Twitter flaw: 17 million phone numbers matched to respective accounts

Jak Connor | Internet & Websites | Dec 25, 2019 1:19 AM CST

A flaw in Twitter's system has allowed a researcher to connect 17 million phone numbers to their respective accounts.

Twitter flaw: 17 million phone numbers matched to respective accounts

A security researcher named Ibrahim Balic has spoken to TechCrunch about a flaw in Twitter's Android app. This security flaw gave Balic a window of opportunity to successfully match 17 million phone numbers with their respective accounts.

The users that had their numbers exposed and linked to their accounts were located in counters such as France, Greece, and Turkey. It should also be noted that some of the exposed numbers and accounts were prominent politicians and officials.

Continue reading: Twitter flaw: 17 million phone numbers matched to respective accounts (full post)

Game of Thrones Night King releases secret Witcher TV show fight scene

Jak Connor | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Dec 25, 2019 12:30 AM CST

The Witcher has been released, and despite the controversial opinions on whether it's good or not, I think most people would be able to agree that the fight scenes are great.

Game of Thrones Night King releases secret Witcher TV show fight scene

Vladimir Furdik, who played the dreaded Night King in HBO's goliath show Game of Thrones has released a behind the scenes video of a fight scene in The Witcher TV show. The above video is a behind-the-scenes look at the stuntmen rehearsing the choreography scene to make it look as smooth as possible, and I must say they have done a fantastic job of it.

Since the release of The Witcher TV show, many fans of the series have either gone back to CD Projekt Red's Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, or new fans have decided to pick it up because the game has had a massive influx of players. The showrunner for The Witcher TV show has stood strong in the face of the controversial reviews that are being posted online, more on that story here.

Continue reading: Game of Thrones Night King releases secret Witcher TV show fight scene (full post)

NVIDIA: GeForce RTX 2080 is faster than PlayStation 5 & Xbox Series X

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Dec 24, 2019 10:21 PM CST

NVIDIA has some fighting words towards its competitor in AMD (and in the process, Microsoft and Sony) during GTC China 2019 with the GPU giant saying its current-gen Turing-based GeForce RTX series graphics cards are more powerful than the next-gen Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X consoles.

During GTC China 2019, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang showed off some Max-Q gaming laptops with discrete GPUs powered by GeForce RTX series parts. One of NVIDIA's slides included a comparison between the Lenovo Y900 Gaming laptop which is powered by a previous-gen GeForce GTX 980M to the new Lenovo Y740 Gaming laptop that packs a new GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics card.

NVIDIA said that the GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q gaming notebook is superior to the unreleased, and RDNA 2-based Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles that will drop this time next year. Right now, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q is the best mobile graphics card in a notebook, period.

Continue reading: NVIDIA: GeForce RTX 2080 is faster than PlayStation 5 & Xbox Series X (full post)

Xbox Series X GPU is better than any Navi GPU released so far

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 24, 2019 9:30 PM CST

AMD launched its Navi GPU architecture this year with the release of the Radeon RX 5700 XT and Radeon RX 5700 this year, cutting them down into Navi 14 parts for the new Radeon RX 5500 XT -- but the new RDNA 2 architecture will be powering the next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.

Xbox Series X GPU is better than any Navi GPU released so far

The fine folks at Digital Foundry have done an Xbox Series X deep dive, where they think the GPU frequency on the custom Navi-based design in the Xbox Series X console will be higher than any of the Navi-based Radeon graphics cards in the PC.

Digital Foundry said: "It would also suggest frequencies that are appreciably higher than those seen in AMD's Navi-based GPUs - which reverses the situation with the current-gen machines, which are typically underclocked compared to equivalent PC parts. Increasing both area and frequency inevitably pushes up power consumption way beyond anything we've seen in a home console".

Continue reading: Xbox Series X GPU is better than any Navi GPU released so far (full post)

Hideo Kojima is already working on his new game, teases new concept

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 24, 2019 8:29 PM CST

It feels like Death Stranding only just launched, and its legendary creator Hideo Kojima doesn't seem to have stopped and is already hard at work on his new game -- at least in its concept stage.

Kojima took to his personal Twitter teasing the world that he's "working on the next concept while no one is in the office", with a clear shot of a massive sand dune in the background surrounded by a gorgeous blue sky. We also get to scope out his desk, which is littered with stuff.

If we're to take inspiration from his desk, we have a cast of Norman Reedus' face (the star of Death Stranding and The Walking Dead), a Rotten Tomatoes stress ball, a copy of Wired Magzine, a MacBook, a Sony Walkman, and much more. Maybe the sand dune is his background on his personal PC... but we all know the legendary Hideo Kojima works in mysterious ways.

Continue reading: Hideo Kojima is already working on his new game, teases new concept (full post)

SEGA to merge pachinko and game dev branches together

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 24, 2019 6:31 PM CST

SEGA plans to merge its successful pachinko and dedicated gaming businesses together to solidify its business.

SEGA to merge pachinko and game dev branches together

Like Konami, SEGA is in an interesting company that doesn't just make video games. It has multiple branches in various fields like resorts, pachinko machines, and of course its mainstay, gaming. Now the company will merge two of these together to form one unit in an effort to consolidate its cross-synergy focus.

SEGA today announced that it will merge SEGA Interactive Co., the division behind its pachinko and arcade machines, with SEGA Games Co., the division that makes digital games like Yakuza and Sonic. Technically SEGA Games Co. will absorb the interactive branch, and as of April 1, 2020, SEGA Interactive Co. will be no more.

Continue reading: SEGA to merge pachinko and game dev branches together (full post)

Game Pass is sustainable for developers, Xbox boss says

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 24, 2019 5:35 PM CST

With over 100 all-you-can-play downloadable games including some of the best titles in the industry, Xbox Game Pass is such a good deal that people feel bad about it. Is this model actually sustainable? Yes, and it has been for some time.

Game Pass is sustainable for developers, Xbox boss says

Microsoft's wildly popular Game Pass subscription has transformed gaming. Major publishers like Ubisoft are trying to get in on it, and Sony even added offline downloads to PlayStation Now as a result. It's a viable solution that's pushing two forms of valuable earnings: Recurring digital subscriptions and full game purchases.

Game Pass is the ultimate value in gaming right now, giving access to a bunch of classics and every new first-party Xbox game as they release. So how does it make money? Why would anyone want to kind of give their game away for free? The service does something I call the Game Pass Effect: Game Pass subscribers are actually buying more games after having used the service.

Continue reading: Game Pass is sustainable for developers, Xbox boss says (full post)

Xbox Series X will boost performance of previous gen Xbox games

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 24, 2019 4:02 PM CST

Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirms that older-generation Xbox games will harness the power of the Xbox Series X's new Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU hardware in creative ways, leading to boosted performance on the new console.

Xbox Series X will boost performance of previous gen Xbox games

Microsoft's Phil Spencer says the Xbox SX will play four generations' worth of Xbox games: OG Xbox games, Xbox 360 titles, current-gen Xbox One games, and new projects designed specifically for the higher-end hardware.

The goal, Spencer says, is to make any game that's playable on Xbox One play better on Xbox Series X than they would on any other console, hinting that the Xbox SX could offer an even greater level of performance enhancement patches and granular hardware fine-tuning than the Xbox One X. We could see a new era of enhancement patches that essentially remaster games by baking in new features like ray tracing and variable rate shading to massively transform the experience.

Continue reading: Xbox Series X will boost performance of previous gen Xbox games (full post)

64GB Switch carts won't use 3D NAND, Game Cards use Macronix's XtraROM

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 24, 2019 10:29 AM CST

A new report from Anandtech suggests Macronix's upcoming 3D NAND chips could be used to finally make Nintendo Switch 64GB game cartridges. But this isn't likely simply because the carts don't use flash memory.

64GB Switch carts won't use 3D NAND, Game Cards use Macronix's XtraROM

Macronix plans to ship its new 3D NAND chips in 2020, but contrary to recent coverage, they won't be used for Switch cartridges. The handheld-console hybrid's GameCards actually use Macronix's XtraROM technology instead of flash, a long-lasting customized read-only memory that doesn't compromise speed. The carts don't use flash storage, which requires a cache, controller, and performs both read/writes with increased degradation, and they certainly don't use the more expensive 3D NAND flash memory.

It's true that Nintendo is buying up tons of Macronix chips--in fact Macronix calls Nintendo's demand for the Taipei-manufactured chips is "highly unusual."

Continue reading: 64GB Switch carts won't use 3D NAND, Game Cards use Macronix's XtraROM (full post)

New P.T. hack shows the haunting town of Silent Hills

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 24, 2019 7:25 AM CST

A new hack exposes new outside town of Silent Hills as it appeared (or as it didn't appear) in the terrifying P.T. demo.

New P.T. hack shows the haunting town of Silent Hills

Gamers have spent the past five years obsessed with P.T., a macabre demo for Hideo Kojima's cancelled Silent Hills game. It's utterly fascinating thanks to its cryptic secrets that provide various outcomes to how you solve its mysteries. But one thing always remains the same: It only takes place inside a kind of haunted house stuck in a purgatorial hell. You don't actually get to explore the ghost town of Silent Hill.

Until now, that is. YouTuber Lance McDonald created a floating camera hack that let him break outside of the house and take a stroll in the town as it appears in the cinematic ending scene. The result is ultra-creepy and sets the stage for what could've been one of the most cerebral horror games ever made.

Continue reading: New P.T. hack shows the haunting town of Silent Hills (full post)