Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth Officially Announced; Coming Fall 2014
This morning's leak is true: Firaxis Games is working on Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, "a new science-fiction-themed entry into the award-winning Civilization series." As the cinematic announcement trailer below shows, human's time on Earth is ending, so you must embark to discover a home beyond Earth, exploring and colonizing an alien planet. Planets will be procedurally generated, and "your relationship with the [alien creatures], and your technology choices will have a profound affect on the evolution of your faction" through three affinities: Supremacy, Purity, and Harmony. Supremacy players embrace technology and build bionic commandos, Purity players preserve humanity in its current form, and Harmony players study the alien geneseed and genetically modify their people. Each affinity affects the way your faction looks, along with the structures, wonders, and units you can create.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is expected to arrive on PC this fall!
Source: PC Gamer [1] and [2]
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Capybara Games' BELOW Coming to Steam
Unveiled during Microsoft's E3 2013 Press Conference, Capybara Games' BELOW was initially thought to be an Xbox One exclusive. However, a couple days ago, Capy unveiled that it'll now be hitting Steam as well. BELOW is a Roguelike exploration game played from a unique top-down perspective using tilt-shift photography. The Roguelike nature means randomly generated environments, brutal difficulty, and permanent death. Not much else is known just yet, but apparently there will be some sort of multiplayer aspect even though it's a largely single-player game. Capy is best known for Critter Crunch and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP.
The reveal that the game would be coming to Steam was done rather unceremoniously via a new video and a simple Steam logo on the official site.
Source: Capybara Games and Official Site
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Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth Leaked Ahead of Big Reveal?
Firaxis Games (Civilization V, XCOM: Enemy Within) is supposed to unveil its "next big AAA title" during the Firaxis Games Mega Panel at PAX East in less than half an hour (1130A ET), but it seems the surprise may have been ruined. According to Indie Retro News, Firaxis will be unveiling Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth, which is somewhat of a spiritual successor to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. It's basically Civilization in space. There will be three types of planets "from lush vegetation to airy decaying worlds" and the following goals:
- Find proof of existence of an ancient life on the planet and try to make a first contact
- Resume contact with Earth by deploying a satellite
- Return to Earth (if you find out it still exists)
- Host Terran refugee on your new planet
I suspect we'll learn more later today, so stay tuned! The screenshots below definitely lend some credence to the leak.- Resume contact with Earth by deploying a satellite
- Return to Earth (if you find out it still exists)
- Host Terran refugee on your new planet
Source: Indie Retro Games and All Games Beta
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Supergiant Games' Transistor Coming to PC and PS4 on May 20
California-based studio Supergiant Games burst onto the scene in 2011 with its highly successful and critically acclaimed action-RPG Bastion. For its next game, Transistor, Supergiant is sticking with the action-RPG genre, but adding in a splash of turn-based strategy. While it seems like an action-RPG on the surface, you can enter "Turn", which stops time and allows you to plan out your movement and attacks, with each action consuming a certain portion of an action bar. If that twist on the usual formula wasn't enough, there's another one – enemies respawn if you don't collect their souls, which may not be so easy during large-scale battles. The game also features a talking sword, the titular Transistor. There are three new screenshots, shown below, but unfortunately there's no new video, so you'll have to make due with last year's Reveal Trailer:
Source: Supergiant Games
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Trials Fusion's New Gameplay Trailer Shows the Thrills and Spills of 'Competition'
With Trials Fusion set to launch next week, Ubisoft has released a new "Competition" Gameplay Trailer. The video shows the (up to) four-player multiplayer action, along with plenty of jumps and crashes. The free-to-play mobile sibling, Trials Frontier, launched yesterday for iOS and will have some integration with Fusion, including unlocking new gear. Both games feature online leaderboards.
Source: Ubisoft
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Sony Urges Customers to Stop Using VAIO Fit 11A
Sony has revealed that some VAIO Fit 11A computers with internal battery packs provided by a third-party supplier are susceptible to overheating, which could result in partial burns to the housing of the computer. Due to this issue, Sony is requesting that owners of the VAIO Fit 11A, with a build date of February of this year, stop using the machine and discontinue charging it. A program that is set to be released in two weeks is currently being worked on by Sony that will provide free repairs or replacements of the affected machines, with the possibility of a refund of the purchase price.
According to Sony, the VAIO Fit 11A model that is affected by the overheating internal battery issue is SVF11N1XXXX.
Source: Sony Global
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Code that Caused Heartbleed Called an Accident
The programmer responsible for checking in the code that led to the Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL has described it as an accident, not a malicious activity. The bug was found in an area of the code that pertained to security and was caused by "missing validation on a variable containing a length." The code went through a peer review process and neither the original programmer or peer reviewer were able to catch the bug. There is a published list of some sites that have been impacted by the bug, but it would probably be a good idea to change all of your passwords anyway.
Source: ZDNet
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Razer Nabu Launch Delayed
Razer unveiled its smartband known as the Razer Nabu in January of this year, and at the same time announced first quarter availability of the device. Although Razer still plans to bring the Nabu to market, it has delayed the smartband due to skin irritation concerns that have recently plagued the Fitbit Force. Razer has announced that it is working with medical professionals to put the Nabu through stringent tests that will verify that the smartband is fully certified as hypoallergenic, severely reducing the chance of the device causing any skin irritation.
Developers have received an email from Razer regarding the hypoallergenic tests, with information contained within the email pointing to a revised launch of late May or early June.
Source: Engadget
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Bound by Flame's New Combat Trailer Details More Than Just Combat
Focus Home Interactive has graced us with two combat demos (1 & 2) for Spiders' fantasy RPG Bound by Flame, but this time around, the publisher has unleashed a full-fledged Combat Trailer, which provides further details on many aspects of the game. In Bound by Flame, the protagonist is a mercenary possessed by a Flame Demon, and is the last line of defense against the seven Ice Lords and their undead army. As previously stated, the game features three skill trees (Warrior, Ranger, and Pyromancer), and allows you to mix and match to your heart's content. The Combat Trailer explains the strengths of each path, along with the crafting system and companions available.
Source: Press Release
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MOBA-inspired Orcs Must Die! Unchained Coming Late 2014 to PC
Gameforge and Robot Entertainment has announced the third iteration of the award-winning Orcs Must Die! franchise, which is once again going bigger and better. The original Orcs Must Die! was a single-player tower defense game that allowed you to control a hero in third-person to help dispatch waves of enemies. Orcs Must Die! 2 upped the ante by introducing a second playable character, along with co-op play. Now, Orcs Must Die! Unchained is upping it even further by making it a full-on team-based PvP game.
Obviously inspired by one of modern gaming's hottest genres, multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs), Orcs Must Die! Unchained is being billed as "a fast-paced Fortress Siege game in which teams of heroes battle head-to-head to attack and defend ancient strongholds." Like most MOBAs, Unchained supports up to ten players in 5v5 matches, but unlike MOBAs, you'll be responsible for both attacking and defending – unleashing minions, building traps, and of course contributing to the war as one of dozens of unique heroes. The War Mage and Sorceress return from the previous game, along with "new enemy heroes like Blackpaw, Midnight, Stinkey, and Bloodspike." Unchained will have a collectible card game (CCG) element to it, allowing you to collect and upgrade "powerful heroes, over-the-top weapons, devious traps and fiendish minions."
Source: Press Release and Official Site
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Plasmons Shown to have Important Quantum Property
Some day we want to see quantum computers running advanced algorithms no modern computer is capable of. Before that can happen though, we have to develop the technologies and understanding necessary to build quantum computers. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have made an important discovery concerning both the required technologies and understanding.
Photons and electrons are two interesting particles with very different properties that make them ideal for certain, distinct applications. There is one quasi-particle that exists between these two, called a plasmon. Plasmons are oscillations of the surface electrons of a metal that reach the frequencies of light, and can be produced when a photon strikes a metal's surface. Because plasmons exist between electrons and photons, researchers have not been certain if its behavior can be described with quantum mechanics. To test this, the Caltech researchers found a way to replicate an optical experiment concerning quantum interference with plasmons. Normally one would fire two identical photons into a beam splitter, and quantum interference will cause the photons to exit on the same side. In this experiment two plasmons made by two identical photons pass through two waveguides to a directional coupler, which acts like a beam splitter.
The researchers found that, like with the photons and beam splitter, the two identical plasmons exited from the same side of the directional coupler. This demonstration of quantum behavior with plasmons could potentially lead to chip-based quantum devices and circuits, utilizing plasmons.
Source: California Institute of Technology
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Kingston Introduces HyperX FURY Memory Line
Kingston has announced its latest line of memory products, the HyperX FURY. The FURY line replaces the HyperX blu line targeted at entry-level gamers and enthusiasts. The new memory will be available with heatspreader colors of black, blue, red, and white against a black PCB. It will be available at frequencies of 1333MHz, 1600MHz, and 1866MHz in 4GB and 8GB modules with single or dual stick sets available. Kingston plans to add a SSD to the HyperX FURY line in the near future.
Source: Press Release
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Efficient CVD Method for Producing 2D Semiconductor Developed
Year after year our electronics become more and more advanced, but this may not continue in the future as we approach the physical limits of the materials being used. For these reason alternative materials with better properties are being investigated, but there are multiple hurdles preventing their adoption. Researchers at Rice University and Nanyang Technological University have recently solved one of these issues with the semiconductor molybdenum diselenide.
Molybdenum diselenide is a semiconductor that can be made into atomic thick sheets. Graphene is possibly the most famous material 2D material, and definitely has some properties that we want in our electronics, but lacks some important ones. One such property is a band gap, which is necessary to build transistors from the material. Molybdenum diselenide has a band gap, but is difficult to produce, until now that is. The Rice researchers have discovered a stable and potentially scalable means to produce 2D sheets of the semiconductor using chemical vapor deposition.
Along with a band gap, molybdenum diselenide also has impressive electron mobility, which is a measure of how quickly electrons can move across it. Graphene is still orders of magnitude superior in this regard, which is why one day we may see both materials, with their complimentary properties, used to create advanced electronics.
Source: Rice University
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Noctua Launches the Massive NH-D15 CPU Cooler
Noctua is certainly no stranger to extreme cooling, with the dual-tower NH-D14 among some of the largest CPU coolers available. Recently, Noctua has announced an even more impressive CPU cooler called the NH-D15, which is another dual-tower type built on the same successful model as the D14. The D15's fin stack has been widened from 140mm to 150mm, with the heat pipes now a little further apart for "more uniform heat distribution over a larger surface area." Its fins are a little lower too, so now it has 64mm of clearance for RAM modules in single-fan mode. Two NF-A15 fans come with the D15 and can have their speed controlled by a PWM header, or you can use the supplied Low-Noise Adaptor to drop the RPMs from 1500 to 1200 for super quiet cooling.
Source: Press Release
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