NASA to seek proposals for human lunar landing system

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Apr 30, 2019 3:00 AM CDT

NASA plans on putting a man and a women on the Moon by 2014, to do that they are going to need integrated human lunar landing systems.

NASA to seek proposals for human lunar landing system

NASA are sticking to their guns with their goal of putting a man and the first women on the moon by 2024. To do this the Space exploration administration is seeking proposals from the industry in support of rapid development of an "integrated human lunar landing system" that will include "elements such as a descent element, ascent element, and transfer vehicle."

NASA will be going over proposals from U.S industry that fulfill their needs of integrating a crewed demonstration of the elements they require and accurately meet the challenge of getting a man and the first women on the moon by 2024. If you are interested in checking out anymore news regarding NASA, head on over to their website here.

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Steam goes GOLD with 1,000+ games heavily discounted

Jak Connor | Gaming | Apr 30, 2019 2:00 AM CDT

At the moment Japan is embracing what they call their Golden Week, this is when Japanese workers have about a week off work due to their being a cluster of national holidays. To celebrate this week Valve has discounted many games across the entire Steam Store.

Steam goes GOLD with 1,000+ games heavily discounted

Steam isn't the only store that is being hit with massive sales, Sony have also brought the Golden Week sales to the PSN Store, discounting 500 titles across the PS4, PS4, PS Vita, PSP and DLC content. Microsoft hasn't joined in on the action as of yet but Valve have stepped up to the plate with a HUGE range of discounts across Steams entire breath of library.

Valve has heavily discounted a range of classic Japanese titles such as the Dark Souls series, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Nier: Automata. There is also other titles such as Dragon Ball FighterZ, Jump Force, God Eater 3, Frostpunk, Resident Evil 2 and the Nioh: Complete Edition. All of the mentioned titles are discounted by at least 25%, and this is just scratching the surface of all of the games Valve have decided to discount. To see the sales for yourself head on over to the Steam Store here.

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Kingdom Hearts III fully paid DLC 'ReMIND', new bosses/level

Jak Connor | Gaming | Apr 30, 2019 1:00 AM CDT

It wasn't too long ago that we learned that Kingdom Hearts III would be getting its very own challenge mode, now a new announcement has confirmed that there is a DLC coming for the title.

Kingdom Hearts III fully paid DLC 'ReMIND', new bosses/level

The announcement comes from the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra: World of Tres concert, where Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura confirmed that there is a Kingdom Hearts DLC on its way. The DLC has been titled Kingdom Hearts III ReMIND and will include the following; an additional scenario 'ReMIND', Limit Episode + boss, secret episode + boss and a new keyblade + a new form.

There has been no official release date mentioned for the DLC as of yet, so I will keep my ears pricked for when an official announcement comes out of Square Enix. If you are interested in checking out more Kingdom Hearts III news, check out this gameplay video for the title here. Kingdom Hearts III is currently available on the Xbox One and PS4.

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AMD announces Radeon VII, Ryzen 7 2700X Gold Editions

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Apr 30, 2019 12:10 AM CDT

AMD turns 50 this year so the company is celebrating with the announcement of its 50th anniversary commemorative hardware with the slick new Radeon VII graphics card and Ryzen 7 2700X processor.

AMD announces Radeon VII, Ryzen 7 2700X Gold Editions

The new Radeon VII 50th Anniversary Edition graphics card looks awesomely mean with a totally red shroud versus the silver-themed shroud on the normal Radeon VII graphics card. The all-red look is great on the Radeon VII, and feels more Team Red than most releases in the last decade from the team that is now Radeon Technologies Group. The Radeon VII 50th Anniversary Edition is identical to the normal Radeon VII under the hood, with no GPU or HBM2 clock speed changes.

On the CPU side of the 50th anniverary hardware we have the Ryzen 7 2700X 50th Anniversary Edition processor that sports a laser engraved signature by Dr. Lisa Su, the President and CEO of AMD. The signature is engraved onto the IHS so you wouldn't want to install a cooler onto it, and would more than likely buy it as a collector's piece.

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Nubia Red Magic 3 gaming phone: 90Hz display, RGB LEDs

The gaming smartphone market isn't that big but there are players like ASUS and Razer that have deployed some damn impressive gaming smartphones, but now Chinese manufacturer Nubia has unveiled its new Red Magic 3 gaming smartphone.

Nubia Red Magic 3 gaming phone: 90Hz display, RGB LEDs

Nubia's new Red Magic 3 gaming smartphone is a helluva beast with Qualcomm's impressively-equipped Snapdragon 855 chipset, 6/8/12GB of RAM options and 128/256GB storage options.

The display is also shaping up to match the internal specs with a 6.65-inch FHD+ AMOLED display at 90Hz refresh rate, bringing it closer to the 120Hz display on the Razer Phone 2, except it is much cheaper.

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NVIDIA releases GeForce 430.53 drivers, fixes CPU usage bug

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Apr 29, 2019 10:05 PM CDT

NVIDIA pushed out a new driver in its recent GeForce 430.39 drivers but there were a few issues that saw people reporting that higher than normal GPU usage by the NVDisplay.Container.exe that only starte with the 430.39 display driver.

NVIDIA releases GeForce 430.53 drivers, fixes CPU usage bug

There are a few other issues that have been squashed with the Hotfix release, with Shadow of the Tomb Raider freezing when launched on SLI systems now fixed, and a few other things. The full list includes:

You can download the new GeForce Hotfix Driver v430.53 here.

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AMD's new Zen 2 CPUs: 15% improved IPC perf, up to 4.5GHz

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Apr 29, 2019 7:49 PM CDT

We're just weeks away from the launch of what should arguably be AMD's biggest CPU launch of all time with its next-gen Ryzen 3000 series processors and now new leaks tease some performance numbers and CPU clock speeds.

AMD's new Zen 2 CPUs: 15% improved IPC perf, up to 4.5GHz

AMD is in much need of an IPC boost and that's something the new Zen 2 architecture will take care of, doubled with the frequency reaching heights of 4.5GHz we should see some huge performance improvements over the current Zen-based Ryzen 2000 series CPUs. Mix this in with the exotic 7nm process node and you have a recipe for success for AMD, and with Intel supply issues continuing into Q3 2019 and no 10nm desktop CPUs in sight until possibly 2022... it could be potent.

The new Zen 2 architecture will arrive with an improved memory controller that will support DDR4 RAM at over 4000MHz, an improved execution pipeline, doubled core density, half the energy per operation, and so much more. The improvements that AMD will be delivering with the third-gen Ryzen CPUs is going to be mighty impressive.

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Switch makes $9.9 billion, 85% of Nintendo's yearly revenue

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 29, 2019 6:53 PM CDT

Nintendo's annual earnings show just how important the Switch is to its continued success, and further spells the end of its 3DS handheld.

Switch makes $9.9 billion, 85% of Nintendo's yearly revenue

Nintendo's latest FY2019 financial earnings illustrate one key point: the Switch is far and away the company's biggest cash crop. The handheld-console hybrid made up 85% of Nintendo's $10.8 billion in sales revenue during the period, driven by 16.5 million console shipments and titanic sales in games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which grew to 13.81 million. With these numbers, the Switch made nearly as much as the Xbox's entire segment did in 2018.

Worldwide Switch hardware, software, and Switch Online sales pulled in 1.02 trillion yen ($9.26 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, up 36.4% from last year. The 3DS, whose hardware and software sales were down more than half of last year, only made 5.2% of total sales revenue during the period.

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New Twilight Zone gets second season on CBS All Access

Derek Strickland | Celebrities & Entertainment | Apr 29, 2019 5:40 PM CDT

Jordan Peele's new Twilight Zone series is doing pretty well, and CBS has ordered a second season for the show.

New Twilight Zone gets second season on CBS All Access

Every 20 years or so, The Twilight Zone returns in some form. It's come back in the 1985 reboot, the first episode of which stars none other than Bruce Willis, and again in the 2000's for an ill-fated run of mostly forgettable episodes. Now it's 2019 and Rod Serling's immortalized outre anthology is back for another run, and Jordan Peele is helping craft it.

There's only one catch: the new Twilight Zone is locked behind CBS All Access' subscription paygate. This roadblock hasn't been an issue, though, and CBS says the show is actually doing well--so well that the show has been renewed for a new season. CBS says TZ 2019's debut episode was the most-watched in the subscription's history (the first episode was also available for free everywhere, even YouTube).

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Minecraft creator barred from 10 year anniversary event

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 29, 2019 4:40 PM CDT

The rift between Microsoft and original Minecraft creator Markus Persson widens as the series' decennial anniversary looms.

Minecraft creator barred from 10 year anniversary event

In May, Minecraft turns 10 years old. But the voxel sensation's original creator won't be allowed to attend a special anniversary event thrown by Mojang. The company has barred billionaire developer Markus Persson from attending due to his problematic comments on Twitter. Essentially Persson has become a threat to Microsoft's family-oriented vision for Minecraft."His comments and opinions do not reflect those of Microsoft or Mojang and are not representative of 'Minecraft," Microsoft told Variety.

It's been five years since Microsoft bought Minecraft for $2.5 billion, turning Persson into a rare sight: the billionaire game dev. Since then the game has been considerably updated and released on multiple platforms.

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