Latest News - Page 2529

We have some exciting news from Bohemia Interactive, the developers behind huge hits like the Arma series and DayZ - they are working on a VR game.

The news comes out of nowhere, with the developer looking for someone to fill a position in the company. Bohemia were asking for a "Gameplay Programmer to join our development team in the studio's Prague office on an unannounced, original IP, Virtual Reality (VR) title". But now, Ota Vrťátko, a marketing representative for the company confirmed a VR game is in development at Bohemia Interactive.

But what VR game should we expect from BI? I'm hoping that we see something experimental from the developer, following in the lines of the first wave of VR titles - similar to the thoughts of UploadVR writer Joe Durbin. Bring it on, I say.

While CES 2016 was filled with companies like Alienware teasing "Oculus-ready" gaming PCs, bundled with the Oculus Rift, HP wasn't standing alone in the dark without VR-ready gaming PCs.

The company has announced "Virtual Reality Certified" systems, partnering up with HTC instead of Oculus. HP will have two PCs on offer, one that rocks an AMD Radeon GPU, while the other dons an NVIDIA GeForce GPU, with both models being the HP Envy Phoenix 860 desktop. The Envy Phoenix is HP's top-of-the-range desktop, released in mid-2015 but has been upgraded to Intel's new Skylake processors.

HP's high-end 860 model VR-ready gaming PC has customizable LED lighting that runs down the middle of the front of the system, and it looks gorgeous. The 860 also sports liquid cooling for the CPU, and Bang & Olufsen-tuned audio. One of the interesting takes from the "Virtual Reality Certified" PCs, is that HP has opted for the AMD Radeon R9 390X, and not the R9 Fury or R9 Fury X. This could be because the R9 390X has 8GB of RAM, but it's an interesting thing to see from HP. On the NVIDIA side of things, HP has used the GeForce GTX 980 Ti.

Back in October last year, Sanmay Ved noticed that "Google.com" was available on Google Domains, so he snapped it up for $12. Yeah, $12 for Google.com - a steal, right?

Ved owned the most iconic domain name of all time, for all of 60 seconds. After they noticed that the Google.com domain had been purchased, Google cancelled the purchase - and then provided Ved with an undisclosed reward. Well, we have found out through a blog post that Google paid him $6006.13, which is "Google" spelled with numbers - nice one, Google.

Ved donated the reward to The Art of Living India, and once Google found out about this, they doubled the reward amount. Good work there, Google!

Now that we're in the first month of 2016, we're hearing more about the launch of Nintendo's next-gen console, currently known as Nintendo NX.

According to Serkan Toto, a games industry consultant, NX launch titles are being worked on by Bandai Namco. One of these includes Super Smash Bros, but Toto tweeted: "Bandai Namco is currently developing several NX titles. Smash Bros is planned to be a launch title. I am not sure about the date - yet". Someone asked about his source, with Toto replying: "Can't say (sorry), but the source situation is very solid. Otherwise I wouldn't have tweeted".

Toto was asked if Super Smash Bros on the Nintendo NX console would be a totally new title, but he couldn't confirm this news. As for the other titles Bandai Namco is developing for the NX console, we could expect Dragonball Z, One Piece, Pac-Man and Project Treasure - among others.

I'm a huge UltraWide enthusiast, so when I read news that Samsung will be releasing not one, but two 3440x1440 displays this year - my interest is piqued. More so, when I hear that both of the displays will be powered by the beautifully smooth 144Hz refresh rate. Awww yeah.

3440x1440 @ 144Hz isn't easy, as DisplayPort 1.2 can't handle the bandwidth - which is where DisplayPort 1.3 steps in, as DP 1.3 an handle 3440x1440 at all the way up to 195Hz, and even 4K @ 120Hz and 1080p @ 240Hz. Both of Samsung's new 3440x1440 @ 144Hz monitors will be VA panels, but other than that we don't know what else to expect. We should see NVIDIA's G-Sync and AMD's FreeSync technology gracing these screens, which could be the reason why there's two of them in development.

As soon we hear more, you'll be the first to know.

We all know about the security and privacy issues surrounding Windows 10, but the latest look into the Edge browser might scare people off - and if anything, bar them from using Microsoft's nifty new Windows 10 web browser.

Thanks to security researcher Ashish Singh, we're finding out that private browsing data using Edge's InPrivate mode might not be deleting the web browsing history - that's meant to be completely private - after all. According to Singh, who looked at the "Container_n" table that stores web history, anyone can see the tabs that were opened while browsing the web using the InPrivate mode in the Edge browser. Eek.

Singh explains: "Therefore any skilled investigator can easily spot the difference and get concrete evidence against a person's wrongdoings. Plenty of artifacts are maintained by the browser, which makes examination quite easy. However, there are stages where evidence is not so easy to find. The not-so-private browsing featured by Edge makes its very purpose seem to fail". The Verge was able to find evidence in the WebCache of a site visited while using Edge and using InPrivate mode, using Singh's method. Microsoft told The Verge: "We recently became aware of a report that claims InPrivate tabs are not working as designed and we are committed to resolving this as quickly as possible".

Some of Apple's AC adapters have been found "in very rare cases" to break and then cause electrical shock when touched. Consequently, they've recalled them and offered up a free exchange program.

The adapters in question are two prong devices intended to be used in Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Argentina and Brazil. They shipped with Macs, some iOS devices, and the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit. Adapters with a 4 or 5 characters or no characters on the inside slot where it attached to an Apple power adapter are affected, whereas those with a country code are not, as seen in the image below.

For further help on identifying if yours is affected, hit the source. There you can also set up a refund.

With the nominees in and the 2016 Academy Awards ceremony just a few weeks away, speculation about who'll be adding some gold statues to their collections is reaching fever pitch. According to bookies, it might just be 'The Big Short' who'll snag the Best Picture award from the grasp of early Oscar-bait favourite 'The Revenant'.

While director Adam McKay is better known for comedies such as 'Anchorman' and 'Step Brothers', it's his dramatic turn with 2015's 'The Big Short' which has turned heads, based on the United States sub-prime loan disaster which has generated praise and plaudits from across the globe. Official odds from online sportsbook TopBet has the finance drama as the clear favourite to take out the Best Picture Oscar, with investigative drama 'Spotlight' running at second.

Meanwhile, odds have also shortened in Leonardo DiCaprio's favour to finally take home a Best Actor gong, his first in a 20 year career and just weeks after snagging the Golden Globe for his role in 'The Revenant'. That film's director Alejandro G Iñárritu is also the favourite for Best Director, with McKay nipping at his heels.

With VRLA over and done with, the speech that Roy Taylor gave during VRLA has now been uploaded. It provides a great insight into what AMD has planned for VR, which is great to see.

AMD has a major commitment into VR, partnering with countless industry giants, as well as their next-gen Polaris architecture. Polaris will be powering "GPUs to run minimum spec of VR, at lower cost, consuming less power, and running faster", says Taylor. I also agree, and I think Polaris is going to be absolutely paramount for AMD and Radeon Technologies Group. This is an exciting time for AMD, but what else does VR need to be huge?

AMD says that there's a killer app required - pulling the Sega card, and calling out Sonic the Hedgehog as making the first few Sega consoles successful. AMD is right, a killer app is required for VR headsets to truly take off - something that is so big, and so consuming, that everyone wants a VR headset.

Now you can fight to the death as you freefall towards the Earth in Drop Zone, part of the latest update to GTA Online.

This new mode pits you and your team of paratroopers against another team vying for a very small patch of land far below. You get to attack the other team to make sure that you land, safely, first. You're allowed up to four teams and 16 players total all frantically trying to land on a tiny spot you can barely see below you. Whoever secures the location for two non-consecutive minutes wins. There should be five different maps to start off with.

Rockstar is also releasing two new sports cars, the Karin Sultan RS and the Bravado Banshee 900R. Both of those are available right now. And to help you actually afford those two new super cars, they're hosting a weekend event with double cash and RP.

Every Fallout player has thought the same thing at one time or another: what would co-op be like in Fallout 3, or New Vegas? Now thanks to the magic of mods, co-op multiplayer is possible in the Mojave Wasteland.

A modder by the name of nvm_corporal has helped create NV: Multiplayer, the first-ever co-op mod for Fallout: New Vegas that lets gamers team up with friends to explore and quest together. The way FV: Multiplayer works is that one player hosts an online session that others join, and the host's game--inventory, quests, etc--is constantly synchronized with everyone else's. The project is by no means finished or complete, but you can find more info at this Reddit thread, or this FAQ page.

"The way it works currently is that quests are clientside, they still take place in the world but one player in a location will synchronise entities/NPCs to other players around them. This means that if you entered an area where a quest NPC should be, and someone has previously killed them in the cell (whilst someone is currently in it with you), then you will fail the quest on entry."

PC port specialist Nixxes Software has posted a tech support guide to Rise of the Tomb Raider on the Steam forums, just a few hours ahead of the game's launch. In the process, they've made it known AMD will be releasing a 16.1.1 driver "shortly", which they (Nixxes) recommends installing for the game.

It's possible 16.1.1 will include optimizations specifically for the game as is usually the case for big launches; NVIDIA did just this yesterday.

Asked for comment, AMD said, "We're working towards a hotfix that will have improvements for TR, but it's a work in progress. We can't comment on the timing or the details, but we'll keep you posted!"

During TSMC's earning's call, they revealed that they're expecting to begin the process of switching over to 10nm production, ramping it up fully into 2017.

16nm and FinFet are relatively new processes with GPU manufacturers just now taking advantage of a more complete production process and higher yields. Now that those are mature processes they can concentrate on perfecting 10nm, which will likely be somewhat of a challenge, though the market should transition to the new process as demand for 20nm and even 16nm slowly drops as they ramp up. They plan on capturing a large part of the market share with their early introduction of the process.

They've already taped out working devices based on the node, but aren't quite ready for full production. They did invest heavily into research into 10nm back in 2014. We should see actual hardware using this process, likely mobile hardware first, in 2017. Intel is also slated to have their 10nm node ready in 2017 after delaying it past their initial 2016 release date.

While Tiger Direct and Radio Shack have bit the dust, the once-reigning Circuit City has risen from its grave to peddle electronic wares to a new age of consumers.

According to tech industry site Twice, the first resurrected Circuit City will open its doors as early as June, with 50 to 100 stores planned for 2017. The new stores will feature "product zones" specifically tailored to millennials, stocked with popular tech like smartphones, tablets, laptops, 3D printers, wearables, and more. The new brick and mortar stores will have electronic web terminals connected to a "million-SKU online selection" of products.

The company will be helmed by Ronny Shmoel and Albert Liniado, who have an ambitious multi-faceted approach for business. The new Circuit City will fire on all cylinders with web storefronts, "express" kiosks placed in convenience stores, airports and pharmacies, mobile shops, franchised stores, and even a line of Circuit City-branded products.

Apple always has a tight product release cycle, usually having a new or improved version of the last announced and released every year. And this March will mark the month that a new iPad Air (3) is expected to show up. And this time with some vastly improved specs than last year, though of course these are only unsubstantiated rumors.

The Retina displays already had enough pixel density to have incredibly sharp looking screens, but rumors from sources inside the supply-chain of Apple's devices seem to point towards an upgrade to a 9.7" screen with a 4K (or equivalent 3:2) resolution combined with up to 4GB RAM, presumably DDR4L as well.

Again according to some of those companies in the supply-chain, 3D Touch is coming to the iPad Air 3, which isn't surprising given how it's slowly invading the entire product lineup. But the current primary maker of panels for Apple is expecting an increase in demand due to more, and larger, 3D Touch equipped panels.

One of Google's DeepMind AI software programs AlphaGo has beaten the European champion of the board game Go. More than that, it beat him -- Fan Hui -- soundly: 5-0. The fear marks a major AI breakthrough pros predicted wouldn't happen for another decade.

"The technical idea that underlies it is the idea of reinforcement learning - getting computers to learn to improve their behaviour to achieve goals," said Prof Zoubin Ghahramani, of the University of Cambridge. "That could be used for decision-making problems - to help doctors make treatment plans, for example, in businesses or anywhere where you'd like to have computers assist humans in decision making."

For the uninitiated, Go is essentially a more complex version of chess invented in ancient China, and possibly the most intricate board game in the world. While the rules are simpler, there are about 200 moves per player per game as opposed to the 20 in chess. The DeepMind division at Google says there are more possible positions in Go than atoms in the universe; it makes sense then when its chief executive Demis Hassabis says, "For us, Go is the pinnacle of board game challenges."

GOG is making their own foray into the not-quite-so-finished games market. Following in the successful, if slightly controversial, Early Access from Steam, they're launching their own more particular service called Games in Development.

GOG, though, is taking a bit different approach by taking the time to curate each game that they're letting into their Games in Development program. This is the opposite of Steam, which essentially lets any game that applies for the right, enter into Early Access.

To help encourage people to try these new games, they have a great refund policy to go along with their new program, letting you get a full refund within 14 days, no questions asked. Before the implementation of the more lenient Steam refund policy, it was nigh impossible to even refund an incomplete game, even if you sort-of enjoyed it. And for GoG, there is no limit on how long you've played the game before you can get a refund.

To revitalize its ailing handset business, HTC plans to release the "its most advanced smartphone ever," according to reports from renown hardware insider Evan Blass.

According to inside sources, HTC's new phone is code named "Perfume" and may release onto the retail market as the One M10. The Perfume prototype features a bevy of high-performance specifications across the board, including a 5.1-inch QHD AMOLED screen at 25560 x 1440p resolution, 4GB of onboard RAM, and is tipped to sport Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 820 SoC with Adreno 530 graphics.

HTC has also reportedly fastened a fingerprint scanner to the prototype, which is nestled in a Samsung Galaxy-esque home button format. As far as camera optics, Perfume features a new refresh of HTC's UltraPixel technology: the flagship is outfitted with a 12-UltraPixel resolution with laser-sighted autofocus.

OnePlus phones used to be sold on an invite only basis. You had to apply to be part of an exclusive club, something that curtailed the excitement that was possible surrounding their inexpensive yet powerful and exquisitely designed devices.

But now they're letting anyone get in on the fun with an invite free policy exclusively for the OnePlus X. It seems that OnePlus is able to meet the consumer demands a lot more quickly due to more mature supply-chain management and better manufacturing. This means we can all enjoy their exquisitely designed, inexpensive phones, a lot sooner than with previous models of theirs. Even the OnePlus 2 had to wait four months before being invite-free.

To help celebrate them setting the OnePlus X free, standard shipping for orders of $100 and above is free. The Power Bank that they sell on their site is a little more expensive, though, at $19.00. But overall the $249 price tag is very alluring for such a strangely marvelous phone.

The future holds a lot of technological marvels, but what happens when perfect robots make humans redundant in the workforce? It's actually already happening, says Neil deGrasse Tyson, and as long as we're more "intellectually nimble" going forward, we don't have to worry about it.

"Yes, robots have already taken over our jobs. So what it means is...If all you think about is the jobs today, and you project forward, there might be a day when robots take over every job we have today," Dr. deGrasse Tyson said. "Is that the future that will come? No, because we have innovative people in society, and we invent new things all the time. These require new jobs to manage them, to invent them, to conceive them, to engineer them."