Latest News - Page 1295

DICE today announced details on Battlefield 2042's new Hazard Zone, the third major gametype featured in Battlefield 2042.

Battlefield 2042's Hazard Zone sounds pretty unique. It's essentially a squad-based battle royale with PvPvE elements where players aren't just killing one another, but trying to secure hard drives from pods that crash down from space. The goal is to secure as many drives as you can without dying and extract them safely. As DICE explains: "scavenge for valuable resources as foes and cataclysmic storms close in."

Hazard Zone is set in all seven All Out Warfare maps so there's tons of areas to find the orbital-drop drives. It's a 32-player game mode with squads of 4, so that's 8x squads of 4. Players explore the maps in squads of four specialists to grab drives, taking on AI enemies as well as other players. The AI is randomized across each match. Destructive map-wide weather effects are also closing in (not unlike Battlefield V's Firestorm) forcing players closer and closer together as the match goes on.

The cat was out of the bag on Tuesday, but today is the official reveal of HTC's latest VR device, Vive Flow. HTC designed this compact, lightweight, portable headset for wellbeing, not entertainment.

The HTC Vive Flow is a new type of VR device that targets a whole new segment of customers. Most VR headsets are either designed for gamers or intended for business use. Vive Flow is meant for casual users who want to escape reality for a little while.

"With VIVE Flow, HTC is taking technology in a new direction, focusing not on what we do but on how we feel. Maintaining our wellness has come to the forefront in the last few years, with so many millions feeling stressed every day, so it has never been more important to take time out to calm our minds, and VIVE Flow provides the perfect opportunity to escape our four walls and immerse ourselves in our ideal ambience," said Cher Wang, Chairwoman, and CEO of HTC. "Meditation, gentle stretches, brain training, streaming our favorite shows, or even meeting friends or coworkers in VR with VIVE Sync can all be enhanced by a device light and compact enough to fit in our pocket. VIVE Flow represents the next evolution of technology, as we take a more holistic view of how we can make life better."

Call of Duty Vanguard's anticipated zombies co-op mode will be revealed today at 11AM, and you can check out the announcement stream here.

Vanguard's new zombies mode is developed by Treyarch, but a lot of official details remain unknown. The devs say to expect favorite modes returning with a twist, and promos confirm dark necromancy, cultism, and the summoning of a titanic four-armed demon monstrosity, There's satanic glyphs and runes and a strange pyramidical dagger that could be used in bloody rituals.

I'm personally hoping we get to fight that demonic demigod pictured in the teasers. How epic would it be to have a live game event where you have to take down a hulking monster-boss that takes up half the screen?

Chinese mega-hit Genshin Impact is the latest internet sensation to grab the attention of Tesla's Elon Musk, which could help spike popularity even more.

Elon Musk could eventually show up in F2P sensation Genshin Impact, possibly as an NPC. So how did we get here? Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo launched a strange fan account Paimon2theMoon back in August. The account is run by Ella Musk, the so-called fictional daughter of Elon Musk. It's obviously a tongue-in-cheek joke, and the account even put up some follower goals according to NoisyPixel:

It looks like Musk is interested in playing along in his own way. The news started circulating on Twitter and Musk got word of the strange ARG campaign, putting out a tweet: "I can't wait to be in Genshin Impact."

A close call is an understatement to 66-year-old Golden, British Columbia resident Ruth Hamilton, who experienced a terrifying ordeal on October 4 that nearly killed her.

Hamilton was asleep in her bed for hours when she was awoken by her dog barking, which was followed by a loud "explosion" sound. Following the loud "explosion" sound, Hamilton jumped out of bed and ran over to turn the light on. Only moments later, a large chunk of rock smashed through her ceiling. Hamilton flipped back her pillow and found a decent size rock laying in between her pillows, only inches away from where her head once was a few seconds ago.

The rock was initially thought to be from a construction site nearby that conducts blasting. However, it was quickly confirmed from multiple sources that a meteorite was seen exploding that same night. The meteorite weighed in at about two pounds, and according to Hamilton, she plans on keeping it after Western astronomy professor Peter Brown and his team finish analyzing it.

Astronomers have pointed a telescope at the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and have detailed many of the largest asteroids in the solar system.

An international team of astronomers used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope to observe some of the solar system's largest objects that are located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The team of astronomers detailed forty-two of the solar system's biggest rocks, with three of the main belt asteroids being images with a high level of detail. The remaining space rocks were captured in sharp images.

Pierre Vernazza, from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille in France and led on the study that has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, said, "Only three large main belt asteroids, Ceres, Vesta and Lutetia, have been imaged with a high level of detail so far, as they were visited by the space missions Dawn and Rosetta of NASA and the European Space Agency, respectively. Our ESO observations have provided sharp images for many more targets, 42 in total."

A satellite flying overhead of an erupting volcano has captured stunning images of the rivers of lava spewing from the volcano's crater.

Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-X imagery

The volcano that is erupting is on the Spain's La Palma island which first began erupting on September 19. Since then, rivers of lava have been spewing out of the volcano causing residents in the local area to evacuate. The eruption has marked the first time in 50 years this volcano has erupted, and over the weekend reports surfaced of 3.8 earthquakes in the area - indicating that the volcanic eruption is far from over.

Mars is known for its barren wastelands and fine red sand, but that isn't all the planet has to offer, and new images released by a Mars orbiter proves that.

While known as the Red Planet, Mars offers more beauty than one might expect, and recently released images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showcase a multitude of colors that can be found throughout the surface. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter used the incredible HiRISE camera that it's equipped with to capture high-resolution images of the diverse nature of Mars' surface.

The HiRISE camera took images of the Kaiser Crater, which has a large number of giant dunes inside of it that have a variety of subsurface minerals that have eroded down the sides of the dunes. According to the team behind the images, "Some of these gullies produce a variety of colors that are highlighted on the west-facing (illuminated) slopes, where the gullies appear to be glowing in the winter light." The images found in this article are just some of what was taken. To view the full selection of images, check out this link here.

After multiple years of development and numerous setbacks, NASA's next-generation space telescope is inching closer to its launch date.

NASA's next-generation telescope is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that was originally proposed back in 1996 with a launch date of 2007. However, due to countless delays due to issues being found throughout testing the telescope, the launch had to be pushed back. Additionally, the JWST has cost NASA much more than what they originally intended to spend. In the US space agency's original proposal, JWST was going to cost $1 billion, but do delays and development costs that come with them, that number slowly rose to $9.7 billion.

Now, JWST has safely arrived at the last destination it will be on Earth, French Guiana, South America, which is the site of the space telescopes launch. Currently, JWST is undergoing final testing before its launch aboard the European Space Agency's (ESA) heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed by Arianespace called the Ariane 5 rocket. NASA and the ESA have selected the target launch date for December 18th, 2021 - 14 years after the originally proposed launch date.

William Shatner, along with the three other crew members, have safely made it back to the surface of Earth with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

William Shatner, who played the iconic role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek, was joined by three other private citizens, Dr. Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries, and Audrey Powers, on Blue Origin's second successful human spaceflight aboard its New Shepard rocket. After stepping foot back on Earth, Shatner was completely lost for words as he attempted to describe his experience.

Captain Kirk tried to explain that what he experienced and said he was completely moved by it as it made him realize the fragility of Earth. It seems that what Shatner experienced was the Overview Effect that so many astronauts describe, which is a cognitive shift in awareness that happens when viewing Earth from outside of the atmosphere. To listen to what Shatner had to say, check out the above video and skip to 2:47:23.

Why do NASA and other space agencies want to explore the barren wasteland that is Mars? Is it because the planet was once like Earth?

NASA has taken to its YouTube channel to post a new video that's a part of its "We Asked a NASA Scientist" series that is curated around answering some of the biggest questions the agency gets and some of the most popular questions about the universe. In this week's episode, NASA astrobiologist Dr. Becky McCauley Rench said that Mars did once look like Earth billions of years ago when our solar system was forming.

The NASA astrobiologist goes on to say that today when we look at Mars, we see a dry planet, but there is evidence of Mars once having lakes and streams. This news of Mars having a lake was recently confirmed with NASA's Perseverance rover that captured images of a delta in the Jezero Crater, more on that story can be found here. Dr. Rench continued to explain that studying the Red Planet allows researchers to understand more about Mars' past/future as well as Earth's past/future.

NASA has announced it has partnered with the Australian Space Agency to construct a new rover that will assist in sustaining human presence on the Moon.

The announcement comes from the Australian Space Agency who has agreed to construct a 44-pound semi-autonomous lunar rover that is scheduled to go to the Moon as early as 2026. The new rover will search for oxygen and be capable of collecting soil that contains oxides that oxygen will be extracted from using separate NASA equipment.

According to the announcement, the rover will be used to extract oxygen from the lunar surface, which will then be used to support a sustained presence of human activity on the Moon and eventually support future missions to Mars. Anthony Murfett, the deputy head of the Australian Space Agency, said that NASA was impressed with the technology that's currently being used to remotely control trucks that transport iron ore from 1,000 miles away. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

The Oculus Quest 2 has been on the market for one full year now, and to celebrate, Oculus is offering deep discounts on nearly 30 of the most popular titles. You can save upwards of 40%.

Facebook released the Oculus Quest 2 on October 13, 2020. Since then, it has become the most popular VR headset on the SteamVR platform and probably the most widely owned VR device ever released. As a token of appreciation to all the early adopters of the Quest platform, Facebook is having a big sale to give you a chance to pick up a few more games.

Some of the best titles on the Quest platform are heavily discounted. You can save 27% off The Climb and 20% off The Climb 2. Until You Fall and Zero Caliber: Reloaded are 12% off right now. Many titles, including Arizona Sunshine, Real VR Fishing, and Contractors, are more than 30% off. And if you really want to save some money, Red Matter, Death Horizon: Reloaded, and Journey of the Gods are all carrying discounts of at least 40%.

Acer has just revealed its gaming-focused Predator GD711 gaming projector, which is capable of projecting 4K content, supports the next-gen Microsoft Series X/S and Sony PlayStation 5 consoles and can ramp up to a hefty 240Hz on the PC.

For gamers, the new Acer Predator GD711 gaming projector can blast out 1080p 120Hz on the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 consoles with VRR, or up to 1080p 240Hz on the PC with High Frame Rate mode. We have 4000 LED lumens of brightness, high dynamic contrast, and HDR10 on the Acer Predator GD711 projector, too.

Acer has a throw ratio of 1.22 meaning you can get a large variety of screen sizes, with a huge 100-inch screen projected from just 2.7m (8.85 ft) away. There's a 10W speaker built-in for some basic audio, a remote control, and a wicked style on the outside. Acer says its new Predator GD711 gaming projector is good for up to 30,000 hours of use... which is actually pretty crazy.

ADATA has just announced its new DDR4-4800 memory module, which is being made in up to 32GB capacities for large 64GB kits of DDR5-4800 memory.

The new ADATA DDR5-4800 memory will work in most major motherboards, with ADATA teaming with AORUS, ASRock, ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, and ROG to "ensure optimal performance and compatibility across a wide range of motherboards".

Nick Dai, Senior Manager of DRAM Products at ADATA explains: "Through our strong R&D capabilities and close partnerships with the world's leading motherboard makers, we are committed to offering memory modules with next-generation performance, higher capacities, and enhanced stability. In the coming months, we will continue to launch a diverse array of DDR5 products to meet the different needs of creators, gamers, and other users".

GeIL has just unveiled its latest Polaris RGB DDR5 memory kits available in speeds of DDR5-4800, DDR5-5200, and DDR5-5600 and capacities between 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.

The company is using a large heat spreader and RGB lighting, for a super-slick style that would look fantastic in the right motherboard. Speaking of motherboards, you'll want -- no need -- an Intel Z690 motherboard that will handle DDR5 memory and Intel's new 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPUs.

GeIL will be offering its new DDR5 memory in a large variety of variants, with the DDR5-5600 memory available in 16GB, and 32GB kits while if you want 64GB in a single kit you'll need DDR5-5200. Although, you're better off buying 2 x 32GB DDR5-5600 kits... but if you want the lower latencies then the DDR5-5200 kits are better.

Acer has just entered the gaming desk business with the announcement of its new 55-inch Predator gaming desk (PGD110) which will be released in 2022.

The new Acer Predator gaming desk will have enough room for everything you need to game on its 55-inch surface, which comes in two surface variants: easy-to-clean carbon fiber, and then Acer also offers another one with a beautiful custom-designed Predator mouse pad. I really want to see that in person.

There's plenty of room for your gaming PC or laptop, a monitor, and your required peripherals in your gaming mouse and keyboard. But Acer is dialing up the notch here with the Predator gaming desk with a storage rack for controllers or physical copies of games for your PlayStation 5 for example. There's a headphone hook, a cup holder (so good) and cable management on either side of the desk to keep your cables in check.

Windows 11 is now officially here and right after Microsoft's new operating system launched, an update was pushed out that reduced AMD Ryzen CPU gaming performance by up to 15% on some systems.

Microsoft is working on a fix for the Windows 11 update, that will boost performance back up on AMD Ryzen processors. The company notes there's an issue with high L3 cache latency, which reduces gaming performance by up to 15% depending on the AMD Ryzen CPU being used.

In some testing, the folks at TechPowerUp found that the L3 cache latency that normally is at 10ns is at a much higher 31.9ns in the new Windows 11 update on the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X processor. Before the update, the latency was at 17ns... quite the increase.

Intel hasn't quite launched its next-gen Alder Lake CPUs just yet, but Acer isn't scared of announcing its new Predator Orion 7000 series desktop gaming PCs that pack the new 12th Gen "Alder Lake" processors.

Acer's new Predator Orion 7000 series gaming PC can be configured with the very latest and greatest 12th Gen Core CPUs, right up to the flagship Intel Core i9-12900K processor. You'll get to enjoy the very latest DDR5 memory technology, PCIe 5.0 connectivity, and NVIDIA's flagship Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card with 24GB of GDDR6X memory.

The company will be offering up to 64GB of dual-channel DDR5-4000 memory, an AIO liquid cooler, plenty of RGB lighting, and impressive cooling chops that will keep your Alder Lake CPU and Ampere GPU as cool as possible inside of the Acer Predator Orion 7000 series desktop gaming PC.

Intel is well aware of the GPU shortage right now, sitting on the sidelines and seeing AMD and NVIDIA suffer what they know is an inevitability in 2022: graphics cards being hard, or impossible to find.

We know that AMD is expecting silicon shortages until the second half of 2022 at the least, with more expensive CPUs and GPUs than ever before unfortunately. NVIDIA hasn't said much about their GPU supply moving into 2022, but we should expect it to suck just as bad as it does now.

Intel is now talking about GPU supply, with chief architect and senior vice president of Intel's architecture, graphics and software division Raja Koduri explaining: "We'll be coming in as a third player. I'll always be very cautious, when the demand is so high and when the market is so hard. I can always use more supply. So I'm not going to say I have enough supply in this high-demand market. I think every one of my competitors will say the same thing right now".