legacy Archives

AppWizard

November 8, 2024

Warner Bros admits games business is “substantially underperforming”

Warner Bros Discovery's video games division is facing significant challenges, described as "substantially underperforming," with losses exceeding 0 million due to underperforming titles. The free-to-play game MultiVersus has been particularly problematic. CEO David Zaslav acknowledged the need for more consistent performance from the games business and identified four strong and profitable franchises: Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and the DC Universe, particularly Batman. The company plans to recalibrate its strategy by focusing on these core franchises and leveraging the strengths of proven studios.

Winsage

November 8, 2024

Qualcomm triples Windows on Arm OEM design wins since May

Qualcomm's CEO Cristiano R. Amon announced a significant increase in design wins for the Snapdragon X Plus eight-core platform, rising from 20 to 58 in six months. This reflects growing interest among OEMs in Arm-based Windows laptops. However, Qualcomm faces challenges in converting these design wins into consumer sales due to compatibility issues and performance concerns. Intel and AMD continue to dominate the market with hundreds of design wins annually. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus platform offers AI capabilities, 5G connectivity, and improved battery life, but software compatibility remains a challenge. In Q4 2024, Qualcomm reported revenue of .2 billion, a 19% year-on-year increase, and a net income of .92 billion, a 96% rise. Over the fiscal year, revenue increased 9% to .9 billion, and net profit surged 40% to .14 billion.

Winsage

November 7, 2024

New Windows Build Brings AVX Support To Snapdragon X For Gaming And More

Recent evaluations of laptops with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processors have praised their performance and battery life, but issues arose with the high-end Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 chip in the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge, where certain applications were found incompatible due to limitations in emulation capabilities. The Windows operating system uses an emulation layer called Prism to run x86-64 applications on Arm architecture, but it initially lacked support for essential SIMD instructions like AVX2 and AVX. Microsoft announced an update in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27744 that enhances Prism by adding support for AVX, AVX2, and other instructions, allowing Snapdragon-based Windows machines to run x86 software requiring these instruction sets. However, only x64 applications will benefit from this update, leaving legacy 32-bit x86 applications unaffected. This is significant for gaming, as many recent titles utilize AVX for improved processing speeds, potentially increasing compatibility for previously unplayable games on Snapdragon devices. Despite these advancements, Microsoft has not addressed the potential performance implications of the emulation process. Initial observations suggest that while performance degradation from Prism emulation is less severe than expected, it still does not match that of native Arm applications. Qualcomm is tasked with improving Snapdragon X Elite gaming capabilities, facing challenges with Windows graphics drivers, particularly the Adreno graphics drivers, which may hinder its competitiveness against AMD and Intel in the Windows laptop market.

Winsage

November 7, 2024

Latest Windows 11 Insider Preview brings updated Prism emulator for Arm PCs

Microsoft has introduced an updated Prism emulator in the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27744, improving compatibility with x86-based applications and games. The new emulator supports additional CPU extensions, enabling applications like Adobe Premiere Pro 2025 and games such as Starfield and Helldivers 2 to run on Arm PCs. Devices with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus SoCs can now run more legacy applications and games without native ARM64 versions. The update also includes a new on-screen gamepad keyboard for better navigation and typing on gaming handhelds and touchscreen devices. The changelog for Build 27744 includes various enhancements and fixes, such as resolving display issues for older NVIDIA GPUs, fixing problems with the Emoji Panel and Clipboard History, improving Windows Sandbox performance, correcting dynamic refresh rate issues, and addressing multiple bugs related to remote desktop connections and app functionalities.

Winsage

November 6, 2024

Microsoft reportedly sabotaged Windows 95 and 98’s Control Panel, or it looks that way – is this a worrying revelation?

A recent investigation revealed an intentional eight-second delay in the 'Add New Hardware' wizard of older Windows operating systems, specifically Windows 95 and 98. This delay was likely introduced due to hardware limitations of the time to address compatibility issues. Users are currently facing various glitches with the recent Windows 11 24H2 update, including BSOD crashes on Intel motherboards and disappearing File Explorer menus. The legacy Control Panel is gradually being phased out as Microsoft transitions to the Settings app, raising concerns about potential hidden issues in the current operating system. Microsoft has been contacted for clarification regarding the historical delay.

AppWizard

November 6, 2024

The StarCraft Games Have Officially Joined PC Game Pass

StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II: Campaign Collection are now available on PC Game Pass. The original StarCraft was released on March 31, 1998, and became a cornerstone of the real-time strategy genre. The remastered version was released by Blizzard in 2017. The announcement was made via the official StarCraft Twitter account and Xbox Wire. Currently, these games are exclusively available on PC Game Pass, marking a significant step in the integration of Activision Blizzard titles into Xbox’s services.

AppWizard

November 5, 2024

Atari has acquired Transport Tycoon

Atari has acquired the Transport Tycoon franchise from its original creator, Chris Sawyer. The financial details of the transaction are undisclosed. This acquisition allows Atari to publish Transport Tycoon both digitally and physically, and it opens opportunities for new entries in the series, as well as merchandising and branding efforts. Transport Tycoon was first released in 1994, with the latest version being a mobile port from 2013. Wade Rosen, the chair and CEO of Atari, expressed commitment to honoring and advancing the franchise. This acquisition is part of Atari's strategy to expand its portfolio, which also includes the Surgeon Simulator series and publishing rights for Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, along with earlier acquisitions of Nightdive and Digital Eclipse.

AppWizard

November 5, 2024

‘StarCraft: Remastered’, ‘StarCraft II’ Now Available on PC Game Pass

Blizzard Entertainment has added ‘StarCraft: Remastered’ and ‘StarCraft II Campaign Collection’ to the PC Game Pass lineup. Players can install these titles via the Battle.Net client. ‘StarCraft: Remastered’ enhances the original game and its expansion, ‘StarCraft: Brood War’, with improved graphics and audio while maintaining classic gameplay. ‘StarCraft: Cartooned’ offers a whimsical reimagining of the game in a cartoon style. The ‘StarCraft II: Campaign Collection’ includes over 60 missions across three campaigns: Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void, featuring the three races: Terran, Zerg, and Protoss, each with unique characteristics and strategies.

AppWizard

November 4, 2024

Prime members can score free PC games — here’s November’s lineup and how to get in on the action

Amazon's Prime membership now offers 24 free PC games for November, including titles like Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Members can claim these games by visiting gaming.amazon.com/home and selecting the "Free Games" section. Once claimed, the games remain in the member's library permanently, even if the membership is canceled. Additionally, Prime members have access to free games on Amazon's cloud gaming service, Luna, which includes titles such as Jackbox Party Pack 7 and Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition. Non-members can sign up for a 30-day trial to access these benefits.

BetaBeacon

November 4, 2024

The best of the best: 5 iconic Android games that got people hooked

- Angry Birds was the first game to hit a billion downloads on the Play Store in 2012 and the first mobile gaming franchise to reach over five billion downloads in 2022. - Pokemon GO became the biggest mobile game in the US within a week of its release and had 21 million daily players. - Temple Run was downloaded more than 100 million times in its first year and is still popular today. - Clash of Clans has recorded over a billion in revenue and is still among the most-grossing games on Android. - PUBG Mobile is among the highest-grossing mobile games of all time with well over a billion downloads.