Latest News - Page 2136

ZOTAC has just announced the latest member in its GTX 10 series of graphics cards, with the new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Ti ArcticStorm Mini.

The new GTX 1080 Ti ArcticStorm Mini graphics card is only 212mm (8.35 incheS) long with a full-coverage water block that sports nickel plated direct copper contact with precision 0.3mm micro-channels for the ultimate in heat dissipation. The water block is beautifully see-through, with a metal backplate on the back.

ZOTAC's new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti ArcticStorm Mini features standard G 1/4 type fittings, meaning you can use most third-party liquid cooling components. The only improvements I would've made to this is to make it a single-card slot, since it seems that the DVI port is now restricting single-slot GTX 1080 Ti goodness.

Microsoft's Xbox One is shunned like the plague in Japan, which is dominated by mobile games and, in the console space, Sony's PlayStation 4 and Nintendo's new Switch handheld. As a result, Microsoft seems to have trouble attracting key Japanese devs--especially niche games-makers like Nippon Ichi Software. According to NIS America, the North American branch of Nippon Ichi Software, Microsoft isn't really keen on tapping the Japanese games market.

According to NIS America president and CEO Takuro Yamashita, Microsoft isn't keen on niche Japanese games. "Honestly speaking, Microsoft's approach to Japanese games hasn't been very supportive," Yamashita-san told MCV. "Microsoft, you know, for Japanese games, there's still a very niche element to them, no matter what it might be. Microsoft also has a minimum order quantity for their games, and their whole structure isn't really geared toward niche games or smaller games like Japanese titles, so they're not really supportive of Japanese games or developers."

This seems strange as a number of high-profile games from Japanese devs and publishers do release on the Xbox One and the Windows 10 platform, including Final Fantasy XV, but the reality is the system doesn't sell well in the region. Any Japanese games that come to Xbox One are usually big-budget titles that are being localized by massive publisher-led development teams. Sony's PlayStation 4, conversely, is a hotbed of niche and popular Japanese games, from JRPGs and everything in between.

With over 15 million copies sold, you're bound to find players who are willing to cheat for a little chicken dinner. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is not exception, anti-cheat system BattlEye has reported that over 322,000 cheaters have been caught in PUBG, that's 6-13K banned a day, with the vast majority reportedly from China.

Cracking down on cheaters appears to be the flavor of the month, with Blizzard recently banning WoW accounts and Fortnite developer Epic Games suing cheaters for $150,000. This is amazing news for the gaming community as the chances are we have all experienced cheaters in our games, regardless if we have been aware of it or not.

BIOSTAR have unleashed their flagship Z370 motherboard, and it sounds like an exotic supercar, the RACING Z370GT7. Supporting the latest 8th generation Intel Core processors and DDR4-3866 memory, this motherboard is aimed at enthusiasts who like to go extreme with their overclocks, modifications and designs of their builds.

Finished in a luxurious black color theme with golden highlights spread across the design of the board, the RACING Z370GT7 is also able to satisfy RGB fanatics thanks to utilizing BIOSTAR's Advanced VIVID LED DJ that can provide up to 10 flashing modes. As with any flagship product, BIOSTAR have included some new toys with the RACING Z370GT7 including smart A.I FAN, reinforced PCI-E slots and dual Intel Optane-ready M.2 slots. A.I Fan allows for complete fan control via an individual fan controller for each connected fan, this means your fans will adjust their speeds to maintain cool temperatures of your hardware. RACING Z370GT7 boasts dual gold M.2 heat sinks that allow for ultra-high cooling efficiency, this protects and prolongs the like of your M.2 slot.

BIOSTAR RACING Z370GT7 rear I/O ports include legacy PS/2 connector support, 2 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Port, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C Port, 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Port 2 x USB 2.0 Port, 1 x HDMI Connector, 1 x DVI-D Connector, 1 x RJ-45 Port and 6 x Audio Connectors.

Logitech have revealed their latest wireless headset, the ASTRO A20 Wireless Headset. This headset is designed to immerse gamers in the virtual universe they're within, creating a more exciting and memorable gaming experience.

"ASTRO is committed to producing the highest-quality gaming headsets at every price point," said Aron Drayer, Vice President of Marketing for ASTRO Gaming. "With the A20, we created a wireless headset focused on three key elements that directly improve the gaming experience - ASTRO audio quality, comfort and durability. We took everything we learned from our premium A50 Wireless headset and delivered its essential features for even more gamers to enjoy."

Building upon Logitech's recently released ASTRO A10, the ASTRO A20 Wireless Headset feature a 40mm drivers that provide audio fidelity tuned specifically to provide a competitive edge with accurate and precise audio performance. The ASTRO A20 is engineered for gaming marathons thanks to its lightweight and comfortable design that features comfortable clot ear cushions. Performance doesn't stop with voice input with a flip-to-mute uni-directional microphone that is optimized for all platforms. Utilizing 5Ghz technology, the ASTRO A20 is able to provide secure wireless connectivity and eliminate interference from other wireless devices that may impact inferior wireless headsets.

The runaway success of Battlegrounds has even politicians in South Korea talking, with Congressman Dong Sub Lee bringing a golden pan to a government audit hearing for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Congressman Lee said: "Battleground was made by a developer from our country. The game has sold 12 million copies and have gone over 1.99 million concurrent players in 6 months. This is unprecedented in Korean gaming history". In August, golden frying pans were given out as trophies for the Gamescom PUBG Invitational tournament.

He continued, requesting that the ministry provide support to game developers, so that South Korea can see more games like Battlegrounds, and continued success.

Samsung has just announced its latest 360-degree camera, with 17 x 2-megapixel sensors inside of its new 360 Round camera.

The new 360 Round camera features the aforementioned 17 x 2-megapixel sensors, six microphones, and will create high-res 3D VR video. Samsung promises livestreaming 4K VR video at 30FPS, with software in between that will stitch together the video with next to no lag.

Samsung will be releasing their new 360 Round camera later this month in the US, but in order to get some post-processing done with it you're going to need a damn fast machine. At a minimum, you'll need a Core i7-6700K, 16GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080. If you want to livestream and preview the 4K VR, you'll need a beefier Core i7-6950X (10C/20T), 32GB of RAM, and 2 x GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards.

The amount of drama surrounding Intel's recent launch of their Coffee Lake/8th generation CPU architecture and the new Z370 chipset has been astounding, and it just got a lot more interesting.

ASUS ROG motherboard Product Manager, Andrew Wu, confirmed with Bit-Tech that Intel's previous-gen Z270 chipset is compatible with Coffee Lake CPUs, with Wu saying it would require a small change "depending on Intel's decision". Bit-Tech asked if it was a "physical limitation", but Wu replied saying "Not really. It [the power delivery] makes a little bit of difference, but not much".

Then the big question: "so if you wanted and Intel let you, you could make Z270 compatible", to which Wu replied: "Yes, but you also require an upgrade from the ME (Management Engine) and a BIOS update. Intel somehow has locked the compatibility". There you have it folks, Intel is locking users out of upgrading to Coffee Lake on their current Z270 boards, by forcing users to buy a Z370 motherboard.

NVIDIA is days away from the release of their GeForce GTX 1070 Ti graphics card, and it looks like we're being greeted with our first leaked 3DMark benchmarks, of both the 4K run and DX12 runs of 3DMark.

The upcoming GeForce GTX 1070 Ti is compared to a bunch of other cards, including the GTX 1080, Radeon RX Vega 64, Radeon RX Vega 56, and the GTX 1070. The GTX 1070 Ti beats out the Radeon RX Vega 56 in Balanced mode, while it barely loses to the RX Vega 56 in Turbo mode, all in Fire Strike Extreme. It easily bests the GTX 1070, while the GTX 1080 is still far and away from it, as is the RX Vega 64.

The same dominance happens in Time Spy, but this time around the new GeForce GTX 1070 Ti beats the Radeon RX Vega 56 in both Balanced/Turbo modes, while it loses to the RX Vega 64 and GTX 1080, but it is very close to the RX Vega 64 which is very surprising.

The Xbox One X version of ARK: Survival Evolved will have two visual modes, as well as support for HDR mode. The two rendering modes will be "Detailed Graphics" and "1080p" mode.

Studio Wildcard's upcoming patch for the Xbox version of ARK will be released on October 25, and will let the game harness the additional power inside of the Xbox One X, improving loading times and better streaming. ARK's new Detailed Graphics mode will render the game at 1440p, with the Truesky high quality PC setting at 30FPS.

ARK's second mode for the Xbox One X will render the game at 1080p, but with a much smoother 60FPS. Studio Wildcard writes on their website: "The Xbox One X has increased RAM, 60-70% more RAM compared to the Xbox One, which will help to eliminate out of memory issues. It also means faster loading times and better streaming due to a faster hard-drive and the ability to cache data into RAM (coming November 7th) that will allow faster and better access to repeat files. The Xbox One X will eliminate the host tether in local splitscreen mode and will increase the tether range in non-dedicated mode. Unfortunately we were unable to remove the tether completely due to CPU limitations, but we hope that players will benefit from the increased range".

Nintendo of America is making it harder for non-popular or established video influencers or video games websites to attain advanced review copies of first-party games, anonymous sources tell US Gamer.

According to inside sources who agreed to speak on the matter on the condition of anonymity, Nintendo's North American branch is tightening access to early review copies of its games in an effort to stop early leaks and further control its intellectual property. These sources say that the company has revised its policy following the major leak of Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga and Bowser's Minions for the 3DS. As a result, a number of North American YouTubers/streamers and gaming outlets won't get pre-release access to Super Mario Odyssey or Fire Emblem Warriors. European press, however, has access to both games, sources say.

"After the leak of Mario & Luigi, done by an influencer, [Nintendo of America] flipped out and changed their review policy. Plenty of outlets and influencers are without [Fire Emblem Warriors] and [Super Mario Odyssey]... Apparently, it will be [sent out] in tiers, but [I'm] not sure how they are set up," a source told US Gamer.

On the eve of Visceral Games' death at the hands of EA--sadly studios closures happen all the time in this industry--a bunch of current and ex developers shared their thoughts about working at the studio and gave brief looks through these unique windows of time. Zach Wilson, who worked on Dead Space 2, was one such developer, and his particular window peeled back the layers of the games industry to give us a look at its inner workings.

Video games are very expensive, and there's so, so much that goes into making them that the average gamer doesn't realize. As ex-Bungie dev Jaime Griesemer rightly said, the fact that any game ever ships is a miracle. There's often a big disconnect between developers, who make the games, and publishers, who pay for the games: publishers typically set the budgets with marketing, development, distribution, etc, as well as the deals with platform holders like Microsoft and Sony. These budgets are often predatory in the sense that every last cent is pinched, and the sales expectations are firmly set in stone. Sometimes these targets are conservative, sometimes they're outlandish--but regardless of all the planning and exhaustive data sifting, there's no guarantee that a game will sell X units and make Y dollars.

As so many gamers wonder why EA closed down Visceral Games, ex-Visceral dev Zach Wilson gave an example how numbers are pretty much the backbone to a studio's success, and determine whether or not they stick around. Wilson notes that Dead Space 2's budget was about $60 million, and that EA was "merciless" with its budgeting. For reference, EA expects to make upwards of $5 billion in net revenue this fiscal year, and is one of the "big three" in gaming. To say EA wants to invest in guaranteed projects is an understatement.

Capcom might miss its internal net sales target for the fiscal year ending March 2018, analysts predict.

Japanese video games publisher Capcom has a section on its Investor Relations page devoted to consensus from a sampling of major industry analysts. These analysts typically weigh in and give their predictions on whether or not Capcom will meet, exceed, or miss internal financial targets for the fiscal year. Capcom just updated this section, showing some interesting results. Remember these predictions fluctuate based on the performance and reception of key games, as well as other things such as market trends, exchange rates, etc.

Since predictions are not an exact science, analysts separate their consensuses into three likelihood categories: average, low, and high. Analysts agree that on the average Capcom may miss its net sales target of 93 billion yen earned from total game sales and content by about 4%, or 3.701 billion yen. This may reflect the current reception of Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, which reportedly had a meager budget. It's worth noting, however, the "high" prediction for net sales sits at 98.272 billion yen, or about 5.6% above Capcom's estimates.

In an advertisement for the new Resident Evil 7 Gold Edition, Capcom reveals the haunting game has sold-in (shipped) more than 4 million copies worldwide...but don't get this confused with actual digital and retail sales.

This new milestone might sound impressive, but a closer glance gives true meaning. Remember that this is shipments to retailers, also called sell-in, not actual games sales made to consumers (which is called sell-through). At the time of writing Capcom still has Resident Evil 7 pinned at 3.7 million units sold globally, matching the figures it gave out during its fiscal Q1'18 earnings report.

Capcom's recent financials reveal that Resident Evil 7, which was released in January, missed the lofty sales target set by the publisher: the company expected the game to hit 4 million units sold by the end of the fiscal year in March. Capcom later adjusted its financials and removed exact sales projections on a per-game basis.

True RTS fans will remember the Command & Conquer series with fond memories... until EA purchased the series and tarnished its legacy. Developer Petroglyph Games have announced that in partnership with Team 17, a new RTS called Forged Battalion. Petroglyph Games have built an impressive RTS resume including Grey-Goo and Star Wars: Empire at War, the company was also founded by core members of the original Command & Conquer. Petroglyph Games have released a teaser trailer showcasing what we can expect from Forged Battalion and I think I can speak for every Command & Conquer fan when I say it looks absolutely brilliant.

Petroglyph Games also release some information along with their trailer, most interesting is that Forged Battalion allows players to forge their own faction from the ground up, no more NOD or GDI. Forged Battalion is set to include a 'Persistent Tech Tree' that advances with every battle won, allowing your faction to upgrade its technology with different science paths. As expected, Forged Battalion will also include a 'dynamic story campaign' and online multiplayer.

Forged Battalion will be released into Steam Early Access in early 2018, for more information you can read Team 17's official press release here.

Seagate has introduced their newly branded Enterprise Datasphere Fleet, precision-engineered enterprise storage solutions aimed to provide the highest levels of security technology. The Datasphere Fleet includes the cornerstone of Seagate's hard drive lineup, the Exos family, and the world's fastest and highest capacity hard drive, the Nytro SSD range.

Seagate's Enterprise Datasphere Fleet includes the recently announced Seagate Secure, ironclad security features that are integrated into the hard drive to provide un-paralleled levels of protection of your data.

The Exos family are purpose-built for a multitude of applications, workloads and storage tiers to maximize your storage efficiency. Exos are able to deliver top performance and high capacity for enterprise data centers that provides efficient and cost-effective solution for data centers.

Back in August I posted that Warhammer: Vermintide 2 was announced, with a full reveal in October... Well, Fatshark delivered on their promise and today released a trailer that includes two minutes of pre-alpha gameplay footage, that looks BRUTAL. Check it out below.

As expected, the Skaven hordes are back and have introduced some new friends with them, Choas. The two forces have "formed a pact to plunge the world into death and decay". Fatshark included some more information in the trailer with 15 careers/5 heroes, visceral melee combat, improved loot system, talent trees, new enemies and weapons and more.

"We have listened to the community, analyzed hours and hours of online playthroughs, and combined this with our passion for co-op games to bring you the very best experience possible," says Fatshark CEO Martin Wahlund.

NZXT have added the latest addition to their GRID+ family, the GRID+ V3 is the perfect balance between technology and cooling that provides a smart solution for advanced digital fan control.

"Finding the right mix between cooling and noise reduction can be complex and time-consuming, even for experienced builders. GRID+ V3 provides a smart solution for advanced digital fan control using our intuitive CAM dashboard. We're also introducing Adaptive Noise Reduction, allowing you to reduce fan noise up to 40%. With GRID+ V3, you won't have to choose between silence and cooling-you'll get the perfect balance of both." says Johnny Hou, NZXT's founder, and CEO.

The GRID+ V3 monitors fan noise levels, CPU and GPU load, and system temperature that is utilized by CAM. CAM software is them able provide the optimal thermal profile with the lowest possible fan noise to provide cooling efficiency without excessive noise. Supporting up to 6 separate channels, GRID+ V3 will automatically detect 3-pin and 4-pin connected fans, allowing for effortless installation. Physically, the GRID+ V3 features a slim profile, measuring only 15mm in height and includes a magnetic backing for easy installation, even behind most motherboard trays.

Seagate have announced Seagate Secure, a collection of security features that have been integrated with the entirety of Seagate's Enterprise Datasphere Fleet, including Exos hard drives and Nytro SSDs. Seagate Secure ensures ironclad security without comprising performance in a time where cyber-vulnerabilities are rapidly increasing.

Seagate Secure includes premium feature such as instant secure erase, self-encryption technology and tamper-resistant protection, providing ultimate protection for your valuable data .Seagate Secure ensures every drive is compliant with top industry standards for security- Essential and Certified.

Essential standard represents protection that suits most needs, including secure data locking using AES 256 standards, drive locks on power-down, digitally signed firmware with rogue firmware detection and secure boot process.

NZXT have announced their all-new H Series PC cases, available in three variants- H700i, H400i and H200i, the H Series allows NZXT to showcase their new approach to modern PC building that incorporates NZXT latest technology and quality.

"We designed the H Series as a new approach to PC building. We want to make creating extraordinary PCs achievable and fun for everyone. PC builders should be able to benefit from the same features and design across different form factors. That's why all three cases in the H Series share the core smart features, modern design, and beautiful craftsmanship that are our vision for modern PC building," says Johnny Hou, NZXT's founder, and CEO.

The H700i a mid-tower ATX case, the H400i is a mATX case and the H200i is a compact ITX case. All models include an elegant tempered glass panel, Premium all-steel construction and available in four color combinations- Matte Black/Black, Matte While/Black, Matte Black/Red and Matte Black/Blue. The PSU shroud hides a quick-release 2.5" SSD while The H Series also supports additional 2.5" behind the motherboard tray and mounting for traditional 3.5" drives.