Latest News - Page 2582

We've been hearing all about the Oculus Rift, the Oculus Touch controllers, some aweosme looking games like the Unreal Engine 4-powered 'Bullet Train' from Epic Games, and more. But now, we're beginning to hear more cemented details on pricing.

Oculus co-founder and VP of Product, Nate Mitchell, during a talk with PC Gamer said: "What I think about all day long is user experience, right? So if I'm going to promise you something and you're going to hand me a significant amount of money or whatever it is-we all know it's going to be at least $300-if you're going to hand me $300 today, I am not going to be excited to tell you: 'OK, in nine, 10, 12, 11 months, whatever it is, you're going to get something in return.' The longer you wait, the more you're like, 'This is obnoxious'".

We've heard previously that the Rift would launch with a $300-ish price, but now as we get closer to the official Q1 2016 launch, the $300 price is nice to hear. If you need a new PC and wanted to secure yourself an Oculus-ready PC, you can spend less than $1000 to prepare yourselves, plus the $300 for the Rift itself when it launches early next year.

It looks like porn is about to go next-gen, with the Oculus Rift to be released next year, we're finding out about VR porn. According to Oculus' VP of Product, Nate Mitchell, porn will be something Oculus won't have on their own store and apps, but it won't be banned from the platform itself.

Mitchell told Polygon: "We're actively barring, prohibiting adult entertainment content from being in the store, period. If you're on the Oculus platform, there's none of that content. We have a zero tolerance policy for that". So while Oculus won't be accepting VR porn on their Rift headset, the Facebook-owned company won't stop other people and developers from creating and selling porn-focused VR content on their own sites or storefronts.

"The Rift's hardware SDK is open," Mitchell continued. "But as for content that we're offering to people, and anything that's on what we would consider to be on the Oculus platform, we don't offer, we prohibit it".

The install size for Halo 5: Guardians has been spotted, and if you're an avid Xbox one gamer you might want to shell out for an external HDD or delete some games to make space.

Halo 5 will take up 46.19 GB of the Xbox One's memory, making it the console's eighth largest game to date. This means that Halo 5 will take approximately 12.7% of the Xbox One's 500GB hard-drive, which actually only has 362GB available. The lack of storage space is one of the major frustrations in this current generation of gaming, and as time goes by, it'll only get worse and worse.

If that wasn't enough, 343 Industries will likely roll out a day one patch to soak up even more gigabytes, so we might be looking at a 50GB+ install size just like the ill-fated Master Chief Collection. Gamers are already having to swap and re-install and download games in order to maintain space, and both Sony and Microsoft have attempted to put a band aid on the storage limitations with their respective 1TB PlayStation 4's and limited edition 1TB Halo 5 Xbox One, but they're just delaying the inevitable.

Yes, you read that right. RETRO VGS is a retro console vying for your Kickstarter backing and it's asking for a hefty $1,950,000 from users in total, made up mostly of $299 - $499 donation packages which earn you different levels of console goodness.

The main selling point of this console seems to be the cartridges themselves. Pandering to a retro and collectible audience, the Kickstarter bio talks about how cartridges are great for buying and trading, centering also around the constantly-felt issue of release-day patches and other issues felt by many gamers who are playing on newer consoles or computers. Striving to do away with patches all together, RETRO VGS tells games that all compatible titles "are tested thoroughly before release, just like they used to be."

While also promising to never release a DLC, it just doesn't seem quite right that a never-before-seen retro console is going to be able to drum up almost $2 million in funding over a 45 day period. In saying this, almost $66,000 has already been raised in five days, so maybe this will gain some more traction in coming weeks. However, at a rate of $66,000 every five days, a successful outcome is looking bleak.

With about a month away from Halo 5's release, 343 Industries has already begun plotting out the next Halo game while fleshing out key details for the next ten years of the franchise's future.

"We do kind of know what's going to happen in the next game pretty well at this point," ex-Bungie alum and 343 exec Frank O'Connor said in an upcoming GoldenJoysticks presentation. "We're doing serious real planning and even some writing on the next game already, and that's a luxury - we've never been in that position before. So we both know at a very high level what's going to happen in, say, ten years from now. But at that very granular level knowing what's going to happen in the next game and that's just been a great feeling for me".

It's worth mentioning that proper development hasn't been initiated, and this is the early planning phase to continue the long-running Reclaimer Saga following Halo 5: Guardians. Even still it would behoove 343i to take caution and not jump the gun too quickly: we've seen what happens when too much is attempted too fast with the catastrophic Master Chief Collection, which is still missing key pieces even today. We can only guess what MCC would be like if 343i hadn't been focusing a huge portion of its assets on Halo 5.

Activison has confirmed that last-gen versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will be missing half of the game upon release, and will only ship with multiplayer. That's right, PS3 and Xbox 360 flavors won't have a campaign.

"The Black Ops 3 PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will feature Multiplayer and Zombies gameplay only, not Campaign," reads the official statement. "The ambitious scope of the 1-4 player coop Campaign design of the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions could not be faithfully recreated on old generation hardware."

But why would Activision cut out such a huge portion of the game? Hasn't Treyarch been responsible for a number of Call of Duty games on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3? Interestingly enough Treyarch is only developing the current-gen versions of Black Ops 3. Instead of having the industry vets handle these ports, Activision hired a Beenox and Mercenary Technology to port to X360/PS3. So now things are making sense, and once again Activision has let an inexperienced dev team handle something important, and they dropped the ball (kind of like Sledgehammer did with Advanced Warfare's singleplayer).

With today's release of the iPhone 6S, iFixit has just completed their thorough analysis of the phone's innards, completely exposing what makes the handheld tick. Their findings confirm and assess the entirety of the iPhone 6S' touted features and reveal some key changes in the new model, including a smaller capacity battery, a heavier display, and a new, bigger SoC with the A9 chip.

One of the first obvious changes in the iPhone 6S teardown was the smaller battery, which is now 1715 mAh compared to the beefier 1810 mAh that powers last year's iPhone 6. Even with this reduction Apple has affirmed the battery life will remain the same. It appears the battery size was cut down a bit to make room for the phone's Tactic Engine, which is fastened below the battery.

In order to maintain the new pressure-sensitive 3D Touch capability, the iPhone 6S has received a boost in capacitive sensors making the display weigh in at 60 grams total. That's 15 grams over the iPhone 6's display, and the same weight as the iPhone 6 Plus' 5.5" display. Other changes in the new Retina HD display include a slight reduction in cables and LCD plate design, but all in all the 3D Touch display seems "pretty visually similar" to past displays.

Sure, Kanye says a lot of stuff and has a few flights of fancy, like when he referred to himself as the new Steve Jobs.So when he announced last month at 2015 Video Music Awards that he was intending to run for the President of the United States in 2020, few took him seriously. But they should, because he insists he is.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, the eccentric artist says he has "I've got five years before I go and run for office and I've got a lot of research to do, I've got a lot of growing up to do". Following an anti-politician pitch that seems to be working for Donald Trump, West goes on to say "I hate politics. I'm not a politician at all. I care about the truth and I just care about human beings. I just want everyone to win, that's all I can say, and I think we can".

If (and this is still a big if) he goes through with his Presidential bid, and if (and this is also a big if) he wins, and if (and this is an equally big one) he's still married to Kim Kardashian, she'd be the First Lady. Let that sink in for a moment. Meanwhile, West's latest album 'SWISH' is due to hit before the end of the year. I'm sure you can't wait.

During the Oculus Connect 2 developer conference in LA, Samsung's VP of Mobile, Peter Koo, announced the new Gear VR headset. The refreshed Gear VR headset has been announced for just $99, a super-cheap entry into the world of VR goodness.

Samsung's new Gear VR is 22% lighter than its predecessor, with the company also improving the touchpad on the side of the headset. They also added a directional pad to the side of the Gear VR that will make navigation through menus much easier. The new Gear VR will work with Samsung's new Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 smartphones, as well as the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge handsets.

The new Gear VR will arrive on Black Friday in the US for $99, where it will hit other markets just after that.

Although Xbox division head Phil Spencer thinks that the divisive console wars bring out the worst in gamers, the team leader for Redmond's gaming sector is very optimistic about the state of console gaming as a whole--and a lot of that has to do with the Xbox One's momentum.

"Gaming is in a healthy spot. You have to earn your customers, but we seem to be doing that," Xbox boss Phil Spencer said in an interview with VentureBeat. Spencer goes on to highlight some of the breakthroughs the Xbox brand has made and how they will open up new doors in the future. "We have a ton of opportunity in front of us. We launched Windows 10 at the end of July, beginning of August, and we've seen very good uptake from the game experiences we have in there. We have a lot more opportunity as we bring more games into that experience as well. I'm not frustrated by it. I'm only frustrated in that there's not more time for us to do more things faster. It takes time to get good things done."

While the PlayStation 4 beats out the Xbox One in terms of raw hardware, the key to the Xbox's potential lies in Microsoft's grand plan. The console is set to be a gateway for cross-platform game streaming, effectively bridging consoles and PC. In just a few months the Xbox One is set to evolve with the power of Windows 10 and manifest Microsoft's plans with features like backward compatibility with 100 Xbox 360 games, a dramatically faster UI, and the seeds for DirectX 12 integration.

The Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics has created an incredible suspension rig that adds a new dimension for VR sim potential.

The array is called the Cable Robot, and is an icosahedron-shaped lightweight carbon-fiber frame that's fully suspended by eight thick cables that allow omni-directional control in midair. Essentially the array can simulate dynamic spatial movement that could bring a whole new level of immersion for amusement park rides, gaming sims, and even cinematic movie experiences.

Users are safely ensconced within the geometric frame while wearing a VR headset, and thanks to the optical tracking system, the rig will actually move and react in accordance to user movements. The eight-cable suspension provides "freely programmable trajectories within six dimensions" and will bank, tilt, and accelerate with a total force of up to 1.5G's.

Today's video games are a joyous din of sound that adds a new level of immersion. In a sense, video games are all about creating a fantasy to trick our senses into experiencing a virtual world. Without the basic framework of sight and sound, the illusion completely breaks down and the game loses a huge portion of its believability.

A silent void might be the future of video games; that is unless voice actors and big publishers can agree on a deal. Video game voice actors are not happy with the current terms of their contracts and have made demands through the SAG-AFTRA union. Sadly nothing's working. "We've been through two rounds of negotiations with our employers, and they've rejected every proposal we've made."

The battle has delivered a behind the curtain look at how the industry works. Voice-over actors don't get royalties if a game is incredibly successful--they're paid a flat fee and that's it. Actors don't get extra pay in vocally stressful roles, and often a stunt coordinator isn't present when the actor is pushed to do stunt-like activities to add realism. Voice actors often don't even know the full depth of what they're getting into when they're hired. Not only have publishers denied the proposals, they've instituted a punishing set of restrictions to add insult to injury.

Said to help deliver "a custom experience" for Chinese users through the implementation of local browsing and search options, Microsoft's partnership with Baidu was announced in September 23 and aims to spread Microsoft throughout this Eastern nation.

This partnership will see Baidu.com become the new Windows Edge browser home page, plus a 'Windows 10 Express' app will be developed in order to help end users install the operating system in the first place. If this wasn't enough to entice users, Baidu will also be offering "Universal Windows Applications for Search, Video, Cloud and Maps for Windows 10" as reported by ZDNet.

Microsoft says that "we remain deeply committed to delivering Bing around the world and we're also committed to offering locally relevant experiences - like Baidu in China - to provide great Windows 10 experiences" when asked about what this partnership will do to its own search engine.

EA has just announced that the open beta for Star Wars: Battlefront will be held from October 8-12 across Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC (via Origin) with offline split-screen co-op included.

Players will only get four days to try the beta, which will offer three different gametypes across a trio of unique environments set in the cinematic universe, complete with Hero and Villain support with Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. No details on the beta's matchmaking system have been uncovered so far, and we'll likely have to wait to find out concrete info. The beta will feature three modes including the following:

EA will also test out the Battlefront Companion experience during the beta, which adds a card-based mini-game that unlocks credits that can be used to buy content within the retail game. It looks like EA will launch the companion experience in a web browser format over at the official Star Wars Battlefront website instead of an app.

It looks like Half-Life 3 won't be playable on Valve's own Vive VR headset--or any virtual reality headset for that matter. Valve's own Chet Faliszek was on hand at EGX where he delivered a panel discussing the future of VR. When the audience was allowed to ask one-on-one questions the inevitable Half-Life 3 query popped up, and of course Faliszek wasn't surprised.

Will Half-Life 3 be made in VR? "We were kinda thinking that was what you were going to ask...no," Faliszek answered at 43:34 with an air of finality, saying no more on the subject.

The Valve dev went on to talk about other troublesome hurdles that VR is facing, including the dreaded snake's nest of cords and cables. Right now every VR peripheral requires a wired connection to maintain the high-data low-latency streams that are essential to create the illusion of virtual reality. "Wireless is going to be really hard. And so what we've seen is the controllers are wireless, and they let you have input so you can kinda be free that way. And the cables and cords actually get thinner. Once you do [VR] enough you get this kind of cable management in your head where it becomes less than an issue. We wish there was no cable but there's physical limits."

Hi-Rez Studios is known for being the makers of popular games like SMITE and Tribes, often going down the free-to-play route and sometimes allowing users to play all characters without paying real-life money or spending horrendous amounts of hours grinding away. This new title to come to the table is called PALADINS: Champions of the Realm and it's a fully-unlocked free-to-play team-based FPS.

If you watch the video above, the first thing that sticks out is the ability to use mounts in an FPS game which is pretty damn neat, what else is cool is that it's going to be at TwitchCon this weekend, free for anyone to try out. The Early Access waiting pool is now open for signups, with this set to kick off "later this year" as pointed out in a recent press release.

What makes this game truly different is the use of power up cards, enhancing each characters abilities and allowing for a chop and change menu between the three you currently have active, depending on your needs. For more information on this, watch the video above.

For those who just want to have it all, Digital Storm has announced its AVENTUM 3 Gaming Desktop, complete with a custom made liquid cooling setup comprised of EK Water Block parts and plenty of love.

As explained by Harji Chana, Chief Operating Officer of Digital Storm, this model "is our declaration that a PC does not have to be just the sum of its parts. We designed the AVENTUM 3 from the ground up with a focus on unmatched accessibility and modularity that can't be found anywhere else." That alone is a big claim for sure, but the AVENTUM 3 does bring some big guns to the table.

Featuring a separated chamber design (think similar to the Thermaltake Level 10), this build houses the components within a special sealed chamber, completely separate from the chamber which houses the liquid cooling setup - meaning heat will not interfere across all your internals.

TSMC has confirmed that it has made the first samples of NVIDIA's next generation GP100 GPU, with NVIDIA now testing the new Pascal architecture internally. When should we expect the consumer release? Sometime mid next year.

NVIDIA has been sent the first GP100 samples to its subsidiary in India, but we don't know anything other than this. The company taped out its GP100 GPU in June, which is going to be made on the 16nm FinFET+ process, and we should see it utilizing HBM2, providing 1TB/sec of memory bandwidth. This will be quite the increase on the 334GB/sec that the GTX 980 Ti and Titan X are capable of, and is double the 512GB/sec that AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X can muster with its HBM1.

The new Pascal architecture should also deliver its own upgrades over the Maxwell architecture that has been so good to NVIDIA across 2015. The GP100 rocks 17 billion transistors, and should see NVIDIA pack in some 6000 or so CUDA cores, up from the 2816 CUDA cores found in the GM200-powered GTX 980 Ti. Personally, I think we might see NVIDIA release multiple Pascal products - where I would love to see a GDDR5-based offering for the cheaper mainstream side, and a HBM2-powered GeForce 1000 series card for the enthusiasts.

Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, has had some interesting things to say in his latest interview with GameSpot. Spencer talked about his thoughts on VR, and of the console wars between Sony and Nintendo.

Spencer was asked his thoughts on VR and AR, and whether it was the future of gaming. He said: "Well, now it's just my opinion. I'll say, obviously we have relationships with Valve, we have a relationship with Oculus around the VR work that they're doing, but I'm going to say I kind of hope not. It doesn't mean I don't think VR has great experiences to offer".

He moved on to talk about the console wars, which have been going on for what feels like, forever. Spencer said: "the one thing that I probably find a little distasteful in the discourse around games is the divisiveness that people try to build between platforms. It becomes more about what piece of plastic I own than what games I'm playing. It becomes more about somebody else failing than the things I love succeeding". He added: "I'm going to actively push against that. People sometimes will make fun of me that I mentioned Sony or I mentioned Nintendo. It's not to placate anybody or make them think I'm some kind of good guy. My job isn't really to keep you from buying something else. My job is to make you proud of what we offer, and to give you an enjoyable experience with the product we have".

If you've ever received a bill with the wrong 'amount owing' amount, you will never again complain after reading this story. One couple received a $2.1 million bill from Verizon Wireless, after Ken Slusher from Damascus, Oregon received his bill for $2,156,593.64. Slusher said: "Yeah, it's been very stressful to say the least".

While FOX 12 was with him, Slusher called Verizon Wireless' automated phone line to check his account balance, where a voice recording said "Your total amount due is $2,156,593.64". Slusher and his girlfriend opened the Verizon account last November, where they purchased two smartphones. The couple only kept the service going for one month after they kept getting incorrect bills.

Slusher added that their first bill should've been $120, where instead he received a bill of $698 plus a previous balance of $451. The next statement? Just $9. Slusher continued: "The number of errors and the comedy of which they happened is astounding to me". In January, the couple returned the smartphones they had, and thought it was all over and done with. That is, until they received notices from multiple collection agencies demanding up to $2000 each.