Need for speed is coming this fall

The game will release on PS4, XBox One and PC and Full Trailer and Release date will be revealed on 15th of June at E3.

Rich customization, authentic urban car culture, a nocturnal open world, and an immersive narrative, welcome to NFS. ESRB Rating E10+ with Mild Violence

Nintendo kills off the basic Wii U in Japan

Nintendo is about to halt production of its 8GB Wii U Basic in Japan, according to a notice on its product site. The white-clad product has been around since 2012, but was never super popular since the 32GB version is typically only $50 more. In fact, the rumor mill had it being killed off two years ago after it went out of stock at GameStop and Best Buy, though Nintendo later called that a "misperception." Somehow the model has hung on until now, but has gradually become harder to find.

There's no word on whether Nintendo plans to kill the basic version in the US and Europe, but a Japanese death often presages a similar fate elsewhere. However, the company plans to launch a white version of the 32GB Premium model, so at least you won't get too nostalgic for the color.

Xbox One Digital TV Tuner hits the US and Canada today

The Xbox One is already an entertainment powerhouse. But, starting today, those of you in the US and Canada will have the chance to get even more out of it. Microsoft has announced that the official TV tuner for its Xbox One, which lets people watch over-the-air channels directly from the console, is now available in these two countries. As a refresher, this feature first hit Europe last year, so it's taken a decent amount for it to arrive in North America. You can get the Hauppauge Digital TV Tuner for $60, though you'll also need an HDTV antenna for it to work as intended.

Windows 10 beta on Xbox One coming 'post-summer'

Want a taste of Windows 10 on your Xbox One? It's coming sooner than you might've thought. Xbox boss Phil Spencer tweeted today that a beta of the program that ties your console in with your desktop computer is coming "post-summer." Exactly what features it'll entail or a concrete timeframe (game streaming from Xbox to desktop, the Xbox Game DVR and Xbox Live) are anyone's guess at this point. That'll almost positively change come next month's Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, though.

China to soon overtake US in game revenues - Newzoo

Also, by 2018 consoles will no longer represent even a quarter of the global games market

Games research firm Newzoo has released several key data points from its upcoming 2015 Global Games Market Report, which notes that the worldwide games market will reach $113.3 billion by 2018, representing a compound annual growth rate of 7.9 percent from 2014.

Importantly, Newzoo points out that the US and China together will account for half of the entire global games market in 2018. While China and the US are nearly even now, by 2018 China will grow to $32.8 billion, far surpassing the US, which will reach $24.1 billion. The biggest difference is in digital sales and mobile growth. Already this year in China, digital games revenues will account for 97 percent of the total games market, compared to 72 percent in the US.

Newzoo says the US mobile market is "showing signs of maturing" but China's has room for more growth. For example, this year in the US, smartphone games and tablet games are expected to see year-over-year growths of 13.4 percent and 17.8 percent, respectively. In China, however, smartphone games will grow 50 percent as tablet games grow 39 percent.

While mobile's massive impact is undeniable, it's actually the PC screen that will remain the most dominant, Newzoo reports. By 2018, the PC/Mac will account for $41.2 billion of global game revenues, or about 36 percent of the total. It will continue to be the most revenue generating screen, with a CAGR of +6.9 percent.

The Entertainment Screen (Newzoo's category for TV/Console and VR), meanwhile will drop from 27 percent to 24 percent of the market with $26.8 billion by 2018. Additionally, both the Computer Screen and Entertainment Screen categories will lose a portion of their share to the Personal Screen (Phones, Smartwatches). The Personal Screen will also account for 27 percent of the pie ($30.2 billion) in 2018, with the last 13 percent of the market going to the Floating Screen (tablets and handhelds).

Even though Nintendo has been successful with the 3DS, dedicated handhelds continue to be in decline. This decline, which Newzoo says is roughly -22.5 percent CAGR, is partially offset by the growth of tablet game revenues, which have a 17.1 percent CAGR.

Blu-ray Disc Association Completes Ultra HD Blu-ray Specification

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has completed the Ultra HD Blu-ray specification and released the new logo that will delineate Ultra HD Blu-ray products.


New ULTRA HD Blu-ray discs hold up to 66GB and 100GB of data on dual and triple layer discs respectively.

Manufacturers will be able to license Ultra HD Blu-Ray beginning in July and, presumably, consumer products will begin to roll out later in the year.

The completed Ultra HD Blu-ray specification addresses a range of factors, beyond simply increasing resolution to up-to 3840x2160 ixels. The new format enables delivery of a significantly expanded color range and allows for the delivery of high dynamic range (HDR) and high frame rate content. Next-generation, object-based sound formats will also be delivered via the Ultra HD Blu-ray specification. Additionally, with the optional digital bridge feature, the specification enhances the value of content ownership by embracing the notion that a content purchase can enable the consumer to view their content across the range of in-home and mobile devices.

The specification also mandates all new Ultra HD Blu-ray players be capable of playing back current Blu-ray Discs.

Licensing of Ultra HD Blu-ray is scheduled to begin this Summer. The BDA is working with industry players in the authoring, testing, certification and replication industries to develop the tools and process needed to ensure interoperability between players and software and to facilitate the development of an ecosystem to support the hardware and title launch of Ultra HD Blu-ray.

If you already have a 4K TV, you might not be able to play these new discs. Your TV will have to have HDMI 2.0 (with HDCP 2.2).

The TV will have to be HDR and Expanded Color compatible to do anything with that additional picture info (and HDMI 2.0a).

DirectX 12 Multi adapter: Microsoft's new technology makes the gaming computer 10 percent faster

DirectX 12 is getting more interesting and now shows Microsoft put a new technology that can get all kinds of graphics chips to cooperate.



DirectX 12 will notoriously make it theoretically possible to get various forms of graphics chips (GPUs) to be linked together to increase performance in the game, whether it be AMD or Nvidia manufactures graphics chips concerned.

The goal with DirectX 12 is that all performance components and computing devices in your computer to help with the rendering of frames in the game for increased performance and better gaming experience. This will be possible by working with 3D graphics are broken down into parallel tasks that can be distributed across separate and not function as circuits.

DirectX 12 Multi adapter is the technology to its limits when it lets your processor's integrated graphics to take over some of the workload from your external and significantly more powerful graphics card.

Through a demonstration of Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 - Elemental Demo "Microsoft showed how a single GeForce GTX Titan X video card using an unnamed integrated graphics processor could deliver a performance increase of over 10 percent with 39.7 fps.

That compares with 35.9 fps when only Titanium X graphics card did rendering in the game. As low GPU load of 100 percent for Nvidia's Titanium X GPU while the integrated Intel graphics chip was charged to 70 percent and thus have more resources available.

Android M — Latest Google Android OS to be Unveiled This Month

While majority of smartphone users are waiting for Android 5.0 Lollipop update for their devices, Google is soon going to launch the next version of Android at its official Google I/O 2015 developer event May 28 in San Francisco.

Android M — The name of the latest version of Android mobile operating system was spotted at the Google I/O 2015 schedule under the "Android for Work Update" Session, which says…

"Android M is bringing the power of Android to all kinds of workplaces."

According to the company, this will open up "huge new markets for hundreds of Millions of devices to workers at small businesses, logistics, desk-less workers, and warehousing jobs."

Nintendo Partners with Universal Parks & Resorts

Nintendo are teaming up with Universal Parks & Resorts to Create the World's First-Ever Theme Park Attractions Based on Nintendo's Beloved Games and Characters.

Nintendo and Universal Parks & Resorts today announced plans to bring the world of Nintendo to life at Universal theme parks – creating spectacular, dedicated experiences based on Nintendo's wildly popular games, characters and worlds.

The agreement brings two icons of entertainment together and represents a significant partnership for Nintendo as it expands the reach and popularity of its characters and intellectual property.
Universal theme parks offer incredibly popular, innovative themed family entertainment experiences based on compelling stories and characters – using powerful storytelling and innovative technology. Nintendo has created remarkable and imaginative worlds filled with captivating stories and beloved characters. Now, for the first time, those stories and characters will be brought to life in entirely new ways – only at Universal theme parks.

The immersive experiences will include major attractions at Universal's theme parks and will feature Nintendo's most famous characters and games. More details will be announced in the future, as the Nintendo and Universal creative teams work to create specific concepts.

This speaker lights on fire

A open flame that bounces along to your music's beat, that's what. Because seriously, a jammin' stereo is basically useless if it doesn't run the risk of burning down the your house. Its Danish designers say that it's perfect for either your next DJ set or family picnic. What's more, the flame pattern and height apparently changes based on the beat and style of music you're playing.

The Bluetooth air-pusher's been in the works for awhile now and it's about to hit Kickstarter at an "affordable" price, but there's a catch: as of now, only 100 of these possible safety-hazards are being made for the first wave.

Link to manufacture web page

Xbox One rumor claims DVR is coming to replace Media Center

Even as Microsoft buries Windows Media Center, there's a rumor that it actually does have a plan for a replacement.

According to Paul Thurrott's sources, the Xbox One will gain the ability to record live TV "probably this year." That's the kind of feature Microsoft originally envisioned for its all-in-on game console, but so far does not offer.

The live TV tuner that's available in Europe and coming to North America offers some trick play pause/rewind support, but full DVR functionality would be a big shift.

The PlayStation 4 has a DVR for subscribers of to the Vue TV service, but that's relatively expensive and only available in a few areas so far.

Proper DVR support combined with that antenna (and hopefully, cable TV access for the people who haven't cut the cord yet), could provide a more flexible option. Of course, if anyone has the technology prepared to roll out it should be Microsoft, but we'll have to wait and see when/if it comes to fruition.

Black ops III - Game-play trailer

Here we have it: the first real "Call of Duty: Black Ops III" trailer. Noteworthy about the game is that the campaign can be enjoyed in co-op with four players simultaneously, and that the wall running "Titan Fall" makes its entry in multiplayer battles. It should also go to swim and fight underwater. Not surprisingly, there also this time is a game mode where you kill zombies.

Something that is not as common is that the game will get a beta. It is open to all who pre-book "Black Ops III", but when it lands is not yet clear.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops III" is released for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 6 November.