News::​Playdate: Waging war in the 'Star Wars: Battlefront' beta

The wait is almost over, Star Wars fans: a new Battlefront is almost upon us. On Thursday, EA will open the Star Wars: Battlefront beta to all players, giving the gaming community it's first mainstream taste of online competitive multiplayer Star Wars since 2005. Can't wait? Tune in to Engadget Playdate at 6PM ET (3PM PT) on Twitch.tv/Joystiq, the Engadget gaming homepage and right here -- Tim Seppala and I made a deal with Jabba the Hutt and nabbed a few PC and PS4 beta codes early. Play your cards right (by answering stupid questions in our chat) and one could soon be yours.

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News::'Far Cry Primal' will take humanity back to the stone age

What would happen if you took the large, open-world chaos that defines the Far Cry series, removed the guns, vehicles, modern weapons and political character motivations? You'd have Far Cry Primal -- a survival epic staged in a re-imagined stone age. It's a different, but intriguing idea. The player takes on the role of Takkar, a lone hunter trying to survive on his own in the savage land of Oros. Really, the trailer says it all.

Source: Far Cry Primal

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News::HoloLens 'Project XRay' lets you blast robot armies with a ray gun fist

Microsoft took time during today's Windows 10 Devices event to give the audience a more in-depth look at what its new HoloLens AR system is capable of. Minds were blown, jaws were dropped and more than a few digital robots were blown to smithereens during the 8-minute demo.

Source: Microsoft (YouTube)

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News::Watch how game music went from beeps to Sound Blaster

You can't enjoy retro games without digging the music, and a YouTube video (below) shows exactly how those tunes evolved. As explained by the 8-Bit Guy and Obsolete Geek, early PCs and Apple machines used "beeper speakers" that were driven strictly by your computer's CPU. Those only produced crude sounds, because forcing the CPU to do more actually hurt gameplay. Computers and consoles eventually got dedicated sound chips, but each used a different number of "voices," producing the distinctive differences between, say, a Nintendo NES and a Commodore 64 system.

Source: The 8-bit Guy

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News::Microsoft demos 'Project XRay' mixed reality game for HoloLens

One of Microsoft's most exciting products to date is HoloLens, and today the company revealed a new mixed reality game for the headset called Project XRay. The title was developed internally, according to the Executive VP of the Windows Devices group, Terry Myerson.

Developing...

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News::Amazon-owned Twitch finally overhauls its Fire TV app

You'd think that since Amazon owns Twitch, Fire TV devices would be the lead platform for its apps but that isn't the case. However, the latest update for the streaming service favored by gamers on Bezos' set-top box is pretty significant and mirrors a lot of what's available on the console and mobile apps. It even outdoes them in a few ways. Of course you can watch plenty of live streams and the top games being played, but the update also brings in profile pages so you can check out exactly who those broadcasters are and check out their archived videos while you're at it.

Source: Twitch

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News::Razer Music is a content sharing and creation portal for musicians

Ever notice that conspicuous green glow radiating off of Deadmau5's desk during his Twitch streams? There's a reason for that. It turns out the artist has been working with Razer to help launch a new music service -- one tailored specifically to promote and educate artists that use the company's gaming hardware for music production. It's called Razer Music, and it launches today.

Source: Razer Music

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News::Nintendo launched a multiplayer web portal for Splatoon stats

How do you get your Splatoon fix when you're away from your Wii U? With SplatNet -- the game's newly christened web portal, of course. Okay, it's not actually that new: Japanese players have had access to the website for months, but Nintendo only just recently got around to translating the portal for international audiences. It's a convenient online hub that lets users check their weekly ranking, plan future matches with friends, view equipped gear and more.

Source: Splatoonus, Splatnet

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