Tag: action

Microsoft Finally Bans SHA-1 Certificates In Its Browsers

An anonymous reader quotes ZDNet: With this week’s monthly Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has also rolled out a new policy for Edge and Internet Explorer that prevents sites that use a SHA-1-signed HTTPS certificate from loading. The move brings Microsoft’s browsers in line with Chrome, which dropped support for the SHA-1 cryptographic hash function in January’s stable release of Chrome 56, and Firefox’s February cut-off… Apple dropped support for SHA-1 in March with macOS Sierra 10.12.4 and iOS 10.3… Once Tuesday’s updates are installed, Microsoft’s browsers will no longer load sites with SHA-1 signed certificates and will display an error warning highlighting a security problem with the site’s certificate. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Microsoft Finally Bans SHA-1 Certificates In Its Browsers

Google’s New 4K Chromecast Ultra Is Way Fast

Google has sold more than 30 million Chromecasts for the simple reason that it’s a super easy, super cheap way to get the stuff you’re watching on your computer on to your TV. Now it’s getting an upgrade for the TVs of tomorrow. Read more…

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Google’s New 4K Chromecast Ultra Is Way Fast

Gears of War 4 reveals offline LAN, free matchmaking DLC, smooth 4K on PC

Ars visits The Coalition in Vancouver, BC. Video shot by Sam Machkovech, edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link) VANCOUVER, BC—The future of high-end PC gaming is looking good thanks to graphics APIs like DirectX 12 and Vulkan , which let game engines more directly access multi-threaded processes in your hungry gaming computer’s CPU and GPU. As of right now, however, neither API has been heavily tested in the public gaming market. Vulkan’s biggest splashes to date have included noticeable, if incremental, bumps for games like Dota 2 and this year’s Doom reboot, while DX12 has been applied to PC versions of existing Xbox One games—meaning that we’ve seen those games jump up to impressive 4K resolutions, but we haven’t seen similar jumps in geometry or other major effects. This fall, Microsoft is finally taking the DX12 plunge with a deluge of ” Xbox Play Anywhere ” game launches, including this week’s Forza Horizon 3 , but arguably the biggest DX12er of the bunch is October’s Gears of War 4 . I wouldn’t have made that statement before game developer The Coalition unveiled the game’s DirectX 12 version for the first time, but after seeing what the company had to offer, I was amazed. Here, finally, was a Gears of War game that looked as stunning as the original did during its era—you know, so long as you can afford the game’s “recommended” PC build spec. Read 24 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Gears of War 4 reveals offline LAN, free matchmaking DLC, smooth 4K on PC

Gwent: The collectible card game that’s more than just a Witcher spin-off

Didn’t you hear? Collectible card games are all the rage these days, what with Blizzard’s Hearthstone sporting over 20 million players, Magic: The Gathering going through some kind of renaissance, and publishers like Bethesda  definitely not trying to cash in on the whole thing with games like The Elder Scrolls: Legends . And so at this year’s E3 we have yet another entry in the genre from developers CD Projekt Red, a  Witcher 3 spin-off called  Gwent . The difference is, Gwent is far more than just a collectible card game. This one has an honest-to-god proper storyline. There’s even an open-world map to explore. For the uninitiated, Gwent was originally a collectible card game embedded into the vast world of The Witcher 3 . Only, as player data began to trickle in, CD Projekt Red discovered that many players were spending hours roaming inns during quests just to play Gwent . Some even ignored the main game entirely. This was more than enough incentive for the developer to spin Gwent off into its own free-to-play game across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. And in true CD Projekt Red fashion, it’s gone a little overboard in the process. Instead of just pitching players against each another in one-on-one card battles, Gwent features several single-player campaigns, each of of which has its own unique storyline and lead character, is fully voice acted, and is brought to life via some highly stylised 2D drawings that gently slide across the screen. There’s even an overworld map where, in the demo I was shown at least, you control a cute 2D Geralt to explore and find hidden snippets of story, or extra cards to add to your deck. Each campaign is said to last a whopping 10 hours or so too. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Gwent: The collectible card game that’s more than just a Witcher spin-off

There’s a Gigantic Reef Surrounding the Amazon River and Nobody Noticed

It’s incredible that it escaped notice for so long, but scientists have just discovered a massive, 9, 500 square-kilometer reef system at the mouth of the Amazon river. And it’s home to some truly bizarre life forms. Read more…

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There’s a Gigantic Reef Surrounding the Amazon River and Nobody Noticed

From MUD to MMOG: The making of RuneScape

When he was a boy, growing up in Nottingham, England, Andrew Gower couldn’t afford to buy all of the video games he wanted to play. Rather than mope, he rallied. A wunderkind programmer, Gower created his own versions of the most popular games, pieced together from clues printed in text and image in the pages of video game magazines. Gower’s take on Lemmings— the 1991 Amiga game that was developed by DMA Design six years before the studio made Grand Theft Auto— was his masterwork. “I was proud of that game,” he says. “It was the first [computer game] I’d made that didn’t look like it had been put together by a kid.” Gower would grow up to become, along with his brothers Paul and Ian, the co-founders of Jagex Games Studio and creators of its flagship title  RuneScape.  It’s one of the longest-running massively-multiplayer online games (MMOG), in which players quest together across the Internet in a fantasy world that, like Facebook, continues to rumble and function even when an individual logs off. Launched in 2001, the earliest version of the game looked rather like a fantasy-themed version of The Sims . Characters were viewed from a divine camera, looking down on the action from an isometric perspective. RuneScape takes place in the world of Gielinor, where gods roam among men. The game eschews a linear storyline, allowing players to set their own goals and objectives. Now in its third iteration (the basic game was superseded by a new version in both 2004 and 2013, each of which upgraded its graphics and overhauled the underlying code base), RuneScape has reached an enviable milestone in the fickle world of MMOs: 15 years old. Read 15 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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From MUD to MMOG: The making of RuneScape

Daytona 500 will be broadcast in VR

Fancy seeing the Daytona 500 from the perspective of the pit crew? Now you can, thanks to a new five-year deal signed between Fox Sports and NextVR . The pair are planning to broadcast a series of major sporting events in VR , with the deal kicking off at this year’s edition of the great American race. If you own a GearVR headset and a compatible phone, you’ll be able to watch the race from the stands, starting line, middle of the infield and the aforementioned pit lane. In addition, the VR stream will have dedicated audio commentary and pop-up graphics telling you who’s in pole position. It’s not the first time that the two companies have teamed up to share a sporting event, having previously shown a professional boxing event in the format. This deal, however, makes a big step forward for NextVR, which is quickly cementing itself as the premier VR streaming service for all of the events you want to see. After all, it was this firm that brought users the first NBA games in VR as well as the republican and democratic presidential debates . As before, the Daytona 500 will be free-to-view and will kick off at 1pm ET on Sunday, February 21st. Now, it’s not clear yet if NextVR is going to produce 360-degree footage for the event, or if it’ll stick to 180-degree video. When it broadcast the Warriors/Pelicans game at the start of the season, it didn’t bother to film the action from the stands behind you. We’ve contacted the company to find out what the situation is this time, and will let you know when they’ve told us.

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Daytona 500 will be broadcast in VR

The Harry Potter Play Will Become the Eighth Harry Potter Book in July

Good news for everyone who won’t be able to make it to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child : the script for the play will be on sale July 31. That’s right after the official opening of the play. And on Harry’s birthday. Read more…

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The Harry Potter Play Will Become the Eighth Harry Potter Book in July

YouTube to join Netflix and Amazon with HDR video

With big-name TV makers and movie studios all pledging to support high dynamic range (HDR) technology , it was only be a matter of time until the world’s biggest online video platform got in on the action. According to Mashable , Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s Chief Business Officer, confirmed that the service will soon roll out support for HDR, allowing streamers to watch videos in a lot more detail. While HDR has become a buzzword, it’s likely to make a big difference to the way you watch TV and movies this year. In brief terms, HDR captures a wider range of contrast and brightness. The resulting images show greater detail in darker parts of the screen and highlights a wider range of colors, allowing you to pick out details that you may not have noticed before. What it does mean, though, is that you will need a compatible TV or display to view YouTube’s range of HDR videos the way they’re meant to be viewed. LG , Sony and Vizio will soon release new 4K sets with high dynamic range support built in and PC makers are following the trend. Netflix and Amazon are on board too, ensuring that streamers can also board the HDR bandwagon. Source: Mashable

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YouTube to join Netflix and Amazon with HDR video