Valve want to revolutionise the living room box industry, and plan to do so with their newest invention: the grey box. It will be competing with other leaders of box manufacturing, notably the wonky black box and the '80s tribute box. It will also be competing with alternate versions of itself, with any living room based PC console running SteamOS becoming, in effect, a third-party grey box, or "Steam Machine". Gaming PC manufacturer iBuyPower has revealed their own Steam Machine prototype, and are hoping to capture a slice of a market with their particular design: a grey box with a light strip cutting through its middle, so as to resemble a plastic neon sandwich.

As reported by Engadget, the iBuyPower Steam Machine is planned for an early 2014 launch, and that - while it is running SteamOS - it's still some ways off being a finished build.

The Verge, meanwhile, got some idea of the specs. The demoed box was carrying a multicore AMD CPU, and used a AMD Radeon R9 270. The full package will be bundled with the Steam Controller, and will cost around $500. It will offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a 500GB hard drive as standard, be larger than the PS4, and smaller than the Xbox One. Then again, some Alsations are smaller than an Xbox One.

This is only the first of what is sure to be a slew of Steam Machine announcements, covering various specs and price points. That's one of the benefits to Valve's acceptance of third-party variation: there's bound to be a model that fits your needs. Just how well their OS can compliment those needs will, for now, remain an open question.

If silliness be the food of love, type on. Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and so die. And then arise once more because, if you hadn't noticed Curio, we're playing Typing of the Dead: Overkill. More specifically, we're playing Shakespeare of the Dead, a new DLC add-on for the zombie typing shooter that, while ridiculous, is no more so than the concept of typing words to riddle zombies full of holes. Watch out Curio! Damn it man, how hard can it be to type "quintessence". Ah well, restarting is such sweet sorrow.

Yes, Curio, I'm aware that's from a different play.

I'm in love with this admirable silliness to a perverse degree. It's not the most significant DLC that's ever been released, merely replacing the words you're typing with lines from the bard. At the same time, it's only £2 / $3, and if you're the sort of person who enjoys typing your way through a faux-grindhouse arcade shooter, maybe you'll also enjoy some Shakespeare?

A free update has also been released, bringing two-player competitive story mode and minigames.

But forget that, because without much ado, here are more screenshots of something silly that has this way come:

After recent comments appeared to imply that its developers are unconcerned with PC optimization, Ubisoft has responded with a broadside of information about the design process behind games like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Contrary to reports in the media, Ubisoft designers are "PC fans," according to a new post by Communications Manager Gary Steinman.

Steinman, a former editor of PC Gamer, had additional comments from Ubisoft associate producer Sylvain Trottier, who he says was "re-quoted out of context" in the media with regard to the PC version of ACIV. Trottier feels there is some confusion about how and when PCs are pushed to their maximum during the development process. Before any optimization work begins, there is an earlier phase that is all about discovering where the graphical boundaries might be, according to Trottier.

“You want to push the particle and lighting effects to the max to see how it looks,” Trottier said. “Thing is, while you’re doing that, the performance doesn’t matter. We were doing R&D. But we weren’t doing R&D for performance. We’re doing R&D to try to see how far we can push the limits, to make our game look very amazing.”

When the proper optimization of a game like ACIV begins for its respective platforms, the PC comes "first," according to Trottier.

“We are very proud of the PC version of Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag,” Trottier said. “The game runs well on low-end PCs, and lots of additional features were added for higher-end machines, allowing each and every customer to fully enjoy the experience on their PCs. Our partnership with Nvidia that saw our respective engineering teams work together to develop a highly optimized PC version also demonstrates our commitment to the platform.”

Now, to my eye, ACIV does look gorgeous, especially with the settings cranked up. I'm not sure a violent encounter with a rogue wave has ever looked so pretty on my machine. And we already knew there were graphical features exclusive to the PC version, which we learn from Trottier has its own team devoted to it over in Kiev, Ukraine. But of course I'm not running it on anything like the Large Pixel Collider either, so maybe I have yet to see where the limits of the game truly are.

Thanks, PCgamesN.

Steam Reviews, a new commentary system for Valve's distribution platform, entered open beta today and gives Steam users yet another way to give feedback on all the games they've played. Valve is calling the new feature an "evolution" of Steam's recommendation system, which has been an outlet for short form player reviews since 2010.

Steam Reviews will allow anyone who has launched a specific game or piece of software from his or her computer to write a review. Valve is saying it doesn't matter how you came by the game, just that you have launched it previously—this could be from a free weekend promotion, a Steam key you got somewhere else, or even Family Sharing. In an especially nice touch, Steam Reviews will be displaying your total playtime in the game right next to your review. Have you got over 200 hours logged in a massive game like Skyrim? People may want to hear from you before they pick it up on sale. This already saves a couple of steps compared with checking up on whether this or that Steam forum poster has actually played the game they are ranting or raving about.

All previous recommendations written for your friends under the old system are set to be upgraded to reviews, which we'll find listed at the bottom of each game's store page. It currently lists the most "helpful" ones at the top, but you can click over to see the total number and then run a filter based on the review's language and how recently it received a rating. It appears that developers can have their say as well. Developer comments will be labeled as such in order to distinguish them from the general player base if they respond to a specific review, according to Valve.

All in all it looks like an interesting expansion and consolidation of the previous recommendation system, especially considering a portion of the game reviews will be visible on their respective store pages. This new placement invites participation, but as with any new social feature, the users now get a chance to make it their own and will ultimately define how useful it ends up being. For the full FAQ on Steam Reviews, go here.

Oh phew. After the news drought of the last few days, I'd assumed an evil wizard had cursed digital entertainment, ensuring no new game releases would ever be made. Thankfully, the spell has been broken by the aptly prolific Traveller's Tales and their unstoppable Lego series. Lego: The Hobbit is to be the latest in their catalogue of blocky retellings of all things cinematic.

That's cinematic, not literary: Lego: The Hobbit is specifically following the first two films of Peter Jackson's "Hobbit trilogy", respectively titled An Unexpected Journey and Desolation of Smaug. From that, we can surmise that a third game will be wholly dedicated to the third movie. Of course, if Lord of the Rings is any signifier, that film will probably last approximately seventeen times the first two combined.

"Following the storyline of the first two films," explains the press release, "LEGO The Hobbit will take players on quests throughout Middle-earth, joining Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, and Thorin Oakenshield and Company in their exciting adventures toward the Dwarven Kingdom of Erebor."

You can see more of the announcement screenshots below, or pop over to our Lego: Lord of the Rings review for an idea of how a tag-team co-op partnership of Hobbit and Wizard will likely play out.

Lego: The Hobbit will be released on every platform across every timeline and alternate universe, including the PC. It's due out next Spring.

While I do love spreadsheets, I don't really care about football. Given that, I've never particularly followed the football management genre. My knowledge of the games that make up this sim subset comes entirely from conversations I've overheard. Those conversations were exclusively about Championship Manager. Then, when Sports Interactive moved from that series to Football Manager, that became the sports-flavoured bar-chart simulator of choice. All of which means I've only now learned that EA's FIFA Manager existed via the news that EA's FIFA Manager is going to stop being a thing that exists.

The announcement was made through an open letter by the series' founder, Gerald Köhler.

"Today I’m writing to tell you that FIFA MANAGER 14 will be the last instalment of the football simulation series marketed by EA SPORTS. This is was a very tough decision, so I want to take the time to explain it. This probably comes as a big disappointment to many of you, and it is understandable that you would ask why.

"The football manager genre at this level of sophistication is highly specialised and primarily played in two countries (England and Germany), in which – on top of everything – one game has practically dominated the market in recent years. The niche market and general trend toward online and mobile games were also contributing factors. Moreover, FM had reached a crossroads at which a new engine and/or corresponding online technology would be the only way to give the series a boost. When all these factors were evaluated, it led us to the decision to blow the final whistle."

You can read Köhler's full statement through the FIFA Manager 14 site. The gist, though, is that it's being discontinued because most people only talk about or play Football Manager. While FIFA Manager has never been critically praised (especially outside of Germany), its death does leave Sports Interactive's series essentially unopposed, which is a strange if inevitable consequence of their continued dominance as a populist entry in a niche genre.

Thanks, CVG.

Faster than Titan. That’s Asus’ claim for their latest bespoke graphics card, and by pairing up a couple of GK 104 GPUs, much like the GTX 690 before it, those claims have a certain validity.

The Asus Republic of Gamers Mars 760 graphics card is another dual-GPU monster, sticking a pair of the GTX 760’s own graphics processors onto a single slice of printed circuit board. That means it’s rocking 1,152 CUDA cores in each of its chips, for a total of 2,304 across the pair. That’s the same amount of cores as the vanilla GTX 780 and only a shade behind the GTX Titan.

The Asus Mars 760 has also got a pair of 2GB frame buffers for a total of 4GB GDDR5 and in true RoG style it’s got a fat 12-phase power design to allow both chips to top the 1GHz mark in terms of raw clockspeed. It's also the first time a GTX 760 card is able to be used in quad-SLI configurations - as shown above.

According to my sources at Asus it performs quicker than the Titan and generally on par with the GTX 780 Ti. The interesting thing to note is that even when the average frame rates are hitting parity the Mars 760 is supposedly able to offer higher minimum frame rates for a smoother gaming experience. I’ve only just received my card in the office so I’ve yet to put those claims to the test, but I’ll be back to tell you how it performs soon enough.

Price-wise, I'm told we’re looking roughtly £520. That’s a lot of cash considering the vanilla GTX 760 is available for just £180 at the moment and the GTX 780 Ti is about £550.

Personally speaking, even if it does offer higher frame rates than the single-GPU cards it’s tough to recommend a dual-GPU card for the same price. Straight performance isn’t everything, which is why I always preferred the GTX 780 and GTX Titan over either the GTX 690 or the HD 7990 - both of which offered higher frame rates. A little while down the line it may become tricky getting the dual-GPU setups to play nicely with the latest games, especially around their launch.

Despite my general distrust of multi-GPU setups though I am running a pair of GTX 680s in my office machine at the moment and it sure is making playing and recording Battlefield 4 a lovely experience.

My experience of GK 104 in SLI has been all kinds of positive...

The danger with writing about Star Citizen's financial achievements is that, currently, it's approaching a full time job. No sooner than you've thought of a pithy opening to lead the news that they've raised yet another million dollars, you find that they've raised yet another yet another million. The total is fast approaching the $31 million mark, but rather than wait the five minutes for that to happen, I want to go back and look at the $29 million milestone. It unlocked enhanced funding for the game's single-player campaign - Squadron 42 - which the developers are touting as a spiritual successor to Wing Commander.



Of the additional resources the achieved $29 million stretch goal unlocks, Chris Roberts writes, "the team at Foundry 42 has big plans for Squadron 42, and we’re going to provide extra funding to make it a true spiritual successor to Wing Commander! Squadron 42 can go above and beyond anything you’ve seen before. From opening with an epic battle instead of a training patrol to missions that seamlessly combine boarding and space combat, we aim to put you right into the action! Additional funding will let the team realize this, with enhanced mission design and more resources and animations to enhance fidelity."

Just days later, $30 million secured the Origin 890 JUMP ship, which you can read about here.

I remain wary about Star Citizen's ultimate outcome, and whether Cloud Imperium can deliver a game worthy of the significant amount of money that its fans have already pledged. Despite that, I've been impressed by the sensible selection of stretch goals the team have selected. It's an undeniably ambitious and inherently risky project, but providing more money to an existing feature seems like a better use of extra cash than further padding the already huge project with more features.

Recently Chris Roberts reaffirmed Star Citizen's PC credentials, saying a bunch of things designed to make PC gamers feel good about the prospect of deep, expansive space exploration.

Last week, I put out a universal distress call, pleading for some PC news with which to battle the approaching armada of console minutia. This morning, I get in to find that somebody has left a howdytron on our galactic garbleblab. Translating the message, I find... an advertisement for squirdleprong enlargement pills. Stupid space spam. Oh well, that was a waste of time. In which case, we'll have to make do with these first Galactic Civilizations 3 screenshots.

Click to enlargenate.



Here we see the new diplomacy screen. As in GalCiv2, there are a number of options for trade negotiations, including tech, ships, starbases colonies and resources. That means the infamous Tom Francis "give me everything you own for 1 bc" insult tactic is still alive and well.



A Drengin Battleship. From the picture, it's impossible to tell how many guns it's carrying. My guess is: a lot.



The main map screen made its debut in our GalCiv III preview, but I'm reposting it here because it's where you'll be spending most of your time in-game. The UI has had a pretty significant overhaul, and seems to strike a pretty nice balance between depth and readability.



Finally, a Krynn Starship, likely packed full of television and mind control.

For more details, and to here from the game's developers, check out our recent Galactic Civilizations 3 preview. You can also check out some of the game's concept art from the GalCiv 3 website, and see the announcement trailer below.

Sennheiser famously designs headsets for the aviation industry, so it’s little surprise the company is serious about comfort and fidelity. With the release of the G4ME Zero (and its sister product the G4ME One), Sennheiser is eager to reinforce its position as one of the leading audio peripheral companies for games, and the company believes its experience designing aviation headsets puts it at an advantage. The new G4ME range comes with the promise that Square Enix studio IO Interactive (Hitman: Absolution, Kane and Lynch) use them while building and testing their games. So impressed were IO that the two companies have formed ‘an alliance’, which is code for best friends forever in the corporate world.
The feel
The G4ME Zero comes packaged in a portable black zip-up shell. The headset itself is neatly collapsed inside an overall minimal package which contains no extra peripherals or adapters. Once you’ve plugged in the two 3.5mm adapters you’re ready to go - no fuss. The set’s adjustable speakers allow 90 degrees of turn in the backwards direction, while the memory foam earpads enclose the ears nicely. The headband boasts the same material on the underside, resulting in one of the most comfortable gaming headsets this reviewer has experienced: prolonged use didn’t irritate the upper ears like less elegantly designed headsets do.
The mouthpiece, which sits on the left speaker, is thick and solid. Even when bent violently (believe us, we tried) it exhibited no signs of wear. A central rubber section allows the mouthpiece to be adjusted tightly either closer or further from the mouth with no bounce. Swinging the mouthpiece upwards above the head will automatically mute the microphone. Meanwhile, a large volume knob can be found on the right earcup.
The sound
Sennheiser uses the emphatically un-catchy descriptor “Eargonomic Acoustic Refinement” to describe the technology which the G4ME series is based on, but all you really need to know is that it involves earcups containing aluminium. You don’t even really need to know that. You just need to know they sound very good.
We couldn’t find fault with the performance of the G4ME Zero: at high volumes it sounds massive, and beware, these headphones can be turned up extremely loud. We tried the set during a Battlefield 4 session and there was no deterioration of sound quality during especially loud and busy moments. Even when the set was turned up all the way we only identified very minor distortion, but this was only obvious when we were listening at very unhealthy and uncomfortable volumes.
Meanwhile, the listening experience boasts full surround sound, while the ear enclosing cups adequately cancel any unwanted environmental sounds. It was the in-game sense of distance that impressed us most with the Zero though, especially on the sprawling Battlefield 4 maps where we would tell that a distant skirmish was happening North East of where we were standing.
The verdict
The G4me Zero is not cheap, but anyone serious about audio fidelity knows that it’s worth paying top dollar for the best experience. On these terms, we couldn’t find fault with the price point of the Zero.
The Zero's design is rather bulky but it doesn't feel heavy, and we experienced no discomfort during the course of a solid two hour gaming session. The headset market is pretty crowded in Australia at the moment, but we can unreservedly recommend the Zero if you're after a high budget headset.
$399.95 (Australia RRP) ◆ en-au.sennheiser.com
Specs:



Impedance: Headphones: 150 Ω

Connector: 2 x 3.5 mm for desktop/laptop

Frequency response: Microphone: 50 Hz - 16,000 Hz

Frequency response: Headphones: 10 Hz – 26.000 Hz

Sound pressure level (SPL): Headphones: 108 dB

THD, total harmonic distortion: Headphones: < 0.1%

Weight: 312g

Pick-up pattern: Microphone: Noise Cancelling

Sensitivity: Microphone: -38 dBV at 94 dBSPL