Mustafa Mahmoud 2 days ago Console, Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming
Last year, PlayStation offered a couple games for free to all users as part of its Stay at Home initiative. This year, the console manufacturer is continuing the initiative, but upping the free items. While they have already given away Ratchet & Clank for free, PlayStation users will be able to get their hands on 10 other free games, including Horizon Zero Dawn.
Making the announcement on its blog, PlayStation said “PlayStation and some of our favorite indie partners are collaborating to provide more free games to explore while you’re staying safe and staying home”. The games in question, which will be made available for free from the 25th of March, are:
Rez Infinite (PSVR optional)
Abzu
Enter the Gungeon
Subnautica
The Witness
Moss (PSVR)
Astrobot: Rescue Mission (PSVR)
Thumper (PSVR optional)
Paper Beast (PSVR)
On top of all of these great games, starting on the 19th of April, Horizon Zero Dawn will be made available for free to all players. This version is the ‘Complete Edition’ which includes the Frozen Wilds expansion, giving players the full Horizon Zero Dawn experience entirely for free.
Sony’s Play at Home initiative was a welcome surprise when it was introduced last year. This is doubly the case with this year, as the console manufacturer has upped the value even further in a move that is nothing if not purely consumer friendly.
KitGuru says: What do you think of the Play at Home initiative? Will you pick up these games? Which title are you looking forward to the most? Let us know down below.
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Mustafa Mahmoud 2 days ago Console, Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming, Virtual Reality
Sony recently confirmed that it was working on a next-generation version of its popular PlayStation VR headset. At the time, the console manufacturer confirmed that not only would the headset get upgraded, but the controllers too. Now, Sony has revealed these controllers, and they appear to be a major leap in almost every way.
Making the announcement on its blog, PlayStation revealed that “Our new VR controller speaks to our mission of achieving a much deeper sense of presence and stronger feeling of immersion in VR experiences. It will build upon the innovation we introduced with the DualSense wireless controller, which changed how games ‘feel’ on PS5 by unlocking a new way to tap into the sense of touch. Now we’re bringing that innovation to VR gaming.”
These innovations include a new design, which “takes on an ‘orb’ shape that allows you to hold the controller naturally, while playing with a high degree of freedom”. The controllers will also utilise adaptive triggers, just like the Dualsense, which “when you take that kind of mechanic and apply it to VR, the experience is amplified to the next level”. For VR shooters in particular, this feature will likely prove to be very immersive.
Likewise, the controller will feature new haptics similar to that of the Dualsense, but will be “optimized for its form factor, making every sensation in the game world more impactful, textured and nuanced”. The controllers will also feature finger touch detection which “enables you to make more natural gestures with your hands during gameplay.”
Unlike the first PSVR, these controllers will be “tracked by the new VR headset through a tracking ring across the bottom of the controller” which should help with accuracy and maintaining their position within the virtual space.
Last but not least, both controllers will feature analogue sticks, something which the original controllers sorely lacked. The PSVR 2 controllers look to be a massive leap over the original in every single way. Hopefully this will serve to further the immersion that can be achieved from VR.
KitGuru says: Are you excited for PSVR 2? Will you buy it? What do you think of the controllers? Let us know down below.
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Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster, an enhanced version of the apocalyptic PlayStation 2 roleplaying game, will launch on May 25th, developer Atlus announced today. The game is coming to the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Steam.
Atlus first released Nocturne in 2003. The game follows a high school student in modern-day Tokyo after a catastrophic event has destroyed life as we know it. Much like other games in the SMT series, players ally and negotiate with demons in battle. The HD Remaster features updated visuals, an alternate story branch, new difficulty settings, and more. Although the original release was considered more of a niche hit, the popularity of the Persona series — a spinoff of SMT — has helped renew interest in Atlus’ older games.
Atlus announced the remaster, alongside Shin Megami Tensei V, last year. Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster is available in a standard edition for $49.99 and a Digital Deluxe Edition for $69.99, which includes an additional difficulty mode, DLC characters such as Dante from Devil May Cry, and extra music. Players who preorder the Digital Deluxe version will get early access, beginning on May 21st.
CD Projekt Red (CDPR) has detailed the improvements it plans to bring to Cyberpunk 2077 in its upcoming 1.2 patch. The announcement, written as an in-universe newscast, details the planned quality-of-life improvements, including police not instantly appearing when you commit a crime, an improved driving experience, and a setting that should prevent you from accidentally dodging into traffic or off a building.
While the game has received a lot of criticism for being generally buggy — and, in some respects, unfinished — it does seem like CDPR is trying to address some of the most memed-on complaints. In the section of the blog post about the improved police response, there’s a jokey in-universe anecdote that captures an experience many players will have had:
“My choom, Jake, was in a shoot-out with Tyger Claws the other day, when he missed a shot and hit a pedestrian on the other side of the street. In an instant, the NCPD swarmed up on him and put him down. It’s like they appeared out of thin air right behind his back! It’s too brutal of a response for a regular accidental murder if you ask me!” — Mike from Kabuki, 28.
The driving experience in the game is also, uh, not very good. CDPR is hoping to make it better by improving the steering response (you can see a comparison video below) and making it so your car can automatically get unstuck if it finds itself resting on a barrier or other object. While the improved steering should help, there’s also plenty of other issues with driving (such as collision detection) that will have to be addressed before driving becomes, you know, fun.
The patch was initially supposed to come out in February but was delayed when the studio fell victim to a ransomware attack. CDPR is now aiming to release it in “the second half of March.”
It’s now been around three months since the game was pulled from the PlayStation Store due to the immense number of bugs (and the fact that it was nearly unplayable on a base PlayStation 4). So far, Sony and CDPR haven’t responded to requests for comment on when the game will return to the platform, so it’s unclear if this patch will be enough to return the game to the platform’s online shop.
Update March 19th, 2021 1:06 PM ET: Best Buy is not out of stock of the PS5.
If you have been keeping up with PS5 news, you will know that it is nearly impossible to find this console right now because of the short supply and mostly online-only sales. If you want another shot at trying to buy Sony’s next-gen console, you can buy the PS5 with the disc drive right now for $500, while supplies last.
It is important to note that Best Buy is releasing small waves of stock every few minutes to maintain the high demand for this console.
Sony PlayStation 5
$500
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Sony’s flagship next-gen console, starting at $399.99. The biggest difference between both models is the Digital Edition can only play digital games, while the $500 PS5 includes a disc drive, allowing you to play both digital and physical games.
$500
at Best Buy (PS5)
If you are one of the lucky ones to secure your unit in the latest restocks, I have a few suggestions on some additional items you may want to buy. You’ll likely want to buy some games for your new console. The PS5 is home to some of the most popular titles right now, such as Assassin’s Creed Valhallaand the 2020 remake of Demon’s Souls, as well as some other fun games like Spider-Man: Miles Moralesand Sackboy: A Big Adventure.
If you plan to share this console with family and want to play local co-op games, an extra controller is a must-buy.
Some games require an online subscription to play, so a subscription to PlayStation Plus is a good purchase. But you’re not just paying to play most games (excluding free-to-play titles) online, as PS5 users with an active PS Plus subscription also have access to a digital library of PS4 classics thanks to the PlayStation Plus Collection.
If you want another shot at trying to buy either an Xbox Series X or a PlayStation 5, you’re in luck. A Walmart spokesperson told The Verge that the retailer will be restocking the consoles online today, March 18th.
Walmart plans to have inventory for the PS5, the PS5 Digital Edition, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S gaming consoles, with prices ranging from $300 to $500 depending on the model you purchase. The retailer told me that restocks for Xbox Series X / S will begin at 2:30PM ET, while PS5s will be up for purchase beginning at 3PM ET.
For those looking to buy a next-gen Xbox console, you may want to consider picking up some other accessories to get the most out of your console. An additional controller is likely a good purchase. And unlike the PS5, you can purchase a 1TB SSD expansion to add to the Xbox’s base storage (512GB on the Series S, 1TB on the X), though it is not cheap. If you are having trouble deciding on what games to buy, you can always buy a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which gives you access to a slew of digital games and access to Xbox Live Gold.
Sony PlayStation 5
$400
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Sony’s flagship next-gen console, starting at $399.99. The biggest difference between both models is the Digital Edition can only play digital games, while the $500 PS5 includes a disc drive, allowing you to play both digital and physical games.
$400
at Walmart (Digital Edition)
$500
at Walmart (PS5)
If you plan to buy a PS5 console, there are a few additional items you should pick up to get the most out of your new console. I recommend picking up a second DualSense controller, which is necessary for any in-person multiplayer action. I suggest that early adopters also subscribe to PlayStation Plus, which gives you a few perks, such as free games every month.
Sony is drip-feeding information about its next PSVR headset. The company today revealed details about the new virtual reality controllers it will be using with the PlayStation 5.
Hideaki Nishino, senior vice president at PlayStation, wrote that the new “orb” style shape will be just as innovative as DualSense. The design somewhat resembles what we’ve already seen from Oculus.
Each controller has the adaptive triggers you find in the DualSense PS5 controller, as well as new haptic feedback and finger detection. The headset will track the controllers with a ring on the bottom of the controllers.
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(Image credit: Sony)
Image 2 of 3
(Image credit: Sony)
Image 3 of 3
(Image credit: Sony)
Each controller has “grip” L1/R1 buttons and L2/R2 triggers, as well as an analog stick. The left controller has the square and triangle buttons, while the right controller gets cross and circle.
These controllers will finally put to rest the PlayStation Move controller, which debuted in 2010 with the PlayStation 3 for motion controlled games. While the Nintendo Wii made motion controllers popular, the Movo continued on as Sony’s VR controllers with PSVR, which used their glowing orbs for tracking.
We’ve yet to see the next PlayStation VR headset, which could become one the best VR headsets for gamers, but Sony says the controllers should be in the hands of developers soon.
AMD Radeon CVP and GM Scott Herkelman said in a video interview with PCWorld that FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), the company’s response to Nvidia DLSS, is “progressing very well internally” and that he believes it could debut later this year.
Nvidia introduced DLSS in 2018 and released DLSS 2.0 in 2020, so in some ways, AMD’s response to the technology is coming later than some might have expected. But that can partly be attributed to AMD’s plans to make FSR a cross-platform tool.
DLSS is currently limited to Nvidia graphics cards. FSR is supposed to operate across AMD’s GPUs, including those used in the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, as well as graphics products made by Intel and Nvidia. That’s a much bigger undertaking.
“Our commitment to the gaming community is [FSR] needs to be open, it needs to work across all things, and our game developers need to adopt it and feel like it’s a good thing,” Herkelman said in the PCWorld interview, which you can watch here:
Herkelman also said that FSR is “probably one of the biggest software initiatives we have internally, because we know how important it is that if you want to turn on ray tracing, you don’t want to […] have your GPU get hit so hard.”
Unfortunately, it seems like foundational aspects of FSR still have to be figured out. Herkelman told PCWorld the tool wouldn’t have to be based on machine learning, and that it’s working with game developers to find the best way to improve performance.
In the meantime, Nvidia said Wednesday that nearly 40 titles currently support DLSS and that “there are many more implementations of these technologies waiting in the wings to be announced and released in the coming weeks and months.”
This could turn out to be a tortoise-and-the-hare situation. An open source, cross-platform solution like FSR could easily appeal to developers more than a proprietary technology like DLSS. The problem is FSR hasn’t even shown up to the race track.
Sony is revealing its new VR controllers for the PS5 today. The orb-shaped controllers look more like typical VR controllers, and they also include the same adaptive trigger technology found on the DualSense PS5 controller. Each controller has tensions in the triggers, and Sony is aiming to use this tech in future VR games.
The controllers also have haptic feedback, and finger touch detection that will let them detect fingers without having to press areas where you rest your thumb, index, or middle fingers. “This enables you to make more natural gestures with your hands during gameplay,” says Hideaki Nishino, head of platform planning and management at PlayStation.
Naturally, these controllers will also include tracking to Sony’s new VR headset via a ring at the bottom of the controller. These certainly look far improved over what’s currently available on the PS Move controllers, with better ergonomics, too.
“SIE’s Product, Engineering, and Design teams have collaborated to build our new VR controller from the ground up with a goal of making a huge leap from current-gen VR gaming,” says Nishino. “Prototypes of our new VR controller will be in the hands of the development community soon, and we can’t wait to see what ideas they come up with and how the controller helps bring their imagination to life!”
Sony hasn’t shown off the design of its next-gen VR headset for the PS5 just yet, but the company did reveal it has an improved field of view, resolution, and even a single cord to make it easier to use. Sony isn’t planning to launch its VR headset for the PS5 in 2021, but it’s clear the company is getting ready to test it with game developers soon.
Sony has been announcing new games coming to PlayStation 5 all day as part of a spotlight on indie titles. Included in that list is Disco Elysium – The Final Cut, a “definitive edition” of the game, launching on March 30th.
The Final Cut includes new quests, quality of life improvements, and voice work from professional actors across the world. The game, previously a PC exclusive, is heading to the PlayStation store, alongside Steam, GOG, Epic Store, Google Stadia, and the App store.
Here’s the full list of other games announced today:
Operation: Tango
Operation: Tangois an asymmetrical co-op game from Clever Plays Studio in which players act as either a hacker or agent to solve puzzles. The game will launch for PlayStation 4 and PS5 in the spring.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
In Chicory: A Colorful Tale, players must restore color to the world with a magical paintbrush. Developer Greg Lobanov says that they wanted to “center the player’s individual creativity at all times” and that players will have many options for customizing their worlds. It launches this spring for PS4 and PS5; Night in the Woods publisher Finji will release it.
Nour: Play With Your Food
Nour: Play With Your Foodcombines “adaptive music” with very good-looking food. As you play with food, in preparation and presentation, the music reacts accordingly; different foods have different sounds to play with. The game launches this summer.
Where the Heart Leads
Metroid Prime 3 developer Armature Studio’s latest game launches July 13th for PS4 and PS5. Where the Heart Leads is a choice-driven story following one man “through his past, present, and future as he reflects on his life and the pivotal moments where one choice or another made him who he is.” The game features dozens of endings, depending on what path the player takes.
Puzzling Places
Puzzling Places, a 3D jigsaw puzzle game, is coming to PlayStation VR this winter. Much like putting together a real puzzle, players piece parts together to create each location in VR.
Heavenly Bodies
Heavenly Bodies, coming later this year, is a physics-based puzzle game set in space. Using the DualSense controller, players do maintenance and assembly by controlling their astronaut’s limbs. The game will be available for PS4 and PS5 and includes local co-op.
As part of its “Play at Home” initiative, Sony has announced the next 10 games it is giving away completely for free to PlayStation owners, including HorizonZero Dawn and indie darlings, such as Enter the Gungeon and The Witness. Incredibly, all of these games will be yours to own on PS4 and PS5, with no PlayStation Plus subscription required.
Horizon Zero Dawn will be free to own beginning on April 19th at 8PM PT / 11PM ET and through May 14th; the game is one of the few PS4 exclusives missing from the PlayStation Plus Collection, though that paid offer required both a PS5 and a PlayStation Plus subscription. Getting Horizon completely for free now may be good timing for PlayStation owners, too, as the highly anticipated sequel, Forbidden West, is slated to launch on PS4 and PS5 sometime this year.
Before the Horizon Zero Dawn promotion goes live, there’s a huge stack of other excellent games you can claim for free on PS4 and PS5 as well: ABZÛ,Enter the Gungeon, Rez Infinite, Subnautica, and The Witness. Additionally, Sony will offer four PSVR titles for free: Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Moss, Thumper, and Paper Beast.
Sony plans to offer more titles for PS4 and PS5 owners to claim, with the initiative slated to conclude sometime in June. Currently, Sony is offering Ratchet & Clank free of chargeuntil March 31st at 8PM PT / 11PM ET.
(Pocket-lint) – If your TV audio isn’t up to snuff then there are a bevy of options on the market to help step things up a notch. Among these is Polk Audio’s React soundbar, which is available for less cash than many a rival.
But just because you’re paying less doesn’t mean you’ll get less in terms of raw sound capability. Especially if, as we have for this review, you opt for the bundled React soundbar and React Sub package.
That said, the Polk React doesn’t offer any fancy object-based sound decoding, it doesn’t even play pretend – as there’s no Dolby Atmos surround output here from the bar itself – instead sticking to Dolby Digital and DTS surround formats.
You can later invest in Polk’s RS2 surround speakers, which are simply paired at the touch of a button, to create a fully fledged 5.1 system (if you have the Sub) in smaller steps rather than forking our a massive chunk of change up front. That, we think, is a big part of this soundbar’s wider appeal.
Design & Setup
Ports: 1x HDMI (ARC) output; 1x optical input
Controls: Included remote / four-button top-of-‘bar panel
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Alexa voice control integrated
Dimensions (soundbar): 56mm (H) x 864mm (W) x 121mm (D)
Dimensions (sub): 348mm (H) x 218mm (W) x 419mm (D); 7.5kg
Having recently reviewed the JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam – which is an all-in-one box solution that can’t ever be connected to separates – it was interesting to dig into the Polk React for its points of difference. The Polk is a longer soundbar – at 864mm it’s 160mm longer by comparison – so even sat against a 55-inch telly, as pictured, it’s fairly good at covering the majority of the screen width, which is handy for a wide soundscape to help match the action on screen.
The Polk is simpler than the JBL in terms of core specification, though, as there’s no HDMI input, just the one HDMI input – the latter of which is ARC (audio return channel) capable. For us this meant a slight rejig of our TV’s four HDMI ports, as we couldn’t passthrough using the soundbar itself, ensuring the HDMI ARC cable provided was running from TV to React ‘bar.
Thing is, our ARC port is one of the two 4K resolution capable HDMI ports on the TV (every maker does this at present), so our BT TV box for telly had to be relegated to HDMI 4 (running Full HD maximum – which, in fairness, is how majority content from there is streamed) to save HDMI 1 for our PlayStation 5 (our source of Blu-ray and 4K streaming apps such as Netflix). ARC does its job though: once the TV is switched on the audio handshakes between device and soundbar.
Well, it didn’t at very first. For a brief period of time we were in a no man’s land of having both TV audio and soundbar audio outputting simultaneously. That’s because the setup is, to our mind, a little finicky. The soundbar needed an update out of the box, that much it told us (by voice alert), but having advised us to install the Polk Connect app – which we did on our Google Android phone – it then didn’t like it, forcing a handover to Amazon Alexa instead. But the Alexa app initially failed to get things talking successfully.
Pocket-lint
Success did come after a few attempts, after which there’s been no issues, but it very much points to this Polk’s intentions: it’s an Alexa voice control soundbar through and through. There’s even an Alexa button pride of place on the included remote control. There’s not even a proper off button – as your main TV remote will take over for that duty anyway – and there’s always a glowing light of some colour to the front of the ‘bar, which we think is a design downside when watching movies in darkened rooms.
Oh, and Alexa shouts crazilyloud for some reason too – almost to the point of distorting – and there’s no simple way that we can find to turn this down, which is irksome.
The included remote isn’t the prettiest, but it’s well appointed, able to switch between TV and Bluetooth audio sources. There are adjustments for bass up/down on the left, volume up/down in the middle, voice up/down on the right, four quick-select movie presets below this, and surround sound volume/balance adjustment to the bottom of the controller.
That surround sound adjustment won’t do anything unless you’ve bought into the Polk’s expandable options though. As the React soundbar itself is a straight forward left, centre, right speaker arrangement. But if you buy the RS2 surround speakers – not on test here – then you can easily sync them at the touch of a button on the back of the soundbar and boost things to a 5-channel system.
Go with the subwoofer – paired in the same way, using the same button to quickly sync without extra wires – and that brings 5.1 channel potential into your living room. The sub is pretty beefy in terms of scale – and deeper than it is either wide or tall – but the addition of true bass at the lower end of the spectrum is transformative to the sound profile. We think it’s an essential addition to make the React ‘bar deliver its potential.
Best speakers for PC gamers 2021: All the sound and RGB lighting you could ever need
Which brings us to the whole reason to buy a soundbar: to enhance audio quality, notching up TV audio to new heights. And the Polk React does a generally decent job, although given its positioning to the base of a screen (inevitable, of course) and lack of object-based sound control it lacks any distinct verticality – so on larger screens voice parts might not give the impression they’re coming from the person speaking with the greatest of precision.
Pocket-lint
Otherwise there’s a lot of tweaking that can be done with ease, so it’s great to have all that control directly to hand. The presets are particularly useful, selecting Movie to enhance that extra bass – there’s always a good down-pitched “wommm” in an action flick – or Night to quieten such frequencies and allow your family/neighbours/whoever to get some shut-eye when you’re having a late night session.
The independent controls for bass and voice are handy too, the latter really adjusting the mid-to-high-end of the frequency range to give more curvature to vocal output. So if you’re finding the bass balance is a bit too high, then this can help voices to cut through the mix with greater clarity. We like that it’s a simple system, too, not over-complex in how many ways it can all be adjusted.
Pocket-lint
However, bass-wise we’ve heard soundbars with chunkier capability. Which is why, once paired with the React Sub, you’ll really hear and feel the difference. With the React subwoofer linked up the sound has a much more rooted appeal, delivered with gusto. It’s got great musicality too, to the point we’ve ceased using our Marshall standalone speaker in the living room and instead just tuck into the Polk React and Sub on Music mode for the best possible listen.
Through the Alexa app it’s simple enough to get the soundbar to register as part of your home network. With Google Home open it’s easily identified (although not directly controllable here, as Alexa rules the way), so Spotify plays nice – and you can ask Alexa by voice to load your favourites.
We suspect that adding a pair of RS2 speakers would add to the expanse of the overall sound as, like we said up top, the Polk React doesn’t support object-based audio, so you’re not going to get any Dolby Atmos pseudo height and all-around sense from this soundbar. But, really, given how such systems can sometimes fly off the handle in weird (and not always wonderful) ways, we think Polk delivers here exactly what people will want – enhanced sound on a smaller budget.
Pocket-lint
That will raise the question, however, as to whether you want something smaller and more technologically complete, such as the JBL Bar 5 MultiBeam that we mentioned at the beginning of this review. It can’t match the smacking bass of the subwoofer by any means, but if you don’t have the space then it might be a better fit to your needs – and the Atmos found there is impressive given the right source material.
Verdict
While the Polk React doesn’t have object-based sound decoding bells and whistles – that’s to say there’s no vertical channels for pseudo surround – as a standalone large ‘bar with decent output and control, for a very fair price, it’s got a lot going for it. Especially if you’re keen on Alexa integration for voice control.
But things really step up a notch when you add a React Sub as part of the package. That’s when the sound becomes extra full, deep and rich – to the point that it’s taken preference as our living room music speaker when the telly is out of use. Now if that’s not high praise, then what is? Keep your expectations in check in terms of technological prowess and Polk delivers strong at this end of the market.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam
squirrel_widget_4229578
It’s a different prospect, as it’s a single box solution – so you’ll never be able to add extras or a sub – but that might better suit your space restrictions. However, it permits passthrough (thanks to HDMI in and out ports with eARC) and offers Dolby Atmos decoding, which with the right source delivers a more complete sound. That said, the Polk’s React Sub, if you want to fork out the extra cash, takes impactful sound to the next step where the JBL simply cannot reach.
Read our review
Pocket-lint
Yamaha SR-C20A
squirrel_widget_4026933
Looking for something smaller? If what you need is a bit of everything from your soundbar – ignoring that, at this price point, you can’t expect surround sound – you can’t go far wrong with this little Yamaha. It’s a one-box solution (so, like the JBL above, there there’s no subwoofer here) and can turn its hand to pretty much anything, without ever making itself the centre of attention. A different prospect, but a nice neat little package.
Sapphire Radeon RX 6700 XT Nitro+ is the company’s most premium take on AMD’s new RX 6700 XT graphics card that’s debuting today. Positioned bang in the middle of the performance segment, with a starting price under $500, the RX 6700 XT launches AMD’s second, smaller silicon based on the RDNA2 architecture, and brings the full DirectX 12 Ultimate experience from the AMD stable to this segment, including real-time raytracing. Although targeting the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in performance, AMD claims that the card can trade blows with even the pricier RTX 3070.
The new RDNA2 graphics architecture powers not just AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 series discrete graphics, but also the latest consoles, including the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, making it easier for game developers to optimize for the cards. The company has mostly leveled up to NVIDIA on the features front, thanks to DirectX 12 Ultimate. Its approach to real-time raytracing involves using special hardware called Ray Accelerators to calculate ray intersections; and a hefty compute muscle for everything else, including de-noising.
The Radeon RX 6700 XT maxes out the new 7 nm Navi 22 silicon, which packs 40 RDNA2 compute units, working out to 2,560 stream processors, 40 Ray Accelerators, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The company went with 12 GB as the standard memory amount, and uses fast 16 Gbps GDDR6 memory chips, however the memory bus width is narrowed to 192-bit. The card now only needs six 16 Gbit memory chips. This bandwidth deficit over the previous-gen RX 5700 XT is claimed to be overcome by the Infinity Cache technology—a fast 96 MB scratchpad directly on the die, operating at over five times the speed and much lower latencies, than even the GDDR6 memory.
The Sapphire RX 6700 XT Nitro+ comes with the slimmest iteration of the company’s Nitro+ cooling solution that has many innovations, such as dedicated memory/VRM heatsinks with aluminium fins, wave-shaped aluminium fins that add turbulence to improve heat-dissipation, double ball-bearing fans, and a generous amount of addressable RGB bling. Sapphire has given this card its highest factory-overclock, with the maximum boost frequency set at 2.65 GHz (compared to 2.58 GHz reference). Sapphire is pricing the card at USD $579, a $100 premium over the $479 baseline price.
Our Radeon RX 6700 XT launch-day coverage includes six articles including this one. Do check them out! AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (reference) | MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Gaming X | ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 6700 XT OC | PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT Red Devil | XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT Speedster Merc 319
Sony has announced that the PlayStation 5 will get DVR functionality in Japan by way of a new app that’ll work with its Nasne tuners. The app will be called Torne (pronounced to-ru-ne) and should be available later this year.
Torne was originally a TV tuner add-on for the PS3 that was released in 2010 and allowed you to save broadcast shows to your console’s hard drive and transfer them to a PSP or PS Vita. It was followed by Nasne, which added its own storage and worked more like a NAS drive, with the recordings available through a mobile app.
Sony stopped selling Nasne in 2019, but last year Japanese peripheral manufacturer Buffalo announced that it’d take over the product and release Buffalo-branded versions, with the first models set to ship this spring. The new Nasne still looks like a PS3, just with a Buffalo logo on it; Buffalo is doubling the internal storage to 2TB, however, and tripling external storage capability to 6TB. It’ll go on sale later this month for 29,800 yen (~$270).
Xbox is announcing the next round of games coming to Game Pass, and it’s a pretty stacked deck with games like Undertale and Octopath Traveler, both of which are coming to Xbox for the first time.
Coming to all the Game Pass platforms (cloud, console, and PC) are:
Undertale (available today)
Empire of Sin (Available March 18th)
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (March 25th)
Narita Boy (March 30th)
Coming to just cloud and console is Outriders (April 1st), and coming to just console and PC are Octopath Traveler and Genesis Noir, both on March 25th.
The PC is also getting some love, with a few of games being added to the platform that were previously not available to PC Game Pass subscribers:
Nier: Automata (March 18th)
Torchlight III (March 18th)
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire – Ultimate Edition (March 25th)
Supraland (March 25th)
And finally, as if there weren’t enough games, Star Wars: Squadrons will be available on EA Play for console players starting on March 18th. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will have access to the game through the included EA Play subscription.
Overall, there are some great games in here if you’re a Game Pass subscriber, whether you stream your games, play them on console or PC, or some of each. Undertale coming to the service (and platform) feels like a finally, given the game’s incredible popularity and the fact that it’s been available on most platforms for a while now (it was released on the PlayStation Vita almost three years ago). The game was first released in 2015.
Of course, many of these games are also becoming available for purchase on the Xbox as well, for those who prefer owning their games. And, as always, there must be some sort of balance in the universe, so three games will be leaving Game Pass on March 31st: HyperDot, Journey to the Savage Planet, and Machinarium. If you’ve been meaning to play any of those titles, it’s probably time to hop on it!
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