Saturday, January 6, 2018

News:: Epic pins 'Fortnite' server woes on Meltdown patches

The Meltdown vulnerability is bound to have far-reaching effects on the computing industry, but it's having a very tangible effect right now: it's causing chaos for multiplayer gaming. Epic Games has blamed Meltdown patches for login problems and downtime in Fortnite, pointing to the increased processor use at the third-party cloud services the battle royale game needs to run. There may be other "unexpected issues" over the next week as other services are updated, Epic said.

Via: The Verge

Source: Epic Games Forum



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News:: Fortnite will have server issues this week as Epic upgrades its servers

In the world of CPU architecture, a big problem has been going around recently called the "Meltdown CPU" exploit. This new pseudo-virus targets an exploit in the way CPUs are made that can give hackers access to things like passwords or sensitive information. The thing that truly sucks is that this exploit affects processors made from 20 years ago as well as new ones.

As such, Epic is taking precautions for its mega-popular Fortnite by upgrading the entire backend of its server infrastructure. The downside is that the game will be experiencing a lot of server issues this week.

"Unexpected issues may occur with our services over the next week as the cloud services we use are updated," reads a blog post by the Fortnite team. "We are working with our cloud service providers to prevent further issues and will do everything we can to mitigate and resolve any issues that arise as quickly as possible."

If this is your first time hearing about Meltdown or even the Spectre exploit, I recommend immediately forcing a manual Windows or MacOS update. Both major OS manufacturers have released fixes to safeguard your information, so updating should be a priority. Mozilla's Firefox browser also has an update available, while Google Chrome will be receiving one on January 23. You can read this very detailed post over on PC Gamer to find out more.

While this problem is unfortunate, at least the server issues aren't for some asinine reason. Hopefully Epic gets everything sorted quickly so people can return to the 100 man murderfest without worry.

Epic Services & Stability Update [Epic Games]

Fortnite will have server issues this week as Epic upgrades its servers screenshot



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News:: Japan gets new King of Fighters manga series

The King of Fighters franchise is no stranger to spin-offs, having seen numerous comic-books, an ongoing anime series and... erm... that live-action movie. Well, this week saw a new manga series, based on the SNK fighting franchise, launch in Japan.

The new title, King of Fighters: A New Beginning, is an adaptation of the series' latest video game release, King of Fighters XIV. The series will be delivered through the Monthly Shonen Sirius app with chapter one, Member Select, ready to check out right now.

Naturally, the manga is currently only available in Japanese. Hopefully, some kind member of the KoF community may provide translation as chapters are released. Until then, well, the pictures are pretty good...

King of Fighters XIV is available now on PS4 and PC.

Japan gets new King of Fighters manga series screenshot

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News:: PC specs released for Dragon Ball FighterZ

Bandai Namco have dropped a tweet listing the minimum and recommended PC specifications required to run their upcoming anime punch-up Dragon Ball FighterZ.

The tag-team fighter, which is now mere weeks away, is an incredibly fast and visually cluttered affair and hopefully budding Vegeta's will have rigs capable to keep the fight flowing smoothly.

The game requires Windows 7 and up, and the PC must be running a 64-bit version of its OS. RAM is pretty forgivable, with minimum only requiring 4GB of memory. When it comes to video cards and processors, DBFZ requires a little more punch compared to other ArcSys anime fighters, such as Guilty Gear Xrd or BlazBlue.

Hope all you fans have your rigs set to go, The open beta begins January 13 for those who've pre-ordered, a day later for everyone else. I'll see you in the ring when the game officially launches, January 26, on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

PC specs released for Dragon Ball FighterZ screenshot

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News:: Acer's new gaming PCs include an 18-core liquid-cooled desktop

It wouldn't be an Acer CES event without some gaming PCs, and this year the focus is on the desktop crowd. The PC maker is unveiling two systems headlined by the US release of the Predator Orion 9000, a spare-no-expense tower for dedicated gamers. If you can get past the over-the-top "look ma, I'm a gamer" styling, you'll find a lot of power under the hood. The system uses a combination of liquid cooling and a partitioned airflow system to drive some seriously high-end components with little noise and some room for overclocking, including up to an 18-core Intel Core i9, twin GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards and as much as 128GB of RAM.

Source: Acer



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News:: Review: Style Savvy: Styling Star

People on the internet like to argue that Nintendo will attempt to bury some products. Releasing a game on the 3DS after the Switch is already on the market? Nintendo must be trying to bury it. Releasing a game the same week as (insert popular title here)? Nintendo must be trying to bury it. I don’t believe that's true, however, if Nintendo were some nefarious company that intentionally tried to undermine its own products, there would be no better example of this than Style Savvy: Styling Star.

Here is a fashion game (red flag) for the 3DS (big red flag) that is only available on the eShop (bigger, redder flag) for full retail price (biggest, reddest flag) with a release date of Christmas Day (lord, you couldn’t find a flag bigger and redder than this). If Nintendo were trying to bury a game this would be how they do it.

And yet, like I said, I don’t think Nintendo would act that way. Because there is no chance somebody who works at Nintendo of America could play a game this charming and this positively radiant and think ”Nah, let’s kill it.”

Review: Style Savvy: Styling Star screenshot

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News:: Recommended Reading: Must-see TV in 2018

36 TV Shows to Watch in 2018
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic

2018's television slate is already off to a solid start, but there's a lot more good stuff to come before the year is out. The Atlantic breaks down three dozen shows to watch this year, including streaming selections from the likes of Netflix, Amazon and many more.



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News:: Review: Mega Man Pixel Tactics

Mega Man had a rough ride for a while there. Before we saw that Capcom was hard at work on Mega Man 11, there were seven long years of nothing. Instead, other talented studios and fans picked up the torch, and refused to let this once famous mascot die.

Jasco, with their Mega Man-centric adaption of Level 99 Games' Pixel Tactics, is one of those entities.

Review: Mega Man Pixel Tactics screenshot

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News:: Ecosystem sim Birthdays the Beginning headed to Nintendo Switch

Birthdays the Beginning isn't everything I hoped it would be, but it comes close. It's an ecosystem simulator in which you'll alter a sandbox world and see how life adapts, eventually even bringing humans into the picture. The game is slow-paced, methodical, and super relaxing. I truly dug it.

Following its release on PC and PlayStation 4, Birthdays is now heading to Nintendo Switch.

Today's news only concerns Japan, where the game will launch on March 29, but I would hope and expect the Switch version to come to the West this year as well. Per Gematsu, the port is said to have improvements relating to navigation, evolutionary conditions, and game tempo, plus new creatures.

I'm still holding out hope that NIS, Arc System Works, and Toybox Inc. will make a sequel.

Renka_schedule [Twitter via Gematsu]

Ecosystem sim Birthdays the Beginning headed to Nintendo Switch screenshot



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News:: The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the weekend. The next time you hear from us CES 2018 will be underway, so check out our preview one more time and check out some of the early pre-show announcements below.



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News:: Kick off the year with Splatoon 2's hilariously action packed Splatfest

To ring in the New Year, Nintendo is holding a Splatfest for Splatoon 2. Starting next week on January 12 at 8:00 pm PST, the theme this time is "Action Vs. Comedy." This event will also be a global one, so everyone around the globe will be able to partake in the festivities.

I have no idea what that category has to do with anything. While I've somewhat understood the past events, who directly compares action and comedy movies? For that matter, what about action comedy films? Do Pearl and Marina only like one or the other? They should really watch Hot Fuzz.

Kick off the year with Splatoon 2's hilariously action packed Splatfest screenshot

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