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Grab a $20 PlayStation Classic and emulate your heart out

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 15, 2019 1:18 PM CDT

Grab a PlayStation Classic for a cool $20 and turn it into a virtual arcade machine.

Grab a $20 PlayStation Classic and emulate your heart out

Sony's PlayStation Classic wasn't a success--it was overpriced, and had terrible in-game frame stuttering issues. But there's a silver lining: it's basically a Raspberry Pi that can be manipulated, hacked, and transformed into a retro wonderbox. Now Amazon's selling the mini-console for a paltry $20, putting it on par with a few day's worth of coffee.

The PS Classic comes with 20 built-in games, but most of them run in PAL rather than NTSC, meaning you should expect frame rate issues (PAL is 50Hz and NTSC is 60Hz). The selection isn't so hot anyway. Luckily the box can be hacked and you can pop on a ton of ROMs for expanded play--the process is actually quite easy, from what I'm told--but remember it only includes regular PS1-era controllers with D-Pads, not DualShocks.

Continue reading: Grab a $20 PlayStation Classic and emulate your heart out (full post)

$299 PS4 Pro bundle includes Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 15, 2019 11:26 AM CDT

In the market for a PS4 Pro? Pull the trigger on this Prime Day Deal and grab a console and two great games for $300.

$299 PS4 Pro bundle includes Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn

Amazon's Prime Day Deals shaves a cool $100 off the PS4 Pro and bundles two of the platform's most lauded titles: Guerrilla's detailed fantasy epic Horizon: Zero Dawn with all its mech dinosaurs, and Insomniac's immensely authentic webslinging Spider-Man adaptation. This discount comes a year or so before Sony's next-gen PS5, which is expected to release in 2020 with insane specs, but there's still plenty of reasons to pick up a PS4 (especially since the PS5 will probably be expensive).

Remember you don't need a 4K HDR TV for the system. Games with PS4 Pro enhancements also improve performance and visuals on HDTVs, including supersampling graphics for 1080p displays as well as frame rate optimizations. Games can run up to 1080p 60FPS on the PS4 Pro and typically hit 4K 30FPS on UHD displays.

Continue reading: $299 PS4 Pro bundle includes Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn (full post)

Don Draper wouldn't be happy: smoking banned in Gears of War

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jul 15, 2019 5:00 AM CDT

Gears of War 5, the next installment in the Gears of War franchise has been declared a non-smoking title after the director of the games strong opposition to addiction.

Don Draper wouldn't be happy: smoking banned in Gears of War

Rod Fergusson, the Gears of War 5 studio director at The Coalition took to Twitter on Saturday about his approach to smoking in Gears of War 5. The games director openly admitted to his long standing approach against smoking and how he has actively gone out of his way to not include it in-game.

Fergusson says: "To be fair, this isn't entirely accurate. I've been against smoking from the beginning and have worked hard to not make it a part of our franchise. Ever notice that the Dizzy concept art for Gears 2 has a cigarette but the actual character in the game doesn't? I stopped it." Following up on that tweet is another which is his emotional attachment towards his opposition of smoking, he says "My dad smoked. He died of a heart attack at age 38. I was 4."

Continue reading: Don Draper wouldn't be happy: smoking banned in Gears of War (full post)

China #1 in quantum entanglement, teleports object 300 miles

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Jul 15, 2019 5:00 AM CDT

The human race has made another milestone in the quantum entanglement field where they have managed to teleport an electron to a low-orbiting satellite 300 miles away.

China #1 in quantum entanglement, teleports object 300 miles

According to a team of researchers in China, scientists have managed to use quantum entanglement to teleport an electron 300 miles away. An MIT Technology Review said that this is the furthest the technology has managed to teleport an object, the scientists findings have been published in a paper online at arXiv.

This isn't the first test of its kind, for about a month these scientists have conducted many tests and have beamed up millions of photons from their ground site located in Tibet. The team said that "This work establishes the first ground-to-satellite up-link for faithful and ultra-long-distance quantum teleportation, an essential step toward global-scale quantum Internet."

Continue reading: China #1 in quantum entanglement, teleports object 300 miles (full post)

Russian space probe expected to discover 100,000 galaxies

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Jul 15, 2019 3:00 AM CDT

The global understanding of how the universe works could get another injection of information after a new Russian space probe conducts its 6.5 year survey of the cosmos once it reaches its destination.

Russian space probe expected to discover 100,000 galaxies

Russia partnered with Germany has successfully launched a new space probe telescope called Spektr-RG, and after its 100 day journey to Lagrange Point 2 it will be surveying the surrounding galaxies. Spektr-RG will be surveying for 6.5 year survey that is expected to gather information on 100,000 galaxies clusters, hundreds of thousands of active stars and 3 million supermassive black holes.

With this new information that will be recovered, its believed that the human race as a whole will be given a better understanding of how the universe is mapped. Not only will this new map be great, scientist also expect to gain a better understanding of how black holes form and the distribution of matter is throughout the universe. Dark energy is also on the list of theories that should gain some level of information.

Continue reading: Russian space probe expected to discover 100,000 galaxies (full post)

HitRecord picks Watch Dogs 3 soundtrack despite controversy

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jul 15, 2019 2:00 AM CDT

Ubisoft has a goal of letting fans contribute towards some of the upcoming titles soundtracks, by doing this they have partnered with Joesph Gordon-Levitt's HitRecord.

HitRecord picks Watch Dogs 3 soundtrack despite controversy

Last year, Ubisoft announced that they wanted musicians to contribute to Beyond Good and Evil 2 using HitRecord. Artists can send in art, music and story elements but wouldn't necessarily get paid for their contributions, only if they were selected by the game studio.

Some artists found it unfortunate that Ubisoft was asking artists to compete their work for a price, instead it could be argued that Ubisoft adopt a more traditional incentive that would be commission work. In a recent partnership announcement from Ubisoft will still be working with HitRecord to curate the music for Watch Dogs: Legion despite the controversy kick back from artists.

Continue reading: HitRecord picks Watch Dogs 3 soundtrack despite controversy (full post)

NASA spacecraft will 3D print solar panels... WHILE IN SPACE

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Jul 15, 2019 1:00 AM CDT

NASA has partnered up with Made In Space to demonstrate a new spacecraft that will 3D print spacecraft components in Earth's lower-orbit.

NASA spacecraft will 3D print solar panels... WHILE IN SPACE

Made In Space and NASA will soon be bringing Archinaut One to lower-earths orbit when the launch of the Rocket Lab Electron rocket takes to the skies from New Zealand in 2022. The spacecraft will be "positioned in low-Earth orbit, the spacecraft will 3D-print two beams that extend 32 feet (10 meters) out from each side of the spacecraft." The craft will be equipped with solar panels that will generate five times more power than normal solar panles the same size spacecraft. These solar panels will act as energy sources for when the craft is manufacturing.

Here is the official description: "Once it's positioned in low-Earth orbit, the spacecraft will 3D-print two beams that extend 32 feet (10 meters) out from each side of the spacecraft. As manufacturing progresses, each beam will unfurl two solar arrays that generate up to five times more power than traditional solar panels on spacecraft of similar size. The in-space technology demonstration marks the start of the second phase of a partnership established through NASA's Tipping Point solicitation."

Continue reading: NASA spacecraft will 3D print solar panels... WHILE IN SPACE (full post)

AMD's new Radeon RX 5600 series leaked with Navi 14 GPU

Anthony Garreffa | Graphics Cards | Jul 14, 2019 11:20 PM CDT

AMD just launched its new Radeon RX 5700 XT and Radeon RX 5700 graphics cards (my review on those here) and in between we've had teases of the other SKUs in the Radeon 5900/5800/5700/5600 series graphics cards which use different Navi GPUs along the family.

AMD's new Radeon RX 5600 series leaked with Navi 14 GPU

The latest rumor is about Navi 14 that will go into the Radeon RX 5600 series graphics cards, based on the same 7nm RDNA architecture but knocked down from the Navi 10 GPU on the RX 5700 series. The new Navi 14 GPU should include 24 RDNA compute units (with 64 stream processors), for 1536 stream processors in total compared to the 2560 SPs inside of the Navi 10 GPU with Navi 14 taking up to 1900MHz GPU clocks, max.

We don't know what else the Radeon RX 5600 will feature, and whether it would still have 8GB of GDDR6 -- although, I think it will. NVIDIA launched its new GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (my review here) with 8GB of GDDR6, up from the 6GB of GDDR6 on the regular RTX 2060. AMD would need to keep 8GB of GDDR6 on its Radeon RX 5600 series, while chopping down performance from the RX 5700 series.

Continue reading: AMD's new Radeon RX 5600 series leaked with Navi 14 GPU (full post)

DLSS improves Monster Hunter World performance by over 50%

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 14, 2019 10:52 PM CDT

Monster Hunter World's new Update 6.1 will go live as of July 17, with it bringing support for NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology.

DLSS improves Monster Hunter World performance by over 50%

NVIDIA has released some of its internal benchmarks running at 4K with DLSS enabled in the latest version of Monster Hunter World, with over 50% performance improvements in performance with DLSS enabled and the Update 1.6 patched Monster Hunter World.

The flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti has a 53% improvement with DLSS enabled in Monster Hunter World, up from 46.7FPS to 71.6FPS -- crossing the magic 60FPS line. The second-fastest RTX 2080 (and soon to be RTX 2080 SUPER) goes from 34.7% to 54.9% which is another huge improvmenet, and interestingly NVIDIA includess the RTX 2070 and RTX 2060... not the new RTX 2060 SUPER and RTX 2070 SUPER in these MHW benchmarks with DLSS enabled.

Continue reading: DLSS improves Monster Hunter World performance by over 50% (full post)

AMD Radeon VII fulfills its purpose now that Navi is here

Anthony Garreffa | Graphics Cards | Jul 14, 2019 9:36 PM CDT

AMD released the world's first 7nm GPU earlier this year with the Radeon VII (my review on that here) with it packing Vega 20 on 7nm, with a huge 16GB of super-fast HBM2 memory. I exclusively reported that AMD was only making 5000 units of its Radeon VII and trhere would be no custom boards, ever.

AMD Radeon VII fulfills its purpose now that Navi is here

Well, fast forward 6 months and we have no custom boards and now the Radeon VII is reportedly end of life (EOL) just as the new Navi-based Radeon RX 5700 XT and Radeon RX 5700 graphics cards (my reviews on those cards here) are released. Cowcotland has confirmed with their sources that the Radeon VII is no longer in production and that the cards that are on shelves and etailers' warehouses are the only cards left.

The move makes sense with my reports from 6 months ago, and underlined now that Navi is here and doing better numbers in games with lower power consumption, heat, and noise. AMD would be chewing up 7nm node fab time as well as HBM2 memory.

Continue reading: AMD Radeon VII fulfills its purpose now that Navi is here (full post)

No Man's Sky dev teases new ambitious game

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 14, 2019 1:13 AM CDT

No Man's Sky is turning three this year, and Hello Games is shifting towards another smaller-scale but highly-ambitious project.

No Man's Sky dev teases new ambitious game

Hello Games is a true underdog story about a dev team who lost the big game and then came back to win the World Series. They've caught the spotlight by turning No Man's Sky into a huge sprawling online cosmic wonderland, but the team is ready to make something new. Now Sean Murray teases another project outside of its new The Last Campfire game--something quite daring but more condensed than No Man's Sky.

"We've got something else going on at the studio. It's exciting, and it's unfortunately going to be ambitious," Murray said at the recent Brighton Develop event in the UK.

Continue reading: No Man's Sky dev teases new ambitious game (full post)

Microsoft patents Switch-like detachable controllers

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 13, 2019 10:15 PM CDT

Microsoft's new Project xCloud game streaming service could get its own transforming wireless mini controllers similar to the Switch.

Microsoft patents Switch-like detachable controllers

Microsoft recently published a very interesting patent that gives some clues on its upcoming streaming plans. The patent, which was filed in 2017 and published this month, shows two very Switch-like controllers that detach from a charging base. The controllers are specifically made for touchscreen devices and gamers can apparently use each half to play games similar to the Switch's JoyCons.

This small and compact splitting controller is a perfect fit for the new Project xCloud streaming subscription, which beams Xbox games directly to on-the-go devices like phones, tablets, and laptops. Playing fully-fledged console and PC games on a phone isn't really possible without an actual controller, and this new peripheral should be a separate mobile-optimized accessory sold alongside the service.

Continue reading: Microsoft patents Switch-like detachable controllers (full post)

Alien: Isolation dev working on 'ground-breaking FPS' game

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 11:00 PM CDT

Creative Assembly is hard at work on their next-gen "ground-breaking FPS" game, but we didn't know much about the secretive new IP until the latest rumor coming from a new job opening at the Alien: Isolation and Total War developer.

Alien: Isolation dev working on 'ground-breaking FPS' game

The company is looking to hire a new hero designer to work on their next-gen "ground-breaking FPS" game, a new role that will see someone lead the creative process for "exciting playable chargers" that each have "a range of amazing thought and play provoking specialties". This sounds like other hero-based shooters like my favorite game: Overwatch, and very close second: Apex Legends, and that ain't a bad thing.

Creative Assembly hopes the new hire will have a "broad understanding of monetization, rewards, and art production", as well as hoping that the new staffer will provide "guidance on visual design and cosmetics". This last bit screams cosmetic items that should intertwine with micro-transactions in the unnamed hero-based FPS.

Continue reading: Alien: Isolation dev working on 'ground-breaking FPS' game (full post)

Only in Japan: Tokyo hotel builds FLIGHT SIMULATOR into room

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 9:33 PM CDT

So I really wanted to travel to Japan next year for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and now I want to go even more knowing that the Haneda Excel Hotel Tokyu is offering up a hotel room called the Superior Cockpit Room that features a freaking built-in flight simulator.

Only in Japan: Tokyo hotel builds FLIGHT SIMULATOR into room

Yeah, so the hotel has installed an actual Boeing 737-800 flight simulator into a hotel room -- which will even have its own instructor on-hand (during the day) with people able to pay $276 for a 90-minute shot on the flight simulator. But when it's not being used, like at night... it will revert back to being a normal hotel room for around $233 a night.

The hotel will cover the flight controls with an acrylic board so that guests can't just jump on int and start having fun. I wonder if hardcore flight simulator fans would want to book the room for a couple of nights and just live in there playing on the flight simulator. I mean, who wouldn't want to? The hotel is found right next to the airport so you will feel and most likely hear the real airplanes taking off and landing while you're sitting in an actual high-end flight simulator.

Continue reading: Only in Japan: Tokyo hotel builds FLIGHT SIMULATOR into room (full post)

Wolfenstein: Youngblood official PC requirements released

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 8:31 PM CDT

We are just two weeks from the release of Wolfenstein: Youngblood with Bethesda releasing the official PC requirements for the game, where you won't need much to get it up and running, but at a minimum you'll need 40GB of HDD space.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood official PC requirements released

Wolfenstein: Youngblood requires at a minimum an AMD FX-8350/Ryzen 5 1400 or Intel Core i5-3570/Core i7-3770, you'll need 8GB of RAM minimum and a GeForce GTX 770 4GB (or new GTX 1650) or "AMD equivalent". The recommended specs aren't that much higher, with an FX-9370/Ryzen 5 1600X or Intel Core i7-4770 while RAM requirements go up to 16GB of RAM and the graphics card up to a GTX 1060 6GB or RTX 2060 or again, "AMD equivalent".

So for Radeon gamers you'll need somewhere along the RX 560/570 through to the new Radeon RX 5700 to play Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Wolfenstein: Youngblood launches on July 27 and will include RTX abilities for NVIDIA GeForce RTX owners, it is also bundled with any RTX 2060 SUPER (my review here) or RTX 2070 SUPER (my review here) graphics cards or gaming PC powered by RTX SUPER along with Control.

Continue reading: Wolfenstein: Youngblood official PC requirements released (full post)

Fallout Miami explores the tropical apocalypse

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 7:08 PM CDT

Fallout Miami gets new gameplay footage showing off a bright tropical wasteland off the irradiated coasts of Florida.

Fallout Miami explores the tropical apocalypse

Pink sunsets. Palm trees. Waves. Beach shores. Clear pools of shimmering water. These are hardly things you associate with Fallout, but thanks to the immensely talented team behind the Fallout Miami mod, all this and more is coming to the post-apocalyptic RPG. It's a far cry from Vice City's brilliant neon-lit streets, sleek sports cars, and alluring nightlife, but Fallout Miami does capture the look, feel, and historical landmarks of post-nuclear Miami.

The Fallout 4 mod is being built from the ground up by a team of volunteers, and will have content comparable to a pretty big expansion when it's ready for release. "Fallout Miami comprises of a large section of Miami Beach. The in-game map is twice the size of Far Harbor. The geographic area covered is roughly from South Pointe Pier to Fontainebleau Hotel," the team says.

Continue reading: Fallout Miami explores the tropical apocalypse (full post)

Epic is paying TONS of money for exclusives, dev says

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 5:31 PM CDT

The biggest reason the Epic Games Store is an appealing platform for devs? Money, of course.

Epic is paying TONS of money for exclusives, dev says

Epic Games has two major ways it lures developers onto its PC store: upfront cash from signing six- or twelve-month timed-exclusivity deals, and the promise of keeping 88% of revenue from all games sold. Both mechanisms are extremely powerful and attractive for everyone from smaller-scale indie devs like Saber Interactive to mega-million publishers like Ubisoft, Deep Silver, and 2K Games. Exclusivity is the only real advantage the Epic Store currently has over Steam, especially since Epic really doesn't make very many games any more besides Fortnite updates. Epic won't stop until it forces Steam to adopt a new revenue split--and it's forcing change with its Fortnite billions.

But how much does Epic pay out for these deals? It paid $2 million for Phoenix Point's one-year exclusivity. Now Sniper Elite developer Rebellion says Epic is paying quite a bit of cash to snag games for its store. "Generally I think I would prefer not to do exclusives but I understand Epic's position with it. Quite frankly they are paying through the nose to build their store. All credit to them, it's fantastic, and we'll take some of their money, thank you very much," Rebellion co-founder Jason Kingsley said at a recent Develop event in Brighton, UK.

Continue reading: Epic is paying TONS of money for exclusives, dev says (full post)

Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony move console production from China

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 4:33 PM CDT

Thanks to the recent U.S.-China trade war, other major tech titans are pulling some of their console production out of China.

Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony move console production from China

The specter of pricey tariffs have scared companies like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony into moving games hardware manufacturing and assembly from China into other overseas regions, sources tell Nikkei Asian Review. New amendments would raise tariffs on China-imported goods by 25%, including console games hardware and accessories.

All three of the games industry's major players recently warned that tariffs would tremendously disrupt the precariously balanced and carefully calculated hardware industry, which relies on strict budgets and tight supply line margins to operate. The companies say that 96% of all consoles imported into the U.S. were made in China, and the region is host to major plants like Foxconn that create and assemble critical components such as processors. As a result of these disruptions, the MSRP of games console hardware is expected to rise as companies pass the increased costs onto consumers.

Continue reading: Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony move console production from China (full post)

Cuphead animated TV show happening at Netflix

Derek Strickland | Celebrities & Entertainment | Jul 12, 2019 3:20 PM CDT

Indie darling Cuphead makes for a great TV show, and Netflix agrees--that's why it's ordered an original series.

Cuphead animated TV show happening at Netflix

Cuphead is pretty much a playable cartoon turned into a hard-as-nails platformer, featuring hand-drawn animations straight out of the 1930's. Now the beloved game is getting a fully-fledged animated show over at Netflix, complete with that distinct visual style of the golden age of cartoons.

"The game that has won the hearts and minds of fans with its gorgeous retro hand-animated style, crazy boss-brawls, and challenging gameplay will come to life on television for the first time ever in The Cuphead Show!. The new series will expand on the characters and world of Cuphead, with an animation style inspired by the classic Fleischer cartoons from the 1930s," reads the official Netflix press announcement.

Continue reading: Cuphead animated TV show happening at Netflix (full post)

Epic's PC exclusivity buy-ups aim to disrupt 70-30 split

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 12, 2019 10:18 AM CDT

Epic boss Tim Sweeney explains why his company's new fledgling PC storefront keeps buying up exclusivity rights, and acknowledges its shortcomings.

Epic's PC exclusivity buy-ups aim to disrupt 70-30 split

Right now there's only one reason to use the Epic Games Store: it's the only place to buy and play certain games on PC. This is a huge advantage that Epic isn't about to give up any time soon. Epic is using its Fortnite billions to win over indie developers and even big-name players like Ubisoft, Deep Silver, and Take-Two. But for Epic, this strategy isn't necessarily about making money, or at least directly: it's about making a more sustainable industry for devs.

"We believe exclusives are the only strategy that will change the 70/30 status quo at a large enough scale to permanently affect the whole game industry," Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said on Twitter.

Continue reading: Epic's PC exclusivity buy-ups aim to disrupt 70-30 split (full post)

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