News Picks/Weekly Round-up from Auryn Cox @Ciaran’s Customs
The Xbox series X and S have Arrived
The wait is over for Xbox fans, the next generation of Xbox consoles are here. There are two consoles available, the Xbox series X (£449) and the digital only Xbox series S edition (£249).
The Xbox Series X is Microsoft’s main contender in the upcoming console battle against Sony’s PlayStation 5 while the series S is the more budget option.
The Xbox series X is bigger than its Series S counterpart and, more powerful. While both consoles are powered by a custom AMD Zen 2 eight-core processor, the Series X CPU will run at 3.8GHz per core while the Series S’ CPU will run at 3.6GHz. The Series X also has more Ram than the S, having 16GB while the Series S only has 10GB.
Graphics wise the Series X is far superior with 12 Teraflops of RDNA 2 graphics power compared to the Series S‘ 4 Teraflops of RDNA 2 graphics. Both consoles will support Ray Tracing, but while the Series X will be able to run games at a 4K resolution natively, the Series S will be initially locked at 1440p.
Both consoles will run games at 60fps although both are capable of 120fps, which is usually achieved by dropping the resolution. Although the Series X has more storage than its Digital only counterpart, having 1TB compared to the Series S’ 512GB storage limit, the games on the S do have significantly smaller file sizes as was promised by Microsoft. Reports say that Sea of Thieves is 64% smaller, Gears 5 - 39% smaller and Dirt 5 is 23% smaller.
Both consoles use a solid-state drive for faster loading times as well all the other abilities an SSD can offer. At launch there will be 30 games which have been optimised for the Series X and S - which means in theory they'll be fast to play and will be the highest quality you'll find on a console. Microsoft is also trying to encourage people to sign up to their subscription service Game Pass, which gives people access to a wide collection of games they can play.
While both consoles support backward compatibility it’s important to note that the Series S does not have a disc drive. If you have a collection of old Xbox one or 360 games that you might want to replay, then the Series X might be the better option.
Some fans have criticized the lack of exclusives and new games at launch. Despite this, the head of Xbox Phil Spencer took to twitter telling fans, “Thank you for supporting the largest launch in Xbox history. In 24 hrs more new consoles sold, in more countries, than ever before.”
Cyberpunk 2077 Rumours.
CD Projekt RED has reaffirmed that Cyberpunk2077 will launch on the 10th of December following rumours that the game was to be delayed again.
The eagerly anticipated Sci-fi RPG has already been delayed multiple times. Originally supposed to release all the way back in April, it was then delayed until September. By June, the Devs decided to once again push the title back until November 19th where its release was again pushed back three weeks.
Another rumour that was put to bed this week in regards to Cyberpunk2077 was that the Ray tracing in the game would be exclusive to Nvidia graphics cards. In an interview with WCCFTech, Nvidia spokesperson Brian Burke responded to a question about stories circulating on the internet suggesting that ray tracing will be exclusive to the manufacturer's slate of GPUs.
"Cyberpunk 2077 uses the industry-standard DirectX Ray Tracing API. It will work on any DXR-compatible GPU," Burke said. "Nothing related to Cyberpunk 2077 ray tracing is proprietary to NVIDIA."
If you want to be able to enjoy Cyberpunks Ray tracing in all it's glory while keeping a reasonable FPS you will need to make sure your graphics card can support it, otherwise it might be time for an upgrade.
Ubisoft removes Voice actor from Watch dogs: Legion
Ubisoft has removed British Journalist Helen Lewis from Watch dogs: Legion’s in game podcast after becoming aware of remarks she’s made in the past about gender identity.
In response to complaints, Ubisoft issued a statement distancing itself from Lewis, saying that,
“The development team worked with an external producer to select speaker profiles for these podcasts and were not aware of the controversy at the time of booking or recording. While the in-game podcasters are following a pre-approved script and are not speaking in their own name or with their own opinions, we understand this collaboration itself may be seen as offensive and we deeply regret any hurt this has caused. In response, we will be replacing these two podcast episodes in an upcoming update and will reinforce our background checks for partners in the future.”
Lewis, a London-based staff writer for The Atlantic appears in two episodes of the in-game Podcast BuccanEar that players can listen to. The character which Lewis voices, simply called “Helen,” discusses the creeping threat of fascism in the game’s world.
Journalist Ian Dunt, who also appears in the game, took to twitter to express his disappointment with Ubisoft’s decision saying that, “As one of the other voices in the game, let me go on record to say that I'm incensed by this. Whether you agree with Helen's views on trans issues or not, they are legitimate debate, and she is entitled to hold and express them.”
Good News for Mass Effect Fans
BioWare has made a couple of announcements this week that’s sure to please fans.
Firstly, they announced the Mass Effect Legendary edition, a 4k remaster of the original trilogy that will be coming to PC, Ps4 and Xbox one in 2021. The game will also be available on the Ps5 and Xbox series X/S with added enhancements.
Bioware has also revealed that they have begun development for a completely new Mass Effect game. However, the BioWare general manager Casey Hudson noted in a blog post that the game is in “early stages” of development and the studio cannot share any additional details at this time. So, don’t be expecting a release date any time soon.
The Medium Delayed
The Medium an upcoming horror game for the Xbox X/S and PC has been delayed until January 2021.
Blooper team the devs behind The Medium, are the latest in a growing line of game developers who have chosen to delay their planned December release dates, to avoid clashing with Cyberpunk2077.
The announcement, which was made on twitter assured fans that the extra time would allow them to further polish the game.
In the statement they said, “After much careful thought and consideration, today we have made the difficult decision to delay the launch of The Medium to January 28, 2021” In the statement they also said that the delay would not stop them from sharing information with fans.
Roblox’s OOFing Microtransaction
Roblox players may soon notice the disappearance of the ‘oof’ death sound.
The now iconic 0.34 sound effect will be temporarily removed from the game following a copyright dispute. When reintroduced, it will cost around $1 (£0.76) or 100 Robux (the in-game currency) to use. However, it will be Roblox game-makers not players who will have to pay the cost.
The developer Tommy Tallarico who originally created the sound for a game called Messiah which was released 20 years ago, will get compensation from Roblox.
Tommy who is now chief executive of gaming firm Intellivision Entertainment told the BBC he was amazed that such a small sound he made ended up being one of the most iconic pop culture audio clips of the 21st century.
"I would hear kids saying it on playgrounds and didn't even realize that they were repeating something I had created over two decades ago.” He said "It was great that we were able to come to a resolution with Roblox and they were very accommodating of the situation. It's kind of funny to think that out of all the things I've done over my 32 years in the video game industry... that for a new generation of video game players, I'm now just known as the Oof guy."
Assassins creed Valhalla
Assassins creed Valhalla is off to a strong start having twice the player base at launch, than the previous entry Odyssey had.
The Viking themed Assassins creed game which is set in Anglo Saxon England in 873 AD has been receiving positive reviews from critics and players alike who have been praising the games large open world setting as well as the strong cast of characters.
Its also interesting to note that the game will be receiving DLC based in 9th century Ireland and France as well as free seasonal content updates. Some players began noticing that they weren’t receiving achievements for the game. At the time, this was presumed to be a bug, but a Ubisoft Support staff member has since revealed that this is an “intended change”.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
The latest Call of Duty game, Black ops cold war looks like a solid entry into the series. Although it mainly sticks to the tried and tested formula there are some new features to keep fans interested and it retains all the core values of the series.
However at launch the game will take up a staggering 95GB on PlayStation 4 and 93GB on Xbox One. On the next gen consoles it’s even worse, on PlayStation 5 it's 133GB, and on Xbox Series X and S, it's 136GB.
On Pc, multiplayer only is 35GB, whereas it's 82GB for the full game, or 125GB for the full game on ultra-graphics.
Creators Activison has allowed players to install specific game mode packs, such as for Campaign and Zombies, to get file sizes down. Its important to note though that these file sizes will only increase as updates are released.
It's also worth noting that Black Ops Cold War is the same size on Xbox Series S as it is on the X, despite comments from Microsoft that suggested S games would have a smaller install size because of smaller resolution texture packages. That takes up a hefty amount of the console’s storage, and begs the question whether its worth getting the game on the Series S. In other CoD news Infinity Ward quietly adds 120fps to Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox Series X - but not PS5, this is down to a software issue where the PS5 is still running the same game version as the PS4 so is it is being limited by its predecessor.
The PlayStation 5 release Date Ireland and UK
While the PS5 has launched to glowing reviews from critics as it becomes available across the world, fans in Ireland and the UK will have to wait until November the 19th before they can get their hands on the next gen console. The PS5 (£449) and the PS5 digital Edition (£359) have similar specs to the Xbox series X.
The PS5 specs:
- CPU: 8 cores @ 3.5GHz (variable frequency), custom Zen 2
- GPU: 36 CUs @ 2.23GHz (variable), 10.28 TFLOPs, custom RDNA 2 Memory: 16GB GDDR5 w/ 256-bit bus Memory bandwidth: 448GB/s
- Storage: 825GB SSD I/O throughput: 5.5GB/s (raw), 8-9GB/s (compressed)
- Expandable storage: NVMe SSD slot(Yet to be implemented)
- External storage: USB HDD support Optical drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray
Unlike the Xbox series X/S however, the PS5 won’t output natively to 1440p monitors, instead scaling up from 1080p. In an interview with Japanese outlet AV Watch, Sony’s senior vice president Hideaki Nishino said that there’s ‘no technical reason’ that native 1440p couldn’t be added in the future, given there’s enough demand for it.
Hideaki also hinted at the potential of the PSVR2 saying, "I would like to expect the PS5 to have a VR experience that is appropriate for the PS5. I can't comment any further, but I'm looking forward to it (laughs)".
While fans may be disappointed at the lack of a web browser, new additions like the PS5 remote play app, which allows users to play PlayStation 5 games on a different device, like a PC, smartphone, or PlayStation 4, might make up for it.
One thing the PS5 currently has over the Xbox series X/S is the exclusive games it has available. Games such has Demon souls, Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Sackboy: A big Adventure have all been receiving praise from critics and Sony has also included a free ‘pack-in’ game called Astro’s Playroom, which has been likened to Wii sports as it showcases all the new features of the new dual sense controller.
Next Gen GPUs: Nvidia 3000 Series & AMD RX 6000
Rumours continue to circle regarding the next graphics cards from both AMD and Nvidia, on the green side of things, there has been talk of a reworked RTX 3060Ti with 12GB of RAM, the latest batch of rumours are suggesting the rather than the 8GB previously reported, that Nvidia are considering shipping a 3060ti with a substantial 12GB of RAM, while this might seem like crazy talk considering the 3070 is only 8GB and the 3080 sits 2GB short on 10GB, it could very well come true and would be a direct response to AMD's 16GB 6000 series GPUs that are due to launch in a few days time. Other rumours are still pointing at a 2020 release for the 3060ti meaning another chance for those who missed out on a 3070 on launch.
The 3060ti isn't the only card being talked about as there has been mention of full wave of releases come the new year, RTX 3060, RTX 3050 Ti, RTX 3050 and RTX 3080 Ti could all arrive in January if the rumours prove true. While this is all well and good the main worry with potential buyers right now is stock, with many potential buyers being left very disappointed in the current state of things. The 3080 has been out nearly 3 months now and most people haven't even seen an option to buy never mind getting their hands on a card in person.
As for team Red, AMD RX 6000 series GPUs are due to launch in a few days, which are promising big performance and efficiency gains, along with feature parity with Nvidia in terms of ray tracing support. The RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 are set to release on November 18th with the RX 6900 XT set to release December 8th. This could be a potential option for people looking to upgrade their gaming Pc this Christmas especially those who missed out on a new Nvidia card. The rumour mill is in full force with performance and benchmark leaks, all of which point to a very very competitive high end graphics card segment.
While all of this sounds positive, there is a air of apprehension surrounding the upcoming launch mainly the question of stock. Not only has Nvidia's launch of their competing GPUs the RTX 3000 series left a bad taste in consumers mouths but AMD's own Ryzen 5000 CPU launch has done little to settle the fears of fans. Adding fuel to the fire , Asus has come out and said they expect all stock to be sold out in minutes.
Amd Zen 3
The AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs were released last week to glowing reviews. While loved for their high core counts and excellent value AMD’s Ryzen processors always had one major weakness, weaker gaming performance than intel due to single threaded performance. However AMD’s new Ryzen 5000 processor line-up looks to have not only closed the gap with intel but have slingshotted themselves into the lead. This performance isn't limed to the top of the stack Ryzen 9 5950X/5900X, this is for the whole of the 5000 series, we are even seeing the 5600X beat out the top of the range Intel i9 & i7 processors when it comes to gaming, a very very impressive feat.
There is however one major downside to the Ryzen 5000 series. Very much a similar situation as the new Nivida GPUs the main problem is stock. Unless you where quick enough to nab one on launch day, or willing to pay a large mark up on from people looking to profit off the situation it looks like we will be in for a wait with lots of sites not even taking pre-oders for the much coveted hardware. To make matter worse, most large European retailers are limiting orders to their own country. Compounding the issue even more it seems some large UK retailers are prioritizing mainland UK and not offering delivery to Northern or the Republic of Ireland. Some sites are offering bundle deals, typically a motherboard, CPU and RAM priced together but these are not always worth while, either being overpriced or offering a low end motherboard and slow RAM, neither of which you want to be paired with your shiny new Ryzen 5000
About the Author
 Auryn is a student journalist and an avid gamer. He enjoys strategy games as well as all the new releases from 10 years ago. He also has a few hours on Overwatch. |
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