Just A Little Update

Hello people that read my blog,

Since I'm a University student, I have mid-terms to worry about this week. That being said, there will not be any posts this week on my blog. I'm sorry about the inconvenience, but tune in next week to check out the latest news in the world of technology.

AOC I2367FH Monitor Unboxing!

This is my first unboxing on a new monitor I just purchased. I'm really enjoying this monitor. The colors are bright, and pictures are very clear. Just what you would expect form a 1080p monitor.

All the details for this monitor can be found here in this video.

Enjoy! Don't forget to subscribe for more YouTube videos, and follow for more blog posts.

Watch Dogs Has Been Delayed

Ubisoft, creators of Watch Dogs, has announced that they will be delaying Watch Dogs until Spring 2014. The highly anticipated game that was supposed to be released on November 19th, but the company does not want to sacrifice quality to make a tight deadline, so instead, they decided to delay the game to make sure the game will be perfect.

I'm highly anticipated about this game, and it definitely sucks that they delayed the release. But from a business stand-point, we can understand that we don't want another GTA V experience. Still, it now gives me one more thing to not buy when the wave of new games comes this Christmas season. So maybe it was a good thing for me.

And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, and never heard of Watch Dogs, please, watch this video. This will probably be the game that I look forward to the most. With this delay, I expect perfection from Ubisoft, and hope there are no major game bugs like there was in GTA V.

New Rumors For GTA5 Coming to PC

Today, Eurogamer stated, "[GTA V] will come out on PC in the first quarter of 2014."

Rockstar is still yet to comment about the release of GTA V on PC. But, it's assumed that the game will have a PC release, just as the previous titles did.

Intel said that it doesn't expect GTA V to "be a console exclusive very long" and Nvidia's senior director mentioned a PC version of GTA V during a financial call. Although this was covered by saying it was a mistake and Nvidia has no information about GTA V coming to PC.

As PC gamers are on the rise, making a PC version of the title will only do more good to Rockstar, who already profited over 1 billion dollars form the game on the console market.

Rockstar has had some sort of a pattern when it comes to porting their games to PC.

GTA III: Console to PC 210 days
GTA VC: Console to PC 198 days
GTA SA: Console to PC 225 days
GTA IV: Console to PC 217 days

If GTA V comes out for PC 217 days after console release, this would mean the game would be released on April 22, 2014.

I still haven't bought GTA V because I'm waiting for there to be a PC release. After switching to PC gaming, it's hard for me to go back to using consoles.

PlayStation 4 Controllers Will Work For PC

If you're a PC and console gamer, then this will be some good news for you. The DualShock 4 will work with PCs straight out of the box. No need to download an unlicensed third party anymore to use a PlayStation with your computer.

Sony says that basic functions like analog sticks and buttons will work, but no word about any other features. But, in all honesty, that's all we need as PC gamers. Otherwise, you may as well buy the PS4.

Controllers can have its benefits for some PC games. For example, driving games. Unless you have a steering wheel, a mouse and keyboard is almost impossible to use with a driving game. There's simply no precision with the A and D keys for turning.

What do you guys think of this? Let me know in the comments below.

Finally Able to Play BF4 Beta (Personal Thoughts).

So I finally found time between school work and life to play to BF4 beta and I must say I'm impressed so far. They improvements are subtle, but are definitely noticeable. The first thing I noticed, was when re-spawning, you have view of the entire map and can see what your squad member is seeing (assuming you clicked him). No more blind spawning on team-mates, only to find out that they're in a middle of a gunfight right in the open.

The second thing I noticed was with the Recon class. I'm not sure if they're only able to do this with a variable zoom, but if you can estimate how far away your target is, you can adjust the setting to however many meters you think your target is, and you can them while aiming your cross-hair exactly on the enemy, instead of compensating for gravity. Basically, you're moving the scope up so that when the bullet reaches the desired distance, it will actually hit where the cross-hair is.

Maps seem bigger (although don't quote me on this, because let's be honest, all maps are massive in Battlefield), but one of the coolest things I think, is the fact that there are so many levels. Roofs of skyscrapers are accessible, second story buildings, third story, helicopters, and probably more when the full game is released. This was always something (dare I say it) Call of Duty lacked. I'm not making fun of the franchise, it had a good run and is good for casual gamers who just want to have a quick game of something, but Battlefield is without a question now, out doing it's competitor (at least in my opinion).

Another big improvement that's very subtle, is the fact that you can now have 5 man squads. When I game, I sometimes play with 5 people (coincidentally), and it always sucked when we had to leave 1 man out of the squad.

There's also a hardcore mode now. Although not in the beta, after some searching around on the internet, I was able to find this information. Anyway, reloading in hardcore mode is based off of magazines now instead of amount of bullets. I've always loved this, because without it, everyone reloads after every kill and it's very rare that you actually run out of bullets in a gun fight. This gives a new perspective on game play because now if you're halfway through your magazine, you can either risk it and not reload and hope to get another kill, or reload and risk running out of bullets.

Another cool thing is the fact that you can attach two different sights to your gun. One on top, and a different one on the side of the gun. So, on an assault rifle, you can have an ACOG x4 scope on the side and a RDS on top. This gives the assault rifle or any gun, more versatility, and more possibilities for the player.

There are more details on what they added, and they can be found at this website.

Please subscribe to my blog for more video game news, technology news, reviews and other related posts.

Half-Life 3 Is A Lie... Again

I am so sad to bring up that Half-Life 3 was a fake...

When you try to look for it now in the trademark database in Europe, it's not there anymore. It just disappeared. Poof. Gone. And now all the sadness will hit at once.

The trademark was thought to be made by Valve, although it doesn't seem like the case anymore.

Although what a time it would be for Valve if they did. They would have the Steam Machine coming out, along with SteamOS, and Half-Life 3 being confirmed in development. PC gamers would be on their knees worshiping Valve/Gabe Newell (they kinda already do).

I don't know what else to tell you, I'm as devastated as everyone else. And I'm sorry if I ruined anyone's day because of this. I promise tomorrow will be a happier time.

Specs For the Steambox!

I'm excited to announce that the specs of the Steam Machine has been released! And I must say, it's one powerful little guy.

Let's start off with the main component, the CPU.  At the very least, you're getting an i3, although it doesn't specify which model. But you have more options as well. These machines can also be packed with an i5-4570 or an i7-4770. That is simply amazing that they're providing Haswell chips in their systems.

Next is the other important thing to gamers and that is the graphics card. All the GPUs that can be selected are very respectable and will run most modern games on high settings. Again, starting from the minimum, is the GTX 660. The equivalent AMD card would be the HD Radeon 7870, which is what I currently have in my system. This means that even the lowest graphics card that Valve offers can still run Battlefield 3 on ultra settings, as long as its not bottle-necked by the CPU.  Next in line will be the GTX 760, which is equivalent to the HD Radeon 7950. This card will run most games at 60fps at the highest settings. For me, I would settle for this, but Valve even offers better options than this. The next great GPU is the GTX 780. If you really want to not upgrade for a while, this is a good option. But, I personally think the card is too expensive and I would settle for something less. Now for a real overkill on your system, Valve offers the NVidia Titan! Now this, is a BEAST of a card. If you need 6GB of video RAM, then by all means go right for it. You'll usually know if you need it or not though, so if you're not sure, then you don't need it. I would have liked to see some AMD options, but it's not the end of the world, considering NVidia is just as good if not better.

So that's all you can choose from for this Steam Machine. Other then that, every system comes with 16GB DDR3-1600 RAM, a 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD, an Internal 450W 80Plus Gold certified power supply, and a case that measures 12 x 12 x 2.9 inches.

So that's all there is to this machine. There will be 300 lucky people at the end of the year who get to experience the Steam Machine for free. Hopefully this will be a step forward in the console market, showing that it's possible to actually have a mini-PC in your living room instead of a console.

How To Easily Keep Up-To-Date With Blogs

Since I have just started this blog, some people, like myself, don't know how they can remember to come back everyday and see if there's anything new. Well, to all you newcomers, this is how you can keep up-to-date with your favourite blogs.

First, look for this symbol

For me, it's at the bottom of the page under the "Subscribe To" section.

Next thing is to click on the drop down menu that says posts and then click on atom.

Once this is done, a new window will open and it'll ask you to save a bookmark to your bookmark toolbar. This bookmark keeps up-to-date with the blog and when you click it, it'll open another drop down menu and there you'll be able to see posts on that blog you subscribed to.

You may need to right click the bookmark and click "Reload Live Bookmark" in order to see new posts from that blog.

When you do that, you can see all the new posts the blog has posted since you last visited. Pretty cool eh? So, go ahead and subscribe to my blog to keep yourself updated with the world of technology and to see reviews of some computer hardware.

Battlefield 4 Open Beta!

Hey folks, guess what?

As you can probably guess from the title, EA has released the beta for Battlefield 4 to the public! The steps are simple. Download Origin if you don't have it already, and then go to this site to download the beta.

The only problem right now is that there are a lot of technical issues with Battlefield 4 right now. Whenever I tried to enter a game, my game would freeze and it would kick me out. And my machine can handle this game, trust me.

So I'll try again tomorrow and update this again and let you guys know how it is.

To keep yourself updated, you can subscribe to my feed (bookmark my page and it'll automatically update when I post) located below this post, first click on subscribe to posts, then click atom. Or you can follow me on Google+ which is located on the right.

Stay frosty.

Piracy Is NOT Killing The Entertainment Industry

It's a good assumption that everyone who is somewhat computer savvy has torrented something in their life. There has always been rumors that piracy has been killing the entertainment industry. Though a logical point, studies show that in fact it does not affect the industry at all.

I'll focus mainly on the music industry. Piracy has in fact, helped the industry more than it has hurt it. Hard to believe right? How can illegally downloading something for free help an industry that thrives off of merchandise sales? It's simple really.

The lack in CD sales is compensated by the rise of digital sales, subscription services, streaming and most importantly, live performances.  Now let's analyze this logically. When someone buys a CD, they're buying because they know as a fact they enjoy that artist. No one buys a CD not knowing what's going to be on it. With this said, when the music they're downloading is free, at least the consumer can listen to new bands without having to purchase an album.

For example, Band A is an up-and-coming band and just released their first CD. It's available for $15 in stores. If no one knows this band, no one is going to waste $15 on a CD they know nothing about. So maybe someone writes the band name down, or they happen to stumble upon it online. That person, can then look up a free download of the album and give it a listen. If that person is a good pirate, he/she would then go buy the album. But let's be honest, that doesn't happen with all pirates.

But since that person downloaded the album for free, they now know about the band and knows the band is good. Now when this band goes on tour, or is playing a local show, that person is more likely to go to that concert. And that's where all the money is made.

So in summary, CD sales are down, but concert ticket sales are up as shown here.

Now in other entertainment industries, reports show that digital gaming is thriving and the U.S. film industry is breaking records. People may download the movie for free, but nothing can compare to the experience one gets when going to the movie theaters to see the next blockbuster film.

I remember reading an AMA on Reddit featuring the band Between The Buried And Me. Their newest album, The Parallax II: Future Sequences, was leaked on torrenting sites before the actual release of the album. Someone asked BTBAM what they think about piracy. Singer Tommy Giles Rogers replied,

the album leaked???? NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! in all honesty, i'm a little disappointed that the album leaked, but not for any financial reasons. it's more of a pride thing i think. when you put so much of your heart, soul, and time into something, you really want the impact of it's release to be reflective of the impact it had on you when you created it. so the fact that it leaked sort of trivializes that effort a little bit, and ultimately cheapens the impact of the "release date". but hey, i'm a realist and i understand the time we live in. records leak. it happens. it makes me happy that people want to hear the record and ultimately, if they come to shows and show their love, i'm content.

 I'm not trying to say that piracy is a good thing or a bad thing in society, the fact of the matter is it exists and people are always going to download as along as the material is out there. But for the sake of argument, it doesn't actually hurt the entertainment industry at all.

Half-Life 3 Confirmed?

Before anyone gets too excited, this is not an "official" announcement from Valve saying that Half-Life 3 is confirmed. Legally, Valve doesn't need to do anything after this. This really just means that no one else can make it now.

This is a big step forward though. And let's be honest, the entire PC gamer population screamed and died a little on the inside. Although hopes and expectations shouldn't get too wild. This trademark is only valid in Europe at the moment, and like I said earlier, Valve has yet to confirm the development of Half-Life 3.

It's only a matter of time though. There's no way Valve would hold back on such a successful franchise. I will warn you though, if it does get announced, try to stay off the internet for a while. It's just going to blow up with gamers having "nergasms", for lack of a better word. I actually wouldn't be surprised if some social media sites went down from an overload of posts.

Still, we can only hope that Valve has ears and listens to their fans that have literally been begging for this game since Half-Life 2. Although it's entertaining reading all the Half-Life 3 theories.

Senseg "Feel Screen"

Senseg has created a new type of touch screen. As touch screen is becoming more popular in technology, the the quality of touch screens are becoming more demanding.

Senseg has created something called the "Feel Screen", which is a special type of touch screen. What's so special about a touch screen? What if I told you that you can actually feel the textures that you see on your touch screen? Senseg has actually made that possible.

A video can be found here, for an example of the product.

If there are any physicists reading, allow me to explain how this works. The technology uses the principle of Coulomb's Force to emulate the sensation of touch. Coulomb's Law, for those who don't know, is simply the attraction between electrical charges.

They call this technology, Trixel™. By passing an ultra-low electrical current into the insulated electrode, Senseg's Trixel™, the proprietary charge driver can create a small attractive force to the skin of your finger. This force can create a variety of sensations from textured surfaces and edges, to vibrations and more. And while doing all of this, the technology is silent.

The Trixel™ itself is a ultra-thin durable coating on the touch screen that outputs tactile effects. This can be placed on almost any size of device and surface.

For more information on Senseg, please visit http://senseg.com/.