REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - May 23, 2013 - Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), today announced Need for Speed Rivals, an action/racing game created by an inspired new development team, using a powerful engine and delivering next-generation gameplay. Need for Speed Rivals is being developed by EA's newest studio Ghost Games, who bring new thinking and innovation to the Need for Speed franchise in partnership with the expert racing team at Criterion Games. Built on the Frostbite 3 game engine, Need for Speed Rivals captures the adrenaline and intensity of the street's ultimate rivalry between cops and racers, in a stunning open road environment. Need for Speed Rivals is coming to Xbox 360 game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and PC on November 19, 2013 and will also be released on Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PlayStation 4 later this year.

In Need for Speed Rivals, gamers play as either a cop or racer, where each side of the law has its own set of high stakes challenges, rewards and consequences. As a racer, the goal is to become infamous for taking risks behind the wheel and capturing your most intense escapes on video for the world to see. The more cops players evade, the more Speed Points they collect, enabling them to unlock new cars and items. Keep raising the stakes race after race to become an ever-more valuable target to the cops – but risk losing it all if busted. As a cop, players work together as part of a team in pursuit of racers, earning prominence and rising in the ranks of the Police Force with every bust. Achieving higher ranks unlocks new police only cars and more powerful pursuit tech.

In terms of acoustics, the GeForce GTX 780 is simply awesome. It is easily among the quietest high-end graphics cards we have ever tested. Period. End of story. In real world conditions, the GeForce GTX 780 is somewhat quieter under load than a GTX 680 and is much quieter than a Radeon HD 7970.

Part of the reason for the 780's great acoustics is a new fan speed control alogorithm NVIDIA developed. For the GeForce GTX 780, NVIDIA developed a new fan controller that uses an adaptive temperature filter with an RPM and temperature targeted control algorithm to eliminate unnecessary fan fluctuations that contribute to fan noise. The end result is fewer fan speed fluctuations and a "smoother" acoustic profile.

The performance of the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 graphics card is somewhat mixed in my view. In some cases the GK110 GPU with 2,304 CUDA cores is able to stand out from the Radeon HD 7970 GHz that currently sits on the "not ridiculously priced" graphics card throne and in other cases, it doesn't. Even if we take away the 1920x1080 resolution from our analysis, since no one buying a $650 graphics card should be thinking about buying it if they are only using a single 1080p display, there are some cases where you have to question the performance gaps. At 2560x1600, the GTX 780 is 15% faster in Battlefield 3, 22% faster in Crysis 3, 2% faster in DiRT 3, 18% faster in Far Cry 3, 23% faster in Skyrim and about 1% faster in Sleeping Dogs. Even at 5760x1080, the performance advantage never gets past 21%. For a $220 up charge, that might not seem like huge performance increases.

Interestingly, there is more and more frame time variance creeping up into the results with the GTX 780 and the GTX Titan. This is due to the surge in CPU bottlenecks that occur when you add more and more GPU horsepower to the system. NVIDIA's frame metering technology can really only alleviate the issue when the GPU is the primary bottleneck, so when the other components cause the problem NVIDIA is mostly helpless. AMD's setup seems to have the other problem - when the GPU is the primary bottleneck CrossFire just can't get out of its own way.

In many ways, the GTX 780 is being positioned as a "flagship" device much like the GeForce GTX 690/GTX Titan and the Radeon HD 7990. NVIDIA seems to say "sure it is expensive, but aren't you worth it?" Appealing to enthusiasts' pride is definitely effective and will likely temp quite a few GeForce fans and people that want the best card they can get that is NOT $1000.

If you want talk in terms of percentages, the GTX 780 will run you 44% more than the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and 47% more than the GTX 680. None of the single card performance results show us a difference in frame rate and gaming experience that quite match up to that so what are we left with? NVIDIA does have better acoustics, they do have better thermals and power consumption, the cards look better (but that is a personal choice) and I do believe that the software stack NVIDIA has is better. From drivers, to multi-GPU support to the new GeForce Experience software, NVIDIA is definitely continuing to invest in PC gaming even if its not on the bundle side.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 isn't the fastest single GPU graphics card on the planet, the GTX Titan is. It isn't the best value in terms of frames per dollar either, that belongs to the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. Instead the GTX 780 sits firmly in between being the best value option and the "best" option so I find it hard to decide who should actually buy it. With a $650 price tag, it doesn't quite hit the "ludicrous" rate of the GTX Titan, GTX 690 and the HD 7990 but the price hike from the GTX 680 and the HD 7970 is not insignificant.

NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 780 is a much harder sell than any previous GeForce launch even though it isn't a bad card in any way. Is it faster than the GTX 680? Yes. Is it faster than the HD 7970? Yup. Is it less expensive than the GTX Titan? Indeed. Those answers, alone, will sell lots of them; but, it can't win the performance per dollar argument that even enthusiasts pay attention to.

Microsoft has filed for a Kinect-related patent, and it’s a doozy of an application. The abstract describes a camera-based system that would monitor the number of viewers in a room and check to see if the number of occupants exceeded a certain threshold set by the content provider. If there are too many warm bodies present, the device owner would be prompted to purchase a license for a greater number of viewers.

No, really. It’s that blunt. From the abstract: "The users consuming the content on a display device are monitored so that if the number of user-views licensed is exceeded, remedial action may be taken."

It’s refreshing to see Microsoft eschewing its play-nice-with-everyone approach to business for some old-fashioned, straight-up evil. The patent’s various claims can endow a device with a limited number of performances in a given period of time, a limited number of users allowed to view such performances, and the continuous monitoring of viewers during those performances. It also covers the determination of "when performance of the content to an identified user exceeds a threshold."

The really interesting thing about this patent is that it suggests that copyright holders are allowed to govern performances in otherwise private dwellings. The application describes how the patent could be applied to head-mounted devices, large screens, gaming and media products, computers, and even mobile phones. Clearly, this isn’t just a method for cracking down on illicit big-screen viewings of movies and television that might plausibly be called a public performance.

Performance Boost - Increases performance by up to 20% for GeForce 400/500/600 series GPUs in several PC games vs. GeForce 314.22 WHQL-certified drivers. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration. Here is one example of measured gains:

Additional Details

Installs PhysX System Software 9.12.1031.

Installs HD Audio v1.3.24.2

Includes support for applications built using CUDA 5.5 or earlier version of the CUDA Toolkit. More information at http://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-toolkit

Supports OpenGL 4.3 for GeForce 400-series and later GPUs.

Supports DisplayPort 1.2 for GeForce GTX 600 series GPUs.

Supports multiple languages and APIs for GPU computing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran, OpenCL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP.

Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel and AMD motherboards.

Dying Light is a first-person, action survival horror game set in a vast and dangerous open world. During the day, players traverse an expansive urban environment overrun by a vicious outbreak, scavenging the world for supplies and crafting weapons to defend against the growing infected population. At night, the hunter becomes the hunted, as the infected become aggressive and more dangerous. Most frightening are the predators which only appear after sundown. Players must use everything in their power to survive until the morning's first light.

Survive the Night - During the day, players roam free and scavenge for supplies and weapons. But at night, the world undergoes a deadly transformation: the hunter becomes the hunted as the infected grow more aggressive and numerous, and something far more sinister awakens to stalk its prey.
Free Running Movement - Whether tracking prey or escaping predators, Dying Light lets players swiftly navigate the world by seamlessly leaping between buildings, grappling up walls and pouncing on unsuspecting enemies.
Welcome to the Quarantine - Dying Light is set in a vast open world, delivering expansive and varied environments, a wide variety of enemy classes and a hopeless tale of survival where resources are scarce and the infected are not the only threat.
Brutal Melee and Ranged Combat - get up-close using a variety of light and heavy weapons including knives, bats, axes, sledgehammers and more exotic weaponry or utilize guns and other firepower to take down enemies from a distance.
Choose Your Play Style - Dying Light features four playable characters that can be fully customized and upgraded to match any play style.
Craft Your Weapon - Why use a wrench when you can use a wrench wrapped in electrified barb wire? Dying Light's sizeable crafting system enables players to create a slew of new, more potent weapons and equipment, as well as specialized ammunition.
Breathtaking Visuals and Gameplay - Dying Light is the first game powered by Chrome Engine 6, a cutting edge incarnation of Techland's proprietary technology, designed from the ground up for the new console generation, DirectX 11 and other advanced solutions.

It's nearly impossible for the Xbox One not to be a substantial upgrade over the Xbox 360. The fact that Microsoft could ship a single integrated SoC instead of a multi-chip CPU+GPU solution this generation is telling enough. You don't need to integrate anywhere near the fastest CPUs and GPUs to outperform the Xbox 360, something closer to the middle of the road works just fine.

Microsoft won't have any issues delivering many times the performance of the Xbox 360. The Xbox One features far more compute power and memory bandwidth than the Xbox 360. Going to 8GB of RAM is also a welcome upgrade, especially since it's identical to what Sony will ship on the PlayStation 4. As AMD is supplying relatively similar x86 CPU and GCN GPU IP to both consoles, porting between them (and porting to PCs) should be far easier than ever before. The theoretical performance comparison between the two next-gen consoles is where things get a bit sticky.

Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. We'll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that it's usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms.

On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques.

Differences in the memory subsytems also gives us some insight into each approach to the next-gen consoles. Microsoft opted for embedded SRAM + DDR3, while Sony went for a very fast GDDR5 memory interface. Sony's approach (especially when combined with a beefier GPU) is exactly what you'd build if you wanted to give game developers the fastest hardware. Microsoft's approach on the other hand looks a little more broad. The Xbox One still gives game developers a significant performance boost over the previous generation, but also attempts to widen the audience for the console. It's a risky strategy for sure, especially given the similarities in the underlying architectures between the Xbox One and PS4. If the market for high-end game consoles has already hit its peak, then Microsoft’s approach is likely the right one from a business standpoint. If the market for dedicated high-end game consoles hasn’t peaked however, Microsoft will have to rely even more on the Kinect experience, TV integration and its exclusive franchises to compete.

Arguably the most interesting thing in all of this is the dual-OS + hypervisor software setup behind the Xbox One. With the Windows kernel running alongside the Xbox OS, I wonder how much of a stretch it would be to one day bring the same setup to PCs. Well before the Xbox One hits the end of its life, mainstream PC APUs will likely be capable of delivering similar performance. Imagine a future Surface tablet that was capable of doing everything your Xbox One can do. That's really the trump card in all of this. The day Microsoft treats Xbox as a platform and not a console is the day that Apple and Google have a much more formidable competitor. Xbox One at least gets the software architecture in order, then we need PC/mobile hardware to follow suit and finally for Microsoft to come to this realization and actually make it happen. We already have the Windows kernel running on phones, tablets, PCs and the Xbox, now we just need the Xbox OS across all platforms as well.

LONDON UK. – 22nd May, 2013 – Experience the legendary adrenaline pumping action as Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announces Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition for PC. Windows PC players can now face-off with Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition, named the Fighting Game of the Year by Spike TV at the 2011 Video Game Awards.

Players enter the realm to face the Kombatants in Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition for PC , delivering all of the downloadable content (DLC), including intrepid warriors Skarlet, Kenshi and Rain, as well as the notorious dream stalker Freddy Krueger. Additionally, the game offers 15 Klassic Mortal Kombat Skins and three Klassic Fatalities (Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Reptile).

Originally developed by NetherRealm Studios, led by Mortal Kombat co-creator and creative director Ed Boon and adapted for PC by High Voltage Software, the game will be available for digital distribution on 3rd July, while the physical edition will release on 2nd August for Windows PC.

Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition for PC features dynamic gameplay including Tag Team, Challenge Tower and a full feature length story mode. Players choose from an extensive lineup of the game's iconic warriors and challenge their friends in traditional 1 vs. 1 matches, or gamers can spectate battles and interact directly with Kombatants online during the King of the Hill mode. The game supports the Mortal Kombat Tournament Edition Fight Stick and delivers full controller capability. Players will also be able to access achievements and leaderboard stats.

We had the opportunity to chat with Albert Penello, senior director of product planning at Microsoft this afternoon, who was kind enough to clarify a few topics for us regarding the recently-unveiled Xbox One. One thing we were quick to ask about was the integrated storage. 500GB sounds like a lot today -- but so did the 20GB unit in the original Xbox 360. The HDD there was, at least, replaceable. Can you do the same with its successor? Sadly, no. Hard drives in the Xbox One are non-user-serviceable, but Penello confirmed that the USB 3.0 port is there for external storage, which can be used for everything the internal storage can be used for. That includes game installs and downloads. So, don't fret: adding storage will be just as easy as ever.