Latest Articles (Page 1407)

Sony's big first party game for the holiday season is a remaster - but not just any remaster. Uncharted: the Nathan Drake Collection is a beautiful recreation of three of PlayStation 3's finest games, upgraded not just with higher resolutions and smoother frame-rates, but with top-to-bottom improvements of the original artwork, with enhancements made across the board. This works in combination with new gameplay modes along with a comprehensive re-evaluation core gameplay systems. We've previously dissected Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves and Drake's Deception in depth, but we still wanted to learn more about how this exceptional project was put together.

On paper, the possibilities offered by Titan X are hugely exciting. Nvidia already has the fastest single-chip GPU on the market - its GTX 980 is comfortably ahead of the best that AMD has to offer - but its latest GPU offers a potentially massive bump to performance. The GM200 chip at the heart of Titan X offers a 50 per cent spec boost to the GM204 inside the 980 in virtually every regard: CUDA core count, ROPs, memory bandwidth, you name it, there's 50 per cent more of it here. In effect, Nvidia has combined a GTX 980 and a GTX 960 in one single piece of silicon.

Remember when mobile phones were monstrously-proportioned beasts that would bloat your trouser pocket in the most unsightly fashion? If so, the chances are you also experienced the subtle transition from gigantic talk-tech to truly pocket-sized alternatives - but the race to miniaturise mobile telecommunications was somewhat short-lived. The arrival of touchscreen smartphones has seen the pendulum swing violently back in the opposite direction; the iPhone kicked things off with a 3.5-inch display in 2007, but since then its Android and Windows Phone-based rivals have pushed the envelope dramatically, leading to the rise of the somewhat irksome portmanteau "Phablet".

On paper, the task facing AMD's engineers must have looked formidable. Having jostled for supremacy with Nvidia's GTX 780 Ti and Titan, the firm was clearly competitive with its Radeon R9 290X - until the arrival of GTX 970 and GTX 980, both of which outperformed the best that the red team had to offer, and did so with bags of overclocking headroom to spare. In producing the Radeon 300 series, AMD had to match or beat Nvidia's excellent performer - and not only that, it had to do it using existing silicon. We had doubts that it would be possible, but as the benchmarks rolled in, the bottom line became clear: AMD has done it.

OK, it's provocative strapline but as the benchmark scores and FCAT analysis began to roll in, by and large it turns out to be a fairly accurate description of what this staggering piece of technology is capable of. MSI's frankly monstrous GT80 Titan SLI is a massive desktop replacement computer, which - in the case of our review sample, at least - features a Core i7 4890HQ quad-core processor, 32GB of RAM and two GTX 980M mobile GPUs working together in SLI, back by quad RAID-0 SSDs. It's a lavish, frankly immense spec, housed in an equally remarkable chassis.

Imagine a laptop with the footprint and weight of the MacBook Air, packing a full quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Iris Pro 5200 graphics, RAID-0 SSDs and a 1080p 13.3-inch PLS display. For many - us included - it sounds like a dream come true: a truly portable form factor combined with processing power that's a substantial leap beyond the standard ultrabook. Now imagine that when you get home, you can place the unit into a bespoke dock that comes complete with Nvidia's GTX 980 graphics card, turning a humble notebook into a thoroughbred gaming powerhouse. It all sounds too good to be true, but that's exactly what MSI's fascinating GS30 Ghost offers.

We knew it was coming, of course - it was just the speed of its arrival that took us off-guard. Nvidia's astonishing Titan X graphics card, based on the 8bn transistor GM200 processor, redefined the boundaries of single-GPU performance when we reviewed it back in March. Imagine the firm's previous flagship - the GTX 980 - combined with a mainstream GTX 960 in a single package, backed by a ridiculous 12GB of 7gbps GDDR5 and you have a remarkable technological achievement. The only problem was its price - $999. The new GTX 980 Ti is a mildly cut-back version of the same product, offering around 98 per cent of the raw performance at 65 per cent of the price.

AMD is leading us into a new, exciting era of graphics technology - where ultra-fast memory is connected directly to the core, enabling higher performance, enhanced power efficiency and a new wave of small form-factor graphics cards. The Radeon R9 Fury X is the first GPU to arrive boasting this cutting-edge tech, with AMD telling us that it is the fastest single-chip GPU on the market, a title currently held by Nvidia's mammoth Titan X 12GB. Well, the reality is that the Fury X is a fascinating first-gen product with plenty of positives, but in terms of raw performance, both Nvidia's Titan X and its cut-down GTX 980 Ti are generally faster and more versatile for the high-end enthusiast market.

It's an excellent example of how competition drives performance. When Nvidia's GTX 970 arrived, the high-end graphics card market was blown apart. Factory overclocked examples traded blows with Nvidia's prior flagship - the GTX 780 Ti - and performance could be pushed further, bringing it into line with the top-end GTX 980. AMD's Radeon R9 290 and 290X suddenly looked excessively expensive and rather mediocre. Almost a year on and the red team has responded well: it has its limitations, but the performance can't be denied - the new R9 390 8GB is indeed faster than the GTX 970.

With AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X, the red team promised us the fastest single-chip GPU on the market, but the final product didn't quite live up to the hype. An intriguing cooling solution, a small form-factor and state of the art memory tech gave Fury X some unique properties, but Nvidia had outmanoeuvred AMD on overall performance with its GeForce GTX 980 Ti. However, the new cut-down, air-cooled R9 Fury (the non-X edition, if you will) is an interesting proposition: inevitably, it will be slower, but at the mooted $550 sticker price, Nvidia has no real alternative at the same price. AMD is marketing this as a GTX 980 beater - more expensive, but faster overall. Of course, the reality is a little more complex than that, but the strategy is sound: AMD wants to carve out and own a new niche for the Fury.

Behind all the benchmarking, the MO for reviewing graphics cards is pretty simple - you figure out how fast the product is and then compare it to rival products of a similar price. But with the AMD Radeon R9 Nano, things aren't so simple - it's a complete one-off and for the time being at least, entirely unique. It commands an extreme price-point because there's nothing else like it and that's what tends to happen in the PC hardware market. On top of that, we may well be looking at the first example a new breed of GPU, a revised take on what a halo product in this space might offer.

AMD's 300 series graphics cards aren't getting a lot of love from the enthusiast community right now and on the face of it, it's not difficult to see why - each and every one of the products is a retooled version of existing processor designs, and the only actual new technology coming from AMD is the new Fury line of GPUs. But as the 'Rebrandeon' controversy continues, one thing is clear - regardless of whether the GPU itself is old or new, the performance is good and the fact that it now ships with 4GB of RAM is absolutely crucial.

One of a new breed of gaming laptops, Asus' G751JY doesn't exactly roll off the tongue - but its G-Sync compatible screen certainly gives it a big talking point. It's a pivotal evolution for gaming notebooks, with the screen giving players the flexibility to target a frame-rate, and have it dynamically matched by the panel's refresh (in this case up to 75Hz). MSI and Gigabyte are also set to include G-Sync panels in their own top-end gaming laptops. But at a minimum price of £1,500, and close to £2,000 in this build, just how good is the Asus for high-end gameplay?

As Microsoft sets out to reinvent Halo yet again with Halo 5: Guardians - festooning Master Chief's crenelated bulk with jumpjets and pop-out holographic reticules, like a long-serving plastic Christmas tree - it's worth digging up the last game to take similarly drastic yet successful liberties with Bungie's old action sandbox. Ensemble's Halo Wars rumbled onto shelves at a comfortable time for Xbox, a year or so ahead of the first Kinect sensor, and was spared the pressures and mammoth sales targets of a core numbered Halo. But in other respects, the project's challenges leave Halo 5's in the shadow.

Nintendo has begun issuing developers with software kits for its upcoming under-wraps NX console, a new report claims.

In one of the year's most pleasantly surprising releases, Platinum Games applies its mastery of arcade-style action titles to a beloved franchise, producing one of the best Transformers games of the last decade. Transformers: Devastation captures the look and feel of the original cartoon with a careful use of cel-shaded and hand-drawn texture work, giving us the tangible depth of 3D modelling with the nostalgic style of 1980s art.

Duke Nukem 3D's Sega Mega Drive port is finally available worldwide.

Failbetter's text-heavy exploration RPG Sunless Sea is getting a story-based expansion pack called Zubmariner.

You've really got to feel for the Protoss fans out there. Some will no doubt argue that this final StarCraft 2 campaign benefits from all that extra time in the development oven, but it has been five years. FIVE. That's a long time to wait for your favourite race to get their own lovely Blizzard cinematics.

Two shiny new Steam controllers arrived in the Eurogamer office today, which was exciting. Then it was confusing, then amusing, then vaguely disappointing, then exciting again, then... well, to be honest I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the Steam controller at the minute. It shows definite promise, but it's also got the unenviable task of fighting how my brain is wired to operate after years of gaming with a keyboard and mouse.

Rocksteady has revealed all remaining Batman: Arkham Knight Season Pass content, and there's quite a lot, comprising Batman skins, alternative Batmobiles, AR Challenges, two short story additions and a pack of Most Wanted Challenges. Is it enough to satisfy people who've paid £32.99 for a Season Pass? It's a topic in hot contention. The game's early Batgirl DLC left us flat.

EGX Rezzed - the "hipster EGX", as I will probably get sacked for calling it, which is brought to you by Gamer Network, the company which publishes this website - is coming back to Tobacco Dock in London next year, and tickets are now on sale.

UK developer Rodeo is in a tricky situation. Here we have a studio responsible for handsome and thinky turn-based mobile games that really make the hardware sweat. Ever played Hunters or Warhammer Quest or, much more recently, Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch? That's Rodeo. I spent 14 hours or thereabouts fixated on Warhammer Quest on my teeny-tiny iPhone 4S screen. Quite how Rodeo got the game running on it in the first place I don't know.

The Star Wars: Battlefront beta concluded a few days ago and DICE can seemingly rest easy - the nightmares of the Battlefield 4 era look to be over, server stability held up despite the immense load caused by a cumulative 9m users, and what was presented was a remarkably solid piece of code - good news, bearing in mind that the game releases in just a few short weeks. The beta also allowed us to profile the revised Frostbite 3 engine across a range of graphics hardware, allowing us to put together this performance preview with settings and hardware recommendations.

UPDATE 16TH OCTOBER: Praise the Midi-chlorians! Aspyr has released another Knights of the Old Republic 2 patch on Steam. Its contents aren't as noteworthy as in the last patch but they're to be celebrated with Ewoks nonetheless.

Editor's note: While not going into specifics, this review does reveal some minor story details - so be warned if you want to go into Hearts of Stone completely fresh.

Given how scarce rally games were for so long, you can hardly move for them right now. Well, there's a trio currently doing the rounds, but three's a crowd and everything.

King's Fall, Destiny's new raid added with the Taken King expansion, will gain its hard mode next week.

After 28 years Metal Gear Solid is finished. Or at least that's what the internet would have you believe. After all, the mastermind behind the series, Hideo Kojima, has unceremoniously parted ways with Konami, the publisher who owns the IP. Konami has been wishy-washy in its future plans since then; the publisher stated in March that it would continue to develop Metal Gear games after MGS5: The Phantom Pain, but then the company's worldwide technology director Julien Merceron left last month and reports indicated it was because Konami would be moving away from console games completely outside of its football series PES.

The first full length cinematic trailer for the upcoming Ratchet & Clank movie is out now.