Latest News - Page 1717

Veirzon is spending up big in the ramp up to the Super Bowl, with the US telco giant spending $80 million to blanket downtown Miami with 5G connectivity.

The company has promised that the areas around the Miami airports, downtown Miani, and around Bayfront Park will have expanded 5G coverage. Verizon is also sponsoring a Super Bowl Live event where it will be showing off various technology that displays why you need, and why you'll benefit from 5G technology.

Verizon will have an immersive, on-the-field experience at the Super Bowl itself, and will be running through to February 1. Now, there aren't many smartphones on the market that are powered by 5G just yet, but Samsung has a few in the Galaxy S10 5G and Galaxy Note 10 5G, while LG has its V50 ThinQ 5G smartphone. You will need one of these smartphones, and to have your phone connected to Verizon to enjoy 5G.

AMD has released its new TressFX 4.1 software library, which brings the next level of hair and fur simulation and rendering -- but there's a new surprise: Unreal Engine 4 integration.

TressFX 4.1 can now be inserted into Unreal Engine which means we could see an uptick in TressFX-capable games, providing us with more realistic-looking games when it comes to hair and fur simulation and rendering. We've seen TressFX in big AAA games before, with Rise of the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided... but since then it has really fallen off the radar completely.

But now that Unreal Engine 4 integration is up and on offer, we could see more game developers deciding to use it. Especially given that the next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles are both once again powered by semi-custom AMD designs, TressFX might have a more secure home in the future of games -- and given that Unreal Engine powers countless games on the market, we could be in for an exciting time.

Plague Inc has been in the news and making the headlines since the coronavirus outbreak, with the developer of the game having to (and I'm sure reluctantly) address the world about it.

But before that, Plague Inc has seen an infectious rise to the top of the top-paid iOS game chart -- and given that it's a game from 2012 this is quite the achievement. It has forced Plague Inc developer Ndemic Creations to release a statement, saying: "Please remember that Plague Inc. is a game, not a scientific model and that the current coronavirus outbreak is a very real situation which is impacting a huge number of people".

Plague Inc sees you creating the best virus you can, and wiping out the human population on Earth -- since the coronavirus has been spreading, so too has the popularity of the game -- and especially so in China.

A mysterious new APU from AMD has been discovered by '_rogame', with the new APU packing 8 CPU cores (no SMT so we have 8C/8T) at 4GHz and 16GB of shared memory between the RAM and VRAM (12GB RAM and 4GB VRAM).

As for the GPU that remains a total mystery for now, but what we do know is that this new APU could be anything -- anything from the Xbox Series S (Lockhart) APU for the mid-range next-gen Xbox, or it could be a successor to the Fireflight APU which powered the Subor Z+ console.

Even in its leaked form we still have benchmark scores to share, where the new APU has a 3DMark Time Spy score of 7.1K which is pretty good -- it keeps up with an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X + overclocked NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER graphics card which scores 7.3K. So while it won't blow the socks off of the Xbox Series X in terms of performance, we're looking at maybe this being the non-SMT version (whereas the Xbox Series X has the full 8C/16T chip) and thus powering the Xbox Series S / Lockhart console.

We now live in a world where foldable displays and smartphones are a reality, with Samsung already on the market with their game-changing Galaxy Fold -- but what is Apple doing about that?

According to a new patent filed by Apple, we could expect a revolutionary new Mac in the future that is built from a single sheet of glass. As you can see from the patent, it is curved into a display at the top and keyboard and track pad at the bottom. We should expect the display, camera, and sensors in the top half of the new Mac -- while the wedge at the bottom (in the image below) would most likely house the internals of the system.

Apple would have one of the most interestingly designed PCs on the market with this new patent, but considering how many years the company is behind everyone else that is already experimenting with foldable tech... don't expect the foldable iMac any time soon. I'd give it at least another 2-3 years before we see something this radical from Apple on the desktop.

The Terminator is making more appearances in games than ever before, with the T-800 featured in both Mortal Kombat 11 and Gears 5 last year -- but now it will be showing up in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Breakpoint.

Ubisoft took to their official Twitter account for Ghost Recon saying "The future is almost here. The Terminator arrives January 29". There's an update expected for Ghost Recon: Breakpoint at around the same time, which will fix issues with the game and introduce the Terminator at the same time.

We don't know how long the Terminator will be featured in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, but it should be similar to the introduction of the Predator in Ghost Recon: Wildlands. That was a limited-time event where gamers had to hide from the devastating Predator, and then had to battle it out in the end. The event with the Terminator in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint should be similar, but it's just too bad Breakpoint itself isn't the greatest game.

Battlefield V was released in November 2018 and the team at EA and DICE and since then the development team has been steady on pushing out content for the game.

Even with player counts not anywhere near as strong as another EA game in Respawn's Apex Legends. Up next, is Chapter 6: Into the Jungle. EA DICE will be detailing Into the Jungle on January 28 at 9AM EST, so bookmark this post or the embedded video above so you can check out the trailer once it drops.

We are to expect a full gameplay video and feature breakdown of Into the Jungle, and I'm sure an ETA of when Battlefield V Chapter 6 will drop, which hopefully won't be too far away. EA DICE won't have the next-gen Battlefield out for a while, so this will have to wet out appetite until 2021 at the earliest.

AMD has just released their latest Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.1.4 beta drivers, a new set of drivers that add support for Warcraft III: Reforged, and more.

The new AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.1.4 beta drivers offer 11% more performance in Warcraft III: Reforged on the High preset powered by a Radeon RX 5700 XT, fix a bunch of issues with the Vulkan-based version of Red Dead Redemption 2, and issues with Grand Theft Auto 5 when using Radeon Overlay while in a game, or after switching tasks while in-game.

AMD is aware of a bunch of issues in the new drivers that should be fixed with subsequent driver releases, too. You can download the new AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.1.4 beta drivers right here.

Tesla's exciting new Cybertruck has dominated headlines and social feeds since its announcement, and while Tesla Motors founder and CEO Elon Musk has been spotted driving the Cybertruck on the streets of LA before, he's back again -- and this time, with Jay Leno.

Musk and Leno were spotted driving the streets of LA in Tesla's new Cybertruck, which should be featured in a future episode of Jay Leno's Garage. The two were spotted driving the Cybertruck in LA and were spotted on multiple different videos, with the one embedded above and a closer look on a video on Instagram.

Leno is no stranger to Tesla exclusives, with the former late night host tapping previous Tesla prototypes in the past -- including their next-gen Roadster prototype. We should expect to see much more on Tesla's new Cybertruck in an upcoming episode of Jay Leno's Garage where we'll see the car in much more detail.

I wrote about Microsoft's next-gen Xbox Series X being priced at $499 all the way back over a year ago now, but there are now new rumors highlighting that same $499 launch price.

According to the host of Spanish podcast 'DRM Juegos', Microsoft will launch the Xbox Series X at $499. Back in November, I wrote an article on the rumored price of Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 and that it would be $499 and launching November 20, 2020. But Microsoft's console will be the better of the two hardware wise, so maybe Sony's new PlayStation 5 will be cheaper, or the Xbox Series X will be more expensive -- nothing is concrete right now.

There are some people concerned over a $500 price on the Xbox Series X, but I think that is a very cheap price for what will be the largest generational leap in consoles we've ever had. We're talking about semi-custom designs on the new 7nm node from AMD, offering 8C/16T of CPU processing power, a next-gen RDNA2-based GPU on the Navi architecture, GDDR6 memory, ridiculously quick PCIe 4.0-based SSD tech, 8K video and 120FPS support, and a 4K Blu-ray drive. How cheap do people want these consoles?

DOOM Eternal will be the first game to be powered by id Tech 7, with developer id Software talking about the game more before its launch on March 20. In a recent video interview with DOOM Eternal executive producer Marty Stratton, we find out a bunch more details -- check it out:

At the 2:30 mark Stratton talks about DOOM Eternal's destruction, something that the new id Tech 7 engine will provide, as well as the team aiming for a target 60FPS in the game across all platforms. DOOM Eternal looks like the best-looking game id Software has ever made, and that is thanks to the use of the id Tech 7 engine.

Stratton adds: "The size of the world, the scope of the world, our levels are twice as big as they were in DOOM 2016. That was to really establish a sense of scale and epicness to DOOM Eternal. You know, one of the things that we established coming out of DOOM 2016 was that we really wanted to take players to places that they'd never seen before".

Today 4A Games announced Sam's Story, the final major story expansion to Metro Exodus.

The new DLC is set to release February 11, 2020 on all platforms, and stars ex-Marine Sam Branskill on his arduous journey back to post-apocalytpic US. The expansion takes players to the irradiated port city of Vladivostok, the terminus of the Trans-Siberian railroad that's roughly seven days from Moscow.

Across his journey, the devs say Sam will face intense trials that push his survival skills to their limits. No trailer or screenshots were released, but we should get some more info shortly.

Doom Eternal's grind-based replayability might be prime territory for monetization, but id Software confirms no microtransactions are included.

Doom Eternal is a pretty grindy and layered game with some distinct RPG systems. There's tons of upgrade paths to forge, mats to collect, and places to explore. These systems usually means live service games, which in turn usually means monetization. But that's not the case, and Eternal isn't a live game. Unlike Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Doom Eternal won't have any kind of storefront with in-game purchases.

The assertion comes directly from Doom Eternal game director Hugo Martin as a direct response to the supposed battle pass worries. Eternal has a very battle pass-esque XP progression system that unlocks various goods like icons and playsets, prompting worries. These worries were compounded by the Fortress of Doom's unlockable armor skin variants.

One of Doom Eternal's core themes is progression, and that means grinding crystals and other materials to beef up the Doom Slayer.

Doom Eternal isn't just a linear FPS game. It's meant to be played for a long time, and has deliberate systems in place designed to keep you grinding for materials to make Doom Slayer as powerful as possible. The game has all the trappings of a live service title, including massive replayability that's incentivized through power enhancements, just without the constantly online play and microtransactions.

A lot of these systems are very RPG-esque and borrow quite a bit from Bethesda's new focus on service games and its penchant for massively customizable role-playing titles. Let's make one thing clear: Doom Eternal is not a live service game, but it acts like one nonetheless. Doom Eternal's progression system has quite a few upgrade screens with tons of options, complete with a slew of material and tokens spent to ramp up passive and active stats of weapons, armor, and basic things like health and ammo.

Atari will soon merge gaming arcades with hotels across the United States, creating its own Atari-branded resorts that offer everything from classic gaming to VR.

Today Atari announced a rather interesting move: It's going to jump headfirst into the hotel business and bring video games along for the ride. The idea is pretty simple. Atari wants to make a place where you not only stay, but where you play too. The lodging will be an attraction complete with games, probably with retro old-school Atari arcades as well as the new Atari VCS consoles, AR/VR hardware, and sizable theaters to host specific esports events (this last part is critical and aims to make the hotels potential venues for big tournaments).

The first hotel will open in Phoenix, Arizona, and Atari plans to open eight locations across major cities including: Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose. The venture is being spear-headed by Atari, strategy firm GSD Group, who specializes in revitalizing legacy brands, and True North Studio, an Arizona-based reality firm.

Today Arc Games announced Torchlight: Frontiers is now Torchlight III, a more traditional buy-to-play game with offline singleplayer and no in-game storefront.

Torchlight is back. Not the imitation Torchlight that tried to heavily monetize its audience and gear itself up to be another live service game, but the isometric grind-fest ARPG before the days of rampant in-game purchases. Under the new banner of Torchlight III, Arc Games is morphing Frontiers into an authentic sequel to the original games that goes back to the series' roots, complete with the linear act-based structure. It's also coming to Steam and won't be exclusive to the Arc launcher.

Once you buy Torchlight III, you own the full game. There's no storefront, no premium currency, and no cosmetics to buy. Offline singleplayer is also included, but any characters made offline can't be used for online play (likely due to the game's traditional mod support). The new classes (railmaster, dusk mage, and forge) and collectibles from the Frontier alpha tests are crossing over to the main game, but progression is getting massively overhauled.

Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO, seems to be in a spot of hot water as of late, and the water doesn't seem to be getting any cooler anytime soon.

Reports have come out from both The New York Times (NYT) and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) about Bezos' leaked text messages that revealed the world's richest man was having an affair. Of course, with any 'leaked' text messages, the first question that was raised was - 'How did those text messages get leaked?' According to both the NYT and WSJ, Lauren Sanchez, the women who Bezos had an affair with, reportedly sent her brother the text messages, who then sold them off to the National Enquirer.

The reports state that Michael Sanchez (brother) received texts from his sister in 2018 that included flirtatious messages from Bezos and a shirtless photo of him. Bezos followed up with an "extortion and blackmail" accusation on Medium aimed towards the parent company of the National Enquirer, American Media. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are currently investigating the intent of the National Enquirer and if there is a basis for a blackmail or extortion case.

Age of Empires fans will have to prepare themselves for a new Definitive Edition, as news has just surfaced regarding the Age of Empires III Definitive Edition beta.

According to the official Age of Empires Twitter account, "THE TIME HAS COME" for the Age of Empires III Definitive Edition beta announcement. If you didn't know, the definitive edition for Age of Empires II has already been released, and it has been extremely well received by players. I can personally say after sinking some hours into it that the game is fantastic, and if Age of Empires III Definitive is anything like Age of Empires II Definitive Edition it should also be great.

The announcement reveals that within the next couple of weeks, a multiplayer beta test will be sent out to players who sign up for the beta. If you are interested in signing up for the coming beta test for Age of Empires III Definitive Edition, click this link here and follow the instructions. See you on the battlefield!

The European Union is pushing for smartphone manufacturers to voluntarily agree to one uniform smartphone charger. Apple doesn't think it needs to be involved and has denied their request.

Samsung, Nokia, Huawei, LG and Apple all signed an agreement to unify mobile device chargers and since this voluntary agreement hasn't been fullied by some companies the EU are moving towards pushing it into law. The goal is to make it law that smartphone manufacturers will be required to use a standard charger when importing their products into the EU.

Companies such as Nokia, Samsung and LG don't really have a problem with this considering their chargers for their smartphones use a USB connection. Apple on the other hand is in a bit of a tight spot as they have their own proprietary Lightning cable for charging and data transfer. Apple's rebuttal against the EU is based on a study by Copenhagen Economics which found that if a common charger was created an enforced upon manufacturers that it would cost 1.5 billion euros.

China's Chang'e-4 lunar mission rover has relayed some brand new images of the dark side of the Moon. These images are also high-resolution for viewers' pleasure.

China's Chang'e-4 lunar mission recently completed its first year on the lunar surface, and also earned the achievement of being the first rover to travel the longest distance on the dark side of the Moon. China's lunar rover is called Yutu 2, and it recently relayed a new data set back to officials on the ground. Within this data set was a bunch of new high-resolution images that let us take a great look at the surface of the dark side of the Moon.

The date was released online by the Ground Research and Application System (GRAS) on Monday, January 20th. Some of the locations the rover managed to take pictures of including the Von Karman Crater, which is the same spot the rover soft landed on last year. Doug Ellison, who is the engineering camera team lead for NASA's Curiosity rover mission on Mars, tweeted about the data drop, saying, "Oh my god - the data drop is incredible :O". Ellison created galley of the images, that can be found here.