TT Show Episode 14 - Grand Theft Auto 6 deep dive, Fallout TV show, Windows 12, and more!
The TT Show Episode 14 is here, and of course, this week's big story is the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer, which dropped moments before Jak and Kosta started recording - so strap in for some genuine immediate impressions. The GTA 6 discussion covers quite a bit, from the visuals to the game potentially skipping PC at launch to why Rockstar released the trailer ahead of schedule.
The Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer isn't the only trailer the duo dig into as they talk about the new Fallout TV show from Amazon for Prime Video and how it captures the series' look, feel, and tone. As a Fallout player, Kosta is more impressed than Jak, but hey. In the world of GPUs, the ongoing GeForce RTX 4090 China ban saga continues, with the recent news that NVIDIA is designing a cutdown RTX 4090D for the region.
This week's episode also covers the early arrival of Windows 12 in June 2024 alongside dedicated "AI PCs," Tesla's Cybertruck's launch, and some sad news about NASA's planned Moon mission in 2025. It turns out progress at Elon Musk's SpaceX isn't where it should be,
GIGABYTE's new AORUS 49-inch QD-OLED Gaming Monitor uses AI to minimize burn-in
The new GIGABYTE AORUS CO49DQ Gaming Monitor features a massive 49-inch QD-OLED panel with a curved 32:9 aspect ratio and Dual QHD resolution of 5,120x1,440 pixels. Alongside impressive specs that make it another OLED gaming monitor we'd love to go hands-on with, regarding GIGABYTE and AORUS' 'OLED Care' feature, the company claims that its AI-based algorithm will help minimize the risks of burn-in.
Although OLED panel technology has come a long way quickly, burn-in or permanent image retention can still crop up. This recent long-term study highlights the improvements made and shows that no panel is safe from OLED burn-in. Burn-in is the reason why companies like GIGABYTE include tech to protect and ensure their OLED panels go the distance.
GIGABYTE's OLED Care suite includes a 'Pixel Clean' or pixel refresh option, 'Static Control' to reduce brightness when images remain static, 'Pixel Shift' screen movement, and an option called 'Sub-Logo Dim' to reduce the brightness of the taskbar and logo when running Windows.
AMD Fluid Motion Frames preview driver updated with improvements to stutter and frame pacing
For those that need a little refresher, AMD's Fluid Motion Frames (or AFMF) is the company's driver-based version of Frame Generation - as seen in NVIDIA's DLSS 3 and AMD's FSR 3. This version of the technology is a potential game-changer because it allows for Radeon RX 7000 and Radeon RX 6000 GPU owners to enable frame generation in all DirectX 11 and 12 titles. That's right, per-game support isn't required.
Still in its pre-release 'AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition Preview Driver for AMD Fluid Motion Frames' form, AMD quietly dropped a new update late last week. Promising improvements to "stutter and pacing" and "general improvements to the stability" of AFMF technology bring the tech one step closer to full release.
Though as to when that will be is anyone's guess. The good news is that the update aligns the Preview Driver with the latest AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.12.1 release - so if you're keen to check it out, now's the time.
After nine delays and a decade in dev, Ubisoft's Skull and Bones gets a new 2024 release date
Very few games have development cycles that last longer than a decade, and if they do, it's often for reasons that can be boiled down to "development troubles." Skull and Bones is one of these games, with Ubisoft Singapore kicking off development on the pirate-themed game after it worked on all of the cool pirate-themed stuff found in 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
Turning that into a full-fledged game was always an excellent idea, but Skull and Bones has been in a sort of development limbo since 2013 - and with Rare's Sea of Thieves and other open-world games with boats, it's no longer an original or fresh concept. But, after nine delays, a reboot, and a few closed beta tests, Ubisoft is finally ready to launch Skull and Bones on February 16, 2024.
The game is set to hit PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on this day, with a Closed Beta coming this weekend - running from December 15 to 18.
Creator of Skyrim multiplayer mod won't be bringing it to Starfield because the game is 'trash'
Skyrim Together Reborn is a popular mod for Skyrim that adds co-op for up to eight players (with support for 30+) and has been downloaded well over a million times. With Bethesda Game Studios' Starfield release this year, many fans have been expecting to see a multiplayer Starfield Together mod arrive at some point.
If one does show up, it won't be from one of Skyrim Together's key developers, Robbe Bryssinck or Cosideci. It turns out that even though there were plans to port the Skyrim Together mod over to Starfield, that has changed. The reason? The game. It's no secret that the critical and fan response to Starfield has been mixed, with some loving the game, others liking it, and some outright disappointed by its shortcomings.
Cosideci falls into the latter camp, taking to Discord (via Reddit) to state, "When the game released, I was hyped, like a lot of people, but probably for different reasons. I spent launch day and a few days after reverse-engineering the game and porting over gameplay hooks from Skyrim Together to a potential Starfield Together mod. I ported about 70% of Skyrim Together reversed code to Starfield Together."
Fortnite's early billion-dollar metaverse ideas shared by former Epic Games exec
Former Epic Games creative exec shares the idea that unlocked Fortnite's billion-dollar success.
Fortnite was an ambitious game right from the get-go, and the free-to-lay sensation owes its success to a spoke diagram drawn on a dry-erase board way back in 2017. Ex-Fortnite creative officer Donald Mustard recently shared what appears to be Epic's 'north star' for the battle royale. I
t's called The Fortnite Hub, and it aimed to transform Fortnite from a game into a digital space with its own social ecosystem and game modes. This could be one of the earliest plans for gaming's growing metaverse aspirations. Fortnite has defined social gaming for years with its live concerts and in-game events, not to mention the plethora of crossovers with billion-dollar brands across multiple industries.
KIOXIA RM7 Series Value SAS SSDs now available in HPE Servers... and in Space!
KIOXIA RM7 Series SSDs are all about value and delivering high performance with a focus on reliability, lower latency than SATA SSDs, and speeds of up to 12Gb/s using the SAS interface (SAS-3). With capacities starting from 960GB and going up to 7.68TB, RM7 Series Value SAS SSDs are now available in HPE's ProLiant Gen11 servers.
And to make the news just that little bit cooler, KIOXIA has confirmed that in addition to ProLiant servers for enterprise, KIOXIA RM Series Value SAS SSDs are also being used aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in the HPE Spaceborne Computer-2 (SBC-2). SBC-2 is currently being used to conduct scientific experiments in orbit around Earth. HPE's next mission to the ISS is scheduled for January.
"With outer space being the most rugged and the furthest edge environment there is, we are very excited to have Value SAS as the core storage technology supporting HPE SBC-2 over the next several years, targeted for the International Space Station," said Faraz Velani, senior director and head of Go-to-Market for the KIOXIA SSD Business Unit.
Acer's new Predator RTX 4090 with unique hybrid cooler, sucks in new thermal testing
Acer is the second system builder that we know of to have its own GeForce RTX 4090, after LENOVO and its RTX 4090 LEGION, with the new Acer RTX 4090 Predator being independently tested by our friends at KitGuru.
The company is now shipping its new GeForce RTX 4090 Predator graphics card with an interesting hybrid-style cooler inside of its high-end Predator Orion X Gaming PCs. The first review unit has reached KitGuru, who has pulled apart the RTX 4090 Predator graphics card inside of it. The card doesn't actually have a name, but given that it's inside of a Predator gaming PC, it should be the RTX 4090 Predator, right?
Acer's custom GeForce RTX 4090 Predator graphics card is a triple-slot beast, that is almost -- but not quite as -- big as NVIDIA's in-house GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition. It weighs slightly less as well, at 1.8kg for the RTX 4090 Predator compared to 2.19kg for the RTX 4090 FE. Acer uses a matte black plastic shroud with embedded RGB accent LEDs that can be controlled through Acer's in-house Predator software.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX runs Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora at 4K 148FPS with FSR3 + ray tracing
AMD is smiling proudly with its RDNA 3-powered Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs flying through the world of Pandora, pumping 100FPS+ inside of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Check it out:
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is powered by Ubisoft's impressive Snowdrop engine, the same engine that powers The Division 2 and other Ubisoft titles. It looks gorgeous, enabling beautiful ray-traced visuals that create immersive gaming environments like we see in Frontiers of Pandora.
AMD worked closely with Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment to ensure a smooth, high FPS gaming experience at Ultra settings with ray tracing enabled across its AMD Radeon graphics cards and AMD Ryzen processors. What kind of performance can we expect? Well, over 100FPS, starting with the Radeon RX 7600... here's the full list:
TCL unveils 27-inch 8K, 65-inch 8K 120Hz OLED, and 57-inch 8K 240Hz mega PC gaming monitor
TCL is on a gaming monitor announcement spree, where it has teased an interesting new dome-shaped 4K 120Hz OLED gaming monitor... as well as a new 27-inch 8K panel, 65-inch 8K OLED panel, and a gargantuan 57-inch 8K 240Hz mega gaming monitor of the future. You'll need an RTX 5090 or maybe even an RTX 6090 for 8K 240Hz insanity.
The company says it has "redefined the future" with its new monitor technologies, showing TCL's commitment to making a "more advanced, connected and healthy display future". That is being done with a super-dense 27-inch 8K monitor with an adjustable light zone that also packs eye tracking... interesting to see.
TCL also unveiled the first 65-inch 8K 120Hz IJP OLED curved monitor, boasting its huge 33 million pixels at a super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. 7680 x 4320 @ 120Hz with a 1800R curve... that would be a sight to see, with TCL teasing that "every pixel is viewed, and the frame is perceived in a fully immersive environment".
Intel CEO will deliver CES 2024 keynote on January 9, teases 'AI everywhere starts with Intel'
Intel has announced that it will have its CEO Pat Gelsinger on stage at CES 2024, providing a keynote, where CNBC correspondent Kristina Partsinevelos will join to talk about all things AI.
We know that AI will be a focus of all major tech companies moving forward, with Intel's upcoming "AI Everywhere" event penciled in for December 14, which is just a few days away. We will find out more details about Intel's new Core 100 series codenamed Meteor Lake, which is one of the more interesting CPU designs the company has pumped out, and all eyes are focused on it.
AI, on the other hand, is the core focus of Intel right now... however, the CES 2024 keynote will see Intel talk about its Core 100 series and the Meteor Lake architecture in general and how it is powering waves of new laptops and other Meteor Lake-powered products. Intel will be hosting an Open House at CES 2024 that will be led by Michelle Johnston Holthaus, the GM of Intel CCG (Client Computing Group) where people on the ground will be able to get their hands on some Intel Core Ultra demo systems.