Dune is coming back to the world of gaming in a big, big way (well, besides Dune Spice Wars, that is).

Funcom, the devs behind Conan Exiles, announced a new Dune game that could scratch all the itches that sci-fi nerds have had for decades. It's been 21 years since the last Dune game and it sounds like Funcom is going to make up for the lost time with this new project.

The studio says a new Dune survival game is in development, and that it's their "most ambitious project yet." It's to be a next-gen open-world multiplayer game, so expect the typical live services, evolving world/expansions/updates, and of course deep social interactions. The Dune game is also being built in Unreal Engine for PC and consoles.

Indie horror dev Bloober Team recently signed a "significant distribution deal" with Sony Interactive Entertainment for its upcoming games, and Silent Hill may be included.

Bloober Team has secured a worldwide distributor for its new games and it's one of the best in the business: Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The developer is currently working on four projects including a new game with Konami (believed to be Silent Hill), a new Layers of Fear, a project being funded by Take-Two Interactive's Private Division label, and a project with Rogue Games. Sony may be the distributor for a handful of these games both digitally via the PlayStation Store/PS Plus and through physical retail channels.

NASA's InSight Mars Lander detected the Mars temblor, or marsquake, on May 4th, 2022, or Sol (Martian day) 1,222 of the lander's mission.

The marsquake clocked in at a magnitude 5 on moment magnitude scale that is used on Earth. The previous record-holder for largest marsquake measured was a magnitude-4.2, which the InSight Lander detected on August 25th, 2021, using its seismometer called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure.

"Since we set our seismometer down in December 2018, we've been waiting for 'the big one.' This quake is sure to provide a view into the planet like no other. Scientists will be analyzing this data to learn new things about Mars for years to come," said planetary geophysicist Bruce Banerdt from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California and the leader of the InSight mission.

A study on the algae-powered microprocessor titled "Powering a microprocessor by photosynthesis" has been published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

The widespread Synechocystis species of non-toxic, blue-green algae has been used by researchers to power a microprocessor by harnessing photosynthesis. The system is about the size of an AA battery, contains some water, and allows ambient light in to facilitate photosynthesis. Photosynthesis generates a small electric current that interacts with an aluminum electrode, in turn powering the microprocessor.

"The growing Internet of Things needs an increasing amount of power, and we think this will have to come from systems that can generate energy, rather than simply store it like batteries. Our photosynthetic device doesn't run down the way a battery does because it's continually using light as the energy source," said Professor Christopher Howe in the University of Cambridge's Department of Biochemistry, joint senior author of the paper.

German YouTubers The Real Life Guys have effectively turned a Tesla Model 3 into a tank over a four-week project.

The project began with cutting and welding together two giant steel constructions around which they wrapped chain tracks, each weighing 1.3 tons. The group also added twelve suspension springs to each side's structure to make them suitable for offroad use.

The group then raised the Model 3 off the ground to match the height of the rather tall finished chain tracks, and took off all of its wheels in preparation for mounting the tracks to the vehicle. The final result has the Tesla, dubbed the Model T (presumably for "tank"), sitting 80 centimeters (2.6 feet) off the ground, weighing in at 6 tons altogether.

A study on the revived eyes titled "Revival of light signalling in the postmortem mouse and human retina" has been published in the journal Nature.

Researchers were able to revive function in cells from both mouse and human eyes obtained after death. Stimulating the postmortem retinas with light resulted in them emitting electrical signals known as b-waves, indicative of communication between cells, that are also emitted by living retinas.

"We were able to wake up photoreceptor cells in the human macula, which is the part of the retina responsible for our central vision and our ability to see fine detail and color," explained biomedical scientist Fatima Abbas from the University of Utah.

However, USB-C ports won't be seen on any iPhone models released later this year and will instead be coming in 2023 at the earliest.

The move is likely due at least in part to looming regulations by the European Union that would mandate tech companies like Apple to adopt USB-C as a standard charging port for portable electronics, benefiting consumers and the environment.

"Mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones and headsets, handheld video-game consoles and portable speakers, rechargeable via a wired cable, would have to be equipped with a USB Type-C port, regardless of the manufacturer," the recent European Union legislation reads.

Take-Two's mega merger with Zynga is expected to close on May 23, 2022, NASDAQ reports.

The convergence of Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two Interactive and mobile powerhouse Zynga may be finalized in late May. The news comes from NASDAQ Trader, who reinforces a recent definitive agreement SEC filing that assigns a May 23 closing date to the deal. Zynga's shares are anticipated to halt trading on May 20 in preparation for the closing date.

The merger is worth $12.7 billion and will combine the might of Take-Two's AAA empire with Zynga's mobile know-how. The synergies are expected to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in net bookings growth over time, complete with significant earnings potential with Zynga's ad tech platform.

AMD will be unleashing its next-gen Instinct MI300 product family in the future, the first CDNA 3-based product that will utilize 3D stacking technology.

3D stacking technology will allow AMD to use CPU and GPU dies in different configurations for customers of AMD, and now we have some new leaks making things a little clearer. From a leaked slide from a purported internal presentation on AMD's upcoming Instinct MI300, AMD says the Instinct MI300 is a "first generation Instinct APU".

AdoredTV details the slides (you should be able to tell their AdoredTV's slides, I don't know if it's obvious enough or not) that one of the CPU configurations -- leaker Tom @ Moore's Law is Dead said that recently, more on that below -- with Zen 4-based CPU cores, and CDNA 3-based GPU cores.

Intel doesn't have their Arc Alchemist GPU on the market, with multiple delays and drama going on behind the scenes... but don't worry: Intel XeSS upscaling technology will launch in a week, on May 20.

The new Intel XeSS upscaling technology will officially launch alongside action RPG "Dolmen" that most people won't play, and will support all three super-sampling technologies: AMD FSR (1.0), NVIDIA DLSS, and Intel XeSS. There will be a day one update for Dolmen that provides it with Intel XeSS support, making it the first game in history to support Intel XeSS.

AMD just introduced its latest FSR 2.0 technology, and while it isn't supported by a heap of games yet, it will over time just like NVIDIA DLSS. Intel will be using one unified API for game developers to use, with multiple acceleration techniques being used.