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The Medium dev brags about Xbox Series X power, but game runs 4K 30FPS
The Medium is coming from Microsoft and developer Bloober Team, where we've found out some more information on the game as well as the first gameplay footage in a recently released Dual-Reality gameplay trailer. Check it out:
What we found out from this video is that developer Bloober Team said that The Medium runs at 4K 30FPS on the Xbox Series X, which is strange considering it was just earlier this month the developer said Microsoft's new Xbox Series X console had so much raw power it made them feel like mad scientists that could go "a little crazy".
Except... The Medium on that Xbox Series X that lets them go "crazy" runs at 4K 30FPS. Not 4K 60FPS which would be going a "little crazy" and would truly show the raw power inside of the Xbox Series X. 4K 30FPS is what we have with current-gen consoles, and even on mid-range graphics cards in a gaming PC.
Continue reading: The Medium dev brags about Xbox Series X power, but game runs 4K 30FPS (full post)
Leaked PlayStation 5 assembly line pics hint at swappable case plates
New leaked PlayStation 5 photos show what appears to be replacable shell covers, strongly hinting the console will let consumers swap out and customize their consoles.
Despite Sony's extreme secrecy and rigorous controls, someone took a few snaps of a PlayStation 5's case from an overseas assembly line. The pictures showed up on Chinese social forum A9VG and don't show any interesting bits like the SSD, SoC, or motherboard. But there might be more evidence the PS5's shell plates can be popped off and replaced with custom ones with improved designs.
The pictures show more detail on the console's plastic side-plates, which appear to be held in by a series of fin-like hooks. They look a lot easier to remove than the PS4, for example, and this could be by design.
Continue reading: Leaked PlayStation 5 assembly line pics hint at swappable case plates (full post)
Sony expects PlayStation 5 to smash PS4 sales in next 5 years
The PS5 is expected to sell 120 million consoles across its first five-year period, eclipsing the PS4's current sales by nearly 10 million units.
Sony has lofty ambitions for its next-gen PlayStation 5. The console is expected to sell 120 million units in 5 years' time, which beats the PlayStation 4's staggering 110.4 million sell-in figure by nearly 10 million. For perspective, it took the PS4 nearly 7 years to accrue these numbers.
Sources close to the PS5's manufacturing plans tell DigiTimes that PS5 sales estimates sit between 120 million - 170 million from now until 2025, which is monumental to say the least.
Continue reading: Sony expects PlayStation 5 to smash PS4 sales in next 5 years (full post)
Ghost of Tsushima gets new easy mode and lethal mode in patch 1.05
Ghost of Tsushima is the pre-eminent new PlayStation IP that's amassed tremendous sales and acclaim with its visuals and combat, and now the daring swordplay is getting fine-tuned even more.
Photo Credit: Ira Owens
Sucker Punch is rolling out a new Ghost of Tsushima update that will relent on gamers who want a break, and pour ruthless chaos down on those who want a challenge. The new Patch 1.05 update will add two different modes: The ultra-tough Lethal difficulty amps enemy damage, alertness, and aggression up to 11, aiming to test your mettle and finesse in battle with faster reaction times.
Continue reading: Ghost of Tsushima gets new easy mode and lethal mode in patch 1.05 (full post)
Halo: Infinite's lighting may not get fixed until after launch
A new dynamic lighting system is to blame for Halo: Infinite's controversial graphics, but the fix may not come until sometime after the game launches in November.
Halo: Infinite was supposed to be the Xbox Series X's golden ticket to sales. The recent gameplay demo was hyped to no end, and everyone expected a next-gen spectacle. What viewers got instead was something that looked like a current-gen game, complete with unfinished-looking textures bereft of high-end detail. The reality is that the textures are indeed finished and rather high quality, but they were hidden in shadow and we couldn't really see them.
Infinite's dynamic lighting system, a new global illumination system built into the game's specially-designed Slipspace Engine, is the culprit. Dynamic lighting is great for reducing iteration time and reflecting/absorbing light in real-time, but it also creates environments where shadows can obscure models. That's what happened in the trailer, and why everything looked so wonky.
Continue reading: Halo: Infinite's lighting may not get fixed until after launch (full post)
Ubisoft beats Fiscal Q1'21 earnings forecast by $67 million
On the heels of major AAA game delays and heated misconduct controversies, Ubisoft is bouncing back by generating consistent strong revenues in Q1'21.
Ubisoft recently announced its Fiscal Year Q1'21 results for the period ending June 30, 2020, and the results are pretty stellar. The company exceeded its internal sales forecast by nearly $67 million.
The publisher comes swinging out of the gate where it counts most: Digital earnings. Digital Net Bookings generated €355.4 million ($317.32 million), up 21.5% YoY and comprising a massive 86.7% of Ubisoft's total sales revenues for the quarter.
Continue reading: Ubisoft beats Fiscal Q1'21 earnings forecast by $67 million (full post)
Ooblets tips and tricks: Where to find clothlets, froobtose, and more
Glumberland's new game Ooblets is one of the best releases of 2020 and will cure your coronavirus woes. But it also comes with some grinding, curiosity, and strategy. Here are a few basic tips and tricks to get you up and running.
If you love Animal Crossing, Pokemon, and Harvest Moon, then you really need to try Ooblets. It's available in early access right now on the Epic Games Store for $19.99 and I can honestly say it's worth the investment.
But Ooblets requires some basic understanding in routine-based sims, so we've put together a handy quick-start guide so you can jump in without too much trouble.
Continue reading: Ooblets tips and tricks: Where to find clothlets, froobtose, and more (full post)
Here's what you need to know about the $1200 stimulus coming in August
COVID-19 has struck the world almost like an asteroid, with Americans being in a position where they don't even know the extent of the damage yet -- which is where stimulus checks have been helping millions of Americans around the US.
But now the Trump administration are stamping their seal of approval on a new round of $1200 stimulus checks, explained White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow on a recent interview with CNN.
Kudlow explained: "The check is there, the reemployment bonus is there, the retention bonus is there. There will be breaks, tax credits for small businesses and restaurants. It's a very well-rounded package. It's a very well-targeted package".
Continue reading: Here's what you need to know about the $1200 stimulus coming in August (full post)
You can get PC parts inside of Minecraft and play DOOM on a in-game PC
PC gamers from around the world want to see DOOM playable on as many devices as possible, and now that quest has made its way to getting DOOM running inside of games.
Thanks to Reddit user uDrunkMate, DOOM is now completely playable via a virtual PC inside of Mojang's creative title Minecraft. uDrunkMate has created a mod that allows players to order PC parts from a satellite orbiting around Minecraft; players can then build a computer and boot Windows 95 and other operating systems.
The mod takes advantage of another mod called VirtualBox, which is a free and open-source virtual machine software that is designed to run operating systems such as Windows 95. As you may have probably already imagined, there are some limitations when trying to play DOOM inside of Minecraft, and some of those limitations are frame-rate issues, as well as the fact that you have to play on a screen within a screen.
Continue reading: You can get PC parts inside of Minecraft and play DOOM on a in-game PC (full post)
This image of Saturn taken by NASA may be the best one you've seen yet
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is still one of the leading instruments humans have for capturing the beauty of space.
Recently, NASA worked used some of Hubble's magic to their advantage and captured a stunning image of one of the planets in our solar system. Above you can see the image that was captured, and if you couldn't pick which planet we are looking at from the image, I'm happy to tell you that it's Saturn.
From the image we can see Saturn's iconic rings, which NASA describes "Hubble's sharp view resolves the finely etched concentric ring structure. Ranging from tiny grains to giant boulders." Images such as these allow planetary sciences to observe the ever-changing atmosphere on the gas giant. Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement, "It's amazing that even over a few years, we're seeing seasonal changes on Saturn."
Continue reading: This image of Saturn taken by NASA may be the best one you've seen yet (full post)
Intel teases it will deliver more details on Xe graphics in 20 days
NVIDIA has its new Ampere GPU architecture powering the new benchmark crushing Ampere A100 accelerator, and soon to be Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3000 series -- AMD has its RDNA 2 architecture right around the corner and APUs inside of next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X... while Intel has, well lots of pluses -- and no GPU.
Intel is expected to finally have something to share on its Xe graphics according to a quickly-deleted tweet. Intel posted the tweet to its official Intel Graphics Twitter account, where it said: "You've waited. You've wondered. We'll deliver. In 20 days, expect more details on Xe graphics".
Keep in mind that Intel has a few events it will be (virtually) attending, with David Blythe, Senior Fellow and Director of Graphics Architecture at Intel delivering a speech at Hot Chips on August 17 all about the Xe GPU architecture.
Continue reading: Intel teases it will deliver more details on Xe graphics in 20 days (full post)
NYT retracts 'off-world vehicles' recovered bit from its UFO article
An article I wrote a couple of days ago got some major attention, with the legendary Joe Rogan himself sharing the article to his social media pages, throwing it in front of the eyes of millions of people -- the subject of UFOs and more specifically "off-world vehicles not made on this Earth".
In the original article I sourced the new article published by The New York Times titled 'No Longer in Shadows, Pentagon's U.F.O. Unit Will Make Some Findings Public' where NYT writers Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean explained that former Democratic senator Harry Reid "pushed for funding the earlier U.F.O. program when he was the majority leader".
But the sentence right after that has been completely edited since my original article, where I'll now provide you with a before an after:
Continue reading: NYT retracts 'off-world vehicles' recovered bit from its UFO article (full post)
Halo Infinite's sh*tty graphics make Craig the Brute an internet hero
Halo Infinite was revealed a couple of days ago, where it was shown off on a gaming PC with specs similar to an Xbox Series X -- but the graphics just looked sh*tty.
I wrote an article titled 'Halo Infinite boss talks criticism of sh*tty graphics on Xbox Series X' and my personal Twitter went nuts, and I even got hate email. Strange, still -- the graphics were shit and I'll stand by that until I die. Ray tracing and a couple of more months under the development knife might help, maybe... but for a first showing of a next-gen Halo on the next-gen Xbox?
Not good enough, Microsoft.
Continue reading: Halo Infinite's sh*tty graphics make Craig the Brute an internet hero (full post)
You'll probably want this Core i9-10850K chip over the Core i9-10900K
We knew that Intel was preparing a new Core i9-10850K from previous rumors, but it seems like the company is about to announce the latest member of its Comet Lake family of CPUs.
Intel is expected to unleash the new Core i9-10850K with the same 10 cores and 20 threads that the flagship Core i9-10900K (our review here) has, while clock speeds for the CPU according to the latest reports have it at 3.6GHz base and 5.2GHz boost (3.7GHz and 5.3GHz respectively on the Core i9-10900K).
We have Korean tech outlet Quasar Zone reporting that Intel will drop the new Core i9-10850K on 27th July (Monday) at 23:50 AM Korean Standard Time. This means we should be waiting for the announcement at around 8AM PST -- tomorrow morning, folks!
Continue reading: You'll probably want this Core i9-10850K chip over the Core i9-10900K (full post)
Samsung's next-gen Galaxy S21 Ultra could pack Exynos 1000 chip on 5nm
Samsung is gearing up for its Unpacked 2020 event on August 5 where it will be unveiling the new Galaxy Fold, which is reportedly being re-branded to the Galaxy Z Fold 2 -- as well as the new family of Galaxy Note 20 smartphones, which you can read all about here.
But what about the next-gen Galaxy S21 smartphone?
Well, it seems Samsung could be powering the flagship version of its Galaxy S21 family, the Galaxy S21 Ultra, with its own Exynos 1000 processor. Samsung's in-house Exynos 1000 processor is reportedly being made on the 5nm node, and would be exclusive to the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Continue reading: Samsung's next-gen Galaxy S21 Ultra could pack Exynos 1000 chip on 5nm (full post)
NVIDIA A100 Ampere benchmarked, is now the 'fastest GPU ever recorded'
NVIDIA announced its Ampere GPU architecture with the introduction of the Ampere A100 accelerator earlier this year, the company's first 7nm GPU -- and also its first PCIe 4.0 card too. But what good is a next generation GPU if it hasn't been benchmarked yet?
This is where Jules Urbach, the CEO of OTOY -- a cloud graphics company famous for its Octane Render software, has benchmarked NVIDIA's new A100 accelerator. The new Ampere-based NVIDIA A100 accelerator was benchmarked on OctaneBench -- a benchmark designed to test the performance in OctaneRender.
OTOY benchmarked the GA100-based card which consists of 6912 CUDA cores, and 40GB of super-fast HBM2 memory.
Continue reading: NVIDIA A100 Ampere benchmarked, is now the 'fastest GPU ever recorded' (full post)
Xbox Series S could be an all-white console to contrast Xbox Series X
Microsoft's rumored cheaper next-gen Xbox Series S console may come with a snazzy white paintjob similar to the Xbox One S.
Apparently someone got a hold of a new white Xbox controller that matches the peripheral that ships with the Series X this November. If genuine, the controller could hint at a few things. First off, there's obviously a white next-gen Xbox controller that'll be sold separately. Two, Microsoft may sell an all-white Xbox Series X, but this is less likely because of branding. And three, the white controller will be shipped with the Xbox Series S, the rumored all-digital next-gen Xbox that could be $150 or more cheaper than the Xbox Series X.
The latter makes a lot of sense. If the Xbox Series S (codenamed Lockhart) does exist and ship in 2020 or 2021, then Microsoft will want to clearly delineate between the two systems with color schemes. Microsoft did this with the Xbox One S (white) and Xbox One X (black) at launch, then changed up the color schemes a bit after release.
Continue reading: Xbox Series S could be an all-white console to contrast Xbox Series X (full post)
Ray tracing can fix Halo: Infinite's bad graphics and shadows
Thanks to a recent graphics controversy, Halo: Infinite is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The game isn't the next-gen spectacle we all expected, nor does it seem like a system-selling game. But a closer look at 343i's new engine and lighting systems reveals the reason the game looks decided last-gen.
Why does Halo: Infinite's gameplay look so bland? Why does it look like a last-gen game? It all has to do with the game's new dynamic lighting system. Halo: Infinite is a huge open-world game now, and it has a fluctuating lighting system that blankets the entire world. There's no tightly-designed linear levels, meaning the lighting system isn't fine-tuned, but more spread across a bigger area.
A new deep dive from Digital Foundry uncovers some of Infinite's issues, challenges, and advantages with its new dynamic lighting system.
Continue reading: Ray tracing can fix Halo: Infinite's bad graphics and shadows (full post)
Xbox promises Halo: Infinite will be a next-gen spectacle at launch
Halo: Infinite's graphics have caused lots of controversy and didn't really show off the Xbox Series X's raw power. But that will change from now until release, Microsoft promises.
Halo: Infinite was supposed to be the Xbox Series X's killer game, the system-selling launch title that mimicked Combat Evolved's legacy decades ago. Instead the latest gameplay demo has fans divided (but need I remind you Microsoft doesn't care if you don't buy an Xbox Series X?). The graphics aren't the wow-ing spectacle we expected from an explosive next-gen hit. 343i and Microsoft have since gone into damage control mode in an effort to ameliorate the negative buzz.
"We're in the middle of a global pandemic. It's July, we're far from [Halo Infinite's release in] holiday, you're seeing a work-in-progress game," Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg said in an interview with Inside Gaming.
Continue reading: Xbox promises Halo: Infinite will be a next-gen spectacle at launch (full post)
McDonalds on coronavirus: 'no mask, no hamburgers' starting August 1
McDonalds has just announced that all of its restaurants across the United States will require all of its customers to wear a face mask before entering one of their restaurants.
The new changes come into effect starting August 1, where the company also announced it would still be still halting in-store dining from re-opening for another 30 days. McDonald's USA said in a press statement that "From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we've based decisions on our top priority: protecting the health and well-being of our and our franchisees' employees and customers".
Joe Erlinger, President, McDonald's USA and Mark Salebra, National Franchise Leadership Alliance Chair continued, adding:
Continue reading: McDonalds on coronavirus: 'no mask, no hamburgers' starting August 1 (full post)






















