The Morning After: Tuesday, November 8, 2016
It’s Tuesday morning, Election Day, and you should be reading about the PlayStation 4 Pro, how Audi might have cheated on its emission tests, Mass Effect’s grand space opera teaser and oh-so-much more. Fortunately, that’s why I’m here. This is the Morning After.
4K PlayStation gaming has arrivedReview: PlayStation 4 Pro
It’s the most powerful home console yet, but you’ll need a 4K + HDR-capable TV to truly take advantage of it. In his review, Devindra Hardawar suggests that if you already have a PS4 and are stuck with a 1080p set, you can wait before upgrading.
Hint: Audi is owned by Volkswagen.Audi reportedly cheated engine emission tests too
According to the German paper Bild, regulators found software in Audi cars that masked their CO2 output during emissions tests. While this was apparently noted up to four months ago, neither Volkswagen, Audi or California regulators revealed it to the public. Software identified test conditions — slow, straight driving on a rolling road — and reduced gearing ratios. Turning the steering wheel disables the software and revealed the extent of the automaker’s test tweaking.
A very pretty fitness trackerTimex’s second smartwatch is cheap and subtle
Timex’ IQ+ Move will cost $150, and comes in men’s and women’s sizes. Despite Cherlynn Low’s misgivings about the scarcity of features (most are centered around fitness tracking), she was won over by its classic design and excellent build.
No, there aren’t any other choices availableElection day is here, and all of the information you need is just a click away
No matter who or what you’re voting for, the internet is here to help. Check out our guide for advice on getting to the polls and understanding what’s on the ballot when you’re there.
Wait, you’re going to fuel while the crew is where?NASA is worried SpaceX will put crews at risk by topping up while they’re aboard
SpaceX is moving on to a future of manned space flights, but NASA has some questions about how it’s going to pull those off. Specifically it’s looking at the plan to fill Falcon 9 rockets while astronauts are aboard, a proposal that seems even sketchier after last year’s explosion. A review process is under way, and findings from SpaceX’s probe into the explosion will be considered.
But wait, there’s more…
- Toyota is planning a long-range EV by 2020 (possibly at the expense of hydrogen cells)
- Android Auto is now a standalone app for your phone
- Watch Mass Effect Andromeda’s new space opera trailer
- Play The Oregon Trail, Election 2016 edition
Original Xbox One sale drops the UK price to £180
When the first Xbox One S bundles hit the UK in late September, they were so aggressively priced that the original One looked ready for immediate retirement. But the console has one last hurrah in store. Microsoft announced this morning the “biggest ever sale” of original Xbox One gear, with bundles starting at £180 for a 500GB box and one game. That’s on Microsoft’s store, anyway, but similar discounts can be found at other retailers like Amazon and Tesco (no reaction from GAME currently).
We’re sure there are plenty of other retailers that have brought down their prices, or will in the near future, so have a hunt around. The Xbox One might not have the newer model’s 4K Blu-ray drive, better gamepad and slim figure, but when you can put a console under the Christmas tree for under £200, those seem like fair enough compromises. Better hurry up, though — stocks are likely to run out soon enough.
Source: Microsoft (Twitter)
4K gaming has a video service to do it justice
The problem with this Ultra HD future we’re moving toward is that we’re in a weird in-between spot where the most convenient media delivery method (streaming) can’t hold a candle to the quality of the source material. The tech-minded folks at at Digital Foundry are acutely aware of this. As such, rather than relying on YouTube’s lossy and compressed method of hosting videos, DF has struck out on its own for offering source-quality downloads for its game-tech analysis videos.
“Coming out of the PlayStation Meeting a couple of months back, we became acutely aware of how difficult it is to capture the 4K experience with bandwidth-constrained streaming platforms like YouTube,” DF’s Richard Leadbetter writes. “The whole point of 4K is its pristine level of presentation, and we’ve swiftly discovered that existing 4K streaming content actually seems to resolve to lower levels than 1080p.
“We couldn’t show you what PS4 Pro — or indeed other high-end gaming hardware — was capable of, because the platform didn’t exist to get the job done. So we decided to build it.”
Exactly what “it” is is simple: A platform for downloading high-quality h.264-encoded gameplay videos. A $5 per-month Patreon subscription will net you access to everything the publication has to offer. And if you want to take a look at what you’ll get before committing the money, there’s a free video comparing Rise of the Tomb Raider running on the PS4 Pro and a PC rig with a Titan X Pascal. For paid videos you’ve got 4K files for Titanfall 2, Modern Warfare Remastered, Uncharted 4 as well as PC footage of Battlefield 1 and Forza Horizon 3 running at 60FPS.
As far as local playback goes, you’re going to need something capable of playing 4K video. Which at this point means a Mac running Quicktime, a USB drive that you can plug into your UHD TV or a PC running the DF-recommended Media Player Classic Home Cinema. Just don’t try playing them on your Xbox One S or PS4 Pro — those currently won’t playback 4K video from their respective media player apps. Leadbetter also says that his team will be adding 1080p videos from its catalog to the site as well.
Sony itself experimented with something similar prior to launching the PS4 back in 2013, offering 1080p60 gameplay footage of Killzone: Shadow Fall, but apparently didn’t see much use for it and focused on streaming after that. Hrm, sounds familiar.
Via: Eurogamer
Source: Digital Foundry
‘Pokémon Go’ might soon add Ditto and generation 2 monsters
If catch and daily bonuses aren’t enough to lure you back into playing Pokémon Go, maybe new monsters are. The SilphRoad has dissected newly added codes in the game’s files and found references to shapeshifting Ditto and 100 Generation 2 monsters, from #152 Chikorita to #251 Celebi. Ditto has been in the game’s codes for a while, but the team discovered a new “Transform” move meant for the critter with its own animation sequence. As you might know, Ditto is known for turning into the Pokémon it’s battling in addition to its ability to breed with any monster.
Some codes found in previous APKs made it to the game quite quickly — the buddy system, for instance, was found a week before it came out. However, Ditto has been lurking in the codes for quite a while now, but it still hasn’t made its debut despite being a Gen 1 monster. So if you’re wondering when the new monsters will start popping up, we’re afraid you’ll just have to wait for Niantic to announce an update.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: SilphRoad
Nintendo will sell the New 3DS for $100 on Black Friday
You no longer have to pick a 2DS if you want a Nintendo handheld for $100 or less. The company is releasing special black and white Mushroom Kingdom editions of the New 3DS for $100 starting on Black Friday, November 25th. You won’t get any games out of the box, alas, but you might be willing to forgive that when you’ll have extra money to spend. Assuming you’re interested in the first place, there’s just one main dilemma: do you go for the low price, portability and large game library of the New 3DS right now, or save up for the larger, pricier but more powerful Switch when it arrives next year?
[Thanks, Kristy]
Source: BusinessWire
‘Fallout 4’ mods are finally live on PlayStation 4
Almost a year after Fallout 4 hit store shelves (and following some consternation from Sony), mod support is finally available for the game’s PlayStation 4 version. Now remember, this doesn’t mean you replace the towering Deathclaw enemies with “Macho Man” Randy Savage as unlike the Xbox One version, the one on PS4 only plays nicely with mods created from pre-existing game assets. A post on Bethesda.net reminds as much, saying that these mods are plugins only, and that no archives are permitted. Is that going to limit your creativity? Pop down in the comments and let us know.
Via: Pete Hines (Twitter)
Source: Bethesda.net
‘Left 4 Dead’ creator releases an unfinished campaign
Now that Turtle Rock Studios is no longer working on Evolve, it has some time on its hands… and it’s giving veteran gamers a treat. If you have a PC copy of the original Left 4 Dead (one of Turtle Rock’s best-known games), you can now install Dam It, an unfinished but playable free campaign that was meant to connect two of the shipping game’s stories (Dead Air and Blood Harvest). You start at an airfield and have to make your way through an apple orchard, a ravine, a covered bridge and a campground before a climactic fight at the campaign’s namesake hydroelectric dam. Unlike most other L4D tales, you’re actually encouraged to split up — you just need to stay close enough to offer support in a pinch.
When Turtle Rock says “unfinished,” it means just that. A panic event doesn’t work as intended, zombies don’t always behave as they should and graphics are rough around the edges. You do get two stand-alone survival maps on top of Dam It, though, and the core experience will no doubt be familiar. It’s not the Left 4 Dead 3 you might be hoping for (seriously, Valve, make it happen), but it’s definitely a taste of what the first title could have been like.
Via: Polygon
Source: Auger Resources
‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ cinematic trailer goes full space opera
Kick off this N7 Day (an unofficial Mass Effect holiday for November 7th) with a close look at BioWare’s long-awaited Mass Effect:Andromeda. The game’s cinematic trailer shows off many of the things we’d expect: space exploration, shootouts and an ominous sounding villain. We also get our closest look yet at the male main character, Ryder. He’s one of two twins you’ll be able to control; Bioware notably showed off the female Ryder sibling first at E3.
While the trailer itself is a mix of pre-rendered and in-game graphics, the company also revealed that we’ll be getting more gameplay footage at The Game Awards on December 1st. Mass Effect: Andromeda will be released sometime in the spring of next year. Previously, BioWare said that it would be coming in early 2017, following a delay from late this year.
“Take the role of the Pathfinder, leading humanity’s search for a new home in this unexplored and unforgiving region of space,” BioWare wrote today. “You’ll chart your own course, navigating the Andromeda galaxy to unravel its mysteries, discover vivid alien worlds, and lead the charge to find the human race a new home among the stars.”
Source: BioWare
Election take on ‘The Oregon Trail’ is almost too realistic
You may have no problem voting in the US election, but others won’t have it so easy… and a web game is making that point all too clear. GOP Arcade and the New York Times’ opinion section have posted The Voter Suppression Trail, a spin on the classic The Oregon Trail that draws attention to Republican-backed tactics making it difficult for minorities to vote, such as fewer polling places and intimidation. As you might guess, where you live and who you are makes the game either trivially easy or a serious challenge.
Are you a white Californian programmer? You’ll waltz right into the voting booth. If you’re a Latina nurse in Texas or a black salesman in Wisconsin, however, it gets much harder. You’ll have to choose whether to stay in line or give up your vote to take care of more urgent matters, such a family illness (dysentery, since this is an Oregon Trail spoof) or an angry boss who wants you back at work. And even if you get inside the polling place on time, there’s no guarantee that you’ll cast a ballot. You may have to dodge “observers” bent on keeping you away.
This is far from a neutral take on the election that explores potential problems on all sides. The game is marked as an opinion documentary for good reason. It’s grounded in reality, however, and may serve as a reminder that voting opportunities aren’t the same for every American — and that’s a problem no matter who you’re voting for.
Via: Mashable
Source: New York Times
Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro is a perfect way to show off your 4K TV
The PlayStation 4 Pro is a new breed of console. It’s not going to replace the original system. Instead, it’s meant to tide over gamers who’ve upgraded to new 4K TVs with fancy high-dynamic range (HDR) lighting features. It’s a more significant step up than the Xbox One S, which is mostly centered around upscaling 4K content, but it’ll directly compete with Microsoft’s bigger console upgrade, Project Scorpio, next year. Welcome to the new era of gaming systems, which is beginning to resemble the world of PC games with a multitude of minor upgrades, rather than completely new system generations. (Nintendo, ever the iconoclast, is trying to do something both new and traditional with the Switch.)
There’s no doubt that the $399 PlayStation 4 Pro is the closest we’ve gotten to high-end PC-quality graphics on a home console. But the thing is, it’s not going to be a major upgrade for existing PS4 owners. And to really see the benefits of its faster hardware, you’ll have to wait for games to get upgraded. At the very least, though, it’s a welcome reward for anyone who’s held off on buying a PlayStation 4 until now.
Hardware
Take Sony’s original PlayStation 4 design, add another sharply angled layer on top, and you have the the PlayStation 4 Pro. You could call it a triple-decker PS4. It’s a tad taller than the original, but otherwise they look near-identical, with the same general shape and black plastic case. The PlayStation 4 Pro extends a bit farther back than before, likely to make room for both a larger power supply and more powerful components.
The PlayStation 4 Pro’s front buttons are physical, rather than touch-sensitive, and they’re separated now, with the power button on the far left and eject on the far right. (The original PS4’s buttons are incredibly tiny and located right above and below each other, which has led to plenty of frustration among gamers.) There are two USB 3.0 ports on the front, just like before, and an additional one in the rear. The latter is useful for connecting the PlayStation VR neatly without taking up on of the precious front USB ports.. Alongside the HDMI port is a standard power connection, an “Aux” output for the PlayStation camera, an optical audio port (which is notably absent from the PS4 Slim), and an Ethernet jack.
But forget aesthetics: What’s most important is what’s under the hood. And much of that is drool-worthy. The PS4 Pro packs in a speedier eight-core CPU; a new 4.2 teraflop AMD Polaris GPU that’s twice as fast as the original PS4; a 1TB hard drive; and 8GB of RAM. Just like the PS4 Slim, it also adds an 802.11ac 5GHz WiFi radio, which should make downloading games and large updates significantly faster. On paper, the PlayStation 4 Pro sounds more like a decent gaming PC than a console.
Sony’s revamped DualShock 4 also comes with the PS4 Pro, after first making its debut with the PS4 Slim. It’s functionally identical to the original controller, except the LED lighting from the front now carries over to a thin strip above the touch panel. That’s useful for figuring out things like which character you’re controlling in a multiplayer game. There are a handful of other minor aesthetic tweaks too, like using gray for the triggers and some buttons, but they’re honestly too minor to mention. If you’ve held a DualShock 4 before, you won’t feel much of a difference here.
While the PS4 Pro is packed to the gills with fresh hardware, there is one surprising omission: a 4K Blu-ray drive. That’s something the Xbox One S includes, and for $100 less than the PS4 Pro, too. Forgoing 4K Blu-ray particularly is surprising because Sony is one of the main backers of the Blu-ray format. It would be like if Microsoft chose to dump support for Word files in its next OS; it’s hard to fathom why they’d do it. Sony says it’s focusing on 4K/HDR streaming with the PS4 Pro (more on that below), but that doesn’t completely explain why it’s seemingly cutting off its own format at the knees. Did Sony forget that the PlayStation 2 was one of the big reasons DVDs took off so quickly?
In use
I’ve long argued that 4K isn’t something consumers should get too worked up about, at least not yet. But, in preparation for testing the PlayStation 4 Pro, I bit the bullet and purchased LG’s 55-inch B6 OLED TV. So, for once, I was actually excited about 4K. We’re also at the point where that format is finally beginning to make sense for mainstream consumers. 4KTVs are getting cheaper (I was astounded to find an OLED set under $2,000), there’s more high-resolution content out there, and HDR also makes a compelling case for upgrading (even more so than 4K itself).
Basically, it seems like we’ve finally reached a point where 4K isn’t just something being forced on us by TV makers. So it makes sense for Sony to jump aboard the bandwagon and introduce a console centered entirely around it.
I should also point out that I’m coming at this console after shifting much of my AAA gaming over to my PC. If I can get even better quality for the same price, and still pipe it conveniently to my living room from my PC, why would I choose a lesser console experience? Indeed, the PS4 Pro’s very existence seems designed to tempt PC gamers.
After excitedly connecting all of the necessary cables, I booted up the PlayStation 4 Pro and was honestly a bit disappointed just to see the same old PS4 home screen. It makes sense for Sony to avoid fragmenting its software too much, but still, I’d like something to indicate it’s different. Then I started playing some games upgraded to support the new console, and my mood changed considerably.
The games
I started off with The Last of Us: Remastered, a game that I know well after playing through it on the PS3 and a bit on the original PlayStation 4. It’s one of the first titles to get patched for the new console, an upgrade that adds an HDR mode and general improvements to make it hit 60 frames per second more consistently. While that might not sound very exciting, it means there’s a much bigger visual change here than a mere resolution bump. On supported TVs, HDR leads to higher contrast, greater color definition and much deeper blacks than we’re used to.
The Last of Us: Remastered is already an incredible-looking game, but the addition of HDR breathes new life into its environments. You can pick out more depth in the clouds and post-apocalyptic fauna, and pointing the camera at the sun makes it seem almost eye-searingly bright. It’s a good change for the most part, though it sometimes made environments seem artificially oversaturated with color. I didn’t really notice much of an overall performance upgrade either, but there might be some evidence of that later in the game. On my 1080p plasma TV, I didn’t notice any difference playing the game on the PS4 Pro versus the original console.
Sony is leaving it up to developers to figure out ways to tap into the PS4 Pro’s power. For the most part, devs will include some combination of rendering games at a higher resolution than 1080p, packing in more visual effects and delivering a smoother overall experience. As I’ve reported before, most PS4 Pro titles won’t render natively at 4K, though that’s not something you should get too hung up on. Running at something like 2160p (2K) with more graphical bells and whistles should still lead to much better looking games than on the original PS4. Wisely too, Sony isn’t allowing developers to charge for PS4 Pro support either.
Infamous Second Son lets you choose between playing in a higher resolution than 1080p, or better overall performance. And I quickly noticed that I’d much rather have the game running at higher frame-rates. Smoother gameplay suited Infamous’s fast, action-heavy setup more than a resolution bump. Unfortunately, though, the game also seemed to slow down quite a bit whenever I tried to play in the higher resolution mode.
You’ll have a similar set of choices in Rise of the Tomb Raider. You can either have it run at higher frame-rates in 1080p; get more visual effects at 1080p and 30 fps; or run the game in 4K at 30 frames per second. Again, I leaned towards the non-4K options. What most impressed me is that the game looked like I was running it off of a PC, no matter which mode I chose. Tomb Raider’s HDR support in some ways made it seem even more impressive than on PCs. The environments simply “popped” a bit more; things like the sun bouncing off snow and flames through the game seemed realistically bright, and character models were lit more dramatically.
When it comes to PlayStation VR, the PS4 Pro has even more potential to be useful. VR is the sort of thing where any hardware upgrade could improve your experience considerably. I was only able to test out the console in Sony’s PlayStation VR Worlds, but I noticed that the environments and characters were all sharper, and frame rates seemed generally smoother. It didn’t seem to improve head and hand tracking much, but the upgrades make PSVR seem like a more viable competitor to PC-powered VR moving forward.
One peculiar issue: You can’t run PlayStation 4 Pro games in HDR while the PSVR is connected. Sony’s VR system relies on a passthrough box that apparently can’t handle an HDR signal. That could be a huge inconvenience to many gamers, since it means you’ll probably have to constantly connect and disconnect the PS VR box whenever you’re using it.
While Sony is also positioning the PlayStation 4 Pro as something players with 1080p sets can enjoy, it doesn’t seem worth an upgrade for those consumers yet. You’ll notice the better graphics in games like Rise of the Tomb Raider, but you won’t see any of the HDR benefits. And I just have a hard time recommending a $400 upgrade for minor performance improvements. If you’re a 1080p TV owner who plans to upgrade to 4K eventually, it’s still worth waiting on the PS4 Pro, since it’ll probably be cheaper by the time you get a new tv.
4K media
So how do you get 4K video content when there’s no 4K Blu-ray player on the PlayStation 4 Pro? For now, mainly through Netflix and YouTube. Sony said it’s pinning its hopes on 4K streaming taking off in the future, though strangely enough, it hasn’t yet announced plans to bring the technology to the PlayStation Store. The company recently launched a 4K streaming store for its latest Bravia TVs, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that reach the PS4 Pro eventually. Both Amazon and Vudu also have a healthy library of 4K content, but they haven’t yet upgraded their apps for the PS4 Pro.
The competition
There’s no doubt about it: The PS4 Pro’s greatest competitor right now is … the PlayStation 4. You might be able to find a decent discount on the original model, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Slim discounted for Black Friday. At normal pricing, though, the PS4 Pro is only $100 more than the PS4 Slim. It makes sense to pay a bit more now to future-proof your investment, rather than just settle for an underpowered console you might end up replacing sooner. Complicating things even further, Sony has also enabled HDR on all PlayStation 4 models, which makes it less of a must-have feature for the Pro.
Honestly, the PS4 Pro doesn’t really have direct competition until Microsoft’s next-gen “Project Scorpio” console debuts next year. That system will have an even more powerful 6 teraflop GPU, which could potentially allow developers to reach 4K more easily. Still, it’s hard to get too excited for Scorpio until we know more about it.
You might also consider a decent gaming PC instead of the PS4 Pro, but you’ll probably have to spend closer to $700 to get something that can handle today’s games. And of course, you’ll be out of luck if you’re interested in Sony’s exclusives. But if you can afford it and you care about graphics quality, a PC will deliver the best gaming experience.
Wrap-up
So who is the PlayStation 4 Pro actually meant for? After testing it out for the past week, I’d say it’s for people who haven’t yet bought a PS4 and want to show off their fancy new 4K/HDR sets. And of course, there are the hardcore gamers who will snap up any piece of hardware that promises to be faster. Most consumers are better off waiting until more games get patched for the new system, and until Sony figures out its 4K media strategy.
AIVAnet 