Archive for September 2016
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Bitcoin's price fell quite sharply over the weekend, following the publication of Mr Hearn's blog. One bitcoin is now worth $380 (£265), down from about $430 on Thursday. However, the price of Bitcoin is notoriously volatile. It has been classed as the best performing currency in the world in 2015. But authors of that analysis, The Money Project, also noted it was the worst performing currency the previous year. Besides price, Bitcoin has also suffered from a litany of cases in which bitcoins have been stolen from online exchanges in which they were stored, in some cases due to negligence or poor security. Such incidents generally result in a complete loss of funds for the victims, since it is very difficult to trace where stolen bitcoins have been transferred. Meanwhile, the currency continues to grow - a sign of good things to come, say many.

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Bitcoin's price fell quite sharply over the weekend, following the publication of Mr Hearn's blog. One bitcoin is now worth $380 (£265), down from about $430 on Thursday. However, the price of Bitcoin is notoriously volatile. It has been classed as the best performing currency in the world in 2015. But authors of that analysis, The Money Project, also noted it was the worst performing currency the previous year. Besides price, Bitcoin has also suffered from a litany of cases in which bitcoins have been stolen from online exchanges in which they were stored, in some cases due to negligence or poor security. Such incidents generally result in a complete loss of funds for the victims, since it is very difficult to trace where stolen bitcoins have been transferred. Meanwhile, the currency continues to grow - a sign of good things to come, say many.
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Bitcoin's price fell quite sharply over the weekend, following the publication of Mr Hearn's blog. One bitcoin is now worth $380 (£265), down from about $430 on Thursday. However, the price of Bitcoin is notoriously volatile. It has been classed as the best performing currency in the world in 2015. But authors of that analysis, The Money Project, also noted it was the worst performing currency the previous year. Besides price, Bitcoin has also suffered from a litany of cases in which bitcoins have been stolen from online exchanges in which they were stored, in some cases due to negligence or poor security. Such incidents generally result in a complete loss of funds for the victims, since it is very difficult to trace where stolen bitcoins have been transferred. Meanwhile, the currency continues to grow - a sign of good things to come, say many.
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Bitcoin's price fell quite sharply over the weekend, following the publication of Mr Hearn's blog. One bitcoin is now worth $380 (£265), down from about $430 on Thursday. However, the price of Bitcoin is notoriously volatile. It has been classed as the best performing currency in the world in 2015. But authors of that analysis, The Money Project, also noted it was the worst performing currency the previous year. Besides price, Bitcoin has also suffered from a litany of cases in which bitcoins have been stolen from online exchanges in which they were stored, in some cases due to negligence or poor security. Such incidents generally result in a complete loss of funds for the victims, since it is very difficult to trace where stolen bitcoins have been transferred. Meanwhile, the currency continues to grow - a sign of good things to come, say many.
Bitcoin: Is the crypto-currency doomed?

Bitcoin: Is the crypto-currency doomed?

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A high-profile Bitcoin developer has said the crypto-currency has failed and he will no longer take part in its development.
Mike Hearn, a Zurich-based developer and long-time proponent of Bitcoin, surprised many this weekend when he published a blog calling Bitcoin a "failed" project.
Mr Hearn, who had until recently been working on new software for the currency, says he has now sold all of his own bitcoins and will no longer take part in the crypto-currency's development.
So, is Bitcoin doomed?

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a crypto-currency - a system of digitally created and traded tokens to which value is assigned.
Computers have to solve cryptographic problems in order to add blocks to the blockchain - a ledger that records every transaction that has ever occurred with Bitcoin.
In return, those computers receive bitcoins in a process known as bitcoin "mining".
Users have a "bitcoin address", to which bitcoins may be sent or from which they may be used.
Addresses are stored online in wallets that function like bank accounts.
Although most people refer to Bitcoin as a currency, it is worth noting that for regulatory reasons many countries - including the United States - have decided to define it as a commodity instead.




What are the problems?



The biggest issue most bitcoin users acknowledge is how quickly new transactions can be processed.
The size of blocks being added to the blockchain has been increasing steadily with the rise of Bitcoin.
As a result, the rate at which transactions can be processed has been slowing.
Indeed, some transactions face significant delays, hampering payments.
Some fear the network will eventually become oversaturated and cease to be usable.

Who is Mike Hearn?



Mike Hearn is a software developer who has worked on Bitcoin technologies for over five years.
In 2014, he left his job at Google to focus on Bitcoin full time.
He has worked closely with Bitcoin chief scientist Gavin Andresen on alternative software for Bitcoin called Bitcoin XT, which aims to address capacity issues facing the network.
Mr Andresen is generally thought of as next in the chain of influence over the currency's development after Bitcoin's mysterious founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.



How might the capacity of the network be increased?

Currently, each block can be no more than 1MB.
But in May last year, Mr Andresen said bigger ones should be adopted.
He later wrote, "It is more likely people [will] just stop using Bitcoin because transaction confirmation becomes increasingly unreliable."
The Bitcoin XT version developed by Mr Hearn, Mr Andresen and others offers to increase the block size limit to 8MB
There are alternatives, however.
Nic Cary, co-founder of Bitcoin start-up Blockchain, points to BitcoinClassic, which would increase the block size limit to 2MB.

Why is there a dispute over this?


There is often lively debate within the Bitcoin community over how the currency should be developed


Bitcoin's history as a "decentralised" currency has led to much hesitation over decisions that might change its fundamental nature.
Any proposal relating to Bitcoin is likely to encourage fierce debate and, in some cases, stagnation.
Some have argued vehemently against Bitcoin XT, causing a deep divide in the community. The New York Times has reported that death threats had even been made against some Bitcoin developers.
Mr Cary says the need to update the block size limit is not as urgent as some say.
"This is a matter of perspective," he told the BBC.
"The Bitcoin network has been updated safely dozens of times and will continue to be the most reliable, affordable, and efficient way to send value around the world."
However, there are some who feel that Bitcoin's potential as a currency has already been exhausted.
"I'm sure there are smart people right now working out what the next generation [of Bitcoin] should look like but I have to say I'm not convinced that money or payments is the optimum [use] of the technology," Dave Birch, a director at consultancy firm Consult Hyperion, told the BBC.
Part of the problem was the lack of consensus over what Bitcoin was and how it should be used, he added.

How 'healthy' is Bitcoin?


In the past, Bitcoins stored in online exchanges have been lost or stolen - leaving their owners out of pocketImage copyrightGetty Images
Image captionIn the past, Bitcoins stored in online exchanges have been lost or stolen - leaving their owners out of pocket

Bitcoin's price fell quite sharply over the weekend, following the publication of Mr Hearn's blog.
One bitcoin is now worth $380 (£265), down from about $430 on Thursday.
However, the price of Bitcoin is notoriously volatile.
It has been classed as the best performing currency in the world in 2015.
But authors of that analysis, The Money Project, also noted it was the worst performing currency the previous year.
Besides price, Bitcoin has also suffered from a litany of cases in which bitcoins have been stolen from online exchanges in which they were stored, in some cases due to negligence or poor security.
Such incidents generally result in a complete loss of funds for the victims, since it is very difficult to trace where stolen bitcoins have been transferred.
Meanwhile, the currency continues to grow - a sign of good things to come, say many.
Fujitsu unleashes new super-secure Windows 10 hybrid, plus multiple laptops

Fujitsu unleashes new super-secure Windows 10 hybrid, plus multiple laptops

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Fujitsu has (once again) announced an avalanche of new hardware aimed at businesses, including a new hybrid, laptops and desktop PCs.
The 2-in-1 machine is the Fujitsu Arrows Tab R726/M, a 12.5-inch Windows tablet with a detachable magnetic keyboard (pictured above).
With the keyboard attached, it's 14.7mm thick and weighs 1.25kg, and the hybrid's display has a full HD resolution.

The tablet has a kickstand so you can prop it up for showing off your presentations, and it boasts an encrypted SSD for storage and a built-in security chip that manages encryption keyS.
There's also an optional dock and the Tab R726/M can be specified with LTE on board.
Fujitsu has also produced a second tablet with a 13.3-inch display which is dust, water and chemical resistant, and can be configured with a number of different elements including a palm vein sensor for security, and a Clearsure remote data wipe solution.

Multiple LifeBooks

As for the new Windows laptops, both the LifeBook S936/M and LifeBook U745/M have palm vein sensors – these allow you to login to the OS just by holding your palm above the machine. They also have the Clearsure remote data deletion solution
There are five further LifeBook notebooks coming out – the E756/M, E746/M, E736/M, E556/M, E546/M – which boast what Fujitsu calls a "Family Concept" chassis. The idea here is that employees can share accessories such as docking stations or power adapters amongst each other regardless of their exact model.
Finally, the new desktop PC is the Esprimo K556/M, a Windows 10 machine powered by the latest Intel Xeon CPU – the company has also added a new model to its long-life PC range designed to last a decade, namely the Esprimo J529/FA which also has a Xeon processor.
The LifeBook laptops will start to roll out from this month onwards, with the Esprimo desktops due next month, and the Arrows tablet and hybrid coming in March.
The Arrows Tab R726/M hybrid is pitched at 147,300 Japanese Yen, which is around £880 (about $1,250, AU$1,830), with the LifeBook laptops starting from 231,000 Japanese Yen – that's £1,380 (about $1,970, AU$2,860).
LG G5 release date, news and rumors

LG G5 release date, news and rumors

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Update: The LG G5 release date is being teased for February 21 at MWC and new rumors suggest it may have a removable battery as well as a unibody design.
The LG G4 got a lot right, but with a couple of significant missteps and a few other minor niggles it didn't quite reach the heights of greatness we'd hoped for. But 2016 is another year, and the LG G5 is another chance for LG to deliver the handset we all know it's capable of.
As we saw with the G4, LG won't be drawn into following the norm of metal and glass bodies, happily slapping plastic and leather on its latest flagship handset – but something is going to have to give in the design department, as LG is getting left behind somewhat by Apple, Samsung, HTC and Sony.

Our design allows LG to still stand out from the crowd, while bringing it into the premium tier of design. The South Korean firm isn't afraid to throw in some curve balls here and there, so while the concept is ambitious there's always a chance for LG to surprise.

News and rumors

We've starting to hear more LG G5 rumors, and they're all pretty promising. For one thing we might finally see LG deliver a truly premium flagship, as Naver.comreports that it will sport a full metal body, which would be a nice change from the plastic the company usually uses and the less said about the leather-backed LG G4 the better.
Another rumor suggests that LG will keep the removable battery as well as a metal unibody design with an innovative new design. According to CNET Korea and a source who has seen a prototype device, the LG G5 will have a battery tray much like your SIM does in some flagship phones.

In other news a source with a solid track record has claimed that it will have a Snapdragon 820 processor, which should be a big upgrade on the Snapdragon 808 chip found in the LG G4.
The same source also claims it will have a 20MP camera with a custom Sony 1/2-inch sensor, which should also be an upgrade on the 16MP snapper that the LG G4 has.
Though another rumor suggests it will have a 21MP snapper on the back and a 5MP one on the front, as well as a 5.6-inch 2K screen.
Even more excitingly the LG G5 could supposedly have an iris scanner, allowing it to recognise you by your eyes.
We're bound to start seeing iris scanners in smartphones sooner or later and LG hasn't been afraid to innovate or be the first to do things in the past, so it's possible that the LG G5 will pack this tech, but we're a little sceptical, though that same rumor has popped up again, so you never know.

LG G5 release date

You won't have to wait very long for the LG G5 release date. The company's flagship Android phone is expected to launch two months earlier than its typical annual refresh cycle.
An invite went out to us and other members of the press asking us to "Save the Date" for February 21. The vague email teased the phrased "Play Begins" and the location of Barcelona.
It's not a final confirmation that the LG G5 is coming to MWC 2016, but the move would make sense. Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9 were announced there last year and got a two-month headstart on the LG G4.
It looks as if LG isn't allowing the Samsung Galaxy S7 and HTC One M10 to do the same all over again, so we may have our first look at the LG G5 one month from now.

Xiaomi enters notebook market with a super-model

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One of the biggest manufacturers in China, Xiaomi has entered the notebook market with a model, which seems to be much better value for money than most other models from other market rivals.

Yet unnamed model started with pre-orders sales in the Chinese market through Banggood site, and it sells for about 720 dollars.
Physically, this model looks very similar to Apple's MacBook Air, and offers full aluminum body and screen size of 15.6 inches, but that enables full HD quality.
Other specifications of the new model of this laptop resemble the MacBook Pro, while its appearance is close to the MacBook Air. The processor of this model is the Intel Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and NVIDIA GeForce 760M GPU.
The internal memory of this laptop is said to be up to 128GB SSD, and it will be based on Linux
Intel shares slide after fourth quarter earnings report

Intel shares slide after fourth quarter earnings report

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Shares of US tech giant Intel plunged about 5% in extended trading after its data centre revenue in the fourth quarter failed to impress investors.
Revenue for the business was $4.3bn (£3bn) in the fourth quarter, missing forecasts of $4.4bn. Revenue grew just 4% from the pervious quarter, compared with 8% growth in the third quarter.
Intel is the world's biggest chipmaker.
It has been looking for growth in the data centre unit to offset the slump in demand for chips used in computers.
Revenue in its personal computer (PC) business fell by 1% to $8.7bn from a year ago.
Earlier this week, market research firm IDC had announced that global demand for PC shipments fell by a record amount in the fourth quarter of last year.
Meanwhile, Intel's strong profit growth of $3.6bn in the three months to 26 December, which beat expectations, did little to ease concerns about weakness in the PC market. The unit is still the company's main business.
Its shares were down 4.7% in New York in after-hours trading.

$1.6B Powerball jackpot: 3 winning tickets sold

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MUNFORD, Tenn. -- An eye-popping and unprecedented Powerball jackpotwhose rise to $1.6 billion became a national fascination will be split three ways.
The winners' identities remain a mystery, but they bought their tickets in Florida, Tennessee and a Los Angeles suburb where even lottery losers were celebrating Thursday that such heady riches were won in their modest city.
The winners of the world-record jackpot overcame odds of 1 in 292.2 million to land on the numbers drawn Wednesday night, 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10. They can take the winnings in annual payments spread over decades or a smaller amount in a lump sum.


The California ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, California, lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said. The winning Florida ticket was sold at a Publix grocery store in Melbourne Beach. The winning ticket in Tennessee was sold in Munford, north of Memphis, according to a statement from lottery officials in that state.
Three Munford stores offer Powerball tickets, but it wasn't clear Thursday morning which retailer had sold the winning ticket and would get a $25,000 check. Tennessee lottery officials said they were headed to the winning store to make a presentation.
A significant media presence hit the small city - population just under 5,000 - as TV trucks from Memphis parked at the three stores. At a McDonald's, local residents chatted about the ticket over coffee and biscuits, theorizing where it was purchased and what they would have done with the money.
Auto body shop worker Jerry Caudle said he was "freaking out" when he heard a winning ticket was sold in his town, but it turned out he matched only two numbers, for a prize of $14. He left the Munford Short Stop gas station and convenience store with a smile, but said the jackpot would have helped him - the auto body business wasn't good in 2015.
"It's been tough," he said. "The hardest winter for me here in 17 years."
The California store and its surrounding strip mall immediately became a popular gathering spot in the usually quiet suburb of 75,000 people. Hundreds of people, from news crews to gawkers, crowded the store and spilled into its parking lot.
They cheered and mugged for TV cameras as if it were New Year's Eve or a sporting event. Many chanted, "Chino Hills! Chino Hills!" in celebration of the city.
"It's history. We're all so excited for our city," Rita Talwar, 52, who has lived in Chino Hills for 30 years, told the local newspaper, the San Bernardino Sun.
Some took selfies with the store clerk on duty, who became an instant celebrity and may well have been the man who sold the ticket after being on duty for much of the run-up to Wednesday night's drawing.
"I'm very proud that the ticket was sold here," the clerk, M. Faroqui, told the Sun. "I'm very happy. This is very exciting."



7-Eleven store clerk M. Faroqui celebrates after learning a winning Powerball ticket was sold where he works in Chino Hills, California, on Jan. 13, 2016.
 REUTERS

The store owner, Balbir Atwal, told CBS News correspondent Mireya Villarreal he couldn't believe that his store sold one of the winning tickets.
"I was watching TV, my store show up," Faroqui told Villarreal. "I said, 'Hey! That's my store.'"
Atwal was awarded $1 million by the California State Lottery on Thursday.
Atwal is an Indian man who came to the United States in 1981. He previously worked as a salesman for an electronics company and decided he wanted to start his own business. So at age 27, he bought his first 7-Eleven. He now owns four stores. The one in Chino Hills, where the winning ticket was sold, was the third franchise he purchased and he has owned it for 24 years.
The other winning jackpot tickets were sold in Florida and Tennessee.
Chino Hills has 78,000 residents and Mayor Art Bennett describes the city as a rural-style suburb where cows can be seen grazing on hillsides. He says it would be hard to find anything else that has generated this much public interest in the city.
No details were immediately available about the Florida winner.
The estimated jackpot amounts had risen steadily since Nov. 4, when it was reset at $40 million. Texas Lottery executive director Gary Grief has said this Powerball offered "absolutely" the world's biggest jackpot.
Not that there aren't large jackpots elsewhere. Spain's massively popular Christmas lottery, known as "El Gordo," is ranked as the world's richest, though it doles out a single jackpot among millions of prizes, instead of one large jackpot like the Powerball. El Gordo last month showered 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) across the country.
Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
But residents in the six states that don't participate found ways to get their hands on tickets. Some of the biggest Powerball sales have come from cities bordering states that don't sell the tickets, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association. The association oversees the Powerball Lottery, but management rotates annually among member states.
© 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Oscars: "The Revenant" leads race with 12 nominations

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"The Revenant," about a frontiersman's bitter struggle to survive in the wilderness, leads this year's Academy Award race with 12 nominations, including Best Picture. The film also earned Oscar nominations for star Leonardo diCaprio as Best Actor, Tom Hardy as Best Supporting Actor, and Alejandro G. Inarritu as Best Director.
Other films nominated for Best Picture were "The Big Short," a comic take on the 2008 Wall Street crisis; "Bridge of Spies," the true-life story of the Cold War trade for captured U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers; "Brooklyn," a period romance about an Irish immigrant who finds love in the New World; and "Mad Max: Fury Road," a journey through the post-apocalyptic wastelands
Also: "The Martian," about the race to rescue an astronaut stranded on Mars; "Room," about a young woman and her child held captive in a backyard shed by a sexual predator; and "Spotlight," about a Boston newspaper's probe into the Catholic Church's coverup of priests who preyed on children.
Joining Inarritu among the Best Director nominees are Adam McKay, "The Big Short"; George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"; Lenny Abrahamson, "Room"; and Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight." (Absent was DGA nominee Ridley Scott for "The Martian.")
Best Actor
In addition to DiCaprio (who'd previously received four acting nominations), the Best Actor nominees were Bryan Cranston as Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted during the '50s Red Scare, in "Trumbo"; Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded on the Red Planet in "The Martian"; Michael Fassbender as the founder of Apple in "Steve Jobs"; and Eddie Redmayne (last year's winner for "The Theory of Everything") as an artist who undergoes gender reassignment surgery in "The Danish Girl."
Damon, who won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for "Good Will Hunting," has received two acting nominations, while Fassbender was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for "12 Years a Slave." It's the first nomination for Cranston.
Best Actress
The nominees for Best Actress are Cate Blanchett as a married woman who begins a lesbian affair in "Carol"; Brie Larson as a kidnap victim raising her child in captivity in "Room"; Jennifer Lawrence as an entrepreneur in "Joy"; Charlotte Rampling as an elderly woman shaken by revelations from her husband's past in "45 Years"; and Saoirse Ronan as an immigrant who finds romance on both sides of the Atlantic in "Brooklyn."
Blanchett has won two Academy Awards (for "The Aviator" and "Blue Jasmine"), and been nominated four other times. Lawrence won Best Actress for "Silver Linings Playbook," and has two other nominations, while Ronan received a nomination for "Atonement."
It's a first nomination for Larson and Rampling.



The Best Actor Nominees (from top left): Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo"; Matt Damon, "The Martian"; Leonardo diCaprio, "The Revenant"; Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs"; and Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl." Best Actress nominees (from bottom left): Cate Blanchett, "Carol"; Brie Larson, "Room"; Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy"; Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years"; and Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn."
 CBS NEWS

Best Supporting Actor
Sylvester Stallone, who was first nominated for playing Rock Balboa in the original 1976 "Rocky," is nominated for his character again as Best Supporting Actor, training a new generation of fighter, in "Creed." Joining him are Christian Bale, as an investor who predicts the collapse of the housing market, in "The Big Short"; Tom Hardy as a trapper who leaves a fellow frontiersman to die in the wilderness in "The Revenant"; Mark Ruffalo as an investigative reporter in "Spotlight"; and Mark Rylance as a Soviet agent in "Bridge of Spies.
Bale won Best Supporting Actor for "The Fighter," and was nominated for "American Hustle." Ruffalo has two previous Best Supporting Actor nominations (for "The Kids Are All Right" and "Foxcatcher"). It's the first nomination for Hardy and Rylance.
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh as a killer being transported to the hangman in "The Hateful Eight, received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight," as did Alicia Vikander, as the wife of an artist who undergoes gender reassignment surgery, in "The Danish Girl, and Rachel McAdams as an investigative reporter in "Spotlight." Also nominated: Rooney Mara as a young girl who has an affair with an older, married woman in "Carol"; and Kate Winslet as a marketing executive in "Steve Jobs."

For Best Supporting Actor (from top left): Christian Bale, "The Big Short"; Tom Hardy, "The Revenant"; Mark Ruffalo, "Spotlight"; Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies"; and Sylvester Stallone, "Creed." Best Supporting Actress nominees (from bottom left): Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight"; Rooney Mara, "Carol"; Rachel McAdams, "Spotlight"; Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl"; and Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs." everthinkheree news

Top 5 Games to Play With Friends on the Same Console

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Gaming can be fun even on you own, but it always gets better with friends. Of course, couch co-op - games that allow more than one active player on the same machine - is getting rarer, and these days, most of the big name games you've heard of require you to play online if you want to play with friends. It makes sense for the game companies, because that means two consoles, two paid-for online accounts, and two copies of the game will be sold, but it takes a lot of the fun out of sitting around in the same room, and goofing off with your friends while playing. Thankfully, there are still a number of great games that feature local multiplayer. Here's a list of our favourite local multiplayer games that you will love playing with your friends.

1) FIFA 16/ Pro Evolution Soccer 2016
Football simulators from EA Sports and Konami are annual releases, and have become evolutionary steps in this decade. It would be fair to say then you could pick up any recent release and have a great experience regardless, if you don't mind the outdated squads.
But both FIFA and PES have added the necessary finishing touches in their latest release, and warrant a purchase for the best possible experience. FIFA 16 has worked on reducing the devastating effects of pacey players, something that plagued its franchise for a while including FIFA 15, which could get a bit too straightforward.
PES 16 on the other hand has finally achieved the balance of play it's been looking to provide. It lacks the all-too-perfect crosses found since PES 2010 and has ironed out the alternating false positives and negatives its foul detection system threw up from PES 2012-15. You can find many of the same modes across the two games: from one-off kick-off games to league and knockout based tournaments, if you've a group of three people or more.
The games do differ in a couple of aspects. While FIFA will provide you with access to a larger database of teams, PES can let you play as one player out of 11 which makes it an all-inclusive group matchup, if you've the required number of controllers.
Available on: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
Number of players: 2-4 players
Average time per game round: 15 minutes

2) Rocket League
Half of Rocket League revolves around hitting a football into a goal, which makes it sound a lot like FIFA or PES. But instead of puppeteering professional athletes from around the world, you drive a rocket-powered car that's roughly one-fourth the size of the ball, and can hurtle through air, crash into others (no fouls!), and flip like a dolphin on steroids.
What also separates the car-football game from FIFA is the initial learning curve. Football games have become increasingly complex, which dissuades new players from trying it out. Rocket League is a game anyone can pick up as it lacks the combos pro-FIFA gamers will use on a regular basis.
For local multiplayer, Rocket League has you covered with up to four-player split-screen action so you and your friends can have fun whether someone mistimes a jump, or pulls off an epic save.
Available on: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and soon on Xbox One
Number of players: 2-4 players
Average time per game round: 7-9 minutes

3) Diablo III
Diablo III was a long-awaited game when it finally launched in 2012, and has continued to remain relevant through release of additional content and a new edition for current-gen consoles: the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The multiplayer modes in Diablo III are of a co-op nature, allowing four players to come together over LAN or via the Internet, to run through the campaign and even take on specific co-op enabled quests.This means that two people can't play on a single console, but if your friends bought the same console you did, then you can bring them across and take over the living room to have some demon bashing fun.
You can choose from the available six (or five, if you don't have the expansion) classes as usual: Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, or Wizard.
The game also supports carrying over your existing character from single player, and unlike other games, you don't need to compromise on gameplay to make sure you don't miss out on that "item" you had been craving. That's because loot drops are unique for everyone, making Diablo III a collaborative rather than a competitive experience.
The only downside is that Diablo III lacks a credible PvP (player versus player) combat mode and is the only game on the list that doesn't let you take on your friends and grind them down. For what it's worth, AI foes become stronger as your group gets bigger and so does the reward for each player when you vanquish them.
If you're worried about only just starting out and not being on the same plane as your better equipped friends, fret not. Their higher rank can actually prove to be an advantage for you, as Diablo III's new 'Apprentice Mode' (introduced in the newest edition of the game) will give you extra points for taking and dealing hits.
Available on: Microsoft Windows (no local co-op), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
Number of players: 2-4 players
Average time per game round: 30 minutes to forever

4) Super Smash Bros.
Following up on a series as successful as Super Smash Bros. can always be a tricky proposition, but 2014 saw Nintendo release two almost identical new instalments - one apiece for the 3DS and Wii U - and managed to please mostly everyone.
Not only was it a well-designed game that garnered critical appeal at launch, it brought together characters from the company's own franchises along with renowned series from Sega, Capcom, Bandai Namco, Square and soon Platinum Games. With a roster that includes everyone's favourite Nintendo characters such as Mario and Donkey Kong, to loved ones from other universes in Pikachu, Zelda and Ryu, Super Smash Bros. provides something for everyone.
Multiplayer has been core to the game series, even at the expense of single-player action. But the multiplayer components are so good that people can end up damaging their gamepads and the game lets you beat up Pac-Man, Kirby, and Charizard inside one arena, so it balances out pretty well.
Super Smash Bros. allows eight players to fight it out at once, although you're limited to a maximum of 4 players when playing offline. And you can even use your 3DS as a controller to play on the Wii U, if you're so inclined.
You can also purchase Amiibos and connect them to expand your roster of fighters. Or if you've created a digital caricature of yourself (aka Mii), Super Smash Bros. allows taking the mini-you straight into the battlefield. All in all, this game is a must-buy if you have a 3DS or Wii U.
Available on: Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U
Number of players: 2-4 players
Average time per game round: 2 minutes
5) Mario Kart 8
Since its inception, Mario Kart has been the definition of great multiplayer experiences, and proof that games can truly be for everyone. The newest addition in 2014 - Mario Kart 8 - is now the best-selling Wii U game of all-time and pushed the long-running chain's sales total beyond 100 million.
The tricky nature of the designed courses along with a slew of in-game collectible power-ups are part of what makes Mario Kart an engaging and addictive experience. You can stay first for three-quarters of the race and still end up last on the leader board after the final lap.
Mario Kart 8 maintains the multiplayer gameplay modes we have all come to love: Grand Prix sees you karting through packs of four courses in what are the standard difficulty levels and a new one in 200cc. You can also create your own tournaments, define your own set of rules and then head to the tracks with a total of 12 players (online only, local multiplayer limited to 4).
New to the series is anti-gravity racing, which has Mario and his gang drive up walls and ceilings. With a series that has a history as rich as Mario Kart, it's commendable that Nintendo has managed to keep innovating and make sure fans (of all ages) keep coming back.
With 48 tracks and everything you see in glorious HD, Mario Kart 8 is peak Mario Kart.
Available on: Nintendo Wii U
Number of players: 2-4 players
Average time per game round: 3-5 minutes
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