Latest News - Page 1613

CD Projekt RED has two franchises, full stop: Cyberpunk 2077, and The Witcher. So what's next after Cyberpunk? A new Witcher game, of course. It's a long ways away, but CDPR teases that it could be a prequel starring Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon.

In a recent interview with VG247, CDPR's writer Jakub Szamałek says they want to develop Ciri's character more and highlight more of her story. This could happen in a new fully-fledged AAA Witcher game, and if so, it'd be a prequel that maps out the events before the major Geralt-focused Witcher series.

"I regret we didn't get to explore Ciri's past a bit more. She's such an amazingly rich and complex character," Szamalek said.

Can you believe that Solitaire is 30 years old? Microsoft originally launched Solitaire as a part of Windows 3.0 all the way back on May 22, 1990 -- and since then, has become one of the most iconic pieces of software in OS history.

Solitaire was originally created by Wes Cherry, who was a bored intern at Microsoft who started in 1988. Cherry told the Great Big Story back in 2017 that he "was not paid a single cent" for his work in Solitaire, which Microsoft says that 500 million people have played in the last 10 years -- and has 100 million hands played each and every single day.

Microsoft expanded Solitaire into its own beast, with the Microsoft Solitaire Collection which contains Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, and TriPeaks -- as well as the original Klondike. They have transitioned to mobile over the years, and each pack things like XP and monthly subscription options.

AMD will be launching its next-gen Radeon graphics cards later this year, but now we're hearing more on Navi21 (aka Big Navi / Navi 2X -- more on that here), but also an upcoming Navi Refresh, something that should accompany the Matisse Refresh and purported Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT, and Ryzen 5 3600XT -- you can read about those here.

The new leaks are coming from HardwareLeaks, which "rogame" (on Twitter) operates -- has the Navi21 GPU IDs to share with the world. From these leaks, we get a picture of what AMD is going to do with the Navi Refresh and its upcoming Navi21 GPUs -- of which there will be 10 different SKUs released according to these GPU IDs.

We can see the flagship Navi21 XTX GPU that will be "similar to" the Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary Edition graphics card, while the next one down on the list is the Navi21 XT which will replace the flagship Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card. From there is the Navi21 XL which will be "similar to" the RX 5700, while the Navi21 XE will be "similar to" the RX 5600 XT.

I didn't think I'd be typing this news up -- but sometimes stories just write themselves. A team of scientists in Canadian have discovered at least 13 strains of cannabis sativa that could prevent, and even treat COVID-19.

The researchers wrote in their paper: "We have developed over 800 new Cannabis sativa lines and extracts and hypothesized that high-CBD C. sativa extracts may be used to modulate ACE2 expression in COVID-19 target tissues".

They continued: "Screening C. sativa extracts using artificial human 3D models of oral, airway, and intestinal tissues, we identified 13 high CBD C. sativa extracts that modulate ACE2 gene expression and ACE2 protein levels. Our initial data suggest that some C. sativa extract down-regulate serine protease TMPRSS2, another critical protein required for SARS-CoV2 entry into host cells".

Cloud Imperium Games has made Star Citizen free-to-play for the next 11 days, with teh developer unleashing Star Citizen as a free download until June 1, 2020.

You will have the chance to take some ships out for a flight as well, with in-game ship manufacturers rotating their selections of ships so that each time you log back into Star Citizen, you can try out something new.

Not only that, but Cloud Imperium Games is letting Star Citizen's check out the Hologram Hall, where it will tease a bunch of ships that are in production. The game is still in its alpha stage, and has been for a considerable chunk of time now -- even after raising a record-breaking $300 million and new investments of $17.25 million in the latest rounds of funding.

We all know that Sony's next generation PlayStation 5 console is going to be much faster than the current-gen PlayStation 4, but 100x faster? Yeah, that is kinda bonkers. It's all thanks to the ultra-fast custom SSD the PlayStation 5 has, which you can read more about right here.

Sony president and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida released the hype engines on the PlayStation 5, where he recently said that the PS5 will be "100 times faster" than the PS4. Yoshida hyped the PlayStation 5 up during Sony's recent corporate marketing strategy meeting, where he said that the PS5 is "100 times faster" than the PS4.

Yoshida continued: "In order to further enhance the sense of immersion in games, we expect to improve not just the resolution, but the speed of games. For example, through a custom‐designed high‐speed SSD, we plan to realize game data processing speeds that are approximately 100 times faster than PS4".

No matter where you are, no matter who you are, no matter how much money you've got -- you do not have an internet connection anywhere near this good.

Australian researchers have developed a new internet connection that is capable of driving up to a truly mind-boggling 44.2 Tbps, or 44 terabits per second. This is around 1 million times faster than the average American's internet speed, which is around 50Mbps. 1 million times faster, just let that sink in.

How is it done? Through using an optical device known as as "microcomb" that replaces the traditional 80 lasers or so found inside of modern telecom equipment. Phys.org explains a microcomb as it: "generates very sharp and equidistant frequency lines in a tiny microphotonic chip".

We first heard wind of AMD's upcoming Matisse Refresh in some leaked news barely 24 hours ago, but now we have some even juicier stuff to talk about: the Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT, Ryzen 5 3600XT.

That's right, according to our friends at Wccftech, AMD is about to launch the Matisse Refresh with the Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT, Ryzen 5 3600XT processors. The new Ryzen 3000 series CPUs would adopt the "XT" branding, something that Radeon fans will remember and love to see back in the ring.

The new rumor has AMD replacing the Ryzen 9 3900X, Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 5 3600X with the new Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT, Ryzen 5 3600XT processors -- but increasing the CPU clocks, having enhanced overclocking support, and dropping the price on the current-gen CPUs that they replace.

A big juicy rumor has just hit the internet, with it teasing that AMD would be refreshing its current-gen Ryzen 3000 series CPUs with two new entries.

These two new processors are the Ryzen 7 3850X and the Ryzen 7 3750X, which would succeed the Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 7 3700X processors that are currently on the market. The tweet comes from 'HXL' who published the SKUs of the two new processors and made sure to tell the world they are "Not APU".

The tweet itself was a reply his own tweet of a 'Big day coming...' and that the release would be on 6/16 which after that AMD would launch on 7/7. An interesting timeline of release for the Matisse refresh, as 7/7 was the date that the Zen 2-based Ryzen 3000 series launched in 2019.

The internet blew up last week with Grand Theft Auto 5 being offered for free on the Epic Games Store, but now it is time for Civilization 6 to have some time in the light.

Civilization 6 is free right now on the Epic Games Store, a game that normally retails for up to $60 -- now free to download on the Epic Games Store. All you need in order to get Civilization 6 for free is an Epic Games Store, and once you're signed up just enable two-factor authentication and voila: Civilization 6 is free.

Civilization 6 originally launched on the PC and Mac back in October 2016, but later got ported onto iOS in 2017, the portable Nintendo Switch in 2018, and then both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in late 2019.

Grand Theft Auto V made more money in April 2020 than it did in the last 7 years on the market, analyst firm SuperData reports.

Grand Theft Auto V is a money-printing machine that just won't stop. GTA Online its single best month of microtransaction earnings in the game's seven-year history, outpacing 2019's massive surge with the Diamond Casino and Resort update. The news comes on the heels of the best-ever MAU growth as well as huge full game sales--GTA V has now sold-in 130 million copies worldwide, pushing 10 million copies in a quarter alone.

"Grand Theft Auto V saw its highest monthly spending on in-game content ever during April. The title will also see a significant boost to its PC player numbers in May due to a free giveaway that caused the Epic Games Store to crash," SuperData writes in its latest April games report.

We've compiled a handy chart of the 13 best-earning video game companies of the 2019-2020 fiscal and calendar periods. Who conquers the charts?

Earnings season is almost over, and rather than keep all the data separate, I decided to throw everything together for a big square-off. The goal is to weigh the performance of gaming's top-earning publishers and games-makers and get a better idea of who's dominating the charts. The results pretty much speak for themselves, but some context is in order.

Let's go over the data real fast. The numbers compare games net revenue earnings, not total company earnings, and conversions are based on exchange rates provided in company documents or the rates when periods ended (e.g. March 31, 2020).

COVID-19 lockdowns have helped the games industry reach new record $1.46 billion, the highest all-time earnings for April.

Today the NPD Group delivered its April 2020 games report, and the results are mind-boggling. US spending on games reached a historic high of $1.46 billion, up 73% year-over-year and become the best-performing April month in the country's history.

Hardware rose by an astronomical 163% to $420 million and boosted April '20 as the highest-earning HW sales month since April '08. The huge spike was driven primarily by Nintendo Switch sales, but PS4 and Xbox One sales were also up 160% YoY. NPD Group's Mat Piscatella notes that the Switch is now the best-selling console of all time in the U.S. year-to-date, overshadowing Nintendo's legendary Wii console.

Monday, May 25 is Memorial Day in the United States, and to celebrate, Origin PC has special Memorial Day savings that anyone needing a new gaming laptop or desktop might want to take advantage of. The company is offering hundreds of dollars in rebates in the form of discounts or reward cards on certain machines, free shipping, and bonus digital games.

Origin PC is offering its EVO16-S and NT-16 laptops with $200 discounts and free shipping. The same discounts are available on the EVO17-S and NT-17. Buyers who opt for an Eon15-X or an NS-15 will get $100 off, three months of free Xbox Game Pass for PC, and free ground shipping.

Shoppers who opt for any Origin PC gaming laptop will get free US ground shipping. Some desktop gaming computers are available with $100 Visa reward cards, free US ground shipping, bonus digital games, and more. The bonus digital games include Red Dead Redemption 2, among others.

Amazon might've tipped its hand with a hugely innovative feature for Project Tempo, its upcoming game streaming service.

The Streaming Wars are upon us. First there was PlayStation Now, then Google's Stadia, and soon Microsoft's Project xCloud. Now Amazon is entering the ring with Project Tempo, a service that taps the full billion-dollar might of Twitch's infrastructure. Amazon has lofty goals and ambitious with Project Tempo that could transform the games industry forever.

Project Tempo's secret sauce might fundamentally change how game and content streaming coalesce. Tempo could let users launch games natively from Twitch. Tempo might not even have an actual launcher and simply use Twitch.tv's billion-dollar ecosystem.

Fortnite is a lot of things: A game, a huge advertising billboard, a melting pot for transmedia promotion. Now it'll soon become the world's biggest drive-in movie theater.

Film companies have a new tactic to help save the movie business during COVID-19: Using Fortnite as a free movie screening platform. Christopher Nolan's new film Tenet will be the first-ever movie that's streamed in a video game--the full feature-length film will be shown on Fortnite's virtual Party Royale stage when it debuts this Summer.

Right now only the Tenet trailer is being shown in Fortnite, but the full film will be shown too.

ADATA has been making high-performance DRAM and NAND flash products along with other accessories for a long time. The company has announced that its XPG Overclocking Lab, in conjunction with MSI, has been able to overclock its Spectrix D50 and D60G 32 GB RGB DDR4 memory modules to a frequency of 5000 MHz on an Intel Z490 platform. ADATA says that feat not only shows its modules compatibility with the latest Intel platform to bring out the module's full performance potential but also its stability.

ADATA D60G DRAM has more RGB lighting per mm2 than other memory modules available. That means that more than 60% of the surface area of the module is covered. The RAM also had fully exposed light diffusers that are extra-wide for maximum effect.

XPG Spectrix D50 RAM has a "clean and elegant exterior" with simple geometric lines and a triangular RGB panel that fits with the overall design of the module. These modules have three RGB modes, including static, breathing, and comet. They can also be set to give a light show synchronized to music. Both the D60 and D50 modules are built with high-quality chips and metal heat sink for signal integrity, reliability, and stability.

NVIDIA has worked with Bandai Namco on something truly unique to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of a game that changed everything: PAC-MAN.

What did NVIDIA do? NVIDIA researchers trained a new AI model called "NVIDIA GameGAN" that 'watched' 50,000 PAC-MAN episodes to re-produce a fully functional version of the game, all without "an underlying game engine".

How did all of this work? Well, GameGAN, in NVIDIA's own words "the first neural network model that mimics a computer game engine by harnessing generative adversarial networks, or GANs. Made up of two competing neural networks, a generator and a discriminator, GAN-based models learn to create new content that's convincing enough to pass for the original. You may have experienced GANs by using NVIDIA GauGAN, a deep learning model developed by NVIDIA Research that turns rough doodles into photorealistic masterpieces with breathtaking ease".

EA has out of nowhere announced that it will be releasing the source code for both Command & Conquer and its sequel Red Alert, with the source code to be released under a General Public Licence on June 5. June 5 is a big day for the C&C franchise.

Why is June 5 so important? It's because it's the day EA will be launching Command & Conquer Remastered Collection. But EA making good with the modding community before the day the C&C Remaster comes out is glorious news. Jim Vessella, the Producer on the C&C Remaster at EA took to Reddit, where he said:

"This is a key moment for Electronic Arts, the C&C community, and the gaming industry, as we believe this will be one of the first major RTS franchises to open source their source code under the GPL. Along with the inclusion of a new Map Editor, these open-source DLLs should assist users to design maps, create custom units, replace art, alter gameplay logic, and edit data".

Sea of Thieves has been an exclusive to the Windows 10 store until just now, with Rare ready to unleash the Steam version of the game on June 3, 2020 -- for $39.99. Check out the trailer below:

The new Steam version of Sea of Thieves will have cross-play support with the Windows 10 store version of the game, as well as the Xbox version of the game. This means you can jump on the same ship with your friends, no matter the platform, and take to the high seas together.

You will need to sign into your Xbox Live account with the Steam version, linking your Steam game to your Xbox gamer tag, which is a drag. If you purchased the Windows 10 or Xbox version of Sea of Thieves, sorry me hearties -- you'll need to buy the Steam version for $40.