MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning Review
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Dragon Age: Inquisition's Story Wraps Up in the Trespasser DLC; Arrives September 8
The world of Thedas is in peril once more, but this time from an entirely different threat than anything we've faced before. Two years have passed since the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition (so yes, consider spoilers throughout if you have yet to finish the game), and it appears the Orlesians are unhappy with how things have played out. A trial is held, but something else crops up: a Qunari invasion. In Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser, we're tasked with fighting off a Qunari invasion into southern Thedas, further than they've ever reached before in these numbers. And through Eluvian mirrors, no less, so I wonder what else they may have at their disposal. To make matters worse, it appears the Inquisitor's Mark is threatening their life, although why it's doing so is unknown. Perhaps it was never meant to go that long without a Breach in the sky?
Source: Dragon Age PAX Prime Panel and Dragon Age Website
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Lionsgate Working on Movie Adaptation of Borderlands
Lionsgate, the studio behind movies such as the Hunger Games and Divergent series, has announced that it is developing a movie centered around the Borderlands universe. The movie is being produced by industry veterans Avi and Ari Arad, who have worked on movies such as Iron man, Spider Man, and X-Men. There aren't any significant details on what aspects of the Borderlands games will be explored in the game, but the games present a great deal of content to explore. Lionsgate Co-Chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger described the decision to make the movie stating, "Part of our strategy in entering the game space under Peter Levin has been to source new brands with built-in audiences that will translate into great films and television shows. The ‘Borderlands’ games don’t pull any punches, and we’ll make the movie with the same in-your-face attitude that has made the series a blockbuster mega-franchise." Take-Two Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick added "This alliance is ideally positioned to create a bold, provocative, no-holds-barred motion picture phenomenon that will delight ‘Borderlands” current legions of fans and captivate moviegoers around the world."
Source: Variety
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XCOM 2 Delayed Until February 5, 2016
When XCOM 2 was announced in June, it was given a November release date. Now it has slipped to February 5, 2016. In a letter to XCOM fans at XCOM.com, the developers say they need "a little more time to make it the best possible game."
XCOM 2 is the follow-up to 2012's XCOM: Enemy Unknown and is being developed by Firaxis Games, the studio behind the Civilization series. This sequel is set some twenty years after Enemy Unknown and in that time, the aliens have conquered the planet. Your new goal is to lead the resistance against the aliens with guerrilla tactics. The game is a PC exclusive.
Source: XCOM.com
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Hardware Roundup: Friday, August 28, 2015, Edition
The final Friday of August brings with it several items to help get your weekend started. There is a review of the ASUS Z170-A motherboard, a competitively priced model that includes many higher quality features usually found on more expensive motherboards. The U10 smartphone from OUKITEL gets reviewed to see what this 64-bit MTK SoC equipped model with a 5" Full HD screen can do. A new case mod takes the Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV mATX case and gives it a Tony Stark flair. Lastly, a new podcast covers the latest news and reviews from the past week.
Motherboards
ASUS Z170-A @ PC Perspective
Mobile
OUKITEL U10 @ Madshrimps
Miscellany
Case Mod Friday: I am Iron Man @ ThinkComputers
Podcast #364 @ PC Perspective
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Graphene Oxide Defies Expectations When Bent
Since its discovery, graphene has been the focus of a lot of studies, as has its cousin, graphene oxide, which has special properties of its own. Now it turns out that graphene oxide has one property no one expected, and it could have some interesting implications. Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered that graphene oxide undergoes an unexpected deformation when bent, just before breaking.
One of the properties graphene is known for is its great flexibility, and while it is flexible, it does have a breaking point. Once that point is reached, it will suddenly break, but graphene oxide actually deforms first, akin to how plastic bends before it breaks. This deformation was believed to be the oxygen atom disconnecting from the two carbon atoms it is connected to, as this is how it works in many other materials. What the Northwestern researchers discovered is that the bond between the two carbon atoms break and the bonds with the oxygen atoms remain.
This was discovered on the atomic scale and could be used to manipulate the material's properties to specific needs. Now the researchers are looking into the mechanical properties of graphene oxide-polymer interfaces, as this will have an impact on scaling the material up.
Source: Northwestern University
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Instagram Now Supports Landscape and Portrait Formats
Although Instagram is still committed to its square design language, it has publically revealed that it now supports landscape and portrait formats for both photographs and videos. According to the social networking service, one in five photographs or videos uploaded were not in the square format, meaning that details from the original content were simply lost when uploaded. In the end, Instagram wants memories to be easily shared and enjoyed, and thanks to the support for landscape and portrait formats, Instagram users and followers can now enjoy a wealth of content in all of its glory.
In addition to supporting the formats outside of the square format, Instagram revealed that all of its filters are now able to be applied to all photographs and videos, and that their intensity can be altered as well.
Source: Instagram Blog
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Thermaltake Gathers Modders to Transform the Core X9 E-ATX Cube Chassis
Thermaltake has gathered ten of the best modders in the world to compete in the 2015 Thermaltake Case MOD Invitational Season 2 with the Core X9 E-ATX Cube Chassis as their canvas. The previous competition was won by Suchao Prowphong of Thailand with his Core X9 mod displayed at the Thermaltake booth at Computex 2015. Users will be able to vote for their favorites every week, also making them eligible for prizes, with votes from Newegg and Thermaltake also helping to determine the winner. The winner will receive $6,000 from a $15,000 total prize pool along with having their work displayed at the Thermaltake booth at CES 2016.
Source: Press Release
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Logitech Adds Two Headsets to G Series
Logitech has added a pair of headsets to its gamer focused G Series, the G933 Artemis Spectrum wireless headset and G633 Artemis Spectrum wired headset. The headsets were built around the patent pending Pro-G audio drivers resulting in "gaming headphones that deliver a superior all-around audio experience." With the Pro-G audio drivers Logitech was able to create the first headphones to support Dolby and DTS Headphone:X surround options, allowing gamers to experience up to 7.1 channels of sound. Logitech software can be used to customize a number of parameters for the headsets including lighting and G-keys. Both headsets will be compatible with PCs, mobile devices, and gaming consoles with the G933 extending support to home theater users through USB and RCA ports. The G633 will be available in September at an MSRP of $149.99 and the G933 will be available in October at a price of $199.99.
Source: Press Release
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AMD R9 Nano Gets Official Announcement and Price of $649
First unveiled at this year's E3, the Radeon R9 Nano is the third Fiji-based graphics card from AMD. For those who may not remember, it is the 6-inch card that packs more power than an R9 290X despite having a 175W TDP. According to the release, the R9 Nano offers 30% more performance than AMD's former top GPU while consuming 30% less power. The performance numbers were gotten from Far Cry 4 at 4K with the R9 Nano scoring 37.966 FPS and the R9 290X scoring 27.207 FPS. This makes the R9 Nano the most power efficient mini-ITX enthusiast graphics card in the world.
It supports several technologies including Virtual Super Resolution, Frame Rate Targeting Control, FreeSync, LiquidVR, Eyefinity, and CrossFire, as well as the DirectX 12, Vulkan, OpenGL 4.5, and Mantle APIs. The rumored specs covered yesterday are all confirmed also, with the engine clock reaching up to 1000MHz, and the memory speed being 500MHz. The card has a suggested price of $649 and should be available in stores and at e-tailers the week of September 7.
Source: AMD
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Hardware Roundup: Thursday, August 27, 2015, Edition
Both the week and August are drawing to a close, but not before we offer you some reviews to check out. There is a look at what the AMD Radeon R9 Nano offers, but it isn't a review since the cards aren't quite ready to send out just yet. We do have another review on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950, with the MSI GTX 950 Gaming 2G put to the test. A pair of VisionTek GO SSDs are used in a RAID 0 configuration, with some impressive results showing what it can do on an Intel X99 build. For some smaller storage, there is a review of the Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ G3 32GB USB 3.0 flash drive that features hardware encryption to keep your data safe and secure. Lastly, the EVGA TORQ X5 gaming mouse is tested to see how this eight button, 6400DPI mouse performs in gaming and everyday use.
Video Cards
AMD Radeon R9 Nano Preview @ PC Perspective
MSI GTX 950 Gaming 2G @ LanOC Reviews
Storage/Hard Drives
VisionTek Go Drive SSD RAID 0 @ Bjorn3D
Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ G3 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ ThinkComputers
Keyboards/Mice
EVGA TORQ X5 @ Bjorn3D
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YouTube Gaming Officially Launches
Back in June of this year, it was reported that Google unveiled YouTube Gaming to the public and that it planned to bring the service to the masses sometime this summer. That day has finally arrived, as Google officially launched YouTube Gaming yesterday for users in countries where YouTube is already available. The brand new YouTube service allows viewers to view and keep tabs on gaming videos and livestreams for more than 25,000 video game titles. YouTube users can utilize the YouTube Gaming website and mobile application, the latter of which is available for both Android and iOS devices, to view the wealth of content currently available for consumption. Frank Petterson, the YouTube Gaming Engineering Manager, noted at the time of launch that "Our peers make us better gamers, and games are made better by the communities that surround them."
While YouTube Gaming is only available at the moment as an English website, and the mobile application is only available for users located in either the United States or United Kingdom, the service is expecting to expand in the near future to widen its user base.
Source: MCV
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Femtosecond Laser for Potential Industrial Use Developed
A femtosecond is unperceivable to the normal person, but in many fields of science, it is necessary to operate on such short timescales to determine what is happening. In these instances it is a femtosecond laser one often turns to, as the ultrashort pulses of light can illuminate behaviors occurring in those brief windows. Now researchers at the University of Warsaw have succeeded in designing a femtosecond laser that is so resilient to the environment it could find use in industrial settings.
One of the primary components to a normal femtosecond laser is optical resonators made of precision sets of mirrors, but these mirrors are susceptible to external conditions. This new laser does away with those by using an optical fiber as the resonator, which is something other lasers also do. In fact all of the laser-generation is done within the optical fiber, which makes the laser highly resistant to the environment. The researchers tested this by heating a segment of the fiber up to 120 ºC and by placing the laser in a shaker with acceleration above 7 g, but neither test stopped the laser from working.
The laser light produced has a wavelength of 1030 nm, though higher-order harmonics can be generated, and the laser itself can be built from commercial parts, keeping its cost down to just a few thousand euros. By switching to custom designed components, it may be possible to cut the cost down even more. Potentially it could find industrial use as a means of cutting semiconductor panels and diamonds, without incurring thermal stresses, thus minimizing discoloration and cracking.
Source: EurekAlert!
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