Latest News - Page 2195

Western Digital has teamed up with Nintendo to provide official Nintendo Switch branded microSD cards for markets outside of Japan.

The microSD cards will be manufactured by Western Digital's Sandisk memory unit, and come in 64GB and 128GB capacities, and are specifically optimized for Nintendo's new Switch handheld-console hybrid. This announcement comes shortly after the Japanese games-maker confirmed that some Nintendo Switch game cartridges will require expandable memory to be installed in order to access full in-game content, as specific titles simply aren't fitting on the device's game cartridges. Nintendo affirmed that users without microSD memory can play "a selection of content" in games that require expanded storage memory to be installed. Since only 25.9GB of the Nintendo Switch's advertised 32GB internal storage is accessible for game installations, owners are heavily incentivized to purchase expandable memory--that scant memory allocation will also continue to shrink as Nintendo rolls out more firmware updates.

The official Nintendo Switch Sandisk memory cards should be affordable as the performance and capacity are more mainstream rather than the high-end specifications used for enthusiast grade microSD memory. Both the 64GB SDXC and 128GB SDXC cards feature a UHS-I interface bus that supports up to 104MB/sec speeds, and are rated for a UHS 3 (U3) speed class that has a minimum sequential writing speed for 30MB/sec. The product boxes tout the cards can deliver up to 90MB/sec write and 100MB/sec read speeds, which is much more performance than users typically need for the Nintendo Switch.

Razer today has teased us with a new configuration option for their Razer Blade Pro, aimed at gamers and creative professionals with a reduced budget, the new Blade Pro option features a NVIDA GeForce GTX 1060 rather than a GTX 1080 and a full-HD 120Hz display, rather than the premium 4K display.

This VR ready laptop is powered by Intel's 7th gen Quad-Core Core i7 CPU, 16 GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM and features hybrid storage configuration of 256GB PCIe SSD plus 2TB HDD to delivers both speed and capacity.

"The Razer Blade Pro is the ultimate gaming laptop that packs desktop-level performance with unmatched portability," says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. "This latest iteration offers an optimized configuration for gamers and professionals that want a 17-inch display and top-notch build quality. The thin design houses the latest in performance components and features expandable memory and storage capability."

Thermaltake recently invited twelve extremely talented case-modders, from twelve different countries (Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Philippines, Russia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to participate in Thermaltake's 2017 Thermaltake CaseMOD Invitational Season 1. With a prize-pool featuring $15,000USD, there is plenty of motivation for these modders to display their craft.

Contestants were required to use an array of Thermaltake products (obviously), including The Tower 900 E-ATX Vertical Super Tower Chassis, Toughpower Grand RGB 850W Gold fully modular power supply, Tt Certified liquid cooling components and an unlimited selection of other Thermaltake products to transform their build.

The scoring was categorized on three aspects of the participant's build, originality, style (inside and out) and LCS loop. Community voting was allocated 25%, with 25% by Thermaltake, 25% by expert modders, and 25% by sponsors, to help the panel of judges declare a winner.

Destiny's 2 console launch is just right around the corner, and as a veteran who stormed Old Russia at launch, I'm quite hyped to jump back into the fray. Bungie delivers its last community update before the launch, dropping a bunch of new info for eager Guardians.

According to the update, players will have ample time to prepare for Destiny 2's post-game content. The sequel's first raid is slated to open up a week after launch at 1PM EST on September 13, and it should offer a huge dose of cryptic puzzles for fireteams to solve (raids typically take up to 12 hours or so to completely solve, and serve as a source of massive fascination in the community. Destiny 2's Nightfall mode, which pits a fireteam against crippling foes in a Strike mission, will be available right when the game goes live--but be forewarned, this mode is pretty rough.

Secondly, Destiny 2's Trials mode will go live a little over a week after launch at 1PM EST on September 15. But of course the real excitement is the raid; these events are long-winded affairs that see players marathon running a mysterious region and trying to figure out cryptic puzzles and sequences, all while relying on wit as well as strategy and skill. It's really the ultimate test of teamwork, and I can say there's really no other experience quite like it.

Toshiba, the second top manufacturer of NAND flash storage in the world, has missed a deadline set forth by company leadership to sell its Toshiba Memory Corporation storage business.

Three major groups are vying for purchase of Toshiba's chip business, which is currently valued at up to $18 billion, as the company aims to recoup the massive $8.7 billion in losses from its buckled Westinghouse nuclear power plant. Suitors for the chip business include a consortium led by storage giant Western Digital, a group led by investment firm Bain Capital, and a Japanese-led consortium led by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., also known as Foxconn. The beleaguered Tokyo-based storage company has failed to meet the internal deadline to sell its chip business by August 31 and negotiations between Toshiba and its suitors remain stalled.

Mobile juggernaut Apple is aligning with Bain Capital's consortium, sources tell Reuters, in an effort to secure a key position in pricing authority. Apple is a top consumer of Toshiba's flash memory and uses the chips in its wide range of products including iPhones.

Logitech have announced two new products to their wireless gaming catalog, G613 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard and G603 Wireless Mouse. Designed for uncompromising wireless performance, the G613 and G603 feature LIGHTSPEED wireless technology that enables gamers the ultimate wireless gaming experience.

"LIGHTSPEED and POWERPLAY made the dream of untethered and uncompromised wireless performance a reality," said Ujesh Desai, vice president and general manager of Logitech G. "The new HERO sensor in our G603 wireless mouse and the new G613 wireless mechanical keyboard show our commitment to driving wireless performance even further across our product line."

The Logitech G603 is the first gaming mouse to feature Logitechs G's HERO (High Efficiency Rated Optical) senor, an optical sensor that provides exceptional accuracy and precision up to 12,000 DPI with no acceleration or smoothing. Backed with LIGHTSPEED wireless technology, this professional-grade wireless mouse has unrivaled reliablity and performance.

AMD have been busy, extremely busy with the recent release of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper range. That hasn't slowed AMD down as they have just announced another addition to the Ryzen family, the new AMD Ryzen PRO desktop processor. Designed specifically for enterprise and the public sectors, the AMD Ryzen PRO will offer up to 8-cores/16-threads with up to 3.7GHz With Precision Boost, that provides breakthrough responsiveness for the most demanding enterprise-class applications and multi-tasking workflows.

"Today's business PC users require more processing power than ever before to run increasingly demanding applications, to ensure they can multi-task without disruption, and to help protect against security threats," said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics Group, AMD. "Ryzen PRO is designed to address these needs, and we're proud to collaborate with such a strong set of industry leaders on a robust assortment of AMD-based desktop PCs that showcase the strength and flexibility of the Ryzen PRO platform."

Based on the same Zen architecture we've seen in Ryzen and Epyc server CPUs, the Ryzen PRO will be backed with GuardMI and SenseMI technology. This state of the art of technology allows cutting edge performance and protection from an ever-growing list of threats. With global OEM support already established, the coming months will see top PC vendors including Dell, HP, and Lenovo releasing products for the enterprise market.

For those of you that know my style of content, you'll know that I'm obsessed with high resolutions and refresh rate, as well as display technology in general.

This is the driving reason behind my personal purchase of the only 8K monitor on the market, Dell UP3218K - and now, Sharp have just announced their new AQUOS-branded 8K TV. Sharo has announced their next-gen AQUOS Series 8K TVs will be released in China, Japan, and Taiwan between October 2017 and February 2018. Europe will receive the 8K set in March 2018.

Sharp's next-gen 8K TV comes in at a huge 70 inches, but other than that all we know is that Sharp's new AQUOS Series 8K TV will have 4 x HDMI inputs. It will have an HDMI input dedicated to 8K content, while the other HDMI ports will accept 4K and 2K output with 8K upscaling.

So you have the Acer Predator x35 and the Acer Predator Orion 9000, what are you missing? Peripherals. Acer have you covered, recently announcing the Predator Galea 500 gaming headset and the Predator Cestus 500 gaming mouse that will enhance your gaming experience to a new level.

The Predator Galea 500 features Acer TrueHarmony™ 3D Soundscape technology, this recreates the acoustic space based on the orientation of the player's head, convincing the brain that sound is coming from a fixed direction. The Galea 500 can delivers crystal-clear highs with resounding lows, thanks to a driver diaphragm made from bio-cellulose with rubber surround.

Users will have to option to select from three modes including EQ Music, Movie and Sport. Priced at $299.99 and targeted for a November release, the Predator Galea 500 will give you a clear advantage in your next game.

Are you an individual who spends considerable time designing, creating and editing content? Do you want to use innovative peripherals that are have the capacity to edit your work down to the finest detail? You're in luck, Logitech have recently announced their new flagship keyboard, the Logitech CRAFT.

"Our new flagship Logitech CRAFT keyboard is for all creators who spend a lot of time designing and creating - who want to work with greater precision and feel connected to their work," said Art O'Gnimh, global head of keyboards at Logitech. "The creative input dial gives you instant access to the functions you need, the moment you need them, allowing you to increase your productivity by simply touching the dial. CRAFT puts you in your creative element - every time you sit at the desk."

Featuring the Crown, a touch-sensitive input dial, Logitech's CRAFT keyboard lets you adjust image brightness, contrast and saturation in Adobe Photoshop, or create and adjust charts in Microsoft Excel with just a touch, tap or turn. The Crown brings comfort, immediacy and convenience to your creative process and allows for increased two-handed interactions.

Bungie is in overdrive right now handling the beta of Destiny 2, with Design Director Luke Smith talking about the game in a YouTube video where he answered questions from the community of Wired.

Smith said that private PvP matches are something Bungie is talking about doing, but he can't guarantee the team will add them in the first few updates to Destiny 2. Smith was also asked about Blizzard's PTR (Public Test Realms) and whether the game will get something similar to test upcoming updates.

Smith said: "We have talked a lot internally about the possibility of opening something like this up to player groups and honestly, I like the idea of players not totally knowing everything that's there before the game comes out. I think that test realms in, like, private test beta if we expanded that, would be amazing for a bunch of things like stability. I'm still interested in challenging us to do our best job without having to expose it to the public. I wouldn't say never, but I wouldn't say yes".

Total War: Warhammer II gamers will need a fair amount of PC hardware grunt to run at 4K 60FPS+ but Creative Assembly haven't made the game out of reach for everyone. CA have teased that pre-orders for Warhammer II have beaten all previous records in the series.

THe developer recommends an Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3GHz, 4-5GB RAM, 60GB HDD space, and an NVIDIA GeFOrce GTX 460 with 1GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of RAM, or Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics. This is all for 25-35FPS on campaign 1v1, 20x20 units battle, and 'low' quality graphics @ 1280x720.

If you want 1080p 60FPS+ then you're going to need an Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4GHz, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070. I'd like to see 4K 60FPS numbers, but given a GTX 1070 is required for just 1080p 60FPS @ Ultra graphics, I suspect we'll need GTX 1080 Ti or even TITAN Xp to reach 4K 60FPS @ Ultra.

Twitch has just announced Twitch Extensions, a new set of tools that will empower Twitch streamers to customize their pages with a slew of features. Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 and until now, haven't done too much with the streaming giant. This move, is a game changer for full-time Twitch streamers.

Twitch streamers now have access to enabling polls, leaderboards, tickers, schedules, overlays, and virtual pets, to their streams. Better yet, Twitch is adding a new "Gear on Amazon" extension that lets Twitch streamers show off their favorite Amazon products.

If you click any of the 'Buy Now' buttons on the Gear on Amazon links of your favorite Twitch streamer, they will get a commission through the Amazon Associates program.

The Lenovo Explorer, the Chinese tech giant's new mixed reality headset, takes aim accessibility first in both price, performance, and hardware requirements, and can run off of Intel integrated graphics.

Lenovo revealed its Windows 10-powered Explorer AR and VR combination headset at IFA 2017 in Berlin, showing the fruits of Microsoft's initiative to make affordable headsets that appeal to all sorts of users. Starting at $350, the Lenovo Explorer fits the bill nicely with its widespread functionality: users can watch 4K TV shows, view 360-degree video, play VR games, and even use the headset for productivity via Windows programs like Excel. Best of all, however, the headset doesn't require an expensive discrete video card to operate like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Lenovo has confirmed the Explorer can run on laptops and desktops with Intel integrated graphics.

The Explorer features two-front mounted cameras for inside-out position tracking, meaning you won't need an external tracking camera like the Vive, Rift and PlayStation VR--the headset features a tracking space of up to 11.5 x 11.5 feet. Spec-wise, the headset features dual 1440x1440 resolution displays. But unlike Microsoft's expensive Hololens, the Explorer--and other Windows Mixed Reality devices--aren't self-contained and must be tethered to a compatible Windows 10 device in order to function.

A new Conan game is currently in pre-production phases at Funcom's core Oslo-based development branch.

During its fiscal Q2 2017 earnings report, Funcom has outlined the immediate and distant future for its company's development focus, confirming that a new Conan game as well as a new Secret World project are in early planning at its Oslo- and North Carolina-based studios. The Norwegian developer affirms that it's fully committed to supporting existing titles like Conan Exiles and Secret World Legends.

In the report Funcom proudly announced that 1H'17 is the most profitable half-year in the company's entire history, and that its debt was almost halved during the six-month period. However the company acknowledged the poor reception of Conan Exiles on Xbox One's early access program, citing technical issues and promising that fixes are on the way. "We will do better," Funcom said in the filing.

Bethesda's new Creation Club initiative has been utterly demolished by players, with gamers across the globe lambasting the publisher for being "greedy" and dismantling the "it's not paid mods" argument left and right.

I had hopes for the Creation Club: not only was it a way for Bethesda to earn money in a microtransaction-esque monetization path while providing more content and subsequent value to games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim, the service launched with an almost insultingly bad level of content. We've gone over the major problems with the Creation Club's value, worth, and pricing scheme here, but gamers aren't just disappointed, they're outright up in arms. Bethesda, who famously tried to institute paid mods on Steam and was utterly burned by unanimous pushback from the PC gaming community, is opening those old wounds anew, and they're starting to fester already.

Across Reddit alone I've seen thousands of gamers post their impressions on the Creation Club, and the overwhelming majority of them absolutely disapprove of the service. Bethesda originally sold the service as a way for big mod-makers to sell their creations in a secure environment, offering big slices of content alongside smaller weapons and armor modifications. But despite promises of change and potential, the service launched with an embarrassing offering of content that's not only available for free via mod services, but includes ridiculous additions like Pip-boy paintjobs that cost $0.50 a pop. Right now the Creation Club is a mess and needs more high-quality content, and gamers have made up their mind about the service.

PlatinumGames, the Japanese developer behind popular gaming hits like NieR: Automata and the Bayonetta series of games, may reveal a new IP sometime next week.

When asked about plans for a new IP, Hideki Kamiya, PlatinumGames' game director behind Bayonetta games, responded "next week...in game magazines," strongly indicating the new title will be unveiled sometime in the coming week. I've reported on PlatinumGames' new IP in the past: company producer, executive vice president and studio head Atsushi Inaba affirmed the new IP would have a new game director--possibly NieR: Automata's game designer Takahisa Taura--and that it's a "formless, shapeless IP" and that it's very important to the studio.

"One thing we want you to really be aware of is that there's a new formless, shapeless IP, but we can't talk about that right now. But it's really important to us," Inaba-san said during BitSummit 2017's keynote speech (stream here). "Every single year we're thinking about new technology, new formless and shapeless and abstract technologies and we take advantage of events like GDC to really show off what we've learned and where we're headed."

Somehow, some way, Capcom has endorsed a reprinted cartridge of its most popular franchise that can send your Super Nintendo up in flames. And yes, it gets worse: these special edition cartridges are being sold for $100.

Nostalgia peddler iam8bit is selling a special edition Street Fighter II SNES cartridge for $100 to celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary, and like everyone else, I was pretty excited about this--after all what's old is new again and retro gaming is a lucrative market to re-tap. Although the listing clearly shows the cartridge in a Super Nintendo, it warns that the "ultra premium throwback relic" actually poses a potential fire risk, and Capcom literally has no guarantee the cartridge is safe to use. No, really--iam8bit and Capcom are selling a product for $100 that can burn up your beloved childhood console.

"WARNING: Use of this reproduction game cartridge (the "Product") on the SNES gaming hardware may cause the SNES console to overheat or catch fire. The SNES hardware is deemed a vintage collectible, so please exercise extreme caution when using the Product and make sure there is fire extinguishment equipment nearby. Use of the Product is at the sole risk of the user," reads the warning section at the very bottom of the page. It goes on to say that if the reprinted cartridge causes damage, bodily or otherwise, they're simply not responsible because the magical words say so.

Dell's new Inspiron 15 7000 gaming laptop takes aim at gaming enthusiasts who are constantly on the move. Featuring Intel's 7th Gen H-series quad-core mobile CPU, paired with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1060 discrete GPU including NVIDIA's Max Q Design technology and up to 32 GB 2400mhz DDR4 RAM, this is a serious laptop for serious gamers.

The latest gaming titles and video editing is no challenge with all that power, but what use is power without a stunning display? Not to worry, thanks to the anti-glare IPS wide viewing angle FHD or optional 60hz 4K UHD display that provides amazing clarity.

With all that performance comes unwanted heat, unwanted heat requires pro-grade cooling. Behind those exterior vents are extra-capacity heat exchangers connected by oversized piping to dual cooling fans, ensuring the system is always cool and at optimum performance. Ensuring a lag-free gaming experience, the Inspiron features new 2x2 Wi-Fi antenna design that provides great wireless performance, while the SmartByte software prioritises gaming and video content.

In 2015, we had the pleasure to experience Fatshark's 4 player co-op action-shooter, Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide. Today saw the announcement of a sequel for the Left 4 Dead-Warhammer love child, Warhammer: Vermintide 2.

Not much information is available, except that a full reveal is stated for October 17. There's one thing you can expect from Vermintide's sequel, Ratmen, lots and lots of Ratmen.

Other than some beautiful screenshots, the official Warhammer: Vermintide 2 steam page states-