Watch gamers guide a real life Hitman Agent 47 on a killing spree

The first episode and prologue pack for Hitman will be released this Friday and to celebrate, Square Enix hired innovative production company Realm Pictures to stage a real life version of the game, with players controlling the movements of Agent 47.

Realm Pictures came to fame after it recreated real life first-person shooters for people on Chatroulette. It was approached to do something similar with Hitman, but has surpassed itself with the end results.

Invite-only contestants, including a team from Outside Xbox, had to control actor David Bateson, who was dressed as Agent 47, through an intricate mansion mission.

They had an hour to assassinate a target and escape unscathed, but like in the forthcoming game there were multiple ways that could be carried out. Costumes and different murder weapons could be found, worn or used.

Contestants could direct Bateson through the mission via radio and additional actors played the target, guards and other NPCs. It’s all quite brilliant.

Realm Pictures is already working on its next project, although it is yet to reveal what that will be.

“Trust me when I say that I cannot wait to show you what we have in store for you next,” said director David M Reynolds.

Apple iPhone 7: What’s the story so far?

The Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus launched in September 2015, but rumours have already started circulating for the Cupertino company’s next smartphones, which will likely be called the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, at least for the sake of this feature anyway.

Every year, normally in September, a new iPhone is released and every year the new device is speculated upon and leaked months and months in advance of its actual release. Some rumours turn out to be accurate, while others leave us disappointed.

This feature rounds up all those leaks and rumours in one place so you can easily see what the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus could bring. We will be updating this feature for the next, well eight months, so keep checking back for the latest but bear in mind nothing is confirmed so keep your excitement at bay.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Release date

Apple of course has confirmed absolutely nothing but if the last few years are anything to go by, it is likely the iPhone 7 and larger iPhone 7 Plus will appear sometime in the latter half of 2016.

The company usually holds an event shortly after the consumer electronics show IFA takes place in Berlin, notably never attending the show or using it as a launch platform unlike competitors. This year’s IFA takes place from 2 September to 7 September 2016.

The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus launched on Wednesday 9 September, which was the last day of IFA 2015. If Apple follows the same pattern, Wednesday 7 September could be the date we need to pencil in our diaries. It’s anybody’s guess at the moment though.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Design

Apple has followed a traditional release pattern in the past when it comes to design. Every two years, the iPhone gets a design spruce up and as 2015 was the “S” year, the iPhone 7 should see some more prominent changes than the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus presented.

Rumour has it the iPhone 7 will be slimmer than its predecessors. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims it will be between 6mm and 6.5mm, which would mean slicing at least 0.6mm off the current iPhone 6S. 

A patent for a new slimmer, D-shaped headphone plug was apparently filed by Apple, which could help with allowing for a slimmer design given a smartphone can only be as slim as its largest component. That said, there are already Lightning headphones available so it would probably make sense for Apple to do away with the headphone jack altogether. Afterall, it had no problem getting rid of other ports for the new MacBook. That’s exactly what MacOtakara claims Apple is going to do, claiming the iPhone 7 will not have a headphone jack but will use the Lightning port instead.

It has been also suggested the iPhone 7 could come with a different chassis to the iPhone 6S, which is made from 7000 series aluminium. Apparently, next year’s iPhone could see a non-metal frame with waterproofing and dustproofing features, although liquidmetal has also been thrown about the speculation field. Apple hasn’t always used aluminium for its iPhones, with polycarbonate and glass backs both making an appearance in previous models. To move from the 7000 series aluminium after just a year would seem like a strange move though. 

Other claims have led to the rumour of the Home button waving goodbye for the iPhone 7 with Touch ID placed into the display instead. This button offers more than just Touch ID however, but perhaps the 3D Touch technology introduced for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will be developed further for the next-gen iPhone to incorporate the other functions of the Home button. We aren’t convinced though, especially given there have been other rumours suggesting a patent was filed that would allow the Home button to detect gestures, as well as force. 

There has also been a report supporting the idea that the iPhone 7 will be waterproof, as we suggested above. Videos of the iPhone 6S surviving water submersion for half an hour are already online. It is thought Apple wanted to launch this as waterproof but wasn’t happy it would work well enough.

A patent found by Apple Insider shows a new waterproofing system that uses active electronic shutters to block off ports from water damage. The source says: “At the command of an onboard logic, these shutter mechanisms can quickly block acoustic pathways – portholes – from damaging physical contaminants, potentially saving hundreds of dollars in repair costs.”

A Weibo user called G for Games has claimed Apple is working on five different prototypes of the iPhone 7, each of which has its own hardware features. USB Type-C has been thrown about, as has wireless charging, and Touch ID moving into the display has also been speculated here.

More recently, MacRumors reported a source claims the iPhone 7’s design will be similar to that of the iPhone 6, with two differences. Apparently the antenna bands across the rear will be removed for a cleaner all-metal look, while the camera lens will sit flush rather than protrude like it does currently. It has also been suggested the iPhone 7 Plus will come with a dual-lens rear camera.

OnLeaks

Leaked iPhone 7 case photos from @OnLeaks show the usual power port and appear to show a home button. But since the case doesn’t have a front and the printed template appears to be an iPhone 6S anything is still possible. The case also shows dual speaker ports at the rear on the handset. Check out the rest of the leaked shots in the gallery above.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Display

As we mentioned, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus arrived with a new technology called 3D Touch and we’d fully expect to see this appear on the iPhone 7 next year, although it has been rumoured this could evolve to multi-force touch.

At the moment there are three sizes of iPhone available – 4-inch, 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch. If Apple update the iPhone 5S at all, this is likely to happen earlier than the other two devices, probably March. You can read more about the rumoured iPhone 5SE in our separate feature here. For September though, we would hedge our bets on a new 4.7-inch and a new 5.5-inch device at the very least. It wouldn’t surprise us too much if the 4.7-inch size increased slightly but the footprint of the device itself remained the same, which could be achieved if the rumour of the Touch ID button disappearance became a reality for example.

The iPhone 6S has a 1334 x 750 resolution display (326ppi), while the iPhone 6S Plus has a 1920 x 1080 resolution (401ppi), both of which put their pixel densities at less than competing devices of the same sizes. There have been no rumours as yet to suggest Apple will be increasing the display resolution for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, but Mac Otakara has said its sources claim the next-gen iPhone will feature a “completely flat” LCD display. This presumably refers to the cover glass, which is currently curved, leading nicely to the device’s edge. 

A 3D display has also been suggested after the Economic Daily News claimed that TPK, an Apple supply chain partner was working on a naked eye 3D screen. We would take this with a big pinch of salt though.

According to ETNews Apple has ordered OLED screens from Samsung which is may use in the iPhone 7. Samsung and LG are reportedly close to a deal where they will spend £12 billion to increase OLED production capacity. Apple already uses OLED displays in its Watch models so a move to add those to its phones makes sense. OLED offers a greater contrast ratio while using less power than LCD.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Camera

The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus saw a bump in camera megapixels, which was a long time coming and therefore we don’t expect Apple to introduce another bump for the iPhone 7. At least not in sensor size.

However, that’s not to say the iPhone 7 camera won’t see new features or functions.

Apple recently acquired a company called LinX, which makes 3D camera sensors that are said to match DSLRs in terms of performance, despite their size. Apparently these cameras have depth-sensing abilities make them useful for facial recognition, 3D scanning and post-shot refocusing, according to MacWorld.

A dual-lens design for the iPhone 7 has also been claimed, along with better low-light performance. And that’s exactly what analyst from KGI Securities, Mind-Chi Kuo claims will appear. This has also been supported by MacRumors, although this site claims only the iPhone 7 Plus will get the dual-lens setup. It has been said the iPhone 7 will offer a more “traditional” camera, but that it will sit flush with the rear, as we mentioned earlier.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Hardware

With every new iPhone comes a new processor. We are currently on the A9 within the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, so you can expect an A10 processor for the iPhone 7, along with an M10 motion coprocessor. Rumour has it the new chip will focus on improving battery life, which we can’t see anyone complaining about. 

There have been reports to suggest Intel and Qualcomm are battling it out to win the contract for the iPhone 7’s new LTE chip, while a Weibo-based rumour highlighted by MacWorld claims the new iPhone chip will offer six cores rather than the dual-cores in the current iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

According to one report Apple will bump up the RAM to 3GB in the iPhone 7. That will make it the most RAM filled iPhone yet as the current iPhone 6S has 2GB onboard.

Wireless charging has also been discussed within iPhone 7 rumours, although this would require Apple to either do something very clever, or say bye-bye to a metal body, which we aren’t convinced it will do.

In terms of storage, we would hope to see the iPhone 7 get rid of the 16GB option and re-introduce a 32GB model instead. A report from Chinese site MyDrivers has claimed the iPhone7 Plus will come in a 256GB option and the battery capacity will increase from the 2915mAh in the iPhone 6S Plus to 3100mAh. The site didn’t detail the battery capacity expected for the iPhone 7 but suggested the larger storage would only be available in the Plus model.

Apple doesn’t do storage expansion via microSD so we don’t expect to see that change for the iPhone 7.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Software

There is no doubt that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will debut with iOS 10, which we will hear more about at WWDC in June. For now, we don’t know what it will bring, but you can expect new features and functions like every other software update.

Some rumours have suggested a gesture-based passcode system will be employed for the iPhone 7, following another patent grant, although patents should definitely be taken with a pinch of salt as many never see the light of day.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Conclusion

There are only a couple of things you can be almost sure about when it comes to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The first is that they will more than likely arrive in September 2016, the second is they will come with a chip called the A10 and the third is that they will debut iOS 10 software.

For now, everything else is speculation and will continue to be for the next year. We will of course keep you updated on all the rumours as we hear them, at least the ones we think are even remotely plausible, so keep checking back.

3DNes adds another dimension to classic NES games

While Nintendo and Sega have given us a handful of “3D classics” for the Nintendo 3DS, a new emulator promises to open up the field considerably. 3DNes is a Unity-based emulator that, as the name suggests, converts NES games into 3D.

Unlike SNES games, which have four background layers, NES games have a single layer for the entire background, making automatic 3D conversion tricky. According to the developer, 3DNes is based on an algorithm that analyses and separates flat backgrounds into singular, 3D objects. It’s not just simply stretching out pixels on another axis, either: round objects are rendered as spherical or tubular shapes.

Super Mario Bros. is by far the most successfully emulated title here — even if the early beta footage has the plumber stuck running backwards for part of a level. Other games with fairly simple 3D backgrounds, like Mega Man, are also pretty effective, while highly complex games like Contra and Castlevania struggle. There’s been some discussion as to whether the developer, Geod Studio, is tailoring the algorithm on a game-by-game basis, but he claims that the algorithm has been written for and tested extensively with Super Mario Bros., which is why there’s a gap in quality between it and other titles.

Geod Studio hopes to improve the number of games that work well through subsequent beta releases. “If the emulator can render decently [even one tenth of] NES game collection,” it’s already a big success for me,” Geod’s Trần Vũ Trúc told users on the TASVideos message board. He also suggests that there might be the potential for users to individually tailor the emulator for certain games, but he wants to ensure there’s “a strong emulation engine as the backbone” first.

Right now 3DNes is in a pretty sorry state. It’s available online in a WebGL Unity player, which is extremely unstable and only works in Firefox. We managed to get a test ROM to load only after switching to an AMD graphics card, but nothing else worked. Trần acknowledges that the web Unity player isn’t great, and says subsequent betas will be available in an executable format. For now, you’re probably better of wistfully watching all the videos Geod has uploaded to YouTube, and patiently waiting.

Via: Eurogamer, Reddit

Source: 3DNes, TASVideos

ICYMI: ESA’s Mars mission, amputee touch and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: The European Space Agency is sending a probe to Mars to, among other things, detect whether the atmosphere detects gas to indicate ‘biological activity’ on the planet. Researchers at the EPFL have designed a sensor that can detect texture on surfaces, raising the potential that people with amputated limbs could get feeling back in the limbs that are gone by connecting devices on their arms, then syncing it to their new sensor finger. DIY electronics makers will be into the soldering with room temperature metal.

If you have kids, you already know connected plush toys are a trend. The Toymail Talkie is the latest option that also has the craziest video. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.

Bezos’ Blue Origin wants to fly tourists to space by 2018

Blue Origin could be offering commercial suborbital space flights as soon as 2018. Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder, has revealed his team’s plans for the coming years during an event that showed off Blue Origin’s headquarters to the press for the first time. Bezos’ space company wasn’t making as much noise as, say, SpaceX, until it successfully launched, landed and then actually reused a reusable rocket before anyone else. Clearly, that did wonders for the team’s confidence.

To prepare for future space tourists, Blue Origin will build six New Shepard (its reusable rocket’s name) vehicles. Each one will be able to carry up to six passengers 62 miles above the Earth for a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of the planet only astronauts can see in person at the moment. In fact, the company’s next two vehicles, which it’s already putting together, will already have windows people can peek through.

According to Bezos, the once-secretive company will fly test pilots next year and will push through with its goal of taking paying customers to suborbital space in 2018 if all goes well. Since there’s always a chance that something won’t go well — Virgin Galactic lost SpaceShipTwo when it crashed in 2014 — the company could still adjust its timeline. Bezos hasn’t announced a ticket price yet, but he did say that it’ll be able to compete with what other private companies charge. Virgin Galactic started selling tickets for SpaceShipTwo flights years ago for $250,000 each, so expect Blue Origin’s to be in the six figures, as well.

Source: Reuters, The New York Times

Early iPhone 7 Case Has No Headphone Jack and Stereo Speaker Cutouts

While the iPhone 7 is not expected to launch until September, French leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer has shared photos one of the first cases prepared for Apple’s next-generation flagship smartphone.

The case has a larger cutout for either a traditional camera and LED flash setup, or possibly dual cameras. There are also two openings for stereo speakers in lieu of a 3.5mm headphone jack on current iPhones.

iPhone 7 case with larger cutout for dual-lens camera (Image: OnLeaks)
The aftermarket case’s form factor closely resembles an iPhone 6s overall, with cutouts for a possible all-in-one Lightning connector, pill-shaped volume buttons, and side-facing power button in their traditional places.

Early case leaks have historically been fairly accurate indicators of new iPhone designs, though there have been a few notable exceptions. The first cases for Apple’s purported iPhone SE surfaced last week ahead of its expected March 21st launch.

The case also has openings for stereo speakers on the bottom (Image: OnLeaks)
Multiple rumors have also claimed the iPhone 7 will feature a dual-lens camera system. The hardware could be based on technology Apple acquired from LinX Imaging, which could lead to brighter and clearer DSLR-quality photos and several other major advantages for the iPhone 7 cameras.

Meanwhile, Barclays analysts believe the iPhone 7 will have dual speakers supplied by Cirrus Logic, an Austin-based provider of analog and digital signal processing components for consumer electronics. Stereo speakers could be louder and route audio signals through two channels to simulate direction perception.

Update: A previous version of this article said the case has a cutout for dual cameras, but the opening may only be large enough for a traditional single camera and LED flash setup. Some rumors claim the dual camera setup may be exclusive to the iPhone 7 Plus, which reportedly may be called the iPhone Pro.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Huawei plans to ‘change the way you see the world’ next month in London

Huawei has sent out invitations to the media for an upcoming event, which is set to take place next month in London. With the tagline “Change the way you see the world,” the world’s number three smartphone manufacturer is expected to announce the P9.

According to recent leaks, we’re looking at a handset that will be powered by an octa-core Kirin 950 processor and 3GB of RAM. It is also said to have 32GB of internal storage (no word on expansion), a 3900mAh battery, as well USB-C connectivity.

Things are still up in the air and we recommend you take the leaks with at least a spoon-full of salt until we bring you the latest from the Huawei event in April.

HTC could make Google’s Nexus phones for the next three years

The Nexus smartphone for 2016 could be manufactured by HTC. That’s a rumour that has been circulating for some time, but it could be the beginning of a new partnership spanning the next three years.

According to sources of Chinese site MyDrivers, HTC has signed a contract with Google’s parent company Alphabet that makes it the Nexus smartphone manufacturer for the next three years. The deal, said to last three years, may involve HTC manufacturing more than one phone a year.

What’s unclear is if HTC will be the sole manufacturer. In 2015 the Nexus 6P was made by Huawei while the Nexus 5X was built by LG and we’ve seen other manufacturers lining up Nexus tablets too. From the MyDrivers wording it appears HTC has the entire Nexus contract, but that could easily be a mistranslation or misinterpretation.

HTC kicked off the Nexus programme with the Nexus One and has been struggling with smartphone sales of late. A longer-term Nexus deal could be a welcome relief for company and give HTC time to regain form.

The future of the Nexus programme has seen a lot of debate recently – not only surrounding the next device manufacturer – but also the nature of the programme itself. It was reported that Google wanted to move it from a partnership with a manufacturer, to an arrangement more like the Pixel programme, where it directly designs the device itself.

HTC would be a good choice: inking a three-year deal would provide some consistency, and HTC has a long history in OEM manufacture. This could be the future of the Nexus programme and it could be very different to how it has operated in the past.

READ: Next Nexus (2016): What’s the story so far?

The Division: Crazy goings-on and how to stop the safehouse trolls

The Division has only been out a day and already it’s throwing up some bizarre memes and talking points.

As soon as the servers went live at 0.01am in Australia on Tuesday, 8 March, players could jump into the most hyped game on the planet right now and it only took some a matter of minutes to realise that they could do things that were either funny, interesting or simply made other players’ lives Hell.

The biggest issue that was discovered was that, although for the vast majority of time in the game you never see other players unless you invite them into or are invited to be part of a team, when you are in one of the several safehouses dotted around Manhatten (and Brooklyn at the start of the game) you will be joined by others that are online at the same time. And some of the more troll-like of them have found that when they stand in a doorway, other players can’t get round them and out to the action.

READ: Tom Clancy’s The Division review: First five hours and our first impressions

Sadly, that’s thanks to a rare feature that was clearly added to improve the game experience rather than hinder it.

The Division issues

Unlike other MMORPGs, with which The Division shares a lot of DNA, Ubisoft chose to give each player model collision detection. That means you cannot simply pass through another player if you are in a safehouse or base. Usually, in games like Elder Scrolls Online, you phase through other players so they cannot get in your way.

By making everybody solid, that has presented a few issues. The doorway can be blocked by idiots. And areas in the safehouses that you need to access, such as the laptop for matchmaking with other gamers, can only be used by a set few at a time.

The doorway issue is the most annoying, but the laptop one has created some funnier moments – not least, queuing. As seen on posts by Twitter user @ncbjd and several YouTube clips like this…

We suspect Ubisoft will be looking to push a solution for both problems, maybe remove player collision detection in safehouses altogether, although you would still need it in the PVP areas in the Dark Zone, for example. For now though, some Reddit users have found what they claim to be solutions for getting in or out of a doorway blocked by a griefer.

How to stop The Division doorway trolls, here’s a fix

According to inaudible101, if you run rather than walk at the other player you will phase through them after a few seconds. You must keep going though until you phase through. Turning will reset the process.

It’s a trick confirmed by one of the developers at Ubisoft’s Massive studio.

Apparently, it also works in the Dark Zone to prevent players trapping each other in corners.

We haven’t tried the fix ourselves as we’ve not been able to find any griefers in the last couple of hours. Maybe they’ve all got bored and wandered off. Oh, we should be so lucky.

Another fix apparently works on the first safehouse you encounter. Reddit user Zaphrell suggests that by highlighting the wall behind the troll on the outside of the room, you can run through them as part of the cover routine. We haven’t been able to get that to work anywhere else however.

The Division tips, tricks and hilarious moments

Whenever we find anything else in the game that we think is noteworthy or makes us giggle like school children, we’ll post them here in updates.

PlayStation VR not suitable for under-12s, beat it pipsqueaks

Kids under the age of 12 will be weeping into their Coco Pops this morning as Sony has revealed its forthcoming PlayStation VR headset will not be suitable for their pre-teenage eyes.

Spotted in the health and safety notices in the beta version of PS4 firmware v3.50, the section on virtual reality and the “VR headset” clearly states that the device is “not for use by children under age 12”.

Children also get a rough ride, even if they are in the same vicinity.

“Take steps to prevent pets, children or other obstacles entering the area during use,” it continues.

Sony also warns that PlayStation VR users could experience negative side effects: “Some people may experience motion sickness, nausea, disorientation, blurred vision or other discomfort,” it says.

READ: PlayStation VR preview: Virtual reality for the gamers

If any of those occur, you are advised to remove the headset immediately, as we did when we were having a bad experience while playing Minecraft using an Oculus Rift headset recently.

KGrizzly (Reddit)

Sony is not the only manufacturer to deter children from using its VR headset, Oculus even ups the age limit to 13 and HTC advises that its Vive headset is not designed to be used by children at all.

Prolonged use of all of the headsets by older children is also discouraged.

A release date and pricing details for the PlayStation VR headset are yet to be revealed.