Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy for Switch debuts April

Jak Connor | Gaming | Mar 8, 2018 8:29 AM CST

After an anonymous source that tipped off that Bandai was to bringing Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy to the Nintendo Switch, we now have confirmation.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy for Switch debuts April

The Trilogy is made up of games Ultimate Ninja Storm, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, and Ultimate Ninja Storm 3: Full Burst.

Bandai Namco commented on bringing Naruto: Ultimate Storm Triology to the Nintendo Switch, here is what they said: "Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy drops players into the Ninja World and gives them the chance to actively experience major battles and fan-favorite scenes with larger than life bosses, adrenaline-pumping quick time event sequences, fast-paced battles, and visuals that rival the anime series it is based on."

Continue reading: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy for Switch debuts April (full post)

My Nintendo Gold Points available for eShop purchases

Jak Connor | Gaming | Mar 8, 2018 4:00 AM CST

At the start of the year Nintendo announced that My Nintendo users will be able to use their Gold Points to purchase titles across the Wii U, 3DS and Switch eShop. This feature is now available!

My Nintendo Gold Points available for eShop purchases

Users that are interested in using their My Nintendo Gold Points will should know that 100 gold points is equivalent to $1. Players that decide to make purchases through the eShop will be rewarded back with 5% of their purchase value in Gold Points. Physical purchases will sadly only be rewarded with 1% of the value.

It should be noted that while games with DLC's on the Switch will grant players Gold Points, DLC's on the Wii U or 3DS will not. Additionally and probably most importantly, Gold Points have a one year expiration date on them, counting from the last day in the month from which they were earned.

Continue reading: My Nintendo Gold Points available for eShop purchases (full post)

State of Decay 2 release date revealed, $30 for full game

Jak Connor | Gaming | Mar 8, 2018 3:00 AM CST

State of Decay 2, the zombie-survival RPG from Undead Labs has been announced for a release on the 22nd of May, to go with the release date is also the set price point for the game.

State of Decay 2 release date revealed, $30 for full game

According to the games head of marking Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft has decided to stick to long-term goal with the State of Decay community. This would mean widening the audience of the game by lowering the initial cost to only $30.

Here is what Greenberg had to say: "Our goal is to build a long-term relationship with the State of Decay community and to foster deeper experiences with the franchise. We believe State of Decay 2 accomplishes this goal by immersing fans in the ultimate zombie survival fantasy, and we want to give more players the opportunity to join in and experience this unique game."

Continue reading: State of Decay 2 release date revealed, $30 for full game (full post)

Nintendo reveal 5-disc Zelda: Breath of the Wild Soundtrack

Jak Connor | Gaming | Mar 8, 2018 2:00 AM CST

To celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo have decided to release a 5-disc box set of the soundtrack used in the Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.

Nintendo reveal 5-disc Zelda: Breath of the Wild Soundtrack

Nintendo have gathered all of original songs found in Zelda: Breath of the Wild which also include songs from both of the games DLC packs, Champions' Ballad and The Master Trails.

The limited edition collection is unfortunately not available worldwide as of yet and is only available to those in Japan. The news originally being broken by GameSpot, they explain what will be featured with the 5-discs: "Play Button music player pre-loaded with 15 "field" tracks from the Legend of Zelda series, and special packaging with a clear file for Ã,Â¥7,000. Songs on the Play Button player cannot be added or removed. The standard edition will only include the five CDs for Ã,Â¥5,000."

Continue reading: Nintendo reveal 5-disc Zelda: Breath of the Wild Soundtrack (full post)

Beyond Skyrim: Morrowind receives first official trailer

Jak Connor | Gaming | Mar 8, 2018 1:00 AM CST

The developers that are behind this incredible Skyrim mod have released their very first trailer for their upcoming Beyond Skyrim: Morrowind mod.

Beyond Skyrim: Morrowind receives first official trailer

This mod is exactly what the title suggests, it will be bringing Morrowind into the world of Skyrim which has been all created from a hard working team of dedicated modders and hours upon hours of code fiddling.

Unfortunately there is no scheduled time for release of this mod as the team is currently looking for volunteers to speed up the process. There is a similar idea currently happening with Fallout 3 being built into Fallout 4, check that out here.

Continue reading: Beyond Skyrim: Morrowind receives first official trailer (full post)

Windows 10's new update has AI, but uses your GPU power

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Mar 7, 2018 11:32 PM CST

Microsoft has said that their new update for Windows 10 will have baked-in AI that will "operate complex machine learning applications locally that normally run in the cloud", reports The Next Web.

Windows 10's new update has AI, but uses your GPU power

The new AI-focused update to Windows 10 will need more processing power to give the artificial intelligence some brainpower, so your GPU will be used. Yay. In a world where GPUs are being targetted by crypto jacking, where your CPU or GPU are used to mine cryptocurrency, now Microsoft wants to take a bit of your GPU to power their AI.

Microsoft even teamed with NVIDIA and AMD for the new AI powers in Windows 10, but the company also worked with Intel where they will give Windows developers access to hardware alternatives. Intel is enabling developers to build "engaging and magical AI-powered experiences using Windows ML and the Intel Movidius VPU", says Microsoft's corporate vice president for the Windows Developer Platform Kevin Gallo.

Continue reading: Windows 10's new update has AI, but uses your GPU power (full post)

AMD's next-gen Ryzen Threadripper aiming for 2020 release

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Mar 7, 2018 10:23 PM CST

Today is AMD day, with news of the Ryzen 7 2700X offering 8C/16T of CPU power at up to 4.35GHz for $369, as well as ASRock rumored to be entering the graphics card market as an AIB partner making AMD Radeon cards.

AMD's next-gen Ryzen Threadripper aiming for 2020 release

Now we have a leaked roadmap of AMD processors through to 2020, which covers this year and the releases of the next-gen Threadripper, upcoming Pinnacle Ridge, and the just-released Raven Ridge APUs.

Next year we can expect AMD's new Castle Peak CPU architecture, a new Ryzen range of processors built on the Matisse codename and exciting new Zen 2, while Picasso succeeds Raven Ridge on the APU side of things. But I think it is 2020 where the real excitement begins with a third-generation Threadripper, and new Vermeer CPU architecture that will succeed Matisse, and Renoir that will succeed Picasso.

Continue reading: AMD's next-gen Ryzen Threadripper aiming for 2020 release (full post)

Broadcom pledges $1.5 billion US investment in Qualcomm deal

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Mar 7, 2018 9:28 PM CST

Broadcom has the hots for Qualcomm in all the wrong ways, and even with nearly $120 billion on the table, the San Diego-based company behind the Snapdragon family of products has pushed away this acquisition.

Broadcom pledges $1.5 billion US investment in Qualcomm deal

The US government stepped in and stopped the deal over major concerns regarding national security, and now Broadcom is sweetening the deal with a $1.5 billion fund that would train new American engineers. Broadcom said in a statement: "With its proven track record of investing in and growing core franchises, Broadcom is committed to making the US the global leader in 5G. Broadcom is in every important respect an American company".

But why the $1.5 billion pledge for American workers? That's what the national security concerns were by the Commitee on Foreign Investment in the US (Cfuis) were over, as they said that Broadcom is trying to inject new directors into Qualcomm through this acquisition that "could pose a risk to the national security of the US".

Continue reading: Broadcom pledges $1.5 billion US investment in Qualcomm deal (full post)

PS5 could be backward compatible with PS4 games

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 7, 2018 5:19 PM CST

A new patent hints that Sony's new PlayStation console--presumably the PlayStation 5--could indeed be a full next-generation jump instead of another console refresh.

PS5 could be backward compatible with PS4 games

According to a Sony patent that's recently been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Japanese games-maker is working on backward compatibility features for a new system. This heavily implies that the PS5 will be able to play PS4 games, which is something I said is 100% essential for the PlayStation brand's future. This also strongly suggests the PS5 is a hardware push above the current PS4 family of systems, and unlike the PS4 Pro or Microsoft's approach with the Xbox One X. However, the patent also suggests the PS5 won't be dramatically more powerful than the PS4 or PS4 Pro.

The patent is fairly involved but speaks mostly in plain language, explaining why certain tech is so important to ensure smooth backward compatibility. Essentially what it comes down to is CPU and GPU power and timing discrepancies; for instance, if the PS5's CPU is slower than the PS4's (won't happen), the games will have lots of issues and vice-versa. And yes, PS4 architect Mark Cerny helped invent the patent.

Continue reading: PS5 could be backward compatible with PS4 games (full post)

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice likely coming to Xbox One

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 7, 2018 4:24 PM CST

As is usually the case with ports crossing over late, a ratings board potential spoils Ninja Theory's surprise.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice likely coming to Xbox One

Months after launching on PlayStation 4, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is coming to the Xbox One, at least that's according to a listing on the Taiwanese Entertainment Software Registration website. A quick search shows that Hellblade is within the registry as an unlisted title, but anyone who visits the site can pull it up.

What's more interesting is the TESR says European video game ratings board PEGI has already certified Senua's Sacrifice on Xbox One, but no listing showed up on PEGI's website.

Continue reading: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice likely coming to Xbox One (full post)