Project Scorpio has a trick up its HDMI port: FreeSync
After the reveal of Project Scorpio’s specifications last week, the Internet has been abuzz with true 4K talk and how the console will stack up against the PlayStation 4 Pro. One thing that Digital Foundry put off initially sharing what could end up being a major trump card when it launches this winter. For the past few iterations, both Microsoft and Sony have based their consoles around custom AMD chipset. And for almost as many years, AMD has been flying the flag its for variable refresh rate display technology called FreeSync. And while neither FreeSync and variable refresh rate (VRR) will likely mean much to traditional console gamers, it could mean a lot in the future. If you game on a PC with dedicated graphics from either AMD or NVIDIA, you’ll likely have heard of G-Sync and FreeSync before. Both accomplish the same goal, but are exclusive to each manufacturer’s chips and sync-branded displays. The goal of VRR technologies is to have the monitor’s Hz refresh rate directly match the frames-per-second that the graphics card can output to it, thus preventing scene tearing and “dead” frames on-screen when a graphics card hasn’t rendered a new scene. Project Scorpio’s HDMI-out port supports the HDMI 2.1 standard, meaning to will be able to output 4K at 60Hz, and that same HDMI port is also FreeSync-enabled, meaning VRR, with compatible displays, from a console. The most important part of this inclusion by Microsoft is that, while Sony’s PlayStation4 Pro doesn’t have FreeSync capabilities, their next hardware release might. And, extrapolating that to how consoles help drive TV and display technology for the living room, we could see gaming-centric displays meant for outside the traditional gamer’s den, at sized larger than what computer monitors typically are. Xbox’s Phil Spencer spoke to this in a tweet earlier today, noting exactly what I have above: VRR could and should come to TV. Have to work with TV companies to get support for VRR but the results of on gameplay feel great. We want VRR on TVs. — Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) April 11, 2017 The important part for now, though, is that if a Project Scorpio owner has a FreeSync display for their PC, they’ll be able to take advantage of that technology right out of the box. If more details come out on Project Scorpio, and for continued coverage on existing specs, be sure to stay tuned to Rectify Gaming.
Meet Dylan, BioWare's mysterious new IP
After announcing in 2014 that they had a new game coming, BioWare has otherwise been quiet about names and other details on the project. According to Liam Robertson, a reputable journalist known for his work with Did You Know Gaming? and Unseen 64, the in-development game is called Dylan. Robertson continued “there’s no other way to say it right now, it’s Dylan, as in Bob Dylan.” He continues, saying he believes that the name relates to the game’s main character. Robertson’s comments come from a Patron-only podcast on his Patreon page, but International Business Times took the dive to hear what he had to say in full. In the podcast, Robertson said that “Dylan is, from what I understand, a sci-fi themed game, it is a sort of Destiny-style, takes some elements from The Division, it has like MMO elements.” Someone has also apparently described it to him as a “semi-MMO.” IBTimes writes that, according to Robertson, BioWare will be announcing the new game at E3 this year. Robertson later notes that the game is “bigger than Mass Effect Andromeda,” “perhaps the biggest BioWare has ever done.” He claims the information he’s shared accurate, but until the announcement is officially made details can easily change. Regarding those changes, be sure to stay tuned to Rectify Gaming for the latest. Source: IBTimes UK Via: NeoGAF
Ubisoft director leaves to form his own studio
Alex Hutchinson, the director of Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4 and Assassin’s Creed III games, has reportedly left the Montreal company to pursue new ventures with a newly-formed studio. Hutchinson, along with former EA developer Reid Schneider, have come together to form Typhoon Studios. Hutchinson’s tweet, embedded below, seems to have left Ubisoft on his own accord and is definitely excited for what Typhoon Studios will launch to christen the company. Typhoon is based in Montreal, Canada. So! I left Ubisoft after 7 years. Extremely proud of all we achieved on Far Cry and Assassins but very excited to build something new. — Alex Hutchinson (@BangBangClick) April 7, 2017 Typhoon’s site is live, which we’ll link to below, and they look to be growing their ranks to work on a first game. If we hear any news on Typhoon’s first game, or any new Typhoon employees to expect great work from, we’ll keep you updated. Until then, be sure to stay tuned to Rectify Gaming for the latest. Source: Typhoon Studios Via: GameInformer
ForzaTech on Project Scorpio: what we know
After Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter revealed the full list of Project Scorpio specifications earlier this week, which you can check out here, he mentioned he had much more coming in the way of Project Scorpio information. Today, he shared the first aspect: FrozaTech running on Project Scorpio. As Xbox fans will know by now, Turn 10 Studios was originally created by the folks at Microsoft to bring console-showcasing visual technology to the Xbox device family, and they’ve done this through six Motorsport launches and three Horizon entries. Turn 10 is an extremely close first-party developer that aims to take full advantage of the latest console’s power, and that looks to continue with Project Scorpio. When Leadbetter visited Redmond, he specifically asked for a working demo, rather than just talks and explanations. The Turn 10 team had one already prepared, and it utilized the ForzaTech engine from just after Forza Motorsport 6 launched in 2015. Two days after the team decided to bring ForzaTech to Project Scorpio, they had accomplished native functionality with (largely) only codebase upgrades from the older XDK. According to Leadbetter, that demo he saw of ForzaTech on Project Scorpio hardware was months old by the time of his visit, and it hadn’t had any Scorpio-specific improvements except for the addition of 4K assets for the vehicles. This alone makes a great case for Xbox scalability, as simple upgrades allowed a flagship engine to easily be adapted to pre-release hardware with much more horsepower. However, Leadbetter later goes into some specifics he took note of during the demonstration. In the video where he talks about highlights of the demonstration and surrounding experience, Leadbetter notes that he watched framerates stay locked at 60 and the 4K resolution not waver or scale down once. Turn 10 apparently explained that the settings they were using to test ForzaTech on Project Scorpio hardware were roughly similar to the Ultra preset in Forza Motorsport 6 Apex for PC, which requires an NVIDIA GTX 1070 to run as smoothly. During the demo, Leadbetter noticed that GPU and VRAM utilization would usually sit at the 65-ish percent mark he showed in the original screenshot, but that it would also make moves up into the 80 and 90 percent range, with a spike or two to 100. An interesting aspect Leadbetter points out is that the 60 percent utilization on Project Scorpio would directly equate to between 80 and 90 percent on an Xbox One powering the same experience at 1080p. The fact that this means Project Scorpio’s extra memory and power can go towards other in-game aspects is great news for expectant gamers. Leadbetter closes, remarking that while the Forza demonstration was a good showcase, Turn 10 has first-party benefits and a longer period of access to the developing hardware, but that other developers are “seeing exceptionally fast ‘getting up and running’ times” with the now-complete development kits. Project Scorpio has the raw processing power to allow games to run exceedingly well, but that relies heavily on a developer’s focus and attention to the console in specific, making third-party focus from teams like EA and Activision Blizzard important near-essential to have Project Scorpio succeed over not only older Xbox One consoles, but also Sony’s latest PlayStation 4 and 4 Pro. As Leadbetter mentioned in the initial reveal piece, he’s got multiple stories upstream regarding Project Scorpio, so we’ll likely hear from him again soon. For those updates and the latest on Project Scorpio, be sure to stay tuned to Rectify Gaming. Source: Digital Foundry
Cortana-powered speakers may be coming soon
After the unveiling of Project Scorpio’s hardware specifications earlier this week, Windows Central is reporting that Microsoft is looking to bring the Xbox and Windows assistant Cortana to the rest of the gamer’s household with a standalone speaker unit. Similar to Amazon’s Echo powered by Alexa and the cloud, Microsoft has been covertly working to bring OEMs into the Cortana-powered device market. We already know premium audio maker Haman Kardon are working on a Cortana-powered Echo Dot-like device. Today, Windows Central’s Jez Corden reported on and posted an image of a Cortana-powered device prompt page in the Windows 10 assistant’s UI. We’ll embed their image below. If you’re familiar with Cortana on Windows 10, you’ll notice the new icon along the left that’s highlighted. Corden writes that the “Buy now” button currently links to Microsoft’s homepage, and the “skip to tutorial” text “seems to be related to a separate, unavailable app for now.” Obviously, this feature has been spotted far ahead of any retail product launches or new software feature announcements have happened, so expect it to develop and be a functional space rather than a fun leak like it is currently. What’s more, Cortana’s links with a users Xbox Live and Microsoft credentials could, in theory, allow you to call on Cortana using a headset or Kinect while gaming on Xbox and have the speaker respond, rather than your Xbox. As usual, while the features seems reasonable to expect in due time, schedules shift and project get shelved, but given that we know Microsoft developed a Cortana-powered device framework specifically to facilitate Echo competitors, we should see this tree bare fruit eventually. If we learn more, or the story develops further, we’ll keep you updated. Until then, be sure to stay tuned to Rectify Gaming for the latest. Source: Windows Central
State of Decay to feature three maps at launch
Undead Labs, the team behind the original State of Decay game, have been busy making its sequel. The sequel, logically State of Decay 2, was announced during Microsoft’s E3 presentation in 2016 but we haven’t heard much buzz surrounding the game’s progress. Undead Labs recently posted on their official blog regarding maps. Sanya Weathers, Undead Labs’ Community Director, writes, “We’re finally far enough along that I can safely tell you: We are launching with THREE maps. Each roughly the size of the original.” If you haven’t played the original State of Decay, the map size sat between Oblivion and Morrowind. Seeing the upcoming sequel triple the playable area is great, especially because the maps will have “slightly different environments, definitely different landmarks and locations, different layouts lending themselves to different strategies, unique home sites, and even different mission types.” These two comments, while vague, are great news since State of Decay 2 will allow for players to be able to their things with them between these three launch-day maps. Weathers later writes about player item carryover “the intent is for us to be able to take all of our people, and everything in our supply lockers and rucks.” She does note that this is the intention, not the current reality, as the game is still actively being developed. Gamespot notes that the more piecemeal approach to map development could potentially allow Undead Labs the “freedom to potentially expand the game world even further into more locales in the future.” We have no confirmation regarding the game’s future development, but when we have solidly cemented facts Source: Undead Labs Blog Via: Gamespot
King will be launching a Call of Duty game, for your phone
Candy Crush developer King was bought by Activision Blizzard in 2016, and it looks like King will be using Activision’s Call of Duty IP to bring the classic franchise to mobile phones and tablets. According to King’s job portal, the Stockholm team “is adapting one of the most iconic game franchises of all time: Call of Duty, to become a mobile experience.” As the site reads, “The team will prototype extensively, have the freedom to think outside the box, and be encouraged to stretch their expertise in ways to create surprising results.” From this, we can glean that King’s Stockholm team has yet to really begin developing the title. As Gamezone notes, Call of Duty has ventured onto mobile in the past with Call of Duty: Heroes in late 2014. King is developing the game with the hope that it’ll be a title that players “will want to play for years,” which is an interesting comment from a mobile games developer. If we hear any news regarding progress on King’s pocketized Call of Duty efforts, we’ll keep you updated. Until then, be sure to stay to Rectify Gaming for the latest. via Gamezone
Project Scorpio specs revealed
Project Scorpio was first name-dropped in a teaser at the tail-end of Microsoft’s 2016 E3 presentation, leaving Xbox fans salivating for both 4K visuals as well as any hint of what kind of specifications the console would pack. After many different small leaks, Digital Foundry got to visit Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters to see first-hand how the pre-production hardware and software handled some gaming, and see what exactly would be powering the show. Now, we know a lot more about Project Scorpio’s hardware and capabilities. First and most importantly, Microsoft has indeed upgraded from the original Xbox One’s Jaguar-based AMD processor cores. According to Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter, Project Scorpio will have an 8-core processor whose architecture somewhat resembles Jaguar, though it’s definitely not Ryzen. These cores will be grouped into two 4-core clusters, and will clock in at 2.3 GHz each. Those cores will be working with 12GB of RAM, with 4GB dedicated to system functions, leaving 8GB for games and developers. That RAM is, as mentioned, 12GB of GDDR5 memory with a 4GB / 8GB split for system tasks and gaming. This memory will be clocked at 6.8GHz, or 6800MHz if you prefer bigger numbers. The compute units handling the native 4K rendering with the help of that memory will be clocked at 1172MHz, rising from 853MHz on the original Xbox One. There will also be 40 of these compute units in Project Scorpio. Along with the raw specifications, it’s extremely important to know how the hardware holds up in actual games. When visiting Redmond, Leadbetter got to go hands-on with the Forza Motorsport 6 engine ported to run on a prototype of sorts. He provided a few screenshots of the in-game performance, showing resource utilization as well as the full-resolution game as a backdrop. Starting at the Nurburgring, with the maximum number of AI cars allowed and running at native 4K resolution, Project Scorpio was able to push the game at a stead 60fps using only around 65% of the GPU and around the same 65% of the available 8GB of RAM. Leadbetter critically points out that the demo he saw was a direct port with 4K assets added in, rather than a game built specifically for Project Scorpio’s hardware. Regarding the processor, we’ve already discussed the clock speeds and core count, but cooling a processor that processes and outputs native 4K is no small feat. Leadbetter specifies that the hardware he saw didn’t have a vent along the top, and instead used a vapor chamber cooler directly contacting the processor paired with a “large, centrifugal fan” to push heat out the back of the console. Microsoft’s experience with vapor chamber cooling is rather extensive, given it’s what they use in their Surface line of 2-in-1 computers as well as what was incorporated into the last Lumia flagships, the 950 and 950 XL, all of which handle high-performance processors well. While Project Scorpio is aiming to output native 4K visuals at 60fps stable, the majority of people playing will likely still want to hook up to their 1080p TV and the hardware looks to easily handle this task, with a small possible problem. In discussing Xbox One titles running on Project Scorpio hardware, Xbox One Backwards Compatibility came up, and he addressed that some games (an admittedly small number) will face problems when transitioning from their native, ESRAM-clad, Xbox One hardware to Project Scorpio, but the majority of games would likely be able to hit their 1080p and/or 60fps targets from when they originally launched. For now, those are all the hard numbers we have on Project Scorpio. To delve into some less-solid figures, Leadbetter believes the console will cost in the neighborhood of $499 USD, though nothing regarding price has even been remotely discussed this far ahead of launch this holiday season. So while we may not know a price, we still expect to hear more on Project Scorpio around E3, and especially as fall approaches and pre-orders likely open up. When we hear more on Project Scorpio, we’ll keep you updated. Until then, be sure to stay tuned to Rectify Gaming for the latest. Source: Digital Foundry
Bethesda announces E3 showcase, introduces "Bethesdaland" name
EA’s E3 showcase last year was one of major spectacle, doing live online broadcasts with various famous people on their latest game. Bethesda might be gearing to do something similarly exciting given their way of announcing their showcase event the Sunday before E3. Welcome to Bethesdaland, as the image reads, and shares the date we already knew (June 11) and when. Bethesda will host their showcase at 6:30 p.m. in Los Angeles, but we still don’t know any specifics about what they’ll show. According to GameZone, Bethesda will share details on how to get into their event soon. As E3 is just about two months away, we’ll likely hear more regarding various companies’ schedules the weekend before, as well as during the week of June 12. Once we have a better idea why Bethesda has seemingly created an imaginary amusement park, we’ll up date you. Until then, stay tuned to Rectify Gaming for the latest going into E3. Via: GameZone Source: Bethesda via Twitter
Activision is planning to bring Call of Duty to theaters near you
Following Activision Blizzard’s foray into game-universe productions with Skylanders Academy, The Guardian is reporting that the company is exploring the possibility of shaping the Call of Duty franchise into a cinematic universe. Considering Call of Duty’s various settings and time periods, this could make for a broad selection of backdrops to future films. According to Game Informer, Activision Blizzard plan to “adapt Call of Duty into the world of film and television, drawing inspiration from the World War II era of the series, as well as the Black Ops and Modern Warfare eras.” Apparently, the studio has already “put together this group of writers to talk about where we were going. There’ll be a film that feels more like Black Ops, the story behind the story.” The Guardian also reports that the movies are “going to have the same sort of high-adrenaline, high-energy aesthetic as the game, but it’s not a literal adaptation.” The most interesting aspect of this goal is a true cinematic universe. Quoting Nick Van Dyk, co-president of Activision Blizzard, The Guardian writes about the aim of mirroring how Marvel crafted “these individual universes that interconnect and a timeline that makes sense with consistent themes and Easter eggs.” As with any video game movie, however, Call of Duty’s adaptation would have to first overcome the stereotype of being ‘made for the gamer’ and be not only accessible, but appealing, to a broader audience at the box office. If we hear more on Call of Duty’s breakout-from-gaming debut, we’ll keep you updated, but until then be sure to stay tuned to Rectify Gaming for the latest. Source: The Guardian Via: Game Informer
