Top 5 Racing Games You Should Play Before the New Need for Speed Is Out

A new Need for Speed game teaser was shown last week and a full game reveal will happen next month at E3. The series has come a long way since the first game was released in 1994 on the 3DO video game console platform. While the 3DO itself was a bust, Need for Speed soon found its way onto the PC and other consoles. At a time when racing games were scarce, it managed to carve a veritable empire of racing game goodness. Fast forward to 2015 and its not the only racing game out there anymore. Here's what you should be playing now, while you wait on the new Need for Speed. 

1. Burnout Paradise

One of the great open world racing games on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, Burnout Paradise is still fun to play. Thanks to its fantastic art direction, the game still looks good and the focus on crashes and breakneck speed make it one of the rare racers you can keep going back to. 

That's even more the case when you consider that the vibrant open world of Paradise City always has something to do. The stellar soundtrack featuring a mix of mainstream and indie rock further sweeten the deal.

2. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)

Not to be confused for the older Need for Speed games bearing the Hot Pursuit moniker, this 2010 game goes back to the franchise's roots. There's no ham-fisted narrative that comes in the way of gameplay, nor an attempt at simulation. 

Instead you have to drive and drive fast. Developed by Criterion Games (which is also responsible for Burnout Paradise) this was perhaps the best in the series in recent memory. No small wonder then that current custodian of the franchise, Ghost Games, consists of ex-Criterion employees.

3. Driveclub

With it's launch day issues smoothened out, Driveclub is the go-to racing game for many a PlayStation 4 owner and who can blame them?

From gorgeous weather effects to gameplay that's a heady combination of arcade and sim-styled driving, it's one of the must have games for Sony's new black box though the free PlayStation Plus edition of the game that was promised Sony is yet to come.

4. Forza Horizon 2

This Xbox One and Xbox 360 exclusive racing game puts you in the drivers seat of plenty dream vehicles, ranging from the Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 to Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. 

They're a treat to handle as you drive across the picturesque European countryside. The game is very easy on the eyes, and each ride feels unique. Throw in a myriad of races to partake in - including one that lets you pit yourself against a plane - and Forza Horizon 2 becomes a mandatory purchase.

5. Project CARS

This racing game from Slightly Mad Studios (the developers behind Need For Speed: Shift and its sequel, Shift 2: Unleashed) puts a lot of emphasis on simulation, over arcade-styled gameplay. 

Project CARS is on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It promises a rock solid true to life simulation, complete with realistic physics and handling, and nearly everything in-game can be modified to suit your preference - from how the map is displayed, to tweaking things like stability control
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How to Use Custom Download and Install Directories With GOG Galaxy

 GOG Galaxy is a new PC game distribution client similar to Steam, minus the negatives such as always online requirement and mandatory DRM. Its catalog includes new games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as well as classics such as Planescape: Torment and Ice Wind Dale.

Though GOG Galaxy is still in beta (final release features will include ability to rollback game updates and notifications) there are a few things you can still do to make the most of it.

This guide tells you how to manage your GOG game downloads and extras. It's a handy feature that lets you install games on a faster hard drive, or to keep all the installers on a different hard drive in the event of a hard drive crash, or if your usual location cannot take any more data.

1. Download GOG Galaxy. Go to the GOG website and download the Beta.
2. Install GOG Galaxy in a location of your choosing.
3. Run the app. Click on the settings gear cog icon on the bottom left. This opens the settings menu.
   
4. Under Folders, you can set where you want to install the games you download. Either click the box with three dots to browse for a directory, or manually type it in the box provided.
5. In the Settings menu, tick the box that says Manage all folders manually.
6. Now you can choose where to download your games and extras that come along with it. Either click the box with three dots to choose a directory or manually type it in the box provided.

From now on any game you buy on GOG Galaxy is installed at a location of your choice.

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Top 5 Indie Games You Should Play Right Now

There's more to video games than Grand Theft Auto V, FIFA, and Call of Duty. In fact, there's a slew of hidden gems that might fly under the radar, dwarfed by marketing budgets that well known franchises and big game publishers possess. But these indie games often showcase new and innovative gameplay, or a completely unique style that you will rarely see from the big names either. Here are our picks of the current indie games worth checking out.

1. Dex

The cyberpunk genre has seen its fair share of games, ranging from Deus Ex: Human Revolution to Shadowrun. Dex is another game that throws its hat into the ring. It is a slick 2D action adventure with a heady atmosphere, complete with a smart female protagonist, and many well written characters.

There's enough freedom in the game play to allow you to handle any obstacle thrown at you with force or by sweet talking your way out of trouble. Dex is highly recommended if you're looking for an alternative, retro take on gritty sci-fi. It's available on PC and Mac via Steam.

2. Chroma Squad

This game started out as a Kickstarter project and finally saw the light of day on Mac and Windows via Steam and GOG. It is soon to release on the PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Chroma Squad is a tactical role-playing game where you control a group of stunt actors, who have started their own show inspired by Japanese superhero TV shows, particularly Power Rangers.

You'll have to manage the cast, snag props, and make giant robots in order to make your show a success. The fresh premise of the game, and it's take on one of the 90s biggest TV fads, easily make it worth the price of admission.

3. Invisible Inc.

From the maker of Mark of the Ninja and Shank comes Invisible Inc. Unlike those two games, Invisible Inc. is a turn-based strategy game in the mould of XCOM. It features a Cold War inspired art style, while the gameplay places emphasis on stealth and subversion, over out and out action.

Throw in a host of well designed maps and a gorgeous user interface, and you get a game that will have you playing till the very end. It's available on PC and Mac via Steamand GOG with a PlayStation 4 version in the works.

4. Not A Hero

Not A Hero has you in the role of an assassin working for an anthropomorphic bunny from the future who has designs on being a mayor. The bizarre setting, combined with amazing pixel art and over the top gameplay makes Not A Hero an absolute treat to play.

The game has you executing a seemingly infinite number of generic gangsters in style, coupled with solid, responsive controls and witty jokes. It is now available on PC via Steam and GOG with a PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita version out shortly.

5. Will Fight for Food: Super Actual Sellout: Game of the Hour

Astoundingly long name aside, this quirky game - which was developed in India - is filled to the brim with meta-humour and fantastic writing about pro-wrestling and unemployment. There's an intricate conversation system and campy music along with simple beat 'em up mechanics that makes this worth playing. It's available on PC via Steam.

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With SWYO, Stream PC Games to Your Mobile, Tablet, or PC

 Streaming games is something that many companies including Sony, Steam, and Nvidia have been working on. So far at least, success in this field has been limited.

Two independent companies that raised a lot of attention in this field were Gaikai and OnLive, both of which promised to allow you to stream games running on their servers across the Internet, so you could play a high-end game on a netbook, for example. Today, neither Gaikai nor OnLive exist. Sony acquired Gaikai in 2012, and it is likely using the same technology for its PlayStation Now service. OnLive, which launched complete with special hardware, went bankrupt. Sony also acquired the "important parts" of OnLive in 2015, but announced no plan to continue the service in it's "current form," suggesting that OnLive's technology would likely be used to add to PlayStation Now.

Steam and Nvidia, on the other hand, focused on letting you stream the games you own. The catch is that this works with only select hardware, and also requires the kind of PC setup that many people won't have. There are also now some Android apps that make use of the same graphics cards to allow you to play PC games on your phone or tablet, working with game controllers such as the Xbox 360 controller or the PS3 controller. If you're a gamer who's keeping up with the latest developments, this isn't much of an obstacle - but if you're a couple of years out of date, and just want to stream an older game like Portal, your options are limited.

A new Kickstarter project called SWYO, made by a team of Indian and German developers, wants to address this gap. SevenRE, the company behind SWYO, says it has created a client which will allow you to stream games from your PC to another PC or mobile phone running a browser or an app. It's not quite the same idea as OnLive or Gaikai - you still need to have a PC that is powerful enough to run the game in the first place.

Another cool feature, as explained in the Kickstarter video, is that SWYO can be used to let a remote player control your local game - this could be used to remotely do local co-op for a game that doesn't support online multiplayer, or you could pass the controls for a tough segment of a game over to a friend.

Pratip Chakraborty, the CEO of SevenRE, chatted with NDTV Gadgets over email to clear up some questions about SWYO.

"We're a two year old technology consulting startup, and we've been building out the Stream What You Own (SWYO) prototype for the last one year," he explains. "We have a working proof of concept now, and we're now trying to raise funds for full time development on the project."

Chakraborty tells us that SWYO can be used to stream not just your games, but also music and movies to the app on your phone if you want. Your PC can also be set up to power on remotely, so you don't even need to keep it running; just install SWYO, and then when you want to watch something, or play a game, simply press a button in the app.

"In a nutshell, SWYO aims to create a personal cloud solution, that's not bound to hardware or a local network," Chakraborty adds. "And we wanted to make sure you can do it either via the browser, or on your phone."

According to Chakraborty, the big advantage of SWYO is that you don't need to install a client to play games - it's a browser-based solution means that isn't tied down to any specific operating system, and you can play games from a Windows, Mac or Linux computer without worrying about how installing any software.

"You could just go to a friends' house and then play games that are installed at [your] home," says Chakraborty. You don't need additional hardware over and above the standard requirements of your games, he claims.

"We support both hardware encoding using AMD's Media SDK, and Nvidia's GameStream, as well as CPU encoding," explains Chakraborty. "If your computer can run the game without maxing out the CPU, then you can stream it and play via SWYO." And if things aren't working smoothly, then just dial down the graphics settings a touch and you'll see the game run fine.

There's no demo to try out now, but SevenRE promises that the latency is low enough not to affect gaming. The prototype seems to work smoothly on different devices - we looked at some videos of SWYO in action on a laptop, and on a Google Nexus 5:

Watching someone play Shadow of Mordor on a Nexus 5 is promising, and the game seemed to run smoothly too:

According to Chakraborty, SWYO isn't affected by Steam's DRM - something that would matter to many, (if not all), PC gamers. The computer or phone you're streaming on simply needs to be capable of HD video playback. In case you're streaming to a PC, then you need to a browser that supports Flash, ideally Firefox or Chrome, Chakraborty explains.

And game streaming is just one part of SevenRE's plan - they're also going to sell software licenses to businesses, and plan to compete with remote presentation and PC access services like TeamViewer.

"Our tech fills the gaps and enhances existing solutions," says Chakraborty. "TeamViewer lacks gaming capabilities. Remote Play is Nvidia only, and Steam needs both computers to be on the same local network. In the diverse streaming ecosystem, SWYO is all about feature unification, ease, power of sharing, and personalisation."

While that sounds good, the fact remains there's nothing concrete beyond a few videos SevenRE has put up to demonstrate the concept. There's not trial version you can download, to see how effective it is today, or to decide if it's worth putting down the money to back the company as yet. But leaving aside SevenRE's bigger plans of selling corporate tools, as a gamer, the idea is interesting.

You're not locked down to a specific library of games, or a specific set of hardware. It'll work with your GOG, Steam, and Origin games. It'll work if you have an AMD graphics card or an Nvidia card. You just need to install the SWYO server software on your PC, and that's it. And it doesn't require a cutting edge gaming PC on the client-side either.

The bandwidth requirement means that if you're in India, you definitely don't want to try doing this over the Internet, but local streaming from your desktop to different screens in your house should work just fine. There's a lot of appeal to the idea, and we're cautiously optimistic to see how it all turns out.

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The Witcher 3 on PC and PS4 - Everything You Need To Know

The Witcher 3 is what happens when the gritty, dark world of A Game of Thrones meets the open world sensibilities of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and the abundance of choice of BioWare's Dragon Age role-playing games. You play a witcher, a monster hunter by the name of Geralt who sets off to find his long lost love Yennefer and his surrogate daughter Ciri.

Do I need to play The Witcher and The Witcher 2?

Only if you have the time. Both games are long affairs, replete with choices and consequences. The first game only released for PC, while the second was available for PC and later the Xbox 360. If you really want to play all the games, then you're best off getting them all for PC, as your save files and the choices you make carry over from one game to the next. PC players can even download other people's save files from the Nexus Mods to play out specific sets of decisions.

But if you haven't played the first two games, then when you start The Witcher 3, you're given the option to simulate the choices of the second game. You're asked questions whose answers define the state of the game's many characters, alliances, and kingdoms. This changes how the world reacts to you. You can also choose to skip this and you'll be thrown into the game with the lore as the developers deemed it.

Okay, how do I get it?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available for PC, PlayStation 4 (PS4), and Xbox One in both physical and digital flavours. We'd recommend getting your hands on the physical version as it comes with a host of goodies that make it well worth the price of entry. Coupled with that is the fact that you don't have to download a ton of data - around 25GB on PC, almost 40GB on PS4 and Xbox One. The game is priced at Rs. 1,499 on PC and Rs. 3,499 on consoles.

From what we've seen, the PC and PS4 versions of the game appear to be sold out on online retailers like Amazon and Games The Shop. Nonetheless, we've been told that the game will be available on store shelves.

If you must have it digitally, then you can get The Witcher 3 via GOG.com or Steam. Keep in mind that the disc copies for PC do not come with Steam, they're DRM-free much like the last two games.

What do I need to play it on PC?

The requirements for The Witcher 3 are on the higher side you'll need a minimum of an Intel Core i5-2500K processor (3.3GHz) or an AMD Phenom II X940, 6GB RAM, a 64-bit OS (Windows 8 or Windows 7), an Nvidia GeForce 660 or AMD Radeon 7870 GPU, and 40GB of hard drive space.

And if you're looking to play it in all of its glory developer CD Projekt RED recommends a processor at 3.4GHz, 8GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 or AMD Radeon R9 290 GPU.

How does it perform?

Much like Grand Theft Auto V, The Witcher 3 has us pretty impressed. Our test rig consists of an Intel i5 3470 (3.2GHz), 16GB RAM, an AMD HD 7950 3GB GPU, and a 2TB hard drive. We managed to play the game on high details with HairWorks (an Nvidia proprietary tech that makes in-game hair more lifelike) switched off. The frame rate was around 35 to 45, going down to a low of around 27 in more busier areas. There are a generous host of options to tweak such as sharpening, depth of field, chromatic aberration, and ambient occlusion among others.

We also managed to check out the PS4 version of the game. It sports the same sprawling world and fantastic attention to detail. Some of the PS4 version's shortcomings - such as the game's flora and fauna popping up in front of you at the very last moment - are deftly masked with what seem to be fog and dust effects, giving it an illusion of high performance.

But the PC version feels a lot more vivid with high resolution textures and advanced lighting that give it a sense of fluidity and makes its console counterpart seem workmanlike in comparison.

One point of commonality between both version is the stuttering in cut-scenes, wherein it drops from a standard 30fps to a little less than half that. Thankfully these moments aren't widespread, though they do take away from the immersion.

Which version do I get?

If your machine can handle it, you can't go wrong with the PC version. It's a treat to play what with fantastic draw distances, great field of view and none of the texture pop-in that plagued its predecessor. Even if you can't do high or ultra settings on it, it still manages to look good at the medium preset, making it a compelling purchase. When you consider how poorly optimised the first two games were for PC at launch, this is a welcome change.

Even if you don't have an Nvidia GPU, it performs decently on AMD's solutions. A pleasant surprise given how the game is a part of Nvidia's Gameworks program that promises exclusive features to Nvidia GPUs like HairWorks. Over the past few days, it's come under scrutiny for crippling AMD GPUs, particularly in games like Project CARS but that does not seem to be the case in our tests with The Witcher 3.

However if you don't have a powerful PC or don't want to spend time configuring it for the maximum performance benefits, you can't go wrong with it on the PS4
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Top 5 Assassin's Creed Games to Play Before AC: Syndicate

 With over 25 games in the series timeline, including mainline titles and spin-offs, the Assassin's Creed franchise is daunting for both longtime gamers and newcomers alike. With Assassin's Creed: Syndicate hitting the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC later this year, here are the games you need to play, to get up to speed with the series.

1. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag 
   
   Don't let the "IV" in the name put you off. Black Flag is perhaps the most accessible game in the entire series, and for the most part it just lets you enjoy the action as a pirate, without worrying overly about the order of the Assassins. The game has you sail the high seas, leading a crew of pirates as you pillage the murky waters of the Caribbean. There's more than enough in terms of stealth and assassinations to partake in, with varied missions and exotic locales.
   The sea battles are an excellent diversion as well, and your crew sings pirate shanties while sailing, which adds a lot of character to the game. But the icing on the cake is Black Flag's cast of characters, including the legendary pirate Blackbeard. The game's protagonist Edward Kenway is also an interesting character who doesn't just follow orders, no matter who's giving them - neither listening to the Assassins, or the enemies the Templars.
2. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood 
   
   Many series fans swear by Assassin's Creed II, but we prefer the expanded scope of its follow up game, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. It follows the same protagonist, Ezio Auditore, but now you get to do more than skulk around Rome, stabbing your foes from the shadows.
   You'll also build your own legion of assassins and send them out on missions as well. If they die, you lose them permanently, making it a larger emotional investment than you'd expect. Plus, it's the first game in the series to feature multiplayer. While the community isn't as big as it was in its prime, it's still worth experiencing given that it's better than what its successors have churned out.
3. Assassin's Creed II 
   
   The Dark Knight of the Assassin's Creed universe, this was the first game in what's referred to as the Ezio trilogy - games starring fan favourite, Ezio Auditore. You'll traipse around Italy, and enjoy a fair bit of historical fiction by with people like Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli.
   The missions in this game pioneered the entire cycle of tail, chase and eventually kill your targets. Throw in a narrative that keeps you intrigued and it's one of the more complete games the series, a template from which the first two games drew a lot of inspiration.
4. Assassin's Creed: Unity 
   
   It's no secret that Unity was subject to a rather mixed response. Nonetheless, in terms of scope, and sheer atmosphere, it's a technological marvel. After all, how often do you see the bustling Parisian streets in the throes of the French Revolution brought to life with such visual fidelity?
   It's compounded by fantastic mission structure and a host of gadgets at your disposal, making it one of the more sprawling albeit technically flawed games in the series.
5. Assassin's Creed: Liberation 
   
   It's not a mainline entry in the series and it was a PlayStation Vita exclusive for a spell before coming to the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 as a HD remake. Liberation brings some interesting features to the series such as whips and blowpipe parasols for weapons. You play Aveline, a female assassin who can switch between disguises such as a socialite, slave or the usual garb of an assassin.
   These let you access different parts of the city of New Orleans, where the game takes place. It's called the persona system, with Syndicate letting you play as a female protagonist, it would be nice to see this feature make its way into the game in some form.

What Assassin's Creed games do you think are must plays? Let us know in the comments
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Nvidia Wants to Leap From Video Games to Self-Driving Cars

It took Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia the better part of a decade to gain acceptance as a global automotive supplier, a lesson for other technology firms hoping to make a similar transition from consumer electronics to car components.

Nvidia had a thriving business in supplying powerful graphics processors for video game consoles and laptop computers when representatives of Volkswagen AG asked if it could adapt the same realistic, three-dimensional displays for the dashboards of Audi luxury cars.

That was 10 years ago - several lifetimes in Silicon Valley terms, but just a couple of model changes ago for the big car maker. It took six years for Nvidia to develop the chips to power the 3-D navigation system display that launched on the 2011 Audi A8, the brand's top-of-the-line sedan, compared with three to four years to develop a new chip for gaming applications.

Along the way, Nvidia engineers learned the hard way they could not just pop a chip designed for a laptop or a game console into a car.

"We had to be taught what 'automotive grade' meant," recalls Danny Shapiro, Nvidia's senior director of automotive operations. In simple terms, that meant no reboots - because a dashboard screen that fails to light up means an angry customer and possibly an expensive warranty repair.

The decade-long effort enabled Nvidia to make the jump from the world of computers and game consoles into the fast-growing market for advanced automotive displays and automated driving systems. It is a leap that other Silicon Valley tech companies want to emulate to cash in on the convergence of automobiles and digital connectivity.

Nvidia's success in landing processors on cars including the Audi A8 and the Tesla Model S sedan illustrates the growing willingness among automakers to look beyond their traditional suppliers to obtain a technological edge.

"They offer us computing systems with the strength" to process vast amounts of data required by new driver assistance systems and displays, said Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi's head of technical development.

Nvidia is still a niche player with a long way to go to crack the top league of traditional automotive chip suppliers. Much larger companies, including Japan's Renesas Electronics Corp and U.S. chipmakers Texas Instruments Inc, Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc, dominate the automotive chip business.

Nvidia's automotive sales represented just 4 percent of the company's $4.7 billion annual revenue in its most recent fiscal year. That in turn is just one-tenth of the $1.86 billion in automotive semiconductors that Texas Instruments sold last year.

Brooke Williams, TI's business manager for driver assistance systems, said his company already knows how to deal with automakers' demands after 35 years of supplying products for vehicles. "We understand the automotive design cycle and how the vehicle manufacturers and suppliers work."

Self driving cars
Nvidia has made the leap to infotainment systems in vehicles, but not yet to self-driving cars.

The company had just $23 million in sales in the automotive segment in 2011. Growth has surged since. This year, the company expects automotive revenue of $183 million, and says it has booked more than $2 billion in future automotive business, most of that involving chips for digital displays and infotainment. By 2020, Nvidia expects to have chips on more than 32 million vehicles.

The company is pushing to crack the emerging market for driver assistance systems, which include such tasks as self-parking and semi-automated steering and braking. Those systems require huge amounts of computing power in very small packages. Nvidia has developed and begun selling a chip called the Tegra X1 for automotive and gaming uses, which it says can put the power of a supercomputer in a package about the size of a postage stamp.

"Nvidia brings unparalleled graphics capabilities that could prove critical building blocks" for driver assistance systems, said Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore.

Nvidia got coaching from automotive customers who liked the company's technology but were not sure of its ability to measure up to their standards.

Early in their relationship, Audi executives took Nvidia engineers on a trip to Audi's home factory in Ingolstadt, Germany.

"We told the Nvidia guys, 'you make one part, but we assemble a car here from 10,000 pieces,'" said Mathias Halliger, Audi's senior systems architect for connected vehicle technologies. "If even one part is bad, we have a problem."

To drive home the point, an Audi tour guide noted that one of the luxury cars had been rejected because of a tiny flaw in the paint.

The plant tour, Halliger said, "helped Nvidia to understand our requirements. It showed dramatically what we were looking for."

There was more for Nvidia to learn. A typical automotive production cycle can run five years or more, compared with one year for many consumer products. Nvidia had to go back to its suppliers to make sure that key components, from memory to power supply, could be upgraded as needed over that longer life cycle.

"When you work with car companies and you engage in these developments with them, over the years you adopt their culture," said Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang, whose personal automotive stable includes two Ferraris and two Teslas. "But the car is dying to be reinvented."

© Thomson Reuters 2015

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How to Share Your Steam Games With Friends and Family

 Valve's PC game distribution platform Steam has been in the news lately for a lot of reasons, such as allowing (and the removing) paid mods from Skyrim, or for adding a slew of features such as an in-game frame rate counter. One of Steam's many useful features is Family Sharing. As the name suggests, with this feature you can share your library of Steam games with friends and family.

To do this, you'll need access to the computer on which your friends and/ or family play, and you will have to share your Steam account credentials (username and password) on their machine. From there, it's a relatively straightforward process.

1. Enable Steam Guard
On your own computer, go to the Steam settings menu. Click on Account. Select Manage my account with Steam Guard security.
2. Authorize the second computer
On your friend's (or family member's) PC, log in with your Steam account. Go to settings, click on Family. Choose Authorize this computer.
3. Start sharing
On the same PC, after authorising it, log out of your Steam account. Let your friend/ family member now log into their own account. Now they can download and install games from your Steam library.

Please note:

1. You can authorize up to 5 accounts and 10 computers to access your Steam gaming library.
2. You cannot play any games simultaneously. If someone is using games from your library, then you can't play at the same time. What this means is, if someone is playing Counter-Strike from your library, you cannot play Team Fortress 2 at the same time.
3. You can't use Family Sharing to play games normally unavailable in your region
   .

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How to Use Your Xbox One Controller With a PC

The Xbox One controller is a step up from the Xbox 360 controller, refining an already fantastic gamepad. The 360 controller is the de facto standard for many a PC gamer who prefers to play games without a keyboard and mouse, and thanks to rubberised analogue sticks that give it much needed grip, and a directional pad that's actually usable in fighting games, the Xbox One controller is well worth the price of entry.

While Microsoft is taking its own sweet time in making it usable on the PC without wires, you can easily game on your computer with an Xbox One controller that's wired in.

In addition to a computer with Windows, all you need is a Micro-USB cable (used for charging most Windows and Android smartphones), an Internet connection to download the required drivers, and, of course, an Xbox One controller.

1. Install drivers 
   Boot up your PC, connect to the Internet. Download and install one of these driver packages depending on your version of Windows:
PC drivers for 32-bit Windows
PC drivers for 64-bit Windows
2. Connect the controller 
   With the drivers installed, plug in the Micro-USB end of the cable to the controller and the USB end of it into your computer's USB port. If it works, the controller will vibrate. If it does not vibrate, try another Micro-USB cable and/ or a different USB port.

That's all you need to do to get your Xbox One controller working on the PC.

Please note:

If you plan on using the same controller with an Xbox One, you will need to re-sync the controller to the console. You can do this by holding the wireless sync buttons on the console and controller at the same time or attaching it to the console via Micro-USB cable.

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The Top 5 Mods for GTA V PC

It's just been a couple of weeks since Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) for the PC was released worldwide. Aside from fantastic graphics, one of the reasons to choose the PC version over consoles is the support for modifications or mods, as they're known. Mods enhance your gaming experience in many ways, from something as small as increasing the lighting in a game (like the famous duct tape mod for Doom 3) to full blown experiences like Counter-Strike (which was originally a Half-Life mod).

While GTA V creators haven't officially weighed in on mods yet, that hasn't stopped a rabid fanbase from creating some surprisingly good modifications for a game that's still in its early days. Here's our picks on what you should check out.

1. Play as a cat
Yes you read right. One of the first mods comes from YouTuber Taltigolt. You can play as a cat instead of Franklin, Trevor, or Michael. If this wasn't enough, you drive vehicles as a feline and can use weapons such as guns and Molotov cocktails too.
2. The largest mammal on land
Following the animal motif the aptly named Merfish released this mod, which lets you drop whales into the game. Given that the city of Los Santos is tense enough as it is, you can only imagine what happens when you drop a whale on tanks, blimps, helicopters, and of course the unsuspecting citizens of Los Santos.
3. Turn Los Santos into an Undead Nightmare
A bone of contention for many a PC-only gamer is that Rockstar hasn't shown any inclination towards releasing open-world wild west adventure Red Dead Redemption and its Undead Nightmare expansion pack to PCs. With this mod however, you can bring the grim atmosphere from Undead Nightmare to GTA V and play as a zombie as well.
4. Increase your field of view
Field of view or FOV as many a PC gaming enthusiast refers to it, is the extent of which your is the extent of the world that can be seen at any moment. This simple mod lets you increase how much your character can see. Useful considering that the game's FOV slider seems anaemic for some.
5. The super punch mod
Why stop at simple cheats that give you invincibility when you can punch your way out of any trouble? Or perhaps, punch and kick your way into more trouble and still come out unscathed. That's what you can do with modder LinGon's super punch mod. Nothing is safe from your fists and legs of fury be it law enforcement or vehicles, making this one of the more entertaining mods around.

Those were our picks from the slew of GTA V mods out at the moment. What are your favourites? Let us know via the comments
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A Game of Clones: Mobile Games Will Be Cloned and There's Nothing You Can Do About It

With a seemingly infinite number of games on mobile platforms like the App Store and Google Play, it's only normal to see some that are extremely similar to others, particularly when you consider that most feature the same simple gameplay mechanics. Calling one out as a clone, however, is a different thing altogether - inspiration is one thing, and plagiarism another.

Matt Akins (the founder of Tapped, an online community built around iOS game development education) is claiming that his game Rotable was cloned and released by publisher Ketchapp as Circle Pong. Ketchapp is the company behind the addictive math puzzle 2048, which was also allegedly cloned from Threes.

Akins says he had had submitted Rotable to Ketchapp late last year. Circle Pong was not published by Ketchapp on the App Store, but rather by a company called App Cow. This, Akins claims in an exhaustive piece on Medium, is a shell firm for Ketchapp.

According to Akins, App Cow's art assets are very similar to Ketchapp's games. He further links the two companies through a publisher called Obile Glob. That is an entity on Amazon's storefront which publishes Ketchapp games, including Circle Pong. This is the clinching factor, as far as Akins is concerned.

Responding to an email requesting comment from Touch Arcade, Ketchapp's Antoine Morcos said that "Circle Pong is not our game, and all the information of this article are wrong... I don't know how a writer at Medium could seriously publish that without even verifying the sources."

A second story on Touch Arcade seems to corroborate this. Circle Pong was developed by Perlagotchi. This was ascertained as the file for the Google Play and App Store version listed by app analyst firm App Annie, was labeled as com.perlagotchiapps.squashpong. The developer Ilyas Hassani claimed that it was a clone of yet another game called Pongo Pongo, which was released in April last year.

Local cloning and open development processes

In the past we've seen not so scrupulous local developers rip-off games. The most notorious of which is perhaps Rubiq Labs copying Luftrausers - a game by indie superstars Vlambeer. That was two years ago. Now, however, development processes are a lot more open. Today some Indian creators make no qualms about their games being inspired by others and even seek the advice of the original creators of these titles.

Let's take the example of Skatelander by Mumbai-based Underdogs Studio. The game wears its many influences on its sleeve, the most notable of which is Crossyroad. Studio founder Vaibhav Chavan confirmed this. After Underdogs put a link to the game up on Touch Arcade's forums, Andrew Sum (one of the creators on Crossyroad) provided feedback on how to improve the game.

"We shared the build with him. He beta-tested the game. We got feedback on monetisation and small things like character names," says Chavan. "How we should not be focussing on ethnicity and stuff like that. In addition to this, things like controls. In an earlier build we had two buttons, which he suggested to remove and use the screen instead. It was powerful feedback from him that helped us improve the game a lot."

It's this open development process that avoids ugly scenarios like a new game being called out as a clone. And its something nimble independent teams can work out quicker, given that they're smaller and have less bureaucracy compared to big companies.

Never going to stop

Not every developer follows an open method of development like Underdogs did. And it's one of the reasons why you cannot expect cloning or games being called out for being clones (unintentional or otherwise) to stop. At the end of the day, it boils down to design restraints. Smartphones and tablets are limited by their input mechanism, the touchscreen.

With a touchscreen they're limited to the usual virtual buttons that most developers and users abhor or a mix of tap, swipe and hold methods of input that other employ. Sure, there are other options like using the accelerometer or gyroscope to provide a unique experience but in most cases they work better in theory than in practise. This is why the games category on the app store is filled with many variations on just a few themes.

As developers grow more and more accustomed to device limitations, many gravitate to the similar if not same conclusion in terms of game mechanics and controls. Therefore, the only distinguishing features would end up being how the game is presented in terms of narrative (if any) and art direction. After that, the only other point of concern is how much money can be spent in making such a product discoverable.

Meanwhile, the customers themselves don't seem to care. If a clone can get attention first, it's treated as the original. That's something Vlambeer learned when another one of its game - Ridiculous Fishing - was cloned before it was launched on the App Store. The audience for mobile games is largely made up of casual gamers who aren't following the latest news, and, if the top download charts are any indication, they don't seem to care whether a game was cloned or not.

So while Akins might not be right in his tirade against Ketchapp, it just exposes the underlying concern: platform holders like Apple and Google need to take greater care in curating their content. It would go a long way in preventing such situations from happening in the future. Until that happens, however, status quo will be maintained
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