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Lenovo says Motorola acquisition 'did not meet expectations'
Lenovo's $3 billion 2014 acqusition of phone maker Motorola hasn't worked out well, according to the company's latest financial report. In it, Lenovo states that "integration efforts did not meet expectations" and that its China sales and product transition efforts in North America were "not successful." The hope was for Motorola to become the big third in the smartphone market, a position Huawei has since occupied.
On the bright side, the company says it's learned, which is why it's appointing two co-presidents, one with a strategy for China, and one with a strategy for everywhere else. The plan is to refocus its efforts in China on the affordable yet potentially powerful Zuk brand and to "get the US business back on track with a competitive product portfolio." The first step in the latter case is the latest Moto G launch. The second: the Moto Z, which is expected to feature a radically different approach to be revealed next month.
Continue reading: Lenovo says Motorola acquisition 'did not meet expectations' (full post)
Android Auto, CarPlay available for Hyundai vehicles
Back in March, GM added Android Auto to select new vehicle models, and now Hyundai owners are receiving it too, in addition to Apple's CarPlay.
Select 2015, 2016, and 2017 models can benefit from the technology (some version of the Sonata, Santa Fe, Genesis, Elantra GT, and Tucson, with Sonata Hybrid, Sonata Plug-In Hybrid, Veloster, and Azera on the way). It's free of charge and you don't have to go the dealer, either. Visit MyHyundai.com to do it yourself; if you prefer to let someone else handle it, the dealer option will be available for a fee as of June.
Be warned: the download takes as long as 3 hour and 40 minutes.
Continue reading: Android Auto, CarPlay available for Hyundai vehicles (full post)
GAINWARD's GeForce GTX 1080 Phoenix spotted with black/red/gold look
The leaks continue on the GeForce GTX 1080 partner cards, with news of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme and ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 ROG STRIX cards both being somewhat detailed earlier today. Now it's time for GAINWARD.
The GAINWARD GeForce GTX 1080 Phoenix has been teased, with a completely redesigned cooler which has dropped from three fans to two. The fans are bigger, which has made the card wider, but that should allow the card to keep nice and cool, with the fans spinning at lower RPM. The shroud has three colors: black, red and gold, and it sure does look great. We're looking forward to getting our hands-on one soon!
Continue reading: GAINWARD's GeForce GTX 1080 Phoenix spotted with black/red/gold look (full post)
EVGA's GeForce GTX 1080 Superclocked ACX 3.0 spotted, looks awesome
It looks like it's leakathon for the AIB partner GeForce GTX 1080 cards, with HotHardware reporting that EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Superclocked ACX 3.0 is on its way, and it looks absolutely amazing.
The EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Superclocked ACX 3.0 features the latest ACX 3.0 cooling technology from the company, with dual ball bearing fans, a massive heat sink array, a full length backplate, and some vented accents. All in all, it's shaping up to be the best looking EVGA card yet (at least in my opinion). But what about performance? HotHardware reports that the new GeForce GTX 1080 Superclocked ACX 3.0 was "practically silent - even under load".
The site adds that "temperatures were a non-issue", and while the card was under low the GPU temperature "hovered in the high 70C-80C range". I'm now more excited than ever to get my hands-on this bad boy!
Continue reading: EVGA's GeForce GTX 1080 Superclocked ACX 3.0 spotted, looks awesome (full post)
ZOTAC's new GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! spotted, a new record breaker?
It looks like ZOTAC is preparing to blow us all away once again with their take on NVIDIA's exciting new GeForce GTX 1080 video card. VideoCardz is reporting on the latest leak, teasing the new GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme from ZOTAC.
The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 video cards will feature IceStorm fans with Carbon ExoArmor, PowerBoost, FREEZE and Spectra technologies. Spectra is new, with it arriving as a lighting system that allows users to change the LED illumination elements on the card, which are the strips along the top, and bottom of the card. The FREEZE tech allows the fans to turn off when the card sits in idle.
The new GTX 1080 AMP! series cards feature a custom backplate, with the PCB being modified completely, allowing for 2 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors. We don't know how much ZOTAC has done under the hood when it comes to clock speeds, but we're excited beyond words to see what ZOTAC can do. The company impressed us greatly with the GTX 980 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition, so I have large expectations of what the GTX 1080 cards will be.
Continue reading: ZOTAC's new GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! spotted, a new record breaker? (full post)
PS4K upgrades 'absolutely' required to run VR on PS4 says, dev
Sony's 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Neo (PS4K, PS4.5) is real and it'll natively support the PlayStation VR headset, claims an anonymous developer.
One of the main reasons Sony is upgrading to the PS4K is to significantly boost PlayStation VR performance, according to an industry dev. "PSVR was going to be terrible on a [launch] PS4. It was going to be truly awful. Something a bit more powerful starts to bring VR into range. If you want to deal with crazy requirements for performance in VR, you absolutely have to do this," the source told Edge magazine.
The 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Neo is rumored to pack powerful upgraded specs like a custom AMD Polaris 10 Ellesmere-derived GPU, an 8-core Jaguar CPU clocked at 2.1GHz, and extra system memory bandwidth. Although Sony affirms that it's launch PS4s have enough horsepower to push 120FPS 1080p with low-latency 18ms on the PlayStation VR's 5.7-inch OLED screens, the added hardware boost would be a tremendous advantage for developers. Another source claims that added power will be in heavy demand for VR devs: "There hasn't been a real outcry for more power, apart from developers making VR stuff - and those are weighted more heavily at the moment. VR is the most exciting development in the industry right now, and if it's here to stay then, there will be a lot of demand for more powerful hardware."
Continue reading: PS4K upgrades 'absolutely' required to run VR on PS4 says, dev (full post)
No Man's Sky possibly delayed to August
Aspiring planet-hoppers may have to wait a few extra months before their dreams are realized; No Man's Sky could be delayed as far back as August.
No Man's Sky is delayed to July or even August, two separate sources have told Kotaku. One of the sources, a GameStop worker, told Kotaku that employees have been told to place "coming soon" stickers over the game's original June 21 release date on No Man's Sky promotional posters.
The delay isn't so surprising considering only 15 people are developing the procedurally-generated juggernaut. In fact, No Man's Sky is so big that 99% of the planets will be unexplored and gamers will likely never meet one another in the shared universe. No Man's Sky lead developer Sean Murray hasn't confirmed the delay so be sure to take this with a grain of salt for now. We're also not sure if the delay affects both PS4 and PC ports.
Continue reading: No Man's Sky possibly delayed to August (full post)
Xbox and Windows are merging under Microsoft's Project Helix strategy
Thanks to Project Helix, Xbox and Windows will soon be unified together as one cohesive structure, continuing Redmond's plans for a cross-platform ecosystem powered by UWP.
We've known for a while that Microsoft wants to meld Xbox and Windows together, with the Xbox brand powering Windows PC gaming. But we don't know how far Microsoft is willing to take this unification--until today, that is. Internal sources at Microsoft told Kotaku yesterday about Project Helix, an ambitious strategy where Xbox evolves into a cross-platform service.
Microsoft wants to push into the PC gaming front using the Xbox brand, and that's exactly what we see now with the Windows 10 Xbox app (which brings Xbox-exclusive functionality to the PC) and cross-platform game streaming. Windows and Xbox are now base pairs bound together on a DNA strand, with UWP as the helix that holds it all together. Remember that Microsoft doesn't see the Xbox as a console any more; to them, it's a "Windows 10 device". Under Project Helix, all future Xbox games will likely be released onto Windows 10 PCs as well, but the transition will likely be slow, as Microsoft can't further alienate console gamers.
Continue reading: Xbox and Windows are merging under Microsoft's Project Helix strategy (full post)
CRYENGINE goes open source, now available for download
Crytek has just announced that its CRYENGINE is now open source, releasing the software to GitHub so that anyone can grab it. There are still licensing terms, even though CRYENGINE is now a free software project, too. You can grab CRYENGINE right here.
In regards to licensing, Crytek explains: "The license is basically you can use the engine for free with no royalties. Our model is Pay What You Want: https://www.cryengine.com/get-cryengine. Basically you pay whatever you want, if you want, and have a choice of how much of that goes to the developers and how much goes to an Indie Fund that we use to fund indie projects that use the engine. We also offer "Insider Memberships" (https://www.cryengine.com/get-cryeng...rvice-packages) for studios that want some closer support from us, trainings, etc".
Crytek explained in detail:
Continue reading: CRYENGINE goes open source, now available for download (full post)
Blizzard announces ranked play is coming to Overwatch next month
Overwatch has had a pretty successful launch so far, with Blizzard announcing that ranked play is coming to their first-person shooter as early as next month.
During a recent Facebook Q&A session with Overwatch's Lead Game Designer, Jeff Kaplan, it was revealed that ranked play "would be part of a special content update in mid to late June", reports Engadget. Blizzard had planned on including ranked play in Overwatch at launch, but were experiencing issues with the competitive mode that "caused lower-skilled players to be matched up with higher-skilled players". This caused balancing issues, which forced Blizzard to yank it out of Overwatch before launch, and push it out in a post-launch update.
Continue reading: Blizzard announces ranked play is coming to Overwatch next month (full post)
Want another Mirror's Edge game? That's up to you, says EA
With the impending release of Mirror's Edge Catalyst on June 7, gamers are wondering if this is the end of Faith's adventures. Probably not, according to EA, who has said they will make another Mirror's Edge game if Catalyst sells well.
During a chat with Polygon, Executive VP of EA Studios at EA, Patrick Söderlund said: "There's a lot of learnings that, should we not build another Mirror's Edge for various reasons - a lot of the things that we've done will serve as great learnings for whatever else we build. As you know, EA is pushing quite hard as a company to move into the action space. A lot of stuff like going to an open-world structure, going to a nonlinear narrative, building out characters and stories - these are things that we need to learn and perfect as a company. Sometimes, you have to look at it long-term".
He added: "I hope that Mirror's Edge Catalyst does extremely well. But in a world where it may or may not do well, it's important for us to understand that everything that we do needs to be seen in the longer perspective. You can't just look at it in isolation. Whether or not there's another Mirror's Edge is going to be up to the people out there. If we can convince them that there's a market for this, that people want to buy it, and if they tell us they want another one, then we'll make another one. If the answer is that there wasn't a big enough audience, it's too difficult and too much work goes into making a game to build a game that we know people probably don't want".
Continue reading: Want another Mirror's Edge game? That's up to you, says EA (full post)
AIDA64 developers spill the beans on NVIDIA's full Pascal line up
Right now, we only know that the Tesla P100, GeForce GTX 1080 and GeForce GTX 1070 exist, but we know NVIDIA will have a full top to bottom family of Pascal-based video cards in the future. Well, the developers of AIDA64 have just helped us out, revealing the PCI device IDs of the "whole list of Pascal SKUs".
There's quite a few cards listed, and to be honest, many more than I thought. Just in the GP100 range, we have 19 cards - these cards will manifest their way into the Quadro, Tesla and GRID products. In the GP102 range, which is where we should expect the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, Titan X successor and other high-end SKUs we have 11 cards. Moving down to the GP104, which is the GPU used on the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 cards, there's 15 different SKUs.
The mid-range market will be filled with Pascal cards, with the GP106 powering 9 different SKUs while the GP107 should tackle 7 SKUs, leaving the GP108 for a single SKU. We should expect NVIDIA to ramp up towards the bigger announcements, where I'll think we'll see concentrated marketing efforts for the GTX 1060 (and I'm expecting GTX 1060 Ti) as well as the GTX 1080 Ti and the Pascal-based Titan X successor.
Continue reading: AIDA64 developers spill the beans on NVIDIA's full Pascal line up (full post)
Usernames, media won't count toward Twitter character limit soon
Mostly in line with earlier rumors, Twitter has confirmed that media and @names in replies won't count toward its 140 character limit before too long.
A source previously indicated links wouldn't count either, and while that's not specifically pointed out by Twitter in its blog post, it does say it's "exploring ways to make existing uses easier and enable new ones, all without compromising [the service's] unique brevity and speed."
Other changes include the ability to retweet and quote yourself with a simple button click, and new tweets (not replies) that begin with @name will reach all of your followers, eliminating the need for the ".@name" workaround. The latter is good if that's what you want, but bad if you want to privately ask a question, for example; hopefully Twitter creates an option to enable or disable this behaviour, whether per tweet or globally.
Continue reading: Usernames, media won't count toward Twitter character limit soon (full post)
Wooting one analog mechanical keyboard hits Kickstarter
Remember that sweet mechanical keyboard with pressure-sensitive keys I told you about a few months ago? The one with the weird name? It's hit Kickstarter.
The Wooting one, as it's known, has already surpassed its €30,000 funding goal, sitting at €46,915 as of the time of writing and just two days in. The company behind it says the keyboard is nearly finished and a manufacturer is lined up; they just needed a bit extra to finalize the firmware, so now it's off to the races.
Since we last saw it, the Wooting one's switches have been detailed. They are indeed custom: dubbed Flaretech optical switches, they come in Red ("Linear silent" for gaming) and Blue ("Non-linear clicky") and are described as "modular" and "fast as light."
Continue reading: Wooting one analog mechanical keyboard hits Kickstarter (full post)
Next-gen 4K-ready Xbox coming in 2017, could sport external GPU
Microsoft's new 4K-ready Xbox, codenamed Scorpio, will release in 2017 as a direct answer to Sony's new PS4K console.
Internal Microsoft sources told Kotaku that the new Xbox (aka Scorpio) will release in 2017 with 4K support thanks to an upgraded GPU. We've heard reports that Microsoft's next-gen Xbox will rock 10TFLOPs of performance, and the sources affirmed the new Xbox could "technically support the Oculus Rift". The Xbox4K may even leverage AMD's new GPU enclosure, especially since Phil Spencer teased upgradeable hardware for the new Xbox.
Sources also said that Microsoft will follow an iterative roadmap for future consoles, meaning the traditional console cycle is no longer viable. Instead of major new console hardware releases every five years, consoles will gradually stack upon one another with releases every 2-3 years, with full forward and backward compatibility across consoles. This further hints that the new Xbox will have successively upgradeable hardware, possibly in the form of dedicated GPU enclosure.
Continue reading: Next-gen 4K-ready Xbox coming in 2017, could sport external GPU (full post)
Microsoft to unveil a Shield TV-like Xbox set-top box at E3
Microsoft will reveal two new streaming devices at E3--a smaller Roku-like streaming-only stick, and a bigger set-top box that may stream games from Xbox or PC.
In the most recent episode of The Sams Report, Windows insider Brad Sams dropped major scoops on Microsoft's incoming Xbox plans, including the Xbox One Mini, a new 4K-ready Xbox, and two new streaming devices that will perfectly round out existing hardware.
"Microsoft is going to announce at least two streaming devices at E3. There's going to be a very small device--the size of a Chromecast--and something that's a little bit larger. It'll be lunchbox-sized, but it won't be an Xbox One crammed into a teeny-tiny box, but I believe it's going to be a streaming device with more advanced functionality. [It'll likely be] a media device that plays lightweight Windows Store games, possibly like Apple TV," Sams said in the podcast.
Continue reading: Microsoft to unveil a Shield TV-like Xbox set-top box at E3 (full post)
New Xbox One hardware will play 4K video, not 4K games
Microsoft is reportedly working on a new Xbox console that will support 4K video playback, but not 4K gaming, and could be a contender to Sony's new PS4K console.
In the latest episode of The Sams Report, Windows insider Brad Sams dropped some scoops on Microsoft's future Xbox plans, claiming that the Xbox Mini is real. But he also says Microsoft has its own mid-cycle refresh countermeasure to the PS4K that will support 4K video and likely have full backward compatibility with existing Xbox One games.
"Microsoft is also dabbling with 4K. We've heard a lot about the PS4K and people have said 'Microsoft's gotta have something that competes with this'. I don't believe it's going to be 4K gaming. I do believe it'll play the next-generation Xbox games, but it'll only allow 4K video playback, not gaming," Sams said in the podcast. "To make this happen there would have to be some sort of internal hardware upgrade. I'd imagine faster video memory...but I don't quite know. But I don't see the console changing too much because remember it has to have compatibility with all the games."
Continue reading: New Xbox One hardware will play 4K video, not 4K games (full post)
Xbox One Mini is real, will be revealed at E3 2016 claims insider
Microsoft will unveil a smaller Xbox Mini at E3 2016, along with a slew of other devices.
Thurrot.com insider Brad Sams claims that Microsoft will expand the Xbox lineup with a new Xbox One Mini console. Given Sams thinks Microsoft will unveil a pair of streaming stick media devices at E3, the Xbox One Mini likely won't be a digital-only set top box and will play discs. A few weeks ago Sams brazenly declared Microsoft will indeed reveal new Xbox hardware at E3.
"I've been sitting on this for a while now, but I feel its safe to talk about. I know it's coming. Since I predicted that Microsoft would unveil new hardware E3, I've heard from a lot of people that said 'yeah, you're right'. There's going to be more than just one hardware. There's going to be hardwares--plural. Xbox Mini is real. It's legit, and I'm not quite sure what form it's going to take."
Continue reading: Xbox One Mini is real, will be revealed at E3 2016 claims insider (full post)
Fallout 4 modders are tired of console players begging for mods
If you play Fallout 4 on PS4 or Xbox One, you'll want to stop spamming modders with requests to bring certain mods to consoles. The creators are getting tired of it, and it's a good way to talk them out of porting content.
In the next two months, Fallout 4 mods will be available on PS4 and Xbox One. This is a pretty big deal, and naturally console owners are extremely excited. But console owners are completely dependent on PC modders to not only make the mods, but port them over to the Bethesda.net service for console compatibility. Naturally this means modders have been completely overrun with requests to "plz bring to Xbox" or "PS4 version coming when?!", and the creators are getting sick of it.
In a recent Reddit post, a Fallout 4 modder cautioned PS4/Xbox users to stop demanding and begging creators for mods. There's a certain etiquette within the modding community; gamers must respect the efforts of modders, and work with the creators to make better experiences and sometimes remunerate their efforts with donations. Console owners don't seem to understand this, says the post, resulting in an outstanding sense of entitlement.
Continue reading: Fallout 4 modders are tired of console players begging for mods (full post)
Titanfall 2 leaks: release date, grappling hooks, maps and more
New Titanfall 2 leaks pinpoint a release month, along with a number of new unique features including a grappling hook operator ability.
A Redditor has leaked a bunch of Titanfall 2 info including release dates, box art (the left half of the pic above), gameplay features and map content. Titanfall 2 will launch on October according to the leaks, which aligns perfectly with EA's Q3 2016 release window. The sequel will also feature a "ton" of new pilot abilities including a grappling hook that can be "extensively used" by Titan operators, and players will be able to string together tactical combos using the grappling hook such as "pulling enemies while they're in midair".
The leaks also revealed Titanfall 2's multiplayer maps are much more expansive than the first game, suggesting that the player count will be boosted as well. There was no mention of the new Titan swords or the game's "grounded and dirty" singleplayer campaign, so we'll have to wait for the official E3 2016 reveal in June. The Reddit leaks have since been deleted, but you can still find them via a Google web cache.
Continue reading: Titanfall 2 leaks: release date, grappling hooks, maps and more (full post)












