Titanfall 2 leaks: release date, grappling hooks, maps and more

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 25, 2016 3:33 AM CDT

New Titanfall 2 leaks pinpoint a release month, along with a number of new unique features including a grappling hook operator ability.

Titanfall 2 leaks: release date, grappling hooks, maps and more

A Redditor has leaked a bunch of Titanfall 2 info including release dates, box art (the left half of the pic above), gameplay features and map content. Titanfall 2 will launch on October according to the leaks, which aligns perfectly with EA's Q3 2016 release window. The sequel will also feature a "ton" of new pilot abilities including a grappling hook that can be "extensively used" by Titan operators, and players will be able to string together tactical combos using the grappling hook such as "pulling enemies while they're in midair".

The leaks also revealed Titanfall 2's multiplayer maps are much more expansive than the first game, suggesting that the player count will be boosted as well. There was no mention of the new Titan swords or the game's "grounded and dirty" singleplayer campaign, so we'll have to wait for the official E3 2016 reveal in June. The Reddit leaks have since been deleted, but you can still find them via a Google web cache.

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Apple's next-gen MacBook Pro will feature OLED screen above keyboard

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | May 25, 2016 2:26 AM CDT

Apple has had a few years of releasing so-so upgrades on its MacBook Pro, but the next-gen MBPs could be quite exciting with a "thinner and lighter" design, and a new OLED display touch bar above the keyboard, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo adds that the updated MacBook Pro are the "brightest spot for Apple's 2016 rollouts" and will arrive in both 13-inch and 15-inch models, sometime in Q4 2016. The OLED display touch bar will replace the usual physical function keys at the top of the keyboard while Apple will use new metal injection molded hinges. We're expecting to see USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity as well. Intel's new 14nm processors should also find their way inside, and I'm hoping to see some Polaris love from AMD on the GPU side of things.

On top of the new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros, Apple is reportedly working on a new 13-inch MacBook that will be similar to the 12-inch Retina model that was upgraded with performance improvements. There'll also be a new MacBook Air available as the new entry-level model, while the MacBook will be the mid-range choice, leaving the high-end to the MacBook Pro. Apple will also unleash Touch ID onto the new MacBook Pros, something that iPhone users have enjoyed for a while now.

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Intel rumored to unveil its new 200-series chipset at Computex

Anthony Garreffa | Motherboards | May 25, 2016 12:52 AM CDT

Computex 2016 kicks off in just a few days time, with Intel reportedly preparing to unveil its next-gen 200 series chipset. Right now the Z170 chipset is the one responsible for running the current Skylake-based CPUs, including the flagship Core i7-6700K.

Intel is already poised to unveil the new Broadwell-E family, offering processors with up to 10 cores, and 20 threads. The flagship Broadwell-E offering will be the Core i7-6950X, which is expected to be quite the beast, and slot into some exciting new X99-based motherboards from the likes of GIGABYTE. The latest leak on Kaby Lake-S had Intel launching it in Q4 2016, but according to our industry sources, Intel will unveil the 200 series chipset at Computex.

When it comes to the Kaby Lake-S processors, they will arrive in dual- and quad-core designs with 35W/65W/95W parts. Intel's 7th generation platform will continue on with the LGA 1151 socket, with the new 200 series being made up of mostly the same innards of the 100 series, but it'll feature increased I/O performance. This is because Intel will push their exciting new 3D XPoint memory architecture, so we should see the Kaby Lake-S products featuring up to 24 PCIe 3.0 lanes, which is an increase from the 20 lanes availabel on the 100 series chipset. The 200 series chipset should also feature 6 x SATA 6Gbps ports, and 10 x USB 3.0 ports.

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Ex-McDonald's USA CEO says its cheaper to hire robots, than teenagers

Our robot overlords are well and truly on their way, with former McDonald's USA CEO Ed Rensi, saying that it's better to buy $35,000 robots than it is to hire teenagers for $15 an hour.

During an interview with FOX Business Network's Mornings with Maria, Rensi said: "I was at the National Restaurant Show yesterday and if you look at the robotic devices that are coming into the restaurant industry -- it's cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who's inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries -- it's nonsense and it's very destructive and it's inflationary and it's going to cause a job loss across this country like you're not going to believe".

He added: "It's not just going to be in the fast food business. Franchising is the best business model in the United States. It's dependent on people that have low job skills that have to grow. Well if you can't get people a reasonable wage, you're going to get machines to do the work. It's just common sense. It's going to happen whether you like it or not. And the more you push this it's going to happen faster".

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Could the PS4K be responsible for Sony's huge PS4 sales forecast?

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 24, 2016 11:25 PM CDT

Sony has made some pretty big PS4 sales estimates for its latest fiscal year--could the new 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Neo (aka PS4K, PS4.5) have anything to do with those figures?

Could the PS4K be responsible for Sony's huge PS4 sales forecast?

Sony wants to sell 20 million PlayStation 4 consoles from now until April 2017, bringing the total number of PS4s sold to 60 million globally. That's quite a feat. Although the PS4 is still a hot-selling console in its own right, what if Sony is counting on the new rumored PS4K to bolster those sales? Technically speaking the PS4K is a PS4, so those sales would definitely boost overall figures. Sony could unveil the PS4K at E3 2016, open up pre-orders after a month or so, and possibly ship it by October 2016 to coincide with the launch of the PlayStation VR.

Keep in mind that it's taken three years for the PS4 to hit its current 40 million sales figure, and Sony wants to sell half of this amount in one year. A new console would definitely bolster sales and drive growth. Remember that Sony's Fiscal Year 2016 ends on April 2017, so we could see the PS4K release in early 2017 or so, with Sony collecting the cash on pre-orders, but a 2016 launch is more likely in this scenario. On the other hand, if Sony does reveal the PS4K at E3, it's highly likely consumers will hold off on buying a PS4 and wait for the new console. If Sony lumps the PS4K with the original PS4 sales, the 20 million estimate makes a bit of sense. During Sony's IR call, Shuhei Yoshida affirmed that the company is now hitting the peak of console profits: "About two and half years have passed since the PlayStation 4 went on sale, and we believe we are beginning to enter the part of the console cycle where we harvest profits." What better time to release the PS4K?

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Fallout comes to Seattle with massive new Fallout 3-sized mod

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 24, 2016 9:48 PM CDT

Modders plan to push Fallout 4's Creation Kit to its limits with a massive new Fallout 3-sized mod set in Seattle.

Fallout comes to Seattle with massive new Fallout 3-sized mod

Introducing Fallout Cascadia, an ambitious new modding project that will bring the Fallout universe to the Pacific Northwest for PC players--and eventually console users--to enjoy. Cascadia is being built by a team of 18 volunteers using Fallout 4's official Creation Kit, and will be completely separate from Fallout 4. The Seattle-based mod is expected to be almost as big as Fallout 3 and much bigger than Far Harbor, with all new quests, storylines, and authentic locations based in the region.

Cascadia takes place several decades after Fallout 3/New Vegas/Fallout 4, and Seattle will be the main hub on the game--the same way Boston is Fallout 4's main hub. "Many locations of the game focus around the city proper, including certain fair grounds, public markets, and other famous locations. The game will also include other locations to the west and south including Mercer Island, Redmond, Bellevue, forested areas and airports. The project make an effort to make the world a believable and alive one."

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G.Skill to host OC World Record Stage and OC World Cup at Computex

Derek Strickland | Trade Shows | May 24, 2016 8:19 PM CDT

Thanks to G.Skill, all of the world's most renowned and prestigious overclockers will meet at Computex this year to push today's most powerful hardware to its limits.

G.Skill to host OC World Record Stage and OC World Cup at Computex

Armed with an all-star ensemble of overclockers and the world's most powerful motherboards, video cards, DDR4 RAM, SSDs, CPUs and more, G.Skill is ready to completely redefine everything we know about overclocking. G.Skill will be hosting this year's major OC events at Computex--the 5th Annual World OC Record Stage 2016 and 3rd Annual OC World Cup 2016--with Intel, Samsung and NVIDIA sponsoring the events.

G.Skill has partnered with the world's greatest motherboard partners like ASRock, ASUS, EVGA, GIGABYTE and MSI to allow the world's greatest OC'ers to "break as many overclocking world records as possible" using today's most powerful Intel Core CPUs, NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 video card, and G.Skill's DDR4 RAM. Expect to see some staggering new benchmark records, with Skylake CPUs, 4000 MHz DDR4 RAM, and NVIDIA's new insane GeForce GTX 1080 pushed to its limits--and beyond.

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Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' teaser dethrones 'Force Awakens' views

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | May 24, 2016 6:22 PM CDT

The live action remake of Disney's 1992 animated classic 'Beauty and the Beast' released its first teaser trailer yesterday, and has quickly dethroned the first day trailer views of the previous record holder 'The Force Awakens'.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the minute long teaser video generated 1.8 million views worldwide in its first 24 hours, besting the 2014 teaser trailer for the 'Star Wars' sequel.

Starring Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast, 'Beauty and the Beast' hits theaters in March 2017.

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Rocket League adds cross-play between Xbox One, PC

Sean Ridgeley | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | May 24, 2016 12:26 PM CDT

Popular part-racing part-sports game Rocket League gets even better today as developer Psyonix launches cross-platform play. When the clock strikes 6pm ET / 10pm UTC, Xbox One players and PC players can duke it out with each other, making the game that much more competitive and making it that much easier to find a quality match.

"We're really excited to bring Xbox One and PC players closer together," said Jeremy Dunham, Vice President, Psyonix. "Cross-network play has been something that Xbox One gamers have been asking us for since the day we launched, and thanks to Microsoft's new cross-network policies, we're proud to give it to them."

The Xbox One player base stands tall at about two million; as of August 2015, PC sales were at one million.

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AT&T begins enforcing broadband caps, offers $30 waiver option

Sean Ridgeley | Internet & Websites | May 24, 2016 11:07 AM CDT

AT&T began data capping its U-Verse broadband customers back in 2011, although it didn't enforce its new rules. That changes this week as May 23 has arrived: the date the company said it would begin enforcing caps.

Whereas the cap was 250GB per month in 2011, that's been increased to 300GB for those with 768 Kbps-6Mbps plans; 12Mbps-75Mbps plans will have a 600GB cap, and 100 Mbps-1Gbps means a 1TB cap. Should you exceed the limit (and you'll receive plenty of e-mail warnings before you do), you'll be charged $10 for each 50GB of extra data. Alternately, you can pay a flat $30 extra per month for unlimited data.

AT&T says about 4% of its customers go over the new limits.

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