Month: September 2024

Nvidia has announced that its groundbreaking suite of RTX technologies is now supported by over 500 games and applications. Beginning in 2018, features such as ray tracing, AI and upscaling have gone from a niche to being an integral part of PC gaming.

Nvidia maintains a list of games and apps that support RTX technologies. At this point in time, there are 380 games supporting some type of ray tracing or DLSS. There are just two, Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 that support path ray tracing and DLSS 3.5 with ray reconstruction, though that number is sure to increase. Both are stunning to behold on a card like the RTX 4090.

The first RTX graphics cards launched in 2018, beginning with the RTX 20-series. It touted ray tracing as the future of graphics. So confident was Nvidia, it dropped its long running GTX nomenclature. But ray tracing is punishing on any GPU (and it still is) , so to boost performance Nvidia developed the other major RTX technology: DLSS, or Deep Learning Super Sampling. It’s an AI-trained upscaling solution that aims to boost performance levels, particularly when ray tracing effects are enabled.

In the early days, ray tracing and DLSS support …

Nvidia’s monstrous RTX 4090 has dipped below Nvidia’s recommended pricing in several European markets. That includes pricing on Nvidia’s official online store.

In the UK, you can now grab an RTX 4090 for £1,579 from Nvidia’s official store, down from the £1,649 at which it originally listed. But probably the biggest drop has been in Germany.

Back at launch, the RTX 4090 commanded €1,949. Now? It’s yours for €1,769. OK, that’s not exactly pocket change. But the simple fact that Nvidia’s range-topping graphics card can now be bought from its own online store for materially less than launch late last year is significant.

Lest we’ve all forgotten, it took about two years from launch for the RTX 3090 to be widely available at MSRP, let alone dip below it.

The RTX 4090 is also something of a bellwether in that it’s, arguably, the only member of Nvidia’s latest RTX 40 family that represents a step forward in value for money compared to the previous generation.

The RTX 3090 launched at $1,499 in late 2020, with the RTX 3090 arriving at $1,599 in late 2022. That $100 increase doesn’t even keep up with inflation, but the 4090 is massivel…

The human brain remains, for the most part, something of a mystery. However, that hasn’t stopped researchers from attempting to untangle one of the most complicated objects we as a species have encountered thus far, although by the looks of this research, they might have their work cut out for them.

A recent collaborative effort between Google AI experts and Harvard researchers has managed to scan and map a single cubic millimetre of brain tissue, which created 1.4 petabytes of data in images alone (via Tom’s Hardware). That’s a staggering 1,400,000 GB of photos created and processed to map a tiny fraction of the human mind, which, when scaled up to cover the entire brain, would result in roughly 1.6 zettabytes—or 1.6 trillion gigabytes—of storage used.

For reference, at a cost of $0.03 per GB, a data center built to store such a vast amount of information would come in at around $48 billion in storage costs alone, and that’s before you take into account the cost of the rest of the facility you’d need to house and operate it. The more you know, ey?

To achieve this result, the researchers sliced a brain tissue sample into 5,000 individual wa…

We reported back in February on a deal Reddit had done with a then unnamed AI outfit to open up access to user posts for AI training in return for some $60 million annually. That deal turned out to be with Google, but now Reddit has inked another arrangement with OpenAI.

In a blog post, Reddit outlined the deal but did not disclose how much money was involved. However, it seems there may be differences between the Google and OpenAI deals. With Google, there were explicit references to AI training.

But the OpenAI deal talks about allowing access to “real-time, structured, and unique content from Reddit. This will enable OpenAI’s AI tools to better understand and showcase Reddit content, especially on recent topics.”

That implies OpenAI’s models will be able to reference, link to or quote Reddit posts, but it does not seem to explicitly include training future versions of OpenAI’s ChatGPT models on Reddit posts.

In return, Reddit with be able to bring “new AI-powered features to redditors and mods.”

For what it’s worth, OpenAI posted exactly the same statement on its website. Well, save for one additional comment at the bottom in smaller font.&n…

Fatal Frame series creator Makoto Shibata has been working on the spooky horror games since 2001 and, to coincide with the re-release of Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse has written an extraordinary blogpost on Xbox Wire. It’s all about how the ghosts and spirits in the games, and specific examples from this one, are “actually inspired by spirits that I’ve seen (and even touched!) in real life.”

Oh we’re barely getting started. “Zombies and monsters aren’t scary because they’re not real,” explains Shibata, “but spirits have been a frightening presence in my life since I was young.” Obviously believe what you want to believe and all that, but I do find it amusing Shibata dismisses certain kind of horror creatures as not real before talking about spirits like we bump into them on the regular.

Shibata talks about how, within the Japanese games industry, developers will often perform a purification ceremony when beginning work on a horror title. Well, developers who are scaredy-cats do. Shibata thought it “better to let the spirits emerge, so we usually don’t do the purification ceremony for games in this series.” He credits this decision with various …

The Silksong community is, as you’d imagine, a little fraught right now—without a peep of news from the Summer Game Fest or Nintendo Direct, nor a public statement from increasingly enigmatic developer Team Cherry, it has an appetite for information I can only describe as starved, a result of 700 plus days of silence.

Things have continued to spiral after some offhand comments from a former playtester who goes by the name of Your Mate Graig on the Hollow Knight Discord (thanks, GamesRadar). While he claims to have been the lead tester for Silksong (a statement that has gone unchallenged by Team Cherry for months), he left the studio to work on his own game, Roc’s Odyssey, some time ago.

Graig stated Tuesday, June 18 that he “literally know[s] they are not in dev hell”—a pretty innocuous confirmation that would be uneventful in most circumstances but, like a flock of understandably pissed seagulls descending on a scrap of meat, Silksong’s subreddit proceeded to eviscerate him over it.

Upset users accused Graig of a history of “toying with people”, and even turned on each other for trusting him, calling it a level of “cope I didn’t think was possible.…

If you were hoping that Baldur’s Gate 3‘s arrival on Xbox would herald its inclusion on Game Pass for prospective console and PC players, it looks like you’re out of luck. Larian’s impressive RPG will continue to only be available if you’re willing to shell out—but I promise you it’s worth it. In my Baldur’s Gate 3 review, I gave it one of our highest ever scores of 97%. 

Chatting to IGN, Larian CEO Swen Vincke noted that keeping it off Game Pass was always the plan. “Oh, we always said from the get-go, it wasn’t going to be on Game Pass, it’s not going to be on Game Pass.” 

None of Larian’s previous games have been released on the subscription service, so Baldur’s Gate 3’s exclusion isn’t an outlier. Vincke adds that the upfront cost still gives players plenty of value, and that it’s important to the future of the studio. “We made a big game, so I think there’s a fair price to be paid for that, and I think that that is okay. We don’t charge you any micro-transactions on top of it, so you get what you pay for. Upfront it’s a big meaty game. So I think that should be able to exist as it is. This is what allows us to continue making oth…

The answer to today’s Wordle is a quick and easy click away now you’re here, ready to power you straight through to the fastest win of your life, or just save a tricky game. Looking for something a little less dramatic? Then our general tips, or maybe our clue for the July 24 (1131) game, might be just what you’re looking for.

Today’s Wordle wasn’t a quick game for me, but as every line offered up a tantalising new clue, I had a great time working my way through it, piecing the puzzle together as I went. I even ended up with a row to spare. I know I’m supposed to want to solve these in as few guesses as possible, but I’ll take a fun game over a fast one (almost) any day.

Today’s Wordle hint

Wordle today: A hint for Wednesday, July 24

If something is this, then it’s someone’s strong suit or specialism. Perhaps most likely to be heard in the negative, as in “That’s not my _____”.

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Is there a double letter in Wordle today?

There are no double letters in today’s Wordle.

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day

Playing Wordle well is like achieving a small victory every day—who doesn’…

Get out of the way silicon, you’re not our top transistor anymore. We’ve had enough of your inability to maintain electrical properties at tiny scales. That’s right, we’re leaving you. Moving onwards and upwards onto better things that can truly grow with us. To put it simply: it’s not us, it’s you. We’re probably going to have to rename that valley, too.

We’ve had a really good run with silicon, but companies like TSMC have been seeking alternatives for a while, largely as a way of trying top keep up with Moore’s law. Moore’s law observed that the number of transistors able to be manufactured on silicon doubled approximately every two years, while the cost of computers fell. 

This remained true for a long time, but is petering out. Some companies like Nvidia consider it mostly dead, while AMD say it’s just expensive to keep pace with. Regardless of where Moore’s law is now, it’s set to come crashing to a halt in the near future due to the limitations of Silicon.

Thankfully, researchers at MIT have found what may well be our next transistor romance, and the good news is that silicon can kinda stick around to watch. To get those tiny sizes, researchers are …

Killsquad studio Novarama has revealed its new project, a multiplayer FPS set in the Second World War. It’s called United 1944, and promises to blend shooter action with strategy and crafting.

The gameplay in the reveal trailer up above looks pretty straightforward as these things go—gunfire, explosions, ruined buildings, and rousing music—but a more detailed explanation of how the game works reveals that there’s more going on. Each map in United 1944 has two HQ buildings, one for each team of 16 players, where players will spawn; from there, they’ll fan out across the map in search of “secret documents.” Finding and delivering those documents to HQ will allow players to craft “outpost kits” that will enable teams to capture and control points on the map.

But you’re not going to be capturing or controlling much of anything without guns, and this is where United 1944 starts to diverge from most other such shooters: You begin the game “literally with nothing,” and must craft your weapons from scavenged resources. 

You’ll also have to be careful about how you use those weapons, because apparently you are not the world’s greatest gunsmith and the f…

In some circles of videogameland it’s common wisdom that more is better⁠—I remember a quaint time when 30 hours was a “long” game, but today’s big budget releases have been pushing that boundary well into the triple digits. In a recent interview with IGN, though, two Star Wars Outlaws devs promise to buck that trend with a “dense” and “rich” game that doesn’t wear out its welcome.

Julian Gerighty and Navid Khaveri, the game’s creative and narrative director respectively, told IGN that they don’t want Outlaws to be “too big,” with Gerighty clarifying that the kind of game he’s referring to is one that “people don’t manage to play, enjoy, and finish.”

Gerighty went on to describe Outlaws as “a very dense, rich, open world adventure that [players] can explore at their own rhythm,” and asserted that the game “is absolutely not a 200 or 300 hour epic unfinishable RPG.” So it’s pretty clear that Ubisoft’s argument is that less can still very much be more.

Long games can be great, offering worlds that enrapture you for weeks or months and stick with you for long after. Done poorly, however, they can be a slog of endless grinding and to-do lists, lea…

Wizard with a Gun is a top-down co-op roguelite about wizards who, as the title makes clear, are packing heat. It’s really good—”a lean roguelite that never feels like it’s wasting your time, even if it’s got some rough edges,” we said in our 80% review—but will be the last game from developer Galvanic Games, which announced today that it is closing.

“Despite the promising start of Wizard with a Gun, sales are not strong enough to sustain our studio,” Galvanic Games founder and president Patrick Morgan wrote on LinkedIn. “This last year has been particularly tough for games. While we had numerous encouraging conversations at DICE and GDC, the process of signing new projects, even in a good year, takes longer than the runway we had left.”

Morgan said he’s “incredibly proud” of Wizard with a Gun, and that working with publisher Devolver Digital was “a dream come true.” But he added that “knowing that we accomplished all the things we set out to do when we founded Galvanic” is bittersweet because despite so much that went right, the studio is gone anyway.

“I may never get over the irony of spending a decade building my ideal team, only for it to end af…

Keep your Wordle win streak going straight through the weekend—today’s Wordle answer is waiting for you on this very page. Like to clear the daily puzzle in your own time? Then take a minute to browse our helpful tips and guides, or use the clue for the February 4 (595) Wordle below to nudge you in the right direction without giving the game away.

I turned up yellow after yellow until… ah, not quite. Luckily I had one last guess available, and that was just enough to see me through to a satisfying victory.

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Saturday, February 4

The answer today refers to any room or area lacking light. This can either be because a light source is present but has been switched off or because there was never any light at all. You’ll need to uncover two vowels today. 

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Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle? 

No, there is no double letter in today’s puzzle. 

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day 

If there’s one thing better than playing Wordle, it’s playing Wordle well, which is why I’m going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the…

This weekend a tweet from the Super Pod Saga podcast went viral, asking simply: “What is the most useless piece of video game knowledge you know?”

It turns out that people have remembered a lot of bizarre, funny and in some cases amazing pieces of trivia, the kind of knowledge that you’re very unlikely to stumble across outside of a thread like this. We open with this absolute stunner from Jan Bart van Beek, the studio director and art director at Guerrilla Games.

This does need one caveat. Tiger Woods’ last game as the face of EA’s PGA Tour was in 2013, after which the series would take a year’s hiatus before returning with the first entry on the Frostbite Engine: Rory McIlroy’s PGA Tour (in 2015), which doesn’t feature Woods as his ranking had plummeted so badly. Of course, that doesn’t mean the Woods avatar wouldn’t have been used in development.

The tweet really took off and has replies and quote tweets in the tens of thousands. I didn’t read through everything but, of what I did, here are some of the text highlights, with the video ones to follow.

Furry_Wall: “Runescape cows cannot be poisoned because their ‘moo’ prioritizes on the in-game timer over…

Persona 3 is a strange beast. All its best parts are scattered across a bunch of different versions: the epilogue is only available on the PS2 FES version, while the alternate female protagonist (FeMC) and all her new social links were restricted to the PSP-only Portable version of the game (so too were party members you could directly control in battle; the AI-only party members of the PS2 games were a constant headache). 

All those scattered pieces made the game seem ideal for a remake that brought all its distinct parts into one cohesive package, and then Persona 3 Reload just… didn’t? It didn’t do that. Instead, we got controllable party members and modern graphics in what was otherwise a remake of original, non-FES Persona 3. No epilogue and no FeMC. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great game, but it feels like there are still pieces missing. That’s probably why modders have decided to stop waiting for Atlus and just build those parts themselves.

Spotted by GamesRadar, an enterprising group of Persona modders on GitHub have kicked off the FeMC Reloaded Project, aimed at restoring P3P’s female protag—real name Kotone Shiomi—back to her ri…

Helldivers 2 has reached unexpected heights of success in the past week, with a trajectory of players that mimics previous post-launch successes like Valheim. With over 330,000 concurrent players on Steam as of this afternoon, that concurrent players line is only going up from launch weekend’s 150K peak, signaling a game that’s pulling in real viral numbers.

As of press time the peak concurrent player count was 333,827 at about 8:10 PM UTC, 3:10 PM ET. That number comes from tracker SteamDB—which can only give us half the story, as the PlayStation-published Helldivers 2 is crossplay between PC and PS5. Last week, on February 11, there were at least a million total players, per developer Arrowhead Games’ CEO.

A common meme among the community, however, is that Helldivers 2 is suffering from success. The sheer number of players has caused severe server issues for developers who were expecting peak player counts less than a quarter of the current numbers.

Players have occasionally been forced to wait in a queue to play, while the server databases are struggling to keep up with the sheer number of statistics being recorded—a common issue is that mission…