Walgreens starts breaking up with Theranos

The Financial Times is reporting that Walgreens is now actively looking to dump troubled blood testing startup Theranos. Sources claim that the pharmacy chain has instructed its lawyers to look at the partnership contract in the hope of finding an easy way out. The paper also says that Theranos is confident that the agreement is watertight and will force Walgreens to stand by it while it fixes its (numerous) problems. It’s believed that Walgreens is annoyed at the wealth of negative publicity Theranos has generated and is worried about being tainted by association.

Theranos emerged as an exciting startup with a promise to use just a single drop of blood to conduct medical testing. Unfortunately, these claims began to unravel when the science was questioned and regulators began to pay attention. When the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services got involved, it found that the firm wasn’t following basic procedures for blood tests. In fact, the agency claimed that Theranos’ “deficient practices” were so bad that the company posed an “immediate jeopardy to patient health.”

The relationship between Theranos and Walgreens has been gradually wearing away to nothing over the last few months. At the end of January, Walgreens delivered a 30-day ultimatum that things needed to change, and Theranos should clean up its act. Clearly, not enough has been done to satisfy the folks at the retailer, and so now they’re pulling the trigger. At the time, it was pointed out that without Walgreens, Theranos has no access to customers and its situation could get bleaker than it currently is.

In response to this, Walgreens has issued its standard “no comment,” while we’re still waiting to hear back from Theranos.

NASA picks a supersonic jet design for its X-plane initiative

NASA has awarded a key contract for its New Aviation Horizons X-plane initiative, bringing supersonic passenger travel a step closer (back) to reality. The space agency will give Lockheed Martin $20 million to complete the preliminary design for its Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST). As that name suggests, the goal of the competition is to create a jet that can fly faster than sound without the normal sonic boom that can shatter windows in houses below. The teams are tasked instead with creating a sonic “heartbeat” that is more like a soft thump.

Boeing also had a design under consideration, but NASA apparently went with its competitor. The last time that the fare-paying public went faster than sound was October 24th, 2003 on the Concorde’s final voyage. However, NASA wants to drastically increase the flight envelope of new supersonic aircraft over that model, which was first put into service back in 1969. Within the last few years, it has tested new sonic boom technology on military aircraft and in wind tunnels. Lockheed will put that tech into the new jets, letting them travel over land rather than just sea like the Concorde.

However, that dream is a long ways away. Lockheed Martin, along with partner GE, will develop the baseline requirements and creating a preliminary design over the next 17 months. A detailed design will come later, and NASA hopes that flights of a half-scale piloted test aircraft will happen in 2020. There’s no timeline for a full-scale production model, but it’s safe to assume it will be long after that. Other companies like Spike are also trying to build supersonic business aircraft, but we’d assume that NASA and its partners have the best chance of actually making it happen.

Source: NASA

Watch Stanford’s self-driving Audi hit the track

Sending a self-driving race car around a track with nobody inside seems pointless — there’s no driver to enjoy the ride, and the car certainly isn’t getting a thrill out of it. But the students performing research with Stanford University’s Audi TTS test rig “Shelley” (not to be confused with Audi’s own self-driving race cars) are getting a kick out of the numbers generated by the machine. “A race car driver can use all of a car’s functionality to drive fast,” says Stanford Professor Chris Gerdes. “We want to access that same functionality to make driving safer.”

The teams push the car to speeds over 120mph and the computers have executed lap times nearly as fast as professional drivers. However, they also spend a lot of time maneuvering at 50 to 75 mph, the speeds where accidents are most likely to happen. That way, the students can figure out how to incorporate braking, throttle and maneuvering to develop new types of automatic collision avoidance algorithms. Better technology, for instance, could have saved Google from a recent slow-speed accident where its vehicle was struck by a bus.

During race days, students break into teams to perform different types of research. “Once you get to the track, things can go differently than you expect. So it’s an excellent lesson of advanced planning,” says Gerdes. In the latest rounds of testing, for instance, one PhD student developed emergency lane-change algorithms, while another recorded a skilled human driver in an attempt to convert his behavior into a driving algorithm. The main goal, of course, is to prepare students for something they may not have expected — an automotive industry that is adopting self-driving technology at breakneck speeds.

Source: Stanford

Aston Martin DB11 arrives with 600 horsepower, stunning design

The Aston Martin DB11 packs a 5.2-liter, twin-turbo V12 in a brand-new chassis, all wrapped in a gorgeous design. James Bond, meet your next car. The drapes have been removed from the new DB11, billed by Andy Palmer, Aston Martin’s chief executive, as “not only the most important car that Aston Martin has launched in recent history, but also in its 103-year existence.” Well, they all are, Andy. Aston Martin is such a small company that it bets the farm with each new model. That’s part of its appeal, for Aston’s one constant is the svelte beauty of its cars, which (lest we forget) are the company wheels for one Commander James Bond.

So the DB11 is important, make no mistake. It goes on sale this autumn and will cost $211,995 in the US. It’s the tenth car (there was no DB8) in a lineage that began in 1948 with the DB1 – the first car to bear the initials of then owner, David Brown. Just 15 DB1s were made, but the DB line has been the most successful model for Aston Martin over the years, including such cars as the DB5 and DB7 as well as the 2003 DB9, which was the last all-new Aston Martin.

This totally new DB11 is a clean-sheet approach from design director Marek Reichman, with a new aluminum bodyshell, suspension, cabin, and a Mercedes-Benz-based electronic architecture, which runs the systems.

To save fuel the engine will close down one bank and run as a 2.6-liter straight-six when the extra power is not required.

The heart is a brand-new, 5.2-liter V12 boosted with two Mitsubishi Heavy Industries twin-scroll turbochargers with water-to-air inlet-charge coolers. It punches out 600 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 516 pound-feet of torque from 1,500 rpm. Maximum speed is said to be 200 miles per hour with 0-62 acceleration in 3.9 seconds. The new engine drives the rear wheels via a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission and a mechanical limited-slip differential.

Aston moved from the previous 6.0-liter naturally aspirated unit to a 5.2-liter biturbo to improve the part-load efficiency and EPA fuel economy figures. “In downsizing we want the emissions and we want the economy, but more than those, we want the torque,” says Ian Minards, director of product development. To save fuel the engine will close down one bank and run as a 2.6-liter straight-six when the extra power is not required, but to prevent the exhaust catalyst from overcooling, the electronics switch between two banks. “It’s undetectable,” says Minards.

Minards’ team spent three years creating this car. “It’s been a little bit daunting,” he says. “There’s a lot to live up to and it’s flippin’ important.” Initially they made a list of everything they wanted in the car. “We call it QHR (Quality History Review),” he says, “and it includes everything we’ve thought, what customers thought, and what people like you said. You end up with a list and you don’t cross anything off.”

“There’s a lot to live up to and it’s flippin’ important.”

The body design started with the driver and passenger seating position. “We wanted it to be more usable in terms of space,” says Minards, “after all it is a two-plus-two GT.” So the DB11 is 1.18 inches longer than the DB9, but on a wheelbase that is 2.56 inches longer, achieved mainly by moving the front wheels forward. There’s a 44-pound weight saving over the DB9’s VH chassis, and Minards says the DB11 is a much stiffer car. The pressed and extruded aluminum pieces are joined using similar self-piercing rivets and glues as the VH chassis.

There’s some trick aero in there, too. Under the twin-skinned clamshell hood (one of the biggest aluminum body pressings in the world), the front wheel arches push high-pressure air through the inner wing vents and out via the body slats to reduce front-end lift. It’s called Curlique because of the way the air curls through the wheel arch. There’s also a virtual trunk spoiler, which takes high pressure wind flow from the back of the rear window, pushes it through the rear of the trunk and jets it up into the air stream travelling over the car to reduce rear lift. In addition, at speeds above 96 mph, a 1.8-inch-high Gurney flap is automatically deployed on the trunk edge.

The new suspension design uses upper and lower wishbones at the front and a multi-link setup at the back. Damping happens via adjustable Bilstein units and the brakes are steel rotors with aluminum calipers from Brembo – there is torque vectoring by braking to improve agility. Steering is electrically powered by a Bosch system (the first time in an Aston Martin) and the tires are specially developed 20-inch Bridgestones.

“The big decision was the [steering] ratio,” says Minards. “After that the calibration wasn’t too bad mainly because we’d got the [suspension] geometry right in the first place.” Selectable driving modes (GT, Sport, and Sport Plus) progressively harden up the engine response, gear changes, steering, and the damping, with controls mounted on the steering wheel.

The electronics might come from Mercedes, but as Hill says, “everything you see and touch is ours.”

Getting into the cabin should be a bit easier, too, with longer doors and a tad more interior room. “Everything’s been moved away from the front-seat passengers,” says Matt Hill, head of interiors. There’s an all-new instrument panel, which has a 12-inch TFT central display and a digital driver’s instrument binnacle. The electronics might come from Mercedes, but as Hill says, “everything you see and touch is ours.”

The seats are new, with thinner backs and side bolstering, and a wider range of electrical adjustment. They free up a bit of cabin space and while the rear seats are a trifle more roomy as a result, they’re still really only for small children – interestingly, Isofix child-seat fixings are standard on both rear perches. While the cabin still contains the customary Bridge of Wier hides and the application of craft and skill, the design is all changed, with open-pore wood finishes and quite delightful upholstery detailing. “I wanted the seats to be like a piece of furniture,” says Leighanne Earley, lead designer of interiors. Bang & Olufsen continues its partnership, adding the top-of-the-line optional in-car entertainment, and upgraded electronics include an auto parking system with a 360-degree bird’s-eye-view camera system.

In the old days, Aston’s engine builders used to have their name engraved on a plate attached to every engine they built. Such days have passed, but DB11 sort of revives them. Andy Palmer will sign off each car with his signature engraved on the door kick plate. An important car, indeed.

Eight Months Later, Apple Music Connect Still ‘Fails Miserably’ at Social

Eight months after posting a detailed summary of the “clunky” behind-the-scenes process musicians have to go through when using Apple Music Connect, Dave Wiskus decided to revisit his stance on the platform to see if Apple had made any notable changes to its grasps at socially connecting artists and fans. Wiskus — an app developer and lead singer for the band Airplane Mode — admitted in the blog post that he feels less “connected” to the musical world and thinks the actual social aspects of the experience have failed “miserably.”

Similar to his post from July, Wiskus expounded on Connect’s basic inability to function as a normal social network: it lacks a follow button on artist pages, a metric for how many followers a band has, and individual profile pages for a more engaged community, among other things.

One of his most interesting points detailed a blunder with Connect’s support, centering around the fact that an artist with a similar name managed to change the profile picture on Airplane Mode’s page. After weeks of back-and-forth with Apple Music Connect support, eventually the band discovered that Apple’s solution was creating an entirely new profile for Airplane Mode and abandoning the one with the wrong picture.

Rather than swap out images, the Connect support folks created a new profile for us with the correct photo (which we still can’t change, by the way). The frustration would end here if not for one little side-effect: we lost all of our posts and all of our followers.

Worse yet, those posts and followers are still attached to a now-unmanned “Airplane Mode” profile, so not only do we not have any way of telling our fans to follow the new profile, they have no way of even knowing that we relocated. Anyone who was following us can now assume that we’ve just stopped making new things. How many followers did we lose? No idea. How do we get them back? We can’t.

Wiskus notes that, despite all of his frustrations, “Apple is in a unique position to unify and democratize the music business” thanks to Connect’s ability to integrate music sharing with social interaction, if the company decided to commit to bolstering both sides of that equation, that is. As it currently stands the artist isn’t sure who Connect is for, and doesn’t see much of a future for the platform if Apple continues to do nothing. “Seven months later—from a company the size of Apple—this isn’t just unacceptable, it’s pathetic.”

Read all of the thoughts that Wiskus has on Apple Music Connect on his blog Better Elevation.

Tag: Apple Music Connect
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Minecraft on Oculus Rift preview: VR heaven or just a load of old blocks?

One of the major new products to be shown at the Xbox Spring Showcase in San Francisco was Minecraft. Not regular Minecraft mind, but a virtual reality version that we got to play using an Oculus Rift headset set-up at the event.

Microsoft had previously shown Minecraft running on its own next-generation tech headset, the HoloLens, but the VR experience is radically different to an augmented one, so we were intrigued how the game would change from the perspective of actually being inside a created world.

And to be honest, it blew our minds. Just not exactly in a good way.

READ: Oculus Rift preview: The VR revolution begins here

Minecraft on Oculus Rift: The game

The demo started in fantastic form. Instead of launching the player straight into the Minecraft map created by Microsoft, we were eased in gently through a familiar setting.

The Minecraft map was presented in 2D on a TV made of Minecraft blocks, which we were sat in front of in a living room made of blocks. We then hit the options/back button the Xbox One gamepad and woosh, we entered the map completely.

It was there that the experience became both awe inspiring and gut-wrenching in equal measure.

In all the times we’ve experienced games and interactive VR demos, we only ever felt ill in the early days, when the technology had low resolution and high latency. And even then, we had never asked for the demo to stop – rather had shaky moments afterwards.

Minecraft on Oculus Rift was the first time we have not finished a VR experience.

Our Minecraft on Oculus Rift experience as a photo story

Pocket-lint

First we loved the magnificent vistas and stunning feeling of being there…

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…then things started to go south.

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Handing the headset back about five minutes before the end of the demo, we expressed regret and surprise…

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…”It’s the first time that’s ever happened to me!”

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Thankfully, ginger sweets were on hand to settle the queasiness, which makes us suspect that we weren’t the only ones to have this kind of experience.

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Sadly, this rather sums it up.

Minecraft on Oculus Rift: The shame

We are massive advocates of virtual reality and Oculus Rift specifically. We are also big fans of Minecraft – not as big as our kids or nephews, but still enough to while away hours building extravagant underground lairs or go creeper hunting, The two though didn’t mix for us.

One of the initial problems is that the scale of the game when you are inside is possibly too expansive. You can’t wrap your head around the enormity of your surroundings. That, coupled with the fact that, when up close, large pixels are hard for your brain to fathom into  a recognisable object, confuses and bamboozles from the off.

But perhaps the main issue we encountered, that disoriented us the most, was the control system. While you could look around in 360-degrees at everything, you could only move using the left thumbstick. And not necessarily in the direction your head is pointing, as you can twist it as you travel.

To change direction, you need to use the right thumbstick, but rather than pan smoothly like with a normal first-person shooter you could only turn in sharp steps – as if you were leaping around a clock, from hour to hour and nothing in between. This made the experience jolting as the landscape in front of you jumped to face the way you wanted to go, without a smooth transition between the two points. It was as if 20 or so frames were instantly lost.

This basically, screwed with our feeble minds and gave us motion sickness we haven’t felt in years.

It was a shame because the actual experience of being inside a Minecraft world and being able to get that close to the building mechanics were incredible. We also adored riding in a mine cart in rollercoaster fashion in order to survey the mighty surroundings.

And we loved taking on a zombie and skeleton face-to-face – although less so the spider that attacked us in the dark before we could equip a torch, scary times.

Microsoft

First Impressions

Until the control system is altered though and the game adopts a smoother, more natural feel, we suspect there will be others in the same boat as us.

It’s early stages in the VR version of the game’s development though, and these issues could be ironed out before final release. If that’s the case, we’ll happily have another go to see the bits we missed out on this time around.

Xbox One March update: Amazing new features explained

As is tradition, your Xbox One will soon get an update that brings a flood of new features to the console and Pocket-lint was walked through the major changes at the Xbox Spring Showcase in San Francisco recently.

One of the highlights is the way backwards compatible Xbox 360 games will be more accessible, but there are plenty of other changes coming too.

That’s why we thought we’d put together a handy guide on what you can expect when the March update hits your console.

Xbox One March update release date

Although we’re not completely sure when the update will arrive on general release – sometime in March, but not an exact date – we do know that Xbox One Preview members will get the update today, 1 March. In addition, the Xbox app for Windows 10 will be updated for beta members from tomorrow, 2 March.

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Xbox One March update: Xbox 360 backwards compatible games on the main store

The headline feature, as we explained above, is something we’ve asked for since backwards compatibility was introduced last November. You will be able to purchase supported Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One store.

Once you’ve bought a backwards compatible Xbox 360 game, it will download to your console in exactly the same way an Xbox One game would.

We’re not sure of the price of each title at present. We’re also yet to find out if Xbox 360 backwards compatible games that are part of the Games with Gold scheme will be shown on the Xbox One dedicated section going forward. At present, you have to go to xbox.com and request the download from there.

READ: Xbox boss Phil Spencer explains why your favourite Xbox 360 game is not backwards compatible… yet

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Xbox One March update: Party Chat comes to Twitch broadcasts

You will be able to broadcast Party Chat when using the Twitch application. Other invited users’ chat audio can be included in a Twitch broadcast for the first time.

If the user doesn’t want to be broadcast, they can still chat in Party Chat, but their voice won’t be broadcast to all.

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Xbox One March update: Output Party Chat to a headset and speakers at the same time

A new setting will enable users to change how Party Chat audio is heard; in a headset, through speakers or both.

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Xbox One March update: Game DVR recordings can be set for different lengths

At present, game recording is set at 30 seconds, but you will be able to change the DVR to record from 15 seconds up to 5 minutes instead.

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Xbox One March update: Achievement progress now appears in the Xbox One guide

Achievements are now included in the guide under a new Achievements area.

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Xbox One March update: Videos can be played in the Xbox One Activity Feed

You will be able to play an entire video in the Activity Feed rather than leaving to launch it. There is also the ability to “like” the video while it is playing and there are new pause, restart and full-screen playback options.

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Xbox One March update: Party Chat expands to 16 people

At present you are restricted to 12 people in a Party Chat at any one time. That is increasing to 16. We were also told it could expand in future – even up to 32 (Rocket League anyone?).

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Xbox One March update: Xbox 360 Achievements

Sing Hossana! Xbox 360 Achievements will appear in Xbox One Activity Feeds, old and new.

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Xbox One March update: Web links and YouTube videos accessible through Game Hubs

You will be able to click on a web or YouTube link in a Game Hub and be taken immediately to the page via the web browser or the video through the YouTube app.

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Xbox One March update: Compare Avatars

Now that Avatars are back, you’ll be able to line your Xbox persona up against a friend’s, just in case you want to copy their digital spring wear.

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Xbox One March update: Reputation ratings

As the vast majority of Xbox One gamers have good reputations, their reputation gauge will not show. Instead, only those listed as “needs work” or “avoid me” will feature a reputation flag on the interface.

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Xbox One March update: Windows 10 Gamerscore leaderboard

Some of the latter features above are also coming to the Windows 10 Xbox app, but one thing it gets exclusively this month is a Gamerscore Leaderboard, the same as the one recently appearing on Xbox One.

In addition, it gets an updated Featured section, that will spotlight games, deals, community events and more.

Tom Clancy’s The Division preview: A sure-fire viral hit?

We have to be honest, but we regretfully missed playing the open public beta of Tom Clancy’s The Division. And with the game only a couple of weeks away from release, we were starting to think we might not get a taste until then.

However, sitting proudly in the middle of the Xbox Spring Showcase in San Francisco were eight Xbox Ones with The Division beta available to play. So we spent a good 45 minutes to an hour racing through single-player missions, and we’re starting to see what all the fuss is about.

Coming on 8 March in the UK, the game that many have been harping on about for years will finally be available to all. It’s a persistently online multiplayer title, with the occasional passing similarity to Destiny in that respect, but we’re happy that there will be plenty to do for solo players too.

Tom Clancy’s The Division: Single-player missions

Considering that we were thrown in at the deep end, with a character we hadn’t generated, a control system we hadn’t been informed about and with no plot preamble whatsoever, we found our feet in the game surprisingly quickly. This is a good mark of decent gameplay design. Even without any kind of tutorial, we very quickly learnt what we had to do and how to do it.

Ubisoft

The Division’s graphics are splendid. Perhaps not as impressive now as when it was first announced considering there are plenty of spectacular-looking games on the current gen consoles these days, but the apocalyptic, virus-ravaged New York setting is familiar and detailed enough to make sense in context.

We also saw a complete day’s transition for lighting effects purposes, having completed side missions at night and day, with dusk, etc, thrown in for good measure. Even with the barren streets and buildings, there’s a beauty to the city that reminds of The Last of Us.

Where The Division differs though is that, thanks to a doohickey every supercop has strapped to their wrist, the vistas are constantly augmented with overlays – details and directions.

Tom Clancy’s The Division: Simple controls

These are why it is so easy to leap into the game – at least in this single-player beta. There is an AR navigation line that snakes its way through streets to mission points marked on the map or, if you are in a mission itself, to the next objective. You cannot get lost, basically.

In addition, whenever you are next to an item you can pick up, a barrier you can duck behind, or an object you can manipulate or use, you get a button indicator showing exactly what you need to press. Who needs tutorials eh?

Ubisoft

We played a few different mission types, including a hostage rescue and a base assault, and while it might have helped to have other players on hand, we completed them capably alone. Even the main mission we finished was done so solo. In fact, we preferred it that way.

The duck and cover mechanics of The Division are essential and standard for many third-person shooters. Where we think the game will really shine though is in its customisation and role-playing elements.

This is where Destiny finally found its feet and legions of fans, and we’re sure that Ubisoft’s long-awaited multiplayer title will do so too.

First Impressions

In a beta demo session it is hard to see where variety will come from, with side missions even in our short space of time seemingly repeated. But to be fair, we had no real context in story terms to really get a feel of the overall game.

We also didn’t get to play any multiplayer at all, so that is clearly a massive factor when it comes to properly review the game.

For now though, it is nice to see that those who prefer a single-player experience should be capably catered for.

Quantum Break preview: It’s about time

It’s been a long time coming since developer Remedy announced Quantum Break with a stunning teaser trailer. Many even decreed that it could be a defining game for this console generation.

However, much has changed since it first made an appearance in 2013. There have been plenty of quality, high production value games in the interim that have pushed the boundaries. The Quantum Break of 2013 would not cut it in 2016.

Thankfully, Remedy, the studio behind the original Max Payne and Alan Wake, is no amateur. It realised that its game needed to evolve with the times and the near-final version, which we played on both PC and Xbox One, is a very different beast to the game we saw those many moons ago.

Quantum Break preview: The cast

For a start, the cast has entirely changed. The lead character went from a fairly bog standard games hero to an avatar representation of X-Men actor Shawn Ashmore. Two The Wire illumni have major roles, in Aiden Gillen and Lance Reddick, with the former also one of Game of Thrones most loved anti-heroes. And even Lost’s Dominic Monaghan pops up.

Remedy

This is vital not only for the cinematic style of Quantum Break, but also it’s cunning and, perhaps controversial, unique selling point. You see, not only are there big action, puzzle and platform sequences you play throughout – in Uncharted or Tomb Raider fashion – but the game is interspersed by live action TV episodes, each running between 20 and 22 minutes in length. And they need to be watched to get the full game experience.

Quantum Break preview: The TV episodes

The thought might alarm some, but the TV show aspects have two redeeming qualities that could mean that they work well in the context of the game. First, the stellar, experienced cast and a direction-style that would grace current programmes on HBO or AMC mean that these aren’t the full motion videos of yore. These are good, interesting stories that, from what we’ve seen so far, are well acted and important to the story arc.

The second reason is that you get to choose what happens in the shows.

The game is split into five distinct acts, with turning point segments after each. The main acts star Ashmore and focus on the hero, Jack Joyce, as he uses his new found time-distortion powers to take on the evil Paul Serene, played by Gillen.

The turning points focus on Serene instead, and each leads to a major decision that will have significant ramifications on the rest of the game going forward. They also determine which TV episode you get to see as the live action elements effectively show the outcome of each of Serene’s decisions.

Remedy

For example, in the one to two hours playthrough of acts one and two we experienced at the Xbox Spring Showcase in San Francisco, we were faced with Serene’s first decision; to choose to let an eye witness live and therefore spread the word about how he and his company Monarch are good guys, or to eradicate all witnesses and have the public turn against them.

We chose the latter of course. And the episode showed the outcome. From then on, one of the lead characters – who was a witness – is dead and no longer appears in the game. The mood of encounters also changes depending on decisions and we can see much potential for repeated plays.

It’s been a huge undertaking for Remedy as although there are only four live-action sequences to encounter, by the last the permutations of how it can play out is vast.

Quantum Break preview: Gameplay

The game is a bit like a Telltale or David Cage title in that respect, with actions having different reactions and the game changing depending on your choices as you go. Where it differs, from our fairly extensive hands-on, is that there is plenty of game in those bones too.

Indeed, it’s no surprise that Remedy was responsible for Max Payne – at least, before Rockstar took over. The duck and cover shooting mechanics are incredibly familiar. We love that you don’t have to press a physical button to duck behind an object though, as in most games of this ilk. Instead, Joyce will instantly duck or use cover the moment you go close to it.

This enables you to concentrate on the aiming, shooting and, most importantly, using your time-based powers.

Remedy

Quantum Break is a time-travel adventure that borrows heavily from films and shows we all know and love. However, the studio has added plenty of twists, as the powers that you get to wield are, quite simply, awesome.

You can halt enemies in their tracks by time-blasting them, then rain bullets at them before time resumes and they are blown to smithereens. You can time leap to move to another location without your foes seeing you. You get a time shield that slows and stops bullets coming toward you. And there are plenty of others to learn and upgrade along the way.

Cleverly, all of these are mapped to buttons and are as instinctive to use as aiming and firing weapons in any game. They can also provide some spectacular set-pieces as rivals fly through the air in a sort-of reverse bullet time.

The ability to manipulate time also comes into play during exploration and platforming segments. If a bridge crumble before you get to cross it, you can use your powers – for example – to reverse time, then lock it into place for a brief moment. Or to prevent a gate shutting too quickly.

There are also more instances later in the game, we are told, and from this outing we cannot wait to find out how it progresses.

First Impressions

It does beg to be seen how the live-action shows are received and whether having to stop to watch 20-22 minutes of non-interactive footage will break up the flow of the game. But as it stands, Quantum Break is jam-packed with potential.

It might have upset some Xbox One die-hards when it was revealed that the game is coming out on Windows 10 too – thus eliminating the exclusive tag. But thanks to cross save abilities – where you can pick up your save games on either machine, Xbox One or PC, we think it expands the game in a positive way.

And from our hands-on play, we feel it’s shaping up to be a game that deserves to be played by as many people as possible.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition in 4K preview: Windows 10 PC version best yet

One of the highlights of the Xbox Spring Showcase in San Francisco last week was perhaps unexpectedly so. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition has just been released for Windows 10 PCs, and while that’s nice, that’s not the main reason it stood out for us. Instead, it was the fact that it was playable in 4K at the event, using some pukka PC rigs and massive Ultra HD monitors.

And we particularly liked the customised Gears thumbsticks and direction pad on the Xbox One Elite controller we were using, to boot.

Having completed Gears of War when it was first released for Xbox 360 almost a decade ago, and then spent considerable time with the remake on Xbox One last year, we’re fully au fait with the talents of a game that stands up as well in gameplay terms today as any peer.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition in Ultra HD

The Ultimate Edition’s completely remade graphics and cut-scenes impressed us greatly on console and had us gagging for Gears 4 even more than we were previously. However, that was before we saw what the game could look like with PC specs to the max and 4K visuals beaming out of a large display.

At 3840 x 2160 it is, quite simply, stunning.

Microsoft

We’ve presented screengrabs in the correct resolution in our gallery above, albeit converted to JPEGs and the resolution dropped to 72ppi for smaller file sizes, but it’s only when rolling do you get an idea of the impact of the new Ultimate Edition lighting engine and the amount of detail on show.

Of course, we could say that about many games presented in 4K – Grand Theft Auto V, for example, is truly magnificent. But we have to remember that, at its core, Gears of War is a relative old-age-pensioner in gaming terms. Let’s just say it scrubs up well.

It uses DirectX 12, which was a massive focus at the Spring Showcase, as the Xbox team were keen to stress that Xbox One and Windows 10 will be seen very much as part of the same strategy going forward.

And part of why its higher resolution worked so well for us is that not only was it running in 4K, it was doing so at an unlocked frame rate.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition frame rate

Of course, that can sometimes see the rate drop below acceptable levels, but while we didn’t have an fps counter running at the time, not once did we see anything that was less than completely smooth – above 60fps we suspect, although we’d check for sure if we had more time with the game.

That was in campaign mode. We didn’t get to play any multiplayer.

We have to admit that we also played the game in the form we were most comfortable with – using the aforementioned customised Xbox One Elite controller – but it is possible to also play with keyboard and mouse now that it’s made the transition to PC.

First Impressions

Last year, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition set an all-new benchmark for HD remakes of older titles. It didn’t just slap on upscaled graphics and remastered textures, every aspect of the game were recreated. Even the audio was rerecorded or remastered in many instances – including the musical score.

It made us see a game we’ve adored in the past in a new light. Even new controls, that felt more like the advanced options added by sequels, were enhanced and improved.

Now the Windows 10 PC version has gone one better to effectively make the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition: Ultimate Edition.

And that it retails for just £22.99 adds the icing to the cake. Superb.