Latest News - Page 1151

BioWare's next Mass Effect game has entered early phases of development, studio GM Gary McKay has announced.

In a new blog update, BioWare assures fans that it's working hard on two new projects: Dragon Age 4, which is set to launch sometime in 2024 according to reports, and a new Mass Effect game that's coming way later down the line. Although in initial stages, development on Mass Effect 5 is progressing with a smaller team led by Mike Gamble.

According to the update, Mass Effect 5, which will continue the original trilogy storyline, has moved from prototyping stages to early stages of development.

Hours after putting down an offer of $43 billion for the world's second-largest social networking company, Elon Musk appeared on the TED stage to explain why.

In early April, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased a 9.2% state in Twitter valued at $2.9 billion. This purchase by Musk caused the social media's share price to skyrocket by 25% and led people to believe that Musk was going to join Twitter's board of directors and attempt to implement a bunch of new changes. Now, the SpaceX CEO has changed his plans by putting down $43 billion for 100% of the company's shares at $54.20 a share, according to an SEC filing.

Last week more than 1,000 scientists from around the world engaged in a unanimous act of civil disobedience in protest against governments' inaction against the production of fossil fuels.

The project is called "Climate Ad Project", and involved scientists and researchers from 26 countries risking arrest by chaining themselves to the doors of banks that are funding fossil fuel projects. The organizer's planned day of disobedience was on April 6, and according to them, it was the "world's largest-ever scientist-led civil disobedience campaign".

US climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a data scientist, chained himself to the door of a JP Morgan Chase bank in Los Angeles, which resulted in his arrest and then release. Many other scientists around the world that participated in the protests were also arrested and released.

A NASA scientist has chained himself to a bank and been filmed giving a passionate speech about how Earth is "on track to be unlivable".

The NASA scientist is Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist and writer that currently works as a data scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is also an associate project scientist at UCLA's Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science & Engineering. Last week Kalmus chained himself to the doors of a JP Morgan Chase bank in Los Angeles in a protest against banks funding fossil fuel projects that cause a negative impact on the planet.

Kalmus has taken to Twitter since his arrest and release by posting content about climate change as well as videos of him and other scientists conducting the protest. In the above-posted video, Kalmus can be seen giving an empowering speech where he warns that "we're going to lose everything, and we're not joking, we're not lying, we're not exaggerating". Kalmus goes on to explain that he is protesting "because scientists are not being listened to. I'm willing to take a risk for this gorgeous planet," Kalmus said, "for my sons."

Earlier in the week, officials confirmed that an explosion on the surface of the Sun resulted in a plasma ball of charged particles hurled towards Earth.

The plasma ball came from an eruption that occurred on April 11 when the "corpse" of a sunspot called AR29877 exploded and released a large amount of radiation into space. The explosion was followed by a coronal mass ejection (CME), a wave of charged particles, that was hurled toward Earth and expected to arrive on Thursday, April 14.

The interaction between the charged particles from the Sun and Earth's atmosphere causes a geomagnetic storm, which NOAA officials say will be at least a G2 on the G1 - G5 scale (G5 being the strongest). As explained by SpaceWeather.com, during a G2 geomagnetic storm, auroras can be seen much farther south than they typically would. Reports indicate that the CME impact will cause auroras to be seen as far south as New York and Idaho, giving individuals an incredible opportunity to take pictures of the beautiful auroras above.

BZFuture reached out to us with some great deals for its Easter sales event. Below, you will find some epic deals on not only Windows 10, but also Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 11. There's also some hot deals on Microsoft Office (2016 and 2019), as well as some super bundle deals for Windows and Office together.

Applying the 20% off code TKTN is very easy. As you can see below, just click "Buy Now" on the product you wish to order and then in the checkout area, just type in "TKTN" into the Promotion Code text box and click "Apply". The 20% discount will then be applied to your order.

Below you can see a couple of screenshots of Windows 10 activated using one of the keys provided by BZFuture.

CD Projekt RED confirms it has abandoned adding further multiplayer support into Cyberpunk 2077's RED Engine, and will use Unreal Engine 5 for multiplayer instead.

In a recent earnings report, CDPR says it is moving to Unreal Engine 5 for its multiplayer needs. This update may signal that Cyberpunk 2077's separate online multiplayer game has either been cancelled or is switching to UE5, which may be a painful process for developers. It could also indicate that the RED Engine has been fully optimized for CP2077's multiplayer project...which may be unlikely given the iterative nature of games development.

The Witcher 3 is a sales revenue monster and has delivered its second-best sales throughout 2021.

Today CD Projekt announced its 2021 earnings and updated a bunch of sales figures for its franchises. Cyberpunk 2077 is currently at 18 million+ and The Witcher series has sold over 65 million units to date since first launching 15 years ago.

The Witcher 3 is the overwhelming best-seller and remains one of CD Projekt's most important games of all time. The Witcher 3 has sold 40 million+ copies, accounting for over 61% of total franchise sales. The company says 2021 was the second-best year for The Witcher 3 sales since the game's launch in 2015, where it helped CDPR earn $119.5 million.

Cyberpunk 2077's lifetime sales are now at 18 million+, confirming a significant decline in game sales throughout 2021.

CD Projekt RED recently announced new Cyberpunk 2077 sales figures that fall in line with downward adjustments from analysts. The numbers show CP2077 is currently at 18 million+ sales, which means the game sold at least 4.3 million units throughout 2021. That's a 70% drop from the game's incredible 13.7 million launch sales made in December 2020.

The decline was triggered by the game's heated controversy that eventually led to CP2077 being removed from the PlayStation Store for six months due to disastrous performance on the base PlayStation 4. This significantly reduced overall sales, however CDPR has recognized most of its game unit sales from PC.

Master Chief Collection has beaten Halo Infinite's player counts for two days running.

Gamers are flocking to the old-school Halo collection as they wait for new Infinite content. Thanks to a new substantial update that added Floodfight, Halo 2 custom games to the customs browser, and new modding tools, Halo: The Master Chief Collection's playerbase has surged.

In fact, Halo MCC has had more players on Steam than Halo Infinite for 48 hours in a row. Gamers do want to play Halo, and they're jumping back into classic games to relive nostalgic multiplayer memories across the six-game collection and check out the new update.

Elon Musk has launched a huge hostile takeover of Twitter, slamming down a $43 billion "best and final" offer for the second-largest social networking company in the world.

Musk explained in a letter sent to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor, disclosed in an SEC filing: "I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy".

"As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder".

Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has launched a new NFT collection titled "Dreams Out of This World".

The collection has been released exclusively on the OpenSea NFT marketplace, and features artwork commemorating his time spent in space made in collaboration with the Orange Comet content creation studio. The funds raised from the sales of the NFTs will help the people of Ukraine amidst the Russian invasion of the country.

NASA 'holoported' a group of humans into the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2021.

NASA used Microsoft's Hololens Konnect camera with custom software developed by AEXA Aerospace running on a computer to project holograms of the group to the ISS. This allowed NASA's Crew 2 astronauts, who were aboard the ISS at the time to communicate with people on Earth as if they were also physically present on the space station.

'Holoportation' is a portmanteau of 'hologram' and 'teleportation' and involves the three-dimensional holographic recreation of an individual in a new space. NASA will turn toward combining the technology with augmented reality to create even more advanced communication capabilities with astronauts in space.

A study on the depression treatment titled "Increased global integration in the brain after psilocybin therapy for depression" has been published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Recent clinical trials have used psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in so-called "magic mushrooms," to treat depression by boosting connectivity between different brain regions. The study involved 59 people, of which 16 people participated in one clinical trial, and the remaining 43 participated in another.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans showed increased blood flow between different areas and increasing brain network integration, which were correlated with long-term improvements in depressive symptoms, even in patients with treatment-resistant depression.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has released a report summarizing the threats from the nations to the United States' satellites.

The report asserts that China and Russia are both developing and deploying anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) while simultaneously increasing the size of their intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) spacecraft. These potential threats to the U.S. help determine how the Pentagon's defense budget is allocated, specifically for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM).

A study on the black hole titled "A dusty compact object bridging galaxies and quasars at cosmic dawn" has been published in Nature.

Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data to identify a black hole growing into a supermassive black hole while the universe was only 750 million years old. They found the black hole forming inside a galaxy from the early days of the universe called GNz7q, marking the first observation of a black hole growing inside such a galaxy.

The Russian embassy in DC has been hit with a projection of the Ukraine flag, which wasn't appreciated by members inside.

The video has gone viral on the Ukraine subreddit and was originally posted to Twitter by Benjamin Wittes, an American legal journalist and Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he said, "We lit up the Russian embassy in blue and yellow but the Checkists inside had a surprise for us. They are using their own spotlights to wash us out."

From the above video, a projection of the Ukrainian flag can be seen moving onto a wall of the Russian embassy which was quickly followed by a spotlight from somewhere close to the base of the building beaming upwards and following the flag around in an attempt to drown out the colors with white light. The group broadcasted the entire event for 42 minutes, and the video has since been viewed nearly 140,000 times since being posted.

Meta recently revealed information on how it will be enabling its creators to monetize and earn money from using its metaverse.

Meta has taken to the news section of its website and created a video that explains to creators that they will be able to create and sell virtual items, services, and experiences within Horizon Worlds. Meta outlines that these tools to enable monetization for creators are steps toward "our long-term vision for the metaverse". Throughout Meta's announcement, the company failed to mention how much of a cut it would be taking on each transaction.

For context, the world's largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, takes a 2.5% cut on every transaction, and Apple's App Store takes anywhere between 15% and 30%. According to a spokesperson for Meta, who told CNBC, Meta is planning on taking an overall cut of up to 47.5% on each transaction, and that includes a ""hardware platform fee" of 30% for sales made through the Meta Quest Store". The full paragraph from CNBC can be found below.

The United States has announced it will be providing Ukraine with an $800 million aid package that will include various types of weapons and defenses.

US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that the $800 million in military assistance headed to Ukraine will provide Ukrainian resistance with a variety of defensive systems that include heavy artillery, drones, vehicles, radars, and helicopters. Additionally, the package contains chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear protective equipment.

The Department of Defense website reveals what the US has already provided Ukraine, and judging by the list, this is the first time the US has provided Ukraine with protective equipment for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear scenarios. President Biden said that the equipment provided by the US "has been critical" in Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion, and that "I assured President Zelenskyy, the American people will continue to stand with the brave Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom."

The United States has sent more than $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine, and within those packages have been Javelin anti-tank missiles that have been used to great effect.

The Javelin anti-tank missiles have been a staple weapon of the war as the Russian military have suffered great losses at the hands of Ukrainians firing these expensive weapons. Now reports state that the US has given 33% of its total stockpile of Javelins to Ukraine and will soon need to stop supplying the country to maintain a reasonable amount for any of its own future plans.

BusinessInsider writes that the production of the anti-tank missiles is slow, and replenishing the stock supplied to Ukraine will take "years". If the US decides to halt the transferring of Javelins, it would essentially be taking away Ukraine's most-effective anti-tank weapon, which raises the question; "Can Ukraine force a stalemate with Russia before Javelin supplies begin to dry up?"