Month: August 2016

What boosts does the Xbox One S hide? According to Digital Foundry, quite a few. (credit: Sam Machkovech)

The Xbox One S is out, and our review discusses at length some of the system's major changes, including a total visual refresh and a test of its 4K content. Turns out we missed one thing: the system launched with an unadvertised boost to some older games' visuals!

The frame rate-analysis wizards at Eurogamer's Digital Foundry confirmed the good news after testing older Xbox One games. Many titles won't seen any boost at all—which is what we found in cursory testing of 15 games, both for the normal system and for its backwards-compatibility library. However, if an older game runs on Xbox One S using either unlocked frame rates (meaning, not tied to v-sync) or dynamic resolution (meaning, it can scale down from 1080p on the fly to improve performance), players might see the a boost by as much as nine frames per second.

That maximum boost was measured in Project CARS, a graphics-intensive driving sim whose rain-soaked racetrack variants can bring frame rates hurtling downward on the normal Xbox One. Other games that enjoyed noticeable boosts included a remaster of Capcom's Resident Evil 5 and the latest game in the Hitman series.

The world's first broadcast using 8K TV technology has begun on Japan's public channel NHK. With a resolution of 7680×4320, "Super Hi-Vision" as the company calls it—don't worry, the name won't catch on—has about four times the detail of a 4K broadcast, or 16 times what you're probably watching at home (normal HD, 1920×1080).

The 8K broadcast will be tested over the next five days, and from August 6 it will be used to broadcast parts of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, which are being filmed in 8K by special NHK cameras.

This shows you the relative resolution of 8K vs. 4K and HD.

Of course, viewing an 8K broadcast will be rather difficult even in Japan, as none of the equipment required to receive and display the 8K signal has yet been commercially released. Instead, NHK has set up two special 8K viewing theatres in Tokyo and Osaka for the duration of the trial. For really determined home users, Sharp apparently sells an 85-inch 8K TV for about £120,000, but I couldn't find it in stock anywhere.

(credit: Apple)

Apple has quietly waded into the gun violence debate enveloping America this week, after it announced it would be releasing more than 100 new or redesigned emoji—and would replace the symbol of a revolver with one of a water pistol.

The new green-and-orange emoji could barely look less threatening, and it seems to be Apple's response to a spate of mass shootings in 2016, which has been a particularly violent and deadly year, for minorities and police officers alike.

Apple is replacing the pistol emoji with a squirt gun https://t.co/y6uooZzKz2 pic.twitter.com/wOi6QsfAZX

— Jürgen Siebert (@Fontblog) August 1, 2016

A group called New Yorkers Against Gun Violence are claiming the change as a victory for their campaign, having lobbied Apple heavily to remove the pistol symbol “as a symbolic gesture to limit gun accessibility.” A representative for the charity told CNN: “Apple has stood up to the bullying tactics of the NRA and gun industry by showing that there are many more life-affirming ways to express oneself than with a gun.”

(credit: Sam Machkovech)

What was going on in the Microsoft Devices Group during the Xbox One's design phase? The 2013 console launched in a hideous state—and I mean that from a purely aesthetic angle. (We could go on about its other launch issues.) The system's staggering size and VCR-like design left a lot to be desired, and the result was an entertainment-center eyesore that was somehow larger than 2005's Xbox 360.

Microsoft had made handsome hardware before, particularly the XB1's predecessor, the svelte and curvy Xbox 360 S. The company's hardware side has since redeemed itself with the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. Plus, the Xbox One is nearing its third birthday, which is the usual timeframe for a sales-boosting hardware redesign. Sure enough, the Xbox One S has arrived in time to redeem the Xbox division's reputation.

Having seen the updated system design in person at this summer's E3 conference, we at Ars already knew the Xbox One S would be an improvement by default. Now that I've tested the system for a few days ahead of its August 2 launch in the US, I can safely level-up that compliment and confirm that it's Microsoft's best-looking console yet. The One S is exactly the kind of sleek consumer box that gets second glances and compliments while tucked beneath your TV screen of choice (or placed alongside it after attaching an included vertical stand).