Latest News - Page 1678

There are millions of people stuck at home right now, so you might as well take advantage of the coronavirus madness and grab Watch Dogs for free, right?

Yeah, so the original Watch Dogs is currently free on the Epic Games Store -- and will be available for free through to March 26. It's not the only game that is free, but there's also The Stanley Parable that is available as a free download until March 26, too.

Watch Dogs normally costs $30 so getting a big AAA game for free right now isn't bad at all. If you don't remember Ubisoft gimping the PC version of Watch Dogs, then give my article from 2014 titled 'Ubisoft gimping Watch Dogs on PC opened a can of worms for PC Gamers' a read.

Microsoft peeled the wrapping off of its new DirectX 12 Ultimate API today, with AMD actively invovled in the middle of the new DirectX 12 Ultimate API with a new ray tracing video running on RDNA 2 silicon. Check it out:

AMD says it has been working "very closely with Microsoft to help move gaming graphics to a new level of photorealism and smoothness thanks to the four key DirectX 12 Ultimate graphics features -- DirectX Raytracing (DXR), Variable Rate Shading (VRS), Mesh Shaders, and Sampler Feedback".

AMD's new RDNA 2 architecture powers both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles, as well as the next-gen Radeon graphics cards coming out later this year. There will be hardware-accelerated DXR 1.1 ray tracing support built into the new RDNA 2 architecture, which will allow next-gen console and next-gen Radeon gamers to enjoy some of the best visuals available.

Microsoft has just unveiled DirectX 12 Ultimate -- a new version of its DirectX 12 standard which has radically improved features and capabilities that will drive the next generation of games on not just Windows, but consoles too.

DirectX 12 was first released back in 2014 if you can even believe it has been that long, with DirectX 12 Ultimate delivering some gigantic and much-needed upgrades. It includes Ray Tracing 1.1 support, which sees graphics cards not needing to talk to the CPU, making game development much easier for developers making games for the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC.

Microsoft principal dev lead, Shawn Hargreaves, explained in a blog post: "When gamers purchase PC graphics hardware with the DX12 Ultimate logo or an Xbox Series X, they can do so with the confidence that their hardware is guaranteed to support all next generation graphics hardware features, including DirectX Raytracing, Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders and Sampler Feedback. This mark of quality ensures stellar 'future-proof' feature support for next generation games".

I'm sorry everyone -- I wish this was an April Fools Day prank because we're close to that day as it is, but this is real -- Marvel have just announced their first non-binary superheroes.

Introducing... Snowflake and Safespace.

Yes. The names of Marvel's new superheroes are Snowflake... and Safespace. I'm not making this up, trust me -- as the new non-binary characters are part of the New Warriors comic series, with Snowflake and Safespace created by Luciano Vecchio and Daniel Kibblesmith.

You can't escape hearing about coronavirus COVID-19 in the news virtually 24/7, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Google searches for "coronavirus" have absolutely skyrocketed in recent weeks.

Using the last 90 days on Google Trends and looking at Worldwide searches, we can see that things started to ramp up a bit in late January 2020 but died down throughout February. Google searches for coronavirus began steadily rising in the second half of February, and have reached fever pitch in the second week of March.

Leading the charge in Google searches in Italy, where the most interest in coronavirus searches takes place in the first country to go under lockdown over the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak.

The gates of Hell are about to open for gamers that will be thrusted into DOOM Eternal, with NVIDIA releasing a new GeForce Game Ready driver that offers day one optimizations for id Software's kick-ass new first-person shooter.

NVIDIA's new GeForce Game Ready 442.74 WHQL driver for DOOM Eternal can be downloaded here, or from GeForce Experience. If you are using GeForce Experience to grab the new driver, click the 'Drivers' tab, then click the green button which will begin downloading, and then installing the new drivers.

As for DOOM Eternal, I've been playing it for the last few days and its a complete blast. I'm cranking along with it on the ASUS ROG Strix XG438Q (a 43-inch 4K 120Hz gaming display) and MSI's custom GeForce RTX 2080 Ti LIGHTNING Z graphics card and it is utterly sublime.

Facebook is finally rolling out the highly desired dark mode for its platform. Unfortunately, this update is only coming to desktop users for the time being.

Accompanied with the dark mode is Facebook's new overhaul of its desktop redesign, adding a much cleaner and more modern look for the entire platform. Facebook recently spoke to TechCrunch and said that "starting today, the majority of people on Facebook will have access to the new desktop design." We knew that Facebook was planning on a redesign as it was announced back at last year's F8 conference.

So, how do you check out Facebook's new redesign? Easy. At the top right-hand corner of the Facebook tab, you will see a little drop-down arrow; it's located next to the '?' symbol, near the notifications bell. Click on the drop-down arrow, and you should see the option "Switch to New Facebook". If you don't see this option, that means Facebook hasn't rolled out the new update in your region, and you will, unfortunately, have to wait until they do so you can switch to dark mode.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is also releasing a day early at GameStop, and should be available at your nearest store.

GameStop just got the greenlight from Nintendo to sell Animal Crossing: New Horizons a day early. A local GameStop told me they received the go-ahead from its compliance department hours ago, and gamers are already sharing photos of successful Animal Crossing purchases from the retailer.

This move follows Doom Eternal's early release. Both games were originally to be staggered in an effort to curb coronavirus risk. Doom Eternal released today, and the plan was for Animal Crossing to release tomorrow. Now that GameStop's corporate offices issued a mandate that all stores must remain open amid the COVID-19 outbreak, it seems like all bets are off.

Today Square Enix confirms that it has not delayed Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PS4, and the game will release on April 10 as planned. But that doesn't mean you'll actually get it on that date.

A bit ago, Amazon started sending out emails to gamers saying their FF7 Remake pre-orders have been delayed. The number of delays grew and grew, prompting worries of another push-back for the game. Now Square Enix has confirmed the game won't be delayed, but the coronavirus has disrupted distribution and shipping of certain portions of worldwide stock. There's no guarantee you'll get your Final Fantasy 7 Remake disc copy at launch.

"The worldwide release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake on April 10 will go ahead. However, with the unforseeable changes in the distribution and retail landscape which varies across countries, it is increasingly likely that some of you will not get hold of your copy of the game on the release date," Square Enix said in a statement.

GameStop will stay open amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic because corporate thinks the store is "essential retail," sources tell Kotaku's Jason Schreier.

As countless businesses close down to curb COVID-19 spread, GameStop will remain open and put employees at further risk. Workers at the games retail chain are forbidden to close stores across the United States. A memo sent out by GameStop's leadership marks the store as "essential retail," putting it alongside critical businesses like grocery stores and gas stations.

"Due to the products we carry that enable and enhance our customers' experience in working from home, we believe GameStop is classified as essential retail and therefore is able to remain open during this time," GameStop said in the memo.

Amidst all the doom and gloom recently, fresh data was released earlier today from the European Space Agency (ESA), showing increased nitrogen dioxide emissions over China, as monitored by its Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor observation satellite.

In a recent tweet by ESA, embedded above, a 10-day moving average graphic shows levels of NO2 from December 20, 2019 till March 16, 2020 from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). In December and January, we saw a high measured amount of nitrogen dioxide, which starts to reduce over time. By the end of January, the levels of nitrogen dioxide reduced significantly till around the start of March, which shows a build-up again, particularly in the northern regions of China.

The PlayStation 5's built-in boost mode is much, much more powerful than the PlayStation 4 Pro's. Sony says the boost is so dramatic that some older PS4 games simply can't handle it.

The PS5's backward compatibility is pretty lackluster in terms of supported games. Unlike the Xbox Series X, which can play OG Xbox, Xbox 360, and all Xbox One games at launch, the PlayStation 5 will only support 100 of the most popular PS4 games. But why? The PS5's native boost mode is the culprit. Here's how it works.

Like the Xbox Series X, the PlayStation 5 will natively boost any PS4 game you put into it. For example, Xbox Series X will auto-upgrade 2015's Gears of War 4 to native 4K resolution. Sony's PS5 will also boost PS4 games, but Sony hasn't detailed specifics. We could see all sorts of perf boosts like 120FPS, ray tracing, and more--imagine playing Bloodborne at 1080p 120FPs.

The PlayStation 5's backward compatibility will be quite limited at launch. Sony confirms that roughly 100 of the most popular PS4 games will be backward compatible on the PS5 when it releases in Holiday 2020.

The PS5's backwards compatibility is a lot less expansive than we thought. Console architect Mark Cerny confirms the PS5 can only play PS4 games, and old PS1, PS2, and PS3 generation titles won't be supported natively via discs. Only ~100 of the most popular PS4 games will be playable on the PS5 on release, Cerny says, which is less than 1/40th of the system's overall library of games.

All backward compatible games on the PlayStation 5 must be added on a title-to-title basis, meaning developers and publishers will have to work closely with Sony to bring their games forward. Given the stakes involved in displacing the gaming libraries of 108 million PS4 owners, expect Sony and developers to take backwards compatibility seriously and grow the library over time.

Gamestop gets the greenlight from Bethesda to sell Doom Eternal one day early to curb customer volume. Yes, that means the next Doom game is now available at Gamestop.

With Animal Crossing and Doom Eternal set to release the same day, lots of people are expected to show up at Gamestop to pick up their pre-orders and/or buy the game. And where there's lots of people, there's lots of COVID-19 exposure risk. So Gamestop is separating the two massively-anticipated games into two separate launch days in an effort to sequence out the customer volume.

"To ensure we adhere to CDC-recommended social distancing guidelines, we will be selling DOOM Eternal a day early on Thursday, 3/19 as a safety precaution for our customers and associates. Animal Crossing will release on Friday 3/20 to further help separate the crowds," Gamestop wrote on Twitter.

Supermarket shelves in Australia are virtually bare of essentials, where it first started with toilet paper -- and quickly saw things like bottled water, frozen goods, pasta, and more ripped from shelves over coronavirus panic.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the Australian government will be prosecuting those who stripped supermarket shelves of essential items, with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) also says these people could be linked to criminal enterprises. Mr Dutton told 2GB in Australia: "We will come down on them like a ton of bricks... I believe they are the ones who have created this pattern of hoarding".

Dutton continued: "They (Australians) are following the behaviour of people who aren't purchasing for themselves - they're doing it for profit, and reasons that are unacceptable. If you have photos, or registration numbers, or if you have instances ... photos, intelligence or information, I want you to call Crime Stoppers".

We are very close to the demo release for Resident Evil 3: Raccoon City, and now Capcom has made the pre-load available to download.

Both Xbox One and PS4 players can download the demo from their respective stores. The PS4 version is weighing in at 8.01 GB, and the Xbox One version is 7.47 GB. Unfortunately, the PC version, which is located on the Steam Store, isn't available to download just yet, but I'd imagine that it will soon become available since the console version is available.

In other Resident Evil news, the upcoming Resident Evil Resistance Open Beta has also been made available for download. The Resistance Open Beta is a 1v4 scenario where four players face off against one other player who is the "Mastermind." The Resistance Open Beta is the biggest out of the lot, weighing in at 10.63 GB. The Resistance Open Beta can't be played until March 27th when servers go online. Resident Evil 3 Remake will be officially launched on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on April 3rd.

When the term 'brain-computer interfaces' is mentioned, one of the first things that spring to mind is The Matrix. But just how close are we to bringing that movie into reality?

According to Valve CEO, Gabe Newell, we are closer than one might think. In a recent interview with IGN, Newell discussed designing Valve's new title, Half-Life: Alyx. At the same time as discussing the titles development, Newell touched on the future of computing and how eventually the human race will be able to link computers to brains for the ultimate interface. Here's what Newell said when talking about the future, "The area that I'm spending a lot of time on has been growing out of a bunch of research that occurred a while ago on brain-computer interfaces."

He continued and said, "I think that that's kind of long lead stuff, so that's kind of the background thread that I get pulled back into when other things aren't demanding my attention." At the moment, human brains can communicate with computers, but in mostly sending and receiving signals. Overall the communication can only happen in extremely limited ways. Even though that might be the case now, Newell believes that "We're way closer to The Matrix than people realize."

I was pretty damn hyped for the Friends reunion special on HBO Max, but now according to The Hollywood Reporter, it has been delayed because of the current coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak.

According to sources of The Hollywood Reporter, the "unscripted special was set to be filmed next Monday and Tuesday on the show's iconic and former home at Stage 24 of the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank. Given the current state of the global coronavirus pandemic, production has been delayed until at least May. A formal filming date has not been determined as it's unclear when any programming will be able to resume production".

The CDC has recently reduced its recommendations of large gatherings to less than 50 people, so when you account the hundreds of people involved in a production like a Friends reunion special, it makes sense. Although, it's a major disappointment. It wasn't the first Hollywood-related delay, and it surely won't be the last -- The Matrix 4 production was also recently halted by Warner Bros (which owns HBO Max).

Congress is not immune to coronavirus COVID-19, with Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (a 9th-term Florida Republican) and Rep. Ben McAdams (a new Democrat from Utah) announcing they've tested positive for coronavirus.

The two members of Congress are now the first US lawmakers to be struck down with coronavirus, with Diaz-Balart feeling the symptoms on Saturday -- hours before he left the House floor for a vote on a coronavirus response bill. He explained: "I want everyone to know that I am feeling much better".

Diaz-Balart added: "However, it is important that everyone take this extremely seriously and follow CDC guidelines in order to avoid getting sick and mitigate the spread of this virus. We must continue to work together to emerge stronger as a country during these trying times".

HTC has just announced that it is including a free copy of Valve's upcoming Half-Life: Alyx with each of its new flagship Vive Cosmos Elite VR headsets.

The new announcement is pretty hot, and totally out of the blue -- a free copy of what should be the flagship VR game to lead them all, now free with the newly-released Vive Cosmos Elite headset. Half-Life: Alyx itself launches on the PC exclusively on Steam and exclusively in VR on March 23.

If you need a Buyers Guide on the PC hardware and VR headsets recommended by TweakTown, then check out that article right here. For now, you'll need to splash down $899 for the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite VR headset to get that free copy of Half-Life: Alyx, which just sweetens that deal a little bit more against the flagship Valve Index headset.