Latest News - Page 2016

Fortnite is kicking off its huge Season 6 update which Epic Games is calling Darkness Rises, and is pushed out now. There are massive changes that are taking place in Fortnite, some of which includes Halloween-themed goods.

There are new skins, a new spooky map update, and the new Shadow Stones. Fortnite S6's new Shadow Stones turn the player into a living shadow if you consume them, which is a big change to the game. While you're in Shadow Form, you won't be able to use weapons but you'll be invisible to enemies if you stay still. This is a big game changer, that's for sure.

In Fortnite Battle Royale, the new Season 6 'Darkness Rises' changes a lot. Here's what you can expect:

Ace Combat 7 will be released in early 2019, with Bandai Namco Entertainment announcing the official PC requirements for the game last week, with some tame requirements.

The developer only recommends an Intel Core i5-7500, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 3GB of RAM to run the game. The minimum PC requirements are super-low, with Ace Combat 7 only requiring an Intel Core i3-7100, 4GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti with 2GB of RAM. You'll need 60GB of HDD space, too.

NVIDIA has released some exclusive 4K gameplay footage of Ace Combat 7 running on the PC, powered by the last-gen GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. The company also talked about some of the graphical features inside of the PC version of Ace Combat 7, as well as recommendations on the best graphics cards to run Ace Combat 7 at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions.

NVIDIA has just released its new GeForce Game Ready 411.70 WHQL drivers, which you can download right here. The new drivers offer Game Ready support for Forza Horizon 4, FIFA 19, and Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

These new drivers are tuned for the GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards, with the GeForce 411.70 WHQL drivers having CUDA 10.0 support included. The new GeForce 411.70 WHQL drivers also has improved or added SLI profiles, these include:

Download the new drivers here. Be careful though, the new drivers are over 500MB.

MSI has announced two new GeForce RTX 20 series graphics cards with its next-gen Sea Hawk EK X series with the new flagship MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Sea Hawk EK X that features a beyond gorgeous EKWB water block.

MSI has also revealed the new RTX 2080 Ti Sea Hawk X, with both of the cards featuring identical specs in terms of GPU base and boost clocks, and GDDR6 clocks. We have Turing GPU boost clocks of up to 1755MHz (13.6% faster than RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition) on both cards, while both cards have a 300W TDP (up from 250W on the FE). Both cards have the same clocks as the air-cooled MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X TRIO.

It's a damn tall card, but man does that EK water block look amazing.

AMD will unleash their next-gen Navi GPU architecture in 2019, something the engineers at Radeon Technologies Group worked directly with Sony on for the next-gen PlayStation 5... but what about post-Navi? We're now hearing about a new GPU architecture for 2020 and beyond called Arcturus.

AMD's purported next-gen Arcturus GPU architecture has been teased by an AMD employee on the Phoronix Forums, with this person adding that a new line up of graphics cards will continue using the older Radeon naming scheme versus the one used for Vega. This means we shouldn't expect the new cards to be called Radeon RX Navi or Radeon RX Arcturus, and rather Radeon RX 680 and Radeon RX 780, I guess?

The new Arcturus codename continues the star theme that started with Polaris and continued with Vega, right into Navi and now the purported Arcturus GPU architecture codename. The AMD staffer said: "We are going back to real codenames where possible (ie where it's not already too late to change), and trying to keep the old "the name vaguely suggests HW generation so it will be easier to remember in the future" model. The first new codename should be Arcturus".

Fallout 76 will tap optional microtransactions to enable a steady roadmap of free updates and new features. That means a special currency to grab cosmetics.

We've known for a while that Fallout 76 will be monetized via cosmetic-only items rather than lootboxes or other exploitative-style mechanics, and now we have new details on how this will work. According to the updated FAQ, Bethesda's new online-only Fallout game will dole out a currency called Atoms that can be used to buy various customization options--things like outfits, skins, haircuts, etc. Atoms are earned by completing specific goals and tasks, and will add another form of engagement that rewards players for organic progression. Gamers can also buy atoms with real money to save time or unlock cosmetics right away.

"While you play Fallout 76, you'll earn a currency called Atoms by completing various gameplay challenges and achievements. This currency can be used to acquire in-game cosmetic customization items for your character, earnable entirely by playing the game," reads the FAQ.

Fallout 76's anticipated beta test is on its way, and Xbox One owners will get a decent head start over PS4 and PC users.

Any live service game needs multiple testing phases to collect valuable data and tweak online code before release. Fallout 76, Bethesda's new online-only experimental Fallout game, is no different, and will have a closed pre-order only beta test that comes first to Xbox One on October 23, and then to PS4 and PC on October 30. But this early access isn't as big as you'd think. The beta won't actually run continuously every day for the entire week, and will instead go live for periods of 4 to 8 hours at a time.

"During the B.E.T.A. one of our primary goals is to stress test and break the game. As such, the servers will not be running 24/7; instead, they'll be online during targeted timeframes so we can get as many people as possible playing at the same time. Why? Because that's the best way put all our systems to the test and see how they respond," reads Fallout 76's updated FAQ page.

Carbine Studios, the developer behind the PC MMO Steam title WildStar has officially announced when its game will be closing its doors. On November 28th the title will be switched off.

In a post to the Steam Community it has been detailed what Carbine Studios will be doing before they shutdown there game. The developers mention that they will be honoring the players that have been apart of the WildStar community by refunding all recent purchases. They will also be adding a "final update" to the game.

It seems from the blog post that Carbine Studios really wants to send their game off well for the remainder of their community. Much respect is deserved to the developers for giving a solid roadmap to their playerbase, it also seems from what is planned that there will be a bunch of fun had leading to the closure of the title. Below I have provided the roadmap for WildStar players, if you are interested in reading the official Steam post, visit that here.

To coincide with the two DLC character releases, Bandai Namco and Arc System Works have released a brand new free content update to Dragon Ball FighterZ. The update brings additions to the online ranking systsm and adds a new stage.

After this update is downloaded players will be able to enjoy the brand new stage titled Galactic Arena. While fighting on the stage players should notice that their character of choices' portrait is displayed on the massive screens behind them for the crowd to see, screenshots have been provided below. The update will also be bringing new levels to the online ranking system, making the climb to the top much more difficult for players.

Also included within this update is the implementation of Seasonal Z Capsules, players will have to acquire these new capsules in order to purchase custom lobby characters and colored costumes. Since Halloween is the first event we are coming towards some of the content that will be available will be Halloween themed. Dragon Ball FighterZ is currently available on the PS4, Xbox One and PC. A Nintendo Switch release is planned for September 28th, if you missed out on the news about that, visit this post.

A new story trailer for Starlink: Battle for Atlas has flown onto the Nintendo YouTube Channel, we see Fox McCloud and a crew of heroic interstellar pilots ready to save the universe.

In Starlink: Battle for Atlas, players will be saving the Atlas star solar system from invaders titled the Forgotten Legion which are a bunch of evil robots. Players will be able to construct their very own unique Starship model, choose different parts to equip to the craft, pick their own crew and tackle their missions their own way.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas will also allow players to play as the famous Fox McCloud for the entire of the game, if you happened to miss that story check it out here. Starlink: Battle for Atlas will be released exclusively on the Nintendo Switch, for further information regarding the title, visit the official Starlink website here.

Sensor Tower has broken down the statistics regarding the recent release of Nintendo Switch Online, from the results we can see that Nintendo Switch Online has caused a 76% spike in downloads for the Nintendo Switch Online app, when compared to the previous week.

From the Sensor Tower results, the release of Nintendo Switch Online on September 18th caused the total figure of Nintendo Switch Online app users to be raised to about quarter of the total Nintendo Switch users. With there being around 20 million total Nintendo Switch users, this means that there are now currently 5 million Nintendo Switch Online app users, 33 and 30 percent of those 5 million users are from Japan and the United States. Platform wise, 60 percent was obtained from Google Play and the following 40 percent was sourced from the App Store.

Looking towards the weekly rise in downloads, the week before the launch of Nintendo Switch Online there was only 70,000 downloads of the app worldwide. After the release of Nintendo Switch Online there was a 123,000 new downloads, this means that there was a 76 percent increase when compared to the previous week. If you would like to view the full breakdown on the Sensor Tower website, visit it here.

All Smash Bros. fans are all wondering how many, and what newcomers will be revealed before the official launch of Ultimate. Well, Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai has said that the company may have got slightly "trigger happy" with the reveals so things may slow down a bit.

Masahiro Sakurai has taken to his weekly column in the magazine Famitsu, within his content piece he addresses what Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fans should expect announcement wise leading up towards the December release. Here is what he had to say: "We announced Isabelle in the Nintendo Direct... however, it would be a mistake to think that the new character announcements will keep going [at this pace] until Smash Bros. [Ultimate] releases. We may have been a little trigger-happy so we'll be living modestly from here on out."

This information is not surprising at all, we have seen quite a lot of announcements for the coming smash title, to summarize we have seen five newcomers within the last couple of months. Inklings, Ridley, Simon Belmont, King K. Rool and the most recent announcement Isabelle. Not to mention the echo fighters we have also acquired, for those that don't remember we have got Daisy, Dark Samus, Chrom and Richter Belmont.

Oculus unveiled their mobile-friendly Oculus Quest VR headset for $399, but the VR giant also announced some new projects - one of which was a trailer for the upcoming three-part series Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series.

Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series has been made by ILMxLAB, which announced back in 2016 that it was working with writer David S. Goyer on a VR experience starring Darth Vader. We don't know what you'll be doing inside of the VR experience, but they're clear on it not being a game with Oculus explaining Vader Immortal is a "VR story series, not a game".

Some might remember the previous Star Wars VR experience 'Trials on Tatooine' which was a lightsaber VR experience that was kinda cool, as well as Star W ars: Secrets of the Empire and its immersive VR installation in the collaboration with The Void.

Samsung has announced it is sponsoring the PUBG Mobile Star Challenge (PMSC) which is a global PUBG tournament being hosted for popular streamers. There's a huge $600,000 prize pool and official streaming contracts behind it, so gamers will be wanting to be playing at their best in PUBG.

The $600,000 prize pool will include a $200,000 chunk going to the #1 winner, while the runner up enjoys a nice $100,000. Coming third won't be so bad, with $50,000 up for grabs while the fourth and fifth places will receive $20,000 and $10,000 respectively.

PMSC isn't open to the public but locked to players with over 1000 followers on streaming or social media, and will need to register in a 4-person squad. One player from the squad is the only one who needs to have 1000 followers/likes, with the newly-formed team needing to compete in 15 patches with the top 10 matches to be included in the final result. Once you've registered your 4-player squad, the 15 matches after you've registered will count towards the PMSC.

Apple is making some serious coin with its new iPhone XS Max, with TechInsights breaking down the new smartphone and seeing how much the components inside cost. The estimates come to $443 for the 256GB version of the iPhone XS Max, which is on shelves for $1099.

The previous-gen iPhone X in 64GB cost $395.44 in components, so the larger NAND on the iPhone XS coming in 256GB is costing more, but so are some of the other chips on the phone. The display on the new iPhone XS Max is the most expensive part of the smartphone costing $80.50 while the A12 processor and modems come in at $72 while storage is the third most expensive part of the new iPhone XS Max coming in at $64.

The cameras on the iPhone XS Max cost $44 while the housing and mechanical components cost $55, with all prices for all components being higher than the iPhone X because the iPhone XS Max is a larger phone with a 6.5-inch display.

Qualcomm is NOT happy right now, claiming that Apple has sold its wireless technology over the last few years so that it could unshackle itself from requiring any use of Qualcomm as a company. But the claims get worse: Apple has allegedly stolen Qualcomm IP and handed it to Intel to help super-power their seriously bad 4G/5G modem technology.

Given that Apple sells hundreds of millions of iPhones per year, the requirement of paying Qualcomm for any modem IP in every single iPhone, this move - if proven, would mean Apple doesn't want to pay anything to Qualcomm and will instead steal everything and hand it to their competition. Intel's entire modem business has been disappointing over the years, while Qualcomm makes leaps and bounds with its various IP, especially the upcoming 5G tech.

Apple has previously stated that Qualcomm was abusing its position as the market leader with smartphone modems, as they didn't like the large fees it had to pay the San Diego-based giant. Qualcomm made some of these claims in 2017 but wasn't as harsh as they are now, which it seems with more information on-hand. Qualcomm is now saying that Apple knowingly, and continually shared its modem secrets with Intel, which is a game changer.

Devil May Cry 5 will be optimized on Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro (and likely the Xbox One X too) Capcom confirms.

Smooth FPS is always important in lightning-fast precision-based games like Devil May Cry. Luckily Capcom has tweaked its stylish new DMC5 with this in mind, tapping its new REngine to do so. Capcom producer Matt Walker confirmed the sequel will leverage the PS4 Pro's power to hit 4K resolution at 60FPS, but exact details weren't given. Based on the Pro's specs, we're betting the game will run at upscaled 4K and use dynamic resolution scaling to hit a steady 60 frames-per-second.

If the PS4 Pro gets support, we're also betting the Xbox One X will get a patch too. DMC5 may even run better on Microsoft's higher-end console thanks to its extra power...but it's still probably upscaled anyway.

Niantic's mobile hit Pokemon Go has raked in billions since its launch in 2016.

AR juggernaut Pokemon Go has made $2 billion through in-app purchases to date, analyst firm Apptopia reports. This represents a $200 million revenue increase from its earnings in July. Niantic's consistently strong understanding of how to engage players worldwide is responsible for these earnings--Pokemon Go is constantly updated with events, new features, and more to keep players active.

Japan currently spends the most money on Pokemon Go, which folds in with the region's strong mobile gaming focus. The firm says Japan makes 33.5% of total Pokemon Go revenues whereas the United States makes 27.5%. The game reached the $2 billion earnings milestone in 811 days, beating out competitors like Clash Royale and Candy Crush within the same period.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a big game that's teeming with tons of NPCs, wild animals, dynamic weather, and other open-world features...so it shouldn't be surprising it requires over 100GB of install space. But it still is.

According to the back of Sony's RDR2 PS4 Pro bundle, the Western sequel-that's-actually-a-prequel will need a minimum of 105GB HDD space. We're not sure if this includes the upcoming Red Dead Online multiplayer mode or if the size is just for the singleplayer campaign, and I'm wondering if the PS4 Pro version is larger than the PS4 flavor due to its extra visual effects. Rockstar will hold a beta for Red Dead Online in November, and the mode is expected to blur co-op and competitive with narrative storylines. It'll also feature 2-32 player action, the box says.

Doing a quick bit of math shows Red Dead Redemption 2 will take up roughly 11% of a PS4 Pro's 1TB hard drive (which is actually 931GB), and almost 23% of a base PS4's 500GB hard drive (actually 465GB).

Microsoft will soon enable full mouse and keyboard support options to developers for Xbox games.

Consoles have had mouse and keyboard functionality for a while now, but it's not always what you'd expect or want. Some games like FFXIV on PS4 support both mouse and keyboard, and you can use a USB keyboard to type on Xbox One, PS4 and even the Nintendo Switch...but what about a more universal system? Microsoft is laying the foundations for such a feature.

Soon Xbox developers will be able to integrate into their games the kind of precision controls PC gamers enjoy everyday. Microsoft is careful to say that developers will have full and complete control on how they add keyboard and mouse support into their titles, if it happens at all. Warframe will be one of the first games tested in the Xbox Insider program (a program whose updates incidentally soft-bricked my Xbox One console twice).