News::HP's new Omen gaming PCs include a cube-shaped desktop

Gamers have many reasons why they steer clear of desktops from big-name brands, but one of the biggest is the poor expansion. You may have fewer upgrade slots (if any) versus a white label or home-built rig, and you'll frequently have to contend with non-standard parts. HP thinks it can make you reconsider, however. It's refreshing its Omen gaming PCs once again, and the highlight is a completely new Omen X Desktop that promises both the perks of a major company's industrial design with the expansion that you crave. That cube-on-its-side design is not only relatively unique in a sea of generic towers, but genuinely functional. Its three-chamber design separates hot components while giving you room for expansion that includes dual graphics cards, four tool-free hard drive bays and an M.2 SSD. Also, this is an industry-standard chassis -- HP will sell you the barebones case if you prefer to supply your own internals, and Maingear will even build its own beastly gaming PC around the box in early 2017.

Source: HP

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News::'Titanfall 2' kicks off its open multiplayer test this Friday

Titanfall 2 is hosting its Open Multiplayer Technical Test beginning this weekend on Friday, August 19th to run for two weekends.

Source: BusinessWire

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News::'Gears of War 4' will require a monster machine to play in 4K

You might have been delighted to hear that Gears of War 4 will take full advantage of your PC, but you might not be quite so thrilled when you realize what it takes to run the game in its full 4K glory. On top of a 4K gameplay demo (below), Microsoft has outlined the Windows version's system requirements... and they're not exactly modest. While you can get by on mid-range 2014 hardware as a baseline, the "ideal" experience (effectively, 4K) demands both a high-end AMD FX or Intel Core i7 processor as well as one of the highest-end graphics cards in recent memory, such as a GeForce GTX 1080 or a Radeon R9 Fury X. You'd better have splurged on your system in recent months, in other words.

Source: Xbox Wire

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News::Integrated Xbox Wireless is coming to future PCs and accessories

If you're a serial Xbox One controller user, you've probably used it with your Windows PC at some point as well, whether to get in some Steam gaming or to make controlling any game a little simpler. Previously, doing so meant you'd have to have a special wireless dongle to do so.

Source: Xbox Wire

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News::Microsoft will let you try Windows 10 games early

The Xbox Game Preview program is a nice way to try indie console games before they're finished, but what about PC gamers? Where's Microsoft's answer to Steam Early Access? At last, it's here. Microsoft has announced that Xbox Game Preview is coming to Windows 10, giving you a chance to play early desktop games and potentially influence their design. The company has only confirmed Rockfish Games' Everspace as one of the launch titles for the initiative, but it's vowing that there will be "many more to come."

Source: Xbox Wire

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News::HDHomeRun's DVR app is ready for the Xbox One

Earlier this year Microsoft confirmed that development of a DVR feature for the Xbox One is "on hold," so what's next for fans of its OneBox dream? SiliconDust's answer is an app that lets you watch TV streamed directly to the game system from a DVR (which could be a PC, Android TV box or NAS -- but not the Xbox itself) running its software and connected to a TV tuner device. Doing that means you can completely control it via the gamepad or Xbox remote -- and ditch the system's HDMI passthrough/IR blaster combo that can't do simple things like set up a new recording without switching remote.

Source: HDHomeRun DVR (Kickstarter), HDHomeRun (Windows Store)

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News::Lenovo unveils two compact, VR-ready desktop gaming PCs

Desktop PCs are becoming a tough sell, thanks to rival laptops with NVIDIA mobile graphics chips nearly as powerful as desktop graphics cards. That's perhaps why Lenovo launched a couple of oddball Windows 10 desktop models at Gamescom that emphasize portability and gaming power. The first is the IdeaCenter Y710 Cube, a compact, handle-equipped model that, we can't help but notice, slightly resembles a killer robot.

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News::'Overwatch' season two takes cues from 'League of Legends'

Overwatch's 15 million-plus players are going to see some pretty big changes come the game's second season. First up is how rankings work. The current 1 - 100 skill ranking is going away in favor of a 1 - 5,000 rating that breaks down into seven tiers like bronze, silver, gold and, at the highest level, master and grandmaster -- similar to League of Legends and, most recently, Halo 5: Guardians. Game director Jeff Kaplan says that the idea behind this overhaul is to make it feel less like you're performing poorly overall just because you had a bad night. "We want skill rating to be a gauge of where you are as a player," he says in the video below. "We don't want that number to be the thing you associate with you as a competitive player."

Via: Overwatch (Twitter)

Source: Overwatch (YouTube)

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