EA Access Titles Identified as Permanent
EA Access, a subscription-based model that offers EA games and special perks to gamers, has seen its fair share of news coverage since it was announced late last month. Although PlayStation owners will not be able to subscribe to EA Access due to Sony’s outlook on the service, Xbox One owners will be glad to hear that titles made available on the service are set to be permanent. EA chief operating officer Peter Moore revealed that "The Vault will get its share of triple-A titles," and that "We haven't made any announcements to that extent about exactly when, where and how, but the Vault will be substantial." Moore even confirmed that titles added to The Vault will stay there permanently, and that Electronics Arts has committed to not removing video games from EA Access.
Source: ComputerAndVideoGames
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Master the Terrain in Dying Light and Become the Ultimate Survivor
WB Games and Techland have released a brand new gameplay trailer for the first-person, open-world survival horror game Dying Light in preparation for Gamescom next week. The trailer shows off the huge open world, the parkour traversal elements, character customization, brutal melee, and four-player co-op. It certainly seems like Techland has learned a lot since developing Dead Island.
Source: Press Release
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Windows Phone Store Now Contains More Than 300,000 Apps
Microsoft has revealed within its latest statistical report that its Windows Phone Store now contains more than 300,000 applications that are available to download. While it was not revealed just how many applications have been developed by Microsoft and other large entities versus independent developers, the latest number signifies that Windows Phone is growing quickly as a platform. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, "In the past year alone the Windows and Windows Phone app catalog has grown 94 percent, while the number of active developers has grown by 50 percent." Just in the last six months alone, statistics have shown that 100,000 apps were uploaded to the Windows Phone Store.
Source: Microsoft by the Numbers and TWN
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Adesso Releases SlimTouch 4210 Wireless Keyboard
Adesso, a leading computer input specialist supplier headquartered in Walnut, California, has just launched its SlimTouch 4210 Wireless Compact Touchpad Keyboard. The latest input device from Adesso incorporates a slim and stylish design and is well suited for home, business, and industrial environments. The SlimTouch 4210 utilizes 2.4 GHz radio frequency wireless technology for connectivity and features a built-in touchpad with Glidepoint technology, built-in multimedia and Internet hotkeys, and low-profile scissor-switch keys. The Adesso SlimTouch 4210 is also able to be mounted to any rackmount drawer, as it is built in accordance with EIA-RS-310C specifications.
The SlimTouch 4210 is available immediately for purchase from major retailers and e-retailers, carrying an MSRP of $79.99
Source: Press Release
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Eugen Systems Promises a Return to the "90s Golden Era" of Real-Time Strategy Games ...
Announced back in March, Focus Home Interactive is finally ready to lift the veil of Eugen Systems' upcoming RTS, Act of Aggression. Best known for Act of War, R.U.S.E., and the Wargame series of RTSs, Eugen "vows to bring about a return to the 90s Golden Era of real time strategy games, delivering all of the core mechanics sorely missed by many RTS fans: base building, resource management, unit production and dynamic, immersive battles will meet high fidelity production values and intelligent modernization."
Act of Aggression will take place during the 2020s "in a darkly realistic future where three major factions fight for their interests." There's the shadowy organization known as "The Cartel" with "high-tech technology, stolen prototypes, and stealthy operatives." There's the UNO-funded, classified military organization called the Chimere, specializing in fast strikes and attempting to maintain global peace and order. And finally there's the US Army stuck in the middle, "worn out by two decades of being kept on a war footing with too few replacements, but still fielding a great deal of battle-hardened veterans." The game will feature two separate single player campaigns and "vast, skill-based multiplayer modes where technological upgrades, resource storage and base defenses will play an integral role in the battle." The game will include infantry, mechanized vehicles, tanks, artillery, helicopters, planes, super weapons, and even "ultimate weapons far beyond technologies of today." In addition, your units earn experience by destroying enemy forces, so if you can keep them alive, you can unlock new skills and abilities, even allowing you to specialize them in a particular role, such as anti-air or anti-tank.
Source: Press Release and Official Site
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Graphene Could Have Potential Medical Uses
Graphene has been labeled a wonder material for its amazing electrical and mechanical properties, which is why many are working to ensure its presence in future technologies. While those researchers are intentionally looking for applications, others can find them by accident. Monash University researchers have recently discovered that graphene oxide sheets can be made to change shape, which is a property that could have medical uses.
While running routine tests, the researchers discovered that the graphene oxide sheets they were working with would spontaneously take on a spherical shape. Normally such a change requires atomizers and mechanical equipment, but all the researchers were using was an external magnetic field on the sheets, which were under special pH conditions.
This is a tremendous discovery as it opens up the possibility of using graphene-based structures for drug delivery systems. By just applying a magnetic field to a patient, the graphene would change shape and deliver medicines wherever needed. The researchers are now investigating how graphene behaves in the presence of toxin, which could make it useful for disease detection.
Source: EurekAlert!
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Alienware Announces Thinner Gaming Laptop
The Alienware 13 is the latest, and thinnest, gaming laptop from the system builder. The new laptop is just one inch thick and weighs only 4.5 pounds, a significant improvement from the Alienware 14. The system will be powered by an Intel processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M GPU. Up to 16GB of DDR3 can be installed alongside two solid state drives, or a single mechanical drive. Monitor resolutions of 1366x768, 1920x1080, and 2560x1440 will be supported on the 13" screen. As far as battery life goes, Alienware is "targeting 7-8 hours while streaming with wi-fi and an SSD drive." The Alienware 13 will be available in November and although a price was not available, a company rep stated, "to give you some idea, our 14-inch sells for $1099."
Source: GameSpot and PCWorld
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Yahoo Plans to Add Encryption to E-mail by 2015
Yahoo CISO Alex Stamos announced at the Black Hat USA 2014 security conference that the company is working on end-to-end encryption for its e-mail client, and it should be available by 2015. The project will use the Google PGP Plugin and will enable encrypted e-mails to be exchanged through the two popular services. The talk, Building Safe Systems at Scale - Lessons from Six Months at Yahoo, was very well received by conference attendees and signifies a shift towards increased security and privacy for users in the "post-Snowden era" of computing.
Source: ZDNet
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Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition Arriving October 10 on PC, PS4, and XBO
Publisher Square Enix and developer United Front Games have officially announced Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition, a remastered update to 2012's critically acclaimed third-person, open-world action game Sleeping Dogs. United Front Games said it listened to fans, tuning gameplay, adding to the ambience of Hong Kong, increasing audio fidelity, and pushing the visuals further than the studio could on the previous generation of consoles. In addition to the remastering, all "24 pieces of downloadable content have been integrated into the gaming experience including the story-extending episode Year of the Snake and the horror-themed add-on Nightmare In North Point."
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition is set arrive on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 10. It's nice to see the PC included since Square Enix never brought Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition to PC. A sequel, Sleeping Dogs: Triad Wars, is currently in development at United Front Games, but no details have emerged other than its name.
Source: Press Release
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Crytek's Arena of Fate and the PC Version of Ryse: Son of Rome Will be Playable at Gamescom
Crytek is ready to put its troubles behind it and show the world why there's no need to worry about the company's future. Free-to-play MOBA Arena of Fate and the recently announced PC version of Ryse: Son of Rome will both be playable at Crytek's booth during Gamescom next week. Sadly, there was no mention of HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age.
If you're not familiar with Arena of Fate, it's essentially a MOBA for those that don't have the time to devote to the two most popular MOBAs today, Dota 2 and LoL. While the current map is your typical three-lane map and battles are your typical 5v5, Arena of Fate matches are limited to just twenty minutes. There are three win conditions: the first team to reach ten points, the first team to destroy the other team's core, or the team with the most points at the end of twenty minutes. You earn one point toward your team for every seven hero kills, every tower destroyed, or every Titan NPC destroyed. For someone like me, who stopped playing Dota 2 simply because good matches last about an hour, Arena of Fate's twenty-minute matches sound quite appealing.
Crytek's public Gamescom booth will be located in Hall 7.1, B031, and it sounds like Ryse will be playable at 4K resolution! Crytek will also have a presence in the Gamescom Business Center at Hall 4.1, A033, where it will show off CRYENGINE.
Source: Press Release and Official Site
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Voice Actors Troy Baker and Alastair Duncan Discuss Their Roles in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
If you are making a video game and want to be able to promote top notch voice acting, hire Troy Baker. Among his numerous credits are memorable roles in BioShock Infinite, The Last of Us, Batman: Arkham Origins, Metal Gear Solid V, and Infamous: Second Son, including upcoming roles in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, Far Cry 4, Batman: Arkham Knight, and of course, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. In Shadow of Mordor, Troy Baker is the voice of protagonist Talion. Acting alongside him as the wraith is another video game voice acting veteran Alastair Duncan (Mass Effect, Uncharted 3). Today, Warner Bros. released a new "Shadow of Mordor Behind the Scenes" video featuring Baker and Duncan. I'm going to warn you now: if you've been avoiding learning the identity of the wraith, do not watch this video...
Source: Press Release
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New Quantum Computer Design Based on Diamonds
Many across the world are looking forward to quantum computers, which will have the ability to run problems too complex for traditional, electronic computers. Actually building a quantum computer is a very difficult task though, and so many designs have been proposed that rely on different systems. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology, National Institute of Informatics, and NTT Basic Research Labs have recently developed a new design that is based on diamonds and has some very valuable advantages over other designs.
At the center of quantum computers are qubits, which are analogous to electronic bits but instead of being zero or one, qubits can be both zero and one thanks to superposition. Qubits can take many forms though, including ions inside of traps, superconductors, and defects in diamond. More specifically, the diamond defects are nitrogen atoms, and these defects are kept in between two mirrors, forming an optical resonator. An optical fiber is then used to deliver a photon coupled to the system, to read and write quantum information to the nitrogen atom. The researchers have come to the conclusion that this system and the architecture they have designed is best suited for quantum computers because it lends itself well to miniaturization, mass production, and integration onto chips.
One of the algorithms that may one day be run by quantum computers is Shor-2048, which is for finding the prime factorization of 2048 bit numbers. To run it though would require a quantum computer, with error correction, to have 4.5 billion quantum systems in it. The ability to miniaturize qubits would be invaluable for one day running that algorithm, which is exactly where the diamond-based architecture may succeed.
Source: Vienna University of Technology
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Hardware Roundup: Friday Edition
The end of the first full week of August is here, and we have some items to keep you occupied until the weekend starts. There is a look at both the AMD A10-7800 and A6-7400K APUs, which are the latest additions to the company's Kaveri line. We also have the MSI Z97 MPower motherboard to see how this overclocking-friendly motherboard can help you obtain new speeds on your Intel Haswell CPU. Next we have a couple of guides, with one looking at various PCs at different budgets, and the other shows how to start a successful phone company. Rounding things out today is a new podcast looking back at the latest news and reviews of the past week.
CPUs
AMD A10-7800 and A6-7400K @ PC Perspective
Motherboards
MSI Z97 MPower @ ThinkComputers
Miscellany
TechSpot PC Buying Guide @ TechSpot
Starting a phone company? Here's a blueprint for success @ TechSpot
Podcast #312 @ PC Perspective
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Planet-Like Object May Have Started Like a Star
When you were young, did you have an idea of what your adult life would be like? Is that what you actually achieved? For one stellar object, it changed quite a bit between its youth and adult lives, as researchers at the Carnegie Institution have discovered something that looks like a planet, but may have been like a star at first.
WISE J0304-2705 is an object classed as a Y dwarf, which is the coolest stellar temperature class, with a temperature between 100 ºC and 150 ºC. As that puts the object between Earth and Venus, that may not seem very odd, but after analyzing its spectrum, the researchers discovered that its age makes it one of the oldest objects in the galaxy. This would suggest then that when it was younger, in its first 20 million years of life, it likely was around 2800 ºC, which is as warm as red dwarf stars. At 100 million years old, it should have been around 1500 ºC, which is cool enough for silicate clouds to form, and at one billion years old, methane and water vapor would have dominated this 1000 ºC object. Now it is barely warm enough to even boil water.
Source: Carnegie Institution
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AMD Planning to Enter Solid State Drive Market
AMD is putting all it can into its Radeon line, as a new entry will join the video card and memory lines: solid state drives. These SSDs will carry the Radeon R7 branding, and come in 120, 240, and 480GB capacities on the SATA 6Gbps interface. Performance numbers are only known via leaks so far, yet it looks like read and write speeds on the 120GB drive are around 550MB/s and 470MB/s, respectively. The write speeds increase a little at higher capacities, up to 530MB/s, while read speeds remain the same. Max random read IOPS range from 85,000 to 100,000, while max random write IOPS are at 90,000 for all three drives. Each drive is evidently based on the OCZ Indilinx Barefoot 3 processor and runs Toshiba 19nm MLC NAND flash chips.
It looks like AMD is trying to do all it can to enter the SSD market properly, and if the price is right, things could be looking up for the company. A formal introduction of the Radeon R7 SSDs is supposedly planned for August 13, so keep it tuned here for the full scoop.
Source: TechPowerUp via WCCFTech
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