Report says eSports economy will generate minimum $465 Million in 2017

Chris Smith | Gaming | Feb 19, 2015 3:16 AM CST

With the total eSports revenues of 2014 said to equal $194 million, Newzoo's latest report claims that this figure will climb to a massive $465 million in 2017.

This report was conducted in conjunction with Repucom, a sports market research company. Their findings also state that the number of eSports enthusiasts is likely to climb from 89 million as seen in 2014 to 145 million in 2017 - with another 190 million said to be included as casual viewers. Relating this to the general (public) sporting field, this means that eSports will generate a similar fan base to the traditional sports of Volleyball, American Football and Ice Hockey.

ESL is one of the largest names in the eSports world, conducting numerous tournaments spanning many different titles each year - seeing tens of thousands of live spectators and hundreds of thousands of online fans watching their every move. Their global managing director, Heinrich Zetlmayer, is excited by this news, stating "Reading through the first, most extensive and comprehensive report that puts some realistic numbers on the esports industry was a pleasure. Especially the comparison to traditional sports is a valuable insight that will help everyone understand better what this business is about and the potential it has."

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Analyst: PlayStation 4 will outsell Xbox One 40% over next four years

Michael Hatamoto | Gaming | Feb 19, 2015 1:30 AM CST

The Sony PlayStation 4 will see its sales dominance over the Microsoft Xbox One continue, with the Japanese console outselling its American counterpart 40 percent by 2019, according to Strategy Analytics.

Through the first 14 months, the PS4 has sold 18.5 million units - and is on track to mimic the same success the PlayStation 2 had years ago. Strategy Analytics believes the PS4 will sell 80 million consoles by 2019, a dominant lead over the estimated 57 million units for the Xbox One.

The PS4 dominated the Xbox One for most of 2014, and has recaptured its lead in 2015 - and predicting extended dominance wouldn't be overly surprising. Even if Microsoft is unable to catch up to the PS4, there is still plenty of room for both consoles to rack up impressive sales figures.

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Slightly Mad Studios delays Project Cars from March 17 to April 2

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 19, 2015 12:38 AM CST

Project Cars has been delayed again, with Slightly Mad Studios announcing that it will be missing its March 17 release for an April 2 release on Steam for the PC, and April 7 on the PS4 and Xbox One. In Europe however, it will release on all three platforms on April 2.

The simulation racer was meant to launch last November, but it was pushed out to March 17, and now to April 2. The latest delay to the game has come from "final adjustments in the game that are required to provide fans with the best gaming experience they can have" according to publisher Bandai Namco.

Slightly Mad Studios' boss, Ian Bell, explains: "Moving the release date was not an easy decision to make, as we know our fans are eager to get their hands-on on Project Cars. But we know that these extra days will allow us to provide the best game experience that our fans deserve. We assure you the wait will be worth it when the game does arrive early April".

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DirectX 12 will reportedly 'treat multiple GPUs as a single entity'

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Feb 18, 2015 10:37 PM CST

We know to expect some big things from DirectX 12, but the more we hear about it, the more we want it now, now, now. AnandTech has completed a deep-dive into the upcoming API from Microsoft, noticing some huge improvements across a range of hardware.

We've written about Brad Wardell, the CEO of Stardock and his impressions of DX12, but he has said that using an "unreleased GPU" he was able to see a huge 100FPS difference between cards. He tweeted that he "did a test of DirectX 11 vs. DirectX 12 on an unreleased GPU with an 8core CPU. DX11: 13fps, DX12: 120fps. Lighting and lens effects".

When pressed, Wardell said he was using a Crossfire system, with an Intel Core i7 CPU. Since he's using an "unreleased GPU" we can gather he might be using the new Radeon R9 390X, which is another nice nugget of information, it means that they're out in the wild. Better yet, Wardell said that "one thing it does make it easy to treat multiple GPUs as a single identity". This is something we reported on not too long ago, where we reported that the VRAM on multi-GPU systems would be seen as one.

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Researchers hit 224Gbps on Li-Fi, or 27GB/sec on an LED lightbulb

Well, my 100/40Mbps fiber connection has just become quite slow compared to what researchers over at the University of Oxford have been playing around with. These researchers have reached a new milestone in networking technology by reaching bi-directional speeds of 224 gigabits per second (Gbps) using light fidelity (Li-Fi).

Considering 100Gbps fiber optic core networks have only just come into play, achieving 224Gbps over an LED light bulb is simply amazing. This connection would be capable of downloading a gigantic 27GB/sec, capable of blowing through terabytes of data in seconds. This new technology is being worked on as a possible alternative to Wi-Fi, as Li-Fi uses the visible light spectrum to transfer data. When mixed with a high-speed fiber Internet connection, researchers believe that we could see speeds far higher than anything Wi-Fi has on offer.

This means that the future of Internet connectivity could be delivered through light, which doesn't pass through walls, to most areas. We could have light bulbs providing super-fast Internet connectivity, with one of the pioneers behind Li-Fi, Harold Haas, stating that the future of every LED lightbulb could be used as an ultra-fast alternative to Wi-Fi. During a TED Talk, Haas said about Li-Fi: "We have the infrastructure there. We can use them for communications. All we need to do is fit a small microchip to every potential illumination device and this would then combine two basic functionalities: illumination and wireless data transmission. In the future we will not only have 14 billion light bulbs, we may have 14 billion Li-Fi's deployed worldwide for a cleaner, greener and even a brighter future".

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AMD Radeon 300 series launch will feature cards with older GCN chips

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Feb 18, 2015 8:25 PM CST

AMD is on the verge of announcing and releasing its new Radeon 300 series of cards, but according to a new report from Sweclockers, the codename Fiji GPU will be the only new chip in the Radeon 300 series family. The rest of the cards, will have the current GCN cores, with the GCN 1.1 and GCN 1.2 architecture powering them.

The Radeon R9 390 and R9 390X should feature the new Fiji architecture, with the R9 390 arriving with the Fiji Pro GPU, while the R9 390X will rock the Fiji XT core. When it comes to the Radeon R9 395X2, we don't know if we'll see two of the Fiji XT or Fiji PRO GPUs on it just yet. We do know that we should expect the Radeon R9 390X to feature 4096 cores, 4GB of 4096-bit (1024-bit per channel) HBM memory and hopefully, much more. These new cards will be the first video cards in the world to feature SK Hynix's HBM memory, as well as the first look at the latest GCN 1.3 architecture.

The biggest beast of the new cards will be 'Bermuda' which is the R9 395X2 dual-GPU offering, which should feature the new GCN 1.3 architecture and the super-fast new HBM memory. We don't know what else to expect, but I would like to see AMD make two versions of its R9 390X available: one with 4GB of HBM memory and the other with 8GB of VRAM. Another nice touch would be to have two versions of the R9 395X2: one with 8GB of VRAM (4GB per GPU) and another with 16GB of VRAM (8GB per GPU).

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Software Advice: More than half of SMBs don't have data breach plan

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Feb 18, 2015 6:15 PM CST

Companies are under cyberattack, and many of them are being caught off guard when a data breach occurs. More than half of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) don't have an appropriate breach response plan currently in place, according to a survey from Software Advice.

There are 47 states with breach notification laws that force companies to disclose data breaches when personal information is impacted. However, just 33 percent of SMB decision makers feel "very confident" they understand their state laws regarding breach notification - and it remains a confusing matter.

"Most of the time, when [valuable] information leaks out of a company, it is instantly being monetized on underground forums," said Bogdan Botezatu, senior e-threat analyst of the Bitdefender antivirus firm. This data can be moved quickly, as cybercriminals tend to want to exploit data before changes are made - and companies must inform their clients and customers promptly.

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CCS Insight: Apple Watch will sell 20 million units by end of 2015

Michael Hatamoto | Wearable Computing & Fashion | Feb 18, 2015 5:30 PM CST

Apple will be able to rack up 20 million Apple Watch units sold by the end of the year, according to the CCS Insight analyst group.

Even though an estimated 7 percent of iPhone owners with devices able to support the watch plan to buy the wearable, Apple can expect to quickly become the leading smartwatch maker. If Apple successfully sells 20 million units by the end of the year, the company would control almost one-quarter of the wearable market.

"This highly anticipated smartwatch will create a frenzy of demand, catapulting it almost instantaneously to be the most successful smartwatch ever," according the report. "The current love affair affluent US consumers have with the iPhone guarantees a strong start for the Apple Watch in its home market."

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Israel expects unmanned vehicles, robots to play bigger military role

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is embracing unmanned ground vehicles and robots, expecting the newer technologies to have a major role on the battlefield.

G-NIUS Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles is expanding away from the Guardium, promoting the Border Patroller UGV. The ground vehicles will be deployed to patrol the border with Gaza, able to detect and identify insurgent activity - and inform manned patrols.

"Its communications systems will be improved [compared to those of the Guardium], and the control aspect will be different," said Maj. Lior Tarbelsi, director of the Robotics Division in the Ground Forces Command's Weapons Department, in a statement published by The Jerusalem Post. "A robot can be risked, and it doesn't have to deal with a lack of lighting. It doesn't have to breathe, and it won't have to worry about getting shot."

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Nintendo says why smaller model New Nintendo 3DS wasn't released in US

Michael Hatamoto | Gaming | Feb 18, 2015 4:05 PM CST

Nintendo left some gamers confused when it confirmed it would release the New Nintendo 3DS XL console but not the smaller New Nintendo 3DS in the United States. However, the marketing decision was made in an effort to avoid confusing US gamers regarding the previous 3DS models and New Nintendo 3DS console unit.

"We're a different market," said Damon Baker, Senior Manager of Nintendo of America, in a statement to Nintendo Life. "And now we have clear differentiation between those three systems. Before, there was a very limited difference between the 3DS and 3DS XL: other than size. It was the same resolution, same functionality... now, there's the 2DS, 3DS, and New 3DS XL, all of which have their own functionality and features."

The hardware specifications are the same, but US gamers lose out on custom faceplates available for the New Nintendo 3DS unit. The New Nintendo 3DS can be found in Japan and Europe, and it's possible a US release could happen, but the company didn't confirm future plans.

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