Latest News - Page 2103

Monster Hunter: World will be hitting consoles in the next couple of weeks, but PC gamers will have to wait a little longer as the developer has taken to Twitter saying that the PC port of the game won't be released until Autumn.

The official Twitter account of Monster Hunter tweeted the news yesterday, where they said: "#MHWorld is currently being optimized for PC and is planned for an Autumn 2018 release!"

Now that the developer has nearly an entire year until the promised PC port of Monster Hunter: World, we should expect a much smoother and more optimized game. There have been plenty of multi-platform games that have launched over the last few years that have required not just day-one updates, but 50GB+ updates that fix the PC ports up after they are released.

It looks like we are to expect graphics card prises to rise in the next few months, with these inflated prices lasting throughout most of 2018, something that is being amplified by cryptocurrency mining.

According to DigiTimes, graphics card vendors are expected to increase the price of mid/high-end graphics cards by $5-$20 in the "near future to reflect increasing product costs caused by the tight supply of memory devices and GPUs". DigiTimes continued, saying: "Since demand for graphics cards from the cryptocurrency mining segment has not waned as quickly as expected, GPU supply remains tight in the first quarter of 2018".

The site adds that companies like ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI all "benefited from the cryptocurrency mining demand and their shipments dropped only mildly in the fourth quarter of 2017", adding: "Meanwhile, graphics card upgrade demand has been picking up in the gaming sector thanks to the recent release of the blockbuster game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Demand has been especially strong from China due to the game's strong popularity".

AMD is expected to launch its next-gen Ryzen 2 processors and new 400-series chipset in March, according to retailers in Japan, who are citing upstream suppliers, according to the latest rumors.

Until now, previous rumors stated that AMD would be launching their new Ryzen 2 processors and 400-series chipsets in February. But the new Pinnacle Ridge architecutre will be expected to launch as optical shrinks of the current-gen Summit Ridge tech, down to the spiffy new 12nm process.

AMD's new Ryzen 2 processors will be built on the same socket AM4 package, and should work with existing 300-series motherboards with BIOS updates from manufacturers. The new 400-series motherboards should support current-gen Ryzen processors out-of-the-box as well as the upcoming Raven Ridge APUs, which 300-series motherboard owners will need an update for.

CES 2018 - Samsung has kicked off CES 2018 a little earlier this year with a quick reveal of their next-gen mobile processor, Exynos 8910, which will be a direct competitor to Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 845 that the company detailed last month in Hawaii.

Samsung's new Exynos 9810 processor packs 8 CPU cores that are divided into two CPU clusters, with the first being 4 high-performance CPU cores clocked at 2.9GHz, while the other 4 cores are energy-efficient CPU cores. Samsung says it has made considerable improvements to the CPU architecture, improving cache memory as well.

The company is teasing a huge 2x increase in single-core perofrmance, while there's an even bigger 40% performance jump for multi-core performance compared to its predecessor. Samsung is also tapping neural networks to improve deep learning algorithms, meaning Exynos 9810-powered devices will be even better at recognizing people and specific elements in photos... perfect for the CIA.

Battlegrounds players on PC will be receiving a small update today that they are encouraged by PUBG Corp to download immediately as this small patch will be fixing the client crashes while in the menu of the game as well as the long-range hits not registering properly.

PUBG was recently updated to v1.0 and ever since it has been filled with problems, with gamers complaining about server lag and rubber banding amongst other problems, but the developer has been quick to smooth out these issues to provide a better Battlegrounds experience.

As the 1.0 patch hit the live servers, Battlegrounds' momentum didn't seem to be slowing down, as a new record milestone of 3 million concurrent players had been reached.

Pokemon GO has finally been confirmed to be on its way to one of the largest gamer bases on the planet, China. John Hanke, the CEO of developer Niantic has told Financial Times that the game is on its way to the country but unfortunately did not reveal any specific time.

John Hanke's development company Niantic is currently working with NetEase to bring Pokemon GO to China. NetEast, the Chinese games company that has previously worked with massive titles such as Blizzard's World of Warcraft and Overwatch and has successfully brought them to China despite the countries extreme regulations.

"We absolutely intend to bring our existing games into China, beyond that, there are opportunities to build games in China, both for China and for the world." said Hanke.

Psyonix, Rocket League developer, has announced on Twitter that their very unique sports car racing game has surpassed a massive 40 million players across all platforms.

For those of you that don't know, Rocket League is a physics-based multi-player game in which players can choose from a variety of vehicles each equipped with unique boosters that propel the cars into scoring goals. Much like a soccer game but with vehicles Rocket League was released in 2015 and has been one of Steam'S most popular games since, currently it is on sale for 40% off over the course of the new year and festive season, coming in at a very cheap $11.99.

"Rocket League now has 40 MILLION players worldwide! Thank you to our ever-growing community for helping us start the new year with such a fantastic milestone."

In the East African country of Rwanda, drones are flying through the sky with medical supplies like blood, thanks to a partnership between the Rwandan health ministry, and drone startup Zipline.

Zipline has already used drones to deliver over 5500 units of blood to aid crews working through remote areas, where medical supplies are near-impossible to f ind. The service is working with 12 hospitals that are all being accessed by the drone network, with these hospitals now able to provide treatment and life-saving aid to over 5 million people.

Drone deliveries make sense when you think that hospitals need a constant flow of fresh supplies on a regular basis, but without the proper infrastructure available, taking to the skies is the next best - and even better, thing.

If there's something I want to see in the next few years, it would be proper next-gen rollable displays, something that Samsung has been experimenting with for years.

The latest comes from Let's Go Digital, which after a patent filed in mid-June 2017, shows a new device that looks like a scroll, which packs a rollable display. Samsung's purported device would see you pull an OLED display out of a scroll-like device, rocking a fingerprint sensor on the side.

Something like this would change the tablet world as we know it, as these device would eventually receive thinner and better displays as technology progresses. The biggest hurdle would be batteries, and how thick this rollable 'tablet' would be in your pocket.

It was just 24 hours ago that I wrote a story covering Intel CPUs were exposed to a massive security flaw, something that had to be patched at the operating system level, and now most of Silicon Valley has responded.

These security vulnerabilities have been named Meltdown and Spectre, with a website dedicated to them available here. Strangely, there was an NDA placed on this website until January 9, but the NDA has been lifted and the site made live.

Intel and other technology companies have been made aware of new security research describing software analysis methods that, when used for malicious purposes, have the potential to improperly gather sensitive data from computing devices that are operating as designed. Intel believes these exploits do not have the potential to corrupt, modify or delete data.

There's a new plan being hatched between the Canadian government and AI firm Advanced Symbolics, where they have announced a new partnership that will work on predicting the rise of regional suicide risk by monitoring social media posts.

Advanced Symbolics will use their AI technology to predict which areas in Canada might see rises in suicidal behavior, something that includes in their contract documentation: "ideation (i.e., thoughts), behaviors (i.e., suicide attempts, self-harm, suicide) and communications (i.e., suicidal threats, plans)".

The Canadian government can then use this to spend more money on mental health resources in the right places, when needed. The project will start later this month, ending in June, with the AI firm monitoring social media accounts for three months during this trial period. After which, the Canadian government will see how successful the pilot was, and continue.

It was only a few days ago that I reported that Ripple (XRP) had reached a new record high price of $2.17, but that was a few days ago and in the crypto market, that's an eternity.

XRP has reached a new record high price of $3.17, with a record market cap of a massive $122 billion. There are over 38 billion XRP in circulation, with a total supply of just under 100 billion XRP (the Ripple team hold 60% of XRP). These prices aren't cooling down, with more and more interest and investment into XRP.

Ethereum closes in on $1000, momentum isn't stopping

Just as I was going to sleep last night (around 10 hours ago now), the price of Ethereum was quite steady at $880-$900 or so, but it has reached a new high of $974. This is after it reached its record high price of $870 just a few days ago.

Ethereum's market cap is now a huge $92 billion (at the price of $965, at the time of writing) with 96 million ETH in the world right now. My 1.4GH/s Ethereum mining farm is still going well, and even better with these record high prices, while most of the alt coins are enjoying a sea of green in the last 24 hours.

Ethereum reaches new record all-time high price of $870

Just a bit ago the World Health Organization published a listing in the eleventh edition of the International Classification of Disease that video games can be addictive and lead to what's called a 'gaming disorder,' but the U.S.-based games regulator ESA denies these findings.

"The World Health Organization knows that common sense and objective research prove video games are not addictive," the Entertainment Software Association wrote in a recent statement rebuking the WHO's report. "And, putting that official label on them recklessly trivializes real mental health issues like depression and social anxiety disorder, which deserve treatment and the full attention of the medical community. We strongly encourage the WHO to reverse direction on its proposed action."

"Just like avid sports fans and consumers of all forms of engaging entertainment, gamers are passionate and dedicated with their time. Having captivated gamers for more than four decades, more than 2 billion people around the world enjoy video games."

Rumor has it that Capcom is developing Devil May Cry 5, and it could launch during Capcom's FY2020 slate.

We've known for a while now that Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno is making a brand new game, but Japanese publisher Capcom has kept details under wraps. After all, Capcom is releasing one of its most ambitious and biggest games ever with Monster Hunter: World, and announcing Devil May Cry 5 prematurely could be a bit too much. It's best to save those punches, and that's likely why nothing was revealed at E3 2017.

Now Itsuno says that development on the new project is wrapping up, and the game will be fantastic so players should look out for it. "I am sorry that I can not present a new project last year," he wrote on Twitter. "The development of the project is now under climax. I am making a great game so please expect it."

Sales of Battlefront II should rebound in the December holiday month, at least according to the latest prediction from Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter.

Instead of being the big new service game EA had geared it up to be, Battlefront II ended up kicking off a big microtransaction controversy that's since spread to other online service games, such as Destiny 2. The shooter's progression system was so highly infused with the engagement monetization model that players found it to be less of a game in that sense and more of a grindfest--shooter and galactic battle combat notwithstanding. But this won't be enough to deter consumers from buying the game and driving up sales figures for the holiday season, according to an industry analyst.

"Although Star Wars Battlefront II had a weaker-than-expected debut in terms of its domestic physical sell-through, we believe that the loyalty of the Star Wars fan base, the game's appeal as a holiday gift, and the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on December 15 will result in sales of the game bouncing back in the December retail month," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told clients earlier this week.

Microsoft's new $499 high-end Xbox One X brings power to the console gaming market, but how do developers see its "monster" performance in comparison to a PC? Crytek has some interesting answers.

With 6TFLOPs of GPU power, 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, and a highly customized AMD Jaguar-based chipset, the Xbox One X is undeniably the most powerful console on the market right now. But of course it pales in comparison with higher-end GPU power found in today's PCs...but what about a standard gaming PC, the kind that most people actually have? According to Crytek Product Manager Collin Bishop, the Xbox One X is about the equivalent of a "standard" PC setup, but only on the GPU end. CPU-wise a basic standard PC will dominate the console.

"The Xbox One X is very comparable to the standard gaming PC on the GPU end. It will be on the CPU end that you will find the PC to still be outshining the console. This will always be the scenario given you can trade out and customize the hardware," Bishop said in a recent interview with GamingBolt.

Lawbreakers, the gravity-defying shooter made by ex-Epic Games director Cliff Bleszinski, has bombed pretty hard...and Nexon isn't so happy about it.

By now you've probably heard about the disappointment that is Lawbreakers' game sales. Shortly after launch the title had very low players on Steam and was likened as just another Overwatch-style FPS. Then PUBG hit and everyone gravitated towards the last-man-standing shooter, leaving games like Lawbreakers in the dust. Now Nexon, the publisher behind Cliffy B's new game, has acknowledged its poor sales and says it's pretty much done acquiring impairment loss because of Lawbreakers.

"We had higher-than-planned expenses due to impairment losses on prepaid royalties related to LawBreakers and incentive bonus expenses related to strong business performance," Nexon wrote in its Q3'17 earnings report filed in November.

Following up the recent announcement of a new champion for Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard have released a Hero Spotlight for Blaze, the upcoming new hero who is burning his way through the Public Test Realm until January 8th.

Blaze will be joining Heroes of the Storm as ranged warrior tank, his abilities range from slowing down enemies with an oil spill, calling in a defensive bunker for himself and allies and of course burning his opponents to an absolute crisp with his double flamethrowers.

Blaze has strengths in area effect control, where he will be able to zone off enemies using his flame stream and passive damage. Another strength is his sustain, when fighting Blaze opponents will have to be mindful of the healing Blaze gets when he is standing in his flaming oil spill, not only is he tank character with crowd control and armor but he also heals quite rapidly if left in his healing zone long enough.

CES is just around the corner and what a better way to get around Las Vegas than to be sitting in one of the first "fully automated point-to-point ride-hailing experiences." Lyft and Aptiv now partnered together will be demonstrating the full experience of the self-driving car during this years CES by allowing for passengers to request a self-driving ride.

Recently, Aptiv a global automotive parts technology company focused on future mobility, announced a partnership with Lyft to demonstrate a full scale experience for self-driving cars. Both companies are offering rides to 20 pre-determined destinations throughout Las Vegas from January 9th until January 12th. Passengers will be able to request these self-driving rides from the gold lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center making this for a CES attendee only experience.

For those wondering if this is completely safe throughout the massively busy time of CES, stress not, as the demonstration of the self-driving car experience will be accompanied by a human "safety driver" located behind the wheel in-case anything does go wrong.