Resident Evil 7's super creepy demo gets updated

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 15, 2016 3:20 PM CDT

Resident Evil 7 is about to get a lot weirder--considering how freaky the game's original Beginning Hour demo is, I'm both trepidatious and excited.

Resident Evil 7's super creepy demo gets updated

Capcom has announced a new Twilight content update for Resident Evil 7's excellent (and super disturbing) teaser demo, along with a fresh batch of screenshots and a new trailer.

Starting today the Resident Evil 7 demo (including the new Twilight update) will be available to all PS4 gamers and won't require PlayStation Plus, so be sure to check it out--it's definitely worth a playthrough, and has a very real PT vibe to it. Capcom has also announced that Resident Evil 7's Deluxe Edition will include a new story expansion, bringing up the grand total of season pass story missions to three. To make up for this extra bit of content, the deluxe edition will jump from $79.99 to $89.99, but if you pre-order it before the adjustment you'll get all three missions.

Continue reading: Resident Evil 7's super creepy demo gets updated (full post)

AMD includes upgrade code for Battlefield 1 with RX 480

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 15, 2016 2:28 PM CDT

AMD is celebrating the first birthday of Radeon Technologies Group, with the announcement of a new Battlefield 1 upgrade code for Radeon RX 480 graphics cards in certain markets.

The bundle will arrive in the form of an upgrade code for Battlefield 1, which turns the Standard Edition copy of the game to the Deluxe Edition. Effectively, AMD is providing a voucher for an upgrade worth $20 - the difference between the Standard and Deluxe Edition of Battlefield 1 on Origin.

You'll need to redeem your code before October 21, where your Battlefield 1 Standard Edition will be upgraded to the Early Enlister Deluxe Edition, which also lets you get into the early pre-launch of the game, 3 days earlier than everyone else. If you use the code after October 21, you'll receive the normal Deluxe Edition of the game, without the pre-launch access.

Continue reading: AMD includes upgrade code for Battlefield 1 with RX 480 (full post)

PS4 Pro's outdated hardware could bottleneck performance

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 15, 2016 1:22 PM CDT

When Sony's new 4K-ready PlayStation Pro console launches in November, it'll undoubtedly be the most powerful console on the market. Sony has doubled the GPU power, and the PS4 Pro is the first console to leverage AMD's new Polaris GPU technology, and system is outfitted with a 4.2 TFLOPs GPU that sits just below a Radeon RX 470 in power, allowing upscaled 4K gaming and possibly native 1080p 60FPS.

PS4 Pro's outdated hardware could bottleneck performance

But the PS4 Pro's more powerful GPU will actually be held back by the console's outdated components, mainly the same 8-core Jaguar CPU found in the original PS4, and the same 8GB of unified GDDR5 system memory. Sony has overclocked the Jaguar CPU from its original 1.6GHz to 2.1GHz to eke out more speed and boosted the GDDR5 RAM bandwidth, but the components are essentially still the same, and without a dramatic CPU overhaul and boosted RAM cap, developers are going to run into ceilings.

This means developers will have to compromise specific features while providing upgrades like upscaled 4K 30FPS and native 1080p 60FPS in games, with certain effects like lighting, shadows, environmental features and more being scaled and dialed back.

Continue reading: PS4 Pro's outdated hardware could bottleneck performance (full post)

Rise of the Tomb Raider 4K showdown: PS4 Pro vs PC

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 15, 2016 12:15 PM CDT

Just how much of a difference is there between upscaled 4K and native 4K resolution? As Digital Foundry illustrates in the video below, it's like the night and day difference between 30FPS and 60FPS.

Rise of the Tomb Raider 4K showdown: PS4 Pro vs PC

On a whim, Eurogamer decided to compare what Rise of the Tomb Raider looks like in 4K on Sony's new PS4 Pro versus a 4K-ready PC running the game at Very High settings. For comparison's sake, the PS4 Pro runs Rise of the Tomb Raider in upscaled 4K 30FPS, whereas the test PC leverages an unspecified discrete video card capable of hitting native 4K resolution at Very High settings with Very High textures.

"But the two most glaring differences come down to key limitations found in the PlayStation 4 Pro hardware itself - the fact that its GPU isn't capable of handling native 3840x2160 UHD resolution, along with the lack of a meaningful amount of additional memory. Developers have access to a number of upscaling strategies for PS4 Pro titles running in the 4K mode, and while Crystal Dynamics wouldn't be drawn on the technique used for this game, what's clear is that the overall presentation is somewhat soft, far more so than the Sony first-party titles we saw that are confirmed to be using the checkerboard upscaling."

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Sony's new 4K and HDR-capable projector costs $15,000

Anthony Garreffa | Displays & Projectors | Sep 15, 2016 11:27 AM CDT

Sony has been making the headlines for the past couple of weeks with the announcement of their new PlayStation 4 Pro console, with my video rant available right here, but now they've just announced a new high-end projector.

Sony's new VPL-VW675ES is an enthusiast-level 4K HDR-capable projector, which is the world's first to support Hybrid Log-Gamma, a new standard that will be used to broadcast 4K content. For now, Sony's new projector streams content from 4K content providers like Netflix and Amazon, and works with 4K Blu-ray players and I'm sure, the upcoming PS4 Pro.

The new projector utilizes Sony's own SXRD panels, which are capable of displaying each and every pixel required for true 4K. If you're looking for a new high-end 4K HDR projector, this could bleed your wallet quite a bit when you buy it, but it's going to be so worth it.

Continue reading: Sony's new 4K and HDR-capable projector costs $15,000 (full post)

Tomb Raider hits 4K 30FPS and 1080p 60FPS on PS4 Pro

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 15, 2016 10:25 AM CDT

Crystal Dynamics sets an example for all other devs to follow concerning PS4 Pro upgrades, and embraces both 4K visuals and FPS improvements in 1080p.

Tomb Raider hits 4K 30FPS and 1080p 60FPS on PS4 Pro

Thanks to the PS4 Pro's new Polaris-grade GPU, the console can upscale games to 4K resolution with HDR support, enable native 1080p 60FPS, and significantly boost performance and visuals for both 1080p HDTV and 4K UHDTV owners. Old PS4 games can be updated with Forward Compatibility patches to enable 4K HDR and 1080p 60FPS, too.

There's only one caveat: it's up to developers to make the most of the hardware, and they get to choose what upgrades to apply. So that means not every PS4 Pro upgraded game will support 60FPS for 1080p HDTV owners, as developers have been told to prioritize 4K HDR support.

Continue reading: Tomb Raider hits 4K 30FPS and 1080p 60FPS on PS4 Pro (full post)

Dell's refreshed XPS 13 powered by Kaby Lake CPUs

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | Sep 15, 2016 9:34 AM CDT

Dell has impressed with its XPS laptops in 2015, with the company refreshing the smaller XPS 13 model with Intel's new Kaby Lake processors on the new 14nm process.

The upgraded XPS 13 arrives with the new Kaby Lake-based Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors offering more performance and improved battery life. Dell is touting around 22 hours of productivity in various apps, 13 hours for web browsing or Netflix streaming - not bad for a 13-inch laptop.

Dell's new XPS 13 starts at $799 with the 13-inch display optioned with a 1080p panel, Core i3 processor, 128GB SSD, and only 4GB of RAM. You can option for the higher resolution display and faster Kaby Labe processors, with a 3200x1800 touchscreen option, up to 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD. All of the XPS 13 models include high-speed Killer NIC-based Wi-Fi, and insanely fast Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.

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CRYENGINE gets multi-GPU support in DX12 in Feb 2017

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 15, 2016 8:26 AM CDT

Crytek has updated their roadmap for CRYENGINE, with the release of CRYENGINE 5.3 promised for November, where support for Vulkan and PhysX will be included.

The new version of CRYENGINE also has improvements for SVOGI (Sparse Voxel Octree Global Illumination), the voxel-based GI solution that was teased a few months ago. But it's the v5.4 update to CRYENGINE that's coming in February 2017 during the Game Developers Conference that has me excited.

CRYENGINE 5.4 will include Multi-Adapter support thanks to DirectX 12, which will allow gamers to use both discrete and integrated GPUs together, as well as better multi-GPU support overall if you're running a pair of NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards in SLI, or AMD Radeon cards in CrossFire.

Continue reading: CRYENGINE gets multi-GPU support in DX12 in Feb 2017 (full post)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti could be released soon

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Sep 15, 2016 7:29 AM CDT

We all know NVIDIA is preparing a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, but we don't know when the company will announce, or release it. New rumors have emerged, from an enthusiast who spotted the specifications of the GTX 1080 Ti on NVIDIA's own website.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti could be released soon

NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti's leaked specifications teased the GP102 GPU, the same chip that powers the new Titan X, with 3328 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR5 RAM. The big thing to note here is that the purported GTX 1080 Ti wouldn't be using the faster GDDR5X that the new Titan X and GTX 1080 use, but it'll rock the 384-bit memory bus that the Titan X uses.

Equipped with the 384-bit memory bus, the purported GTX 1080 Ti would have 384GB/sec of memory bandwidth - sitting in between the Titan X and its 480GB/sec, and the GTX 1080 with its 320GB/sec - the GTX 1080 uses a 256-bit memory bus, while the Titan X uses a 384-bit memory bus. The GPU would be clocked at 1503/1623MHz for base and boost clocks, respectively - with a 250W TDP.

Continue reading: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti could be released soon (full post)

Galaxy S8 could release early to help Note 7 troubles

With people being burned and their cars, or houses setting on fire from the battery-related problems on the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung could push the negativity out of consumers' minds with the early release of the Galaxy S8. We've also been hearing that Samsung could remove the 3.5mm headphone jack from the Galaxy S8, replacing it with a proprietary connector... ugh.

Samsung is rumored to be much closer to being finished with the Galaxy S8 than previously thought, with the company possibly unveiling the new Galaxy S8 ahead of time. KB Investment & Securities analyst Kim Sang-pyo talked with The Korea Herald, saying: "If Samsung's flagship smartphone launch is delayed to the end of the first quarter of next year, the profitability of the mobile business division could be worsened next year".

He continued: "Regardless of the sales resumption, an earlier launch of a new quality flagship model seems to be the most realistic solution to dealing with the current recall crisis". The impact that the Note 7 recall is hurting Samsung in a big way, with $36 billion wiped away from their shares, the early launch of the Galaxy S8 could actually be a saving grace.

Continue reading: Galaxy S8 could release early to help Note 7 troubles (full post)