Latest News - Page 1595

Following the massive $7 million earned from the Itch.io racial equality bundle, Humble Bundle is holding their own charity fundraiser that unlocks a ton of games for just $30.

The new Racial Justice Humble Bundle packs in over $1200 worth of games and content for just $30, and all proceeds are donated to to three charities: The NAACP Defense Fund, the Bail Project, and Race Forward. So far the bundle has raised over $2.1 million and counting, and someone (Good Guy Jeff) has donated a whopping $20,000 for the bundle.

So what's all included? There's some heavy hitters in here, but you might already own them. The selection isn't absolutely amazing and the main reason to donate is to support a cause.

Insomniac's new standalone Spider-Man game is the latest to have near-instantaneous loading on Sony's next-gen PS5, and the studio plans to take full advantage of the console's new higher-end tech.

The PS5's new PCIe 4.0 SSD is something special, and all the biggest first-party games plan to squeeze out every last drop of its 5.5GB/sec speeds and 12-channel memory controller. We've already heard about Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart completely annihilating loading sequences, and how Gran Turismo 7 will be a technical marvel on the PS5. But now Insomniac confirms Spider-Man: Miles Morales will also push the next-gen console to its limits.

In a recent developer update, Insomniac confirms Miles' new game will support ray-traced visuals, a whole new dynamic city to explore complete with new higher-end assets and textures, and near-instant loading sequences that flex the PS5's raw SSD power.

Lenovo rolled out updated laptop computers this week, including the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3. Lenovo says this computer is aimed specifically at advanced users who want a high-performance Windows 10 laptop packing the 10th generation Intel H vPro mobile processors. Available processors go all the way up to the Core i9.

Paired up with that high-end processor is optional NVIDIA GeForce 1650Ti graphics. The laptop uses a 15.6-inch display with up to 600-nits of brightness. That level of brightness should make the screen easy to view even in brightly lit rooms or direct sunlight. Lenovo also wraps in Wi-Fi 6 and an optional CAT16 LTE-A wireless WAN card.

The latter allows the user to connect to LTE networks when Wi-Fi hotspots aren't available. One of the cooler features of the notebook is called Modern Standby, which helps users maintain a work-life balance by ensuring emails, messages, and updates are received even if the lid to the notebook is closed. The feature also allows rapid resume from distractions if the machine goes into sleep mode or the top is closed.

Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed again, this time to coincide with the launch of next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.

Today CD Projekt RED delayed Cyberpunk 2077 to November 19, 2020, over three months later than its original September launch. Interestingly enough, this is just a day before the PlayStation 5 could release. Recent deleted Amazon listings pinpointed a November 20 launch for the PS5.

The timing is a little suspect. Is Cyberpunk 2077 being delayed so it can be a next-gen launch game? Possibly. CDPR says the delay will allow them to ensure the massive FPS RPG is balanced properly, but the game is still 100% finished insofar as content.

HP makes a whole bunch of different notebooks aimed at all sorts of users, from budget shoppers to high-end gamers. One of the more interesting machines for general computer users is the HP Spectre x360 multi-touch two-in-one laptop. Like all 2-in-1 machines, this one can be used in multiple modes, including tent, tablet, and laptop mode. Typically the device sells for $1,499, but it's on sale right now for $500 off.

The caveat for some users is that the machine is refurbished. If you can stand a refurbished computer, you will get the Spectre x360 for $999. For the price, buyers get a notebook with a 1.8 GHz Intel Core i7-8565U quad-core processor. It's fitted with 16GB of RAM, 32GB of Intel Optane, and a 512GB SSD.

Graphics are handled by an NVIDIA GeForce MX150 GPU. The screen is a 15.6-inch touch-capable unit with a native resolution of 3840 x 2160. The display also supports the accessory HP Pen for drawing directly on the screen. Other features of the notebook include Bang & Olufsen stereo audio system for quality sound with music and movie playback.

Some users of the latest generation MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebooks have begun to complain about compatibility issues with USB 2.0 accessories. According to these users, the compatibility issues with the accessories cause the computers to freeze. The problem appears to be limited to MacBook models introduced in 2020.

Many people with compatibility issues report that USB 2.0 accessories are randomly disconnected from the computer, and sometimes the system crash after the accessories disconnected. Some users are boarding that after Randall amounts of time, minutes, or hours, the USB 2.0 devices, including hubs, will stop responding. The only workaround is said to be a reboot of the computer.

Curiously, there doesn't seem to be a clear pattern as to how the compatibility issues occur. Many users are mentioning that there USB 2.0 devices are becoming unresponsive when connected to a USB hub. However, reports indicate that there are problems with USB 3.0 or 3.1 accessories, even if using a hub. One user has reported a workaround.

Epic Games has unleashed Season 3 of Fortnite: Chapter 2, and with it delivers a bunch of new stuff including an Aquaman skin as well as the introduction of cars (that you can't drive yet).

The third season of Fortnite: Chapter 2 saw a gigantic wall of water surrouding the battle royale island this week, with the new season throwing a bunch of the island under water -- forcing battles to take place in the sea. Epic has added in sharks, water skiing, and more.

But get this -- you can water ski... while being pulled through the water by a shark. Epic Games explains: "As time goes on and water recedes, even more locations will be uncovered, and as the roadways become more open, you'll discover new ways to get around".

Anyone that owns a Google Assistant-based smart display will know they can't access regular websites, but that will be a thing of the past soon.

Google will be unlocking this ability for its Google Assistant family of smart displays, saying that "later this summer" we'll be able to use regular web pages that are AMP (Accelerated Mobile Page) compatible. AMP is an entirely Google project, where websites like TweakTown, have AMP pages for mobile users.

So once Google pushes out the update to Google Assistant, compatible smart displays will be able to view AMP versions of websites from the tap of a finger. Google has said that the smart display web page ability will be part of its upcoming News feature, but the search giant has been quiet on more details about this new News feature.

EA will be hosting its EA Play 2020 event in lieu of E3 2020 being cancelled over coronavirus, where we will see our first gameplay of the just-announced Star Wars: Squadrons -- but also, some news on Apex Legends.

Respawn Entertainment's massive battle royale hit Apex Legends should receive some new teases at EA Play 2020, with crossplay expected for the battle royale shooter. According to Jeff Grubb from VentureBeat: "Apex Legends is still one of EA's biggest games, and it should get some news at EA Play. Expect the battle royale shooter to get crossplay".

Grubb continues: "This will come in time to ensure that the next-gen systems have plenty of players when they launch this fall. It's also possible that developer Respawn will announce upgrades for Apex Legends for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X".

AMD outed its next-generation CDNA architecture-powered Radeon Instinct MI100 accelerator during Dell's recent EMC presentation, confirming it'll arrive in 2H 2020. We have been hearing about the Arcturus GPU for a while now.

The new Radeon Instinct MI100 accelerator will reportedly pack an Arcturus XL GPU, up to 32GB of super-fast HBM2 memory with their clocks somewhere between 1000-1200MHz, and up to 200W TDP (at least in test board form). We're to expect around 25 TFLOPs of FP32 compute performance out of the board.

AMD CTO Mark Papermaster himself confirmed it, where he said: "Like our multi-generational commitment to the Zen roadmap in x86 CPU, we have done the same with our DNA architectures for GPU - rDNA for gaming and visualization, and cDNA for compute & AI. The rDNA is driving gain in AMD share for graphics and deployed in the upcoming Sony and Microsoft new game consoles, and for cDNA you will see the MI100 discrete GPU both 2nd half of 2020".

The expectations for Intel's upcoming Xe GPU architecture are mixed at best right now, but ex-PC Perspective owner Ryan Shrout, who is now at Intel as their Chief Performance Strategist -- has teased the new GPU running Battlefield V.

Shrout was running a prototype notebook powered by Intel's upcoming Tiger Lake APU that packs the next-gen Willow Cove architecture, as well as what we're all waiting for -- Intel's 12th Generation "Xe" GPU architecture. Intel ran Battlefield V on High settings at 1080p with a stable 30FPS -- not bad for integrated graphics!

For comparison, AMD's recent Ryzen 9 4900HS mobile processor and its Vega 8 GPU can maintain around 25FPS "under identical conditions" according to AdoredTV's Matthew Connatser.

EA recently announced Star Wars: Squadrons a few days ago, where you can read everything you need to know on it here, but the developer has confirmed it will have support for flight stick controllers on the PC.

HOTAS owners will be able to enjoy Star Wars: Squadrons on the PC with their hands-on throttle and stick (HOTAS, baby). If you want the ultimate Star Wars: Squadrons experience, it'll be on the PC with full flight stick controller support that should seriously teleport you into the world.

The news was confirmed by Star Wars: Squadrons creative director Ian Frazier, who said on Twitter: "Yes, we fully support joystick on PC, including full HOTAS rigs with a throttle". Frazier said that he had to double check that, adding that "Well hey, double checked and apparently I AM allowed to tell you that without being tackled by PR!"

I'm sure that when you saw the headline, or read this news or saw a post on social media about a "traversal coprocessor" on NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards that you thought "what the HELL is a traversal coprocessor".

Well, first off a new leak is coming from Coreteks that teases NVIDIA would use that weird dual-sided PCB with dual-sided cooling to keep a different processor on the Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3000 series cards nice and cool. According to this new rumor, NVIDIA would use a "traversal coprocessor" on its new cards that would be a sole ray tracing chip.

This chip makes sense if you consider NVIDIA could use it to super-power the RT cores and all things ray tracing alongside the Ampere GPU, or NVIDIA could offload the ray tracing hardware away from the Ampere GPU chip. NVIDIA has the RT cores and everything else inside of its Turing GPU, but if we saw some amplification or off-loading of ray tracing to this traversal coprocessor, then things could get very interesting.

As each day passes we are a single step closer towards NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards, with news breaking that NVIDIA is in the Design Validation Test (DVT) of its new GeForce RTX 3000 series cards.

This includes the now much talked about GeForce RTX 3080 and higher-end GeForce RTX 3090, which this time might replace the Ti or TITAN graphics card according to rumors. Personally, I'd love to see the return of the "ULTRA" brand, with a GeForce RTX 3090 ULTRA graphics card.

Well, according to Igor from Igor's Lab the new cards are in the DVT stage now with a working sample ready for NVIDIA to begin playing around with next month in July 2020. The start of mass proction according to Igor for the new GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards is August 2020.

Warner Bros. just announced a new digital convention event called the FanDome, a huge 24-hour showcase that will reveal tons of new comics, films, TV shows, and of course video games.

WB Montreal's new Batman game is set to be revealed during this new Fandome event. It's about time, too. I've been writing about the game for years now, and it's been many months since WB Montreal did that "cape of the night" teaser. Now WB confirmed that new DC games will be shown during its digital Fandom con:

"Accessible for 24 hours at DCFanDome.com, the global event will immerse fans into the DC Multiverse, with new announcements from WB Games, Film and TV, and comics," reads the press release.

Earlier today reports broke out the PlayStation 5's front-facing USB Type-A port would be charging-only, but it actually supports both power and data.

The PlayStation 5 has two front USB ports: A SuperSpeed USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 1) port that's available for newer peripherals, faster charging, and quicker data transfers of up to 5Gbps as denoted by the trident symbol; and a USB Type-A 2.0 port for charging legacy hardware and transferring files/data.

The confusion surrounded the USB-A port's spark symbol (not to be confused with the Thunderbolt symbol, which is a lightning bolt with an arrowhead on the end), which users thought was charging-only. But actually the symbol denotes power pass-through, which means the PS5 can charge devices even when it's powered off.

UPDATE: Amazon France has confirmed the listing is fake.

"The screenshot showing a PS5 product page on amazon.fr with a price of 499€ and a release date on November 20 is a fake and is not coming from our website," an Amazon France spokesperson told TechRadar.

According to a now-deleted Amazon France listing, the PlayStation 5 could cost $500 and launch late November.

Lenovo has announced a new laptop computer that's available on the market that it claims to be the world's first 5G PC. The computer maker formed a partnership with leading 5G service providers around the world, including Verizon, EE, Sunrise, and CMCC. The Yoga 5G (which sells under the name Lenovo Flex 5G in the US) uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform to deliver high-speed 5G network connectivity.

5G connectivity promises to be up to 10 times faster than 4G. The Yoga 5G is a convertible laptop that runs Windows 10 and provides ultra-fast connectivity. The 5G connectivity means that users can transfer large files or video chat without buffering on the go. Lenovo says that the machine has up to 24-hour battery life thanks to the efficiency of the Snapdragon platform it runs on.

Lenovo says that its engineers and designers had to shrink the 5G antennas to fit into a slim chassis while enabling and maintaining 5G coverage regardless of how the user holds the device. It is a convertible laptop able to operate in both tablet and laptop modes. The 5G antenna supports both mmWave and Sub-6 GHz 5G networks.

Sony's new PS5 is turning heads with its rather strange and unique case design...and it looks even more odd laying down.

Although it was mostly picture as a vertical console, PlayStation 5 can definitely lay flat. Now Amazon just released a huge high-res picture of both the PS5 standard and PS5 digital editions laying down.

The result is a really close look at what to expect from the system's asymmetrical design when on its side, but we still don't have any exact dimensions, and there's still no Amazon listing up.

Chenbro has announced the launch of a new level 6 1U rackmount server barebone meant for Intel Xeon E processors. The barebone server chassis features an Intel Micro-ATX Server Board M10JNP2SB motherboard and uses the Chenbro RM14604 chassis. It also uses a 400W 80Plus Gold power supply.

Other features of the chassis include a quartet of tool-less hot-swap 3.5-inch drive bays and Chenbro can apply custom logos and bezels to the chassis. The power supply used inside the barebone server chassis has a MTBF of over 100,000 hours. The chassis also features optimized cable routing to help keep the internal components cool and operating efficiently.

The cooling system includes four dedicated cooling fans and air ducts able to cool up to a 95W Intel Xeon E processor. Along with the four external 3.5-inch storage bays are a pair of 2.5-inch internal bays and a storage backplane for four 3.5-inch SAS/SATA drives. Internal expansion slots include a single half-length, full-height PCI-Express 8x slot.