Latest News - Page 2474

Movie rental service Redbox tried its hand at movie streaming in partnership with Verizon back in 2013, but killed the project about 18 months later. Now sources say it's trying again with Redbox Digital, a closed beta for which may launch soon.

Responding for comment, a Redbox spokesperson said, "Redbox continually looks for ways to enhance our customer experience. For tens of millions of consumers, Redbox is their source for new release rentals without a subscription. As such, we regularly conduct tests of potential new offerings, that may or may not be brought to market, as part of our ongoing commitment to provide additional value."

This time around the service will be on-demand, as with iTunes and similar services, as opposed to the Netflix subscription model seen with its Redbox Instant venture. TV shows as well as movies can be rented for streaming or purchased for indefinite storage.

Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has made it known that console and PC players alike have nothing to worry about when it comes to one platform affecting the other in terms of balancing.

"We plan on balancing the game separately for consoles than we do for PC," he stated an an interview with YouTuber Th3Jez. "We don't want to do anything that would harm consoles because of PC tuning, and we don't want to do anything that would harm PCs because of console tuning."

Doesn't get much more definitive than that.

Star Citizen is an utterly massive game that lets you literally take on any role you could ever dream of. Well almost. But in this most recent trailer they're showing off one of their largest ship creations that isn't military or offensive at all; the MISC Starfarer.

If you've ever dreamt of being a cargo-hauler in the future, specifically ferrying fuel to and from different places, refining and selling it for the highest price possible, then this is the ship you'll need. It is a massive cargo ship that's finally ready to look at and play in inside your hanger in the latest Star Citizen 2.3 update. They've finished modeling the inside and outside of the ship which actually looks quite stunning. It's part of greater economy of the 'verse, which is actually startlingly important despite also being handled by NPC's. It could theoretically be possible to have a shipping empire akin to something you've read about in literature or experienced in real life.

Star Citizen has broken several records for crowdfunding while also coming under scrutiny for how they spend that money. Critics are concerned that the game will never materialize despite the surprisingly open communication about development successes and issues that they encounter.

Turok the Dinosaur Hunter has already been remastered for the PC this year, with upgraded graphics that follow the same visual style of the original and compatibility for modern systems. Night Dive Studios is now planning on bringing the first and second game to the Xbox One sometime later this year.

The 90's dinosaur-hunting game has had a surprisingly positive response from fans who have praised it for being a proper remaster that hasn't diluted the original game at all. The graphics might not be running on top of Unreal Engine 4, Unity 5 or even CryEngine V, but the HD remaster does let you feel the original without being frustratingly outdated. It'll be interesting to see just how the porting process works out. There's not word on precisely when Turok: Dinosaur Hunter or Turok 2: Seeds of Evil will make their return yet.

Night Dive Studio is also currently working on two other rather interesting projects remastering, and almost completely remaking, the original System Shock as well as working on the future of the series with System Shock 3.

Yet another major publication adds its voice to the PlayStation 4.5 choir, further substantiating the rumors that Sony is preparing a powerhouse VR-ready PS4 that could push into 4K gaming.

According to new reports from The Wall Street Journal, Sony's new upgraded PlayStation 4.5 console will be announced before the console-powered PlayStation VR headset. That means we could expect the PS4.5 before October of this year, ahead of the $399 PSVR's official timed launch. WSJ further claims that the PS4.5 will be sold alongside the existing PS4 model, and that it'll be VR-ready right out of the box.

The publication goes on to say that the PlayStation 4.5 will be "backwards and forwards compatible", hinting that Sony will make two different iterations of upcoming games--a PS4.5 version and a regular PS4 flavor. Key developers are rumored to be already working on porting games to the PS4.5, The WSJ cites "people familiar with the matter" as their sources, echoing statements we've heard from Kotaku.

Bethesda's Pete Hines shared on Twitter that they're coming close to being able to actually reveal more information about their own collectible card game, The Elder Scrolls Legends. But not quite yet.

The information comes to light in response to an individual who threatened to spend his money elsewhere if new information wasn't released soon. Pete Hines didn't quite give the suspected gaming terrorist the information he was looking for, though we do now know, at least, that they're closer to revealing the details and specifics than ever.

The game was announced at Bethesda's first E3 press briefing that occurred in 2015. The debut trailer was cinematic though didn't actually show any real gameplay. Despite that, the different races in The Elder Scrolls universe; the Khajit, Orcs, Elves, Nords and the Ghouls, will somehow be a part of the game, though we're unsure how they'll be integrated.

Star Ocean 5 is starting to look very good given the hardware that it's running off of. Square Enix is targeting, and it will be running at, 1080P on the PS4 when development is finished. They've been able to optimize the experience to run at that resolution because it's only natural that it do so. There's no deception here, though final framerate hasn't quite been announced yet.

In these photos we get to glimpse at all three of the villains of Kronos, a technologically advanced world in Sector K of the known galaxy, which happens to be very hostile to the Galactic Federation that you'll be a part of. The screenshots show off the level of detail that Square Enix and triAce are shooting for though the ship is admittedly less than stellar.

Those three villains are known as General Arma, one of the more ruthless commander's of Kronos' military forces, Aron who is a subordinate of Arma and captain of an airship and Torus, a director of a planetary research facility that performs experimentation on humanoid subjects.

What would you do if you had the chance to play around in a bus in a fully destructible world that had funky physics and obstacles that bounce you around like a cat on a trampoline?

Yeah, that's Omnibus, and it's a strangely built homage to all the wonderful things the mighty bus has done for us humans, letting us take up the mantle of the magnificent charabanc that's been the archetype of good in times of bad. But really, it takes some crazy physics modeling and lets you barrel through a number of levels with PS One level graphics (made with the Unity 5 engine) completing challenges, or just trying to destroy anything that rises up above the level of the road.

You get the chance to choose which type of bus you want and simply enter either the story mode, which is filled with an actual honest to goodness real story, though you'd be excused if you didn't quite get the whimsical humor that they're trying to portray. But there's real character development going on, and it's great. More than that, it's actually entertaining!

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is making Warner Bros. an insane amount of money right now, opening to a huge $424 million weekend - with the studio releasing the new international trailer for Suicide Squad.

The new trailer has appeared overseas, and now online - showing off a few seconds of new footage. The new international trailer is also a little more fun and quicker than the previous trailers, losing the weirdly placed but super-cool "Bohemian Rhapsody" from Queen that was in the original trailers.

Samsung has just unveiled a new concept for its Smart Windshield, which has been teased on a motorcycle, with its awesome technological advancement for the windshield.

The new Samsung Smart Windshield could eventually find itself into normal cars and trucks, but the company says that it's a simple technology with the technology already existing, and put into production. The Smart Windshield uses a smartphone - such as the Galaxy S7 from Samsung, with an accompanying app that connects to the small projector on the windshield, throwing up specific information to the driver.

The concept project allows riders and drivers to navigate information, send automated responses over email/SMS, receive/decline phone calls and text messages, and more. Navigation feels like the best fit here, but I'm sure that eventually there will be information from the vehicle thrown to the Smart Windshield, such as gas mileage, maintenance information, and more.

While Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is being ripped apart from critics, it is making more money than the negative reviews can whinge about it - pulling in over $170 million domestically in its first weekend. For the worldwide numbers, Batman v Superman is crushing it - raking in an insane $424 million so far ($254 million of that from international box office sales).

Considering Warner Bros. had a huge $250 million budget, Batman v Superman will make that back within the next week, pushing against its insanely awful 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. With a $170 million opening weekend haul, it would make Batman v Superman place somewhere around #5 when it comes to opening weekend dominance domestically.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted to the tune of $248 million late last year, and then Jurassic World stomped through earlier in 2015 with its huge $209 million opening. Batman v Superman is breaking other records as well, such as it being the biggest Thursday pre-show on an Easter weekend, too.

During AMD's huge Capsaicin event during the Game Developers Conference, we not only found out about the dual-GPU video card in the form of the Radeon Pro Duo, but we also found out about Watch Dogs 2.

Watch Dogs 2 has been confirmed by Ubisoft, and it should be optimized for AMD hardware, as well as its DX12 support. The original Watch Dogs was plagued with issues surrounding its release, with a huge watering down of its graphics from its original showing at E3 2013.

The sequel to Watch Dogs could be something special, especially if Ubisoft has pumped more time into the game - like it did with The Division, which has been received quite well so far.

We've been hearing about the purported PlayStation 4.5 for a couple of weeks now, but more and more sources are jumping onto the story claiming they've heard what Sony's new console would be capable of.

We've heard from our own sources, who have confirmed Sony is indeed working on the PS4.5 - but what will it be capable of? I think we'll see AMD provide their new Polaris architecture to Sony in the form of a next-gen APU capable of 4K gaming - but for the rumored $400 price, I really don't think we'll see 4K 60FPS gaming. We'll probably see 4K @ 30FPS, which is good and all - but it's not enough in my opinion.

The PS4.5 will be Sony's surprise Ultra HD Blu-ray player, which will increase physical 4K media playback consumers just like the PS3 did with Blu-ray all those years ago. I'm sure the PS4.5 will be a better console for the PlayStation VR when it's released in October, too. As for the release date, I think we'll see the PS4.5 released in October or November, right in time for the PlayStation VR launch as well as the holiday season.

Apple may have just revealed its new, but old iPhone SE - but now the latest rumors from credible Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo with KGI Securities has the company teasing the next-gen iPhone.

Kuo teases that the iPhone to be revealed in 2017 will be completely new, with glass casing and a sure-to-be beautiful AMOLED display. Kuo believes that Apple will choose between glass, plastric and ceramic casing for its next-gen iPhone, but believes Apple will land on using glass - like it did with the iPhone 4 "as plastic doesn't offer thin and light form factor designs, and it would be not easy to precisely control the tolerance of ceramic".

The new iPhone will also reportedly feature a curved display, much like their competitor Samsung and their Galaxy S6 edge and Galaxy S7 edge smartphones. KGI says that Apple will build on the iPhone 4 design, with the 2017 iPhone featuring a glass front and back, with metal sides. Kuo adds that the new iPhone will feature a "completely new form factor design", with narrow bezels and a "more comfortable grip".

We all know VR is the rage right now, but Visionary VR is the latest coming to make some bank from it, raising $6 million in Series A funding.

The funding round was led by DFJ Venture, with Visionary VR CEO Gil Baron saying in a statement: "Today, only expert-level developers can create VR stories, we're going to change that". DFJ Ventures' Bubba Murarka added: "Given Visionary VR's insights into how storytelling is going to be redefined by virtual reality in the future, this company is aligned with DFJ's long history of investing in disruptive technologies. Even after seeing hundreds of VR demos and even creating our own VR app at DFJ, experiencing Visionary VR's product left our team slack-jawed. It is that impressive".

Visionary VR has a storytelling in VR-focused goal, where it is creating software to help make the process easier for others who wish to do the same. The company has been keeping its secrets close to its chest, but recently the company teased the first piece of content created with its Visionary Focus technology: a David & Goliath short experience.

On the eve of the Oculus Rift launching, with the first Rift being hand delivered by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey himself, the box contents of the HTC Vive have been revealed by Polygon.

Inside of the $799 virtual reality headset, you'll receive the Vive headset itself, the super-awesome Lighthouse controllers, and so much more. Here's what you'll get in the box for the HTC Vive:

The HTC Vive launches on April 5, with one of the best games being Budget Cuts - an awesome, awesome game that deserves to be purchased on day one later this year.

AMD has made a huge deal about their Radeon video cards featuring support for Asynchronous Compute, with one of the standout games with Async Compute support being the recently released Hitman from IO Interactive.

During the Game Developers Conference earlier this month, Lead Render Programmer at IO Interactive Jonas Meyer held a discussion called Advanced Graphics Techniques Tutorial Day: Rendering 'Hitman' with DirectX 12. During the session, it was revealed that NVIDIA GeForce video cards had no benefits from Async Compute, with IO Interactive claiming to be working with NVIDIA to fix this.

But, even with their ACE (Asynchronous Compute Engine) on the GCN architecture, Radeon cards only see a 5-10% performance increase. Async Compute is used for SSAA (Screen Space Anti Aliasing), SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion) and the calculation of light tiles in Hitman. Ashes of the Singularity also makes use of Async Compute, too.

Crytek recently announced its new next-generation CryEngine V graphics engine, which is optimized for DirectX 12 and VR gaming. The studio has been busily experimenting with the new engine, and now we have a nice glimpse at some of the fruits of their labor.

With CryEngine V, artists can create amazing environments with realistic effects like volumetric fog without bogging down CPU performance. Crytek lighting artist Damian Stempniewski recently showed off CryEngine V's lighting effects by applying the engine's SVOGI global illumination tech to forest scenes made in older engines. The results are pretty impressive, and Stempniewski says he built the environments only using stock CryEngine V assets.

Crytek's principal 3D/environment artist Finn Meinert Matthiesen spent just 30 minutes in CryEngine V to create the night scenes seen below. Matthiesen was playing around with various lighting and fog feature effects, showing just how versatile and powerful the CryEngine V is.

GDC 2016 - I've been itching to play Budget Cuts ever since I saw some videos on YouTube of it, so I made sure to find out where it was being displayed at the Game Developers Conference, so I popped into the Unity booth and tried it out.

Budget Cuts has a specific corporate art style that made me feel like I was walking around in something familiar, but in a virtual world, it felt unique. Navigating in the virtual Budget Cuts world was the most innovative yet, where you use the left Lighthouse controller with the HTC Vive to throw out a portal - and then a window of that portal pops up above your left controller, letting you peek into the portal to see what's around the corner.

It was one of the best ways of mavigating the world in a VR game yet, as you could pop a portal next to a grill on the wall - pull the grill away, and peek through the grill. Looking around corners and into windows was something truly awesome in Budget Cuts because it made me feel like I was right there in the world - creating an amazing sense of presence.

AMD laid out its GPU architecture roadmap through to 2019 at its huge Capsaicin event during the Game Developers Conference, but now we're hearing rumbles on its exciting new Vega GPU - due out in 2017.

Vega will reportedly rock a huge 4096 stream processors based on the Greenland GPU, with improvements in the way of the GCN 4.0 architecture, which are included in the IP v9.0 generation of graphics chips under development from AMD.

We should expect Vega 10 to be AMD's flagship product from the Greenland GPU era - rocking somewhere between 15-18 billion transistors, and the exciting new HBM2 technology which offers up to 1TB/sec of memory bandwidth. Vega looks like it'll be fighting against NVIDIA's compute-powerful GP100 (the Pascal-based successor to the GTX Titan X and GTX 980 Ti) - as Vega is the only HBM2-powered card on AMD's roadmap for 2017.