Samsung Electronics today announced that it will host the second #PlayGalaxy Cup at TwitchCon San Diego 2024 on Saturday, Sept. 21. The event will feature popular streamers and e-sports pros such as Ludwig Anders Ahgren (Ludwig) and Tyler Polchow (TeeP) competing in a PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile tournament. Participants will be split into teams using either touchscreen or mouse and keyboard controls, all playing exclusively on the Galaxy S24 Ultra – a device specially optimized for a smooth, high-performance mobile gaming experience. The competition will be livestreamed globally on Twitch via streamer and former pro gamer Jack Martin’s (NiceWigg) channel, with additional Twitch livestreams from each participant. In-person attendees of TwitchCon 2024 can also enjoy an exclusive, hands-on experience with Genshin Impact at Samsung’s event booth.

“We are thrilled to team up with Twitch and PUBG Mobile to bring this one-of-a-kind gaming tournament to TwitchCon 2024,” said Saejin Kim, VP and Head of Marketing Strategy Group, Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. “Galaxy S24 Ultra redefines mobile gaming to deliver incredibly powerful, PC-level performance in the palm of your hand. This event will demonstrate how our technology enables both casual and competitive gamers to enjoy their favorite titles at optimal performance, whether they’re using a touchscreen or a keyboard and mouse.”

An Epic Gaming Showdown

As one of the event’s main attractions, the #PlayGalaxy Cup will see 16 popular content creators and e-sports pros — split into four teams — go head-to-head in PUBG Mobile using Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphones. In a unique twist, two of the teams will compete using the device’s intuitive touchscreen controls, while the other two teams will be armed with a keyboard and mouse setup connected to the phone. The team using PC controls stars includes popular streamers such as Bryce Hutchinson (HutchMF), Brittany Lynn Watts (Cinna) and Ludwig Anders Ahgren (Ludwig) competing alongside e-sports pro Tyler Polchow (TeeP). On the mobile team using touchscreen input, PUBG Mobile pro Zifan Wu (Xifan) is joined by fan-favorite content creators like Wynn Curtis (Wynsannity) and Bella Fox.

A New Era of Mobile Gaming Performance

This intense competition will demonstrate Galaxy S24 Ultra’s high-performance, seamless and ultra-responsive gameplay regardless of the input format. Featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon® 8 Gen 3 chipset, a larger vapor chamber for improved heat management and an industry-leading Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate, Galaxy S24 Ultra is built for intense, lag-free gaming sessions. Its powerful hardware enables unparalleled immersion, stunning visuals and cutting-edge features like Ray Tracing, creating an experience that bridges the gap between mobile and PC gaming.

Samsung’s ongoing collaboration with several industry-leading gaming partners also ensures that popular mobile games, including PUBG Mobile, are optimized for Galaxy devices, allowing for enhanced performance unique to Galaxy users.

Unlock Unique Experiences at the Samsung Booth

Beyond the #PlayGalaxy Cup, TwitchCon San Diego 2024 attendees have the chance to explore a world of immersive gaming experiences at the Samsung Booth. Fans can try out an exclusive Genshin Impact APK and character booth or discover Samsung’s latest state-of-the-art gaming products and technology that help gamers across the globe level up their gaming setups.

A Store Tailored to Your Needs

Galaxy Store is a premium app market created just for Galaxy devices. The market is a one-stop shop for all your digital Galaxy purchases, allowing you to personalize your device with an array of apps and themes, ranging from Galaxy-exclusive content, to partner apps that provide a diverse range of services.

With Galaxy Store, users can purchase and select a variety of themes and fonts to customize their Galaxy device with a style that suits them via the “My Galaxy” tab, which is accessible directly from the store. Users can also download new camera filters, add a little creative flair to their messages and photos with stickers and stamps, or install new edge panels for even more convenient navigation. A comprehensive collection of apps is available for download from the store, allowing users to tailor their digital ecosystem to match their lifestyles. Galaxy Watch and Samsung Gear users can also adjust their watch faces and download apps directly from the phone using the “Watch” tab in the Galaxy Store, while gamers can use the platform’s “Games” tab to discover the hottest mobile games.

Custom-Curated, AI-Recommended

To create an engaging way to browse for new apps and content, the marketplace has been totally redesigned. The app curates a theme that introduces users to new content that might interest them, with videos to provide more detailed information on the topic. Users can also use lists and themes to easily search for popular or recommended content, in categories such as photos, news or travel.

Galaxy Store has enhanced the recommendations feature, adding an AI-based analysis tool to the user-oriented UI, so when you access the store, you will see a personalized page that recommends content based around your previous interests. Users who enjoy gaming will be shown the latest in mobile games, while health-conscious users will find recommendations for lifestyle and fitness apps. In addition, Galaxy Store makes recommendations based on seasons, holidays and events throughout the year.

Access a Premium Gaming Experience

With the aim of bringing even more premium experiences to your smartphone, Samsung is now offering enhanced masterpiece gaming content like Asphalt 9, Black Desert Mobile, PUBG Mobile, and New Romance of the Three Kingdoms on Galaxy. The new Galaxy Store offers exclusive in-app purchases and other discounts for popular games^*. New titles and other premium content are continuously added to the roster.

^* Availability may vary by region.

Professional sports players are sensitive to even the slightest changes in their equipment. For gamers, establishing the most suitable environment for gameplay can be just as important as improving their skills. One of the most significant pieces of computer equipment is the Solid-state Drive, a key component that improves a computer’s performance and the smoothness of play.

One individual who appreciates the importance of hardware performance is Kyo Min “Evermore” Koo, a rising star in professional gaming and avid streamer. He was also amongst the winners in the recent Charity tournament at the PUBG Invitational 2018 in Berlin. To get a better understanding of the interplay between the game, the equipment and the gamer, the Newsroom invited Evermore to perform a brief experiment on Samsung’s fastest SSD to date, the NVMe SSD 970 EVO.

Samsung NVMe SSD 970 series and SATA SSD 860 series

An SSD is a type of data storage device, similar to a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Currently the worldwide market share of HDD and SSD is 45% and 55%, respectively, but there are some key differences between the two devices. While an HDD stores and retrieves digital information using rotating disks coated with magnetic material, an SSD uses semiconductor flash memory to store data. This means an SSD is able to withstand greater amounts of shock and heat. The Samsung NVMe SSD 970 EVO boasts the fastest speed and highest reliability amongst SSDs, providing consumers the best conditions to perform HD and 3D graphic design tasks, play high spec games and create VR content.

Evermore tested out two desktop computers that had exactly the same systems – apart from their data storage drives. One was fitted with an HDD (1TB, SATA3, 7200rpm) and the other with an SSD (NVMe SSD 970 EVO, 250GB).

Installing an NVMe SSD 970 is quite simple. Insert the SSD in the M.2 slot. No additional cable is required. Remember to check in advance whether the M.2 slot of the mainboard supports the NVMe interface.

Recalling his past experiences, Evermore pointed to the tangible differences between the two types of data storage device: “My personal computer is equipped with the best of the best. One day I stopped by an Internet café that had computers with HDDs installed. I could really feel the difference. Just as I suspected, I was slower to start than my friends who were playing on different computers. There were also some delays during the battle. I had never lost to my friends before that day.”

The nature of open world games means that time is of the essence. “Everything happens in the blink of a moment when playing open world games,” Evermore explained. “The loading time of the textures on the map is crucial when playing games such as PUBG. Even when you spot your enemy before they spot you, if you react slowly because of the loading time, they will attack first and it can be hard to win.”

Evermore playing PUBG on Samsung CJ89 – 49” supersize monitor

During battle royale games, multiple players all interact with each other across a vast battlefield, which means that a large amount of data is processed very quickly. A highly advanced SSD can significantly affect the match result.

During the experiment, Evermore could feel this immediately: “When playing the game, the computer reads and writes the data from the storage drive repeatedly, so it is important for the storage to have a high performance. While playing today on the computer installed with an HDD, I felt the same delay I experienced at the Internet café, whereas the computer with the NVMe SSD 970 EVO showed no such issues.”

Measuring the data processing speed for each computer. The speed of the computer equipped with an SSD 970 EVO (right) is more than twenty times faster than that of the computer with an HDD (left).

When playing a game which requires high specs, the computer’s fan can be very loud as it rotates to cool down the heat that the computer components are generating inside the case.

The power consumption can also soar when playing games for a long period of time, as Evermore revealed: “I spend any spare time I have playing games. However, the computer heats up when I use it for several hours.”

An SSD consumes less power than an HDD since the booting, loading and data processing speeds are swifter and it emits less heat.

To Evermore, the contrast is significant: “I can definitely tell the difference between an HDD and SSD. Since large data processing is essential when playing open world games, they automatically consume more power. Of course, the CPU or storage drives heat up once you’ve been playing a high spec game for some time. The SSD 970 EVO, in that sense, is fascinating because it has a high level of performance but doesn’t heat up that much. I heard this is because of its high power efficiency.”

The NVMe SSD 970 EVO also has a Dynamic Thermal Guard function that safeguards against overheating by automatically monitoring and maintaining optimal operating temperatures. With high power efficiency optimized for high spec computing systems, gameplay can continue for many hours.

The increasing popularity of game streaming platforms has led more and more professional gamers to create their own streaming channels, and Evermore is no exception.

Evermore enjoys interacting with his fans on various streaming channels, including Twitch and Kakao TV

“Streaming is the easiest way to communicate with my fans,” he remarked. “In order to record and talk to my fans at the same time, I definitely need a high spec computer.”

Streamers will edit and upload highlight films, or live stream while playing games and communicating with their fans. Since everything is happening simultaneously, this process requires strong multitasking skills from both the gamer and the computer. The Samsung NVMe SSD 970 EVO minimizes buffering and other issues when multitasking, so that gamers can record their games and voice-chat with other players at the same time.

Evermore preparing to start streaming after the SSD 970 EVO has been installed on the computer

Evermore outlines the potential pitfalls and solutions: “During live streaming, there can be buffering when you run several programs at the same time. Sometimes, your voice does not sync with the video if you don’t have an adequate computer system. Using an advanced SSD like the 970 EVO eases the burden on the CPU and the graphics.”

With lightning fast speeds, superior power efficiency and the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, the SSD 970 EVO is a data storage drive ideal for a wide range of high spec games and tasks.

Samsung Electronics announces plans to deliver the superior performance of its CFG73 QLED gaming monitor as part of a PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS tournament at the upcoming Gamescom 2017 through partnership with game developer Bluehole Inc. The Gamescom 2017 trade fair, scheduled to take place on August 22-26 at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany, is the largest annual gathering of computer and video game industry media, developers, retailers and competitors.

Bluehole selected Samsung’s CFG73 as the exclusive monitor for the offline LAN tournament, taking place in partnership with ESL from August 23 to 26 at Bluehole’s booth (ESL Arena, Hall 9) and featuring the developer’s game, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS. The event will bring together more than 70 of the world’s best PUBG players and influencers to engage in the battle royale-style shooter game, which has ranked among the top sellers on the Steam digital distribution platform since its Early Access release in March 2017. Gamescom 2017 attendees will also be able to view and play the game on the CFG73 monitors during non-tournament hours on August 25 and 26.

“We are honored to partner with Bluehole to host such a prestigious competition, and we look forward to inviting both top gamers and Gamescom 2017 attendees to see first-hand how our CFG73 QLED gaming monitors can bring the intense action of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS to life.” said Hyesung Ha, Senior Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics.

To further amplify the gaming experience, Samsung’s CFG73 monitor (24-inch) brings the visual power of the quantum dot technology more commonly found in its televisions and large-format displays to the desktop. Through this integration, the CFG73 covers approximately 125 percent of the sRGB color spectrum, bringing even the slightest visual details to life and fostering a more realistic game presentation. A best-in-class 3,000:1 contrast ratio elevates this true-to-life experience through deeper blacks, sharper whites and precise color shades.

Beyond its display enhancements, the CFG73 also drives smoother and more convenient gameplay. The CFG73 is one of the first curved monitors to feature an ultra-fast 1ms motion picture response time (MPRT), far surpassing the 4-6ms industry standard. When combined with an equally-rapid 144 Hz screen refresh rate, the monitor minimizes motion blur and image lag and allows competitors to transition to the next scene without delay or distraction. Additionally, the CFG73’s versatile, factory-calibrated game display modes instantly optimize black gamma levels, contrast ratios, sharpness and color value settings for any game genre, including first-person shooters, real-time strategy, role-playing games and AOS titles.

Learn more about Samsung QLED Gaming Monitors at Gamescom 2017 here: http://displaysolutions.samsung.com/gamescom2017