Latest News - Page 2465

Netflix's original content is growing about 185% per year with an even higher rate expected next year and the results are strong on the user end: Netflix original programming is rated 11.5% higher than syndicated content on average, according to data mined by AllFlicks.

Netflix documentaries do best, rating 4.08 stars on average; shows do worst, but still beat out syndicated shows by 6.5%. Meanwhile, other content rates an average of 3.47 stars.

It's important to keep in mind total Netflix content has dropped 31.7 percent in two years as the company has emphasized original content, indicating a significant drop in syndicated works. As such, with more selection, it's possible syndicated works would be rated higher overall.

This week during GTC we saw NVIDIA change its focus from primarily consumer GPU's to professional technology aimed squarely at the evolution of AI. Pascal, while a vastly different and incredibly powerful architecture, is perfect for the ever evolving HPC field. IBM, at the OpenPOWER Summit that went on this week alongside GTC, announced their newest server that includes the Tesla P100 compute accelerators combined with POWER8 processors.

The big draw is the use of NVLink, the 40GBps data link directly from the CPU to the GPU that allows for quick communication and transfer of data. It's this innovation that might help to fuel faster HPC applications and even better, more nimble AI that can absorb vast amounts of information more quickly than before. The new server architecture will require the porting over of applications, but IBM and NVIDIA are both willing to assist in that regard, to make the transition easier.

IBM's Watson division will also be participating in the design and implementation of the new server platform, adn might even end up incorporating the Tesla P100 into their own design for an upgraded Watson super computer. The initial specifcations call for cramming 4 of those compute cards into the server along with four POWER8 12-core/96-thread CPU's operating at 3-3.5GHz combined with up to 1TB of DDR4-2400 RAM in this case. The implications for AI, let alone any other type of compute heavy load are tremendous. This could very well put the PPC architecture back on the map in a big way, especially with the assistance from IBM and NVIDIA in porting over your applications. Second generation POWER8 servers are just a stepping stone to the next-generation POWER9 architecture, which is just around the corner.

The US military has christened an experimental warship that drives itself and hunts enemy submarines for months at a time. Named Sea Hunter and measuring 132 feet, it's said it will prove a major asset in Chinese and Russian counter-warfare (both countries have been making naval advancements to a degree that greatly concerns the US).

The ship is powered by two diesel engines and can go as fast as 27 knots.

Once it is proven safe, US defense secretary Robert Work says he hopes Sea Hunter will continue testing with the US Navy's 7th Fleet based in Japan, and eventually operate on a variety of missions, perhaps even those involving counter-mine warfare.

65daysofstatic, a UK based instrumental band is going to be releasing their first original soundtrack, No Man's Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe on June 17th, coinciding with the release of one of the most anticipated sci-fi space simulators ever, No Man's Sky.

No Man's Sky is too big a production, and hyped way too much, to get just a normal soundtrack to be the backdrop for the vast, open, procedural generate masterpiece that it is. They've partnered with a UK instrumental band, 65daysofstatic, to produce a unique soundtrack that could only be good enough to grace your ears while exploring the space-lanes. Hello Games chose 65daysofstatic as their composers of choice after one of their singles, Debutante, was featured in the reveal trailer in 2013. Since then they've been hard at work composing the original music that'll be featured in-game.

The soundtrack is a bit unique when compared to other's of similar origin, in that it follows some of the similar practices of the procedural generated world that it'll be accentuating. They've compiled over two hours of music across 10 individual tracks, alongside a vast library of raw audio comprised of loops, sound textures and unique melody that currently being fed into the game's unique music engine, effectively creating a self-generating soundtrack that can mix itself into infinity.

Tyan announced at the OpenPOWER summit this past week that they're going to start supporting IBM's OpenPOWER initiative by offering 1U POWER8-based servers for the HPC and in-memory application markets. POWER processors might not be as prolific as Xeon, but Tyan is of the mind that variety is the spice of life, and that there's a market for these processors that could well be untapped.

They're going to offer a total of three different configurations with their new GT75-BP012 server platform. This particular platform is a single-CPU design that allows for a massive amount of memory to be installed, though at slightly slower DDR3L speeds. They're positioning these to compete in niche markets that might not need such high processing requirements but need that extra capacity of RAM to be able to keep more things persistent so they run slightly faster as a result. It'll be difficult to compete with the price-performance ratio of the typical, and even lower-cost Xeon's, but with far more DRAM here, it could be useful in some markets.

The maximum configuration will have a single 10-core/80-thread POWER8 CPU running at 2.095GHz with 1024GB of DDR3L-1600MHz RAM, four 10GbE ports, four GbE ports and 1 PCIe expansion slot, that will actually support NVIDIA's forthcoming Pascal P100 GPU. These also have support for IBM's own Centaur memorry buffer chips that allow for even more in-memory buffer capacity at DDR3 speeds. The low-end will have an 8-core/64-thread POWER8 CPU running at 2.328GHz with the same 1TB of DDR3L RAM limit. a 750W PSU will be powering the servers.

The newest software update for the PlayStation 4, system software 3.50, seems to have some hidden, or unannounced functionality that Sony hasn't put into the official patch notes. The biggest change is support for external HDD's of up to 4TB, up from the previous limit.

There are also a few more features that have been uncovered by PlayStation 4 users in the Reddit firmware 3.50 megathread. This update was already a significant one, if not one of the larger updates, adding the rudimentary ability to stream games from the PS4 to your PC or Mac, but underneath they've found that the ability to play music stored on USB drives, also letting you play your stored music while you game. Along a similar vein, you can now attach 4TB external HDD's, just in case you want to download your entire library of games.

There are some smaller tweaks that have made their way into the update, too. It's easier to search for livestreams of specific games through the Live From PlayStation app, and you can actually pin up to three games at the top of the apps search field too. Screenshot notifications can be turned off, you can set a part limit from 2-8 people and there's plenty of stability improvements across the entire OS, including the PlayStation store.

Bandai Namco did something incredibly clever by using an already prevalent meme and using its popularity to promote their recently released Dark Souls 3 game. The official Dark Souls Twitter account used the viral Sad Affleck meme to advertise, and the result is actually quite entertaining.

Their marketing department and social media managers converged for what might be the perfect storm, something that itself went viral within mere minutes of posting. Sure, it's not to be outdone by the likes of their chicken wings eating contest and isn't quite the same as the great animated short video that they produced with the help of Eli Roth, but it's on the level of some of the most genius, and well timed, marketing stunts ever.

The original video is from an interview where Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck are asked about their thoughts in regards to the negative criticism of the movie, where Affleck seems to go to a dark place and his facial expressions mirror his thoughts. Cavill seems to keep his cool, however.

Cheaters seem to be rampart in The Division, so during a livestream with the developers where they talked about some of the finer features of update 1.1, they revealed that they're going to introduce a strict two-strikes policy for cheaters on the PC version, which ultimately will end in a permanent ban from the game.

The first time you dabble in the dark-arts of cheating you'll be greeted with a no-notice three day temporary ban from the game. If you can't login, that's your warning that the next time you're caught cheating that you'll receive a permanent ban from the game. They aren't playing around with cheaters, but are giving them the rightful chance to do the right thing and simply enjoy the game.

To help catch these cheaters, they've implemented a new reporting system that simply requires you to enter "/report [username]" to report any suspicious activity you might come across, which Ubisoft is very serious about investigating. They do note, however, that a good portion of suspected cheaters are likely a power-gap between high-level and better skilled players and not necessarily actual cheating. They're going to be very thorough in their investigations before handing out those bans.

Something big is about to be announced in regards to Gears of War 4, but we're not quite sure what it is. They promise it's like nothing we've ever seen before, so what could this surprise be?

A user on NeoGAF has uncovered something in the website's source code that points to something called "The Nightmare Before", and two videos show a downed plane in the midst of a lightning storm. Those may be unconnected completely, or we may be getting a prologue of sorts to help prep us for current nightmare that we might find ourselves in. Adam Fletcher, the community director for The Coalition, did say that we should expect to see several "revelations" over the next months that'll help reveal what JD Fenix and his crew will be enduring.

The Gears of War 4 story follows the story of Marcus Fenix's son and his companions as they undergo a very stressful day, with the entire game unfolding over one 24 hour period. The story is said to follow a similar dark, bleak outlook that defined the originals and as a result will have language and gore that mirrors those early installments. For those that are a bit more sensitive to such things, a filter will be available for you to turn on.

Today we saw the BAFTA Game Awards ceremony kick off in London, where games, their creators and those that participated in the process of making them great had the chance to vie for one of eighteen separate award categories to celebrate 2015's gaming successes.

John Carmack also blessed the stage to receive a Fellowship award for being a pioneer of 3D graphics with his historic and continuing work on video games. He was one of a few that helped to create the first person shooter in the form that we enjoy now. If it weren't for his relentless, rebellious behavior, then we might not quite have the level of graphical fidelity we do now. He isn't the only pioneer in the gaming industry though he's contributed and challenged more than we might give credit for.

There was much more that happened at the awards ceremony today, and below we have listed all the winners from the eighteen different categories that are represented. Rocket League has been well represented in this years BAFTA's for video games, taking quite a few wins while even Batman: Arkham Knight takes home an award for Best British Game, despite much better working alternatives on the list.

Capcom, unfortunately, had to release a statement earlier today saying that they're going to be delaying Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps, the spin-off survival horror third-person shooter, until June 21st.

In the statement, they cite that they need, and want, a bit more time so they can properly optimize the game so that they're able to provide the best experience possible. The time optimizing will mean that performance on the PC will be able to meet, or exceed, the 60FPS target that they're shooting for on both platforms. The longer we wait, potentially the better the game will be when they launch it.

Umbrella Corps is a fast-paced third-person shooter that's set in the Resident Evil universe. It's an online competitive game that lets you play against your friends in that zombie infested world much like Metal Gear Online does for the Metal Gear Solid universe. One of the hallmarks of the game will be the intense customization options for your character. Every time you win a match or defeat enemies (zombies included) you get points that can be used to unlock those different customizable options.

Endless Legend just keeps getting more content, even though as a 4X there's almost limitless replayability already. The new Shifters expansion from Amplitude Studios is out right now on Steam for 25% off and adds a new, interesting, faction and makes the winter a nastier bite to them.

If you thought you mastered the game already, then you'll have to think again, and try again as things become a bit more difficult. Shifters lets you take control of a transient Allayi faction that can literally shift with the seasons, moving from a most appreciative ally to the deadliest faction on the planet Auriga, which they're dedicated to defending. They're magical, and wouldn't you want to be magical too?

Those winters that already had a detrimental effect on your production just got a bit worse. Not only do they do that, but now the cold temperatures can freeze the bodies of water so that you or your enemies can better attack you from. No need to waste those precious turns any longer.

God of War 4 has been as much a myth as the mythology that the previous three were based off of. Someone has leaked what appears to be concept art from a former employee of Santa Monica Studio that may point towards the direction that they're intending on taking the series, off into the realm of Norse mythology.

The concept art itself is fairly typical of what we might imagine a Norse God of War might look like, complete with a muscular and angry deity standing by what look like pieces to the different puzzles you might encounter in such a game. The problem is that these may not necessarily be legitimate. They come from the profile of someone who was an employee, but perhaps only a temporary employee there, which means these could very well be from their personal portfolio instead.

The site that leaked them, Nerd Leaks, is no longer with us, having been hacked into oblivion just after these came live and haven't been heard of since. The Twitter account has also been deleted. But then, that could also speak to the legitimacy of the concept art if someone is upset enough to try to take down the site. And the fact that they haven't returned since, is also an indicator that that the information is real, to some extent. That and the owner might just be afraid from the initial hack to not want to try leaking anything else, something they've been doing for some time now without anything happening to them.

Mechwarrior Online is going pro and entering the eSports world with a bang. Piranha Games has announced that you can sign-up your team to compete in a Mechwarrior Online World Championship with a $100,000 prize pool to vie for.

The regional qualifiers are set to begin this May with the regional finals happening on a date that hasn't quite been set yet in the fall. The final competition will be taking place on December 3rd in Vancouver BC at a large event, the first of its kind, called MechCon. So far they've seen 78 different teams register for the competition. And with $100K on the line, there's likely going to be plenty more signing up too.

Aside from the big prize and few dates, no other details have been announced. What map or game mode will be played during these tournaments isn't known, but it'll encompass the same 8v8 combat matches that last 15 minutes and will be restricted to using the first person view only. The tournaments will be played online, on your own machines, but the final match will have similar hardware specs already set up for everyone to use.

Fable Legends might not be dead after all. It seems that the supposedly cancelled project might live on as an indie project from some of the employees once their contracts with Microsoft proper are up.

MCVUK says that there are three different sources within the former Xbox studio that want to spin-off and actually finish the game, which had been in development for almost three years. They've been told that some of the employees have proposed creating an independent studio and taking the IP in order to finish it. It's not a jump to conclude that those passionate from the project want to finish what they started. MCV noted that there's no offer to purchase the game or the studio itself, but that the staff are being asked if they'd like to continue working on it, or accept a redundancy package so that they can simply leave at the end of April.

The online multiplayer free-to-play game was one of the first to utilize DirectX 12 tech, and had a press-only demo that showed a distinct increase in performance as a result of those advancements. It would be nice for the game in it's multiplayer RPG guise to be finished. It had a lot of promise. When I had a chance to play it last year at E3 and the mechanics were sound, with the cooperative play very engaging. It was fun, it would be a waste for it to just be completely discarded.

The newest gameplay video for Total War: Warhammer is all about Chaos and showing off the extraordinary abilities of the Chaos Warriors as they fight against the Empire, lead by the Emperor, Karl Franz.

This is a first look at the Chaos Warriors that'll be available in-game. We get to see a range of the different Chaos units, from core infantry such as Chaos Marauders and Warriors, to higher-tier monstrosities such as the Chaos Giant and the brutal Hellcannon, which is a horrid instrument of evil which transmutes souls into flesh-searing bolts of arcane energy and hurls them into the enemy ranks.

It's all very well done showcase of not only the differentiation that can be found within the various factions and with the different units, but also once again of the massive battles that we can expect to take part in. There are hundreds of units swarming around on-screen, and though the detail isn't quite the highest in this case, it runs at a smooth 1080P at 60FPS. The ability to zoom in and see the Chaos Marauders smoothly envelope the Empire forces is quite fun to see.

Virtual Reality might look very appealing on paper and when reading, or even watching videos, about the technology, but living vicariously through the lives of others isn't a replacement for getting to test something for yourself. In this case that's a very large issue, because, in order to truly appreciate the value proposition and how wonderful VR actually is, you have to actually experience.

GameStop wants to fix that issues, and is partnering with HTC in order to let those that aren't able to travel to player-focused events play with VR right in their store. Most of the public, the people who might need a bit of convincing, haven't quite had the chance to actually take a look, so this could serve as a crucial means for helping gamers understand the experience and potentially helping to sell the idea to more people.

They're also partnering with Microsoft and plan on having the tech available in their physical stores as well. The first stores that'll have the VR demos available are the New York City flagship store, one in Bellevue Square in Washington State and one in City Creek Center located in Utah. There are plans to have the demo available in 30 stores this year. GameStop will have the demo available in 10 different locations by the middle of April. You should be able to go to the HTC Vive website and check availability of said demos. This is a big push for VR by HTC, to help cover the development costs and to simply help you see why it's such a large deal now.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End isn't even fully out just yet, but we're hearing ruminations from the director of the series that we could see a return of Drake, or a continuation of the series at the hands of another developer.

Naughty Dog does want to make clear that Nathan Drake wouldn't be returning to take center-stage, which would inevitably be considered the end of the series, as he is the series and part of the reason why the franchise became as great as it did. Without the main character, would it be Uncharted? Or just some other game with a similar yet slightly related story?

A movie is already in development, despite seeing some setbacks, and there also appears to be a distinct opportunity to continue with Uncharted 5, and the director fo A Thief's End, Neil Druckman, does mention that he'd be very happy if another studio wanted to take over, but only if they were able to actually capture the essence of what makes Uncharted what it is. And without Drake, that essence is harder to emulate. And of course, Naughty Dog would want to play a big part in it's creation to ensure it follows the dictates of the universe they created.

Overwatch has been caught in the midst of some controversy regarding a victory pose that's made by one of the characters, Tracer, late last month. In a bid to better represent the character, as well as appease the angry fans, Blizzard has announced the new victory pose animation, which is pretty much the same thing, with only slight differences.

The new animation is mostly similar though the focus as changed from Tracer's backside to instead be put on her athletic skills as she stands on one leg, on her toes in fact. The original version was more a showcase of the derriere and was said to not accurately represent the character, so it was thus changed today.

The controversy around that victory animation started in a thread where a very astute individual laid their case out regarding why such a pose was not acceptable. It was not necessarily that it was a more overt sexuality-based gesture, but instead that it hadn't anything to do with the actual character. The games director, Jeff Kaplan, replied to that thread, stating that he actually agreed and that the team had another animation that would be better suited.

It's barely been 3 months since 'Star Wars' fans were treated to the first film in a decade in 'The Force Awakens', but now we have the December opening of the next film 'Rogue One' to look forward to. And based off this first look trailer, it's going to be a long, long wait.

Set just before the events of 'A New Hope', 'Rogue One' is set to follow the band of courageous Rebel troops who stole the plans for the first Death Star, which allowed the alliance to pinpoint its weakness. Starring Felicity Jones,

Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn and Donnie Yen, the film will serve as the first film outside of the numbered episodes which make up the Skywalker saga.