Square Enix has a playable demo for Final Fantasy XVI planned, and it'll apparently launch around two weeks or so ahead of the full game's release. According to these very early details, as relayed by the ever-reliable PlayStation Game Size, you'll be able to transfer the demo's save data over to the finished product, which will presumably unlock exclusive items — or something like that.
We say that because it's unclear whether this will be a specifically designed demo, or whether it'll drop you right into the start of the game. Based on our freshy published Final Fantasy XVI preview, we're thinking there's more chance of it being the former, potentially giving players the opportunity to put the game's fast-paced action combat to the test.
You may also recall that Final Fantasy XV had a unique demo of its own.
Would you like to go hands-on with Final Fantasy XVI ahead of its 22nd June release date? Try to control Ifrit in the comments section below.
I remember being awestruck as a teenager by the way Shadow of the Colossus dwarfed my protagonist with its titanic creatures. That feeling of man-versus-mountain generated by the PS2 classic is something I’ve rarely experienced since. But at a recent hands-on event for Final Fantasy 16, it happened again. I felt that awe, that sense of colossal scale. But this time, rather than being a poetically beautiful battle, it was an explosive homage to anime warfare.
The two-hour demo was, according to developer Square Enix, “a special version made for media to experience, and contents may differ from the final version.” Pulled from around five hours into the story, the combat-focused segment contained a trio of boss battles that showcased Final Fantasy 16’s ambitious approach to scale. The first of these – a showdown with a spy named Benedikta – was a traditional human versus human clash that embraced the dexterity of this entry’s new real-time action combat. But it was the two other, much grander fights that really caught my attention.
Final Fantasy 16 sees a number of kingdoms caught up in a war over magical crystals. Key to this war are Eikons, colossal monsters that – if you’re a Final Fantasy fan – you may know better as ‘summons’. In most previous games in the series, these deity-like creatures were effectively elaborate magic attacks, but in Final Fantasy 16 they are vital components of the plot and act as major boss battles across protagonist Clive’s journey. One such Eikon is Garuda; a 20-metre tall bird-like creature, summoned by Benedikta, that wields the power of wind.
As I dodged and weaved around Garuda’s legs and wings, deflecting blows that would kill a normal man, the battle called to mind scenes from kaiju movies and anime like Attack on Titan. After dealing enough damage to stun her, I could fire a magical grappling hook into her jaw and yank her head down to the ground, opening her face up for a chain of hugely damaging attacks. There’s something inherently exciting about fights this large, and Final Fantasy 16 seems to be fully committed to going as big as it possibly can.
Each swing of the sword reminds you that Final Fantasy 16’s combat director is Ryoto Suzuki, best known for his work on Devil May Cry 5 and Dragon’s Dogma.“
That’s not to say the game’s strengths are only in these gigantic boss fights, though. Much of the demo saw me storming through a castle while cutting down a whole garrison of swordsmen in the grittiest combat of Final Fantasy’s 36-year history. Clive strikes with fury, impaling and even stomping on enemies that have fallen to the ground. That’s not to say all the fantasy has been drawn out of Final Fantasy, though. Far from it. Magical abilities frequently coat the screen with vibrant particle effects. It’s all a bit overwhelming at first, and the arcade-like UI that constantly spits out damage numbers is an ugly contrast against the world’s otherwise handsome art. But, as I settled into the systems, I found the blend of action and tactical abilities rewarding. It particularly came alive in the rapidly paced battle against Benedikta, who pushed me to make use of all of my many skills.
Clive is a nimble fighter, and each swing of his sword reminds you that Final Fantasy 16’s combat director is Ryoto Suzuki, best known for his work on Devil May Cry 5 and Dragon’s Dogma. Fights feel fast, layered, and incredibly flashy. The core fundamentals are pulled from Japanese action classics – dodges, parries, uppercuts, and combo attacks – but built atop this is a magic system that sees you channel the power of different Eikons to unleash powerful special attacks.
I had access to the power of three Eikons; the fiery Phoenix, the winds of Garuda, and the earth-shattering magic of Titan. Only one Eikon’s abilities can be channelled at a time, but a quick press of the left trigger cycles through each summon on the fly. You could fire a blast of Phoenix flames, for instance, before quickly swapping to Garuda to launch your target into the air with a hurricane-like spin, and finally switch to Titan to finish them off with a charged power attack that strikes downwards with stone fists. Each Eikon ability has its own cooldown, so hot-swapping between them mid-fight and managing their wait times provides a light tactical edge to each clash. I’m interested to discover what tactics will be unlocked as Clive gains the power of even more Eikons, and I hope they feel as distinct as the three I’ve used so far.
If you’re accustomed to Final Fantasy’s more relaxed days of picking attacks from a menu and find all of this somewhat intimidating, you may find solace in Square’s novel approach to accessibility. Rather than difficulty options, there’s a collection of five rings that bestow combat-easing effects. The Ring of Timely Evasion, for instance, will make Clive automatically dodge most incoming attacks, while the Ring of Timely Strikes will perform elaborate combos with just one tap of the attack button. There are utility-focused rings, too, including one that issues commands to Clive’s dog, Torgal, who can provide attack and healing assistance. With the combat already sufficiently layered, I can imagine even skilled players may also opt to skip the pet micromanagement.
These rings will hopefully mean fans of varying skill levels will all be able to enjoy Final Fantasy 16’s clashes, which are made all the more dramatic by the way your attacks can seamlessly blend into cinematics that showcase a particularly cool strike or evade. These moments are coupled to a button prompt, and while I’m generally averse to QTEs in combat, Square Enix seems to have made it work. The slick presentation made each of the boss battles feel like momentous fights rather than interrupted melees. The overall sense is that Final Fantasy 16 will let us be directly involved in the outrageous, anime-like battles typically reserved for cutscenes.
That’s never more true than in what is likely to become Final Fantasy 16’s flagship battle mode: Eikon versus Eikon. When Clive summons an Eikon you’re put in direct control of them, and each of these explosive clashes between gods are promised to be a unique experience with bespoke mechanics. The third boss fight of the demo – a beatdown between Garuda and the fire demon Ifrit – was something akin to a nuclear-powered wrestling match. Compared to Clive, Ifrit is a very simple fighter, with just a scant few brawling abilities. But this brawl makes full use of that blending between cutscene and gameplay to convey Ifrit’s immense heft and strength; each time I’d land a blow on Garuda a new animation would trigger, my favourite of which was dragging my foe face-first across a rocky landscape. It was a shallower combat experience compared to controlling Clive in the clashes with Benedikta and Garuda, but I can forgive that if the spectacle proves this wild each and every time.
Playing through three very different boss fights, as well as carving my way through dozens of regular soldiers, has left me with a lot of hope for Final Fantasy 16. But this demo was purely combat focused, meaning I’ve yet to see much of its RPG credentials. This demo’s generic medieval castle setting barely had any exploration opportunities, feeling mostly like a stonewalled route toward the next boss. But as previously mentioned, the contents of the demo may differ from the final version, and so I hope when more is revealed we’ll discover it has environments that are much more compelling to explore. Because should the story, exploration, and characters live up to what I’ve seen of the combat so far, then Final Fantasy 16 will be a JRPG worth being excited about.
Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.
Following some patch notes published a few weeks ago, Nintendo has now shared updated ones. The most notable additions include some "newly added features" which we now know as DLC eShop links for Scarlet & Violet.
Apart from this, there are some feature adjustments, bug fixes to Tera Raid Battles and Battles, and also some "other" changes. Here's the full rundown, courtesy of Nintendo's support page:
Ver. 1.2.0 (Released February 27, 2023)
Thank you for playing the Pokémon series.
On Monday, February 27, we released the version 1.2.0 update for the Nintendo Switch exclusive software titles Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.
With this update, we have added new features, new functionality for Pokémon Boxes, and fixes for bugs that affected game progress, among other updates. We will continue to take your feedback very seriously and take measures to improve your gameplay experience.
Newly Added Features
The Nintendo eShop page for The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC for the Pokémon Scarlet game or the Pokémon Violet game can now be accessed via the main menu. For more details on The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC, please visit The Pokémon Company.
Trainers can now enjoy Online Competitions and Friendly Competitions in the Battle Stadium, and entries are now open for an official Online Competition: Paldea Prologue.
Players can now connect their games to Pokémon GO.
Feature Adjustments
Additional functionality has been added for Pokémon Boxes:
From a Pokémon’s summary, players can now change Pokémon’s nicknames, markings, held items, and mark- or Ribbon-related titles, as well as reorder moves, have Pokémon remember or forget moves, and use TMs.
Players can also now swap out held items by pressing the Y Button when in the Held Items view.
Players are now able to select All Boxes while moving Pokémon or items in the Party and Boxes view and Held Items view.
When in the Battle Team view, Pokémon in your Boxes that are assigned to a Battle Team will now have their icons displayed in a darker hue if those Pokémon are members of the Battle Team that is currently being displayed.
The News screen will be displayed when you connect to the internet from the main menu, just as it is when connecting to the internet from the Poké Portal.
Bug Fixes
Tera Raid Battles
A bug could prevent an opposing Tera Pokémon’s HP gauge from visually reflecting damage dealt by certain moves (such as Play Rough) or damage dealt at the same time that certain status conditions are applied, causing the Tera Pokémon’s HP gauge to fluctuate in an unusual manner. This has been fixed.
A bug that caused all Pokémon on your side to faint at once despite their HP gauges indicating that they still have HP could occur in black crystal Tera Raid Battles against Pokémon with the Mightiest Mark. This has been fixed.
A bug that temporarily prevented a player from entering any input into the game could occur if a Tera Pokémon took certain actions while the player was choosing the target of their move. This has been fixed.
Errors could occur when someone connecting to a Tera Raid Battle saw a different Pokémon displayed on their screen than what the host saw. This has been fixed.
A bug could occur that caused players joining a Tera Raid Battle from the Tera Raid Battles search screen to be brought to a Tera Raid Battle against a Pokémon different from the one they saw displayed. This has been fixed.
A bug that caused Tera Raid Battle crystals to stop appearing for a set amount of time could occur under certain circumstances. This has been fixed.
Battles
Type matchups against Pokémon that have fainted will no longer appear when selecting a move or target during Double Battles.
We have fixed a bug in which a Zoroark that had Terastallized and was disguised as another Pokémon via its Illusion Ability could have been identified as a Zoroark by using the Check Target option.
We have fixed a bug in which the type matchups of moves targeting a Zoroark that had Terastallized and was disguised as another Pokémon via its Illusion Ability would display based on the type of the Pokémon that Zoroark was disguised as, rather than Zoroark’s Tera Type.
We have fixed a bug in which the stats of a Dondozo with a Tatsugiri in its mouth increased when Dondozo used Order Up when the move should have been negated (for example, by an opponent using Protect).
We have fixed a bug in which the effects of Destiny Bond failed to activate if a Pokémon Terastallized the turn after using Destiny Bond and then fainted.
allizes after using Destiny Bond and then faints, the effects of Destiny Bond will fail to activate. This is a bug and will be fixed.
Other
We have addressed an issue that made the game prone to forcibly closing at certain locations. As a result of this fix, there may be fewer Pokémon and people displayed in certain towns or in the wild.
We have fixed a bug in which a Pokémon that is not a part of the Paldea Pokédex was displayed as being registered to the Paldea Pokédex after being obtained through a Link Trade.
Certain actions prevented the main character’s expressions from changing until the game was closed and reopened. This has been fixed.
A bug occurred for some players after Ranked Battles Season 1, wherein visiting the Ranked Battles screen immediately after the season’s results had been calculated caused an error right after these players received their rewards. Following this error, players were unable to participate in any further Ranked Battles. This has been fixed.
We have fixed a bug in which a player may not have received the Master Rank Ribbon if they had registered several Battle Teams but had not used the Battle Team in the first slot when winning Ranked Battles in the Master Ball Tier.
We have fixed a bug in which a Pokémon you caught may not have listened to your commands in accordance with what is written in the profile app (“Pokémon caught at Lv. XX or below will listen to your commands”) if that Pokémon was Link Traded back to you from another player.
We have fixed a bug in which new information may not have been added to your Pokédex after you received a Shiny Pokémon or a Pokémon caught by a Trainer who plays in a different language via Surprise Trade if you already had that species registered to your Pokédex.
Objects such as Poké Balls could have been displayed in certain areas unintentionally. This has been fixed.
Passersby are no longer displayed during certain battles that take place in towns during the main story.
A number of other bug fixes have been implemented.
You can see the original pre-release patch notes, in our previous post. And find out more about the DLC in our latest story:
Have you downloaded this update yet? Notice anything else? Comment below.
Microsoft staff are reading users’ conversations with its Bing chatbot, the company has disclosed, amid growing data protection concerns about using the systems.
The company said human reviewers monitor what users submit to the chatbot in order to respond to “inappropriate behaviour”.
Employers including JP Morgan and Amazon have banned or restricted staff use of ChatGPT, which uses similar technology, amid concerns that sensitive information could be fed into the bot.
Bing chat became an overnight sensation after Microsoft released it to the world earlier this month, promising to disrupt Google's grip on search with its artificial intelligence bot.
However, it has restricted the service in recent days after testers reported bizarre interactions such as the bot declaring its love for humans and confessing to violent fantasies.
Microsoft said that Bing data is protected by stripping personal information from it and that only certain employees could access the chats.
It updated its privacy policy last week to say it can collect and review users' interactions with chatbots.
Amazon, Google and Apple attracted criticism several years ago when it emerged that contractors were reviewing voice recordings from the companies’ smart assistants, overhearing medical details or criminal behaviour.
The companies now allow users to opt out of sending audio to the companies.
“To effectively respond to and monitor inappropriate behaviour, we employ both automated and manual reviews of prompts shared with Bing,” a Microsoft spokesman said.
“This is a common practice in search and is disclosed in Microsoft's privacy statement.
“Microsoft is committed to protecting user privacy, and data is protected through agreed industry best practices including pseudonymisation, encryption at rest, secured and approved data access management, and data retention procedures.
“In all cases access to user data is limited to Microsoft employees with a verified business need only, and not with any third parties.”
Microsoft added two notes to its privacy statement last week to clarify that data generated from bots is collected and can be processed by humans.
Data security experts have raised concerns about what happens to information fed into online chatbots.
Bing now shuts down chats after too many prompts, and refuses to answer questions about its feelings, after early testers found it producing unhinged responses to certain questions or after long conversations.
Many companies have restricted ChatGPT, made by the Silicon Valley start-up OpenAI, or advised employees not to enter confidential information into it. OpenAI’s website says the company reviews conversations with the chatbot.
Qualcomm today announced that Snapdragon Satellite is coming to new Android smartphones from Oppo, Nothing, Motorola, and more, as well as coming to more Snapdragon chips in the future.
Snapdragon Satellite was first announced at CES, with support for Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but no clear timeline for release. Today’s announcement brings us one step closer to the feature being available to customers, with devices confirmed in the pipeline.
Qualcomm says that Snapdragon Satellite will be used in upcoming smartphones from Honor, Motorola, Nothing, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. There’s no indication of which devices will be supported, though it’s likely that the device from Nothing with the feature equipped will be the Nothing Phone (2), which was confirmed recently.
As we previously covered, Qualcomm’s tech uses the Iridium satellite constellation and supports two-way messages for emergency services, SMS, and more.
Further, Qualcomm’s satellite tech will be available on “all upcoming 5G Modem-RF systems and Snapdragon Mobile Platform tiers.” Qualcomm says it will be supported across Snapdragon chips from 4 through 8, which seems to match MediaTek’s offering which also works on more affordable devices. Similarly, Qualcomm also says the future will bring this tech to automotive, IoT, and compute applications.
Snapdragon Satellite will be available across all upcoming 5G Modem-RF systems and Snapdragon Mobile Platform tiers (from 8- to 4- tier) as the ecosystem matures. Beyond smartphones, Snapdragon Satellite is set to expand to other device categories in compute, automotive and IoT segments. As the ecosystem grows, OEMs and app developers will be able to differentiate and offer unique branded services taking advantage of satellite connectivity. Snapdragon Satellite is planned to support 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), as NTN satellite infrastructure and constellations become available.
We recently saw AMD executives David Wang and Rick Bergman discuss the power of AI and what they hope to achieve using it in AMD’s next generation of graphics cards, which will be built on the RDNA 4 architecture.
RDNA 4 will include AMD’s second-generation AI Accelerator cores - and while Team Red is definitely still behind Nvidia and the mighty AI-powered performance of the RTX 4090’s Tensor cores, it sounds like Wang and Bergman want to take AI in some very different directions to Nvidia.
While one of Nvidia’s big selling points right now is DLSS 3, a GPU-integrated program that uses deep-learning AI algorithms to ‘upscale’ gameplay to a higher resolution to provide better framerates at 1440p, 4K, and 8K, AMD hasn’t taken the same route. Team Red’s answer to DLSS is FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR for short), which notably doesn’t use AI for its upscaling processes.
In fact, AMD made kind of a big deal about this last year, claiming that AI just isn’t necessary for this sort of upscaling tech. It was a cheeky shot at Nvidia (and Intel, whose Arc GPUs use deep-learning tech called XeSS, similar to DLSS), but it looks like AMD is now climbing aboard the AI bandwagon.
Hostile AI and not-so-hostile AI
Before we go any further, I’m going to make a quick distinction to - hopefully! - make this article a bit easier to follow. When I talk about ‘AI’ from this point onwards, I’m going to be specifically referring to the processes that are used to control non-player characters (NPCs) and objects in games. So ‘enemy AI’ would refer to the code that dictates the actions of an enemy unit in a game, like a hostile soldier or a boss monster.
Meanwhile, I’ll use ‘machine learning’ to refer to what many consider to be actual AI - that is to say, software capable of learning, adapting, and self-modifying based on new information, like popular chatbot ChatGPT, or the deep-learning processes used in Nvidia’s DLSS software.
With that clarification sorted, let’s examine what Wang and Bergman suggested. There are some very promising ideas regarding a dedicated machine learning pipeline for rendering processes which could hugely improve graphics performance, but I don’t want to talk about that - I want to talk about the ways in which AMD believes deep learning could improve the gameplay experience itself.
The power of AI in games
The example used by Wang discussed AI pathfinding in games - this is an area where there’s still plenty of room for improvement on the development side, so it’s a good place to start.
Pathfinding, for anyone who is unaware, is the way in which a character or object in a game navigates through the game world. It can be a tough nut to crack; anyone who has played an Elder Scrolls game can probably recall a time when a hostile bandit got stuck in a bush or ran in circles while trying to reach you. Machine learning processes could almost certainly do a better job of navigating a virtual space than pre-programmed scripts controlling movement, so Wang’s idea makes perfect sense.
I’d like to take things a little bit further, though. If machine learning can be used to dictate how an AI unit in a game moves, what else could it do? Could it control the way enemies and allies react to your actions? Could it write realistic unscripted dialogue on the fly?
Games that ‘learn’ from your decisions aren’t anything new. The excellent Alien: Isolation is a prime example, with the titular xenomorph that stalks you throughout the game also taking stock of how you choose to counter it - use the flamethrower on it one too many times, for example, and it’ll learn to keep its distanced when you have it on hand. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has a less sophisticated but no less clever system; if you rely too heavily on headshots or gas grenades, future missions will feature soldiers freshly equipped with helmets or gas masks.
But machine learning has the potential to take these ideas and dial them up to 11, all while also creating a more immersive, more responsive experience for the player. I’m picturing a WWII shooter where every individual trooper on the beaches of Normandy is able to react convincingly to everything going on around them, instead of just getting stuck in a loop of screaming and trying to flee when disarmed.
I’m starting to worry about this
There are some, shall we say, worrying moral implications of this. The idea of playing a shooter where every enemy soldier carries the pseudo-sentience of an advanced machine-learning program is a tad scary, especially once we consider the degrees of intelligence that computers could achieve in the future.
The ‘White Christmas’ episode of the tech-horror anthology Black Mirror explores the idea of using digital human clones as glorified smart-home software, and what is a digital human clone if not simply a sufficiently-advanced machine learning program? I’m really not sure how I feel about the idea of blowing up virtual combatants who have a degree of actual sentience - especially not when I can fail the level and restart, forcing all those AIs to go through hell all over again.
I feel like I’m writing the plot of a dystopian thriller and I’m also not really qualified to discuss the philosophical ramifications of all this, though, so I’ll talk about something I definitely am qualified to discuss: graphics cards. If games start to employ AMD’s Accelerator cores to improve the game experience, suddenly we could find ourselves in a situation where some games don’t just look better on a certain GPU - they are better.
This would, in my opinion, be an unmitigated disaster for the PC gaming space. Imagine being told that you can’t play the latest game - or that you’ll be getting a dumbed-down version of it - because you don’t have the latest best graphics card! AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX is great, but it can’t make games play any differently to any other GPU right now. It’s something that could lead to the endless console exclusivity war bleeding into the PC arena, and I don’t think any PC gamer wants that.
Unfortunately, in the capitalist hellscape we currently live in, it sounds all too plausible. AMD - and, for that matter, Nvidia and Intel - would no doubt jump on that sort of control over the market. If AMD could offer a superior version of a game provided you play it on Team Red’s hardware, the money-printing potential is extremely tangible. So, uh… maybe don’t do that, guys?
VR is still a steadily growing and increasingly popular part of the gaming market as the hardware and software experiences continue to improve with each generation. The latest and greatest hardware devices are making their way to our homes (or work), and we got a chance to play with and review the Sony PS VR2.
Sony's new VR gaming headset is an impressive piece of hardware, but it's not cheap. The Sony PS VR2 retails for $550, which is priced higher than a PS5, making it quite the investment. However, if you're into VR gaming, it seems it just might be worth the splurge.
Do you agree? Are you buying the new PS VR2?
Android Central's Michael Hicks praises the headset in his PS VR2 review for its impressive hardware, great visuals, comfortable fit, and improved controls. Visually, it's a significant upgrade from the original PS VR, with higher resolutions per eye, a wider field of view, and improved eye tracking.
Controls have also received a massive upgrade as Sony reuses some of the same impressive tech from the DualSense controllers into the new PS VR2 Sense controllers. That means adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, along with finger touch detection for more natural gaming experiences.
(Image credit: Michael Hicks / Android Central)
It's not all great, though. Hicks laments the lack of a built-in speaker, and the wired gameplay is something he had to get used to again after using some of the best VR headsets like the wireless Meta Quest 2. Still, if you can get over that, the PS VR2 shouldn't disappoint.
That's because Sony included a lineup of new PS VR2 games to take advantage of the new hardware. That includes titles like Horizon: Call of the Mountain, Resident Evil VIII: The Village, and Gran Turismo 7. Not only that, but there are plenty of existing games receiving nice PS VR2 upgrades since the headset isn't backwards compatible, such as After the Fall: Complete Edition, No Man's Sky, and, eventually, favorites like Beat Saber.
Drop a comment on our poll or our socials and let us know what you think of the new PS VR2 and whether or not you plan to grab the headset.
PlayStation VR2
The new PS VR2 is the latest and greatest gaming VR headset money can buy. If you have a PS5, this is the perfect companion to step up your gaming and immerse yourself in your favorite titles, thanks to the improved visuals and new Sense controllers.
Published: 24th February 2023 | Source:Gigabyte | Author: Mark Campbell
Gigabyte AM5 motherboards are now ready for AMD's Ryzen 7000X3D processors
Today, Gigabyte issues a press release to confirm that their X670 and B650 AM5 motherboards has received BIOS upgrades to make them compatible with AMD's new Ryzen 7000X3D processors, AMD's new gaming-oriented Zen 4 CPU.
AMD's Ryzen 7000X3D processors, like AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D, have been upgraded with an additional 64MB of L3 Cache, allowing AMD's X3D processors to store more data on-chip and achieve higher levels of L3 cache bandwidth.
Within their press release, Gigabyte stated that AMD's Ryzen 7000X3D processors can deliver an "up to 50% performance improvement over AMD's standard Ryzen 7000 series processors, suggesting that many games will see huge performance gains thanks to AMD's addition of V-Cache to their Zen 4 processors.
AMD first launched 3D V-Cache technology on Ryzen 7 5800X3D processors in 2022 and made it one of the best gaming CPUs. Now AMD brings 3D V-Cache technology to Zen4 and introduces AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and upcoming Ryzen 7 7800X3D processors with superior gaming performance. This new generation 3D V-Cache CPUs with more cores also raise L3 cache up to 128 MB, and boost gaming performance up to 50% thanks to the extra 64 MB cache of 3D V-Cache.
Gaming workloads can be very cache/memory sensitive, and that is the reason why many modern CPU architectures have focused on adding additional cache to their CPUs or increasing the performance of its connected DRAM. There's a reason why AMD is adding 3D V-Cache to their processors, and why one of Intel's primary upgrades with Raptor Lake are the architecture's increased L2 and L3 caches. Beyond that, this is the reason why modern CPUs support DDR5 memory.
Like with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, large performance gains are expected within a variety of gaming workloads thanks to AMD's addition of V-Cache to their Ryzen 7000 series processors. That said, not all games are hugely cache sensitive, and that means that not all games will see huge performance benefits thanks to AMD's addition of 64MB of extra L3 cache. That said, some games will see huge performance benefits, which is great news for AMD.
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@Microbius I think there's a sizable group on Push (or on whatever product is the #1 product) that will hate whatever thing doesn't personally interest them no matter what. I fully believed there was that die-hard crowd that would buy absolutely anything at any price as long as it said Sony on the box. Until PSVR2 launched and you have groups of people that talk about it like it says Xbox on the box It's not all about "I love Sony and hate Xbox" over there, there's a lot of "I like my PS under-TV console and hate everything else!"
FWIW, if you're looking for a non-partial XB-first Jim-hater's opinion, PSVR2 is excellent to me and will have me spending a TON more time (and money) on PS5 than I otherwise would have. Now, I was a PSVR1 fan as well, but also seldom used it as much as I wanted because it was annoying to set up the camera, calibrate every time, then the lenses would fog and smear and were generally blurry, etc.
PSVR2 is absolutely not perfect, and there's always room for future improvements, but it's absolutely a good experience and big leap from 1.
RE the sweet spot, it's true, that there's a certain sweet spot, and some of the periphery can be blurry or whatnot, however, I'd like more improvement there, it's nowhere near as narrow as VR1, I find I generally have a clear view overall, pretty much edge to edge. I think just positioning it on your head right is the biggest thing giving some people trouble. I also think some people are having trouble with eye-tracking/IPD not set up right so the foveated rendering that renders sharpest where your eyes are looking isn't rendering the right spot etc.
It all sounds weirder than it is. You slap it on your head, you take SOME care as to how you place it on your head, no different than safety goggles before cutting metal or something, you calibrate it the first time you use it, and it really should be good.
BUT for first-time VR if you're not sure how you'll react in terms of vr motion sickness and don't want to take the gamble, yeah, you want to try it first. It definitely just doesn't agree with some people. I have a better than average tolerance to it, I can turn off all the handicaps and go full free-motion on anything and it doesn't bother me in the slightest or only feels weirdly disorienting at worst. Not everyone (even among hardcore fans) can go quite so safeties-off like that.
But, I wouldn't put too much stock into the nay-sayers over there. I've read a few posts that have me question if the person in question actually even owns one. I won't say it's perfect, or that there's not aspects I'm already imagining how much better the next gen will be and things I wish were better. But it's a really nice experience right now. Comparing playing Moss in VR1 to VR2 where in VR1 things were really blurry at the edges, the screen door was ever pervasive, and the sweet spot was impossible to stay inside....vs VR2 where I just......play the game....and everything looks right....
The Defy Satellite link gives any Android or iPhone an instant upgrade with the ability to send and receive text messages via satellite, solving the problem of mobile dead zones for emergencies and wilderness adventures.
Announced ahead of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and produced by the British phone manufacturer Bullitt under the Motorola brand, the Satellite link connects to a normal smartphone via Bluetooth and uses an app to send not only SOS messages but general two-way chat via texts.
The lightweight, credit card-sized puck will ship from about April, costing £99 on its own or £149 when bundled with 30 messages a month and an SOS assistance service from FocusPoint for the first year. It connects to geostationary satellites via a new MediaTek chip to send SMS to regular phones with replies sent using the cross-platform Bullitt Satellite Messenger app. A button on the side can also send an SOS alert with location without needing to connect to a smartphone.
Satellite phones have been available since the 1990s, typically at high cost for purchase and use. Now advancements in radio technologies have allowed integration of some basic satellite functions into traditional smartphones. Apple’s iPhone 14 can send SOS messages via satellite, while the chipmaker Qualcomm recently announced a similar service would be available for high-end Android phones in the second half of 2023.
But both options require buying new phones at high cost and cannot be shared within a family – a market Bullitt hopes to capture with its cutting-edge device that brings down the cost of satellite services, making them more widely available.
“The Motorola Defy Satellite link, combined with the Bullitt Satellite Messenger service, brings accessible and affordable satellite messaging to everybody’s current smartphone,” said Bullitt co-founder Dave Floyd. “This is the definition of democratising satellite communications.”
Alongside the puck, Bullitt also announced the Cat S75 rugged smartphone, which has the same satellite communications system built into it, costing £549. The Android is the continuation of Bullitt’s long-running rugged phone business aimed at first responders, rural workers and off-grid hobbyists.
Fire TV Stick users have long been able to mess about with the buttons on their remote but it seems this much-loved customisation is about to come to a sudden end. Those wanting to tweak what each button does, have been able to make changes thanks to a neat Remapper app which offers the ability to switch things to suit your viewing tastes. As you might be aware, almost all Fire TV remotes come with dedicated buttons for apps such as Netflix and Disney+ but if you don't use these services Remapper lets you adapt what these launch.
For example, a simple change means tapping the dedicate Netflix button could see Paramount+ springing up on the screen or hitting the featured Disney+ switch may load a favourite game instead.
Since it launched two years ago, Remapper has proven to be pretty popular but it appears the end could be in sight.
A recent software update - pushed out to the Fire TV Stick 4K Max - is now blocking the functionality of the Remapper which means it no longer works.
In a post on AFTnews, its creator Elias Saba explained that, "Amazon has pushed out a software update to select Fire TV devices that prevents customers from remapping the app shortcut buttons at the bottom of Fire TV remotes."
So far it appears that only the 4K TV Max is affected but Saba expects more Fire devices to be hit by the changes soon.
Anyone who has enjoyed the option of switching up the buttons on their remote might now want to consider buying something new from Amazon.
The online retailer recently launched its new Pro controller which not only gets backlit keys and a dedicated Bluetooth headphone switch but also two extra buttons that can be configured to your tastes.
Just like that now-banned Remapper option, these buttons can be customised to launch favourite apps, games or channels with just one touch. That will save endless time scrolling through menus to find the things you watch the most.
Along with those additional features the Pro remote also offers an easy way to track it down should it disappear behind the sofa. Just ask Alexa where the remote is and a loud bleep will belt out so you can find it again.
Anyone who wants all of these features will find the Pro remote on Amazon's online store. The only sticking point is its £34.99 asking price which is the same cost as buying Amazon's Fire TV Stick Lite.
If you think this accessory is worth the cash you can find full details below.
Those crying out for a faster, more powerful Land Rover Defender will soon have their wish granted as Land Rover completes the Defender SVR’s final tests ahead of its reveal later this year. Engineered by JLR’s Special Vehicle Operations the Defender SVR will feature one of the last iterations of Jaguar Land Rover’s supercharged V8 engine, with an expected 600+bhp figure making it the most powerful Defender ever.
Defined by a wider body due to its enlarged wheel arches, it accommodates an increase in brake, wheel and tyre sizes. The Defender SVR will retain its core off-road capabilities but also benefit from a road and track development programme to enhance its new level of performance. Fitted with air suspension, rather than coil-springs, Jaguar Land Rover’s SVO department has focussed on tuning the Defender’s all-round performance.
This prototype features a chunky, quad-tip exhaust system that snakes its way around the Defender’s rear suspension. The current Defender V8 features a relatively subtle tune of the supercharged 5-litre AJV8 unit that produces 518bhp. This figure is expected to rise to over 600bhp for the new high performance, making this final iteration of the iconic supercharged V8 one of the most powerful to date. Power will be sent to all four wheels via an eight-speed transmission.
The Defender SVR will also feature visual updates to coincide with the changes under its skin. These will include new front and rear bumpers to suit the wider bodywork, plus new wheel designs and colour options. There will also be some subtle changes inside the cabin, with trim and material upgrades to suit its higher purchase price.
We’ll have to wait a little while longer to find out more specifics, but we know for certain that the SV-developed Defender will be the model Land Rover hopes will rival AMG’s wildly successful G63, adding another popular high-margin model to the top of its range.
Sony's brand new PlayStation VR2 is being delivered to people's homes this week, but it's not all been plain sailing for early adopters.
A lengthy thread on the PSVR reddit lists numerous complaints with the gadget's right Sense controller - and specifically with its buttons not responding.
The thread suggests the issues with the controller are software related - and that, at times, button prompts from the right-handed device can be fixed by trying a few workarounds.
Ian's big PlayStation VR2 review.
These workarounds include booting a game without turning on the device's See Through mode, resetting the controllers, turning trigger feedback off and on, deleting and resyncing the controllers, disconnecting the DualSense, and more extreme methods such as "just keep mashing the buttons on the affected controller until they 'wake up'."
It's also worth pointing out that a number of games are reportedly unaffected, as the Sense controllers are not required for their use.
Among the hundreds of replies, many report similar issues being relieved by trying one of the above solutions.
Eurogamer's resident VR expert Ian Higton told me he has not had these same issues himself, though has heard from others with Sony's new headset who have.
Ian plays PSVR2 non-stop until his batteries die.
Not everyone has been able to get their Sense controllers working, even with the above suggestions.
"Spent the whole afternoon and evening trying to stay calm and go through every suggested hack. No luck," one PSVR2 owner wrote. "I've been stabbing my poor new sense controllers with a needle most of the time and I decided to quit when I accidentally made my finger bleed."
Others say they've contacted Sony support and been told the company is aware of the issue.
Eurogamer has asked PlayStation for more, and will update when we hear back.
Microsoft Edge has been spotted inserting a banner into the Chrome download page on Google.com begging people to stick with the Windows giant's browser.
As noted this week by Neowin, an attempt to download and install Chrome Canary using Edge Canary – both experimental browser builds – led to the presentation in the Edge browser window of a banner graphic celebrating the merits of Edge.
Screenshot of Edge injecting an anti-Chrome banner ad into Google.com's Chrome download page ... Source: Chris Frantz
"Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft," the banner proclaims atop a button labeled "Browse securely now."
This was on a Google web page, google.com/chrome/canary/thank-you.html, and it's not clear how this ad surfaced. Edge appears to display the banner by itself when the user surfs to the Chrome download page on Google.com, which is just a little bit aggressive.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request to explain the promotion and the mechanics behind it.
The ad does not appear to have been delivered through normal ad servers based on its page placement. There's debate among those discussing the banner online whether the ad consists of code injected by Edge into Google's webpage, which would make it detectable and removable as part of the Document Object Model.
It has also been suggested that the ad may come from Edge as an interface element that's stacked atop the rendered web page. We believe this is the case.
An individual familiar with browser development confirmed to The Register that he could reproduce the ad, which was said to be written in HTML but wasn't placed "in" the page. He described the ad as its own browser window that, surprisingly, was viewable with Edge's "Inspect" option for viewing source code.
Our source speculated the ad was implemented in a way that pushes down the "Content area" – the space where loaded web pages get rendered – to make space for a second rendering area that holds the ad.
The main content area and the ad content area do not interact with each other – they exist in separate worlds, so to speak. But the presence of the ad content area can be inferred by checking the main window's innerHeight and outerHeight parameters.
Given two browser windows, one with the ad and one without, the main window with the ad will have an innerHeight value that's less than a similarly sized window without the ad. The difference in the two measurements should correspond to the height of the ad content area.
Similar behavior can be found when visiting the Chrome Web Store using Microsoft Edge on macOS: the Chrome Web Store page is topped by an Edge banner that states, "Now you can add extensions from the Chrome Web Store to Microsoft Edge," followed by a boxed button that says, "Allow extensions from other stores."
The button produces a popup dialog box requesting permission to allow browser extensions from other stores, specifically the Microsoft Edge add-ons site.
Screenshot of the Chrome Web Store with an Edge ad banner ... Click to enlarge
Crucially, this banner does not appear to be part of the Chrome Web Store page. It does not show up in the Chrome Web Store HTML code and, unlike the Chrome page ad, it cannot be inspected using Edge's developer tools. Similarly, the popup dialog box cannot be inspected. But the Chrome Web Store banner measures 45 pixels high based on a comparison of innerHeight parameters.
Among those who concern themselves with the nuances of browser behavior, it's argued that blurring the boundaries between what the browser presents and what the website presents is both confusing and a potential security risk.
As of Wednesday, Edge's self-promotion on the Chrome download page became more scarce and the ad now is said to appear only when trying to download Chrome using Edge Beta. Other Edge release channels Canary, Dev, and Stable reportedly no longer display the promotion.
Companies commonly pitch their own products on their own websites. And they often place ads on search results pages when people search for competitors' products. For example, entering the keywords "download Chrome" in macOS Edge, using Bing as the default search engine, presently produces a "Promoted by Microsoft" ad for Edge atop the Bing search results list. And searching "download Firefox" via Bing will lead to the same ad. But these ads exist within the context of the search result page.
Microsoft earlier this month introduced a new version of Bing that's paired with AI chatbot ChatGPT. The AI flavoring has also shown up in its Edge browser. Microsoft executives have made clear that they see AI service integration as a way to differentiate company products and to win market share from Google Search and Google Chrome.
Google's market dominance in search and browsers has for years been the subject of antitrust inquiries. These investigations and lawsuits, together with the implementation of the European Digital Markets Act, may finally open the door to Bing and Edge.
Microsoft has quite a bit of headroom for its search service and browser: Bing had about 3.03 percent of the global search market and Edge had about 4.6 percent of the global browser market, according to StatCounter. Now it just has to reconcile "the added trust of Microsoft" with its ad strategy. ®
In 2016, when the first wave of virtual reality headsets hit the market after years of hype, I was sceptical. I was totally sold on VR, having had my mind blown playing a space dogfighting sim the previous year at internet-spaceship convention Eve Fanfest. But the original Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were just so unwieldy. They needed too many cables and so much space to operate that you had to dedicate a small room to them (which some of my more techy friends happily did). They were expensive, as were the PCs that you needed to run them. And having already played with VR several times at trade shows, the novelty was wearing off fast. Cool, sure, but the future of gaming? Nah.
The original PlayStation VR headset was the least technically powerful of that first wave of home VR tech, and also the least annoying to use. I was obsessed with Tetris Effect, which is a transcendental experience in VR, and its music-game cousin Rez. I played Moss, a charming storybook-style adventure about a mouse. But then PSVR went back in my Bottomless Drawer of Video Game Peripherals, and I never felt the urge to get it out again.
I’ve been playing around with PlayStation VR 2 this week, and it’s been so long since I played VR games that the novelty is kinda back. In some ways, gaming VR is a world away from where it was in 2016. The headset is lightweight, attractively futuristic, fits well and is tethered by only one, relatively unobtrusive cable. Setting it up took maybe five minutes. It plugs right into the PlayStation 5, without a power brick or extra cables or a camera. The motion controllers look nice and work well. It’s got 3D audio with built-in earbuds, and eye-tracking so that you can select things in menus by looking at them. I was straight into a game 10 minutes after taking the thing out of the box. (If I had a Meta Quest 2 headset, I wouldn’t need any cables at all.) The convenience of home VR is finally where it needs to be.
But in other ways VR is exactly where it was in 2016. Over the years, very few VR games have been worth playing. Most of the ones that PlayStation VR 2 is launching with have been out for years – and you can’t play your old PSVR games on the new headset. Speaking of money, the PSVR2 costs more than the PlayStation 5 that you need to play it: £529.99. Its flagship launch game, Horizon Call of the Mountain, is £60. Have you not heard that we’re in a cost of living crisis, Sony? I’m having fun with PSVR2, but I wouldn’t buy one – it has done nothing to change my feeling that this is a niche technology for wealthy nerds.
The thing is, no matter how good a VR thing is, I just don’t want to play in VR. I don’t like being unable to see what’s happening around me when I’m playing a game, because I have two small children and a cat, and in the 10 minutes I spend playing Gran Turismo in VR, the entire house could be collapsing around me.
Also – and six-plus years of using VR headsets has not changed this – it makes me feel sick. After about 20 minutes, sensory overwhelm kicks in and I get a headache and feel nauseous. I suffer from motion sickness – if I look at my phone in the car I risk throwing up. Although this isn’t a problem that affects everyone, it affects enough people (between 40% and 70%) to make VR a tricky proposition as a mainstream technology. Studies have also found that it affects women more than men, partly because, as this researcher suggests, VR headsets were designed by and for men.
Years ago, when I wrote about the first wave of VR headsets, a well-meaning reader outlined all of the things I might do to alleviate my discomfort, including taking travel sickness pills, building up my tolerance with incrementally longer sessions and blowing a fan in my face. Sound advice, perhaps, but if I have to medicate myself and spend weeks acclimatising myself to be able to use VR without wanting to vomit, I might reasonably ask myself whether it’s worth it.
Most of the practical annoyances of early VR are gone now – all of the cables, the fiddly setup, the awkward controls, the heavy headsets. The lightweight, cable-free Meta Quest 2 and high-end PlayStation VR 2 headsets offer us an experience that’s about as good as in-home VR’s ever going to get, for the foreseeable future. The fact that I still don’t particularly want to use it raises questions for me about this technology’s viability outside of its niche. VR is novel, and thrilling for short periods, but like 3D cinema, it’s inessential. Long-term readers will know that I’m no fan of big tech’s conception of the metaverse, which is informed entirely by capitalist greed and not at all by what actual people want; I am sceptical of companies like Meta trying to persuade us that we need VR in our lives. It is a technological solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
I don’t think Sony is trying to sell us on the metaverse, though – I think it’s trying to sell us on a cool, expensive toy. And PSVR2 is super-impressive as a cool, expensive toy. But does it have much of a future? The original PSVR only sold to 5% of the PlayStation 4’s total audience, and that was before the pandemic ransacked the global economy. Can PSVR2 do better?
What to play
If you are tempted by a PlayStation VR 2 headset, and you have the disposable income for it, the first game you should pick up is Horizon Call of the Mountain, a very confident virtual-reality adventure within the glorious-nature-and-robot-dinosaurs Horizon universe. You spend most of your time climbing, shooting a bow and arrow, or watching people talk, three activities that are well-suited to VR. It looks truly wonderful, and it’s full of those jump-out-of-your-seat rollercoaster moments that work so well when you’re fully immersed. It’s replete with playful touches: a paintbrush and paints left lying around so you can daub your name on a rock face, plates and cups that you can pick up and throw around just because, lots of tactile objects to grab. It’s relatively short, but I couldn’t hack it for more than 20 minutes at a time, so it’ll last me a while.
Available on: PlayStation 5 Approximate playtime: seven hours
What to read
Crazy Taxi fans will be charmed by this solo developer’s quest to create his dream tribute to the game, entirely on his own.
Some of the American games sites interviewed the world’s most famous game designer Shigeru Miyamoto at the opening of Universal Studios’ Super Nintendo World theme park in LA. I’m not jealous at all. IGN’s interview has lots of lovely details about the park and Miyamoto’s influence on it.
Microsoft has signed a “binding” 10-year contract with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to its consoles, which strikes me as a very odd thing to do with a series of games that you do not yet actually own. (Activision-Blizzard and Microsoft’s merger is still pending, and presumably the company will be hoping that this helps sweeten the regulators who’ve put the brakes on the deal.)
Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund keeps on upping its stake in Nintendo. It now owns over 8% of the company. It also owns close to 6% of EA, and nearly 7% of Take-Two.
“How do you go about reviewing an open-world game? You can watch a movie all the way through, read a book to the end, but how do you get a handle on something designed to be enjoyed over hundreds of hours?”
It’s a difficult skill, this. About three or four times a year, I drop everything and spend eight hours a day playing a gigantic flagship game to meet a review deadline. Sometimes this is an enjoyable way to earn a living. Other times it’s horrible, because open-world games aren’t supposed to be played in a week; it makes you hate them. When I reviewed Grand Theft Auto V (above) back in the day, I played it for 50 hours in five days, and then had to think and write about it critically while my mind was so scrambled that I was hallucinating about breaking car windows with my elbow whenever I went outside.
Every review is the product of an individual’s unique experience with a game; but reviewers’ experiences rarely mirror those of people who are going to buy it and play it like a normal person. So, you have two ways to approach it: try to bludgeon your way through the main story as fast as you can, or chill out and play the game for as long as you’ve got without worrying about finishing it. These days I go for the second approach, and I take my time; if I’m not done with a game, I put the review up late. Usually, there’s not much you don’t know about a game after playing it for 25 hours, even if it’s mammoth. Once I feel like I can give people a good steer on a game’s nature and quality, and talk about my own experiences with it confidently, I’m ready to review it.
This article was amended on 22 February 2023 to remove incorrect information about Job Simulator and Beat Saber and to give the correct price for Horizon Call of the Mountain.
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