First look: Nokia's Snapdragon 835 powered flagship

Lana Jelic | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Jul 17, 2017 5:14 PM CDT

HMD Global is pretty eager to bring back the days of old fame to the Nokia brand. They already announced a modern version of the Nokia 3310 and three Nokia smartphones. The company should also announce its flagship, Snapdragon 835 powered, Nokia 8.

First look: Nokia's Snapdragon 835 powered flagship

Evan Blass has now revealed an image of the upcoming flagship which reveals the phone in its all glory.

The back of the phone shows vertically positioned dual camera setup with Zeiss' signature. HMD Global recently announced that they are partnering up with Zeiss to "to set new imaging standards within the smartphone industry."

Continue reading: First look: Nokia's Snapdragon 835 powered flagship (full post)

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds peak players beats GTA V

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 17, 2017 4:16 PM CDT

Early Access sensation PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has now surpassed Rockstar's juggernaut GTA V in peak players on Steam.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds peak players beats GTA V

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has become a formidable force in PC gaming. The early access game has earned an impressive $100 million in three months, selling 4 million copies of its addictive battle royale survival sim on Steam. Not only has the game sold well, but players are sticking to the experience thanks in no small part to its online multiplayer mechanics.

Now PUBG creator Brendan Greene reveals his early access juggernaut is now number 4 out of Steam's top 10 all-time highest peak players, pushing GTA V to the number 5 spot. At the time of publication PUBG has an all-time high of 382,561 peak players versus Grand Theft Auto V's 360,761 peak players. We've compiled Steam's top 10 games in peak players in a graph below.

Continue reading: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds peak players beats GTA V (full post)

Why Kingdom Hearts III took so long to develop

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 17, 2017 3:12 PM CDT

What's taking Kingdom Hearts III so long to make? Game director Tetsuya Nomura finally explains what's going on.

Why Kingdom Hearts III took so long to develop

Four years after the game's official announcement and 12 years since Kingdom Hearts 2's release on PS2, Kingdom Hearts III finally has a 2018 release window. According to Kingdom Hearts III game director Tetsuya Nomura, there's many reasons for this long development time, but there's one that stands out the most: KH3 migrated to a new engine mid-development.

Kingdom Hearts III was originally developed using Square Enix's proprietary in-house engine, but after a full year of work, company executives made the decision to move to Unreal Engine 4. This re-tooling to UE4, Nomura said in a recent interview with GameSpot, caused "extensive delays" as the game likely meant the game had to be built from scratch in the engine. This is very similar to EA forcing BioWare to use Frostbite to make its RPG games, leading to massive re-tooling and work.

Continue reading: Why Kingdom Hearts III took so long to develop (full post)

Tekken 7's first DLC character is another crossover

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 17, 2017 2:10 PM CDT

Tekken 7's missing classic Tekken characters may never step foot into the game.

Tekken 7's first DLC character is another crossover

As I predicted a bit ago, Bandai Namco has teamed up with other companies to bring more cross-over characters to Tekken 7. The first playable DLC character will be Geese Howard, the end boss from SNK's classic fighter Fatal Fury, and I expect the entire Tekken 7 season pass to be filled with more cross-overs.

Meanwhile many Tekken alums are still missing from the roster, including Julia, Ganryu, Anna, Baek, and even Zafina. As a long-time Tekken fan I'm a bit frustrated with this move--you can read more in our official Tekken 7 Review--especially since original characters are being sidelined for more promotional type characters. I personally feel that Akuma does not belong in Tekken 7's story canon, and players shouldn't be forced to use him to complete the story mode.

Continue reading: Tekken 7's first DLC character is another crossover (full post)

LG V30 launch date revealed: Here's what we know so far

Lana Jelic | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Jul 17, 2017 12:42 PM CDT

Evan Blass has revealed that LG will launch the V30 on August 31st, during IFA in Berlin. IFA was earlier rumored as the possible launch time frame, and since Evan Blass is rarely mistaken, we do believe that the company will launch the phone on August 31st.

LG V30 launch date revealed: Here's what we know so far

The V30 should come with an interesting change compared to the other V series phones. According to reports, it won't have a secondary screen.

We've also heard claims that the V30 will come with an OLED display, a first of any LG flagship smartphone. This could also mean Google daydream VR support could be a feature as well.

Continue reading: LG V30 launch date revealed: Here's what we know so far (full post)

5,000 mAh, 8GB of RAM from a fairly unknown manufacturer

Lana Jelic | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Jul 17, 2017 11:26 AM CDT

Back in March, we reported about a fairly-unknown smartphone manufacturer which pleasantly surprised us with its Noa H10le device. The company has now announced plans to release three new phones.

5,000 mAh, 8GB of RAM from a fairly unknown manufacturer

The first device, named the Noa N5, will be a mid-range phone powered by MediaTek's MT6750. It will have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

The phone will feature a 6-inch 1080p display with 18:9, the same ratio as the Galaxy S8 and LG G6. The Noa N5 will come with a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front shooter. The phone will also have a large 5,000 mAh battery.

Continue reading: 5,000 mAh, 8GB of RAM from a fairly unknown manufacturer (full post)

Huawei's newest chip will focus heavily on AI

Lana Jelic | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Jul 17, 2017 10:33 AM CDT

Huawei's HiSilicon, the producer of chips for Huawei, is gearing up to launch an application processor that combines CPU, GPU and AI functionality into a single chip. This chip will likely be based on the new processors that ARM introduced at Computex earlier this year that have a focus on AI.

Huawei's newest chip will focus heavily on AI

ARM's new A75, A55 CPUs, G72 GPU and DynamIQ architecture are all designed to deliver the best possible performance while also being designed to accelerate AI workloads and do faster inference.

Read also: Mate 10 to feature Kirin 970, Huawei's first 10nm SoC

Continue reading: Huawei's newest chip will focus heavily on AI (full post)

The Galaxy Note8 looks stunning in the latest leak

Lana Jelic | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Jul 17, 2017 9:27 AM CDT

After weeks of unconfirmed bits and pieces of information about the upcoming Galaxy Note8, as the launch date approaches, we are getting a better image of the phone.

The Galaxy Note8 looks stunning in the latest leak

Last week, one of the first images of the Note8 surfaced showing a beautiful Infinity Display, and now, a new set of images shows the phone in its full glory.

The Note8 should feature a 6.3-inch display, slightly larger than the Galaxy S8+. Unfortunately, the images don't show the back of the phone and the rumored rear dual camera setup.

Continue reading: The Galaxy Note8 looks stunning in the latest leak (full post)

Xiaomi Redmi 5 specs and price leak ahead of the launch

Lana Jelic | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Jul 17, 2017 8:23 AM CDT

Xiaomi is getting ready to announce the successor to last year's Redmi 4. The Redmi 5 specs and photos along with the price have leaked revealing all the details about the upcoming phone.

Xiaomi Redmi 5 specs and price leak ahead of the launch

The device should come in two different versions, powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 625 or 630 processor, and come in a number of memory configurations.

The Redmi 5 will feature a 5-inch Full HD curved glass display and will run MIUI 9 based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. It is expected to have a 16MP rear camera and a 5MP front shooter.

Continue reading: Xiaomi Redmi 5 specs and price leak ahead of the launch (full post)

Enter our 'Shin Godzilla' Blu-ray giveaway

Ben Gourlay | Contests & Giveaways | Jul 16, 2017 10:42 PM CDT

To celebrate this upcoming release of 'Shin Godzilla' on Blu-ray and DVD, we have five Blu-rays to give away thanks to our friends at Madman Home Entertainment.

Enter our 'Shin Godzilla' Blu-ray giveaway

A God Incarnate. A City Doomed. From Hideaki Anno, the mind behind 'Evangelion'. The King of Monsters receives a terrifying resurgence.

It's a peaceful day in Japan when a strange fountain of water erupts in the bay, causing panic to spread among government officials. At first, they suspect only volcanic activity, but one young executive dares to wonder if it may be something different - something alive. His worst nightmare comes to life when a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and begins tearing through the city, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. As the government scrambles to save the citizens, a rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side, and the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.

Continue reading: Enter our 'Shin Godzilla' Blu-ray giveaway (full post)