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According to recent research done in both the US and China, fast charging is one of the top features that drive customers to buy their next phone, Qualcomm said at this year's Tech Summit in New York.

One of the biggest customer complaints when it comes to smartphones has been battery life and slow charging. They aren't wrong. Today's smartphones feature many apps, we are almost always online, and almost every users will mention battery life as one of their main problems. And if you don't have a phone with fast charging, you are more or less forced to carry around bulky and heavy battery packs.

During their presentation, Qualcomm showed us some interesting data: 61% of the users say that fast charging influences their decision to buy their next smartphone, and 26% of the users are troubled by their smartphone taking too long to charge. Also, 42% smartphone users say their phone's battery doesn't last long enough.

Qualcomm announced they are launching a vulnerability rewards program (also known as a bounty) designed to expand their collaboration with invited white hat hackers. The company firmly believes that these type of hackers will help to improve the security of their Snapdragon family and LTE modems by finding the vulnerabilities and then reporting them to Qualcomm to fix.

The program is the first of its kind to be announced by a major silicon vendor. The program will be administered in collaboration with vulnerability coordination platform HackerOne. This also takes Qualcomm another step towards becoming one of the most secure silicon vendors in the industry.

Qualcomm says that they will offer up to $15,000 per vulnerability. By comparison, Google has numerous vulnerability bounties that range from $500 to $20,000. Apple, on the other hand offers up to $200,000 per vulnerability discovered on its devices.

Much of the internet has rumored about what the next chip from Qualcomm might be, many people guessed it would be the Snapdragon 830, they were wrong.

The new chip from Qualcomm is a processor designed with 10nm in mind. This is the first 10nm SoC in the world, from any manufacturer, which means that Qualcomm's chips are using the leading process from their manufacturing partner. Until today, we did not know who that partner might be, but now we do.

Qualcomm has announced that they are partnering with Samsung to build their new Snapdragon 835 processor using Samsung's 10nm manufacturing process. This means that Samsung is the first in the world to hit 10nm and that they have a lead on others.

Microsoft has been talking up their Xbox Scorpio console for what feels like 30 years, but it has only been a few months - and now we have Xbox boss Phil Spencer coming out and talking about the price of Microsoft's next Xbox.

During an interview with LevelUp, Spencer said that Xbox Scorpio is a "premium console", and that it would "obviously" cost more than the current-gen Xbox One S. Spencer said: "Scorpio will be a premium console. It will cost more than S, obviously, this is how we are building it up. We have not announced the pricing yet, but want to make sure that the investment we are making in the product of Scorpio goes hand in hand with the requirement of high-end consumer and that means a higher price".

Spencer reiterated that Xbox Scorpio won't replace the current Xbox One or Xbox One S consoles and that it will compliment it in the way that it is an additional, higher-end member of the Xbox family. Spencer continued: "There is not one product that our customers come in and buy. Some people come in and buy the 500 GB Xbox One S. Many people now are now buying our original Xbox One consoles that are a really good price. There is no one product that you look at and say, 'This is the product that defines how you are doing in that market".

The ties between the 2014 'Godzilla' reboot have become a little more obvious in today's new trailer for the 2017 monster mash 'Kong: Skull Island' which offers a new origin story for one of Hollywood's most enduring monster myths.

Starring Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Jing Tian, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, John Ortiz, Shea Whigham and Toby Kebbell. 'Kong: Skull Island' takes place in a much wider monster universe, which is set to continue with 'Godzilla 2' in 2018, before leading up to 'Godzilla VS Kong' in 2020. The studio is promising to also unleash other characters from Toho's Godzilla universe into future movies, including Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidora.

'Kong: Skull Island' is set to hit cinemas worldwide next March.

Jon Peddie Research has published their Q3 2016 report on the GPU and console markets, noting a decent 20% increase in GPU shipments over the previous quarter.

But... it's the chart that displays console and PC hardware sales over 2016 so far that caught my eye, with the console market selling $90.4 billion worth of hardware compared to the massive PC hardware business which is worth a whopping $200 billion this year.

Now, this is where it gets personal - game developers, listen up. The total console sales of 2016, even with the massive marketing push by Sony and Microsoft and new console releases in the Xbox One S and PS4 Pro, can't get anywhere near the level of PC hardware sales. Stop making games for the consoles first, and then throwing them over to the PC - because we get useless game releases on the PC which have countless performance-related issues.

NVIDIA released their new GeForce 375.86 drivers, and as usual millions of gamers will manually update or have GeForce Experience update for them - but this time around, NVIDIA is seeing some pretty serious issues in their new Game Ready drivers.

NVIDIA has posted to their own forums advising GeForce owners of Pascal-based GeForce graphics cards in the GeForce GTX 1060, GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 having issues with the new GeForce 375.86 drivers, where the memory speed is capped at 810MHz. NeoGAF forum users have posted t hat Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare are also experiencing issues with the new drivers.

We'd recommend not updating your GeForce graphics card (at least if you've got a GTX 10 series card) to the latest drivers just yet, and if GeForce Experience has automatically downloaded the drivers, don't install them.

Titanfall 2 is finally out, and while I've been spending my time in Overwatch still, Respawn CEO Vince Zampella talked with Glixel after the launch of Titanfall 2 and was asked a question about the gameplay in the game, and was met with an interesting reply.

Zampella explained the reasoning behind the gameplay in Titanfall 2 feeling so good, where he said: "It's just that we focus on it. We make decisions based on it. Our animations are interruptible by movement. Some games have animations that you have to wait for them to finish before the next movement that you're doing. So the movement feels sluggish and sloppy. On screen, to somebody who's watching you play, they might think that looks slightly better. But it doesn't feel right. It feels like you're playing in molasses".

Respawn is shifting towards making the gameplay tight, and responsive in the trade off with visual fidelity - but that's fine with me, except for one reason. The current-gen consoles are holding us back, because big developers like Respawn are having to say they'd "sacrifice visual fidelity for gameplay experience", but I'm more of an I-want-it-all guy. Zampella added: "I would sacrifice visual fidelity for gameplay experience. It has to feel good. It has to play right. It has to be fun".

NVIDIA has launched a massive offensive onto gamers with their GeForce GTX 10 series graphics cards, while AMD has been hitting the lower/mainstream markets with their Radeon RX 400 series cards - so how are the numbers for Q3 2016? Really good, actually.

Jon Peddie Research has broken down the numbers, reporting that NVIDIA's market share increased 2.2% from the previous quarter, while AMD's overall market share dropped 0.6%. JPR notes: "NVIDIA did particularly well in Q3'16, fueled by their Pascal-based product line and the rash of new AAA graphics-demanding titles". JPR also noticed a 0.3% increase in year-to-year total GPU shipments of GPUs, while GPU shipments increased 20% from the previous quarter.

They also had some highlights that are worth noting:

Nintendo UK has just launched their Super Mario Maker for the Nintendo 3DS, equipped with pre-order bonuses.

The UK Store is allowing customers to decide between one of three item in their pre-order purchase:

Along with these items, the store is offering customers other merchandise perks such as t-shirts, posters and toys depending on the location, whether it be online or in-store.

With its upcoming Star Wars third-person action game, Respawn plans to weave an interesting tale full of unique characters, story plots, and experiences--instead of flashy graphics, Respawn will focus on the gameplay.

Respawn has already confirmed that their Star Wars game will have "larger-than-life action" and "groundbreaking mechanics," but now the studio says that their slice of Star Wars magic will also have a character-driven story arc that puts player experiences and fun factor at the forefront.

"I would sacrifice visual fidelity for gameplay experience. It has to feel good. It has to play right. It has to be fun," Respawn Entertainment co-founder Vince Zampella told Glixel.

One of the major worries about Nintendo's new Switch handheld-and-console hybrid is games--specifically if it's easy for developers to port their games onto. The Wii U, in comparison, failed because it was a nightmare for developers. Considering the Switch has massive third-party support from the greatest devs and publishers in the games industry, one could assume that porting its quite easy and efficient, as NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang seems to hint.

During NVIDIA's most recent financial earnings call, company CEO Jen-Hsun Huang mentions that the Nintendo Switch shares a link to existing platforms like PC, PS4 and Xbox One. This could possibly hint that the system is equipped with specific optimizations and tools to allow easy porting of existing and upcoming console and PC games.

"The quality of games has grown significantly. And one of the factors of production value of games that has been possible is because the PC and the two game consoles, Xbox and PlayStation, and in the future - in the near-future, the Nintendo Switch, all of these architectures are common in the sense that they all use modern GPUs, they all use programmable shading and they all have basically similar features."

Serious Sam has been around for quite some time, but the VR version made this game even more globally recognizable and popular. Created and developed by Croteam, Serious Sam is one of the best VR games I've tried.

I met with Croteam, the developer of Serious Sam, at this year's Reboot InfoGamer in Croatia and first thing I noticed were huge lines of people who wanted to try the game. And why not, Croteam had the most attractive booth at InfoGamer - a huge mixed reality display where you could watch gamers inside virtual reality.

Croteam developed the game for the HTC Vive, which is the headset I used while trying out the game. Once I put the headset on, I was able to choose between three difficulty modes - easy, normal or hard. Since this was my first time playing Serious Sam, I decided for the the easy mode, don't judge.

Yesterday's monster patch for Battlefield 1 (BF1) addressed all of the top complaints about the game and then some, with the exception of no Hardcore mode. Today that's addressed too, as the mode is live, as well as a new survivalist mode called Fog of War.

Hardcore, if you're not familiar with it from previous Battlefield games, disables niceties like spotting, HUD, nametags, killcam, and health regen, while doubling bullet damage and enabling friendly fire. Regarding BF1 specifically, elite classes are disabled. Suffice it to say, it's a very different game.

Fog of War, meanwhile, is similar to hardcore in that it disables minimap spotting, nametags, the HUD, elite classes, ,and health regen. However, it keeps 3D spotting, killcam, and friendly fire, and disables all vehicles and weapons, except for melee and handguns, while keeping fog always on. Also, it's Team Deathmatch on the Argonne Forest map only.

The NPCs in Watch Dogs 2 are flamboyant, dynamic, and free...well, maybe a little too free: there's been sightings of explicitly naked male and female NPCs throughout the city that bare all.

In our Watch Dogs 2 first impressions article, I commented on how impressive the game's NPCs are, and how the AI makes you feel like you're in a living, breathing world. The characters are actually so realistic that they'll do hilariously human things like run around naked after a drunken night out, or even exercise in the nude. Sometimes, ladies will even walk around with crotchless panties on...and Ubisoft didn't censor their naughty bits out.

Ubisoft has since apologized for this oversight, and vows that explicit genitalia will be patched out despite the game being rated as M for Mature.

Ever wanted to play Skyrim with mods while on-the-go? Nintendo's new Switch console-and-handheld hybrid may make this dream a reality.

Despite Bethesda's warnings, Skyrim: Special Edition will reportedly launch as a Nintendo Switch launch game, with mod support coming to the platform at a later date.

Unnamed sources at Nintendo have told Laura Kate Dale at Lets Play Video Games that Skyrim: Special Edition is not only coming to the Nintendo Switch, but it'll be a day-one game. Sadly, mod support likely won't be available at the game's launch, and Switch's mods will be similar to the Skyrim's PS4 gimped mod support: limited to just 1GB and no new textures or models.

Nintendo's new Switch handheld-and-console hybrid will have extensive third-party support from major publishers, but EA remains uncertain about the system, and only plans to bring "one or two" games over to the platform.

Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima has promised that the Switch will launch with a "full software library," and the company has revealed a huge list of third-party partners that includes the greatest names in the games industry. It's clear that the Switch will be very different than the Wii U's failed third-party support, and devs and publishers are keen on backing the device. EA, on the other hand, remains a bit skeptical on the Switch's success, and says they plan to bring as few as two games over to the new platform--but rest assured, they'll be a big AAA games.

"In terms of Nintendo, in their announcement they announced that we'll be supporting with a game or two on that new platform. We haven't yet announced what game, but you should assume that it's one of our bigger games we've been involved with," EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said at a UBS tech show.

The Polaris-grade GPU in Sony's new 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Pro is giving owners a tangible advantage while playing online multiplayer games such as Battlefield 1.

Eurogamer reports that DICE's PS4 Pro enhancements for Battlefield 1 are pretty significant, actually boosting in-game frame rates by up to 47% percent over existing PS4 consoles. That means Battlefield 1 running on a PS4 Pro can have a frame rate boost of anywhere from 10-15 FPS, and this performance jump actually translates into online multiplayer.

"Battlefield 1 running on PlayStation 4 Pro offers a tangible performance advantage over standard PS4 owners, potentially offering a gameplay advantage to owners of Sony's upgraded console hardware. In our tests, there's anything up to a 47 per cent frame-rate advantage in scenarios where the Frostbite engine is under the greatest stress," Eurogamer's Richard Leadbetter writes.

Well now... security researchers have discovered many models of Android smartphones that feature a secret backdoor that is sending all of your data to servers in China.

The authorities aren't 100% clear on whether this is another attempt at mining data for advertising purposes, or if the Chinese government is scooping up as much information for its own intelligence or not. But never fear, security firm Kryptowire discovered multiple models of smartphones that had firmware that collected "sensitive personal data about their users and transmitted this sensitive data to third-party servers without disclosure or the users' consent".

A company named Shanghai Adups Technology Co Ltd used a pre-installed firmware over-the-air (OTA) update that was monitoring these devices without detection. Adups was able to secure the users' location, who they talk to, contact lists, and the content of text messages, as well as countless amounts of personal data. The International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) were also part of the data that Adups was taking, which was being sent every 72 hours.

HP has just unveiled its new mini PC that features workstation-class hardware, with the new Z2 Mini packing an Intel Xeon CPU, NVIDIA Quadro mobile M620 graphics, and M.2 SSD - which all fits into a 2.3-inch-high case, that HP says is "90 percent smaller than a traditional business-class tower".

With the maxed out configuration, HP's new Z2 Mini is twice as powerful as any competing mini PC on the market, and will work with six displays in its stock form. HP is aiming for CAD, design, graphics and 3D users - but gamers shouldn't be swayed away from it, either.

HP's new Z2 Mini is 63% quieter than their own business-class mini PCs, thanks to the company deploying a custom cooling system. HP explains that the engineering of the Z2 Mini as "the octagon form of the Z2 Mini is the most uniquely designed workstation in HP's 35 years of workstation history".