Latest News - Page 2122

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds continues to break records, with 22 million sales on Steam alone making it a record-breaker in its own right, on top of breaking concurrent Steam players with over over 2.6 million concurrent PUBG gamers.

Battlegrounds costs $30 which means developer Bluehole has made $660 million, right before the v1.0 release of the game and its upcoming desert map, Valle Coronado.

The game will also be released on the Xbox One on December 12 which will only drive that 22 million sales mark up by a few million, with 30 million PUBG sales not out of the question now. It's just a matter of time, which I think will come before its 1-year release onto Steam Early Access in March 2018.

Bluehole has been teasing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds new desert map for a while now, and hell even NVIDIA were showing off new screenshots from the new map, and now we finally know it will be called Valle Coronado.

The leak comes from a place that shouldn't surprise you, with Reddit user 'bizzfarts' showing off the new title on the PUBG subreddit. We can see that we have a bunch of towns we'll be visiting and battling people in with Santa Domingo, Monte Nuevo, and Los Leonas. Los Leonas looks pretty huge, with some great gameplay and battles to be had on that mountain rage. Hell yes.

There will be three new Western-style weapons on offer, with the Winchester 1894 lever-action rifle, a new revolver in the form of Rhino, and a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun. We don't know if these will definitely be in the game, or exclusive to the new Valle Coronado map, but we will know more soon when PUBG hits the Xbox One on December 12, and the new v1.0 release on the PC before the end of the year.

Tesla agreed to build a massive 100-megawatt Powerback battery backup system in South Australia, after the state experienced a state-wide blackout last year due to storms and a lackluster power grid. Trust me, I'm actually from South Australia.

Elon Musk promised that he could easily get a lithium ion-based battery backup system installed in SA within 100 days, with a cost of only $50 million (which is nothing for SA, as we have the most expensive electricity prices in the world). This system would power around 30,000 homes in the case of a power outage, with the battery facility being powered by the local Hornsdale Wind Farm.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said at the time: "An enormous amount of work has gone in to delivering this project in such a short time. The world's largest lithium ion battery will be an important part of our energy mix".

If you haven't purchased Project CARS 2 already and wanted to try it out, Bandai Namco along with developer Slightly Mad Studios have released a new demo of the game for the PC, Xbox One, and PS4. The companies tease:

Ethereum has had an explosive year that has culminated in the cryptocurrency reaching a record new high of $424, increasing in price by over 12% in just 24 hours.

ETH is continuing its upward trend as the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and has bounced back since its record high $414 price in mid-June. Back in June is when we saw Ethereum mining explode, resulting in me setting up and continuously upgrading a 60-graphics-card strong Ethereum mine. I have culled the mine a bit, and I'm down to 40-something cards.

Ethereum is currently processing more transactions per day than all of the other cryptocurrencies combined, with Ethereum mining difficulty on pause for the next year. It actually dropped significantly on October 16, relieving pressure from miners that would've other wise given up. BCH (Bitcoin Cash) is also able to be mined on consumer GPUs, as it doesn't need ASIC-specific hardware like its big brother Bitcoin (BTC).

PowerColor's new Radeon RX Vega 64 Red Devil is the first true custom Radeon RX Vega 64 to hit the market, as it's properly factory overclocked unlike ASUS' offering with the ROG Strix RX Vega 64, or SAPPHIRE's upcoming NITRO-branded card.

Overclock3D.net has posted an unboxing video of the new PowerColor Radeon RX Vega 64 Red Devil graphics card, showing off the beautiful and super-beefy graphics card. It rocks three BIOSes, with 'silent mode', 'good OC capability' and then the 'boost clock to push the limit of Red Devil'... I like the sound of the last one.

PowerColor still only requires the 8+8-pin PCIe power connectors, a surprise as some figured it would include 3 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors for a fully cuistom Radeon RX Vega 64 graphics card.

Mozilla have just unveiled that it has acquired a brand new development team to continue on with their existing work into VR/AR technologies. The new team will focus mainly on toolsets, integration of devices and VR/AR web development.

The new team was formed in the last few weeks and their announcement has indicated that the organization will predominately focus on bringing VR/AR technologies to the web as well as concentrate on allowing for VR/AR to eventually be a cross-platform experience. "on the full continuum of specifications, browser implementations, and services required to create open VR and AR web experiences."

Greg Fodor, Mozilla's social mixed reality engineer has said "Unlike traditional online communication tools like text, voice, and video, the promise of Mixed Reality is that you can be present with other people, much like real life, and engage with them in a more interactive way, you can make eye contact, nod your head, high five, dance, and even play catch with anyone around the world, regardless of where you are!"

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said that that iPhones that will be released in 2018 that will feature upgraded liquid crystal polymer (LCP) antenna modules which would contribute to an overall improvement in LTE transmission speeds.

Kuo continues by saying that the iPhone models will be using two LCP LTE antenna modules which would make them very similar to the iPhone X, but instead will feature support improvements for 4x4 MIMO standards.

Kuo spoke of this in a recent note that was sent out to Apple investors: "Antenna design upgrade a key factor in anticipated boost to LTE transmission speed in new 2H18F iPhone models. As a LTE antenna FPCB material, LCP is superior to PI in properties related to high-frequency, thermal performance and moisture resistance. We predict 2H18 new iPhones will be equipped with two LCP LTE antenna modules same as iPhone X or more, but with higher specs to support 4x4 MIMO standards."

Apple has scooped up a virtual/augmented reality startup from Montreal, Canada named Vrvana. The deal was worth $30 million according to a report from TechCrunch.

Vrvana were the designers behind the Totem VR headset, which never actually made it into the hands of consumers, but for the few people that had the luxury of getting an early hands-on most gave excellent reviews for the product.

Vrvana's "extended reality" takes from both the augmented reality and virtual reality technology while at the very same time is unique in how it can project "fully opaque, true-color animations" onto the world around us. Having this technology allows for a "seamless blend" between that of the VR world and the AR world.

Ubisoft has released a new update for Assassin's Creed Origins on the PC, with v1.05 including some fixes for problems with 4K resolution and multi-GPU setups.

The new AC: Origins v1.05 patch addresses "several Ultra HD monitor, multi-monitor mode, and multi GPU mode issues". There's also fixed hardware performance metrics for AMD Radeon R9 200 series cards, too. Here's the graphics/audio fixes in the new v1.05 patch for Assassin's Creed Origins.

AMD will be launching its new Ryzen Mobile products in early-2018 at CES, but we also have more exciting news: Radeon Vega Mobile. Radeon Vega Mobile is currently shipping inside of HP's new Envy x360 2-in-1 laptop, and now we know some details about Radeon Vega Mobile.

HP's new Envy x360 features Radeon Vega 8 Mobile graphics and in a surprising move; 256MB DDR4. The system has 8GB of DDR4 in total, and it seems 256MB is dedicated to Radeon Vega 8 Mobile. Radeon Vega 8 Mobile has 8 Vega NCUs, with the Vega 8 GPU clocks at 300MHz base (and should boost up to 1.1GHz)), and the 256MB of DDR4 at 400MHz with 12GB/sec of memory bandwidth.

Inside, HP makes use of AMD's own Ryzen 5 2500U with 'Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx' and ships with Radeon Software 17.7 onboard, not the new 17.11 drivers. HP is stingy with a 1TB mechanical HDD, and no SSD - even for the $799.98 price at Best Buy right now.

EA seem to be warping in and out of this dimension when it comes to their state of mind over Star Wars: Battlefront II, with the company temporarily removing microtransactions from the game after a mountain of controversy began. We saw headlines of $2100 to fully unlock Battlefront II, or some 4000+ hours of playtime.

Now the company has released a statement during their recent financial briefing, explaining that they "[don't expect there to be] a material impact on EA's fiscal ear 2018 financial guidance" after turning microtransactions off in Battlefront II. EA is meant to be making investors feel better with this statement, but I can't take it as anything but nasty. Does this mean it doesn't matter if EA didn't charge for microtransactions in Battlefront II, since it clearly has no "material impact" on EA's financials for fiscal year 2018.

Elgato has officially released its new Elgato 4K60 Pro, which is being heralded as the first "consumer-priced" capture card capable of grabbing 4K video at the beautifully-smooth 60FPS.

4K 60FPS video capture isn't easy, so don't be surprised by the requirements of an Intel Core i7/AMD Ryzen 7 or better CPU and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10/Radeon RX Vega series graphics card. Previous-gen 4K capture cards could only take in 30FPS, so the new Elgato 4K60 Pro is a step in a new direction for those wanting to capture 4K60 directly from the Xbox One X - at least for the games that run at 4K60.

Elgato makes the 4K60 capture nice and easy, with a 4K capture utility needed (and Windows 10 of course), an HDMI cable between your console and the Elgato 4K60 Pro, and that's it. Once you've got that, you can begin recording from your Xbox or PlayStation console.

The Battlefront II controversy continues spiraling out of EA's control, and now two state legislators have stepped in to call the game out for "predatory" and "exploitative" practices that aim at luring kids in.

Hawaiian state Representative Chris Lee (D) is putting Electronic Arts and Disney on blast over its Battlefront II monetization scheme--a scheme we actually predicted quite a ways before confirmation--and has openly lambasted the titanic duo for preying on children via lootbox "gambling".

"This game is basically a Star Wars-themed online casino designed to lure kids into an addictive cycle of gambling money for a chance to win game upgrades" Rep. Lee said in a press release. "These exploitative mechanisms have no place in games being marketed to minors, and perhaps no place in games at all."

The PS2-era Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age remaster has surpassed 1 million sales, Square Enix has confirmed.

The latest Final Fantasy XII remaster on PS4 is a fantastic addition to any games library--I myself have yet to beat it, but I come back to it every now and again to enter the beautiful and enchanting world of Ivalice while fighting hordes of baddies. The game itself hearkens back to a time when Final Fantasy games were more grind-oriented, and the unique Zodiac Job System adds a nice spice to gameplay, forcing players to mix and match jobs and teams. I like it when a game does something like that--gives players a choice that they have to stick to throughout the entire game--as it adds more weight and impact to the experience.

Oddly enough, the publisher dropped a new trailer for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age on Twitter to commemorate the event, despite the fact the game is months old. Maybe we'll get a Steam or Xbox One release at some point? Sales of the remastered "FINAL FANTASY XII: THE ZODIAC AGE" have also been brisk," Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda said during the company's six-month briefing report.

Earlier this year we reported that Square Enix cut ties with Hitman series developer IO Interactive, but now the publisher discusses its reasoning for the decision.

According to Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda, the publisher essentially wanted to set the series free because the company didn't feel it could keep funding Hitman games--at least not with the sales performance of the last game. Interestingly enough Square Enix originally planned to simply sell IO Interactive to another publisher and retain the IP rights, but eventually decided on a buyout to set both IO Interactive and Hitman free out into the wild.

"In the case of Hitman, I personally love the game," Mr. Matsuda said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. The CEO goes on to say that the business comes first, and if the investments outweigh the sales revenues, a hard decision has to be made. "I think it's very unique, but I always have to look at things from the perspective of what it costs us to develop it and the performance it delivers. In doing that, in the case of Hitman, we had several expectations where that balance was not sufficiently achieved."

Nintendo's new Switch handheld-hybrid continues favorable momentum for both the Japanese games-maker and retailers like Gamestop.

In its third quarter earnings Gamestop confirmed that the Switch helped drive total net sales for the period ending October 28, 2017 to almost $2 billion. The console had a dramatic effect on the retailer's new hardware sales, which made $309.5 million during the quarter, up 8.8% year-over-year. This growth coincides with sales reports that the Switch was the best-selling console in September and October. In fact, new hardware sales for Gamestop made up 15.6% of total net sales earnings, up 1.1% YoY.

While not explicitly mentioned, it's very likely that the Switch's new hardware sales also helped boost software sales for the retailer, which pulled in over $649 million, up 5.4% year-over-year. By Nintendo's internal estimates the Switch has a software attach rate of 3.6%, meaning most Switch owners have at least 3 games to play on the system. Software is by far and large the lion's earner for Gamestop, accounting for a mighty 32.7% of total net sales earnings.

Games publisher Bluehole has made a tremendously monumentous deal to partner with Chinese titan Tencent in order to publish its game in one of the most lucrative regions in the world.

After much tip-toeing and deliberation, Bluehole has finally teamed up with Tencent to bring PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to China. The game, which has amassed a considerable following across the globe, represents a massive point for monetization and continued play for years to come. However the last-man-standing shooter won't enter China unaltered, and will need to adhere to strict regulations and legislature to avoid a ban including toning down blood and violence and monitoring for cheaters.

The news was posted by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad who made the announcement on Twitter.

Earlier this year in May, lead designer for the Civilization franchise Jon Shafer moved to Paradox Development Studios, taking the role of Game Director for the studio's next unannounced title. This move by Shafer has taken quite a turn with Paradox Interactive releasing a statement addressing that Shafer and the studio have parted ways due to "creative differences."

Mattias Lilja, Executive Vice President of Studios at Paradox Interactive has said "Jon is an ambitious person with a lot of drive and passion and he has led some good discussions in our teams over the past few months. However, during the course of these discussions, it has become clear that we want different things creatively and we have therefore taken the mutual decision that it is best to part ways. We wish Jon the very best in the next part of his career and would like to thank him for his efforts during his time with us."

We never knew what Shafer was actually working on at Paradox Interactive as he never gave any details away, but what we do know is that it certainly didn't go as planned.

There's a new line of SSD's about to hit the market from COLORFUL, the new PLUS Series SSD. The COLORFUL Plus Series SSD combines the latest in 3D TLC NAND Flash technology and a new SMI SM2258XT controller that is able to deliver up to 640GB capacity and deliver some great results that we've come to expect from COLORFUL.

COLORFUL have utilized 3D TLC NAND Flash technology for the Plus Series SSD that has enabled the hardware giants to deliver bigger capacities whilst maintaining long lifespans of the SSD. Backed with BGA NAND Flash, the performance and stability of the SSD is also ensured. Combined with developments in 3D NAND technology, this has enabled new 3D NAND Flash specifications that produce non-standard capacities for the Plus Series SSD, this explains the slightly increased capacities of 160GB, 320GB and 640GB.

Below are benchmarks of the 640GB variant, the SL500.