Ahead Of CES 2019, HTC Vive Teases New VR Products

Prior to CES 2019, HTC tweeted an image of some of the new VR gear that it’s bringing to the tech event. All of the products are boxed away in their cases, so it’s still a mystery as to what HTC will be announcing.

In the tweet, there are some hints–both in the image and the accompanying text–that shed some light on what might be announced though. The tweet refers to the new announcements as “gear” so HTC is probably focusing on Vive hardware reveals for CES this year. And although HTC blurred the logos on the cases in the image, they’re not completely ineligible. CNET believes one of the cases says “Vive Port” and another reads “Vive Gloves” or “Vive Cloud.” We’ll have to wait for CES to find out for sure, however.

First held in New York City in 1967, CES became an annual Las Vegas event in 1998. Usually a series of presentations for upcoming technological and electronic products, CES covers everything from 3D printing to robotics. As seen at CES 2018, the event has become a great place to try out the latest in PC tech, test VR headsets, and experiment with new ways to play retro games.

CES 2019 will be held January 8-11.

Destiny 2 Black Armory Farming For God-Roll Weapons

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LG Is Bringing Giant 8K TVs To CES 2019

CES 2019 in Las Vegas is still a few days away, but you won’t have to wait until the trade show starts on January 8 to get a load of what LG has to offer. The electronics maker has already put out a press release about at least some of what it means to show off in Vegas–and it’s mostly big, powerful TVs.

LG put out a press release detailing the big improvements to its TV sets it means to show off at CES this year. Specifically, the company is introducing its new ThinQ AI, a “deep learning algorithm” that looks to make content look and sound as good as possible on your LG TV, no matter what’s going on in the room you’re watching in.

ThinQ makes use of the Alpha 9 Gen 2 processor in LG’s newer sets and “recognizes content source quality and determines the best upgrade method for optimal visual output,” according to LG’s press release. It’ll also use the TV’s ambient light sensor to take into account conditions in the room it’s in, adjusting screen brightness and refining the way it displays HDR content to make sure scenes and images are always clear. ThinQ is also supposed to be able to improve sound quality, mixing up two-channel audio to make it sound like 5.1 surround sound.

While LG hopes to interest customers with the under-the-hood improvements to its sets, it’s the size and resolution that are likely to wow anyone headed to Vegas. The Alpha 9 Gen 2 and ThinQ are in a number of LG’s new set models, most notably its huge 88-inch 8K Z9 OLED TV and 75-inch 8K LCD TV (model SM99). The LG is also continuing its partnership with Amazon in 2019, with all its new ThinQ models featuring support for Alexa, Amazon’s voice-controlled personal assistant app.

You can read more about what LG is bringing to CES in its press release. Other potential hints and teasers are starting to trickle in about what else might show up in Las Vegas during the show, starting with HTC tweeting a photo suggesting new products in its Vive VR line. Stay tuned for all our CES coverage during the show, which runs from January 8 to 11.

Biggest-Selling Games Of 2018 Revealed (UK)

The UK’s best-selling physical video games of 2018 have been revealed, with the usual suspects leading the charts. FIFA 19 came out on top, selling just under 1.9m units.

Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 was the second-biggest seller, shifting 1.75m copies, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 found its way into 1.2m UK homes, placing it at No.3. Sales monitor GfK Chart-Track says the PS4 exclusive Spider-Man–which finished at No.4 in the overall chart–sold more copies than any other exclusive game in 2018. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (No.5), God of War (No.8), and Forza Horizon 4 (No.9) were the other exclusive games to sell well.

Overall, video games now generate more revenue than any other entertainment medium in the UK. The games market has more than doubled in value since 2007, with a large portion of that growth coming from digital sources such as DLC and microtransactions. Digital sales make up over 80% of the UK games market.

“The games industry has been incredibly effective in taking advantage of the potential of digital technology to offer new and compelling forms of entertainment, said CEO of the Entertainment Retailers Association, Kim Bayley. “Despite being the youngest of our three sectors, it is now by far the biggest.”

Take a look at the top 20 biggest-selling boxed games of 2018 below. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.

Position Title Company Physical Unit Sales

1

FIFA 19

Electronic Arts

1,889,401

2

Red Dead Redemption 2

Take 2

1,757,212

3

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4

Activision Blizzard

1,172,855

4

Marvel’s Spider-Man

Sony Computer Ent.

676,621

5

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Nintendo

458,675

6

Far Cry 5

Ubisoft

434,133

7

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

Activision Blizzard

430,551

8

God Of War

Sony Computer Ent.

399,395

9

Forza Horizon 4

Microsoft

392,960

10

FIFA 18

Electronic Arts

351,788

11

Grand Theft Auto V

Take 2

339,805

12

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Activision Blizzard

333,725

13

Battlefield V

Electronic Arts

313,100

14

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Ubisoft

305,937

15

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Nintendo

284,155

16

Super Mario Odyssey

Nintendo

240,710

17

Call Of Duty: WWII

Activision Blizzard

230,576

18

Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!

Nintendo

227,767

19

Shadow Of The Tomb Raider

Square Enix / Microsoft

226,125

20

Fallout 76

Bethesda Softworks

218,534

‘Dark Fluid’ Could Bridge the Gap Between Dark Matter and Dark Energy

The topic of dark matter and dark energy has been unraveling for years, as 95% of the universe is made up of the unknown, invisible material that astrophysicists are not able to fully understand.

In a new study from astrophysicist, Jamie Farnes, from Oxford’s e-Research Centre at the University of Oxford and published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, there may be a modification to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, bringing both dark matter and dark energy into one fluid, negative mass.

Farnes explains that even though dark matter is invisible, it employs a gravitational force on nearby matter that can then be measured. Dark energy on the other hand is a repulsive force that counteracts gravity and makes the universe expand at a much greater rate.

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Upcoming PC Games Confirmed for 2019

Every year is a great year for PC gaming, but 2019’s list is already an impressive one. With more and more games making their way to PC, here’s a look at the biggest upcoming games we know are almost certainly coming in 2019:

Anthem

Release Date: February 22

Bioware’s mech-suit shared world RPG will jet boost its way into our houses at the start of the year. It’s basically a PvE shooter where everyone is in a customizable Iron Man suit flying around an alien world, which is about a good a pitch as I can think of.

Battletoads

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Daily Deals: Octopath Traveler for $41.99 and More Nintendo Switch Games

Welcome to IGN’s Daily Deals, your source for the best deals on the stuff you actually want to buy. If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

I bring you the best deals I’ve found today on video games, hardware, electronics, and a bunch of random stuff too. Check them out here or like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter to get the latest deals.

octopathtravelerOctopath Traveler (Nintendo Switch Digital) for $41.99

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Batman Gets Ticked at Superman for Betraying His Trust

DC Comics’ Heroes in Crisis #4 from writer Tom King and artist Clay Mann delivered a stunning twist that looks like it’s going to rock both the foundations of the DC Universe and the relationships between the trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.

Warning: full spoilers for Heroes in Crisis ahead!

Heroes in Crisis is based around DC’s heroes trying to solve the case of a mass killing at a secret treatment center for superheroes called Sanctuary. As of this issue, forensic scientist Flash believes the killer is Booster Gold while world’s greatest detective Batman think it’s Harley Quinn, but getting closer to the identity of the killer isn’t what caused all the hubbub.

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