Gaming - Page 1614

Microsoft's high-end Project Scorpio console is indeed capable of pushing native 4K gaming, and sometimes even 4K 60 FPS, but any PC gamer knows that this perf can come at a pretty substantial thermal output. To keep the system from frying from high temps, Microsoft has assigned Project Scorpio it's own unique vapor chamber cooling array.

Vapor chamber coolers are typically used in enthusiast-grade video cards such as NVIDIA's Founder's Edition GTX 1080 and GTX 1080 Ti. Since Project Scorpio is churning out much more performance than traditional consoles, it needs something better than the normal heat pipe-and-fan conjunction found in most consoles.

Project Scorpio's vapor chamber cooling is complimented by a blower-style fan--again resembling a reference desktop-grade video card--that pushes heat out through the back of the system. Unlike current Xbox One and Xbox One S consoles, Microsoft's 4K machine doesn't have vents on its top or sides: heat is only expelled through vents on its rear side.

Turn 10 ported Forza's engine to Microsoft's 'monster' 4K ready Project Scorpio console in just two days time. Two days. That's pretty insane on its own. But what's even more unprecedented is the engine just worked...it worked just fine after only two days of porting. "Not only did it work, but it was fast. Brutally fast. Without the benefit of any platform-specific optimization."

In order to stress test the engine on early Project Scorpio hardware to see its limits, Turn 10 created a specific demo that matches Forza 6's performance on Xbox One to use on Project Scorpio, and jammed as many cars as possible in a specific level. Within the stress test conditions the game ran at 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution at 60FPS at only 66% GPU usage. UPDATE: Leadbetter confirms that Project Scorpio can hit native 4K 60FPS at Xbox One's "High" graphical preset with "substantial overhead" with 66% of the GPU used, and 4K 60FPS Ultra.

"I've seen Microsoft's new console running a Forza Motorsport 6-level experience locked to 4K60 on the equivalent to PC's ultra settings - cranking up the quality presets to obscene levels was one of the first things developer Turn 10 did when confronted with the sheer amount of headroom it had left after a straight Xbox One port," Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter said during the exclusive Scorpio reveal.

Digital Foundry today confirmed specifications of Microsoft's "monster" Project Scorpio console. The system doesn't feature a Ryzen CPU, but no specifics were given on the exact Radeon GPU architectures the system will use.

Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter hypes up Project Scorpio's raw power, despite the fact the system uses an 8-core Jaguar CPU that's been "evolved" to target latency and synergy with the system's highly customized GPU. The GPU itself does indeed hit 6TFLOPs of power, and has 40 compute units at 1172MHz, giving the system an 11% increase in Radeon hardware and a 27% boost in frequency, totaling for a 47% compute advantage.

The GPU has features derived from AMD's Polaris technology, which in PC terms is basically the Radeon RX 480. Project Scorpio's GPU is 4.6 times more powerful than the Xbox One's. This GPU has 36 Compute Units versus the Scorpio's 40. But the dedicated RX 480 video card has 1266MHz, which is 94MHz faster than Scorpio's GPU. So I couldn't really believe Microsoft has squeezed that much frequency out of a console part.

I put thousands of hours into the Quake franchise in the 90s, after diving right into the 3dfx Voodoo 1 at the time and running Quake (the original) in Glide - an alternate API to DirectX and OpenGL at the time. Fast forward to now, and we have Quake Champions - and it's not slow like the first-person shooters of today.

The latest Quake Champions raw gameplay footage is a great thing to see in a world of spruced up bullshots of games and PR-driven trailers: it's real, it's super-fast, and it's on the PC. Bethesda and id Software promised that Quake Champions has PC-specific features, with the developers building Quake Champions around the quick movement of a mouse and keyboard. Music to my ears.

STALKER used to be one of the original 'can your PC run it' games, but it disappeared and remerged with fragments of its original developers forming 4A Games and working on the Metro series of games - but now, STALKER could be rebooted, running Crytek's awesome CryEngine 3 graphics engine.

HardOCP reports that it is "unclear what the original source of these clips is, who is running the project, or if it is intended to actually have a public release". The videos were uploaded with the official CryEngine logo onto the Achieved with CryEngine channel, and a Facebook page.

If STALKER powered by CryEngine 3 becomes a real thing, I will have my eyes glued to the monitor for more news and any images and videos of a CryEngine-powered STALKER.

Warner Bros. Interactive's Avalanche Software is currently hiring for some interesting positions for a new British-based triple-A game, and it could be a Harry Potter RPG.

NeoGAF user Nirolak spotted the job listings, and speculates the studio may be crafting a next-gen Harry Potter RPG for PS4, Xbox One and PC. There are actually three job listings that give us evidence of the new project: a listing for a senior game writer, an Unreal Engine lead animator, and a senior environment artist.

The first clue comes from the writer position: "We are looking for a talented storyteller with a deep understanding of British culture and grammatical presentation," reads the listing, and "provide British authenticity to the tone of the project," is listed as a key responsibility.

PC gamers don't typically like clients, and I don't blame them. In the world of PC gaming we have a sea of publisher-made clients: Origin, uPlay, Bethesda.net, Blizzard (aka Battle.net), and storefronts like Xbox Game Store, GOG.com, and the mega-popular grand-daddy Steam. Now Twitch is consolidating its games-sales business by folding a game-launching client with its desktop app.

The Amazon-run streaming giant Twitch.tv now sells PC games, and like any digital distribution service, specific games can only be played in a specific client. Using Twitch, Amazon wants to get in on Valve's mega-earning distribution business model.

Right now the list of games requiring the Twitch.tv client are basically indies and double-AA titles like Telltale series games, and Ubisoft games still require uPlay. The company affirms the catalog will grow, and this is just the beginning.

Persona 5's release is a massive day for Atlus, but instead of celebrating, the publisher rolled out some draconian and outlandish streaming rules for gamers to follow, proving whoever is in charge simply doesn't understand the current generation of media content consumption.

Atlus has a tight stranglehold over Persona 5 content. Not only did Atlus block Persona 5 screenshots, video recordings, and streams on the PS4 itself, but now the publisher has rolled out some pretty harsh restrictions for streamers who circumvent the block with capture cards. If you break the rules, the publisher has threatened to deliver a copyright strike on your YouTube channel, which can lead to account suspension.

So what are the rules, and why are they so bad? Remember that weird agreement Warner Bros made YouTubers sign with Shadow of Mordor? The one that controller what YouTubers could say and show? Atlus is treating every single Persona 5 gamer and streamer the same way, upholding them to this weird phantom agreement.

Microsoft's "monster" native 4K Project Scorpio console will be revealed tomorrow, and we should see major Xbox exclusives like Forza 7 and Crackdown 3 exemplifying the console's raw power.

Eurogamer's Digital Foundry has confirmed that it will reveal Microsoft's Project Scorpio tomorrow at 9AM EST / 6AM PST, but what about the games? Windows Central previously reported that the monster 4K console would showcase high-end native 4K gameplay in major Xbox exclusives such as Forza 7, as well as third-party games like Shadow of War, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Battlefront 2. We're not sure if Microsoft will show off any third-party games during tomorrow's reveal, but it's highly likely we'll see a game that's been MIA for quite a while: Crackdown 3.

Crackdown's official Twitter recently teasedsome new info on the horizon, and we're pretty sure Crackdown 3 will be shown off alongside the system's big spec reveal. "2017 is shaping up to be great! #Crackdown3 info is on the horizon, and we're ready to bring the boom!" the Twitter post reads.

Zelda may never return to its overhead top-down roots, and Breath of the Wild's massive open-world scope will likely become the new mainstay for the Zelda series.

Nintendo went through incredible lengths to make Zelda: Breath of the Wild's open world feel alive. The devs created a new dynamic physics engine that's incredibly realistic. The team added interactive weather and atmospheric effects that actually affect the game, not to mention the amazing creatures and animals that truly add depth to the world.

In fact, I'd go so far to say that Zelda: Breath of the Wild's open world feels more alive than almost every other open-world game I've ever played. Exploration is so organic and genuinely enchanting, and so many games could learn so much from Nintendo's approach.