| Interview with Elite Dangerous CEO David Braben Posted: 05 Dec 2014 04:10 PM PST  Game will support 4K and 16K
Elite: Dangerous is almost upon us and we are excited considering that the game was one of our most anticipated PC games of 2014. Created by Frontier Developments, the sci-fi combat simulator is the fourth installment in the Elite game franchise that also features trading and space exploration in a 1:1 scale of our own universe. Maximum PC had the opportunity to interview Frontier Developments CEO David Braben, courtesy of Online Managing Editor Jimmy Thang. Braben, who founded Frontier Developments back in 1994, talked about how the game's setting is a recreation of our universe and, when asked about how the universe in the game is modeled after our own, he replied, "Every single star in the night sky, that you can see, is in the game. Even the really faint ones. So we can see 6,000-7,000 in the night sky and they are all in the game. So are the full 160,000 that we got from star catalogues and other sources." The interview goes on to cover other topics such as what gamers can do in the game, virtual reality support, whether or not a person can become stranded while exploring, why the developer decided to have the game support 16K, and Develop Frontiers' decision to do regarding playing single player offline. "We found it increasingly difficult to do, and I think this has upset some people, is the wholly offline play," Braben replied when asked about the single player campaign. "The game was still going to be downloaded, but the ability to play wholly offline is something we found increasingly difficult to offer." Be sure to watch the entire interview for his full explanation about the company's apporach to the single player campaign and let us know what you think of the interview in the comment section below. Follow Sean on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Graphics Porn (Holiday 2014): Wreckfest, Unity, Call of Duty, and More Posted: 05 Dec 2014 12:31 PM PST  Showcasing the sexiest, most photogenic game screenshots this side of the Internet
It's the holiday season, which means that gamers everywhere will soon sit down and soon have a chance to catch up on their massive backlogs. To commemorate the occasion, we've compiled a gallery of spectacular screenshots to get your gaming taste buds going. We've reached out to members of r/GamerPorn to fill out the submissions for the this month's Graphics Porn. Whether you've been following our handy-dandy guide on how to capture beautiful-looking game screens or simply print-screening some beautiful wallpaper-worthy game moments, we want to be able to share your captured works of art with the world. If you think you can do better than the pictures submitted below, please email your screenshots to mpcgraphicsporn@gmail.com so we can show them off. Make sure to include the name of the game, a title for the screenshot, and a description of what's happening on-screen. |
| July 2014: Tech Sneak Peek Posted: 05 Dec 2014 12:22 PM PST  In the PDF archive of the July 2014 issue, you can find:
- Tech Sneak Peek
- Antivirus roundup
- Laptop Backpacks roundup
- Sapphire R9 290 Vapor-X OC
- How To: Become a Twitch TV Star
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| Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair Flash Voyager Go 64GB, Acer 21.5-inch LED Monitor, and More! Posted: 05 Dec 2014 10:51 AM PST |
| Endurance Test Shows Your SSD Might Have Legs to Last 1,000 Years Posted: 05 Dec 2014 10:30 AM PST  Examining the lifespan of SSDs
Solid state storage (SSD) drives are relative newcomers to the storage scene compared to media like mechanical hard disk drives. So the question remains, are SSDs reliable? Barring a time machine and enough plutonium to keep it running, it's a tough question to answer. In the absence of a DoLorean equipped to race back and forth in time, the next best way to test SSDs for endurance is to bombard them with writes. Turns out such a test is taking place with two SSDs having survived 2 petabytes of write tests so far. The curious folk at TechReport started endurance testing a batch of SSDs a year ago. They started off with SSDs from the Corsair Neutron Series GTX, Intel 335 Series, Kingston HyperX 3K, and Samsung 840 Series. The two that are left standing are the Kingston and Samsung drives, both of which have surpassed 2 petabytes of writes and are still going strong. To give you an idea of longevity, most consumer SSDs will process up to a couple of terabytes every few years. To write 2 petabytes of data under normal use scenarios, you'd be looking at about 1,000 years. Luck of the draw plays a factor, as TechReport's first HyperX 3K SSD died after reaching 728TB. Nevertheless, that's a lot of data, and like the other four drives that died during the endurance test, it "vastly" exceeded its official endurance specifications. "More importantly, the drives all survived far more writes than most users are likely to generate. Typical consumers shouldn't worry about exceeding the endurance of modern SSDs," TechReport writes. Granted, this is just one test and the sample size is pretty small to draw definitive conclusions from, but the results are certainly promising. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Dying Light Isn't a Game for Wimpy Systems Posted: 05 Dec 2014 09:55 AM PST  Minimum and recommeded specs for Dying Light
If you're planning to play Dying Light when it releases to the public next month, hopefully you were able to take advantage of the various Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and upgrade your PC. Publisher Warner Bros. Entertainment posted the minimum and recommended specs of Dying Light on Steam -- they're fairly heavy, especially the recommended portion, which calls for an Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 or AMD Radeon R9 290 graphics card. Let's start with the minimum specs, which are a bit more manageable (though still calls for something much newer than that Barton system you pridefully built several years ago): - OS: Windows 7 64-bit / Windows 8 64-bit / Windows 8.1 64-bit
- Processor: Intel Core i5 2500 @ 3.3GHz / AMD FX-8320 @ 3.5GHz
- Memory: 4GB RAM DDR3
- Hard Drive: 40GB free space
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 / AMD Radeon HD 6870
- DirectX: Version 11
- Sound: DirectX compatible
And here's a look at the much burlier recommended specs: - OS: Windows 7 64-bit / Windows 8 64-bit / Windows 8.1 64-bit
- Processor: Intel Core i5 4670K @ 3.4GHz / AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0GHz
- Memory: 8GB RAM DDR3
- Hard Drive: 40GB free space
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 / AMD Radeon R9 290
- DirectX: Version 11
- Sound: DirectX compatible
In addition, WB posted a somewhat disheartening warning for mobile gamers saying that laptop versions of graphics cards may work but are not officially supported. Dying Light is a first-person action survival game set in a vast open world. It's set to release on January 27, 2015, though you can place your pre-order now on Steam for $60. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Capcom Lets Slip Street Fighter V is Exclusive to Windows PC and PlayStation 4 Posted: 05 Dec 2014 09:02 AM PST  PC gamers (and PS4 players) get first dibs on Street Fighter V
Being a PC gamer doesn't come without the occasional indignity, likely crappy console ports and being left out of the equation altogether. Thankfully it's not always like that, and it certainly won't be that way when Street Fighter V comes out, or so it seems. How do we know? Capcom posted a game trailer revealing that Street Fighter V will launch exclusively to Windows PCs and the PlayStation 4. Apparently we weren't supposed to be privy to that information just yet, as Capcom yanked the trailer offline. However, this is the Internet we're talking about, a hostile place for secrets without a true undo button. As such, you can still view the trailer, just not at its original location. Some of the mirror locations have been taken down due to copyright claims, though at the time of this writing, it's still available for viewing at Polygon. The exclusive trailer was first picked up by a forum member at NeoGAF. The question is, what does exclusive mean (to Capcom)? It's not clear if Street Fighter V will only be released to PC and PS4, or if the publisher is just referring to an initial launch. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Samsung Galaxy S5 Made Tastier with Android 5.0 Lollipop Posted: 05 Dec 2014 08:31 AM PST  Lollipop lands in record time
The one catch with Android is that it sometimes takes a long time for new builds to trickle down to handsets that Google isn't in direct control of. That's been the case with Samsung's Galaxy handsets as well, though surprisingly, Android 5.0 Lollipop is already being unwrapped on the Galaxy S5. We say "surprisingly" because this is the first time Samsung has pushed out a major new update this soon since being released. Google's finished code for Lollipop was made available on November 4th. Here a month later, it's installed on less than 1 percent of all Android devices -- not enough to even be included on Google's pie chart for Android builds. Nevertheless, SamMobile says the newest code has been rolling out to Galaxy S5 owners in Poland and should start appearing in other European countries shortly. Hopefully the U.S. market isn't far behind. Paring Android 5.0 with the Galaxy S5 meshes the best version of Google's open source operating system to date with arguably the best Android handset on the market. Android 5.0 brings with it an overhauled UI, a brand new lockscreen, better battery management, and several other improvements that make it a desirable upgrade. It's the biggest upgrade to Android since Ice Cream Sandwich. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Asus Teases Matrix Platinum GTX 980 Graphics Card in Pictures Posted: 05 Dec 2014 08:05 AM PST  Early look at Asus' upcoming graphics card
Asus Republic of Gamers (ROG) says that online reviews of its new Matrix Platinum GTX 980 graphics card will hit the web next week, though in the meantime, it's providing a couple of press photos for an early look. The graphics card maker also revealed some specs about the high-end card, including the fact that it boasts a custom PCB with a 14-phase Super Alloy Power VRM and Black Metallic capacitors. This is a card that LN2 enthusiasts might be interested in, as it sports a memory defroster. Overclockers will also appreciate its safe mode feature for when things go wrong, along with things like the ROG color-coded load indicator and ROG Edition GPU Tweak. For those who don't plan to go crazy with LN2, the card will keep its cool with Asus ROG's DirectCU II cooler with CoolTech fan and 10mm matte-black heat pipes. Oddly enough, Asus didn't reveal the GPU's base clockspeed, though did say its boost clock is configured for 1,342MHz, up from Nvidia's reference clock of 1,216MHz. The 4GB of GDDR5 memory is set at 7,010MHz (effective), same as reference. 
Finally, the card will feature three DisplayPort connectors, along with HDMI and dual-link DVI-I display outputs. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
