CES 2014 kicks off this week and you can expect to see a plethora of Steam Box related news.

Up until now we have received a good amount of information pertaining to Box’s specs but very little has been known as to whom would be selling the machines.

iBuyPower will be showing off their machine fitted with a multi-core AMD Cpu, 500GB hard drive (we are not sure if this is SSD), WiFi, Bluetooth, and an AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card.

The size if the unit is said to be around the same size as a PS4 and a tad smaller then an Xbox One.

It’s the kind of run Nintendo’s been on lately, that even the company’s one piece of good news – the growing success of the 3DS – has to get a little gloomier.

With the Wii U a disaster, it’s 3DS sales that are making Nintendo’s money right now, but from here on in the Japanese company is going to have to give up a percentage of every wholesale sale of the handheld to another company.

That company is Tomita. A US judge declared last month that Nintendo has been using Tomita’s patented camera technology without permission, so from now until the end of the handheld’s life, “Nintendo must pay Tomita 1.82 percent of the wholesale price” on every 3DS sold.

That may not sound like much, but if the 3DS goes on to sell 100 million units, it all adds up. To a lot of lost money.

Original article here

Many months ago, Square – a company that helps merchants do their business by providing business tools and equipment to take payments, etc. – made waves with their combination Square Reader and free Square Register App, which offers merchants an easy way to accept credit card payments via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets by plugging a tiny card reader to the phone’s headphone port and then running the app. However, it’s not been possible to keep the iPhone in a case while using the Reader as no case has room to accommodate it – until now, that is.

Revealed today at CES 2014, Griffin’s $19.99 “Merchant case” is a protective iPhone Case that incorporates a compartment on the back for storing the detachable Square Reader when you’re not using it; and a moulded slot at the bottom to insert the Reader while you are, allowing you to keep the case on and keep the Square Register app running – so you can take card payments while keeping the phone safely protected. Griffin state it is the “first protective iPhone case optimised for Square”; and note the case also features “a groove in the bottom of the case [that] aligns with the Square Reader to guide a credit card to an easy, consistent swipe time after time.”

The Merchant Case + Square Reader is available to order now at Griffin’s online store; and plans to ship in the next two weeks. Its debut coincides with Square’s launch of Works with Square, a program that allows developers to build accessories for Square businesses.

Blizzard has announced that they are planning to roll out changes to Battle.net accounts that have parental controls switched on: all purchases made using real-life money will be prevented.

In a forum post Support Forum Agent Vrakthris gives notice of the upcoming change, laying out what the e-mails Blizzard is sending out in the next few days to the parent and child accounts will say. He says that “We wanted to let everyone know this was coming and, considering how many phishing emails are out there, that it is indeed from us.”

The text of the e-mail sets out what the change will mean to the accounts in question, preventing any purchases in World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and Diablo III’s soon-to-close auction house as a default setting. It also lists how to change this option (a process that requires an e-mail to be sent to the parent account) and that Blizzard is “making this change to ensure that Parental Controls users will have more control over real-money purchases in Blizzard games.”

Although surprised that this wasn’t already a process that was in place, this is a good move on Blizzard’s part to support parents and alleviate any worries they might have of companies taking advantage of their children in a grab for more profits. Safeguards like this can only be a positive thing.

Mentioned forum post is here

The planned second test season for Blizzard’s card game Hearthstone has been delayed after maintenance revealed some sprite issues that prevented a transition between the seasons.

“Due to these issues, we are extending the duration of Test Season 1 until we can ensure a smooth transition.” Community manager Zeriyah told members of the forum on the 2^nd.

This follows on from Blizzard’s decision to delay Open Beta of the popular game until 2014 when originally it was scheduled for December 2013, when they also sent out invites to all who had opted-in for the Closed Beta before the 20^th of December. It also follows Blizzard’s line at that time about giving priority to putting out working and polished games rather than attempting to meet deadlines with a game that might be a little broken in places. Even if the hype for the game has settled down a little bit from its initial fever pitch, another small delay isn’t likely to turn many off from wanting to play the game if they can’t already.

The new test season would have reset player ranks, but for now the first test season continues for the foreseeable future. Future season ends will see rewards of alternate card backs and golden heroes based on the player’s performance.