Latest News - Page 1652

Like every other publisher in the games industry, EA is currently ramping up for next-gen with a slate of new games and IPs.

EA is cooking up something special for next-gen. Madden NFL 21 will lead the charge, but Battlefield 6 will be the main spectacle on a newly revamped Frostbite, followed by Dragon Age 4. But there's also lots of new games in the pipeline, including fresh new IPs. This is a big deal for EA, a company that typically makes the bulk of its billions from annualized sports games like FIFA and Madden.

In its recent FY2020 earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson re-confirms new IPs are indeed on the way and that the upcoming slate is more exciting than ever. Bear in mind these new IPs might be wholly-owned titles, and as such, they'll be gateways to live service monetization. That's EA's bread and butter, after all (EA made $2.8 billion from microtransactions last year, or over half of total revenues).

If your mind wasn't exploded from the latest Rick and Morty episode, then you really need to go and watch it right now. After you have done that, come back here and watch the teaser for the next episode.

The new trailer has been released on the official Rick and Morty Twitter page, and shows that this new episode will be a rip-off the alien universe. Even from the name "Promortyus", we can already see that this next episode will contain numerous alien references, some of which can be seen in the trailer above.

The short clip features Rick and Morty ripping off face-huggers, and then Rick mentions that the last thing he remembers is that he was looking at some "wet egg". We also get a quick glimpse at an alien society, and Rick notices that they have an M&M store. Rick and Morty Season 4 Episode 7 will release next this coming Sunday at 11:30 pm ET/PT.

Apple announced its Apple Card in 2019, and now its main competitor Samsung has announced its new Samsung Pay debit card.

The new Samsung Pay debit card was announced in a blog post by Sang Ahn, the vice president and general manager of Samsung Pay in North America. Samsung Pay will be backed by a cash management account, with Samsung teaming with personal finance company SoFi.

Ahn explained that Samsung is making a "mobile-first money management platform". The blog doesn't go into much detail about the money management platform, or what features Samsung Pay will have. Ahn did say that Samsung will unveil more details "in the coming weeks".

Elon Musk and his partner Grimes welcomed their new baby boy into the world on May 4, 2020 -- naming him X Æ A-12 -- but no one in the world knew how to pronounce it... until now.

Musk joined Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience, where they talked about Musk's new son -- X Æ A-12. Musk gave Rogan some advice on how to pronounce X Æ A-12, explaining: "X Ash A 12". The X in his name is just pronounce "X" while the A-12 is pronounced "A 12". Easy... I guess?

During the chat, Musk explained how he and Grimes came up with the name. He said that Grimes "mostly came up with the name". Grimes also tweeted out an explanation on the name, where she said:

Facebook has just announced the first 20 members of its new Oversight Board, which acts as an independent body that approves Facebook policies, helps out with content moderation, and discusses appeals on existing decisions.

The new Oversight Board even has the power to overrule Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, but I think we'll have to wait and see how much they "overrule" Zuckerberg going forward. The Next Web reports that the new Oversight Board can "overrule Facebook's upper management in policy decisions and content moderation".

There are over 40 members in the Oversight Board, that come from all sorts of different backgrounds -- and none of them have any direct connection to Facebook. There will be a independently funded trust with $130 million in its kitty, where the board will take in 5-person panels to make final rulings, explaining that "Facebook must implement our decisions, unless implementation could violate the law".

The masters of horror behind Layers of Fear are at it again. This time Bloober Team brings their penchant for strikingly bizarre visuals and mind-bending horror to the spirit realm.

Today Bloober Team announced their new next-gen game The Medium, a new terrorfest that melds otherworldly Zdiszlaw Beksinski weirdness with a distinctly haunting ghost story feel. In the game you play as Marianne, a medium who can see and sense the afterlife, and you're constantly shifting between the ghost plane and the real world--it gets so bad you can't always tell what's real any more. This duality seems to freely ebb and flow, creating a distinct sense of mental disruption that's part of Bloober's signature style. It also reminds a lot of Alan Wake.

The Medium is set in Bloober's home city of Krakow, Poland, and takes place in the late 1990s. Marianne will have flashbacks and time travel to the Communist-ruled Poland in the 1980s via the spirit realm, creating all sorts of unique opportunities for horror. The score is also being composed by Silent Hill's Akira Yamaoka, so expect enticing audio and music.

EA just reported strong FY2020 earnings on the backs of surging monetization revenues, and recorded a substantial 198% spike in year-over-year profits thanks to a tax benefit.

EA's FY2020 earnings report is packed with good news gaming's third-biggest publisher. EA managed to pull in $5.5 billion in total earnings during the year and its primarily digitally-driven business safeguarded it from big COVID-19 disruption.

Microtransactions and digital earnings once again stole the show. EA made 88% of its total revenues from digital, and just 12% from physical game sales. The company generated $4.052 billion in digital net bookings in the year, which is per usual. Live services, which includes microtransactions from big games like Apex Legends and FIFA, made $2.78 billion, roughly 68% of digital net bookings.

Scorn, one of the most hauntingly mesmerizing games in recent memory, will skip current-gen consoles. It's only coming to PC and Xbox Series X.

I'm beyond hyped for Scorn, Ebb Software's ultra-bizarre horror fest. It's like stepping into an HR Giger painting. Scorn was originally funded via Kickstarter in 2017 and has been knee-deep in misty weirdness since. This is our first update in a long, long time. And it's a big one.

Ebb confirms Scorn will be a next-gen Xbox Series X exclusive, and it's not coming to PS4 or Xbox One systems. The studio simply doesn't feel current-gen is worth it. And yes, the game is still coming. The developers just don't know when.

It hasn't been very long since Samsung launched its new Galaxy S20 family of smartphones. Despite them having been on the market for only a short time, the rumor mill is already looking to what Samsung will launch next. The device is believed to be called the Galaxy S21, assuming Samsung doesn't throw a curveball again and call the device the S30. Some rumors have surfaced that claim a change is being made to the camera specifications for the Galaxy S21 smartphone.

The rumor suggests that the laser autofocus is being dropped from the feature list. One of the S21 development models reportedly has a 150-megapixel primary sensor, a 64-megapixel telephoto sensor, a 16-megapixel wide-angle sensor, and a 12-megapixel macro sensor. Past rumors have suggested that Samsung was considering removing the time-of-flight sensor starting with the Note 20 expected this year.

However, this Galaxy S21 rumor suggests that the feature is still integrated. Two versions of the smartphone are claimed to be in testing. One of the smartphones reportedly has Optical Image Stabilization for the primary camera, the telephoto sensors, and the front selfie camera. The other unit in testing reportedly has optical image stabilization for the main, telephoto, and wide-angle cameras.

In a recent earnings call, EA said gamers can upgrade current-gen games to next-gen console versions for free. Turns out there's some limitations and fine print attached to that policy, and they hint EA could release two versions of their future games: a current-gen one, and a next-gen copy.

Today EA confirmed Madden NFL 21 would support Smart Delivery on Xbox Series X. That means you get access to the enhanced next-gen version even if you buy it on Xbox One. But there's a catch: The offer, as EA calls it, is only available for a limited time.

A recent press release outlines the details surrounding Madden 21's next-gen free upgrade: "To receive the offer, players must purchase Madden NFL 21 on Xbox One by December 31, 2020 and upgrade to Xbox Series X by March 31, 2021." The entire thing is head-scratching. By 2021, Madden NFL 21 will be obsolete and replaced by another annual NFL game. That's how EA operates.

TiVo has announced a new TV dongle that supports the streaming of content from various applications and services. The device has debuted at $69.99, but TiVo is offering it with a $20 discount for a limited time, bringing the purchase price as of writing down to $49.99. It supports live TV from Sling along with streaming movies and shows from the biggest apps on the market, including Netflix, Prime Video, and more.

It features integrated Google Assistant and a built-in Chromecast. The TV dongle supports 4K UHD, Dolby Vision HDR, and Dolby Atmos. The TiVo Stream 4K ships with a voice control remote and requires no additional monthly TiVo fees.

Under the hood, the TiVo Stream 4K has an Amlogic S905Y2 chipset, 2 GB of RAM, and 8 GB of internal storage. It supports 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi on both 2.45 and 5 GHz networks along with Bluetooth 4.2. Video outputs include an HDMI 2.0a port, and most major video formats are supported. Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus sound are supported along with Atmos, DTS, WMA, and WMA Pro.

Nintendo's latest financials show big growth in both hardware sales and software adoption, leading to tremendous Switch growth across the board.

As Switch hardware breaks 55 million sales worldwide, the system has pushed many more times that in software purchases. Nintendo sold 168.72 million Switch games both physically and digitally in FY2020, up 42.31% from last year.

Total cumulative Nintendo Switch software sales skyrockted by 89% in FY2020 to an incredible 356.24 million units, inching it closer to the 3DS' mighty handheld mark. Right now the Switch is number eight in Nintendo's total software sales charts, and will surpass the Game Boy Advance, 3DS, and SNES next year.

Sony has unveiled its latest headphones aimed at active users called the WF-SP800N Truly Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones for Sports. The headphones (most would say earbuds) are offered in blue, white, and black colors, according to the official UK website. An orange pair is noted in images with a disclaimer saying that color availability varies by region. The headphones have an IP55 rating to survive splashes, sweat, and dust.

Sony says they are durable enough to be washed after a tough workout. The WF-SP800N headphones come with a charging case that adds nine hours of battery life to the nine hours of run time the earbuds have by default. That means the entire usage time is 18 hours, with noise canceling on. Users who turn off the active noise canceling can get up to 13 hours of music on a full charge, and an extra 13 hours from the charging case.

Sony's quick charging tech gives 60 minutes of music playback with noise cancellation from a 10-minute charge. The headphones connect to smartphones and other devices using Bluetooth. Since the earbuds are aimed at active users, they feature a soft arc supporter and three-dimensional curve design to ensure a comfortable fit and prevent them from falling out during workouts.

Rumor has it Techland is in shambles, and Dying Light 2 is a total wreck. There's also stirrings that Microsoft could buy Techland and secure the Dying Light IP. These rumors are totally false.

A bit ago a Polish website put up an expose discussing issues at Techland. The essentially tge articlesays Techland is lost with Dying Light 2, and the game was delayed because scope creep is taking a serious toll on the team. Or at least that's what Google translate kicks back.

The truth is a bit different. Techland is doing pretty good right now. Dying Light 2 is still knee-deep in development, and after five years, the team is still releasing new DLC for Dying Light. According to Techland PR manager Ola Sondej, the translation of the article is "totally inaccurate."

Details on the LG Velvet smartphone have been leaking for a while, and the smartphone has now gone official in Korea. One key feature for the smartphone is support for a Wacom stylus and up to 4096 pressure levels. The smartphone also comes with the Nebo handwriting app preinstalled, allowing users to get the most out of the stylus support.

The official specifications mirror the specs leaked previously and include a 6.8-inch POLED display with a 20.5:9 aspect ratio. Native resolution is 2460x1080, and the smartphone runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 processor. The SoC is paired with 8GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Storage expansion is possible via a microSD card slot.

The rear camera array has a 48-megapixel main camera, along with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. The front camera is a 16-megapixel unit. Power comes from a 4300 mAh internal battery that supports fast charging. Other features include an in-display fingerprint scanner and IP 68 dust and water resistance.

BioWare is finally doing it. We're actually getting a fully-fledged Mass Effect remaster on consoles and PC. That's what sources are saying, anyway.

A new Mass Effect trilogy remaster bundle is set to release by March 31, 2021 as part of EA's new release slate, sources tell VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb. BioWare's next game would come full circle for the developers amid a troubled past few years, and could resurrect the franchise. It's likely the ME remaster will help rebuild morale at BioWare, improve gamer relations after after Mass Effect: Andromeda's criticism, and act as a bridge to the new Mass Effect game that's in early pre-production stages.

The timing couldn't be better. Save for Commander Shepard's massively anticipated return, EA's FY2021 games offering is pretty threadbare. The company plans to launch 14 games, but the mix isn't all that exciting and is made up by a strategically-designed dozen of games: 4 sports games, 4 original games, and 4 indies. The other 2 remaining games are mobile titles.

Drone maker DJI is known mostly for its line of consumer drones, but the company also makes a lot of commercial drones aimed at industrial use and first responders. DJI has unveiled a new commercial drone platform called the Matrice 300 RTK or M300 RTK. DJI says that the new platform rewrites the standard for the commercial drone industry with modern aviation features, advanced AI, directional sensing and position system, and more.

The drone has a 55-minute flight time and features AES-256 encryption and an IP45 water resistant enclosure. The platform is fitted with the new OcuSync Enterprise transmission system that provides a triple-channel 1080p video transmission signal that can reach up to 15 km away.

M300 RTK supports up to three payloads at the same time and has a maximum payload capacity of 2.7 kg. The platform features a Primary Flight Display that offers real-time flight and navigation data on one display. The display shows standard telemetry data such as altitude and speed along with optical data for visualizing nearby obstacles during flight.

If this is what Assassin's Creed Valhalla looks like on next-gen consoles...we aren't ready.

Today Microsoft showed off the first Xbox Series X gameplay demos, and Ubisoft completely smashed all expectations with their AC: Valhalla footage. Admittedly the footage was captured on PC/devkit hardware that approximates and simulates the Xbox Series X's 12TFLOP Navi GPU and 3.8GHz Zen 2 CPU, but it's quite amazing nonetheless. "Game and console in development, footage representative of expected Xbox Series X gameplay," reads the disclaimer at the beginning of the footage. At the very least the game will be a dazzling showcase on all platforms.

Read Also: Assassin's Creed Valhalla set in 873 AD amid war-torn England

Microsoft has officially announced new hardware products, including the Surface Go 2 among others. The new Surface Go 2 gets a larger 10.5-inch PixelSense display, confirming past rumors. The machine also promises improved battery life and up to 64% faster performance than the original Surface Go.

Buyers get eighth-generation Intel Core M processor options for the first time. The device also has Studio Mics, which is Microsoft's dual-microphone solution to increase voice clarity and reduce background noise for Teams meetings or Video Chats. Microsoft's least expensive Surface device also features a five-megapixel front-facing camera promising sharp video even in low light conditions.

A new Camera app for the rear-facing camera makes it easier for users to scan documents and whiteboards. Surface Go 2 supports the Surface Pen to detect handwriting and allow the device to be used for sketching. Microsoft will offer the Surface Go 2 starting at $399 on May 12 with the version available supporting LTE Advanced connectivity. It will come in Platinum Black, Poppy Red, and Ice Blue.

Nintendo just recorded fantastic yearly results driven by huge Switch hardware sales and a strong software lineup.

Three years after release, the Nintendo Switch is still taking the global market by storm. The console's total cumulative worldwide sales now sit at 55.77 million units, up 21.03 million units and representing a mighty 60% year-over-year increase in total sales. Nintendo sold 4.08 million more Switch consoles in FY2020 than it did last year, up 24% YoY.

This strong hardware spike was triggered by a few factors. The cheaper, handheld-only $199 Switch Lite sparked sales growth in the Switch family. The heavy-hitting software lineup which included system-selling megastars like Pokemon: Sword and Shield and Animal Crossing drove continued adoption. Animal Crossing alone has sold 11 million copies in 11 days, making it the "best start ever for a Nintendo title." COVID-19 quarantines also skyrocketed Nintendo's Switch sales in Q4'20 to 3.28 million units, up 32% from last year.