Creators talk 'Stranger Things' second season

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Aug 31, 2016 6:53 PM CDT

While not a surprise, the confirmation of a second season for Netflix's breakout success 'Stranger Things' has given fans something to look forward to next year. But what form will it take? The Duffer Brothers have spoken to Entertainment Weekl to elaborate on where the series will go next.

While creators initially thought about jumping into the future, the second series will follow up a year after the events of the first. "I think we talked like a larger time jump where the kids are older now and it's a different decade. That's something we batted around from the very beginning. But for us, there's still more story here, there's still things that are unresolved.... There's going to be a lot of new and interesting dynamics that we didn't see in season one".

Unsurprisingly, the upcoming season is set to expand on the upside down - the alternate dimension which is still shrouded is much mystery. "We definitely want to explore a little bit more. There's a lot we don't know about the Upside Down at the end of season one... We obviously have this gate to another dimension, which is still very much open in the town of Hawkins. And a lot of questions there in terms of, if the Monster is dead, was it a singular monster? What else could be out there? We really don't go in there much until they go in to find Will at the end. So we've opened up this doorway, and to us it's exciting to talk about, like, what else is behind there? There's a lot more mystery there to be solved."

Continue reading: Creators talk 'Stranger Things' second season (full post)

Nintendo NX dimensions and design possibly leaked

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Aug 31, 2016 11:08 AM CDT

An anonymous developer potentially leaks new Nintendo NX details, this time allegedly revealing the dimensions and overall look of the handheld's devkit.

Nintendo NX dimensions and design possibly leaked

On the heels of the NX share button reports, an anonymous developer has told Let's Play Video Games some fresh info regarding the NX's devkits, more specifically the overall size of the handheld and its detachable controllers as well as a rough schematic of how it looks. Note that this design isn't exactly surprising as it can be seen in Nintendo's initial patents.

"As others already said, it's a hybrid console with detachable controllers that have a split D-Pad, A, B, X, Y, and a camera / share button. However, something I believe none of them have mentioned is the size of the current dev kit.

Continue reading: Nintendo NX dimensions and design possibly leaked (full post)

Acer's new curved laptop rocks GTX 1080 SLI, G-Sync

Derek Strickland | Laptops | Aug 31, 2016 9:28 AM CDT

Acer debuts a powerhouse gaming laptop with a 21:9 curved ultra-wide display, dual NVIDIA GTX 1080s, and Intel's new 7th generation Kaby Lake processors.

Acer's new curved laptop rocks GTX 1080 SLI, G-Sync

Acer revealed its new flagship Predator 21 X gaming laptop at IDF 2016 in Berlin, and boy does this notebook pack a serious punch. The Predator 21 X features the world's first curved display on a laptop, with the panel clocking in at a 21-inch ultra-wide IPS display (2560 x 1080) with NVIDIA G-Sync support and Tobii eye tracking for good measure.

Under the hood the Acer Predator 21 X is outfitted with dual NVIDIA GTX 1080's in SLI for some serious gaming power. Remember that the mobile GTX 1080 GPUs feature 2560 CUDA cores and a 1733MHz boost clock with 8GB of GDDR5X at 10GHz. The enthusiasts laptop will also tap Intel's new 7th generation Kaby Lake processors for maximum CPU performance.

Continue reading: Acer's new curved laptop rocks GTX 1080 SLI, G-Sync (full post)

LG's new 38-inch UltraWide rocks 3840x1600 resolution

Anthony Garreffa | Displays & Projectors | Aug 30, 2016 8:41 PM CDT

LG has just teased the world's largest curved UltraWide monitor, with the introduction of its new 38-inch display, the 38UC99.

The new 38-inch curved UltraWide rocks a huge resolution of 3840x1600, so not quite 4K, but more than the 3440x1440 native resolution of popular 34-inch UltraWide monitors. LG's new 38UC99 display rocks an IPS panel with a wide color gamut covering 99% of the sRGB color space.

This means professionals and enthusiasts alike will enjoy the crystal clear images of the IPS panel, while the 3840x1600 resolution provides plenty of desktop real estate. It's also the first UltraWide monitor to feature USB Type-C connectivity, allowing you to connect your smartphone - like the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7, or a laptop into the display to charge or sync data.

Continue reading: LG's new 38-inch UltraWide rocks 3840x1600 resolution (full post)

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided patch fixes a slew of problems

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Aug 30, 2016 6:30 PM CDT

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is getting patched fast on the PC, with Eidos Montreal pushing out another patch that addresses various issues gamers have been having since launch.

There aren't any notable performance improvements with the new patch, but the mouse sensitivity issues have been ironed out, and 'various issues' with 21:9 setups have also been fixed. The patch for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will roll out soon, but in the meantime here's a list of everything that has been fixed in the new patch:

Eidos Montreal notes: "While we expect this patch to be an improvement for everyone, if you do have trouble with this patch and prefer to stay on older versions, we have made a Beta available on Steam, v1.0_build 524.6 and v2.0_build 524.7, that can be used to switch back to previous versions".

Continue reading: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided patch fixes a slew of problems (full post)

Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition launches

Sean Ridgeley | Gaming | Aug 30, 2016 4:33 PM CDT

Maybe you like to play games all at once instead of in chunks or maybe you're just a cheapskate. Either way, The Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition launches today with all DLC in tow, including two huge expansions, all-in-one neat package and for about $50.

As I've mentioned before, even just the vanilla game contains an enormous amount of content even by RPG standards, so if you decide to pick it up, you're getting a ridiculous amount of playtime (roughly 150 hours) for your dough, and with no real filler either. Oh, and many don't hesitate to say it's the best game of all time, period, so that helps.

The Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition is available now via GOG.

Continue reading: Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition launches (full post)

Apple ordered to pay €13bn in back taxes to Ireland

Sean Ridgeley | Business, Financial & Legal | Aug 30, 2016 3:29 PM CDT

Apple is facing a record €13bn ($14.5bn) fine after a probe by the European Commission, which found the company was routing profits through Ireland to minimize taxes.

According to the probe, Apple's scheme allowed it to pay as little as 0.005% on its European profits, or £50 in taxes for every £1m of profit (a "completely made-up number", according to Chief financial officer Luca Maestri). It's said to have achieved its goal by setting up virtual offices with no employees, offices, or real activity and enacting provisions of Irish law no longer in use.

Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook says his company has done no wrong and he doesn't expect the decision to stick.

Continue reading: Apple ordered to pay €13bn in back taxes to Ireland (full post)

Final Fantasy 15 barely hits 30FPS on consoles

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Aug 30, 2016 2:18 PM CDT

Square Enix's new Final Fantasy 15 RPG won't be in full HD at all times on consoles, instead using dynamic resolution scaling to drop res to hit specific frame targets. But even with resolution drops both PS4 and Xbox One are struggling to maintain 30FPS.

Final Fantasy 15 barely hits 30FPS on consoles

Final Fantasy 15 game director Hajime Tabata says that the game currently runs with dynamic resolution PS4 and Xbox One in order to balance resolution and frame rates. Tabata confirmed that Sony's PS4 runs between 900p and 1080p and is "close" to hitting its targeted 30FPS, even with scaling. As is the norm, Microsoft's Xbox One fares worse with the scaling, dropping as low as 765p and only as high as 900p to hit a "close approximation" of 30FPS. So that means even with the scaling both consoles can't even maintain a steady 30FPS.

PS4 and Xbox One gamers are no stranger to dynamic scaling. Thanks to both consoles' outdated GPU and CPU tech, just about every game released this generation uses some form of resolution scaling in order to hit a specific FPS target. Even if a game is advertised as 1080p, if it uses dynamic resolution scaling, the game will drop below 1080p to maintain frame rates and reduce lag. It's not exactly an exact science either, leading to some less-than-smooth experiences across a ton of console games.

Continue reading: Final Fantasy 15 barely hits 30FPS on consoles (full post)

Nintendo NX may have split D-pad and share button

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Aug 30, 2016 1:28 PM CDT

New rumors indicate Nintendo's next-gen NX handheld/console hybrid will have a split D-pad and a dedicated share button, and we have evidence to corroborate both claims.

Nintendo NX may have split D-pad and share button

Instead of using the traditional D-pad found on all DS handhelds and most controllers, the Nintendo NX's detachable controllers will use a D-pad split into four different sections--much like Sony's original PSP. That's according to an anonymous source per Let's Play Videogames.

The idea for this is simple: since the NX tablet's handheld has two detachable on either end, the logic is that each controller can be used by two people and that the split D-pad will mimic the A X B Y face buttons while a circle-pad style analog stick is used for movement.

Continue reading: Nintendo NX may have split D-pad and share button (full post)

Samsung's 14nm Exynos mobile SoC boosts CPU power by 70%

Samsung's new low-end Exynos mobile chip leverages the 14nm FinFET process, offering sizable performance boosts and power efficiency.

Samsung's 14nm Exynos mobile SoC boosts CPU power by 70%

Samsung is currently mass producing its new lower-end Exynos 7570 SoC (System-on-Chip) optimized for affordable mobile and IoT devices. Built on the 14nm FinFET process, the new Exynos 7570 chip is 20% smaller than its predecessor's 28nm node making the new chip's transistor's more densely packed and now require less voltage. As such, the new 14nm Exynos chip's four ARM Cortex-153 cores are 30% more power efficient and enjoy a staggering 70% increase in CPU power compared to the earlier SoC.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Exynos 7570 is that Samsung has integrated specific components like an LTE and Wi-Fi modem, Bluetooth, and an FM radio directly into the chip. This will reduce the amount of extra components that need to be added to a device's motherboard, allowing phone-makers to shave off some space.

Continue reading: Samsung's 14nm Exynos mobile SoC boosts CPU power by 70% (full post)