How AORUS Gaming Monitors Make the Most of 4K and 144Hz Gaming

A better view of everything in your digital domain

PC monitors are our windows to the world. That window took on new meaning over the past two years due to the pandemic and now more than ever, folks are not just paying attention to what they’re looking at, but how they’re looking at it.

The new AORUS 4K family of monitors enhances your connected experiences across the spectrum. From productivity and communication to PC and console gaming. The entire GIGABYTE AORUS lineup sports 4K resolutions and snappy 144HZ refresh rates. These monitors establish cutting edge display tech baseline features, support HDMI 2.1, with Type-C and built-in KVM switches, allowing users to experience better visuals every time they create, engage, or consume content.

Before we go further, a quick refresher on why resolution and refresh rates are important.

In its simplest terms, 4K resolution typically means 3,840 x 2,160 pixels across a screen; the current industry standard.

Meanwhile, to keep moving all those pixels around without artifacts, image refresh rates must increase. Even though humans generally can’t see beyond 60Hz, the brain can actually anticipate action on screen slightly faster than that and as any FPS pro or noob can tell you, even a few milliseconds matter!

Additionally, the HDMI 2.1 support included with all monitors in the lineup means you can enjoy improved bandwidth transfer (from 18 Gbps to 48 Gbps), up to 10K resolution for up to 120 frames per second, and that the latest consoles and graphics cards will look their best.

What Type of Gamer Are You?

In general, folks that love playing AAA games want to be immersed as much as possible in the environment they’re engaging in. If that’s you, you might want a monitor which is physically bigger in size, perhaps with a curve, and high resolution and color saturation.

Enthusiasts who prefer more competitive gaming usually need to switch swiftly between scenes or rapidly rotate their perspective to track moving targets or incoming fire. It is critical in this type of gaming to have a fluid picture to improve precision. For such games, refresh rates and response times are more important than the size of the monitor.

The AORUS family is launching with four monitors, and while all of them will likely provide an upgrade to whatever you’re currently using, each screen has a specialty it particularly excels at:

AORUS FI32U

Excels at enthusiast level gaming

AORUS FI32U is a 31.5” UHD resolution screen equipped with the latest HDMI 2.1, 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms GTG for the most fluid gaming experience and crisp picture quality. The 10-bit color and super-wide color gamut of 90% DCI-P3/ 123% sRGB deliver both color accuracy and consistency. It is also DisplayHDR400 certified to ensure optimal quality for both gaming and entertainment experiences.

AORUS FV43U

Excels at productivity, gaming, and home media

AORUS’ bestselling monitor, the FV43U is a 43” QD display with UHD resolution, also equipped with the latest HDMI 2.1, 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms MPRT. The 10-bit color and super-wide color gamut of 97% DCI-P3/ 150% sRGB offers color accuracy and consistency, while a DisplayHDR1000 certification ensures display quality for any and every gaming or entertainment experience.

AORUS FO48U

Excels at console gaming and rich home media

The biggest monitor in AORUS’ lineup, the AORUS FO48U boasts a 47.53” OLED screen with UHD resolution, the latest HDMI 2.1, 120Hz refresh rate, and 1ms GTG for the most fluid gaming experience and their best picture quality. The 10-bit color and super-wide color gamut of 98% DCI-P3/ 130% sRGB offers robust color accuracy and consistency. For a limited time, US customers who purchase an FO48U will also get a free one-year subscription to Disney+. Promotion valid for purchases made in the U.S. only, from October 1 through October 31, 2021.

GIGABYTE M32U

Excels at gaming and more affordable than FI32U

The M32U is for users ready to upgrade their setup with an even more panoramic screen, and offers arguably the most bang for the buck. This screen features 90% DCI-P3, 120% sRGB color gamut and 10-bit color for richer visuals, 144Hz/120Hz refresh speeds and 1ms GTG response time for fast-paced gaming, and KVM for users that are WFH or distance learning.

Gigabyte’s lineup of monitors makes full use of high-definition content no matter the resolution! And with refresh rates up to 144Hz, games will feel brand new.

AORUS 4K monitors are now available on Newegg.

After teasing the game for some time, Sega has revealed its new mobile RPG, Sin Chronicle – a game based on player decisions that can only ever be made once.

The centerpiece of Sega's Tokyo Game Show 2021 showcase – a game teased ahead of time as a "new RPG" emphasizing player choice and unique experiences – Sin Chronicle is a mobile RPG for iOS and Android devices. It's is scheduled to launch on December 15 in Japan as a free download with in-app purchases. Pre-registration and closed beta registration has already begun. We've not yet heard word about a western release.

General director Jun Matsunaga introduced the title as a "successor, not a sequel" to Chain Chronicle, a mobile RPG which launched in 2013 and later came to PlayStation Vita. He explained that this new game would be accessible even to players who did not experience that game, which was translated and launched overseas, but the global version shut down in 2016.

Matsunaga's main selling point for Sin Chronicle is that this game rests on decisions that the player must make. He stressed that all the choices were one-time only, as all selections are saved on the server so players cannot go back and undo actions already taken. He promised that every chapter, which could take 10 hours to complete, would end with an "ultimate choice."

As an example, Matsunaga introduced a few characters and pointed out that there are two heroines the main character will encounter early in the game. Both will join the party and both can potentially be major characters, but players will have to choose between them at some point. Of course, the members of your party will have an impact on the story, so this one decision will affect every subsequent event. By making a series of such choices throughout the game, Matsunaga believes that each playthrough will be unique.

In a live gameplay demonstration, voice actor Taito Ban (who plays the protagonist) showed how the adventure unfolds. The graphics are on par with other 3D mobile JRPGs, and dragging a finger on the screen moves the party around the overworld. Ban had to choose between two paths; he selected the one with visible treasure—and visible enemies.

Touching an enemy leads to combat, but if you can land an attack on the overworld before combat, all the enemies will take damage at the start. Battles are turn-based but feature dynamic movement, as getting too close to enemies leaves characters vulnerable to melee strikes. Each turn allows for a limited number moves based on available "BP". Chaining different characters' attacks together creates a combo and grants extra damage.

Based on the outcomes of the battle, an MVP is selected and this can strengthen your relationship with other party members. Campfire scenes are also an opportunity to befriend teammates, as the player can choose who to talk to while at rest.

For more from Tokyo Game Show, check out our regularly-updated article on the biggest announcements from the show.

Diamond Feit is a writer/podcaster in Osaka, Japan who uses Twitter and Twitch as feitclub.

Konami has released a statement in regard to feedback that it has received following the recent release of eFootball. The studio apologized to its fans before stating that it is committed to fixing the game.

In a tweet to the official eFootball Twitter account, Konami published an official statement surrounding the game during which it acknowledged reports from fans citing issues with a number of areas within the game.

"After the release of eFootball 2022, we have received lots of feedback and requests regarding game balance that includes pass speed and defence operation," reads the statement. "We would also like to acknowledge that there have been reports of problems users have experienced with cut-scenes, facial expressions, movements of players and the behaviour of the ball."

Important info for #eFootball fans pic.twitter.com/Tp9RFhmXp9

— eFootball (@play_eFootball) October 1, 2021

"We are very sorry for the problems, and want to assure everyone we will take all concerns seriously and strive to improve the current situation."

The statement goes on to explain that fans should expect to see consistent updates beginning next week and that the development team will be sending out questionnaires to its users in order to gather further feedback. "We will do our utmost to satisfy as many users as possible, and we look forward to your continued support of eFootball 2022," the statement concludes.

Following the game's rocky release, we took a trip through eFootball's Reddit page and social media hashtags to find out exactly what issues players were facing in the game. From our search, fans had highlighted problems with everything ranging from ghost free-kick takers to questionable refereeing decisions. With such a wide range of negative feedback being directed towards the game, Konami may find it has a difficult time winning some fans back around.

Prior to release, fans may have felt that some of the warning signs were there. Konami had previously told players that the game would essentially be launching as a demo and would lack a number of new mechanics, game modes, and player types. With all that additional content still to be brought into the game during eFootball's Autumn update, it could be a testing time for Konami as they begin to work through a lengthy list of community feedback.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

The team behind upcoming open world RPG Forspoken has discussed a number of details about the game, including its spells, antagonists, and 'magic parkour'.

During an extended special showcase as part of Tokyo Game Show 2021, co-director Takefumi Terada and creative producer Raio Mitsuno shed a little more light on the game. Forspoken centers around the main character Frey, a young woman who falls through a portal and ends up in the strange land of Athia, and the adventures she embarks on in order to get home.

As already seen in trailers for the game, Frey can wield magic, and Terada mentioned that her learning to use magical abilities is a big part of the story. As you'd expect after seeing the trailers, magic will also be central to Forspoken’s combat system. Frey can use various spells to attack enemies or set traps, among other things. In the game's trailer, she's seen setting off an explosive spell on the floor in one scene and encasing an enemy in a ball of water in another.

There will be a vast array of spells to learn and many ways to make them stronger. "Our goal was to allow players to learn a wide variety of spells," Terada said. He went on to say the game was designed to encourage players to experiment with various types of magic.

Athia is a vast open world that Frey will traverse via what Terada called 'Magic Parkour'. "I really feel like it captures what makes our style of development at Luminous Productions so special," Terada said. Frey is seen quickly zipping from place to place, covering great distances through the air and performing moves similar to the bullet jumping mechanic in the early 2010s action game Warframe.

Terada also mentioned the game’s controls are simple and that magic or parkour skills can each be used with one button.

Forspoken was first introduced to the world as Project Athia in June 2020. Even in the early stages, the team wanted to show what next-generation hardware could do. They once again said their goal is to make a game with the best graphics in the world.

“We’ve been working on polishing the graphics every day,” Mitsuno said. The team hopes to convey this through the game's varied environments, from ruins to forests and other areas. The game is being developed using the Luminous Engine, which was developed by Square Enix and Luminous Productions.

Speaking of the world of Forspoken, the developers talked a little bit about the setting, but without revealing too much. When we meet Frey she's having a tough time in New York and promises her cat they'll end up somewhere better soon. She’s half right, as she gets her wish to be free of the Big Apple, but tumbles through a portal to the strange land of Athia.

Frey, isn't alone, however, she's joined by Cuff, a sentient, talking golden bracelet that somehow wrapped around her right arm between the trip from New York to Athia. The developers said they could not yet fully elaborate on the exact role Cuff will play, only that it's vital to the story and will help players get to their next targets. They did say, however, there will be plenty of banter between the two. "They both say whatever they think," Mitsuno said. "This means they are fighting all the time."

Athia, where Frey now finds herself, was once a beautiful and peaceful land ruled by the Tantas. After an event the developers did not reveal, the land has become a harsh and cruel place. The aforementioned Tantas also seem to have taken a turn for the worse, as Frey is seen fighting a type named Tanta Sila in the trailer for the game. The Tantas have each been designed with a specific characteristic in mind. Tanta Sila's, for example, is strength, which can be seen in her muscular arms.

Terada said the team is at peak production right now as they push toward the release of the game on the PS5 and PC in Spring 2022.

Jason Coskrey is a writer based in Tokyo. Find him on Twitter at @JCoskrey

Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum has explained why he wanted to simultaneously release Halloween Kills in theaters and on Peacock.

Speaking with Collider for Amazon Prime Video's Welcome to the Blumhouse film series, Blum revealed that he was the instigator behind Halloween Kills' day-and-date release plan. He also admitted that the decision was ultimately determined by a poor distribution experience he had encountered with another slasher film he produced and released last year.

"It was my idea to do it. [Peacock] didn't approach me. I approached them," Blum affirmed. "I, like everyone else, am a big believer in the theatrical experience. I think eventually I think there should be windows. I think Universal's strategy of the three-week window is a great strategy, but I had a bad distribution experience with Freaky. That movie is a great movie, and it didn't get seen because the distribution of it got all twisted up. My fault."

Freaky is a slasher comedy starring Kathryn Newton as a high schooler who unintentionally swaps bodies with a middle-aged serial killer, portrayed by Vince Vaughn. The film received generally favorable reviews from critics following its release in theaters in November last year, yet it only managed to pull in $16.2 million at the worldwide box office.

"I didn't want to go through that experience again," Blumhouse said, explaining his decision further and reflecting back on Freaky's box office performance. "I didn't want to have a movie that I'm really proud of that I think is great and have there be an excuse why people didn't see it. So I'm the one who pitched Universal. And then I pitched Jamie and David, and it was my idea. I stand behind it. I'm glad that we're doing it."

Halloween Kills takes place right after 2018's Halloween and sees Michael Myers escape his fate to once again go after Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode, Judy Greer's Karen, Andi Matichak's Allyson, and more. In this story, however, the Strode family joins other survivors of Myers' first attack to band together to end his reign of terror once and for all.

The latest entry in the Halloween franchise will be released in theaters on October 15 and will arrive on Peacock the same day. It will be available to all Peacock Premium and Premium Plus subscribers at no extra cost and is taking a similar strategy to Universal's The Boss Baby: Family Business, which also changed to a day-and-date release plan.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.