Latest News - Page 2509

Virtuix is going in a different direction in raising funds for 2016, with the VR locomotion company launching its mini-IPO round of funding, allowing the general public to invest in the company and its future. Within the first 24 hours, Virtuix raised an impressive $2.5 million.

The $2.5 million raised happened thanks to over 500 private investors, and 5 institutional investors. Virtuix stock is available for $2.33 per share, with the company planning on expanding its team, and continuing to build VR motion technologies. Right now, the Virtuix Omni can be purchased, allowing people to strap on a special pair of shoes, stand on the Omni with the harness attached, and enjoy a huge physical additional to the virtual world.

Virtuix founder and CEO, Jan Goetgeluk talked about the mini-IPO funding round: "We are thrilled to see the overwhelming response to our stock offering. We are excited that our community can now participate in our financial future and be part of the next chapter of our story".

Amazon surprised the world with its impressive Echo device, a personal voice assistant that has made waves - so much so, that Google is reportedly working on a device very similar, according to The Verge.

Considering Google owns connected thermostat and smoke detector company Nest, it will most likely leverage its $3.2 billion acquisition to better combat the Amazon Echo. The rumors have Nest wanting to work on an Echo-like product, but Google dismissed the idea, as it was working on its own. Nest has been struggling to expand on its product line since Google acquired the company in early 2014.

Google making an Echo-like product makes total sense, especially with its powerful Google Now service - involving Nest into this, would make sense - so I don't understand why this wouldn't happen. Google, what's going on?

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is finally here, with the movie beating both The Dark Knight and The Avengers at the box office on Thursday night.

During its preview debut on Thursday, Batman v Superman made $27.7 million at the domestic box office - beating out Age of Ultron which pulled in $27.6 million last year. It also beat The Dark Night, which made $18.5 million during its preview screenings. The all-time record for Thursday night screenings still goes to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which commanded a huge $57 million during its Thursday night screening.

Batman v Superman is still aiming at around $160 million for its opening weekend, even through a sea of negative reviews. It's already scooped up $7 million overseas, as it is flooding international markets. I've seen it and simply wasn't a fan - even after enjoying Man of Steel - seeing it a second time with the disappointment behind me had a more enjoyable feel - but it is definitely very messy with its editing, and its characters are constantly in impossible situations - which feels super forced. The last third of the movie however, is pretty much directly out of the comic book - which is awesome.

With only a few days until the Oculus Rift starts shipping to consumers, the VR company has announced that its SDK for the Rift now supports Asynchronous Timewarp (ATW). It might not sound like much, but it actually improves the VR experience.

ATW renders a scene before it reaches your eyes, but also handles head movement and shifts by your head, before the Rift renders it to your eyes. Thanks to ATW, we have reduced latency, smoother movements and improved efficiency. Oculus says that ATW reduces judder (in the form of shaking and vibration) that is produced when a frame is displayed out of sync, because the hardware wasn't capable of rendering the frame quick enough.

Oculus teamed with Microsoft, NVIDIA and AMD to make the best of GPU preemption (rendering a scene before it's required), to its new SDK. Our Rift should ship on March 28, so expect a constant flow of VR-related content starting in April.

It was only a matter of time before someone took advantage of the SteamVR interface and brought in a more interactive, and familiar, background. Surreal nature or space photos are great, but didn't we invent VR as a stopgap to a full-on holodeck?

The SteamVR interface allows you to interact completely inside the headset, and you've got the option of changing the grid background to something more pleasing, such as a 360-degree view of London, or New York, or even the Milky Way. But why wouldn't you want to recreate something more iconic and appropriate to the technology. Now all we need is a way to create a shimmering effect into your game as it loads.

The holodeck is nothing more than the usual black backdrop with yellow markers, but it's the simplicity that makes it so fun, that's what the holodeck is, after all. You can experience it yourself if you have any sort of VR device that's compatible with Steam, right here.

If you lack cooking skills but have $174, Pantelligent's smart frying pan is here to help you out. It utilizes the power of Bluetooth, an app, and a temperature sensor to tell you when to flip food or take it off the pan, as well as how to cook it.

With eggs for example, it tells you to stir them around in the pan instead of whisking them before dropping them in for fluffier eggs (the more you know).

Popular Mechanics didn't have any complaints about its results with eggs, but when it followed the instructions for cooking fish, it came out overcooked and dry. So, consider it a novel, sometimes useful but not perfect device.

Razer is going back to the basics with their newest line of keyboards, taking away the bells and whistles that drive up the cost of their normal Blackwidow line with the new Blackwidow X. Simplicity doesn't mean cheap, just less expensive with the same (improved) manufacturing techniques.

The new keyboards are part of a whole new line that's attempting to break into all manner of price points for mechanical keyboards by stripping away the top-plate and the accessory buttons that come with it. The exposed metal plate underneath is actually quite attractive, with a similar look to Corsair's keyboards. This new line is focusing on bringing the cost of Razer's keyboards, with their own designed switch, down to more reasonable levels. This one is full-sized, with numpad, and has Razer's Green switch, with a 50g actuation force requirement and a shorter breaking point. They're durable to up to 80 million clicks and each individual key is individually programmable to show 16.8 million different colors. You can find it for $159.99.

There's always some question of quality surrounding Razer. I myself have had bad luck in regards to Razer products failing, however, they're very adamant about increasing their quality control and making sure their manufacturing processes are far better than they were in the past. They're recognizing the shortcomings from the past. At E3 last year, I was able to see some of the different mechanisms they use to test their new switches, and they certainly put them through a torture test to ensure they work far more reliably than in the past. I'm currently investigating the durability of the Razer Blackwidow Chroma Tournament (tenkeyless) edition by not holding back on my clicking.

In January 2014, the Netflix catalogue boasted 6,494 movies and 1,609 TV shows. As of March 2016, it's dropped to 4,335 movies and 1,197 TV shows -- a 31.7 percent drop in a little over two years.

The company decided recently to sign deals with global rights only, which no doubt has increased its efficiency too, but with a significant impact on the amount of content it has available.

Some speculate the decline is also due to increased rights pricing caused by added competition from services like Amazon Prime. Whether this is true or not, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said last May that original programming -- like House of Cards -- "has been more efficient dollar for dollar" than licensed content and that "our appetite has only grown... we're moving (spending) from efficient to super-efficient."

Street Fighter V was marred by a terrible launch, with network performance issues and a lack of available content that was a bit off-putting to even the hardcore of fans. We were promised a story-mode that didn't quite materialize into the grand adventure we were told we'd get. It didn't even have the most basic of tutorials to tell the novice how to fight in the new Unreal engined game.

The first patch coming is completely free and will drop on March 28th. This adds a new Challenge Mode, a much needed alternative way to play, and tutorials that demonstrate some of the basic, yet essential components of beating up your friends in-game. The latter will culminate in a trial that's designed to test all of your knowledge. The reward is surviving, for what it's worth. These seem like basic components that should be included from the get-go, but we're consoled by the fact that the underlying structure and graphics were solid when it was released.

That second patch is coming on the 30th and is designed to add more content. Alex, a new playable character, is being added into the mix, someone who was very well-liked back in Street Fighter III. This too will be free, though you'll have to buy the right to use the new character with the in-game currency, Zenny, or your own cash. That system isn't quite ready for primetime, however, but you can "trial" him for free in the meantime. Capcom plans on fully implementing that at a later date, though quite soon.

The much-hyped iOS 9.3 update hasn't gone smoothly on older devices (specifically, the iPhone 4S, 5, 5C, and 5S; and the iPad 2, third- and fourth-generation Retina iPads, and the iPad Air), preventing users who forget their Apple ID passwords from activating their devices.

As such, they've pulled the update and in the meantime, they advise you try to reset your password or disable the Activation Lock feature via iCloud.com or by connecting your device to a computer with iTunes. Another option is to downgrade to 9.2.1 by clicking Update or if that fails, Restore, but be warned: this may erase your data.

A new version of the update has been released for the iPad 2, so users should be good to go on that front. The rest of you will be taken care of "in the next few days."

Yesterday, the graphics options for the PC version of Quantum Break were leaked. While the list was long and impressive, it was missing a few key items: FOV, V-Sync, and anti-aliasing. Well, now developer Remedy has officially unveiled the options, which are identical to the leaked ones except for a few appreciable additions: Graphics Preset, Lock to 30 FPS, and Anti-Aliasing.

Graphics Preset of course lets you be lazy and quickly turn down multiple settings with one toggle for better performance with minimal effort. Lock to 30 FPS means the game won't be capped at 30 FPS after all (unless you want it to be), which is great news. As for why there's no 60 FPS lock, we realize now that as this is a Windows Store game, this means the game will have V-Sync and therefore a 60 FPS lock by default. Finally, anti-aliasing is the much needed inclusion, especially as the game seems to offer only the taxing MSAA. A more performance-friendly option like SMAA or FXAA would be very welcome, but it's sure better than nothing.

While not pictured here, Remedy confirms 4K support.

If you were hoping to get into the action as soon as possible, there may be a few hurdles that prevent the fun from being, well, too much fun. Unless you can read Japanese and are okay with having to go it alone for those quests initially.

It's possible to use an exploit or "loophole", to download Dark Souls III via the Japanese Xbox Store, and it's even in English, except for the menus, but it actually works. That's not the worst problem, though the most persistent until it comes out in NA and you swap out downloads. The other issue is that the multiplayer portion hasn't quite been finished just yet, which could pose a problem for the less experienced of fighters our there.

That issue will be resolved eventually, but the prospect of being able to partner up with your friends to take on the more difficult bosses was particularly tantalizing. It's a hard game, you need your friends to survive in some cases. There'll be a day one patch that'll deliver further optimizations to the game as well as adding in the now missing multiplayer and cooperative aspect, though you'll have to wait until April 12th for that.

The more I see Doom in action, the more I realized just how much I've missed its bloody carnage. The latest footage shows off a tasty look at the kind of fast-paced mayhem you'll be able to wreak in multiplayer, and gives us a glimpse at the coveted BFG in action.

Bethsoft recently showed off all of Doom's multiplayer modes, and now we get a fresh look at the kinds of weapons and powerups we can expect to wield on the hellish arena.

The new footage teases the different kinds of playable demons available in the Evolve-esque Demon Mode like the ferocious Hell Baron or the ultra-quick Prowler. Then there's powerups--Doom wouldn't be Doom without powerups. This time around we can expect full camo and a brutal one-shot kill powerup, plus two unrevealed boosters. Last but not least is the immensely satisfying power weapons: turn enemies into slabs of sliced meat with the chainsaw, or annihilate them on an atomic level with the BFG.

Along with Mass Effect: Andromeda, BioWare is working on a secret new IP--and both of them are looking "stunning".

According to BioWare design and art dev Alistair McNally, the studio's mysterious unannounced IP is currently in a playable state, proving the devs are making significant strides in the new game. While the gaming community scratches their heads trying to figure out the new IP, McNally actually revealed it at GDC 2016--although in a subtle way that no one noticed.

So what exactly is BioWare cooking up? Thanks to a recent job listing, the new secret IP isn't so secret. BioWare is hiring a new server engineer to create a backend for a its new IP, and mentions "extensive online components". So we could be looking at a MMORPG of some sort, but since it's a new IP, it won't be set in existing Dragon Age, Mass Effect, or Star Wars universes. Check out the Secret IP thread on the BioWare forums for more tidbits.

Final Fantasy XV is a treat on the eyes, with the wildly stylized hair and well-designed backdrops. But being a graphical showcase of what Square Enix is capable of producing as the primary developer also means that it has the potential of running a bit slower. But considering the genre and the type of action on screen, the targeted framerate will be 30FPS, for that cinematic feel, and because it's probably all the consoles can manage at higher resolutions.

That's at least their objective. At the moment, the game sometimes dips below that target, but they believe that further optimizations can help keep things well within 30FPS with no trouble. It's possible, however, that they may not be able to hit that target enough of the time for it to be viable, in which they might have to do something else completely to satiate fans. The final resolution that it'll be running hasn't been revealed yet, but it's looking more likely that it won't be 1080P if they want to hit that 30FPS target.

The game engine they're using, the Luminous Studio engine, is a very capable and impressive piece of technology. It's been the underlying engine that underpinned the Witch Chapter 0 [cry] demo that was shown off at Microsoft BUILD last year, with four Titan X's rendering a scene filled with 8Kx8K textures and nearly 63 million polygons. One Titan X was only able to push it to 35.9FPS, so imagine how even a less potent version of the engine would fair on the hardware inside the Xbox One and the PS4. Even a mere 5 million polygons per frame is still impressive, and not easy to render considering the other effects that are put on top of that. It'll be interesting to see how well it runs when it's finally released. Of course we'll have a performance analysis as soon as is feasible on the PC.

Like its JRPG predecessors, Final Fantasy 15 will be a pretty meaty game with plenty of content to chew on.

In a recent livestream with Famitsu, Square Enix game director Hajime Tabata confirmed that Final Fantasy 15's main story will take about 50 hours to beat. This is up from the original 40-hour estimate, with Tabata citing that the final game has "more volume" than originally projected.

Tabata continues by saying Final Fantasy 15's frame rate hasn't been fully optimized just yet. The devs are targeting 30FPS for the final release, but the current build often breaks the 30FPS threshold. Square Enix expects to lock down the frame rate before the game goes gold, but if they're unable to hit a consistent 30FPS Tabata affirms the studio will "do something different".

EA is giving away Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault as part of their On the House program, replacing last months free game, Need for Speed Most Wanted.

The game is normally a cool $10 on the Origin storefront, but they're being generous by letting anyone download, and keep it, for free. It was one of the better Medal of Honor games that was released later in the series life. The 7th installment, it received generally favorable reviews, even though our own reviewer seemed not to enjoy it at the time. Reliving the game, for free, might just change your mind with nostalgia and rose-colored glasses. Which isn't terrible at all.

The series is taking an indefinite break since Medal of Honor Warfighter from 2012 didn't quite meet the expectations of the company or of fans looking for a good FPS experience. We gave that one a 60% rating, citing the graphics and sound design as among the best parts. The story and gameplay weren't quite there. Perhaps we'll see its return, perhaps we won't. Regardless, a free game is available now that's surprisingly fun to play.

Much to the delight of Nintendo fans everywhere, those "leaked" Nintendo NX controllers photos have been confirmed as fakes.

The phony controllers are actually 3D renders based on Nintendo's recent patents. The same Redditor who leaked the photos (idriss2Dev) confirmed them as fakes, and even went so far as to release a video showing how he created the photos.

The second batch of NX controller leaks have been also confirmed as fakes, too. The creator stepped forward with his own reveal video, showing how he used a 3D printer to make the controller.

Atari has finally announced that Roller Coaster Tycoon World, the first of the series to appear on the PC in nearly a decade, will officially enter Early Access on March 30th. It's been a long wait and one fraught with all the dangers that come from letting people play your unfinished game. But it's here, and in fine form too.

When it launches in Early Access the plan is to have quite a bit of content and things that you can mess around with. You'll be greeted with a few different game modes, the ability to create your own wild and wacky rides and have the full management experience. You can even ride your rides in first-person, which might be a very exciting feature with VR in the future.They're fine-tuning the game, so any feedback is still appreciated.

It's been a somewhat rocky road for the developers of the next great roller coaster game on PC. They had several early beta and alpha tests available to fans that were very informative. The reviews of the game on Steam at the moment are of those early builds and are not representative of the work that's been put into addressing the concerns that have been raised. But it's up to you to decide whether it's a genre or game you'd be willing to support. Thus far there have been sweeping changes to the UI and control mechanisms, making it a bit easier to navigate and make the coaster you've been dreaming of. And there's more to follow. Atari has also laid out plans to support the game with free content through 2016.

Quantum Break just can't catch a break. Despite the huge controversy surrounding Quantum Break's 720p resolution on Xbox One, and the whole Windows exclusivity fiasco, it's now been revealed that the game's live-action segments will require an atrociously huge 75GB of hard drive space.

If you're an Xbox One owner who plans to play Quantum Break offline, then you'll need to clear out a huge portion of HDD space. The game's live-action cinematic shorts, which bridge the game's story after each gameplay segment, require a ridiculous 75GB of HDD space. That's over 1/10th of the total 500GB HDD space just for videos. So with the game and the video files installed, you're looking at a total install size of 119GB--44GB for the base game, and 75GB for the videos. Ouch.

Having such an insanely high storage requirement for the game's videos pretty much discourages offline play. As any current-gen console gamer knows, HDD space is precious, especially when single games can command up to 50GB install sizes. The Xbox.com listing also says the episodes are "Bundle Only", which means we can't download them episode by episode, just all at once. I can only imagine how long that'll take.