Today Valve has announced that the Steam client for Linux is now available. The app is now available for download through the Ubuntu Software Center, and of course, as with all major announcements on Steam, the gaming service is holding a week-long sale on 50 Linux games for up to 75% off of their normal price.
The sale is actually pretty decent, with a number of popular titles getting huge discounts. The games are mostly indie titles, but there’s a number of games that are well worth the cost. For instance, Counter-Strike: Source is only $5, while Trine 2 is only $3.74. You can also get World of Goo for $2.49, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent (a fantastic horror game) for only $5.
The best part is, while all these game are for Linux, they’re also compatible for Windows and Mac, so if you don’t use Linux, you can still take advantage of the sale. Half-Life is $5, and a couple of Penumbra games are only a couple of bucks each. There’s 50 games in total, all of which are at least compatible with Windows, with just a few missing Mac support.
Valve first discussed Steam for Linux last year in April, and opened up the beta to the public back in December. The client supports Valve’s new Big Picture mode, where you can play games and navigate through the client on your big-screen living room television. Plus, Steam supports cross-platform play, so you can start a game on one OS, and finish it later on another.
Infinity Blade, the popular sword slinger fantasy third-person game, is now free in the iTunes App Store for the first time ever. While it may seem like a Valentine’s Day special, the app was merely just chosen by Apple as its free App of the Week, a promotion series that the company started not too long ago. The app is available for free from now until February 21.
Infinity Blade is normally priced at $5.99, so it’s definitely a good deal if you’ve ever wanted to try the game out but were never willing to shell out that much for it. It’s compatible for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, so any iOS user can get in on the fun and start slaying all those bad guys.
The game released in December of 2010 and acted as a flagship game of sorts for the iPhone, with Apple using it to show off the graphics of the then-just-released iPhone 4. While the game is now over two years and even has a sequel out, the original Infinity Blade is still considered an impressive specimen compared to today’s standards.
Overall, it’s one of the most popular games ever to hit the iTunes App Store. It was also the first iPhone game to use the Unreal Engine 3 technology that absolutely set the bar for graphics in mobile games. Infinity Blade has received almost 65,000 five-star ratings in the App Store, so it has no doubt seen its fair share of usage.
Gaming PCs usually come in huge full-size towers, while some builders can cram a decent rig into a mid-size tower. However, iBUYPOWER has managed to stuff a top-of-the-line gaming machine into a SFF (small form factor) case, which isn’t completely unheard of, but very few people attempt such a feat. This new computer is called the Revolt, and it was announced earlier last month at CES 2013. The new computer is expected to start shipping sometime later this month, but we ended up getting some quality hands-on time with the new rig and ran it through its paces. Let’s see how it did.
Hardware & Design
First off, the Revolt is packed with high-end hardware. This particular build is running an Intel Core i7 3770K quad-core processor clocked at 3.5GHz with 8GB of DDR3 RAM. It also has NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 graphics, a 120GB Intel SSD, a 1TB Western Digital HDD, and a slot-load DVD burner to top it all off. I’ll be covering the performance aspect of the rig later on, but in brief, this thing absolutely screams.
The case has a white and black theme to it, and it almost looks like it should be an official Portal computer case due to how closely it resembles the whole Portal vibe, which we really like. The front panel has a smooth, glossy black finish and has the “Revolt” name displayed at the top lit up by LEDs. You can actually differentiate each of the LEDs, which could be considered a slight design flaw for picky gamers who prefer to have a smooth and seamless lighting scheme. Other than that, though, the front of the PC has the power button, LED button (to change the LED colors on the side), memory card slot, two USB 3.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and obviously the slot-load DVD drive. The LEDs on the side of the case come in Blue, Green, or Red, and you can cycle through each of the colors with the button on the front. However, it’s important to note that the LEDs oscillate, meaning that they don’t simply just stay on, but they fade in and out.
On the back, there are a bevy of connectivity options: four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, PS/2 (for older keyboard and mice), ethernet, various audio jacks, two DVI ports, and HDMI. We’re not quite why this rig has a PS/2 port, since the interface is pretty much extinct, but we can’t say that it’s a burden to have anyway. Simply put, it’s there if you need it. Now, there’s not as many ports as we’ve seen on past top-tier gaming rigs, but most users will be happy with the eight total USB ports, as well as the eSATA and HDMI options.
As far as upgrading the internal components and servicing the machine, iBUYPOWER says that the Revolt is user-serviceable, although we had a grand ‘ole time trying to get the case opened up. However, once we figured it out, it wasn’t too bad. You simply take off the front panel and then slide the side panels back just a bit and it should come right off. It’s all screwless, so there’s no need for tools at this point. However, when you get to the inside, it’s all pretty closed down. The only components with easy access are the storage drives, optical drive, and the power supply (which looks to be similar to a mini ITX power supply, but iBUYPOWER says it’s custom-built). Everything else is buried on the other side, which is accessible, but once you take off the outer side panel, there’s another steel panel in your way that you have to deal with. In the end, if you plan on upgrading this bad boy at some point in the future, be prepared for a long night, unless of course you want to upgrade the storage drives, in which case it’s as easy as sliding them in and out.
Software
The Revolt runs Windows 8, which didn’t seem to give me much problems gaming-wise. I was able to play all the games that I wanted, and Steam seemed to work great on the new OS. Even Call of Duty 4 — which was released well before Windows 8 — played flawlessly on top of Microsoft’s newest operating system. Compatibility is a huge deal for many PC gamers, so seeing Windows 8 handle everything fairly well was a good sign. Of course, Valve’s Gabe Newell thinks Windows 8 is a “catastrophe,” but personally I didn’t have any problems.
As far as bloatware is concerned, many OEM gaming computer companies usually keep it on the down-low when it comes to pre-installed software, and iBUYPOWER is no exception, although you won’t be greeted with a completely-stock version of Windows 8. There are several Intel utilities that come pre-installed, including Control Center, Rapid Storage, Recovery Agent, and Smart Connect. There’s also the THX TruStudio suite, as well as the 3D Vision preview pack and Photo Viewer. Many gamers might not use these programs, but they hardly get in the way, and you can easily disable them from starting up.
Performance
We ended up conducting benchmarks with our go-to benchmarking tool Geekbench, and the results were nothing short of impressive. The Revolt ended up scoring just over a 15,000, which is quite respectable, and frankly, kind of expected thanks to the quad-core i7 and the GTX 670 graphics that we were working with.
System – Generic
Manufacturer
iBuyPower
Product Type
Desktop
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Motherboard
iBUYPOWER. IBP-Z77E/S
Processor
Intel Core i7-3770K
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
3.50 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
8
Cores
4
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
L3 Cache
8.00 MB
Memory
8.00 GB DDR3 SDRAM 801MHz
FSB
100 MHz
BIOS
American Megatrends Inc. P1.10
The PC played every game that I threw at, all of which were running on medium to high settings. Granted, I didn’t get to play any of the newer games, but I ended up playing a bit of Call of Duty: Black Ops without a problem, as well as Portal 2. The Revolt was able to handle the game wonderfully with little lag or clipping, and I was able to game on for several hours at a time without a hitch. Even after an extended amount of gaming time, the fans inside the rig never picked up speed, and I never noticed the temps go above abnormal levels — it seems that while all the components are crammed into a tiny case, iBUYPOWER made sure that cooling was a priority.
Benchmark Score – Generic
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
13563
15083
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
24406
Memory
Memory performance
6488
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
4969
As far as the noise levels, the Revolt is relatively silent. Using my handy-dandy decibel meter app, there was a jump of about 10 decibels. A normal quiet house is just under 40 decibels, and the meter was reading around 47-49 decibels when placed next to the Revolt. Other than that, I had the rig sitting on the floor next to my desk, and I could barely hear the PC running. Granted, it was on the floor and not on my desk (where I’d be able to hear it more), which is where most gamers might put their rigs, but either way, the noise level shouldn’t be a problem. I couldn’t even hear the thrashing of the hard drive, which is a big plus and something that I personally hate.
Wrap-Up
In the end, the Revolt is a solid gaming rig for those that need the power in a smaller package. Of course, many dedicated PC gamers would gladly build their own machine, but for those that are just getting into PC gaming, or aren’t yet brave enough to tackle the building challenge, buying pre-built is the next best option. Of course, stuffing top-tier gaming components into a SFF case isn’t something that most computer builders would even attempt to do, so leaving it to the highly-trained and professional builders at iBUYPOWER may be the way to go if you’re wanting a SFF gaming rig. Pricing for the Revolt starts at $499, which will land you a Core i3, 4GB of RAM, and integrated Intel HD 2500 graphics. This particular build, however, is in the $1,400 range, so you’ll definitely be paying up if you want top performance.
The Apple TV is a fairly simple product. It’s a standard set-top box that allows you to stream content and even beam content from an iOS device to your big-screen living room television. However, the founder of the Xbox gaming console, Nat Brown, says that if Apple wanted to, they could easily destroy the Xbox, PlayStation, and Wii.
In a blog post, Brown says that there are numerous problems with the Xbox platform that leaves the door wide open for Apple. Plus, Microsoft has been making it extremely difficult to develop games for the Xbox, and it doesn’t really cater to indie developers. The Apple TV, on the other hand, runs iOS, which allows for anyone to develop apps and games fairly easily, which has spawned a wealth of games for users to play.
Of course, the Apple TV isn’t catered as a gaming platform, although it’s only a matter of time before that could happen. You can actually beam iOS games to your living room TV using the set-top box, but the Apple TV itself isn’t a gaming console by any means. However, that could change with just a few more advanced features added on.
In the end, Brown notes that the past five years have been painful to watch, in regards to the Xbox, because Microsoft has essentially failed to innovate and capitalize on the potential of innovations, like the Kinect sensor. Brown also wishes that Microsoft adopted a similar model for game and app distribution that iOS and Android have been using in order to create huge and successful gaming ecosystems.
The rise of Steam and other digital distribution services have certainly been hurting the physical media sales of PC games, and the online retailers are slowly sucking the life out of brick-and-mortar stores, especially video game specialty shops like GameStop. The company announced today that they will close down 250 locations this year, but will open up 60-70 new stores during the same time period.
GameStop CFO Rob Lloyd spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference today and announced the news that the company would be opening and closing various stores around the world, 200 of which will be shut down in the US alone. Plus, Lloyd also announced that GameStop has acquired 40 shut-down GAME stores in France.
According to Lloyd, GameStop will make more money by closing unprofitable stores and moving customers to other nearby stores that have potential of more foot traffic and sales. Overall, GameStop expects to see a reduction of 2% to its physical store locations after it’s all said and done, which isn’t a huge at all.
While GameStop expects to close down a number of stores, it doesn’t seem too bad considering that they plan to open up new stores in other locations. Granted, they’ll only be opening 60-70 new stores, as opposed to shutting down 250 of them, but it seems that the company is experimenting with ways to keep itself afloat, which could either pay off in the future, or turn out to be bad news at some point.
One company that’s looking to break into the wireless speaker market for gamers is Divoom, who just announced today a new Bluetooth gaming speaker called the ONBEAT-X1. The speaker has specially-designed suction cups on the back that allow you to easily stick the speaker onto the back of a smartphone or tablet for better audio quality.
The new speaker features force feedback, which Divoom calls “Vibration Bass,” and it essentially reacts to gaming actions with shakes and vibrations for a more realistic experience when it comes to gameplay. The ONBEAT-X1 Bluetooth gaming speaker also provides 8 hours of music playback, thanks to the built-in lithium ion battery that’s rechargeable via microUSB.
The speaker works with all Bluetooth devices, including pretty much all smartphones and tablet, but if you don’t have a Bluetooth-enabled device, you can plug directly into the speaker using a traditional 3.5mm audio cable that comes included with the package. You’ll probably get better quality through the cable anyways, since Bluetooth tends to degrade audio quality just a tad.
As far as pricing and availability, the ONBEAT-X1 will be on sale starting later this month, and it will be available in either black or white. You’ll be able to pick one up for $39 once they become available. The speaker comes with suction cups to attach to your device, a microUSB cable for charging, and a 3.5mm audio cable for connecting to non-Bluetooth devices.
At the Dive into Media conference yesterday, Microsoft went on stage and talked about one of its most successful products to date: the Xbox 360. Specifically, the company announced that they have sold over 76 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since its launch in 2005. Plus, the console has outsold the original Xbox three times over so far.
Microsoft also announced that they have sold over 24 million Kinect sensors worldwide. Granted it hasn’t been out as long as the console itself, but for only being out on the market since 2010, 24 million is certainly a respectable number. The Xbox Live community has also increased to 46 million users, which is a 15% increase from last year.
The Xbox 360 is the best-selling console in history, and for the past 24 months, the console as been at the top of the charts for every single month throughout the past two years. On average, Xbox Live users spend 87 hours per month playing games and utilizing various entertainment apps inside the online service, and the console is moving towards more of an entertainment device than ever before. Microsoft says that 18 billion hours of entertainment were racked up in 2012 on Xbox 360 consoles.
With the plethora of content that’s available on the Xbox 360, it makes sense that more and more people are using the gaming console as primarily an entertainment device, and Microsoft knows that. So, we could see the next-generation Xbox focused more towards the entertainment crowd than what we originally thought, while still catering towards gamers, of course.
We can’t say we’re too surprised by this, but based on the success of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, Warner Bros. has announced that a new Batman Arkham title will be releasing sometime later this year. The company made the announcement at their quarterly call to investors just recently, and said that Rocksteady Studios will be kept on to develop the new game.
Of course, we sort of knew that a new Batman game would come eventually after we discovered that Warner Bros. locked in a handful of Batman Arkham-related domain names. At that point, it was inevitable. However, the only details that remain are the title of the game and what to expect as far as the storyline and and new features.
Among these handful of domain names, though, were some that could considered the title of the next game in line. “Arkham Universe,” “Arkham Legends,” and “Arkham Stories” were all registered by Warner Bros., so we could see any of these as possible candidates, or it may have just been Warner Bros. covering their scent to trick any rumormongers.
Warner Bros. and Rocksteady Studios released Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2009, and then released Batman: Arkham City in 2011. So, it certainly makes sense that the two companies are sticking to an every-other-year release cycle for the series. Arkham Asylum was released in August, while Arkham City was released in October, which means we could see the third installment arrive at around that time as well.
We’ve already seen numerous teasers of Firemonkey’s upcoming racing sequel, Real Racing 3. The game looks to have the best graphics that the series has ever had, and it will include all new tracks, including real tracks, as well as made-up tracks in real locations. However, publisher Electronic Arts has announced that they plan to offer the upcoming game for free.
In an interview with Bloomberg, EA’s senior vice president for mobile and social game development Nick Earl said that the publisher plans to offer Real Racing 3 for free in order to distribute the game to a wider audience. Real Racing games in the past have typically been priced in $5-$10 range, so a price tag of $0 is definitely intriguing.
Mobile games at Electronic Arts generated about $100 million in revenue during the company’s fiscal third quarter, so it seems that’s a huge avenue for the publisher, so it’ll be interesting how the company will bring in revenue with Real Racing 3, which it seems like in-app purchases might be the way that EA will go for this new game.
That wouldn’t be too surprising, since Real Racing 3 will feature 900 different events and 600 hours of total gameplay, according to Earl. It’ll be interesting to see how much of that we’ll have to pay for in in-app purchases. EA didn’t mention anything about in-app purchases, but I’m sure we’ll here more details shortly. Real Racing 3 releases later this month on February 28.
Minecraft has been a big hit lately. The pixelated sandbox game has seen millions of downloads on multiple platforms, and today the game is seeing its release on the infamous Raspberry Pi hobbyist board. What’s perhaps even better, is that the game will be free to all Raspberry Pi users, which will save you a couple of bucks if you planned to buy it on another platform.
The Raspberry Pi version of the game, called Minecraft: Pi Edition, takes a few steps to get going, of course. Users will need to download a program called Raspbian “wheezy,” and then boot their RaspPi boards with the program. After that, all that stands in your way of hours of Minecraft play time are a few terminal commands.
There’s actually a dedicated blog specifically for the Raspberry Pi version of the game, and that’s where more details can be found if you need a little help getting the game going on your board. Of course, it takes a bit more effort than booting up a game on other platforms, but getting Minecraft for free seems like a good trade-off.
The Raspberry Pi is available for purchase in the US for $35, but it’s unsurprisingly sold out, and it’ll most likely stay that way for a while. However, if you don’t already have a Raspberry Pi board, you can buy one now and at least get yourself on the waiting list while you can, since waiting until they come back in stock might not be the quickest option to obtaining one.
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