News::AMD wants to open up PC graphics chips

AMD isn't just depending on ever-faster chipsets to boost graphics performance -- it thinks coders can lend a hand, too. The company's new GPUOpen effort gives developers the kind of open source code and documentation they need to use low-level PC video card features, port apps and otherwise understand GPU aspects that are normally kept hush-hush (outside of game consoles, at least). If everything goes smoothly, you'll see games that look nicer on current hardware, and general computing tasks that lean more on GPUs to crunch numbers.

Via: Slashdot

Source: GPUOpen

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News::'Monument Valley' is the latest game soundtrack going vinyl

Monument Valley was one of the most interesting, unique and beautiful games released in 2014 on any platform. Forget that fact that it's "just" a mobile game -- developer UsTwo build an extremely memorable experience, and the game's music contributed heavily to that experience. If you want to immerse yourself in the game's soundscape, the geeky art purveyors iam8bit have just the thing for you -- the soundtrack for Monument Valley will go up for sale on vinyl tomorrow.

Source: iam8bit

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News::Platinum is making a 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game

It's been a bit since we had a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game and an even longer time since we had a good one. But that could soon change when Platinum Games unleashes TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan this summer on PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Yeah, that's right: the rumors that swirled around last month are true. Over on the PlayStation Blog, Platinum's Robert Cooper says that if you've played any of the studio's previous action games that this shouldn't have a lot of trouble getting comfortable in the solo and co-op campaign.

Source: PlayStation Blog

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News::Death Star map coming to 'Star Wars: Battlefront' this fall

Get ready, Star Wars: Battlefront buffs -- there's a ton of downloadable content coming your way. For starters, following the release of the Battle of Jakku in December, DICE will add more DLC content to its game tomorrow, January 27th. This includes the ability for player's to create private matches, support for new multiplayer modes in the Tatooine Survival map, and Battle of Hoth-themed character clothing for Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. While that's all fine and dandy, we know what you're here for: the Death Star.

Source: EA

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News::'Destiny' player matching focuses more on good connections

Destiny's Crucible multiplayer mode can be a blast... up until you're lumped into a match so laggy that you may lose simply because your rivals keep jumping around. That might not be a problem after this week, though. Bungie is trying out a matchmaking update that puts more of an emphasis on connection quality. The move should not only give you a better chance at pulling off that kill streak, but speed up the matchmaking process itself -- you'll spend less time twiddling your thumbs while Destiny finds a final player for that Control game. Skill will still matter in match-ups, but it won't be quite the be-all, end-all factor that it was before.

Via: Polygon

Source: Bungie

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News::'Five Nights at Freddy's World' removed from Steam

Five Nights at Freddy's, the jump-scare franchise depicted above that YouTubers love to make reaction videos to, has just joined company with Afro Samurai: it's had a release pulled from Steam due to poor reviews. Developer Scott Cawthon writes on the Five Nights at Freddy's 4 Steam listing that even though Five Nights at Freddy's World might have had a "very positive" rating at 87 percent, he's removing it because he wasn't happy with the reviews and ratings it'd been garnering. He's also requested that Steam-owner Valve remove the time limit from purchase refunds, so that no matter how long has passed between purchase and return, customers will get their money back.

Via: Kotaku

Source: Steam

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News::The Twitch app is down for some PS4 players

The Twitch app on PlayStation 4 has been down since Friday for some users under the error code CE-34878-0. But, fear not, live-streaming PS4 fans: Twitch is on the case.

"Our team is aware of it and working to get it fixed as soon as possible," a Twitch spokesperson tells Engadget. There's no word on how widespread the issue is, how long it should take to resolve or what's causing it.

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News::'Dangerous Golf' is a crazy game from the creators of 'Burnout'

The co-founders of Criterion Games, Fiona Sperry and Alex Ward, left the EA-owned property last year to start their own company. We now know that venture as Three Fields Entertainment, which today is introducing its first game ever: Dangerous Golf. As the name suggests, it isn't your average take on a sports title, with a story that lets you create chaos on over 100 holes across four different locations -- all insane in their own right.

Source: Three Fields Entertainment

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News::Sherlock Pikachu is the best Pikachu

Nintendo has just announced a new (Japan-only) title starring Pikachu as a world-famous detective. Named Famous Detective Pikachu: The Birth of a New Partnership (translated by our Japan-based editor), it's described as a cinematic adventure game in which a "smug," "wise-cracking" Pikachu will team up with a boy named Tim to solve a mystery. We already have a trailer, which very, very clearly takes influence from the BBC's Sherlock.

Source: Nintendo Japan

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News::ICYMI: California water woes, VR arcade life and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: California adjusted the details in the project to address the water crisis in the state by diverting water, called WaterFix. VR gaming is being visualized at Sundance as a multiplayer theme park paradise. And a new smart mirror designed to simply take photos of full outfits has us feeling a little crazy. Which is where this Japanese product to capture bad guys comes in for the laugh relief.

Please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.

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News::Sony creates a new company to run everything PlayStation

Okay, so this is kind of weird: Sony just announced that it's spinning PlayStation off into its own separate company, dubbed Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC. It combines Sony Computer Entertainment (basically any and all PlayStation related hardware and software) with Sony Network Entertainment (services like PlayStation Vue and the PlayStation Store) and will be led by Andrew House as president and global CEO.

Developing...

Source: PR Newswire

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