All of the money made from Jak and Daxter reissues is going to charity

Jak Connor | Gaming | Dec 12, 2019 12:31 AM CST

Naughty Dog is doing a bunch of charities a massive solid by donating all the proceeds they generated with the reissues of the Jak and Daxter series.

All of the money made from Jak and Daxter reissues is going to charity

If you didn't know, not to long ago Naughty Dog did a reissue of their classic Jak and Daxter series and boy did it sell like hotcakes. The collector's edition reportedly sold out in just hours, and the standard edition was gone in a week. While you'd probably think that Naughty Dog would just take all of that money and throw it into new game development, the developer is doing something a bit more humble with it.

Naughty Dog has announced that all the money from Jak and Daxter, Jak 2, Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing will be going to charities. The following charities are the ones that have been selected by Naughty Dog: K9 for Warriors, Child's Play, Surfrider Foundation, LGBT Center for Los Angeles, Able Gamers, and DAGERS. According to Naughty Dog President, Evan Wells, "We're proud to lend our support to these groups advocating and advancing important work for accessibility, environmental conservation, veterans, the LGBTQ+ community, and children's hospitals."

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Magic Leap jumps the shark from consumers to businesses

Magic Leap has burned through its $2.6 billion in funding so far without a consumer AR headset on the market, with the super-secretive startup recently signing over its IP to JPMorgan Chase as collateral. But now Magic Leap has made another... er... leap, from consumers to businesses with its AR headset.

Magic Leap jumps the shark from consumers to businesses

The company is launching a new Enterprise Suite that will include the Magic Leap 1 headset itself, two years of dedicated support, device management tools, fast AR headset replacements and extended warranties. There will be a bunch of AR-friendly apps from third-party developers that will work on the Magic Leap AR headset, too.

Magic Leap is wanting some of those real Benjamins right away, charging $2995 per headset for its Enterprise Suite. Magic Leap is thus shifting focus (at least for now) away from consumers and its Magic Leap 1 headset, over to businesses with the flex in the Enterprise Suite and a $2995 per headset charge.

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The Pirate Bay tests pirate streaming, Mandalorian, Joker available

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 11, 2019 9:52 PM CST

The Pirate Bay is back in the headlines with its new streaming service 'BayStream' picked up by TorrentFreak, where pretty much everything is available with a YouTube-style UI.

The Pirate Bay tests pirate streaming, Mandalorian, Joker available

BayStream has some of the largest and most popular TV shows and movies available, including Disney+ exclusives like The Mandalorian and even DC's latest and $1 billion club member Joker. If the content is readily available, then the stream will be fine -- but if you're trying to stream obscure TV shows and movies then you might run into some troubles.

The new streaming service supports files up to 20GB, with TorrentFreak reporting there is "no mention of premium accounts or affiliate programs". But who is operating BayStream? The Pirate Bay? It doesn't seem so, as there is a "Kopimi" logo in the bottom which seems to show us that someone out there is supporting the pirate movement.

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Forza Horizon 7 receives 72-player battle royale mode 'The Eliminator'

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 11, 2019 8:49 PM CST

With the likes of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), Fortnite, Apex Legends and many other battle royale games doing the rounds -- it wasn't going to be long until driving games received a battle royale mode. Forza Horizon 4 is now included in that list with "The Eliminator" mode... check it out:

Forza Horizon 7 receives 72-player battle royale mode 'The Eliminator'

Forza Horizon 4's new The Eliminator battle royale game mode sees 72 players starting the round, where you'll need to beat them in one-on-one races. You begin with the basic Mini Cooper, and then after each round you'll earn better cars or if you scour the map you'll find car drops around with better vehicles to ride.

The map is shrinking just like other battle royale games, so you'll need to keep racing until you're the only one left -- and cross that final finish line. It doesn't sound too bad at all and not some 'me too' battle royale game as developer Playground Games has been working on The Eliminator mode since before the official release of Forza Horizon 4.

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LG's new 2020 Gram laptops pack 10th-gen Intel CPUs, new Wi-Fi tech

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | Dec 11, 2019 8:20 PM CST

LG is already enjoying a healthy line up of Gram laptops, but the new 2020 versions of the Gram family of laptops will pack some of the very latest technology.

LG's new 2020 Gram laptops pack 10th-gen Intel CPUs, new Wi-Fi tech

LG has unveiled the 2020 versions of its Gram Laptops with a new 2-in-1 convertible, and then 14-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch models once again. The new LG Gram laptops in 2020 will pack 10th Generation Intel Core CPUs with Iris Plus graphics, as well as up to 24GB of DDR4 RAM making them portable powerhouses.

The new LG Gram laptops will also pack Wi-Fi 6 technology that has not just faster speeds, but it is more energy efficient meaning longer battery life on your new LG Gram laptop. Speaking of batteries, LG has upgraded the 15-inch and 17-inch Gram laptops with 80Wh batteries, versus the 72Wh battery in the current Gram laptops.

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Apple's new $5000 monitor can ONLY be cleaned with Apple's own cloth

Anthony Garreffa | Displays & Projectors | Dec 11, 2019 7:47 PM CST

If you've just dumped over $50,000 into Apple's new Mac Pro then you will want to grab these $400 wheels for it, and then you'll want to purchase the new Pro Display XDR that costs $5000 on its own -- oh, and the $1000 stand, too.

Apple's new $5000 monitor can ONLY be cleaned with Apple's own cloth

But did you know that Apple says that you can only use their included cloth to clean the Pro Display XDR, since it has high-end nano-texture glass that must be cleaned by Apple's magical cloth. Apple warns users that they should not be using anything else to clean their Pro Display XDR monitor, but what happens if you lose the included cloth?

Well, that's a mystery... as you can't buy replacement cloths right now so if you lose it you need to call Apple to get a replacement cleaning cloth sent to you. Apple hasn't said how much this cloth will cost, but if the full-specced Mac Pro costs $50,000+ and the wheels are $400 and display is $5000, then the cloth has to be something like $100, right?

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The Matrix 4 and John Wick 4 release on the SAME day: May 21, 2021

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Dec 11, 2019 7:11 PM CST

It looks like Keanu Reeves is about to become the largest movie star of all time, with Reeves being the main lead in both The Matrix 4 and John Wick 4 -- both releasing on the same day: May 21, 2021. Lionsgate announced John Wick 4 would be released on May 21, 2021 -- so now it's their move. Keep it the same day as The Matrix 4, or move it.

The Matrix 4 and John Wick 4 release on the SAME day: May 21, 2021

Right now both movies are slated for May 21, 2021 and while there's the possibility (more like probability) that Lionsgate will shift John Wick 4's release away from The Matrix 4... I think they should leave it. Imagine that day: May 21, 2021 we are going to the cinema to watch both The Matrix freaking 4 and John Wick chapter freaking 4 on the same day. I mean, seriously.

The last time something this big happened was all the way back in 1984, where Ghostbusters and Gremlins opened on the same day. Things have amplified since then, as Keanu Reeves has built up two majorly successful franchises with tens of millions of fans -- and both of those sequels (one to The Matrix franchise and its last outing in Revolutions) while John Wick has been kicking box office ass with the latest John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum.

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Next-gen Xbox's name will reflect its function, Microsoft boss says

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 11, 2019 6:14 PM CST

Xbox consoles aren't named arbitrarily. The first one was named after Direct X, the Xbox 360 was named because it represents a circle that orbits your living room, and the Xbox One was billed as an all-in-one solution for gaming and multimedia. So what will the next-gen Xboxes be called?

Next-gen Xbox's name will reflect its function, Microsoft boss says

Microsoft is currently working on two next-gen consoles, reports say. Project Scarlett is a duo of systems: Anaconda, the high-end version that belts out native 4K 60FPS, and Lockhart, a pared-down system with reduced RAM that hits 1440p 60FPS. Both will use similar hardware like a new AMD SoC with a Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU, a proprietary SSD to supercharge loading times, and GDDR6 memory. They're aimed at two different markets, though. Anaconda is for enthusiasts, and Lockhart is for gamers who want to experience next-gen without the higher price.

So what will they be called? According to Microsoft's Phil Spencer, each console is named accordingly based on its function and role. This strongly hints Project Scarlett will break the Xbox One moniker and forge ahead with a new naming scheme. The Xbox One family has served its purpose across three separate consoles, the last two of which saved the Xbox One brand itself.

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VR brings new dimension of replayability to Half-Life: Alyx

Half-Life: Alyx might be VR's biggest game yet. Although it's entirely in VR, it won't be a radical departure for the series--the same linear focus will be intact. That doesn't mean the game won't be massively replayable, though.

VR brings new dimension of replayability to Half-Life: Alyx

Half-Life games have always been replayable experiences, mostly due to multiplayer. Half-Life: Alyx won't have any multiplayer, but it will have the staying power of VR that offers a new dimension of interactivity. VR isn't just about playing, but how you play and actually engage with the environments around you. It's much more pronounced than the different chaotic anything-can-happen mechanisms in place for a static FPS; you're actually in the frenetic gunfights, you're actually involved and not just a player sitting behind a screen. In this way Half-Life: Alyx will be a fundamentally replayable game despite having the traditional beginning, middle, and end structure of any singleplayer experience.

In a recent interview with The Verge, Valve confirms that Half-Life: Alyx is indeed a linear game. There's no funky live elements here or online hooks. Just a straight campaign that tells more of the expanded Half-Life story.

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Halo: Reach spawned 3 million players in its launch week

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 11, 2019 4:05 PM CST

Microsoft's latest launch figures for Reach shows everyone wants to play Halo on PC. Who knew?

Halo: Reach spawned 3 million players in its launch week

Halo: Reach is a massive success on PC and managed to pull in huge launch week figures. The landmark shooter amassed a whopping 3 million players combined on Xbox One and PC in one week.

As usual Microsoft's figures are maddeningly vague. We have no way of extrapolating how many copies Reach sold on PC (remember it's included in the $40 bundle as well as sold separately for $10), and we don't know how many of those 3 million players are on PC. Reach was also included free on the Master Chief Collection on Xbox One.

Continue reading: Halo: Reach spawned 3 million players in its launch week (full post)