Latest News - Page 2415

Samsung is poised to make a big splash with its upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone, with the company reportedly set to use a 4K display, bumping the resolution up from the current-gen Galaxy S7 with its 1440p display.

If Samsung continues the size and dimensions of the Galaxy S8 close to the Galaxy S7, the S8 will have a display with a huge 806 DPI at 5.5 inches. We should also expect to see dual rear-facing cameras on the Galaxy S8, with those pictures to surely shine on that new 5.5-inch 4K display.

Remember that Samsung works directly with Oculus on the Gear VR headset, which will see the purported 4K display on the Galaxy S8 being a very big deal when it launches. VR is only continuing to grow, and Samsung is in a great position to continue its leadership with mobile VR, especially if the 4K display makes it into the Galaxy S8.

It was only in December last year that Chinese giant Tencent purchased the majority stake in League of Legends, and now they're back with another acquisition - this time, it's Supercell - the developer of Clash of Clans.

Last year, Supercell was valued at $5.25 billion, so that's a nice $3 billion in value added over a year. This $8.6 billion acquisition is a big deal, and as The Wall Street Journal said, it makes Tencent the leading company in the personal computer games industry, which is - in the words of Ron Burgundy himself - 'is kind of a big deal'.

Tencent now owns the properties including League of Legends and Clash of Clans, now with Supercell, with the acquisition including Hay Day, Clash Royale and Boom Beach. League of Legends on its own has 27 million daily players, with all of them being on the PC - while Supercell's games seeing over 100 million gamers per day on mobile devices.

I'm someone who zealously champions virtual reality. I'm also a gamer who thinks gaming in VR is the best thing since the Nintendo Gameboy. But when people ask me what will propel VR into the stratosphere and get the technology into homes, I have one confident response: "I'm not sure, but it won't be video games." Today, Greenlight VR's 2016 Virtual Reality Consumer Report has been published and lends some solid data to my speculation. Interestingly, games don't even crack the intended use scenarios.

Greenlight VR polled more than 1200 random people aged 18-60 about a wide range of VR-related topics, including their personal interest in a number of use categories, their attitudes toward adult content in VR, and their purchase intent over the next 12 months. Interestingly, the results indicate that gaming is lower on the list -- not 2nd, not 3rd, but 6th.

Taking the lead are travel, tourism, or adventure (73.5%), movies and recorded videos (67.3%), live events (67.0%), home design (65.9%), education (63.9%), and gaming (61.0%).

Unity has released a new real-time rendered short film known as their 'Adam' demo, teasing it during their Unity Europe conference. The company used a single NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 to render Adam at 2560x1440.

As you can see, it's quite the world that Unity created in a 5-minute video, with some emotive pushes during the short film. It starts off with a Matrix-style unplugging from the system, and into a very District 9, Half-Life 2, this-is-the-future-and-it-sucks feel - all within the Unity engine. What I want to see now are games built with this technology, and even better - VR games built like this.

As one of the comments from 'Jokus Art' on YouTube said: "As soon as these kinds of graphics come to VR games.. I don't think the real-world stands a chance". And yeah, I totally agree.

The latest version of GPU-Z is here, with v0.8.9 including support for AMD's upcoming Polaris-based video cards. It also supports the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, as well as support for reading the values on your overclocked GTX 1070/1080s.

Here's the full skinny on GPU-Z v0.8.9:

While there might be a 1000-core processor in the wild, we won't see it in consumer or prosumer machines in that form, ever - at least not until the likes of Intel or AMD can hit 1000 processors on a single chip. Well, Intel is getting closer with its new Xeon Phi 7290 processor, which has 72 CPU cores.

Intel's new Xeon Phi 7290 is the fastest processor the company has released, and it's also their most expensive. The new Xeon Phi 7290 has 72 processing cores at 1.5GHz each, with Intel sending them out in September, with a huge price tag of $6294. Intel's next-gen Xeon Phi 7290 doesn't rely on the PCIe bus, allowing it to handle a much higher wider variety of workloads, and configurations that aren't supported by usual accelerators.

Intel has included 16GB of HBM with 490GB/sec of memory bandwidth for applications that are memory bound, while the dual-port Intel Omni-Path Fabric makes an appearance, reducing the cost of Intel's new Xeon Phi 7290, in terms of cost, power consumption and space required. The new Xeon Phi 7290 is one of four new processors, with the new chips packaged very similar to video cards, functioning as primary processors, or co-processors - depending on the use.

We know that AMD's Radeon RX 480 will be capable of 1.5GHz and more on manual overclocking, but now we have leaked shots from the production line, and shots of the cooler being removed.

The Radeon RX 480 features a single 75mm blower fan that directs air towards the aluminum fin heat sink, with a copper contact heat plate placed on top of the GPU die. This pushes the heat out of the back of the card, with AIB partner cards seeing open air solutions, with dual- and triple-fan cooling solutions.

AMD's reference design of the RX 480 doesn't feature backplate, but some of the AIB cards will use one - such as XFX and SAPPHIRE, both designing their own backplates for their custom RX 480s. XFX uses a backplate that covers the entire length of the rear of the card, while SAPPHIRE's take on the backplate covers just the PCB.

Raw Data was one of the first Vive games I played, and was instrumental in my love affair for HTC and Valve's awesome virtual reality system. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to try the latest build at E3. Fortunately for all of us, developer Survios sent over some short clips to rub in how much fun the game is.

In Raw Data, you're tasked with infiltrating shady manufacturer Eden Corp, stealing their data, and mowing down hordes of evil robot minions in wave-based FPS combat. It's also playable with a friend in co-op.

Survios describes Raw Data as an "Active VR Multiplayer Sci-Fi Combat" game and yea, that's pretty accurate. From dual-wielding blasters to striking down hordes of robots with futuristic Katanas, Raw Data is a blast, but the developers have also programmed in a ton of [physical movement that just feels great to pull off. Slashing, shooting, deflecting, ducking, dodging, and throwing make you feel like a badass.

If you haven't heard, ASUS and MSI are involved in a heated battle with the companies reportedly sending out tweaked GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 cards to the press, with higher clocks than what are advertised on the box.

Well, EVGA has come out swinging with a new 'What You See Is What You Get' campaign and website, with the website stating: "EVGA was one of the first video card companies to offer overclocked video cards, and since day one EVGA always delivered the exact same products to reviewers as well as customers. EVGA does not "fake" reviews or send out products with "tweaked" clockspeeds to reviewers. With EVGA Superclocked, FTW and Classified video cards, what you see is what you get".

Our EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW ACX 3.0 card is here, and will be reviewed later this week - so I'm excited to see what the clock speeds are out of the box. It's great to see EVGA coming out and doing this, as it puts a huge flag in the ground for authenticity and transparency for the company - which is something great to see.

E3 2016 - Square Enix confirms that Final Fantasy 15 will be an absolutely massive game in terms of gameplay offerings and scope, and will mirror the same staggering content that completionists expect from a Final Fantasy game.

We've known for a while that Final Fantasy 15's campaign storyline lasts anywhere from 40 to 50 hours of gameplay, but Final Fantasy 15 game director Hajime Tabata has revealed that the huge open-world game can take up to 200 hours to completely master. As someone who's spent about 300 hours in a Final Fantasy game (and 120+ in Final Fantasy XIV: ARR), this number is a godsend, especially since I had concerns about FF15 being too "casualized" for its own good.

"In terms of clearing the main story, we're anticipating about 40 to 50 hours of gameplay, so there will be that at the very least. But there are a lot of side quests and extra stuff. With that alone, we're looking at about 100 hours of gameplay. So if you count all of that, we're looking at about 200 hours total if you clear everything. Fans have been waiting for quite a while, so we want to make sure there is a lot to enjoy when it's out," Tabata said during an E3 2016 showcase.

I'm unfit to be a space pirate, that much is clear. And HTC has the video to prove it. Call it performance anxiety, but my virtual pew-pew skills were sorely lacking at E3. What wasn't lacking was the cool factor of stepping into a small green screen studio, strapping an HTC Vive onto my head, and knowing that within seconds of finishing the demo, there'd be a cool clip waiting for me.

Mixed Reality footage is a cool trick pioneered by Northway Games (for Fantastic Contraption) and perfected by Valve and HTC. There's no denying how magical that launch trailer for the HTC Vive was, particularly because it best conveyed how it felt to be in VR, surrounded by the game world, short of actually donning headset and going for it.

At E3, HTC had attendees step into their makeshift Mixed Reality studio and play a few minutes of Space Pirate Trainer VR. They pointed a secondary camera on them and utilized capture cards and free software like OBS to blend the two realities together. Seemingly within seconds of finishing my session, screenshots and the above footage was ready for me to download.

This week we are giving away another $200 USD Amazon gift card to one lucky winner. We need your help to answer some questions regarding external storage. There are only four questions which should only take you about 2 or 3 minutes to complete.

Rules and Conditions

Step 1 - Subscribe to the TweakTown YouTube channel. Your subscription will be confirmed.

Ahead of the release of the much anticipated extended cut of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' on home video next month, Village Roadshow in Australia are offering fans free tickets to free one-off showings of the film in theatres.

Aussie fans in Sydney and Melbourne can go to the Village Roadshow website to register their interest in taking home a free double pass for the Sydney screening next Tuesday at 6pm and Melbourne screening next Wednesday at 6:30pm, with tickets being allocated through a lottery system. Winners will be drawn on at midnight on June 23 and notified by email on June 24.

Sony will launch its new 4K-upscaling PlayStation 4 Neo console in Holiday 2016 to beat Microsoft's 6TFLOPs "monster" Project Scorpio to the market, according to recent sources.

Although Sony's new PS4K won't be as powerful as Microsoft's Xbox Scorpio, nor will it leverage AMD's new 14nm Polaris GPU and Zen CPU SoC combo, the Japanese console-maker will likely take advantage of an earlier console release to soak up a full year of sales. We've known for a while that Sony would likely launch its PS4K in 2016 (French retailer Innelec said its coming in October), "several sources" have told Eurogamer to expect a PS4K release this year.

Instead of revealing its PS4K at E3 2016 like Microsoft did with Project Scorpio, Sony took the more reserved route by officially confirming the console is indeed on the way. Sony Computer Interactive President Andrew House confirmed that the PlayStation 4K (aka Neo) will upscale 1080p games to 4K, and that it will be up to developers to optimize games for the "enhanced mode". House also confirmed that the PS4 Neo won't have exclusive games, and that all existing PS4 games will be compatible with the PS4K.

E3 2016 - Bethesda game director Todd Howard confirmed the studio is working on two absolutely massive projects that overlap, are "totally different" than anything Bethesda's done before, and require next-gen technology that "isn't quite here yet."

Remember when Bethesda's Todd Howard said this back in February? "We actually have three kind of longer term projects we're doing that are all - we'll talk about them at a future date - but they're different than anything we've done before, while also being a Bethesda-style game....Big and crazy, but in many ways different than things we've done before. It's an exciting time." At E3 2016 Todd Howard told Geoff Keighley even more details about these ambitious new games and what they hold for the future of the studio.

These two new massive projects will be fully-fledged Skyrim- and Fallout 4-sized games that come before The Elder Scrolls VI--but all three games (which were described as 'big and crazy' before) will basically be under the same umbrella in terms of planning. "I could sit here and explain the game to you, and you would say, 'That sounds like you don't even have the technology. How long is that going to take?' So it is something that's going to take a lot of time, what he have in mind for that game, and we actually have two other large projects we're also doing that are bigger than everything we've done. People will probably hear about those even before Elder Scrolls 6. That'll make sense many years from now."

E3 2016 - Square Enix unloaded a staggering volume of Final Fantasy 15 content at E3, blowing the doors off of the new action-based RPG with tons of gameplay footage, screenshots, and details.

Thanks to Square Enix, E3 2016 wasn't lacking for RPGs (although we did expect Sony to showcase more JRPGs at their press conference!). Gamers were given a huge buffet of Final Fantasy 15 awesomeness to chew on--not just the small morsels and teasers we're used to. In fact, I'd say that there's so much footage and info out there right now that we can hardly digest it all-in-one sitting.

The first bit of gameplay footage has FF15 game director Hajime Tabata walking us through the first 24 minutes of gameplay, revealing key details and tidbits along the way--like Noctis' companions being living, breathing comrades with personalities rather than stale NPCs, level-up systems and side abilities like fishing, photography and survival, real-time combat mechanics, dynamic 24-hour day-and-night cycles, and pretty much everything under Eos' sun.

A few lucky people got to try PlayStation VR at a handful of Best Buy locations during E3 week, but now Sony is dramatically expanding the reach of its demos. How dramatically? Beginning June 24 the PS4 virtual reality system will be available to try in 300 locations across the United States.

Demo attendees will get to go hands-on with PlayStation VR Worlds, EVE: Valkyrie, Headmaster, Battlezone, and SUPERHYPERCUBE. More game demos will be added leading up to PS VR's launch in October, and hopefully those will include the newly announced PlayStation VR titles from Sony's E3 press conference.

Want to try it on for yourself? Visit this URL, punch in your zip code, and Sony will spit out store locations close to you, including the hours it's available to play each day. Sony is definitely going all out to get PlayStation VR maximum exposure at retail. Have you tried it yet?

E3 2016 - Capcom's zombie game Dead Rising 4 will be exclusive to Xbox One for one full year and Windows Store for 90 days, Microsoft has confirmed. After the exclusivity periods end, it may end up on PlayStation 4 and/or Steam.

Dead Rising 3 was exclusive to Xbox One as well before releasing 10 months later on PC, while the game was permanently out of the question for PS4 owners. So in both cases, Microsoft is more lax on restrictions this time around, which should come as great news to all.

Dead Rising 4 will launch December 6 on Windows Store and Xbox One.

The Serious Sam franchise has always done one thing exceptionally well: balls-to-the-wall FPS action focused on twitch reflexes, overpowered weapons, absurdly large hordes of demons, and unapologetic brutality. So when Croteam announced they were bringing their shooter to virtual reality, I may or may not have literally jumped up and down with excitement. I recently played a small slice of an early build of Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope, and it's almost everything I expected from a Samuel Stone adventure.

I played using the Oculus Rift and its forthcoming Touch controllers, but a demo station was also set up with an HTC Vive, and the developers tell me they're currently talking to Sony about getting the game onto PlayStation VR.

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope finds the titular action hero traveling from planet to planet to fend off Mental's endless hordes of demon warriors, and it's no surprise that (as always) Sam is basically the universe's last hope. Fortunately, Sam's packing a fairly deep arsenal of weaponry and skills, all of which are upgradeable between missions, lending a nice sense of progression to the game that's absent from most "shooting gallery" style VR games right now. In fact, this is the most fleshed out shooter I've seen, particularly for the HTC Vive, as most of the FPS style games on that system are just a single level. Croteam has clearly been busy. Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope will launch with at least 8 worlds and a slew of guns when it debuts this summer on Steam Early Access.

A Battlefield 1 closed alpha or something close to it is currently being played by members of the press, which Gamespot says will be available next week. Available to who isn't exactly clear, but based on past DICE closed alphas, it's likely a small selection of those who signed up for Battlefield Insider.

The news is affirmed by Game Informer's recent takedown of closed alpha footage, which we've heard from those who attended EA Play that it was supposed to be under NDA for two weeks.

Multiple maps are said to be featured in the alpha, including the one shown at EA Play.