Star Wars VII is coming this December and it may be one of the most anticipated films in recent memory. Many fans are wondering if JJ Abrams magic will infuse the films with life again. I remain fairly hopeful as I try and consume every bit of non-spoiler information I can get my hands on. JJ and crew were at San Diego Comic-Con a few days ago talking about the new film and there were more than a few surprises to learn. Watch the entire presentation above and then check out the Force Awakens behind the scenes clip they release right afterward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTNJ51ghzdY

It was amazing seeing the new principle cast along with the dark side additions. When Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford came out things got nuts. When JJ took everyone to a special Star Wars concert afterward they sealed it for one of the coolest Comic-Con panels ever. December can't come soon enough. Anyone planning on seeing it during a special midnight showing?

Starship Rubicon is coming to Steam very soon, *cough* tomorrow *cough* and I wanted to let everyone know that we are happy with how the Linux port turned out. That said there are a zillion Linux variants out there and we wanted to drop some tips for people on how to get things running as smooth as possible.

SOUND

Linux has some problems with sound effects not playing and/or being at wonky volumes. Go figure. It uses OpenAL by default (I have not been able to get FreeAudio to work) but apparently needs the 32-bit drivers. On 64-bit Ubuntu, you should be able to get them with:

sudo apt-get install libopenal1:i386 libopenal-dev:i386

Other linux distros need to modify that command accordingly (https://www.codeweavers.com/support/wiki/diag/missinglibopenal has a good reference sheet). You may need to reboot following the install.)

We will keep this page updated with any Linux fixes that any people need to employ to keep the game running in the wild sea of distros.

Blizzard sent a package to a few popular video game websites (not us, booo) teasing a new Hearthstone expansion coming July 22nd called "Agent Tournament." In the image linked above from Polygon the scroll reads:

"Well met, hero!

Champions are gathering from around the world to witness the next exciting thing Hearthstone has in store. News travels far and wide in search of brave new faces ready to answer the call to arms — are you one of them?

Muster for battle and mark July 22 on your calendar. The next bit of news won't come by carrier pigeon — thankfully, we have much better ways of communication now.

Victory awaits!"

So what are you most excited for? A full new adventure or a new set of cards? Both? I started playing Hearthstone regularly after it dropped on Mobile so I have a ton of cards yet to get and I haven't even started opening Goblins and Gnomes packs yet. I unlocked all of Naxx and got the first tier of Blackrock so I don't "need" the new content but I bet other players are absolutely itching for more things to do.

What are you looking forward to coming out July 22nd?

http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/7/8909349/hearthstone-expansion-tease-hints-blizzard-pc-ios

Blizzard has been creating a slew of Hearthstone ads and the latest two featuring Annoy-o-Tron I particularly liked. Annoy-o-Tron, in my opinion, is one of the most effective ways to lock down the early game as it costs two to bring out and has divine shield plus taunt. When it comes out and I hear the familiar "HELLO, HELLO" I cringe.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/12181-annoy-o-tron

This ad is particularly cringe worthy too, but that's the point entirely. When you start Hearthstone you get 100 dust and can craft, right away, two Annoy-o-Trons. I decided to craft the Ironbeak Owl instead which I use in damn near each of my decks and for two it can break near anything cool with Silence.

http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ironbeak_Owl

What do you think, what would you craft and what are your strategies to taking down the Annoy-a-Tron early game? An Ironbeak Owl seems to work well for me.

Here is the other ad for the curious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mGgwg9-zDU

Broforce is everyones favorite freedom acquisition simulator featuring mook murder and now with a whole new set of updates that would make Jean Claude Van Damme quit his Timecop job. This new update features the Brocketeer, Broheart, new Melee attacks & FLEXING!

So if you were looking for something patriotic to do on the 4th, why not flex on over to Broforce? 5 out 5 world despots don't want you to do it, so that's always a good reason to check it out.

Telltale Games is dipping into the Minecraft franchise to launch Story Mode. The trailer features the voice talent of Patton Oswalt, Cory Feldman & Billy West. I should start out by saying I thought Minecraft was neat, but I am not a very big fan. That said, this trailer failed to excite me but I wondered if it worked for Minecraft fans. Maybe Story Mode is what the Minecraft fans crave?

Let me know in the comments.

Marques Brownlee is one of the YouTube personalities I subscribe to because he creates superb tech review videos. He usually reviews smartphones, watches and laptops but did something a bit different in that he reviewed a PC I hadn't heard of called the Maingear Shift.

"Featuring MAINGEAR VRTX (Vertical Exhaust) Cooling Technology, the SHIFT was the first system to employ a vertical, heat stack design to dissipate heat out the top of the chassis, not the back, harnessing the natural behavior of hot air to rise, and drawing in cool air from the bottom. This promotes cooler running temperatures under load, less work for the system fans which leads to quieter operation, and increases overclocking and performance potential."

The Maingear Shift is a luxury PC that seems to be aimed at the Alienware and other high price PCs. It sports a car paint finish and some very tidy case design, cable work and lighting. I also appreciate the positioning of the ports as well as the absolutely mammoth case. The mid brew base option Maingear PC is well over double what I paid for my current PC but when you factor in how much i've upgraded it the price is a bit closer.

Are you in the market for a new PC and if so, what are your thoughts on the Maingear shift? I bet this thing would play Terraria amazingly well.

https://www.maingear.com/custom/desktops/shift/

The dream is to get a Steam Machine in the living room so I can play my Steam library on the couch. I can plug in my laptop but it requires more setup than i'd like, i'd prefer to just turn something on, pick up a controller and play.

Since Valve announced SteamOS and Steam Machines i've been looking at what to get. I don't mind spending about as much as a console costs but I don't want to buy something terrible and that starts with not buying stuff that hasn't been reviewed. I've heard great things about the work Intel has been doing with it's Atom CPUs and it recently released a pretty beefy system on a board that is pretty impressive. A few manufacturers have shipped PC's with a very low form factor and the other day I pulled the trigger and bought one to use as a Steam Machine.

http://www.quantumsuppliers.com/shop/products/quantumbyteminipc/

It's a mini PC running Windows 8.1 and has an Intel Atom (Quad-core) processor Z3735F, 2GB of DDR3L RAM, and 32GB of flash disk. It also supports bluetooth, wifi and has a full SD card slot to increase storage beyond the 32GB. It also sports a very competent integrated Intel card. The thought with buying the Quantum Byte is that it's a low cost, low power option where I can install nearly any Indie game and stream beefier games from my PC.

That said, my first experience in a DIY Steam Machine was horrible but it gave me hope that Steam in the Living Room is going to be great. Just maybe not using Windows.

First off the Quantum Byte is a fantastic little PC when it isn't bugging out on me. I am returning it because it couldn't keep connected to wireless which I believe is a problem with the unit I bought. The reviews on Amazon for the device are nearly all great but occasionally someone gets a bad run and I think I got one. That said, when the wifi is working the unit is responsive and installed Steam games and streamed Steam games run fantastically.

Beyond the infuriating wifi issues, I also had some huge problems getting Windows 8.1 to work the way I wanted. This is what I wanted to do.

• Have the machine auto login.


• Start up steam in big picture mode.


• Run everything from the Windows guest account.

The first problem came with setting Windows 8.1 to auto authenticate. Somehow I flipped some bit wrong and lost administrator access. Totally screwed as I couldn't change or install anything. That said, I wiped it and was able to set up auto login correctly. Having Steam start in big picture mode isn't hard but the time from me pressing the power button to big picture mode popping it took almost two full minutes. Not a huge deal but not impressive.

Running things in the guest account is a good idea if you want to keep thing secure but is a pain in the ass when each Steam Windows game port needs to install it's own version of Direct X and .Net. I also found out that most games require you to have a keyboard and mouse plugged in to the computer. If you don't some games don't start, bug out or randomly crash. I also had issues with some games starting in over 1080p mode and having my TV freak out requiring me to have to physically reboot the Quantum Byte.

After everything was working I had to return the Quantum Byte due to wireless issues I stated earlier, that said when everything was running well(which wasn't much) it wasn't a bad experience. That said, Windows in the living room doesn't "just work" and is a pain in the ass. I totally understand why Valve is building it's own controlled SteamOS system as using Windows would be a bucket of pain. Sure, you have a ton of ported games but the experience isn't great and there are so many things you have to do to get it to "just work."

In the end I might replace my Quantum Byte with a newer one but after going through so much already I am not sure. I do want to have something in the living room that can play PC games but so far it's a DIY adventure and i'll keep you updated on how it goes.

I am interested in playing the new Star Wars Battlefront game. EA just let out 30 seconds of gameplay and it looks fun. That said, even from this reveal I am still nervous I am going to be terrible at it. I don't mind shooters, I am just terrible in online multi-player. Still, I don't mind playing against dumb bots so I can at least pretend I don't suck horribly.

The Humble folks have brought us some classic Indie Bundles(remember HB9 with FEZ, FTL, Mark of the Ninja and Brutal Legend?) and have brought us some really great Triple A bundles too. Recently The Humble Borderlands Bundle has dropped and if you don't own Borderlands but have always wanted to it's time to act.

The any price bundle features the original game plus all the DLC minus the Claptrap expansion. My thought is they will add that later for people that beat the average as they always add more content in later on. If you pay above the average you get Borderlands 2 and some DLC. If you pay $15 you get way more Borderlands 2 DLC. Like I mentioned earlier, by the time they add the remaining bits to the bundle you can/could essentially get Borderlands & Borderlands 2 + all DLC for a pretty great price PLUS a portion goes to Charity.