Final Fantasy 15 on PC won't happen until console ports release

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 1, 2016 7:32 AM CDT

Square Enix hasn't ruled out a PC release for Final Fantasy 15, and the publisher promises that it'll seriously evaluate the platform in due time--but not before the console ports release. So we could be waiting well into 2017 before FF15 makes the jump to PC.

Final Fantasy 15 on PC won't happen until console ports release

Square Enix game director Hajime Tabata says that the studio is "aware of the big call for a PC version." but the PS4 and Xbox One flavors take priority. The studio is committed to optimizing the console versions ahead of Final Fantasy 15's September 30 release date.

"Unfortunately we weren't able to do simultaneous development on a PC and console version for XV," Tabata told Endgadget. "We had to focus on the console version, and our goal was to maximize, optimize everything for the HD consoles. Once that's done, then we will definitely take a good, hard look at PC and what we need to do, and consider all our options. But right now we aren't decided, we're still considering a lot of things."

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Unreal Engine 4.11 provides every VR headset with bug fixes, updates

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Apr 1, 2016 6:25 AM CDT

Epic Games has been at the forefront of VR since the Oculus went to Kickstarter to fund its Rift headset all those years ago, with Unreal Engine 4.11 being released - including bug fixes and updates for every major HMD on the market - including the Gear VR, PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets.

Unreal Engine v4.11 includes improvements to DX12 support as well as platform/SDK improvements for Oculus Mobile SDK 1.01 (Gear VR), PlayStation VR SDK 3 and SteamVR 0.9.12. Whilst a full version (1.3.0) of the Oculus Rift SDK is promised to take over from the current 0.8 Beta in an upcoming hotfix, reports VRFocus.

The team at Unreal Engine have said that the improvements have made the engine hit the "VR ship ready" state, which is perfect timing now that the Oculus Rift is shipping to consumers, and the HTC Vive is right around the corner.

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The world's first cyborg Olympics will take place in Zurich in October

I didn't think we'd see this for at least another 10 years, but the world's first cyborg Olympics (or Cybathlon) will happen in Zurich in October, this year. The event was created as a way of creating innovation in the industry, where only a few eligible for prostheses actually use them. A trial event took place last year, and was a success.

The Cybathlon will measure the performance of the latest developments in technology that assist people with disabilities in everyday tasks. The modifications done to humans are encouraged at the Cybathlon, compared to the normal Olympics where athletes with enhancements are considered to have an unfair advantage - and as I write this, it feels like I'm explaining some future DLC of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) is organizing the event where in a cycling race (as an example) paraplegics will be pushed forward using electrical stimulation systems that will move their legs by stimulating the muscles. If competitors have prosthetic arms, contests will see them slicing loaves of bread and opening jars of jam. Other events will include people climbing up and down stairs, or walking across stepping stones.

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Netflix's library of original content is growing roughly 185% per year

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Apr 1, 2016 2:13 AM CDT

Netflix has some of the best TV shows around, with original series like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black - but did you know their original content creation has increased by 185% per year? That's impressive.

According to data published by AllFlicks, which has mined Netflix's online catalog and cross referenced it with Wikipedia's list of Netflix original programming - Cordcutting.com created a chart that shows the sharp rise in original content from Netflix. From Q1 2012 to Q2 2016, Netflix added 111 original series and films, an impressive feat to say the least.

We see a quarterly growth rate of 34.22%, and an average annual growth rate of an astonishing 185.41%. The future growth rate should be higher, with Netflix announcing it will spend a huge $6 billion on original content in 2016 alone.

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Half-Life 3 announced, full VR support with the HTC Vive headset

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Apr 1, 2016 12:01 AM CDT

After all of these years, Valve has finally announced Half-Life 3. The new first-person shooter will be exclusive to the PC and has support built-in for the soon-to-be-released HTC Vive headset.

Half-Life 3 will be powered by the Source 2.0 engine, with support for 4K monitors and DX12. Valve has boasted about its new skeletal animation system, as well as its motion-capture technology, ensuring that the in-game characters look insanely real - more real than any other game before it.

The full game will be unveiled at E3 2016 in June, where Gabe Newell will take the stage and play the Half-Life 3 trailer - after which he'll drop the mic to the ground and walk off the stage - whispering one last thing: Half-Life 3 is free, to all gamers everywhere.

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The pre-launch reviews of Quantum Break are exclusive to the Xbox One

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Mar 31, 2016 10:40 PM CDT

After being completely disappointed with the news that Quantum Break won't be running at 1080p on the Xbox One, but instead 720p - and worse yet, with performance-related issues - the pre-launch reviews will be played by reviewers on the Xbox One. This isn't surprising at all.

All of the pre-launch reviews on Xbox One will be released in the coming days, as there are no Early Access codes to game reviewers for the Windows 10 version of Quantum Break. What does this mean? Well, either the Windows 10 version is not ready - and Remedy are still doing last minute work on it, or the Windows 10 version isn't ready. Yeah, that's going to be the issue - in that Remedy is putting all of its eggs in one basket, with that basket being the Xbox One.

We've seen PC releases like Gears of War: Ultimate Edition fall on its face, as well as other games released onto the Windows Store that don't support multi-GPUs or Eyefinity/Surround Vision at launch, and/or are plagued with bugs for months. Get your crap together, developers.

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Intel unleashes its new 44-threaded Xeon CPU, supports 385GB of DDR4

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Mar 31, 2016 8:28 PM CDT

Intel has just unleashed its new Broadwell-EP family of processors, starting with the huge Xeon E5-2600 V4 which features a huge 22 CPU cores. Thanks to Hyper-Threading technology, we have a total of 44 threads of CPU power, which is simply insane for the prosumer market - especially those who work in video editing.

The new Intel Xeon E5-2600 V4 hasn't been completely detailed by the company, but the enthusiast part will be the Xeon E5-2699 V4 which packs a base clock speed of 2.2GHz, 55MB of cache, and a pretty tame 145W TDP. What will this 44-threaded processor set you back? A hefty $4115, which works out to $187 per CPU core. If we consider the 8-core/16-threaded Core i7-5960X costs $1059 (which works out to $132 per CPU core) then the new Xeon E5-2699 V4 isn't too badly priced at all.

The new Broadwell-EP powered Xeon processors can take DDR4-2400, with up to 12 DIMMS per CPU socket. If you're using registered DIMMs, you can cram in up to 385GB of RAM per CPU, using 32GB DIMMs of DDR4. To put it simply: I want one, well - probably two.

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Oculus slips with Rift shipments, with consumers absolutely furious

Oculus opened up the preorders on the Rift headset on January 6 at 8AM PST, promising that any preorders up until 8:10AM that morning were to be included in the March shipment batch. Well, plenty of people on the Oculus subreddit, including myself, ordered before 8:10AM that morning and haven't received any shipping notification. I think 'WannabeTesla' puts it best, by saying: "Any communication at all. They've been silent for a week. That is absurdly unacceptable".

Furthermore, no communication from Oculus has been received, period. Countless people on /r/Oculus haven't heard anything - with 'kami77' saying:

'kami77' continues, saying: "I wouldn't say "f***ing furious" but I would say "f*** frustrated." I was so excited for this week, and Oculus just took a big shit on that. The launch was a disappointment. I thought this week would be filled with a million unboxing videos and everyone talking about their awesome experiences. Instead we get this. The store opens when almost no one has a Rift, developers must be wondering why no one is buying their games, and now everyone is just angry or frustrated. All I want is communication from Oculus. If that makes me an entitled brat, then I am an entitled brat...".

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Endless Legend getting a new shivery content expansion soon

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Mar 31, 2016 7:04 PM CDT

Endless Legend, a 4X strategy game developed by Amplitude Studios, is getting yet another content expansion coming up on April 7th.

The new faction, the Allayi, are a small civilization that seem to be bound to the changing seasons, with their allegiances shifting between the friendly faction you can easily trade with to the enraged thieves that seem to be a thorn in your side. They can also shift those allegiances at will, too.

Amplitude Studios is expanding the spirituality inherent in such a high fantasy setting, letting you spend pearls, a new resource found around the map during the winter months, at the new building they've added, the Altar of Auriga, in exchange for blessings which amount to defensive and offensive advantages in the form of city improvements or some pearl item sets. Part of those advantages is the ability to control winter in a way that brings whole new experience to the game. If you wanted, you can freeze lakes, or the sea, so you can walk your armies right over them, taking a more direct route to destroy your enemies.

Continue reading: Endless Legend getting a new shivery content expansion soon (full post)

Take a walk through the Vampire Count campaign in Total War: Warhammer

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Mar 31, 2016 6:03 PM CDT

The latest walkthrough from the folks at Creative Assembly take us on a tour of what the Vampire Count's campaign looks like inside Total War: Warhammer.

In the video, they explore some of the unique gameplay mechanics that the undead get to enjoy compared to their more colorful, living opponents. In particular, they show off how to raise the piles of dead bodies and reanimate them for your own nefarious purposes. It's an ability that can really turn the tide of your overall campaign, though you can only raise your dead army after the fact. A massive undead army to enact revenge sounds rather tantalizing.

They also introduce us to one of the hero characters, the Master Necromancer known as Heinrich Kemmler. He's has a massive roster of magic with which to pull from, being the one that can raise the dead, though after battles are waged. As with all hero units, he's capable of leveling up and learning gaining more abilities to become an invaluable member of your military campaign.

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