Nvidia believes that the popularity of its latest Ampere-powered GPUs isn’t solely due to the popularity of cryptocurrency mining during its latest earnings quarter.
Nvidia CFO Colette Kress participated in the Raymond James Institutional Investors Broker Conference Call, explaining that the demand for the company’s latest range of GPUs would have affected supply as much as it has even if mining didn’t become as profitable again as it has.
“Our quarter for gaming, for example, probably would have been the same with or without crypto because we’re supply constrained,” Kress explained, via WCCFTech. “So we’ll continue to watch this. We believe that our CMP product will allow us better visibility for understanding the size of crypto within our quarter.”
Nvidia is keenly aware of the demand for mining focused GPUs, however, with the company announcing a whole new range of hardware specifically for that market. CMP GPUs will be specifically designed for mining popular currencies such as Ethereum, while hashing rates on the just-released RTX 3060 have been reduced to try and ensure that only gamers are picking them up.
The classic French comic book The Adventures of Asterix is being turned into an animated Netflix series. The show will be released worldwide in 2022.
The 3D animated Asterix show will be produced in France. The showrunner will be Alain Chabat, who wrote and directed 2002’s live-action movie Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, which stands as the third highest-grossing feature film in French history. The show will be co-produced with publishers Les Editions Albert René.
The series will be based on writer René Goscinny and artist Albert Uderzo’s classic book Asterix and the Big Fight, in which the Romans organize a brawl between Gaulish chiefs, and attempt to fix the results with a magic potion. The 1971 book was previously adapted as an animated film in 1989.
In a statement, Netflix’s director of original animation Dominique Bazay said, “I have been talking with Celeste Surugue at Albert Rene for years about how to bring Asterix to Netflix. We built a great relationship of trust and mutual respect around our love for these characters.
“I’m French Canadian, and like most Francophones around the world, I grew up with Asterix, his sidekick Obelix, and loyal companion Dogmatix. I watched the animated specials and read the books religiously. If you’d told the 8-year-old me that one day I’d help bring these characters to life… I wouldn’t have believed you!”
The first Asterix book, Asterix the Gaul, was published in 1961. There were 23 books published prior to Goscinny’s death in 1977, and the series has continued with different writers and artists over the years since. There have been numerous live-action and animated films, the most recent being 2018’s Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion.
Additionally, Microsoft announced that five games are leaving Game Pass on March 15, including The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Bloodstained, and Kona. You can see the full lists of the games that are coming to Game Pass and leaving down below.
Xbox Game Pass New Additions
Week of March 1:
Madden NFL 21, March 3 (Console)
Football Manager 2021, March 4 (PC)
Football Manager 2021 Xbox Edition, March 4 (Console and PC)
NBA 2K21, March 4 (Cloud and Console)
Coming Soon:
Star Wars: Squadrons, March (Console)
NHL 21, April (Console)
Leaving Xbox Game Pass March 15
Alvastia Chronicles (Console and PC)
Astrologaster (PC)
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Console and PC)
Oculus Quest 2 will almost certainly receive support for 120Hz refresh rate in a future update, it’s only a matter of when (via TechRadar). Vice President of Facebook Reality Labs, Andrew Bosworth, confirmed by giving a thumbs up response during an Instagram Q&A to a query about whether or not Quest 2 will get the 120Hz upgrade.
UploadVR then spotted a 120Hz Refresh Support section in the Quest platform roadmap, a guide available to Quest developer accounts. It’s labeled as experimental and while the feature’s target release date is listed as March 2021, Oculus attached a medium confidence tag to the section. That means a delay could happen, and it’s uncertain when exactly Quest 2 users will get to test out 120Hz on the headset.
@ID_AA_Carmack In light of the new 120hz update, how confident are you that Quest games will be able to run at 120fps?
John Carmack, Oculus VR’s consulting CTO, confirmed on Twitter that only a couple of existing games would be modified for 120Hz and new titles could “consider it an option in their design phase.”
From Quest 2’s launch refresh rate of 72Hz, 120Hz marks a not-so-insignificant uptick in the headset’s refresh rate. In the interim, Quest 2 also received support for 90Hz in November 2020. A higher refresh rate allows for smoother and more fluid graphics, resulting in a more immersive virtual environment.
Mark Zuckerberg called Quest 2 “on track to be the first mainstream virtual reality headset” during Facebook’s Q4 2020 earnings call, citing strong Quest 2 holiday sales.
In GameSpot’s Quest 2 review, Mat Paget praised the new device for being a great improvement from Quest 1. He commented, “While it doesn’t match up with the beefiest of VR-ready PCs, it’s still able to compete with them in the experience it provides, thanks primarily to the wireless freedom it grants its user.”
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
It is a very big day for PlayStation VR, as Sony is reviving its “PSVR Spotlight” campaign to announce a total of six new VR games today, March 3. All the games are launching in 2021.
Sony will announce a new PSVR game every 30 minutes throughout the day, and Sony kicked things off with a new VR edition of a classic Bethesda game.
Doom 3 VR Edition
The first to be revealed is Doom 3 VR, which launches on March 29 for PS4 (and is backwards compatible on PS5). This game features the base Doom 3 and its expansions, Resurrection of Evil and The Lost Missions, updated for VR.
“Feel even closer to the terror with all-new VR enhancements that allow you to peer around corners, angling your shots with flashlight-mounted weapons using motion controls, 180-degree quick-turn functionality to catch demons sneaking up from behind and an immersive wrist-mounted display to track your health, armor, and ammo,” reads a line from the description.
We’ll add the other five games here in this post when they are announced.
Song In The Smoke
A new game from 17-Bit, Song in the Smoke challenges players to survive a dark and scary night. “The sun is setting, and the dense trees are casting long shadows across the forest. My fire is fading, too, its light flickering in the gloom. From the bushes, I hear a growl, low, and hungry. I have one question. How do I survive the night?” reads a line from its description.
In Song in the Smoke, players must survive in a harsh world by foraging for supplies and defending themselves from all manner of threats.
The third reveal was Fracked, a game that combines free running, skiing, and climbing.
You play as a hero who is stuck inside a mountain fracking facility and must fight against an army of enemies and “interdimensional maniacs” to escape with your life.
“We’re not going for subtlety here–it is bold, brash, and uncompromising in its vision,” Steve Watt of developer nDreams said in the game’s announcement on the PS Blog.
I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar
Next up is I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar. Coming four years after the original in 2016, the sequel was a “no-brainer,” according to project director Charlie Amis.
“Our PS VR Agents are an integral part of our community, and we can’t wait for players–both new and returning–to experience the new twists, turns, perils, and puzzles IEYTD2 has to offer,” Amis said on the PS Blog.
In the sequel, players are once again cast as a spy who must go “deep undercover” to stop an evil plan to take over the world.
“Take advantage of your telekinetic abilities in all-new environments and surroundings. Expose the diabolical plot and learn even more about Zoraxis. Risk your life for the greater good; because, remember: we expect you to die,” reads a line from the description.
Zenith
A JRPG-inspired VR MMO, Zenith is in development at the games studio Ramen VR. The game aims to blend a colorful open world with “adrenaline pumping action adventure gameplay.”
“Our game has beautiful, hand-crafted environments that you’ll spend hours getting lost in,” the developer said in a blog post. “From lush canopies in the Amarite Forest, to turquoise blue waters at the Radiant Coast, to the hyper futuristic city of Zenith itself, we’ve built a stylized fantasy world dripping with detail. Of course beautiful scenery is only one part of making Zenith feel like a living world, we’ve also invested lots of time on lore, infusing the setting with intricate details that bring it to life.”
PS Plus subscribers have had an added incentive to play GTA Online on PS4 or PS5 for a long time now, as each month has seen a deposit of a cool $1,000,000 of in-game cash placed directly into their Maze bank account every month. Usually, this cash would be made available if a player logged in but Rockstar Games has decided to change the process for landing that loyalty lump sum.
To claim your cash, you’ll now need to go into the PlayStation Store and grab the bonus as a free gift when the new system kicks in on April 1. Once claimed, the cash will still be instantly deposited into your game account, Rockstar explained in a blog post.
GTA Online has grown massively in the years since it was released, evolving across two generations of Xbox and PlayStation consoles with the regular addition of new vehicles, mission types, heists, and more. It’ll be getting ready to make a leap onto PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X later this year as a standalone release, similar to how Red Dead Online has been split off from Red Dead Redemption 2. Grand Theft Auto V won’t be left behind in last-gen though, as it’ll also be transitioning to new-gen consoles alongside it.
While a graphical upgrade is one of the new features coming to GTA Online when it arrives on new consoles, reduced loading times is also one of the more requested updates that fans have been asking for. One modder has figured out how to significantly reduce GTA Online’s long loading times on PC, and while the method is still just a proof of concept for now, the improvement makes for a noticeable difference.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
EA is offering a new size of DLC content for The Sims 4, called Kits. As opposed to the big Game Packs and the smaller Stuff Packs, Kits are “bite-size” bits of content that add some new items or features of their own. Three Kits are available so far, costing $5 apiece.
The three initial packs are the throwback fit kit, country kitchen kit, and bust the dust kit. Those include 1990s-style workout clothes, some nice kitchen cabinetry, and vaccuums to clean up actual, literal dust bunnies. You can check them out in the trailer below.
EA promises more kits will be coming, though they won’t be dropped in big batches like these three. This effectively adds a new tier to Sims 4 content, as Stuff Packs cost roughly $10 and the larger Game Packs are usually $20.
The Sims 4 was first released in 2014, but it’s become a long-term success for EA on the strength of its post-launch support. The game has added tons of DLC adding everything from paranormal events to Star Wars. The series as a whole recently celebrated its 21st anniversary by introducing player-created items.
March is Women’s History Month and 343 Industries is celebrating the occasion by giving all Halo: The Master Chief Collection players a special nameplate.
The nameplate depicts Spartan Kat, who was part of Noble Team during the events of Halo: Reach. “Wear it with pride, Spartans!” 343 said. All you have to do is log into The Master Chief Collection during March to get the nameplate.
Be sure to log into MCC at any time during the month of March in order to add the Women’s History Month Nameplate, featuring Spartan Kat, into your armory!
The Season 6 update is now available for Halo Insider members. Given that the content is now being tested by the public, it likely won’t be long until Season 6 arrives for everyone.
There has been a lot of Halo news lately; check out the stories linked below to catch up with the latest developments across the franchise.
GameOn, Amazon’s mobile gaming capture app, has come to iOS after dropping on Android last November, and Amazon is looking to make it big. As reported by TechCrunch, the app allows users to capture gameplay clips from mobile games, which can then be saved to a library and posted publicly on the GameOn sharing platform.
Despite also being owned by Amazon, GameOn is completely separate to Twitch, with different branding and seperate user accounts. With in-built capture, editing tools, and a public highlight feed, GameOn looks to be more like a gaming-specific take on TikTok than it is a mobile version of Twitch. Clips made within GameOn are also designed to be shared outside the app “via social media services or by sending direct links to friends.”
Amazon is hoping to build its userbase by partnering with streamers who will focus on mobile gaming content for the app. It’s also publicizing a series of “weekly challenges” for GameOn users, with the winners gaining more exposure on the app’s main feeds. An example challenge for PUBG Mobile reads: “Let’s see the most destruction with a vehicle in 1 minute!” You can check out GameOn’s highlight page here, without downloading the app.
Amazon says its app is integrated with over 1000 mobile games for screen capture, while users can also add an optional Facecam recording to their capture. GameOn is available now on both iOS and Android via Google Play or the Amazon Appstore.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
