^What he said.

Plus, even if the new GTX 8x0 still use the 28nm process, they should use less power (and generate less heat) than the current GTX 7x0 ones if Nvidia can replicate what they have done with the 750Ti.

Yeah, I'd say its worth waiting it out. The GTX 880/870 GPU's are rumoured to be on the way, and both will use the maxwell architecture (GM204) - which is a lot more efficient in performance per watt in comparision to Kepler, and might offer better price-performance ratio than current cards.

World of Speed – New Free Racer From The Creators Of Project CARS – Gets New Trailer

Valve release Left 4 Dead 2 assets to Source Filmmakers

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Valve have pulled the lid off one of the best PC first person shooters ever made and poured its contents over the heads of grateful amateur animators.

“Both the Source Filmmaker and Left 4 Dead communities have been asking for this for a while,” said the developers, “so we expect great things!”

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Magicka devs' Gauntlet reboot set for September 23 release

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Arrowhead are remaking Gauntlet, from the ‘80s. Had you forgotten? In that case you probably won’t particularly mind that it’s been delayed by a few weeks. The developers will spend the next month “fine-tuning details” to ensure they’ve got a “robust multiplayer experience” on their hands. And then come September 23, we’ll be playing a sort of artfully-stunted action RPG.

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Why id reworked Quake Live for newcomers: "We have often longed for a wider audience"

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Quake might be one of the fastest shooters ever made - but the changes id have wrought ahead of Quake Live’s Steam release are happening all-too-quickly for players who’ve been hopping about the same arenas since 1999.

Loadouts, item timers and an auto-hop mechanic have all been introduced in an effort to bring in players. But why the sudden recruitment drive?

“While Quake will always be a home to the competitive base, we have often longed for a wider audience who could experience, appreciate, and fall in love with all that it has to offer,” explained id.

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BioWare will support Dragon Age: Inquisition multiplayer "far beyond Mass Effect 3"

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Did you hear? Dragon Age: Inquisition has a four-player co-op dungeon-crawling mode. Gasp. 

The more you think about it, actually, the less surprising it gets. There’s precedent set by The Old Republic’s co-op Flashpoints, the recently-announced Shadow Realms and, in particular, the surprising success of Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer.

It’s Mass Effect that BioWare Edmonton are looking to match and outdo in Inquisition’s loot-driven diversion. They have months of updates planned.

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Guild Wars 2 is doing really well in China

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Guild Wars 2 is one of the best MMOs on PC, but it was denied to one of the most MMO-literate audiences in the world until May of this year. More fool ArenaNet: Guild Wars 2 sales doubled in the months after its Chinese release, and have now helped publishers KongZhong stay in the black.

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Empty space: Eve devs CCP lay off high-ranking staff and close San Francisco office

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CCP have closed their San Francisco office and let go of one of their most visible executives in chief marketing officer David Reid, a financial statement has revealed. The move comes as part of an effort to “combine and simplify” the Eve operators’ business.

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Sledgehammer "worked with a Pentagon adviser" for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

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Three years ago, Sledgehammer had just finished propping up an Infinity Ward devastated by the departure of half its staff to Respawn Entertainment. They’d made another game about Russian ultranationalists in Modern Warfare 3, and were tasked with conceiving the Next Big Threat for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

“We got together with a scenario planner from the department of defense, who is active in the Pentagon,” said Sledgehammer co-founder Michael Condrey. “His job is to think about future threats and prepare ‘what if’ scenarios for the US government. So we asked him, what do you think will be the conflict of tomorrow?”

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Internet misogynists drive Anita Sarkeesian out of her house with death threats

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Here is the news. It's bad news. A woman who made a video on the internet about women in games has been driven out of her home by death threats and misogynistic abuse.

Anita Sarkeesian, author and host of the Tropes vs Women in Video Games series, received a torrent of online abuse following the release of her latest video, which focused on the objectification and sexualisation of non-playable women characters in games. 

"Some very scary threats have just been made against me and my family," she tweeted. The threats prompted her to leave her home and contact the authorities. Here's the video.

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S.W.A.P is a first-person shooter with body-swapping and no guns

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First-person shooters are often laden with goals and objectives, but one always rises to the top: shoot and kill things. Chaos Theory Games clearly aren’t ones for convention, because their upcoming multiplayer FPS S.W.A.P has no guns and only indirect ways to destroy opponents. Strictly speaking, there’s no death, either, as all combatants are swift wee robots with jetpacks. 

The clue as to how these little robotic soldiers destroy each other is in the acronym. They launch projectiles that allow them to swap bodies, and do bad things with their stolen form. 

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Warlords of Draenor's beta patch notes reveal big changes for Hunters

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As Blizzard watched testers playing through Warlords of Draenor content, they’ve been doing a lot fiddling and tweaking. So the patch notes for the expansion - which were made available a while back - have been appropriately updated. 

Racial traits and crowd control have seen some very small number of changes, but most of the update is concerned with World of Warcraft’s classes, all of which have changed in varying degrees. 

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Not going to PAX Prime? There are bundles for that

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If you can’t make it to PAX, which you will no doubt know is opening its doors tomorrow, then you might as well stay at home and play some games. To assist in this noble endeavour, two bundles have been released - one on Steam and the other on Humble Bundle - filled to the brim will indie treats. 

Hopefully, your weekend is looking less gloomy. 

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No world is safe: Planetary Annihilation launches next week

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Uber Entertainment has decided that the studio’s world-destroying RTS, Planetary Annihilation, is almost ready for launch. In just over a week, on September 5th, the game will leave Early Access behind. 

It’s been a good long while since we took a look at the game. In my Planetary Annihilation Early Access review I advised patience, as it was only just getting meat on its lovely bones. But a lot’s changed since then, with the inclusion of Galactic War and the new features introduced in the gamma phase. 

We’ll no doubt be taking another look next month, but in the mean time, here’s the launch trailer. 

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Titanfall gets a new mode, Pilot Skirmish, and Titans aren't invited

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I like mechs as much as the next guy, and since I’m alone in my office, I am the next guy, and I like mechs quite a lot. But when it comes to Titanfall, I’m less a fan of the mechs than I am the pilots who… pilot them; specifically when they are doing things other than piloting their Titans. 

Titanfall update six is for people like me then, amazing people. It introduces a new game mode: Pilot Skirmish, which strips out AI troops and Titans, leaving two teams of eight pilots to duke it out alone.

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Hearthstone pro joins Blizzard as associate game designer

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As eSports have become more prominent, the question of what the hell one does after they stop pro-gaming has been getting raised more. Riot’s even got a rookie camp that aims to not only teach League of Legends players how to market themselves and conduct themselves during interviews, but also prepare them for a career after eSports. 

In the case of Hearthstone player Ryan "Realz" Masterson, a job at Blizzard was where his career has taken him. The ex-Mana Grind leader took an associate game designer position with the Hearthstone and World of Warcraft developer after enjoying several tournament victories and becoming a notable streamer. 

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Wildstar producer and Carbine boss Jeremy Gaffney steps down

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Jeremy Gaffney has been Carbine’s president, executive producer and latterly the public spokesface for what might be the last great subscription MMO: Wildstar. But now he’s taking a back seat and allowing Carbine’s “current development stars” to lead their launched game into an update-heavy future.

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Throw shapes: Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions will have brain-wringing 3D grids

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Dimensions isn’t a name. Oh, I mean it is the name of the surprise Geometry Wars sequel Activision announced at GamesCom - but it’s not just that. It represents a shift in the rules of the Liverpool-made rainbow score-chaser.

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A City Sleeps is a bullet-hell shooter from Rock Band lot Harmonix about a dream exorcist

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Before Guitar Hero, Harmonix made music game curios that made onlookers go “Huh!”, but sucked their players into a rhythmic trance. Now they’re doing the same again. A City Sleeps is a beat-driven, bullet-hell shooter about a dreaming metropolis.

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Firefall patch packs in the action making it much more fun to play

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I gave Firefall a 4/10 when I reviewed three weeks ago. I thought the action was a repetitive grind and I spent far too long walking between missions. I also found that it didn’t foster much interaction between players, a lot of your time was spent solo and the missions simply didn’t require buddying up.

Well, Red 5 have solved a great many of my gripes in a single patch, fixing some deep flaws in the launch version. I’ve spent all morning playing and if you were on the fence about creating an account this could be enough to get you hooked.

Let me explain why.

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Total War: Rome II to get new campaign map, "hundreds of hours" of free geopolitics

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Was the existing version of Total War: Rome II fit for a king? Creative Assembly didn’t think so, so they’re bringing out an Emperor Edition sometime in September.

That'll collect together all the free updates Rome has had to date - which isn’t particularly remarkable for anybody with broadband and a spare day to leave Steam whirring.

But it'll also herald a brand new expansion campaign that’ll last players “hundreds of hours”. Called ‘Imperator Augustus’, it'll come to all Rome II owners for free.

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Shadow of Mordor preview

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Life in Shadow of Mordor goes on without you.

Most open world games only seem to have life when you’re looking, GTA’s cars only spawn into existence when you get close enough, Assassin’s Creeds’ pickpockets never spend the money they steal because they exist only as long as you can see them, and Skyrim’s denizens only complain about their arrow wounds when you’re within earshot.

Shadow of Mordor is different.

It has a world of characters that have ambitions, relationships, and enemies all of their own. Goals that have nothing to do with you that play out separate to you.

You get to see it all in play when you die.

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Here's what to expect from Kerbal Space Program 0.25

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Space news! At some point in the very near future, Kerbal Space Program will receive its next update. Catchily titled Kerbal Space Program 0.25, it's the largest update since the release of First Contract over a month ago, introducing a whole host of changes to the space-rocket-explosion-resulting-in-astronaut-stranded-in-orbit simulator.

Developer Squad has kindly shared with us the roadmap for their game's next iteration. Here's what to expect in Kerbal Space Program 0.25.

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Watch Dogs mod for GTA IV is finished and impressively faithful

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Everybody who owns Watch Dogs has spent a bit of time playing it like it’s GTA. Whether the UI’s to blame or the binary familiarity of hopping in and out of cars, it’s all to easy to fall back on long-perfected cop-shaking routines and machine gun solutions.

WatchDogsIV suggests we do it the other way around. The work of three modders, it infuses Liberty City with the closed-circuit paranoia, hacking mechanics and long, leather coats of future Chicago.

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Elite: Dangerous shows off mucky, banged up spaceships

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The latest teaser image from the folks at Frontier hints at ship weathering as an upcoming feature in Elite: Dangerous. The concept image demonstrates in three stages how your ship will go from its original pristine condition to "all scratched up" before finally reaching "hobo space-wagon".

This is important space business.

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Prison Architect alpha 24 turns prisoners into snitches

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Prison Architect is now up to it’s 24th alpha version, and one does wonder if it will ever hit beta, or if features will keep being added until it becomes sentient and imprisons us all. 

Alpha 24 builds on the mod system, allowing architects to create almost anything, from new grants to new jobs; snitches, otherwise known as confidential informants; and remote access systems continue to be expanded. 

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Telltale cruelly teases Game of Thrones details with A Dance With Dragons quote

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With The Walking Dead Season 2 wrapped up - take a gander at No Going Back review if you want to know how the finale stacked up - Telltale have moved on to teasing their Games of Thrones adaptation. 

The studio tweeted an excerpt from the fifth book in A Song of Ice and Fire, A Dance With Dragons, which offers scant details but possibly reveals the game’s focus. Remember House Forrester? No, you probably don’t.  

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Valve's going up against an Australian watchdog in court over its refund policy

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Australia and video games don’t have the most ammicable of relationships. Actually, that’s probably a bit unfair. I mean, I doubt Ayers Rock has an issue with games, and I suspect that most people don’t consider them dangerous. But some people of influence do, which is why developers sometimes end up jumping through hoops so they can sell their games over there. 

Now an Australian consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, has Valve in its sights. The group is suing Valve over its refund policy, which it claims breaks the country’s consumer laws.

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PlanetSide 2 gets its first new aircraft since launch: the Valkyrie

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In PlanetSide 2, I fly on instinct. This involves flailing around wildly while yelling “we’re all going to die!” It’s very relaxing. And now the dangerous skies of Auraxis are set to get busier, with the introduction of the first new aircraft to hit the game since launch: the Valkyrie. 

Take a gander at the gunship in action, below.

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Maia 0.44 ramps up the danger with catastrophic earthquakes and suspicious aliens

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I haven’t played Maia since it first made planetfall and landed on Early Access, but that skeletal frame - which now has a lot more meat hanging off it - was shaping into something I think I’ll rather like quite a lot. It’s a colony builder and management sim set on an alien world. And it has space chickens and space cats. 

The game just received a hefty update today along with a 22 percent discount, which you can take advantage of for the next 40-odd hours. 

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Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell pits the gang against Satan

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We were betting on Saints Row V, but Volition’s new project - just announced today at PAX - will not be the fifth entry in the open world criminal-turned-superhero caper. Instead, it’s more DLC for Saints Row IV. 

The good news is Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell it puts lovable psychopath Johnny Gat in the driver’s seat, and sees him take a trick down to Hell with ex-FBI hacker Kinzie in an effort to save the President and leader of the Saints from the clutches of Satan. Big Red wants the Prez to marry his daughter, and this is just how courtship works in Hell. 

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GoD Factory: Wingmen launches on Steam, brightening up the galaxy

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Flashy, hyperspeed-paced space shooter GoD Factory: Wingmen launched today on Steam. It’s a multiplayer affair with 4 v 4 matches and really bizarre, customisable space ships. Cooperation is essential - no Maverick or Hal Jordan nonsense here - and the combat’s tactical. 

Direct your eyes towards the brightly coloured launch trailer, below. 

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WWE 2K15 & Bioshock Infinite Complete Edition Spotted On Korean GRB, Coming To The PC

Ubisoft Talks ACU Tech: Multi-core CPUs, Lighting System, Mouse Acceleration, Next-Gen Development

Dota 2 to receive long awaited Techies update next week; we're all doomed

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The update that everyone’s been waiting for over four years is just one week away from becoming a reality. The “Techies” update isn’t only promising a new hero - which is one of the most infamous heroes in the game - but a slew of other features. The madness of All Random Deathmatch is making its debut along with a new All-Hero challenge, egging you on to win a match with each and every hero in Dota 2. And we’ll also see the introduction of the compendium stretch goals, such as new music and ballsy taunt gem.

Oh, and don’t forget the bug fixes too.

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ArcheAge gets a release date: launches September 16th

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Sandbox MMO ArcheAge has announced a release date at this year’s PAX Prime, planning to launch on September 16th. It’ll be preceded by a four day head start for those eligible, and also a four day open beta so people can try the game out before launch.

The reveal means that the ArcheAge alpha will come to an end, as early as this Sunday. Those inside are told not to feel too down as it won’t be without “due fanfare”.

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Facepunch Studios announce Arcade: want to "let players design their own arcades"

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Facepunch Studios have announced yet another work-in-progress title, this time all about the arcades. Aptly named “Arcade”, the game will encourage players to create and maintain their own arcade servers in which other players can play various arcade games to earn tokens. You’ll be able to watch while people play their games in real time, and compare scores on the high score tables.

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Blizzard has "six or seven" World of Warcraft expansions planned; "easily 10 years worth of stuff"

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World of Warcraft director Tom Chilton has revealed that Blizzard have “six or seven” expansions planned for their iconic MMORPG. While the expansion that will arrive after Warlords of Draenor is already in active development, a number of others clocking up “10 years worth of stuff” are being discussed.

“I think it’ll be quite a while before the financials indicate that it’s just not worth doing anymore."

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Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition announced by Beamdog at PAX 2014

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After tackling Black Isle/BioWare’s famed Infinity Engine games with Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 Enhanced Edition, developer Beamdog are progressing onto new Dungeons & Dragons adventures. Continuing through the Forgotten Realms, the team are treading more frosty ground in an enhanced, re-vamped version of Icewind Dale. 

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Campo Santo reveal first trailer for Firewatch at PAX

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Campo Santo have been made of promise since their founding, but at PAX this weekend they’ve finally lifted the cover on their first game, Firewatch. The slightly cryptic title now boasts an only slightly less cryptic trailer, but hints at the kind of style and tone Campo Santo are striving for.

I’m not sure what’s headed these park rangers’ way, but it looks like they are lost in a philosophical wilderness that’s positively ablaze with existential dread.

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Rockstar’s Support Team Debunks GTA V Rumors, Game Still Planned For A Fall 2014 Release

You can pre-load The Sims 4 on Origin this week

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The appearance of a new Sims game is always an event in PC gaming. It’s especially so now, given that co-developers Maxis still have their thermonuclear SimCity launch fresh in the memory.

In an effort to prevent their servers from melting like candles, EA have enabled players who’ve pre-ordered The Sims 4 to prep for its imminent release.

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Blizzard plan to still be working on Hearthstone in ten years' time

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As tricksy free-to-play models go, Hearthstone's is low-cost.

Oh sure, building an Arena-ready deck can require significant investment. But between Practice mode and the Curse of Naxxramas campaign, there are plenty of cheap opportunities to bulk up a competitive card collection. Blizzard have been “generous” - deliberately so.

“We’re here for the long run,” said producer Yong Woo. “We’re not here to make a quick buck. I want to be playing and working on Hearthstone 10 years from now.” 

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Shadow Realms is Left 4 Dead by way of pen and paper RPGs

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I’ve heard Shadow Realms described as Evolve with a wizard. Four players fight through a dungeon packed with traps and monsters that are all controlled by a fifth player, the shadowlord. But, in practice, it plays a lot like Left 4 Dead, albeit with the AI director replaced by a human. 

Human directors can be dicks.

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Ataarrghi: Alone in the Dark and Haunted House reboots due on PC this Autumn

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So continues the unusual resurrection of the artist formerly known as Infogrames, Atari. The once-great publisher has supplemented its diet of gambling games lately with an unexpected Rollercoaster Tycoon reboot, and now this: the return of its two most venerable horror licenses.

Alone in the Dark: Illumination and Haunted House: Cryptic Graves will be “suspenseful, action-packed” survival horror games. They’ll also be something survival horror games historically haven’t been: on PC.

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Riot's plan to ensure relegated LCS teams "don't just disappear from the business"

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This year’s North American LCS playoffs have been tumultuous and surprising. Teams like Curse and CLG had built strong new rosters for the 2014 season, and made commendable efforts to recapture old glories. But that wasn’t enough to keep some of the scene’s favourite personalities from dropping out of the Championship early.

Their relegations have made an old question more pertinent than ever. Deep prize pools may make the headlines in eSports - but how do Riot plan to support the also-rans?

“We want to build an ecosystem where teams who make it into LCS are ready,” said Riot head of EU eSports Jason Yeh. “And when teams get relegated out of LCS they don’t just disappear from the business.”

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EA are giving Shadow Realm’s team “the ability to fail”

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Shadow Realms is the first new IP we’ve seen from Bioware since they released Dragon Age: Origins back in 2010. It’s easy for a studio to get stuck releasing games in the same franchises, especially when under pressure from a major publisher like EA. While at Gamescom, James Ohlen, Shadow Realm’s creative director, explained to me how he got EA to take a chance on his 4v1 dungeon crawler and how he got the publisher to leave his team alone while they made it.

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Korea's game rating board halts microtransactions in all Facebook games

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Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee, the GRAC, has disabled in-app purchases for all Facebook games played in the country. The games will remain forcibly free until developers pay for them to be rated.

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Now that's a reveal: Capcom are making a Resident Evil: Revelations 2

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It’s testament to the state Resident Evil was in last year that a 3DS game ported as an afterthought to PC was heralded with over a million sales. But Revelations was a welcome throwback: an unapologetic survival horror game that asked its players to hug tight corners and wrestle with restrictive control schemes.

The same team have built a sequel. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 will drop the cast and setting of its predecessor, but presumably keep the ‘90s ethos.

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This is what a 100-player game of Galactic Civilizations 3 looks like

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Galactic Civilizations III is taking shape, with its beta simultaneously evoking its predecessor and something new; something bigger and more detailed. Designer Paul Boyer calls it the GalCiv 2 Stardock always wanted to make. 

One of the biggest changes is the switch from 32 bit to 64. This means Stardock can do things that would never have been possible in the previous game, like create a galaxy with 100 factions. And that’s just what Stardock’s Derek Paxton did on the weekend.

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Esportsify wants to make the business of eSports easier

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This year’s Dota 2 International saw over 2 million concurrent online viewers drinking in the competitive spectacle, while teams from across the world fought for a prize pool of $11 million. It was even broadcast on ESPN, with the network saying they were “delighted” with their own undisclosed figures. 

During Gamescom, at ESL One Cologne, 856 years of Counter-Strike: GO was consumed by nearly half a million people. The tournament broke viewing records for the game by 160 percent. ESL One Frankfurt had over 12,500 people filling up the arena each day, while millions watched the streams. 

As the success and popularity of eSports reaches new heights, greater levels of professionalism and organisation are called for. Communities need to be managed, brands need to be developed and funding - for those trips all over the world - has to be found. This was the impetus for Esportsify, an eSports community platform developed by Xfire’s Gavin Weeks.  

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Gratuitous Space Battles 2 puts on quite the light show

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Gratuitous Space Battles 2, the asynchronous strategy game filled with custom-built fleets duking it out in space, has been in development for over a year, but today we see the first glimpse of the titular battles. 

In the first look at the sequel, Cliff Harris pits his armada of gaudy ships against an equally gaudy enemy fleet, and the whole thing looks rather gorgeous. It’s pre-alpha at the moment, but already the fights look more detailed and stimulating than its forebear. Take a gander below. 

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Have you herd? Flockers launches on September 19th

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The wooly Lemmings by way of Worms puzzle game, Flockers, is set to leave Early Access this month, launching on September 19th.

Vast flocks of sheep will be yours to protect, as they make their way through deadly, steampunk abattoirs. It might make you think twice before using exploding sheep in your next Worms match.

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The League of Legends World Championship final is expected to sell out Seoul's Sangam Stadium

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The League of Legends World Championship final is expected to sell out Seoul’s massive Sangam Stadium, says Riot’s Dustin Beck. 

The Championship’s stages will play out across four different cities, with the final taking place in South Korea on October 19th. And it looks like you might have to be fast if you want a ticket. 

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Civilization: Beyond Earth trailer details affinities and kills a kraken

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If you don’t have a spare hour or two to sit through Firaxis’ dev streams of Civilization: Beyond Earth, then you might want to take a look at the new in-universe walkthrough. 

AI lady Master Control narrates six minutes of Beyond Earth, offering an overview of combat, exploiting the orbital layer of the planet and the philosophical affinities that underpin factions.

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A Region Reborn - NA League of Legends Championship Series Playoffs crown TSM

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The five game final in the North American playoffs between Team SoloMid and Cloud9 was all about pride, and getting the best possible seed at 2014 Worlds. But while TSM won by the skin of their teeth, both teams’ reputations were secure. They remain the clear masters of the North American LCS division, and their real test is yet to come.

But for Counter-Logic Gaming and Curse, the playoff season was one of heartbreak and disappointment. Despite the two teams’ tremendous efforts to change their fortunes this season, and surprisingly strong showings from both of them over the course of the 2014 campaign, the bitter end of the season crushed both teams’ high hopes.

It also showed that, for these once-proud American teams, the road back to the top of competitive League of Legends is a lot longer than one season.

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