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Wednesday 19 April 2017
Thursday 9 February 2017
Activision Explains Why 2017's Call Of Duty Is Going "Back To Its Roots"
Activision Explains Why 2017's Call Of Duty Is Going "Back To Its Roots"
As part of its latest earnings report, Activision confirmed the inevitable Call of Duty sequel that's due out this year. But what came as a surprise is news that this year's game will return to the franchise's "roots," and now we have some idea of why.
Speaking as part of a conference call with investors, chief operating officer Thomas Tippl first discussed 2016's Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. While he described it as "a high-quality, innovative game," he revealed it "underperformed [Activision's] expectations." We already knew sales were down significantly compared with the previous year's Black Ops III. That was due in part to Infinite Warfare being a new sub-series, making for a difficult comparison with the established Black Ops.
However, the futuristic setting has also been a source of complaints from some longtime Call of Duty fans, a fact that Tippl acknowledged. That doesn't mean the company necessarily regrets exploring that space.
"[I]t's clear that, for a portion of our audience, the space setting just didn't resonate," he explained. "We have a passionate, experienced studio deeply committed to this direction, and despite the risks we saw, we believe it is important to consider the passions of our game teams in deciding what content to create.
"While it wasn't the success we planned, it allows us to protect the core tenets of our culture that Bobby discussed: empowering our talented teams to have the chance to pursue opportunities that they are passionate about. Providing an environment that recognizes passion is a critical component of our success, and a process to learn from our mistakes is what makes our company special, and it's why the most talented people in our industry are attracted to our company."
All of that said, even with Call of Duty still doing well, Activision is clearly aware of the demand for a Call of Duty game that hews closer to the series' older titles.
"In 2017, Activision will take Call of Duty back to its roots and traditional combat will once again take center stage," Tippl said. "This is what our dedicated community of Call of Duty players and Sledgehammer Games, which has been developing this year's title, are the most excited about."
Beyond that, no further details were shared. It stands to reason that this year's game--which was greenlit more than two years ago--will feature a classic or modern-day setting, but that remains to be seen. For its part, Sledgehammer said of the game on Twitter, "It's our biggest achievement as game makers."
Sledgehammer previously assisted with the development of Modern Warfare 3 and served as the lead developer of Advanced Warfare. Activision rotates between three main studios--Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer--for its annual Call of Duty releases. Sledgehammer was, at one point, at work on a third-person Call of Duty game set during Vietnam.
We'll have more on the new Call of Duty as it's announced. For the full rundown on Activision's announcement, check out our recap of its earnings.
Thursday 19 January 2017
SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 – DESIGN
After the massive, and much needed, change in design direction Samsung took with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in 2015, all rumors pointed to things staying pretty much the same for the Galaxy S7.
Well, it’s not like Apple, HTC or Sony make drastic changes to their industrial design every year.
And that’s exactly the case here. Place the Galaxy S7 next to the S6 and you’d be hard pushed to instantly pick which one is which. Frankly, this doesn’t bother me in the slightest. The S6 was already one of the best-looking phones around, and the Galaxy S7 follows suit.
Both the front and back are covered in Gorilla Glass 4, while a metal rim snakes in between. Two volume buttons sit on one side, with a lock/standby switch on the other. It’s a clean look, with the back free from any markings aside from a Samsung logo.
The camera lens now sits just about flush with the glass body too. This might seem a small change, but it makes a big difference. I can now tap out an email with the phone flat on my desk without it jumping and rocking from side to side.
It’s an absolute fingerprint magnet, though. After a few minutes of use, the entire back becomes a grubby mess that needs wiping down with a micro fiber cloth.
Along the top is the Nano SIM tray, which now holds a microSD slot, plus a microphone. The bottom houses the headphone socket, another microphone, a speaker and a micro USB port for charging.
That speaker is one of the few missteps on this phone. It’s downward-facing, gets easily blocked by my hands when playing a game and it sounds tinny and distorted at high volume. I guess front-facing speakers weren’t included so the screen surround could be kept minimal, but it’s still a disappointment when a speaker sounds this bad.
It had been suggested that Samsung would make a big switch to the new, reversible USB-C connector that’s already being used on the Nexus 6P, OnePlus 2 and LG G5, but it hasn’t.
To be honest, USB–C is more of a hindrance than a help at the minute. You can’t use any of the cables you’ve picked up over the years and it doesn’t necessarily mean faster charging. It does mean the S7 isn’t quite so future proof, though.
The front again has a clean look about it. The elongated home button still sits under the display, and it still juts out ever so slightly, rather than being concave like the iPhone’s. For me, this is a plus – it feels better pressing the Galaxy S7’s home button than the iPhone 6S’s – but a couple of the TrustedReviews team think otherwise. They’re wrong, of course, but it’s interesting how such a small design choice can split people.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 – DISPLAY
Close to perfection. That’s the best way to describe the display on Samsung’s Galaxy S7.
Not much has really changed from the outgoing S6, but this still holds up as the best screen on a smartphone.
It’s still a 5.1-inch QHD panel with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, and just like every Galaxy flagship so far, it uses Samsung’s Super AMOLED tech, rather than the more common LCD.
AMOLED displays are a lot better at showing off blacks than LCDs. Instead of looking slightly gray and washed out, the blacks here are inky deep. Some say AMOLED screens produce colors that are too oversaturated, so reds will look way brighter than they should, but that isn’t much of an issue here. And if you really prefer things toned down, there’s a picture setting for that.
Having so many pixels jammed into a relatively small space means you can’t really spot one pixel from another, and that sharpness makes everything from gaming to watching YouTube an absolute pleasure. Play a round of Alto’s Adventure or Monument Valley on this display and you’ll instantly be drawn in by the crisp details and vivid colour reproduction.
I wouldn’t normally watch a film on a screen this size, but the panel here is so gorgeous that I can’t help getting lost in it.
to read more : http://www.10-apps.com/6271
