The Xbox One is More Powerful Than You Think

Did you know the Xbox one's CPU is actually more powerful than the PS4? It's just the graphics card that has less gflops of computing power; but you know what? Xbox has DirectX 12. This will let developers utilize the beefier CPU of the Xbox while reducing the strain on the GPU.

It's almost as if Microsoft knew this would eventually happen because at the last minute they decided to put in a more powerful CPU.

You may be wondering:

"What will the Xbox One be able to do with DirectX 12 and how??"

Well here's what you will see have an increase:

• Draw distance
• Frame Rate
• Light sources
• Big performance gains

How is this possible, you may be thinking.

It's all down to How DirectX 12 works. Normally with DirectX 11 the CPU cores could only talk to ONE GPU core at a time. This is why even with multi threaded games you still would have core 0 at max power while the others would be much, much lower. Now with DirectX 12 all the CPU cores and GPU cores can communicate all at once, thus utilizing all the power of all the cores if needed (see graph below) This will be a tremendous gain in speed which translates directly into a frame rate bump; and a slight reduction to stuttering. 

Less calls to the cores means a better draw distance because you don't have to wait for each gpu to start rendering it. They can all be rendering it at once because the CPU will be telling all the GPU cores to start rendering at once.

Here's a big one though: light sources. Photo realism in video games hinges on light sources, scattering light, and diffusing light. With directX 11 developers are stuck with only 4 light sources! That is insane! Developers have some tricks to get the most out of that, but 4 isn't even close to enough for photo realistic games. That's where DirectX 12 comes in. DirectX 12 will give us "Limitless light sources" according to Anandtech.

DirectX 12 will give the Xbox One a HUGE performance increase. Some sources say 30% some say 50%. They are going off of one thing or another that DirectX 12 is and not looking at the whole picture. DirectX 12 is a huge leap in performance and we don't know exactly how much better our games will be but I can tell you getting games to 60fps will be easier, games will look stunning, and Xbox owners will be very satisfied.

For more info check out these videos by THE RED DRAGON:

Windows 10: One OS To Rule Them All

Windows 10 is truly the most amazing operating system EVER. It will not connect all your devices, but it will marry them together using what they call continuum. This is great because now you will be able to use your computer, tablet, and even your phone in the same exact way for every one of your apps. The UI looks the same because it IS the same. This has MASSIVE rippling effects on all your devices. Now you can connect a mouse and keyboard to your tablet of phone and use it as a desktop! How? Because they ARE desktops.
The same goes for your PC. if your shrink down your window size, the program will shift to the smaller screen view (phone view). Your monitor could potentially augment having multiple phones on one monitor!

You might be asking well what does this have to do with gaming? Simple: your Xbox One and Hololens will have windows 10 so you could use them like a gaming device, PC, Tablet, or Phone. It is the exact same code for EVERY device. This also means that you can play your videogames on whichever screen you want; console, PC, tablets, and (with Tegra X1) phones.
This is great news for anyone who has a TV and a monitor because now you can play your games on whichever screen you want.
The new DirectX 12 will also give the Xbox One a slight bump in graphics. This is due to more efficient manipulation of the CPU and GPU, as well as giving developers access to resources that were locked off in the previous versions of DirectX. So The graphics bump will only happen depending on the game engine used, and the developer's abilities.

This is only the beginning though. In the near future you will need only ONE device for work, home, and play: your phone.
Nvidia has already proven to us that you can use a phone for full-fledged video games. Now Microsoft has proven that you can use your phone as a desktop. So EXPECT to see an all in one phone announced in 2016 and I can promise you I will cover it on this blog...stay tuned.

Xbox Rolls Out A New App For Making Friends

Xbox has new app Overdog is the new way of making friends to play games with.

What do you do when you get a new game that none of your friends play?  If the game doesn't have matchmaking, then you're stuck playing single player.  Overdog will change this. You tell the app your interests, and it will find other players with the same interests as you. So now when you're playing with these new friends you can talk about the same things you like instead of awkward silence.

We are currently taking submissions for articles. If you want to write an article for the group then message it to our Facebook page.

Virtual Reality and the gamer

Virtual reality is a hot topic these days amongst gamers. Whenever people talk about VR,  the first device always referred to as an example is the Oculus Rift. well I'm not going to do that, instead I'm going to talk about the other lesser-known virtual reality experiences out there.

Many people want to try out virtual reality but because the Oculus Rift is always at the forefront they think that in order to "get the experience" you have to shell out hundreds of dollars. Here is where Google cardboard comes in.

All you need is some cheap lenses, some cardboard, & a phone. Kits can be bought on Amazon for a very low price. Anywhere from $4 up to $40, depending on the quality of lenses.
With the cardboard you can watch movies in a virtual theater. The screen looks like it is the size of a real movie theater screen!
You can also play virtual reality games, but I would strongly suggest having an Android controller like the Moga.

You might be thinking, "so that's the cheapest option, but what is the best? The Oculus right?". The answer is surprisingly no! The pc gaming giant Valve and HTC have teamed up and are making the best VR headset. 

Their headset, called the "Vive", has a native resolution of 1200x1080, 70 sensors, and a 90Hz refresh rate! But here's the best part: instead of using camera tracking, like the Oculus does, the Vive instead uses built in lasers for positional tracking. This means that you can stand up and walk around your room and you will walk around in-game (Valve suggests using a 15 X 15 ft room).

The Vive will release late 2015 and will likely cost between 250 and 350 dollars.

So there you have it! The cheapest and the best. Which one are you going to buy, if any?

DLC Has Become A Joke.

DLC, or DownLoadable Content, for video games have become garbage.

DLC use to be the thing everyone wanted. You buy a game, play it, and love it. Then what? You keep replaying it until a similar game comes around, or maybe you get a second game! Then DLC comes along and says,"Hey! Instead of playing this game for the fourth time, here is a continuation. Or here is some new maps, game types, and guns. Just toss us a little money and were good".

Now DLC has become a nightmare. Developers plan to take part of the full game they created, cut it out, and sell it off to you for almost the price of a new game. WHY AREN'T THEY PUTTING THESE THINGS INTO THE GAME YOU BOUGHT? Developers are selling you "DLC" before the game even hits the store shelves!!!! "Hey, you can buy the game, OR you can buy the Season Pass!"

WTF?!?! Do these developers even have a concept of the words "Downloadable Content"?

So here is the proposition. Boycott all paid DLC, unless it's 10 bucks. Otherwise these big-name titles like Call Of Duty will keep F**king us over with their sh*tty $50 DLC that's only worth 10.

What other titles will jump on this DLC bandwagon? No one if we all just don't buy it...