News::PlayStation Network is down, Sony confirms (update)

It's a rough Monday for Sony, as the PlayStation Network appears to be experiencing widespread issues. Sony acknowledge that it's aware of the problems, which have affected PS4, PS3 and Vita users for pretty much the entire morning. The company's network status tracker also notes that all of PSN's services are having issues. There's no word when service will be restored, but we'd imagine Sony is working feverishly to get things sorted ahead of its CES press conference tomorrow. We've reached out to Sony for additional comment and will update if we hear back.

We're aware that some users are having trouble accessing PSN. Thanks for your patience as we investigate. https://t.co/8hMUSl2cCe

— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) January 4, 2016

Update: Judging by Twitter, PSN services are back in action, with head of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida confirming as much.

As people are tweeting, PSN is back online. Very sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. https://t.co/y3aO5iiWfn

— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) January 5, 2016

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News::The 3DRudder is a $175 VR controller for your feet

Last year 3DRudder let us put our kicks on its feet-based motion controller, but it wasn't quite ready for the full VR demo. This year the team is back with an Oculus headset attached so we can get the proper experience of its device. From my experience, the balance board isn't much different than what we've seen, as itis embedded gyroscope, accelerometer and pressure sensors gave me hands-free control through a 3D environment with six-degrees of freedom. I picked up the controls pretty quickly, and I could definitely see using this in combination with a mouse/keyboard or game controller. The 3DRudder VR Edition is supposed to ship by the end of March, and pre-orders are open now for $175/€175.

Source: 3DRudder

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News::Mekamon is a battle bot with an augmented reality twist

A couple of little four-legged battle bots could be the future of gaming. Reach Robotics, a UK-based company, is pushing for mixed reality gaming with modular robots called Mekamons that will face off both in the digital and physical worlds. They're building an augmented reality game with these intelligent bots that are capable of launching a full-blown attack on each other. Their existing prototype at CES has infrared, bluetooth and an in-built compass to help it detect the exact location of an opponent for an accurate attack in a multi-player game. For now, they're using an app to control, arm and level up the bot in a single player game (the only working format at the event).

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News::Lenovo Y900 'Razer Edition' gaming desktop to launch in June

Project Christine, Razer's boldly designed modular gaming PC, still hasn't surfaced as a commercial product -- but that doesn't mean you can't get a Razer-branded gaming desktop. Lenovo just announced that its Ideacenter Y900 gaming rig will be getting its Razer makeover this summer, equipping it with revised case lighting, a mouse and a keyboard that all work on Razer's Chroma system.

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News::Lenovo's new gaming laptop has one-touch overclocking

Lenovo announced the release of a new 17-inch gaming laptop on Monday, dubbed the Y900. It's part of the Y Series of gaming devices and features some impressive specs. It boasts a quad core 6th Gen Intel Core i7, an NVIDIA GTX 980M graphics card and a mechanical keyboard. What's more, the Y900 will reportedly include a One Touch Turbo button that further boosts the laptop's performance. It will retail for $2,000 when it debuts in June.

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News::It's official: Activision buys legendary eSports company MLG

Mike Sepso co-founded the eSports organization Major League Gaming in 2002. In October 2015, he left MLG to work for Activision Blizzard -- the studio behind Destiny, Call of Duty and Hearthstone -- as Senior Vice President of its new competitive-gaming business led by former ESPN CEO Steve Bornstein. In the division's first major move, Activision today announced its purchase of MLG's eSports staff and assets in a deal reported to be worth $46 million. Sepso just helped Activision acquire the business he founded 13 years ago.

Did he ever dream of ending up in a situation like this?

"No one could have put that together," Sepso tells me, laughing. "And if you'd asked me four months ago, I would have said no."

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News::AMD's new graphics core is built for laptop gaming

For all the talk of fast graphics in thin laptops, the technology isn't quite there yet. You typically have to choose between a bulky gaming machine and a thin system with pokey low-end video. AMD thinks it might have the cure, however. It just offered a peek at a new graphics architecture, Polaris, that promises gaming-grade performance without the power draw. In Star Wars Battlefront, one of AMD's future chipsets is 61 percent more energy-efficient than a GeForce GTX 950 with similar performance -- in the mobile world, that could make the difference between a slim portable and a big desktop replacement. Even if AMD is cherry-picking the results, this could still lead to speedier visual in laptops and any other small PCs where heat and power are problems.

Via: Eurogamer

Source: AMD

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News::Mysterious adventure game 'ReCore' heads to PC, too

ReCore is a mysterious project from Mega Man and Mighty No. 9 legend Keiji Inafune, but today we get a sliver of fresh information -- it's launching on PC as well as Xbox One. Microsoft quietly dropped the PC news in a post on Xbox Wire. ReCore is due to launch in 2016 on both platforms, Microsoft says, though the game's previous release window was a more specific, "spring 2016." We've reached out to Microsoft for clarification on ReCore's expected release date.

Source: Xbox Wire

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News::Xbox One exclusive 'Scalebound' delayed to 2017

We're not even a week into 2016 and already video games are being bumped to next year. PlatinumGames has announced that its Devil May Cry-meets-dragons RPG Scalebound has been pushed back to 2017 in order to deliver "all the innovative features and thrilling gameplay experiences" the team has planned. The title was previously slated for "fall 2016," meaning fans of Kamiya and Platinum's action-focused spectacles -- like Bayonetta, Vanquish and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance -- will have to wait a little longer. At least the Xbox One has some other exclusives to fall back on this year, like Quantum Break, ReCore and Crackdown 3.

Source: PlatinumGames

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