Latest News - Page 1661

AMD knocked Intel for a six with its 7nm node in 2019, but don't worry -- Intel has a plan up its sleeve, it just won't be able to get there until 2022 or so.

Intel CFO George Davis said during a recent conference that Intel's 10nm productivity will be less than its 22nm and 14nm nodes. But don't worry, as there is a good side to this as Intel plans to hit process parity in late 2011 with its 7nm node, while making a "stronger" process node than AMD.

Intel is aiming for 2022 where it'll have process leadership again, as it has promised 5nm chips without the +++ attached to them, at least at first. Intel says that it will be shifting from 10nm to 7nm, which is a total shocker (sarcasm) and that the jump down from 7nm to 5nm will most likely hurt Intel's gross margin, but the process leadership must be worth it for Intel to do this.

Gears of War 5 will have next-gen enhancements on Xbox Series X, possibly with new features like ray tracing, 120FPS support, and even 8K resolution gaming.

Phil Spencer recently took a trip to Gears of War developer The Coalition to check out a new upgraded version of Gears 5, confirming the game will be boosted on the next-gen Xbox Series X. This isn't a surprise though. Microsoft recently announced that all of its first-party studios would upgrade their games on the Xbox SX through Smart Delivery, a new content delivery pipeline that transports enhancement patches online.

The Tweet was vague and the image is fuzzy, and there's lots of enhancement possibilities here. The Xbox Series X's new tightly synergized 7nm SoC offers a wealth of potential optimizations including boosted frame rates, variable refresh rates and variable rate shading, and ray tracing for improved lighting and visuals. Given AMD's recent presentation, the most likely upgrade is ray tracing.

In a rather bizarre but not surprising move, Nintendo has teamed up with Levi's to make officially branded Super Mario clothes.

Levi's is making Mario jeans, shirts, jackets, scarves, and hats, complete with a stylish flair right out of the video game series. Some of the articles in the Super Mario x Levi's collab are bright, colorful, and extremely eye-catching, especially the jacket that comes packed with a ton of old-school Mario characters.

This cross-brand promotion will turn fans into walking advertisements for Nintendo with a stylish flair to boot. It's a great way to increase visibility, especially during this year's vital Olympics in Tokyo. Nintendo is also opening its Universal theme part attraction, Super Mario World, in Japan this year.

Microsoft could unveil its cheaper next-gen Xbox console pretty soon, offering a new mid-gen refresh at launch instead of years down the line.

Ever since 2018 there's been rumors of two next-gen Xbox consoles launching in 2020, not one. The two consoles would include the monstrous 12TFLOP Xbox Series X, which will be an expensive enthusiast solution that hits 8K resolution and delivers 120FPS, and a lower-end, cheaper system codenamed Lockhart with a dramatically reduced 4TFLOP GPU that targets 1440p 60FPS. Gamers have dubbed the cheaper model as the Xbox Series S because it's basically the Xbox One S of the next generation.

Now there's rumblings that Microsoft could pull the curtain off of Lockhart (aka Xbox Series S) quite soon. Sources tell Dealer Gaming, a YouTube and gaming personality that keeps a close eye on Xbox, that the cheaper next-gen Xbox will be announced momentarily. It's possible Microsoft wants to formally unveil Lockhart ahead of E3 2020 to avoid mixed messaging at the event.

Sucker Punch's new stylish cinematic samurai game Ghost of Tsushima releases on June 26, 2020, Sony today announced.

The Ghost of Tsushima's revenge-fueled quest is coming in just four months, and will bring with it yet another superlative showcase of Sony's first-party power. Today Sucker Punch revealed a June 2020 release date and also dropped an incredible trailer that sets a somber, bloody, and ultimately captivating tone for the game.

Most of the footage was cinematic sequences--the facial animations are amazing--but there was some gameplay thrown in there too. Ghost of Tsushima reminds me a lot of a clunkier version of a samurai Tenchu, complete with engrossing dialog sequences. The title looks to be an experience rather than a simple game.

After the coronavirus is tamed, video game publishers could switch to digital-only streams and avoid costly events and expos altogether. Video might kill the expo star.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) is disrupting every major industry right now, especially tech and gaming, and at critical advertising and networking points. Almost every major trade show has been cancelled or transformed into a digital-only affair. So far the response has been to adapt or suffer from the disruption. Predictably, the companies have chosen the former. Everyone still has products, content, and ideas to sell to consumers.

The virus is transforming whole industries who are shifting--albeit temporarily--to a more fluid online communications model. Companies will simply hold online streams to reach viewers, gamers, consumers, investors, and analysts directly. With this strategy, companies hit two birds with one stone. First, they avoid possible coronavirus exposure, and secondly and most importantly, they keep costs down.

NASA's Curiosity has been putting in some work for researchers for quite some time, and now the rover has just made another record - this time in the photography field.

The above image was taken using Curiosity's Mast Camera, or MastCam for short and is comprised of over 1,000 images. The images were snapped back during Thanksgiving 2019, and throughout the following months, they were carefully pieced together to form what we are looking at now. The images resolution is an astounding 1.8 billion pixels, and the place on Mars that we are looking at is called Glen Torridon. Glen Torridon is a region on the side of Mount Sharp.

So how long did this image take to capture? Curiosity spent 6.5 hours over the course of four separate days moving around to take individual shots of the landscape. According to Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "While many on our team were at home enjoying turkey, Curiosity produced this feast for the eyes. This is the first time during the mission we've dedicated our operations to a stereo 360-degree panorama."

It's always a shock when any Apple products go on sale, but the occurrence of an Apple product being on sale is quite a rare one.

So, when an Apple product does go on sale, it's always worth a mention so Apple users can take advantage of it. Today, Amazon has discounted the extremely popular Apple AirPods. The discount brings the Apple AirPods down from $159 to $130, which is $29.02 discount or 18%. While this might not initially sound like a lot, this is a decent discount for an Apple product.

If you are unsure of the Apple AirPods and don't know if they will be a good purchase, here's a quick breakdown of what they are capable of. The Apple AirPods are extremely easy to use, as they simply connect to your iPhone via Bluetooth. When connected, the Apple AirPods allows users to have wireless phone calls, music listening, Siri functions, and much more. The Apple AirPods also come with a wireless charging case that stores charges for the AirPods. If you are interested in checking out the Apple AirPod sale, head on over to this link here for the discount.

If you loved Resident Evil 2 Remake, then I'm sure you are excited for Resident Evil 3 Remake. Today, GameSpot released a 26-minute gameplay video revealing some of the games best features.

The above video has been released onto the GameSpot Gameplay YouTube Channel and features Capcom's UK Community Manager Kat as she plays and commentates over some Resident Evil 3 Remake gameplay. It should be noted that out of the entire 26 minutes, there are no spoilers to the game's story, and that the whole purpose of the video to highlight some of the game's core mechanics such as the dodging system and combat.

Throughout the video, we get a long in-depth look at what Capcom has done to overhaul Resident Evil 3, and it looks simply gorgeous. Capcom has taken no steps backward in reviving Resident Evil 3 in comparison to the work they put in for the Resident Evil 2 Remake. The demo for Resident Evil 3 Remake is expected to release sometime this month. The full release for the title is scheduled in for April 3rd, 2020, and it will be coming to the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Apple has changed its App Store guidelines, granting apps the ability to send push notifications that contain advertising.

Originally, Apple banned apps from sending notifications to users that contained any form of advertising. Now, the company has altered its App Store guidelines, and now apps can send through push notifications that contain advertisements if the user agrees to it. Apple says that app developers can send marketing notifications when "customers have explicitly opted in to receive them."

This new change has opened the door for iPhone users to be spammed with advertisements from already downloaded apps. Apple doesn't specify if users will have to enable advertisement push notifications from already downloaded apps. An example of this could include Amazon sending push notifications for an upcoming sale. 9to5Mac also found that Apple has set its deadline for when 'Sign In with Apple' will be implemented. This feature is a replica of Google's single system sign-in that allows users to get into new apps quickly.

In January, NASA's Voyager 2 experienced a glitch that triggered the craft into initializing its pre-programmed fault-protection mode.

In this mode, Voyager 2 disabled all of its five measuring instruments that it would normally be using to gather data with. Since then, NASA's engineers have been working around the clock to get the ancient craft back up and running as per normal. The biggest problem that the engineers faced was the sheer distance Voyager 2 is away from Earth. Engineers were required to troubleshoot the problem, but every command they sent to the craft it took 17 hours to reach the probe and for data to be received back here on Earth.

The engineers found that the glitch occurred when Voyager 2 missed a spin maneuver that was meant to calibrate its magnetic-field instrument. This glitch resulted in two power-hungry systems being left on simultaneously, which then triggered the probes preprogrammed fault-protection mode. Luckily, engineers were able to resolve the issue, and now Voyager 2 is back to working as per normal. NASA announced the news via a statement on its website, check that out here for more information.

When NASA launches the Mars rover, it will mark a big moment in space travel history for humans, which means the rover better have a good name to be remembered by.

Choosing a name for the rover isn't merely picking a name out of a hat that contains potentials; it's more complicated than that. NASA decided to get the public involved in choosing the name, and over many months NASA has been receiving letters from K-12 students. Each of these letters is submissions for a potential name, and after going through several rounds of judges, NASA has narrowed the list down to just nine potentials.

The competition to win the naming of NASA's Mars 2020 rover gathered over 28,000 entries from across the country. Each of these entries proposed a name for the craft and included a brief essay to explain the reasoning behind why the Mars 2020 rover should be named whatever name was chosen. 4,700 volunteer judges siphoned through the entries and got 28,000 down to just 155. A second round of judges then came in and got that 155 down to just 9. Those 9 finalists were then voted on by the public, and now we await who the winner was.

In an effort to increase the amount of traffic to Twitter, the company has announced a new style of Tweeting called "Fleets".

So what is a "Fleet" according to what Twitter states in a blog post, "Fleets are for you to share your ideas and momentary opinions. These posts disappear after 24 hours and have no Retweets, likes or public comments. In an initial survey, people told us that, once the Fleets are gone, they are more comfortable sharing everyday and everyday thoughts. We hope that those people who are not usually comfortable with Tweeting use Fleets to talk about the reflections that come to their head."

It seems that Twitter are attempting to follow in the footsteps of Snapchat inspired content. Fleets won't just be text either, as Twitter states that they will also feature videos, GIFs, and photos. Twitter users will also be able to respond to Fleets with a direct message to the recipient user. I'm not sure if Fleets are going to spark more toxic behavior on Twitter, as people will now be able to temporarily flame other users and hide behind the fact that their comments will be removed relatively soon.

Scientists have created not just a new bendable concrete, but the concrete itself is cement-free which reduces its environmental footprint -- good all round stuff right here, folks.

Researchers out of the Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia have developed a new type of concrete that is bendable, and doesn't require cement to make it. The team put a gigantic weight on top two pillars of concrete: the first, a traditional slab of concrete that snapped under considerable pressure -- but the second one, now that is some magic.

The team used synthetic fibers into their concrete mix, as well as creating a process to manufacture it without needing to heat it up to cure it. This might not sound like a lot, but it radically reduces the impact on the environment -- there's no need to heat up the limestone to make the cement component, with the Swinburne researchers adding it requires 36% less energy to do it their way, versus "conventional bendable concrete". Not only that but it emits a huge 76% less carbon dioxide -- and we all know that is a better thing for the world.

Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S20 family of smartphones last month at its Unpacked 2020 event, with the new Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra all detailed and showed off to the world. But now? Now we have some teardown action:

The fine folks at iFixit have ripped apart (very carefully), Samsung's new flagship Galaxy S20 Ultra smartphone. The teardown video is a nerds BFF, showing off the massive 108-megapixel camera sensor that just on its own is impressive -- it takes up twice the surface area of the 12-megapixel sensor inside of the iPhone 11 series from Apple.

Most of the space inside of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is used up by the required chips -- Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 865 processor and Snapdragon X55 5G modem, as well as the huge array of camera sensors, circuit boards, and more. Joined in that space being used is the huge 5000mAh battery, too.

The entire gaming world is going to explode once Rockstar officially teases Grand Theft Auto 6, but it looks like the company kinda did -- on their own YouTube channel of all places.

In a tweet from Rockstar_Mag, a very small but very important discovery has been made on Rockstar's official YouTube channel. The tweet itself shows that Rockstar has added a private video to their YouTube channel, that hasn't been unveiled to the public yet. This of course has started the rumors that it could be for Grand Theft Auto 6.

But with the Game Developers Conference recently postponed and a bunch of developers out of pocket, and out of the eyes of the media to show off their games -- maybe Rockstar had planned a GDC 2020 tease for Grand Theft Auto 6? We'll never know, but now all eyes will be on Rockstar going forward (as if they weren't already) as we get closer to E3 2020 -- which is still going ahead, according to its organizers.

Google has reportedly ended all in-person job interviews over coronavirus fears, with the everything giant moving its job interviews through Hangouts.

The company has told potential candidates that all interviews will be done through video calls "for the forseeable future", after it restricted employee travel after a Google employee at its Switzerland office was tested positive for COVID-19. This is a big move by a big company, and with no end in sight for coronavirus / COVID-19 and its spread across the globe, it is worrying.

The Verge reports it has seen an email from Google staff, which read: "In light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and to protect our candidates' and interviewers' health and wellbeing, we will be conducting all Google interviews globally virtually via Google Hangout (or BlueJeans for applicable countries) for the foreseeable future".

The most enthusiast VR headset on the market would have to be the Valve Index, created perfectly for Valve's own Half-Life: Alyx which is about to drop on March 23 -- but buying a Valve Index right now is near impossible.

Well, a Valve spokesperson has talked with Engadget to confirm that Valve will have more of its Index VR headsets on March 9 at 1PM eastern. The company expects "high demand" will see the Valve Index sold out virtually instantly, so if you miss this sale you could be waiting another couple of months before you get your hands (and eyes) into a Valve Index headset.

Half-Life: Alyx drops on March 23 so this is a just-in-time restocking of the Valve Index, which should be one of the best VR gaming experiences money can buy -- that is, if your money is quick enough to buy the Valve Index once it restocks on March 9.

The Half-Life franchise isn't going back into hiding after Half-Life: Alyx ships. Valve promises this is just the beginning.

Valve is returning to game dev in a big way with Half-Life: Alyx, its new VR-exclusive game. It's the first new Half-Life title in almost 13 years but it certainly won't be the last. In a recent interview with Game Informer, Valve's Robin Walker says the series will live on.

"We absolutely see Half-Life: Alyx as our return to this world, not the end of it," Walker said. "Half-Life means a lot to us, and it's been incredibly rewarding to refamiliarize ourselves with its characters, setting, and mechanics."

The Xbox Series X's new Smart Delivery system may also let you pick and choose which portion of a game you want to install, effectively reducing the overall size of a game.

Games these days are absolutely huge. Modern Warfare, for example, clocks in at over 100GB for the whole package. But what if you could carve up the installation and only download what you actually want to play?

This feature, dubbed custom installation, has tremendous implications for next-gen consoles. Remember next-gen systems like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 will use SSDs (probably QLC flash-powered drives for improved reliability) instead of hard drives. SSDs typically aren't as reliable as HDDs and lots of writes and deletes could bog down the storage. Plus there's a fixed amount of space on them, so developers will need to be conscious of how to best use the storage.