Latest News - Page 1590

When it comes to stepping into the Apple Mac ecosystem, the cheapest way to do it is with the desktop system called the Mac mini. Apple fans looking for a new desktop computer can save $120 off the late 2018 version of the Mac mini at B&H. The regular retail price for that computer is $799, and after the discount is applied, the computer is available for $679.

For the money, what buyers are getting is the entry-level version of the Mac mini fitted with a 3.6 GHz Intel Core i3 quad-core processor. The machine also has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage. This machine uses eighth-generation Intel Core processors meaning the hardware is significantly outdated compared to newer computers on the market from other manufacturers.

Graphics are handled via Intel UHD Graphics 630, and the machine has Thunderbolt 3 ports featuring native DisplayPort outputs. It also has an integrated HDMI 2.0 port, allowing up to three 4K displays to be supported. The machine can also support one 5K display and one 4K display at the same time.

The Last of Us 2 is now the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation 4 exclusive of all time, Sony today announced.

Naughty Dog's brutal and dramatic survival-fest has broken sales records right out of the gate, moving more than 4 million copies in three days. This puts The Last of Us 2 above heavy-hitters like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Spider-Man, and God of War.

The first Last of Us game was likewise as immensely popular on PlayStation 3, moving 8 million copies as of 2014, and sold tremendously well on PlayStation 4 as a remastered port. As of 2018, both games had sold a combined 17 million across both systems.

When it comes to custom gaming PCs, one of the many companies out there building them is called Origin PC. Origin PC has some specials for the coming July 4 holiday in the United States that offer hundreds of dollars off select laptop gaming computers. One of the offerings is the EVO16-S or NT-16 featuring an Intel Core i7-8750H processor for $200 off.

Those machines also include free ground shipping in the United States. Gamers can also save $100 and get free US ground shipping on the EON15-X AMD or the NS-15 AMD laptops. All Origin PC laptop computers get free ground shipping in the US during the sale.

Gamers wanting a desktop system can also get some nice discounts on Ryzen-powered desktops with a $50 Visa reward card and free US ground shipping. Gamers who prefer Intel can get free shipping, but no discounts. Anyone who purchases one of the smaller M-Class RTX Studio desktops gets three months of Adobe Creative Cloud and free shipping.

Microsoft has finally explained exactly what Optimized for Xbox Series X actually means, and it aligns with our older predictions on next-gen enhancements.

Just as we predicted, developers have two ways to approach optimizations on next-gen consoles: Release a next-gen only version of the game that's built from the ground up to leverage the higher-end specs, or roll out enhancement patches that push existing current-gen games past their current perf targets.

The Xbox Series X approach combines both iterative and next-gen strategies together. The upgrades to existing games is similar in practice to the Xbox One X Enhanced program which boosted FPS, resolution, and added HDR. The other half is the pure next-gen exclusive optimizations, which is the kind of thing you'd see in a true hard generational reset.

Despite a tumultuous history making Star Wars games, EA says it will now "double down" on creating new titles in the billion-dollar IP.

Making Star Wars games is hard. Every little decision has to be run through Lucasfilm for approval (like every Star Wars game, the most recent, Jedi: Fallen Order, was built on compromise). And if you're EA, you've already cancelled three big Star Wars games--one from Visceral and two from EA Vancouver.

Now it looks like these cancellations are over. Thanks to Jedi: Fallen Order's success as a singleplayer-only game, EA might finally start embracing Star Wars titles that aren't online experiences. EA is also shifting away from over-monetization. Case in point: the newest Star Wars Squadrons game combines both online and offline play, but it's not monetized.

The global games market is expected to rake in $159 billion in 2020, but 77% of that will be from microtransactions and in-game spending, analyst firm Newzoo reports.

Digital game sales are on the rise, but even those full game purchases are eclipsed by in-game revenues like microtransactions. According to Newzoo, mTX and other digital in-game purchases will make up 74% of 2020's total earnings, or over $117 billion. Free-to-play mobile gaming will predictably make up the lion's share of revenues.

Newzoo predicts the global games market will generate $159.3 billion in 2020, and monetization is expected to grow incrementally over the years. By 2023, mTX is expected to make up 77% of all yearly revenues, or a massive $154 billion. This will ultimately change how games are developed and monetized, whether it be through direct piecemeal microtransaction purchases on a store via cosmetics or convenience items, or through battle pass-style seasonal purchases.

Apple wants to continue the design trend of thinner laptops in the coming years. The challenge is as hardware gains performance, it also starts to make more heat requiring more robust cooling systems. The desire for comfortable typing also requires better keyboards. The result is the need for thicker machines.

Apple has a new method that it is reportedly working on that will make future MacBooks thinner. It's not a new cooling system; it's said to be a new retractable keyboard. The retractable keyboard is an attempt by Apple to balance the customer's need for something they can type on with the need for thinness.

The keyboard will reportedly retract into the MacBook Pro enclosure. The tip of the retractable keyboard comes from a patent for "Retractable Keyboards" that was filed by Apple. Apple isn't first in looking to build retractable keyboards. IBM had a retractable keyboard in the past that would expand out of the sides of the laptop when the lid was opened.

Secretlab teased its new Cyberpunk 2077 Edition gaming chairs a few days ago, where I was the first in the world to spot it on Secretlab's own Twitter page -- minutes after the company contacted me to tell me it was coming. Hype meter set to 9000.

Now it is real: Secretlab announces a new partnership with CD PROJEKT RED on a new Secretlab Cyberpunk 2077 Edition chair. The company is offering the new Cyberpunk 2077 Edition chair on their 2020 TITAN and 2020 OMEGA gaming chairs, providing the ultimate in comfort -- and now dipped that that awesome yellow/black theme of Cyberpunk 2077 style.

Secretlab has upholstered the chairs in their words -- and I agree, a "stunning" neon yellow with bright turquoise stitching along the edges that is just... well, look at the pictures. There are great amounts of detail on the Cyberpunk 2077 Edition chairs, including electrical traces that run down the backrest -- fusing the chair between comfort, high-end technology, and mechanization.

Apart of the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic was to inject $1,200 checks into American's pockets that were eligible. Another aspect of the response by the government was to increase unemployment assistance.

All of this response by the government came under the CARES Act that Congress pushed through in March. Apart of the CARES Act was the increase in unemployment benefits, which saw a $600/week boost in unemployment insurance. At the end of next month (July 31) this benefit is set to expire, but by then, we can expect a second stimulus check to be rolled out, find out more on that here.

In the meantime, it should be noted that if you haven't claimed the $600-per-week unemployment benefit for the weeks between March 28 and July 31, you might be able to do so as back pay. According to The Penny Hoarder, "Individuals that qualify for the (Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation) $600 payment for weeks they are eligible ... can be paid, even if not approved prior to the (July 31) deadline".

The Tolkien universe is so rich with content that it has spawned several game adaptations, some were extremely successful, and others didn't see the light of day. Today, we have learned of one that never saw the light of day.

According to a new video released on the GameHut YouTube Channel, Jon Burton, the founder of studio Traveller's Tales, who is known for the Lego games, revealed a series of demos that the studio originally made as a pitch for a new Hobbit game. The idea was that the developers were going to use the first Lord of the Rings movie as a template to create a video game movie adaptation.

The developers then would show those playable demos to Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro, and if approved by them and Warner Bros., they would begin creating a Hobbit game that would launch around the same time as the first movie. Burton and his team created some of the most famous moments from the Lord of the Rings franchise, such as Gandalf fighting the Balrog, Frodo and Samwise walking through The Shire and escaping the Ringwraiths, as well as more. According to Burton, these demos cost the studio over $1 million.

I've been gaming my entire 37 years on this planet, and I don't think I'll ever stop -- so when I saw market research firm Newzoo predict gaming will be even bigger by 2023, it piqued my interest.

Newzoo has published their forecast towards 2023 for gaming, expecting to see over 3 billion people playing games within the next 4 years. This is a huge 39% of the entire population of our Pale Blue Dot, but it's not much more than the already huge 2.69 billion gamers mostly thanks to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

How about the gaming market? Right now in 2020 it is expected to generate around $159 billion, but by 2023 that is expected to blow past $200 billion. Where will the growth be coming from? Mobile games and gigantic franchises like Fortnite, Pokemon GO, League of Legends, Call of Duty, PUBG, and more.

Valve has kicked off its Steam Summer Sale 2020, with one of our favorite games of the year discounted by a hefty 50% -- and that game is DOOM Eternal.

DOOM Eternal has a regular price of $60, but during the current Steam Summer Sale 2020, it has been reduced by 50% down to just $30. You can get DOOM Eternal Deluxe Edition for $54, down from $90 -- a discount of 40%. Hell, the entire DOOM Franchise Bundle is discounted by a larger 57% dropping it from its original price of $150 down to just $64.75.

You can buy DOOM Eternal from the Steam Store right here.

Philips unveiled two monitors recently; one of them seems pretty kick ass -- a new 55-inch 4K 120Hz beast in the 558M1RY, but then there's the 278M1R.

The new Philips 278M1R is a 27-inch monitor that the company is aiming at gamers and esports, which is the first monitor from the company that is squarely made for competitive gaming. Except, it sucks. Like, bad. 4K 60FPS? Get out of here, Philips -- no competitive gamer is going to use that.

So, the Philips 278M1R is a 27-inch monitor with a native 3840 x 2160 resolution (4K) at a stock standard and oh-so-90s 60Hz refresh rate. However, Philips has focused on getting the input lag on its 278M1R as low as possible -- but none of that matters if you're gaming at 60FPS.

Philips has just unveiled what it is calling the "largest console gaming optimized monitor", with its new 558M1RY coming in as a huge 55-inch TV with a native 3840 x 2160 (4K) resolution and super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. Check it out:

The new Philips 558M1RY monitor sees the company teaming with Bowers & Wilkins, baking in a 40W speaker direcftly into the monitor. Not just that, but Philips also delivers with the looks of the 558M1RY by providing Ambiglow that blasts colored light in different directions onto the back wall where you will place the Philips 558M1RY monitor.

Inside, we have a 55-inch panel with a native 3840 x 2160 resolution, DisplayHDR 1000 certification (that means it'll be nice and bright), a fast 2.5ms response time (faster 1.5ms over DisplayPort) and that silky smooth 120Hz refresh rate.

AMD is gearing up for the launch its Matisse Refresh family of CPUs, with the new Ryzen 5 3600XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT and Ryzen 9 3900XT.

Well, now we have some Geekbench results of the flagship Ryzen 9 3900XT processor -- which seems to be around 5% faster than its predecessor in the Ryzen 9 3900X. The Ryzen 9 3900XT, just like the Ryzen 9 3900X, is a 12-core/24-thread processor clocked at up to 4.7GHz -- a 100MHz frequency boost from the 3900X.

The Ryzen 9 3900XT used in this Geekbench 5.1 submission was installed into a GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Master motherboard, alongside 16GB of dual-channel DDR4-3600 memory. AMD's new Ryzen 9 3900XT scored 10945 points in the multi-threaded test, wand 1324 points in the single-threaded test. This makes the 3900XT around 5% faster than the 3900X.

We are getting very close to the launch of NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards which should include the insane GeForce RTX 3090, super-fast GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 -- and the mid-range GeForce RTX 3060 which if rumors are true, would beat the RTX 2080 Ti.

But before that, how about some new GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER graphics cards randomly? That's what ELSA is doing right now with two new custom GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER cards in the 'Erazor X' and 'SAC' models.

ELSA's new GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Erazor X is the fastest of the two new cards, with GPU clocks reaching 1815MHz while it has 8GB of GDDR6 memory at 14Gbps.

Whether you're male or female, Cyberpunk 2077 will let you customize your junk in a number of ways.

Like any RPG, Cyberpunk 2077 has lots of character customization. But unlike 99% of RPGs out there, Cyberpunk 2077 lets you customize your genitalia size, type, and color.

According to Kotaku, the game has two different types of penises, various penis size options, one vagina type, and five different types of pubic hairs. Yes, really. You can even turn off all nudity within the game if you so choose and you won't ever actually see your character's naughty bits.

Hands-on previews for Cyberpunk 2077 are going live, revealing fresh gameplay of CD Projekt RED's next magnum opus.

Cyberpunk 2077 has been in development since 2014, and we're only finally getting official hands-on gameplay impressions. Suffice it to say this is a big, big deal. Lots of games outlets got to try out a new four-hour demo of the game that chronicles the initial prologue, complete with V.'s first mission with Jackie.

The general consensus is that Cyberpunk 2077's in-game world is amazingly detailed and could even rival that of Naughty Dog's world-building prowess. Characters feel and look alive with amazingly detailed expressions, eyes, and animations, carry out conversations, interact with the world, and ultimately live up to our expectations of the huge living cities and real-time AI outlined back in 2016.

The new Cyberpunk 2077 trailer is so cinematic and fluid it looks better than a movie.

Today CD Projekt RED revealed lots of new info about Cyberpunk 2077 alongside a brand new prologue trailer. The footage sets up V.'s story arc and establishes the first real mission of the game with some amazing visuals, character exposition, and a true showcase of CDPR's game-making mastery.

The prologue centers around a robbery gig that goes very, very wrong for Jackie and V., kicking off the big sprawling RPG-FPS story of redemption, corruption, revenge, and of course, cybernetic Keanu Reeves.

Ashraf Ismail, creative director on two recent big Assassin's Creed games, is stepping away from the franchise following allegations of infidelity.

New sexual harassment and misconduct scandals are shaking up the games industry, and this time Ubisoft's Ashraf Ismail is in the limelight. Multiple people allege that Ismail cheated on his wife many times, and one woman reveals Ismail had full-blown relationships with women while simultaneously living a double married life.

Now Ismail basically admits these allegations are true. Ismail has since deleted his Twitter account, but his last Tweet read: "I am stepping down from my beloved project to properly deal with the personal issues in my life. The lives of my family and my own are shattered. I am deeply sorry to everyone hurt in this."