Xbox France goes soccer crazy with Paris Saint-Germain Xbox One bundle

Microsoft is looking to tempt French soccer fans to the Xbox One with a new bleu bundle tied to the country's leading team, Paris Saint-Germain. The package includes the system, a subscription to the club's TV channel, a special jersey, and some unique stickers to adorn your Xbox One with so your gaming pals can know exactly who you support - if they hadn't worked it out from the jersey.

French retailer Micromania says the bundle launches on May 7 for 580 euros, compared to the regular 500 euros the system costs in the country. For reference, our French friends are paying what converts to around $690 for their Xbox One systems, and that goes up to $800 for the PSG bundle. Sacre bleu! Also, if you're a PSG fan who prefers your hardware flatter, Microsoft's France has a themed Surface bundle that's launching in May, too.

GTA 5: Xbox One, PlayStation 4 Versions Get Listed by Romanian Retailer; Glitch Lets You Make Unlimited Money after 1.12 Patch

Fans and players who want to see GTA 5 can give a small sigh of relief as a Romanian retailer, Altex has listed the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5) on its official website, GotGame reported. It also said that these versions might be released on 15 June 2015 and it also has a screenshot of the GTA 5's Xbox One and PlayStation 4 listing.
The website also details the listed pre-order's cost - 299.90 lei mark that will amount to $95 with June 15th 2015 as the shipping date. Altex seems to have quite a history as its listings are known to turn into reality.

Xbox One getting open-world "surrealist survival horror" game Grave

First-person open-world "surrealist survival horror" game Grave is headed to Xbox One, developer Broken Window Studios announced on the game's Kickstarter page recently. Microsoft has approved the company for its independent publishing program, ID@Xbox, and the desert-themed Grave is "officially approved to launch on Xbox One," the studio said.

The game's Kickstarter campaign has attracted just $9,349 of its $30,000 goal, though there's still 13 days to go. Grave for Xbox One is expected to launch simultaneously with the PC, Mac, and Linux versions in early 2015. You can get an Xbox One version of Grave if you have backed the project at $25 or above.

Google Buys Aerial Drone Company Titan Aerospace

Last month, it was revealed Facebook was in talks to acquire aerial drone technology from Titan Aerospace. The plan was to launch these unmanned gliders into the air, providing free or low-cost internet access to developing nations. But according to The Wall Street Journal, Google has actually bought the drone manufacturer outright.
Google was already at work on a similar scheme to bring internet access to remote areas through the use of altitude balloons through its Project Loon. The Titan Aerospace employees will now work the Loon team, but will stay at the start-ups offices in New Mexico.

Video games in education doesn't have to mean educational video games

Play is one of the fundamental ways in which humans learn. Video games, like games in general, are inherently educational, but they still haven't quite taken off in the classroom. Many teachers remain dismissive of video games, or outright hostile toward them. They don't recognize the value of video games as teaching tools. But according to the three individuals on the "Educational Video Gaming for the Millennial Generation" panel at PAX East 2014, there are plenty of ways to bring video games into the classroom and use them to augment the traditional curriculum.

Gaming news: Updates, announcement and next-gen resolutions

The first half of April has seen a number of big announcements in the gaming world. With Microsoft’s relentless schedule of Xbox One updates, some big game and release date reveals, updates on next-gen resolutions and a certain online retailer getting in on the action, there’s a lot to keep track of. Read on for all the important gaming news.

Why Oculus Rift And Virtual Reality Could Be Huge And Not Just For Gamers

Over two decades ago, I was in a theme park near London and in a small room tucked out of the way and with a far smaller queue than any of the vomit-inducing rides outside, sat two large seats with computers built into them. Something like ‘Virtual Reality Gaming’ was printed on the side and in one seat sat a boy about my age wearing a huge helmet. I could tell it was extremely heavy from the way his head was bobbing around but one this was sure – the guy was transfixed by what he was seeing inside the helmet.

Tavern gaming glitch may have cooled Pa. expansion efforts

State lawmakers may be skittish about bridging budget gaps with any more expansions of gambling in Pennsylvania, due to a so-far failed attempt to bring in big bucks from tavern gambling.
Late last year, as state coffers were looking empty, lawmakers floated ideas of expanding gambling to fill shortfalls.
They legalized small games of chance in bars and taverns (more about that in a minute). Lawmakers have continued to hear from the administration about adding keno drawings to the Pennsylvania Lottery's offerings. And, late last year, the state Senate ordered a study on whether to think about adding casinos or do more to boost the hefty tax revenues they get from gambling in Pennsylvania. The report, due in May, examines competition among casinos in and just outside Pennsylvania.

Ethical gaming: Can video games be a force for good?

A decade ago Asi Burak developed a video game designed to encourage opposing parties in the Israel-Palestine dispute over land to better understand – even empathise – with each other's point of view. That conflict may be no closer to a resolution, but the concept that interactive games can be used for more than mere entertainment, even as a tool for positive change, is looking like the next big thing in online gaming.
Next week, Burak's 11th annual Games for Change Festival will join forces with New York's prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in an effort to give video games greater recognition and counter the stereotype that this $65 billion global industry can specialise only in war games, urban chaos and medieval fantasy.

How gaming is reshaping the way museums teach

The success of most video games are measured by how fun they are, not so the games of New York's American Museum of Natural History.
Here if a game is too fun, too engaging, it can create problems.
Gaming has slowly become an important part of museum exhibit design, right alongside artifacts, fossils, movies, music and other forms of interaction.
And not surprisingly, the American Museum of Natural History continues to push the envelope on how gaming can be used to engage and educate.
Past exhibits with game-like elements include the museum's poison display, which features challenges that ask patrons to figure out how animals died and a massive tomb placed on a pedestal that animates when the pages are flipped to tell a moving, interactive story.

The state of 4K gaming: We’re glitching our way to gaming nirvana

When we reviewed the AMD R9 295X2 last week we took our first steps into testing 4K as well. 4K displays (3840×2160, technically) are The Next Big Thing for gaming, and with a graphics card as powerful as the R9 295X2, you really need to step into the 4K gaming world in order to benefit from the GPU’s full power. 4K displays capable of 30Hz can now be yours for as low as $700; 60Hz displays start around $1200.
Here are five things you need to know about 4K gaming before you decide whether or not it’s worth jumping for. While we’ll have some benchmarks to show you, this article is about the experience of playing in 4K, rather than raw frame rates.

Volkswagen Compact Sedan Based on Vento Rendered

It is a well-known fact that car manufacturers are betting big on compact vehicles to do large volumes in the Indian market. Hyundai informed us today that its Xcent compact sedan has managed to garner over 11,000 bookings in just the 30 days following its launch. This despite the fact that it was competing against potent rivals such as the Honda Amaze and Maruti Swift Dzire. There’s clearly a leaning towards compact cars in the Indian market and the demand is only going to be met with a higher supply. The latest company to express its interest in having a horse in the compact sedan race is Volkswagen.

Toyota Will No Longer Produce Small Cars in Indian Market

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd announced today that the company will no longer produce small cars in the Indian market. The announcement was made by company vice-chairman, Vikram Kirloskar, today in Mumbai, India. Instead, the company will focus on bigger car models in the region.
According to a report by Live Mint, the small car market in India accounts for 50% of cars sold there. However, few manufacturers have been able to enter this production segment. Cars that coss less than RS.4 lakh include the Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s Alto and WagonR and Hyundai Motor India Ltd’s Eion and i10.

BMW Recall 2014: Automaker Recalls 156,000 Luxury Cars And SUVs Over Faulty Engine Bolts

BMW is recalling 156,137 luxury cars and SUVs due to the possibility that bolts holding parts of the vehicles’ six-cylinder engines are defective, potentially causing engine-stalling, damage and failure.

The recall includes popular BMW models like the 1 Series, 3 Series, 5 Series, X3, X5, X6 and Z4 automobiles manufactured from 2010 through 2012. The 2012 6 Series is also included in the recall, USA Today reported earlier this week.
The recall began in China, Associated Press said, and was later expanded globally. BMW says the issue can be fixed and vehicle owners should contact a dealer immediately for service.
"In very rare cases, the bolts holding the variable camshaft timing (Vanos) unit housing may become loose or, in extreme cases, break," the company said in a statement.

Spring riding in R.I.: Check your bike, watch for sand, wear a helmet

Spring is finally here and it’s time to take the bike out of winter storage.
Chances are, your bike will need some attention before you take your first ride of the season. Or, as Bruce Masterson, the outreach coordinator for the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen, succinctly put it: “Make sure everything works.”
“Check for any problems before [your] first adventure on the bike path,” he said.
Kevin Murphy, general manager at NBX Bikes in Narragansett, said, “We offer a safety check to make sure the bike is in good shape after the winter.
“It’s not a full tune-up but a professional look over the bike to make sure nothing has loosened, a once-over to pick up something from a safety point of view, versus a full service.”

Lamborghini Bikes Show Indonesia Inequality Risk: Southeast Asia

Tedi Kumaedi earns about $87 a month selling instant coffee from his rusty bicycle near Jakarta’s stock exchange. At nearby TechnoBike, they’ve sold out of $25,000 Lamborghini-branded bicycles.
Narrowing the gulf between workers like Kumaedi, who toils for 14 hours a day outside a luxury hotel operated by Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., and TechnoBike’s increasingly affluent customers will be among the biggest challenges facing the winner of Indonesia’s presidential election in July.
The wealth gap in the world’s fourth most populous country is widening, threatening President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s goal for reducing poverty before he steps down after a decade in power. It’s also restraining growth in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, as consumption by the poorest half of the country stagnated last year, according to the World Bank.

New Ford Fiesta Facelift Spied in ‘Kinetic Blue’

The 2014 Ford Fiesta facelift has been spied testing in India once again. Ford has been testing the car extensively in Indian conditions as a result of which there’s been a surfeit of spy pics ever since the testing phase began. The last batch of spy pics of the new Fiesta facelift came to use from the parking lot of a well-known ad-agency in Gurgaon. This led to speculation that the car would be launched soon, seeing as how Ford was putting together the advertising campaign. Ford’s international website already mentions the 2014 facelift. These signs lead us to believe the 2014 ford Fiesta facelift will launch in India in not more than a couple of months.
The test mule was spotted in Chennai, near where Ford manufactures its cars

Paris-Roubaix 2014 podium bikes

This year's Paris-Roubaix served up a thrilling finish with Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) successfully attacking an elite group just a few kilometers outside of the hallowed velodrome. John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) won the group sprint that followed for second, and three-time winner Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) would cap off the podium. Here's a look at the bikes they used today.

Niki Terpstra's Specialized S-Works Roubaix SL4

Specialized's marketing department is surely having a field day today as Terpstra's win marks the company's sixth win at Paris-Roubaix since 2008. Terpstra rode the same S-Works Roubaix SL4 model as teammate and four-time winner Tom Boonen, which features the same smooth ride as on stock bikes but with a more aggressive 'Pro' geometry that's both longer and lower than what's available in stores.

Yamaha launches FZ, FZ-S and Fazer bikes in new colours

CHENNAI: Yamaha has launched some product refreshes to pep up its lineup in 2014. Yamaha Motor India Sales has launched the variants of the bestselling Yamaha motorcycles namely FZ, FZ-S and Fazer in vibrant colour schemes and graphics to boost sales and create more excitement among customers and motorcycle aficionados.

In all, three new colours for each FZ, FZ-S and Fazer motorcycles have been introduced along with some stylish and aggressive graphics. The refreshed Fazer is priced at Rs 77,351, FZ at Rs 70,411 and FZ-S at Rs 72,385, all ex-showroom in Delhi.

The 153cc FZ series and Fazer motorcycles are two of the most popular products offered by Yamaha Motor India Sales. These bikes have gained immense traction among customers since the launch of FZ series in 2008.

Call of Duty Championships and the ever-changing world of eSports

CompLexity won this year's Call of Duty Championship with a dominant display worthy of the $400,000 grand prize.

CompLexity is a gaming organisation that represents multiple eSports teams, providing sponsorship, management, merchandise and, more importantly, an opportunity to compete at the biggest events for the biggest prizes.

Still, while the world of big cash and corporate sponsorship is a million miles away from the majority of Call of Duty clans, entry into eSports is within every gamer's grasp.

Wargaming.net: F2P Games Are Possible On Oculus Rift, Will Casual Games Take Over?

One of the biggest names in free to play browser games, Wargaming.net’s CEO Victor Kislyi, says that his company sees Oculus as a viable place for free to play games once it hits an install base of five to ten million. What does this say about the future of Oculus?
When Facebook purchased Oculus for $2 billion, there were two things gamers and observers were most worried about. The first, and the one that got most of the attention, was a healthy concern about privacy and ads. Gamers were worried about Zuckerberg and his company storing data on everything do or look at in the metaverse they create for us, and selling that information to [enter nefarious party here].

Korean gaming industry taking off around the world

More Korean games are being exported than Korean pop music,
According to a report released by the Korea Finance Corporation on Monday, the nation's game exports topped 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2012.
That is more than ten-times larger than exports of Korean music in the same year.
The gaming figure refers to all online, video, mobile, PC, and arcade games being sold outside the country.

Tecmo Koei gauging fan interest in PC gaming

Here’s something a bit strange; Japanese publisher Tecmo Koei has started sniffing around its established fanbase to see how many of them are interested in PC Gaming.
Writing on its Facebook page, Tecmo Koei said it’s not trying to tease fans.
“We just want to know how many so we can see what we can do,” the company said.
The publisher of Dead or Alive, Fatal Frame and Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo Koei has released a few games on PC but very few of them in the west; its latest was Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. It has a couple of properties that would be great on PC, like Nobunaga’s Ambition and Kessen, but given that its strongest fanbase in the west is for Dynasty Warriors, that’s probably what it’s thinking of.
A number of Dynasty Warriors games have been released on PC, and the publisher recently announced a port of its latest, Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends – but only for Japan. For now.

Rumor: Photos of iPhone 6 manufacturing molds, schematics leak online

A set of photos published to the Chinese microblogging website Sina Weibo on Sunday allegedly show detailed schematics, CAD renderings and physical manufacturing molds for Apple's next-generation iPhone. 
The pictures, posted to Sina Weibo, depict highly detailed iPhone 6 chassis production assets and are said to have originated at a plant belonging to Apple partner manufacturer Foxconn, reports GforGames.

As seen above, one photo of purported iPhone 6 technical schematics shows an extremely thin chassis design with a tapered design and what appears to be chamfered edges, a design flourish used in Apple's most recent products.

Review follow-up: Gaming on Amazon's Fire TV and Fire Controller

When Amazon launched its Fire TV earlier this month, the company positioned casual gaming as one of the set-top streamer's "bonus" features. In this review follow-up, AppleInsider picks up the controller to find out if mobile gaming is ready for the living room.
As mentioned in our initial Fire TV review, it comes as no surprise that Amazon wants to differentiate its set-top box from the competition. Apple TV and Roku already have a substantial lead in large installed user bases, while Google's latest Chromecast offering comes at a hard-to-beat price point.

PAX East 2014: MSI Showcases GS60 Ghost Pro 3K Ultra-Thin Gaming Notebook [Video]

Back in December, a little over a year after Linux creator Linus Torvalds famously lamented the lack of laptops with “reasonable resolution” displays, Taiwanese PC vendor MSI launched the industry’s first 3K gaming laptops in the form of the GT60 2OD-261US and  2OKWS-278US. Now, the company is all set to add another 3K notebook to its lineup. Maximum PC’s Jimmy Thang got up close and personal with the upcoming GS60 Ghost Pro gaming notebook at PAX East.

Gaming is helping to keep the PC market alive, PC gaming panel says

During today's computer gaming panel at PAX East 2014, "The (Incredible) Future of PC Gaming," the topic at hand was — as you may have guessed — a contrarian viewpoint to the conventional wisdom that holds that the PC is on the decline. At the same time, it's not as if the panelists, who came from a wide spectrum of the PC gaming industry, were blind to the realities of the market. They just focused on the gaming segment of the platform. Gaming, they said, will keep the PC relevant for the foreseeable future.
According to the panelists, there are many positive aspects of the PC platform that are obvious, including how open it is and how customizable it allows games to be.

Gaming News: Assassin’s Creed: Comet Rumours, Xbox One Exclusive Coming to Steam, Dragon Age: Inquisition Gets Kinect Commands

After a series of leaks and rumours about the upcoming Assassin's Creed: Unity, new bit of information has leaked for the other AC game, which will be coming to the last-gen consoles PS3 and Xbox 360.

Titled Assassin's Creed Comet, the other game from Ubisoft will supposedly be set in Ancient Rome, if an interview with Jade Raymond, Ubisoft Toronto head is something to go by.
Videogamer reports that aside from the French Revolution, which is the period for Assassin's Creed: Unity, another time period was mentioned during the interview.
"There is an additional element of getting to relive and play a role in these pivotal moments in history. We work with historians to create these societies-ancient Rome, the French Revolution. And because each game is crafted in a new era, players don't get tired of it."

Why Logitech redesigned a beloved gaming mouse

It's been five years since Logitech has completely redesigned its flagship gaming mouse, as much as 11 years depending on how you define the core design, so it was with immense care that they rolled out a replacement for their popular G500S.
The G502 Proteus Core tunable mouse hits stores this month, replacing the G500s with what Logitech product manager Chris Pate said is the best technology put into a mouse.
"It's replacing the beloved shape of the G500s," he said. "It's designed to feel good to people who have used the G500s, but to also improve the design.
"This is our flagship gaming mouse."