Latest News - Page 1194

EA executive Laura Miele reportedly blames Halo Infinite for setting a positive example and poaching Battlefield 2042's playerbase. This line of thought could easily be applied to another mega-hit shooter that EA's responsible for.

According to recent reports sourced from obtained internal documents, EA execs are trying to figure out where Battlefield 2042 went wrong. The usual suspects apply: Live games are difficult to make, the pandemic, and competitors. EA's Laura Miele reportedly mentioned Halo Infinite by name and suggested Halo's polished state set a high water mark for Battlefield 2042...which is a curious statement for two reasons.

One, Halo Infinite had lots of problems at launch. Monetization, bugs, glitches--Big Team Battle was nigh-unplayable for months and it currently has very serious issues with desync and cheating. Gunplay was polished. Many other things were not.

Metro Exodus has sold 6 million copies to date, the Embracer Group has confirmed.

The Metro franchise remains one of Deep Silver's heavy-hitting tentpole franchises and has contributed strongly to overall quarterly earnings. Metro Exodus has sold more than 6 million units since its release on February 2019, making it one of the most popular in the series. While Embracer hasn't given regular updates on total Metro game or franchise sales, these figures are more than respectable and are responsible in part to Koch Media's $78 million revenues generated in Q3'21.

"Back-catalog sales were also driven by the evergreen title Metro Exodus, which has sold 6 million copies since its launch in February 2019," Embracer said in its recent report.

A study on the new atomic clock breakthrough has been published in the journal Nature.

Researchers from JILA have measured an aspect of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity using two atomic clocks, separated by only a millimeter. They measured the clocks ticking at different rates, which can be attributed to time dilation due to gravity, which Einstein's theory predicted. Atomic clocks at different elevations in a gravitational field tick at different rates, moving more slowly the stronger the gravity, in this case, closer to Earth.

In 2010, NIST physicists demonstrated the effect for two independent atomic clocks where one was positioned 33 centimeters above the other. Now, JILA researchers have measured a reduction in the frequency of radiation, or redshift, in atomic clocks comprising strontium atoms in an optical lattice.

A new paper describing the galaxy's discovery has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Researchers from Leiden University have discovered the largest known radio galaxy ever, about 16.3 million light-years in length, or about five megaparsecs. The giant plumes of plasma visible in the photo, visible in bright orange, glow with radio light and are likely the result of a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. The black holes at the center of a galaxy can create two jet streams, ejecting material out of the galaxy and emitting radio waves, creating scenes like those seen here.

These kinds of astronomical observations are only viewed from Earth, and hence they do not contain any depth information. Therefore, it is difficult to know how far the galaxy's sphere of influence expands in the third dimension. Still, at more than 16 million light-years across, the radio galaxy is comparable to one hundred Milky Ways in a row.

A study on the new conversion process has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have used a material known as a covalent organic framework (COF), which is porous and can absorb sunlight very efficiently. With the addition of a catalytic complex to the COF, the researchers could use the COF to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide without the need for additional energy to complete the conversion.

A new study on the protective effects of caffeine has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Previous studies have shown a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease among habitual caffeine-consuming adults, equivalent to 400-600 milligrams of caffeine (roughly two or three cups of coffee) daily. Until now, a biochemical explanation hadn't been found by scientists.

Canadian researchers have identified how caffeine initiates a cascade effect to reduce LDL cholesterol levels in the bloodstream. High levels of LDL cholesterol are correlated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The researchers found that caffeine consumption was associated with decreased PCSK9 levels in the bloodstream. PCSK9 is a protein that inhibits the liver's ability to process excess LDL cholesterol. Therefore, caffeine's ability to reduce PCSK9 allows the liver to remove more LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream.

NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has captured its first images following its launch last year.

Initially launching on December 9th, 2021, the IXPE has since completed its month-long commissioning phase and confirmed all instruments are in working order. The first object of IXPE's attention is Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant left behind by a star that exploded sometime in the seventeenth century. The saturation of the magenta color in the above image corresponds to the intensity of X-ray light observed by IXPE, overlayed with high-energy X-ray data, shown in blue, from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The governor of a US state has announced that during the middle of this year residents will be able to pay their state taxes with cryptocurrency.

The announcement comes from Colorado governor Jared Polis who revealed a rough timeline of the roll out in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday where he said that he expects "by this summer to accept crypto for all of our state tax-related purposes". Polis added that the acceptance of crypto-payments could also be used for other government-related expenses such as a driver's license or a hunting license.

Pew Research reports that Colorado joins another 20 states that are looking into accepting some form of cryptocurrency legislation. Polis is no stranger to cryptocurrency as he was one of the first politicians to accept Bitcoin donations for his political campaign when he was elected into Congress in Colorado back in 2014. Additionally, Polis is also heading the effort of making Colorado the United States' blockchain innovation hub.

A new filing with the US Patent and Trading office reveals that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Group is moving towards developing a virtual/augmented reality marketplace.

The new patent describes an online marketplace where users can interact using virtual or augmented reality. This new marketplace would allow for users to trade virtual goods with each other such as cryptocurrencies, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), digital media, and much more. If the NYSE launches a new online marketplace that supports transactions of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, it would directly compete with the current largest NFT trading platform, OpenSea.

While the trademark filing is certainly very promising as it proves something is in the works over at the NYSE Group, a spokesperson for the NYSE said to Reuters that there aren't any immediate plans to launch cryptocurrency and trading. It also seems like the NYSE is looking to get into the Metaverse and what the future of trading will be as the filing states that this marketplace could be accessed via a virtual or augmented reality device or PC.

A new report from a variety of government agencies has predicted the sea levels across US coastlines for the next 30 years.

The report comes from NASA along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and states that sea levels across US coastlines are expected to rise by a foot (10 - 12 inches), which means in the next 30 years, the ocean levels will rise as much as they have in the last 100 years. According to NOAA administration Rich Spinrad, who spoke during a news conference on February 15, this newly released report is the "most up-to-date, long term sea-level rise projections of all of the United States and Territories", adding "what we're reporting out today is historic."

During the same news conference, NASA administrator Bill Nelson backed up the report by stating that "the science is very clear" and urged that now is the time to take action against the "climate crisis." Nelson went on to explain that the rapid increase in sea levels rising is generated by humans, and that the "science of the last 20 years has settled the question of human behavior that is driving this climate change."

A "very large" telescope was used to snap the below image of a galaxy researchers call Messier 77 or NGC 1068.

The European Space Observatory's Very Large Telescope located in Chile was used to snap an image of Messier 77, which is located around 47 million light-years from Earth within the constellation Cetus. The image, according to the ESO, has shed new light on galaxies that harbor an active core. At the center, Messier 77 is a supermassive black hole that has an immense gravitational pull. Galaxies that have an active nucleus are fueled by surrounding gas and dust being sucked into the center of the black hole.

Messier 77's supermassive black hole is shrouded in cosmic dust that completely conceals the spiral galaxy's core. However, the Multi Aperture Mid-Infrared Spectroscopic Experiment (MATISSE) mounted to the Very Large Telescope can see in a range of wavelengths that allow it to see through the cosmic dust. With the acquired data from multiple observations, researchers developed a new way to view Messier 77, adding to the researchers' observing program of galaxies with an active core.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are on a regular schedule of working out, conducting vital experiments, and doing body research.

In a recent update on the events taking place on the ISS, NASA explains that three astronauts were scheduled for eye and vein scans on Tuesday, and throughout the scanning, doctors on Earth observed. The scanning took place in the Columbus laboratory module and used the Ultrasound 2 device that snapped images of the astronauts' neck, shoulder, and leg veins.

NASA flight engineers Mark Vande Hei and Thomas Marshburn and German astronaut Matthias Maurer also had their eyes scanned. So, why scan astronauts aboard the ISS? NASA explains in its blog post that the acquired data will be used to measure the effects of microgravity on the human body, which will no doubt lead to the development of technology that would reduce any negative impact of long-space duration for astronauts.

CD PROJEKT RED has pushed out a rather large patch for Cyberpunk 2077, with the v1.5 patch including a plethora of tweaks, new features, and so much more -- for all platforms -- not just the PC.

Inside of Cyberpunk 2077's new v1.5 update is a built-in benchmark for the PC, but also AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 1.0 which joins the ranks against NVIDIA and its DLSS technology inside of CDPR's flagship game. Previously, Cyberpunk 2077 had an option for Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS) but now FSR 1.0 has replaced it.

Cyberpunk 2077's new addition of AMD FSR support can be enabled in the "Graphics" menu of the Settings, and then down the bottom under Ray Tracing you'll see "Resolution Scaling" and have the options for NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR technologies.

Intel's upcoming Arc Alchemist is still a few months away and while it'll use the new DG2 GPU, the DG1 GPU is being put to --- well, I wouldn't say "good use" but more like some use -- by Chinese company GUNNIR.

The new GUNNIR Iris Xe MAX Index V2 is the "flagship" one of the DG1 GPU bunch, which has been joined by the Iris Xe Index V2 and then the DG1 low-profile. The cost isn't too high at all, with the highest-end DG1-based GPU costing around $110 while the low-profile model is $90.

GUNNIR's new Iris Xe MAX Index V2 graphics card includes 96 EUs (768 shading units) and a GPU boost clock of up to 1.65Hz. There's 4GB of LPDDR4X memory clocked at 4.2Gbps on a 128-bit memory bus that is capable of just 68GB/sec. You won't be playing Crysis or Cyberpunk 2077 on this graphics card, that's for sure.

AMD has pushed out its new Radeon Adrenalin 22.2.2 drivers which have some pretty damn good performance increases in a bunch of games, as well as support for Total War: Warhammer III.

The performance improvements come from AMD Smart Access Memory (SAM) technology, where if you've got a newer Ryzen GPU and play Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Battlefield 5, Borderlands 3, F1 2021, Gears 5, Fortnite, and Cyberpunk 2077.

You've got up to 24% more performance in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla @ 1080p Ultra High settings when using an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with the new driver, versus the previous 22.2.1 driver. In something like Borderlands 3 you can enjoy up to 18% more performance with the Ryzen 9 5900HX and SAM enabled in Borderlands 3 @ 1080p Badass settings.

SK hynix has just announced a next-generation memory chip with onboard computing capabilities, with the introduction of GDDR6-AiM (Accelerator In Memory).

The company revealed its first sample of GDDR6-AiM memory clocked at 16Gbps at ISSCC (The International Solid-State Circuits Conference) which is being hosted virtually between February 20-24. GDDR6-AiM does things differently by adding computational functions to the GDDR6 memory chips, where GDDR6-AiM and a CPU or GPU -- instead of regular DRAM -- will speed up computational speed by up to 16x.

SK hynix is aiming its new GDDR6-AiM memory for machine learning, high-performance computing (HPC), big data computation and storage. GDDR6-AiM is at 1.25V, lower than the 1.35V on GDDR6 -- but then PIM reduces data movement to the CPU + GPU -- reducing power consumption by a huge 80%.

CD PROJEKT RED has pushed out a rather large patch for Cyberpunk 2077, with the v1.5 patch including a plethora of tweaks, new features, and so much more -- for all platforms -- not just the PC.

One of the biggest and surprise additions in the new Cyberpunk 2077 update was the inclusion of a built-in benchmark, which will run a benchmark within a pre-determined path of the game and give you the results you need. You can benchmark with the vanilla version of the game, with DLSS -- or the newly-added AMD FSR upscaling tech option -- as well as ray tracing.

There are a bunch of PC-specific things that CD PROJEKT RED have added into the v1.5 update for Cyberpunk 2077, including a "Toggle walking" button when you're playing with your keyboard. When you're exploring, simply press "G" on your keyboard although this can be rebinded in your settings.

The Last of Us TV show will not premiere in 2022, HBO has confirmed.

Joel and Ellie's harrowing story won't premiere in 2022, HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys has told Deadline. "It's not going to air in 2022 - they are still shooting in Canada. I imagine you will see it in '23."

Bloys talks up Craig Mazin's vision for the series (Mazin, who created the award-winning Chernobyl series, is writing the new Last of Us adaptation): "I have seen some early episodes and I'm very excited. Craig did Chernobyl for us, he is a fantastic writer and director. What I've seen looks amazing, so I'm excited for it, but it will not be in '22."

Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't exactly hit next-gen performance on Xbox Series S consoles, but CD Projekt may change that.

Yesterday Cyberpunk 2077 got a huge upgrade on PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles with 4K 60FPS and raytracing modes, improved loading times, and haptic feedback support. The Xbox Series S, however, is locked to 30FPS with dynamically scaled 1440p resolution. That's not great news to anyone with a Series S.

Luckily it looks like CDPR wants to at least try and boost the FPS on Series S systems. "We are also looking into the possibility of [raising FPS cap on Xbox Series S], but at the moment we don't have any details to share," CDPR's Marcin Momot said.

ViacomCBS orders a second season of the upcoming live action Halo TV series adaptation as part of its new content blitz.

After years of development hell, the Halo TV show finally premieres on March 24 with Pablo Schreiber starring as Master Chief. Strong reception from fans has bolstered Paramount's confidence in the series and a second season of the Halo show has officially been greenlit.

While it's set in the same universe, the Halo Paramount+ series makes significant divergences from the established game lore. The show actually has its own separate parallel timeline called the Silver Timeline which allows writers and creators to conveniently borrow, adapt, and alter key events, characters, and locations to make the decades'-long series more show friendly.