Month: March 2023

Sierra Forest will bring more cores than AMD’s Bergamo but will it matter at all?

Intel updated its Xeon roadmap yesterday at a virtual DCAI (Data Center and AI Investor Webinar) that confirmed that it is working on a 144-core Xeon processor currently called Sierra Forrest and expected to come in the first half of 2024. What’s surprising is that Intel wants to launch another pair of Xeon products, Emerald Rapids (in Q4 2023) and Granite Rapids, shortly after Sierra Forest.

The other half-surprise is that Intel is embracing Performance/Efficiency cores at the Data Center level, which makes sense because that’s what the market demands. We know that AMD will launch a 128-core Bergamo CPU based on the Zen 4c architecture later this year.

Both P- and E-cores will not live on the same silicon (like on consumer CPUs) as they target different audiences. They also come with their very own challenges; both have to contend with a fixed power and transistor budget. 

Fewer Power cores with all bells and whistles (e.g. AVX-512), clocked at higher speeds will generate/consume as much power as more Efficiency cores that have fewer bells and whistles (e.g. single threaded) with lower clock speed.

Then there’s cache (the memory that’s nearest to the cores), latency (moving data to and from various parts of the CPU), the chip yield (how many usable silicon chips are produced), available memory bandwidth (to the main system memory) and so on and so forth. 

 Does it matter to anyone else? 

Rumors of a 120-core Xeon CPU were finally put to bed yesterday but while this race produces entertaining headlines, it won’t matter much to anyone but hyperscalers. Consumers won’t be able to buy these chips anytime soon (ed: well, they might be able to bid for them on Ebay or buy them from Aliexpress once they’re decommissioned though, in a few years) as they will require specialized server systems (including a new breed of DDR memory modules) that would make no sense to end users and will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per piece.

The high-core count, low-power strategy that both Intel and AMD have adopted will help them contain the Arm threat for now. There’s at least a half-a dozen rivals that either want a bigger part of the pie (Huawei, Nvidia, Ampere) or reduce their dependence on Intel and AMD (Amazon, Tencent, Google).

AWS’s Graviton has 64 cores but we’d expect that to rise depending on market demand. Ampere already has 128 cores and Arm’s Neoverse Poseidon platform which was announced in September 2020, aims to offer higher core density (higher than N1’s 128-core limit) when it rolls out.

Higher core count matters for applications such as web hosting (Virtual Private Servers or VPS), virtual desktop (VDI) and a bunch of other applications that do not consume a lot of power and don’t mind living in a multi-tenancy environment.

Here’s our pick of the best bare metal hosting around

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A Wolverine game is coming exclusively to PS5. Here’s everything we know so far about Marvel’s Wolverine.

Marvel’s Wolverine is getting his own game. The title was announced way back in 2021 at the PlayStation Showcase and comes from superhero veterans Insomniac Games.  

Insomniac, the studio behind much-beloved Marvel’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales is turning their talents towards crafting a new adventure for everyone’s favorite adamantium-reenforced mutant. Though we don’t have too many details available as of yet, Insomniac has said in a PlayStation Blog post that it wants to “respect the DNA of what makes the character so popular” while looking “for opportunities to make it feel fresh and truly reflect the Insomniac spirit”.

As with their previous titles, Marvel’s Wolverine is likely to be a PlayStation exclusive, but it may well follow in the footsteps of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games by getting a PC port sometime down the line. In the meantime, we’re very keen to see where Insomniac takes this classic Marvel character. To that end, we’ve hunted high and low for every morsel of information on this upcoming title. Read on to find out more. 

Marvel’s Wolverine: cut to the chase

What is it? A Wolverine game from the makers of Marvel’s Spider-Man

When can I play it? TBC

What can I play it on? PS5

Marvel’s Wolverine release date and platforms

(Image credit: Sony/Insomniac Games)

Marvel’s Wolverine game currently doesn’t have a release date and, unfortunately, it will likely be a while before we get our claws on it. Insomniac Games stated that the game is in “very early development” when it was announced in late 2021 so we wouldn’t expect to see it until at least late 2023 – especially given that Insomniac Games is currently working on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which is due for release in the latter half of 2023. 

Interestingly, Microsoft has claimed that Sony will release Marvel’s Wolverine in 2023. In a document responding to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s decision to further investigate the company’s proposed acquisition of Activision (via Tech4Gamers), Microsoft made its case for why the acquisition should go ahead. In doing so, it laid out Sony’s release plans for 2023, stating: “PlayStation also has a spate of first- and third-party exclusive titles lined up for launch in 2023, including Spider-Man 2, Wolverine, Horizon, Final Fantasy 16 and Forspoken“. 

All of these games have been confirmed to release in 2023, bar Wolverine. it’s unclear if this is speculation on Microsoft’s part, or if the company knows something we don’t, but it could suggest Marvel’s Wolverine will release earlier than expected.

Marvel’s Wolverine is set to be a PS5 console exclusive, much like Spider-Man, so it won’t be available to Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S. This shouldn’t be too surprising, given how Sony acquired Insomniac Games back in 2019. It’s also skipping last-gen consoles, so PS4 owners are also out of luck. 

However, there’s a good chance it’ll arrive on PC., since Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales both released on the platform, albeit well after their initial launches on Sony’s home consoles.   

Marvel’s Wolverine trailer

Latest Trailer

Marvel’s Wolverine was announced during Sony’s PlayStation Showcase in September 2021, with a brief teaser trailer giving us our first look at Insomniac’s take on Logan.

The teaser trailer shows a destroyed bar, with injured men lying on the floor, before cutting to a back view of a man in a cowboy hat and checkered shirt drinking at the bar – his knuckles and surrounding area covered in blood. In the background, we see one of the injured men getting up and pulling out a knife. Sensing the assailant, the man at the bar, the man at the bar clenches his fist, resulting in long metallic claws appearing from them. Yep, it’s Wolverine.

The trailer may not give us a look at gameplay or at Logan himself, but it does set the tone of Marvel’s Wolverine – which at first glance appears to be a more bloody, mature alternative to Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man series. You can check out the trailer below:

More trailers

So far, the reveal trailer is the only preview we currently have access to. In the meantime, we recommend keeping your eyes on PlayStation’s official Youtube Channel for any future updates. 

Marvel’s Wolverine story and setting

(Image credit: Sony)

Though we don’t yet have any concrete details as to what to expect from Marvel’s Wolverine, the reveal trailer does offer several Easter eggs which offer some interesting hits. 

Firstly, the trailer’s setting seems to drop a big clue about when and where Marvel’s Wolverine is set. Logan is drinking in the Princess Bar, located in Madripoor (which you may recognize from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), which we see from the bar sign and the Madipoor tourist poster.

In Marvel Comics Presents Volume 1 #1 (1988), Wolverine visits the Princess Bar while hunting down a crime lord called Roche. After wiping the bar floor with Roche’s enforcers – who are trying to get protection money off the bar’s owner O’Donnell – Wolverine becomes a regular of the bar, under the name “Patch”, and even co-owned it for a time. The bar was essentially Logan’s home-away-from-home during a period when the X-Men were inactive. Is Insomniac Games hinting that this is the time period Marvel’s wolverine is set to take place in? Will we see Logan taking on the criminal underworld? 

Another possible Easter Egg is the Radio Lowtown 104.8 poster. Lowtown is a district in Madipoor, so Madipoor as a setting seems pretty likely. But the 104.8 seems to reference Marvel Earth-1048, the universe in which Marvel’s Spider-Man is set. This seems to suggest that Insomniac’s Spider-Man games and Wolverine take place in the same universe, meaning we could see a Marvel Game Universe in the making.

But the Radio station isn’t the only number that appears to reference a specific comic book. The license plate on the bar reads “HLK 181”, which seems to reference The Incredible Hulk #18 – in which Wolverine makes an appearance. Does that mean we could see Hulk in Marvel’s Wolverine? Again, we certainly hope so.

Marvel’s Wolverine news

(Image credit: Sony)

A “full-size” game with a “mature tone”
According to Marvel’s Wolverine‘s Creative Director, Brian Horton, James ‘Logan’ Howlett’s standalone adventure on PS5 will be a full-size game with a “mature tone”. Horton confirmed this in response to a fan on Twitter asking whether Wolverine on PS5 will be “big or a ‘miles morales’ size game”.

Being directed by Spider-Man: Miles Morales creative leads
In a PlayStation Blog post, Insomniac Games revealed that Marvel’s Wolverine is being directed by Brian Horton (creative director) and Cameron Christian (game director), who led the creative efforts on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Respecting the DNA, with a fresh take
Insomniac Games has said that, while it intends to honor the “DNA” of what makes Wolverine popular, it will be putting its own fresh spin on Weapon X.

“In the vein of our Spider-Man games, our goal here is to not only respect the DNA of what makes the character so popular, but also look for opportunities to make it feel fresh and truly reflect the Insomniac spirit,” Insomniac Games wrote in a PlayStation blog post. According to the developer, despite being in early development, Marvel’s Wolverine boasts an “emotional narrative and cutting-edge gameplay”. 

Marvel’s Wolverine: what we want to see

(Image credit: Sony)

Embracing Wolverine’s dark side
While Marvel’s Spider-Man and Miles Morales are critically acclaimed, there’s no denying they’re pretty family-friendly at times. After all, Spider-Man himself is your “friendly neighborhood Spidey”. But Wolverine isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, his backstory and character are, comparatively speaking, pretty dark.

We’re hoping that Insomniac explores that side of Logan in the Wolverine game, offering a more mature experience than Spider-Man did. We’re not asking for gratuitous violence but, to really dig into Wolverine’s backstory (depending on when this game is set), you can’t shy away from the darker moments. Also, you can’t slash up enemies without a bit of bloodshed.

The appearance of other Marvel heroes…
We don’t want them hogging the spotlight, but it would be nice to see Insomniac’s take on some other Marvel heroes popping up in the Wolverine game as side characters. The specifics would really depend on the story Insomniac wants to tell, but we’re hoping to see some of the X-Men make cameos, including Jean Grey, Professor X, or maybe even Rogue.

…and infamous villains
We currently don’t know who will serve as the main adversary in Marvel’s Wolverine, but there are plenty of infamous villains to choose from – and we imagine some could appear as smaller roles. We’re hoping we could see Logan battling Sabertooth, Lady Deathstrike, or even Silver Samurai. Or perhaps we’ll see him simply battling to bring down the Weapon X program that saw him subjected to painful experiments. 

A Marvel Game Universe
With Insomniac Games now working on another Marvel title for PS5, we’re hoping that we could see a Marvel Game Universe in the future. 

In our opinion, it could work pretty well. Like with the MCU, Insomniac has created standalone products allowing us to get to know individual superheroes within its universe, if we continue to see more Marvel heroes getting their own games, could we potentially see crossovers in the future? We’re hoping so, since Crystal Dynamic’s Marvel’s Avengers certainly left a lot to be desired.

Check out these other exciting upcoming new PS5 games

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A Wonder Woman game is confirmed to be in the works at Monolith Productions, the developer behind Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor.

D.C. fans rejoice, a Wonder Woman game is in the works. Monolith Productions, the folks behind Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Middle Earth: Shadow of War, are turning their considerable talents towards Diana of Themyscira in a brand new open-world action game. 

Though little has been revealed beyond a teaser trailer, it’s safe to say that Monolith Productions really knows its stuff when it comes to fantastical open-world romps. Both Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War did excellent jobs of capturing the bittersweet majesty of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe, and it’s likely that Wonder Woman will receive the same treatment. Look forward to rich environments, dynamic battles, and engaging cutscenes.  

Though we have yet to learn exactly which platforms the game will be available on at launch, if Wonder Woman follows in the footsteps of the Middle Earth series, then it is likely to come out on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC at the very least. Read on to find out every last scrap of information we’ve collected about the upcoming game. 

Wonder Woman game: cut to the chase

What is it? An open-world Wonder Woman game from Monolith Productions

When can I play it? TBC

What can I play it on? TBC

Wonder Woman release date and platforms

(Image credit: Warner Bros)

Monolith Productions hasn’t confirmed when we’ll get our hands on the Wonder Woman game – or which platforms it’ll land on. But we can make an educated estimate that we won’t see Wonder Woman until at least late 2023. However, it’s more likely that it’ll arrive later – likely landing on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC. 

We could also see it arrive on PS4 and Xbox One, but that seems unlikely. Gotham Knights canceled its last-gen editions, so we can’t picture a game arriving much later making that leap. We imagine that (given the game’s release is probably a while away) Monolith will be aiming to target the latest hardware, without being held back by the last generation of consoles.

Wonder Woman gameplay

(Image credit: Warner Bros)

We don’t have a lot of information on Wonder Woman’s gameplay right now. We know it’ll use the Nemesis System, previously seen in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. 

The system created a procedurally generated hierarchy across enemy orcs, giving them more personality than your standard grunts. Considering we don’t know who Diana will be facing, we don’t yet know exactly how it will be implemented. Otherwise, the teaser trailer was purely cinematic and offered no real hints, beyond telling us Diana’s returning home to face a new threat. 

All we otherwise have is this official statement from David Hewitt, Vice President and Studio Head at Monolith, who told us:

“The stories our players share inspire us every day, and we are honored to take players on a unique personal journey, driven by the values embodied in Wonder Woman. The Nemesis System raised the bar for player-driven storytelling and we’re excited to push the open-world genre forward, combining cutting-edge action with inventive narratives to create a Wonder Woman game everyone will want to play.”

Wonder Woman trailer

Latest trailer

The Wonder Woman announcement teaser trailer doesn’t give much away, but it does give us a close-up look at the hero herself, complete with her iconic Lasso of Truth. It may not be much to go on, but we’re suitably impressed with Monolith Production’s design take on Diana Prince.

More trailers

Besides the teaser, we are yet to see any other previews. In the meantime, we advise keeping an eye on Warner Bros. Games’ official YouTube channel for new announcements down the line.

Wonder Woman news

Procedural storytelling

The upcoming Wonder Woman game will apparently have procedural storytelling. This was revealed in a recent tweet from the game’s narrative director Tony Elias, who said that development studio Monolith is looking for a senior game writer to work on Wonder Woman. 

Wonder Woman: what we want to see

(Image credit: Monolith Productions)

A familiar lineup of enemies to take down
We currently don’t know who Diana’s main adversaries with be in the Wonder Woman game, but it’s almost certain that we’ll see some familiar faces from the DC universe. We’re hoping that Ares is the primary villain in Monolith’s title, with the likes of Cheetah, Giganta, Circe and Doctor Psycho making appearances in some form – perhaps sitting just below Ares in the Nemesis system ranks. 

What’s more likely (and actually makes more sense) is that Wonder Woman will take on Villainy Incorporated, as the Nemesis System would do a great job at capturing the villanous-team dynamic.

An invisible jet
Sure, it’s cheesy, but we would love to see Monolith (somehow) make Wonder Woman’s invisible jet cool. Wonder Woman 1984 did – kind of – but it would be great to see the developer integrate the jet into gameplay in a way that doesn’t feel shoehorned. 

Combat that feels good
One thing we’ve learned from recent superhero games is that how a hero feels to play is a make-or-break factor. We’re hoping that Wonder Woman feels as strong as she is meant to be, with powerful melee attacks and – of course – the ability to Lasso of Truth our enemies.

Utilizing the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X
Going off our last point, we would love to see Monolith adding haptic feedback and adaptive controller support to Wonder Woman, so we can really feel the tension in the lasso or the feel of kicking Cheetah in the face (hopefully). We’re also expecting (more than hoping) Wonder Woman to have minimal loading screens despite being an open-world title and to simply look phenomenal. 

Upcoming games 2023: all the game releases for console and PC

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