Latest News - Page 2183

It was only last week that we reported that The Pirate Bay was caught mining Monero coins on visitors' CPUs, but now two of Showtime's websites have been using visitors' CPUs to mine Monero.

Showtime has been busted with a script running in the background that hijacks users' CPUs to mine Monero, thanks to the Coinhive miner. Coinhive isn't all bad, as they are trying to push into a market that simply doesn't exist right now: providing a way for websites to run, without using ads.

Coinhive takes 30% of whatever Monero is mined on users' CPUs, while the website keeps the rest.

Now that the release of the Radeon RX Vega is over, the next part of the journey for AMD is to unleash custom RX Vega graphics cards with AIB partners. This is meant to be happening in late-October, and should lead through the holidays and into 2018. But what about Vega 20?

Vega 20 will be a refresh of Vega 10, which we should see AMD use the 12nm LP node, but what about performance? We don't know anything performance-wise just yet, but according to leaked slides from Informatica Cero, Vega 20 is coming in Q3 2018, and on the next-gen PCIe 4.0 standard.

PCIe 4.0 has a huge 16GT/s of bandwidth, up from the 8GT/s available on the current-gen PCIe 3.0 standard - something that was released in 2010.

Intel is pulling out all of the stops for its Coffee Lake-S architecture, with the flagship Core i7-8700K to be the new gaming champion with its 6C/12T of CPU performance hitting 4.8GHz on air cooling when overclocked. It also beats the 7700K by around 10% in games, and more in multi-threaded applications.

But it'll be the mid-range Core i5-8600K that will have gamers pulling the trigger finger on their orders, with Chinese site PCOnline posting benchmarks of the 8600K early. They've compared it against the Core i7-8700K, Core i7-7700K, Core i5-7500, and AMD's Ryzen 7 1800X and Ryzen 5 1600X processors in a bunch of different games.

Rise of the Tomb Raider scales beautifully between the processors, with the Core i5-8600K sliding right next to both of the Core i7 processors with 70FPS average.

Intel is so close to launching their new Core i7-8700K that we can almost smell the silicon, but now some leaked benchmarks of the flagship Coffee Lake-S processor are here.

The new Core i7-8700K is a changed beast, with 6C/12T of CPU performance compared to the Core i7-7700K and its 4C/8T of brute gaming performance. EXPreview has some preliminary benchmarks on the new Core i7-8700K processor, with it coming in at around 8% faster than the 7700K in office tasks.

But what about gaming? EXPreview ran The Witcher 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Division, and Hitman. The new 8700K is 18% faster than the 7700K in The Witcher 3 on the Ultra preset, while it's 10% faster in Hitman. In both ROTTR and The Division, the difference is negligible... just a few FPS difference.

COLORFUL is known for their crazy awesome GeForce GTX series graphics cards, but the company is pushing into PCIe-based SSDs with SMI controllers, with their new CN600 DRAM-less Series of SSDs.

The new COLORFUL CN600 and CP600 iGame SSDs will be available in 240GB right through to 2TB, with the CN600 DRAM-less rocking the SMI 2263XT controller. The CN600 is a M.2 2280 standard that provides up to 2GB/sec read speeds and 1.6GB/sec writes. We have the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface for those wicked-fast speeds, which will be available in 240GB up to 1TB.

COLORFUL's other CN600 DRAM Edition rocks the SMI2263 controller and DRAM that bumps the read/write speeds to 2.4GB/sec and 1.7GB/sec, respectively. The COLORFUL CN600 DRAM Edition has a unique cooling solution that keeps the drive as cool as possible, with capacities of 240GB up to 1TB.

Industry veteran Rich Vogel has had a hand in some of the most influential games-as-a-service (GaaS) games in the industry, including Ultima Online, Meridian 59, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now Mr. Vogel has joined Certain Affinity as Vice President of Technology and Services to lend his expertise on two new service-based games: a new IP and an original game. What if the latter was a cross-platform free-to-play Halo game with microtransactions?

Yes, this is me thinking out loud, and no, I don't have concrete evidence to back this theory up other than my personal analysis of the games industry and a few bits of perspective that may lend some credence to the theory. When I say a "free to play Halo game," I mean on PC and consoles with microtransactions/lootboxes, a plug for streaming, and a set up for eSports action. There's a few reasons why I think this could happen. For starters, Certain Affinity has worked on six Halo projects, three of which were major roles: they co-developed Halo 4 and Halo 5 with 343 Industries, and made Halo: The Master Chief Collection's multiplayer--so it's fair to say they're well-versed in the Halo world. Secondly, Mr. Vogel is keen on aligning Certain Affinity to the billion-dollar market of GaaS, and instantly recognizable properties like Halo would ensure a playerbase. Thirdly, Microsoft is shifting towards a cross-unification platform by making Xbox a service rather than a console; this service bridges Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One consoles, and the company has focused intensively and the popular games-as-a-service format, which has found its way into nearly every major first-party game to date, from Halo 5: Guardians to Gears of War 4 and the most recent Forza 7.

This wouldn't be the first time (nor the last) Microsoft has tried something like this. Remember Halo Online?

Square Enix says it will create more service-based games, hinting mainline Final Fantasy games will no longer be one-off singleplayer experiences, but sprawling, ever-changing and updated games like Final Fantasy XV.

Not long ago I said that Final Fantasy XV was the new Skyrim. My point was that Final Fantasy XV, like Skyrim, was being ported on every available platform via re-releases. And like Skyrim (thanks to mods), Final Fantasy XV has become a live game of sorts that's continually changing over time with content updates and expansions. The real difference is that its Square Enix, not modders, who are pushing out FFXV's content. In fact, Final Fantasy XV is now an IP within an IP; the publisher has made the Final Fantasy XV Universe, which includes a galaxy of mobile games, the PS4 and Xbox One versions, season pass DLC, a stream of updates, a Switch and PC port, and a number of transmedia releases like an anime and a CGI film.

All of this (and more) is evidence that Square Enix isn't only betting big on games-as-a-service, but it's fully embracing it. This focus goes past the normal service games like Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest MMOs--it's bleeding into once-singleplayer games. Even Final Fantasy XV is getting a built-in MMO-like online multiplayer component. And the publisher is only just getting started.

Voice actors agree to end the nearly year-long strike against key video games companies.

In October of 2016, a number of high profile talent that brings video games to audial life went on strike to protest conditions set forth by 11 big industry publishers like EA, Activision, Insomniac Games, WB Games, and Take-Two Interactive. Today, almost a year later, the strike has ended and a number of demands have been met. While not all voice actor's demands were met, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris called the agreement an "important advance" in the industry.

"This is an important advance in this critical industry space. We secured a number of gains including for the first time, a secondary payment structure which was one of the members' key concerns," Mrs. Carteris said. "The courage of our members and their fortitude these many months has been admirable and I salute them. We are always stronger together."

To say Shadow of War's lootboxes are a contentious point is a huge understatement. Gamers everywhere are up in arms in protest of WB Games' decision to put paid loot box microtransactions into Middle-earth: Shadow of War, but developer Monolith says the game is fully balanced so that gamers won't have to spend an extra dime. You can either spend time or money to progress in the game.

The landscape of video games has changed. Long are the days when a $59.99 game is shipped 100% complete; now games are inundated with season passes, microtransactions, DLC, and other content that makes the industry billions of dollars. Depending on who you ask, these trends are hurting and helping the industry: games now have much more content than before, and devs are armed with a huge pool of resources and funding to ensure their creations get continually updated to preserve quality and add new things to do. But some games use psychological trickery to marry engagement, MAUs, and other strategies together to push gamers towards buying loot boxes or in-game currency, setting off a Pandora's Box moment that typically ensures these first-time buyers become regular spenders that spin the billion-dollar flywheel.

But Middle-earth: Shadow of War doesn't fall into the latter category, at least according to design director Bob Roberts. In an interview with Eurogamer Mr. Roberts affirms that Shadow of War is being finely tuned and balanced so that gamers aren't directed towards the game's loot boxes, and that only those who have really made up their mind to purchase the time-saving boxes will do so. In other words, gamers won't be tempted to buy loot boxes because the game will continually give you enough resources to fuel your experience, but only as long as you play of course (this is also known as "the grind").

Valve once plotted out loose plan for a four-player co-op fantasy game, and concept art gives a glimpse at what could've been a new fresh investment for the Half-Life developer.

Valve artist Drew Wolf recently put up some concept art for an unreleased, undeveloped four-player co-op adventure game that takes place in an original fantasy universe, showing gamers yet another cancelled game that could've rocketed to success. It's unknown if this co-op game was being concepted before or during DOTA 2, and it's possible that some elements from this art found its way into the MOBA--and maybe it's accompanying new Artifact card game.

"[This is] character development for an internal R&D project. The project was a fantasy adventure game centered around cooperative combat and driven by story," Wolfe said in his blog. The characters bring to mind a distinct Blizzard style, and remind me what Overwatch's roster may have been if the game had a fantasy beat.

French conglomerate Vivendi, who's vying for a take-over of hit games-maker Ubisoft, has once again abstained from voting in the video games publisher's annual shareholders meeting.

The results for Ubisoft's 2017 general shareholders meeting are in, and they show that Vivendi has once again opted not to show up for the proceedings. Vivendi is currently pushing to buy out Ubisoft by slowly accumulate share capital and voting rights, and currently sits on the largest pool of share capital owned by one stakeholder at 26.63%. The company also has a huge stockpile of voting rights, but has yet to implement them at a shareholders meeting due to bad blood (to say there's bad blood between Ubisoft and Vivendi is a massive understatement).

Vivendi's absence for Ubisoft's 2017 general shareholders meeting stamped a 29.99% "abstain" vote on every single resolution drawn up by the publisher, including Extraordinary Resolution 31 that would've granted all Ubisoft employees free company shares. The resolution was the only measure that failed to pass; combined with Vivendi's nearly 30% abstain vote, 9.98% of attending shareholders voted against the resolution. The Guillemots drafted the resolution in an attempt to fortify employee faith and goodwill in the company, and Ubisoft's leaders' calls on Vivendi to help the measures pass went unheeded.

Green Man Gaming has partnered with Intel to power its new business-to-business (b2b) marketplace in an effort to change up the PC game key reselling market and inspire confidence from major games publishers.

PC game key reselling can be a contentious point from game publisher's point of view: some of these sites, which sell cheaper keys to consumers, acquire their keys under shady circumstances. But with Intel's new Software Distribution Hub (SDH), publishers can hook up directly with resellers like Green Man Gaming in a more secure, direct environment, thus avoiding (hopefully) shady dealings. In this way publishers and games-makers who sign up to Intel's SDH platform can sell bundled or one-off keys directly to retailers and resellers.

"The Intel Software Distribution Hub offers our Intel Technology Provider Gold and Platinum Partners the unique opportunity to differentiate themselves by providing a wide range of popular game titles, in addition to delivering the excellent performance and exceptional experiences our gaming customers demand," said Ricardo Moreno, vice president of sales and marketing group and general manager of partner sales programs organisation at Intel Corporation, as reported by MCVUK.

GeIL have been busy lately, with recently releasing their Super Luce RGB memory range and now annoucing that the EVO X ROG-certified RGB Gaming memory that features ASUS ROG certification will be added to their range. This collaboration between ASUS ROG and GeIL signifies the innovation and dedication by both companies to deliver high-performance innovative hardware dedicated for enthusiasts.

Available in dual or quad-channel DDR4-3000MHz kits, when paired with certain ASUS ROG motherboards this allows for automatic performance boost mode that allows for extreme performance. ASUS AURA lighting control app allows for synchronization of RGB LED illumination and when paired with ASUS ROG motherboard, graphics card and other RGB UI compatible components, gives users the ultimate illumination experience.

GeIL EVO X ROG-certified RGB Gaming Memory features a specifically designed grey heat spreader that incorporates a Sliding Hot Switch. The Sliding Hot Switch allows for real-time control of the RGB LED, in case you don't have a supported motherboard.

Seasonic have added the PRIME Ultra Series power supply range to compliment their award winning PRIME series range. The PRIME series won the prestigious Power Supply of the Year 2017 European Hardware Award and Seasonic haven't let their standards slip once inch with their flagship PRIME Ultra Series.

The PSU market is shifting, more energy efficient graphics cards and motherboards don't require ridiculously high-output power supplies. The PRIME Ultra series targets this market, with high-end, high-efficiency power supplies that provide customers with exactly what they require. Thanks to high quality components, these PSU's are capable of suppressing ripple noise and create clean, effiecent power output.

To improve cable management, Seasonic have removed the inline capacitors on the cables, this allows for improved cable management within your PC while new 180 degree SATA connections ensures more flexibility and easy installation of hardware.

When it comes to whisper quiet CPU cooling, there is none finer and more respected than Noctua. Always striving for improvements, Noctua have announced the successors to the award-winning NH-L9a and NH-L12, the new and improved NH-L9a-AM4 and NH-L12S. These models feature support for AMD Ryzen processors to meet market demand.

"AMD has made a big impact on the market with its Ryzen architecture and the platform will become even more interesting for compact HTPC builds when the first Ryzen-based APUs are introduced next year," says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "We're thus updating two of our award-winning low-profile models to support Ryzen's AM4 socket."

Perfect for HTPC and other compact builds that require minimum clearance for a CPU cooler, the NH-L9a-AM4 is only 37mm tall. Including a custom designed SecuFirm2 mounting system, this allows for the AM4 socket to be easily installed and features a highly optimised NF-A9x14 92mm fan, that runs remarkably quiet thanks to fully automatic speed control via PWM.

Stunlock Studios' has announced that November 8, their arena-brawler Battlerite will be leaving Steam's Early Access and officially launching.

Currently you have to pay $19.99 to purchase Battlerite to gain acess, come November 8 Battlerite will transition into free-to-play. So why should you purchase prior to full launch? Well...

"By purchasing Early Access, you are granted instant-access to the game, all champions, and all future champions as well as a unique founder avatar and title," according to Battlerite's Steam Early Access page. "This bundle will not be available at launch. It's likely that the same amount of content will cost more once the game is released."

Sharkoon have released the robust AI7000 ATX case. Available in in two editions, the Silent and the Glass editions, they're almost identical except for, yep you guessed it, a tempered glass side panel.

The Sharkoon AI7000 Silent features damping mats that are installed on both sides, top and front panel to effectively reduce the operating noise of the PC, without affecting the airflow. The AI7000 has room for two 2.5" drives hidden behind the motherboard and room for up to 380mm long graphics card, there's even enough room up front for a 280mm radiator.

The front panel offers two USB 3.0, USB 2.0 and audio ports, finished with colored accents on the front air intakes that are avaliable in red, green, blue and black, which determine the color variant of the case.

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey has been quiet since his exit from the VR startup, but during the Tokyo Game Show this week, Luckey confirmed he's formed a new company.

The new company is working on VR in some form, with Luckey saying: "I have a new company; I can't talk about my projects too much yet, but I'm still working in the virtual reality industry on some very exciting things". Continuing, Luckey said he doesn't want to be seen "as an Oculus person" as his ambitions are much bigger than what one company is doing.

He continued: "Don't think of me as an Oculus person. Just think of me as a VR person. Everything. Sony, HTC, other companies. Everything".

Intel is weeks away from releasing yet another CPU family because they're definitely not scared of AMD's continued threat by Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper, with Coffee Lake-S led by the flagship Core i7-8700K which seems to overclock incredibly well.

Intel's new Core i7-8700K has been busted hitting 4.8GHz on all CPU cores (6C/12T) on air cooling, which is great to hear. But if you want to get past the 5GHz ceiling, you're going to need better cooling - and you'll need to delid the processor as well.

All in all, the Core i7-8700K hitting 4.8GHz on ALL 6C/12T threads is pretty damn good. It'll be interesting to see how much more it can be pushed, and whether 5GHz is something that will require watercooling, or more.

Intel's next-gen Coffee Lake-S architecture led by the flagship Core i7-8700K processor doesn't launch until October 5, but there are major leaks all over the place from performance, to a detailed run down of all of the new 8000-series CPUs.

First up, Intel is calling their new Core i7-8700K processor their "BEST gaming desktop processor" ever made, with 6C/12T of CPU power. We have up to 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes on X370, and DDR4 RAM support up to 2666MHz. Intel has also included hardware support for 4K HDR content, per-core overclocking, and so much more.

Intel's new 8th generation Core processors represent the best gaming processor Intel has ever made, the first 6-core Core i5 processor, the first 4-core Core i3 processor, and more. We have up to 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes on the platform, and support for Intel Optane memory.