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Mass Effect: Andromeda will tell a complete story
Mass Effect: Andromeda isn't the beginning of a new trilogy: once players complete the game, that'll be it. BioWare says they have no plans to kick off another series of sequels based on Andromeda.
Rather than tell a sprawling epic story with its new Mass Effect game, BioWare instead wants to launch a spin-off tale that explores the rich sci-fi universe. BioWare's creative director Mac Walters confirmed to GameInformer that Mass Effect: Andromeda will break the series' penchant for direct sequels in order to spin a unique and individual storyline.
"At the end of this, we want it to feel like a story has completed. Yes, for the universe, there's much more you could explore, and we want to tease that, but it feels like its own story. It's like, 'great. I had my Ryder sibling becoming-a-hero story. What's next? Is it going to be Ryder? Is it going to be something else? Who knows?," Walters told GameInformer.
Continue reading: Mass Effect: Andromeda will tell a complete story (full post)
Mass Effect: Andromeda: everything we know so far
Although BioWare still hasn't dropped an official release date for Mass Effect: Andromeda, and only delivered a small cinematic trailer on Ny Day, the developer opened up the floodgates to GameInformer with some exclusive coverage detailing a ton of new info.
ME: Andromeda makes some major changes this time around, scrapping the Renegade and Paragon system for "shades of grey," and the game also does away with classes as well as mixing combat up. Andromeda features a more fast-pace, action-oriented combat scheme; it's still a cover-based third-person shooter, but things down slow down while using powers, and powers are now hotkeyed and have their own individual cooldowns. The jetpack can be used in battle to add verticality to the battles, and you can also quick-dash with the jetpack to move around the battlefield.
Mass Effect: Andromeda actually takes place after the second Mass Effect game, and follows the Andromeda Initiative, a massive program that sends massive ark ships to the Andromeda galaxy to search out a new home. The game has a very distinct "new frontier" type of feel, and you play as a Pathfinder, which is a mix of scientist, explorer and soldier. Players are frozen in cryosleep for the 600 year long journey, and take the persona of one of the Ryder twins.
Continue reading: Mass Effect: Andromeda: everything we know so far (full post)
PlayStation Network hacking spree hits UK gamers
Ever since last month's massive DDoS hack attack there's been a huge influx of stolen PlayStation Network accounts, and it's only getting worse.
Within the past month or so, tons of PlayStation gamers have had their accounts stolen and hacked along with fraudulent charges being made on their PSN accounts. According to The Know, the rampant hacking is apparently worse in the UK: taking a quick look at the PlayStation UK support Twitter seems to show an awful lot of gamers reporting their accounts have been compromised.
Sony has yet to issue an official declaration, and if they did, they'd likely just tell everyone to use the new Two-Step Verification feature to add extra security to their PSN accounts instead of actually taking more security measures to shore up their network.
Continue reading: PlayStation Network hacking spree hits UK gamers (full post)
Supermicro Z270 motherboards teased, ready for Kaby Lake
Intel will be launching its Kaby Lake architecture and flagship Core i7-7700K processor in early 2017, with 200-series chipsets to launch alongside the CPU, with Z270 and H270 motherboards now spotted from Supermicro.
Supermicro is branding their new motherboards under their SuperO brand, designed for gamers and enthusiasts. There are four motherboards listed on SuperO website, with pictures and features listed, as for the four new motherboards, we're looking at:
This is the C7Z270-CG, which has a NVIDIA-ready black and green theme, with a huge PWM supply that is cooled by a heat pipe. There's 4 x DDR4 DIMMs, ready for up to 64GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM. 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 ports and 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Storage enthusiasts won't be left out, with 2 x M.2 slots that will support next-gen M.2-based SSDs for blistering 2GB/sec+ speeds, and we also have 6 x SATA 6 ports.
Continue reading: Supermicro Z270 motherboards teased, ready for Kaby Lake (full post)
'Stranger Things' producer 'thinking ahead' to season 3
While fans eagerly await the upcoming second season of the Netflix smash hit 'Stranger Things', the show's producer has confirmed what everyone's hoping - that the show will have a long life.
Speaking to Collider, Producer Shawn Levy who also served as a director for multiple episodes and has just been confirmed to helm Sony's 'Uncharted' feature film says the plan for season two has been mapped out well in advance. "We are not gonna be caught off guard and we don't wanna be making stuff up like the day before we have to write it and make it, so we are definitely optimistic and we have started thinking ahead".
The second season of the cult show will begin filming in December, for a release mid next year.
Continue reading: 'Stranger Things' producer 'thinking ahead' to season 3 (full post)
Xbox Scorpio rumored to run some PC games at native 4K
Microsoft could have something exciting in its hands for 2017 if the Xbox Scorpio can run UWP games from the PC on their new console at native 4K, meaning that games like Gears of War 4 (and let's not mention Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and the new one is bombing too) will run at 4K on the new Xbox.
Windows Central has reported from a source that any games made natively for UWP on Windows 10 will run at native 4K on the Xbox Scorpio, adding: "The Coalition has previously confirmed that Gears of War 4 is ready to run at a 4K resolution on Project Scorpio. This is because Project Scorpio can run 4K Windows 10 Store Universal Windows Platform (UWP) games natively. If you've played Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3 or Rise of the Tomb Raider at a 4K resolution on a high-end PC, you already have an idea of how gorgeous games will look on Project Scorpio".
They continued: "Our source told us that any game programmed natively for UWP on Windows 10 will run on Project Scorpio with a trivial amount of changes. This has always been Microsoft's vision for UWP".
Continue reading: Xbox Scorpio rumored to run some PC games at native 4K (full post)
New Call of Duty is bombing compared to the last one
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare has been going through some serious issues with its launch, with Activision in its infinite wisdom intentionally locking the Windows Store version of the game into its own world, stopping gamers from playing with their friends on the Steam version of the game.
According to a report from GitHyp on the amount of peak players during the launch of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, which hit 15,280 - but when compared to the launch of Black Ops III last year and its 63,681 - that number is low, very low. This means Infinite Warfare has 316% less peak players than Black Ops III, not a small amount by any means.
Continue reading: New Call of Duty is bombing compared to the last one (full post)
Upcoming 'Game of Thrones' season plot allegedly leaked
While fans need to wait a little longer for the next season of HBO's 'Game of Thrones', if a Reddit leak is to be believed, you can read the whole thing right now.
According to the Daily Mail, Redditor 'awayforthelads' has posted an extremely detailed synopsis of the upcoming sixth season, with 'Game of Thrones' fansite Watchers on the Wall working to confirm some of the details, before the account was deleted.
HBO has yet to comment on the leak, but if you want to (maybe) spoil yourself then go right ahead.
Continue reading: Upcoming 'Game of Thrones' season plot allegedly leaked (full post)
Steam store gets a new look
If you haven't taken a look at the Steam store page recently, it's received an overhaul. Dubbed the "Steam Discovery Update 2.0", it's designed to help you find content easier, and we have to say it does the job wonderfully.
Between quick access links, more prominent personalization options, recently viewed section, and lots more, it's a big step up from the previous design (which was good but not great).
Other changes have been made to enhance Steam Curators and top sellers (which now show per region), among other items. Plus, a 'new on Steam' page lets you see all the new hotness with just a click.
We talk to Starbreeze about their new game: John Wick VR
On the first day of Reboot InfoGamer, the biggest waiting lines were in front of Starbreeze's booth where the company is showing John Wick Chronicles, their highly anticipated VR game. The game should come out in February, around the same time as the second John Wick movie which Keanu Reeves stars in.
I talked to Almir Listo from Starbreeze who clarified that the in-game action in set in between the two John Wick movies. He noted that they are actively working with Lionsgate Studio on the game, and they are very happy with their cooperation, which resulted in the amazing game.
In the game, you jump into the shoes of John Wick and go through different missions full of gunfights. Listo highlighted that they wanted that each player 'becomes' John Wick while playing, so they paid special attention to the details.
Continue reading: We talk to Starbreeze about their new game: John Wick VR (full post)
iPhone 7 could come out in a new - Jet White color
Jet Black proved to be extremely popular with the buyers of the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and now there are rumors that Apple might add a new color for their new flagships - Jet White.
According to a report from the Japanese Apple blog Mac Otakara, the supply chain suggests that Apple is considering this option although nothing has been confirmed yet.
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are at the moment available in five colors - jet black, matte black, silver, gold and rose gold. The new glossy white color might not seem like a bad idea, and it could boost the sales of the new iPhones, especially considering how popular the Jet Black color is.
Continue reading: iPhone 7 could come out in a new - Jet White color (full post)
Activision hates PC gamers that use the Windows Store
You'd think coming into this news that it was Microsoft that screwed PC gamers with the Windows Store version of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, but in fact it was Activision - actively choosing to make the Windows Store version of the game suck, a lot.
We reported a couple of days ago that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare won't allow crossplay between the Windows Store and Steam versions, but according to an anonymous source of Windows Central and then together with a Microsoft spokesperson saying: "We support cross-play between devices and platforms for partners who want to enable it". Activision on the other hand, didn't want the Windows Store and Steam versions of COD: Infinite Warfare to work together.
Microsoft is actually being a good guy here, giving gamers refunds for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare because they're finding out they've got no one to play with - because most people are buying it on Steam. Activision - you're idiots, and there is no excuse for this. Deplorable.
Continue reading: Activision hates PC gamers that use the Windows Store (full post)
Capcom expects 4 million Resident Evil 7 sales at launch
Resident Evil 7 has had a bump marketing ride this year, making people sick on the PlayStation VR - but it's an interesting twist from the previous Resident Evil games, and Capcom has big plans for RE7.
During their recent earnings report, the company said it expects to sell around 4 million copies of Resident Evil 7 when it launches on January 24, 2017 for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. GameSpot reports that Capcom considers Resident Evil 7 as a "foundation title", expecting it to have great lifetime sales thanks to the increased use of digital distribution, that is "producing revenue not limited to the next two fiscal years but into the long term as well".
Resident Evil 6 was released in 2012, and it sold 4.8 million copies at the end of 2012 after being released in October. Capcom expecting 4 million copies at launch is a lower number, and while that would normally be bad - at least they're not like other developers like Crystal Dynamics (the developers behind Rise of the Tomb Raider), where they require nearly 5 million copies to break even.
Continue reading: Capcom expects 4 million Resident Evil 7 sales at launch (full post)
4K Blu-ray sales 'beyond expectations', say creators
Over six months since the launch of the format, the creators of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format has declared it a success, with initial launch sales "beyond our expectations".
Speaking with Avforums, Blu-ray Disc Association head honcho Victor Matsuda confirmed that the group, which boasts membership of the biggest consumer electronics companies and movie studios was "very happy" with the format's launch earlier this year and promised a greater range of movies and hardware in the coming months. "We're going to get more announcements on hardware soon and that's only going to accelerate the penetration of the format and thus encourage the studios to launch more titles, which will get a really positive spiral going in the States, which will then be extended into other countries and markets next year.".
Matsuda also confirmed that the attachment ratio of discs to players was running at 8:1, which suggests that early adopters are jumping head first into the format rather than just buying one or two to try it out.
Continue reading: 4K Blu-ray sales 'beyond expectations', say creators (full post)
AMD launches Polaris-based Radeon Pro workstation cards
AMD announced their new Radeon Pro range of workstation graphics cards during SIGGRAPH 2016 earlier this year, but now the Polaris-based cards have launched.
The new Radeon Pro WX 7100, WX 5100, and WX 4100 workstation graphics cards are now shipping. The higher-end WX 7100 and WX 5100 are powered by the Polaris 10 GPU on the 14nm LPP process, both with 8GB of RAM on a 256-bit memory bus. The WX 7100 has 2304 stream processors at 1.24GHz, while the WX 5100 has 1792 stream processors at 1.09GHz.
AMD's lower-end Radeon Pro WX 4100 uses the Polaris 11 GPU with 1024 stream processors at 1.17GHz, with 4GB of RAM on a 128-bit memory bus. The power consumption on these new Polaris-based workstation cards is also low, with the WX 7100 using up to 130W, the WX 5100 hits 75W and the WX 4100 with 50W.
Continue reading: AMD launches Polaris-based Radeon Pro workstation cards (full post)
A new Crysis game could look absolutely amazing
I still remember booting into Crysis for the first time, and being absolutely blown away by the graphics - immediately ordering two GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards so I could run it at higher resolutions, detail, and frame rate - but then it all stopped.
Now there's modder Damian Stempniewski has been playing around with the latest version of CRYENGINE, together with Megascans, and has teased an image from the map he's working on. He used the palm trees from the original Crysis, so that we can imagine what a new Crysis game could look like.
Damian said that the CRYENGINE-powered map was running in real-time, but it wasn't playable, and that would be thanks to tessellation being enabled on everything. Still, it looks amazing - and now it makes me want a next-gen Crysis game even more.
Continue reading: A new Crysis game could look absolutely amazing (full post)
Samsung Galaxy S8 will ship with an AI digital assistant
Samsung has come under fire over its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones exploding, and now their answer is the upcoming Galaxy S8 which will rock an AI digital assistant - just like Google Assistant in the new Pixel smartphones.
The company acquired Viv Labs Inc, a company that was run by the co-creator of Siri - you know, Apple's voice assistant. Samsung is going to build Viv, the company's AI assistant, directly into their new Galaxy smartphones, polishing the voice assistant features into home appliances and wearables in the near future.
Samsung didn't say what the AI service in its Galaxy S8 would be capable of, but they did say it would allow consumers to use the third-party service seamlessly. Samsung Executive Vice President Rhee Injong teased: "Developers can attach and upload services to our agent".
Continue reading: Samsung Galaxy S8 will ship with an AI digital assistant (full post)
Android Auto app now works with all vehicles
Two years after launch, Google is making Android Auto available to all vehicles. Once you grab the 2.0 app update (which is rolling out in the coming days), a "driver friendly interface" will be available to you, so you can take advantage of Auto whether you have an older, incompatible car or not.
The interface focuses on directions, music, and communications while doing away with pretty much everything else, and presents it in such a way that all information is easily visible at a glance. Additionally, calls can be made and messages sent with voice commands (with more functionality to come in the next few weeks). Making it even easier, the app can be set to automatically start when paired with Bluetooth, making Bluetooth-supported car mounts a great fit.
Sign up here if you want to receive a notification for when the update goes live.
Continue reading: Android Auto app now works with all vehicles (full post)
InfoGamer to showcase VR: John Wick and Serious Sam
In the past five years, Reboot InfoGamer has grown into one of the largest gaming shows in Europe. Last year, more than 50,000 visitors attended the event, and this year the organizers of the event expect even more gamers.
This year, Reboot InfoGamer will feature more than 600 gaming units, newest gaming hardware and hundreds of VR devices. Visitors will also be able to enjoy the latest gaming titles, daily giveaways, and cosplay contests.
Next to the games that have already been released, fans will have the opportunity to try the titles such as For Honor, Gran Turismo Sport, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, RAID: World War II, Solstice Chronicles: MIA, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Steep, and many others that should have their debut sometime next year.
Continue reading: InfoGamer to showcase VR: John Wick and Serious Sam (full post)
In Win and NVIDIA team up for a limited edition case
In Win and NVIDIA partnered up on a project that resulted in the beautiful case In Win 303 NVIDIA version.
The case itself is based on the same design as the original In Win 303, an elegant and modest design case, but the NVIDIA version comes with some extras such as the green NVIDIA design features on the front panel and a green LED fan at the rear of the case.
The chassis is crafted from SECC steel and 3mm tempered glass. The In Win 303 NVIDIA also features removable side panel and dust filters, as well as cooling options (space for two radiators, top and rear and three fans at the bottom).
Continue reading: In Win and NVIDIA team up for a limited edition case (full post)





