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New 'Ghost in the Shell' trailer is an astounding vision
The live action remake of the classic anime 'Ghost in the Shell' is shaping up quite nicely, as seen in the latest theatrical trailer released by Dreamworks and Paramount today.
Based on the 1989 manga which was in turn adapted into the 1995 anime film, the 2017 'Ghost In The Shell' stars Scarlett Johansson as The Major and Pilou Asbæk as Batou in the feature film remake which is helmed by 'Snow White and the Huntsman' director Rupert Sanders.
'Ghost In The Shell' is set to hit cinemas in 2D and 3D worldwide from March 30 2017.
Continue reading: New 'Ghost in the Shell' trailer is an astounding vision (full post)
SEGA made $1 billion on pachinko in the last nine months
Pachinko and pachislot recreational arcade games are a booming and extremely lucrative business in Japan. Just how popular is this past-time? So popular that SEGA, one of the premiere Japanese game developers, earned over $1 billion in pachinko earnings in nine months.
SEGA recently reported strong third quarter financial earnings, especially in the pachislot and pachinko department. According to the IR documents SEGA pulled in an impressive 119.7 billion yen--$1.05 billion USD--from pachinko and pachislot sales from March to December 2016.
In fact, pachinko net sales were higher than digital and physical game sales combined, and made up half of SEGA's total nine-month earnings of 285 billion yen, or about $2.51 billion USD.
Continue reading: SEGA made $1 billion on pachinko in the last nine months (full post)
Huawei P10 Plus could pack up to 8GB of RAM
Huawei's P10 and P10 Plus should arrive this spring, and we are expecting the company to announce their newest phones at this year's MWC in Barcelona.
The specs, images, and the pricing of the devices have already leaked in the previous months, but now there is a new report suggesting that the P10 Plus might rock a whopping 8GB of RAM.
Read also: Huawei revives the Note7 with the P10 Plus
Continue reading: Huawei P10 Plus could pack up to 8GB of RAM (full post)
AMD Radeon 500 series will feature Vega, Polaris GPUs
AMD has teased that it is hosting its hopefully yearly tradition of Capsaicin at GDC 2017 in just two weeks time, but now the rumor mill is churning with WCCFTech reporting that the Radeon RX 500 series will feature both Vega and Polaris GPUs.
We still don't know much about Vega, where we should hopefully see the high-end Vega 10 GPU featuring 4096 stream processors, and up to 12.5 TFLOPs of performance with 8GB of HBM2. This part will be the enthusiast card that we've all been dreaming of from AMD, but the company will also fill out the Radeon RX 500 series with Polaris GPUs, according to the site.
This makes sense, but I'd rather see Vega pushed on its own - similar to how they pushed Fiji on its own brand with Radeon R9 Fury X. AMD could name the Vega cards Radeon RX Vega 10, Radeon RX Vega 11 - and then the Polaris-powered parts Radeon RX 580, RX 570, and so on.
Continue reading: AMD Radeon 500 series will feature Vega, Polaris GPUs (full post)
Nintendo Switch supports wireless Bluetooth headsets
Nintendo exec Yoshiaki Koizumi has confirmed that the Switch handheld-console hybrid will support wireless Bluetooth audio headphones on-the-go via the console's built-in Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity.
Mr. Koizumi told French video games site Gaming Stories that the Switch owners can use Bluetooth headphones for wireless convenience on the go.
The Nintendo exec also confirmed that the Switch's 3.5mm headphone jack can be used while the system is docked, and the system will channel out stereo audio through the port. This means you can still use existing headphones to play your Switch games in TV Mode while the system is docked for maximum performance on HDTVs.
Continue reading: Nintendo Switch supports wireless Bluetooth headsets (full post)
PewDiePie's latest jokes cost him a big YouTube contract
PewDiePie--YouTube's biggest celebrity and top-earner--is known for being rather outspoken and playing jokes that ride the razor's edge of controversy. But now his latest antics have gone too far and Maker Studios has let the massive star go.
The video that cost Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg his job could be seen as anti-Semitic: at least that's how Disney-owned YouTube brand Maker Studios saw it. In an effort to "show how crazy the world is," Kjellberg paid an Indian man $5 on Fiverr to hold up a sign that says "Death to All Jews." It was meant to be a joke, and Kjellberg didn't think they'd do it--but they did, and Kjellberg uploaded the video. As a response his YouTube contract was terminated.
After five years, Maker Studios has terminated their partnership with PewDiePie. "Although Felix has created a following by being provocative and irreverent, he clearly went too far in this case and the resulting videos are inappropriate," a Maker Studios rep said. "Maker Studios has made the decision to end our affiliation with him going forward."
Continue reading: PewDiePie's latest jokes cost him a big YouTube contract (full post)
Nokia 3310 is coming back! Yes, seriously.
Probably the most iconic phone in the history of cell phones is coming back. The Nokia 3310! Yes, you read that right. The indestructible phone with a long-lasting battery is making its return.
According to the leak by Evan Blass, HMD Global will launch a modern version of the Nokia 3310 phone on MWC 2017. Not much is know about the phone, but to be honest - who cares?! It's Nokia 3310, and at a price of 59 euros (around $63), I know I'm for sure getting one.
The company will target the European market with this phone, but it will hopefully find its way to other markets as well.
Continue reading: Nokia 3310 is coming back! Yes, seriously. (full post)
Zelda: Breath of the Wild has $20 season pass
Nintendo today announced a very non-Nintendo move: Zelda: Breath of the Wild will have paid expansion DLC content.
Rather than update Zelda: Breath of the Wild with free content updates, the new game will be the first main Zelda game to get additional paid DLC content. Breath of the Wild will have two DLC expansions on Wii U and Switch, and Nintendo is offering a $20 season pass to unlock both expansions. The packs can also be purchased separately on the eShop, and pre-orders will begin when the game ships on March 3, 2017.
In an additional very non-Nintendo move, the season pass will have pre-order incentives in the form of special exclusive in-game items: three treasure chests that give you a special Nintendo Switch logo shirt for Link to wear (really Nintendo?) and "two useful items."
Continue reading: Zelda: Breath of the Wild has $20 season pass (full post)
Huawei CEO confirms Watch 2 launch at MWC 2017
Huawei will host hold a press conference at MWC in Barcelona, and we are expecting to see the P10 and P10 Plus.
Richard Yu, Huawei CEO, confirmed today that we would also see a new Huawei smartwatch with Android Wear 2.0.
Yu posted an image on Weibo that shows a male looking at his smartwatch with a tag line "Made for free spirits" which might indicate a sportier watch design. The photo doesn't reveal any specs, but we have already seen some leaks previous month.
Continue reading: Huawei CEO confirms Watch 2 launch at MWC 2017 (full post)
Apple's new iPhone should have wireless charging
We've reported just recently that Apple's upcoming iPhone 8 and iPhone X smartphones will have wireless charging, but now it seems like this is a reality - as Apple has just become a member of the Wireless Power Consortium.
WPC is committed to the open development of the Qi wireless charging standard, with Apple joining over 200 companies that belong to the consortium: including Samsung, HTC, Qualcomm, Dell, Nokia, Huawei, and many more.
Qi is the leading wireless charging standard, used by over 200 companies in hundreds of different devices. Apple joining the wireless charging ranks is only a good thing, after years of having 'the best smartphone ever made' it never had something as awesome as wireless charging... until now.
Continue reading: Apple's new iPhone should have wireless charging (full post)
FINALLY: New iPhone will have much better battery life
There are a heap of rumors surrounding Apple's new iPhone 8 - which is meant to be joined by the higher-end, ground breaking iPhone X - but for now, we'll stick to the iPhone 8 discussion.
According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will be using a more expensive stacked logic board for the new iPhone 8 - which is also known as a "substrate-like PCB mainboard". The benefits? It'll see the iPhone 8 with an OLED display that will have a similar size to the 4.7-inch iPhone, but with battery life more akin to the larger 5.5-inch iPhone.
Kuo expects the 4.7-inch iPhone 8 to have a 2700Mah L-shaped two-cell battery pack, adding: "As battery material tech isn't likely to see major breakthroughs in the next 3-5 years, mainboard area can only be reduced via stacked SLP, which makes space for larger battery and extended usage time. Thanks to stacked SLP, we expect the OLED iPhone to have similar dimensions to a 4.7" TFT-LCD iPhone, and have comparable battery capacity (equipped with around 2,700 mAh L-shaped 2-cell battery pack) to a 5.5" TFT-LCD iPhone. The battery life of the OLED iPhone could be better than that of the 5.5" TFT-LCD model as OLED panels are more energy-efficient than their TFT-LCD counterparts".
Continue reading: FINALLY: New iPhone will have much better battery life (full post)
'Iron Man' comes to 4K Blu-ray... but only in Germany
Just shy of its first birthday, the 4K Ultra HD format continues to go from strength to strength, with a solid collection of new and catalogue titles consstently delivering the goods. While Disney continue to be the sole holdout amongst the big Hollywood studios, that hasn't stopped a smaller German distributor from doing their own thing with one of their biggest titles.
Concorde has announced the upcoming availability of 'Iron Man', 'Iron Man 2' and 'Iron Man 3' as standalone titles and in a trilogy steelbook boxset on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format. Each film is set to be remastered at 4K resolution, with HDR and lossless DTS HD Master Audio tracks, and will also include a 1080p Blu-ray copy.
Disney have not announced any plans to release these, or any other titles for other markets, but we're hopeful they'll make their plans known sometime this year.
Continue reading: 'Iron Man' comes to 4K Blu-ray... but only in Germany (full post)
Apple orders 160m OLED displays from Samsung for iPhone
Apple's next generation iPhone X is expected to blow minds when it comes out, but now The Next Web is reporting that the new iPhone 8 (and I'm sure, iPhone X) will feature OLED displays - with Apple ordering a huge 160 million OLED displays... from its direct competitor.
Samsung has been tapped to supply OLED displays to Apple for its next-gen iPhone, according to South Korean outlet The Investor, which reports that Apple reached an agreement with Samsung's display division for 160 million OLED panels.
Apple had no chance but to go to Samsung, as the South Korean giant - and the maker of the upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone, is producing around 95% of the total worldwide supply of OLED panels. LG has been ramping up, but won't come close to Samsung's mammoth numbers for quite a while.
Continue reading: Apple orders 160m OLED displays from Samsung for iPhone (full post)
Intel's new 48-core Xeon: 200MHz faster, costs $8898
AMD will own the 16-threaded consumer CPU market within the next 6-12 months, but Intel is still fighting the good fight in the Xeon area with the introduction of the new Broadwell-EX XCC (Extreme Core Count) die that features 24C/48T of CPU processing power.
Intel's new Xeon E7-8894 v4 features 24 CPU cores with 48 threads in total thanks to Hyper-Threading, as well as a huge 60MB of L3 cache, 165W TDP, and default clocks of 2.4GHz and Turbo clocks of 3.4GHz. But it's the massive price that will have you worried: $8898... yeah, that's right - nearly $10K.
But don't worry, if you want to shave off 200Mhz there's the Xeon E7-8890 v4 which has identical specs - except its default frequency is just 2.2GHz (down from 2.4GHz) and Intel sells that for $7147. This represents a 24% increase in price, for a 9% increase in stock frequency - worth it? Yeah, nah.
Continue reading: Intel's new 48-core Xeon: 200MHz faster, costs $8898 (full post)
AMD to host Capsaicin event during GDC 2017
This is an event I've been dying to tell you all about: AMD will be hosting their new Capsaicin event during the Game Developers Conference on February 28.
During GDC 2016, AMD hosted their first Capsaicin event where we got to see the Radeon Pro Duo and a bigger tease of Polaris 10 before its release a few months later. But what should we expect from Capsaicin this year? Well, I expect a larger tease of Vega - in fact, I'd really enjoy a massive unveiling of Vega at Capsaicin.
You'll be able to tune into the Capsaicin livestream, which will begin at 10:30AM on February 28, which AMD teases as a "feature-packed show highlighting the hottest new graphics and VR technologies propelling the games industry forward".
Continue reading: AMD to host Capsaicin event during GDC 2017 (full post)
Apple/LG's new 5K sales halted, hardware issues blamed
LG released their new UltraFine 5K monitors last month, an exclusive for high-end MacBook Pro models from Apple - but they were plagued with issues. So much so, that Apple has halted sales of the 5K display until it can fix the monitor, permanently.
Last week I wrote an article saying that early models of the 5K display were affected, and they should'lve been fixed - but according to Business Insider's sources, Apple is halting the sales of the LG UltraFine 5K display because of hardware-based issues within the monitor.
Apple won't have any new high-end 5K displays to sell alongside their new MacBook Pro for at least another 6 weeks or so.
Continue reading: Apple/LG's new 5K sales halted, hardware issues blamed (full post)
Solve our 'Sherlock' contest to win a Series 4 Blu-ray!
To celebrate this week's release of 'Sherlock: Series 4' on Blu-ray and DVD, we have 10 Blu-rays to give away thanks to our friends at Roadshow Home Entertainment.
In this eagerly anticipated fourth series, Sherlock is back on British soil once more, while Doctor Watson and Mary prepare for their biggest ever challenge - becoming parents for the first time. The hit drama returns with three new episodes promising laughter, tears, shocks, surprises and extraordinary cases.
To go into the running to win a prize, simply correctly answer the following question:
Continue reading: Solve our 'Sherlock' contest to win a Series 4 Blu-ray! (full post)
New Wolfenstein game is 'f*cking bananas,' says Bethesda
Machine Games is currently developing a sequel to their stellar FPS hit Wolfenstein: The New Order, and according to Bethesda's Pete Hines, this new sequel will push the bar even further than its predecessor.
Wolfenstein: The New Colossus will be the next Wolfenstein game from Machine Games, and we have strong reason to believe it'll be set in a Nazi-occupied United States. Bethesda teased The New Colossus during its E3 2016 showcase, but so far the publisher has been quiet on the game.
Now Bethesda's Pete Hines has broken that silence: "Machine Games has been hard at work on something, which I can tell you I have played. It's fu*cking bananas. And I can't wait to show what it actually is," Hines said in a recent podcast interview with Kinda Funny Games.
Continue reading: New Wolfenstein game is 'f*cking bananas,' says Bethesda (full post)
Nier Automata deals with death in an innovative new way
Nier: Automata is one of the best-looking games I've seen in the last few months thanks to its innovative style and action-packed mechanics. But according to a recent leak, the android-infused action RPG will have a very unique representation of "death" that reminds us of fighting Shadow Link in Zelda II.
In Nier: Automata you play as an android. You're not human, so you can't really "die" so to speak--not really, although your body can be broken down.
But Platinum Games didn't end there. In true JRPG fashion, the devs pushed the envelope to redefine what we expect with player death and "game over" sequences. Here's how dying works in Nier: Automata--but be forwarned, here there be spoilers!
Continue reading: Nier Automata deals with death in an innovative new way (full post)
Nintendo Switch uses 20nm Maxwell Tegra SoC
Nintendo Switch will use a second-generation 20nm NVIDIA Tegra SoC processor based on the Maxwell architecture, according to recently leaked documents.
Remember when Eurogamer broke the news about the Switch's 6.7-inch screen and varying processor speeds across handheld and docked modes?
The source document used for that coverage has now been leaked, and they confirm the Switch will use a Maxwell Tegra X1 instead of NVIDIA's new Pascal-powered 16nm "Parker" SoC as we previously reported. The documents highlight specs for internal devkits, but actual retail models should use the same processor.
Continue reading: Nintendo Switch uses 20nm Maxwell Tegra SoC (full post)









