I recently had the chance to grill Gabe Newell – Valve president and co-founder, plus brain tech enthusiast – about the Steam Deck. What followed did indeed start with a look at Valve’s portable PC, including the lessons learned from the company’s past hardware attempts, but it soon swerved into a wider-ranging discussion on cryptocurrency, NFTs, consolidation issues affecting the games industry and whether there might be whole new Steam Decks in the future. Come and read the full Q&A below.
It may be the shortest month of the year, but February has given us a veritable treasure trove of underseen foreign-language gems, whether it be Oscar-nominated movies that are finally making their way to streaming services, or graveyard season Netflix hits. Whatever the case, there's been such a wealth of riches this month that this edition of Pop Culture Imports will feature only the heavy-hitters. (I could expand to 10 movies just to feature a few of those international movies or shows that might have slipped your notice, from the Korean sci-fi series "The Silent Sea," to the Mads Mikkelsen-starring "The Hunt," to the lovely anime fantasy film "Child of Kamiari Month.") But first, why haven't you watched "Flee" yet?
Let's fire up those subtitles and get streaming.
Country: Denmark
Genre: Documentary
Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Cast: Amin Nawabi
"Flee" is an animated documentary that turns writer-director Jonas Poher Rasmussen's confessional-style conversations into a staggering refugee tale. Inspired by the story of his friend (who goes by Amin in "Flee" to protect his identity), Poher Rasmussen spins a clear-eyed coming-of-age tale that triples as an LGBTQ awakening and a sobering refugee story. But what sets "Flee" apart is its use of animation, which is used partially as a veil to conceal Amin's identity but is also a stunning show of artistry from Rasmussen, who is one of the few filmmakers to see the potential of animation as more than just a novelty for the documentary film, but a tool with which he can create a fuller, richer, livelier depiction of his friend's life. It lends the film a stream-of-consciousness feeling that makes "Flee" feel like you're watching the thoughts and memories drift right out Amin's head onto the screen.
Watch This If You Like: "Persepolis," "My Life as a Zucchini," "The Kite Runner," Jean-Claude Van Damme winking at you.
Country: Iran
Genre: Drama
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Cast: Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Sahar Goldoost, Fereshteh Sadr Orafaie, Sarina Farhadi.
Can you have a morality play without a moral? That's what "A Hero" feels like as it puts its hapless good Samaritan (Amir Jadidi) through the wringer. Or perhaps the better question is: do morals matter in an immoral world? That question is much bleaker, but it's fitting for "A Hero," the relentless Iranian drama written directed by Asghar Farhadi. "A Hero" follows Rahim, on leave from debtor's prison, as he discovers a bag of lost money and decides to return it to the owner, sparking a media circus that raises him up as a hero before tearing him down as an all-too-flawed human. Intense, ruthless, and thought-provoking, "A Hero" is one of the best movies of 2021 and proof that Farhadi is one of the best directors working on the global stage today.
Watch This If You Like: "Prisoners," "The Pursuit of Happyness," being stressed out for two hours.
Country: South Korea
Genre: Drama
Director: Hong Sang-soo
Cast: Kim Min-hee, Seo Young-hwa, Song Seon-mi,Kim Sae-byuk.
Directed by Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo, "The Woman Who Ran" unfolds as a cozy slice-of-life tapestry spun together with three loosely threaded sections centered around Gamhee (Kim Min-hee of "The Handmaiden"), a woman traveling around without her husband for the first time in years. In three separate visits to her three of her friends, Gamhee earns a glimpse of the rich textures of womanhood — or perhaps it's actually a serene twist on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," showing Gamhee insights into potential pathways that her life could have taken. In classic Hong fashion, it's never made clear whether this is just a passing fancy or if "The Woman Who Ran" does carry shades of the surreal. But in atypical Hong fashion, Hong's longtime muse Kim Min-hee gets to act out more than just his autobiographical fantasies and earn some kind of agency for herself for once — in a choice which makes 'The Woman Who Ran" feel like Hong's most quietly feminist film.
Watch This If You Like: Saoirse Ronan saying, "Women!"
Country: France
Genre: Horror/thriller
Director: Julia Ducournau
Cast: Vincent Lindon Agathe Rousselle Garance Marillier Laïs Salameh
"Titane" has made headlines for its shocking twists and bloody indulgences — the wildest movie to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes! But what's most surprising about "Titane" is not its gore or transgressive overthrowing of the gender and sexuality conventions, or even its moments of wry humor: it's the rusted, tender heart that is hidden underneath a steel cage. "Titane," directed by "Raw" filmmaker Julia Ducournau, is actually a strange and twisted love story. If you've heard of "Titane," you know the gist by now: it's about a woman (Agathe Rousselle) who gets impregnated by a car and proceeds to go into hiding after her serial killer lifestyle gets her in trouble with the law (duh). But this is where the film takes a 180 into more tender territory, and where to spoil anymore for you would ruin the whole thing.
Watch This If You Like: "Climax," "Crash," "Under the Skin," hair pins.
Country: South Korea
Genre: Zombie series
Creators: Lee Jae-kyoo Chun Sung-il Kim Nam-su
Cast: Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon, Yoo In-soo, Lee Yoo-mi, Kim Byung-chul, Lee Kyu-hyung, and Jeon Bae-soo.
Korean dramas have been on a roll lately, and its latest Netflix smash hit is no exception. "All of Us Are Dead" manages to inject some life into the tired zombie formula by giving it some high school soap and that good old South Korean class commentary. The latest Netflix K-drama to use the green-and-white color scheme — and to draw inspiration from Korean New Wave films, "All of Us Are Dead" is another surprising hit from the streamer. Surprising in that it's one of those popular shows that is actually quite good, and not just something to throw on in the background.
Watch This If You Like: "Train to Busan," "#Alive," zombies and high school!
Read this next: The Best Movies Of 2021
The post Pop Culture Imports: Flee, A Hero, All of Us Are Dead & More Foreign Movies and TV Streaming Now appeared first on /Film.
"Shaun of the Dead" eliminates the need on movie night to choose between a zom-com (zombie comedy) or rom-com (romantic comedy) by giving audiences a blend of them both with a "rom-zom-com," as writer/director Edgar Wright and writer/star Simon Pegg once described it to MTV News.
In "Shaun of the Dead," Pegg plays the titular Shaun while Nick Frost plays his best friend, Ed. Meanwhile, Kate Ashfield plays his exasperated girlfriend, Liz, but that's not where the romance lies. As Pegg put it:
"The film is a romantic comedy. And people always think it's a romantic comedy about Shaun and Liz; it's not. It's a romantic comedy about Ed and Shaun."
In other words, "Shaun of the Dead" is a bromance ... with zombies. Though it's not Wright's first film — 1995's "A Fistful of Fingers" was his directorial debut — the horror comedy provided his breakthrough into cult-classic territory after it hit theaters in 2004. It's the first installment in his "Three Flavours Cornetto" trilogy (or "Blood and Ice Cream" trilogy), which also includes "Hot Fuzz" and "The World's End."
Wright and Pegg co-wrote all three films together, but that doesn't mean they weren't open to occasional moments of improvisation on the set. In fact, one memorable (albeit NSFW) line of dialogue was an ad-lib from Frost.
Frost's ad-lib comes during the scene where Ed is trying to cheer Shaun up at the pub after Liz has broken up with him. Liz didn't like hanging out at The Winchester all the time, but Ed tries to defend it as place full of "rich, interesting characters." He goes around the room, offering his own backstories for each barfly, and when he lands on an older woman who's dressed like a schoolmarm or librarian, he says, "Ooh! C**k-a-cidal maniac. She's an ex-porn star. She's done it all ..."
In an interview with BigFanboy, Frost explained how this line, which wasn't in the script, came about. He said:
"The only part I improvised was when we're in the pub, and I'm talking about the people in the pub. We're talking about the porn star and I call her a c**k-a-cidal maniac, and that lady is actually Edgar's girlfriend's mum. Edgar wanted Simon to laugh quite naturally, so every now and again you'd go over and he'd whisper to do something different every time. So I came up with about 15 different things, each more perverted than the last. And I don't know where it came from actually. But yeah, Edgar's whispers are quite nice, because it usually means he will put someone's life in danger."
If you go back and watch this "Shaun of the Dead" scene, Pegg does give a very natural, genuine laugh when Frost delivers his line. That's a moment that maybe only could have happened because Pegg, the film's co-writer and star, was hearing this fresh, unscripted line for the first time.
Read this next: 14 Awesome Comedies That Never Got Sequels
The post One of Shaun of the Dead's Most Memorable Moments Wasn't in the Script appeared first on /Film.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Typically when we talk about 'accuracy' as it relates to retro game emulation, it's about how closely modern software can replicate the functions of retro hardware, exactly as those machines worked back in the day. But when we start talking about light guns, 'accuracy' gets a whole new meaning, and it turns out that sometimes the only way to improve accuracy is to reduce accuracy.
This month's 0.241 MAME release includes a number of improvements to NES emulation, as well as the technologically-related Vs. System and PlayChoice-10 arcade machines. The devs note that "you’ll have a better experience with the Zapper light gun" in this update, which means we're seeing patch notes like "made Zapper light gun sensor fuzzier".
"The real Zapper wasn't even close to pixel-accurate (as you would expect from low-cost 1985 tech), so this was a case of MAME being 'too good'," as MAME developer arbee37 explains in a Reddit post. "Tests on hardware done by the NESDev people have shown how good the Zapper actually is, and MAME now conforms to that."
NVIDIA has seemingly been hit by a major cyberattack that may have completely compromised parts of its business, reports The Telegraph.
Update: NVIDIA has allegedly managed to breach the hackers by inflicting them with ransomware and successfully encrypting its stolen data of over 1 TB.
In their exclusive report, The Telegraph reports that the cyberattack was initiated at the same time as the Russian cyber warfare division started their offensive against Ukraine. All Nato allies have announced major sanctions on Russia and this could potentially be why Russia has decided to target major companies such as NVIDIA.
An Nvidia spokesman said: “We are investigating an incident. We don’t have any additional information to share at this time."
The report further states that the cyberattack on NVIDIA has completely compromised parts of their business and there are already reports from several users coming in regarding services disruption. The scale of this attack is currently unknown but it clearly seems to be a major one as NVIDIA had to take several systems offline to pacify the intrusion before it could spread further.
“The ultimate concern is that somebody may have put something in one of the software updates,” Dr Woodward said, pointing to the devastating SolarWinds hack that exploited American software companies to gain access to US government computer systems.
“They’ll be going through trying to make sure to see if there's any indication that anything has been changed in their software that they then shipped to their clients.”
NVIDIA's mail servers were also partially operational during this time so it's entirely likely that there might have been a breach in confidential documents. But it is not confirmed yet if any data was stolen. Another major concern is that NVIDIA will now have to ensure that their services and the software they are providing to end-users is entirely free of any viruses or malicious code that could affect them.
The post NVIDIA Hit By Major Cyberattack That May Have ‘Completely Compromised’ Parts of Its Business by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.
Elden Ring spices up the formula originally introduced by Demon's Souls in a lot of different ways, without doing away with everything that made the Souls games so engaging.
The class system seen in previous games developed by From Software returns in Elden Ring, and it works in pretty much the same way. Each starting class, called Origin, is geared towards a specific playstyle, but it does not limit players in any way, as the differences are only meaningful at the beginning of the game. Once you start venturing out in the Lands Between, earn Runes, and level up, you will be able to build your character however you want, although you may have an easier time with a specific build depending on the attribute distribution of your starting class.
Like in previous games by From Software, and pretty much every role-playing game out there, the attributes determine what a character is good at. They are Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane.
Attributes can be increased after meeting Melina for the first time while resting at Sites of Graces. By investing increasing amounts of Runes, you can level up your character and increase each attribute by one point per level, allowing you to create all sorts of builds without being limited by the Origin selected at the start of the game.
The Vagabond is an all-rounder Origin that, while geared towards melee-focused playstyles, requires minimal effort to use magic thanks to decent Faith and Intelligence stats, which both start at 9. This unique trait makes the Vagabond a good starting point for making hybrid builds that can use magic and physical attacks decently without specializing in either.
The Warrior is the Origin with the highest starting Dexterity in Elden Ring, making it the one to choose if you're thinking about making a Dexterity-focused build. The Warrior class also starts quite strong, being able to dual-wield Scimitars right from the get-go to unleash some powerful attacks that can make the first few fights easier. The starting Intelligence value, 10, also makes it easy for this Origin to access Sorcery spells with minimal investment.
The Hero is the Origin to pick if you're looking into making a Strength build, as it comes with the highest starting Strength value of all Origins, 16. Dexterity, Intelligence, and Faith are quite low, on the other hand, so you will need to level up these attributes considerably to make the Hero a little more versatile.
The Bandit is a fascinating Origin that is best picked by those planning to use long-range weapons like bows or to deal with most enemies by using stealth. The Origin has average stats all around, except for Dexterity and Arcane, so it is still possible to use it as the base for both Dexterity and magic-focused build.
The Astrologer Origin is the best one to pick for Sorcery-focused builds, thanks to its high starting Intelligence and Arcane attributes. The Origin also starts with a decent selection of offensive spells, making it quite powerful at the beginning of the game with the proper FP management.
The Prophet is the Origin on the opposite side of the magic spectrum in Elden Ring, as it prioritizes Faith instead of Intelligence, which gives easy access to both offensive and supportive Incantations. The Prophet is also better at physical combat than the Astrologer, but not by a whole lot, so you will still rely on magic quite a bit.
The Samurai is another very unique Origin that resembles the Vagabond but is more focused on Dexterity rather than Strength. The Samurai may lack in survivability due to the low starting Vigor. Still, it makes up for it with versatility, as it starts with a Long Bow for long-range attacks and a Katana for powerful and quick melee attacks.
The Prisoner is somewhat of an advanced Origin. It starts with some underwhelming stats, except Dexterity and Intelligence, which grant the Origin tons of versatility later on. As such, the Prisoner is a good choice for an Origin only for expert Souls players who are not afraid of dealing with hardships at the start of the game to have an easier time later on.
The Confessor is a great Origin to pick for beginners since it starts with gear that grants excellent protection (at the cost of equipment load), a nice selection of Incantations, and decent melee capabilities. This combination of traits can make the beginning of the game much easier for newcomers and players who are not used to the unforgiving experience of the Souls series.
The Wretch is a blank slate, starting at level 1 and with all attributes at 10, with only a weak club as gear. This is the Origin that only expert players should pick, as it makes the start of the game incredibly difficult, and messing up stat distribution can create a very unbalanced character that could have trouble dealing with the dangers lurking behind every corner of the Lands Between.
The post All Elden Ring Origins and Attributes Explained by Francesco De Meo appeared first on Wccftech.
Want to play Elden Ring on your uptra widescreen display? Well, there's now a simple tool that allows you to.
Elden Ring launched globally earlier today, and although FromSoftware's gem doesn't officially support ultra widescreen resolutions, the “flawless widescreen” tool allows PC players to enjoy the game on their ultrawide displays.
“Flawless Widescreen was created in an effort to make it easier to craft fixes and patches to get games functioning correctly in UltraWide/Surround/Eyefinity gaming resolutions, often developers neglect these types of users leaving them to fend for themselves and find their own solutions, or in some unfortunate cases - live without the wonderful world of ultra-wide support", the description of this handy tool reads.
“With simplicity in mind, designed to be as simple as possible to use - simply select a supported game from the list, configure any basic desired configurable options and launch your game.”
It should be noted that we advise you to only use this tool while playing Elden Ring offline. Using it online might get you banned.
Those interested can download the tool from here. In case you're interested in modding Elden Ring, be sure to check out the FPS unlocker that we covered earlier today.
Still in doubt on whether you should get FromSoftware's latest title? Read our review so we can convince you to get this game as soon as possible.
Understanding the story of Elden Ring to its full extent will take plenty of time, that's for sure, as George R.R. Martin and From Software have created an extremely rich world that is filled with mystery, and piecing everything together is part of the charm of the experience. Many of the elements found in the game help players understand more of this world, from enemy placement/behavior and items to dialogues with NPCs and so on. Almost everything in Elden Ring tells a part of the story: there are some enemies in a specific area that seem to be worshipping something, and solving a puzzle in the area will reveal what these people are worshipping so reverently and protecting so fiercely; other times, you will find groups of enemies fighting against one another, revealing the hostility between different factions; moreover, you will see powerful creatures that have been seemingly enslaved by others much weaker than them. Players may read wrongly into these elements, but that is the nature of old, almost forgotten legends.
The post PC Players Can Enable Elden Ring Ultra Widescreen Support Via This Simple Tool by Aernout van de Velde appeared first on Wccftech.
Elden Ring, the newest open-world role-playing game from Bandai Namco, was released several days ago, winning tons of praise for its gameplay, graphics, and extensive experience. Intel players have not had a great experience so far, and it is the fault of Team blue & not gaming giant Bandai Namco.
The headache for Intel is that the company has ensured gamers that they would release a Day-0 graphics driver, precisely for Elden Ring. Upon further searching, the website redirect for the Intel driver takes gamers to the 101.1121 drivers that Intel initially released in November of last year, which is in no way fully optimized for the new game.
The specific graphics driver page created for Elden Ring does not reveal a driver change.
This driver situation would also be less of an issue due to Bandai Namco partnering with Intel to ensure the driver for the graphics was initially optimized upon launch. Unfortunately, the game was released yesterday without a new driver from Intel.
We’re very excited to be partnering with @BandaiNamcoUS for #EldenRing, one of the most anticipated game releases in 2022. Get our Intel day-0 graphics driver on February 24th to ensure your system is optimized for Elden Ring when it launches. pic.twitter.com/hB2coiPQX8
— Intel Graphics (@IntelGraphics) February 18, 2022
The problems for Intel continue to rise when it comes to upcoming AAA games. Not only is the Elden Ring driver missing, but no one has seen any updates for the last six weeks from Intel in regards to updates to optimizing for their newer platform, the DG2 Arc Alchemist. The lack of immediacy from Team Blue does not assure gamers that they can trust Intel to release further updates more appropriately and on time.
Intel's new Arch Alchemist gaming discrete GPU is set to become available in a few days. However, there has been discussion that the new discrete GPU will be pushed back to June for an official release, possibly around the same time frame as this year's PAX East electronics and gaming convention.
There has been no word from Intel about their plan to fix this current Elden Ring driver problem or how they intend to speed up the process of offering updates for when newly released games hit the market.
The post Intel Fails To Deliver Promised Day-0 Graphics Driver For Elden Ring on PC by Jason R. Wilson appeared first on Wccftech.
Valve is no stranger to experimenting with different hardware to operate its extensive library of computer titles. From the Steam Link to the Steam Machine, there have been a variety of hardware products to bring the PC experience to a different platform. However, neither Valve (nor have most PC hardware manufacturers) attempted to breach the portable market, at least not at the price point that Valve is pushing their first generation of Steam Deck devices. Imagine being able to have an entire back catalog of Bethesda or Square Enix titles at your fingertips at cheaper than an Xbox Series S and monitor, but with the bonus of being able to take it on the go. Valve sent over a 256GB Steam Deck unit for our review, putting a $529 piece of hardware in our hands and allowing us free reign to play around with it as we see fit.
At a glance, the Steam Deck is an impressive piece of hardware crammed into a portable device with a 7" touchscreen that caps out at 800p. There will always be the naysayer asking why Valve didn't go with a 1080p IPS screen. Honestly, the level of performance that the Steam Deck puts out across the array of titles I've tested makes me glad the resolution is set the way it is. I'd take a locked 60 frames per second on an 800p screen over a fluctuating 45-50 fps on 1080p any day of the week. To power that 800p display, the Steam Deck is powered by a Zen 2 'Aerith' CPU that can put out up to 3.5Ghz across four cores and a 'Van Gogh' GPU that operates up to 1.6Ghz across 8 CU.
To keep the heat down and increase battery life on the go, Valve has implemented system-wide limiters to limit the TDP from 3-15W at a push of a button as well as the option to set a manual fixed GPU clock or even artificially limit the frame rate to 30 FPS across the board. These options are all as simple as pressing the Quick Access button (located below the right trackpad) to bring up the Performance and quick menu overlay.
Not wanting gamers to settle on just one control scheme, Valve has implemented a wide array of control options that go above and beyond the standard Xbox-style controls. Trackpads on either side of the screen can function as mouse input, while four grip buttons on the backside of the Steam Deck can be freely remapped. Both analog sticks also feature capacitive touch, something I accidentally discovered when testing Dark Souls III and noticing that the gyro would kick on to aim the camera whenever I laid a finger on the right analog stick. Holding down the Steam button activates another range of optional controls, such as turning the right analog stick into a mouse cursor or pressing Steam + R1 in combination to quickly screenshot your display.
The Steam Deck simply feels natural in my hands, with the sloping sides on either side fitting into the contours of my hands. A somewhat sore spot for the controls is in the directional pad. The d-pad has some wiggle to it as it rolls around atop the silicone membrane; otherwise, it feels good for navigating menus and even hitting the corners when rolling quarter-circle motions in Street Fighter. All of the primary buttons you need are easily within reach with Steam Deck in hand, while the Steam and Quick Access keys are both far enough to prevent accidental input during gameplay.
Navigating the Steam Deck is intuitive and straightforward when all you want to play is already installed. The opening screen holds your Recent Games all lined up in a horizontal carousel with clear marks for the Verified status in the corner. Going down on this page also displays updates to the games and software installed as well as a quick glance at the newest items on the Steam store, including a few key sales. Pressing the Steam key brings up the main overlay where you'll have access to the rest of your Library, the Store, Friends & Chat, Media, Downloads, Settings, and Power. Trying to navigate through the Store with merely the gamepad controls is an exercise in patience to track down what you're looking for, but thankfully a search bar on top of the screen makes it simple to look for. If you're not sure what you're in the mood for, the Store page opens with a Great on Deck carousel to look for games that pass all of Valve's compatibility checks to play on the Steam Deck with no headache.
To the casual user who merely wants to take their Steam library on the go, the Steam Deck is nothing short of an incredible value. Other competitors have been in the portable gamepad PC space for years, but none have hit the aggressive pricing that Valve has hit with the Steam Deck. Look at the Aya Neo, a device that starts at $900 for comparable specs to the Steam Deck. Look at the GPD WIN Max 2021, coming in at nearly three times the price of the Steam Deck. Even look to the modest number of laptops with discrete graphics cards that barely come close to matching the technical specs of the Steam Deck. By releasing their hardware at a price on par with the next generation consoles and allowing players to access their libraries of hundreds, if not thousands, of Steam titles, it's nigh impossible to come across a better value in video gaming.
The Steam Deck falls behind in its ease of use for the average consumer, though. If all you're looking to do is have a way to play Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice on the go, a title that's among the select number of Steam Deck-Verified titles, it's a simple process. Find the game in your library, click Download, and simply jump into the game as Valve configures the game and gamepad profiles automatically. But what if you find that the controls aren't to your liking, or perhaps you want to enable/disable gyro support for moving the camera? That requires jumping into menus outside of the game to configure the gamepad and make it work. For fully Verified games, it's an easy process to change around as you see fit. Even the controller configuration menus are presented with simple, easy-to-follow guidelines. Want a configuration that a friend recommended over Valve's official offering? Simply drop down the list of available options. Don't like gyro aiming, or want to put those four rear buttons to use? All of those tweaks are easy to set up and save on a game-by-game basis.
For titles that aren't fully Verified on Steam Deck, usually, there's more work to get these games up to snuff. Much of my testing was going through a library of fighting games to ensure that these games would work and perhaps become my new way to host friendly matches on the go without lugging around an entire console and monitor. Just running through a quick list of things that worked: Street Fighter IV and V? Both excellent. Melty Blood Type Lumina? No issues. Guilty Gear Strive? Plugging in an arcade stick into my makeshift dock worked just fine, matches played great (over WiFi, of course, so I'm sure my opponent was cursing my connection status) yet trying to navigate and manipulate the lobby menus meant getting off my external controller and using the Deck controls to move around the lobby and set up my next match. Then again, Strive was not among the elite number of Verified titles available ahead of the Steam Deck's launch, and that very well could change between today or when the first Steam Deck units start making their way to customers.
It's difficult to quantify just how many games work and didn't work on the Steam Deck because that number changed daily during my two weeks with the portable console. TItles that wouldn't work one day would magically work without issues on the next experimental build of Proton. Persona 4 Golden was a title I checked daily; it wasn't until late last week that the game would get past the initial black screen loading sequence and get into the game. It's currently flagged as Non-Compatible, yet I've had no issues jumping in and playing at a comfortable framerate.
Even titles you wouldn't expect to run are suddenly compatible with the Steam Deck. One title that Valve recommended to look at was Rockstar North's Manhunt, a PC game that has notoriously not been compatible with operating systems newer than Windows 7. I thought I would take a look just to see how it worked on a Linux system instead. Needless to say, the game would run and hold a decent frame rate, but all of the controls were incorrectly mapped. Moreover, it was impossible to even finish the tutorial and achieve your first kill. As Manhunt didn't natively support controllers in its first release, this would be an instance where Valve's controller mapping setup to mimic keyboard commands would be ideal.
At the same time, Forza Horizon 5, currently flagged as Unknown in terms of compatibility, would install to take up a not-insignificant chunk of my 256GB storage, only to find out that the game loads just fine but without the ability to sign into a Microsoft account, thus locking myself out of being able to actually play the game or even use it for benchmark testing. In this instance, the separate login app simply would not open up on the Steam Deck.
One of the Steam Deck's sore spots is in its battery life. Valve's included a 40Whr battery inside the Steam Deck that advertises a 'two to eight' hour battery life. To test this, I had a look at Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in the opening stage and held down the right analog stick to rotate the camera. At standard video settings and 100% brightness, I achieved 2:31 in battery use before completely draining the battery. Implementing a limit down to 30 FPS via the Steam Deck quick menu boosted the battery life to 4:02 with no other changes made. Similarly, I ran a YouTube live stream of lo-fi beats to relax/study to at 100% brightness via the recent update that installed Google Chrome as a non-Steam app and achieved 5:58. Reducing the screen brightness, disabling WiFi/Bluetooth, and playing less intensive games could all help lengthen the battery life. Still, they're all a significant decrease from the eight hours Valve promised. However, with the frequency of these constant updates, I would not be surprised to see it improve further before the first retail units make their way out to consumers.
Across the board, Steam Deck hits all the marks for a product line in its infancy that only has the potential to grow upwards. As Proton support grows and more titles become Verified over time, I honestly believe that the Steam Deck has the potential of carving out the portable PC market in a way that its predecessors have attempted. This is Valve's chance to break through to the mainstream audience and establish a brand new hardware line for the company, and it's made a lasting first impression on me. As the compatibility catalog grows in size, I won't have any reservations about throwing a Steam Deck in my carry-on luggage instead of a Nintendo Switch. I'll just have to remember to pack a spare battery or two for those longer flights.
Review unit provided by Valve.
The post Steam Deck Review – A Portable Console For Power Users by Kai Powell appeared first on Wccftech.
Best-selling dumpster fire gets fresh fixes Rockstar Games has announced that a new run of patches are incoming for its...
The post New patches incoming for Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition appeared first on Destructoid.
How do you craft a story when everyone already knows how it ends?
That's far from a new concept when it comes to making movies or shows based on true events, but attempting to dramatize a widely-publicized and fairly recent story still brings its own challenges. Created, written, and executive produced by "Billions" veterans Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Beth Schacter, Showtime's "Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber" meets these challenges head-on and with a brash, self-aware, and even reckless sense of flair ... not entirely unlike the actual subject of the series, in some ways. As the sleazy and hopelessly power-hungry Uber founder Travis Kalanick (known as "TK" to his close associates and "Travis" to his enemies, as he puts it), Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes a veritable meal out of his surroundings and unleashes waves of pent-up, manic energy that'll make you wish we saw this version of the actor on-screen much more often. His very first line of dialogue, holding an impromptu job interview with a prospective Uber applicant, immediately establishes the tone of the series while cheekily setting viewers up for everything that's to come: "Are you an a**hole?"
It'd be grossly overstating things to claim that this question represents the mission statement behind "Super Pumped," or the thematic justification for its existence, though it does raise the question of what exactly the main takeaway from the anthology series, based on Mike Isaac's 2019 book of the same name and already greenlit for a second season, might be. Sure, the parallels between this and David Fincher's "The Social Network" are obvious and immediate ("Zuck" gets a handful of name-drops early on, and none of them particularly flattering), both featuring duplicitous tech founders building their groundbreaking companies through ill-gotten gains.
The difference, however, is Kalanick isn't secretly fretting about his perception among others; he is unconcerned about whether anyone actually likes him or not — well, save one individual who's well worth leaving unspoiled. No, what we see is what we get. Instead, the series chooses to skip over the early "Facemash"-equivalent phase of Kalanick's life entirely and simply present his shallowness as a given, to its detriment.
In another faint echo of "The Social Network," the episodes opt for a (much less elegant) mishmash of timelines, kicking off in medias res and years into Uber's steady rise before hitting the brakes and flashing back to the events of 2011, with Kalanick on the verge of landing the investor of a lifetime ... if he plays his cards right. Immediately, the tension between Kalanick and Bill Gurley (Kyle Chandler, steady and reliable as always) dominates the proceedings, summarized neatly by the refreshingly blunt Texan Gurley, a mentor figure who insists on a straight-shooter approach, going up against Kalanick's shameless flurry of sales pitches and obfuscation, characterized most evidently by Gordon-Levitt's big, s**t-eating grin.
Though the series eventually finds its footing well enough, "Super Pumped" gets off to a rocky start that never quite evens out, precisely because we never get to see what makes Travis so driven in the first place. At least not in the first 5 episodes made available to the press beforehand. Regardless, it's not a particularly winning formula to leave viewers persistently wondering about what exactly makes the protagonist tick, even though it is entertaining to watch this self-styled "bad boy of tech" go to increasingly questionable lengths to maintain Uber's tenuous hold on Silicon Valley and, eventually, cities around the world.
"The Social Network" grounded Mark Zuckerberg's (Jesse Eisenberg) almost pathological coldness in the pettiest and most basic of human (and distinctly male) motivations. "The Wolf of Wall Street" held a mirror up to its unrepentant monster and showed us, the complicit viewers, as stand-ins for Jordan Belfort's (Leonardo DiCaprio) reflection instead. With "Super Pumped," however, I never quite managed to put a finger on why exactly this story about Travis Kalanick's spectacular self-implosion behind the wheel of Uber needed to be told in this way, or what extra layer of meaning it found in doing so. But boy, is it fun to rubberneck and watch the wheels come off anyway.
If certain script choices end up letting air out of the tires of "Super Pumped" before it can really get rolling, then at least the technical merits help bridge that gap and tell the story in the most compelling way possible. To its credit, "Super Pumped" uses every trick in the metaphorical book (and a few completely absent from it, as well) to depict instances of corporate backstabbing, desperate power plays, and "tech bro" culture run amok with a gauzy and sneakily seductive touch ... even if it takes too long for the series to successfully lull us into rooting for the insufferably bullheaded Kalanick's schemes rather than against his undeserved success (for a time, at least).
Impressively, creators Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Beth Schacter go out of their way to put us in Kalanick's headspace with a bag full of wonderfully off-putting stylistic choices that (mostly) work as intended. First and most apparent, there's the unmistakable Quentin Tarantino narration that veers into distractingly meta territory, as he's more or less playing himself. Overall, this ultimately feels like a misfire, if only because the freeze-frame pauses for character introductions, brief exposition dumps, and flashy graphics come haphazardly, without ever really adding any insights that weren't already apparent. Clearly chasing the coattails of something like Margot Robbie's cameo in Adam McKay's "The Big Short" (or, more obnoxiously, reminiscent of certain moments in McKay's more recent "Don't Look Up"), these rapid-fire intrusions are stuck in no man's land. They arrive far too infrequently to feel overbearing, fortunately enough, but just sporadically enough to feel wholly unnecessary — as if added at the last possible minute to liven things up.
Thankfully, viewers are treated to much more effective instances elsewhere that walk us through Kalanick's lies, allowing him to squirm in and out of any sticky situation that he finds himself in. The ideas of perspective and unreliable narration come into play during key moments of blatantly rewritten memories on the fly, where we get a unique glimpse at the unseen and unheard truth behind his steady drip of deceptions (or is it denial?). Moments like when we find out who really came up with the idea of Uber and its "disruptor" status in the industry, for example. These instances add energy and a much-welcomed boost of visual storytelling to keep pace with such an ostentatious main character, almost as if Kalanick's psyche and unmanageable ego were bleeding onto the screen itself.
A dramatic meeting in a later episode makes full use of this heightened approach. Here, we see a literal whiteboard full of potential dialogue options looming behind Kalanick's head, projecting all the lies the shifty CEO has at his disposal at a time when his rampant misconduct and shady business practices — invasion of customer privacy, refusal to allow tips for drivers, a work environment rife with harassment and abuse, and more — are all called onto the carpet. Frustratingly, I could easily imagine a hypothetical version of "Super Pumped" where this sequence was used as a framing device for the entire series, providing a natural and intuitive way to look back at this story in chronological order and dissect every one of Kalanick's failings, from the inception of Uber to Kalanick's ultimate demise as leader of the company. Instead, this turning point functions as the backbone of the fifth and strongest episode in the series when, perhaps, it could've served an even greater purpose in the long run.
If nothing else, "Super Pumped" goes to show how much technical prowess can keep an entire show on the road, even when it threatens to veer off-track.
Speaking of veering off-track: If it seems like I've made it this far talking predominantly about the antics of Travis Kalanick at the expense of almost the entire supporting cast of characters, especially the women, well, that's sort of by design.
"Super Pumped" is a series well-aware of the major bullet points it needs to hit in this portrayal of the frat-bro techie's downfall, signposts that each episode accurately renders in all their outsized absurdity. But when it comes time to tackle the ingrained gender disparity that rots Uber from the inside out, it's telling and incredibly disappointing, then, that the subplot featuring the most amount of uninterrupted screen time devoted to its women also turns out to be the show's clunkiest, by far.
On paper, the writing team takes pains to depict the few women in the picture up to this point — Travis' mother Bonnie (Elizabeth Shue), his initial girlfriend Angie (Annie Chang), Bill Gurley's wife Amy (Jessica Hecht), and eventually business mogul Ariana Huffington (Uma Thurman) — as brilliant and capable individuals in their own right. They quote J.D. Salinger and practice meditation and generally impart supportive bursts of sudden insight, making them seem like the smartest and most well-rounded people in the room. In actual practice, however, each of the four characters essentially functions as little more than a discount therapist. None of their words of wisdom can make up for the glaring lack of actual interiority on their part, merely rendering them hollow mouthpieces and narrative shortcuts to motivating the respective men in their lives.
This problem only worsens when the focus shifts to the "toxic" (a word the show would prefer we didn't use) work environment at Uber in the fourth episode. The clumsy (and, for those particularly sensitive to reports of sexual harassment getting brushed aside, potentially triggering) handling of abuse in the workplace is treated with all the sobriety it deserves, primarily through the perspectives of Kalanick's trusted ringer/driver recruiter Austin (Kerry Bishé) and new Uber employee Susan Fowler (Eva Victor, of "Billions" fame), but not even a challenging and prolonged fourth-wall-breaking sequence makes up for the fact that both "characters" seem to exist for the sole purpose of advancing this one single plotline.
It's also here where the aforementioned bullet points of Travis Kalanick's demise start to resemble more of a Wikipedia summary, with the creative team checking off every oversight and willful instance of lawbreaking under Kalanick's watch without ever fully contextualizing any of them. Kalanick flagrantly breaks laws, treats his employees horrifically, and generally behaves as if he were the physical manifestation of white privilege itself ... but what larger point does "Super Pumped" add to any of these well-documented misdeeds?
Obviously, Uber is still thriving — popular, profitable, and as polarizing as ever. Its troubled founder and now-former CEO, to say the least, is not. "Super Pumped" takes a twisting and oftentimes thrilling path in guiding us towards that inevitable conclusion, though it seems to have missed the forest for the trees along the way. This may very well be the boldest, most provocative, and most compelling feel-bad story of the year so far ... but it's one that's still searching for a deeper, more meaningful point to make.
"Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber" premieres Sunday, February 27, 2022, on Showtime.
Read this next: The 14 Greatest Biopics Of The 21st Century
The post Super Pumped Review: A Bold, Provocative Takedown Of Silicon Valley In Search Of A Deeper Point appeared first on /Film.
It's no secret that Samuel L. Jackson has a type. When you walk into a movie starring the veteran actor you already have certain expectations about his character: a daredevil charisma, steely persona, and an abundance of endlessly quotable, expletive-driven rants (unless you're watching "The Incredibles"). Whether it's bringing to life spy Nick Fury in the MCU or Jedi Master Mace Windu in the "Star Wars" prequels the veteran actor is often typecast as the resident badass of whatever film he is in. It doesn't matter how big his role is or if he's chasing snakes off planes or getting munched by sharks in the deep blue sea. Jackson has proved to be the literal avatar of badassery over the course of his career. But as if that's not enough, two of the characters the actor has played also carried objects inscribed with a phrase that adequately sums up their intimidating demeanor.
At the end of "Pulp Fiction," the hitman Jules Winnfield has his wallet stolen by two up-and-coming criminals. And the wallet, inscribed with a two-word reminder of its owner's malignant nature, is the source of one of the film's many indelible deliveries by Jackson. When asked which wallet is his, Jules replies oh so coolly: "It's the one that says bad mother f***** on it." True to his word, when the camera cuts to a shot of the wallet there are the words inscribed in thick black letters.
It's a moment so quintessentially Samuel L. Jackson it's should come as no surprise it's not the only prop that's been inscribed with the phrase or at least a version of it. While on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" the actor revealed Mace Windu also had a similar reminder on his lightsaber as well.
Turns out the prop department decided to have some fun and tip their hat to Jackson's "Pulp Fiction" role, inscribing the button on his one-of-a-kind purple lightsaber with the acronym "BMF." It's not like we needed proof the Jedi Master was one of the galaxy far, far away's many badasses but a little personalization never hurts -- just ask Jules. After all, if Mace Windu ever does return to the "Star Wars" universe he'll have to go on a bit of a hunt to find his lightsaber, which took quite the tumble along with him and his hand in "Revenge of the Sith." But hey, if that means we get to see a Mace Windu version of the Jules-wallet-diner scene where he tells whatever poor soul has his lightsaber, "It's the one with BMF" on the button, then it'll have all been worth it in the end.
Read this next: The 15 Best Star Wars Comics You Need To Read
The post Samuel L. Jackson Had a Perfectly Samuel L. Jackson Inscription on His Star Wars Lightsaber appeared first on /Film.
Quentin Tarantino's return to the screen could come in the form of a TV project. Tarantino is reportedly in talks to helm an episode or two of the upcoming FX limited series, "Justified: City Primeval," which would reunite him with star Timothy Olyphant, who appeared in Tarantino's last film, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."
"Justified: City Primeval" is a sequel to the Emmy-winning "Justified," which ran for six seasons on FX. In the series, Olyphant portrayed U.S Marshal Raylan Givens, based on a character from the Elmore Leonard short story, "Fire in the Hole." The Givens character also appeared in the novels "Pronto" and "Riding the Rap," and, most recently, "Raylan," which Leonard published in 2012 after the success of "Justified" on TV.
"Justified: City Primeval," is adapted from a different Leonard novel, "City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit," with Givens taking the place of the book's original protagonist, Detective Raymond Cruz.
Tarantino most famously adapted Leonard's novel "Rum Punch" into "Jackie Brown" in 1997, but according to Deadline, he has optioned other Leonard titles and discussed the potential of directing an adaptation of "Forty Lashes Less One" as another Western of his. He has also worked in TV before, helming an episode of "CSI" in 2005 and an episode of "ER" in 1995; the latter of those paired him with George Clooney, who would rise to movie stardom the following year after he and Tarantino played the fugitive Gecko brothers in "From Dusk Till Dawn."
As we previously reported, "Justified: City Primeval" is bringing back writer Dave Andron and director Michael Dinner as showrunners, along with Graham Yost, the creator of the original series, and Sarah Timberman, Peter Leonard, and Carl Beverly as executive producers. Deadline adds that Dinner will be "the lead director on the show," so Tarantino would seemingly be a guest director, just doing another one-off (or two-off), if he does sign on.
Here's the plot synopsis for "Justified: City Primeval:"
Having left the hollers of Kentucky eight years ago, Raylan Givens now lives in Miami, a walking anachronism balancing his life as a U.S. Marshal and part-time father of a 14-year-old girl. His hair is grayer, his hat is dirtier, and the road in front of him is suddenly a lot shorter than the road behind.
A chance encounter on a desolate Florida highway sends him to Detroit. There he crosses paths with Clement Mansell, aka The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent, sociopathic desperado who's already slipped through the fingers of Detroit's finest once and aims to do so again. Mansell's lawyer, formidable Motor City native Carolyn Wilder, has every intention of representing her client, even as she finds herself caught in between cop and criminal, with her own game afoot as well. These three characters set out on a collision course in classic Elmore Leonard fashion, to see who makes it out of the City Primeval alive.
Read this next: The 20 Best Westerns Of All Time
The post Quentin Tarantino in Talks to Direct Episodes of Timothy Olyphant-Led Series Justified: City Primeval appeared first on /Film.
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I bought this Black+Decker Dustbuster cordless vacuum in 2015, and it's the best I've owned. All the other cordless vacs I've owned had batteries that conked out after a year or less, but the battery in this one is still working. — Read the rest
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Sci-fi films these days are usually big blockbuster films. Just look at last year’s Dune, a big film featuring some of today’s brightest stars. Science fiction filmmaking wasn’t always this way. Prior to the 1970s, sci-fi was a small niche genre. They were films made cheaply for Saturday matinee audiences or to be paired together in a double feature at the drive-in. These weren’t the top-tier films of the year.
Something changed, though, after George Lucas made Star Wars and Steven Spielberg made Close Encounters of the Third Kind. All of a sudden you have major films being produced and a genre of filmmaking becomes a fan favorite for many. That’s where we begin our journey with IN SEARCH OF TOMORROW, and when I say a journey, I mean it! Being hailed as the definitive film about science fiction filmmaking in the 1980s, this documentary from David Weiner is 4 hours and 50 minutes long, and covers everything from how movies like Mad Max were conceptualized to how the explosion of NASA’s Challenger impacted society and how they perceived films about space.
The first talking head we see is Wil Wheaton, known mostly for his role on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but also as somewhat of a pop culture nerd. It was a welcoming sign of what was to come as actors, directors, and everyone in between gave their take on the best sci-fi films of the 1980s. Billy Dee Williams continues to just be the coolest person in the galaxy, Jesse Ventura shows up to talk about the Predator, and Peter Weller tells us what it was like to be a Robocop.
This film really does become a definitive look at the genre moving year by year throughout the 80s. It covers the big films like Star Wars and Alien, but it also highlights forgotten films like Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. IN SEARCH OF TOMORROW is comprehensive in ways that I didn’t think it would be. Highlighting films that impacted society in ways outside of the box office, especially when it comes to creating new technology. The film also makes note of how women were represented in film and how actors of color got a chance to shine.
As a sci-fi fan and a nerd for documentaries, IN SEARCH OF TOMORROW is right up my alley. However, my biggest critique is about the near 5-hour run time. I applaud this film for trying to be as in-depth as possible, but in making a documentary rather than a series like the ones you see from Netflix or CNN, it becomes difficult to watch in one sitting. I wouldn’t have minded this film cutting its runtime by an hour or even if it had split this film into two parts, with a second film coming out later in the year.
This is a critique that goes along with the director and his vision for his series of films as he has previously made a similar film trilogy about horror during the 1980s. All of them also had a long run time. It’s a small gripe since I am able to just pause and come back whenever I’d like, but I do think that the long runtime will work against the film. Audiences may not choose to watch it once they see how long it is and that’s a shame.
IN SEARCH OF TOMORROW is a fun and exciting documentary for film fans looking for a taste of 80s nostalgia.
To pre-order the film until March 27th, fans can visit www.80sscifidoc.com. Packages includes a choice of Blu-ray or DVD plus slipcover, digital download of the film, three exclusive IN SEARCH OF TOMORROW posters, sticker pack, and a credit in the film.
The post [Documentary Review] IN SEARCH OF TOMORROW appeared first on Nightmarish Conjurings.
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The folks at Squirrel Monkey reimagine modern apps and online services as if they existed decades ago. They do a great job making them look like software did in the 1980s and 1990s. This imaginary 1980s version of Wordle looks and sounds exactly like real PC games of the era. — Read the rest
Possums look like scraggly, ratty creatures—or at least that’s what I used to think. You see them trundling across roads at nighttime, sharp-toothed bundles of fur with a long naked tail trailing behind. But one day, I visited a museum that had pelts of dozens of different animals in a hands-on display. Some were…
Solid-state drives (SSDs) have evolved a lot over the years. Not only are the best SSDs faster and have more capacity, but they’re also readily available on the market now and you no longer have to spend a lot of money to get the best SSDs. While all SSDs are faster than spinning drives, they’re not all the same. SSDs are available in different shapes and sizes, and use different interfaces with varying core technologies. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the different types of SSDs and tell you which ones to buy in each category. So without wasting any more time, let’s get started with the best SSDs buying guide:
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Before you buy an SSD, it’s important to figure out the type of drive your computer supports. It’s going to be either a 2.5-inch SSD or an M.2 SSD that’s installed directly on your motherboard.
Some of these PCIe M.2 drives also support a transfer protocol named NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express), which is a flash-based standard for storage. If you are looking to buy the fastest consumer SSD on the market, then you should look for M.2 drives with NVMe in the name. There’s also PCIe 3.0 vs PCIe 4.0, with the latter one being faster, of course. You will, however, need a PCIe 4.0 compatible processor and motherboard to use these drives. Intel’s new 12th-gen Alder Lake processors and the supported 600-series motherboards support PCIe 5.0 too, but we’re yet to see consumer-grade PCIe 5.0 peripherals on the market, let alone PCIe 5.0 based M.2 drives.
Well, now that you know the different types of SSDs and the kind of transfer interface they use, let’s take a look at the best SSDs you can buy on the market right now:
Western Digital has plenty of high-end SSDs on the market. The company’s Black SN850 drive, in particular, has been a very reliable option since it hit the shelves. This is one of the best performing drives right now and it’s also the top pick in our collection of the best M.2 SSDs you can buy. While there are a lot of other PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs out there in 2022, we think the WD Black SN850 is amongst the best. As such, it’s our pick for the best overall M.2 SSD you should consider for your next PC build or an upgrade.
The WD Black SN850 is essentially an upgrade to the previous-gen SN750 and it borrows a lot from it. The SN850 drive uses PCIe 4.0 interface and is capable of hitting read and write speeds of up to 7,000MB/s and 5,300MB/s, respectively. That’s the M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives are insanely fast and offer significantly better performance over the SATA drives that we’ve seen so far in this particular collection.
The WD Black SN850 is available in three capacities — 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB. You can buy it with or without heatsinks, although we do recommend using some sort of a heatsink for these modules. You don’t need one if the M.2 slot on your motherboard is covered with a heatsink, but we recommend picking up the one with a heatsink otherwise. High-performance drives like the SN850 tend to have high operating temperatures, so it’s best to keep in check for the best performance.
The WD Black SN850 comes in an M.2 2280 single-side form-factor, featuring an NVMe controller, a DRAM chip, and more. This drive also features revamped SLC caching with support for hybrid SLC caching. You also get plenty of safety features with this drive including Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) ECC engine, internal SRAM ECC, and more. Notably, the SN850 drive is also rated to endure up to 300TB of writes per 500GB capacity, which is quite impressive. Additionally, Western Digital is also backing this drive with a five0-year warranty, so that’s great too. It’s more in line with a lot of SSDs on the market, but it’s good to have the same kind of backing for an M.2 drive too.
All things considered, we think the WD Black SN850 is a solid M.2 SSD to consider if you’re looking to get the absolute best performance from your storage drive. This is better than a lot of other SSDs out there, including the Samsung 980 Pro, so we think this is your best option at least until the much faste4r PCIe 5.0 drives hit the market. Those drives, however, may not become mainstream at least until next year, and the WD 850 should be able to serve you well for many years to come. The Western Digital Black SN850 M.2 drive is slightly on the expensive side, so we suggest you hit the link below to find the best price for it online right now.
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There aren’t really any bad PCIe 4.0 SSDs out there, but like all Samsung SSDs, the 980 Pro is absolutely one to consider buying. Samsung’s legendary reputation is well founded for both performance and reliability across its range of storage products. The 980 Pro is the current top dog, though it will be surpassed later in 2022 you would expect by the forthcoming 990 Pro. That said, even the 990 Pro remains at PCIe 4.0 so its real-world improvements will certainly not be any kind of generational leap, meaning you’re still perfectly fine buying the 980 Pro.
When it launched the 980 Pro was Samsung’s first foray into PCIe 4.0 SSDs and the performance is unlike anything that came before it. Claimed read and write speeds of 7,000 MB/s and 5,000 MB/s aren’t the absolute fastest in the market, but it holds up in practice. Even the middle capacity 500GB model in our testing hits peaks of around 6,500MB/s and 4,900MB/s read and write respectively. And with up to 600 TB written endurance and a five-year warranty, it’s built to last, too. As always with this type of SSD, the absolute best performance and the longest endurance will come from the larger capacity models.
To unlock all this performance you do need to be using a more recent Intel or AMD CPU and motherboard that supports the PCIe 4.0 standard. Likewise, if you’re looking to put one inside a laptop. The Samsung 980 Pro is backward compatible with PCIe 3.0, but performance will peak at the limitations of that spec. Nevertheless, if you’re buying now and looking to future-proof for your next build, you can absolutely use this in an older PC.
The 980 Pro is also confirmed compatible with the PlayStation 5 if you’re looking to get a high-quality SSD to expand your console storage. You’ll get good performance from it, but you won’t be able to use Samsung’s excellent Magician software to squeeze the best from your drive. Magician has built-in benchmarks and health check tools to keep tabs on how your SSD is performing and monitor vitals such as temperature. It’s also the only way to update the drive’s firmware.
If there was anything less positive to say about the 980 Pro it’s that it can run warm. PCIe 4.0 SSDs tend to do this anyway, more performance usually means more temperature. And Samsung does now ship it with an included heat sink if you wish. Without the heat sink, temperatures can top 60C (140F) if there isn’t adequate airflow over the drive, such as you would get in the PS5 or in a laptop. If you’re putting it into a desktop machine, making sure to mount it on a front-facing SSD slot with adequate airflow can drop 10C (50F) from those peak temperatures.
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The Crucial P5 Plus isn’t the best performing M.2 out there but this is one of those drives that offer a good value for your money. Unlike a lot of other top performings SSDs, the P5 Plus is optimized for specific workloads and delivers reliable performance. This particular drive also happens to be one of the most affordable PCIe 4.0 SSDs right now, which is why it’s our pick for the best value PCIe 4.0 SSD on the market.
The Crucial P5 Plus is using the in-house NVMe architecture controller and it has an eight-channel design that leverages LPDDR4 DRAM to accelerate FTL management. Both the 500GB and 1TB variants use 1GB of DRAM, but the 2TB model uses 2GB. The Crucial P5 Plus, in case you’re wondering, is rated to have sequential read and write speeds of up to 6,600MB/s and 4,000MB/s, respectively. As you can tell, it’s not in the same ballpark as some of the other top-performing drives on the market, but budget shoppers will find plenty of value in this drive.
Just like the WD Black SN8550 and the other SATA drives in this collection, the Crucial P5 Plus also comes with five years of warranty and endurance of up to 1,200 TBW for the 2TB variant. Lower capacity variants have less endurance but they’re still pretty good. When it comes to security, the P5 Plus features TRIM, S.M.A.R.T. data reporting, AES 256-bit full-disk encryption, and more. This particular drive is Windows BitLocker compliant too, which means the data stored in this drive is going to be quite secure. Notably, Crucial also provides its own SSD toolbox and some other cloning software to help you get started with it.
In terms of performance, it’s safe to say that the Crucial P5 Plus sits between the top-performing PCIe 3.0 SSDs and the newer PCIe 4.0 modules. It may not have the best read and write speeds, as we mentioned earlier, but it still scores high points for being optimized for specific workloads. It offers good performance for day-to-day workloads and even gaming. We think this drive should be the go-to option for frugal gamers and content creators, if not any other cheaper drive out there.
All in all, the Crucial P5 Plus is a great option to consider if you’re hellbent on buying a PCIe 4.0 SSD for your computer, but don’t want to spend too much money. While this drive is not in the same league as some other options including the Sabrent Rocket 4, we think it still excels at delivering a performance that’s superior to many affordable PCIe 3.0 drives. We’re still looking at significantly high read and write speeds, after all. And besides that, Curcial’s promise on longevity makes it a compelling option over a lot of other M.2 drives, even in 2022. You can buy a 1TB variant of the Crucial P5 Plus right now for as low as $100, so be sure to hit the link below and find the best price for it online right now.
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Western Digital’s SN550 is a highly popular PCIe 3.0 drive that’s recommended by a lot of enthusiasts in the community. It’s also one of the top picks in our collection of the best M.2 SSDs you can buy on the market right now. However, WD recently released a slightly upgraded version of the SN550 in the form of the Blue SN570. This new drive borrows a lot from its predecessor and offers pretty good value for those who are looking to buy a budget M.2 drive for their build.
WD, in case you don’t know, offers a range of color-coded storage drives on the market. The top-performing SSD from the brand, for instance, is a part of the WD Black series. The SN570 belongs to the WD Blue series, just like its predecessor. The Blue SN570 sticks to the PCI Express 3.0 rather than the newer 4.0 interface, but it’s still faster than its predecessor. It offers better performance overall to topple a lot of other PCIe 3.0 M.2 drives out there right now. The SN570 is a 4x PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 TLC NAND-based SSD.
This particular drive has a single-sided type-2280 form-factor and it employs the NVMe protocol over PCI Express bus. The SN570 lacks dynamic random access memory (DRAM) which allows WD to keep its overall cost low. WD compensates for any performance hit by adding faster static random access memory (SRAM) to its controller. We’re looking at sequential read and write speeds of 3,500MB/s and 3,000MB/s respectively. Not only is it faster than its predecessor, but it puts WD in a good position against other PCIe 3.0 drives in the race too. Just to put things into perspective, the Blue SN550 had sequential read and write speeds of around 2,500MB/s and 2,000MB/s respectively.
Overall, we think the WD Blue SN570 hands out plenty of good reasons for you to consider this drive. It offers great performance with a 5-years warranty and a good endurance rating. It’s also been priced competitively in the PCIe 3.0 storage space, making it a great overall M.2 drive. That being said, we think WD SN550 is also a great option to consider if you don’t mind putting up slightly slower speeds in exchange for saving more money. They both are one of the more affordable M.2 SSDs out there right now, but the SN570 happens to be a bit better when it comes to the overall performance.
This particular drive puts Western Digital in a very good spot as a lot of users are still on the lookout to buy a PCIe 3.0 drive. That’s because not everybody has the hardware to support PCIe 4.0 peripherals. The WD Blue SN570 is still relatively new to the market, so we suggest you hit the link below to see if it’s available in stock and also find the best price for it online right now.
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Samsung has a ton of reliable SSDs to its name across different categories. The company’s 870 EVO is considered one of the best 2.5-inch SATA SSD out there right now. This one comes as an upgrade to the 860 EVO drive which was already considered to be the best. There’s a lot to like about this particular SATA drive and it’s also our pick for the best 2.5-inch SATA drive you can buy on the market right now.
One of the best things about the Samsung 870 EVO drive is that it’s available in almost every capacity you could think of, ranging from 250GB all the way up to 4TB. Each capacity comes at a premium price, of course, and you’re bound to get the most value for your money as you go higher up the ladder. According to Samsung, the 870 EVO can deliver sequential read and write speeds of up to 560MB/s and 530MB/s, respectively. In our use, these figures are accurate, actually peaking slightly above.
Samsung is backing these drives with up to 5 years of warranty, and they’re said to absorb up to 150TB of write data per 250GB capacity. This means the 4TB variant of the Samsung 870 EVO is rated to handle as much as 2,400TB written. That’s more in line with what you’d get with most SSDs out there. The 870 EVO drives are also quite secure as they use TCG Opal 2.0-compliant AES 256-bit full disk encryption.
There’s plenty to like about the Samsung 870 EVO’s overall performance too. It’s remarkably better than its predecessor, the 860 EVO. In fact, it topples a lot of SSDs in its class with its reliable, sustained performance. The 870 EVO is also fairly power efficient. Just to put things into perspective, even the 4TB variant of the 870 EVO drive that comes with more flash is just as efficient as the 1TB variant. We’re looking at a peak power consumption of just a hair over 2.50W, with very low idle power consumption. It’s safe to say that the Samsung 870 EVO is a very power-efficient drive and it leaves no room to complain about thermal throttling too. Temperatures under full load rarely exceed 22C (71F), around half the temperature you would expect from a Samsung PCIe 4.0 drive.
In addition to the 870 EVO, Samsung has another 2.5-inch SATA SSD in the form of 870 QVO, its QLC flash-based SSD. The 870 QVO is also very similar in terms of performance and you’re not looking at any major differences in transfer speeds. The Samsung 870 EVO is high up on the list of the best-performing SATA drives, so there’s not much in the name of competition that is significantly better. All things considered, it’s safe to say that the Samsung 870 EVO is one of the best SSDs you can buy right now. It offers impressive sustained performance, solid endurance, and comes with a 5-year warranty. SATA definitely has its limitations as an interface and you’re bound to see the best of it in the Samsung 870 EVO.
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The Samsung 870 EVO is our pick for the best overall 2.5-inch SATA SSD you can buy but we think the Crucial MX500 SSD comes very close to it. This is the drive that challenges Samsung on SATA and earns a respectable position in the top SSDs list. This particular drive offers plenty of great features and it doesn’t burn a huge hole in your pocket. As such, it’s our pick for the second-best 2.5-inch SATA SSD you can buy right now.
The Crucial MX500 SSD is available in four capacities — 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB. It’s also available in two form factors, but we’re only considering the 2.5-inch drive for this collection. According to Crucial, all four capacities offer the same set of features and specifications. We’re looking at sequential read and write speeds of 560MB/s and 512MB/s, respectively. This is more in line with a lot of other high-performance SSDs on the market.
The Crucial MX500 also features a self-encrypting drive (SED) and full disk encryption (FDE). The drive also features the AES-256 encryption engine but you will have to enable TCG/Opal or the ATA Security command via the system BIOS to take advantage of that. The company is also offering 5-years of warranty for these drives, that too with a good endurance rating. According to Crucial, you can write 700TB to the 2TB variant of the MX500 before running through its warranty. Other capacity drives also have pretty good endurance ratings when compared with a lot of drives out there.
The Crucial MX500 SSD comes in a slim 7mm case design that’s commonly used in notebooks. This particular drive should have absolutely no issues fitting into most laptops and desktop cabinets. Crucial is using a new and improved 64-layer NAND and controller firmware for this drive, resulting in better overall performance. The MX500 SSD is said to be one of the best performing drives out there with impressive sustained write performance. The general performance of this drive is more in line with a lot of other SSDs out there on the market.
The Crucial MX500 has a lot to offer if you’re looking to buy a reliable SATA SSD for your build and don’t want to spend a lot of money in the process. This particular drive isn’t an outright winner in every category but it scores enough points to get an easy recommendation from a lot of enthusiasts in the community. The MX500 is a solid alternative to the Samsung 870 EVO drive that we mentioned above. It’s not as expensive as the Samsung drive but it packs a decent punch and offers a good set of features, so it’s worth considering. Even if you have a modern computer with M.2, we still recommend picking up one of these SATA drives just to add more storage to your PC as they’re much better than spinning drives. One of the best things about this drive is that it’s readily available on the market, so be sure to hit the link below and find the best price for it online right now.
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The Samsung T7 SSD is a solid upgrade to the T5 portable drive. This particular drive is still considered to be one of the best external SSDs you can buy on the market right now. You can either buy the regular version of the SSD or go for the one that comes with a fingerprint reader. Both variants have identical specs, however, the one with a fingerprint scanner is more suitable for advanced users who enjoy having more security.
Both the T7 and the T7 Touch are available in either 500GB, 1TB, or 2TB capacities and you can buy them in either blue or silver colors. The T7 Touch is a tad heavier than the standard version because of the hardware needed for the biometric feature. They both are still extremely portable drives, though, sized similar to a credit card. We’re looking at an aluminum construction for both drives. They also use a USB Type-C connector for file transfer which is great. Samsung is using an NVMe SSD behind the USB 3.2 Gen 2 bridge to offer high sequential read and write speeds of up to 1,050MB/s and 1,000MB/s respectively. In reality, write speeds don’t quite achieve this lofty claim, but it’s hardly slow. Copying the full Witcher 3 game data to the T7 over USB 3.2 takes less than three minutes. For around 50GB of files.
One of the best things about this particular SSD is that you also get Samsung’s portable SSD Plus software included with the SSD. You can use the same to set up the fingerprint reader too, the process for which is similar to how you would enable fingerprint authentication on your smartphones. It is, however, worth pointing out that the drive needs to be connected to a system in order for the scanner to work, so keep that in mind. You can also download this software as an app for your smartphone in order to use the SSD provided your phone has a Type-C connector. You don’t need the app installed to access via fingerprint, though, once
Samsung is offering a three-year limited warranty for both the T7 as well as the T7 Touch. Additionally, you also get AES 256-bit hardware encryption with the drives. Both the T7 and the T7 Touch are also fairly affordable starting at just $79. That’s an attractive price tag, especially when you consider all the features that you get with these drives. The T7 Touch variant costs a bit more due to the added security, but we think it’s still well worth the asking price.
The T7 and the T7 Touch portable SSDs, as you can already tell, leave very little room to complain about. But if we had to pick, then we’d say the lack of an IP rating is a bummer. It’s not necessarily a deal-breaker for many, but it’s definitely something worth making a note of. We’re also expecting Samsung to come up with an upgraded version of these drives very soon, so perhaps we’ll see an IP rating on the new variants. Until then, we think the Samsung T7 is a great option to consider if you’re looking to buy a reliable portable SSD with good transfer speeds. And if you’re somebody who likes to have more security, then check out the T7 Touch portable SSD.
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SanDisk, as you probably already know, is a popular brand with a lot of great SSDs to its name. From USB sticks to portable drives, the company has a lot of good storage options. For this collection, however, we’ve picked the SanDisk Extreme V2 portable SSD. This particular drive is also a part of our collection of the best portable SSDs you can buy in 2022, so it’s hardly a surprise that it made it to this collection as well.
The SanDisk Extreme V2 is a fast, secure, and durable portable SSD that uses a USB 3.2 Gen 2 x2 interface. It delivers up to 2GB/s of sequential throughput. This particular drive is compatible with a lot of devices, so we think it’s perfect for professionals and advanced users. The SanDisk Extreme V2 is available in capacities of 1TB and 2TB and they both carry a premium price tag. We’re looking at $300 for the 1TB variant and $500 for the 2TB variant. According to SanDisk, the Extreme v2 portable drive can deliver up to 2,000MB/s in both reads and write workloads. It also features an SLC drive cache to absorb the write data to increase speeds.
Another good thing about the SanDisk Extreme V2 SSD is that it features AES 256-bit hardware encryption. This is a significant upgrade over the AES 128-bit encryption its predecessor had. It makes the new drive more secure, which is always a good thing. The Extreme V2 drive is also bundled with security management software to make things easier to set up. Additionally, you also get a USB Type-C cable and a USB Type-C to Type-A cable with the drive.
All that’s great but the thing that makes this particular SanDisk drive better than the Samsung T7 is that it comes with IP55 water and dust-resistant rating. The Extreme V2 is also rated to withstand up to a two-meter drop, thereby making it more durable than a lot of other drives on the market. Overall, it’s safe to say the SanDisk Extreme V2 is an excellent option to consider if you’re looking for something more durable than the Samsung drive we mentioned above. This one’s a bit heavier than the T7, but it’s still quite compact, so it shouldn’t really be an issue when it comes to portability.
You can indeed find more affordable drives out there, but we think the Extreme V2 is worth the asking price is given all the features on offer. Professional users with sophisticated workflows will find plenty of value in this drive. If you think this is too expensive, then we recommend checking out our collection of the best portable SSDs to find more options within your budget. SanDisk also sells an older generation of this drive which is also worth considering if you don’t mind using a slightly slower drive to save money. Alternatively, you can also hit the link below to find the best price for it online and to see if it’s available at a discounted price and save some money.
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There aren’t too many options when it comes to add-in cards out there, mainly because of the arrival of more compact M.2 modules. That being said, Western Digital is still selling a pretty good add-in card that’s worth checking out if you are shopping for one of these. We’re talking about the WD Black AN1500 that is readily available on Amazon right now for around $250.
The WD Black AN1500 is a unique NVMe SSD that combines two of WD’s SN730 SSDs to pair them in RAID 0 using an enterprise-grade RAID controller. This makes it possible to deliver PCIe 4.0 speeds to systems that only support PCIe 3.0. It’s capable of delivering sequential read and write speeds of up to 6,400MB/s and 4,100MB/s respectively. It’s impressive how the drive is capable of delivering PCIe 4.0 performance over a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.
WD’s Black AN1500 is available in capacities of 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. It’s a really unique drive in this list as it delivers impressive performance over such high-capacity drives. WD is also offering a five-year warranty for this drive, although we weren’t able to find any endurance ratings for the same. The AN1500 supports both Trim and S.M.A.R.T. data reporting, but it lacks AES 256-bit hardware encryption.
The WD Black AN1500 has a half-height add-in card form factor and it talks to the host system over a PCIe 3.0 x8 link. It’s got a metal casing and it measures over 13mm thick and weighs half a pound. We’re also looking at RGB LEDs on the edge, which look pretty cool when mounted on a motherboard inside a PC case. This is perfect for those who like to have a lot of RGB lights inside their chassis. It packs 16 LEDs under a diffuser to emit subtle and uniform lighting.
Western Digital has disabled all the power management options on this particular SSD, so the device always operates in a fully active power state. This means it’s constantly chugging power and producing heat at the same time, even when it’s idle. Luckily, it seems to handle the load pretty well as it doesn’t have any throttling issues. In terms of performance, the WD AN1500 is even better than a lot of other PCIe 4.0 drives out there. For instance, the AN1500 is known to have shorter loading times in games when compared with other PCIe 4.0 drives like the Curial P5, the Sabrent Rocket 4.0, and more. It’s impressive the kind of performance it brings to an older system that doesn’t have support for PCIe 4.0 drives.
So yes, the WD AN1500 is indeed an expensive drive, but we think it’s well worth the asking price. It provides impressive performance for both content creators and gamers, making it an excellent SSD. And the fact that it has RGB lights makes it that much better for those who are looking to put together a fully decked-out gaming rig. It’s not without its caveats though. You will be paying a premium price for something that’s constantly consuming power and producing heat. It’ll also take up 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes, so keep that in mind.
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SSDs are great for improving the general performance of a computer. In fact, we think adding an SSD is the best upgrade to an old PC to improve its performance. Most users building a new system should consider investing in an M.2 stick. The WD Black SN850 is a great option if you want the absolute best performance right now. Others who don’t mind settling for slightly slower speeds can check out the WD Blue SN570 drive. Those who are looking for a SATA drive to upgrade an older desktop or laptop should consider buying the Samsung 870 EVO as it offers a good mix of features and reliable performance on a budget. Additionally, we’ve also added a couple of portable SSDs to this list if you simply want to have more storage at your disposal for when you need it.
If you ended up here while searching for SSDs for your new PC build, then you might be interested in some of our other collection articles including the best motherboards or even the best DDR5 RAM kits. We think they’re worth a read if you don’t want to get lost in the sea of options that are available out there. We also encourage you to join our XDA Computing Forums if you want to discuss your build or get more product recommendations from other experts in our community.
The post These are the best SSDs you can buy in 2022 appeared first on XDA.
Group policies give you greater control over Windows, allowing you to tailor your experience to your liking. However, there are some policies you need to avoid, and it can be hard to figure them out for yourself. Luckily, Microsoft has made it easy for Windows 10 and 11 administrators to identify these irrelevant policies by listing 25 of them.
