A number of key game industry players have teamed up under the HDR Gaming Interest Group with the goal of streamlining high dynamic range standards across game development as a whole. 

As spotted by WCCFTech around 20 companies including the likes of EA, Epic Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Unity have joined the endeavor so far. 

The HDR Gaming Interest Group presented a handful of best practice recommendations at a workshop in Vancouver last week, outlining four things that developers should keep in mind in order to provide players with the optimal HDR experience. 

Developers can check out this more in-depth document that details those steps toward better HDR shared by the organization that explores challenges surrounding HDR features, outlines those guiding principles, and offers devs some additional technical guidelines as well.

Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. To find out what’s coming soon to Xbox One, read on below and click on each of the game profiles for pre-order details (dates are subject to change).

Games

August 14, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – After years on the road facing threats both living and dead, a secluded school might finally be Clementine and AJ’s chance for a home. But protecting it will mean sacrifice. In this gripping, emotional final season, your choices define your relationships, shape your world, and determine how Clementine’s story ends.

Games

August 14, 2018

Fall of Light is a story-driven action RPG set within a world consumed by darkness. You are Nyx, an old warrior who has embarked on a dangerous journey with his daughter, Aether, who radiates luminescence. Only together will they be strong enough to complete their quest: reach the last place on Earth still touched by sunlight.

Games

August 15, 2018

The world is on the brink. With a lack of resources, illnesses caused by polluted air and water, crime on the rise, and governments promise remedies through technological progress. As Richard Nolan, one of the few journalists openly criticizing this development, find that his family has vanished, you’ll experience an alarmingly realistic vision of the near future in this sci-fi thriller where dystopian reality and digital utopia are intertwined.

Games

August 15, 2018

The alien Smurglian have come to Earth and they’re not leaving until they steal our four most prized commodities: metal music, coffee, cat videos, and WiFi. In this arcade-style beat ’em up that pays homage to the 90s era of classic arcade & 16-bit brawlers, take control of Black Forge Coffeehouse baristas Nick and Ashley, two galaxy gladiators called to arms to stop this madness.

Games

August 15, 2018

Inspired by classic adventure games, you’ll find yourself lost in ghostly town of Wailing Heights where you’ll need to talk to the locals, collect lyrics to songs, listen to clues, and steal things from other songs. Add these ingredients to your musical possession wheel and sing your soul right into a monster’s body, gaining their supernatural abilities and moving one step closer to escaping Wailing Heights.

Games

August 15, 2018

To destroy the world’s most powerful vampire, your team of slayers must impale, slash, tear and burn through legions of undead hell-bent on world domination. Take charge of five unique heroes that battle their way through various arenas to defeat Count Necrosis. Fans of RTS, RPGs, and Tower Defense games will find a lot to like here.

Games

August 15, 2018

After waking in unfamiliar woods, Alex, an ordinary high schooler living an ordinary life, learns he has somehow ended up in Fernland, a world dominated by conflict and destruction, he will have to travel to the other side of the world and beyond to find his way back home in this fantasy RPG full of monsters and colorful characters.

Games

August 17, 2018

Describing itself as “blending a fast-paced, Quake-esque feel with the randomness, difficulty and power-up system of The Binding of Isaac,” Polygod is designed for speedrunners, inviting only the most skilled and strategic players to defeat the Trial of the Gods. As a one-armed, gun-wielding assassin of legend, the seven deities of Polygod will test your skill with randomly generated arenas of hostile minions.

Games

August 17, 2018

Pilot your tank through competitive, gorgeous arenas to land a deadly shot on your opponents in Treadnauts. With a ton of useful tricks at your disposal, including treads that stick to any wall, boosters for midair hops, zero-friction slides, and rocket jumps for soaring into the sky, it’s all about moving with style to come out on top across four playable zones, each with unique mechanics and physics objects.

Games

August 17, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – Master physics-defying drunk-fu techniques by controlling your character’s stumbling direction and unleashing powerful attacks with each individual limb. Team up with your friends to beat AI controlled bullies in the swarm-like mode or challenge each other in free for all or last man standing modes to see who the true Wasted Master is.

Games

August 17, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – In Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, one player is trapped in a room with a ticking time bomb they must defuse. The other players are the experts who must give the instructions to defuse the bomb by deciphering the information found in the Bomb Defusal Manual. But there’s a catch: the experts can’t see the bomb, so everyone will need to talk it out – fast! Test the limits of your communication skills and friendships in this co-op party game.

Games

August 17, 2018

In the absence of a mortally ill king, the Grand Vizier Zaved rules the kingdom with an iron fist, while a mysterious plague casts a dark shadow on the people of Persia. The young apothecary Tara decides to conduct her own investigation and discover the cause of the illness before it’s too late in this puzzle game.

Today’s Indie Highlights presentation cooked up lots of information on some of the games destined to reach the Nintendo eShop in the near future, with two titles instantly launching on the console. Yes, these two games featured below are available to download right now!

Check out their trailers and information, lovingly provided below, and then let us know if you’ll be trying either of them yourself.

Bad North

Bad North is described as a “charming but brutal real-time tactics roguelite”. Players must defend their idyllic island kingdom against a horde of Viking invaders, commanding their loyal subjects to take full tactical advantage of the unique shape of each island. Everything is at stake here; if you fail, you’ll be watching the blood of your subjects stain the ground red.

Players control the broad strokes of the battle, giving high-level commands to your soldiers who try their best to carry them out in the heat of the moment. Simple player inputs aim to mask a dynamic combat simulation to make it inviting to new players, while simultaneously challenging veterans.

Here are some of the game’s features:

Features:
– REAL-TIME TACTICS ROGUELITE: Position and relocate your troops to fend off the Vikings, who each have their own counters to the threats you pose. Pick your battles and plan your evacuations carefully! Lose a commander and they’re gone forever; lose everything, and it’s game over!
– INTELLIGENT UNIT CONTROLS: You command the broad strokes of your defenses and monitor positioning — your soldiers do the rest, navigating and engaging intuitively in response to the situation at hand.
– PROCEDURALLY-GENERATED ISLANDS: Each island is both stylistically charming and unique in its layout. Plan your strategies around every nook and cranny, for you only get one chance to save them from the enemy invasion
– UNLOCKABLE UPGRADES AND COLLECTIBLES: A stronger, smarter defense leads to greater rewards. Use these to develop your subjects from a ragtag militia into seasoned warriors.

The game is available to download right now for £13.49 / $14.99.

Prison Architect: Nintendo Switch Edition

Prison Architect is a BAFTA award-winning ‘prison construction and management game’. Acting as both an architect and a governor, Players must look after their inmates by building a secure lockup, taking care of their needs, keeping them safe and healthy, and helping rehabilitate them into productive members of society. If you treat them poorly you’ll end up with a riot on your hands, so it’s definitely within your best interests to keep things running smoothly.

You’ll be controlling every detail of your prison – from building new cells and facilities to hiring staff and creating reform programs – all while dealing with informants, contraband smuggling, gang warfare, full-scale riots, and more.

Prison Architect: Nintendo Switch Edition is a premium edition which includes two expansions: All Day And A Night and Psych Ward, letting you up the challenge with new wardens and maps, as well as a new security class – the criminally insane. The ‘Escape Mode’ DLC, will also arrive on Switch later this summer.

The game is available to download right now for £24.99 / $29.99.

Do you like the look of these games? Will you be trying them out today? Tell us below.

Back from vacation, we’re now trying to finalize 1.13.1 and get it to you as soon as possible. We’re pretty happy with where 1.13.1 stands now, and are aiming to get the full release out on Wednesday (22nd of August) unless some major bug pops up.

A full changelog for this pre-release can be found on Minecraft.net.

CHANGES IN 1.13-PRE2

• Improved performance of flowing liquids
• Bug fixes!

BUGS FIXED IN 1.13.1-PRE2

• MC-136208 – Scute is not affected by doMobLoot
• MC-136157 – Explosion radius increased
• MC-136134 – Wrong Tropical Fish Variants Named
• MC-136107 – Water incorrectly flows toward holes/lower leves, even when they’re covered.
• MC-136023 – Phantoms attack players in spectator

To get pre-releases, open your launcher and go to the “launch options” tab. Check the box saying “Enable snapshots” and save. To switch between the snapshot and normal version, you can find a new dropdown menu next to the “Play” button. Back up your world first or run the game on in a different folder (In the “launch options” page).

Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com.

Pre-releases can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds. 

Share your thoughts on how 1.13.1 is shaping up in the comments below!

Are you worried about a few huge corporations controlling the web? Don’t like censorship on centralized social media sites like facebook and twitter? You need to decentralize! The internet was designed to be decentralized. Many common activities, from social media to email to voice calls, don’t actually require a centralized service.

The basic requirement for any peer to peer application is that the peers be able to reach each other. This is impossible today for most people using IP4 behind NAT (as with most household routers). The IP4 address space was exhausted over a decade ago. Most people are in “IP4 NAT Jail.”

Your device is assigned a private IP, and translated to the public IP by the router. Without port forwarding to a specific private IP, incoming TCP connections or UDP sessions can’t tell where to forward to, and are dropped. As a result, nothing can connect to your device. You must connect to various public servers to do anything. IP4 NAT Jail forces centralization.

The simplest solution to this problem is IPv6. However, most US consumer internet providers do not offer usable IPv6. For instance, if the IPv6 prefix changes every few days, the devices are not addressable except via a dynamic DNS server. Furthermore, on a mobile device like a laptop, most WiFi does not offer IPv6 either. So you can’t use Mobile IP6 to have a stable address.

You can work around this using a VPN like OpenVPN (included in Fedora) to a centralized server with a public IP4 — perhaps one you provide yourself by renting a Virtual Personal Server. But then packets to and from your device have to travel to and from the VPN server first. You can also use a tunnel broker like he.net.

If you and your peers already have stable IPv6 addresses, you can use these for the sample applications to be showcased. But most people need to use something else.

DNS is also essentially a centrally controlled service, so this article’s two sample applications avoid the use of DNS.  Email and SIP applications have built-in address books that work just as well.  Think of your stable IPv6 address as a “phone number.”

IPv6 Overlay Mesh VPN with Cjdns

The Cjdns package (included in Fedora) implements a global IPv6 mesh by connecting to several peers instead of a centralized server. Each node has a public/private key pair. The IPv6 is the truncated SHA512 hash of the public key, preventing spoofing.

• Packets are end to end encrypted — relays can be untrusted.
• Packets are source routed, allowing seamless upgrades of and experimentation with routing algorithms.  (This is safe thanks to anti-spoofing.)
• The data for routing comes from a Distributed Hash Table listing the peers of each node.
• Peers can be explicitly configured as UDP tunnels, or auto-configured on ethernet via layer 2 protocol 0xfc00.

With Cjdns installed, you have a stable, “unspoofable” (standard cryptographic caveats apply) IPv6 address that can be used with any IPv6 ready application. Your recipient must also use the Cjdns protocol, but this isn’t much of an obstacle since it’s easier to install Cjdns than convince US ISPs to provide usable IPv6.

Install Cjdns

To install and enable the Cjdns service persistently, run these commands:

$ sudo dnf install cjdns cjdns-tools cjdns-selinux $ sudo systemctl enable --now cjdns

$ peerStats 18:03:14:56:c2:1e v20.0000.0000.0000.0019.681v1s7k3af1q2cf09txpw309zdf4q0mn7mtq0wr544dz98stwr0.k ESTABLISHED in 6kb/s out 15kb/s LOS 8 "outer"

This generates a /etc/cjdroute.conf file, pre-populated with random keys and passwords. If there’s already a Cjdns node on your LAN as above, you’re done. But more likely, there was no output from peerStats. In that case you now need to configure one or more UDP tunnels. First, you must discover the random UDP port used.

$ sudo grep bind /etc/cjdroute.conf // Port to bind the admin RPC server to. "bind": "127.0.0.1:11234", "bind": "0.0.0.0:26041", "bind": "[::]:26041", // Alternatively bind to just one device "bind": "all",

In this example, the random UDP port is 26041 for both IPv6 and IPv4. Your port will be different. Allow incoming sessions for this port.

$ sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=26041/udp success $ sudo firewall-cmd --runtime-to-permanent success

Now you need to edit the config to add a peer. Hopefully, you are somewhat familiar with configs using JSON syntax. You must add an entry for a UDP peer using your favorite text editor, such as vim. Here is one provided on a VPS. Search for IPv4, and add the indicated stanza after connectTo, inside the braces:

$ sudo vim /etc/cjdroute.conf "168.235.90.18:26041": { "login": "fedora", "password":"zvkxv604fqx0zn9trhw5hjxwp3u4v2u", "publicKey":"lhj54c2xnczfurpw42d0h1bvc4qquclb4dw72q50tc83ucmm9zt0.k", "peerName":"nyc.gathman.org" },

For the changes to take effect, restart cjdns.

$ sudo systemctl restart cjdns $ peerStats 168.235.90.18:26041 v20.0000.0000.0000.0017.lhj54c2xnczfurpw42d0h1bvc4qquclb4dw72q50tc83ucmm9zt0.k ESTABLISHED in 0kb/s out 0kb/s "nyc.gathman.org" $ ping h.sea.gathman.org PING h.sea.gathman.org(h.sea.gathman.org (fceb:7fc0:c62c:9cd9:2971:e3ff:aee2:6e08)) 56 data bytes 64 bytes from h.sea.gathman.org (fceb:7fc0:c62c:9cd9:2971:e3ff:aee2:6e08): icmp_seq=1 ttl=42 time=87.6 ms

You can now ping any node in the global IPv6 mesh. CAUTION: All those nodes can now directly connect to your device. The default Fedora firewall will block all incoming connections be default — but be careful what you allow in. Be sure to consult the package README for additional security notes.

The fedora password to this nyc VPS may not be up indefinitely, so you need some more peers. Consult a list of public peers or peer with your Fedora friends.

Decentralize Email applications

You can decentralize almost any email client included in Fedora that supports IPv6, such as alpine or Thunderbird. This example uses mailx, a bare bones CLI mail client designed for teletypes. This makes configuration and use easy to show.

Similarly, you can use any of the MTAs supplied with Fedora, but this example uses opensmtpd, as it is simple, small, and secure. By default, opensmtpd stores incoming email in /var/spool/mail, which is perfect for personal decentralized use. You can, of course, use any mail store and client you prefer.

$ sudo dnf install mailx opensmtpd $ cat >~/.mailrc <<EOF set from="mylogin@[IPv6:fc02:fefe:dead:beef:cafe:babe:1234:5678] (Real Name)" set smtp=localhost EOF

Of course, you need to use your own local login, IPv6 and name.

To receive email, you will need to edit the opensmtpd config in /etc/opensmtpd/smtpd.conf. Here is a sample. (Note this article may wrap some of the “preformatted” lines, so use your head):

# This is the smtpd server system-wide configuration file. # See smtpd.conf(5) for more information. # To accept external mail, replace with: listen on all listen on fc02:fefe:dead:beef:cafe:babe:1234:5678 hostname "[IPv6:fc02:fefe:dead:beef:cafe:babe:1234:5678]" listen on localhost # If you edit the file, you have to run "smtpctl update table aliases" table aliases file:/etc/aliases # Uncomment the following to accept external mail for domain "example.org" #accept from any for domain "example.org" alias deliver to mbox accept from any for domain "[IPv6:fc02:fefe:dead:beef:cafe:babe:1234:5678]" alias deliver to mbox accept for local alias deliver to mbox accept for any relay hostname "[IPv6:fc02:fefe:dead:beef:cafe:babe:1234:5678]" 

Use your actual Cjdns IP, of course. When the opensmtpd config is ready, start it so you can receive emails. If your recipient is offline, opensmtpd stores your letter and retries periodically.

$ sudo systemctl enable --now opensmtpd $ sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=smtp $ sudo firewall-cmd --runtime-to-permanent

Now send the author a dex (decentralized) email:

$ mailx -s "Fedora Article" \ "stuart@[IPv6:fcbc:b27:be6f:94dd:4225:792:c988:8ace]" <<EOF > Great article! > EOF

That sends an email to the author’s nyc vps — so don’t be surprised if you get a reply!

Alpine is a full featured console email client. After you install and run it the first time, you can decentralize it by editing ~/.pinerc and changing these basic config items:

# Sets domain part of From: and local addresses in outgoing. user-domain=[IPv6:fc02:fefe:dead:beef:cafe:babe:1234:5678] # List of SMTP servers for sending mail. smtp-server=localhost

Decentralize SIP applications

Linphone call screen

Using Cjdns for your voice calls gives you privacy and authentication. You can use any sip client that supports IP6. This example uses the linphone app included in Fedora.

$ sudo dnf install linphone $ sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=sip --add-port=7078/udp --add-port=9078/udp $ sudo firewall-cmd --runtime-to-permanent

Linphone network config screen

Run linphone on your desktop, and skip the account wizard. You don’t need logins and accounts with peer to peer. Select Options, Preferences and select Use IPv6 instead of IPv4 and Direct connection to internet. Enter your Cjdns IPv6 in Public IP address. Now select Options, Quit to completely exit linphone.

The version in Fedora doesn’t provide a way to configure your peer to peer contact, so you need to edit the config file. Find the [sip] section and change guess_hostname and contact:

$ vim ~/.linphonerc guess_hostname=0 contact="Real Name" <sip:mylogin@[fc02:fefe:dead:beef:cafe:babe:1234:5678]>

Now start linphone again, and add a Fedora friend with Cjdns to the addressbook using the same address syntax. Try a text message first, then give them a call.

Of course, there are many potential issues with audio and video in a VoIP app, which are not covered here. Usually, however, linphone just works. If you don’t have any friends, you can reach out to the author via dex email at the nyc node above.

Cloud and open source are changing the world and can play an integral role in how companies transform themselves. That was the message from Abby Kearns, executive director of open source platform as a service provider Cloud Foundry Foundation, who delivered a keynote address earlier this summer at LinuxCon + ContainerCon + CloudOpen China, known as LC3.

“Cloud native technologies and cloud native applications are growing,’’ Kearns said. Over the next 18 months, there will be a 100 percent increase in the number of cloud native applications organizations are writing and using, she added. “This means you can no longer just invest in IT,” but need to in cloud and cloud technologies as well. …

To give the audience an idea of what the future will look like and where investments are being made in cloud and open source, Kearns cited a few examples. The automotive industry is changing rapidly, she said, and a Volkswagen automobile, for example, is no longer just a car; it has become a connected mobile device filled with sensors and data.

“Volkswagen realized they need to build out developer teams and applications that could take advantage of many clouds across 12 different brands,” she said. The car company has invested in Cloud Foundry and cloud native technologies to help them do that, she added.

“At the end of the day it’s about the applications that extend that car through mobile apps, supply chain management — all of that pulled together to bring a single concise experience for the automotive industry.”

Watch the complete keynote at The Linux Foundation.

OMEN by HP unveiled new hardware and mobile software innovations for gaming enthusiasts on the eve of the industry’s big Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany. On the hardware front, the OMEN Obelisk is the latest addition to the company’s desktop gaming family. On the software side, OMEN Game Stream for Android will bring OMEN experiences to gamers looking to connect and play on the go.

Also unveiled are new features for the OMEN Mindframe Headset – the world’s first headset with active earcup cooling technology – to add comfort and audio benefits for both competitive play and streaming.

“HP is focused on delivering incredible experiences that fuel the future of gaming and enable the community to perform at their best,” said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, Consumer Personal Systems, HP Inc. “Integrating the newly announced NVIDIA GPUs and teaming up with HyperX to provide high-performance memory for our OMEN Obelisk and future desktops demonstrates our commitment to building a world-class ecosystem comprised of the world’s best gaming solutions.”

Gamers are always hungry for the latest and greatest generation of components such as graphics cards and memory. The OMEN Obelisk will be one of the first systems to carry the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 Series of GPUs by way of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, powered by all-new NVIDIA Turing architecture, giving gamers access to the world’s ultimate gaming architecture. The integration of HyperX high-performance memory within the OMEN Obelisk is another critical part of engineering a desktop to utilize the latest GPUs, RAM and other components through an industry-standard upgrade path vital to gaming at the highest levels, both now and in the future.

“HyperX is pleased to work with HP and provide HyperX FURY memory in all upcoming and refreshed OMEN by HP gaming PCs,” said Mark Leathem, general manager, HyperX Peripherals Division, when speaking to the memory integration. “With over fifteen years of experience delivering gaming memory, the HyperX brand is a great fit with HP’s vision of providing exceptional PCs for gamers.”

The OMEN Obelisk Desktop addition to the family of OMEN Desktops has been engineered with peak performance and customization so PCs can keep up with the latest in gaming. With a DIY-friendly, industry-standard upgrade path, along with options for the latest graphics and processor architectures, gamers can continually achieve the performance they expect.

Top features of the OMEN Obelisk are detailed in HP’s press release and include world-class power and storage, latest series of NVIDIA GPUs, HyperX integration, strategic cooling with extensive venting that takes advantage of thoughtfully placed components to generate optimal airflow, and a customizable and clean design.

The OMEN Game Stream feature of the OMEN Command Center enables gamers to harness the power of their OMEN on other Windows 10 devices to play games on their big screen TV. The addition of Android functionality later this year will add a new array of devices for gamers to stream their OMEN experience. OMEN Command Center comes preinstalled on all OMEN PCs, providing features such as Network Booster and System Vitals. It also supports customization and settings adjustments for the latest accessories, such as the OMEN Sequencer Keyboard, OMEN Reactor Mouse and OMEN Mindframe Headset.

Speaking of which, the forthcoming OMEN Mindframe Headset is the world’s first headset with active earcup cooling by way of HP’s patented thermoelectric driven Frostcap technology. It has been built with comfort in mind, while also delivering top-notch sound quality. The OMEN by HP team has made further additions prior to launch, including noise cancellation, real-time audible feedback via sidetone to take advantage of noise cancellation, and new fabric cups for improved breathability.

Regarding pricing and availability, the OMEN Obelisk Desktop is expected to be available in September via HP.com and other retailers for a starting price of $879.99. OMEN Game Stream for Android is expected to be available later this year via the Google Play Store for free. And the OMEN Mindframe Headset is expected to be available in October via HP.com and other retailers for a starting price of $199.99.

Updated August 20, 2018 11:27 am

Video

By Andrew O’Hara
Monday, August 20, 2018, 12:18 pm PT (03:18 pm ET)

Here we are, less than a week following iOS 12 beta eight with the ninth. This build has barely changed from what we’ve seen before, begging the question —will this be the final beta?

[embedded content]

This build —16A5362a —is only a couple removed from the last beta we received in the middle of last week.

That explains why there were no noticable visual changes and extremely similar performance to the last time around. In our tinkering, we saw buttery smooth animations and not a single dropped frame. With performance like this, and a small increment from the last, we would not be surprised if this was the last beta preceding the GM.

Check out what changed last time in betas 7 and 8.

Find any other changes? Reach out to us on Twitter @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU.