New Oculus Rift news.

PRE-ORDERS FOR OCULUS READY PCS AND RIFT BUNDLES START FEBRUARY 16

https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/pre-orders-for-oculus-ready-pcs-and-rift-bundles-start-february-16/

Today we’re excited to introduce the first Oculus Ready PCs from ASUS, Alienware, and Dell! These PCs have been battle tested and certified by Oculus to deliver an incredible Rift experience. We’re also thrilled to announce that starting February 16 at 8am Pacific Time, you can pre-order Oculus Ready PC and Rift bundles from Best Buy, Amazon, and the Microsoft Store, starting at $1499 USD for a limited time only.

All bundles include an Oculus-certified PC and everything that comes with Rift – the headset, sensor, remote, an Xbox One controller, EVE: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack, and Lucky’s Tale!

Pre-orders for Oculus Ready and Rift bundles will ship in limited quantities to select countries and regions from retail partners starting in April.

Introducing the first Oculus Ready PCs
Here’s a look at the first Oculus Ready PCs from Asus, Alienware and Dell, with more coming soon:

For those who’ve already pre-ordered Rift, you’ll be able to purchase discounted Oculus Ready PCs in select countries and regions. To claim your discount, check your order status and opt into partner offers if you haven’t already. Offer codes will appear on your order status page February 16.

Is your PC ready for Rift?
To get the full Rift experience, you’ll need a PC that meets or exceeds our recommended system specifications. Use the Oculus compatibility tool to check whether your current PC is ready for Rift. Simply download the tool, and it’ll automatically test your computer against our recommended system specifications.

If you need a new PC to power Rift, Oculus Ready machines are the best way to make sure you have everything you need to get started!

– The Oculus Team

Some of those PC aren't very expensive, for coming from they come. What I don't fully understand is the "bundle" price: if that involves the PC AND the Rift, why are they cheaper than just the PC?

And don't tell me that it's because they want to sell them because that goes against the $600 price tag of the Oculus Rift.

The game didn't have a big marketing campaign, but I'm surprised it hasn't done well with Christmas in the way. UPlay is part of the problem, of course, but there has to be something more (too high PC requirements, people burned with DLCs or expansions from 2070, etc.)

And Chromatic Aberration is mostly useless. Don't worry, I'm sure a mod will come soon .

The news:

FREE DEMO FOR AMERICAN TRUCK SIMULATOR

http://www.pcgamer.com/free-demo-for-american-truck-simulator/

Now I'm pretty sure the American Dream doesn't mention free stuff at any point, so this must be SCS exporting its strange European ideals: American Truck Simulator now has a free demo to try.

>>Downloaded! Now I'll be able to get a small glimpse of what this game offers.

CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III – NEW UPDATE ADDS ADDITIONAL ANTI-CHEAT SUPPORT & OFFLINE MODE FOR ZOMBIES

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/call-of-duty-black-ops-iii-new-update-adds-additional-anti-cheat-support-offline-mode-for-zombies/

Treyarch has just released a new update for the PC version of Call of Duty: Black Ops III. According to its release notes, this update adds additional anti-cheat support, daily challenges and an offline mode for Zombies, and brings various balance tweaks/adjustments.

TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION OPEN BETA STARTS ON FEBRUARY 19TH ON THE PC

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/tom-clancys-the-division-open-beta-starts-on-february-19th-on-the-pc/

Ubisoft has just announced that the open beta phase for The Division will begin on February 19th on the PC. As Ubisoft noted, the Open Beta will run through February 21st.

TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION – COMPLETE LIST OF CHANGES FOR THE OPEN BETA

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/tom-clancys-the-division-complete-list-of-changes-for-the-open-beta/

Ubisoft has revealed (via a patch that has already been deployed on PS4) all the changes, additions and tweaks that will be coming to the open beta of Tom Clancy’s The Division. According to the changelog, there will be server optimizations and improvements, multiple localization fixes and improvements, as well as multiple stability fixes.

FROZEN SYNAPSE 2 ANNOUNCED

http://www.pcgamer.com/frozen-synapse-2-announced/

Frozen Synapse is the exquisite game of pre-planning, replanning and committing to a tactical assault on an enemy doing the same thing asynchronously, not the American-football-with-robots one by the same devs that I keep confusing it with. Tom Francis gave Frozen Synapse 89 in our review, so let's all take a moment to nod appreciatively at the announcement of Frozen Synapse 2.

HITMAN – OFFICIAL PC REQUIREMENTS REVEALED – REQUIRES AT LEAST 8GB OF RAM & QUAD-CORE CPU

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/hitman-official-pc-requirements-revealed-requires-at-least-8gb-of-ram-quad-core-cpu/

Square Enix has revealed the official PC requirements for HITMAN (via the game’s Steam store page). According to the requirements, PC gamers will need at least 8GB of RAM with a modern-day quad-core CPU. The game will only support 64-bit operating systems and DX11, and there is no mention about DX12. You can read the game’s full PC requirements below.

>>I seem to see a patern with the lastest launches: GTX 660 or HD 7870 seem to be the common min. requirements this gen.

FORMER DRAGON AGE LEAD WRITER DAVID GAIDER JOINS BEAMDOG

http://www.pcgamer.com/former-dragon-age-lead-writer-david-gaider-joins-beamdog/

Former Dragon Age Lead Writer David Gaider announced his departure from BioWare a few weeks ago, saying that it was “time to move on to a new challenge.” Today that new challenge was revealed as Beamdog, the digital distribution platform, publisher, and developer that's currently working on a new Baldur's Gate.

TOTAL WAR: ATTILA "SLAVIC NATIONS" DLC FIGHTS TO BE FREE

http://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-attila-slavic-nations-dlc-fights-to-be-free/

Make War Not Love is a three-way strategy game throwdown between Company of Heroes 2, Total War: Attila, and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 to see which of them can ring up the most players between February 14 and February 20. (The competition starts and ends at 10.00 AM PST.) Prizes will be awarded to the leading game every 48 hours, and at the end, the victor will claim the spoils in the form of “faction-specific digital content.” And if Total War: Attila comes out on top, Creative Assembly will make the upcoming Slavic Nations Culture Pack free for everyone.

>>Watch here the Slavic Nations Pack trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiVx6yBp4fg

OVERWATCH BETA RESUMES WITH SOME BIG CHANGES

http://www.pcgamer.com/overwatch-beta-resumes-with-some-big-changes/

The Overwatch closed beta resumed today, with quite a number of changes both up-front and under the hood. We spoke with Game Director Jeff Kaplan about some of the biggest new features, including the progression system and unlocks, but if you want to dig down into the details—I'm talking about things like Torbjorn's scrap-per-pickup amount being reduced from 30 to 20—then you'll want to have a look at the full Beta Patch Notes that are now up at Battle.net. If you want to skip to a specific part, these heated links will help...

FIREWATCH LETS YOU TURN IN-GAME PHOTOS INTO REAL WORLD PRINTS

http://www.pcgamer.com/firewatch-lets-you-turn-in-game-photos-into-real-world-prints/

Firewatch is a very good game, and a gorgeous one, too. And as TechnoBuffalo recently discovered, it contains a very cool (and, until now, hidden) feature that enables you to order hard copies of the photos you take with your in-game disposable camera from a fake photo development company called Fotodome.

MALWARE TARGETS HEARTHSTONE CHEATERS

http://www.pcgamer.com/malware-targets-hearthstone-cheaters/

Ah, the anguished howls of rule-breakers—my Mozart, my birdsong. Security firm Symantec reports to have identified malware disguising itself in Hearthstone hacks and deck trackers, causing would-be cheaters and occupiers of moral grey areas to surrender their Bitcoins and compromise their webcams.

BE MY VALENTINE IS GTA'S LATEST OFF-KILTER UPDATE

http://www.pcgamer.com/be-my-valentine-is-gtas-latest-off-kilter-update/

Roses are red, this new car is red, your mangled corpse is red. It can only be the Grand Theft Auto Online Be My Valentine event, live now.

Well, I've finally decided what games I'll get and they'll be Black Flag and New Vegas.

HoloDust, I was on the verge of getting the first FollOut games, but then I realized that the idea behind getting a FO game was to try if I would like them so I can get the future games, and the first FallOut games wouldn't work for that because the gameplay has changed a lot. Because of that, it's a matter of choosing between FO3 and New Vegas, and the revenge plot of New Vegas is more interesting.

And if I don't like it... well, I don't consider the money as mine so it won't matter .

And I'll get Black Flag because you've all praised the game so much that I have to see if it really is that good. Now the question is what edition to get. I'm thinking of buying the bare game and two DLCs, Freedom City and Illustrious Pirates. Does the Deluxe edition include one of those? Is this edition worth the extra 2.50 €?

JEMC, I guess that makes sense, if your goal is to get into current Fallout franchise...which, unfortunatelly, with every new Bethesda's instalment has less and less to do with actual Fallout. Can't say whether you'll like NV or not, but it is definitely better game than FO3 for fans of old Fallout (given that Obsidian made it).

Hope you have a lot of fun with both games.

Great news (if not posted already) http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-and-xcom-2-are-selling-extremely-well-on-pc-36079

More great news.

DRAGON'S DOGMA: DARK ARISEN IS CAPCOM'S FASTEST-SELLING PC GAME

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/dragon-s-dogma-dark-arisen-is-capcom-s-fastest-selling-pc-game/0162379

The PC version of RPG Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is Capcom’s fast-selling game for the platform thus far.

The title – which debuted on January 15th on Steam – is also one of the publisher’s Top Three best-selling PC releases.

Dark Arisen is an enhanced version of 2012’s Dragon’s Dogma, which launched for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 back in 2013.

Capcom does note that though Dark Arisen is its fast-selling PC title so far, the initial sales of the console versions were higher as they benefited from a full marketing push pre-launch.

“We are extremely pleased with the performance of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. It is our fastest-selling PC title to date, thanks to an audience eagerly waiting for it, and us delivering to the level of quality gamers were expecting,” marketing director Antoine Molant told MCV.

“Based on a similar sales period, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is in the Capcom's Top Three PC releases after these few weeks, along with Resident Evil and Dead Rising 3.”

The news:

First of all, let's go for the elephant in the room

QUANTUM BREAK TO BE RELEASED ON THE PC ON APRIL 5TH [UPDATE: OFFICIALLY COMING TO THE PC]

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/rumour-quantum-break-to-be-released-on-the-pc-on-april-5th/

and

QUANTUM BREAK – OFFICIAL PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTSREVEALED – DX12-ONLY, 8GB OF RAM MINIMUM

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/quantum-break-official-pc-system-requirements-revealed-dx12-only-8gb-of-ram-minimum/

>>Personally, I find the rec. specs exagerated, like if they were for a 4K system (16GB of RAM? 980Ti or Fury X? Yeahm that sounds 4K to me).

In any case go to bananaking's thread to talk about it: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=213596

And now, the usual stuff

1-Mods

• Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory – First-Person Mod Released http://www.dsogaming.com/news/splinter-cell-chaos-theory-first-person-mod-released/

2-Gaming News

ARMA 3 – NEW DEVELOPER DIARY FOCUSES ON THE SCENARIO EDITOR

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/arma-3-new-developer-diary-focuses-on-the-scenario-editor/

Bohemia Interactive today released a new Arma 3 developer diary video, featuring the upcoming new Arma 3 Scenario Editor: Eden 3D Editor. In the video, Senior Designer Karel Morický, Programmer Filip Sadovský, and Creative Director Jay Crowe provide a more in-depth look at the Eden Editor’s key features and development process.

TITANFALL 2 WILL SHIP IN WINTER 2016 ACCORDING TO MCFARLANE TOYS

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/titanfall-2-will-ship-in-winter-2016-according-to-mcfarlane-toys/

It appears that McFarlane Toys has spoiled Electronic Arts’ surprise about Titanfall 2. According to McFarlane, its action figures for Titanfall 2 will be released in conjunction with the highly anticipated launch of the game in Winter 2016. Yeap, from the looks of it, Titanfall 2 is planned for a Winter 2016 release.

HITMAN – FIRST OFFICIAL DIRECTX 12 DETAILS REVEALED

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/hitman-first-official-directx-12-details-revealed/

AMD has issued a press release, revealing the first DX12 details for IO Interactive’s upcoming HITMAN game. According to the red team, HITMAN will be part of its Gaming Evolved program, and will leverage unique DX12 hardware found in only AMD Radeon GPUs to handle heavier workloads and better image quality without compromising performance.

HITMAN – NEW SCREENSHOTS RELEASED

http://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/hitman-new-screenshots-released/

quare Enix has released a new set of screenshots for HITMAN. HITMAN will be an episodic game with a major live component, where players will perform contract hits on powerful, high-profile targets in exotic locations around the world. Its first episode releases on March 11th and according to its official PC requirements, PC gamers will need at least a quad-core CPU with 8GB of RAM.

BLADE & SOUL REACHES 2 MILLION REGISTERED USERS MILESTONE, RECEIVES FIRST CONTENT UPDATE

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/blade-soul-reaches-2-million-registered-users-milestone-receives-first-content-update/

NCSOFT West today released its first content update for Blade & Soul, only weeks after its launch in North America and Europe. Titled Rising Waters, the update features three new pieces of challenging max-level PvE content that players can access after defeating Vice Admiral Poharan herself.

THE FLAME IN THE FLOOD – ISOMETRIC SURVIVAL GAME – RELEASES ON FEBRUARY 24TH

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-flame-in-the-flood-isometric-survival-game-releases-on-february-24th/

The Molasses Flood has announced that The Flame in the Flood will be released on February 24th on the PC. The Flame in the Flood is an isometric survival game in which players forage, craft, outwit predators and brave the rapids as they make their way down the procedurally generated river.

OVERLOAD – 6-DOF SHOOTER FROM THE CREATORS OF DESCENT – GETS KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/overload-6-dof-shooter-from-the-creators-of-descent-gets-kickstarter-campaign/

Revival Productions has announced Overload, a new game from the creators of Descent. Overload is a spiritual successor that combines the best of classic 6-DOF gameplay with modern graphics and technology.

ASSASSIN’S CREED: SYNDICATE – NEXT PATCH WILL ADDRESS SLI SCALING ISSUES

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/assassins-creed-syndicate-next-patch-will-address-sli-scaling-issues/

As you may already know, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is currently plagued by mediocre SLI scaling. In its current state, the game is unable to properly utilize two or more GPUs. And it appears, the French company will finally address this issue in its new patch that will be released soon

NEED FOR SPEED IS COMING TO THE PC ON MARCH 15TH, FIRST PC SCREENSHOTS REVEALED

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/need-for-speed-is-coming-to-the-pc-on-march-15th-first-pc-screenshots-revealed/

Electronic Arts and Ghost Games announced today that Need For Speed will be coming to the PC on March 15th. In order to celebrate this announcement, EA released a new trailer and some new PC screenshots that can be viewed below.

>>Watch the reveal trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVA63k_DPNg

XCOM 2 PLAYERS HAVE ALREADY KILLED 53 MILLION ALIENS

http://www.pcgamer.com/xcom-2-players-have-already-killed-53-million-aliens/

The newly-opened XCOM 2 Global Overview stats page reveals some surprising, and even startling, numbers—foremost among them is that more than 4.4 million missions have been successfully executed by resurgent XCOM forces. So why, then, has nobody been able to finish even one single game?

XCOM 2 PERFORMANCE ISSUES BEING LOOKED INTO BY FIRAXIS

http://www.pcgamer.com/xcom-2-performance-issues-being-looked-into-by-firaxis/

XCOM 2 launched to near-universal acclaim last week, but also with a near-universal caveat to that acclaim: it doesn't run as buttery as you'd expect a turn-based strategy game to, even on high-end hardware. Some players, including most of us on the PC Gamer team, have reported dips in framerate and hitching, especially during camera movement and in-engine cutscenes. Criticism of the issues has found its way onto two of the usual venues for such outcry: XCOM 2's Steam reviews page and Metacritic, where one user wrote "I literally can not recall the last game that gave me as much technical difficulties as XCOM 2."

CRYSIS, RYSE: SON OF ROME COMPOSER JOINS DIVINITY: ORIGINAL SIN 2 TEAM

http://www.pcgamer.com/crysis-ryse-son-of-rome-composer-joins-divinity-original-sin-2-team/

It came as sad and surprising news last summer when Larian Studios announced that Divinity composer Kirill Pokrovsky had died. Pokrovsky had created memorable music for all of Larian's games, going all the way back to LED Wars in 1997, and became a Larian “face” through his livestreamed mini-concerts in support of Divinity: Original Sin. He left, as they say, very big shoes to fill.

LAYERS OF FEAR LAUNCHES NEXT WEEK, SO HERE'S A NEW TRAILER

http://www.pcgamer.com/layers-of-fear-launches-next-week-so-heres-a-new-trailer/

After a six month stint in Early Access, painter-gone-mad horror Layers of Fear will launch proper on February 16. To celebrate the corresponding PS4 release, studio Bloober Team has rolled out the above trailer, which is also relevant to us because it provides a satisfying look at the creepy mansion we'll be exploring next week.

>>Here's the trailer, of the PS4 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4jYpEjIaFA

CITIES: SKYLINES FREE UPDATE ADDS THEME EDITOR, WEATHER EFFECTS, AND HATS

http://www.pcgamer.com/cities-skylines-free-update-adds-theme-editor-weather-effects-and-hats/

The Cities: Skylines Snowfall expansion will be out in just over a week, adding, as the name obliquely hints, snow-themed maps, heating infrastructure, snowplows, and other such bits of winter misery that seem like fun until you actually have to dig out your car at 6:30 in the freakin' morning in the middle of freakin' February just so you can get to freakin' work.

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS PUTS DOMINION MODE TO SLEEP

http://www.pcgamer.com/league-of-legends-puts-dominion-mode-to-sleep/

League of Legends developer Riot has sent Dominion to the big game mode home in the sky, announcing the decision with a frank, bashful blog post. Dominion's retirement will take place February 22, so get in a few games now for old times' sake.

ROCKET LEAGUE SEASON 2 HAS BEGUN

http://www.pcgamer.com/rocket-league-season-2-has-begun/

Hallelujah. Since the announcement in mid-January that cosmetic crowns would be awarded based on your Season 1 rank, I've been too afraid to play Rocket League competitively lest I slip from my precarious score of 400—the very edge of Silver. Now the silver crown is mine, however questionably, and the entire ranking system has been thrown out the window for the start of Season 2, in addition to some welcome PC-specific changes.

TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER SHOWS OFF EMPIRE CAMPAIGN

http://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-warhammer-shows-off-empire-campaign/

The more I see of Total War: Warhammer, the more I'm aware of it sinking its chaotic tendrils into my imagination, corrupting and compelling. It looks smashing, from the delightfully clean lines of its interface to the intricate world map themed to suit the current controlling faction. The latest video is a seven-minute overview of the Empire campaign and the quirks that set the Empire apart from other, greener races.

>>Take a look at it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Uf53_Y6nk

And lastly, a new study about gaming

STUDY ANALYSES GAMING TASTES AS WE AGE

http://www.pcgamer.com/study-analyses-gaming-tastes-as-we-age/

What are the stereotypes again? Strategy is for Tweed-wearing old men and Call of Duty is the province of raving high-schoolers? Well it turns out at least one of those has some truth to it. Gaming analytics consultancy Quantic Foundry has released a study of over 140,000 'Gamer Motivation Profiles' to identify how our tastes in games change as we age.