Need for Speed on PC delayed to 2016 in order to 'unlock frame rates'

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 14, 2015 2:37 PM CDT

First EA revealed the Need For Speed reboot would "require an internet connection at all times" to play, then Ghost Games said that the game was capped at 30FPS on PC, leading to massive backlash from PC gamers everywhere. Now Ghost Games has heeded the call and promises to boost the frame-rate...but it's going to take some time.

"For any driving game a steady frame rate is incredibly important, and an unlocked frame rate in Need for Speed is a massive priority for you. We fully agree," Ghost Games said on a new update post. "To deliver this, we've made the decision to move the PC release date to Spring 2016. Our PlayStation 4 and Xbox One release dates will remain the same, starting November 3, 2015 in North America and November 5 worldwide."

The developers continue to affirm that the extra time will be spent "increasing the visuals we can deliver on PC" and maintains that PC gamers will get retroactive access to all of the updates released on PS4 and Xbox One in the interim. Since the game is being developed on the Frostbite engine it's quite odd Ghost Games couldn't maintain 60FPS on PC...especially in a racing game.

Continue reading: Need for Speed on PC delayed to 2016 in order to 'unlock frame rates' (full post)

Metal Gear Solid V on Xbox One suffers intense frame-rate drops

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 14, 2015 11:30 AM CDT

Everyone seems to be having a blast with Hideo Kojima's swan song Metal Gear Solid V, but for the past three weeks Xbox One gamers have been plagued with crippling performance hitches and frame-rate drops that can ruin any session.

Metal Gear Solid V on Xbox One suffers intense frame-rate drops

In a game as big as MGSV: The Phantom Pain it's natural to find glitches...but the consistent and game-breaking frame-rate drops is something that should have been noticed in QA testing. After AC: Unity these issues have left a bad taste in gamer's mouths, and for good reason. There have been dozens of separate incidents reported across Reddit, NeoGAF and even Giant Bomb's forums that articulate gamers' frustration.

The glitch effectively makes the game unplayable in certain situations, especially when players lose control of Snake's action and he walks right out into a searchlight instead of stealthily melting into the shadows. Metal Gear Solid V is all about making those perfect infiltration runs, and it's the kind of game where a single mistake can ruin the entire session. Precision and functionality are extremely important and the player has to be able to maintain control at every second or else the whole experience just falls apart.

Continue reading: Metal Gear Solid V on Xbox One suffers intense frame-rate drops (full post)

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Flight will see its processors in drones

Anthony Garreffa | Science, Space, & Robotics | Sep 14, 2015 7:29 AM CDT

Qualcomm has been mostly down and out with its current Snapdragon processor, with Samsung opting for its Exynos 7420 inside of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge handsets, but the company wants to see its Snapdragon processors inside of drones in the future.

Qualcomm has just announced its new Snapdragon Flight, which is their optimized platform for everything drones and robotics. Snapdragon Flight is a tiny 58 x 40cm circuit board, which will be used on drones and other robotics in the future. The new Snapdragon Flight features Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 processor, clocked at 2.5GHz.

Senior Vice President of Qualcomm, Raj Talluri, explains: "Today, drones are made from multiple component vendors providing separate solutions for photography, navigation and communications, adding to the cost and bulk of consumer drones. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight brings together the technologies that have defined the mobile industry onto a single board, enabling OEMs to build drones that are lighter, smaller, easy to use and affordable with long battery life and superior functionalities".

Continue reading: Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Flight will see its processors in drones (full post)

Meet Nintendo's new president, Tatsumi Kimishima

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 14, 2015 6:21 AM CDT

Nintendo is no longer a ship without a captain: the Japanese gaming titan has selected 65-year-old Nintendo veteran Tatsumi Kimishima to fill the late Satoru Iwata's position as President and Representative Director of the company.

Meet Nintendo's new president, Tatsumi Kimishima

While this is probably your first time hearing about Kimishima, he's been with Nintendo for 15 years after being appointed as Representative Director of the Pokemon Company back in 2000. The former Pokemon director will have his work cut out for him filling the shoes of beloved former Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, who's death in July sent a shockwave throughout the entire gaming sphere.

The announcement of Kimishima's new appointment is actually two-fold, as Nintendo reveals that a "large-scale revision of the organizational structure of the company" will take effect on September 16. In the new structure, Zelda alum Shigeru Miyamoto is set to become Nintendo's Creative Fellow, and Genyo Takeda, who helped develop the hugely successful Wii console, is now Nintendo's new Technology Fellow. Both Takeda and Miyamoto now cast a wide arc of influence over Nintendo's games and hardware and based on their respective achievements I'd say that this is a great move.

Continue reading: Meet Nintendo's new president, Tatsumi Kimishima (full post)

iPhone 6S features 2GB of RAM, while the new iPad Pro has 4GB

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Sep 14, 2015 5:32 AM CDT

Now that the new iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPad Pro have all been unveiled, we're hearing more details about the RAM that they will all come with. Because you know, Apple doesn't like to give out the details on the RAM inside of its smartphones and tablets at whim.

The new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will both feature 2GB of RAM, while the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will include 4GB of RAM. The news is coming from the Twitter account of iOS developer Hamza Sood, where he said: "Not much of a surprise but Xcode confirms 2GB of RAM for the 6s (and 6s plus), and 4GB for the iPad Pro".

With the iPad Pro being able to edit three 4K video streams at once, it would really need to have 4GB of RAM, which Apple seems to have crammed into the 12.9-inch slate. When it comes to the new iPhones, they have 2GB of RAM versus the 1GB of RAM in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. But, the new iPhones reportedly have two dual-core processors at different clock speeds, which will provide some much needed performance.

Continue reading: iPhone 6S features 2GB of RAM, while the new iPad Pro has 4GB (full post)

Windows 10 on Xbox One revealed as 'OneCore', brings 50% speed boost

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 14, 2015 4:19 AM CDT

The Xbox Platform Team has fabricated a "highly customized" version of Windows 10 to bring some dramatic changes to the Xbox One's architecture, allowing for a 50% speed boost, backward compatibility and DirectX 12 integration.

The New Xbox One Experience "NXOE" isn't just a simple UI overhaul. It's a complete evolution of the console's speed and responsiveness, and it's made possible with a new customized Windows 10 kernel called OneCore. "This isn't a small change in the front-end of the console or the UI, this is a massive change to the architecture, to the under-pinnings of the system," Xbox spokesman Larry Hryb said in the latest Major Nelson Radio podcast.

"NXOE brings massive change to the Xbox One," Xbox Director of Program Management Mike Ybarra said in the podcast. "We're bringing in Windows 10 and the whole Xbox One architecture will change Windows 10 is allowing us to bring a new level of speed and responsiveness to the Xbox One. Windows 10 on Xbox One is a highly customized version of the OS. It's called OneCore, and you can think of it as a kernel. It's a higly customized build of Windows 10 specifically built to optimize the things players do on the console, including playing games and other features."

Continue reading: Windows 10 on Xbox One revealed as 'OneCore', brings 50% speed boost (full post)

BioWare teases that the new Mass Effect is the 'best and largest' ever

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 14, 2015 1:47 AM CDT

We all know that the new Mass Effect game is in development, with Mass Effect: Andromeda set to be the best one yet. BioWare's Creative Development Director, Alistair McNally, has taken to Twitter to tease his feelings on the game.

BioWare teases that the new Mass Effect is the 'best and largest' ever

McNally said: "Spent today reviewing creative process on #MassEffectAndromeda. I believe it to be the best (and certainly largest) Mass Effect ever! #Hype". BioWare is tapping DICE's incredible Frostbite 3 engine for Mass Effect: Andromeda, which is coming out in holiday 2016.

We don't know much on Andromeda, but BioWare Canada's General Manager, Aaryn Flynn, said when the game was revealed: "When we wrapped up the original Mass Effect trilogy with Mass Effect 3: Citadel in early 2013, planning and design on Mass Effect: Andromeda was already well underway. We knew we wanted to start with a foundation composed of the best parts of any Mass Effect game: exciting new worlds to discover, great characters, and intense action. At the same time, we clearly wanted to expand the definition of what you should expect from a Mass Effect game".

Continue reading: BioWare teases that the new Mass Effect is the 'best and largest' ever (full post)

StarCraft's RTS legacy ends in November with Legacy of the Void

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 14, 2015 12:08 AM CDT

StarCraft II's last expansion, Legacy of the Void, doesn't just wrap up the second game: it promises to wrap up the entire decades-spanning saga.

StarCraft's RTS legacy ends in November with Legacy of the Void

Blizzard today announced that Legacy of the Void, StarCraft II's final expansion, will release on November 10, 2015. The expansion is all about the Protoss' harrowed conflict against the menacing Zerg swarm that has overtaken their homeworld, and will wrap up the series as well as expose the fates of the Protoss culture as well as iconic characters like Kerrigan and Jim Raynor.

"Legacy of the Void provides an epic conclusion to a story more than 17 years in the making," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "It also brings tremendous enhancements to StarCraft II's definitive real-time strategy gameplay, with new units, automated tournaments, collaborative game modes and more. We can't wait for players to experience it all this November."

Continue reading: StarCraft's RTS legacy ends in November with Legacy of the Void (full post)

IMAX rumored to be working on their own movies for IMAX screens

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Sep 13, 2015 11:24 PM CDT

If you've ever watched a movie in an IMAX screen that was filmed with an IMAX camera, you'll know that there's nothing better. But the company doesn't see many movies hitting its screens, and it wants to see that change - even if it has to do so itself.

The Wrap is reporting that IMAX is in the process of making their own movies, and even the possibilities of allowing alternate programming to be blasted onto IMAX screens in the future. The company is talking with various potential partners, TV producers, and filmmakers to see what they can do to get IMAX into the limelight.

Why now? Well, during August there were hardly any blockbuster Hollywood movies on IMAX screens. IMAX Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Greg Foster explained: "There were no blockbuster movies released in August, there were none last week and none this coming weekend. That's three or four weeks of beachfront property. We want to provide the very best premium entertainment 52 weeks a year, and if creating it ourselves is the best way to do it, we're going to be excited about taking that step".

Continue reading: IMAX rumored to be working on their own movies for IMAX screens (full post)

Gear of War: Ultimate Edition will have unlocked frame rate, and more

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 13, 2015 5:12 AM CDT

The release of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for the PC is getting closer, with it being one of the first DirectX 12 titles in development for the PC. The Coalition, the developer behind the game, has talked with Eurogamer recently with some interesting things to say.

Cam McRae, the Technical Director for the Windows 10 version of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition has said that the use of DX12 and Asynchronous Compute will help them provide a stellar PC release. McRae said: "We are still hard at work optimising the game. DirectX 12 allows us much better control over the CPU load with heavily reduced driver overhead. Some of the overhead has been moved to the game where we can have control over it. Our main effort is in parallelising the rendering system to take advantage of multiple CPU cores".

He continued: "Command list creation and D3D resource creation are the big focus here. We're also pulling in optimisations from UE4 where possible, such as pipeline state object caching. On the GPU side, we've converted SSAO to make use of async compute and are exploring the same for other features, like MSAA".

Continue reading: Gear of War: Ultimate Edition will have unlocked frame rate, and more (full post)

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