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'Force Awakens' actor blasts 'ludicrous' secrecy

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Sep 7, 2015 12:12 AM CDT

Actor Anthony Daniels, the man who bought C-3PO to life in all six 'Star Wars' films has blasted the next entry in the franchise for its slavish occupation with secrecy. Speaking to The Guardian ahead of the release of the seventh 'Star Wars' film; the upcoming 'Force Awakens'.

"The secrecy has been beyond ludicrous.. For heaven's sake, it's a movie. When I got the script, it was typed in black on paper of the deepest red so you couldn't photocopy it. I got a hangover just reading it." Andrews continues, relaying a social media faux-pas which bristled representatives from new franchise owners Disney. "I said that I'd met so-and-so. An actor who plays a ... thing in the film. A character. Immediately I received a message from Disney: 'Remove the tweet! You're not allowed to say that!' Honestly. It's a kind of Kremlin attitude. Look, I know perfectly well not to tell you now what I'm giving you for a Christmas present because it would spoil the surprise. And these films are all about opening the box on Christmas Day."

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' hits cinemas worldwide in 2D, 3D and IMAX screens starting from December 17th, 2015.

Continue reading: 'Force Awakens' actor blasts 'ludicrous' secrecy (full post)

Biggest 2015 box office failures revealed

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Sep 6, 2015 8:30 PM CDT

There were some great winners at the 2015 box office, with four films grossing over a billion dollars, including 'Jurassic World', 'Furious 7', 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. But which films didn't make back enough bank? The Hollywood Reporter has tallied up the five biggest failures and they might surprise you.

Disney's 'Tomorrowland' is the number one failure, which looks like it will create a loss for the house of mouse to the tune of $120-$150 million, followed by 20th Century Fox's 'Fantastic Four' which didn't do so fantastically and which will cost the company between $80 and $100 million.

Sony's video game blowout 'Pixels' didn't entertain many, and will bathe in $75 million in losses, while the fun 'Man From U.N.C.L.E.' and 'Aloha' will generate $80 and $65 million in losses respectively.

Continue reading: Biggest 2015 box office failures revealed (full post)

This mod will unlock the 60FPS cap on Metal Gear Solid V's frame rate

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 6, 2015 7:01 PM CDT

Now that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is out, some gamers are noticing that there's a 60FPS frame rate cap. While 60FPS is still a great achievement, especially in the age of 'next-gen' consoles, there are a plethora of 120Hz and 144Hz monitors that gamers want to see fully utilized.

Thanks to the users of the NeoGAF forums, with user 'Alo81', who has provided a guide on how to unlock the framerate on MGS V: The Phantom Pain. First you'll need this file, then to follow these instructions:

Continue reading: This mod will unlock the 60FPS cap on Metal Gear Solid V's frame rate (full post)

Acer teases new 4K monitor with 75Hz refresh rate and NVIDIA's G-Sync

Anthony Garreffa | Displays | Sep 6, 2015 4:57 PM CDT

Acer didn't just unveil a new 35-inch 21:9 monitor with a 200Hz refresh rate, it also showed off a new 27-inch 4K monitor, too. Acer's new XB271HK will succeed the XB270HK, with the same 27-inch display size and 4K resolution, but bumps the specs up inside of the panel.

The new XB271HK is part of Acer's Predator XB1 lineup of monitors, featuring a ZeroFrame edge-to-edge design backed up by a 4K, IPS-based panel. It supports 100% of the sRGB color gamut for great color reproduction, but where the new XB271HK takes the cake from its predecessor is that it pumps out 4K at up to 75Hz with NVIDIA's G-Sync.

Acer's XB270HK had the same 4K resolution and G-Sync technology but was only capable of 60Hz, and while 75Hz doesn't sound like much, with G-Sync it's going to feel like quite the jump in refresh rate smoothness for gamers.

Continue reading: Acer teases new 4K monitor with 75Hz refresh rate and NVIDIA's G-Sync (full post)

Samsung teases DDR4 RAM at 6.4GHz for 2020 with 51.2GB/sec bandwidth

Derek Strickland | RAM | Sep 6, 2015 5:33 AM CDT

Samsung is already planning on the next memory grade beyond DDR4 and projects that it will be able to hit 32GB with base speeds of 6.4GHz by 2020.

With the mainstream adoption of DDR4 RAM fast approaching on the horizon, industry movers like Samsung are beginning to lay out the building blocks for the next memory standard. As technology continues to evolve at a blistering pace Samsung projects that the new SDRAM grade will manifest within the next five years and that prototypes will be unveiled as early as 2018.

At IDF 2015, Samsung laid out targeted performance values for the post-DDR4 solution. The findings project that next-gen DRAM should be able to hit speeds of up to 6.4Gb/s with a total memory bandwidth of up to 51.2GB/s. A sub-10nm form factor has been targeted for the memory IC.

Continue reading: Samsung teases DDR4 RAM at 6.4GHz for 2020 with 51.2GB/sec bandwidth (full post)

Elite: Dangerous will soon have Xbox One and PC cross-platform play

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 6, 2015 2:13 AM CDT

Update: Michael Gapper, the PR and Communications Manager for Frontier Developments reached out to us after this story went live, correcting us. He said: "We've chosen not to do crossplay between Xbox One and PC for Elite: Dangerous because we don't want to throw those communities up against one another in direct competition. PC and Xbox One players occupy the same galaxy, but not the same play space. This means everyone shares the same story, and experiences the same economy, interstellar wars, exploration, diplomacy and Powerplay state throughout the galaxy. Whether you play on PC, Mac or Xbox One, everyone will contribute to and benefit from sharing the same galaxy, without necessarily colliding head-to-head".

If you're an Elite: Dangerous player, did you know that Frontier Development will be ushering in cross-platform play between the Xbox One and PC versions of the game on October 6? Exciting stuff, huh?

Elite: Dangerous launches on the Xbox One on October 6, so from day one it will be cross-platform capable with the PC version of the game. But, the Xbox One version of Elite: Dangerous will not have Kinect support for headtracking, which is a disappointment, but it will feature support for the upcoming Xbox Elite controller that's priced at $150.

Continue reading: Elite: Dangerous will soon have Xbox One and PC cross-platform play (full post)

LG shows off double-sided 111-inch 4K OLED TV

Anthony Garreffa | Displays | Sep 5, 2015 11:06 PM CDT

LG has unveiled quite the unique offering at IFA 2015, with a massive 111-inch double-sided, 4K OLED-based TV. The 111-inch TV is made capable using three 65-inch 4K OLED displays, allowing viewers to watch both sides of the TV simultaneously.

The company also displayed a new 55-inch version of its double-sided TV, which is just 5.3mm thick. But who would use a double-sided TV? Consumers wouldn't, but for businesses and signage, it could be something worth looking into. One of the pioneers of OLED technology, Dr. Ching W. Tang said during LG's keynote presentation at IFA: "Without backlight and other auxiliary layers, the OLED display is fundamentally less complicated compared to LCD, and in time less costly to manufacture".

The South Korean electronics giant also teased a super-thin 55-inch OLED display that is under 1mm thick. This is more of a wallpaper OLED TV, given its incredible thinness. Tang added: "I have no doubt, given its advanced features and superior performance - foldable, wearable, flexible and transparent, OLED is the display technology for the next generation".

Continue reading: LG shows off double-sided 111-inch 4K OLED TV (full post)

ASUS tease new QHD gaming monitor with 165Hz refresh and NVIDIA G-Sync

Anthony Garreffa | Displays | Sep 5, 2015 9:13 PM CDT

When ASUS released the ROG Swift PG278Q last year, it was the gaming monitor that dreams were made of. An awesome-looking 27-inch QHD monitor with a 2560x1440 resolution, it was backed up by a huge 144Hz refresh rate, with NVIDIA's G-Sync technology sprinkled on top.

Well, now we're looking at its successor, something ASUS teased at IFA 2015. The new ROG Swift PG279Q features the same 2560x1440 resolution on the same 27-inch display, but cranks the refresh rate up to an insane 165Hz. This is the industry's first 165Hz-capable monitor, making it the undeniable champion of gaming monitors when it's released later this year.

Inside, we have the QHD resolution of 2560x1440, backed up by 1000:1 contrast ratio, 170/160-degree horizontal/vertical viewing angles, 350cd/m2 brightness, and 8-bit colors. We should expect DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 inputs, too. The new ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q will feature an IPS-based panel compared to the TN panel found in its predecessor, the ROG Swift PG278Q. An IPS panel is something that the Acer XB270HU had over the ROG Swift PG278Q, but now ASUS has beaten Acer at the monitor gaming with not just an IPS-based gaming monitor, but a huge 165Hz refresh rate.

Continue reading: ASUS tease new QHD gaming monitor with 165Hz refresh and NVIDIA G-Sync (full post)

Fox announce first 4K Blu-ray titles

Ben Gourlay | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Sep 5, 2015 7:05 PM CDT

With the upcoming UHD Blu-ray format specification announced and manufacturers gearing up to release product to the market, the first Hollywood distributor has now announced the first wave of titles that will be hitting retail early next year.

Twentieth Century Fox is the first studio to back the 4K successor to Blu-ray, with 'Exodus: Gods and Kings', 'Kingsman: The Secret Service', 'Fantastic Four', 'X-Men: Days of Future Past', 'Wild', 'Life of Pi' and 'The Maze Runner'.

There's still many questions yet to be answered on the new format, including whether legacy Blu-ray issues such as region coding apply, but with movement at the station there's no doubt the future is looking very high in resolution indeed.

Continue reading: Fox announce first 4K Blu-ray titles (full post)

Samsung unveils first 4K UHD Blu-ray player with 60FPS playback

Derek Strickland | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Sep 5, 2015 5:11 PM CDT

Samsung officially leads the 4K initiative by unveiling the first-ever consumer ready 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray player, ushering a new generation of high-fidelity entertainment into homes around the globe.

Samsung announced its pioneering UHD player, the UBD-K8500, at IFA in Berlin and touts some major performance boosts like ful 4K resolution at a fluid 60 frames-per-second, a 10-bit color palette that's 64 times more dynamic than standard Blu-rays, and object-based sound formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X for UHDBR audio. The UHD Blu-ray player also sports an HDMI 2.0a port to support industry's new high dynamic range (HDR) standard and will be backwards compatible with current Blu-ray discs.

"The new player is also capable of upscaling content to provide UHD resolution for any disc, as well as for 4K streaming services," Samsung's visual display VP Mike Zoller said.

Continue reading: Samsung unveils first 4K UHD Blu-ray player with 60FPS playback (full post)

The Mad Max game looks absolutely stunning in 8K

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 5, 2015 5:32 AM CDT

Avalanche's new Mad Max game is an explosive rip-roaring high-octane romp through the bloody post-apocalyptic series, and these 8K screenshots show that the havoc-filled wastes are actually a thing of beauty.

The 8K image gallery was shot using the game's quite amazing built-in photo editor as well as a combination of other third-party software and SweetFX shaders. You can see the full uncompressed 8K gallery here.

To hit full 8K, PC gamer k-putt used a tool called SRWE to resize the game's window to 8000x4000, and the program matched its internal renderer to the set resolution. K-putt also had to use DeadEndThrills' cheat table to expand the photo editor's set 16:9 aspect ratio.

Continue reading: The Mad Max game looks absolutely stunning in 8K (full post)

OSVR updates its hardware, delivers 1080p 120Hz display and more

Anthony Garreffa | Extended Reality (XR) | Sep 5, 2015 4:25 AM CDT

There have been some changes to the OSVR project, with the team updating the specifications of their Hacker Development Kit. The Razer-led OSVR project has also updated the software and API, which is now capable of using NVIDIA's GameWorks VR technology.

The biggest difference is the new 5.5-inch silver-screened OLED display, packing a 1920x1080 resolution with 120Hz refresh rate. OLED technology has a higher response rate to the individual pixels, which will result in a much lower persistence experience. The optics module has also been modified, with a larger eye box that makes it easier to slip the OSVR headset on, as well as increasing comfort.

Inside, there's still the same two lens system that reduces geometric distortion by 13%, with the sensor hub being integrated so that it takes up less physical space. It includes an accelerometer, gyroscope and a compass. There's also two USB 3.0 headers which are perfect for expansion, another USB 3.0 connection has been added to the outside of the OSVR, too.

Continue reading: OSVR updates its hardware, delivers 1080p 120Hz display and more (full post)

PowerColor's new dual-GPU has 16GB of VRAM, requires 1000W of power

Anthony Garreffa | Graphics Cards | Sep 4, 2015 10:13 PM CDT

PowerColor has just unveiled its new Devil 13 R9 390 video card, which features two R9 390 GPUs for some serious horsepower. The card is absolutely huge, with a triple-slot design and triple-fan cooler.

The new Devil 13 R9 390 requires an insane 4 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors so that it can draw between 1000W and 1275W of power. But all of that power won't be wasted, as it packs dual Grenada PRO GPUs, each with 2560 stream processors, 160 TMUs, 64 ROPs and 8GB of GDDR5. Each GPU has 345GB/sec available memory bandwidth, so the card has 691GB/sec memory bandwidth in total.

PowerColor adds that the Devil 13 R9 390 has been "built with carefully-designed Platinum Power Kit and ultra-efficient thermal design. It consists of massive 15-phase power delivery, PowerIRstage, Super Cap and Ferrite Core Choke that provides the stability and reliability for such high-end graphics solution. To support maximum performance and to qualify for the Devil 13 cooling system, 3 Double Blades Fans are attached on top of the enormous surface of aluminum fins heat sink connected with total of 10 pieces of heat pipes and 2 pieces of large die-cast panels. This superb cooling solution achieves a perfect balance between thermal solution and noise reduction. The PowerColor Devil 13 Dual Core R9 390 has the LED backlighting that glows a bright red color, pulsating slowly on the Devil 13 logo".

Continue reading: PowerColor's new dual-GPU has 16GB of VRAM, requires 1000W of power (full post)

Fallout 4 has more dialogue than Fallout 3 and Skyrim combined

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 4, 2015 6:19 PM CDT

Fallout 4 will have an incredibly huge span of dialogue that consists of over 100,000 lines of voiced text.

The news comes straight from Bethesda, who issued a Tweet yesterday confirming that the studio was in fact done recording all the dialogue. Fallout 4 features approximately 111,000 lines that took multiple years to record, and we have to wonder just how much of the game's data is taken up by the huge helping of voice-overs.

In Fallout 4 players have been given a voice, and a good chunk of that dialogue will be made up of the player character's responses. The game's text options have been consolidated from a list into a short-and-sweet response menu made up of a controller's four face buttons. Voice over actors Courtenay Taylor and Brian T. Delaney will portray the game's male and female protagonists.

Continue reading: Fallout 4 has more dialogue than Fallout 3 and Skyrim combined (full post)

Batman: Arkham Knight is finally playable on PC thanks to new patch

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 4, 2015 4:51 PM CDT

PC gamers will be relieved to find that Batman: Arkham Knight is finally playable on the platform, but with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Mad Max on Steam, WB might have been too little too late.

"Good news - testing for the interim patch has been completed and it is now available for those who already have Batman: Arkham Knight for PC," read the official patch notes. "As a reminder, the patch brings major performance improvements including consistent frame rates and VRAM optimization."

The patch is targeted to fix the game's crippling latency issues and crashes by beefing up system memory and VRAM optimization as well as adding "improved performance on all GPUs". Other messy blemishes like low-resolution texture bugs have been supposedly smashed, and Arkham Knight will now run better on HDD's.

Continue reading: Batman: Arkham Knight is finally playable on PC thanks to new patch (full post)

Early Access games dominate Steam game sales in 2015

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 4, 2015 3:45 PM CDT

Out of the six Steam games that have reached over a million sales in 2015, three of them are still in Early Access.

As more and more PC gamers move towards original games, amateur indie developers are actually starting to overtake AAA game sales on Steam. According to info gleaned from Steam Spy, a site that analyzes sales and downloads on Steam, three of the six million-selling PC games of 2015 are still unfinished--but that hasn't stopped them from hitting the top charts.

The top-ranking games are the open-world zombie survival sim H1Z1, the dinosaur survival game ARK: Survival Evolved, and the RTS siegecraft game Besieged.

Continue reading: Early Access games dominate Steam game sales in 2015 (full post)

Report: Mega Man movie gets greenlit by Fox

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 4, 2015 2:07 PM CDT

It looks like the futuristic saga of Capcom's iconic 8-bit hero in blue will be the latest in Hollywood's push on video game adaptations.

Reports from Tracking Board indicate that Fox has backed Chernin Entertainment as a producer for the film, with development on the project underway. But is Chernin a good fit to handle Mega Man's immortal legacy? The company is also currently working on the upcoming War of the Apes film for 2017, and is responsible for producing a boatload of The New Girl episodes and a handful of Terra Nova episodes.

Mega Man--also known as Rockman in Japan--has been one of the most popular icons in gaming history with a franchise that spans back to 1987 with the NES classic. With over 50 games as source material, Chernin and Fox will have their work cut out for them, but we can't see them starting anywhere but the very beginning in 200X with the clash of Dr. Light and the nefarious Dr. Wily.

Continue reading: Report: Mega Man movie gets greenlit by Fox (full post)

Acer's new 10-core smartphone will 'dominate' Android gaming

Derek Strickland | Computer Systems | Sep 4, 2015 8:13 AM CDT

Acer has gone all out by bringing enthusiast-grade gaming across the entire spectrum of devices, including a new decacore smartphone and beefy 8-inch tablet.

At IFA 2015, Acer announced its new Predator 6 performance smartphone that will reportedly "dominate any game you throw at it".

The Predator 6 runs Android (possibly 5.1), sports 4GB of RAM, a 10-core MediaTek processor (most likely the Helio X20 mobile SoC), and a 6-inch full HD display with haptic feedback that Acer says will "perform just like a controller". It also has a 21-megapixel back-facing camera and features a slim, lightweight feel modeled after the stylized metallic flair of Predator line. No pricing has been revealed so far.

Continue reading: Acer's new 10-core smartphone will 'dominate' Android gaming (full post)

The first big patch for Windows 10 is coming soon

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Sep 4, 2015 6:52 AM CDT

If you've already installed Windows 10, you might have already received a few security updates and patches for your OS, but come next month, there will be a major, non-patch update for Windows 10 known as Threshold 2, or Wave 2.

The new update will arrive in November after it has been delayed from its original October release window. The new Threshold 2 update will include a few smaller changes, as there is a bigger 'Redstone' update that will be released sometime in 2016. As for the patch expected in November, we are to expect a new Messaging app that will have Skype integration and Chrome-like extension support for Microsoft's Edge browser.

We will have more information on the patch in the near future, but I think the Redstone patch is going to be the big new interesting one, coming in 2016.

Continue reading: The first big patch for Windows 10 is coming soon (full post)

Rocket League patch will let you filter out PS4 users on the PC

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 4, 2015 5:15 AM CDT

The v1.05 patch for Rocket League will arrive in "two weeks or less" bringing with it the start of the first season, not only that, but Rocket Leaguers will be able to filter out PS4 players in matchmatching on PC, and to search for new ranked matches at the endgame screen.

The new patch will also do the usual bug fixes that saw PC players to not have a name, fix chat issues, and improve corruption protection for saved games. The update will also have Middle Eastern servers that "will still come at some point" according to developer Psyonix. The developer will also be adding in a music player interface in the near future.

If you didn't already know about, is a vehicle-driven, off-the-wall soccer game where players attempt to score goals in hotted up cars and trucks.

Continue reading: Rocket League patch will let you filter out PS4 users on the PC (full post)

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