News::Downloading 'Dark Souls 3' early makes the game even harder

Star Wars: The Force Awakens isn't the only thing hitting the internet ahead of its official release this week: The latest entry in FromSoftware's absolutely punishing Dark Souls series has as well. But rather than going to your torrent site of choice, all you need to do to access it is make a dummy account for your PlayStation 4 or Xbox One with Japan as its home region -- Dark Souls 3 launched there on the 24th. You'll still have to drop cash on the game, so if you were hoping for some nefariousness you're out of luck here.

Source: DualShockers, NeoGAF, Bandai Namco (YouTube)

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News::Make your own accessories for the Steam controller

Valve wants to know what you'd do with its Steam controller if you had a chance to customize it. The gaming behemoth has released the CAD plans for it in an effort to spurn the community to put its own spin on the gamepad be it with accessories or other design ideas. All the external geometry files are available to download from the Steam Community page. "This allows you to create and share to your heart's content," Valve writes. "But you'll need to get in touch with Valve is you want to sell your creations."

Source: Steam Community

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News::Oculus starts shipping the finished Rift headset

It finally happened. After nearly four years of crowdfunding, developer kits, an acquisition by Facebook and seemingly endless hype, the finished Oculus Rift headset is shipping to its first customers. Oculus chief Brendan Iribe has confirmed that his company's initial batch of VR wearables should reach customers as early as March 28th, or just in time to make the promised March timeframe. It's still not certain who will get the early bragging rights, but Oculus did say that Kickstarter backers will get the completed Rift for free instead of paying the usual $599 -- they're the ones who'll laugh last.

Source: Brendan Iribe (Twitter)

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News::Atari Vault brings 100 classic games to Steam

At last, you now have a simple way to play hordes of classic Atari games on your PC without resorting to third-party emulators: as promised, the Atari Vault is now available on Steam. The Windows-only collection lets you play 100 arcade and Atari 2600 games, such as Asteroids and Crystal Castles, in an environment that strikes a balance between nostalgia (such as borders that mimic arcade cabinets) and modern-day conveniences. That includes online multiplayer play, worldwide leaderboards and advanced controller support -- Valve's Steam Controller will even mimic a trackball to give you a more authentic experience in Centipede or Tempest. The Vault costs $17 on launch (normally $20), so it's just inexpensive enough that you can relive the good old days without feeling regret afterwards.

Source: Steam

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News::How 'Pokemon Go' will work on your smartphone

At last, Niantic and The Pokémon Company are ready to talk about Pokémon Go. Until now we've seen and heard relatively little about the game, save for what was shown in its reveal trailer last September. But following a leaked video from SXSW, the pair have finally divulged how the app actually works. As you walk around with your smartphone, it'll occasionally vibrate to indicate that a Pokémon is nearby. Tapping the screen will throw a Poké Ball, which can be obtained along with other items at a "PokéStop." These stores will be based at "interesting places" including museums and monuments, encouraging exploration.

Source: Pokemon Go

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News::Razer's gaming keyboards now sport a more pared-down design

Razer debuted an expansion to its popular line of BlackWidow gaming keyboards, dubbed the BlackWidow X. These are nearly identical to the original BWs, save that they've been stripped of their plastic cover plates -- leaving the milled aluminum frame exposed -- and they incorporate a new style of switch that has been developed in-house, rather than the Cherry brand switches the original line employs.

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News::Twitch wants your ideas for TwitchCon 2016

Twitch tipped its hand a bit when it announced that its community meet-up/education expo TwitchCon 2016 would be moving to the roomier climes of the San Diego Convention Center. Now live-streaming behemoth is ready to reveal why it needed all that extra space: The plan is for more of everything. Namely, panels. In the past few months, Twitch Creative has blown up, expanding beyond Deadmau5 making beats and into streaming classic episodes of Bob Ross' painting series and Julia Child's cooking shows. TwitchCon 2016 will reflect that by offering special spaces for the Creative community to interact with each other and even do some arts and crafts.

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News::SteamVR recreates your PC desktop in virtual reality

Steam already offered (compatible) VR headset owners the ability to drag their (ugh!) two-dimensional games, kicking and screaming, into virtual reality with courtesy of its Desktop Theater mode. Now it's bringing everything your PC shows into your VR headset. The Steam Desktop overlay pulls your PC desktop into its VR Dashboard, meaning early-adopting users can change settings (or read email?) without even taking their headset off.

Source: Steam

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News::Sony's 'ForwardWorks' will try PlayStation gaming on mobile, again

Sony only just announced an overall restructuring of the PlayStation business under Sony Interactive Entertainment, and now it's launching a new business to focus on mobile gaming. There aren't a lot of specifics, but the new company is called ForwardWorks, and it's promising "full-fledged gaming titles" for things like phones, tablets and other connected devices.

ForwardWorks will leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation® dedicated software titles and its gaming characters as well as the knowledge and know-how of gaming development expertise which was acquired over the years with PlayStation® business to provide gaming application optimized for smart devices including smartphones* to users in Japan and Asia.

Source: PlayStation Japan

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