Author: Trafficblast

In addition to Fortnite, Epic Games is known for creating the Unreal Engine that is used by studios worldwide to create games, while Disney uses it to help film The Mandalorian. Epic has now announced the next version of the Unreal Engine, and it has bold ambitions.

Unreal Engine 5 promises to deliver “photorealism on par with movie CG and real life.” To showcase the power of the new engine, Epic created a tech demo called “Lumen in the Land of Nanite.” The real-time demo, which you can see below, is running on the PlayStation 5.

Two of the “core” technologies in Unreal Engine 5 are showcased in the video, including Nanite and Lumen. The full descriptions for these new technologies is below.

Nanite

“Nanite virtualized micropolygon geometry frees artists to create as much geometric detail as the eye can see. Nanite virtualized geometry means that film-quality source art comprising hundreds of millions or billions of polygons can be imported directly into Unreal Engine–anything from ZBrush sculpts to photogrammetry scans to CAD data–and it just works. Nanite geometry is streamed and scaled in real time so there are no more polygon count budgets, polygon memory budgets, or draw count budgets; there is no need to bake details to normal maps or manually author LODs; and there is no loss in quality.”

Lumen

“Lumen is a fully dynamic global Illumination solution that immediately reacts to scene and light changes. The system renders diffuse interreflection with infinite bounces and indirect specular reflections in huge, detailed environments, at scales ranging from kilometers to millimeters. Artists and designers can create more dynamic scenes using Lumen, for example, changing the sun angle for time of day, turning on a flashlight, or blowing a hole in the ceiling, and indirect lighting will adapt accordingly. Lumen erases the need to wait for lightmap bakes to finish and to author light map UVs–a huge time savings when an artist can move a light inside the Unreal Editor and lighting looks the same as when the game is run on console.”

Unreal Engine 5 uses the Quixel Megascans library, which includes “film-quality objects” that are rendered with “up to hundreds of millions of polygons.” The PS5 tech demo trailer also shows off new physics and destruction elements, as well as what’s known as “convolution reverb and ambisonics rendering.”

The engine will be available, in a preview state, starting in early 2021 with the full release scheduled for later that year. In addition to the PS5 and Xbox Series X, the engine will support development on PS4 and Xbox One, as well as PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.

While developers wait, they can make use of the recent Unreal Engine 4.25 update, which introduced support for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Epic said development teams will be able to move from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 without issues thanks to the next-gen engine’s “forward compatibility” design.

Epic’s own development teams are going to use Unreal Engine 5 for their games, including Fortnite. The battle royale game will be a launch game for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, with the game set to shift to Unreal Engine 5 in mid-2021. The studio did not say what kinds of graphical upgrades will be available thanks to the new technology, however.

Another key part of Unreal Engine 5 is how Epic is making the engine even more attractive to developers. Starting right now, Epic won’t require developers to pay royalties on games made using the Unreal Engine until their game sales pass $1 million in gross revenue. This is a gigantic change because the threshold was previously $3,000 per quarter. The change is retroactive from January 1, 2020, and developers can find more details about this at the official FAQ.

This is just the latest developer-friendly push from Epic. The company’s Epic Games Store pays developers a greater share of revenue, giving out 88 percent to game-makers. This move has attracted developers big and small to release their games on the Epic Games Store, the latest example being Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 remasters.

The new PlayStation 5 tech demo is seriously impressive, showcasing what next-generation games could look like running on Epic’s Unreal Engine 5.

You can watch the trailer again, and after that, check out a series of stills from the video embedded in this post. Be sure to click each image to view a full-size version.

The tech demo, “Lumen in the Land of Nanite,” is not meant to represent what PS5 and Xbox Series X games will necessarily look like, but instead what Unreal Engine 5 is technically capable of allowing for. These stills are very impressive-looking, and it’ll be interesting to see how developers make use of the Unreal Engine 5 tech to power their new games.

Unreal Engine 5 will become available in a preview at the beginning of 2021, with a full release scheduled for later in the year. The existing Unreal Engine 4 also supports PS5 and Xbox Series X games.

Epic’s own game, the battle royale title Fortnite, will be a launch game for PS5 and Xbox Series X. It will be among the first games to use Unreal Engine 5, but the transition to the new engine won’t happen until 2021.

For more on Epic’s announcements around Unreal Engine 5, check out the stories below.

When you think streaming services, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu immediately come to mind. However, aside from those most notable services, there are plenty of others you may or may not be familiar with. And GameSpot’s sister site CNET has decided to rank over 100 of them. Yes, 100.

Using a tiered system–from F Tier to S Tier–CNET’s Ashley Esqueda gave each of the services a total score, based on five categories: Price, Originals (quantity not quality), Back Catalog, Variety, and Accessibility. The opening example used in the video was YouTubeTV, which scored a 1 in Price ($50 a month), a 5 in Originals, an 8 in Back Catalog, a 10 in Variety, and a 10 in Accessibility. It scored a 34 in total, which lands it in the C Tier.

Below, you’ll find the full video where CNET breaks down these streaming services, which included plenty of ones you’ve probably never heard of.

There are a few notable services missing from the list. First is Plex, which at one time was just a way to share content from your computer with friends. However, it’s now shifted gears to be an ad-supported movie site, almost exactly like Crackle or IMDbTV. Because of this, it would land itself in the D Tier, using CNET’s ranking system.

Then, there’s the WWE Network, which is amazing if you love cheap PPVs. However, since the recent redesign, the UI is a bit rough, it’s not accessible on all Smart TVs since thew upgrade, and while the original content WWE produces is fantastic, it’s not making it as much anymore. More than likely, it would land in the C Tier. Also missing are NJPW World, Fite TV, and a few other very niche services.

Now that you know the ranking system, you probably need something new to watch. Consider listening to GameSpot’s weekly TV series and movies-focused podcast, You Should Be Watching. With new episodes premiering every Wednesday, you can watch a video version of the podcast over on GameSpot Universe or listen to audio versions on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

The Grudge–also known as Ju-On–was one of the key movies in the wave of Japanese horror of the 2000s. There have been no fewer than 12 Japanese movies and four American versions to date, the most recent of which, The Grudge, was released in January this year. The franchise is now making the move to the small screen as a new Netflix series. The first trailer has been released.

The show is titled Ju-On: Origins. It’s a Japanese production and is set to focus on the evil house that supposedly inspired the original movies. The trailer delivers everything that fans love about the franchise, including terrible curses, creepy kids, and weird noises, plus some scary-looking stuff involving a deformed baby. Check the trailer out below:

Ju-On: Origins hits Netflix on July 3. The streaming giant has released a synopsis, which reads, “The J-Horror classic franchise Ju-On was actually based on real events that occurred over four decades–and the truth is even more terrifying. Can the people haunted by this house escape from its curse? And what kind of grim incident occurred in this cursed house in the past?”

In a recent interview with Moshi Moshi, series producer Takashige Ichise spoke about what drew him to the new show. “I’ve long had thoughts of wanting to write the part of the story that can’t really be adapted into a film and make it into a drama series,” he said. “But there are too many restrictions in Japanese television so I haven’t been able to do it. Even when I made horror for TV before, I was told to not make it too scary. So when I got the call from Netflix to do this, I responded immediately with a ‘Yes!'”

For more check out GameSpot’s guide to the biggest upcoming horror movies of 2020 and beyond.

If you’re in the market for a new laptop, TV, or monitor, Best Buy is always one of the best places to look. The retailer regularly offers big discounts on some really great tech products, and Best Buy’s latest one-day sale features 20 products across computing and home entertainment that are worth checking out. We’ve highlighted a few of the best deals below, and you can see the full sale at Best Buy. The deals end at 10 PM PT / 1 AM ET, so grab what you want as soon as possible.

MacBook Pro 15.4-inch

$2,900 ($3,800)

Regularly $3,800, you can save $900 on one of the highest-performing MacBook Pros. Equipped with a powerful Intel Core i9 processor and AMD Radeon Pro 560X video card, this MacBook Pro is excellent at multi-tasking, video editing, and even gaming thanks to 32GB of RAM. It also comes with a 1TB solid-state drive. The Space Gray model is the only one on sale at this price, but if you really want the silver model, you can pay an extra $100.

TCL 65-inch 4K Roku TV

$1,000 ($2,000)

With most people spending more time at home, it’s probably not uncommon to want to upgrade your TV. The best TV deal at Best Buy right now is this TCL 65-inch 4K Smart TV with Roku built in. With true 4K and Dolby Vision HDR, you can be sure that you’re getting incredibly sharp images whether you’re watching a movie or gaming. It also has Dolby Atmos, so you’re getting surround-sound quality audio out of the box. As a Smart TV with Roku, you can easily access all of your favorite streaming services without needing anything else.

Asus TUF gaming monitor

$200 ($250)

Asus makes some of the best gaming PCs and monitors on the market today, and right now you can save $50 on a gorgeous gaming monitor. This 24-inch IPS display has lighting fast 1ms response time to prevent lag and keep your games running smoothly. With a 144hz refresh rate, you can play at unlocked framerates. It also has AMD’s FreeSync technology, which is particularly helpful to stabilize framerate when paired with an AMD graphics card. For more monitor options, check out our best budget monitors for under $200 roundup.

Robert Pattinson isn’t a typical leading man, in many ways, and in an extraordinary new interview published by GQ shows off the oddball energy he is bringing to The Batman (which has halted production) and Christopher Nolan’s next film, Tenet. Here are some of the highlights from the long, strange interview.

While Batman has typically been a pretty muscular, bulky screen presence, Pattinson admits in this interview that he has not been working out during his isolation in London. “I think if you’re working out all the time, you’re part of the problem,” he tells GQ. “No one was doing this in the ’70s. Even James Dean–he wasn’t exactly ripped.” Pattinson says that while co-star Zoe Kravitz has reportedly been working out five days a week, he is “barely doing anything,” ignoring his trainer’s advice.

This could mean that we’ll see a different kind of Batman in the upcoming film, one with less muscle–and perhaps quite unique, judging by some of Pattinson’s comments. “I kind of like the fact that not only are there very, very, very well-done versions of the character which seem pretty definitive, but I was thinking that there are multiple definitive playings of the character,” he says. “I was thinking, it’s fun when more and more ground has been covered. Like, where is the gap? You’ve seen this sort of lighter version, you’ve seen a kind of jaded version, a kind of more animalistic version.”

“And the puzzle of it becomes quite satisfying, to think: Where’s my opening,” he continued. “And also, do I have anything inside me which would work if I could do it…In some ways it’s, I don’t know… It makes you a little kind of spicy.”

He admits that he tends to be quite candid in interviews too, saying this his publicist regularly asks after interviews if there are “any kind of fires” he has just set with his words.

Pattinson also talks about Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s new film that he stars in. The film remains fairly mysterious, with little revealed outside the one trailer, and Pattinson doesn’t have much to add. “Even if I had seen it, I genuinely don’t know if I’d be able to,” he says, asked to describe it. “This thing, it’s so insane,” he continues, before talking about how the crew travelled the world to shoot it. “And in each country there’s, like, an enormous set-piece scene, which is like the climax of a normal movie. In every single country.”

He also adds that the movie, despite appearances, features no time travel. “That’s, like, the one thing I’m approved to say,” he adds.

But all of these insights pale in comparison to Pattinson’s stated plans to start a pasta fast food restaurant, Piccolini Cuscino (Little Pillow). You absolutely need to read the full piece to enjoy this story the way it’s meant to be enjoyed, but it involves valuable lessons about not microwaving foil and using a lighter to burn messages into your food.

Tenet is still scheduled to hit cinemas on July 17 (although that date is looking increasingly unlikely as the COVID-19 pandemic continues), while The Batman has been delayed until October 1, 2021.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.