AMD offering Never Settle: Reloaded games bundle with Radeon HD 7000 series GPUs

AMD offering Never Settle: Reloaded games bundle with Radeon HD 7000 series GPUs

If you’re the fidgety type that’s also in the market for a new GPU, AMD’s ready to tempt you into springing for a Radeon HD 7000 series card with the promise of free gaming swag. The imaginatively named “Never Settle: Reloaded” bundle reuses several titles from last year’s promotionFarcry 3, Sleeping Dogs and Hitman: Absolution — and adds a few more it hopes will grab your attention: BioShock Infinite, Crysis 3, DmC Devil May Cry and Tomb Raider. AMD’s 7770 GHz Edition GPU no longer qualifies, but purchase a 7800 or 7900 series card and you’ll be given at least a couple of games to enjoy on your new hardware. Exactly what software you’ll receive varies on how much dough you’re waving around and what region you’re shopping in, so head to the source link for a full rundown of the options. A single 7990 or a two-pack of 7900 series cards will get you the most games, but if you don’t quite have the bread, ask Lara for a loan — she might be willing to share some of her perilous adventure fund and help you out.

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Source: AMD

NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience gaming tune-up reaches open beta

NVIDIA GeForce Experience beta

NVIDIA wants to take the mystery out of gaming performance through its GeForce Experience. It’s been hard to appreciate that when the app has been in closed testing for well over a month, however — so it’s good news that the company just recently opened the beta program to everyone. Along with bringing faster and better-looking graphics to the PC gaming masses, the public version widens the optimizations to include Core 2 processors, 2,560 x 1,440 displays and games like Far Cry 3 and Mechwarrior Online. There’s no word yet on when the app will reach its finished form, although we hope it’s sooner rather than later when Project Shield’s remote PC game streaming will depend on GeForce Experience to run. For now, players running Windows can grab the beta at the source link.

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Via: WinBeta

Source: NVIDIA

SimCity beta kicks off January 25th, feeds our city-building ambitions

SimCity beta kicks off January 25th, feeds our citybuilding ambitions

While we can’t speak for everyone, SimCity‘s urban construction triggers fond memories for more than one of us — mostly the small thrills of building our first arcologies or getting statues in our honor. A chance to feed our nostalgia (and megalomania) is coming quickly with the advent of EA’s beta for the SimCity reboot. Windows users who register before January 20th will get one hour’s worth of game time to use between January 25th and 28th, along with an opportunity to provide feedback on bugs and play balancing. It’s an almost cruel tease when we know we’ll have to wait until the final version’s March 5th launch to play more, or to play on a Mac, but we’ll take the beta offer when many of us haven’t seen a ‘pure’ SimCity game for a decade.

[Thanks, David]

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Via: EA (Facebook)

Source: SimCity

Distro Issue 68: PC game designers and the quest for compatibility

Distro Issue 68: PC game designers and the quest for compatibility

Well friends, the week’s end brings with it an issue of our tablet mag that’s hot off the digital presses. PC gaming nabs the cover story this time out as we take a look at the task of insuring compatibility across a set of devices that adds customized models constantly. If full-length gadget reviews are what you’re after, we put the Lenovo ThinkPad Twist, Kindle Fire HD 8.9 4G LTE and Nintendo Wii U through their paces. Will.i.am’s latest venture hits Hands-On, Oakley’s high-tech eyewear occupies Eyes-On and Weekly Stat tracks holidays on Instagram. Visit your preferred reading repository to grab a copy before settling in for some weekend R&R.

Distro Issue 68 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store
Distro APK (for sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter

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Source: iTunes, Google Play

Razer’s ambidextrous Ouroboros mouse now shipping, ready to placate left-handed gamers

Razer's ambidextrous Ouroboros mouse now shipping, ready to placate lefthanded gamers

Had your eye on Razer’s symmetrical gaming mouse? Peek at your email — the firm’s online storefront is quietly tipping customers that the Ouroboros is now shipping. Much like that other transforming rodent, the Ouroboros can change its shape by extending its palm rest or swapping out select components to favor specific grip styles. If your favored grip happens to be southpaw, don’t sweat it — this tail-chewing snake is designed to fit both of your mitts comfortably. The price of a left-handed fit isn’t cheap, however, but the mouse’s $130 asking price includes 11 programmable buttons, a dual sensor system topping out at 8,200 DPI and a charging dock. Check out our Gamescom hands-on to see how it fit in our hands, or skip on over to the source link to take in Razer’s official spiel.

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Source: Razer

Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 review: a more modular keyboard for the gaming crowd

DNP  A more modular gaming keyboard reviewing the STRIKE 7

As a vital component of every desktop and notebook computer ever produced, the mild-mannered keyboard rarely stands out. Most keyboards are simple — if they input text, they’re at least doing something right. Gaming keyboards tend to be a little more complex, touting extra features designed to give the player a leg up in-game. Mad Catz’s S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 keyboard hopes to do just that, packing in a touchscreen, a handful of detachable components, alternate key caps and a software suite to help leverage the whole package. With far more bells and whistles than the average input device, it certainly caught our eye. Is it unique enough to warrant its $300 price tag? Read on to find out.

Continue reading Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 review: a more modular keyboard for the gaming crowd

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Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 review: a more modular keyboard for the gaming crowd originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Myst linking book replica goes on sale with full PC inside, won’t quite take us to other worlds (video)

Myst linking book replica goes on sale with full PC inside, won't take us to other worlds video

Most of us who remember Myst are content to relive the halcyon days of click-and-watch puzzle games by loading up the iPhone port. Mike Ando is slightly more… dedicated. He just spent the past six years building a replica of the Cyan game’s signature, Age-traveling link books that includes a full Windows XP PC with a 1.6GHz Atom, a 2-hour battery, a 5-inch touchscreen and every playable game from the Myst series stored on a CF card. And while we’ve seen books hiding devices before, Ando’s attention to detail might just raise the eyebrows of hardcore custom PC and gaming fans alike: he went so far as to gut and emboss a 135-year-old copy of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine to match Cyan’s reference tome as closely as possible. It’s tempting for anyone who cut their teeth on CD-based gameplay through Myst, but perfect devotion to one of the better-known fictional worlds will cost an accordingly steep $15,625. We wouldn’t have minded seeing some real intra-world travel for the cash outlay.

Continue reading Myst linking book replica goes on sale with full PC inside, won’t quite take us to other worlds (video)

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Myst linking book replica goes on sale with full PC inside, won’t quite take us to other worlds (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mad Catz announces the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 keyboard for pro gamers, pre-order now for $200

Mad Catz announces the STRIKE 5 keyboard for pro gamers, preorder now for $200

There are keyboards, and then there are Mad Catz keyboards… and now, the company’s constructed a new pro peripheral to rest your wrists on — the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5. Just like the other mission control center we saw a few months ago, it features a modular design allowing various layouts, high-performance keys with customized backlighting, and 21 programmable macro buttons. The main difference here is the touchscreen component of the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 has been substituted for the “E.Y.E. OLED Command Module,” which is used for easy access to keyboard functions, quick-launch triggers, and can display respawn timers for coordinating those second-specific attacks. Cash-strapped pros will be pleased to hear the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 is cheaper than its predecessor, and you can head to the source link to sacrifice $200 on a pre-order now. Mad Catz won’t tell us what alien race is supplying the keyboards, nor an exact shipping date — all we know is that they’re expected “very soon.”

Continue reading Mad Catz announces the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 keyboard for pro gamers, pre-order now for $200

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Mad Catz announces the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 keyboard for pro gamers, pre-order now for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Digital Storm Bolt stuffs full-power graphics into a mini gaming desktop, stretches laws of physics

Digital Storm Bolt stuffs fullpower graphics into a mini gaming PC

Attempts to create truly small gaming desktops usually involve at least some kind of performance hit. Even HP’s category-bending Firebird, one of the few stand-out examples, had to use toned-down graphics to succeed in a tiny enclosure. Digital Storm might have broken the trend towards sacrifice with its new Bolt desktop: although it’s just 3.6 inches wide and 14 inches tall, the Bolt can cram in as much as a GeForce GTX 680 and will even let gamers upgrade the graphics like they would in a full-size PC. The seemingly logic-defying (if also finger-defying) case still allows room for as much as an overclocked 4.6GHz Core i7, 16GB of RAM and storage options that meld a spinning hard drive with up to two SSDs and a DVD burner. Digital Storm isn’t even setting an absurd base price, but it’s in the cost that we finally see the catch to the miniaturization tricks. The $999 entry-level Bolt carries a modest 3.1GHz Core i3, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive and GeForce GTX 650 Ti, while it takes a staggering $1,949 to get a fully decked-out Core i7 system with a GTX 680. Those prices might be worthwhile for anyone who has ever strained while lugging a traditional tower to a game tourney.

Continue reading Digital Storm Bolt stuffs full-power graphics into a mini gaming desktop, stretches laws of physics

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Digital Storm Bolt stuffs full-power graphics into a mini gaming desktop, stretches laws of physics originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 05:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD Never Settle bundle gives Radeon HD 7000 buyers free games they’d actually care to play

AMD Never Settle bundle gives Radeon HD 7000 buyers free games they'd actually care to play

Just about anyone who has bought more than one aftermarket graphics card knows that bundled games rarely matter. They’re usually year-old titles or neutered editions built only to showcase the GPU’s performance for a few hours. AMD thinks its Never Settle bundle might finally get us to notice. Buy any modern Radeon HD video card from the 7770 GHz Edition on up and you’ll get a download code for at least one new game you’d genuinely want to try, ranging from Far Cry 3 on basic cards to a full three-game deal that supplies Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs to high rollers buying the 7900 series. There’s likewise a discount for Medal of Honor: Warfighter and promises of bundles in 2013 for Bioshock Infinite and the reimagined Tomb Raider. As long as you’re not dead set on springing for a GeForce board in the next few months, one of the qualifying cards might be worth a look to jumpstart your game collection.

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AMD Never Settle bundle gives Radeon HD 7000 buyers free games they’d actually care to play originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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