Latest News - Page 1452

AMD has its new RDNA 2 architecture powering the new Radeon RX 6000 series desktop graphics cards, as well as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles but now it's time for laptops to get some of that Big Navi lovin'.

AMD recently announced the new Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card powered by the new Navi 22 GPU and 12GB of GDDR6 memory, starting at $479 -- during this announcement CVP and GM of AMD Radeon, Scott Herkleman, said that the RDNA 2 architecture would soon make its debut inside of some new gaming laptops.

There's not much known about the RDNA 2-powered mobile GPUs apart from previous rumors on the TGP, which were from December 2020. At the time, Patrick Schur tweeted that Navi 22 (Mobile) would have a 146W TGP and 192-bit memory interface, while more offerings will be powered by NV22 and come in with 135W, 110W, and 90 TGPs and 160-bit memory interface.

AMD has officially revealed its new Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card, so AIB partners are now allowed to also unveil their custom variants with ASUS teasing their upcoming ROG Strix, TUF Gaming and DUAL variants of the Radeon RX 6700 XT.

Starting with the flagship ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 6700 XT OC Edition, which will have the usual triple-fan ASUS cooler that will most likely be overkill for the Navi 22-powered Radeon RX 6700 XT but you know it will not run hot. ASUS is using a shorter custom PCB on the ROG Strix Radeon RX 6700 XT, which lets hot air pass right into your case instead of into or onto the card.

There's no details on the GPU clock speeds of the ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 6700 XT -- but expect it to have the highest GPU clocks out of the box and I'm sure the most manual OC headroom of all of the custom ASUS cards in the new Radeon RX 6700 XT family of cards.

We were hearing things about NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card through the entire of last year, but then hit a roadblock when news came out that it had been "indefinitely postponed". But like Arnie, the RTX 3080 Ti is now back.

According to new rumors from @kopite7kimi on Twitter, who said on February 6 that "things have changed" and that the current specs of the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti according to his sources saw it with 10240 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6X memory. But now he has just tweeted again saying "it will have 12GB 19Gbps VRAM" and get this -- ETH mining nerfing will be on the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

No ETH mining for you on the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, sorry!

Intel has been slapped with a massive $2.2 billion fine by a federal jury in Texas over the chip giant violating patents held by Dutch semiconductor company VSLI Technology LLC.

The patent violation is over two patents held by VLSI along with NXP Semiconductor getting a slice of the pie, as it owns a part of the patents, with the split of $2.2 billion going into $1.5 billion and $675 million. VSLI acquired NXP Freescale Semiconductor back in 2015, with the patents transferred to VSLI in 2019.

The two patents are first (patent 7,523,373) allows a processor to switch to a low-power state called "sleeping" when it's not in use, which is done through two voltage regulators where one of them will lower power consumption while the other provides enough power to keep the chip's memory in an active state. Patent 7,725,759 allows the chip to switch between programs super-fast, boosting processing speed.

Valve's failed DOTA card game has been put on ice, and is now free-to-play on Steam.

Artifact is officially dead, and Valve has cancelled all plans on a reboot. The reason? Artifact's playerbase simply didn't pick up, and Valve is no longer wanting to invest resources or manpower on the game (they're working on other things, including more Half-Life games). As a result, Valve has made Artifact completely free-to-play and removed all microtransactions from the card game. When's the last time you saw a publisher do something like that?

Ubisoft Massive is working on new ray-traced audio systems in its proprietary Snowdrop Engine that will boost immersion in new games like Star Wars and its Avatar saga.

Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment studio recently posted up a rather technical article on Snowdrop's new audio optimizations, and how the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles will significantly improve how audio is not only streamed, but processed, by the engine itself. Right now Massive is working on two major titles--a new Star Wars open-world game, and an Avatar project--that will utilize these next-gen Snowdrop upgrades.

According Snowdrop Audio Architect Robert Bantin, the Navi RDNA 2.0 GPU in the PS5 and Series X will help free up the CPU for other tasks. Massive now has access to real-time ray-traced data generated by the GPU, which can be used to bake in audio without hitting the CPU. So certain sound effects are now "free" and won't bog down the 8-core Zen 2 CPUs in both systems.

Rockstar and 2K Games parent company Take-Two Interactive hints more $69.99 games are on the way, but doesn't say which titles will get the price hike.

A major criticism of the new PS5 and Xbox Series X generation is pricing. Next-gen games now cost $69.99, and everyone from Activision, Sony, and even Square Enix are raising prices. Take-Two Interactive was among the first to charge $69.99 for its annualized NBA 2K21 sports game, and this trend should continue for other titles from the publisher.

In a recent Morgan Stanley conference, CEO Strauss Zelnick re-affirmed the publisher's stance on the price jump. Zelnick says consumers were prepared for the $10 increase, but not every game would cost $69.99; just the ones that provide tremendous value and replayability (like, say, Grand Theft Auto V's upcoming next-gen version?).

Blizzard plans to allow modding in the new Diablo 2 Resurrected remaster, but it may be quite limited and some high-profile mods probably won't work.

D2R's new Battle.net framework will make the remaster much more secure and prevent hacking, but it'll also be a headache for modders. The remaster's enhanced graphics engine is built on the existing framework of the original game, but the servers have been updated. D2R isn't running the legacy Battle.net online infrastructure and has moved to the Battle.net 2.0 network.

As a result, some of D2's biggest mods like Path of Diablo and Project D2 probably won't work. These mods have massively expanded the original games with lots of QoL improvements like shared stashes, as well as fundamentally changing core gameplay with new skills and unique additions. The mod creators warn gamers not to expect compatibility, and it's likely these mods will be exclusive to the legacy Diablo 2 versions. Blizzard promises to leave the older game alone, though, and the base Battle.net system will remain as it is.

Bungie will start sharing more details on Destiny 2's development, including technical challenges and behind-the-scenes looks and discussions on iteration.

Curious about game development? Wonder how much effort and work goes into upkeeping a huge live service game? Introducing the Bungie Tech Blog, a new one-stop shop for Destiny 2's secret sauce. Bungie plans to reveal lots of interesting little tidbits on Destiny 2's dev process in the blog, ranging from design decisions to game mechanics and beyond.

The first blog entry focuses on rewards--which is admittedly one of the biggest pain points in the game--and in particular, how the team solved a particular Iron Banner bounty bug that prevented gamers from getting credit from kills. It's a pretty interesting look at what goes into squashing these kinds of bugs and how Bungie manages to keep all those plates spinning at once.

Mobile titan Zynga buys Torchlight developer Echtra Games to fuel new cross-platform gaming initiative.

Zynga, mostly known for social games like Words With Friends, plans to delve into the more mainstream gaming market. To help bring its ideas to life, Zynga purchased Echtra Games, who is known for the Torchlight series.

The deal is great for both parties. Echtra's latest game, Torchlight III, hasn't sold very well. With the backing of Zynga, Echtra can fuel new projects--including an upcoming RPG--and the social giant also benefits from the talent of a veteran studio. Echtra is led by Max Schaefer, one of the original heads of Blizzard North who had a hand in shaping the Diablo series, one of the most pivotal IPs in gaming history.

Blizzard confirms original Diablo II and Diablo II Lord of Destruction singleplayer saves can be imported into Diablo II Resurrected.

Holy grail hunters rejoice! Your existing D2 and D2 LoD singleplayer saves are compatible with the new Diablo II Resurrected remaster. Gamers can import their saves into the new remaster and pick up right where they left off.

When asked if original saves would be compatible with D2R, game producer Matthew Cederquist told IGN:

Yesterday, the Nintendo Switch turned four years old. The unique handheld-console hybrid has achieved thunderous success in this relatively small span of time.

The Switch is now four years old, roughly half-way into its lifecycle as Nintendo says. In a four-year span, the Switch has consistently become the best-selling system in the United States for months on end, breaking hardware (and software) sales milestones across the board. To celebrate the Switch's fourth birthday, we thought it prudent to take a closer look at its performance in the worldwide market.

After the dismal Wii U, the Switch is Nintendo's ultimate comeback story. The company has generated billions every year thanks to the lucrative Switch family (Nintendo made $9.9 billion in 2019 from the Switch). The secret of the system's success is that capitalizes on both the selling points of both the mega-popular Wii and 3DS handheld. Gamers have been tremendously receptive to the console-handheld's unique transforming form factor.

A new 4K-ready Switch model will release in 2021 with a refreshed OLED panel and 4K output for UHDTVs, sources tell Bloomberg. The system will also feature a dock upgrade.

Nintendo will release a new higher-end Switch handheld-console model this year to round out the billion-dollar platform family, production sources tell Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki. The new Switch will have three major improvements: Screen, resolution output, and a new dock.

The Switch will be upgraded from its current 6.2-inch LCD panel to a bigger 7-inch OLED screen, similar to the PlayStation Vita PCH 1000 series released by Sony. The new Switch's panel won't have a resolution upgrade and will stay at 720p as to preserve pixel density and maintain lower thermals.

A team of scientists from multiple different countries have finally confirmed the existence of an eye-catching space phenomenon.

The findings from the team of scientists were published in the journal Nature Communications back in February, and according to the results, the team was able to prove the existence of space plasma hurricanes. According to Mike Lockwood, a space scientist at the University of Reading and co-author of the study, "Until now, it was uncertain that space plasma hurricanes even existed, so to prove this with such a striking observation is incredible."

The researchers confirmed the existence of a space hurricane that was 1,000 km wide, which is about the same distance as driving from New York to Detroit. A space hurricane isn't like a hurricane on Earth but is somewhat similar in how it works. Instead of water, space hurricanes are a swirling mass of charged electrons, and according to Lockwood, they are created by "unusually large and rapid transfer of solar wind energy and charged particles into the Earth's upper atmosphere."

A security camera has captured a large meteor entering the atmosphere over southern Canada and the northern US.

According to Express.co.uk, witnesses that saw the meteor enter the atmosphere said that its tail was bright green, which is an indicator that the meteor contained iron and magnesium. When the meteor entered the atmosphere, it began to burn up its properties, which is what caused this reported green glow to appear.

The International Meteor Organisation (IMO) reported more than 300 people saying they saw a meteor, some of the reports stated that they saw the meteor hit land. AJ said, "I was surprised how large, bright and close to Earth it seemed. It was very clear and had a glowing burning appearance." Jenna said, "As it travelled over the Earth it looked like it was getting too close for comfort!" To watch a video of the meteor, check out this link here.

AMD has started teasing its DLSS competitor through LinusTechTips, where in their latest video (which features yours truly at the beginning) Linus explains that AMD will be launching their DLSS competitor on all platforms powered by the RDNA architecture.

NVIDIA's own Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology reached a new level when DLSS 2.0 arrived, where it helped GeForce RTX graphics card owners keep playable framerates in ray tracing games. Performance boosts in competitive games like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War make DLSS 2.0 a game changer for GeForce owners.

But it looks like AMD is preparing its new FidelityFX Super Resolution, which the company will reportedly make available across all platforms that are powered by the RDNA architecture. This means that AMD would be launching its DLSS competitor on not just Radeon RX graphics cards, but also Sony's PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series X/S consoles.

Vertigo Games today announced that its next VR title, After The Fall, would be launching this coming summer. And while a new game from the creator of Arizona Sunshine is exciting, it's a small detail in the press release that piqued my attention. It sounds like we have some VR headsets to look forward to soon.

Vertigo Games said that After The Fall would be available in summer 2021. As you may expect from Arizona Sunshine's creators, the game is set to launch on multiple VR platforms. Vertigo said it would support PlayStation VR and PC VR. But it's the next phrase that stood out. After the Fall is also coming to "yet to be announced VR platforms" this summer.

As of right now, we have no concrete information about any unannounced VR headsets coming down the pipeline, but there have been a handful of hints in recent months. In September, a benchmark test of an HTC headset with a Snapdragon XR2 processor leaked online. And just last week, Facebook Reality Labs hinted that a Quest Pro might be in the works.

Vertigo Games, the studio that created the smash hit Arizona Sunshine, is gearing up to release its next title. After the Fall, a post-apocalyptic co-op survival shooter is coming to VR platforms this summer.

From the name, you may expect that After the Fall is a sequel to Arizona Sunshine, but that's not the case. This is a completely new game with a completely different feel. Arizona Sunshine was a solo or co-op campaign set in a modern zombie-infested world. After the Fall is a fast-paced 4-player co-op game, like Left4Dead, set in a post-apocalyptic downtown LA overrun by undead creators called snowbreed.

Vertigo Games plans to support multiple VR platforms. The game will launch on PlayStation VR, PC VR, and "as yet unannounced headsets" with full cross-platform support between different platforms.

GALAX has unleashed its new GeForce RTX 3090 HOF (Hall of Fame) graphics cards to the, well probably 3 people on the planet that were able to buy them -- but one Chinese overclocker has slapped an insane 1000W custom BIOS on his card.

The custom GALAX GeForce RTX 3090 HOF graphics card was tuned and overclocked by Chinese YouTube channel 二斤自制, where there is a lengthy review you can read, too. The card was installed into an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X test bench with GALAX DDR4-4400MHz, a HOF 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD, and a high-end Corsair AX1500i PSU.

But where things go to another level is that a custom BIOS was flashed onto the GALAX GeForce RTX 3090 HOF, upping its stock 420W BIOS with what appears to be the custom XOC 1000W BIOS from EVGA and their GeForce RTX 3090 Kingpin graphics card.

Valve's most recent SteamVR survey results are out, and the new numbers show fantastic growth for Oculus's install base. Quest 2 is now the most used VR headset on the SteamVR platform.

Facebook released the Oculus Quest 2 headset in October 2020. Within its short five-month existence, the Quest 2 has eclipsed the install base of every other VR headset on the market, giving Oculus a commanding lead in headsets sold.

According to Valve's data, Quest 2 owners comprise 22.91% of all SteamVR users, while another 21.58% use a Rift S headset. Oculus also owns another 13.49%, with the original Rift, and Quest headsets added. All told, Oculus is responsible for 57.98% of all VR headsets used on Valve's platform.