Latest News - Page 2571

Space-sims are definitely coming back in full force. Elite: Dangerous, Star Citizen and now another iconic yet little known title has been updated significantly, and was released under the radar. Evochron Legacy came out just yesterday, and it's the space-sim you're looking for if you're waiting for something like Star Citizen.

Evochron Legacy is a continuation of the fantastic game that was Evochron Mercenary. This is one of the original examples of how awesome procedural generation can be. The game itself is only a mere ~300mb, because everything is generated and created when you start it up. And the open-world is absolutely massive.

You can play different pre-made single-player missions, or you can go about your business and build an empire. The premise and gameplay is very similar to the X series of games, but you can be so much more involved in the economy and politics of the galaxy.

AMD's new Polaris chip might have just been caught on the Zauba import/export table, if we can truly believe what other sources have decoded while reading these manifests.

The price of per unit of this particualr "printed circuit board assembly for personal computer(video/ video card)" is such that it lines up with other AMD shipments in the past. It also indicate that the bigger Polaris die which we were able to see at CES, might be well into production. That's good news for us enthusiasts.

But then again, decoding the serial numbers and the entire manifest is very difficult, and even though some might claim that they know that these particular shipments are indeed for AMD and are a chip with a particular architecture, we don't actually know. But it is exciting that at least production appears to be marching on as you read this. Just don't forget the tablespoon of salt. And yeah, it's okay to be excited too. I know I am.

The smash indie hit Minecraft is more than just a game: it's a learning tool that's been used to teach Japanese and JavaScript code, but how about writing and executing programs while in-game? Yeah, that's possible, too.

Minecraft modder SethBling has built an interpreter in the BASIC programming language, which essentially lets gamers compile and run scripts while in-game. So you're using Minecraft's voxel world to make and run small, simple little programs. Users can do a variety of nifty things with SethBling's BASIC interpreter, including solving everyday calculations or counting prime numbers to infinity.

For a more practical solution, users can write simple scripts to programming automated mining turtles--basically little bots--to do various tasks. These mining turtles can dig holes and collect materials all day while you're AFK, making for a nifty little addition that can save you quite a bit of time.

Whether you need to upgrade your outdated Radeon card or want to ensure your PC is ready for the incoming VR boom, we've found a duo of GPU deals that will fit the bill nicely. Today we have two different flavors of AMD's Radeon R9 390's discounted over at Newegg, both of which offer some impressive performances with 4K resolution support.

These sales are complimented by mail-in-rebates, which is par for the course for NewEgg sales. First up we have a PowerColor Radeon R9 390 for just $268 after a $20 mail-in-rebate (regular price $268), and the eggmen are tossing in a free $10 gift card to boot--but I don't think you can use the card for this purchase, only future purchases. The PowerColor R9 390 sports 1x HDMI, 1x Display Port and 2x DVI slots, and requires a 6-Pin / 8-Pin connectors with a 750W PSU.

Next up is an XFX Radeon R9 390 dropped down to $274 after a $30 MIR (original price $304). This card is similar to the PowerColor model, featuring a single HDMI and DisplayPort slot accompanied with two DVI ports. The power requirements are the same, with a minimum 750W PSU and the 6 and 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

Metal Gear Solid Online for PC is finally and officially here. And it's probably one of the better examples of small-unit team-work based online multiplayer shooters. Maybe.

The successful beta has concluded and now it's available for download for everyone. The development team at Konami plans on continually adding content and balancing gameplay to keep it interesting and exciting.

As an incentive, if you've played at least one game between January 19th and the 26th, then you'll be rewarded with a hefty sum of 3000 Gear Points to spend on character customization's.

aApple is known for incorporating new and innovative technologies in its iPhone lineup, and we can see proof of this in every new major iPhone refresh. Now it looks like Cupertino may bolster its future iPhones with the new Wi-Fi-killing connection standard Li-Fi, which is capable of dramatic speed increases of up to 224 gigabits per second.

According to code snippets found by iOS jailbreaker Chase Fromm, Apple referenced Li-Fi in OS 9.1 firmware code. The code clearly states "LiFi capability" alongside other hardware features, giving a strong hint that Apple is experimenting with the new tech for use in new phones.

Li-Fi, which uses light to transmit data, has proven to be an extremely potent platform that can hit speeds 100 times faster than Wi-Fi. Researchers have reached incredible transfer speeds of 224 gigabits per second in laboratory environments, which is fast enough to download multiple full HD movies in two seconds. The amazing new tech has its Achilles heel, though, as Li-Fi's light stream cannot pass through walls like Wi-Fi can. Plus Li-Fi needs a direct line of sight to a light sensor to function, making the tech a more intimate and closed-space platform.

Robots are slowly taking over the human population, in factories, retail and service industries - slowly, but surely. But, how much worse can it get? The World Economic Forum has now weighed in, with some estimates.

The WEF says that over 5 million jobs will be lost to robots, with the white-collar workers (admin/office jobs) being the ones most at risk. The WEF surveyed 15 countries that have over 1.9 billion workers - including China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the UK and the US. These 1.9 billion workers make up 65% of the global workforce, with hope that robots won't take over all of our jobs - as people will need to adapt to technology as it arrives.

WEF founder Klaus Schwab and board member Richard Samans explained: "To prevent a worst-case scenario -- technological change accompanied by talent shortages, mass unemployment and growing inequality -- reskilling and upskilling of today's workers will be critical". You can read their full report "The Future of Jobs" here.

If you're someone who uses a VPN, Tor or another proxy network to get around the region blocking on Netflix - you won't be allowed to do that for much longer. Considering Netflix is a powerful player, spending $6 billion in 2016 on original content, you'd think they'd want to keep as many consumers as happy as they can.

Netflix lawyers who write up content licensing agreements with studios and networks think that region blocking makes sense, but to those of us in the real-world, it doesn't. As Boing Boing writes "We just want to be able to watch the stuff we love, wherever and whoever we are".

According to Netflix's Vice President of Content Delivery Architecture, David Fullagar, "If all of our content were globally available, there wouldn't be a reason for members to use proxies or 'unblockers' to fool our systems into thinking they're in a different country than they're actually in". He added: "In the meantime, we will continue to respect and enforce content licensing by geographic location".

With the release of Deadpool set for next month, Fox's R-rated 'anti-superhero' movie won't be released in China. According to local media reports, Deadpool has been denied permission to screen in China over its "violence, nudity and graphic language", reports The Hollywood Reporter.

China's censorship authorities usually work with Hollywood studios to create more family-friendly versions of their R-rated counterparts, but sources close to Deadpool say it just wasn't to start cutting away at the movie, as it was not possible without causing plot problems. China also has no rating system, which makes it much harder to maintain strict lines for movies - with SAPPRFT (State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television - China's media regulator - has the final judgment on film imports.

But Marvel movies have done big business in China, so we're sure Deadpool will find its way into the country. Considering Avengers: Age of Ultron made $240 million in China, while Guardians of the Galaxy pulled in $96.4 million, and Ant-Man with $105.4 million, Chinese audiences will be begging to see Deadpool once the reviews start rolling in when it hits theaters on February 12.

If you didn't already know, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (or TSMC) is the largest contract chip manufacturer, making chips for the likes of NVIDIA, Apple, and other industry giants.

The company has just announced it is developing 10nm chips, and according to an annual report from the company, their 2015 profits hovered at $9.15 billion. Compared to 2014, TSMC saw a 16.2% increase in yearly profits, even in the face of Samsung dominating with its 16nm FinFET and 14nm nodes. TSMC has been pushing ahead, however, and is now on their way to 10nm being taped out in the next couple of months.

Looking into the future, TSMC expects to hit the 7nm process in 2018, which isn't too far away at all. First up, we'll be seeing next-gen GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA arriving in 14nm and 16nm, respectively, over the coming months.

Netflix has made huge waves in the last year or so, and especially with gigantic hits like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and Marvel's Daredevil and Jessica Jones.

Well, the streaming content giant is committing a huge $6 billion over 2016, which should secure itself as the leader in streaming content. During the Television Critics Association press tour, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said: "Is there too much TV?" he asked, adding "I'll pause for a second", knowing that reporters would want to note down his next quote: "We don't think there's too much TV. And if there is too much TV, someone else is going to have to slow down, because we have big plans for 2016 and beyond".

Sarandos said that Netflix will have over 600 hours of original content in 2016, adding that 2016's budget is huge. He said: "We're going to spend in 2016 about $5 billion dollars on content on a P&L basis, which means about $6 billion in cash. We are running a global network, one that is not easily comparable either in business or cultural terms ... We're not courting advertisers, because we're not targeting a single demographic".

Samsung has just announced that it has entered mass production of 4GB DRAM on the HBM2 interface, which will be used for "high performance computing (HPC), advanced graphics and network systems, as well as enterprise servers".

The new 4GB HBM2-based DRAM uses Samsung's 20nm process, and "advanced HBM chip design", which "satisfies the need for high performance, energy efficiency, reliability and small dimensions making it well suited for next-generation HPC systems and video cards". The new 4GB HBM2 DRAM is created by stacking a buffer die at the bottom and four 8-gigabit core dies on top. From there, they're vertically interconnected by TSV holes and microbumps, with a single 8Gb HBM2 die featuring over 5000 TSV holes, which is more than 36x that of a 8Gb TSV DDR4 die.

Bandwidth wise, Samsung's new HBM2-based DRAM package features 256Gbps of bandwidth, double that of HBM1. This is a huge 7x increase over the piddly 36Gbps bandwidth that a 4Gb GDDR5 DRAM chip features. Samsung's new 4GB HBM2 DRAM is also much more power efficient, featuring 2x the bandwidth-per-watt over a 4Gb GDDR5-based solution.

With the HTC Vive receiving praise amongst the press and consumers who have tried it out, the Vive Pre that was unveiled at CES 2016 with the front-facing camera and revamped Lighthouse controllers is incredible. So it should come as no surprise to hear rumors that HTC would secure its Vive headset, spinning off its VR division.

This would allow HTC to operate its mobile and VR businesses separately so that the VR side of HTC isn't affected if HTC's mobile sales continue to dwindle. The latest on HTC is that the company would start off by owning the VR business outright, with rumors that the Taiwanese giant is seeing if its employees are happy to work for the new business. In the wake of this news, HTC shares gained 5.3% to $2.28, with 9.57 million shares being traded.

I've had a couple of months attached to my 65-inch 4K OLED TV from LG, and I just cannot look at another TV without noticing how much ass OLED kicks in comparison. Well, LG has a new advertisement for OLED, showcasing the northern lights in Iceland.

One night back in 2006, the people of Reykjavik, Iceland turned off their lights. Once they were off, darkness took over the city, and something amazing happened - you could see the beautiful colors of the northern lights. The depth of the darkness was the key to the colors looking so vivid, and it's a perfect way to advertise OLED technology. LG is quite smart in using this example, as it really is like that when you look at an OLED TV.

Just wait until the HDR-enabled 4K OLED TVs begin rolling out later this year, as we were left with our jaws on the floor in LG's suite at CES 2016 earlier this month.

Another classic Nintendo game is making its way over to the Virtual Console on the Wii U, further expanding a fantastic library of retro gaming experiences. Mario Kart 64 will be available on January 21st, which is just this Thursday.

And of course there're always caveats. In this case it's that Mario Kart 64 will only be available in Europe for the time being. But for those that have access to the European Virtual Console, you can pick up the classic kart adventure for only £8.99.

There's no word on whether there'll be a wider western release into North America quite yet, but that's still available through the original Wii's Virtual Console, which can actually be accessed through the Wii U regardless. This particualr version will support up to four separate players to help relive some of the best memories in Mario Kart history.

Metal and RPGs go together like wine and cheese, so it makes sense a mobile RPG "steeped in Iron Maiden mythology" is now in development. Named Legacy of the Beast, it will launch on both iOS and Android.

Vancouver-based studio Roadhouse Interactive and 50cc games are the folks developing the game; Roadhouse developed action RPG Warhammer 40,000: Carnage, which has great reviews on the Play Store. Iron Maiden's founding member and bassist Steve Harris will oversee the project, so you'll get the official touch.

The premise: you play as band mascot Eddie the Head and explore world's, travel through time, and fight various characters from the Iron Maiden lore. Naturally, the band's songs will serve as a soundtrack to the role playing. Some of the included tunes will consist of previously unheard live recordings, remastered specifically for the game with Harris looking on.

Corsair has just unveiled a new trio of high-performance, blazing-fast DDR4 RAM module kits aimed at a range of platforms including enterprise workstations and enthusiast gaming rigs.

The reigning champion in Corsair's new Vengeance LPX DDR4 RAM trio is the new 128GB (8x16GB) kit, which pushes a blistering pace with frequencies at or above 3,000MHz. This particular kit is aimed at pushing Intel's X99 quad-channel platform to its limits, and is primarily made for demanding enterprise sector computing. The 128GB DDR4 RAM kits have CL16-18-18-36 timings, sport full XMP 2.0 support, and only draw 1.35V.

Next up we have the Vengeance LPX 64GB (3x16GB) DDR4 kit, which hits 3,333MHz frequency speeds, and sports CL16-18-18-36 timings with a low 1.35V power consumption. Last but certainly not least, is the Vengeance LPX 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 kit that clocks in at a 3,6000MHz frequency speed. The Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 kit has a CL16-19-19-39 timing and runs at 1.35V like its more powerful sibling kits. Both of these flavors are optimized for Intel's Z170 dual-channel platform, and are the fastest 64GB and 32GB RAM kits that Corsair has ever made.

Some marketing and promotional stunts for video games are just over-the-top and insane. And this is no different. Ubisoft is going to give a way a prehistoric cave exploration package in Ouzous, France, to one lucky winner of their Twitter fueled contest. Entering is easy, winning isn't.

One lucky winner will have a chance to stay in a lavish hotel nearby while you explore the caves during the day, and perhaps even at night to highlight the challenges that humans during the prehistoric era had to go through in order to survive. The idea, I would think, is to check out how we lived so long ago while enjoying actual living in some of the finest accomodations around.

To win, you have to reside in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Belgium or The Netherlands and send a tweet to @FarCryGame with #caveBnB with some kind of message, gif or meme explaining your own motivation for entering the competition.

Last week we reported on a discovered bug with Intel Skylake CPUs causing freezing in specific usage scenarios. If you're running Skylake in combination with an MSI motherboard, you'll be pleased to know MSI has released a fix for its Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium and Z170A Gaming M7 boards and will be releasing it for the rest of its Skylake lineup later on.

The company has confirmed the bug and says it will very rarely affect typical users. But, as they say, it's better to be safe than sorry.

You can grab the update here. Note it is a beta BIOS update, so if everything has been running smoothly for you, we recommend waiting for a non-beta update, given how delicate the BIOS can be.

The rumor mill is responsible for churning out some pretty alarming stuff, and the recent gossip made us instantly grab our salt-shakers. Apparently, there's a rumor that Microsoft is going to shut off the Xbox 360's servers this November, forcing gamers over to Xbox One. This prompted the big-wigs at Redmond to step in and squash the hearsay once and for all.

In a recent Tweet, Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirms that Microsoft has absolutely no plans to shutter the Xbox 360's servers in 2016. The exec delivered a short but sweet "not true" in response to the allegations, smashing the fears of last-gen gamers. Additionally, we have to wonder why Microsoft would yank Xbox 360 online multiplayer considering its invested so much in the Xbox One's backward compatibility function.

Furthermore, the Xbox One's backward compatible games are cross-play. So if you fire up an Xbox 360 game on the Xbox One, you can play with other Xbox 360 players. Given this, it's extremely unlikely that Microsoft would be decided to abruptly shut off online play for last-gen systems. At this point, the Xbox 360 and its expansive library of games are bolstering the Xbox One and bear in mind that last-gen gamers are still out there (myself included).