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Blizzard acquires patent for Overwatch 'Play of the Game'
One of the most iconic things about Overwatch has to be the 'play of the game' at the end of a match, luckily Blizzard has finally claimed it as theirs with a new patent.
Back in December 2016, Blizzard submitted this detailed patent claiming rights over the algorithm that scrapes the event log at the end of the game. This patent describes different 'play of the game' categories such as sharpshooter or life saver, each of the categories is represented by a score judged from a specific set of criteria calculated by the algorithm.
Taking the sharpshooter category as an example, numerous factors need to be considered in order to be rewarded with the most accurate 'play of the game.' Some of these factors include the range of the shot considering "A sniper character generally has an extremely long range and therefore the distance factor may be weighed less heavily when determining the sharpshooter score for a sniper shot. In addition, certain factors may be weighted higher than others due to drastically increasing the difficulty of the shots, such as shots where the player, the enemy, or both are airborne."
Continue reading: Blizzard acquires patent for Overwatch 'Play of the Game' (full post)
Hop to our 'Peter Rabbit' Blu-ray giveaway!
To celebrate the release of the feature length adaptation of 'Peter Rabbit' on home video, we have fifteen Blu-ray copies of the films to give away.
Peter Rabbit, the mischievous and adventurous hero who has captivated generations of readers, now takes on the starring role of his own cute, contemporary comedy with attitude. In the film, Peter's feud with Mr. McGregor (Domhnall Gleeson) escalates to greater heights than ever before as they rival for the affections of the warm-hearted animal lover who lives next door (Rose Byrne). James Corden, with playful spirit and wild charm, voices the character of Peter, alongside Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki and Daisy Ridley voicing the roles of the triplets, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail.
To go into the running to win a prize, post this article to your social media profiles, correctly answer the following question and send your postal address to ben at TweakTown dot com before the competition closes on June 30.
Continue reading: Hop to our 'Peter Rabbit' Blu-ray giveaway! (full post)
LG's new V40 smartphone will have not two, but FIVE cameras
I'm sure that 2019 is going to be the year of 10 cameras on a smartphone, with LG leading that charge with rumors for its new flagship smartphone, the V40.
LG's new V40 smartphone is rumored to feature an insane five cameras, but we don't know where they'll be split. I'm sure we'll see two up front and three on the back, with one of the front-facing cameras letting you unlock your V40 with your face. Android Police is reporting that the dual cameras up front on the V40 would allow for a 3D map of your face to be recorded, but they're not 100% on that rumor.
We should expect the first of three cameras on the back of the LG V40 smartphone to be a standard wide lens, followed by LG's signature ultrawide lens, and then a third mysterious snapper. Android Police ponders it "could be a zoom lens, or it could be dedicated to bokeh or depth of field effects - we're really not sure. Either way, add them all up and you've got a phone with five camera sensors. This would be the first major smartphone I'm aware of packing that many shooters".
Continue reading: LG's new V40 smartphone will have not two, but FIVE cameras (full post)
Overwatch update lets you endorse kick ass teammates
Seriously, there is nothing worse than a crappy teammate who doesn't join the team voice chat in Overwatch and then does a crappy job at their position in the game, losing that precious SR. Well, the latest update to Overwatch should do a great job at escaping that crap.
Blizzard has introduced their new Endorsements system for Overwatch, which is similar to the Honor system in League of Legends, where you'll receive additional XP if players endorce your great teamwork. There are five Endorsement levels to work through, with rewards the entire way. As a Mercy main, I might finally feel special at the end of a round after I've healed my team by 20-25K. Yay!
Better than that, is that you shouldn't get stuck with a badly composed team with Blizzard offering up a new Looking For Group option that will let you find a team with your own options. This will include options for specific roles, overall team composition, and Endorsement levels. You can merge with other groups as well, so you shouldn't be stuck with some noob who drags your SR down.
Continue reading: Overwatch update lets you endorse kick ass teammates (full post)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 1000 could see Intel facing MORE drama
Qualcomm has quite the chip coming in the form of the purported Snapdragon 1000, which according to the latest information, could be quite the performance powerhouse that could compete against AMD and Intel on the desktop.
Snapdragon 1000 is a new SoC that will have a much larger TDP than previous mobile-oriented designs, with up to 16GB of LPDDR4X RAM, 256GB of storage, gigabit WLAN, and a new power management chip that Qualcomm is super-tight-lipped about. All of this is mixing into a world that could see Qualcomm competing against Intel in the PC market more ferociously than ever before.
Qualcomm has reportedly already started seeding out Snapdragon 1000-based devices to developers and manufacturers through a test platform, reports WinFuture. These kits rock 16GB of RAM and two 128GB storage modules, as well as the connectivity chops to handle gigabit network speeds.
Continue reading: Qualcomm Snapdragon 1000 could see Intel facing MORE drama (full post)
Fortnite's new Playground: the next big change for Fortnite
Fortnite almost reinvented itself with its Battle Royale mode, and it seems Epic Games is about to do it again with the new update to Fortnite with Playground.
Playground sounds exactly like you'd expect, it'll be a place where you and your friends will load into a private island where you can do whatever you want. Want to practice new weapons? Sure. Need to practice your building skills? Go for it. There's no one in that server but you and your friends.
Since there won't be any time restrictions in Fortnite's new Playground mode, the buildings and structures created should be wondrous. We could be looking at some Minecraft-level stuff here, so I'm expecting some weird and whacky creations to show up on YouTube and Twitch in the coming months.
Continue reading: Fortnite's new Playground: the next big change for Fortnite (full post)
What if next-gen Xbox family includes a streaming-only box?
Microsoft is working on a new family of consoles (codenamed Scarlett), but what if the hardware ring includes a streaming-only set top box?
Xbox division head Phil Spencer confirmed two major things at E3 2018 outside of games: multiple Xbox consoles are in development, and that Microsoft wants to bring games to "anyone, anywhere" with a new game streaming initiative. Both of these are likely still in fledgling states as the company ramps up technology plans as well as tweaking its online cloud infrastructure, so it's too soon to tell on either front. But combining Microsoft's current gaming business model with past reports leads to some interesting guesses. What if the Scarlett family includes a low-cost Xbox Mini?
Way back in 2016, Windows Central reported that Microsoft was testing streaming-only devices that would play Xbox games and run Windows 10 UWP apps. Codenamed Project Hobart, the devices would come in two flavors: an HDMI stick and a set-top box. The idea was to make low-cost devices that could play games, run apps, and serve as a TV-based multimedia inlet to consume content.
Continue reading: What if next-gen Xbox family includes a streaming-only box? (full post)
Xbox Game Pass actually sparks full game sales
Xbox Game Pass subscribers are actually buying more games--something that surprised Microsoft's gaming head Phil Spencer.
We've known for a while now that Xbox is no longer a console. Instead it's a service that bridges multiple devices like Xbox consoles and Windows PCs (and soon smartphones via streaming) with a deep, engagement-driven web of game sales, online content, and subscriptions all tied neatly together with Xbox LIVE. Microsoft has laid the foundations for a decades-long, billion-dollar strategy, and subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass are paving the way for the future. The real beauty of this strategy is that everything bleeds into one another to make a surprisingly mutualistic synergy.
For example, Microsoft's successful $10 a month Xbox Game Pass subscription is actually pushing more game sales.
Continue reading: Xbox Game Pass actually sparks full game sales (full post)
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for Switch launch trailer
The port of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy coming to the Nintendo Switch is just around the corner and ahead of the release a brand new launch trailer has debuted.
The trailer has been released on the Crash Bandicoot YouTube Channel and showcases that players will be able to "Go Anywhere" and "Crash Everything."
If you missed out on the first new level coming to Crash Bandicoot in 20 years titled 'Future Tense' check it out here. For further information regarding Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy visit the official website here.
Continue reading: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for Switch launch trailer (full post)
Bethesda release 'West Virginia Gameplay' for Fallout 76
A gameplay trailer was released yesterday for Bethesda's Fallout 76, the trailer welcomes players to the West Virgina regions.
The gameplay was originally revealed at this years E3 during Bethesda's Showcase but now it has been uploaded on the official Bethesda Softworks YouTube Channel. The video details that Fallout 76 will be bringing all new graphical features throughout the six regions located in West Virgina. These improvements include improved lighting and landscape technology that has given Bethesda the opportunity to bring players 16x the detail and 4x times the map size compared to Fallout 4.
Fallout 76 is planned for release on November 14th, for more information on Fallout 76 visit the official Fallout websitehere.
Continue reading: Bethesda release 'West Virginia Gameplay' for Fallout 76 (full post)
DOTA 2 team kicked from $15 million championship for macros
A brand new eSports scandal has surfaced, this time a DOTA 2 team has been kicked out of running for a $15 million prize pool for a player using macros throughout a game.
Motherboard has reported that Valve has disqualified a South American Peruvian DOTA 2 team called Thunder Predator from The International 2018. The removal was under the pre-tense of the player Atun using macros. Atun was using the Razer Synapse software to program mouse keys, allowing him to teleport several character clones at once which is not possible without some kind of manual configuration software.
The team that has been busted has spoken out against the removal and has denied any use of macros but has said that "manual configuration" is used "to be able to have a better use of hardware." Thunder Predator has taken to Facebook to give a full statement on the matter, saying "The player of our squadron 'Atún' has a Razer Synapse mouse, which, like any professional player, has put its own manual configuration to be able to have a better use of Hardware in benefit of its efficient performance in each of the games played with this hero (Meepo)" If you wish to view the full statement visit the Facebook post here.
Continue reading: DOTA 2 team kicked from $15 million championship for macros (full post)
NVIDIA's next-gen GPU with GDDR6 spotted, could be Turing
It seems NVIDIA is ramping up towards something big with a new prototype turning up just days after the company celebrated Alan Turing's birthday, we have a picture of a prototype board of a next-gen GPU.
The board in question has 3 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and 12 modules of Micron's super-fast GDDR6 technology on-board, as well as what seems like NVLink connectivity at the top. There's no GPU on the board itself, but with the 12 modules of GDDR6 we could see a next-gen GeForce GTX 1180 with 12GB of GDDR6 RAM.
This might not be a new GeForce GPU, and could be a new Tesla (based on Turing). From what I've been told the new GeForce will be a heavily refined Pascal GPU architecture named Ampere, while the GPU to succeed Volta will be Turing. This could very well be a Turing-based card being tested with GDDR6, mostly for the strange connectivity at the top of the board, which could be NVLink.
Continue reading: NVIDIA's next-gen GPU with GDDR6 spotted, could be Turing (full post)
No plans for previous Wolfenstein games debuting to Switch
Panic Button, the development studio behind the port of Wolfenstein II coming to the Nintendo Switch has revealed they have no plans for previous Wolfenstein titles.
Adam Creighton, Panic Button Studio Head spoke with GameSpot to reveal some details. According to Creighton, there is "not currently" any plans for porting over previous Wolfenstein titles such as Wolfenstein: The New Order or any of the respective DLC content. Creighton says that for this to happen a conversation between Bethesda and Nintendo needs to be had, calling it "a Bethesda discussion."
Continuing on, Creighton does say that him and his studio are "totally up for anything" and this would include The New Order. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus will be arriving on the Nintendo Switch June 29th, if you missed out on the Nintendo Switch overview trailer check it out here.
Continue reading: No plans for previous Wolfenstein games debuting to Switch (full post)
Rockstar announce GTA Online Nightclub expansion, July debut
Last month Rockstar teased a Nightclub expansion for GTA Online through a cryptic message, now the rumor has actually come true with the DLC planned for release sometime in July.
Rockstar has taken to their blog to announce the new content update, saying "Thanks to the efforts of one well-known, well-connected and somewhat financially sound impresario the underground dance club scene is about to blow open in July."
Players will be able to enjoy the music from Solomun, Tale Of Us, Dixon and The Black Madonna. While also running your very own Nightclub from the managerial position as a business. This means players will have control over design, setup, staffing, promotion, location and of course money laundering. "Management is honest work, a tidy way to keep income from your more seedy ventures with Disruption Logistics, The Open Road, SecuroServ and Free Trade Shipping Co. looking clean as fresh laundry."
Continue reading: Rockstar announce GTA Online Nightclub expansion, July debut (full post)
Samsung Galaxy S10 rumor: in-display fingerprint sensor
Samsung should unveil its next-gen Galaxy S10 in early 2019, and while I expect it to roll out with 5G connectivity, the in-display fingerprint sensor will be a big talking point.
Korean outlet The Bell is reporting that Samsung will use an in-display fingerprint sensor, as the company isn't ordering Iris scanners from its normal suppliers. Samsung will most likely use facial recognition through a 3D-sensing camera that would have a higher layer of security over just a front-facing camera or Iris scanner.
Samsung will have lots of surprises in store for the Galaxy S10 since its a huge milestone for the company, and I think they'll pull out all the stops for its launch. Apple tried with the iPhone X that didn't really seem to take off, so Samsung will be pushing things to the extreme with the Galaxy S10, if it's even called that.
Continue reading: Samsung Galaxy S10 rumor: in-display fingerprint sensor (full post)
Xbox Scarlet should be 60FPS minimum, super-fast load times
Now that we know a next-gen Xbox is in development, currently known as Project Scarlet, we have no idea about what performance or new features to expect from Microsoft's next-gen Xbox family.
During an interview with Giant Bomb, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that there is two things that Microsoft wants to focus on with Project Scarlet, the first are frame rates, and the second is loading times. Spencer said: "I think frame rate is an area where consoles can do more. When you look at the balance between CPU and GPU in today's consoles they're a little bit out of whack relative to what's on the PC side".
Spencer isn't a fan of download and loading times on current games, while install times have gone through the roof for some of the new games with massive worlds, 4K resolution and higher resolution textures. There are plenty of the games already on the market, and plenty in development that are driving past 50GB and getting into the 100GB area.
Continue reading: Xbox Scarlet should be 60FPS minimum, super-fast load times (full post)
Bitdefender BOX: Hardware Protection from IoT Attacks
This is a hard one to explain because people think that most security is done either on your PC (with software) or on your router (hardware protection). But, this is where Bitdefender steps in with their hardware offering in the Bitdefender BOX 2, the successor to the original BOX device.
The new BOX is the same hardware security appliance that the original one was, which works with your modem or router, but it can also function as the router if you don't already have one.
BOX can protect your various devices that are running Windows, Mac OS or Android... but it can also protect iOS devices, Kindle-based devices, smart TVs, consoles, smart thermostats, and any other internet-connected device. It's not just a simple solution, it's an all-round security solution.
Continue reading: Bitdefender BOX: Hardware Protection from IoT Attacks (full post)
Nintendo discuss Metroid Prime 4/Yoshi/Pokemon progression
Nintendo has sat down with IGN to discuss some major franchises that the company didn't show off at this years E3 2018. Metroid Prime 4, Yoshi and Pokemon 2019 for the Nintendo Switch have had some details revealed.
IGN has been lucky enough to sit down with Nintendo's Senior Product Marketing Manager, Bill Trinen to discuss some titles that weren't showcased at this years E3 2018. Starting off we have the upcoming Yoshi game for the Nintendo Switch, according to Trinen the title has "actually been making really good progress. They decided they wanted to make some improvements, so they're going to take just a little bit more time on it and that's why we're not showing it this year at the show." Trinen also said that later throughout 2018 we can expect to hear some updates for Yoshi, this will mostly come in around September - December region.
Moving onto Metroid Prime 4 and Pokemon 2019, Trinen has said that instead of re-showing what was revealed at last years E3, Nintendo instead wanted to concerntrate on displaying what was almost finished. Here is what Trinen said when asked about Metroid Prime 4 and Pokemon 2019, "There was other stuff that we probably could have included in E3, but is probably a bit further out, and so we decided to really kind of keep the focus a little bit more on between now and early 2019, which I think you saw some hints of there with a couple of games." He finished up by saying "We'll just show stuff when we're ready to show it and really, right now, the focus is on two big games in the form of Smash and Pokemon [Let's Go Eevee and Let's Go Pikachu]."
Continue reading: Nintendo discuss Metroid Prime 4/Yoshi/Pokemon progression (full post)
Total War dev Creative Assembly working on tactical FPS
Total War developers Creative Assembly have posted a new job-listing on their website, the listing is asking for a senior employee to lead new unannounced title.
According to this job-listing, Creative Assembly is looking for a "Senior UI Artist" to work on a "a new unannounced IP."
The job-listing also reveals what genre of game Creative Assembly are looking to build, "a brand-new and exciting First Person Tactical Shooter IP" is currently in the works. If you are interested in checking out the official job-listing visit the official Creative Assembly website here.
Continue reading: Total War dev Creative Assembly working on tactical FPS (full post)
NVIDIA Tensor Core GPUs power 5 out of 7 best supercomputers
NVIDIA truly dominates the AI supercomputer race with its Tensor Core GPUs, and now the company has announced today that the world's top AI supercomputers are ALL powered by NVIDIA Tensor Core GPUs.
The new list of the world's 500 fastest systems sees NVIDIA taking the top spots with Tensor Core GPUs, with the two latest AI supercomputers securing the #1 and #3 spots of the world's fastest supercomputers with Summit, and Sierra, respectively. The fastest supercomputer in Japan, ABCI, is also powered by NVIDIA Tensor Core GPUs.
GPUs now power 5 out of 7 of the world's fastest systems, and better yet NVIDIA Tensor Core GPUs power 17 of the 20 most energy efficient systems on the GREEN500 list. Most of the GREEN500 systems are NVIDIA GPUs, just the nail the point home that NVIDIA dominates the supercomputer market.
Continue reading: NVIDIA Tensor Core GPUs power 5 out of 7 best supercomputers (full post)






















