Latest News - Page 2537

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.

If you're looking for high efficiency out of your power supply unit, Enermax is vying for your technology dollar with its new Revolution X't II series - providing 80PLUS Gold certification across the board.

Released in 450W, 550W, 650W and 750W editions, this new line builds on Enermax's old Revolution X't series that was released a few years ago. Also utilizing 100 percent 105-degree celsius Japanese electrolytic capacitors, Enermax claims to provide paramount efficiency and reliability with these new additions.

Set for release later on in February 2016, these models will come backed by a limited 5-year warranty and further offer patented 'HeartGuard' technology, running the power supply fan for 30 to 60 seconds after shutdown in order to cool components and increase this products lifespan.

Now that The Division's open beta is finished, Ubisoft has provided official numbers on how many gamers participated in the open beta. The last we heard, was The Division with the SweetFX mod looking gorgeous, and that Ubisoft will be providing the Snowdrop engine to other teams.

Ubisoft noted that The Division open beta broke the record for the biggest beta for new IP on current-generation platforms, with 6.4 million gamers joining in. Players spent 4 hours and 52 minutes in the game on average, with over 1/3 of that time spent taking down other players in the Dark Zone. Over 2.5 million gamers went rogue, while 63,309,800 contaminated items were successfully extracted from the Dark Zone.

Creative Director Magnus Jansen said: "We want to thank the millions of people who joined in on The Division's Open Beta. We hope everybody enjoyed playing, and we think the beta is going to help ensure a great launch for the game. We're looking forward to everyone getting their hands-on the full game when The Division is released on March 8th".

Carmageddon was one of the first games I played in my teenage years, gasping at the unbelievable thought I was playing this crazy gruesome game - especially here in Australia, where everything is banned - except spiders, snakes and sharks, all of those are completely fine.

Well, developer Stainless Games has announced Carmageddon: Max Damage for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. The developer announced the game thorugh the official Carmageddon: Max Damage website, and provided an awesome new trailer for the game.

The trailer teases that you can drive a DeLorean, so you can get some of that nostalgic Back to the Future driving in Carmageddon: Max Damage on. There's no ETA right now, but Stainless Games explains Carmageddon: Max Damage: "Welcome to the homicidal world of Carmageddon: Max Damage, the driving game where you gain points by mowing down the local inhabitants and your opponents are a bunch of crazies in a twisted mix of killing machines! With insane PowerUps, surreal environments and a variety of ways to win, it all adds up to endless hours of violent and hilarious FUN".

Lenovo unveiled their new Yoga convertibles at Mobile World Congress in the last 24 hours, with the new Yoga 510 and 710 models that can be configured with up to a Radeon R5 M430 and Radeon R7 M460.

It might not sound like much, but this is the first time we've seen AMD's not-yet-announced Radeon 400 series parts inside of a product, and this is just the beginning. There are no details other than the model 'R5 M430' and 'R7 M460' - but we do know each of them will include 2GB of VRAM.

We should expect the Radeon 400 series GPUs inside of Lenovo's latest Yoga 510 and 710 convertibles to be based on the Polaris architecture that AMD's Radeon Technologies Group unveiled late last year, but we'll confirm that 100% when we know.

BBC's landmark 2006 documentary 'Planet Earth' has been lauded as one of the most stunning natural history programs in recent memory, and its Blu-ray release the highest grossing documentary of all time. 10 years later, the network are producing a follow up series, which will be shot and mastered in 4K UHD in what's sure to be a mesmering experience for audiences - not to mention demo-worthy footage for retailers to sell 4K displays.

According to Variety, the upcoming six-part 'Planet Earth II' series will return veteran naturalist Sir Richard Attenborough as the narrator, in a series which Executive Producer Mike Gunton promises to be an "epic scale... truly immersive experience, providing audiences with a unique perspective on the most extraordinary places and animals on our planet."

Unfortunately, producing a series of this scope isn't quick and the new series isn't expected to air until 2019.

Another beta update is available for eager Fallout 4 players, and it's a pretty good one.

Stability and performance improvements are included, as are more settlement customization options (think tribal clutter like meat carts and raider poles, as well as paintings and more signs and doors), and of course a hearty helping of bug fixes. In short, lots to appreciate.

To grab the update, follow the instructions below. If you want the full list of bug fixes and such, hit the source.

We reported a lot of reasons to get excited about the Galaxy S7 earlier today, and now we have a few more, thanks to a partnership between Whitepages and Samsung.

The collaboration between the two companies means you'll have virtually complete knowledge and control of who's calling you and who can call you with the S7. Caller ID will tell you the who, even if they're not in your contacts, as well as if the number has been reported as fraud or spam. Naturally, you can report numbers as fraud or spam yourself.

All of this functionality is already available via the Whitepages app, which can be used with any phone, but to have it integrated by default is breaking new ground.

Despite being invented in Australia, it's somewhat ironic that Australia has been incredibly slow to embrace in-flight wi-fi, with travellers expected to pick up a good book. But the national airline Qantas has today announced that the last bastion of internet free environments is coming to an end.

According to News.com.au, Qantas has today announced plans to add in-flight wi-fi to the airlines fleet of A330s and B737s early next year. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said that "bringing high-speed wi-fi to the domestic aviation market has been an ambition of ours for a long time and we now have access to the right technology to make it happen" and will "give Qantas customers download speeds in the air similar to what they're used to on the ground".

The wi-fi plan will be rolled out via a partnership with ViaSat, which will utilise National Broadband Network fibre backhaul.

The plot has thickened in the San Bernardino terrorist case, as it's been revealed the FBI ordered the Apple ID password on the attacker's phone be reset. The order has given rise to questions about the FBI's competence.

It started when Apple urged authorities to plug the phone of the attacker (Syed Farook) into an outlet in his office, thus triggering an iCloud backup and providing access to the desired data. However, prior to this, the FBI ordered the Apple ID password be reset.

Apple confirmed this in a new FAQ on its website, which addressed the incident as well as other questions that have arisen about the case and the company's stance on encryption.

One of the issues with texting today is a lack of interoperability, meaning you can't text with anyone from any device. Fortunately, Google has partnered with mobile industry leaders to push Rich Communications Services (RCS), the open standard replacement for SMS texting that, in combination with an Android RCS client, will solve this issue. If you're an iPhone user, this is effectively the Android equivalent of iMessage.

Apart from being able to text from anywhere, other benefits of the new standard and client include group chat, high-res photo sharing, read notices, and eventually, advanced calling features. Happily, an open source version of the client will be published at some point, so you can likely expect forks tailored to your preferences down the line.

Mention has been made of a "global rollout" of RCS, though it's not clear yet when exactly that will happen. As ever, we'll keep you posted.

Panasonic never ceases to amaze with the types of rugged sturdy computing devices they churn out. The newest phones Toughpad phones, the FZ-N1 and F1 with Android 5.1.1 and Windows 10 respectively, up the ante considerably while keeping them competitive with other high-end phones.

They have the extreme end of the hardware spectrum, but they're both powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 running at 2.3GHz with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. The 4.7" 720P display is incredibly bright and you'll actually be able to read the screen in direct sunlight. And because this is marketed towards those that need a tough phone, gloved fingers won't be a problem with it's sensitive screen. It wouldn't be a toughbook product if it didn't have a slew of accessories mounted on it, like a barcode reader, NFC, dual SIM capability and a microSD slot.

Nor would it be cut from the same cloth as Panasonic's other rugged series of devices without an absolutely massive battery, either. Two options are available for both devices, a normal 3200mAh or a 6200mAh battery. And you can swap out batteries while it's running.

MWC 2016 - Analogix is a company that never ceases to amaze me, with the announcement of their new SlimPort ANX7688 single-chip mobile transmitter. What makes the new SlimPort ANX7688 so special? Well now.

The SlimPort ANX7688 is capable of driving 4K 60FPS (4096x2160) or 1920x1080 at 120FPS - both from a smartphone or a tablet with full USB-C capabilities. Analogix is forward-thinking with its SlimPort ANX7688 with support and technological capabilities of driving AR and VR technologies, which require much more performance for video processing, and more.

Analogix has created the SlimPort ANX7688 with Qualcomm-based USB-C smartphones and tablets in mind, as it converts the HDMI and USB interfaces to DisplayPort. This is done with Analogix integrating a converter bridge, a high-speed mux, USB-PD support for fast-charging, and the latest HDCP 2.2 content protection. Andre Bouwer, VP of Marketing for Analogix, explains: "ANX7688 puts Analogix years ahead of the competition to enable DisplayPort over USB-C capability on smartphones and tablets".