Gaming

The PS4 was released back in 2013 and has finally been jailbroken, allowing users of the system to run custom applications, game backups, and even install Linux. It's exclusive to users on the 4.55 firmware, though.

Horizon Zero Dawn has been hailed as one of the best video games of this generation, and it certainly is putting up the sales numbers worthy of the hype. The game celebrated its first year anniversary this week and has already sold over 7.6 million copies since it was launched.

Those who plan on purchasing a PC powered by AMD Radeon get to claim a free copy of Far Cry 5 from a participating retailer. This offer only applies to pre-built systems sporting the RX 580, RX Vega 56, and RX Vega 64 GPUs and not to standalone Radeon GPUs.

The talented folk at Cyan, Inc. have released a cinematic trailer for the upcoming game, Firmament. A spectral voice narrates as the viewer is steered around some truly stunning graphics while briefly exploring the latest world being created by the developer behind games such as Myst, Riven and Obduction. Very few details for Firmament are currently available, but it is described as “a new VR experience” on Cyan’s YouTube channel.

The unified chip powering the Intel Hades Canyon NUC combines the power of the Kaby Lake-G i7-8809G CPU and the Radeon RX Vega M GH GPU. Overall performance is decent, matching that of an i7-7700HQ + GTX 1050 laptop, although the limited cooling system might pose some problems for overclockers.

3D Realms has announced a new retro-like first-person shooter, Ion Maiden. The game uses an adapted version of the popular Build engine that was introduced in the ‘90s. Ion Maiden greatly resembles classic shooters such as Duke Nukem 3D, Blood and Shadow Warrior. The game has released in Early Access and will receive a definitive release in the coming months.

Due to the current market conditions created by the cryptominers and their great demand for GPUs, Nvidia's next gen GTX 2080 and 2070 will probably launch with MSRPs above US$1,000.

A new co-op horror game will be winging its way to the PC in early 2019. A teaser for The Blackout Club has been released by game developer Question Games, and it shows off the type of atmospheric visuals you would expect from a team that has members who previously worked on BioShock and Dishonored. Question Games was the company behind the 2015 innovative video game The Magic Circle.

A few weeks after its launch in Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and South East Asia, Tekken Mobile for Android hits the US market two days sooner than scheduled. This freemium game comes with loot boxes, healing items, and resources for character upgrade that can all be purchased using real-world money. Tekken Mobile is already quite popular on Google Play, with over one million installs so far.

Loot boxes and microtransactions have been more present than ever in today's games, and some titles even managed to create quite the controversy by adding these in-game purchases to a full-priced game. The ESRB will now give a special label to all games with in-game purchases that will be visible on the box.

The classic Japanese role-playing game Chrono Trigger has just been released for Microsoft Windows. A surprise announcement in regard to the game's launch was made on Steam today. The popular game was originally released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and has previously been ported to the PlayStation, the Nintendo DS and to mobile platforms (Android, iOS), but there has never been a PC version before.

A report created by research company Jon Peddie has shown that AMD has been making decent inroads into Nvidia’s overall dominance of the discrete graphics card market. Figures for the fourth quarter of 2017 show AMD with a market share of 33.7% while Nvidia has 66.3%. This is a considerable market share leap for AMD, who managed 27.2% of the market share in 3Q17.

Nvidia has released a new GeForce Game Ready driver that is currently available for download. The driver has been optimized for Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition and offers performance boosts for several other games, including PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Performance improvements range between 3% and 7%, depending on the system, graphics card and resolution.

Google has used MWC to announce the that its ARCore SDK is now in version 1.0 allowing developers to start populating the Play Store with new AR-powered apps. The company says there are 100 million phone in circulation, with more to come this year, that support the technology.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is the latest AAA game to grace our monitors, courtesy of Warhorse Studio. The game has been lauded for its dedication to historical accuracy and a rare take on the RPG genre. That praise looks to have translated into sales figures, with Warhorse Studio CEO Martin Frývaldský confirming that the game sold a million copies within its first week, across all platforms.

Japanese video-game developer Square Enix will be releasing a free playable demo of Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition on February 26. The action RPG was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016 and received generally favorable reviews. Over seven million copies of the game have been sold worldwide and Square Enix will be hoping for similar healthy sales when the full game is launched for the Microsoft Windows platform.

After 4 years of development, the Smach Z handheld PC could finally see the light of day in H2 2018. Smach partnered with AMD to include a custom embedded RX-421B CPU that integrates an 8CU R7 GPU, and the device will also include at least 4 GB of DDR4-2400 RAM and 64 GB of storage.

Dell’s gaming-hardware subsidiary, Alienware, has teamed up with the Miami Heat and Misfits Gaming to help enhance the NBA team’s eSport development program. Video-game competition has become big business with total eSports revenue streams being estimated at US$660 million worldwide for 2017. Alienware will be providing laptops and other hardware for training and streaming purposes.

The 'Blackshark" comes equipped with a Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with 8 GB RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. It also integrates a 2160 x 1080 screen and runs Android 8.0. The AnTuTu benchmark results place it above the Samsung Galaxy S9+.

Bluehole, the game developer behind PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), has announced a new map will be made available for players soon. This will be the third map released for the game and is expected to come out within the first half of 2018.

Intel unveiled plans for a prototype of their discrete GPU at the San Francisco ISSCC (IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference) late last week. The 14 nm dGPU, which is still in an early prototype stage, features 1.5 billion transistors and is clocked between 50 - 400 MHz, which may hint at a focus on efficiency over raw power.

The Airtop 2 models will be crowdfunded through a Kickstarter campaign starting on February 24. Inferno is the high-end Airtop 2 version that will feature an i7-7700K CPU, a GTX 1080, up to 64 GB DDR4-2400 RAM, NVMe SSDs + SATA 3 HDDs/SSDs combo and numerous connectors, all in a 0 db fanless compact case.

Following the success of its holiday promotion on the PSVR, Sony has decided to bring the deals back for a limited time. Once again, prices have been slashed US$100 across the range bringing the starting price to just US$199.

Atari has announced that it will be developing a digital currency called Atari Token. Atari (incorporated in 1972) was once a huge player in the video-game industry but struggled to compete against Sony, Sega and Nintendo in the game-console market of the 1990s.

An email has been leaked showing the CEO of Insel Games appearing to threaten staff job security if they didn't post fake reviews of one of their games on Steam. After looking into these claims, Valve has decided to remove the developer from the Steam Store, but their games are still playable for those who have already purchased them.

Microsoft has pushed an update for the Xbox app on Android and iOS, which finally allows users to engage in party chats on Xbox Live via their smartphone or tablet.

Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast and Ludia announced Warriors of Waterdeep, a new Dungeons & Dragons mobile game for both Android and iOS. This turn-based RPG is free to play and uses card packs. Although it will not launch this month, those interested can pre-register and will receive a special gift pack on launch.

The well-known worldwide shortage of GPUs has had an unexpected knock-on effect: It has temporarily hampered the search for aliens. Scientists working for SETI are having problems trying to purchase new GPUs which are used in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

This is not a rumor, as the information comes straight from the reputable news agency Reuters. It is still unclear if Turing is the previously rumored Ampere GPU, or Nvidia decided to separate the dedicated cryptomining hardware (Turing) from the gaming-oriented chips (Ampere).

The upcoming smartphone could be showcased at MWC 2018 together with the Zenfone 5 family. Being a gaming device, Asus could also opt to release it under the ROG brand.

Quite a while after reaching iOS (July 2017), Street Fighter IV: Champion Edition is finally (almost) ready to launch on Google Android. This mobile game is based on the 2008 title and features 25 playable characters.

Nvidia has recorded its highest quarterly revenue as the market for GPUs explodes thanks to both mining and gaming. The company says that in response, it is doing everything it can to increase supply to meet demand.

Activision Blizzard Inc. has released financial results for 2017 which show over $7 billion in net revenue. A substantial portion of this revenue has been provided by in-game transactions, in part enhanced by the American company's purchase of King.

Not long after they revealed a custom boot screen on a Nintendo Switch, a group of hackers calling themselves fail0verflow apparently managed to run a Linux-based operating system on this game console.

Time to say goodbye to another huge chunk of your life as the first expansion pack for Civilization VI is released. Civilization VI: Rise and Fall offers enough new and interesting content to satisfy even the most discerning members of the game's legion of fans.

Latest rumors claim that current gen Pascal GPUs have already been discontinued and the GTX 2000 family is not powered by Volta chips, but by Ampere ones.

Reported rumors suggest that Google is working on a game-streaming service, codenamed "Yeti." Gamers could potentially access the service and play new games on their TV via the Internet. Is there also a possibility of a new Google-branded console as well?

Developers for the massively popular multiplayer online battle royale game PUBG will be introducing a new patch for their product that includes new anti-cheat measures to combat players utilizing hacks and codes. The patch will go live on February 8.

Roccat has announced the Khan AIMO RGB, their new gaming headset with large 50mm drivers, a built-in soundcard and support for the company's own AIMO RGB ecosystem.