Latest News - Page 2671

Bethesda Softworks is almost done with Fallout 4 development, and everything is looking good for a fall launch.

"We're pretty close to being done, which you have to be if you're going to ship in five months," said Pete Hines, VP of PR and Marketing at Bethesda, in a statement to GamesRadar.

Hines also noted the overall anticipation for the game, which is why there has been such a short window of game promotion: "If we didn't feel that was enough time to generate the excitement that we expected and the interest that we wanted, then we would have announced it earlier. So part of it is because we felt like it was a big enough title that we could get away with it."

The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) suffered a devastating data breach that has impacted millions of people - and the agency is now trying to move too fast and isn't following best practices. The OPM is relying on systems that are "decades-old" and apparently has no idea what they are actually doing to prevent future cybersecurity issues.

"It may sound counterintuitive, but OPM must slow down and not continue to barrel forward with this project," said Patrick McFarland, Inspector General of the OPM, while speaking to the Senate Homeland Security Committee. "The agency must take the time to get it right the first time."

Sen. Ron Johnson (R - WI) and Sen. John McCain (R - AZ) have called into question the Obama Administration's commitment to overall cybersecurity. The "OPM has become a case study in the consequences of inadequate action and neglect," Johnson recently said. Meanwhile, McCain questioned if OPM agency director Katherine Archuleta should stay in her current role, especially after offering conflicting reports regarding OPM's breach damage.

It's impossible to tell when virtual reality will go mainstream - if it does - but the companies pushing VR hardware hope its sooner rather than later.

Re/code recently caught up with Palmer Luckey, Oculus co-founder, to see what he thought about the future of VR.

"In these early days, probably for at least two years, VR is going to be primarily for gamers and enthusiasts that are willing to invest in high-end machines," Luckey said while speaking with Re/code. "VR is going to become something mainstream, but it's not going to happen right away. You just don't have the horsepower to make it happen on a device, much less a cheap enough and comfortable enough device that a normal consumer is going to want to have."

Ready or not, a wave of virtual reality hardware is right around the corner. As gamers learn more about the choices we have in front of us, trying to figure out how long to wear the VR headsets during each session.

Some people will only be able to use it for a few minutes at a time, while others will be good to go for a few hours.

"We're not recommending 20 straight hours of gameplay in the Rift. We're looking at 30, 60, 90 minutes," said Brendan Iribe, head of the Facebook Oculus VR division, in a statement to GamesBeat. "Maybe an hour or two. Then you should be able to enjoy it every day. When you come out of it, if you don't feel good, you're not going to want to do it the next day. We want you to come out of the experience like you want to get right back in."

After an extremely busy E3 gaming show earlier this month, there are a lot of things gamers across all platforms can be happy for. It turns out, PC game sales are expected to top video game consoles by the end of 2016 - with console games reaching an estimated $28 billion, while PC games will hit $29 billion, according to the PwC industry researcher.

If true, this is a major shift in the gaming market, which was dominated by PCs, transitioned to consoles, and looks to be switching once again. Most popular game titles released today feature a PC version and are available on new-generation consoles - but with resolution and fps restrictions, the PC Master Race fans can enjoy wider customization of their gaming experience.

It's not just a battle between PC and console games anymore, with a growing number of mobile and Web-based games.

Europol has dedicated itself to the difficult task of fighting the Islamic State online, as there are around 100,000 daily tweets from up to 50,000 accounts with links to the terrorist group. Europol officially starts its operation on July 1, and wants to take down Islamic State-linked accounts within two hours following identification.

"Who is it reaching out to young people, in particular, by social media, to get them to come, in the first place? It's very difficult because of the dynamic nature of social media," said Rob Wainwright, director of Europol, in a statement to the Guardian.

Trying to fight IS online has proven difficult, with more interest from the Western world - but the United States has struggled in its efforts. There are no easy answers, and it will take cooperation from regular Twitter users, and continued vigilance from intelligence experts.

Featuring a 32-bit ARM based CPU coupled with 512kb of flash memory, EASARS' RGB mechanical keyboard packs a 1,000 Hz polling rate, a gold-plated USB connection, no ghosting and a 16 million color RGB LED backlight.

In addition to these features are mechanical switches rated at 50 million clicks, however, there is no mention if these keys are Cherry or another brand. Self-claimed as a lightweight design, this keyboard offers a tenkeyless design - doing away with the numpad for a smaller package.

Keys can be remapped in EASARS' 'flare' software, also controlled through the profile switch on the keyboard - enabling you to scroll through five pre-set profiles in total.

Wargaming has found itself in hot water with gamers, where it partnered with Humble Bundle last month on a deal for its popular World of Warships game, which is still in beta.

At the time, the MMO developer was offering anyone who purchased the bundle access to the upcoming closed beta, a premium ship dubbed 'Murmansk' and 1,000 premium credits. Anyone who purchased the bundle would see their items carried over from the beta to the full game, but after Wargaming applied the latest patch to World of Warships, gamers have noticed that the ship, and premium credits, are gone.

Even when re-entering the code they were provided when they purchased the bundle, gamers were hit with the same brick wall: no premium ship or premium credits. Wargaming then posted a statement that the Humble Bundle deal that included the premium ship and 1,000 credits was only for the closed beta period, leaving gamers feeling like they had been bait and switched by Wargaming.

We are only a few months from Apple unveiling the new iPhone 6S, but it looks like its main competitor will be making most of the A9 processors that will be powering the next-gen iPhone.

According to a report on Chiphell, 70% of the new A9 processors will be made by Samsung while the remaining 30% will be produced by TSMC. Samsung will also be making a large portion of the 2GB of LPDDR4 RAM for the new iPhone, while Hynix will be making the remaining chips for Apple. Comparing this to the current iPhone 6 and 6 Plus where Samsung and Hynix split the DRAM production 50/50.

The new iPhone will also feature a better camera, which is expected to be a large improvement on the 8-megapixel iSight camera on the current iPhone. We should see Apple unveil the new iPhone in the coming months.

A lot of Batman: Arkham Knight PC gamers haven't had a pleasurable gaming experience during launch week, as there are a number of performance problems, bugs, and game glitches. Warner Bros. rightfully decided to temporarily suspend future sales of the PC version as the studio works to resolve issues.

Why was it the right call? Put simply, the studio had a bit of advice to PC gamers suffering issues: turn down the settings.

"We continue to work closely with AMD to resolve these issues as soon as possible; make sure you have the most current drivers and check back here for updates on when the next driver version is available," Warner Bros. said in a statement.

In the aftermath of Warner Bros pulling the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight because of it being a complete mess of a PC port, Electronic Arts' COO, Peter Moore, has come out talking about Star Wars: Battlefront.

Moore said that Electronic Arts wouldn't have a problem delaying a game if it wasn't ready, just like it did with Battlefield: Hardline. Moore said: "You can't ship it if it doesn't work or the quality isn't right. You just bite the bullet. Trust me, shipping Hardline in March was not the easiest thing to do from a business perspective, but it was the right thing to do from a player perspective".

Does that mean EA could postpone Star Wars: Battlefront? No. Moore said that the game is already "rock solid" even in huge 40-player matches, so a delay "ain't going to happen" according to Moore.

It looks like we could see Microsoft offer up Windows 10 on USB flash drives, compared to the usual DVDs that we've seen the company do with previous versions of its operating system. Intel has also teased its new Skylake-based Core i7-6700K for the week after Windows 10, if you were waiting on a new CPU upgrade.

German site WinFuture has the rumor, stating that Microsoft will sell USB flash drive versions of Windows 10, alongside the DVD copies of the OS. The report states that both Home and Professional versions will come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, with a USB flash drive allowing Windows 10 to be installed and licensed for use on a single PC.

Microsoft will reportedly have a more expensive price tag attached to the USB flash drive versions of Windows 10, with a $25 increase on the $199 price of Windows 10 Home, while a $38 price increase on the $199 price for Professional. Not too bad, especially given the super convenience and increased speed of installing the OS from a USB flash drive provides.

It looks like next month is going to be quite the Comic-Con, with our first glimpse at the PC version of Star Wars: Battlefront. Up until now, all of the gameplay we've seen is from the console versions of the game.

EA took to its official Twitter account for Star Wars, where they said: "Join us at the @thenerdmachine during #SDCC and try #StarWarsBattlefront on PC!". We also found out that DICE had unprecedented access to original Star Wars props and locations, allowing the studio to create the impressive visuals we've seen in Battlefront.

Mathew Everett, Community Manager for DICE, recently talked about the collaboration between DICE and Lucasfilm, where he said: "The Sullust they use within the comic is based on the Sullust we're introducing into the Star Wars universe in Star Wars Battlefront. This has been a part of the collaboration we have had with Lucas over the last few years".

The US government and military cannot be left alone to keep data safe from outside threat, and it's up to the private sector, security planners and citizens to lend a hand. Officials hope to create a new national cybersecurity strategy that will better protect the federal government from cyberespionage attempts.

"You do not want this to be a military approach," said Mark Troutman, director of the Center for Infrastructure Protection & Homeland Security at George Mason University, during a meeting at the US Army War College. "We are Americans. We secure ourselves at the end of the day with an active and engaged citizenry."

It's appropriate timing for the talks, as the United States and China interact with one another at the Strategic and Economic Forum, with US officials assuming China is behind the devastating Office of Personnel Management (OPM) attack.

Firaxis and 2K Games have shown off a new video featuring game play from XCOM 2. The following video features 10 minutes of gameplay and added commentary from XCOM 2 producer Jake Solomon. You'll learn some of the differences between XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2:

The second game takes place 20 years after the original XCOM, with humans living under control of the successful conquerors. The XCOM serves as resistance fighters using guerrilla warfare tactics against the superior alien army. Gamers can launch attacks using new melee weapons and flying drones, while relying on a customized stealth system.

XCOM 2 will feature customized levels so every gaming experience will be unique to individual players. XCOM 2 will be a PC exclusive and is scheduled for launch this November.

Cirque du Soleil Kurios used a custom camera to record its show, providing a 360-degree version for guests wearing virtual reality headsets. If you're wearing the headset, and turn your head, you'll receive an entirely different view of what you're seeing. The Samsung Gear VR headset was chosen in the demo, and allowed for an entirely new perspective of the show.

"So every time you turn around, you realize that someone is really close to you and they're doing something very, very interesting," said Jeronimo Carbi, electronic maintenance coordinator for the Kurios show, in a statement published by CBS4.

As a huge fan of Cirque Soleil, I think there is some appeal to seeing a VR experience with the high-flying acrobatics. Each show is unique and entertaining in their own right, so adding VR into the mix should only make it better.

The wearables market is growing, and while analysts can't agree on what the future holds for the evolving market, Intel isn't going to sit on the sidelines and wait it out. Intel recently announced it purchased Recon Instruments, a company known for creating connected eyewear for athletes.

"Going forward, we'll continue leading the smart eyewear category for sports, and we'll be able to bring our technology and innovation to completely new markets and use cases where activity-specific information, delivered instantly, can change the game," said Dan Eisenhardt, co-founder of Recon, in a blog post.

So far in 2015, Intel introduced the Curie hardware model, a new system-on-chip (SoC) designed for wearable products, while also announcing a partnership with Oakley. The company didn't stop there, as Intel will also work with Google and TAG Heuer in the smartwatch market.

Microsoft has teamed up with NASA to help develop the Sidekick project, designed so astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) can use commercial technology to be more productive. Ideally, astronauts will be able to successfully complete tasks in a more efficient manner, while also reducing the amount of crew training before missions.

Expect astronauts to use HoloLens so they have a digital virtual aid - with HoloLens blasting into space aboard a SpaceX commercial resupply mission on June 28.

"HoloLens and other virtual and mixed reality devices are cutting edge technologies that could have drive future exploration and provide new capabilities to the man and women conducting critical science on the International Space Station," said Sam Scimemi, director of the ISS program at NASA. "This new technology could also empower future explorations requiring autonomoy on the journey to Mars."

Sony wants its Project Morpheus virtual reality headset to help revolutionize gaming, and spent a lot of time promoting the platform during E3. However, some gamers wonder if VR will be nothing more than a gimmick, in a similar sense to how 3D TVs were expected to be the next big thing - and quickly fizzled.

When asked about how Sony plans to promote VR, especially to users that think it's a gimmick similar to 3D TVs, here is what Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony's Worldwide Studios at Sony Computer Entertainment, said while speaking with PlayStation LifeStyle:

"Yeah, so people ask me 'is virtual reality the next 3D TV?' And I say, 'No, it's not.' The experience that we are creating is totally different from 3D TV and games on 3D TVs. When you look back, games you played on 3D TVs are almost exactly the same as you've played on 2D TVs. You just get depth simulation inside the TV but it's the same game."

Virtual reality is booming right now, and the overall market is expected to reach $15.89 billion by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 63.18 percent from now until 2020, according Marketsandmarkets.

Oculus VR, Sony, HTC and Valve, Microsoft, and other manufacturers are currently developing VR hardware, with consumers anxiously waiting for more consumer choices. With Sony and Oculus admitting they are "sharing notes" with one another regarding VR, the two frontrunners in the hardware market could help drive interest in the market.

Most of the attention on VR is dedicated to video games and movies, but the technology will likely be disruptive for the medical, industrial, education, retail and marketing, and other verticals. VR will grow to be even more competitive, but opportunities exist as there are new large scale collaborations, partnerships and agreements among software and hardware developers.