Latest News - Page 1648

Today Epic Games announced Unreal Engine 5, a new toolset that's specifically optimized for next-gen consoles, and debuted the first-ever PlayStation 5 gameplay.

The new Unreal Engine 5 footage is a tech demo, but it showcases what the PlayStation 5 can do. And the results are stunning. The footage is amazingly technical and has a cinematic quality, using 8K textures via virtual texturing in the new high-end geometry polygon technology called Nanite. And it's all fully playable with live code on a PS5 devkit.

The demo runs over a billion polygons in every frame that are condensed into 20 million triangles per frame, and the demo clocks in at hundreds of billions of triangles. Epic says Nanite allows for limitless geometry and photorealistic visuals and allows devs to get to the sub-pixel level of quality and adequately portray the original high-end cinematic-quality assets that were scanned, all without any LoD or texture pop-ins.

One of the things that long sat iPhone and Android messaging apart is that Apple's iMessage has had some features that Android users didn't have. Android users did get some improvements when RCS messaging rolled out, but it wasn't exactly what many users hope for. Some Android users have spied a new Google Messages feature in the wild that many Android users will be excited about.

That feature is reactions that allow users to share Facebook -like reactions to RCS chat conversations with various emoticons. Available emoticons include a thumbs up, laughing face, surprised face, sad face, angry face, and a thumbs down icon. Apple's iMessage for iPhone users has something similar with the ability to hold down a message and select a heart icon, thumbs up icon, thumbs down, "haha" icon, "!!" icon, or "?" icon.

According to those who have seen the reactions feature live in Android Messages, accessing the reactions is done by long-pressing a message. Currently, the reactions appear to have a fallback for users with devices that don't support reactions directly on messages. The fallback looks like the image below. Reports indicate that the new reactions don't appear in the web-based Google Messages platform.

Diablo II Resurrected, a remastered version of the old-school classic, is coming to PC in Q4 2020, sources tell ActuGaming.

It looks like best Diablo ever made is coming back in a big way. As a die-hard Diablo II fan, this news is tremendously exciting. But there's still a lot of details we don't know, and we need clarification. On the heels of Warcraft 3 Reforged's terrible port, I asked Blizzard not to remaster Diablo II. But sources tell ActuGaming that Vicarious Visions, the team that's helping Blizzard make the remaster, is taking D2 Resurrected very seriously.

The main questions I have center around Battle.net, mod support, and what version of Diablo II will be supported. Can we expect a remaster of the base Diablo II and the Lord of Destruction expansion? Base D2 isn't really worth playing with LoD's massive improvements--synergies, runewords, stash expansion, etc. Also what about Battle.net? Will there be cross-play between the original D2 and D2R? Are there chat lobbies? Are there game lists? Those are super important for ladder trading on Realm.

One of the coolest accessories that Apple rolled out with the updated iPad Pro models was the iPad Magic Keyboard. That keyboard magnetically attaches to the iPad Pro with versions available for the 11-inch tablet and the 12.9-inch tablet. Another of the features of that keyboard is the ability to charge the iPad Pro through the Magic Keyboard USB-C power port.

However, some users are reporting that some USB-C power adapters and cables are unable to charge the iPad Pro through the Magic Keyboard's USB-C port. MacRumors reports that multiple iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard owners are reporting issues with pass-through charging that refuses to work with third-party cables or power adapters.

One user reported that they tried three different USB-C cables, and all resulted in a "Not Charging" message displayed next to the battery icon. In that instance, the user claims that Apple Support was trying to arrange pickup of the Magic Keyboard and would send out a replacement for what was seemingly a hardware issue. MacRumors notes that it was unable to charge the iPad Pro using the Anker PowerPort Atom and Apple's official USB-C cable.

One of the most challenging things for businesses and schools around the United States and other countries during the coronavirus is getting employees and students together to work and learn. Many video chat platforms have become popular during the coronavirus pandemic, including WhatsApp, which recently gained support for 50 people on a video call. Another service has now announced that it is free to use, and is called Spatial.

The exciting thing about Spatial is that it's not your typical video chat application, it allows for virtual reality meetings. Spatial enables users to take advantage of VR or mixed-reality headsets from a variety of manufacturers as methods to meet inside virtual spaces. The company has announced a significant change today with support for web browsers on desktops.

Previously all users in a Spatial meeting were required to have VR headsets to attend. Support for web browsers on desktops, Android, and iOS means that no headset is required, and the platform is free and open to everyone. Spatial says that it had an "intense amount of demand" during coronavirus with a 1000% increase in demand for its service.

OriginPC has just announced two new 17-inch gaming laptops, with the new EVO17-S and NT-17 both rolling out with massive 17-inch panels with a 1080p option, and a 4K option.

The new laptops pack Intel's new Core i7-10875H processor, which is an 8-core 16-thread chip, backed up by up to 32GB of DDR4-2666MHz RAM, and NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Max-Q graphics. OriginPC is offering up to 4TB of storage inside, in case you want to install every game you own.

OriginPC has three different display options with its new 17-inch gaming laptops, with a 17.3-inch 1080p 144Hz WVA option, another 1080p option this time at 240Hz, and then a 4K60 panel with Adobe 100% coverage.

The PlayStation 5 won't be delayed and will meet its holiday 2020 launch, Sony today confirmed in an earnings report.

Despite previous warnings to investors, Sony now says coronavirus hasn't had a major impact on its console hardware production lines. The company said the PS5 is still "on track for launch in this

holiday season" and games haven't been disrupted either: "no major issues in game software development at this point."

Respawn Entertainment and EA have just kicked off Season 5 of battle royale giant Apex Legends, introducing an all-new character, a modified version of Kings Canyon, balances, tweaks, and so much more.

The new character hitting the roster in Apex Legends is Loba, which we've known about for a little while now: but now she's official, and you can play with her now that Season 5 is here. Loba is a master thief, where she has the ability of seeing rare loot through walls -- as well as being able to suck up loot in vicinity to herself, and even teleportation.

Loba isn't the only major new thing in Season 5, with Respawn making some big changes to Kings Canyon by introducing a totally new area: Skull Town. Normally there were a bunch of buildings hanging out in the middle of the desert, but now there is a military facility and underground base for you to have battles in -- and most of all, explore for loot.

I'm about sick of hearing about coronavirus as it is, but we will have long lasting effects from it -- even in the technology and gaming worlds.

In a new interview with Business Insider, Xbox boss Phil Spencer talked about how COVID-19 coronavirus is impacting the gaming world -- ramping up into the release of Microsoft's next-gen Xbox Series X console.

Spencer said: "Through the summer, early fall? I feel pretty good about those games. Games that were targeting a year from now or beyond? There'll be some impact, but they'll be able to react. Mocap is just something that's basically stopped. We're not going into mocap studios".

We are just 6 months away from the release of Microsoft's next-gen Xbox Series X console, with plenty to look forward to including proper 4K gaming support, 120FPS support, ray tracing, and so much more.

Microsoft recently unveiled its new 'Optimized for Xbox Series X' badge -- where it will continue to add games to its list that include upgrades over their last-gen versions. This will include up to 4K resolution support, 120FPS where supported, ray tracing, HDR, and Smart Delivery.

Not all games will receive a new injection of graphics and frame rate on the suped-up Xbox Series X console, as this is very different to the regular backwards compatibility we're used to. The "Optimized for Xbox Series X" label can see developers either building their game from the ground up for the Xbox Series X, or dabbing a bunch of fresh paint onto exiting games with improved graphics or higher frame rates like 120FPS.

OK -- let's face it... some people really want to socialize, and even when there's an on-going pandemic (like the novel coronavirus pandemic right now), socializing can be hard. Well, not anymore!

Thanks to the geniuses at Production Club, a newly-designed anti-pandemic suit has been created dubbed Micrashell. It is a full suit that feels like it's ripped out of movies and games, with the designers explaining that Micrashell was born as a "socially responsible solution to safely allow people to interact in close proximity".

The team continues, explaining Micrashell as being specifically designed to "satisfy the needs of nightlife, live events and entertainment industries, Micrashell is a virus-shielded, easy to control, fun to wear, disinfectable, fast to deploy personal protective equipment (PPE) that allows socializing without distancing". Alrighty then.

We are so very close to NVIDIA announcing its new Ampere GPU during its now online-only GTC 2020 keynote, with NVIDIA CEO and founder Jensen Huang to take the virtual stage.

Before that, Jensen has been up to something in his kitchen -- cooking up something delicious. In a newly-posted video to NVIDIA's official YouTube account titled 'What's Jensen been cooking?' the man himself pulls something out of the oven... which seems to be a new DGX system that I wrote about a few days back as the Ampere-based HGX / DGX A100 system.

NVIDIA's super-fast DGX solutions are some of the fastest pieces of kit you can buy, with previous DGX designs powered by Pascal, Volta, and Turing GPUs. But now, a new system is about to be unveiled which will be powered by the new Ampere GPU architecture.

You might know him as Olaf from the Frozen franchise of movies, but Josh Gad has a new show called "Reunited Apart" -- where Gad gets in most of the main actors and people behind Back to the Future. Check it out:

If you're like me you'll be completely geeking out over the video, and while I won't give anything away -- you'll be surprised by how many people join the Back to the Future reunion. Gad of course gets the main actors in Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and Lea Thompson -- but also director Robert Zemeckis and composer Alan Silverstri.

Gad first revealed his new YouTube series on April 27, kicking things off with the cast of another one of my most favorite movies of all time: The Goonies. You can check that one out here. I may or may not have teared up many times writing this news and watching this video (and The Goonies Reunion). So awesome!

It looks like Valve is about to kick off its annual Steam Summer Sale, with SteamDB developer Pavel Djundik tweeting out that the Steam Summer Sale will begin on June 25.

Djundik tweeted that "Chinese sources are saying the Steam summer sale starts on June 25", clarifying that these sources are "generally trustworthy, but not fully confirmed". He followed up that tweet with another, tweeting: "Confirmed now, Jun 25 to Jul 9".

But then Avi Thour just came out and gave exact times, tweeting "CONFIRMED! The 2020 Summer #Steam Sale runs from 25th June @ 9:55 A.M. Pacific to 9th July @ 10:00 A.M. Pacific. Hold your money boys!"

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick today confirmed the company plans to hire more than 2,000 employees this year alone, signalling big projects in development.

We've known for a while that Activision-Blizzard is working on a number of huge projects. Blizzard in particular has a stronger slate of new IPs than its ever had before, and there's also Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV in development. Activision's working on the new Vietnam-based Call of Duty 2020 and planning for more games into the future. Its segment is once again pulling in thunderous earnings thanks to Call of Duty Warzone, a new free-to-play BR game that's not only making millions in microtransactions, but boosting full game sales of Modern Warfare too. This is just the beginning of the #2 publisher's mighty leap into stronger billion-dollar earnings.

Now two years after laying off nearly 800 employees while simultaneously earning a record $7.5 billion, Activision is ready to reinvest in its workforce. The company wants to hire over 2,000 employees in 2020, which would push its total headcount above 11,200. And it's all to serve an ambitious new multi-faceted plan that will further cement its games into the lucrative live games-as-a-service market.

WhatsApp is working hard to keep its rapidly growing number of users happy. The desktop app for the service is currently beta testing video calling that supports up to 50 people on a single call. With WhatsApp moving to support 50 people on a call, it would be a more viable alternative to Zoom, Google Meet, and Skype.

The way the 50-person video calls would work with WhatsApp would be to transfer people into the new Facebook Messenger Rooms service that was announced not long ago. The WhatsApp menu would have a shortcut that redirects people to Facebook Messenger Rooms, where they're able to create a virtual meeting room within the Facebook service and invite users to join.

Since the video calls would be conducted in Messenger Rooms, they would support virtual backgrounds for individual participants. There's no clear indication at this time when support for up to 50 callers will exit beta and be integrated into the public version of WhatsApp Web. If all the services doing is shooting people to Messenger Rooms, it would seem the functionality is ready to roll out.

Manufacturers have been toying with new smartphone form factors in recent months. The most notable new form factor has been folding smartphones. We've seen some that bring dual screens with a separate second screen. A new smartphone form factor has turned up in the form of a leaked LG device rumored to be codenamed the LG Wing.

The top screen is said to rotate, allowing it to be swung from portrait to landscape position uncovering a second screen beneath. In the leaked image the second screen acts as a keyboard. When unfolded, the LG Wing resembles the letter "T." We most certainly aren't sure the LG Wing is anything more than a hastily photoshopped device.

There are some rumors about hardware to go along with the leaked image. Those rumors suggest that the Wing will use a Snapdragon 7-series processor and have a 64-megapixel primary camera. The main screen is said to be 6.8-inches. We could see the form factor getting a YouTube usage experience similar to what the Galaxy Z Flip features.

It's happening: 2K's fan-favorite Mafia sequel is getting remastered for current-gen consoles (and even Stadia).

The Ministry of Justice and Public Security in Brazil has rated Mafia II for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia, pretty much outing a re-release. Predictably the game is rated as 18+ in the country. The filing date also matches the original game's 2010 filing, but this is likely a placeholder of some sort.

This isn't a surprise. Fans have anticipated a remaster ever since the official Mafia Twitter account started posting one-word taglines like family, power, and respect. Everyone saw this one coming. Neither 2K nor Take-Two have officially announced anything regarding the Mafia II remaster, but expect a big reveal soon enough with screenshots, trailers and more showing side-by-side visual improvements.

Android fans are waiting in anticipation for the next device to land from Google in the form of the rumored Pixel 4a smartphone that's expected to compete against the iPhone SE. There have been multiple leaks of the smartphone ahead of its official unveil, most recently when Google's Rick Osterloh tweeted a screenshot that appeared to be from the 4a giving an idea of what the screen layout would look like.

A case allegedly designed for the Pixel 4a has leaked that has a rendering of the smartphone inside, showing what the device will look like. The case is thought to show the final design for the new smartphone, and the design does seem to correspond with the screenshot we mentioned before. The rendering shows a hole-punch camera on the front of the screen offset to the left.

The smartphone design appears to align with some previous rumors about the Pixel 4a. Rumors have suggested that the smartphone will feature a 5.8-inch OLED display, which would be significantly larger than the iPhone SE's 4.7-inch screen. One thing of note in the leaked case renderings is that the smartphone has a 3.5 mm headphone port.

Xbox exec Aaron Greenberg clarifies the Xbox Series X's standard 60FPS output, confirming developers will have total freedom over frame rates in their games.

Microsoft might be talking too much about the Xbox Series X and it's gotten them into hot water. A bit ago, Xbox's Aaron Greenberg said 60FPS is the standard output for the next-gen Xbox Series X, leading many to believe that was the minimum FPS performance on the system. That's not the case. Developers won't be forced to push their games to 60FPS on the system, and the Xbox Series X won't automatically upgrade every single game to at least 60 frames-per-second.

Confusion set in when Ubisoft confirmed Assassin's Creed Valhalla would run at a minimum 4K 30FPS on the Xbox Series X. Apparently everyone expected 4K 60FPS performance, which is an extremely tall order. But then again, Microsoft has hyped up 4K 120FPS gaming on the next-gen Xbox.