Latest News - Page 1878

If there is one thing we need right now it's either super long-lasting mobile batteries, or incredibly fast-charging batteries -- something that Vivo is set to rock the boat with at MWC Shanghai next week.

Vivo will be unveiling its crazy new 120W Super FlashCharge technology which will fast-charge a 4000mAh battery from 0-100% in just 13 minutes, which is freaking incredible, while a 0-50% charge will take just 5 minutes. Right now Vivo has 44W of charging speed on its iQOO gaming phone, so the upgrade from 44W to 120W is absolutely gigantic.

The main issue for Vivo and its exciting new 120W Super FlashCharge technology is battery degradation, something I'm hoping Vivo talks about at MWC Shanghai next week. I wouldn't expect to see a 120W Super FlashCharge-powered phone in the near future, but more so of 'this is what is coming in the near future, prepare your minds to be blown' type of technology demonstration from Vivo.

Reports say Microsoft scrapped Lockhart, its middle-grade next-gen Xbox, but the console may not stay dead for long.

Back at E3 2018, Phil Spencer confirmed that multiple next-generation Xbox consoles were in development. Project Scarlett was apparently supposed to be a new family of Xbox hardware. Reports said the family would consist of two consoles: a mid-grade and high-end model that would capture different markets. Lockhart was the mid-grade Xbox One S successor with a cheaper price point and dialed-back specs, and the behemoth enthusiast-grade system was called Anaconda.

At E3 2019, the console codenamed Anaconda was announced as Project Scarlett, a beastly next-gen Xbox that's four times as powerful as the Xbox One X and outfitted with the latest Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU hardware from AMD. Reports now say the mid-grade Lockhart has been scrapped in favor of its bigger brother, and Project Scarlett is now one console instead of two.

Samsung is still weeks away from revealing the next-gen Galaxy Note 10 smartphone, but did you know you can already buy cases for the unreleased, unannounced smartphone? Samsung will officially unveil its next-gen Galaxy Note 10 smartphone on August 7 in New York City.

The new cases for the Galaxy Note 10 are available for pre-order on MobileFun, with the new cases made by Olixar. Now that we have the cases on display, we get some more official-style details on the new flagship, with a punch-hole front-facing camera that is in the middle of the display, versus in the corner like the current Galaxy S10 smartphone.

Bixby seems to be absent from the Galaxy Note 10 (yay) but we're also looking at a world where the 3.5mm headphone jack could be removed. The only physical buttons on these renders are for the power button and volume rocker, and being this close to the August 7 reveal. We have a vertical triple-lens camera which looks slick, and no rear-facing fingerprint sensor which means we can expect an in-display fingerprint sensor like the Galaxy S10.

Microsoft reveals pricing for The Master Chief Collection PC's separate games, and it's actually quite attractive.

Gamers will have two choices when buying The Master Chief Collection on PC: they can buy the six-game collection for $54.99, or purchase the games individually for $10 a piece. The big juggernauts like Halos 1-4 and Reach are priced at $10 a pop, whereas Halo 3: ODST is just $5. Remember ODST doesn't include the amazing firefight mode (a mortal sin, if you ask me) and is campaign-only. Gamers can even buy into Xbox Game Pass and get access that way, too.

Not only are we getting flexible pricing, but platform choice is likewise versatile. Master Chief Collection will be sold on both Steam and the Windows Store. 343 Industries is taking the PC ports quite seriously and promises high-end optimizations for the Halo games; they'll play like any AAA FPS should, complete with 4K 60FPS support, uncapped frame rates, 21:9 UltraWide resolution, and full mouse and keyboard support.

343 Industries re-confirms many Halo: Infinite details that we already knew, including split-screen, LAN play, Spartan customization, and more.

Although 343i didn't represent Halo: Infinite (aka Halo 6) very well at E3 2019, the studio is taking the game quite seriously. The Halo-makers are listening to fans and baking in core features and content everyone's wanted for a while now, including splitscreen co-op campaign and multiplayer gaming, LAN support to recreate those old-school OG Xbox Halo days of yore, and even adding black matte under armor for Spartan Mjolnir suits.

Now in a recent Halo community update, the studio re-iterates many of these features in a handy checklist:

343 Industries plans to start rolling out early beta tests for Halo Reach's PC version as soon as next week.

In a recent Halo community update, 343i said it plans to release beta tests for Halo Reach's multiplayer and campaign on PC. The "flighting tests" are planned to start next week, and include both a public campaign demo that'll be available to all Halo Insiders, and a closed NDA-protected multiplayer test.

"For those of you who weren't able to join us in person at E3, be sure to sign up for Halo Insider as we will have a small public flight with this demo next week," 343i's Unyshek said.

E3 2019 was absolutely huge for Xbox. The company showcased over 60 games on stage, touched on its new Project xCloud streaming service, and teased the ultra-powerful Project Scarlett. But Team Green was holding back some big surprises that excite Phil Spencer quite a bit.

Right now Microsoft has more first-party games in development than ever before. It's internal Microsoft Studios banner now includes AA headliners like Obsidian Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Playground Games, and inXile, all of which live alongside AAA titans like 343 Industries and The Coalition. A lot of these studios are working on unannounced projects that weren't shown off at E3 2019 (Playground, for example, might be making Fable 4). These projects are still under wraps, they're pretty tantalizing, and Phil Spencer gives a quick tease during an after-show interview.

"The thing I loved were the games we didn't show," Xbox VP of gaming Phil Spencer told Xbox On. "Right...like...what's Playground's second team working on? What's The Initiative doing? What's Rare's second game that's coming? What's Turn10 doing? We haven't really been in a first-party situation where we can have more first-party games on our stage than we've ever had and even haven't been announced."

If you are on the new dark mode craze and you have realized that now dark mode is an essential feature for any app, you will be glad to know that the Gmail app is about to get support for it.

Recently, the Google app, Files by Google, Google Drive and Google Keep recently got support for the dark mode theme. Looking at the most recent Gmail APK, we have the first signs of the dark mode coming to fruition. The above images showcase the extent of the dark mode in Gmail v2019.06.09. At the moment the dark mode theme flickers on at off at its own will, and there is no toggle button support yet.

Dark mode is also not supported in the main window of Gmail, and is only available in the settings. While this might seem quite pointless, it is still the first steps we are seeing of dark mode coming to Gmail. I'd expect that dark mode will roll out to Gmail within the next coming updates.

The Lord of The Rings movies by Peter Jackson are some of the best fantasy movies on film, so imagine turning down the role of one of the lead characters Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Russell Crowe did, and he doesn't loose sleep over it either.

In a recent interview with Howard Stern, Russell Crowe discussed some of the movies has turned down in his career and how some of those movies would of defined more of his career. One of those movies was Peter Jackson's Lord of The Rings films, as Crowe explained to Stern that "I didn't think Peter Jackson actually wanted me on the film; I think he was forced into talking to me. There was a moment in time where everybody wanted me in everything."

He continued to explain: "And he's a fellow New Zealander; so I can hear his voice. I'm talking to him on the phone. And it's like, I don't think he even knows what I've done. My instinct was that he had somebody else in mind, which turned out to be Viggo Mortensen. And he should be allowed to hire the actor that he wants." Stern mentioned after the explanation that Crowe was actually offered 10% of the movies gross earnings, which would of obviously made him quite wealthy considering how much the movies grossed over time.

The Nintendo Switch version of CD Projekt RED's masterpiece title The Witcher 3 will be arriving on the Switch packed to the brim with content.

During the Nintendo E3 2019 presentation, it was revealed that the rumors surrounding a Switch port for CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 3 were confirmed. The Witcher 3 is coming out on the Switch and it isn't just the base game either. According to the above announcement on the official Witcher Twitter account, the game card will contain ALL 16 pieces of downloadable content as well as both of the games expansions - Heart of Stone and Blood and Wine.

The game cartridge has is a 32GB capacity, which makes sense considering all of the content to do with the game will be shipping on a single card. Since the card is on the larger side of things and all the content is already installed, Nintendo Switch users won't have to worry about day one downloads for their game. For a more extensive breakdown of everything that is included within The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition, check out my other post here.

It was back in May we first heard about Capcom brining the first Devil May Cry to the Nintendo Switch, and now we have an official release date to go by.

Following the release of Capcom's Devil May Cry 5, we learned shortly after that the first game in the series would soon be coming to the Nintendo Switch. While many fans believed that it would be a collection heading of the hand-held console, some were disappointed when they learned it would only be the first game in the franchise.

It might seem like grim times for the sequels, as Capcom did say they had no plans on bringing Devil May Cry 2/3 over to the Switch. But those plans are for now. I believe that once the first Devil May Cry releases on the Switch and Capcom get some positive feedback numbers back, they will then begin development on the franchises sequels. With the goal of eventually moving towards a port for Devil May Cry 5.

A 10 minute overview trailer has been released for PlatinumGames' new upcoming title that is scheduled to release this August, ASTRAL CHAIN.

If you happened to miss the E3 2019 announcement, here is quick synopsis of PlatinumGames' upcoming title ASTRAL CHAIN. ASTRAL CHAIN will take indulge players into a world that is being invaded by Chimera, foes who are emerging from the astral plane. Players will take the role of a member of the Neuron Police force and be paired up with the Legion to investigate the relationship between the strange Red Matter and forces of the Astral Plane.

The idea for the game was manifested by NieR: Automata's lead game designer, Takahisa Taura, and just like other PlatinumGames titles ASTRAL CHAIN will capture that fast-paced combat in a brand new and unique setting. ASTRAL CHAIN has been scheduled to release exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on August 30th.

In all of the hoopla of Microsoft's next-gen Xbox rumors and hype in the months leading up to E3 2019, the word on the street was that Microsoft was working on two next generation Xbox consoles -- Lockhart and Anaconda. Microsoft teased the crazy 8K-capable, 120Hz-capable, super-fast SSD, fully-decked Xbox at E3 2019 just last week.

Lockhart was the lesser Xbox that would've delivered mid-grade performance (comparable to an Xbox One S), while Anaconda was the higher-end Xbox that we eventually saw take form into Project Scarlett at E3 2019. Well, the latest news since E3 2019 is that the lower-end Lockhart console has been canceled, and Microsoft has shifted its focus fully into Project Scarlett and the world of high-end console dominance.

According to Brad Sams at Thurrott: "Microsoft's current plan for its next-generation Xbox is to focus on Scarlett and all mentions of Lockhart, which was previously documented in several places, has now been scrubbed clean". Sams continues, walking into his own question of "what prompted the change in the strategy?" Sams adds: "Talking with various people inside and outside of Microsoft, here is my best conclusion as to why the device was removed from the roadmap".

ASUS has just released what should be the best UltraWide gaming monitor ever with its ROG Swift PG35VQ monitor, a beasty 35-inch panel with a native 3840x1440 resolution and super-slick 200Hz refresh rate backed up by NVIDIA G-Sync HDR tech.

The previous-gen ASUS ROG Swift PG35Q rolled out with the same 3840x1440 resolution but with a 100Hz refresh rate, so the new ROG Swift PG35VQ speeding things up to a quite insane 200Hz (especially at this resolution) is huge. It has made the ROG Swift PG35VQ more expensive than current 4K 144Hz G-Sync displays, but you're getting that awesome 21:9 aspect gaming world opening up.

ASUS packs the ROG Swift PG35VQ with the 35-inch curved VA panel rocking out with a 4K-wide 3840x1440 resolution (up from the 3440x1440 on a 34-inch UltraWide) and all done using Quantum Dot technology. ASUS claims that it has "cinema-standard" DCI-P3 90% color gamut, too.

If there was an expensive-but-cool collector's edition game this year it would be Watch Dogs: Legion Collector's Edition which is available on all formats right now, exclusive to the official Ubisoft store.

Watch Dogs: Legion Collector's Edition includes the base game displayed in a beautiful exclusive steelbook case, but it arrives with a huge Lighting DED Coronet mask that looks amazing. You'll need some AA batteries to get the lights going, but man that would look awesome on display. The new Watch Dogs: Legion Collector's Edition also includes a double-sided poster, stickers, and the Season Pass and Ultimate Pack DLC content.

All of things rings up $189.99 on the Ubisoft store registers, while Watch Dogs: Legion Collector's Edition will launch on March 6, 2020 for the PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Stadia.

Intel let out quite the surprise today with its new Intel Performance Maximizer, a new on-click overclocking tool that currently supports 9th-gen CPUs for now and takes the hassle out of overclocking for those who don't want to bother about it in the BIOS.

The new Intel Performance Maximizer is available right now and supports the Core i9-9900K, Core i7-9700K, and the Core i5-9600K. Intel is also supporting the 'KF' versions of each of the CPUs, and I'm sure that in the coming weeks and months we'll see oodles of more CPUs supporting Intel Performance Maximizer. The new tool makes it super-easy for anyone to literally click a few buttons and have their CPU overclocked.

For those who want to squeeze absolutely everything out of their CPU, the new Intel Performance Maximizer won't stop you from going into the BIOS before booting into Windows and manually overclocking your CPU. This is kind of like the old days with the Turbo button on the front of the rig. Except, in software form. It is very similar to what AMD has done with its Ryzen Master Software suite, and will be important for Intel going forward, too.

Bethesda consulted directly with SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk to help form and shape its new interstellar IP Starfield.

Starfield is Bethesda's first new IP in decades. The so-called singleplayer space epic is "incredibly ambitious," and set in a future where space travel is advanced, but not like Star Trek with its comfortable warp speeds. Space exploration will still be quite dangerous in Starfield. This setting is a new frontier for Bethesda and to help get the details right and flesh out its new jaunt into the stars, Todd Howard talked to Elon Musk about everything space, from technology and physics to planets and faster-than-light travel.

"Starfield is further in the future [than today]," Todd Howard said in a recent E3 Coliseum stream with Elon Musk, and further hints advanced tech like autonomous vehicles could be in the game.

How do you make an amazing RPG even better? With mods of course. Breath of the Wild is no different, and has dramatically expanded in size and scope thanks to user-created mods and emulation.

The vanilla verison of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is already one of the best RPGs on the market, but like Skyrim or Fallout 4, it only gets better with mods. Thanks to the Wii U emulator Cemu, players are able to load up custom textures, files, and even dungeons made by other talented gamers. Mods open up new doorways like experiencing Hyrule completely in first-person, adding tons of new weapons and armors, and even spicing things up with costumes and different characters.

Modders are now rolling out custom-themed dungeons and shrines in a bid to make Breath of the Wild feel more like older Zelda games. The first dungeon, the Sky Maze created by HailToDodongo, is set on a floating fortress in the sky. You'll run around and solve puzzles with various abilities (like other dungeons) in the lengthy sky-dungeon, and even tackle a boss at the end.

Just yesterday an EA rep said lootboxes are just "surprise mechanics" that are quite "fun and ethical." Now company CEO Andrew Wilson promises to be more transparent about its blind-bag monetization tactics and keep divulging the odds to players.

EA makes billions every year from selling games, and hundreds of millions from its lucrative live services (it earned $845 million from live services in Q4'19). EA's sports games that use randomized lootboxes are their most profitable (FIFA Ultimate Team consistently makes the lion's share of monetization earnings every year). Now with the world's major governments taking a closer look at gaming addiction, gambling, and skewed live services aimed at nickle and diming players with psychological tactics, big-name publishers like EA find themselves in a bind.

The solution? To simply adapt to the market and "do something else" if regulators find its monetization practices illegal or unacceptable. Up until that point EA CEO Andrew Wilson says the company will continue being as transparent as possible. To EA's credit, the company has started to reveal the odds of FIFA Ultimate Team's card packs.

Originally set for a Spring 2019 release, Friday the 13th's brings blood and guts to the Switch this August.

I'm still quite surprised Friday the 13th: The Game is coming to the Switch. The game pits eight players in a cat-and-mouse chase of predator and prey, one player controlling Jason while the others scramble around trying to outsmart the supernatural slayer. It's such a superviolent and visceral game full of brutal death scenes and horrifying thrills, and its arrival on the Switch shows just how much Nintendo's hybrid system has grown up.

The Friday the 13th: The Game Ultimate Slasher Edition Switch port is being handled by Nighthawk Interactive and comes with all post-release DLC and content released on previous platforms. The horror-fest will be available in a $40 retail version, and all of the content is neatly packed right onto the cartridge. Extras include a nifty poster and some emote and costume packs.