Integrated Xbox Wireless is coming to future PCs and accessories
If you’re a serial Xbox One controller user, you’ve probably used it with your Windows PC at some point as well, whether to get in some Steam gaming or to make controlling any game a little simpler. Previously, doing so meant you’d have to have a special wireless dongle to do so.
Going forward, Microsoft plans on offering built-in Xbox Wireless, beginning with the Lenovo IdeaCentre Y710 Cube, which will support all Xbox One wireless accessories without he need for additional adapters or equipment.
The Lenovo PC is the first partner device to have built-in Xbox Wireless support, but it’s not going to be the last, according to Microsoft. Additional PCs and other accessories in the future will be supporting Xbox Wireless as they make their way to store shelves. This should make things a little easier for anyone looking to take their accessories beyond simple console usage.
Source: Xbox Wire
‘Gears of War 4’ will require a monster machine to play in 4K
You might have been delighted to hear that Gears of War 4 will take full advantage of your PC, but you might not be quite so thrilled when you realize what it takes to run the game in its full 4K glory. On top of a 4K gameplay demo (below), Microsoft has outlined the Windows version’s system requirements… and they’re not exactly modest. While you can get by on mid-range 2014 hardware as a baseline, the “ideal” experience (effectively, 4K) demands both a high-end AMD FX or Intel Core i7 processor as well as one of the highest-end graphics cards in recent memory, such as a GeForce GTX 1080 or a Radeon R9 Fury X. You’d better have splurged on your system in recent months, in other words.
The steep demands aren’t entirely surprising. PC hardware has only just started making 4K playable without resorting to multi-card graphics, and it’s going to be a while before that kind of horsepower filters down to the mainstream. Even the latest low-cost cards, like the GeForce GTX 1060 or Radeon RX 480, fall short of being fast enough for that kind of pixel count. Look at it this way, though: this could be the excuse you need to buy a long-overdue system upgrade, and you’ll have a reason to revisit the game if you have to “settle” for a lower resolution on launch day.
Source: Xbox Wire
Microsoft will let you try Windows 10 games early
The Xbox Game Preview program is a nice way to try indie console games before they’re finished, but what about PC gamers? Where’s Microsoft’s answer to Steam Early Access? At last, it’s here. Microsoft has announced that Xbox Game Preview is coming to Windows 10, giving you a chance to play early desktop games and potentially influence their design. The company has only confirmed Rockfish Games’ Everspace as one of the launch titles for the initiative, but it’s vowing that there will be “many more to come.”
The effort could help Microsoft generate some of the indie buzz that has been missing on the Windows Store. You might not have to go to Steam to find the next Ark: Survival Evolved or Kerbal Space Program while it’s still in development. There’s no doubt that the crew in Redmond faces an uphill battle, though. Steam is still the default portal for many gamers, and they may not feel compelled to switch unless they can expect to find a similar volume and quality of titles in Microsoft’s digital shop.
Source: Xbox Wire
HDHomeRun’s DVR app is ready for the Xbox One
Earlier this year Microsoft confirmed that development of a DVR feature for the Xbox One is “on hold,” so what’s next for fans of its OneBox dream? SiliconDust’s answer is an app that lets you watch TV streamed directly to the game system from a DVR (which could be a PC, Android TV box or NAS — but not the Xbox itself) running its software and connected to a TV tuner device. Doing that means you can completely control it via the gamepad or Xbox remote — and ditch the system’s HDMI passthrough/IR blaster combo that can’t do simple things like set up a new recording without switching remote.
Shh! Snuck a new pic. Come on @Xbox @xboxuk @XboxCanada @majornelson #XboxOne turn on UWP apps for #HDHomeRunDVR pic.twitter.com/VWuJI8tDgH
— Silicondust USA, Inc (@HDHomeRun_US) August 10, 2016
I can see the HDHomerun app by searching on the box, but it isn’t ready for downloading just yet (installing it on Windows 10 first may help). SiliconDust told Kickstarter backers last night that the app should be available within 24 hours, so it shouldn’t take long to show up.
Those who prefer a DIY approach to the DVR haven’t had as many options available since Microsoft decided not to extend Windows Media Center to the Xbox One and Windows 10, but the addition of Universal Windows apps means third parties can fill in the gap. SiliconDust is still developing the other parts of its DVR platform too, recently releasing an app for Windows Phone 10, as well as providing updates for the apps on Windows 10 desktop and OS X.
The update also referenced a recent issue with Samsung’s TVs, where the last update disabled the RUI feature that let TVs connect directly to an HDHomeRun DVR server. SiliconDust says it’s in touch with the “right people” at Samsung, but there are no specific plans to share right now. As far as other features users are waiting for, the company says trick play (the ability to pause, fast-forward or rewind live TV) will arrive by the end of the month, and it’s still working on support for protected channels too.
Source: HDHomeRun DVR (Kickstarter), HDHomeRun (Windows Store)
Lenovo unveils two compact, VR-ready desktop gaming PCs
Desktop PCs are becoming a tough sell, thanks to rival laptops with NVIDIA mobile graphics chips nearly as powerful as desktop graphics cards. That’s perhaps why Lenovo launched a couple of oddball Windows 10 desktop models at Gamescom that emphasize portability and gaming power. The first is the IdeaCenter Y710 Cube, a compact, handle-equipped model that, we can’t help but notice, slightly resembles a killer robot.
The idea is to give gamers high-end desktop power that’s easy to “transport between gaming stations,” as Lenovo puts it. Tucked in the small form factor is up to a sixth-gen Intel i7 CPU, GeForce GTX 1080 graphics, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 256GB SSD (or 2TB hard disk). You can also equip it with Dolby Audio, high-end WiFi, an Xbox One controller and an Xbox One wireless receiver that supports up to seven additional controllers. With those specs, of course, it’ll easily handle your HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.
The second model is the IdeaCenter AIO Y910 all-in-one, aimed at gamers who want power but lack space. The entire computer is packed into the 27-inch, 2,560 x 1,440 borderless monitor (with 144Hz refresh and 5ms response), freeing up space that a case would normally take up. Yet, Lenovo has managed to pack in the exact same specs of the Y710 Cube. You’ll get up to a sixth-gen Intel Core i7 CPU, GeForce GTX 1080 graphics, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, a 2TB HDD or 256 GB SSD and twin 5 watt Harmon Kardon speakers.
Even though they’re trapped in a fairly tight space, you can still swap out parts thanks to a detachable back panel. Naturally, this model also conforms to the virtual reality minimum specs set by HTC and Oculus.
There’s a price for the combination of power, small size and portability. While the basic Y710 Cube model starts at €899 (around $1,000), the VR-ready model with an NVIDIA GTX 1070 runs €1,699 ($1,900), quite a premium over what you could build yourself. The all-in-one Y910 starts at €1,799 ($2,000), with a VR-friendly GTX 1070-equipped model priced at €2,199 ($2,500). The basic Y710 Cube arrives this month, the VR-friendly Y710 and the basic AIO Y910 will be available in September, and the high-end, VR-ready Y910 AIO will hit shelves by October, 2016.
‘Overwatch’ season two takes cues from ‘League of Legends’
Overwatch’s 15 million-plus players are going to see some pretty big changes come the game’s second season. First up is how rankings work. The current 1 – 100 skill ranking is going away in favor of a 1 – 5,000 rating that breaks down into seven tiers like bronze, silver, gold and, at the highest level, master and grandmaster — similar to League of Legends and, most recently, Halo 5: Guardians. Game director Jeff Kaplan says that the idea behind this overhaul is to make it feel less like you’re performing poorly overall just because you had a bad night. “We want skill rating to be a gauge of where you are as a player,” he says in the video below. “We don’t want that number to be the thing you associate with you as a competitive player.”
It’s because someone with a 60 skill ranking was actually in the top six percent of Overwatch players — they weren’t a D-level player, as our school-focused minds might lead them to believe.
“We want you to realize that the skill rating is naturally going to go up and down as you’re playing competitive matches; it’s a very normal thing,” he says. Once you meet the requirements for a given tier, you won’t drop out of it if you’re having a bad night. That’s unless you’re playing in the high-level master and grandmaster skill levels.
Jeff Kaplan reveals upcoming changes to Season 2 of Competitive Play—coming soon to PTR! | 📽 https://t.co/hRXq8UU4vK pic.twitter.com/2Rn2URbb0l
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) August 15, 2016
The coin toss is going away as well, in addition to sudden death. Teams will earn competitive points for tied games, even though instances of teams scoring the same overall should be pretty rare. And speaking of competitive points, those are going to be multiplied by ten (even those you have banked), but loot like golden guns will cost ten times as much too.
In the 15-minute video, one thing is incredibly clear: Developer Blizzard is taking community feedback very seriously. Pretty much every tweak to season two is the result of player suggestions and concerns. So, if bits of season two don’t gel for you, or if you have any gripes with how it’s playing, make sure to hit the Overwatch forums and let the team know. Just remember to be polite, okay?
Via: Overwatch (Twitter)
Source: Overwatch (YouTube)
Thin gaming laptops will run VR with NVIDIA’s new chip
Nvidia has just taken the wraps off a trio of laptop GPUs based on its new “Pascal” chip architecture, the GeForce GTX 1060M, the 1070M and the 1080M. While the 1080M is by far the most impressive, it’s the humble 1060M that could make the biggest impact on the market. Why? Because it facilitates using a virtual reality headset like the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift on a reasonably small laptop.
The 1060M essentially replaces the 970M, insomuch as it’ll fit into the same sort of products as the older chip. All of the technologies launched for the Pascal architecture, including VRWorks and Ansel, are supported on the 1060M, which has 1,280 CUDA cores, 6GB of 192-bit, 8Gbps memory and a base clock speed of 1,404MHz. The end result of these specs is a “VR-ready” chip that’ll fit in laptops as svelte as 18mm, like the Razer Blade.
What exactly “VR ready” means nowadays is a bit of a mystery. Oculus and HTC released their headsets targeting the desktop GTX 980, but both AMD and NVIDIA have since released cheaper cards (the RX 480 and the GTX 1060, respectively) that both claim to play nice with VR.
At a launch event in the UK, NVIDIA showed off the 1060M, 1070M and 1080M paired with various VR games. But while the more powerful chips were demoed with graphically intense games, NVIDIA chose The Thrill of the Fight. It’s a very fun, but relatively undemanding title, requiring only a desktop GTX 970 card. The MSI GS43 (an updated GS40 with a 1060M GPU inside) handled it perfectly. For regular gaming, NVIDIA claims it’ll do just fine. The same MSI GS43 hit 96.4FPS in Doom (1080p, ultra settings), 51.4FPS in The Witcher 3 (1080p, maxed settings, HairWorks disabled), and 71.5FPS in Tomb Raider (1080p, very high). Older games can play nice with higher resolutions, with <em>BioShock Infinite</em> hitting 72.4FPS at 1440p, and <em>Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor</em> hitting 62.1FPS, both with “ultra” settings.
| CUDA cores | 1,280 | 1,280 | 2,048 |
| Base clock | 1,404MHz | 1,506MHz | 1,126MHz |
| Boost clock | 1,670MHz | 1,708MHz | 1,216MHz |
| Memory | 6GB GDDR5* | 6GB GDDR5 | 4GB GDDR5 |
| Memory speed | 8Gbps | 8Gbps | 7Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 192GB/sec | 192GB/sec | 224GB/sec |
*Up to
When pressed, representatives at the event said the 1060M is VR-ready, and agreed that a stable “90 frames-per-second is a must for VR,” but “you might need to play around with the settings, as you would on any PC game, in order to reach that.” That suggests that while, yes, the 1060M has the power to run the current crop of VR games, don’t expect to be playing with Ultra graphics settings. NVIDIA also cautions that the “VR-ready” status is only when you’re plugged into an outlet — when running from the battery it won’t reach the clock speeds necessary. Digging into NVIDIA’s official benchmark sheet (which doesn’t compare the two directly), it seems that the 1060M is basically on par with the GTX 980, which makes the decision to restrict demos to such a forgiving game a strange one.
Putting minutiae to one side, NVIDIA’s new laptop GPUs look like winners. The 1080M almost kills the need for laptops with desktop chips in them (although I’m sure the market will continue). It’ll support SLI, and even on its own, can maintain 60fps in 4K for all but the most-demanding of titles, and 120Hz gaming in 1080p as well. The 1070M will be the go-to option for gamers without $1000s to spare, sliding into any laptop that currently houses a 980M — think something like the Asus ROG G752, the Acer Predator 15, or the Origin EON 15-X. But it’s the 1060M that offers the most exiting proposition, to me at least. Laptops like the Razer Blade, the MSI GS40 Phantom and the Gigabyte Aorus X3 Plus are already combining portability with legitimate gaming chops. Now, newer versions will also be able to support VR.
MSI and Origin PC use NVIDIA’s desktop-grade laptop graphics
PC makers aren’t wasting any time implementing NVIDIA’s GTX 10 series laptop graphics in their lineups. Both MSI and Origin PC have revealed that their higher-end gaming portables will be among the first to pack the much faster, desktop-class graphics. At MSI, the big deal is that it’s not just big, chunky systems that are getting a refresh — even relatively slim laptops like the GS and GE series will have VR-worthy graphics thanks to the GTX 1060M. You’ll have to move up to the GT range to get the 1070M or 1080M (up to two of them in Titan SLI variants like the GT73VR above), but that’s a solid baseline.
The upgraded MSI rigs should be available now, although they won’t come cheap. The experience starts with the $1,599 GS43VR Phantom Pro and its 14-inch 1080p screen, GTX 1060M, 2.6GHz Core i7, 16GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive, and you can spend as much as $5,099 if you want an 18-inch GT83VR Titan SLI with dual GTX 1080Ms, 2.9GHz Core i7, two 512GB SSDs, a 1TB hard drive and 64GB (!) of RAM.
Origin PC, meanwhile, is focused strictly on updating its beefy EON-15 and EON-17 machines. Pricing will vary depending on your configuration, but you can get up to a GTX 1070M in the 15-inch EON15-X (below), a 1080M in the 17-inch EON-17X, and dual 1080Ms in the EON17-SLX. They can all carry up to a 4K display, 64GB of RAM, dual 1TB SSDs and a desktop-level 4GHz Core i7 processor. None of them are svelte, then. However, they might be what you’re looking for if you can’t imagine giving up any significant amount of performance when on the road.
And it’s important to stress that these aren’t the only two vendors lining up. Heavyweights like Acer, ASUS, HP, Lenovo and Razer have also committed to NVIDIA’s new laptop video tech, giving you plenty of choices.
Source: MSI, Origin PC
NVIDIA brings desktop-class graphics to laptops
With the GeForce GTX 1080, NVIDIA pushed the boundaries of what a $600 graphics card can do. That flagship card was joined by the GTX 1070 and GTX 1060, two lower-power cards based on the same 16nm Pascal architecture at a much more affordable price. Now, it’s bringing mobile versions of those cards that match their desktop counterparts in almost every area — including being VR ready.
That’s not hyperbole. The top-of-the-line 1080M has 2,560 CUDA cores and 8GB of 10Gbps GDDR5x memory. The desktop chip has the same. The only difference is clock speed: it’s set at 1,556MHz, while the desktop version is 1,607MHz. The two do share the same boost clock (1,733MHz) though, and both have access to all the new technology introduced for the Pascal architecture. That means simultaneous multi-projection, VRWorks, Ansel and the rest.
If you want an idea what those specs translate to in real-world performance, how’s this: when paired with an i7-6700HQ (a quad-core 2.6GHz chip with 3.5GHz turbo), Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, 126; Overwatch, 147; Doom, 145; Metro Last Light, 130; Rise of the Tomb Raider, 125. Those are the 1080M’s FPS figures when playing at 1080p with “ultra” settings at 120Hz. NVIDIA is really pushing 120Hz gaming, and many of the first crop of Pascal laptops will have 120Hz G-Sync displays.
4K gaming, too, is more than possible. At 4K with “high” settings the same setup can push 89FPS on Overwatch, 70FPS with Doom, and 62FPS with Metro Last Light (according to NVIDIA). Only Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and Rise of the Tomb Raider fall short of 60FPS, both clocking in at a very playable 52FPS. At the chip’s UK unveil, NVIDIA showed the new Gears of War playing in 4K in real-time, and there were absolutely no visible frame drops. With figures like that, it goes without saying that VR will be no problem for the 1080M. The desktop GTX 980 is the benchmark for both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, and the 1080M blows it away. If you’re looking for more performance, the 1080M supports overclocking of course — NVIDIA suggests as high as 300MHz — and you can expect laptops sporting two in an SLI configuration soon.
The major drawback for the 1080M is power. We don’t know its exact TDP yet, but given the near-identical desktop version runs at 180W, you’d imagine it’s got to be at least 150W. NVIDIA has tech that counters that heavy power load when you’re not plugged in, of course. Chief among these is BatteryBoost, which allows you to set a framerate (i.e. 30FPS), and downclocks the GPU appropriately to save power — if your card is capable of pushing 147FPS plugged in, that’s going to be a fair amount of power saved. Whatever the battery savings possible, though, it won’t change the fact that the 1080M is only going to slide into big laptops.
That’s fine for those already used to carrying around behemoths on the go, but plenty of gamers prefer something more portable. Enter the 1070M. NVIDIA says this chip will fit into any chassis that currently handles the 980M, which covers a lot of laptops.
Just like the 1080M, the 1070M matches its desktop sibling in many ways. You’ve actually got slightly more in the way of CUDA cores — 2,048 vs. the desktop’s 1,920, but again they’re clocked slower (1,442MHz vs. 1,506MHz). Memory is the same — 8GB 8Gbps GDDR5 — and it too benefits from both the Pascal architecture itself and the new software features that come with it.
| CUDA cores | 2,560 | 2,560 | 1,920 | 2,048 |
| Base clock | 1,607MHz | 1,556MHz | 1,506MHz | 1,442MHz |
| Boost clock | 1,733MHz | 1,733MHz | 1,683MHz | 1,645MHz |
| Memory | 8GB GDDR5X | 8GB GDDR5X | 8GB GDDR5 | 8GB GDDR5 |
| Memory speed | 10Gbps | 10Gbps | 8Gbps | 8Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 320GB/sec | 320GB/sec | 256GB/sec | 256GB/sec |
When faced off against the desktop 1070, the 1070M holds its own. In nearly every test we saw, it got within a couple of percentiles of the desktop card. We’re talking 77FPS in The Witcher 3 (1080p maxed settings, no HairWorks) vs. 79.7FPS on the 1070; 76.2FPS in The Division (1080p ultra) vs. 76.6FPS; and 64.4FPS in Crysis 3 (1080p very high) vs. 66.4FPS. The one outlier was Grand Theft Auto V, which dropped down to 65.3FPS vs. 73.7FPS on the desktop 1070. 4K gaming is a stretch on the desktop 1070, and that carries over here, but this card is more-than VR ready. NVIDIA says that it’ll support factory overclocking on the 1070M soon, so you may see laptops offering a little more grunt “in a couple of months.”
Rounding off the lineup is the 1060M, the mobile version of NVIDIA’s $249 “budget” VR-ready card. It’s something of the exception to the rule here. Yes, it offers 1,280 CUDA cores and 6GB 8Gbps GDDR5 memory, which is equal to the desktop 1060. But at the lower end of the range the fact that they’re clocked lower (1,404MHz vs. 1,506MHz) hurts performance quite a bit more. In side-by-side comparisons, NVIDIA’s benchmarks suggest you’ll get within ten percent or so of the desktop card. That’s not to say that the 1060M is a slouch. For traditional gaming, you’re not going to hit 60FPS at 1080P in every game without thinking about settings, but if you can play it on a desktop GTX 980, it’s probably a safe bet that the 1060M can handle it. That’s insanely impressive when you consider that the 1060M will fit into the same chassis as the 970M — think “ultra portable” gaming laptops.
| CUDA cores | 1,280 | 1,280 | 2,048 |
| Base clock | 1,404MHz | 1,506MHz | 1,126MHz |
| Boost clock | 1,670MHz | 1,708MHz | 1,216MHz |
| Memory | 6GB GDDR5* | 6GB GDDR5 | 4GB GDDR5 |
| Memory speed | 8Gbps | 8Gbps | 7Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 192GB/sec | 192GB/sec | 224GB/sec |
*Up to
In reality, the 10-percent gap between the 1060 and the 1060M probably makes it slightly slower than the GTX 980, but the difference is almost negligible. I wasn’t able to push the 1060M too hard on the “VR ready” promise — you can read about the demo and why the 1060M matters in a separate article — but the demo I had was solid. And really, being able to plug an Oculus into something as slim as a Razer Blade was unthinkable a few months ago, so it’s probably best not to complain.
Acer, Alienware, Asus, Clevo, EVGA, HP, Gigabyte, Lenovo, MSI, Origin, Razer, Sager and XMG are just some of the OEMs signed up to make laptops with the new Pascal chips. Many will announce updated and all-new models today, while some might hold off a while. But expect lots of super-powerful, VR-ready gaming laptops very soon.
Capcom plans harsher punishments for ‘Street Fighter’ quitters
Capcom has been combating quitters in Street Fighter V since the game’s debut. And tomorrow, the publisher/developer is apparently making the penalties for disconnecting before a match ends even more harsh. Like before, cowards will have League Points docked, and will also be locked out of matchmaking for an ambiguous period of time, according to a post on Capcom Unity. It sound exactly like what’s in place currently, but that’s supposedly working pretty well. There’s more comprehensive update coming, too.
“Since the initial Rage Quitting system rollout, we have seen a rapid decrease in quitting players and we believe that this new update will reduce that number even further,” the post reads. “That being said, we’re still working on implementing a new, more robust system that will address the issue more completely by early next year.”
Hopefully the current countermeasures are effective enough to keep existing players from abandoning the game wholesale before then.
Source: Capcom Unity
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