PRODUCT INFORMATION
Tomb Raider
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Welcome to Games Booth, where you can find news and personal reviews of available and upcoming games and accessories for your games console.
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Crystal Dynamics and AMD Introduce TressFX, the first real-time hair rendering system in a playable PC Game
Good Hair Day for Lara Croft as Crystal Dynamics release the first ever images of TressFX’s real-time hair rendering tech
Since the dawn of the 3D era, realistic hair has been one of the most complex and challenging materials to accurately reproduce in real-time. Convincingly recreating a head of lively hair involves drawing tens of thousands of tiny and individual semi-transparent strands, each of which casts complex shadows and requires anti-aliasing. Even more challengingly, these calculations must be updated dozens of times per second to synchronize with the motion of a character.
When AMD Gaming Evolved and Crystal Dynamics agreed to co-develop a technology to address this massive challenge, they wanted to leverage the sensational compute capabilities of the Graphics Core Next architecture to revitalize the hair of an iconic game character: Lara Croft. Well-known for her daring personality and signature ponytail, reimagining Lara Croft (and her haircut) for the 2013 release of Tomb Raiderwasn’t just an opportunity to modernize the character, it was an opportunity to advance PC gaming realism.
Through painstaking collaboration between software developers at AMD and Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider proudly features the world’s first real-time hair lighting and physics system in a playable PC game: TressFX Hair.
“AMD Graphics and Crystal Dynamics have partnered to revitalize one of video gaming’s most iconic characters, Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider franchise,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics. “Developers at AMD and Crystal Dynamics collaborated tirelessly to leverage the power of AMD Radeon™ to develop the world’s first real-time hair physics system in a PC game. TressFX Hair combines advanced lighting, per-strand physics, and collision detection to bring unprecedented realism to this final frontier of image quality in PC gaming.”
Using DirectCompute to unlock the massively-parallel processing capabilities of the Graphics Core Next architecture, TressFX Hair enables the stunning image quality previously restricted to pre-rendered images. Building on AMD's previous work on Order Independent Transparency (OIT), this method makes use of Per-Pixel Linked-List (PPLL) data structures to manage rendering complexity and memory usage.
Graphics cards featuring the Graphics Core Next architecture, like the AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series, are particularly well-equipped to handle these types of tasks, with their combination of fast on-chip shared memory and massive processing throughput on the order of trillions of operations per second. This perfect concert between software and architecture is further enhanced by Tomb Raider’s many code optimizations that make AMD Radeon™ graphics the best solution to experience the beginning of Lara Croft’s extraordinary story.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Tomb Raider
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For more information:
AMD TressFX Technology page:
Tomb Raider Online Store:
Official Homepage:
Official Twitter: @TOMBRAIDER
Official Facebook page:
Official Tumblr:
Official YouTube Channel:
2013 Dates Announced
WHAT:
QuakeCon® will bring thousands of gamers from around the world together for the ultimate video game festival and party. QuakeCon 2013 is open to the public and attendance is FREE thanks to the support of id® Software and Bethesda Softworks®, the QuakeCon volunteer staff, and the 2013 event sponsors and exhibitors.
WHEN:
QuakeCon will take place August 1 – 4, 2013.
WHERE:
The Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas.
You can make reservations at the hotel by calling 1-800-Hiltons or 1-800-445-8667 or by going online tohttps://resweb.passkey.com/Res
WHY:
For the 18th straight year, QuakeCon will host North America’s largest BYOC (Bring-Your-Own-Computer) LAN party, with thousands of gamers connecting their systems to play on a world-class network.
QuakeCon offers a variety of activities for anyone who chooses not to bring their own computer. Bethesda Softworks will be showing some of their upcoming game titles to the public for the first time and will offer attendees the chance to go hands on with some of their anticipated games. Plus the world's leading technology companies will be on site demonstrating their latest hardware and software developments. QuakeCon also features daily festivities including contests, entertainment, panel discussions, announcements, parties and more!
Once again QuakeCon will welcome a wide variety of companies to the 45,000 square foot exhibit hall to showcase the industry’s top games, hardware and services. For information on becoming a QuakeCon exhibitor or sponsor, please email sponsor@quakecon.org.
For more information visit www.quakecon.org.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Announces LEGO® Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes for Wii U™
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games are excited to announce that LEGO® Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes, one of 2012’s best received family games, will soon be making its way onto the Wii U™ system from Nintendo this Spring 2013. Releasing to critical acclaim in June 2012, NBC News hailed it as “the best LEGO game yet,” while IGN called the story “…entertaining from start to finish.” Since its summer 2012 debut, LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes has sold more than 3.4 million units worldwide to date.LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes will take advantage of the innovative Wii U™ GamePad controller. Players will navigate through Gotham City using an enhanced interactive map and select their favorite DC Comics characters to assemble a powerful team of heroes, all with the use of the controller's touchscreen. They can even enjoy the entire game experience on the GamePad in off-TV mode, or have a second player join in on the TV, so they can fight crime together without having to share a single screen.
The award-winning LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes gives players the chance to step into the shoes of the Caped Crusader and fully explore a LEGO version of Gotham City. Once again under threat from the Joker, Batman must defend Gotham with the help of powerful friends like Superman and Robin, to put a stop to the diabolical plans of his nemesis and his entire team of super villains including Lex Luthor, The Penguin and Harley Quinn. Encounter all of the Dark Knight's iconic allies and enemies in a charming, hilarious, family-friendly adventure full of exciting gameplay.
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is also available for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Wii™ system, and Windows PC, as well as the Nintendo DS™ handheld system, Nintendo 3DS™ handheld system, and PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
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Guardians of Middle-earth Announces New Mode and Map Skin
We have news to reveal from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions: Guardians of Middle-earth will deliver a brand new Survival Mode!
The new Survival Mode enlists a one to five player co-op in intense combat in the Glittering Caves nestled deep in the White Mountains. Teammates must rely heavily on each other to fight and survive waves of enemies with increasingly destructive power. Players must defend their towers, fight enemy control on the field and defeat boss waves to complete new challenges. Rally your best troops in a mission to perfect team composition, strategy and loadouts, while taking on a deadly swarm of enemies.
In addition, gamers can play on the one-lane map with the new Goblin-town map skin, which lands players into the dark tunnels within the Misty Mountains, near the dwelling of the Witch-king.
Survival Mode:
The new Survival Mode enlists a one to five player co-op in intense combat in the Glittering Caves nestled deep in the White Mountains. Teammates must rely heavily on each other to fight and survive waves of enemies with increasingly destructive power. Players must defend their towers, fight enemy control on the field and defeat boss waves to complete new challenges. Rally your best troops in a mission to perfect team composition, strategy and loadouts, while taking on a deadly swarm of enemies.
In addition, gamers can play on the one-lane map with the new Goblin-town map skin, which lands players into the dark tunnels within the Misty Mountains, near the dwelling of the Witch-king.
Survival Mode:
Goblin-town Map Skin:
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In Guardians of Middle-earth, gamers team up as the most powerful heroes from the greatest fantasy epic of all time, bringing up to 10 players together in a competitive multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game. Featuring select characters from the film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the game allows players to develop and master more than 20 iconic characters. Play as Gandalf, Gollum, Legolas, Sauron and more, forming memorable and unlikely alliances with and against friends. Gamers will have the ability to connect with other players via an in-game voice communication system, as well as access to a comprehensive online stat and leader board system where they can track friends’ victories and defeats, and more. Now available at select retail stores and via download for Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 and PlayStation Network. For more information, check out guardiansofmiddleearth.com, “like” us on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/Guardiansofmiddleearth and follow us on Twitter @GuardiansME.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Guardians of Middle-Earth
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CRYSTAL DYNAMICS AND SQUARE ENIX PARTNER WITH SUMTHING ELSE MUSIC WORKS TO RELEASE TOMB RAIDERTMORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
Innovative Video Game Score by BAFTA
Award-Winning Composer Jason Graves
Click here to download TOMB RAIDER Original Soundtrack Cover Art.
Crystal Dynamics entrusted BAFTA award-winning composer Jason Graves with their ambitious reboot of the iconic TOMB RAIDER franchise, giving him creative freedom to infuse atmosphere, emotion and authenticity to Lara Croft's origins story through his score. The end result combines found sounds, authentic percussion and a truly unique custom instrument interwoven with orchestral themes and textures. The TOMB RAIDER Original Soundtrack features 20 compositions from the game's original score.
Composer Jason Graves: "What you hold in your hands is the culmination of more than two years of work and musical exploration. It contains all the musical elements I love, wrapped up neatly together - mysterious textures, evocative percussion and thematic developments to die for. It's been wonderful accompanying Lara through her first adventure. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed composing it."
Track Listing:
1. Adventure Found Me
2. The Scavenger's Den
3. Exploring The Island
4. First Blood
5. Reaching Roth
6. Infiltrating The Bunker
7. A Call For Help
8. Entering Himiko's Tomb
9. The Descent
10. The One
11. The Scavenger's Camp
12. Paying Respects
13. On The Beach
14. Secret of the Island
15. The Oni
16. Whitman's Test
17. Scaling The Ziggurat
18. The Ritual
19. A Survivor Is Born
20. The Tomb Raider
TOMB RAIDER explores the intense and gritty origin story of Lara Croft and her ascent from a frightened young woman to a hardened survivor. Armed only with raw instincts and the ability to push beyond the limits of human endurance, Lara must fight to unravel the dark history of a forgotten island to escape its relentless hold. In the all-new TOMB RAIDER, a survivor is born. For more information about TOMB RAIDER visit
For more information on Sumthing Else Music Works and its complete catalog of video game soundtracks, visit
Afternoon Gamers'
We wanted to let you know that starting today and running until 4th March 2013, over 60 Xbox 360 Games on Demand titles will be on sale up to 75% off, with some as low as 85% off, for the “Xbox Ultimate Game Sale”*.
Each day, a different set of titles will be on sale, so be sure to follow Major Nelson on Twitter (@majornelson) where he will announce that day’s special offer. Each game is only on sale for a limited time so you won’t want to miss it!
The special offer for today (Tuesday 26th February) is enough to make a Spartan blush. Halo 4 for Games on Demand is 33% off at £24.99, while Halo 3, Halo Reach and Halo Wars are just £8.99.
Some of the other titles you can expect to see on sale include:
Assassins Creed & Assassins Creed 2
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Batman Arkham Asylum
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Batman Arkham City
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Bioshock
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Borderlands & Borderlands 2
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Call of Duty 2 & 3
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Call of Duty: Black Ops & Call of Duty Black Ops 2
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, 2 & 3
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Dirt 2
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Dishonored
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Fable III
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Fallout 3
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Fallout 3 New Vegas
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GRID
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Left for Dead 2
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Max Payne 3
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Metal Gear Solid HD
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Orange Box
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Portal 2
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Resident Evil 4, 5 & 6
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Red Dead Redemption
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Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
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Street Fighter X Tekken
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Tekken 6
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The Darkness
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Tomb Raider Legend
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