Latest News - Page 2358

The devs at Voofoo were able to use Sony's new PlayStation 4 Pro console to hit native 4K 60FPS in their new indie-style racing game Mantis Burn, and Digital Foundry thinks there's more to meets the eye with the PS4 Pro.

Remember when PS4 architect Mark Cerny said the PS4 Pro uses "many new features from AMD's Polaris architecture as well as several even beyond it"? Now it looks like some devs are tapping the console's "beyond Polaris" tech in order to achieve some impressive performance. Eurogamer's Digital Foundry recently tried out Mantis Burn, a Micro-Machines-type racing game that's the first to hit native 4K 60FPS on the PS4 Pro.

While Mantis Burn isn't a huge AAA endeavor, Digital Foundry was still surprised that the devs could hit native 4K with forward rendering and hit a consistent 60FPS in the game, leading them to conclude the PS4 Pro has some "secret sauce" that we don't know about yet:

Intel's next-gen Kaby Lake architecture is around the corner, with a tease of the Core i7-7700K processor and it packing a massive 40% improvement over the Skylake architecture in single-threaded performance - but now, we're seeing Z270-based motherboards from ASRock teased.

The two motherboards from ASRock are in the Z270 Gaming K6 and Z270 Pro 4, with the Gaming K6 featuring a red and black theme, and will be aimed at the - uh, hmm - gaming market.

ASRock will most likely aim its Z270 Pro 4 at the mainstream market, and as for when we'll see the new Z270-based boards from ASRock, we should be aiming for CES 2017.

Rocksteady confirms that their upcoming Batman VR game for Sony's PlayStation VR headset will only take about 2.5 hours to beat completely, with the main story lasting only an hour long.

"The core narrative is about 60 minutes in duration, however additional content is unlocked that provides about another 90 minutes of gameplay on top of that. So there are plenty of reasons to play through the game multiple times in order to see everything that we have put into it," Rocksteady Studios Brand Marketing Producer Dax Ginn told Press Start.

I already knew what to expect from most PlayStation VR games, especially since Sony has confirmed that most PSVR games will be "simple passive experiences". But if you're excited about the PlayStation VR, you need to understand that most of these games will not be full experiences (with the exception of Resident Evil VII), and there's a good reason for that.

The Wi-Fi Assist feature on iOS was introduced last year in iOS 9, and Apple is sticking with it. This feature is designed to prevent the use of a poor Wi-Fi connection but it could cause you a headache and a larger phone bill, especially for those who don't have unlimited data traffic.

Both iOS 9 and iOS 10 have this feature enabled by default and it is set to automatically switch to the mobile internet when your Wi-Fi is weak.

This can be useful for maintaining a good internet connection when, for example, leaving the house, but if you do not have unlimited data traffic, this could affect your phone bill.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been complaining that my 1Gbps network connection to my NAS was too slow, as I was only transferring to and from my Thecus and QNAP NAS at 100MB/sec - well, 5Gbps networking is on the way, promising 500MB/sec.

The new 5Gbps Ethernet standard has been finalized, with IEEE 802.3bz ready for the job - soon, at least. We've been sitting at a wall for a while now on gigabit ethernet, because 10GbE requires much more expensive cables in the form of fiber optic, or more expensive Cat6a or Cat7 cabling. It's not backwards compatible with previous standards, as well as routers, switches, and network cards for 10GbE networking being much more expensive than the normal GbE products.

This is where the new 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T standards step up, both "specifically created to use 10GbE signaling, but at a rate that would be compatible with existing runs of Cat5e and Cat6 cable out to 100 meters. The 2.5Gbps standard can run on Cat5e out to 100 meters, while the 5Gbps standard requires Cat6 cable to run 100 meters. Both should be far easier - and cheaper - to bring to market than current 10GbE technologies", reports ExtremeTech.

Google can't plug the hole that is leaking out all of the details on its upcoming Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, with UK retailer Carphone Warhouse listing two new smartphones on their website - the Pixel, and Pixel XL.

The website notes that Android 7.1 will include Assistant AI Allo, Google Photos (with unlimited storage for full-sized pics), their new Duo videochat application, and more.

We will see the new Pixel smartphones rocking rapid charging through its USB-C port, but then there's a mention of a microSD card slot - which doesn't sound right.

Update: It seems that the benchmarks results of the Core i7-7700K might have been overexaggerated, with WCCFTech noticing that the clock speeds seem to be "completely wrong". The performance gains of the new Kaby Lake-based Core i7-7700K are much harder to put down on paper - or, er - your LCD screen - because we don't know the exact clocks. Expect more news on the 7700K as it breaks.

Intel is very close to the release of its Kaby Lake architecture, arriving in the form of the Core i7-7700K, but first we have some leaked benchmarks that tease the improvements of Intel's new 14nm+ architecture.

The upcoming Core i7-7700K performance is shaping up well, with leaked Geekbench 4 results showing that Intel has managed to pull off some great single-threaded performance improvements over Skylake, but the multi-threaded performance isn't left out in the cold. Intel's upcoming Core i7-7700K arrives with a base clock of 4.2GHz, while boost clocks will have it driving up to around 4.5GHz. Intel has slapped a 95W TDP on the Core i7-7700K, and it still uses the LGA 1151 socket.

EA would have to love the news from Activision that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will include Modern Warfare Remastered, except that the Modern Warfare remaster requires the Infinite Warfare disc to be inserted in order to work.

The official Call of Duty website has listed in fine print: "Modern Warfare Remastered is a full game download (game disc must be inserted to play Modern Warfare Remastered)". Modern Warfare Remastered is a digital download that is only provided with the Infinite Warfare special editions, and not the base Infinite Warfare game which costs $59.99 - it's not sold online, and it looks like Activision won't be doing that for the forseeable future.

Following nine years and 142 episodes, the Cartoon Network has revealed that the cult animated hit 'Adventure Time' will come to an end after the next two seasons are aird.

According to Variety, the series will end in 2018 with creator Pendleton Ward stating that "Adventure Time' was a passion project for the people on the crew who poured their heart into the art and stories. We tried to put into every episode something genuine and telling from our lives, and make a show that was personal to us, and that had jokes too! I'm really happy that it connected with an audience for so long. It's a special thing, I think."

Cartoon Network's announcement mirrors that of 'The Regular Show' which is set to wind up early next year.

Pokémon GO has been making headlines again, this time it has been announced that the app will now be avaliable in 11 new countries and regions around the world. Direct from the source 'Nintendo Insider', which stated that Pokemon GO developer Niantic would continue to expand their growth of the app via the addition of new locations.

Countries and regions now with access to the Pokémon GO includes: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Macedonia, Mongolia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Users from these areas will now be able to put on their trainer's cap and join in with the rest of the world by exploring their towns and cities capturing Pokémon. The app like in all other areas will be available on Google Play and iTunes.

Alongside the unveiling of the 11 new locations, Niantic then went on to explain about the recent development with Apple and the unity of Pokémon and the Apple Watch. This news was announced at the Apple Special Event this September, as the two companies are looking to combine both products. The expansion of Pokémon GO and recent talks about the Watch headlines does challenge the idea that the company is expanding in more ways than one.

Microsoft is at it again! The Backwards Compatibility Program has recruited three more classic titles that will now be playable on Xbox One. Lost Odyssey, Toy Story 3 and Guwange have been recently tweeted out to the public via Larry Hryb's (@majornelson) Twitter page, posting pictures of the selected games that now are available to play on the latest-gen platforms.

Mistwalker, developers of Lost Odyssey, sees the game set in a magic-industrial revolution, with immortal characters suffering the repercussions of amnesia from a meteor that wiped out the majority of forces.

The verticle scrolling shooter game from Cave, Guwange features the Muromachi period in Japan. The single or multi-player title allows gamers to play against force wilding elements and enemy bosses whilst trying to score as many points as possible.

Overwatch continues to expand its reach as an eSports champion, with the inaugural Overwatch Open Grand Final taking place last night, and the European eSports team 'Misfits' took out the $100,000 top prize.

Misfits had it rough, with two fill-in players hitting their ranks just three weeks before the grand final against EnVyUs, which had been undefeated since Gamescom in August - but Misfits took them out 3-1. Both teams won a round each before Misfits pushed EnVyUs against the wall in the third round, and then secured their $100,000 payday on the fourth round.

The tournament had $300,000 of prize money up for grabs and was hosted at the Turner Studios' ELeague arena in Atlanta, with 12 teams competing for the $300K prize pool.

As we get closer and closer to the EA/Origin Access Play First Trial of Battlefield 1 on October 13, and its full release on October 21, we're getting hit with more and more footage and details on the game. Today, we have a new 12-minute gameplay video from the single-player missions of Battlefield 1.

The 12-minute video is from the mission in BF1's single-player campaign called Storm of Steel, with a bunch of close quarter combat, and some tank-driving goodness. Storm of Steel is one of the missions included in EA/Origin Access Play First Trial for October 13, but Battlefield 1 does things differently when it comes to the single-player side of the game.

You can choose different characters, which are all spread out across five different "War Stories". EA has said why it used multiple protagonists, explaining: "We felt that to have one character hopping through those different settings wouldn't be as immersive or totally respectful to the setting".

Google is only days away from unveiling its new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, powered by the newly-released Android 7.0 operating system, which debuted on LG's new V20 smartphone. But today, we have the best look at the Pixel and Pixel XL yet, resembling a lovechild of the iPhone and Nexus smartphones.

Rozetked has made some of the most realistic renders of the Pixel and Pixel XL yet, with both of the smartphones looking pretty damn sharp. We should expect four colors on offer: black, silver, gray, and gold. But the varying colors are joined by some design tweaks on the rear - and I have to say, they're looking damn good.

We have rumors that Google will be pricing the 5-inch Pixel smartphone at $649, which is expensive considering previous generation Nexus smartphones were always a cheaper alternative. Google is hosting its media event on October 4.

AMD has so many different great things going on at once, with the upcoming Zen-based Snowy Owl due for consumers early next year on the Zen architecture, but the upcoming Naples CPU is shaping up well and reportedly due for a launch in Q2 2017 for the enterprise market.

The upcoming 32-core processor is based on Zen CPU cores, with 32 of them pumping away, capable of executing two threads simultaneously - so we're talking about a 64-thread CPU for the enterprise market, based on Zen CPU cores. Beasty. Leaked benchmarks of AMD's upcoming monster CPU have arrived, with an engineering sample of Naples teasing some impressive performance.

AMD's upcoming Naples engineering CPU had a base clock of 1.4GHz, boosting up to 2.9GHz, while it features an absolute titanic amount of L3 cache. AMD is throwing 512MB of L3 cache, something that is a first for the CPU industry. But does this translate into monster performance? Well, benchmarks from a few weeks ago have been improved, with the Naples CPU performing 13% better in just a few weeks.

AMD is rounding out 2016 with some big teases of its next-gen APU architectures, with Zen ready to launch in 2017, we've been hearing rumbles about the next step in their APU dominance: Gray Hawk. Gray Hawk is expected to hit the 7nm node using the Zen+ architecture, and will be released on the AM4+ socket in 2019 - but we're now hearing about the APUs that will be released between now and then.

AMD will reportedly launch Snowy Owl early next year, with the APU being aimed at the server market, based on Zen CPU cores and on the AM4 socket. After that, Horned Owl will be released into the mainstream consumer market on the same 14nm FinFET node, but on the FP5 BGA / AM4 packaging, and will arrive in 2H 2017. Banded Kestrel (seriously, these are awesome codenames, AMD) will succeed Horned Owl, and will be released in the first half of 2018 for the mainstream consumer market, using the same Zen cores as Horned Owl and Snowy Owl.

Horned Owl and Banded Kestrel are part of the mainstream APU roadmap, being manufactured by GlobalFoundries and Samsung on the 14nm FinFET process, with the Horned Owl APU succeeding Raven Ridge. Banded Kestrel is a lower tier platform that will have half the specifications and power that Horned Owl will have, but both platforms will be aiming at the embedded market on the FP5 BGA socket.

Xbox division head Phil Spencer says Microsoft isn't trying to beat competitors like Sony--it's trying to be the best place for gamers to play and developers to make money. Wait...what now?

Microsoft was utterly smashed in last console generation thanks to the company's E3 2013 blunders: the PS4 completely dominated sales over the original Xbox One. But now that Sony has damaged their brand image with the new 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Pro, the Xbox brand is on a comeback streak, and gamers are starting to seriously consider the Xbox brand again.

Microsoft has a bunch of aces of its sleeve this time around, with their new cross-platform initiative that melds Xbox consoles with Windows 10 PCs, Xbox 360 disc-based backward compatibility versus Sony's hideously awkward streaming BC service, explosive sales of the new 4K upscaling Xbox One S, and the new native 4K Project Scorpio system is generating tons of buzz.

Amazon today announced Twitch Prime, a new initiative that allows Amazon Prime users to get ad-free Twitch streaming for free.

Twitch Prime is included with the annual $99 per year sub as well as the $11 per month Amazon Prime subscription, and also includes monthly freebies like ad-free viewing, games, skins, and add-ons. For example, this month Twitch Prime subscribers will get a new Hearthstone hero, a free indie game, and skins for Paladins and SMITE.

Amazon promises that Twitch Turbo will still be available to those that already have it, but new Turbo subs won't be offered. So if you want the benefits of Twitch Turbo, you'll have to sign up for Amazon Prime to get it. Amazon Prime already has gamer-centric benefits in itself, including 20% off new game pre-orders as well as free Prime shipping on certain games.

NVIDIA has been using Gears of War 4 in its latest marketing, with a free copy of the game for anyone purchasing a GeForce graphics card or GeForce-powered system or notebooks through to October 30.

The company has recently showed off Gears of War fans favorite map, Gridlock, with it being the first total reveal of Gears of War 4's newly imagined Guardian game mode. The new Gridlock mode is explained as:

"Gridlock is a fan favorite map from the original Gears of War that made a return in Gears of War 2 and Gears of War 3. This version of Gridlock has a 'Reclaimed Beauty' look, with overgrowing foliage beginning to take over the buildings. The back part of Sniper Tower is slowly being eroded into the sea, while the two towers now have a Hotel and Café look to differentiate the environment. The classic 'Gridlock bell' in the tower is back as well".

Ubisoft has provided a tease of Nintendo's next-gen NX console, with company CEO Yves Guillemot saying that "Nintendo will be back in the race with the NX" during Ubisoft's recent annual meeting.

Guillemot has been praising the NX, with plenty of enthusiasm for Nintendo's new console lately, and just last week the Ubisoft boss called Nintendo NX a fantastic machine. Ubisoft EMEA executive director Alain Corre said earlier this year: "And they are addressing the family market in a very different way, their own way, which we appreciate. We have done a lot of products and successes with Nintendo in the past, and we believe that the NX will recapture a lot the lapsed Wii players. So we will see when they release it, but we are confident".

Ubisoft has multiple NX games in development, with "Just Dance" and "some other projects" confirmed to be in development for NX.