Apex Legends pro players get hacked during NA finals, EA confirmed 'compromised'

Jak Connor | Gaming | Mar 18, 2024 2:01 AM CDT

Seemingly, two individuals named "Destroyer2009" and "R4ndom" were responsible for hacking professional Apex Legends players during the North American Finals of Apex Legends.

Apex Legends pro players get hacked during NA finals, EA confirmed 'compromised'

The hack isn't one that you would typically expect as it didn't appear to be harvesting data or coming from within the professional players that were participating in the tournament. Instead, professional players were being given hacks from presumably two outside sources, and these hacks included classic cheats such as aimbot, wallhacks, and more. The hacks were given to specific pro players while they were in-game competing, raising massive concerns for the security of all accounts and the safety of the game.

The hackers targeted specific professional players mid-tournament, such as ImperialHal and Genburten, forcibly giving cheats, resulting in the players having to leave the game. In one instance, a professional player was given cheats and then immediately banned by Apex Legends' cheat-detection system.

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Meta Quest 3 Lite is a cut-back, more affordable VR headset on track for a 2024 release

By all accounts, the Meta Quest 3 is an excellent VR headset. Adding RGB video pass-through for an immersive mixed-reality experience adds a new layer to the virtual experience. The only real problem is that the Meta Quest 2, with its recent official price cut, looks to be the more popular option for those picking up a Quest.

Meta Quest 3 Lite is a cut-back, more affordable VR headset on track for a 2024 release

$249 USD for the 128GB Meta Quest 2 compared to $499 USD for the 128GB Meta Quest 3 represents a 66% increase for the newer model, so Meta is looking to launch the Meta Quest 3 Lite in 2024. The new 'Lite' model is expected to retain all the improvements made to the displays and additional processing power of the Meta Quest 3.

The big difference and reason for lowering the price from the current $499 USD is the removal of the two RGB cameras - one of Quest 3's biggest draw cards.

Continue reading: Meta Quest 3 Lite is a cut-back, more affordable VR headset on track for a 2024 release (full post)

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang wishes 'pain and suffering' on students

Jak Connor | Business, Financial & Legal | Mar 18, 2024 12:46 AM CDT

The CEO of NVIDIA, a chip manufacturing company valued at approximately $2 trillion, has sat down for an interview at Stanford University, where he gave some wise words to students regarding being a successful entrepreneur.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang wishes 'pain and suffering' on students

Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, was asked what advice he would give to students to improve their chances of success, to which he answered that one of his strengths is that he has very low expectations and that many Stanford students have very high expectations of themselves due to the school and peers around them.

Huang then explained that when you have high expectations, you have very low resilience, "and unfortunately, resilience matters in success. I don't know how to teach it to you except for I hope suffering happens to you". The NVIDIA CEO goes on to explain that he uses the terms "pain and suffering" within his company in a very "happy way" because you want to "refine the character of your company," and character comes from "people who suffered".

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Star Wars KOTOR remake is still in development at Saber Interactive, even after recent sale

Kosta Andreadis | Gaming | Mar 18, 2024 12:31 AM CDT

Like others, we had high hopes for the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake project until it seemingly ran into one development issue after another. Announced back in 2021, with Sony's full backing, the PC and PlayStation 5 exclusive would remake and rebuild one of the greatest BioWare RPGs in a modern engine with modern cinematic visuals.

Star Wars KOTOR remake is still in development at Saber Interactive, even after recent sale

Our original concerns stemmed from the fact that the ambitious project fell under the umbrella of the Embracer Group, with one of its smaller studios - Aspyr - leading development. Aspyr, best known for porting older Star Wars games to platforms like the Nintendo Switch, hadn't tackled a project of this size and scope before.

In 2022, Embracer announced that development had shifted to Sabre Interactive, a studio with a fairly consistent track record. Since then, the industry has been tumultuous, with layoffs and cancellations. Embracer Group recently sold Saber Interactive, "one of its best-earning games divisions," for $247 million.

Continue reading: Star Wars KOTOR remake is still in development at Saber Interactive, even after recent sale (full post)

SpaceX is building 100s of 'no one can hide' spy satellites for the US government

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Mar 18, 2024 12:15 AM CDT

The Department of Defense's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has signed a $1.8 billion contract with SpaceX for the creation of hundreds of spy satellites that will be used for US intelligence, according to a report from Reuters.

SpaceX is building 100s of 'no one can hide' spy satellites for the US government

The new report states the NRO has signed a $1.8 billion contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX for the development of hundreds of spy satellites that will be designed to continuously take photographs of the Earth. These satellites will be a mixture of large imaging satellites designed to collect data and relay satellites designed to transmit the collected data.

According to one source who spoke to Reuters, the new web of spy satellites, which is reportedly called Starshield, will be so vast in its capabilities that "no one can hide". Notably, neither SpaceX nor the NRO directly confirmed the $1.8 billion contract or the development of the purported satellites, but an NRO spokesperson responded to the publication, "The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen."

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ZOTAC's new HPC server can take 2 x Intel Xeon CPUs, 10 x GPUs and 12,000W of power

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | Mar 17, 2024 11:59 PM CDT

ZOTAC has just announced its expanded GPU Server Series systems. The first of the series is the Enterprise lineup, which offers companies affordable, high-performance computing solutions for countless applications, including AI.

ZOTAC's new HPC server can take 2 x Intel Xeon CPUs, 10 x GPUs and 12,000W of power

These new ZOTAC systems are aimed at core-to-core inferencing, data visualization, model training, HPC modeling, simulation, and AI workloads. ZOTAC's new family of GPU servers comes in varying form factors and configurations, with the Tower Workstation and Rack Mount Servers both offered in either AMD EPYC or Intel Xeon CPU form.

There's support for a huge 10 x GPUs, with a modular design that makes it easier to get in and configure the system, with a high space-to-performance ratio, industry-standard features like redundant power supplies and various cooling options, ZOTAC has your back with its new GPU Server Series.

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GeForce RTX 4070 Ti non-SUPER price drop, you can now pick up one for as low as $679

Kosta Andreadis | Video Cards & GPUs | Mar 17, 2024 11:32 PM CDT

The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB is currently end-of-life, with the recent launch of the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16GB effectively replacing the GPU at the same $799 MSRP. With a notable increase to 4K gaming performance and 33% more VRAM capacity, the remaining non-SUPER GeForce RTX 4070 Ti stock is being sold at a discount, getting rid of the old to make way for the new.

GeForce RTX 4070 Ti non-SUPER price drop, you can now pick up one for as low as $679

This is great news for PC gamers as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is still a very powerful GPU that excels at 1440p gaming - with one of the best RTX 4070 Ti deals going around at the moment being for the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB GDDR6X Ventus 2X OC edition in White. Amazon and Newegg are currently listing this GPU for $699.99 USD, with Newegg offering an additional $20 off with a promo code.

This represents a 14.6% discount compared to the original $819 USD price for this GPU and an additional 8% discount compared to its price cut as soon as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER hit the scene.

Continue reading: GeForce RTX 4070 Ti non-SUPER price drop, you can now pick up one for as low as $679 (full post)

ASUS ROG NUC compact gaming PC costs $2500 with Core Ultra 9 185H and RTX 4070

Anthony Garreffa | Computer Systems | Mar 17, 2024 11:09 PM CDT

The new ASUS ROG NUC compact gaming PC is nearly ready, with the new system hitting retailers in Germany for around 2500 euros, or $2700 USD or so.

ASUS ROG NUC compact gaming PC costs $2500 with Core Ultra 9 185H and RTX 4070

Inside, the ASUS ROG NUC system will feature up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H "Meteor Lake" CPU that features 16 cores and 22 threads, part of Intel's Meteor Lake-H series high-end processors. We have a CPU boost speed of up to 5.1GHz, with a default TDP of 45W.

The CPU itself comes with Arc Xe-LPG graphics on-board, with a full 8 x Xe-Core configuration, but there's also a discrete GPU inside of the ASUS ROG NUC compact gaming PC in the form of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU with 8GB of GDDR6 memory and a locked 115W TGP with optional Dynamic Boost of up to 140W.

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Acer is launching new Radeon RX 7900 GRE Predator and Nitro graphics cards

Kosta Andreadis | Video Cards & GPUs | Mar 17, 2024 10:29 PM CDT

Acer has announced two new AMD Radeon GPUs joining its line-up, based on the recent global launch of the Radeon RX 7900 GRE. The Acer Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 7900 GRE OC graphics card and the Acer Nitro AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE OC graphics card feature an out-of-the-box 2395 MHz Boost Clock, a notable increase over the AMD's 2245 MHz reference spec.

Acer is launching new Radeon RX 7900 GRE Predator and Nitro graphics cards

The Acer Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 7900 GRE OC is the premium model, thanks to its three FrostBlade 3.0 fans, vapor chamber cooling, and dedicated software for tweaking and customizing GPU settings. The Acer Nitro AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE OC is no slouch, with its dual axial fans and robust cooling - however, both GPUs look triple-slot in size.

Although Acer hasn't announced pricing or provided a full breakdown of specs in its product listing, we're assuming these two new Radeon GPUs will feature the same overall cooling and physical make-up as Acer's Radeon RX 7800 XT 'Predator' and 'Nitro' models - as the Radeon RX 7900 GRE features a similar 260W power rating.

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Helldivers 2 has spread Democracy to over 8 million gamers so far

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Mar 17, 2024 10:08 PM CDT

Helldivers 2 is an incredible success for developer Arrowhead, and now a TD Cowen analyst estimates that 8 million copies of the game have been sold so far, and things aren't slowing down.

Helldivers 2 has spread Democracy to over 8 million gamers so far

Helldivers 2 launched without huge fanfare, but the game has been a runaway success with some in the industry comparing the game to the likes of Guitar Hero with its virality. In a new report from Bloomberg, the outlet reports that TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz estimates that over 8 million copies of Helldivers 2 have sold so far, and those numbers are growing weekly. Creutz said: "We believe the game has performed well ahead of expectations" in a note on Thursday.

The game is only out on Sony's current-gen PlayStation 5 console and on the PC... leaving Xbox gamers unable to spread Democracy. I can only imagine those numbers going up by a couple of million if Helldivers 2 was unleashed onto the Xbox Series X/S consoles.

Continue reading: Helldivers 2 has spread Democracy to over 8 million gamers so far (full post)