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New leak suggests Nokia phones will rock Snapdragon 835
HMD Global recently launched their first Nokia phone - Nokia 150. However, we are still waiting for the new Nokia-branded Android smartphone, which should be unveiled in February at MWC.
As we previously reported, the smartphone should come in two versions which will differ in display size and the amount of memory.
The new leak shows photos of the upcoming phones and gives us more details about Nokia phones.
Continue reading: New leak suggests Nokia phones will rock Snapdragon 835 (full post)
Facebook rolls out Group Video Chat in Messenger
Just last week, Facebook introduced a new camera feature in their Messenger that lets you add special effects and art on your photos and videos. Now, they have launched another feature - Group Video Chat in Messenger.
Group Video Chat is rolling out to Android and iOS devices and the desktop version of Messenger, worldwide.
You can see up to six people at a time, but up to 50 people can join in and choose just to listen in and join via voice, or be on camera. Once more than six people are on the call, just the dominant speaker is shown to all participants.
Continue reading: Facebook rolls out Group Video Chat in Messenger (full post)
Note8 might be Samsung's first phone to have LG battery
Samsung won't remember this year as a successful one after the Note7 fiasco, but they are already planning their comeback for next year. Recent reports suggest they postponed the Galaxy S8 launch from February to April, and it remains to be seen what will happen with the Note series.
The Note7 was a great phone, there's no doubt about it, but the exploding batteries harmed the brand, and we will see if they will manage to rebuilt the trust with the users. It appears that Samsung will continue their Note line and they are considering LG Chem company to manufacture the batteries for their Note8 and probably other phones launching after that.
This means that the Galaxy Note8 could become the first Samsung phone to pack in an LG-made battery.
Continue reading: Note8 might be Samsung's first phone to have LG battery (full post)
'One Dance' - First song to a billion streams on Spotify
Your music preference is your thing; there is no reason to debate the music taste. So, whether you like it or not - Drake made history with his song 'One Dance'.
Billboard announced that Drake became the first artist to reach one billion plays on Spotify for a single track with his song 'One Dance'. The Canadian singer also dominated Apple Music's year-end charts.
The 'One Dance' track was released in April, and it became the most streamed song ever on Spotify.
Continue reading: 'One Dance' - First song to a billion streams on Spotify (full post)
G.Skill reveals new RGB TridentZ DDR4 4266MHz RAM
G.Skill today announced that its high-end TridentZ DDR4 RAM modules will soon be infused with brilliant RGB chromatic hues, culminating in the "world's most revolutionary RGB lighting DDR4 memory kit."
G.Skill's new TridentZ RGB Series features a full-length RGB lightbar fastened to the module's heatspreader that fluxes and wanes in vibrant hues, adding stylish illumination and glows to any high-end rig. The TridentZ RGB modules have color profiles and lighting effects that can be customized and tailor-made to compliment specific builds via software.
These colorful modules rock high-end frequencies of up to DDR4-4266MHz, and feature the same efficient and high-performance specs of the TridentZ lineup that's optimized for extreme overclocking: quality ICs, a customized 10-layer PCB, XMP 2.0 profiles for easy overclocking and BIOS setup.
Continue reading: G.Skill reveals new RGB TridentZ DDR4 4266MHz RAM (full post)
NVIDIA's PC Gaming Revival Kit with SSD, GPU, PSU, game
NVIDIA is wanting to get more people into the PC gaming space, with a tease of something it is calling the PC Gaming Revival Kit - and it includes a graphics card, SSD, PSU, and even a game.
Inside, you'll get an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB graphics card, a 240GB SSD from Corsair, and a 450W semi-modular PSU - as well as a free copy of Gears of War 4. The only thing is, if you purchased all of these products and Gears of War 4 separately, it would be cheaper - NVIDIA is just making it much more convenient to buy the gear in one place, at one time, in a single box.
The upgrade box will cost 399 EUR, which converts to around $415.
Continue reading: NVIDIA's PC Gaming Revival Kit with SSD, GPU, PSU, game (full post)
WB Montreal cans Suicide Squad game, moves to Batman
Suicide Squad was a mess of a movie, and I doubt it would've been any better in game form - so to read the news from Kotaku that Warner Bros. Montreal have canceled their long-rumored Suicide Squad game, shouldn't come as a surprise.
Kotaku reports: "Executives at Warner Bros. decided to axe the Suicide Squad game earlier this month following a long period of turbulence at WB Montreal, according to three people familiar with the studio. The game, which would star DC Comics' eponymous band of anti-heroes, had been in development for at least two years. Hints of its existence had been floating around for just as long. I've heard it was a co-op game-and that it failed to impress Warner Bros. management during greenlight meetings-but not much else".
WB Montreal are now reportedly focused on their new Batman game that will be centered around Damian Wayne, and for those who don't know who that is, he is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul - and as Wikipedia points out to me, that makes him the grandson of Batman villian Ra's al Ghul.
Continue reading: WB Montreal cans Suicide Squad game, moves to Batman (full post)
Battlefield 1 'They Shall Not Pass' DLC teased
DICE is now teasing Battlefield 1's first DLC package 'They Shall Not Pass' with a single teaser image - that you can see below.
EA DICE will release the paid DLC for Battlefield 1 in March 2017, providing at least two new armies in the game - something that will include the French and Russian empire. If you've got Premium pass, then you'll receive two weeks early access to each pack. EA DICE explain:
Battlefield 1 Premium Pass members will be granted two-week early access to each pack, starting with Battlefield 1 They Shall Not Pass in March 2017 that will bring the French army into the battle in multiplayer.
Continue reading: Battlefield 1 'They Shall Not Pass' DLC teased (full post)
Resident Evil 7 supports 144Hz monitors, FOV adjustments
Capcom has unleashed the Resident Evil 7 demo teaser "Beginning Hour" onto Steam, weighing in at just over 3GB - and I've played it. It's awesome, and you need to check it out. As for the PC requirements, here's what you'll need:
MINIMUM:
RECOMMENDED:
Continue reading: Resident Evil 7 supports 144Hz monitors, FOV adjustments (full post)
Resident Evil 7 'borderline photorealistic' on PS4 Pro
Resident Evil 7 has enjoyed a mostly positive buzz throughout 2016, but now we have our hands-on the PC version of the game - at least in its demo form, with some more details on the game now released.
Capcom is tweaking the game as you play, so that your experience is changed depending on how well you're playing Resident Evil 7. This was teased by Resident Evil executive producer Jun Takeuchi in an interview with the Official PlayStation Magazine UK, where he said: "Let's say you're playing a section and you die because you weren't able to react in time. Well, if you die a few times in that particular scene the game will adapt a little bit and bring the difficulty down a touch to give you the opportunity to proceed".
He continued: "But we want to make a game where people don't see dying as a negative thing because it's a horror game. It just isn't like a shooter where dying is a case of losing a life or losing your progress. In a game like this, the fact that something comes out and kills you outright is all part of the horror experience. We're trying to smooth the process of getting back into the game after dying, rather than limit any of the possibility of dying, because making the game too easy would also detract from the horror experience. Survival horror has to have a certain volume of player deaths to occur in order for the horror to be effective; you're scared of the idea that your character died, not of the mechanic of dying".
Continue reading: Resident Evil 7 'borderline photorealistic' on PS4 Pro (full post)
Dishonored 2's NewGame+ mode is absolutely crazy
Arkane has rolled out Dishonored 2's free NewGame+ mode, and rather than just letting you replay the game as either Corvo or Emily, you get to play as both: well, kind of at least.
If you're already beaten Dishonored 2, you'll want to give the game another whirl: trust us. Your NewGame+ playthrough will let you combine both Corvo and Emily's powers together to create some amazing customizable combos.
"Dishonored 2 offers the freedom of choice to play and improvise as you like. With this new mode, combine Empress Emily Kaldwin's abilities with Royal Protector Corvo Attano's signature powers to create any custom combo of multiple powers that you can imagine.
Continue reading: Dishonored 2's NewGame+ mode is absolutely crazy (full post)
The 'Blade Runner' world returns in first sequel trailer
When 'Blade Runner' originally hit cinema screens in 1982, the ambitious sci-fi adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's novel sank under a wave of negative reviews and poor box office However, the intervening years have rehabilitated popular opinion such that its revered as the modern masterpiece that it is, culminating in the 2007 'Final Cut' which allowed Ridley Scott to fix some niggling issues. Now some 35 years later, the film is finally getting a sequel and after watching this first footage - we're pretty damn excited.
'Blade Runner 2049' sees Harrison Ford return as replicant hunter Rick Deckard, alongside Ryan Gosling and Robin Wright. While Ridley Scott won't behind the lens this time around, with 'Sicario', and 'Arrival' director Denis Villeneuve stepping in, he will serve as a producer. Those worried by the potential to screw-up one of the best films of the 20th century shouldn't be overly alarmed - the script written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green has been described by Ford as "the best thing he's ever read".
'Blade Runner 2049' will hit 2D, 3D and IMAX screens worldwide on October 6 2017.
Continue reading: The 'Blade Runner' world returns in first sequel trailer (full post)
AMD's next-gen Ryzen benched against 7700K and 6900K
AMD teased their next-generation CPU architecture not too long ago at their annual AMD Tech Summit 2016 event in Sonoma, California - benchmarking the new 8-core/16-thread version of the Summit Ridge platform, better known as Ryzen.
Now we have some new benchmarks that have been leaked, with Cinebench R15 results that pit Ryzen against Intel's new Kaby Lake-based Core i7-7700K processor.
AMD's new Ryzen CPU clocked at 3.4GHz (it will be faster than this when it launches) against the Core i7-7700K, with Ryzen coming out on top - but a fair margin, too. This is to be expected however, as the 7700K is a 4-core/8-thread CPU against the 8-core/16-thread Ryzen CPU.
Continue reading: AMD's next-gen Ryzen benched against 7700K and 6900K (full post)
New Mass Effect may not get Xbox Scorpio enhancements
BioWare is apparently focusing on their efforts on optimizing Mass Effect: Andromeda for PC and Sony's new 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Pro instead of thinking about enhancements on Microsoft's upcoming "monster" native 4K Project Scorpio console.
Although Microsoft's next-generation Project Scorpio Xbox console will release in holiday 2017 and deliver 6TFLOPs of performance to usher in a "new era of 4K gaming," devs like BioWare haven't even begun the planning process for game upgrades and enhancements on the console.
That could signify something specific: Project Scorpio devkits aren't ready because AMD has yet to ship its Zen CPU and Vega GPU Raven Ridge APU combo that should power Project Scorpio, or it might mean that Microsoft isn't handing out scaled emulation devkits to anyone outside of its first-party studios.
Continue reading: New Mass Effect may not get Xbox Scorpio enhancements (full post)
'John Wick' returns with a vengeance in sequel trailer
Just days before Christmas, the upcoming sequel to the 2014 shoot-em-up 'John Wick' has released a new trailer confirming once again that he's not a man to be messed with.
'John Wick: Chapter 2' features Keanu Reeves reprising his role as the ex-retired hitman, as well as returning allies Ian McShane and John Leguizamo. Ruby Rose joins the cast as a female assassin, while Reeves' 'Matrix' co-star Laurence Fishburne will have a small cameo appearance (presumably not as Morpheus).
John Wick 2' is set to explode into U.S. cinemas on February 10, going up against the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' sequel.
Continue reading: 'John Wick' returns with a vengeance in sequel trailer (full post)
Nintendo Switch certified for Vulkan and OpenGL 4.5
Nintendo's new Switch handheld-console hybrid now officially supports Vulkan and OpenGL 4.5 APIs in its new customized OS.
The Khronos Group has certified the Nintendo Switch as conformant to the Vulkan 1.0, OpenGL 4.5 and OpenGL ES 3.2 graphics APIs for modern high-efficiency graphics. The Switch's OS is formally called the "Nintendo OS," and meets the Vulkan CTS 1.0.1.0 requirements.
As NVIDIA officially confirmed the Switch will use a highly customized Tegra processor, possibly a second-gen 20nm Maxwell iteration or a brand new 16nm FinFET Pascal variant, the inclusion of modern API support isn't exactly a surprise. The Nintendo Switch wasn't found conformant to any other Khronos Group APIs, including OpenCL.
Continue reading: Nintendo Switch certified for Vulkan and OpenGL 4.5 (full post)
Samsung won't unveil Galaxy S8 until April?
After the Galaxy Note7 fiasco, Samsung has boosted the advertisement of their only flagship this year - Galaxy S7. Many analysts initially thought that Samsung might rush with their next phone, but the new reports suggest that the Korean giant decided to go for a different approach.
According to a report from Naver, Samsung's executives decided at a recent meeting in New York to postpone the introduction of Galaxy S8 from MWC in Barcelona at the end of February to April 2017.
It is possible that the company wants to distance themselves from the Note7 fiasco and take more time to build the trust with their customers.
Continue reading: Samsung won't unveil Galaxy S8 until April? (full post)
Red Dead Redemption 2 to feature three protagonists
Red Dead Redemption 2 will focus on three playable protagonists, just like GTA V, according to an insider source with a proven track record.
Past rumors predicted that Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 would have a multi-perspective singleplayer campaign, and now a source corroborates this detail. According to the source, who posted up a forum post on Fireden, RDR2 will have three playable main characters that were part of John Marston's former gang, but Marston won't be one of them. Rumors also hint that famous gunslingers of the Old West will be in the game.
The game's massive new online mode, which is touted to feature a "brand new kind multiplayer experience," won't be available when the game launches, and will take a few months to release just like GTA Online.
Continue reading: Red Dead Redemption 2 to feature three protagonists (full post)
How Nintendo Switch hits console quality on the go
Latest reports indicate Nintendo's new Switch console-and-handheld hybrid will have dramatically varying performance across its two different modes: mobile handheld and docked console play. Despite this obvious GPU performance disparity, Nintendo can still deliver on its promise that the Switch can hit "console quality gaming while on-the-go."
New Switch patents revealed that the system will scale its GPU and CPU power while in handheld mode, and only hit its full clock speed perf while docked and tethered to a steady power source.
Up until now we didn't know what those GPU and CPU clock speeds would be: as it turns out, the Switch halves its GPU speeds to just 302.7MHz while in portable mode, and only hits 768MHz while docked. This GPU drop is to improve battery life and thermals. We also know that the Switch's 6.2-inch tablet will be 720p instead of the full 1080p rendered when the Switch is docked. With that kind of dramatic disparity, how can Nintendo possibly create the illusion of truly seamless switching?
Continue reading: How Nintendo Switch hits console quality on the go (full post)
Tesla will charge lazy drivers who park at Superchargers
Recently, some electric car owners expressed their discontentment with reckless drivers who take advantage of Tesla's charging stations. Apparently, many owners use the charging stations as parking spots which result in other drivers not being able to charge their cars.
Elon Musk made a statement on Twitter saying that Tesla Motors will react and do something to improve the availability of Superchargers. And we didn't have to wait long because Tesla announced on their official blog that they are introducing a fleet-wide idle fee that aims to increase Supercharger availability.
Continue reading: Tesla will charge lazy drivers who park at Superchargers (full post)










