Latest News - Page 2503

With the final episode in the much hyped 'X-Files' revival airing yesterday in the United States, to what can only be described as a cliffhanger, speculation has naturally moved to whether or not there'll be more 'X-Files' episodes in the future. And according to creator Chris Carter, there probably will be.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Carter confirmed that while there isn't any current plans to return, he's waiting for the call from Fox to assemble the gang. "They're going to ask for more. The ratings were very good. They were happy with the show. I talked to Dana Walden [Fox TV CEO] today. She said they'd very much like more, but nothing's being negotiated yet ... there's an appetite for more in the future, it's just a matter of figuring out how to get it done. The last negotiations took about five months, so it could be a while before we figure out how to do this." Carter has also previously revealed he has a third 'X-Files' movie script ready to go.

The six episode limited run returned to very mixed reviews, with most agreeing that the third, comedic episode was the highlight - and the opening and closing episodes the most disappointing.

Sony is holding a special invite-only press event at GDC 2016 where it may reveal the release date of its PlayStation VR headset.

Now that we know the Oculus Rift is $599 and ships in March and HTC's Vive is $799 for a release in April, there's only one missing link to the VR puzzle: Sony's PlayStation VR. The Japanese console-maker is expected to follow its competitors by announcing pricing and launch info at its exclusive GDC event next month.

Past speculation hints the PlayStation VR could cost anywhere from $400-600, with Sony saying that the PSVR will be "priced as a new gaming platform". Gamers are hoping that the PSVR will be as low as $299, but that seems like an especially low estimate, especially considering the headset's cutting-edge OLED displays.

MWC 2016 - Sandisk has just unveiled their latest microSD UHS-II card, with Sandisk's new Extreme PRO microSD card capable of read speeds of 275MB/sec.

The new UHS-II capable microSD card is considerably faster than its predecessor, which could only transfer data at 90MB/sec. The write speeds on the new microSD card hit around 100MB/sec, and don't let its size deceive you - as this new microSD card is capable of 275MB/sec, while the full-sized Extreme PRO SD cards tap out at 280MB/sec.

Sandisk is pushing their new Extreme Pro microSD UHS-II card is shockproof, temperature-proof, waterproof and even X-ray-proof. These new class 10 cards only arrive in two capacities: 64GB and 128GB. Sandisk is aiming these new cards at the professionals, with the 64GB version priced at $179.99 and the 128GB priced at $299.99.

Last week, Facebook joined the ranks of Google, Twitter, and Apple in publicly supporting one's right to smartphone encryption amidst the San Bernardino terrorist case. This left some to wonder where Microsoft was in all of this, so we inquired with the tech giant, who pointed us to a tweet by Microsoft President and CLO Brad Smith (retweeted by CEO Satya Nadella), indicating it does indeed support encryption (via the Reform Government Surveillance coalition).

The full statement reads as follows: "Reform Government Surveillance companies believe it is extremely important to deter terrorists and criminals and to help law enforcement by processing legal orders for information in order to keep us all safe. But technology companies should not be required to build in backdoors to the technologies that keep their users' information secure. RGS companies remain committed to providing law enforcement with the help it needs while protecting the security of their customers and their customers' information."

After lots of teases, Bethesda has finally revealed a concrete roadmap for Fallout 4's console mod integration. According to Todd Howard, Xbox One owners will get a month's head start over PS4, and beta testing is already underway.

"Our goal [for mods] is between the first two DLCs. It'll go up at that time on PC. In April, all of that stuff will go up on PC. People are beta testing it. There'll be a lag on consoles. We want to get it up on PC and have it work. It'll probably be a good month before it hits Xbox One, and another month for PlayStation 4," Howard said in a recent interview with Game Informer.

So there you have it--Xbox One gamers may get mod support as early as May, with PlayStation 4 following up in June. Remember that both the PS4 and Xbox One will depend on PC modders, as console mods must be created on a PC.

Development on Gears of War: Ultimate Edition has been slow going, but we finally have some juicy news for you today, as the system requirements have been posted to the Windows Store.

Great as the game looks, they're likely beefier than you expected: 16GB RAM (8GB minimum); an AMD FX 8-core CPU, and a GeForce GTX 970 (Recommended) / 980 Ti ("Ideal") or Radeon R9 290X (Recommended) / 390X ("Ideal"). Likely, "Ideal" specs are for those that want to do 4K gaming.

See the full specifications below.

Google is shutting down another service that you've probably never heard of but sounds great: Google Compare (also known as Google Advisor). The website allows you to obtain quotes from a variety of companies on car insurance, travel insurance, credit cards, and mortgages.

"Despite people turning to Google for financial services information, the Google Compare service itself hasn't driven the success we hoped for," Google wrote in an e-mail sent to partners yesterday. "After a lot of careful consideration, we've decided that focusing more intently on AdWords and future innovations will enable us to provide fresh, comprehensive answers to Google users, and to provide our financial services partners with the best return on investment."

Google explained it had difficulty attracting advertisers to the service, in part due to limited availability of products in the US and UK.

Bethesda's Todd Howard revealed some amazing news today for Fallout 4 PC modders: the team plans to release the official GECK modding suite sometime in April, after the first Automatron DLC launches. Soon PC players will gain access to limitless possibilities, and just about every mod on the Nexus will become ten times better.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Bethesda game director Todd Howard talked about future plans for the GECK and console mods, all of which are being beta tested at the moment. "Our goal is between the first two DLCs. It'll go up at that time on PC. In April. All of that stuff will go up on PC. People are beta testing it. There'll be a lag on consoles. We want to get it up on PC and have it work," he said.

As we covered in the past, Fallout 4's GECK tools will be the same software that Bethesda used to build the game. Modders will have access to a huge array of options and content, opening the door to truly amazing new additions. Although Fallout 4 mods are already pretty extensive, opening the door to the GECK will unlock the whole enchilada, and everyone from PC to console gamers will benefit.

Killer Instinct was never a bad looking game, per-se, but since it was one of the launch titles of the Xbox One it was definitely looking a little long in the tooth. The newest season, three, brings not only a new competitive fighting season but also a tremendous upgrade to the graphics and lighting system.

Upgraded graphics

The developers want the living world's to feel more vivid and engrossing, as befitting a fighting game whose backgrounds are more than just a static image setting the stage. They're intimate parts of the game. A new dynamic lighting system, reflection technology and upgraded textures and models to makes things look much better, more believable and far more entertaining than it did when it originally released in 2013. Surprisingly, the underlying game engine has stayed the same.

The cyber-punk RPG, The Technomancer, from Focus Home Interactive has a new cinematic trailer that shows how harsh life can be on a terraformed Mars.

Even though we might presume that starting a colony on Mars could lead to a better life for Earth and for those on Mars, it clearly isn't the truth in The Technomancer. The dystopian trailer shows off a wild-west type atmosphere replete with downtrodden folk in saloons and gigantic alien monster creatures that don't look like pets.

Though it's only a cinematic trailer showing off the graphical prowess and giving a glimpse into the storied backdrop, it looks good thus far. If this upcoming RPG manages to check enough open-world boxes and has a narrative to match, it could be a very interesting contender. A good story and well designed RPG systems are a must, however. Thus far they purport that they'll have a dynamic dialogue system, in-depth crafting system and a progressive story that changes with each of your dialogue choices along the way.

Final Fantasy XIV's newest update 3.2, The Gears of Change, is now officially ready to be consumed by those that're romping around Hydaelyn.

The Gears of Change is a content update as much as it still continues to root out latent bugs that might plague the game, after all these years. Crucially, it adds new story quests, beast tribe quests and plenty of class adjustments to help better balance the game. There are 11 new quests in total, with 9 of them complete mysteries until you successfully complete the main scenario first. And they're adding in a lot more content than just that, too. New high-level dungeons, continued side-story quests from the Hildibrand Adventures and a new "Primal Battle" to challenge the highest levels of players.

This update also introduces options for new players to quickly acquaint themselves with the game with the Hall of the Novice. There, the novice can embark on specialized tutorial quests that ultimately help them to understand the techniques of playing in online groups. It's a way to ease non-MMO players into the particulars of the genre.

AMD is doubling down on their embedded G-Series SoC's, tiny APU's designed with industrial applications in mind. The newest members of the family are the 3rd generation of their embedded platform, putting Excavator based cores in the high-end and Jaguar-based cores in the low-end, and they're completely pin compatible with earlier iterations of the G series (and R for the high-end chips being announced), allowing easier upgrading for customers on older hardware.

The new G-Series LX fills in the low-end with two Jaguar cores with GCN and AMD's ARM-based security co-processor. It operates at a very low 6-15W and can withstand far harsher conditions than the typical desktop processor. Available in March, this new SoC is designed for the point-of-sale market and even arcade gaming market. With their ARM co-processor it might even make a good companion to industrial automation in the connected age.

The high-end G-Series marries two Excavator cores with four GCN compute units that allow for a much better compute load if OpenCL is used. AMD is targeting similar industries that need higher compute load at a low 6-15W TDP. They expect that it'll be a good fit for the digital signage and even set-top boxes, despite that arena being dominated by ARM. This too has an integrated ARM-based security co-processor.This new processor is actually pin compatible with the higher-end R series of SoC's letting customers choose between what sort of power-envelope they want.

Earlier this morning (EST) the Xbox Live service was experiencing some unscheduled downtime that affected a number of different users, 15 hours of downtime total. The issues were supposedly fixed and the Xbox Live service up and running, but it seems that there are still some issues in regards to purchasing content from the store and with using EA Access.

An error you might encounter

Users are reporting that they're having difficulty actually buying or even accessing content from the store, from movies to games. Even more it seems that users are even having trouble downloading games they already own. EA Access is similarly affected, in that you'll be unable to actually download any of the games from the Vault or otherwise.

Farm Simulator 15 was a surprising hit. Coming out of left field with a concept the improved to the point that belied all expectations. They provided hours of strange entertainment that seemed to capture the hearts and minds of a larger audience than predicted. And of course, Farming Simulator 17 has just been confirmed. Virtual farming is getting better.

We can imagine that as the real farming world evolves with newer techniques and technologies, than so too will the virtual farming phenomenon known as Farming Simulator. No details have been announced quite yet, but we're told that new information will be coming out quite soon. Can we expect a new engine? More modeled vehicles? Procedural terrain? The ability to work on famous farms from across the world?

Uber is still fighting an uphill battle in many places around the world as the Taxi industry strongly fights the rise of this new ridesharing application. The latest news comes from an Australian outback region called the Northern Territory, announcing that its Government refuses to allow Uber to operate legally.

Coming after a cabinet meeting in which discussed the Commercial Passenger Vehicle Industry Review Report, Gizmodo explained that attempted negotiations between Uber HQ and this local Government did not amount to much. Local Transport Minister Peter Chandler stated that "This was a Cabinet decision where we would stop Uber at the moment from coming to the NT," with Brad Kitschke from Uber replying "I think the Territory does risk being left behind."

While numerous other Australian states have accepted Uber with open arms, it seems that the Northern Territory will not follow the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales or Western Australia just yet.

A new Gears of War: Ultimate Edition update is hitting the Xbox One today, and the 5GB of space it requires fixes the dreaded matchmaking issues that seemed to make for longer than usual wait times and includes other great bug fixes.

Chief among those is the improvement of hit registration against enemies that are behind cover. That means you won't be able to wall-bang, and also that your weapons will hit where you're aiming now. No wondering why they won't just stay dead. Another major bug they fixed was Boomshot hit registration, where it failed to damage an enemy at all when fired at their feet. It should do something, right? Now it does.

They've also made some changes to the multiplayer map playlists based on some of the feedback they've recently received. They've adjusted the rate at which you earn XP in Execution so it actually matches how you'll earn in other modes. A new competitive team deathmatch playlist has been added for those that enjoy that style of fast-paced mayhem. And Warzone has returned as a permanent member of the social playlist. It left for a short time, though fans were eager to see it return.

In the past, it has mainly been ESWC backing all-female gaming tournaments, showcasing numerous Counter Strike Source and Global Offensive tournaments over the years. In comes ESL and Intel with the long-standing Intel Extreme masters platform, now pledging support for female-only gaming.

Up on offer is a $30,000 prize purse at the Intel Challenge in Katowice 2016, featuring teams such as EXERTUS from Europe, Team karma from North America and Elysium from China.

Set to kick off on March 4th and conclude two days later, more information can be read about this massive eSports event here.

The popular, teamwork-based, anti-Call of Duty FPS Insurgency is getting it's very own sequel, Insurgency: Sandstorm, being rebuilt on Unreal Engine 4 with all the same underlying fundamental elements that make it the unique and realistic game that it is.

Focus Home Interactive is teaming up with New World Interactive again to bring a similar style of game that's the complete opposite of the typical FPS we might normally be used to. It'll be based in the Middle East once again and you'll have to rely on quick thinking and teamwork to get the job done with a diverse arsenal of weapons. It's due out in 2017 on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and of course the PC.

"We are very excited about working with Focus on Insurgency: Sandstorm. We believe there's a great opportunity for Insurgency on next-gen consoles and that aligning with a strong publisher will allow us to best leverage this. Considering our background, it was not easy finding a publisher we felt compatible with. We decided to work with Focus because they understand our game and they believe in our vision. In addition, they bring a wealth of knowledge when it comes to shipping console games and marketing to that audience." said Jeremy Blum, Founder and Game Director of New World Interactive.

Not completely set on one mechanical switch type? Epic Gear has announced its 'DEFIANT' modular mechanical keyboard, allowing users to chop and change different switch types on-the-fly. Coined by this peripheral company as 'EG MMS' technology aka Modular-matrix Structure mechanical Switches, it's something we haven't really seen before.

Paired with the optional extra EG MMS switch accessory, you can expect a 24-pack of keys within that are available in Epic Gear's own Grey, Orange or Purple key types. Back to the keyboard itself, the DEFIANT offers LED backlighting and programmable per-key lighting, a 1000Hz adjustable polling rate, anti-ghosting, fully programmable keys, a dedicated GUI software with four profiles, braided cables and more.

Weighing in at a hefty 2.4lb (1100g), this product comes packed with a 2-year manufacturer warranty, it's designed in Taiwan and TweakTown currently has one on the way to review. Want to know more? Keep checking back for our full comprehensive review on this promising new model.

A new update for Star Wars Battlefront is being pushed out today that puts in a little more content to keep you coming back for more.

They're introducing Twilight, a sizeable map set on Hoth during the early evening hours as the cold sun sets behind the distant mountains and the moons plainly visible in the sky overhead. It's playable in all game modes. A new survival mission called Survival in the Ice Caves adds a new fast-paced single-player element as well. For those that want to mirror the old movie look, a new film-grain setting has been added to the menu.

Balancing has been done in this update as well, increasing the damage of primary weapons across the board by 10% against air and space-borne vehicles. The Bowcaster, as was predicted, has also been boosted slightly and the muzzle velocity of the Tusken Cycler Rifle has been increased to 450m/s, making it much easier to hit at long distances.