Getting free games bundles with your graphics card or motherboard isn’t something new, that has been around for quite a while now, but it is a rarity that we also see games being bundled with power supplies. In fact, I can’t remember it happening before myself. However, that is exactly what EVGA has done as the have gone ahead and bundled Grey Goo Definitive Edition with select power supplies.
The game isn’t just bundled with a one or two power supplies, this offer applies to pretty much the entire 80Plus Gold, Platinum, and Titanium rated power supply lineup, as you can see in the list below. Ranging from entry level 550W models all the way up to impressive 1600W models, the offer is made available for most people.
Grey Goo is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that combines classic strategy mechanics and a balanced combat system with an emphasis on large-scale decision-making. It puts you at the centre of a tactical struggle for survival – and ultimately, control of Ecosystem 9.
The game features both a single-player campaign as well as multiplayer action with your friends and enemies. In single player, you have the option to play one of three factions: Humans, Beta, and the Goo. The Humans are the masters of defensive architecture while the Beta only is described as a proud and versatile alien race. The Goo is probably what most people will want to play tho as that is the enigmatic and highly mobile life form made up of, yes you guessed it, grey goo. In the multiplayer part, you also get a fourth faction, the disruptive and unpredictable Shroud.
As always with this kind of offer, there are a few conditions to get the free game. You’ll have to have purchased the power supply on March the 25th, 2016 or later from an authorized reseller. You’ll also need to register the purchased product to get the game key. Once you’ve followed the redeem guide, you’ll get a game code emailed that you then can activate through your Steam app as you most likely have done with so many games before.
T-Mobile is known for their data options, with their video on demand service, named Binge, offering people the chance to watch as much Netflix and video streaming sites as they could wish for (if the service has agreed to partner up on as one of Binge supporters). This was until it was revealed that the service was, in fact, throttling other video sites that weren’t on the Binge service. Now it would seem that they want to give you just the data in a new data only plans.
TmoNews managed to obtain a document that seems to reveal the option for Simple Choice Data Only plans, offering people the choice of mobile options without having to pay for the minutes , instead opting to use VoIP (voice over IP) systems like Skype.
The listed release date for the data only bundles is the 30th March, offering the service to GSM devices only (although as a standard this should cover most phones). In addition to the data you receive all of the bundles will also include unlimited texting, giving you the ability to lose the minutes that are rarely used for even more YouTube and Facebook time.
With more and more people using systems like Skype to communicate instead of traditional phone networks, could we see data only plans become an option across the board for mobile providers?
Ever feel like making your own game? Well with the news that the Cryengine is now free to use, you could start doing just that and Humble bundle are looking to help you by giving you a bunch of assets for cheap with proceeds going to charity.
As with most bundles, there are three tiers for the Cryengine bundle. The first tier features everything you need to create your very first game, with plants, shrubs and trees joining environmental props and a paintball first person shooter project to get you started with the engine.
The second bundle you get once your donation goes over the average and features some vehicles, weapons, audio tools and the nature and animal pack for Ryse.
Finally, you have the upper tier of the bundle, featuring a starter project for a survival game, some extra vehicles, characters and city scenery. You even get two Ryse packs, featuring the world building and roman pack which contains building and characters from Ryse: son of Rome.
With so much content, you could build your own survival game combining the best of two worlds, with legionnaires going up against your well-armed modern day character or perhaps flip the table and see how long a well-armed legionnaire would survive in the modern city?
The world is yours to create, and with the money going towards the children’s miracle network, a charity where gamers help support hospitals all over, you can’t help but grab the bundle.
E-Blue may be a fairly new name to most of our readers, but they’re quickly pushing into new parts of the world with their products and their latest, the E-Blue K820 Professional Gaming Combo certainly caught our attention. There’s a lot of competition in the market right now to make the absolute best budget friendly gaming bundle. With many people investing in their first computers, building on a tight budget, or even just looking for an affordable solution for younger games; especially with the never-ending popularity of Minecraft, it makes sense that there’s a big market for affordable peripherals.
“Our mission is to bring stylish, trendy and high-quality products to the worldwide end-users. We believe that there are many good products in the market but they are in unreasonable price to the end-user and also there exist many low-graded of products with bad quality and in low price to a big group of user. But these two types are not the most desired and demanded to the customers. They desire the products more trendy, under reasonable price and good quality with high durability. This is how e-blue insist to keep such principle as the main mission.” – E-Blue
E-Blue has been around since 1999, working out of Hong Kong and creating a range of OEM products, but have pushed their own hardware, such as keyboards, mice, headsets, gaming chairs and more. Since then, they’ve been working with Marvel Inc for Iron Man branded hardware, they’re investing in eSports and sponsor LoL champions EDG Gaming, and are opening hundreds of E-Blue equipped internet cafes/Gaming Arena’s in China; safe to say, they’re not doing too badly at all.
What’s great about this bundle is that it has the keyboard, a mouse and the mouse mat all packed into a single box. This is super convenient for getting ready for some gaming, but I think it also doubles up as a nice gift bundle; very handy when Christmas comes around.
Ergonomic designed shape, standard 104 key layout and the lifespan up to 10 million for both gaming and office demands.
Mouse is tailored in ergonomic design with perfect grip and dazzle blue lighting effect, 3 levels DPI shift to select.
Mouse pad adopts high compact weaving mesh surface with unique splash-ink design.
while not the highest spec of hardware ever, it’s a good entry point and looks like great value for money given the current RRP.
First thing I noticed was that the packaging is very well designed. Great images of the products on the front, as well as a rundown of the main features and specifications around the back.
In the box, you’ll find a hard-wired keyboard, hard-wired mouse, mouse mat, and a set of extra key caps.
Fractal Design are one of the best chassis manufacturers in the world, having created a stunning range of products over the years, as well as branching out into the world of PSUs, CPU coolers and more. Today they look set to dominate the living room, with the release of their Node 202 mini-ITX chassis. What makes this one so special is that it is designed to house a high-end system, but maintains that slim form factor, allowing you to put it under your TV or on your desk with ease; perfect for a gaming system/steambox or a HTPC configuration.
“The Node 202 is the ultimate PC case for those looking for a beautifully designed, compact chassis that can house a capable gaming build. This small footprint is an intelligently built unit where extreme detail was placed into the design phase to get every line and spec in perfect harmony. With both horizontal and vertical orientation possibilities, the Node 202 can be placed anywhere in the house. The sleek design makes it very attractive next to the TV in the living room or on your desk in the office.”
With a small footprint and a volume of just 10.2 liters, it’s hard to belive that this chassis can house a pair of 2.5″ hard drives, motherboard, CPU cooler, PSU and more impressive of all, a pretty large graphics card.
Specifications
Mini ITX motherboard compatibility
2 – 2.5″ SSD unit positions
2 expansion slots
2 – 120mm optional fan positions in graphics card chamber
CPU coolers up to 56 mm in height
PSU compatibility: SFX PSUs up to 130mm long
Graphics card compatibility: Maximum dimension of graphics card is 310x145x47mm (LxHxD)
Can be placed both vertical and horizontal position
3 dust filters included (for CPU, GPU and PSU)
Case volume: 10.2 litres
Colors available: Black
Case dimensions – Horizontal (WxHxD): 377 x 82 x 330 mm
Case dimensions – Horizontal, with feet/protrusions/screws (WxHxD): 377 x 88 x 332 mm
Case dimensions – Vertical, with feet/protrusions/screws (WxHxD): 125 x 385 x 332 mm
Net weight: 3.5 kg
Package dimensions (WxHxD): 145 x 463 x 388 mm
Package weight: 5.2kg
To make the build even easier, the model we have today comes with that rather fantastic Integra SFX 450W 80 Plus Gold power supply pre-installed, meaning that you can get your system up and running a lot quicker, and that 450W delivery is going to be more than enough for even the most demanding CPU/GPU combinations.
“The Integra SFX 450W PSU that comes inclusive with the enclosure provides stable power to the most demanding systems. It comes with customized connectors and tailored cables perfectly fitted for use within the Node 202, contributing to hassle-free installation and cable management.”
80PLUS® Bronze certification
80mm, temperature controlled fan
Maximum operating temperature at full load: 50°C (50°C @ 100%)
Fully Intel Haswell C6/C7 compliant
3 years warranty
Taiwanese capacitors
OPP / OVP / UVP / SCP / OCP Protection
Can be placed both vertical and horizontal position
100,000 hours life expectancy (MTBF)
SFX 3.3 PSU specification compliance
ErP 2013 compliant (<0.5W system power draw)
Colors available: Black
Unit measurements (WxHxD): 125 x 64 x 100 mm
Net weight: 1.0 kg
So specs and things aside, let’s move on to the actual hardware. First up, we can see the packaging is fairly simple, with a big sticker on the front letting us know we’ve got the Integra SFX 450W included in the chassis, as well as a handy 3-year warranty.
Around the back, there is a fantastic technical breakdown of each component, showing you exactly which features you’re going to get from this build.
First things out of the box, a simple user guide, warranty booklet and general product information.
You’ll also find a nice little box of accessories.
This includes a bundle of cable ties, all the usual fitting screws, and some stick-on rubber feet.
One of the most important components is this adaptor for the PCI-E slot, allowing the GPU to lay parallel to the motherboard, allowing for a slimmer chassis design.
Finally, there’s a slot-in vertical mount, giving you another great way to display your system.
It’s very sturdy and comes with four rubber grip feet on the base to prevent it from sliding around.
Now onto the best part, the chassis its self! It’s certainly nice and slim, and should blend easily into your AV setup; if that’s where you wanted it at least. There’s a little bit of ventilation down the left side, giving some extra airflow to the graphic card area.
Down the right side, a lot more ventilation, giving air intake to the motherboard and PSU mounting area, with even more ventilation on the top for heat exhaust from any CPU cooler you’re using.
The finish is sublime, a mostly plastic exterior, but with a soft matte finish that gives it a premium look and feel.
Aside from the subtle Fractal Design logo, you’ll also find all the usual ports and controls down here. One little touch that I very much like is the black USB 3.0 ports, as they’re visually less distracting than the usual blue ones, and that can’t be understated for those wanting a clean-looking HTPC build.
Around the back, we’ve got the motherboard I/O cut out, two expansion slots, and the PSU pass through port.
The PSU actually mounts on the front right corner, but an internal cable means you only have to connect the PSU power at the back, where you can easily hide the cables out of sight.
On the base of the chassis, a lot more ventilation. There’s a small vent on the right, allowing airflow to the PSU, as well as a long vent on the left for the PSU air intake.
It’s that time again, Sales time! We all know the most important sales for an owner of a PC is when the Steam sale comes around. You load up the page, and suddenly the money just seems to fade away from you as game after game comes along. You notice a bundle, your favourite game series has released a bundle with DLC’s and add-ons galore, but its still going to cost you a pretty large amount even though you own the main bulk of the bundle. This is all set to change though with Steam bundles losing price if you own something in the bundle.
The scale of the discount you’ll receive will changed based on several things including the price of what you own and how many of the items in the bundle you own, this means that you will only be paying the difference between your collection and the bundle. This doesn’t mean that all bundles will work like this, with older bundles (titled Must Purchase Together by Valve) will still exist for things like deluxe editions of games and those with soundtracks included in specific purchases.
Currently the system is only in place for a few bundles, and with an unclear future of when it could be rolled out to every bundle in their library, we just hope it’s done before the next Steam sale.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is almost here and to celebrate this, Nvidia has revealed their latest GTX gaming bundle that will add even greater value to their graphics card range. Those who are planning to purchase an Nvidia Geforce graphics card will soon find a bundled code for upcoming tactical FPS, Tom Clancy’s The Division. This is great news for gamers, as the early beta testing of the game has been mostly positive, showing great potential and a good return to form for the franchise.
Of course, it the best news for those upgrading their graphics hardware, as you’re most likely upgrading to play the latest games, but with this bundle you won’t have the extra burden on your budget to purchase the game as well as the graphics card. The bundle is only available for a limited time, however, so it would be good to grab one while stocks last. How long the promotion will last is currently unknown, but I’m sure there will be plenty available.
Nvidia is still set to release more details on the bundle but for the most part, its pretty straight forward. Buy one of the valid cards from any retailer participating in the promotion and you’re good to go. The current deal covers the GeForce GTX 970 or above, but will also cover notebooks, so long as they feature a GeForce GTx 970M or above.
With Tom Clancy’s The Division currently preparing to go into free open beta on February 18th, you’ve got time to prepare to play it. While the game is available on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with this promotion in place, it’s clear that PC is going to be the ultimate place to play it.
Are you looking forward to playing Tom Clancy’s The Division and will you be snapping up this offer to play it on a new Nvidia graphics card? Let us know in the comments section below.
Freebies are something that we all like and AMD has now bundled the new Hitman game with some of their graphics cards and processors as well as systems prebuilt with these components. AMD has partnered with IO Interactive again to bring this deal and they also joined the AMD Gaming Evolved program in order to get the best out of the hardware with top-flight effects and performance optimizations for PC gamers.
The bundle deal runs from the February the 16th and it is valid with the purchase of selected products from participating retailers – as it always is. In this round, AMD bundles Hitman with their Radeon R9 390 and 390X graphics cards as well as their FX 6 and 8 core processors (PIB). The bundle will last until 30th of April 2016 or whilst supplies last. Vouchers can be redeemed until 30th of June 2016.
The new Hitman game is offered in a seasonal fashion with a base game and periodic add-ons that will continue the story, but it is handled in the best possible way. The full experience with the full season off new missions won’t cost more than other games costs in themselves without DLCs and this AMD bundle also includes the full game rather than just the initial release. You will also get access to the BETA for Hitman that will run from the 19th to the 22nd February.
Those that have upgraded to Windows 10 will have the best experience with this new game as it has been built to take advantage of DX12, a feature that will make a very noticeable difference for AMD CPU users.
“Hitman will leverage unique DX12 hardware found in only AMD Radeon GPUs, called asynchronous compute engines, to handle heavier workloads and better image quality without compromising performance. PC gamers may have heard of asynchronous compute already, and Hitman demonstrates the best implementation of this exciting technology yet.”
You can find all the fine print and redeem your game code on the official Hitman mini-site. The beta phase is almost here, so it might be time to make that upgrade that you’ve holding back with. The full hardware specifications and recommendations have also been published a few days ago, in case you missed them.
Everyone likes to get things for free and you will if you purchase one of EVGA’s graphics cards Nvidia GTX 900 series graphics cards. For a limited time, EVGA will bundle codes for action role-playing game Bombshell with the purchase of EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN X, 980 Ti, 980, 970, 960, and 950 graphics cards.
Bombshell comes from the creators of Rise of the Triad and legendary game maker 3D Realms. Some of our readers might not be old enough to remember Rise of the Triad, also known as ROTT, but it was a groundbreaking first person shooter game back in the 90s. There was a recent remake of the original game that came out in the end of 2013, but the original is what I’ll remember.
“Bomb disposal technician turned mercenary for hire, Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison must strong-arm her way across 4 planets in an Unreal Engine-powered galactic adventure to rescue the president from an apocalyptic alien threat. With out-of-this-world enemies, a never-before-seen arsenal of devastating weaponry and a host of genre-crossing mechanics, Bombshell is set to blow you away.”
The basic story plot of the game is pretty generic in its form, you have to save the president. But other than that, it looks pretty fun. You travel the dying world of Kyrron as it’s consumed by its neighboring sun. You’ll then have to shell, shock and shatter your way through vicious, bloodthirsty predators, an augmented alien species, and the remnants of an ancient race re-animated, with more than 10 weaponized arm modifications.
Your hero, Shelly Bombshell Harrison, has fierce finishing moves and can use the interactive environments make to make her as dynamic as she is deadly. The game is described as a brutal shooting game mixed with classic role-playing mechanics, which both should speak to a lot of people. Those are two of the biggest game genres.
The game is enhanced for use with Nvidia based graphics cards, which is why it comes bundled with those and not the entire EVGA lineup. The game has been enhanced with NVIDIA HBAO+, PhysX and Turbulence Technologies for lifelike physics effects and realistic shadows.
Normally the game will set you back €35.99 on Steam, so it is a nice gift to get along with your new graphics card as well as something to test your new found capabilities thanks to the GTX 900 series graphics cards. You can check the long list of participating cards here where you also can redeem your code. The promotion is valid purchases made on or after January 29th, 2016.
Blizzard had a very long and impressive success with World of Warcraft and while that is declining, they haven’t really found the next big thing to capture the users on the same level. Heroes of Storm has been off to a relatively good start, but nothing compared to World of Warcraft. That means that the marketing has to change and we see a lot of promotions lately with Heroes of the Storm packages bundled. The latest in this series is MSI that now bundles limited edition versions of Heroes of the Storm with select gaming systems.
While the game in itself is free, there are many items to get and these bundles include downloadable limited edition items for Heroes of the Storm. MSI’s bundle comes with their desktops and All-in-One PCs that are officially authorized and recommended by Blizzard Entertainment. While we have seen other bundles in the past, this is the first time that Blizzard teamed up for full systems.
Most people should know Heroes of the Storm by now, even if they haven’t played it themselves. It is a multiplayer online battle arena game that features heroes from Blizzard’s other games such as Diablo, Warcraft, and StarCraft. The game uses both free-to-play and freemium models and is supported by micropayments, which can be used to obtain heroes, visual alterations for the heroes in the game and mounts.
The limited edition MSI GAMING 24 and GAMING 27 all-in-one PCs have been engraved with Blizzard’s Heroes to make it remarkable. Users will find an exclusive voucher with the Hero character named Valla inside. The Nighblade MI2 system comes with an exclusive voucher with Hero character, Diablo with a Kaijo Skin while the MSI Nightblade X2B comes with a voucher for the Hero character Gazlowe and a Big Top skin.
These MSI systems might be compact and small, but they still pack great power that is backed by Intel i7’s and Nvidia 900 series graphics cards, among other things. If you just want something simple that works right out of the box, then solutions like these could be perfect. If you also play Heroes of the Storm or want to start it, then they might be perfect.
Ian “8Pack” Parry is one of the most respected overclockers in the world and renowned for setting various world records! Not only that, he employs his many years of experience and specialized expertise to help retailer, Overclockers UK produce extreme grade bundles as well as pre-configured dream systems. After focusing on the elite tier market, 8Pack has decided to cater towards the mainstream customer while only recommending hardware he would feel comfortable using.
The 8Pack Approved Gaming bundle includes an Intel Core i5-6400, 8GB (2x4GB) HyperX Fury 2666MHz DDR4 memory (upgradable to 16GB), ASUS Z170-E motherboard, Alpenföhn Brocken 2 CPU Cooler and 1g Thermal Grizzly which allows for multiple applications. This basic package retails for £329.95 and includes free next day shipping via DPD. By default, the CPU is capable of reaching 4.4GHz despite having a locked multiplier. This is because you can attain substantial speed increases using BCLK adjustments. If this seems like a daunting experience, then there’s nothing to worry about as 8Pack has outlined the recommended settings to easily reach the 4.4GHz figure. Furthermore, if you encounter any problems, he’s usually on hand to help out!
While the bundled air cooler is perfectly acceptable, some users might prefer a more visually pleasing alternative. For an extra £40.94, you can acquire the OcUK TechLabs 120mm All-In-One Watercooler which comes with a Silverstone FQ121 fan in black. This is one of the best water cooling fans on the market and maintains quiet operation. Overall, this is a fantastic bundle for users on a budget and incorporates possibly the best technical support available to consumers.
It’s also great to see a number of options in terms of memory capacity and cooler preference. Since the revelations about Skylake’s CPU strap, there’s no real reason to opt for an unlocked multiplier unless you want to simplify the overclocking process. However, in this case, the hard work has already been done by 8Pack with the hardware testing and recommended profiles.
At this time of year, we often see sales appear, from GOG’s store opening sales and deals to the infamous Steam Winter Sale. Amongst these sales, we must remember to keep your eyes peeled for other great deals, the ones that may not be holiday deals, but don’t mean they can’t brighten up those dark mornings. One of the regular deals, Humble Bundle, is back with yet another great selection.
The Humble Square Enix Bundle features a range of games going from $1 to $13. At $1 you get Life is Strange episode 1 and the last Remnant. As if altering time in order to twist a story as you wish it to unfold and saving the world from creatures unknown but all-powerful isn’t enough, why not solve murders in Murdered: Soul Suspect. Still not interested? How about Tomb Raider 1, 2 and 3!
Still not interested? Why not get Just Cause 1 and 2, 30 days of Final Fantasy XIV and Front Mission Evolved among the “pay more than the average” price bracket. With games like Tomb Raider GOTY edition and Hitman Absolution Elite Edition in the $13 bracket with even more games unlocking on Tuesday.
Quake, one of the most iconic shooters of all time, is now available at Bundle Stars. While that in its self isn’t the biggest news ever, what really stands out is that all games in the Quake franchise and all their respective DLC are bundled together for one amazing price.
From the original Quake, the legendary Quake II, and even my personal favourite Quake III Arena are all included. This is a huge amount of classic gaming for you to play through and even if you’re done with it, it’s not a bad stocking filler for those shopping for a few Christmas gifts this holiday season.
QUAKE – Stop the Alien invaders and take on 32 single player stages, and compete in 6 deathmatch stages. Experience the immersive world of Quake, a game still considered to be one of the most influential games of all time.
QUAKE Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon – Their leader Shub-Niggurath may have been defeated, but the QUAKE forces still roam Earth. Leap into the connecting portal and shut down the source of the evil for good.
QUAKE Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity – Your journey has led you down a path of no return. Save the entire universe and stop QUAKE for good, or die trying in the two concluding chapters in the original QUAKE story.
QUAKE II – Travel to Alien planet and fight to determine the fate of humanity. With your team reduced to but a few, and the odds stacked against you, will you be able to shut down the enemy’s war machine for good?
QUAKE II Mission Pack: Ground Zero – Taking out the Big Gun sounded simple enough, except the Strogg were waiting. You may have survived that, but The Gravity Well, the Strogg’s newest weapon in its arsenal against mankind, is now operational.
QUAKE II Mission Pack: The Reckoning – As part of an elite commando force, you must work to infiltrate a hostile Alien cite in order to stow away on an Alien spacecraft. Only then can you destroy their secret moon base, and complete your mission.
QUAKE III Arena – Welcome to the Arena, where high-ranking warriors are transformed into spineless mush. Take on Alien races with explosive weapons knowing that only the victor gets to walk out alive.
QUAKE III Team Arena – United by name and by cause, The Fallen, Pagans, Crusaders, Intruders, and Stroggs must channel their power into an allied operation, where teamwork is the only method of mass destruction.
QUAKE IV – Continuing on from Quake II’s conclusion, take the battle to the heart of the Strogg home planet and become earth’s only hope for victory. This time around, the only way to defeat the enemy is to become one of them.
There is one small catch, however, the bundle is region locked, so if you’re from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt or Lebanon, Steam will NOT active the codes for you.
So what are you waiting for? Head over to Bundle Stars where you’ll find the Quake Bundle for just $10.19 / £5.77 / 10.19 EUR.
Humble Bundle often discounts a number of enticing games and allows you to choose what percentage of the money goes to charity. Recently, the company expanded the amount of charities you can donate to which helps funds a cause close to your heart. The latest bundle incorporates a huge amount of Codemasters games at rock bottom prices. The $1 or more tier includes Grid 2 + Drift Pack, DIRT Showdown, Overlord, Operation Flashpoint Complete, Hospital Tycoon and Colin McRae Rally. Sadly, GRID 2 is a poor sequel and doesn’t live up to its iconic predecessor. Additionally, DIRT Showdown tries to emulate Flatout and just ends up being very annoying, and rather lackluster.
On another note, Colin McRae Rally is a mobile port and doesn’t really honor the original series. However, the Operating Flashpoint games are surprisingly good and very difficult. If you beat the average, it also comes with GRID Autosport, Overlord II, Overlord Raising Hell, GRID 2 Spa-Francorchamps Track Pack and more! GRID Autosport is miles better than GRID 2 in terms of physics and career mode but it’s still not as good as the original title.
Finally, if you pay more than $15, the pack includes GRID Autoport Season Pass, Dirt 3 Complete Edition and GRID 2 DLC pack. This is certainly worth the extra for DIRT 3 Complete given the huge selection of vehicles, tracks and superb handling model. The game was originally criticized for its horrible DLC model, but at least all of the extra content is included and you no longer have to deal with Games For Windows Live!
The Humble Bundle is a well-known thing to PC gamers. The concept is that a selection of games will become available for as little as $1, with additional games being unlocked when you pay a little more. With you able to define how much you give to Humble Bundle’s creators, the game owners and from a selection of charities, you are able to decide just where your money goes. More recently they began the humble weekly bundle, a smaller time offer (at the moment the weekly bundle is titled “Japan Edition All-Stars”) and then the Humble store, offering games with a confirmed percentage going to charity. If you’re a fan of 2K’s games then it may be worth checking the site out as they are currently having a sale which will intrigue even the most reserved gamers.
Xcom Enemy Unknown for £6.24 (75% off), Bioshock Infinite for £4.99 (75% off), Civilization 5 £4.99 (75% off) and the expansions are both £4.99 each (Brave New World and Gods and Kinds).
Get the latest Sid Meier’s Civilization, Beyond Earth, for 50% at only £14.99, or if you feel like a great shooter with an interesting story and characters then why not grab some of the Borderlands series. The original Borderlands (GOTY edition with all the DLC’s) is only £4.99 (75% off) while Borderlands 2 (GOTY edition) is £8.74 (75% off). The latest in the borderlands series, Borderlands the pre-sequel, is also included at £11.99 (60% off).
See a few games you like? Spend over £10 and add Darkness II to your cart to receive it for free. Good games, good deals, and great causes, what isn’t there to like about that!?
The huge discounts during Steam sales and various bundles makes PC gaming an affordable proposition once you’ve paid for the hardware. Certainly, the most famous bundle company is Humble which offers a host of great games at discounted prices every week. The latest Humble Weekly Bundle entitled, “Japan Edition All Stars” includes Vanguard Princess Plus Hilda Rize, Lith, Kurmi DLC packs, Unholy Heights and One Way Heroics for $1 or more!
Although, I would strongly recommend purchasing the enhanced pack for Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae alone! This bundle also comes with REVOLVER 360 RE:ACTOR, Astebreed and the games previously mentioned. At the time of writing, you only need to pay a mere $3.28 to acquire this excellent selection of games.
All of the included games are redeemable on Steam and if there are any duplicates it’s easy to gift them to a friend. I’ve always been fond of bundles involving niche indie games which can often be overlooked due to the ginormous quantity of games on the Steam store. This is certainly one of the more interesting bundles in recent memory and well worth a look!
Do you still buy indie games on Steam, or simply wait for a bundle to get them at the cheapest possible price?
Prepare your wallets, the Force is coming! If you haven’t already heard, Winter 2015 is probably going to be re-branded as Star Wars Season. Not only are we getting Star Wars Episode VII (no more Jar Jar Binks), we are eagerly anticipating Star Wars Battlefront. If you don’t know what Battlefront is, just imagine all of the best Star Wars battles rolled into one game in a huge 40 player laser gun fight and the original score as your motivational music.
The beta was a huge success with hundreds of thousands of players getting in on the action. AMD wants a piece of that and has announced the brand new bundle of Battlefront with every purchase of an R9 Fury graphics cards.
The offer is available From November 17th 2015 to January 31st 2016 and the code can be redeemed up until February 29th 2016, yes I had to double-check that next year was in fact a leap year too.
It is that wonderful time again, that time where Humble Bundle is ready with yet another Jumbo Bundle. This is the fifth of this sort of bundle, as the name already suggests, and it looks to be another great one. Not only do you get a lot of great games and soundtracks for cheap money while you support charity along with the developers, you even get multiple version of some of these games to give to your friends and get rocking with that multiplayer action right away. If that’s what you want.
The main three games in the Humble Jumbo Bundle 5 are Insurgency, including the Conquer update, Men of War Assault Squad, and a double pack of Abyss Odyssey. If you pay more than the average, at the time of writing that was $5.44, you will unlock three more games: Blackguards one and two and a four-pack of Contagion. Even more games will be added to the bundle on Tuesday, but which ones have not been disclosed yet.
Those who want to give even more and pay over $9 for the bundle, which still is an amazing deal for the bundle that has a normal value of over $250, will get another two games to add to their library: Spintires and Divinity: Dragon Commander.
Men of War: Assault Squad, Blackguards 2, Contagion, and Divinity Dragon Commander all come with their respective soundtrack as audio files too. All of these games are on Steam for Windows. Insurgency and Blackguards 1 & 2 are also available on Mac. Divinity: Dragon Commander is available both on Steam and DRM-free.
I’ve just purchased this bundle, simply for the great deal on Spintires compared to its normal price, and that doesn’t even include all the other games. Will you be getting this bundle?
Critical security updates to applications are essential to maintain a patched system from the many exploits which attempt to infiltrate ones PC. Certain software companies need patching more than others and this is no less evident with both Adobe Flash and Oracle Java, the aforementioned needs fixing every five minutes and the latter, well, is probably better uninstalled altogether. On the subject of Java, many websites are using a trick which promises an update but also bundles are PUP for good measure.
So, what are the tricks, well, when a user attempts to view content which requires a Java plugin on certain websites, a pop up appears stating that they should update their version of Java. By following the prompt the user lands on various pages unconnected with Java, for example one page is coined “Media Downloader”. The user is then asked to both downloaded and install a “setup.exe” file which turns out to be a PUP. Quick tangent here, a novice computer user once asked me if it would download a dog, I replied PUP not Puppy, not joking either.
There are other techniques too, one masquerades on a webpage as a standard Java pop up update notification, further examination shows this is in fact a background image and not a pop up. If you click on this you might receive among others a bundler which offers Java but also others including Norton 360 (terrible program) PC Mechanic and for some reason Stormfall Age of War. This though can be avoided by checking the UAC prompt which lists this .exe file as from Verified Publisher “Super IS Fried Cookie Ltd”, sounds about as authentic as a fast food burger, mentioning no names.
As standard, make sure any software applications are downloaded from authentic sources, if you visit a page that promises an update, be cautious, check the URL and as an extra precaution, always scan downloaded files with a reputable Anti-Virus and if possible a Malware scanner as well. Quick side note, these days viruses are becoming harder to detect by AV companies, therefore, while it’s essential to have these suites available, always download from authentic sources and be sceptical.
Of course, if you don’t use Java then it might be better to uninstall it considering the amount of security issues it has faced over the last few years.
In the last few months, there has been a sharp decline in the quality of PC bundles mainly because many offerings were repeated. Originally, the folks at Humble focused on DRM-Free titles and tried to give a platform to niche indie titles. As time progressed, we began to see mainstream franchises on sale from EA, SEGA and even Nintendo. The latest bundle is certainly one of the strongest I’ve seen and includes a number of superb games providing you beat the current average price of $7.04.
The $1 tier isn’t too enticing apart from Strider, a hack-and-slash action game. Although, Lost Planet 3 has its moments and shouldn’t be dismissed for the insanely cheap price. Out out all the games on offer, Devil May Cry is my favourite and features some of the most fluid, and intense combat I’ve ever seen. Additionally, the PC version is excellent and well-optimized. I am interested to see which other games are added to the second tier, and perhaps, Duck Tales could be on its way!
In the last decade, the Resident Evil franchise has become insufferable with an over-reliance on combat instead of tense, atmospheric gameplay. However, the Resident Evil Revelations games are surprisingly good and manage to evoke what made the original titles so special.
Tired of paying full retail price for your games or waiting for the Steam Sale to roll around, only to find that most of the games that are on offer were the same games as the last sale? Well then, we’ve got a great guide to PC games deals for you, which could save you a small fortune and help you enjoy the latest games much sooner and for much less. Of course, there’s Steam, Origin and uPlay to pick from, but surely there are even more alternatives?
CD Keys
CD Keys are one of the most popular key reselling websites around and one of my own personal favourites having picked up a few great deals there over the last few months alone. Even better, the site lists more than just PC games and often has a 5% discount code available for liking their Facebook Page. Their stock updates quite a lot, so if your game isn’t on there, check back every day or so to see if it has become available. They even provide codes from various platforms such as Steam, Battle.net, GOG and uPlay, to name a few.
If you haven’t heard of this one, you’ve had your head under a rock for quite some time. Humble Bundle offers up some great gaming bundles, some lasting days, weeks and some that as just a few hours via their Humble Bundles pages, as well as the ever-growing Humble Store. Most of the keys are steam, but often you’ll also find mobile and other platform keys too. The bundles are mostly pay what you want, allowing for some seriously cheap deals, while their store relies on fixed prices, with regular discounts on popular titles.
That’s right, another bundle store, one that has been quickly growing on my radar and offering up better and better games at increasingly tempting prices. Humble Bundle may get a lot of the fame, but this one is certainly worth keeping on your bookmarks, as it offers some very wallet friendly gaming deals.
Don’t be fooled by the name, Good Old Games may offer a huge range of classic PC gaming titles, re-tweaked to ensure they run on modern operating systems, but they’re no stranger to new games either, such as The Witcher 3 which is proud to call GOG its home. The prices aren’t always the best on new games, but the older titles are an absolute steal and worth digging through. The best feature of GOG, however, is that all the games they sell there are DRM free, something that’s not to be sniffed at in today’s often heavily DRM-focused market.
Gamesgate has years of history behind them, offering a wide range of gaming deals. It’s rarely the best-priced store, but when you’re shopping around, it’s always worth checking all the big deal sites as this one may be the winner for you. there’s plenty of regular discounts, as well as a range of games new and old that you may not find on other sites.
This is easily one of the most popular key reselling websites, with a solid reputation behind their name that’s made them one of the best-known game sites around. The thing that makes them the most attractive, is their regular deals, massive discounts and sales, often seeing titles reduced by as much as 95%. They also tend to do great deals around the time of Steam Sales, helping taking some of the wind out of Valve in those busy game buying periods.
Humble Bundle originally offered DRM-Free indie titles and progressively worked towards adding mainstream Steam games and launching its own digital distribution store. This resulted in a huge amount of money being raised for charity and demonstrated how generous the gaming community is. Today marks the company’s boldest move so far and entry into the subscription service arena. Humble Monthly requires a payment of $12 per month in exchange for Steam codes.
The codes received are permanent and won’t stop working if you decide to cancel the subscription. However, there’s no information whatsoever regarding how many games are included, and the quality. It’s possible for Humble to include excess keys from previous bundles. This lack of information might appeal to some, but I feel consumers are taking a big risk when signing up to the service.
On another note, only 5% of your money goes towards charity which might be a shocking statistic to some. Even more ridiculously, gamers in Japan cannot access the service due to a region lock. This seems to contravene the open roots which Humble became so idolized for.
Just another example of why I avoid buying from @Humble Bundle as much as possible. Stop regionally restricting. pic.twitter.com/Wpxn2qNTjv
While there is the possibility of acquiring highly lauded games in a surprising package, I’m not convinced about the subscription’s business model and complete lack of transparency. I’ve commended Humble in the past for updating their list of supported charities, but this really does leave me feeling disappointed.
Do you believe the Humble Monthly service is a terrible idea?
It is that time of the year again, no it’s not Christmas yet, but rather the time where we see a lot of new games and codes bundled with selected graphics cards. Yesterday we could report that MSI bundled Assassin’s Creed Chronicles codes with selected AMD cards and today EVGA has something for Nvidia fans. For a limited time, EVGA is bundling an exclusive Kaija Diablo Bundle for Heroes of Storm with the purchase of selected graphics cards.
The exclusive Kaijo Diablo Bundle includes the Diablo hero, Kaijo skin, and a 7-day Stim Pack. The bundle comes with the purchase of a qualifying EVGA GeForce GTX 950 or 960 graphics card. The list below will show which cards are eligible for the bundle.
For MOBA gamers, the GeForce GTX 950 provides the competitive edge in every battle with blazing fast performance and an incredible level of responsiveness. Get 3x the performance of a GeForce GTX 650 and the power of NVIDIA Maxwell architecture to transform your PC into a full-HD gaming rig capable of playing the latest titles. Or choose the GeForce GTX 960 for even faster performance!
The deal is valid for a lot of retailers and you can check up on that here. The promotion runs from the 23rd September 2015 and until the supply runs out of the promotions gets canceled again.
We all like free stuff and MSI seem to agree to that, at least they have bundled a free copy of Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China and Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India with the MSI Radeon R9 380 GAMING or MSI Radeon R7 370 GAMING graphics cards.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China brings you to China in 1526 where you play Shao Jun. Shao Jun is the last remaining Assassin of the Chinese Brotherhood and was he trained by the legendary Ezio Auditore, my personal favourite Assassin in the series. Your job is it to restore the fallen Brotherhood, but not without taking your revenge.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India takes you to the middle of a conflict between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company in 1841. You are taking on the role of Arbaaz Mir and the mission is to return a mysterious item, but that’s likely not going to be as easy as it sounds.
The MSI Radeon R7 370 GAMING and MSI Radeon R9 380 GAMING graphics cards are equipped with MSI’s highly awarded TWIN FROZR V cooling solution that allow them to stay cool and quite throughout your battles.
The promotion and thereby free games started on September 21st and will run until October 31st, 2015, or while supplies last. Game codes that haven’t been redeemed by July 31st, 2016 will expire, so better activate it before the code gets lost in your mail folder somewhere.
Anyone who is in the market for a new gaming system take heed because who doesn’t want to save a few bucks? MSI has started a cash back program for those who buy qualifying Intel motherboards along with select Nvidia GeForce GPUs. For customers that qualify between now and September 28th, MSI is offering up to €60/£42, depending on the exact products of course.
While the likes of ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI have done mail in rebates and discounts, requiring the purchase of a bundle is a more infrequent tactic. In this case, the cash back is done after the fact and via a claim form online. In some ways, that resembles a mail-in rebate, just without the mailing part, instead relying on online submissions and still having the cash back being mailed. MSI had done a similar program earlier in the year and has added 4 more countries to the list this time.
For a list of qualifying products, you can visit this link here. Each product has a value that it contributes to the total cash back from the bundle. As expected, more expensive products have larger rebates, with the lowest possible rebate being £14. In order to qualify for £42, a customer would need to buy at least a GTX 980 and top tier X99/Z170 motherboard. It is interesting to see that the GTX 950 and AMD products do not qualify. For the full details for each locale you can visit this link.
ASUS and SplitmedaLabs have announced a new partnership where they will be bundling the popular streaming software XSplit Gamecaster V2 along with most of their graphics cards. However, not all types of cards will get an equal amount of free time with the software that requires yearly subscriptions.
Pretty much anyone with a AMD Radeon R7, R9 or Fury based graphics card as well as GeForce GTX 600, 700, 900, and Titan series will get the basic 14-days trial with premium features while those with the best of the best cards get even more. After all, those are the likely ones to be streaming. If you got an NVIDIA GeForce 900 or Titan series, or an AMD based R9 or Fury series, then you can sign up for the full year of free premium features.
XSplit Gamecaster V2 is a live streaming and recording application created by SplitmediaLabs that also features a special ASUS GPU Tweak integration. It allows users that are running the ASUS GPU Tweak utility to be able to set custom profiles and view GPU statistics all from within the XSplit Gamecaster overlay. XSplit Gamecaster uses a discreet and unobtrusive in-game overlay, and allows users to add a webcam, activate a green screen transparency effect and share their broadcast to Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ all without leaving the game.
Both ASUS and SplitmediaLabs have their own dedicated mini-page for this, where you can read more on the terms or get started with your free XSplit Gamecaster V2 streaming.
Warner Bros. had a very disappointing release of Batman: Arkham Knight, having the title not playable on PC due to performance issues. The game has reportedly been withdrawn from the market, with retailers stating that it will start putting it back on shelves again once it is properly fixed.
As for NVIDIA, we know it had switched from selling their GeForce cards bundled with the latest Batman title to having the company now selling them bundled with Metal Gear Solid V. However, NVIDIA also plans to make up for it by helping Warner Bros. developers fix their game.
From what we know so far, Warner Bros. is working on a patch to address the performance issues that is due in August. In addition to that, Nvidia Gameworks engineer Tom Peterson said that their team is also focusing on helping the devs at Warner Bros. as a ‘goodwill gesture’.
“We have 200 to 300 engineers that are actually visual scientists,” Peterson stated. “They’re the very best out there. We’ve taken the strategy that says let’s record exactly what they’ve got in their minds, convert it to algorithms … test it and QA it, and then supply it as middleware effectively to game developers”
The question is, why didn’t they get on it before it was launched? If you are to bundle a game with graphics cards that promote gaming, don’t you have to first see how it runs before you actually launch or even think of bundling it? My thoughts are that NVIDIA is also partially guilty here and now they are trying to make up for their mistake. What do you think?
Thank you Big Noobs for providing us with this information
![Bombshell - Zeroth Guardian Trailer [ PAX 2015 ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/C0k3wmz7QXI/hqdefault.jpg)
