BioWare confirms Anthem reboot, promises big changes are on the way

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Feb 10, 2020 2:15 PM CST

Today BioWare officially confirmed Anthem is getting a big overhaul, complete with new progression systems, a better end game, and better loot mechanics.

BioWare confirms Anthem reboot, promises big changes are on the way

BioWare is planning something huge for Anthem. The studio just announced Anthem is getting a massive reboot that extends far beyond the limitations of a simple expansion or an update. BioWare could be planning a huge A Realm Reborn-style resurrection of their failed live game, and promises to re-tool the game's current weak points like meaningful endgame activities and overall progression.

"We recognize that there's still more fundamental work to be done to bring out the full potential of the experience, and it will require a more substantial reinvention than an update or expansion," BioWare General Manager Casey Hudson said in a recent blog post.

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Tencent invests in Spec Ops dev studio Yager

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Feb 10, 2020 12:43 PM CST

Tencent buys a minority stake in German game studio Yager to help fund its upcoming efforts.

Tencent invests in Spec Ops dev studio Yager

Billion-dollar gaming titan Tencent is keen on grabbing up small pieces of pretty much every independent game studio, and now it's spreading the wealth to assist Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager. The Berlin-based studio plans to use this cash injection to bolster its self-publishing efforts and create a more stable foundation for new projects like The Cycle, an online service-based FPS game.

Yager says it currently has multiple projects in the works, including another major unannounced game outside of The Cycle. With Tencent's backing, Yager will be able to retain both the IP and publishing rights to its games and be in full control of its own destiny, similar to PlatinumGames and Bungie.

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7 Best PDF Editors for Windows

Sponsored Content | Software & Apps | Feb 10, 2020 11:49 AM CST

A robust PDF editor is an absolute must for businesses today, but with so many products on the market, it's hard to know which one to choose for your organization. Fortunately, there are several free as well as free trial products that you can take out for a spin before you settle on the best one for your document workflows. The PDF utilities here all have Windows versions, with some supporting macOS and mobile platforms like Android and iOS to deliver a true cross-platform experience.

7 Best PDF Editors for Windows

If you're looking for a free PDF editor for the latest Windows 10 version, look no further than PDFelement. This robust utility is a workhorse document management suite that will handle large files, batch processes, and advanced functions like forms handling and OCR. It offers the full range of tools your company needs for creating, editing, annotating, converting, securing, optimizing, and sharing documents, with comprehensive options to convert files to and from PDF.

The best part about this software is that the free trial does not limit its basic PDF editing capabilities in any way. All you'll see is a watermark on created, edited, and converted documents, which is fine for internal use. And if you upgrade to a Standard or Pro paid license, the pricing is far lower than the market leader, Adobe Acrobat DC or its Pro version. You can download this application free for Windows 10 32-bit and 64-bit processors, and it even runs on older versions that go back to Windows XP and Vista, if that's what you have.

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Joaquin Phoenix wins Best Actor award for his Joker performance

Jak Connor | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Feb 10, 2020 4:48 AM CST

The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony has just wrapped up, and as expected, Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix has taken home a well-deserved award.

Joaquin Phoenix wins Best Actor award for his Joker performance

Above, we have the Tweet from the official 'The Academy' Twitter account, which states that Joaquin Phoenix has been award an Oscar for his lead performance in the billion-dollar movie 'Joker'. Fans of the movie expected that Phoenix would be taking home the 'Actor In A Leading Role'.

Phoenix is the second actor to win a Best Actor award in the role of Joker, as Health Ledger also won the award for his performance in the legendary 2008's The Dark Knight. If you have yet to see Joker, I can say that the performance Phoenix does playing Arthur Fleck, who is a troubled clown that tumbles down a road of misery, is next to none. He has a completely different take on the Joker character, and it's quite uncomfortable to watch him slowly descend into madness.

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This is a glorious map of every known object in our solar system

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Feb 10, 2020 3:46 AM CST

Who doesn't love a good map? I know I certainly do, and the more detailed the map, the better it is. So how about a map of our solar system?

This is a glorious map of every known object in our solar system

Don't worry. Biologist Eleanor Lutz has gone out of her way to map out every single known object in our solar system greater than 10km in diameter. How did she do this? Well, the data was taken from NASA's five separate categories; TNO and Centaur Diameters, Small-body Database Search Engine, Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters, Planets, and Pluto Physical Characteristics and Horizons Batch-Interface.

Using this data, Lutz was able to map out all of the orbits of over 18,000 asteroids that are currently present in our solar system. She was also able to map out at least 10,000 asteroids that were bigger than 10km in diameter, and about 8,000 known objects of unknown size/diameter. It should be noted that this map shows the position of asteroids on New Year's Eve 1999.

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Solar Orbiter probe bound for the Sun planned to reveal major secrets

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Feb 10, 2020 3:13 AM CST

The European Space Agency is launching a new Sun probe that is estimated to relay back to Earth unprecedented information about our star.

Solar Orbiter probe bound for the Sun planned to reveal major secrets

The mission in collaboration with NASA and the European Space Agency was set to launch the Solar Orbiter on February 9th from Florida's Cape Canaveral. The probe is equipped with bleeding edge instruments that will allow researchers and scientists to gain a better understanding of the Sun's polar regions and magnetic environment.

Once the orbiter is launched and it passes Venus and Mercury, it will reach a maximum speed of 150,000 mph before entering the orbit of our Sun. Once it's there, it's titanium heat shield that is designed to withstand temperatures as high as 930 Fahrenheit will protect its vital instruments from particle radiation and any coronal magnetic ejections.

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Disney blamed for Sora not coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Jak Connor | Gaming | Feb 10, 2020 2:38 AM CST

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players have been asking Nintendo for quite some time to add Kingdom Hearts main character Sora to the roster. Unfortunately, Sora is reportedly not coming.

Disney blamed for Sora not coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

In the latest episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, former senior editor at Game Informer and industry insider Imran Khan spoke about how Nintendo aren't the ones to blame for Sora not being included in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Khan says that Nintendo has "absolutely approached Disney" about including Sora in Smash Ultimate and that "Disney Japan specificallly" denied the request.

Honestly, this isn't surprising at all. Since Kingdom Hearts is a collaboration project between Square Enix and Disney, Disney has to approve the use of Sora for Nintendo to get their hands-on him. Sora is one of the most requested characters for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but most people forget that Disney is notorious for keeping their IP close to their chest. While this doesn't confirm that Sora can't come to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it does give some insight from a reputable source that his chances are unlikely.

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Here's a close-up video of the Sun's surface in the highest-resolution

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Feb 10, 2020 2:07 AM CST

At the end of last month, a new solar telescope produced the highest-resolution images of the Sun's surface ever. Now, we have a video to look at.

Here's a close-up video of the Sun's surface in the highest-resolution

The new solar telescope that did the hard work of relaying these images and videos of the Sun's surface is called the NSF's Inouye Solar Telescope. This solar telescope is designed to give scientists and researchers unprecedented information regarding the Sun's surface and magnetic fields. Researchers believe that with this new information, they will be able to predict solar weather much better.

In the above video, we can see small sections that are divided up by black lines -- these are called cells. Each of the cells is about the size of Texas, and the video we are watching is taken at a wavelength of 705nm over a period of 10 minutes. The surface is seen as "boiling" solar material called "plasma". I'd recommend that when watching the video to reduce the sped down to 0.75 speed to really enjoy the movement.

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Bill Gates slaps down $644 million for the first hydrogen superyacht

Jak Connor | Electric Vehicles & Cars | Feb 10, 2020 1:35 AM CST

Update: As it turns out on February 10th, 2020 the Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design released a public statement that is in response to the media coverage of this yacht and Bill Gates. They said that the hydrogen concept yacht, Aqua Ship is "not linked to Mr Gates (or his representatives) in any form or matter" and that Sinot has "no business relationship" with Bill Gates. I'd also like to personally apologise for this confusion, the statement was released overnight while I was asleep and at the time of writing the post Sinot had not commented on the matters.

Bill Gates slaps down $644 million for the first hydrogen superyacht

Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, has reportedly ordered the world's first hydrogen-powered superyacht, proving his stance towards alternative fuels.

According to The Guardian, Gates has ordered what is called the Aqua Ship, which is a 370 ft superyacht that is completely powered by liquid hydrogen. Originally, the superyacht was showcased at last year's Monaco yacht show by the Dutch design firm Sinot. Sander Sinot, a designer of the Aqua Ship, said, "For the development of Aqua we took inspiration from the lifestyle of a discerning, forward-looking owner, the fluid versatility of water and cutting-edge technology, to combine this in a superyacht with truly innovative features."

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Rust & Ghost to make a nostalgic return to Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Jak Connor | Gaming | Feb 10, 2020 1:06 AM CST

If you played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, then you would most likely know both the campaign character Ghost and the extremely small map Rust.

Rust & Ghost to make a nostalgic return to Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Well, if you do and are playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, then you will be excited to know that Ghost is making a return back to COD. Rust, on the other hand, seems to be coming as a playable map, but it's not 100% confirmed. Last week, the Call of Duty Twitter account released a new video that teased Ghost is "confirmed" to be joining the game's operators in the Spec-Ops mode.

So how did Rust get thrown into the mix? The above video depicts three GIF images that appear to be extremely similar to what Rust looks like. We can see a crane, a dust-like map, and some structures in the background that are very similar to the ones that are on the Rust map. For now, we can confirm that Ghost is coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare as apart of Season 2, and we really, really hope Rust makes a nostalgic return as well.

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