vita, with former lead producer at LucasArts and executive producer on the now-defunct Star Wars 1313 coming on-board to run the operation. Most people will skip past this news, but this is a gigantic step for the Japanese giant. This means that we might see more games that don't come to US shores, released in the US and vica versa.
It also means that the portable gaming device, the PS Vita, will see more games released on it, which is definitely not a bad thing.

Eizo announces new 240Hz-capable LCD, the DuraVision FDF2405W
I'm a huge fan of high refresh rate monitors, with Eizo hitting my radar today with its announcement of the DuraVision FDF2405W display. This new displays cranks out an Anthony-approved 240Hz refresh rate, which is way up and above the 120Hz and 144Hz displays we see on the market.

Eizo does use a trick here though, with the display not actually pumping out 240Hz, but it coverts the 120Hz signals to a higher refresh rate of 240Hz. Eizo says that the conversion process reduces ghosting and blurring, claiming that it "greatly improves sharpness and visibility and reduces eye fatigue that occurs when viewing scrolling or moving images."
Eizo's DuraVision FDF2405W runs a peasant resolution of 1920x1080 (PC master race, put your hands up!) but it does feature a VA panel which should give better image quality than the TN-based 120Hz panels we have today. We're also told to expect 10-bit color over DisplayPort and 8-bit when connected through DVI.
The Eizo DuraVision FDF2405W features 176-degree viewing angles, and arrives in a small, but obviously capable 23.5 inches. No pricing has been announced just yet.

NVIDIA unveils new free-to-play bundle for GeForce GPUs
AMD is kicking some serious ass with its Never Settle bundles, offering some of the hottest games on the market for free with the purchase of a Radeon GPU. Now its competitor is offering something similar, with NVIDIA giving away $75 worth of in-game currency to some of the hottest free-to-play titles on the market.

nvidia_unveils_new_free_to_play_bundle_promotion_for_geforce_gpus

These titles include Warframe, Neverwinter and Marvel Heroes. NVIDIA is extending the promotion out to new purchases of GeForce 700M-series-powered notebooks, or desktop GeForce GTX 650 GPUs. The deal starts now, and lasts until the end of the year. Purchasing one of the above notebooks or GPUs, you'll receive $25 in-game currency to each game.
This doesn't quite compete with AMD's offer, but this is for the lower-end of the market, and not its GTX TITAN range of GPUs, for example.

Intel's Haswell-based NUC shown off at PAX Prime 2013
We loved the Intel NUC when we looked at it, but we always need more power, speed and features. This is something Intel is working on, where they were showing off a new Haswell-powered NUC at PAX Prime 2013.

The new NUC is dubbed Intel NUC D54250WYK DIY kit that uses the Intel NUC Board D54250WYB. Intel will be releasing the Intel NUC kits under the Intel NUC D54250WYK DIY kit that uses the Intel NUC Board D54250WYB, which will be released later this year. Intel looks to be dropping Thunderbolt from the next-gen NUC units, which is a shame.
The Intel NUC Kit D54250WYK featured a Core i5 4250U processor, which runs at 1.3GHz but can be pushed up to 2.6GHz with Turbo enabled, and is a dual-core part with 3MB of smart cache. Intel HD Graphics 5000 is included, with the entire processor coming in with a TDP of just 15W, which is just incredible.
Most of the refreshed NUC units have USB 3.0 ports, which is very good to see, something I missed on the original Intel NUC unit when I reviewed it, here. You can be sure we'll have reviews of the new Intel NUC when it is released later this year.

RumorTT: Intel to release 'K' series of SSDs, would be overclockable
We heard about Intel allowing 'overclocking' on its SSDs, but now we have a little more proof. The chipmaker was showing off some SSD overclocking to PAX attendees, but Legit Reviews thinks that Intel will release a 'K' series SKU of SSDs that would be overclockable.

This would fall in line with Intel's current K series of processors, such as the Core i7-4770K, which can be overclocked. If Intel do indeed unleash a K series of SSDs, the chipmaker would unlock the 'dials' on the SSD which would give users the ability to increase clock speeds on the controller frequency as well as the NAND flash memory bus frequency.
Intel has already added overclocking features to their Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, or XTU. The drive Intel were using at PAX was a prototype SSD made for overclocking, so we're not talking about anything official right now. So, let's get into what it can do, at the moment, and what people saw at PAX.
The first setting you can use is the adjustment of the controller clock speed, with the default speed on the Intel Prototype SSD controller set at 400MHz, with Intel's XTU software capable of driving this up to 625MHz. This doesn't sound like a lot, but it represents a swift 56.25% increase in the controller speed.
The second option is to adjust the speed of the NAND chips, with the stock clocks set at 83MHz, the XTU software can crank this up to 100MHz. Legit Reviews has some quick benchmark results, if you want to see some raw, but early numbers.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist Wii U Review

Given the size and popularity of the Splinter Cell franchise, it's hard to fathom that this is only the second game to be released in the current generation of consoles (aside from the Wii U, which is of course Nintendo's next gen). However, when you look back at some of the changes that Conviction made and how many gamers were not fans of those changes, it's easy to see why Ubisoft has taken its time. Blacklist is certainly not a return to the old school Splinter Cell, but is instead a mix of Conviction and its predecessors. It's a game that gives a lot of choice in how you play, and if Ubisoft wanted a balance between stealth and action, then they achieved their objective.
The storyline of Blacklist focuses on funnily enough the Blacklist. The Blacklist is a series of terrorists and planned terrorist attacks being led by one major terrorist group known as "the engineers". After a successful terrorist attack, Sam Fisher is thrown onto the case, along with some of his old crew like Anna and some new characters that enhance the storyline well. The days where Sam was a single killing machine are over, and instead you now have a lot more of a relationship with your staff and see how all the puzzles fit together for a successful mission.
One of the biggest changes to the series is the ability to upgrade structures. The main base of Blacklist is the Paladin, a large US air force plane, which contains the operations center for Sam to get the job done. As you progress through missions, you earn cash that can be used to upgrade the Paladin. For example, if you upgrade the infirmary, Sam will have access to purchase health upgrades, whilst upgrading the tech side will lead to access to black market weaponry. How you wish to play is up to you and this is the theme of this game. Ubisoft has tried to cater to everyone and no more so than the upgrade system. Sam can also be upgraded and you can have multiple load outs.

In terms of the gameplay, you can play how you choose. Ubisoft has spoken many times about how they wanted to bring back the true stealth of the series, but there is a few missions that puzzle us with regards to these statements. In fact, one of the campaign missions is closer to a Call of Duty mission than a typical Fisher mission. We are almost certain it's impossible to go through this game without killing enemies, although the game does encourage stealth, especially at the higher difficulty levels.
If you play in a stealth style, you are rewarded for it. You will gain cash for exploring areas of the mission that generally are only found on a stealth play through and you gain more cash for taking down enemies silently than in combat. Yet generally the way most people will play is a combination of both. That is aside from a few specific areas in the game where there is not much of a punishment for being detected, and as long as you can take the enemies that will charge at you down, the mission will continue on and even then you can just run towards the objective to progress as well. Once or twice we just bolted for the next objective, and as soon as it was reached, the previous enemies stood down and stopped following - not the most realistic AI in that regard.
It's hard to criticize Ubisoft because they have crafted an incredible experience. The old feeling of Sam being one of the toughest bastards on the planet returns, and as you silently take out enemies, it feels rewarding. It feels much more rewarding to creep through an area undetected, instead of just shooting the place up and that plays right into the hallmarks that makes Splinter Cell the franchise that it is. As well as this, many of the locations you visit are iconic, and there is one particular mission that gave us the same feeling the CIA mission did in the very original game.

It's clear that Ubisoft is pushing the stealth style of play with the perfectionist mode removing the mark and execute feature, which returns from Conviction, but the upgrade system they have implemented is not without its problems. First of all when you begin the game the technology available to you is quite low and you have to rely on basic tech like night vision, for example. As the game wears on, you can upgrade to new technology, but it seems like the AI systems do not necessarily react to this improved tech. You will probably find the missions towards the end of the game easier than those which open the campaign. Of course that can also be attributed to the fact by the end you are well back in the Splinter Cell mode and accustomed to the game mechanics.
It would be remiss of us not to mention the control set especially considering we played it on the Wii U - the good news is the controls have ported just fine. The touchscreen is used in many ways and not just for a map. If you are controlling a drone that will be done via the touchscreen, whilst switching weapons quickly and easily can also be achieved on the tablet. It is also possible to play the game entirely on the tablet. By default, motion controls are enabled, and we found that frustrating and it increased the difficulty on some missions. Thankfully you can turn that off.

As you progress through the game, you also begin to unlock side missions from the other characters. These missions form the co-operative section of the game, however, they can be tackled solo as well, and in many ways these missions really help the game. The major issue that this can overcome is that the single player campaign isn't that long, however, these optional missions give you the opportunity to do so and in fact it makes sense to do so. Many of the missions slot into the storyline quite well and although they can be played after the campaign is done, it does seem disjointed when doing so.
On the multiplayer side of things the infamous spy's vs. mercenary's mode is back and better than ever. For those unaware in Spies vs. Mercs one team plays from a third person perspective, whilst the other, the mercs, play first person. The spies have to complete single player style objectives, whilst being hunted by the mercenaries. During its time it was one of the most original and interesting multiplayer features around, and it remains so. The only problem with multiplayer specifically on the Wii U is that local co-op is not possible.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist sure took its time to come out, but the wait has been worth it. The single player campaign is an interesting tale of typical intrigue from the series, whilst the additional co-operative play and multiplayer areas really add up to a well-rounded package. The Wii U port is fine when compared to the other consoles, and the lack of Wii U local co-op shouldn't be missed too much.

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Monday, September 2, 2013

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 9/3/2013

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