Latest News - Page 2526

We all know how powerful Netflix is, but what kind of impression is it leaving against the traditional TV market? Well, Netflix is really cutting into traditional TV ratings, and that's both a good, and bad thing.

In 2015 alone, Netflix accounted for around 50% of the 3% decline in TV viewing in the US, according to a new study by Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson. Nathanson calculated that based on an estimate of Netflix's domestic subscribers, who streamed a huge 29 billion hours of video in 2015 - and worldwide, Netflix members streamed a huge 42.5 billion hours of content. With 29 billion hours of video streamed, it represents 6% of total American live-plus-7 TV viewing reported by Nielsen (up from 4.4% in 2014).

Nathanson continued in his report, adding that he predicts Netflix's total streaming hours as a percentage of TV viewing will increase - where in 2020 it should be hitting around 14%, he noted: "Currently, Netflix is a source of industry pain, but not necessarily a cause of industry death".

NVIDIA is reportedly preparing a big gaming notebook push for Computex 2016, which kicks off in June in Taipei. According to SweClockers, NVIDIA will be launching their new Pascal-based mobile GPU at the show, with a big focus on portable Pascal-powered gaming notebooks.

Computex 2016 starts on May 31, and runs through to June 4. We should expect NVIDIA to show something off during the show, with a bigger event to showcase Pascal sometime either slightly before Computex, or in the weeks after. NVIDIA focusing on the gaming notebook market makes sense, as they've made a huge dent in the market recently - as they noted a huge 34.2% increase in mobile GPU shipments in the last quarter.

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 950 was already a pretty damn efficient video card, but with a more efficient GTX 950 rumored to be in the works, ASUS seems to be the first AIB partner with a super-efficient GTX 950.

ASUS has introduced a new GTX 950, which features the same GM206 core with 786 CUDA cores, 64 TMUs and 32 ROPs. This is an NVIDIA reference design card with 2GB of GDDR5 @ 6.6GHz on a 128-bit memory bus, but the GPU and Boost clocks have been changed. The reference GTX 950 from NVIDIA has a GPU clock of 1024MHz versus the 1051MHz on the ASUS GTX 950, while the Boost clock is the same 1188MHz on both variants.

The difference between NVIDIA's reference board and the new ASUS GTX 950 is that the former requires a 6-pin PCIe power connector and has a TDP of 90W while the new ASUS GTX 950 requires no PCIe power connector, and has a TDP of just 75W (the maximum power provided by the PCIe 3.0 x16 port). ASUS does splash in some overclocking profiles, with "OC Mode" and "Gaming Mode" on the new GTX 950 video card. Gaming Mode has a default GPU clock of 1026MHz and 1190MHz Boost while the OC Mode pushes it up to 1051MHz.

He-Man is likely one of the most iconic action heroes of our time. Not just historically, but even currently. The most powerful man in the universe has survived extinction since 1976, appealing to the imagination of multiple generations by being both generic and providing a true sense of wonder. That's why He-Man, and of course She-Ra, should have their own modern open-world RPG.

Prince Adam of Eternia, son of King Randor and Queen Marlena, is a symbol of strength, integrity and of purposeful action. Underneath that gorgeous blonde bowl-cut is a complex and admirable individual that we can all relate to. Though we ourselves may not have the powah like he does. The character himself, He-Man the Master of the Universe, is a very well constructed character, with a rich back-story and surprisingly elaborate relationships with the other characters. He would be perfect for a protagonist in his own open-world fantasy RPG.

He-Man has been revived twice already, evolving and becoming an even more iconic character for both children and adults alike. Us in the older generations that remember the original cartoon might still find enjoyment in the silly yet stimulating narratives. Stopping Skeletor and hearing his hilarious one-liners were always a highlight of my childhood. Remember how silly yet elaborate flamboyant Cringer was/is?

Fans of the subversive Adult Swim animated comedy 'Rick and Morty' who feared the 2015 season finale promise to "see you in 2017" can breathe a sigh of relief, as series creator Dan Harmon confirms new episodes will appear at the end of the year - with an added bonus, to boot.

As reported by Nerdist, Harmon addressed the topic at this week's Magic City ComicCon, telling fans that they were "targeting an end of 2016 release date", and "we're doing 14 episodes this year", which was received with rapturous applause. Last year's second season only ran to ten episodes, which makes for an extra 80 minutes of 'Rick and Morty' goodness.

Having quickly amassed something of a cult following, Adult Swim green-lit the third series even before the second series went to air.

Windows 10 Build 14279 has been released today to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring.

If you're a big Cortana user, this one should make you very happy: Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil) or French (Canada) languages are now supported, as are quick reminders. To set a quick reminder, say something like "remind me to read [insert book name]", or "remind me to wash the car". After doing so, you can set details like location, time, and people if you like. It's not built-in yet, but soon you'll be able to retrieve these reminders as a real PA would.

The other significant update is a unified Lock and login screen. Going forward, the Lock screen background will be used for both, as on mobile, making for a smoother experience.

Amazon's Fire OS 5 came out in September, but only now is it being discovered that the operating system no longer supports local encryption (which makes data accessible only with a passcode or key). Concerns have arisen as a result, given Amazon just filed a brief supporting Apple's defense of encryption.

Fire OS is built on Android's open-source code, which has offered local encryption for years. Fire OS 5 doesn't support the feature it turns out, and Amazon's statement on why doesn't help clear matters up much.

When Remedy Games trademarked "Alan Wake: The Return", the gaming world flipped out--it looked like we'd finally get the Alan Wake sequel we've been waiting on for ages. Sadly, Remedy has stepped in to squash the hype.

Alan Wake: The Return isn't a sequel, it's just a spoof serial TV show that'll be featured within Quantum Break's live-action segments. Basically, Remedy is having fun overlapping the two franchises in a metaphysical way--think of the recurring Invitation to Love TV serial in Twin Peaks, or the Lords and Ladies show in Max Payne. In Quantum Break's universe, Alan Wake is just a television show instead of a real-life person.

So why the trademark? According to Remedy's Sam Lake, the team had to cover all the bases. "A big part of the trademarking process all in all is the legalities of it and just making sure everything is covered. So, there's no real news about anything future Alan Wake-related."

It's no secret that there's a general, and seemingly persistent, level of saltiness in the air when it comes to gaming. Positivity exists, but it's not as prevalent as it should, or could be. Akamai has your back, and they're working towards finding a solution to your problems, making gaming the fun past time that it should be.

We all get frustrated with gaming at one point of another, with issues or problems that are out of our own hands that can eventually contribute to that feeling of disappointment that leads to abandoning a once enjoyable game. The player experience is a very important aspect of gaming, and it extends through the entire process, from signing up to play, downloading the game to the core mechanics inside. Perhaps one of the most

Akamai is no stranger to the gaming community. They happen to have close ties with around 23 of the top 25 gaming companies around the world. They're the force behind the delivery of a lot of the content that you consume, so for their business to be successful, they need to know and understand precisely what's frustrating us and driving us away from games. In fact, it's been found that something as simple as removing a "play" button on the games launcher can lead to a 10% different in people who continue through to actually play. Those small changes can inevitably lead to huge jumps in the quality of life, things that gamers may unconsciously be prejudiced against.

Yesterday, Twitter, Reddit, and 15 other tech companies collectively filed an amicus brief in support of Apple and its defense of smartphone encryption. For reason unclear, other giants like Microsoft and Facebook -- which have publicly announced their support -- were not included. However, they have filed their own separate brief with the same goal.

Microsoft President and CLO Brad Smith writes in a blog post of the case, "The fact that we're discussing the All Writs Act across the country is a telling indication of the urgent need to update antiquated rules that govern digital technology and privacy. If we are to protect personal privacy and keep people safe, 21st century technology must be governed by 21st century legislation. What's needed are modern laws passed by our elected representatives in Congress, after a well-informed, transparent, and public debate."

He later continues, "We've reached a critical moment in which a new generation of mobile and cloud-based technologies have far outrun the laws that protect our safety and preserve our timeless and fundamental rights. By standing with Apple, we're standing up for customers who depend on us to keep their most private information safe and secure."

Star Fox Zero didn't quite get the fan reaction that Nintendo was looking for when it was revealed at E3 in 2015. It was missing an important ingredient that just didn't make it as attractive a game as it probably, by rights, should be. It's Star Fox, at its core is an enjoyable arcade shooter with an over the top story and lovable characters.

The Star Fox they showed wasn't any of that. In fact, according to the developer, Platinum, the game on screen at E3 was the result of a few experiments with the Wii U controller and a screen. It ended up being themed on the famous fox, but it wasn't really what we know deep down to be Star Fox. It sucked.

Nintendo and Platinum have listened to the criticism, and have realized the mistakes that they made when handling one of their most precious IP's . People wanted something where strategy was an important part of the premise, where the look and feel was classic, yet updated. And they've gone and done that. Just in time too, for the April 22nd release date. Miyamoto assures us that Star Fox Zero will be precisely what fans are looking for.

Up until now, No Man's Sky has been quite a mystery. When the game was revealed it built up tons of hype, but as time went by, myself and tons of other gamers started getting nervous. We had so many questions, and hardly any of them were getting answered. Luckily, Hello Games has blown the lid off of No Man's Sky and peeled back the game's many layers to reveal the juicy tidbits within.

Hello Games recently let various press outlets try out No Man's Sky, and while we weren't selected for the demo tests, we can still glean a ton of info from the coverage. As a die-hard fan of the game, I'm quite curious to find out what exactly we can do in the game, and I decided to put together this list.

By no means is this a definitive or comprehensive charting of the game's full content--it's meant to be a guide more than anything, so you can get an idea of the scope of No Man's Sky.

Star Citizen's latest update has just hit the public servers, bringing it up to version alpha 2.2. This update adds new playable ships, fixes a lot of bugs and glitches that have been found during the PTU sessions and adds a new reputation system that also brings a bounty reward system to the game.

The reputation system is one of the biggest changes they've added. It adds a sort of "monitored" area of space, where your actions, good or bad, can result in consequences. So if you're one of those griefers that wants to blow up an innocent pilots ship while they're trying to fix a comm array, you become a wanted man/woman.

They are five levels of criminals and each one carries with it an increasing length of time-out before being able to respawn When a person does enough terrible, grief-ridden things in the server, then all the players there can get a special reward for vaping the wanted criminal. And that person gets ejected from the server as a punishment. There's been some community issues, people being terrible to other players inside.

Let's face it, the Doom reboot has some audaciously bad box art. It's so bad that everyone thought it was just a placeholder image rather than the finished product. Bethesda and id have heard the call from fans, and soon we'll be able to vote for the kind of demon-slaying chaos that belongs on a Doom box.

Bethesda revealed two new box art images on the Doom Twitter account, saying that polls for voting will open up soon. Both pieces of artwork were designed in-house by id Software, and it shows: they're so deliciously devilish and match the brutality of the franchise.

The first box art image is my favorite--it's a throwback to the original artwork that made Doom an infamous game that our mother's cringed back in the 90's. The second one is rather simple but effective. It's something I'd expect to see on the halls of a dark, blasphemous fane where black-cloaked Satanists enact terrible rituals.

The planet of Faykreed from the upcoming Star Ocean doesn't seem to have the brightest of futures. The denizens are of the underdeveloped planet are under attack by something dark and menacing that seems to be unstoppable.

The heroes of Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness will have to make some tough decisions to save the world, and it's all being set up rather dramatically, and epically in this new trailer. It also reveals that a young girl by the name of Relia seems to hold to key to the story.

The trailer seems to be completely in-game, showing off the progress they've made with the graphics. This is also the first time that we get to hear the English voice actors as they take on the roles of their characters.

According to Microsoft, Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney has it all wrong: Redmond's push into Windows 10 PC gaming isn't the beginning of an oppressive regime, but a "fully open ecosystem" that taps the freedom of the platform.

In a recent op-ed piece for The Guardian, Epic's Tim Sweeney called Redmond out for its new invasive push to utterly dominate PC gaming. The developer, who has had a long-running relationship with Microsoft with its Gears of War franchise, says that Microsoft is "curtailing users' freedom to install full-featured PC software, and subverting the rights of developers and publishers to maintain a direct relationship with their customers." Sweeney is calling for gamers, developers, and publishers to fight this move.

Microsoft has delivered an official response to Sweeney's statements, saying that the Universal Windows Platform--which powers Windows 10 PC gaming--is quite open. "The Universal Windows Platform is a fully open ecosystem, available to every developer, that can be supported by any store," said Kevin Gallo, corporate vice president of Windows. "We continue to make improvements for developers; for example, in the Windows 10 November Update, we enabled people to easily side-load apps by default, with no UX required."

The momentum for Splatoon seems to have settled just a bit. Out of the gate it was an extremely popular game, and for good reason. It was a somewhat less violent (well, different in it's display of violence) third person shooter that let you shoot huge gobs of paint at your friends. Nintendo is definitely not neglecting this exclusive, either. They've announced plans for more free updates coming this year.

The first update will improve all of the less-popular abilities, such as "Cold Blooded" and others. There'll also be some changes to the ranked matchmaking and they're planning on putting in some new stuff for their Splatfest events. This update will be out on Tuesday, March 8th.

In two more future free updates Nintendo wants to add a few new weapons that also include some cool variations on some of the more popular ink-shooting weapons. We should be seeing those updates starting in April. It's really nice to see them stick to adding free content. Splatoon might have had a slow start, but once people actually play it, it grows on you pretty fast.

But only to the New 3DS. Older 3DS owners are left in the dust and won't have access to the SNES titles coming to the Virtual Console. For those that do have the newest model, they'll be able to enjoy a fairly good-sized catalog of games that originally were released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

During the Nintendo Direct yesterday, they were proud to announce that they'll be rolling out a number of new titles to the Virtual Console. Super Mario World, F-Zero and Pilot Wings will be available starting yesterday (March 3rd) while Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Kart and Earthbound will make an appearance on March 24th and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country 2 will all be available on April 14th.

Even though the games are also currently available on the Wii U's Virtual Console, there isn't a cross-buy mechanism in place. You'll have to buy each version separately.

Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney is calling for gamers and the industry to fight against Microsoft's oppressive new push into PC gaming, calling it a "closed platform" that monopolizes PC gaming as a whole.

Sweeney recently wrote a scathing op-ed on The Guardian, calling Microsoft out for its Universal Windows Platform (UWP) ecosystem

"With its new Universal Windows Platform (UWP) initiative, Microsoft has built a closed platform-within-a-platform into Windows 10, as the first apparent step towards locking down the consumer PC ecosystem and monopolising app distribution and commerce. Microsoft has launched new PC Windows features exclusively in UWP and is effectively telling developers you can use these Windows features only if you submit to the control of our locked-down UWP ecosystem. They're curtailing users' freedom to install full-featured PC software, and subverting the rights of developers and publishers to maintain a direct relationship with their customers."

Amazon seems to be moving in the opposite direction of the other big mobile companies that are looking to strengthen their devices security. The latest Fire OS is removing support for encryption starting with version 5.0.

The OS that Amazon uses is a fork of the Android Open Source Project, but it takes out any compatibility with Google's own apps even though it relies heavily on the underlying architecture. Notably missing now, is full device encryption, something that's been greatly improved (and mandatory on some classes of devices) with the release of Marshmallow. Apparently the option of encryption just wasn't used very much by their user-base.

What this means is that the anything that you put on it won't be automatically encrypted, making the storage open to attackers who wish to sync or connect directly to the tablet. To be clear, it only applies to anything on the tablet that's being stored. SSL/TLS connections and communication with Amazon's AWS for your cloud content is still just as safe as ever, and your content in the cloud is likely to be encrypted at rest on their servers, as well, which is quickly becoming the standard.