Latest News - Page 484

Following the landmark 88-12 revenue split, Epic Games has kicked off yet another initiative in a bid to win over developers

Epic wants more developers to launch their games on the Epic Store, and to make that happen, the company has announced a new robust program called Launch Everywhere that can reduce royalty rates from 5% to 3.5%.

There's some criteria, though, and we've included tons of info about the new incentive.

Electronic Arts and BioWare have released Dragon Age: The Veilguard's main theme, revealing more details about the full soundtrack.

Hans Zimmer, the legendary composer behind the music of iconic films like Interstellar, Dune, and Inception, has co-composed the score for Bioware's next big Dragon Age game alongside Lorne Balfe, who has composed multiple game scores including Assassin's Creed III and Beyond: Two Souls.

Veilguard's audio director Cody Behiel says that the overall themes of the game's musical score are centered around emotion and impact, from the peaks of resolute and triumphant heroism to the valleys of villainy--and everything in between.

Epic Games, the company that created a game that's made $20 billion in less than a decade, operates its own storefront and games engine platform, and that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in its costly legal battles, is now "financially sound."

In 2023, Epic Games laid off over 800 workers as it tried to get its spending under control. The Fortnite-maker had spent quite a bit throughout the year across all accounts, from nabbing Epic Store freebies and developing new Fortnite content to a hefty $520 million to settle an FTC case, and even more millions of dollars on its lawsuit against Google and Apple (Epic recently announced that it's once again suing Google, as well as Samsung, in a new lawsuit).

Read Also: Analysis: How Epic Games' grandiose ambitions led to mass layoffs

Windows 11 24H2 is finally here, the annual update for Microsoft's desktop operating system for this year, and its launch has arrived rather out of the blue.

Microsoft notes that the rollout will be a phased affair, which is always the case with these major updates. So, if you don't get Windows 11 24H2 straight away, don't be surprised - the initial batch of PCs that the 24H2 update is piped to will probably be a relatively narrow selection.

As Microsoft becomes more confident about how solid the 24H2 update is, and that there aren't any big bugs - or truly nasty showstoppers - involved anywhere, the scope and speed of the rollout will be increased.

Windows 11's latest update has been causing quite some chaos for some of those who have installed the preview - to the point that Microsoft has now pulled it completely (and issued a rollback for those who've installed it).

We're talking about the optional update for September, released last week, which has been responsible for Windows 11 users getting hit by Blue Screens of Death (or indeed GSoDs, the green variety) and multiple restarts - with the Automatic Repair tool getting triggered following those repeated reboots in some cases.

On top of that, the BitLocker recovery screen is appearing for some - a bug witnessed earlier this year in Windows 11 - and there are other issues with USB and Bluetooth peripherals failing to work.

I can safely say that no one has seen this before: a custom laptop that a modder has installed a desktop (yes, the desktop) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card into... it's a monster, it's bloody heavy, but it's so awesome to see something like this done. Check it out:

The Chinese modder used a barebones OEM design that includes an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor, which is a desktop CPU. The design of this laptop is so custom that you could replace the motherboard (the stock board is an ASUS ROG STRIX B650I Mini-ITX motherboard), with 32GB of DDR5-6800 memory (no SO-DIMM here, folks) and even an Intel Optane P5800 SSD.

Now, for the GPU: the modded laptop rocks a custom blower-style GeForce RTX 4090 with a 450W TDP, with the power connector placed perfectly for the modded laptop. The modder even added a custom speaker system, with 2 x 20W speakers inside. So cool. The GPU keeps within its 450W power consumption, capable of playing games for hours and hours without any stability problems.

NZXT's last motherboard was the older-gen, mid-range B650E motherboard but the company has just teased its upcoming N9 X870E motherboard that will be dropping in 2025... ready for those new Ryzen 9000X3D processors.

The new NZXT N9 X870E motherboard features the AM5 socket of course, with 20+2+1 VRM and an 8-layer PCB with 110A Smart Power Stage, which is a big upgrade from the 16+2+1 and 90A design that NZXT's former B650E motherboard had. The upcoming N9 X870E motherboard also supports DDR5-8000+ memory, but we don't know what the maximum ceiling is on high-speed DDR5 memory on this mobo just yet.

On the connectivity side, NZXT provides Wi-Fi 7 and 5GbE ethernet, which is another upgrade from the Wi-Fi 6E and 2.5GbE on the former board. You can install 4 x M.2 SSDs (one of them Gen5, the other three are Gen4).

We all know that Taiwan leads the planet when it comes to semiconductor manufacturing, with global semiconductor leader TSMC absolutely dominating... so much so, that China is at least 10 years behind Taiwan according to a new report.

Taiwan's chairman of the National Science Council, Wu Chengwen, said that he doubts recent statements that China's semiconductor technology is only 3 years behind Taiwan. The Education and Culture Committee of the Legislative Yuan invited Wu Chengwen to provide a special report on the "Sustainable Scientific Research and Policy Communication" and to prepare for some questions.

Democratic Progressive Party legislator Wu Peiyi made a point that according to recent Japanese media reports, that after a Japanese semiconductor survey company dismantled Huawei smartphones, that China has caught up and that its chip making technology strength is only 3 years behind Taiwan... Chengwen was asked if this was true, to which he replied: "I actually have doubts". The gap should be over 10 years, especially with TSMC knocking on the door of 2nm mass production.

BIOSTAR has just launched its new flagship X870E VALKYRIE motherboard, ready to run AMD's new Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series CPUs.

The new BIOSTAR X870E VALKYRIE motherboard is ready for AMD's new Ryzen 9000 series CPUs, with the X870E VALKYRIE motherboard supporting up to 192GB of DDR5 memory, enough to handle a few Chrome tabs, that's for sure.

Get ready to crank up your gaming rig with the X870E VALKYRIE, because this beast of a motherboard doesn't mess around. It's packing dual PCIe 5.0 x16 slots alongside a PCIe 4.0 x16, so you can slap in those top-tier GPUs without breaking a sweat, ensuring your system is future-proofed for whatever comes next in gaming or pro-level rendering.

ASRock has just unleashed its new family of X870E + X870 motherboards, ready for AMD's new Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series CPUs... and led by the gorgeous new ASRock X870E Taichi motherboard. Check it out:

Each and every one of ASRock's new X870E + X870 motherboards features PCIe Gen5 GPU and Blazing M.2 (Gen5x4) SSD ports, as well as dual USB4 Type-C ports on the rear I/O for external connectivity at extreme speeds. The company uses a DIY-friendly approach with EZ release graphics card slot, and a tool-less M.2 heatsink installation.

ASRock even provides an additional heatsink pre-installed under the M.2 SSD, which can significantly reduce PCI-Express Gen-5 SSD temperatures to help prevent thermal throttling. All motherboards include the BIOS Flashback function, accessible via the rear I/O, allowing for effortless BIOS updates even without the CPU and memory installed.

TikTok parent company ByteDance will be training its next-generation AI model using Huawei AI chips, according to three people familiar with the matter, reports Reuters.

The outlet said that ByteDance is diversifying its domestic suppliers of chips used for AI and accelerated development of its own since the United States started restricting exports on advanced AI chips -- you know, the world's best are made by NVIDIA and export controls have stopped all high-end NVIDIA chips from entering China. So, ByteDance is side-stepping that, and keeping it all within China by tapping Huawei AI chips.

ByteDance will be tapping Huawei's new Ascend 910B AI chips to train its new large language model (LLM) according to Reuters' sources, who of course, declined to be identified as the plan is confidential (except leaking it to one of the largest news sources on the planet seems to be OK, even for Chinese companies).

With a range of brand-new AMD AM5 motherboards available this week, ASUS has announced that it has set a new overclocking record with its flagship ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO motherboard. Paired with the flagship Zen 5 AMD Ryzen 9 9950X CPU, in-house ASUS overclockers SAFEDISK and ELMOR pushed the clock speeds to an impressive 7.55 GHz.

Naturally, this included a liquid nitrogen cooling system that could maintain temperatures as low as -188 degrees Celcius, but it's impressive nonetheless. According to the team behind the achievement, to hit 7.55 GHz, they had to disable Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT), which then allowed all 16 cores of the 9950X to perform without interference.

An official stabilized frequency of 7548.68 MHz was recorded, which means the system was usable and able to complete complex CPU tasks and workloads. As the company's flagship AM5 board, the ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO's advanced power delivery and thermal performance also played an important role.

The AI chip market, led by NVIDIA, is crucial to the push toward generative AI and the age of AI PCs and AI-powered smart devices. However, with US trade restrictions on AI hardware, China and its tech giants are finding it increasingly challenging to source NVIDIA chips like the H100. This includes companies like ByteDance, Alibaba, and Baidu.

With NVIDIA no longer able to ship its flagship gaming GPU, the GeForce RTX 4090, to the region, there's room for a company like Huawei to step up and develop new AI hardware specifically for the Chinese market. The tech giant has hit the ground running, and its latest AI chip - the Ascend 910C - is currently being tested.

According to a new South China Morning Post report, Huawei is seeding its new Ascend 910C chip to local AI giants currently using NVIDIA's H100 AI GPU. The Ascend 910C is apparently comparable to the H100 regarding raw performance, so it's positioned as an alternative chip for China's AI market.

When it comes to on-the-go audio, that is, listening to music or a podcast while you're out and about, the choice is either in-ear or over-the-ear - earbuds or headphones. Regarding gaming, the choice is pretty much always the latter. Well, that's changing as SteelSeries is reinventing its premium wireless gaming Arctis headset as a pair of premium gaming earbuds.

The new SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds blend lifestyle with gaming. They have Bluetooth 5.3 for connecting to various devices with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and over 40 hours of battery life when using the case to top up. Available in black or white, they do not look too dissimilar to other lifestyle earbud designs, albeit with the SteelSeries logo.

The addition of a new USB-C nano dongle that can deliver the low-latency 2.4 GHz wireless that gaming demands is where it gets interesting. This means the earbuds double as a premium pair of gaming headphones with over 100 custom game audio presets, surround sound support, and more.

AMD's new X870 and X870E chipsets are available today, and with that, there's a whole range of new enthusiast-class AM5 motherboards for Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 Series CPUs. One of these is the high-performance flagship ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO motherboard, the successor to the popular X670E HERO.

One feature of ASUS's new flagship board is its ASUS NitroPath DRAM technology, which allows for up to 400 MT/s higher frequencies with one-click overclocking profiles. As one of the leaders in DDR5 memory for enthusiasts, G.SKILL has put this to the test to achieve an impressive DDR5-9000 speed with CL44-56-56 timings, using two 24GB capacity modules.

They did so in style because the modules are from the company's shiny luxury memory line, the Trident Z5 Royal Neo Series, which is now optimized and available for Zen 5 and AM5 boards.

Sony's upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro console won't have any AI-powered frame generation technology because of a few reasons: one of those being timing.

In their recent podcast, Digital Foundry talked about the lack of any AI-powered frame generation technology on the PS5 Pro, and that it's not there because of a lack of timing. Sony started working on the chip (co-developed by AMD, fabbed by TSMC) before NVIDIA's kick-ass DLSS 3 Frame Generation technology was born.

Not just that, but machine learning hardware inside of the PS5 Pro was co-developed by AMD, and while it's not amazing on its own -- so Sony leads into the image quality enhancements of the machine learning hardware inside of the PS5 Pro.

Some time ago, Blizzard was working on its own take on Minecraft...and it would've been set in the Warcraft universe.

The games industries' collective graveyard is filled with interesting skeletons. Hundreds of games get cancelled and scrapped throughout the years, and Activision-Blizzard has its own collective pile of would-be ideas. One of these games sounds like it could've given Minecraft a run for its money...if it were actually executed, that is.

In his new book Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment, games reporter Jason Schreier delved into the secrets of one of the most iconic brands in gaming history. One snippet highlights one of the more impressive ideas that Blizzard had at one time: Project Avalon, which would've essentially been a mashup of Minecraft and Blizzard's own billion-dollar Warcraft franchise.

Epic Games' costly lawsuit spree continues, and this time they're suing both Samsung and Google.

Today, billion-dollar Fortnite-maker Epic Games announced a new lawsuit against Samsung and Google, alleging that the two mega-corporations are colluding and conspiring to prevent third-party storefronts from running on Samsung devices.

Epic alleges that Samsung's Auto Blocker feature, which does exactly what it says, blocking apps from unauthorized sources by default, "cements the Google Play Store as the only viable way to get apps on Samsung devices, blocking every other store from competing on a level playing field."

Ubisoft's stock value has dropped considerably on the Euronext Paris Exchange.

On the heels of major setbacks and forecast adjustments, Ubisoft has taken a big hit on its share value throughout 2024. In the span of just two-and-a-half months, Ubisoft's stock has been more than halved, dropping by over 55% in the time span.

Ubisoft's Euronext Paris Exchange listing shows that the company's shares were at their highest point in February 15, 2024 at €24.47, shortly after Ubisoft issued its Q3'24 earnings report and investors update. The second-highest point was on May 15 with €23.33 in share value, which was shortly after Ubisoft released its full-year FY24 earnings figures.

Sony's upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro console "absolutely rocks" says No Man's Sky developer Martin Griffiths, with the Engine Programmer for Hello Games taking to X sharing his excitement about the PS5 Pro. Check it out:

Personally, I love that Martin admitted he had "never lost that child-like excitement I get when coding on a new dev kit". Martin shared a "beautifully staged" screenshot inside of No Man's Sky, ponting out that the game is now marked as a PS5 Pro Enhanced title on the PlayStation Store.

He said: "This beautifully staged screenshot is a fair summary of how I feel tonight. Many of you have noticed that #NoMansSky is now marked as a #PS5Pro enhanced title on the PlayStation store - the only thing I'd like to say as an engine programmer who has been through all the PS iterations since PS1, is that this console absolutely rocks".