1080p/Ultra/4xMSAA: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU14/807

1080p/Ultra/FXAA-High: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU14/808

Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer is doing about half the player numbers of Black Ops II on Steam

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There are parts of the Call of Duty release mechanism that function perfectly, regardless of the game it happens to be launching. When Call of Duty: Ghosts arrived, it was declared the third-biggest UK launch of the year and already destined for a sequel.

But you can only artificially sustain the momentum of an iffy game for so long. Call of Duty: Ghosts wasn’t very good, and its multiplayer component doesn’t seem to have held the attention of its players. Today, Call of Duty: Ghosts’ multiplayer entertained just barely half the players Black Ops II did on Steam.

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Green Man Gaming celebrates Indiependence Day with a big sale

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Today is July 4th. Over here, that means it’s Friday, so good news: it’s the end of the week! Across the Atlantic, though, it’s Independence Day. I wish I had some red, white and blue bunting right about now. It would really spruce the flat up.  

To celebrate that one time Will Smith and Bill Pullman stopped an alien invasion, Green Man Gaming is putting on an Indiependence Day sale, which a whole bunch of indie games discounted. GMG is offering up to 80 percent off across over 170 titles. Up for a little Independence Day shopping? 

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Oculus Rift pre-orders stopped in China due to "extreme reseller purchases"

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The Oculus Rift isn’t a commercial product yet, with the Dev Kit 2 being designed for developers who want to get a headstart on designing VR games, but that hasn’t stopped unscrupulous resellers in China from flipping them for a tidy profit. 

This is bad news for legitimate developers in the region, because Oculus VR has ceased accepting pre-orders for the device in China, and has even cancelled some existing pre-orders. 

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We're giving away copies of EVE: True Stories, so you can own a bit of New Eden history

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EVE Online has no dearth of fascinating stories, told and retold on forums, in interviews and in EVE itself. The best of these tales of dismantled empires, betrayals and galactic wars were submitted and voted for by the community, with the possibility that some of them would become the inspiration for comics, books and TV shows set in the EVE Universe. 

The EVE True Stories hardcover graphic novel spins one such tale, where one man dismantled what had been one of EVE’s most powerful alliances at the heart of the Second Great War. In a day, a director of the Band of Brothers alliance defected to Goonswarm and wiped out his alliance, ending the war. 

And we’ve got two copies sitting on Tim’s coffee table just waiting to be won by you lovely folk.

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Battlefield 4: Dragon's Teeth due out on July 15th according to EA Origin Twitter account gaffe

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In a tweet promoting the 20 percent discount on Battlefield 4 Premium, the EA Origin twitter account revealed a July 15th release date for Dragon’s Teeth, the upcoming Battlefield 4 DLC. 

The tweet was then removed, and a new tweet was put up absent release date. It seems like someone jumped the gun. 

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Art School: Epic critiques concept art submissions for Unreal Tournament

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Epic announced a new Unreal Tournament, using Unreal Engine 4, a couple of months back, and the studio has even shown off the very first match - though one without any bells, whistles or art.

Now some concept art is being shown off, but it’s not from Epic. When the game was first announced, Epic said it would be a collaborative process, and this concept art comes from the community.  

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State of Decay Mod – Boosts Textures, Visuals, Packs Over The Top Gore and Modded Textures

I wish AMD stop using Star Swarm to market Mantle. It would be also nice if they weren't using nVidia alike shady practices...55 vs 2-4fps...yeah, right.

I've had a pretty mixed bag with Steam sale purchases. Blacklist is surprisingly good. Nidhogg would be great if anyone were ever online to play it with. Most of the other stuff is kind of crap. I got bored of Super Hexagon and Risk of Rain five minutes in; Rogue Legacy never seems to actually go anywhere; Magic 2014 is pretty dull but that was expected.

Still Amalur, Payday 2, Natural Selection II and Gone Home to try.

Cliff Bleszinski is back with his own studio: Boss Key Productions

Cliff Bleszinski has emerged from his two year hiatus with the unveiling of his new studio, named Boss Key Productions. Not much is known about the studio except that they plan to reveal something mysterious on July 8th.

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Gods Will Be Watching will test your moral fortitude on July 24th

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The point and click thriller Gods Will Be Watching is heading our way on July 24th according to a new trailer. The game was originally a Ludum Dare project, that turned to Indiegogo for funding to turn it into a fully fledged game. Not only was it backed but it was also matched by Devolver Digital, allowing the developers Deconstructeam to hit all their stretch goals, and then some.

We’ve got the new trailer below as well as a chance to play the original Ludum Dare game: it's rather good.

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Paradox dislikes DRM just as much as we do; "It can punish players"

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Paradox have expressed their opinion on the growing distaste for DRM. CEO Fredrik Wester empathized with players on the problems DRM can inflict, saying “It can punish players who actually bought the game”. He also revealed that Paradox doesn’t have any “intentions on finding out or hunting” the people that pirate, and instead want to focus on providing a “better service” for those that have already bought the game.

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Watch Blizzard walk you through Heroes of the Storm's talent system

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Blizzard’s entry into the MOBA genre, Heroes of the Storm, has just opened up its gates to a wave of testers from outside the US. With the increase in population, Blizzard have released a helpful tutorial on their take on player progression: the talent system. Even if you’re not in the alpha test, it’s worth a watch to understand their clever philosophy.

Earlier this year me and Tim spent some time inside the Nexus, and we had a “complete blast” in our Heroes of the Storm preview.

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Bethesda say they "need to prove Doom is worth reviving"

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As we wait patiently for the Doom reveal at Quakecon, VP of marketing Pete Hines has expressed confidence for the revival following the success of Wolfenstein: The New Order. Bethesda is well aware that it’s been a “long time since the last Doom game”, and “nobody will assume this is going to be awesome” just because it’s, well, Doom.

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Spelunky Classic mod adds two player co-op amongst other improvements

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The original Spelunky - not to be confused with the fantastic remake - has received a mod that improves the game as well as adding in support for two player co-op. The creator of the mod, Vadim from Ukraine, has been working on it for over three months and it's available to play today.

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NEOTOKYO mod sees full Steam release, and it's free

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NEOTOKYO began as a mod for Half-Life 2: a first person shooter set within future Japan. After being Greenlit almost over two years ago, it’s finally found itself with a full release on the Steam store, and best of all it’s free. It boasts a futuristic take on combat thanks to the cybernetically enhanced soldiers such as motion detection and thermal vision.

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CIS-Game arrive in Seattle for the Dota 2 International after visa trouble

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After being denied US visas on three attempts, Dota 2 team CIS-Game has finally secured their visas, landing in Seattle earlier today in preparation for this years International. CIS-Game were the runners up in the China qualifiers, and will face off with three other regional runner ups for the last spot in the prestigious tournament: where over $10 million dollars (and still growing) is up for grabs.

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SIGGRAPH 2014 Video Shows Off Brand New Amazing Techniques For Glass,Plastic & Wood Physics

^That physiscs video is cool!

Riot are testing a new tutorial mode for League of Legends: "We think we can do a better job"

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League of Legends is one of the 100 best free PC games - but that hardly matters to the significant minority who don’t have the time or crampons to climb its steep learning curve. Riot Games say a “non-trivial” proportion of new players actually lose the game’s de facto tutorial mode, Battle Training.

“We’ve observed some of those same players go on to become Gold-tier ranked players,” say the developers. “So this isn’t a problem with the players - it’s a problem with how we teach them.”

Hence, Intro Bots - a brand new tutorial mode designed to scale to your level of MOBA experience.

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Horse amour: Ubisoft's digital publishing head says we've finally fallen in love with DLC

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In the end, the resistance never came. Eight years after Oblivion introduced us to the concept of horse armour and we kicked up a right old fuss, one of the best PC games of 2013 - Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag - offered to mark the spot of all its collectibles for 79p.

“There was no resistance,” said Ubisoft VP of digital publishing Chris Early. “Maybe there were 12 guys somewhere who said something, but whatever. As a whole, there wasn’t a problem.”

Early reckons we’re finally okay with buying convenience in our games - so long as “good design” informs what goes on sale.

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Mighty No. 9 returns to crowdfunding; Comcept want English voice acting for starters

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There are few trickier subjects for a developer to tackle than another shake at the crowdfunding pot. Double Fine split Broken Age in two to avoid a second Kickstarter campaign, and even then drew the ire of thousands.

The nuances of the debate don’t seem to bother Comcept, though - the Japanese team behind Mighty No. 9. They’ve ploughed ahead with a second Paypal campaign to fund bonus content for the Kickstarted side-scroller.

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Xbox One Kinect for PC isn't for the likes of us: the $199 price tag makes that clear

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Kinect will return to Windows, in its Xbox One form. But it won’t come bundled with Just Dance or Ryse. Rather, it’s designed for use with its new Software Development Kit, and will sell for a not-so-cool $199.

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Command & Conquer fan server saves Generals and more from multiplayer blackout

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Gamespy’s shutdown has cut the lights in PC gaming’s historical quarter, and it’s been left to third-party services like GameRanger to restore power. Here’s another: a community-run server for the more recent Command & Conquer games.

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CivCraft looks to Sid Meier to give Minecraft "competitive purpose"

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That name could go either way, couldn’t it? This is not a survivalist game in the Civ engine in which Gandhi punches trees for wood. Sorry. Instead, it’s a serverside mod for Minecraft which casts players as citizens of player-formed countries.

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Oculus VR announces Oculus Connect, its very own developer conference

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Oculus VR, despite not having released a commercial product, has grown into something rather huge. From Facebook’s acquisition of the developer to the company snatching up talented designers, managers and engineers from all over the industry, it won’t stop expanding. So it only makes sense that it would have its own conference. 

Oculus Connect is that conference, and its kicking off in California on September 19th, concluding the next day. From July 10th, attendee applications will be made available on the Oculus Connect website. 

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There's never a dry moment in Dragon Age: Inquisition's audio booth

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BioWare takes voice acting pretty seriously, as do the folk lending the games their vocal talents. But sometimes you just need to have a laugh and spit water in a miserable man’s face. That’s how Alix Wilton Regan -  one of the Inquisitor’s voices in Dragon Age: Inquisition - makes her spit-takes sound so authentic, apparently. 

Watch below, as a poor man becomes a victim of method acting. 

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Deep Silver parent company Koch Media responds to claims that it's for sale: "We are not for sale"

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On Friday, Handelsblatt - a German business newspaper - published an article reporting that Koch Media was for sale, and the media company had enlisted the aid of investment bank UBS to look for a buyer. 

Two people “familiar” with the deal informed the newspaper, but Koch Media denies that this is the case. The company - which owns Deep Silver - used the publisher’s Twitter to assure people that Koch Media is not for sale and is, in fact, looking to expand. 

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Strap on your moon boots for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's butt-stomping E3 walkthrough

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Borderlands’ moon-based spin-off, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel has butt-stomping, giant leaps and suffocation and you can now see the E3 walkthrough that’s filled with such shenanigans. 

Joel Eschler from 2K Australia and James Lopez from Gearbox show off the demo, featuring pre-robot Wilhelm and lots of bullets. Take a gander below.

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Artillery RTS Cannon Brawl enters beta with an explosion of new airships, buildings and challenges

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Cannon Brawl, at a glance, looks like a colourful artillery game not unlike Worms. But it quickly reveals itself to be quite a different beast: the spawn of an RTS and artillery game, with real-time actions, construction and resource management from one parent, and firing arcs and destructible land masses from the other. 

And it’s really quite lovely. Bold and bright, like something for the little ‘uns, but with the strategic depth and fast pace of a more traditional strategy game. It’s been on Steam Early Access for a wee while, and today it’s moved into beta. 

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Alien: Isolation's Oculus Rift demo: "it's just a prototype"

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Alien: Isolation on the Oculus Rift is a horrifying but exciting prospect. And with it being shown off at E3 last month, it didn’t seem like there was any question of the game dipping into VR, even if it wouldn’t be until after launch. 

Hopes have now been dashed, as Creative Assembly and Sega have clarified that a version of the game that supports the Oculus Rift is not in development. 

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The Steam Controller is heading to Gamescom, according to Valve's exhibitor profile

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According to Valve’s Gamescom profile, we might be getting a look at the new, redesigned Steam Controller at the Cologne expo next month. 

The profile lists what specific companies and exhibitors plan to show off, and in Valve’s it has “controllers” in the “components/accessories” section. The trade show runs from August 13th to 17th, but will only be open to everyone from the 14th.

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Riot talk their next major League of Legends champion rework: Urgot, the Headsman's Pride

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Undead executioner Urgot seems like he’s already feeling the effects of one rework too many. A rolling mass of patchworked grey skin and steel grafts, he looks every bit the zombie nazi commander on his third trip back from the other side.

But Riot have plans to tweak the Headsman’s Pride one more time, to address some “substantial game health issues” and make Urgot one of the more accessible League of Legends champions for beginners.

To quote LoL lore: “We can rebuild him. We have the techmaturgy.”

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Dwarf Fortress' first update in two years has started the clock on your world

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Like the unspeakable beast which lays dormant beneath your keep for aeons, the first Dwarf Fortress update in two years has burst forth, irrevocably changing everything.

In fact, change will be the way of things in Dwarf Fortress from now on: its gameworlds won’t stick fast once they’re generated, but instead continue to evolve in the background - sometimes quietly, sometimes not.

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EA address fan upset over The Sims 4's missing pools and toddlers

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Pools and toddlers don’t mix well, but they’ve been inextricably paired by one common factor: they’re both longstanding features that’ll be missing from The Sims 4.

The community has been in slow-burn uproar for the past week - over 16,000 have signed a petition calling for their inclusion. EA have addressed their concerns in a new blog post - but its rationale is unlikely to satisfy many.

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Perfect World and a chicken meat company are acquiring Warframe devs Digital Extremes

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Warframe is a free-to-play, co-op shooter about culling aliens in corrugated iron spaceships. It’s quietly become one of the most popular shooters on Steam - and it’s presumably for that reason, not the Star Trek Into Darkness game, that Perfect World are to become co-owners of developers Digital Extremes. Alongside somebody named Sumpo Food.

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Following Orders To The Letter: The Nightmare Cooperative

Flowery: First-Person Drifter Ruah

By Alice O'Connor on July 7th, 2014 at 8:00 pm.

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Hey there, gang. Alice O’Connor here, joining you this evening to share a screenshot of a deer near some trees and some rocks and some flowers. Look at that. It’s great, isn’t it? It’s from Ruah, and it’s not even the full picture. You’ll find that over here. Ruah’s a game about drifting around as a wind spirit, gathering deer and bringing spring to a land of low-fi polygons. It sounds a bit like Flower, from my vague second-hand knowledge of thatgamecompany’s PlayStation 3 game.

That’s enough preamble. Come look at another screenshot, okay? The next one has a waterfall.

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YES: Ultima Ratio Regum Dev To Build Worlds Full-Time

By Adam Smith on July 7th, 2014 at 6:00 pm.

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We’ve written about Ultima Ratio Regum before. It’s an incredibly exciting project that could end up in the same rarefied sphere as Dwarf Fortress – a complex simulation of ASCII worlds that have history, detail and depth. The current release is capable of generating a world and the basic history of the cultures that have evolved upon it, but there isn’t a huge amount to do beyond the procedural riddle puzzles contained in scattered ziggurats. A typical early feature of many games, eh?

As for the rest, it’s all detailed in the development plan and a new announcement suggests it’ll be on the road to completion sooner than expected. Developer Mark Johnson will be working on the game full-time for a year from September. And there isn’t a Kickstarter in sight.

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DevLog Watch: Tim Cosmonaut, Path To The Sky, More

By Graham Smith on July 7th, 2014 at 5:00 pm.

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Hype gets a bad reputation. If you think of it as nothing more than advertising, then there’s always the chance that these screenshots, trailers, GIFs and promises add up to nothing more than disappointment and an empty wallet. But if you think those same things as a form of entertainment and a source of enjoyment in their own right, then you’ve got nothing to lose. You can board the hype train, look out the window, and take pleasure in whatever you can see. The destination doesn’t matter and there’s always another view around the next bend.

This month: purple explosions in Wings of Saint Nazaire, rope physics in Tim Cosmonaut, roaming hands in Return of the Obra Dinn, and procedural loveliness in Path to the Sky.

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Screen-News

World of Speed – New Screenshots Released For Slightly Mad Studios’ Free Racing Game

July 7, 2014 John Papadopoulos 4 Comments

My.com has released a new set of screenshots for World of Speed, in which players can set up motor clubs where team members are assigned different roles in races. As a club the players can also capture entire cities in Territory Battles. World of Speed is developed by Slightly Mad Studios, will be completely free and will be available in 2014 for PC. Enjoy! Continue reading →