Star Wars Humble Bundle III; better than the movie!

Subject: General Tech | February 7, 2017 - 03:01 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gaming, Star Wars, humble bundle

Do like Star Wars games, PCPer and Unicef?  If so there is a Humble Bundle perfect for you running for the next two weeks.  Depending on how much you pay you can get up to 15 games and an X-Wing verus TIE Fighter t-shirt, with a percentage of your purchase helping us to continue to provide the content you love.  There is some overlap with previous bundles you may have picked up but for those of you missing KOTOR 1 or 2, The Force Unleashed 1 or 2, Shadows of the Empire or even the second Star Wars Battlefront game it is well worth the cost.

How can you resist that t-shirt?

NVIDIA Releases Driver 358.91 for Fallout 4, Star Wars Battlefront, Legacy of the Void

Subject: Graphics Cards | November 9, 2015 - 01:44 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: nvidia, geforce, 358.91, fallout 4, Star Wars, battlefront, starcraft, legacy of the void

It's a huge month for PC gaming with the release of Bethesda's Fallout 4 and EA's Star Wars Battlefront likely to take up hours and hours of your (and my) time in the lead up to the holiday season. NVIDIA just passed over links to its latest "Game Ready" driver, version 358.91.

• Windows 10 (x64): Download
• Windows 7/8.1 (x64): Download

Fallout 4 is going to be impressive graphically

Here's the blurb from NVIDIA directly:

Continuing to fulfill our commitment to GeForce gamers to have them Game Ready for the top Holiday titles, today we released a new Game Ready driver.  This Game Ready driver will get GeForce Gamers set-up for tomorrow’s release of Fallout 4, as well as Star Wars Battlefront, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. WHQLed and ready for the Fallout wasteland, driver version 358.91 will deliver the best experience for GeForce gamers in some of the holiday’s hottest titles.

Other than learning that NVIDIA considers "WHQLed" to be a verb now, this is good news for PC gamers looking to dive into the world of Fallout or take up arms against the Empire on the day of release. I honestly believe that these kinds of software updates and frequent driver improvements timed to major game releases is one of the biggest advantages that GeForce gamers have over Radeon users; though I hold out hope that the red team will get on the same cadence with one Raja Koduri in charge.

You can also find more information from NVIDIA about configuration with its own GPUs for Fallout 4 and for Star Wars Battlefront on GeForce.com.

What better way to celebrate the release of Star Wars Battlefront than making a motorized AT-AT

Subject: General Tech | October 28, 2015 - 01:00 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Star Wars, AT-AT, 3d printing

You will need some experience to build this AT-AT successfully as there are a total of 69 individual parts in 28 STL files and you will need to wire in a 9V battery, a 90 rpm motor, and a switch to make it walk.  The finished design will stand about 12" tall and walk on flat surfaces, you will need to modify the design if you want sound effects or a lightsaber created hole in the bottom to insert explosives but the basic design is more than impressive.  You can see the AT-AT in action at MAKE:Blog and the creator, Dan Olson, has posted the full project at Thingiverse if you want to build your very own.

"This is a walking model of an AT-AT from the Star Wars films. It is powered by a 9V battery, a 90 rpm motor, and a switch. Everything else is 3d printed using roughly 750 grams of filament."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Google is reportedly following in Apple's footsteps and making its own chips @ The Inquirer
• Oracle Java 'no longer the greatest risk' to US Windows PC users @ The Register
• Oracle ships first Sparc M7 systems with security in silicon @ The Inquirer
• Intel sprinkles Saffron on its chips, to satisfy its Big Data appetite @ The Register
• Template Management in LibreOffice 5 @ Linux.com
• Micron’s had its chips … and expects even more. Thanks Intel! @ The Register

Star Wars Battlefront Beta Will Be Public

Subject: General Tech | September 19, 2015 - 03:56 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: ea, Star Wars, Star Wars Battlefront, pc gaming

EA has announced a beta for Star Wars: Battlefront, which will apparently be open for everyone. This will take place in “early October” and contain three game modes, each of the two known ones with a single map. I expect that the third, unknown mode, Drop Zone, will also come with its own map, but it could technically reuse Hoth or Tatooine from Walker Assault and Survival, respectively.

If you are not a fan of online gaming, then EA is supporting single-player Survival mode. You will apparently require an internet connection, but it is unclear whether you need to have it active to play the offline mode, while you play it. Squadron Fighter mode will not be available in the beta, but Walker Assault has a bit of aircraft play, so you should get a taste of the controls (if you can ever find an available vehicle).

EA has also mentioned their Star Wars Battlefront Companion app. This will not be some kind of Commander Mode. It will apparently have a card game and social component. It will be available during the beta as a website, but the iOS and Android app will be “prior to the release of Star Wars Battlefront”.

The game will come out on November 17th, while the beta will be available in early October.

The real genius behind the official BB-8 you stood in line for

Subject: General Tech | September 4, 2015 - 03:06 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Star Wars, bb-8

The unofficial BB-8 toys that makers have been building were based off of the Sphero toy but as it turns out the officially released one is not.  As it turns out it was a team from Creature Animatronics who created the toy for Disney, a team recently talked about because of their large sized hexapod robot.  If you haven't picked one up yet you have at least heard about it in your travels on the net today and as it turns out we do not know all the tricks it will be capable of yet.  According to Disney they will release more features for the app that interfaces with the robot as the release of The Force Awakens gets closer.  Check out the links at Hack a Day for more information.

"As it turns out, it was actually built in Pinewood by the Creature Animatronics (CFX) team which includes [Matt Denton] — He’s the guy who built the Mantis Robot. A hacker / engineer — not a big toy company."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• BlackBerry gobbles up former sparring partner Good Technology for $425m @ The Inquirer
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 820: More specs revealed along with early benchmark score @ The Inquirer
• Windows 10 grabbed about five per cent market share in August @ The Register
• Samsung’s consumer IoT vision – stupid, desperate, creepy @ The Register
• 128TB SSD by 2018? Toshiba promises much, delivers ... a little @ The Register
• Google Updates: Custom Tabs, no more Drive websites, and something about logos @ The Inquirer
• IBM and ARM team up for IoT infrastructure alliance @ The Inquirer
• Damn well knew it! Seagate has helium drives in its labs @ The Register
• Windows admin added to Puppet Enterprise @ The Register
• Security SOHOpeless: Belkin router redirection zero-day @ The Register
• Philips Hue Lighting Review @ Hardware Secrets

Get that John Williams' shiver watching the trailer for Star Wars Battlefield

Subject: General Tech | June 17, 2015 - 03:55 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Star Wars, gaming, ea

EA showed what they described as in game footage of the new Star Wars: Battlefront which was gorgeous and seems to capture the feel of that universe quite well.  Tthe more realistic of us worry that this might be in game footage in the same sense as Ubisoft's Watch_Dogs footage from last year and most of us are just hoping EA doesn't find a way to screw this game up more than they already have.  From the video below we can see that first and third person views are supported, flying vehicles have been included and jetpacks will be available.  We also learned that Luke can apparently time travel from the future into the past.  It is hard not to be excited about this release, one can only hope it does not all end in tears.

HEXUS also has a few more EA videos on their page right here.

"EA revealed new video trailers, footage and information about all its hottest gaming titles at the E3 show yesterday. The one and a half hour long presentation, available in full here, included information about Star Wars: Battlefront, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, the Need 4 Speed reboot, a plethora of sports title updates (plus an on-stage interview with Pele) and more."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Gaming

• Lady Beserkers & Corpse-Carrying In XCOM 2 Footage @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• No worries, Fallout 4 fans. That dog is not going to die @ Polygon
• Kick-Off Delayed: Blood Bowl 2 Now Due In September @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• Check Out The Afro Samurai 2: Revenge Of Kuma Trailer @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• Dark Souls 3 Announced, Miyazaki Directing @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• Square Enix E3 presentation offers compelling mix of sequels @ HEXUS
• Shadow Warrior 2 Announced Packing Four-Player Co-op @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN

Need more Star Wars? Check out the Battlefront trailer

Subject: General Tech | April 22, 2015 - 03:05 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Star Wars, Star Wars Battlefront, frostbite 3

December is a long way off but November 17th is a little bit closer and will give you something to stave off your impatience as that is the release date for the new Star Wars Battlefront.  The Frostbite based game will support up to 40 players in a battle with all your favourite locations, characters, weapons, and vehicles; from various eras in the Star Wars galaxy from what we can gleam.  There will also be a single player mode consisting of what EA is referring to as crafted missions, which may be playable in co-op mode aas well as solo. 

This being an EA game they have already coated it with the repulsive substances, In Game Footage, Pre-Order and DLC.  They claim in this article at HEXUS that "the amount of content in the game has absolutely zero to do with DLC. I can say that with all honesty.", undermined by the fact that if you pre-order you get access to a map called "Battle of Jakku" on December 1st instead of the 8th.  This of course smacks of future preferential treatment for those willing to pay for early access to content everyone else has to wait for.  The trailer below is referred to as being in game footage but we are all smart enough to know that while it is certainly rendered with the game engine it is not representative of what your game will look like while you are playing it.  Can EA do more harm to the series than Jar Jar or is this just a minor inconvenience at the release of a game that will prove to be a fan favourite?

"It’s got all your favourites: the robocow, crossjets, hoverbikes, the notorious Crumpet Eagle, Johnny Rockets, and even that mean black Cylon with his lasersword. I am far more interested in the unreal possibilities of sci-fi face-shooting than humdrum real-world jazz."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Gaming

• $5 Minimum To Graduate From Steam Limited Account Now @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• Grand Theft Auto IV 7-Years Later Review @ OCC
• Mortal Kombat: Brawler gaming's quintessential gorefest @ The Register
• Screenshots and concept art reveal more of Mad Max game @ HEXUS
• Origin Humble Bundle has grown
• First Look At Total War: Warhammer Is Totally Warhammer @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• You Can Complete Deus Ex Mankind Divided Without Killing Anyone, Even The Bosses @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN