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Meet the New AFK, Nvidia Project Shield With Borderlands 2

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To showcase the capabilities of Project Shield, Nvidia has released a video showing their new Tegra 4 powered handheld running Borderlands 2 via PC. Check out the new video below.

 

The more I see Nvidia’s Project Shield the more I fall in love with it, but it’s not just the device that’s awesome. Even though the shield is amazing, it’s the technology behind it that gets me pumped up about the future of gaming. Streaming video game content is what “next-gen” is all about. This is the step forward we have been looking for in gaming technology.

Here’s an up-close and personal look at the new handheld.

NVProject Shield handheld

Lego Marvel Super Heroes

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Lego Marvel Super Heroes

The Lego video games just keep on rolling in and I say bring it on. The team at TT games has had some amazing partnerships that have allowed us to experience our favorite films in a whole new way. Now, TT games has teamed up with Marvel to bring us LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. The game will be released this fall for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC, Nintendo DS/3DS, and PS Vita.

Fans of both LEGO and Marvel have wanted this game for years, and we’re addressing that demand with more Marvel Universe characters than ever in a console game. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man, the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy or scores of other Marvel characters, this is the game for you.” -TQ Jefferson, Vice President, Games Production, Marvel Entertainment.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes complements the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes construction toy collection, which brings the characters, vehicles and action of Marvel’s renowned universe to the world of LEGO build-and-play adventure. There are currently eight iconic scenes from the X-Men, Iron Man and Spider-Man franchises available and more construction sets tied to the new Iron Man 3 feature film will launch later this spring.

Players will unlock more than 100 characters from across the Marvel Universe, including fan favorites like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Deadpool, Loki and Galactus! The game will pack in a plethora of super-cool character abilities, combat-like action sequences, epic battle scenes, puzzle-solving and a unique story told with playful LEGO humor.

Here’s an awesome look at what’s been going on at TT games surrounding the production of the game, video courtesy of GameInformer.

A Great Free Alternative to Photoshop

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Adobe Photoshop is an incredibly useful tool and it seems that the only limitation is your imagination. The only set back to using such powerful software could be it’s price tag.  The full version of Adobe Photoshop retails for $699 and if you want you can “rent” Photoshop for $19.99 per month but you must commit to a year long subscription or you will have to pay $29.99 per month. That’s a lot of money to throw down, especially for non-professional use, but there’s no need to fear, there are other options.

There is a really good alternative to Photoshop and it’s called GIMP which is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. GIMP offers up many of the same features as Photoshop and what’s even better is that it’s free!

GIMP Screenshot
GIMP UI

GIMP is loaded with features and you can export your images to many different file formats including TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PSD and many more. What I have found to be one of the best features is the ability to download plugins. If there’s a feature or format that you need, you can usually always find a plugin to take care of your needs. You can perform many of the same common tasks that you would expect to find in any other modern image software, including photo retouching and enhancement, resizing/cropping, colorizing, filters and much more.

GIMP UI ScreenshotTwo
GIMP UI

Although most users will be able to jump right into it, those who are used to Photoshop may take a little while to get used to a different user interface. I use both Photoshop and GIMP but I do all of my work in GIMP on my laptop, including most of the photos you see on GeekwithEnvy. If you do get stuck or just want to learn more you can head over the the tutorials section to get up to speed.

GIMP is primarily written in C and was originally intended to to be a reasonably priced or Free image manipulation program for GNU/Linux and UNIX. Today, you can download the software for Mac OSX, Windows, Sun OpenSolaris, FreeBSD and of course GNU/Linux. For complete information you can head here.

 

Small Asteroid to Do a Close Flyby of Earth

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2012 DA14 is a small asteroid that is going to be flying past Earth on February 15th. The asteroid was discovered in February of 2012 by astronomers at the La Sagra Sky Survey. 2012 DA14 will be so close to Earth when it passes us that it will be within the Earth’s geosynchronous satellite ring, that’s pretty close. That distance is where some communications satellites reside, however it will be far above most other equipment and therefore will be a relatively low risk as it passes Earth at a blazing speed of 17,400 mph.

2012 DA14 Asteroid
2012 DA14 Asteroid Path (Source: NASA)

NASA will be taking advantage of this close approaching asteroid by studying it as it passes us.  2012 DA14 isn’t every large, it’s approximately 150ft across and won’t be visible by the naked eye when it passes us, but it should be visible through a telescope.

Update [NASA]