Samsung TV's to play PlayStation games without a PlayStation console
The dawn of the new era of gaming is breaking on the horizon. The rise of cloud gaming has promised a future where all game rendering and processing is handled in a remote datacenter and merely streamed to the user. The new consoles have started a partial transition to this future of gaming, but it seems that the future is now. Samsung's newest 2015 TV's will feature an integrated app that will allow users to play games from the PlayStation Now service, but without a console.
All the viewer needs is a DualShock controller and the app. An initial library of 200 PS3 games will be available. Integrating this service into smart TV's could foreshadow a world without consoles, but there are a few caveats. Streaming high-quality content always comes with bandwidth and latency concerns, making a solid internet connection a must. Any loss of internet will end the gaming session, but the game will be saved to the cloud.
It will be interesting to see how the systems operate when hundreds of thousands, and millions, begin to use these new TV's. The early games are notably from the PS3, and not the PS4. There are likely a few reasons. PS4 games require more computation and have better graphics, so it might not be feasible at this point to process all of the data for millions of users at a remote location, let alone provide the bandwidth to stream it with acceptable performance.
Continue reading: Samsung TV's to play PlayStation games without a PlayStation console (full post)
Want a job? Sony hiring cybersecurity director to work in Washington
Sony doesn't want a repeat of its data breach suffered by Sony Pictures, and hopes a new Director of Vulnerability Management Engineering will be able to lend a hand. The company is still trying to lick its wounds after foreign cyberattackers brought Sony Pictures to its knees, with corporate emails and movies stolen, along with employee personal information.
Applicants must have a minimum of 10 years information security experience and five years of experience in penetration testing/red teaming. The qualified candidate must have a Master's degree in computer science or another appropriate field, or have equivalent experience.
Sony also posted job listings for junior analysts on the "security operations team," a senior risk management analyst job, senior governance, and a risk and compliance analyst dedicated to security and privacy training.
Continue reading: Want a job? Sony hiring cybersecurity director to work in Washington (full post)
UK movie theater calls police on kids due to iPhone piracy risk
Movie theater patrons in the UK, a group of 12-year-old girls, faced a major headache when theater management called police over suspected piracy concerns. The children brought their Apple iPhones and iPads into the theater while seeing "The Hunger Games," despite not recording any data, the police were called.
A few members of the group were accused of recording parts of the movie, and the police searched the devices for recordings, but were unable to find anything. The theater allowed them to return to their seats, but they instead decided to wait for their parents to pick them up.
Here is what a mother of one of the girls said following the incident: "Our girls were falsely accused, had the police called on them and then just left in tears. It's outrageous. If they have done this to our children they will do it again."
Continue reading: UK movie theater calls police on kids due to iPhone piracy risk (full post)
The Witcher 3 is virtually finished, CD Projekt Red is now tweaking
CD Projekt Red is pretty much finished on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with the developer prepared for its May 19, 2015 release. The developer has said that it has had more time since delaying the game from its original February 25, 2015 release date to the new May 19, 2015 date to get the game in much better working order.
When talking about the additional development time during an interview with Nerdacy, CD Projekt Red co-founder and CEO Marcin Iwinski said "We are removing the final bugs and still running optimization in various areas. What it will result in is a smoother and more engaging experience and, yes, the game looking better across all platforms. The content is locked, so no content changes are being made at this point. The scale of the open world in the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is unprecedented, so fear not - there is enough gameplay to keep you playing for weeks."
There was also talk of a second playable character in the form of Ciri, to which Iwinski replied "Ciri is this living weapon everyone wants to get a piece of. She has this inner power that is key to stopping the Wild Hunt, but she also has some of her own demons to handle, so she won't allow to be controlled by anyone. We decided to introduce her as a playable character because it adds a lot to the narrative, and offers gamers a unique perspective on the story." He continued, adding "Having said that, Geralt is the main character whom you will be playing most of the time and he is the guy. We think that the introduction of Ciri as a playable character is a great way to allow gamers to see parts of the story from her perspective and make it even more personal."
Continue reading: The Witcher 3 is virtually finished, CD Projekt Red is now tweaking (full post)
Valve updates Team Fortress 2 with a grappling hook for Christmas
Valve's new End of the Line update for Team Fortress 2 has just evolved, with the latest Smissmas update. The Smissmas update includes a new mode called Mannpower, with some awesome new features in the form of nine power-up items that any class can use.The new update provides users with a grappling hook, which looks like it can be some serious fun. Check out the video below.
How does Mannpower work? Here's an explanation "It's an in-beta CTF-like game mode with grappling hooks and nine different types of powerups. Mannpower alters a few game rules. For one, random critical hits have been disabled. Additionally, teams won't be able to capture the enemy flag unless your flag is at your base. (When your flag is away from your base, you can touch it to instantly return it to base.) Mannpowers exist in the world and can be picked up by all classes. When picked up they add abilities and enhancements to the player carrying it. Mannpowers can be dropped at any time by hitting your dropitem key, and will drop automatically when the player carrying it is killed. Note that you can only carry one at a time, and that you can't take powerups into respawn rooms."
The video above shows off all of the new weapons that you have to choose from. Let us know what you think! It makes me want to get back into TF2.
Continue reading: Valve updates Team Fortress 2 with a grappling hook for Christmas (full post)
Companies should learn from Sony hack, work to improve cybersecurity
If companies needed another reminder on the importance of improving cybersecurity, they can learn from the current predicament tormenting Sony Pictures. C-level executives need to be more involved when it comes to being proactive ensuring cybersecurity strategies at their companies are being implemented properly.
It has been a brutal year for data breaches in the United States, with Sony Pictures joining the unfortunate list of Home Depot, Target, JPMorgan Chase, and multiple other companies that suffered high-profile, very public cybersecurity incidents. Trying to prevent these data breaches is much easier said than done, but many companies have either ignored security recommendations - or overlooked potential fallout - related to security.
"I think the scale of this impact on Sony is what's going to make a lot of C-suites sit up and say 'Wow, we really do need to take this seriously,'" said Rob Sloan, cyber data and content head at Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, in a statement published by Fortune. "They can see the damage being done and it's potentially career-threatening for them and business-ending if they don't have the funds to support them through their troubles."
Continue reading: Companies should learn from Sony hack, work to improve cybersecurity (full post)
Resident Evil remaster is cross-buy on PS3, PS4 if you pre-order
The remaster of one of the best, if not the best Resident Evil game is coming out next year, a game that will have support for Sony's cross-buy platform. This means that if you purchase the game on your PS3, you can play it on your PS4 without having to buy another version.
The listing of Resident Evil on Sony's PlayStation Store says that if you pre-order the game, it "entitles you to both the PS4 and PS3 versions." Pre-orders also gain an exclusive PS3 theme, too. This cross-buy platform is only available as an incentive to those who pre-order it, but I don't know why Sony would lock it to pre-orders only.
The Resident Evil remaster comes out on January 20, 2015 for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.
Continue reading: Resident Evil remaster is cross-buy on PS3, PS4 if you pre-order (full post)
Driveclub developer releases new trailer, also thanks its consumers
Evolution Studios has taken to Facebook to thank its consumers for the "overwhelming" support for Driveclub's initial launch, and in the months of the game being broken in various parts. Even after the boss of Sony UK came out and said he was embarrassed by the launch of Driveclub on the PS4.
The studio has said that there are some new updates coming next month that should have gamers excited. Evolution Studios wrote "Everyone here at Evolution Studios wants to say thank you for the truly overwhelming level of support from you this year, especially in the time since DRIVECLUB launched in October. Your messages, your feedback, your hot lap videos on YouTube and all of the absolutely amazing screenshots you've shared have all been a huge source of inspiration for the team." The team added "You've all been amazing and we're extremely thankful for your continued support."
"We have many more updates in the works, for the servers and for the game, which we're looking forward to sharing with you in the new year. In the mean time, please don't forget to claim all of the free DRIVECLUB downloads from PlayStation Store if you haven't already and please keep sharing your thoughts and feedback with us, so that DRIVECLUB can continue to evolve around you in 2015," they continued. Evolution Studios finished their pledge to fans with "Thank you all again - we really are uplifted by you on a daily basis. We hope that you all have a great holiday season and we wish you a very Happy New Year!"
Continue reading: Driveclub developer releases new trailer, also thanks its consumers (full post)
Samsung to cram 4GB of RAM into the upcoming Galaxy S6 smartphone
Samsung has confirmed that its upcoming Galaxy S6 will have 4GB of RAM, which should make it the first Android smartphone released to feature as much RAM as some PCs come with.
It makes sense, as the company only just announced that it is working on 8Gb LPDDR4 mobile DRAM, which is perfect for flagship handsets like the Galaxy S6. The upcoming RAM in the Galaxy S6 will be capable of supporting continuous shooting of 20-megapixel or higher images, as well as 4K video recording and playback. The new RAM is expected to have twice the bandwidth than its predecessor did.
LPDDR4 is also incredibly power efficient, as it only draws 1.1V which is considerably lower than current low-power memory in smartphones and tablets. We should expect battery life to go up with LPDDR4-powered devices.
Continue reading: Samsung to cram 4GB of RAM into the upcoming Galaxy S6 smartphone (full post)
SAPPHIRE teases 'Project NFC' for January, is this the Radeon R9 380X?
It looks like we're seeing the beginnings of SAPPHIRE's new GPU, which is going under the guise of 'Project NFC.' What is Project NFC? Well, NFC stands for Not From Concentrate, which is a term used in the food industry for when water hasn't been extracted from the juice of a fruit. In SAPPHIRE's tease, it is more of a pure and unaltered version, which could be a liquid cooled video card - exciting.
The company hasn't coming out and said that Project NFC is an actual liquid cooled AMD card, but SAPPHIRE did hint at it on its video on YouTube. We have possible drawings of a GPU block, and water vapor as you can see below.
The next question is, is this the Radeon R9 380X? Or would SAPPHIRE liquid cool one of its existing cards? Whatever happens, it's SAPPHIRE: which means we know it's going to be good, very good.
Continue reading: SAPPHIRE teases 'Project NFC' for January, is this the Radeon R9 380X? (full post)