Battlefield 1 running at 4K 60FPS maxed out on Titan X

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Oct 15, 2016 11:45 PM CDT

EA DICE has done an amazing job on Battlefield 1, which has some super-engaging multiplayer that we've come to expect, but the single-player is done in a very different way, and it's awesome. How am I playing it so early?

Well, for Origin Access members that pay $6.99 per month (which you can still do right now...) you get early access to certain games, and Battlefield 1 is one of them. You only get 10 hours of play time, but that's enough for some multiplayer battles and a quick squizz at the single-player goodness.

I've captured some gameplay footage from Battlefield 1, cranking along at 4K 60FPS on a single NVIDIA Titan X graphics card. I used my VGA benchmarking machine, so we have:

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Final Fantasy VII Remake has 'vastly different' combat

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Oct 15, 2016 1:08 PM CDT

Square Enix has already confirmed Final Fantasy VII: Remake's combat system won't be ATB-based like the original game, instead favoring a new action-oriented system similar to Final Fantasy 15. Now game director Tetsuya Nomura delivers more details about the remake's combat, promising the team will deliver specifics quite soon.

Final Fantasy VII Remake has 'vastly different' combat

"The battles in [the FF7 Remake] have greatly changed from the original, since they're something with more action in them," Nomura said in an interview with Japanese publication Dengenki PlayStation.

"The battle system in Final Fantasy VII Remake is so vastly different, so I think we need to communicate very clearly just how exactly battles will work. We're currently in the middle of elevating various aspects up to finished quality."

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Ubisoft release the soundtrack for Just Dance 2017

Emma Tucker | Gaming | Oct 15, 2016 3:30 AM CDT

To the gamers who love to bust a move this one comes fresh off the press! The latest announcement for Ubisoft's 'Just Dance 2017' is the unveiling of the brand new song line-up featuring numerous genres and eras of music like never before.

The base game soundtrack will contain 40 songs including smash hits by artists: Queen, Maroon 5, Sia, Justin Bieber, Beyonce and much more. This makes the track list one of the most diverse line-ups for the game with over 200 songs in total with the addition of 'Just Dance Unlimited.'

Gamers who have already subscribed to the Ubisoft service will be happy to know that the company will be continuing its exclusive content and tracks throughout the year via the Unlimited offer. Though this will only be available for current generation consoles, so Xbox 360 and PS3 players will unfortunately, miss out on the extra content. Customers who have registered or are considering will receive a free 3-month subscription to Unlimited for only $5 a month. A pretty cheap way to work out those dance moves.

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These are the 10 most popular consoles ever

Lana Jelic | Gaming | Oct 14, 2016 2:26 PM CDT

Video games are one of the most popular forms of entertainment today, they have become a real competitive sport, and the gaming industry is generating billions of dollars. The "boom" of video games started decades ago. Pong and other early arcade games have shown that there is interest in the market for this type of entertainment, which prompted the engineers to develop home gaming devices.

Although it wasn't the first, the Atari VCS/2600 is one of the consoles which popularized home video game consoles and helped cement the video game movement into mainstream culture. It was released on this day, October 14, 1977 as one of the first second-generation consoles in North America, but it took two years for Atari 2600 to become popular in the market.

By 1979, the VCS was the best-selling Christmas gift (and console), due to its exclusive content, and 1 million units were sold that year. Atari Inc. then licensed the smash arcade hit Space Invaders, which greatly increased the unit's popularity when it was released in January 1980, doubling sales to over 2 million units.

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Universe contains 10 times more galaxies than we thought

Lana Jelic | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Oct 14, 2016 1:34 PM CDT

The Hubble Space Telescope is being credited for yet another major discovery. Using the data from NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have performed to this day the most accurate census of the number of galaxies in the universe. And they came to a remarkable conclusion.

According to the new information, there are at least ten times as many galaxies in the observable universe as previously thought.

The observable universe consists of the galaxies and other matter that can, in principle, be observed from Earth at the present time. The first real insight in the number of galaxies in the observable universe came in the 1990s when it has been estimated that there are 100 to 200 billion galaxies. New data shows the number is at least ten times higher.

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A lunar base on the Moon just got a lot harder to build

Lana Jelic | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Oct 14, 2016 12:26 PM CDT

A base on the Moon is many scientists' dream because it would set a new milestone in space exploration, but according to new observations from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft that might be much more difficult than previously thought.

According to new data, the Moon experiences a heavier bombardment by small meteoroids than models had previously predicted. By examining the surface of the Moon, scientists have identified about 30 percent more new craters than anticipated by previous cratering models. In addition to discovering new impact craters, the team observed over 47,000 small surface changes, which they call splotches.

They also concluded that 99 percent of the Moon's surface would be overturned by splotch formation after about 81,000 years, which is 100 times faster than previous models that considered overturn from micrometeorite impacts alone, and ignored the effects of secondary impacts.

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Zuckerberg needs help: Who should voice his AI assistant

Lana Jelic | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Oct 14, 2016 11:30 AM CDT

Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg set his goals for this year. One of them was to build an artificial intelligence assistant that can control his home and help with work, something like J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System), Tony Stark's assistant in Iron Man.

Not even two months ago, Zuckerberg commented he is making significant progress, and his AI assistant is already helping him around the house. He described how he could control the temperature, lights, and gate by his voice.

Now, Zuckerberg is ready to give his AI assistant a voice, and he is asking everyone to help out and suggest who's voice should he use. In the films, Jarvis is voiced by an actor Paul Bettany, which is one of the suggestions Zuckerberg got on his Facebook status where he asked for help.

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Sony's PlayStation VR is surprisingly easy to repair

The gadget surgeons over at iFixit have wasted no time in delving in the guts of Sony's new PlayStation VR headset, slicing open every little nook and cranny to show off its high-tech innards.

Sony's PlayStation VR is surprisingly easy to repair

Starting at $399, Sony's PSVR has successfully ushered accessible virtual reality hardware in the mainstream market. Now that the headset is out in the wild, it's time to crack it open and see how its internals fare, and how easy it is to repair.

According to iFixit's official PSVR teardown, headset repairs are actually pretty straightforward: the PSVR received a lofty 8 out of 10 in the ease of repairability scale.

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Sony is already selling PlayStation VR at a profit

Sony's new PlayStation VR headset is already making a profit for the Japanese console-maker, and could end up being a huge success for virtual reality accessibility and the PlayStation brand.

Sony is already selling PlayStation VR at a profit

"We're making money on the VR console," President of Sony Interactive Entertainment America Shawn Layden told Polygon. Seeing as stock for the new PSVR headset has been flying off the shelves, with many retailers selling out both the limited $399 headset-only SKU and the $499 all-in-one bundle, it's not surprising that Sony is already raking in cash from their virtual reality gambit.

Sony president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Jim Ryan echoed this sentiment, saying that consumers are "significantly interested" in the PSVR headset, with launch sales projected to hit "many hundreds of thousands."

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Nintendo NX reveal coming next week, says Macquarie

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Oct 14, 2016 8:40 AM CDT

Nintendo will finally unveil its new NX platform, possibly called Nintendo Duo, sometime next week according to financial investment firm Macquarie Group.

Nintendo NX reveal coming next week, says Macquarie

Nintendo is fast running out of time to reveal its purported handheld-console hybrid NX system, but key industry players predict a full-on NX debut is coming quite soon.

The popular consensus is that Nintendo will show off the NX sometime in late October, possibly on October 21, as the Japanese console-maker has a long tradition of big Nintendo Direct reveals during the Fall month. A Nintendo Direct announcement would be the fifth anniversary for the series, and coincide with four years of big first-party announcements.

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