Qualcomm to release suped-up Snapdragon 865+ in Q3 2020

Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon 855 processor in late 2018, refreshing it in mid-2019 with the Snapdragon 855+ processor and then the company unveiled its new flagship Snapdragon 865 in December 2019 and now rumors of the suped-up Snapdragon 865+ are already surfacing.

Qualcomm to release suped-up Snapdragon 865+ in Q3 2020

ASUS was one of the first to use the faster Snapdragon 855+ processor in its ROG Phone II smartphone, which was an overclocked Snapdragon 855 with 15% more performance from its Adreno 640 GPU that helped drive up to 90FPS on the ASUS ROG Phone II gaming smartphone.

What should we expect from Qualcomm's upgraded Snapdragon 865+ processor should be very similar -- even more performance from an already kick ass processor. We've already seen 120Hz capable smartphones revealed, with a recent boost in 120Hz capable phones in Samsung's new Galaxy S20 range of handsets -- but I'm sure we'll see ASUS reveal its ROG Phone III and Razer with its gaming-focused Phone III later this year both rocking the Snapdragon 865+ processor that is tailor made for high refresh rate gaming smartphones.

Continue reading: Qualcomm to release suped-up Snapdragon 865+ in Q3 2020 (full post)

Xbox One, PS4 sales plummet because of Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 16, 2020 10:50 PM CST

Microsoft and Sony are seeing lower-than-expected sales of their current-gen Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, according to the latest report from market analysts NPD Group. The reason? The upcoming next-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles, that's why.

Xbox One, PS4 sales plummet because of Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5

Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad tweeted out: "An interesting takeaway from the US NPD report is that PS4 and XB1 hardware sales in Jan 2020 are considerably lower than PS3 and 360 were in Jan 2013. Next-gen consoles are around the corner but both are declining sharper than expected. Switch continues to remain steady".

Hardware sales were down 35% in January 2020 compared to January 2019, while total spending throughout gaming hardware, software, accessories, and game cards is down 26% compared to the same time as 2019.

Continue reading: Xbox One, PS4 sales plummet because of Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 (full post)

Sonic the Hedgehog movie breaks video game movie records

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Feb 16, 2020 10:27 PM CST

Sonic the Hedgehog had its fair share of issues with its first trailer, but the production team and director were quick off the mark taking in all the criticism and fixing it up before release -- so much so that the Sonic the Hedgehog movie has broken records for a video game movie debut.

Sonic the Hedgehog movie breaks video game movie records

Sonic the Hedgehog pulled in $57 million over its 3-day opening weekend, a $2.7 million increase over the $54.3 million opening weekend of Detective Pikachu. Its 4-day US box office haul sits at $68 million, while global box office numbers for Sonic the Hedgehog have surpassed $100 million -- not bad for the SEGA front man.

Jim Carrey is one of the stars of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, with his own record to enjoy -- his second-best 3-day debut, bested by Bruce Almighty with $67.9 million back in 2003. As for Sonic, the character has grossed over $5 billion in game sales, has multiple animated TV shows, mobile games, and so much more since his debut in 1991.

Continue reading: Sonic the Hedgehog movie breaks video game movie records (full post)

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip tear down by JerryRigEverything makes me cringe

Samsung detailed and released its new Galaxy Z Flip smartphone during its recent Unpacked 2020 event, where it also unveiled its family of Galaxy S20 smartphones which will drop on March 6. Read more on Samsung's new Galaxy S20 smartphones here. As for the Galaxy Z Flip... JerryRigEverything does what he does best -- tears it apart.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip tear down by JerryRigEverything makes me cringe

In the video above, he performs an awesome but cringe-infused durability test of the Galaxy Z Flip with a concentration on Samsung's touted 'Ultra Thin Glass'. JerryRigEverything discovers that it isn't in fact glass, and seems like a layer of plastic as it even takes scratches on with his fingernails -- and that's not a good sign for an expensive foldable smartphone.

JerryRigEverything takes fire to it, razors, and dirt -- where it is actually pretty damn durable. As for the foldable screen, he notes during the video that the screen is "in no way scratch resistant whatsoever". If you've watched any of his videos before, you'll cringe as much as I did where I squinted my eyes in pain watching a brand new Galaxy Z Flip being torture tested. But man, do I love his videos.

Continue reading: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip tear down by JerryRigEverything makes me cringe (full post)

Apple expected to sell over 100 million AirPods in 2020

Anthony Garreffa | Audio, Sound & Speakers | Feb 16, 2020 9:31 PM CST

Everywhere I turn I see Apple AirPods in ears of people walking around, so they must be doing something right -- so right, that Counterpoint Research estimates Apple will sell over 100 million AirPods in 2020.

Apple expected to sell over 100 million AirPods in 2020

Counterpoint Research points out that the wireless earbud market grew by over 50% in Q4 2019 alone, which saw average sales sitting at over 50 million units per quarter. Apple's own market share increased by 44% in Q4 2019, with Xiaomi coming in second place, Samsung in third.

The report goes into more depth about just how much Apple dominates with its AirPods, where in the $100 and above market Apple commands around 70% market share. This leaves Samsung, Jabra, Beats, Huawei, Sony, and others with what little is left after that. In the sub-$100 market Apple is not visible at all.

Continue reading: Apple expected to sell over 100 million AirPods in 2020 (full post)

Star Wars Battlefront II has had some gigantic visual improvements

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 16, 2020 9:05 PM CST

Star Wars Battlefront II has been out since 2017 and while it might have cost $2100 to unlock all that DLC back in the day, the visual upgrades that the team at EA DICE have done to the game are nothing short of amazing. Check it out:

Star Wars Battlefront II has had some gigantic visual improvements

Cinematic Captures have (if you'll pardon the pun) captured the visual upgrades that Star Wars Battlefront II has received recently, with character detail greatly improved, animation improvements, and so much more. Lighting, shadows, visual effects, ambient occlusion, and bloom tweaks have all made the game look that much more stellar.

Star Wars Battlefront II was recently updated on February 12 with the new 'BB Update' adding in a bunch of fixes, improved visual effects and lighting (as highlighted in this video), and much more. You can read more about the Star Wars Battlefront II - Feb 12th Patch and their release notes here.

Continue reading: Star Wars Battlefront II has had some gigantic visual improvements (full post)

Flash: 150W USB-C power bank, powered by Tesla graphene batteries

If there's something we all need in our crazy mobile-obsessed lives, it's super-fast and super-gigantic powerbanks. Well, now we have the interesting new Flash: the world's most powerful 150W USB-C powerbank.

Flash: 150W USB-C power bank, powered by Tesla graphene batteries

The new Flash powerbank is a total beast of a powerbank with 20,000 mAh of new graphene-based batteries with a single USB-C Power Delivery 3.0 port that is backed up by 2 x USB-A ports that can charge other devices, on top of it doubling as a wireless charging pad. It is the most powerful USB-C 100W Power Delivery 3.0 charger in a single battery pack, with Flash saying the competition "struggles to even reach 60W".

There's also an 18W USB-A Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 port, as well as a specially designed USB-A port that is compatible with Huawei, OPPO, OnePlus and Vivo's proprietary fast-charging technology. The battery pack can also keep your wireless charging devices happy with 10W wireless charging and it supports 2.5W Apple Watch charging, too. It truly is a powerhouse powerbank, with everything you need to charge every device you can buy.

Continue reading: Flash: 150W USB-C power bank, powered by Tesla graphene batteries (full post)

So yeah, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X can run Crysis without a GPU

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 16, 2020 8:00 PM CST

AMD launched its monstrous Ryzen Threadripper 3990X not too long ago, and it is already breaking records left, right, and center -- but what about running Crysis in software mode without a graphics card? Yeah, it can do that.

LinusTechTips has done just that, running Crysis in software mode on the 64-core/128-thread Ryzen Threadripper 3990X processor. No one would buy AMD's flagship Ryzen Threadripper 3990X to do this, but it's an incredible feat and something to completely nerd out to.

Personally, I love seeing this stuff and nerding out to seeing the once 'can it run Crysis' meme turn into running entirely on software. Something I didn't think we'd ever see.

Continue reading: So yeah, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X can run Crysis without a GPU (full post)

NVIDIA teases Cyberpunk 2077 themed GeForce RTX graphics card

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Feb 16, 2020 7:24 PM CST

So something amazing is about to happen, with Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt RED using its official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account to ask about making a limited edition Cyberpunk 2077 GPU... to which NVIDIA replied "stay tuned...".

NVIDIA teases Cyberpunk 2077 themed GeForce RTX graphics card

I don't think this tease is about NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GPU architecture that is right around the corner, something that should be detailed at its own GPU Technology Conference (GTC) 2020 that takes place between March 22-26. If it is, I'm all booked and ready to go and will deliver you guys the news from the show floor and GTC key note with NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang.

What we are probably looking at is a GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER graphics card themed like Cyberpunk 2077, as NVIDIA is the technology partner for CD Projekt RED and its recently-delayed Cyberpunk 2077. NVIDIA is no stranger to themed graphics cards, where just a couple of years ago it released the TITAN Xp Star Wars Collectors Edition graphics cards in both Galactic Empire and Jedi Order goodness.

Continue reading: NVIDIA teases Cyberpunk 2077 themed GeForce RTX graphics card (full post)

Blizzard's cancelled Starcraft: Ghost shooter leaks online

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Feb 16, 2020 6:48 PM CST

Back in 2002, Blizzard was working on Starcraft: Ghost, a third-person action shooter for the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. It never saw the light of day, but now thanks to a recent leak, we get a look of what could've been.

Blizzard's cancelled Starcraft: Ghost shooter leaks online

Starcraft: Ghost has been, well, a ghost for a long, long time. The game was cancelled 15 years ago and we've only ever had snippets of info and small pieces of footage and screenshot tidbits from the cut project. But now thanks to a recent leak of a playable Xbox pre-release build, we get an idea of what the shooter could've been like...and it actually looks pretty fun.

The build was apparently pretty robust and had access to six different missions, including zergling rush. New gameplay footage shows a mix of third-person shooter mechanics with your basic over-the-shoulder firing and HUD setup, complete with a nifty high kick melee attack. Nova, the playable character, was quite flexible and cat-like, not unlike Aeon Flux. Ghost also had exploration-based interactivity, and big crazy sequences like gunning down hordes of zerglings in a turret. It's definitely a remnant of the past and anyone who grew up with older 2000's era console games will instantly recognize the mechanics.

Continue reading: Blizzard's cancelled Starcraft: Ghost shooter leaks online (full post)