Latest News - Page 1656

When it comes to gaming, there aren't nearly as many options out there for Mac users as there are for Windows users. One of the bright spots for Mac gaming has been Steam, with some of the games offered there supporting Mac operating systems. Mac users who want to enjoy VR games had SteamVR to take advantage of, but that is changing.

Valve recently posted a very terse announcement on the Steam Community forums that SteamVR has ended macOS support. The announcement says that support has ended for Mac computers to allow the team to focus on Windows and Linux development. SteamVR is recommending that macOS users continue to opt into the SteamVR macOS branches for access to legacy builds.

Users can opt into a branch by right-clicking on SteamVR in Steam and selecting properties, Betas. This means that Mac users will continue to be able to use VR, but no new features will be coming. The change also means the potential for future security or compatibility issues to surface.

HP has debuted a new gaming monitor that is called the Omen 27i Gaming Monitor. It uses a Nano IPS panel that gives a color gamut of DCI-P3 98%. The high color gamut means that the display will provide deeper hues and more accurate colors with a 25% wider color gamut than sRGB. HP says that "largely nullifies color degradation from shallower angles."

The native resolution for the display is quad HD, meaning 2560x1440, and it has 350 nits brightness. Other features include NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility that eliminates issues with display stutter, input lag, and screen tears. HP also bakes in support for AMD FreeSync technology for AMD graphics cards. The refresh rate is 165 Hz, and the screen has 1 ms response time with overdrive. Viewing angles are 178-degrees horizontal and vertical

The screen measures 27-inches diagonally with dual pillar height. The stand is adjustable, and it has four easy access tilted ports. On the rear of the display is an immersive diamond panel lighting solution that is controlled via the OMEN Command Center. That solution helps reduce eye fatigue by matching an adjustable ambient light to the color of what's on the computer screen.

The Last of Us 2 has gone gold and is ready to ship. After years of development, crunch, and passionate work, Naughty Dog's most ambitious project to date is finished. The milestone is pretty emotional for the dev team, especially creative director Neil Druckmann.

Games take a long time to make, so when you finally submit your gold master, it's a big event for any studio. In a recent Instagram post, Naughty Dog dev Neil Druckmann highlights what this means for the team and shares the kinds of feelings that surround a game's launch. He also talks about the leaks and mentions gamers just aren't prepared for the sequel until they play it.

"We have gone gold. Back in April we told you that due to the state of the world which was way beyond our control we had to push the game, which gave us a few extra weeks to polish," Druckmann said. "Now that we have a release date, we've submitted our gold master. That means the executable has been put on the PlayStation Network and you're going to have our game in just a few short weeks."

Typically, smartphone makers keep their plans for future devices close to the vest. Leaks certainly aren't uncommon, but rarely will you find a smartphone manufacturer who confirms future devices ahead of their official unveiling. However, Samsung recently did just that with confirmation in its Q1 financial results that the Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Fold 2 are both coming in the second half of 2020.

Samsung went so far as to call the new devices "differentiated products in the premium segment." The confirmation of the devices coming in the second half of 2020 comes after a rumor surfaced last week that the Note 20 would use an upgraded chipset. A new report says that Samsung had originally planned to use the Snapdragon 865+ chipset, but production delays caused by coronavirus meant that chipset wouldn't arrive in time.

Instead, the Note 20 will use Samsung's own upgraded Exynos 992. Another potential implication here is that devices launched in the United States could have an older Snapdragon under the hood instead. Forbes reports that a licensing agreement is in place that prevents Samsung from selling flagship smartphones with Exynos chips in the United States.

Hello there! Today's Star Wars Day, and Respawn just released a free content update for Jedi: Fallen Order that lets you set up your own horde mode battles on-the-fly.

The new Jedi: Fallen Order update is pretty ambitious. It centers around the Jedi power fantasy combat Respawn baked into the game--it's easy to use but hard to master--and basically lets you test your ultimate lightsaber skills. In Combat Challenges, players can jump into quick offline matchmaking-style arena battles against a set number of foes. It's basically a survival horde mode where you try to complete objectives like no healing or not taking damage and, of course, destroy everyone in your path.

The second mode, the Battle Grid, basically lets you create and plot out your own battles. It's like Fight Club, only in Star Wars. You can pick what enemies you want to fight, where you want to fight them, and lay out a progression scheme point system. Respawn is basically letting you make your own game here, and the grids can even be saved for later use. It's a great way to keep engagement flowing in a singleplayer-only game.

Apple announced today the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Magic Keyboard to bring an improved typing experience. The new Magic Keyboard replaces the keyboard on the older machines that was vulnerable to failure. Along with adding a new keyboard to the small MacBook Pro, Apple also notes that it doubled the storage across all standard configurations adding more value to the notebook computers.

The upgraded lineup also has 10th-generation Intel processors, and up to 80% faster graphics performance. Buyers can choose up to 16 GB of RAM as standard on some configurations. The updated laptop offers the 13-inch Retina display, Touch Bar, Touch ID, onboard stereo speakers, and more. The 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1299, or $1199 with the education discount.

Apple notes that with the new update, the entire line of MacBook Pro computers now uses the Magic Keyboard. This keyboard was first introduced on the 16-inch MacBook Pro last November. Magic Keyboard offers a redesigned scissor mechanism with 1 mm of key travel. The keyboard also has an inverted-T arrangement for the arrow keys to make them easier to find.

The Motorola razr smartphone hasn't turned out to be a very popular device so far taking flak for a fragile design and few redeeming qualities. One of the biggest downsides with the smartphone is the price for many at $1499.99. That high price tag and issues that have turned up with the device in reviews have made the razr not so popular with buyers.

Anyone interested in the smartphone that was turned off by the price alone may find a deal that Motorola is offering on its official website very appealing. The deal is appealing assuming that you want two of the smartphones rather than one. Motorola is offering a buy one razr, get one free deal that allows you to mix-and-match colors. The deal essentially makes the price of the smartphone $750 each.

A lower price tag certainly won't make up for fragile build quality that has seen the screen peel at the fold of some devices or a Snapdragon processor that is slower than other similarly priced devices. However, for those who put more value on style than performance and want to be the first among their friends to get a folding device, the special deal may be precisely what they're waiting for.

There are many online chat and video chat services that are being used increasingly during the coronavirus pandemic around the world. One of those is Microsoft Teams, and with the significantly increased use of Teams also comes cybercriminals looking to take advantage of those using the service. A security research firm called Abnormal Security has announced that cybercriminals are using new phishing campaigns targeted at Teams users that are attempting to steal Microsoft account credentials.

Abnormal Security says that it has discovered a series of convincing emails that are designed to spoof notification messages from Microsoft Teams. One of the campaigns the security researchers talk about is a phishing email that includes a link to a document on a domain used by a legitimate email marketing company for hosting content for marketing campaigns. The document that is linked to is an image that prompts users to sign into their Microsoft Teams account.

Anyone clicking on the image is taken to is a malicious page impersonating the Microsoft Office logon page with the intent of capturing the user credentials. Another campaign the security researchers found redirects the user to a page hosted on YouTube. That page is redirected two more times until reaching a fake Microsoft page that is attempting to steal login credentials.

The last few days have been pretty crazy in the GPU world, with purported specs on NVIDIA's upcoming Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3080 Ti blowing us away -- and then Intel with its "Father of All" GPUs in the Xe-HP. In the middle of all of this, the diamond-in-the-rough was lost: RTX 3060.

But don't worry... we're going to dive into that right now. In the leaked specs from a few days ago on the upcoming GA1xx range of Ampere GPUs, there was the lowest end card: the GeForce RTX 3060. The GeForce RTX 3060, at least according to these leaked specs, will be based on the GA104 GPU.

Now, just how powerful is the GA104 GPU (again, in these leaked specs)? Pretty damn powerful. We're looking at more power than the current flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti which has a price of over $1200. NVIDIA typically charges far less than $500 for a mid-range GeForce RTX 2060 (or RTX 2060 SUPER) in their Gx104 variant.

As gamers around the world prepare for the release of the next-gen consoles, some people are wondering if popular titles such as Call of Duty: Warzone will be supported.

Short answer: of course, they will. Infinity Ward and Activision would never miss a chance to get its newest title onto that juicy next-generation hardware, especially considering the massive hype surrounding both consoles. Infinity Ward has recently confirmed this news as Taylor Kurosaki, Infinity Ward's Narrative Director, spoke to GamerGen and said that the goal is to support Warzone for "quite some time".

More specifically, Kurosaki means that Warzone will be supported for the next-generation of consoles, solidifying the longevity of the battle royale. Here's what he said, "I know that our plan is Warzone is going to be around for quite some time, so as soon as those new systems are out and available, I'm sure we'll support them". It can be assumed that Modern Warfare will also come with support for new systems, as it would be awfully strange for Activision/Infinity Ward to not support it.

Are you prepared to Destroy All Humans? Well, you should be because the remake of the cult classic title is launching in just a couple months.

According to a new post by the official THQ Nordic Twitter account, the remake of the classic PS2 title Destroy All Humans! will be launching on July 28th. THQ Nordic released the above trailer that reveals the release date of the title, as well as some cool gameplay that shows what players have in store for them if they decide to pick up the title.

If you have never played Destroy All Humans! then here's a quick synopsis of the game. Players control a small big-brained alien that has the capabilities of basically doing whatever he wants to the inhabitants of Earth. Players will assume the role of the alien and cause mayhem on humans by removing their brains, abducting them, blowing them up, confusing them, and of course, blasting them with a futuristic ray gun. The game is based in the 1950s and has been upgraded to 1080p for the remake. If you are interested in pre-ordering the title, you can check out the pre-order options here.

The one question that has been puzzling scientists' minds is, 'are we alone in the universe?'. While we haven't found any evidence to suggest that we aren't alone, it's still important to keep an open mind about it all and keep on searching.

One British scientist claims that we aren't alone, and that she is certain that there is at least some form of life out there in the vastness of space. This British scientist is Professor Monica Grady, and she claims that we should be looking for external life on Jupiter, in particular, one of Jupiter's moons Europa. The professor says that this life would resemble an "octopus", and wouldn't look like a human.

According to Grady, "When it comes to the prospects of life beyond Earth, it's almost a racing certainty that there's life beneath the ice on Europa". Grady goes on to explain that Europa could be home to new life below its very thick layer of ice, which stretches fifteen miles deep. The idea behind life being on Europa is that there's water below the thick layer of frozen water, and that the frozen water shelters the life from the harsh radiation and asteroid impacts from above.

Well, coronavirus is coming in like a wrecking ball in a bigger way than we thought -- where if it's not causing havoc worldwide through social distancing, quarantines, lockdowns, deaths, industries shuttered and businesses closed -- some permanent.

Yeah, it's not enough -- now it's time for social distancing to have its effect on what we're all sitting at home doing right now: binging TV series after TV series and movie after movie. Warner Bros. Television presidents Susan Rovner and Brett Paul recently held a conference call to talk about the studio and its future production in the weeks post-coronavirus shutdowns.

Variety spoke with a "source familiar with what was said on the call", with the site reporting that coronavirus and its social distancing impacting production from feeding the cast and crew of TV and movies, through to sex scenes and hand-to-hand combat.

AMD has been kicking some serious ass in the CPU business with its ever-evolving and continuously-improving Ryzen family of processors. So much so that AMD now commands over 50% of the premium CPU sales.

Intel has continued to see its CPU market share wither away to its competitor for 10 quarters in a row now, where in its recent financial report AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su said that AMD has been pushing Intel for 30 months in a row now. Lisa added that AMD now has "more than 50 percent of premium processor sales at many top global etailers".

AMD recently posted record Q1 2020 re venues of $1.79 billion, which is up a considerable 40% over the same quarter of 2019. Su added: "PC demand in the rest of the world was strong, offsetting the softness in China. Client processor revenue grew significantly year-over-year as strong Ryzen processor demand resulted in significant double-digit percentage increases in unit shipments and ASP. As a result, we believe we gained client unit market share for the tenth straight quarter".

NVIDIA is expected to unveil its new Ampere GPU architecture during its GTC 2020 keynote, where it wants you to GET AMPED about it between now and especially on May 14, at 6AM PST.

We know that NVIDIA is one of TSMC's largest clients for its 7nm process node, while Samsung announced it was to begin production of its new 5nm (5LPE) EUV process in Q2 2020. Remember the mysterious 5nm chip NVIDIA was working on? Yeah, I would say it has something to do with that.

Samsung could be making NVIDIA's next-next-gen Hopper GPU on its new 5nm EUV node, with Ampere finding a home on the 7nm node by TSMC. We should expect NVIDIA to unveil its new GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 graphics cards sometime in August 2020, with a launch at Computex 2020 -- nothing is in concrete right now, but that seems like a viable launch window.

NVIDIA most likely would've unveiled its Ampere GPU architecture and this new DGX A100 system at its GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in March, but it was canceled over the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. We are now told to GET AMPED for a GTC 2020 keynote presentation from NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang on May 14, at 6AM PST.

Still, we're now being teased with the new Ampere-based DGX A100 system that packs Ampere GPUs that, right now -- we don't know much about but can expect them to be monsters. A new entry has popped up in the Justia trademark database, with NVIDIA filing an application for the DGX A100 trademark.

The first DGX systems were named DGX-1 and DGX-2 but it seems that NVIDIA won't be naming the Ampere-based system DGX-3 but rather DGX A100. If this is true, we now have the GA100 teased -- the first GPU based on the new Ampere architecture.

343i teases our first glimpse at Halo 3 running on PC, and it looks pretty good.

Halo 2 isn't even out yet on the Master Chief Collection's PC port, but 343i is already showing off Halo 3. It looks like we'll get the full MCC on PC in 2020 after all. The screenshots are admittedly sparse, but they do showcase some impressive lighting effects and textures that've been re-touched from the Xbox 360 original. The visuals don't look as dramatic as, say, Halo 2: Anniversary, but these are in-development screens and not finalized images.

Halo 3: ODST is also on the way. This is a pretty big deal for me because I loved the Firefight mode (I still play it to this day on Xbox 360) and am psyched to try it out on PC with higher FPS and response timings.

Fans are petitioning EA to keep Battlefront II with new content, and they're even willing to spend money on it.

Battlefront II has officially been retired into maintenance mode and won't be getting new updates. That means engagement will stagnate, and the playerbase will eventually fall off. Some fans aren't happy about it, and are petitioning EA to consider selling DLC instead of giving it out for free as part of the games' current microtransaction-funded business model.

At the time of writing, the petition has 6,800 signatures. Every signature represents a gamer willing to spend money on new DLC, and the petition praises DICE for saving Battlefront II from the clutches of loot box controversy.

Call of Duty's new Warzone battle royale will get updates and content from all new future Call of Duty games, including this year's Vietnam-based shooter.

Warzone is the biggest thing Activision has ever made. It's the perfect storm of engagement: Not only does Warzone come baked into a premium-priced full Call of Duty game, but it's a free-to-play standalone download with monetization. The most powerful part of Warzone is how it connects F2P and buy-to-play (B2P) gamers together in one ecosystem. Progression and unlocks are shared between Warzone and MW's multiplayer. Warzone is also a big melting pot for Call of Duty's characters, locations, mechanics, and maps--it's the ultimate Call of Duty multiplayer game.

It's a 150-player playground that serves as the connective tissue that holds all Call of Duty games together, while monetizing nostalgia amid one of the most powerful gametypes in the industry today.

Great news for Star Wars nerds: The original 2004 Battlefront now has official multiplayer on Steam.

Now's the perfect time to relive some old-school chaos with the original Battlefront on PC. Battlefront II is retired into maintenance mode and Steam just added full online server play to Pandemic's original all-out war shooter. This is a pretty big deal for Battlefront fans who yearn from the classic insanity the originals have to offer; the ship combat, the explosive firefights, the nostalgic graphics and emphasis on gameplay rather than fancy graphics or visuals. No microtransactions, no insane progression grind, just plain fun.

This is the first time Battlefront received official online support since GameSpy, the original server infrastructure host, closed down in 2014. Since then gamers had to get creative and install hex editors and connect to unofficial servers of their own. Now Valve has taken over and switched on servers to host one of the best shooters ever made.