NVIDIA smashes analyst expectations, more good to come

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Nov 10, 2016 7:10 PM CST

NVIDIA has had a massive 2016, and now they're reaping those rewards with Q3 2016 results that have blown analysts expectations away.

Analysts expected NVIDIA to hit $1.69 billion for the three-month period, but the company instead reached $2 billion - quite the difference. NVIDIA's gaming sector saw the biggest increase in revenue, especially compared to last quarter - with NVIDIA posting a huge 63% increase to $1.244 billion for the gaming sector.

Patrick Moorhead from Moor Insights & Strategy said: "NVIDIA had a stellar quarter and the company is hitting on all cylinders. GPUs and Tegra were up a combined 54% YoY driven by huge increases in gaming, datacenter and automotive with steady progress from pro graphics. It's hard to spot a hole right now in their lineup and as self-driving cars and machine learning become more popular, I believe NVIDIA will just keep improving".

Continue reading: NVIDIA smashes analyst expectations, more good to come (full post)

International 'Rogue One' trailer debuts new scenes

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Nov 10, 2016 5:38 PM CST

Despite releasing what was dubbed the final trailer for the upcoming 'Star Wars' spin-off 'Rogue One', Disney Japan have today debuted a new trailer which reveals new scenes.

Set just before the events of 'A New Hope', 'Rogue One' is set to follow the band of courageous Rebel troops who stole the plans for the first Death Star, which allowed the alliance to pinpoint its weakness. Starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn and Donnie Yen, the film will serve as the first film outside of the numbered episodes which make up the Skywalker saga.

'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' hits 2D, 3D and IMAX screens worldwide from December 16th.

Continue reading: International 'Rogue One' trailer debuts new scenes (full post)

Tesla's next Gigafactory will be in Europe

Lana Jelic | Electric Vehicles & Cars | Nov 10, 2016 12:24 PM CST

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk confirmed that he plans to choose a location for Gigafactory 2 in Europe next year. He also added that the factory would combine both the production of batteries and complete cars.

Earlier this week, Musk announced the acquisition of a German engineering group, Grohmann Engineering. During a press conference, Musk stated that Tesla is planning significant investments in Germany and Europe.

But is seems that the Gigafactory 2 won't be the only one in Europe. Musk says that long-term Tesla will have maybe two or three vehicle and battery factory locations in Europe.

Continue reading: Tesla's next Gigafactory will be in Europe (full post)

Dragon Quest 8 releases for Nintendo 3DS on January 20

Emma Tucker | Gaming | Nov 10, 2016 11:23 AM CST

Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King has been dated finally, hitting the Nintendo 3DS on January 20, 2017.

New features such as quick-save, speed-up, voice acting in cut scenes, additional story content, and an alternate ending, have now been added into the game. Square Enix has no doubt gone above and beyond with new dungeons, story modes and exclusives for this remake of the classic game.

Players will also have the extra option of sharing screenshots throughout gameplay. The photos taken can then be customized with alternative poses, stickers, filters, and frames.

Continue reading: Dragon Quest 8 releases for Nintendo 3DS on January 20 (full post)

Black Friday Sales leak console bundle prices for $250

Emma Tucker | Gaming | Nov 10, 2016 9:21 AM CST

Black Friday is not far away now and for gamers that means cheap consoles and games. Throughout America, numerous retailers will be selling both the PS4 and Xbox One S for the low price of $249, along with deals and bundle packages depending on retailer.

A leaked flyer from Sam's Club was listed on the Bestblackfriday website, avertising the PS4 Uncharted 4 bundle for $249, along with the two Xbox One S bundles, that includes Battlefield 1 or Minecraft content with an extra controller for the same price.

Dell flyers were also among the leaked holiday content as they too will be jumping on the Black Friday Sales. Gamers will receive a Xbox One S, Battlefield 1 along with an extra controller and Gears of War 4, again at the bargain price of $249.

Continue reading: Black Friday Sales leak console bundle prices for $250 (full post)

PS4 Pro's native 4K games trigger FPS drop

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Nov 10, 2016 8:01 AM CST

Sony's new 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Pro launched today, kicking off a new evolution of console gaming. Although the system uses new Polaris GPU tech, the PS4 Pro is still beholden to the age-old console rules: balancing frame rates with resolution. As such, native 4K resolution in specific games like Skyrim: Special Edition means lowered frame rates on the PS4 Pro, showing we haven't exactly come that far after all.

PS4 Pro's native 4K games trigger FPS drop

Consoles are about balance: developers have to implement dynamic resolution scaling that drops the resolution to sub-1080p in order to hit consistent frame rates on PS4 and Xbox One. Sony's new PlayStation 4 Pro isn't so different to last-gen consoles in this regard, and we're starting to see the trend continue in this new iterative cycle, meaning native 4K games on PS4 Pro could potentially run worse than they would on normal PS4 systems.

According to Digital Foundry, Skyrim: Special Edition is a prime example of this FPS-and-resolution balancing act. Skyrim: SE can run at native 4K on the PS4 Pro, but the frame rates take a hit as a result, leading to "visible drops in performance where the GPU is pushed more heavily," as well as "noticable stutters."

Continue reading: PS4 Pro's native 4K games trigger FPS drop (full post)

Super Mario Run will be debuting on Unity this December

Emma Tucker | Gaming | Nov 10, 2016 7:16 AM CST

Super Mario Run will soon be appearing on Unity. The news was first released via their official Twitter account:

"We are thrilled that the legendary creators Nintendo America are bringing Mario to mobile for the first time, and it's made with Unity."

Up until recently, Nintendo had been developing games for its own hardware system. With smartphone game an/or apps debuting on a regular basis, it seems that the company will be branching out with other development teams in joining Unity.

Continue reading: Super Mario Run will be debuting on Unity this December (full post)

Huge YouTuber offered money for positive Clinton videos

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Nov 10, 2016 5:48 AM CST

Amidst the rubble of the 2016 presidential election, comes an interesting nugget of information from popular YouTuber Philip DeFranco. DeFranco was asked why he was not a part of the 2016 YouTube Rewind, and his answer might surprise you.

DeFranco said that the company that was behind YouTube Rewind, was the same company that offered him money to make a video supporting Hillary Clinton. The company in question is Portal A Interactive, and they state on their Facebook page that they collaborate with Hillary and the top YouTubers in order to hit the millennial voters.

I remember the day the biggest vlogger in the world uploaded a video to YouTube... when Casey Neistat came out in an utter surprise video that smelt, looked like, and now looks like was in fact, a paid advertisement by Hillary Clinton.

Continue reading: Huge YouTuber offered money for positive Clinton videos (full post)

Overwatch's next free weekend starts on November 18

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Nov 10, 2016 2:27 AM CST

I have been spending far too much time playing Overwatch - how good does Sombra look?! - but now there's another free weekend of Overwatch coming very soon, on November 18.

Blizzard will be hosting the free Overwatch weekend between November 18-21 from 4PM PST on all platforms, and in all gameplay regions. Console gamers will need Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus membership, while the PC is all good with a Battle.net account.

The developer adds that during this free weekend, they are "making Overwatch's full roster of 22 heroes and 13 maps available for play in a variety of modes, including Quick Play, Custom Games, and the latest Weekly Brawl". This means the new Sombra character won't be playable just yet, but she's in the PTR.

Continue reading: Overwatch's next free weekend starts on November 18 (full post)