Xbox One gamers want Red Dead Redemption to be backward compatible

Michael Hatamoto | Gaming | Jun 19, 2015 12:30 PM CDT

Microsoft earned praise from gamers after it announced the Xbox One would be backward compatible, so owners are able to play their Xbox 360 games on the next-generation console. Xbox One Preview Program members can currently test 21 Xbox 360 titles on the Xbox One, and can expect "hundreds" of titles to be supported by the end of the year.

The company also created a poll to ask which game titles Xbox One owners wanted to see, and Red Dead Redemption topped the list (with more than 39,000 votes). Of the top 10 games voted on, four Call of Duty video games made the list.

The full list, based on gamer votes: Red Dead Redemption, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Halo: Reach, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Gears of War 3, Call of Duty, Black Ops, Fallout 3, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Mass Effect 3.

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AMD Radeon R9 390X cards in CrossFire use up to 800W of power at 4K

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Jun 19, 2015 9:19 AM CDT

AMD released its Radeon R9 390X, and the entire Radeon 300 series this week, with our reviews on the SAPPHIRE Tri-X R9 390X 8GB and MSI Radeon R9 390X Gaming 8G already up and running.

But what we really wanted to see was the super enthusiast side of things, so we've tested out two of our 390X cards in CrossFire at 4K to see what the scaling is like on them. Well, we were more than blown away with the performance, with 4K 60FPS and above in every single one of our tests. But it was the power consumption that blew us away the most, with up to 805W of power being consumed by our setup.

Yes, 805W. Comparing this to the single Maxwell-based NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti in our test system, with the entire rig using 360W, this is a big difference. We found during our normal testing (Battlefield 4 at 1440p with the Ultra preset minus AA) the AMD Radeon R9 390X cards in CrossFire were consuming 760W, but during some of our testing (Shadow of Mordor) the cards were pushing up to 805W.

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Modular sound around the house made possible with Kien

Chris Smith | Audio, Sound & Speakers | Jun 19, 2015 6:25 AM CDT

With 195% of its funding goal reached in just one month, this audio product boasts impressive features such as 2.1 or 5.1 surround-sound audio, satellite speakers being able to operate singularly or as a group and a universal charging dock for all components. Even better, there is the ability to direct sound to whatever speaker you are near from a single device.

Modular sound around the house made possible with Kien

Complete with Dolby surround sound, $149 plus shipping will nab you the cheapest early bird package and this expands up to $899 plus shipping for the full 5.1 system ($500 off the eventual retail price).

As they are currently sitting at $97,279 raised, Kien has introduced stretch goals to get everyone a little more interested - the next one coming up is at $100,000 and will ensure three other colors are introduced as voted for buy the buyers. Further to this is the $200,000 stretch goal of extra inputs, followed by the $500,000 goal of a free power dock for every system.

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Sharkoon shows off its $65 minimalistic S28 ATX chassis

Chris Smith | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Jun 19, 2015 5:35 AM CDT

$65 (56.90 Euros) will now grab you a new Sharkoon S28 ATX case, complete with (add $3) or without a side window, cable management, tool-free drive installation and two 120mm fans pre-installed.

Sharkoon shows off its $65 minimalistic S28 ATX chassis

This black chassis boasts a minimalistic experience, increased functionality and is packed with connection options including two front USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports and front audio jacks.

As for storage options, you can throw inside two 5.25" drives, three 3.5" hard drives and four 2.5" hard drives or solid state drives in the main body, with the optional extra mounting platform of a single 2.5" HDD/SSD in the bottom.

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Oukitel smartphone packs an insane 10,000mAh internal battery

In a very surprise move, Chinese smartphone maker Oukitel has unveiled its latest smartphone prototype which packs an insane 10,000mAh internal battery. This is a battery that could truly last throughout an entire day of super-heavy use, without needing to recharge.

In the images we have above and below, you can see that the Oukitel handset features a black chassis, and quite a tough-looking exterior. Oukitel hasn't named the smartphone just yet, but it does pack Android 5.1 Lollipop, a 10,000mAh battery, which should cause most of the surrounding devices some issues, as the battery will be generating a decent amount of heat.

We don't know when the Oukitel smartphone is coming out, but it's great to see a company doing something different with a smartphone packing a 10,000mAh battery.

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SAPPHIRE intros the Nitro series, starting with the Radeon R9 390

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Jun 19, 2015 4:21 AM CDT

With the launch of the new Radeon 300 series from AMD, SAPPHIRE has just unveiled its new Nitro series of products. The new Nitro series from AMD is an "evolution of our market-leading, award-winning, high-end video card technology developed with features designed to be attractive to the majority of PC gamers" says SAPPHIRE. At the same time, the video card maker is also launching SAPPHIRE NATION, which is a new community website for gaming enthusiasts.

The new SAPPHIRE Nitro series is a new high-end range of products, where SAPPHIRE has used long-life capacitors and award-winning SAPPHIRE Black Diamond Chokes, on top of SAPPHIRE's usual top-class cooling solutions. The company has unveiled the Nitro series with a Radeon R9 390, R9 380, and R7 370.

SAPPHIRE's new Nitro series video cards are available right now.

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The new Hitman game will have all of its DLC released for free

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jun 19, 2015 3:31 AM CDT

E3 2015 - Square Enix unveiled the latest Hitman game at E3 2015, with the game simply titled 'Hitman'. We should expect it to be released on December 8.

The new Hitman game will have all of its DLC released for free

Square Enix started off the new Hitman with a trailer teasing a global banking conspiracy, with Agent 47 right in the middle of it, of course. Better yet, the developer has said that all DLC will be free, with no season pass on offer. Io's Hannes Seifert told VideoGamer: "Everything we ship on December 8 will be completely finished, it will be a very polished experience. It's also going to be a very big game. There are other products that sell a game for $60 and then try to sell you a Season Pass for another $40 on top, so you spend $100 or $120 for all the stuff that happens later on. We said no, we don't want to do that".

He added: "We think it's wrong to approach players like that because players want to be part of that experience but they don't necessarily want to be ripped off. What we're going to sell is all of that but it's for a one-price package".

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Project Morpheus wants players to use their hands while enjoying VR

Sony hopes its Project Morpheus virtual reality headset will help usher gamers into the VR world, by providing a fast, responsive gaming environment. Richard Marks, director of the Sony PlayStation Magic Labs research division, recently discussed some of the breakthroughs that Project Morpheus offers to gamers interested in VR.

VR is able to create unique gameplay experiences in so many ways, but after testing Project Morpheus, GamesBeat noted that loading a new magazine into a machine gun is a "kind of fun" experience:

"One thing that's surprising to a lot of people is how much fun it is to do things with two hands separately," Marks recently told GamesBeat. "Picking something up and doing something with the other hand to it - humans are really good with that. If you have to paint with just one hand and then move your body around it, it's really hard, but if you can hold the object in the other hand and paint, it's much more effective. You can move the paintbrush or move the object quickly."

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Sony and Oculus working together to push virtual reality mainstream

When it comes to the current state of virtual reality, the leading handful of companies know and understand what is being developed. All participating companies would like to see VR mature and spread, but can make for awkward situations if each company isn't doing the best that they can.

"We know each other very well," Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's worldwide studios for SCE, in a statement published by Polygon. "Brendan [Iribe, the CEO of Oculus] used to work at Gaikai. Palmer [Luckey, the founder of Oculus], before he started the Kickstarter, we knew him. So we share the same understanding that when a company like ours makes efforts, commercial efforts, as a well-funded company with commercial backing, and they are now as well with Facebook backing."

Previously, Oculus showed concern that a big company would release a mid-quality system - and seemingly was speaking about Sony. Those fears have been publicly alleviated, but there is still so much work left to be done among VR hardware manufacturers.

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Bethesda admit they had to water down Fallout 4's graphics

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jun 18, 2015 10:21 PM CDT

Fallout 4 was one of the best games unveiled at E3 2015, but during an interview with GameSpot, Bethesda boss Pete Hines had some sad words to say about the graphics in Fallout 4.

Hines said that the complex crafting system and extensive interactive environments required some graphical compromises, where he added: "Everything that we do is a balance. We could make the best looking game possible, but we dial some of that back in order to allow for all of these other things". Hines also added: "If you want to pick flowers and make potions all day, then that's what you're role-playing. If you want to go shoot everybody in the head with a laser-musket, then that's what you're role-playing".

Personally, I think Bethesda is having to compromise in the graphics department in Fallout 4 because of the lackluster hardware found in the Xbox One and PS4. If it were a PC only game, there would be absolutely no need to water down the graphics, or compromise any part of the game, period.

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