PS3 emulator coming, renders PS3 games at up to 10K res

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Oct 10, 2017 1:07 AM CDT

Some of my best gaming memories have been on older consoles, with plenty of hours pumped into the PS3 over the years. Now we have RPCS3, a new open source PS3 emulator that will render your favorite games at up to 10K.

PS3 emulator coming, renders PS3 games at up to 10K res

The performance of the PS3 emulator is said to be great, but you'll need a graphics card that supports Vulkan. The developers have also added anistrophic filtering and have plans to add anti-aliasing, texture scaling, and even game-specific patches in the near future. The video above does an amazing job at convincing you if you had any doubts, which all of mine were squished as soon as I was 30 seconds into the clip.

Seeing games like Demon Souls running at 4K, and even games like Yakuza and titles I've never even heard of with Ni No Kuni and Catherine looking absolutely stunning once they were run with the emulator at 4K. The team explains: "The video showcases various popular titles with a side-by-side comparison from 720p (native PS3 resolution) to 4K rendering with 16x anisotropic filtering in RPCS3. The difference is quite incredible in titles that have high quality assets. There is a lot of detail that just wasn't visible at 720p. This feature is available for every PlayStation 3 game running on RPCS3. The only exception being that it does not yet work with Strict Rendering Mode. Games that require this setting will have to wait a bit longer before they can benefit from high resolution rendering".

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MSI Afterburner beta: support for RX Vega, GTX 1070 Ti

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Oct 9, 2017 11:51 PM CDT

Until now, you've had to use AMD's own Radeon Software and its pretty damn impressive Wattman overclocking utility, or SAPPHIRE TRIXX, and lastly ASUS' GPU Tweak in order to overclock Vega. We can now add MSI to that list.

MSI Afterburner beta: support for RX Vega, GTX 1070 Ti

MSI's latest Afterburner 4.4.0 Beta 19 has support for low-level access to the SMC microcontroller, providing full voltage control over Vega. This means you can adjust the voltage on Vega up and down, if you want to get into some undervolting action, too. You can't make any per P-state control adjustments, with a slider provided instead.

MSI states in its own changelog: "Added low-level AMD Vega 10 graphics processors family support. This means that now MSI AB can access this GPU directly without AMD ADL API, so more powerful voltage control (no longer limited by AMD ADL API) and extended and more efficient low-level hardware monitoring are available for Vega now. Core voltage control for reference design AMD Vega series cards is now performed via low-level access to on-die SMC microcontroller. Voltage is adjusted in offset form now, applied to all P-states (just like it was on Fiji/Polaris) and full -100..+100 range is available. Added GPU power draw graph to hardware monitoring module for AMD Vega series graphics cards. Added HBM memory temperature graph to hardware monitoring module for AMD Vega series graphics cards".

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The Last of Us Part II teased for 2019, possibly on PS5

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Oct 9, 2017 11:16 PM CDT

The Last of Us Part II could be released in 2019, something that has been hinted at by the composer for the score in the original The Last of Us, Gustavo Santaolalla.

The Last of Us Part II teased for 2019, possibly on PS5

Santaolalla was recently interviewed for Argentinian radio station Vorterix, where he says that the plan is to have The Last of Us Part II launch in 2019. Developer Naughty Dog as well as Sony haven't hinted at a release date for The Last of Us Part II, but this news might force something out of the companies.

Given the 2019 release date, I'd expect The Last of Us Part II to launch alongside the next-gen PlayStation 5 console. It's a big enough franchise, something that would sell millions of consoles if it was pushed in 4K 60FPS with next-gen graphics, on a next-gen PS5. Gimme, gimme. The last time we heard about the PS5 was from my exclusive story that the PS5 will feature a discrete GPU, something that we currently don't see in an APU-powered console world.

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Intel working on mobile CPUs with AMD Vega GPU tech

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Oct 9, 2017 10:19 PM CDT

Intel has been rumored to be working with AMD for a while on a CPU that would feature AMD Radeon GPU technology, but until now it has been rumor. New rumors have surfaced, teasing that Intel is working on a new CPU with Vega GPU technology inside.

Intel working on mobile CPUs with AMD Vega GPU tech

The new rumor is coming from a purported slide from Intel that says "Vega Inside, Mobile Performance Outside", which leads us to believe that Intel is working on a new mobile CPU that will feature Vega GPU inside. AMD released their Vega architecture a couple of months ago now, starting with Radeon Vega Frontier Edition and finishing up with Radeon RX Vega 64 Liquid Cooled Edition with a few SKUs in between. We haven't seen any low/mid-range Vega parts yet, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them in an Intel processor first, either.

Intel's recently released Coffee Lake family of processors still uses the same GPU technology that was inside of Kaby Lake, but the upcoming mobile-aimed Coffee Lake-H processors might see Vega inside. Further up the roadmap we have Cannon Lake which will be released in the Y-series family, which will come in 2018 on 10nm... this could also rock Vega tech.

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Microsoft knows that Windows Phone is dead

Microsoft has quietly put Windows Phone to rest, with Corporate Vice President in the Operating Systems Group at Microsoft, Joe Belfiore saying over Twitter that even with incentives given to developers and even writing apps for them, the "volume of users is too low for companies to invest".

Microsoft knows that Windows Phone is dead

Bill Gates has switched to Android, and so has the Corporate VP of the OSG at Microsoft... so that's saying something. Developers haven't embraced Windows Phone, and with the early problems in the Windows Phone app store, mostly boring and definitely not mainstream (yet forced in TV shows, movies, etc) smartphones.

Microsoft will instead focus on investments into iOS and Android, which will only be good for the company and its users. This will however mean we probably won't ever see a Surface smartphone, and as a hardcore Android fan, that still disappoints me because Microsoft have well and truly proved themselves in the hardware business with many great Surface products.

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Seagate's new 12TB HDD costs $530, aimed at 4K video

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | Oct 9, 2017 8:31 PM CDT

Seagate has just announced a massive new 12TB HDD, with the BarraCuda Pro family of drives joined by a new 12TB model. The 12TB model spins at 7200RPM, with 256MB of cache to improve load times.

Seagate's new 12TB HDD costs $530, aimed at 4K video

The new Seagate BarraCuda Pro family of HDDs were designed for professionals who want massive storage, with the new 12TB model costing $530 and featuring a 5-year limited warranty. If you want something a little different, Seagate has also announced their new IronWolf 12TB HDD, which like their BarraCude range, are part of Seagate's larger Guardian Series of HDDs for high capacity storage.

IronWolf is a feature-laden drive, as it allows multiple users to access it, making it perfect for file sharing and remote access.

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Star Wars: Battlefront II is extremely addicting

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Oct 9, 2017 7:20 PM CDT

With Battlefront II EA has crafted one of the most addicting shooters I've ever played, which can make the arguable "pay to win" lootboxes even more potentially dangerous.

Star Wars: Battlefront II is extremely addicting

I played the open Battlefront II over the weekend (I'm still playing it because I'm hooked) and quickly found the game to be extremely addicting. Not just because it's fun, precisely, but because it's so engaging and chaotic. The 40-player Galactic Assault mode, in particular, is tremendously engaging and puts players in an insane all-out war between two sides. It's Star Wars fully realized. But the reason why it's so addicting to me is because I'm so bad at it. Bear with me here--things might get a little weird.

When I fired up Battlefront II for the first time I got my ass handed to me. I sucked really bad (and still kind of do). Coming from a game like Halo or Destiny 2, which all have set rules for their PVP action, Battlefront II is a jarring experience. Here we have a havoc-filled landscape that's decided drenched with lootboxes that directly sway the outcome of any battle. I felt like just fodder for the better players, or the ones who had spend enough time to accrue points to spend on packs and unlock more goodies--in short, when you start Battlefront II as a noob, you're already at a disadvantage (or at least that's how you feel). But that's also one of the main reasons why the game is so addicting.

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Xbox One X will help usher 4K TV revolution

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Oct 9, 2017 5:27 PM CDT

Microsoft's new high-end $499 Xbox One X is tailor-made for the 4K television market, and the company has been approached by various display-makers in bids to usher in the new jump for the 4K TV market.

Xbox One X will help usher 4K TV revolution

With the PlayStation 4 Pro and the new Xbox One X, Both Sony and Microsoft are doing their part to help catalyze the 4K UHDTV market. But this push can't happen without the support of OEMs like Samsung, LG, and even Sony who are indeed helping the resolution revolution with their own range of higher-end premium 4K television sets. Microsoft exec Albert Penello is confident that the Xbox One X will help drive the momentum of 4K TV adoption, and in a few years, it'll be the main choice for the games industry. Then again, 4K is something you have to see to believe, which means the console and display industry have to come together in a symbiotic to adequately showcase and market their products.

"It's been an interesting marketing challenge," Penello said in a recent interview with MCVUK. "We have momentum on our side, which helps. The majority of TVs sold this year will be 4K TVs, there are all kind of analysts reports, and within the next few years everything will be 4K. So it's coming, in terms of retail of displays."

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Shadow of War is 53% bigger on PC than PS4

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Oct 9, 2017 3:23 PM CDT

According to IGN editor Dan Stapleton, Middle-earth: Shadow of War clocks in at a huge 97.7GB on PC, which is over 50% bigger than the PS4 version.

Shadow of War is 53% bigger on PC than PS4

Monolith Productions has been crafting Shadow of War for a few years now, and it's meant to be an epic, sprawling open-world experience with enough content to keep you busy for months. In fact, the team hopes gamers will be playing Shadow of War "for years". Open world games are huge, there's no doubt about that, and the data needed for these massive titles often comes with a colossal weight on our hard drives. Shadow of War is no different, and according to recent info from an IGN editor, the game will weigh in at 97.7GB on PC, which is 53% bigger than the PlayStation 4 Pro's 63.93GB install size.

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Assassin's Creed: Origins monetized via time-saver packs

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Oct 9, 2017 2:02 PM CDT

Assassin's Creed: Origins game director Ashraf Ismail affirms that the game's loot boxes won't be monetized and can be purchased with in-game currency, not premium currency, and that the game will have options to buy time saving packs of content from the in-game e-store.

Assassin's Creed: Origins monetized via time-saver packs

Months ago I predicted that Assassin's Creed: Origins would be monetized--thanks to its RNG approach to gear, I thought randomized loot boxes would show up. Now it appears that the game won't be monetized in such a way--however it will have options for gamers to spend real money on in-game items. Ashraf Ismail, game director for the latest entry on ancient Egypt, told Eurogamer that the in-game Nomad's Bazaar, run by the NPC Heda, isn't a form of loot box microtransactions such as Overwatch or Shadow of War. The boxes sold by Heda in the Nomad's Bazaar are bought with in-game currency, and you can sell items to him as well for profit. Plus Heda will send you on a daily quest for the chance to earn riches and rewards.

"The reason we did that was because we saw, even two years ago, people playing the game in different ways," Ismail told Eurogamer. "There are people who like to go into a military location, infiltrate them, steal the loot and equipment and hopefully find some unique or legendary gear."

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