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GTA V was the best-selling game in the US last month
Grand Theft Auto V, Overwatch and Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens were the top three best-selling games in the US for July 2016, according to the latest monthly sales report from NPD Group.
Overwatch was #1 last month but decided to play switcheroo with GTA V, but keep in mind that digital PC sales of Overwatch aren't included in these numbers. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens used its force powers to stay in #3. NPD Group's data also has the Xbox One outselling the PS4 in the US last month, the first time that Microsoft has beat Sony in the hardware wars since October. NPD analyst Sam Naji explains: "After 33 months since the launches of the PS4 and the Xbox One, the combined cumulative hardware sales for these two consoles exceed the sales of their predecessors by 41 percent at the same point of their lifecycles".
The best-selling game system for July 2016? Nintendo's 3DS, which the Japanese giant credits the "widespread positive public reception" for Pokemon GO - yeah, where's that now, guys? As for the full list of the best-selling games in the US for July 2016:
Continue reading: GTA V was the best-selling game in the US last month (full post)
Allison Road returns, development 'slower than before'
Gamers across the world were disappointed when they heard Allison Road was suddenly cancelled, especially after a successful Kickstarter and publishing deal. Well, there's some light at the end of the tunnel, as Allison Road is in development once more.
Allison Road creator Christian Kesler took to Facebook, where he said: "I took a bit of time off Allison Road, went back to work and had a good look at all the stuff that had been done up to that point. I started making a few changes to the story, a few scribbles here and there, some layout tests and before I knew it it sort of organically picked up pace".
Team 17 still serves as the publisher on Allison Road, while Lillith Ltd. will continue developing the game. Kesler told Polygon that Allison Road won't return to Kickstarter, and instead development is "slower than before" with Kesler financing the game himself at the moment. He added: "Actually I'm working freelance jobs to earn money to finance development. Thankfully everyone who helped me up to this point was very supportive along the way and kept things affordable for me. And I'm very grateful for that!"
Continue reading: Allison Road returns, development 'slower than before' (full post)
14,900 new files found on Hillary Clinton's email server
Hillary Clinton's poker face continues, with the FBI finding another 14,900 emails and documents on her private server - nearly 50% more than Clinton's lawyers turned over to the State Department.
We don't know what's in the documents and emails, but the FBI obtained a disc that includes all of the new emails and attachments that Clinton sent, or received. Clinton's attorneys originally turned over around 30,000 messages that were what they considered work-related, but we all know that's not true.
A judge in a lawsuit over public records has thrown the State Department's proposal plans to the road, as they wanted to release the documents starting on October 14, and are pushing for an earlier release. If the judge is successful, this won't happen sooner, but it will be enough to have Clinton squirming.
Continue reading: 14,900 new files found on Hillary Clinton's email server (full post)
NVIDIA's new 'Parker' SoC should power Nintendo NX
NVIDIA has unveiled its next-generation Tegra processor, known as Parker, with some advanced technology powering the new system-on-a-chip.
The new Parker SoC is made on TSMC's impressive 16nm FinFET process, where it has Pascal GPU cores and their new Denver 2 CPU cores. Parker features 256 CUDA cores from the Pascal architecture, while the ARM v8 CPU has two Denver 2 and four A57 cores. The CPU side of things has 2MB of L2 cache which are linked through the HMP (Heterogeneous Multi-Processor) architecture to deliver 4MB of L2 cache.
NVIDIA's new Denver 2 chips also feature 128K+64K sub-cache, while the A57 cores feature 48K+32K sub-cache system. There's also 128b LPDDR4 support with up to 50GB/sec bandwidth, while the display is a triple pipeline that can handle 4K60, with camera features including auto HDR on up to 12 cameras. CPU performance wise, the Denver CPU cores are pretty powerful - with NVIDIA claiming a 40% performance lead over Apple's A9X processor, and a nice bump on Samsung's Galaxy S7 smartphone.
Continue reading: NVIDIA's new 'Parker' SoC should power Nintendo NX (full post)
AMD gains even more GPU market share from NVIDIA
AMD is continuing its push against NVIDIA, securing itself more discrete GPU market share from NVIDIA according to the latest data from Mercury Research, which has AMD gaining throughout 2016.
Mercury Research's data shows that AMD has gained GPU market share for the fourth consecutive quarter, driven by strong GPU sales in late 2015 and throughout 2016. AMD has pulled itself up to 29.9% market share, which is a big deal considering this time last year AMD was sitting at around 18%. This is a big deal, as Mercury Research notes in their press release that this is the first time AMD has experienced an increase since Q1 2012.
Where did AMD's gains come from? According to the report: "The decline in low-end units shipped by NVIDIA resulted in substantial unit share gains for AMD in the desktop standalone segment, though by our estimates revenue share was unaffected due to NVIDIA's strong gaming mix improvement". So AMD is hitting the lower/mid-end markets while NVIDIA doesn't just dominate, it owns the high-end market right now.
Continue reading: AMD gains even more GPU market share from NVIDIA (full post)
PCIe 4.0 will be the end of power cables for GPUs
PCIe 3.0 has been a staple of motherboards and graphics cards for close to 6 years now, but the PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG) have PCIe 4.0 nearly ready, and man is it going to be a huge launch.
The upgraded PCIe 4.0 specification will allow for double the bandwidth, from 8GT/s to 16GT/s but there are a bunch of other changes we should be more excited over. As it stands, PCIe 3.0 is capable of delivering 75W of power through the connector, with most graphics cards requiring additional PCIe power connectors to get up and running. Well, PCIe 4.0 will be the end of that.
PCIe 4.0 will provide a minimum of 300W, and possibly up to 500W, which is more than enough power for any graphics card on the market. Imagine a world with a new NVIDIA GeForce Titan X graphics card, or a new Radeon RX 480 without the need of PCIe power connectors. It would be a mess-free, clean-looking gaming PC - something that is simply impossible today because there's no way around delivering power to graphics cards without the PCIe power connectors.
Continue reading: PCIe 4.0 will be the end of power cables for GPUs (full post)
PS4 Slim's new DualShock 4 controller has two lightbars?
UPDATE: The new DualShock 4 controller doesn't have two lightbars after all. It's just the same LED lightbar that's pulsing through a new slit in the touchpad. Your controller batteries are safe!
Sony will be discontinuing current PS4 models in favor of a cheaper, thinner (and uglier) PS4 "Slim" model which apparently comes with a new DualShock 4 controller.
The new smaller, thinner and cheaper PS4 "Slim" has been officially confirmed by Eurogamer. The PS4 Slim isn't going to side alongside current PS4 consoles--it's going to replace it as your typical console refresh, according to WSJ sources. But that's not all that's going to be replaced: the new PS4 model with allegedly come with a new DualShock 4 controller design, and YouTuber ZRZ has apparently gotten ahold of the new PS4 Slim controller to reveal some rather perplexing new changes.
Continue reading: PS4 Slim's new DualShock 4 controller has two lightbars? (full post)
Destiny's base game listed as free to play
Destiny's base game could go free-to-play, according to listings from the official Xbox Store.
It looks like Destiny's vanilla, non-DLC base game may be going free: the base version has disappeared from the PlayStation Store, and is marked as free on the Xbox Store, with only The Taken King bundle offered for purchase.
Considering how important Destiny's DLC are to the game, it makes a lot of sense for the base game to go free-to-play. In all honesty the base game is basically a demo anyway. Sure you have a decent amount of content at your perusal, but if you really want to progress, you'll have to shell out for the add-ons. Hell, it was like this way back when the base game actually cost money, too.
Continue reading: Destiny's base game listed as free to play (full post)
PlayStation Plus price hikes to $60 next month
In a bid to eke out more earnings from subscription-based services, Sony will raise the fee for its PlayStation Plus to $60 starting late September.
PlayStation fans are in for a rather rude awakening. Not only is the current PS4 model being discontinued in favor of an ugly PS4 "Slim" design, but PS4 owners are being pushed to upgrade their consoles to Sony's new "hardcore" 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Neo after just three years of owning their consoles. Now to round out the disappointment, Sony is raising the cost of multiplayer to $59.99 a year.
"Starting on September 22, 2016, prices for PlayStation Plus memberships will change to $59.99 USD/ $69.99 CAD for twelve months and $24.99 USD/$29.99 CAD for three months. The monthly plan will change to $11.99 CAD in Canada, and remain $9.99 USD in the U.S. If you are a current member, the new prices will take effect if your membership renews on or after this date," reads an update on the PlayStation Blog.
Continue reading: PlayStation Plus price hikes to $60 next month (full post)
Android Nougat now available for Nexus devices, more
Android's latest major update Nougat launches today, five months after it entered beta. It's ready to install on Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C tablet, and General Mobile 4G, and will come pre-installed on the LG V20 when it launches around early September.
Nougat introduces approximately 250 major features. Among them: quick switching between apps, multi-windows, support for Vulkan API, built-in VR support, improved battery life, faster booting, and data saving for background apps.
If you don't see an update prompt on your phone now, you should soon. If you don't own one of the above listed phones, unfortunately you're likely to wait a long while for the update as per usual.
Continue reading: Android Nougat now available for Nexus devices, more (full post)
Tekken 7 looks glorious in 4K
News broke two months ago of the Tekken series finally making its way to PC, and now we have what might be the first footage of the superior version. Provided exclusively to NVIDIA, it's presented in glorious 4K, which offers a marked difference over standard 1080p (click the wheel and downsample to see for yourself).
It's said the development team is still working on the PC version and 4K isn't confirmed, but even at this stage, you can see it works well, a few performance issues aside.
Tekken 7 will launch early 2017.
Sony to reveal higher-end PS4 Neo on September 7
Sony will reveal its new high-end 4K-ready PS4 console during a special presentation next month, sources indicate.
Sony's new upgraded PS4 console (aka PS4 Neo, PS4.5, PS4K) is set to be revealed during the PlayStation Meeting event on September 7, key industry sources have told the Wall Street Journal. Sony Interactive Entertainment President Andrew House confirmed the high-end PS4's existence ahead of E3 2016, affirming the console is specifically targeting "hardcore gamers" with 4K resolution support and upgraded hardware.
Although most current PS4 owners will likely adopt the new high-end model, Sony was careful to iterate that the PS4 "Neo" is still technically a PlayStation 4, so it won't replace the existing models and will instead sit in the same family. "It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4. We will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle," SIE President Andrew House continued.
Continue reading: Sony to reveal higher-end PS4 Neo on September 7 (full post)
No Man's Sky continues to get patched, more on the way
No Man's Sky is still a gigantic mess, but Hello Games have said they will start improving the game "with new features", but only once all of the support requests have been answered. The latest patch arrived a few days ago, but there were no patch notes - and now, we have patch notes.
The notes that Hello Games released state that the fixes should address around 70% of the issues reported by gamers that were reported directly to the developer, on Steam or Reddit, or other forums. The team is now working on the remaining 30% of the issues, with the developers taking to Steam saying: "Right now the team is fully focused on categorising and fixing support issues in order of priority, based on the number of people they are affecting".
If you want to spend the next 15 minutes reading the patch notes on the last three No Man's Sky patches, check it out. Also don't worry, only 78% of the player base have left No Man's Sky... when will the rest abandon the game?
Continue reading: No Man's Sky continues to get patched, more on the way (full post)
GIVEAWAY: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Video Cards
Global entry! We have teamed up with MSI to giveaway one GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X 6G and one GeForce GTX 1060 6GT OC to two lucky winners. One video card per winner; video card selected randomly.
VR READY
Discover next-generation VR performance, the lowest latency, and plug-and-play compatibility with leading headsets-driven by NVIDIA VRWorks™ technologies. VR audio, physics, and haptics let you hear and feel every moment.
Continue reading: GIVEAWAY: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Video Cards (full post)
Injustice 2 teases Harley Quinn and Deadshot for 2017
Injustice: Gods Amongst Us landed on game store shelves in 2013 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, 4 and Wii U. Developers NetherRealm in conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive announced Injustice 2 would hit the stores in 2017 for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Injustice 2 will include new characters such as Deadshot, Blue Beetle, Supergirl, Red Lantern Atrocitus and Gorilla Grodd with the added features of new costumes and suits for characters such as Harley Quinn. Quinn recently made her debut in the DCEU in Suicide Squad, giving a new look from the standard red and black leotard that is portrayed in comics and games such as Batman: Arkham City and Origins. Original characters such as Superman, The Joker, Batman, Wonderwoman, Green Lantern, Cyborg and more are to return for Injustice 2, continuing with the already established storyline from Injustice: Gods Amongst Us.
The new trailer includes an official look at Harley Quinn and Deadshot, who were portrayed by Margot Robbie and Will Smith in Suicide Squad.
Continue reading: Injustice 2 teases Harley Quinn and Deadshot for 2017 (full post)
Autopilot fails, Tesla Model S crashes into guard rail
Tesla is in the headlines again with another Model S owner experiencing an Autopilot hiccup, where Model S owner Mark Molthan enabling Autopilot on the highway in "ideal weather conditions", reports BGR - but during a bend in the road, the Model S didn't adjust for the turn, slamming into a guard rail.
Bloomberg reported that Molthan said in the seconds leading up to the crash, he reached into his glove compartment to get a piece of cloth to clean his dash - you know, as you do when the car is in autonomous mode, you can do stuff. With the Autopilot mode enabled, you're meant to have your hands close to the wheel in case of emergencies - but this was just a few seconds. Also, you'd think that having Autopilot enabled, it would've been able to detect a simple turn - and it didn't, imagine if that was another car or a guard rail next to a cliff.
Molthan said: "I used Autopilot all the time on that stretch of the highway, but now I feel like this is extremely dangerous. It gives you a false sense of security. I'm not ready to be a test pilot. It missed the curve and drove straight into the guardrail. The car didn't stop - it actually continued to accelerate after the first impact into the guardrail".
Continue reading: Autopilot fails, Tesla Model S crashes into guard rail (full post)
DDR5 RAM released by 2020, specification finalized soon
DDR5 is currently in development, and will succeed DDR4 when it hits the market sometime around 2020. DDR5 will usher in new RAM limits, where we're seeing 128GB ceilings or so in high-end desktops at the moment - but DDR5 will also have much higher bandwidth than DDR4.
The new DDR5 standard will first hit servers, and then it'll find its way into desktops and laptops 12-18 months later. During the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) last week, the Director of DRAM and Memory at research outfit IHS, Mike Howard, said that PCs will need faster RAM for VR and other tasks. He said that the bandwidth provided by DDR4 might not be enough, and that DDR5 will be required in the coming years.
Howard continued, saying: "The incumbent always has tremendous inertia. The DDR incumbent will keep rolling by the virtue that it's there". Considering the DRAM market is a $40 billion annual business, we're going to see lots of changes in the coming years. Memory makers won't want to spend billions of dollars on new memory technologies without knowing there's a payoff in the years to come. This is why high-end next-gen memory technologies like HBC (Hybrid Memory Cube) and HBM (High-Bandwidth Memory) haven't taken off yet. They're super-fast, sure - but they're also very expensive, so mass market adoption is slow.
Continue reading: DDR5 RAM released by 2020, specification finalized soon (full post)
New PS4 Slim to replace current PS4 standard model
UPDATE: Eurogamer has confirmed that the leaked PS4 Slim console is indeed genuine. Sony will unveil the new slimmer, thinner model on September 7.
Sony will unveil a new standard PlayStation 4 model--the "PS4 Slim"--alongside the upgraded 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Neo console next month, with the slim variant becoming the new basic PS4 model, sources indicate.
Just hours after alleged images of Sony's new PS4 Slim model leaked onto the internet, the Wall Street Journal corroborates the existence of the slim console by reporting that Sony will unveil two new PlayStation 4 models at the PlayStation Meeting event on September 7: the same-specced PS4 Slim, and the new powerful PS4 Neo.
Continue reading: New PS4 Slim to replace current PS4 standard model (full post)
Low cost HBM on the way, will hit mass market soon
HBM3 is being worked on by SK Hynix and Samsung and will offer up to 64GB VRAM at higher speeds than HBM2, but a low-cost version of HBM is also in the works, which will feature less bandwidth but a lower cost point than HBM1 and HBM2.
The new low-cost HBM will feature increased pin speeds, from the 2Gbps on HBM2 to around 3Gbps on the new low-cost HBM while the memory bandwidth shifts from 256GB/sec per DRAM stack, to around 200GB/sec per stack. This means the upcoming low-cost HBM could reach the mass market, so we could be looking at HBM-powered notebooks and consumer graphics cards, more so than just the three from AMD that we have now in the Radeon R9 Fury X, Radeon R9 Fury and R9 Nano graphics cards.
Continue reading: Low cost HBM on the way, will hit mass market soon (full post)
HBM3 teased, could allow for 64GB VRAM on graphics cards
When the first wave of HBM arrived, we were blown away by its bandwidth (512GB/sec) but it was the form factor that really made me take a step back, allowing for super-fast graphics cards like the Radeon R9 Nano from AMD. Well, HBM2 is already here and used by NVIDIA on their Pascal-based Tesla P100 graphics card, but not in the consumer space... yet.
SK Hynix and Samsung are working on new HBM technologies, with HBM3 sitting at the top of the hill. HBM3 will offer twice the bandwidth, but it will feature a lower cost. Right now, HBM3 is known in multiple forms - SK Hynix refers to it as HBM3 or HBMx, while Samsung calls it xHBM or Extreme HBM. Either way, the next generation HBM technology is an improvement over both of its predecessors in HBM1 and HBM2.
HBM2 offers 256GB/sec of bandwidth per layer of DRAM (1024GB/sec total), while HBM3 doubles that to 512GB/sec (2GB/sec+) of memory bandwidth. Better yet, HBM3 should usher in higher-end graphics cards with 64GB of HBM3, which will just be incredible. I don't think we'll see HBM3 on consumer graphics cards anytime soon, but the low-cost HBM technology that is on the way will instead be used - that or GDDR5 and GDDR5X which still offer great performance.
Continue reading: HBM3 teased, could allow for 64GB VRAM on graphics cards (full post)








